“I feel this is a strong release,” writes James O’Sullivan in accompanying letter to his new release Lovely Error (SCATTER ARCHIVE), six tracks of solo electric guitar improvisations. It’s true that we can hear him audibly “reaching” for something – a new sound, a new musical identity, new modes of expression. He’s poised on the horns of a dilemma, and those horns belong to a water buffalo who in fact has many horns. The dilemma is whether to use recognisable sounds, amplified droning, scrabbly string technique to produce semi-melodies, hammering on the strings perhaps with a ruler, or just go for sheer abrasive noise. Sometimes, all these elements (and more) are exhibited in a single take of what I assume are live studio recordings, of which the tapes were not passed to an editor to cut. Heard this player before as half of Found Drowned and Muster, and also solo on Linear Obsessional. This time around the sounds are more abrasive than ever, and there’s more innovation and more focus in the work. (27/10/2022)
Senyawa I never heard before, but already I’m intrigued by this Indonesian duo who apparently mix up Indonesian folk traditions with experimental music and lace their work with punk-like stance and avant-garde techniques…duo of Rully Shabara and Wukir Suryadi have already been courted by Stephen O’Malley and Arrington de Dionyso and performed with Keiji Haino, David Shea, and many others since inception in 2010. Could be that they modernise and adapt traditional instruments to get that vibe others describe as “neo-tribal”. Now here on The Prey and The Ruler (ROOM40 RM4196) with added interventions from Lawrence English and Peter Knight, with additional instrumentation from Helen Svobodam, Joe Talia, and Aviva Endean. This is yet another “lockdown” record, so not sure if any of these musicians met up in real time anyplace, but English organised the contributions based on his own musings with Knight about how bad things were getting in Australia, and wondering how it was going northwards in Indonesia. Contacts made and contributions marshalled and mixed by English; starting point, apart from the “how’s it going” type conversations, appears to have been video grabs sent over by Wukir Suryadi. Thankfully not as depressing as other lockdown records received from this label, nor is there much in the way of processed ambient drone; instead, real instruments, tricky rhythms, long stretches of puzzling activity. (24/10/2022)