DENMAN MARONEY and HANS TAMMEN
Billabong
Potlatch
P 100
www.potlatch.digiweb.fr

It starts off with some scattered piano notes; a rag. Guitar scratch weirdness skronks in, and the adventure begins. These two string players play inside, outside, all around their instruments, but the important thing is they get into it. The recorded sound is rich and clear, so every resonance is yours. When I saw this in the mail, I burst out laughing and said to myself, “Brilliant! A natural pairing.” Having seen each in performance, and on their previous discs, I knew to expect players who as partners are listeners, and as creators, are so in touch with their respective instruments (“touch” being the signifier) that they are one.

“Bog” begins with an electric whine, almost whistle, from the guitar which turns into gurgling telegraph bird calls, with the piano interior a kind of bird-wire dulcimer. The drone Tammen creates shames drone-makers, as it is not static or programmed; it is intuitive and evolving. There are times in “Scratch” you’re momentarily unsure which instrument is playing, and only care for a second because the musical creation is so intriguing; it as a whole. “Jag” starts off weaker than the rest, yet quickly gains strength through its humor, the guitar notes somehow bent to sound like Donald Duck-moans-like-Mazzacane at the same time it scratches like a mad deejay, Maroney playing Cecil-ragtime under and over it.

I highly recommend Tammen’s first, and solo, offering “Endangered Guitar” on Nur/Nicht/Nur. Likewise, Maroney’s “Hyperpiano” is a necessity.

Steve Koenig

Track Listing: 1. Stud; 2. Bog; 3. Scratch; 4. Jag; 5. Keen; 6. Bounce; 7. Bilge; 8. Stretch

Personnel: Denman Maroney, hyperpiano; Hans Tammen, endangered guitar