Fine explosion of chaotic noise on the tape Burst (BLANK RECORDS BLANK 044)…this is on Tobias Vethake’s label in Berlin, the fellow who also appears as Sicker Man and is much in demand as a session player with his cello. He’s here on drums as well as the electric cello, with Manuel Klotz on saxophone and Karla Wenzel on bass, but they all add other elements – drums, synths, electronics, even a dictaphone.
That’s right, “distortion” is the name of the stern emperor who holds sway in their world as they thrash madly about on these 2023 recordings made in Berlin, which sound as though they were performed in a gigantic concert hall made of titanium, with androids in the audience. Karla Wenzel has also startled the world under her Kiki Bohemia alias, and we might refer you to that odd record Waiting For Wood which we heard in 2022, but the association between her and Vethake goes back even further. Seems these three maniacs shared an interest in the music of Caspar Brötzmann Massacre (and other instances of high-energy free jazz), and in 2022 decided they wanted to unleash their own brand of sax-noise-drum terror onto the world.
Certainly loving the mangled noisy surfaces here, besides the collapsing free-form structures and unexpected eruptions – more of the chilling spoken-word samples next time, please. Even so, our German compadres can’t always match the energy or vitality of their chosen models, cavort as they may, and what mainly emerges from Burst is a kind of black, bleakened mix of hatred and despair, rather than a celebration of leaping bodies and soaring acrobats drenched in sweat. The Bandcamp page has some flickery videos in support of the desolate themes, although the kaleidoscopic swirls sparkling about the screen for ‘Burst 3’ deliver more of the hoped-for passion and juice. (01/11/2024)