American composer David Shepard here on the Slovenian label Inexhaustible Editions, which has often been home to unusual examples of free improvisation. Trumpet City (ie-028-2) is more of an “event” piece; Shepard likes to manage these large-scale projects, involving many musicians, if possible taking place outdoors. He’s not a raucous fellow (he conducts silent walking tours for those interested) like Richard Lerman from San Francisco who likes gigantic stadiums for his microphone pieces. David Shepard first proposed and executed this one-hour piece in Zurich, where it took place in March 2009; on this double disc, we have two other versions of it, both done in New York in 2014. It requires 40 or more trumpet players and they have to do it in a public space. They’re all credited on the release, and some of them are even photographed; and the extent of the locations is meticulously documented too, reaching from Williamsburg to Brooklyn. Traffic sound, people, and other city noises also show up on the tape. I found this empty and boring when I first got it, but now it feels like a nice document of a beautiful spacey urban exterior, with added music. (28/04/2021)
Illusion of Safety with Pastoral (KORM PLASTICS) from 2023 – though cover images may suggest a field recording escapade, this one is performed sounds and collaborations taking place through tape swapping. Even the creators are uncertain when this took place, but it may have started out when Frans de Waard sent a demo to Dan Burke in 2011. He then admits he “forgot about it” and was pleasantly surprised to get this back. Some tracks may include Kurt Griesch as well as Burke, some time after a 1995 tour. One track ‘Ground’ uses an emulator which resembles a VCS3 synth, and might be the most “eventful” piece on offer with its unusual emissions rising to the fore. Some portions, like ‘Thermogenesis’ do the baffling long-form drone thing which is both quite serene and also oddly hollowed-out, so abstract that the sounds slips through your fingers. Probably good for erasing the memory.
Keiji Haino in a team-up with the Norwegian octabass player Guro Skumsnes Moe on Drums & Octabass (CONRAD SOUND CnRd334CD)…we don’t seem to have heard too many performances from the Japanese man of mystery for a while, although the one with Konstrukt was pretty powerful, and I liked it when he played with Marteau Rouge in 2009. This one is all-acoustic and made with harmonium, accordion, shenai and voices, besides the drums and bass, plus every track describes some supernatural powers of flowers which you never realised existed. Moe (one half of The Touchables) has been more outspoken with his low-register ferocity, but he shines here with his singing voice, daring to equal Haino when it comes to concocting an impromptu hymn to plant life in a high register. The set is mostly creaky groans which lurch around in grumbly fashion, although there are some snare-drum shots on the ‘Yellow Sparrow’ track that hit home like icepicks. Not especially crazy, if anyone was expecting an energy-jazz thing, although the long track which occupies all of disc two has some moments of heavy screech, bass growls and the drumkit throwing a tantrum. Was released in 2023.
Bizarre tape found at bottom of box…Kinder (IP-702) by Egone released on the Florida label Illuminated Paths. This might be Paul Harrison of Yorkshire, associated with Xemporium in the UK, and probably part of a parcel of goodies he sent us in 2023. I guess I might have been expecting harsh or weird noise, but this is bright and entertaining electronica with beats, heavy on the loops, patterns, repeats, and glistening with a tasty DIY surface – none of the rough edges removed, as too often happens in digital realms. ‘Anti Precision’ might be his watchwords for making this kind of music, and ‘Sudorific’ is the effect this boiled-sweet glorp will have on the listener. A good one.