This is a fascinating disc which represents a collaboration between
two nations: Germany in the shape of Frank Betschneider, and Denmark with
Ejnar Kanding. This symbiosis is an interaction of opposites; at a basic
level seeing each composer create new music out of scores by the other.
Made in association with percussionist David Hildebrandt, the
opening track
A Different Kind of Tension is downright funky, using
percussion samples and electronic sounds to create a world somewhere between
Frank Zappa in ‘Jazz from Hell’ mode, Boris Blank and an itchy
Iannis Xenakis. It used to be harder to find pulse in contemporary
electronic music than something yellow in a bowl of custard but anything
goes these days, and this kind of sheer physical abandon is refreshing
indeed.
Auxiliary Blue is by far the longest work here, divided into
11 tracks which play continuously, from the slow march of the opening into a
variety of gorgeously mysterious atmospheres and elongated and often
understatedly dramatic events. Repetition is a strong feature of the music,
which lends it a ritualistic air. Instruments and electronic layers and
effects mix and blend in equal measure, the latter often being initiated by
the former. I like the feeling that this music on occasion seems liberated
from serious intent, and there are some possibly serendipitous moments of
amusing wit, though this may just be my subversive association set at work.
The only effect which is perhaps a little over-used is the
‘click’ or crackle which is either digging into your brain or
covering the music like caul over a haggis. Transparent, nuanced, full of
variation, with a tight structure and plenty of skilled musicianship, this
is the kind of piece which keeps the imagination awake from beginning to
end.
Difficult Shapes & Passive Rhythms also has this ticking
going on the whole time. I thought ditching LP records had done away with
this irritating sound for good. What this layer does in this case is keep a
driving pace to the rhythm, under which a variety of enigmatic and initially
apparently mechanistic sounds flow and either keep pace or form a sonic
counterpoint to the beat. These low sonics are in fact transformations of
orchestral sounds take from a piece by Ejnar Kanding called
Vergeuder der
Schmerzen or ‘Squanderer of Pains’. Glimpses of the
melancholy nature of this work occasionally shine through, though the nature
of the sounds as orchestral is so removed from context as to render it into
something new and strange.
This collaborative project has delivered some intriguing and
stimulating work, and I commend this to anyone looking for some contemporary
music with a bit of subtle ‘oomph’.
Dominy Clements
