ERNESTO
DIAZ-INFANTE / CHRIS FORSYTH
Wires and Wooden Boxes
Pax Records
PR90252
The
former is from San Francisco, the latter from Brooklyn. Their previous
collaborative CDs are different from each other. Left & Right found
the duo overdubbing in separate cities. Here they are together real-time.
Heres what happens:
1. Crunching pointillistic electric guitar, like static. Sparse piano
notes and chords; seemingly random. Clearly prepared guitar, and interestingly
so. 2. Derek Bailey meets .. ? 3. Crunchy papers, sawed stuff, echoed
rattles and perhaps human buzzing and moaning Things really start to click;
this time I mean the musical heads. 4. Diaz-Infante returns to the piano.
Forsyth, his guitar, in which you can hear not the playing but some of
the sound of Joe Morris (one of my favorites), with whom Forsyth studied;
that clear simple sound in which the notes signify more than tone-bending
does.
5.
Captain Beefheart; I swear I hear Beefheartian rhythms within this improv.
Skeletal Beefheart structure, if you will; not blues. Forsyth takes off
Yeah. 6. A folkier influence lurks under this piece, thanks to the dual
guitars. Proggie sound lurks as well, although do understand this is plinky
improv, not space music. The playing is lyrical, and twangy. A very strong
piece. 7. These guitar chunky sounds reverb and slither over and
under each other like sexy oil wrestlers with hari krsna bells and the
plinks leave marks. Screel.
8. Louder; the duo finds one voice; even the fading tone is perfect. 9.
Harp sound, with a scrim and scrabble overlay, or is it vice versa. 10.
Piano ostinato, meandering up the scale and bells tinkle with it. Random
guitar stuff.
I highly recommend Diaz-Infantes recent duo CD with Jeff Kaiser, Pith
Balls and Inclined Planes, on pfMENTUM discs. I likewise enjoy the noiser
works on D-I's multitudes of collabo-CDs with Rotcod Zzaj (see the JazzWeekly
archive). Diaz-Infantes solo piano discs are quite meditative and sparse.
Catch Forsyth live.
Steven H. Koenig
Track Listing: 1. NYC Journal excerpt (2000) piano/guitar; 2. metallic
strands... acoustic/electric #14; 3. sound is good all the time; 4. straight
to it; 5. pulled wires... acoustic/electric #13; 6. passing one another...
acoustic/electric #17; 7. knock on wood... acoustic/electric #11; 8. cut
and dried... acoustic/electric #12; 9. to place in acoustic/electric #12;
10. trace out motion
Personnel: Ernesto Diaz-Infante, piano, toy piano, voice, small percussion;
Chris Forsyth, guitar, piano soundboard, small percussion