This is music that bounces between sombre, beautiful string passages that seem to linger in fjords, to cartoonish jump cuts pinballing frenetically over the sonic spectrum. This is not to say it doesn't linger in slabs of noise that can clean out your ears in a nanosecond, because there's that, too.
Okkyung Lee's cello provides a strong counterpoint to the samples and keyboard pads that lope and fly around. There are pieces with odd but regular beats and pulses, as well as noise shreds and little bits of musical comedy.
What distinguishes this release is the scope of its vision and the sheer musicality of it all. One can be forgiven for thinking that there are at least some thorough composed tunes included (tunes, by the way, that do not exceed five minutes in length), because each piece is specific and detailed in a way that speaks to the focus these musicians bring to improvisation. Still, let's be clear here: most of these pieces may have been edited down from longer improvs, so the gems would then have been cut and polished.
(Software)Okkyung Lee's cello provides a strong counterpoint to the samples and keyboard pads that lope and fly around. There are pieces with odd but regular beats and pulses, as well as noise shreds and little bits of musical comedy.
What distinguishes this release is the scope of its vision and the sheer musicality of it all. One can be forgiven for thinking that there are at least some thorough composed tunes included (tunes, by the way, that do not exceed five minutes in length), because each piece is specific and detailed in a way that speaks to the focus these musicians bring to improvisation. Still, let's be clear here: most of these pieces may have been edited down from longer improvs, so the gems would then have been cut and polished.