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Chris Cundy:
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Rodrigues / Torres / Hencleeday / Santos:
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Expanse:
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AALY Trio (Gustafsson / Nordeson / Janson):
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Rob Mazurek Quartet (w/ Reid / Taylor/ Sanchez):
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Ran Blake / Dave Knife Fabris:
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Alfredo Colon (Colon / Korten / Williams / Parks):
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Chemical Expansion League, The (Bohman / Lynch / Northover / Mengersen):
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The UK-based Chemical Expansion League of Adam Bohman (prepared strings, voice), Adrian Northover (sax, theremin, wasp synth), Sue Lynch (sax, clarinet, flute), and Ulf Mengersen (bowed & prepared double bass) present thirteen mostly succinct and eccentric improvisations that oscillate between sanity and absurdity, punctuated by industrial elements, bent tones, and surreal soundscapes. ... Click to View


Vasseur / Serries:
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French guitarist Christian Vasseur, known for his explorative approach and use of unique instruments like the archlute and electric 10-string lap-steel guitar, joins Dirk Serries (A New Wave of Jazz, Vidna Obmana), who employs an archtop guitar with bow and objects in this live-recorded album at Kapel Oude Klooster in Belgium, featuring seven chamber-like duets that weave resonant, tension-filled acoustic textures with surreal and exotic elements. ... Click to View


Michael McNeill (w/ Susan Alcorn / Dave Ballou / Shelly Purdy):
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After their 2022 tour, the quartet of Michael McNeill on piano, Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar, Dave Ballou on trumpet, and Shelly Purdy on vibraphone and percussion recorded seven studio improvisations composed by McNeill, using a compositional framework inspired by the black and white keys of the piano (the 'barcode') to fuel their poetic and expressive impulses. ... Click to View


Wooden Cities:
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Opening with an adaptation of Cornelius Cardew's "Red Flag", the Buffalo-based new music ensemble Wooden Cities Brendan Fitzgerald introduces the first of a trilogy of albums, a set of narrative works that confront topics of work, labor, commodity, and justice through a blend of composition and improvisation, including works by Cardew, Julius Eastman, and Frederic Rzewski. ... Click to View


Eddie Prevost:
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Breaking from the AMM collective, British percussionist Eddie Prévost's 1996 solo debut showcases six studio-recorded works highlighting expressive momentum and textural nuance through innovative drumming and cymbal techniques, crafting layered and intense sonic landscapes with extraordinary skill and the inventive application of external objects. ... Click to View


AMM (Prevost / Tilbury):
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Recorded in Turkey in 2016, this extended improvisation features a core duo from later AMM configurations — percussionist Eddie Prévost and pianist John Tilbury, who also performs on harpsichord — captured in the exceptional acoustics of The Sibelius Museum concert hall where the intimate setting elicits profound, beautifully recorded dialogue between these two masterful performers. ... Click to View


Kanngiesser / Prevost / Wright:
Splendid Nettle (High Laver Levitations Volume 3) (Matchless)

The third volume in the High Laver Levitations series that started with the duo of John Butcher and Eddie Prévost, continued with Silvan Schmid, Tom Wheatley & Prévost, now presents Ute Kanngiesser on cello, Seymour Wright on alto sax, and Eddie Prévost on drum kit, recording two extended improvisations that explore the resonant acoustics of All Saints Church in High Laver, Essex. ... Click to View


Axel Dorner / Oliver Schwerdt / Julian Sartorius:
Jul Fuel (Euphorium)

The title refers to the dynamic addition of drummer and percussionist Julian Sartorius, whose energy injects 'jet fuel' into this bassless, windless trio's live 2021 performance at naTo in Leipzig, Germany, with Euphorium label leader Oliver Schwerdt igniting the grand piano and Axel Dörner's thrillingly unconventional slide trumpet playing adding to the burn & mdash; exceptional! ... Click to View


Peter Evans / Petter Eldh / Jim Black:
Extra (We Jazz)

An exhilarating trio with bassist Petter Eldh and drummer Jim Black, recorded in Lisbon in 2023, capturing inventive synergy across eight original compositions by Peter Evans, ranging from the fiery intensity of "Freaks" and "Boom" to the surprising twists of "The Lighthouse", as their close-knit rapport fuels rhythmic depth and jaw-dropping improvisation. ... Click to View


