DISCOGRAPHY
EVERYTHING THAT DISAPPEARS
CD

everything that disappears

 

Grosseabfahrt

Tom Djll, trumpet, pocket cornet & preparations

Matt Ingalls, Bb clarinet, bass clarinet

Frédéric Blondy, piano

John Shiurba, electric guitar [1, 3, 4]),

George Cremashi, double bass & electronics

Lê Quan Ninh, surrounded bass drum

John Bischoff, electronics [1, 3, 4]

Tim Perkis, electronics [1, 3, 4]

Gino Robair, energised surfaces & voltage made audible

 

1 - The lack Americans connected What disappears - 10:01,

2 - negativity paradox achieved in humour realm - 10:22,

3 - Admittedly, social relations This - 14:53,

4 - geometric undulating driveway symmetrical, all the road of masters - 38:48

 

recorded in Oakland, California by Michael Zelner on march 13th, 2007

Emanem 4146

excerpts from reviews

"The guests are each a master of resonance, Ninh working on an assortment of cymbals and drums on top of a large horizontal bass drum, Blondy - perhaps best known for his work with the quintet Hubbub concentrating on the piano's interior with a range of techniques that includes bowing the strings. It is that focus on resonance that often defines this work, including an idea of circular, oscillating sound (the very movement of bowing) that seems concentrated at times in Cremaschi's bass and his particular use of electronics.

The group's focus is on extended improvisation, long unwindings of sound in which instrumental identities submerge into collective mind. Even the track titles - vertical readings from Jean Baudrillard's America - hint at new relationships in which sudden coherence may be as much the result of chance as intention and in which the fragmentary or discontinuous is equally valued. Thus, the longest track, geometric undulating driveway symmetrical, all the road of masters, is, at nearly 39 minutes, a world unto itself, populated with radio beeping, somber bowed bass and bass clarinet tones and a host of sounds that may defy ready identification. Everything appears hyper-resonant, from prepared trumpet to a sudden electric squiggle. While there's an underlying continuum of sound for long stretches, and individual gestures might sound deliberated, this is by no means minimalist. Near the half-hour mark, there's a sudden episode of skittering trumpet and bass that emphasizes the underlying unpredictability before the piece ends with a period of sustained high frequencies. Its ultimate shape, though, is always secondary to its immediate being, its sense of collective process.

The other tracks have their own distinctive qualities, at times reflecting a dominance of acoustic or electronic sound. negativity paradox achieved in humor realm is a relatively rambunctious piece that - without Shiurba, Bischoff and Perkis - is virtually acoustic. Admittedly, social relations This, with substantial electronics, seems more abrasive and, at times, much closer to conventions of improvised dialogue. Throughout, though, this is valuable work, with its own distinctive concordances and frictions."

STUART BROOMER - POINT OF DEPARTURE 2008

 

"These four tracks were conceived following a single directive by Djll: 'strive toward long structures'. The longest one lasts almost 39 minutes; the music is vivid, pulsating, a perennial burning coal under the ashes of an only apparent tranquillity. Frustrating our attempt to categorise the happenings, the musicians move in, out and around their instrumental characters, reciprocally reacting to whatever exhalation they sniff. The nominal leader, besides his deceptively vacant trumpet and pocket cornet disguising a voraciousness for anything unpredictable, is also credited with 'preparations'; indeed, the continuously appearing extraneous factors disfiguring the regular acoustic voice of the machines, in conjunction with entities such as Robair's 'voltage made audible' and 'energised surfaces', are exactly what gives this concoction a unique tone, something that stands halfway through an incomplete vision (which is already enough to undermine a non-self-governing personality) and the moderate incoherence of a somnambulist walking on rusty nails and broken glass. There is no frequency left unattended, not a minimal tonal fraction whose activity is not felt. Electronic bleeps and harsh scraping coexist, different ethnic minorities in a suburban neighbourhood, fighting or embracing depending on the circumstance. Cremaschi's double bass in Geometric undulating driveway symmetrical, all the road of masters is akin to the peculiarly reassuring presence of an old dog in a shabby garden. Doesn't defend the property, but growls and barks anyway. Excellent record, a typical 'new-layer-with-each-listen' release which creeps on you like ivy, sucking juices from trunks and bodies."

MASSIMO RICCI - TOUCHING EXTREMES 2008

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