Dougie Bowne:
The Stars Are Indispensable (Tzadik)

A formidable sonic duo of guitar, bass, electronics, prepared bass, and drums, featuring Downtown NY pioneer Dougie Bowne and Brooklyn-based experimental rock bassist Matt Nelson (tUnE-yArDs, Weasel Walter Large Ensemble), delivering twelve intense and startlingly inventive improvisations, using every inch of their instruments to create a heavy, captivating set of soundscapes. ... Click to View


Phill Niblock / Anna Clementi / Thomas Stern:
Zound Delta 2 (KARLRECORDS)

A posthumous realization of Phill Niblock's 2022 composition, this dense, resonant work of drone and sonic intensity, written for Italian vocalist Anna Clementi and shaped and developed with guitarist and bassist Thomas Stern of Einstürzende Neubauten and Crime & the City Solution, is presented in two monumental, haunting longform versions. ... Click to View


John Zorn:
Hannigan Sings Zorn Volume Two - Archival Series (Tzadik)

The second volume of John Zorn's vocal compositions, performed by virtuoso Barbara Hannigan alongside returning pianist Stephen Gosling, expands with orchestration for string quartet, a dynamic work for voice, cello, vibes, electronics, and drums, a lively piece for voice, piano, and rhythm, and Zorn's unique interpretation of the classic 'Pandora's Box. ... Click to View



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  Sophie Agnel 
  Capsizing Moments  
  (Emanem) 


  
   review by Dave Madden
  2009-07-14
Sophie Agnel: Capsizing Moments (Emanem)

Everyone marvels over John Cage's groundbreaking use of prepared piano as "percussion orchestra" (an art he borrowed from one-time teacher, Henry Cowell), but he has less to say about creativity, more about necessity and frustration, on the matter: space (performance, rehearsal) and social issues are the initial reasons he chucked all his percussion inside the piano lid. "You can't get a group of people to work together in New York for any length of time, because they're all too busy making money... I had to give a concert of percussion music at the Museum of Modern Art... I found that I couldn't get a full rehearsal — ever. So I threw my energy and everything into the prepared piano" (Duckworth, Talking Music).

Though she has a willing cadre of collaborators (Phil Minton, Olivier Benoit), it is Sophie Agnel's "energy and everything", her time spent exploring tactile intricacies, language and relationships inside a wooden box, that sets her apart from other enthusiastic disciples who also seek originality in this well of non-tradition. Without her devotion to this otherworldly vein, performing it as a sans-net-to-catch-you soloist, this hour-long, unedited improvisation might come off as flat, verbose and pedestrian, not — as is the case — enthralling, technically admirable and natural.

Athletically navigating through a host of ideas and foreign objects (the sleeve is quick to note "solo piano with variable preparations, but no electronics"), Agnel begins with an intense, rumbling thud, a gesture that says "yes, Capsizing Moments is a fitting title; watch and listen as I keep this monstrous vessel-under-siege afloat." Gaining momentum, she maintains a polyrhythmic wooden creak, sustained metallic wiggles (aka aluminum ashtrays on strings) and low register roar, slowly introducing then removing various items from the sonic spectrum; gradually, the multiple patterns turn into a grooving ostinato of palm slaps and hammer strikes. At the fifteen minute mark, Agnel brushes the fibers and tendons of her soundboard to produce a bewitching five minute cadence of tinny, echoing feedback. Switching speeds with the next movement, Agnel first alternates between disconcerting, screeching harmonics and sawing vibrations then moves to a mix of idiomatic high-frequency trills, muted wood blocks and infrequent but tremulous staccato clusters.

However, the most engaging portion of the piece comes after a lugubrious build of rattles and pianissimo mouth whistle towards a bionic hammered dulcimer-like performance in the middle of the third movement. Agnel, gnashing and flexing, suddenly reduces the texture to a stark, skittish tinker bell. Amazingly, she juggles this with more harmonics, string plucks and twanging guitar-like bends, and ends the set with a series of miraculous tricks (i.e. gently purring bass horns, nearly intelligible voices, things you have to witness, live, to identify) she cleverly horded until now.

With prowess and invention, Agnel's work on Capsizing Moments may cement her place as heir to this instrument's misanthropic throne.



Sophie Agnel: Capsizing Moments
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