Memories Of Mr. 23 (The Alfred Harth Chronicles)

ALFRED HARTH - This Earth!

ECM

In 1983, ECM’s honcho Manfred Eicher “nominated” Alfred Harth as the musical director of This Earth!, with the chance of choosing the participants to the ensuing recording. The lineup is astrophysical: Maggie Nicols, Paul Bley, Barre Phillips and Trilok Gurtu assist the record’s nominal proprietor along nine chapters entirely composed by him. The target was, in the principal’s words, “to contribute to help rising the ecological consciousness at that time, and point out the preciousness of the planet we are living on. Three years later Tchernobyl happened and set a new sign within the ecological movement..”

Lots of literary foundations and personal discoveries are infused in this creation, officially released in 1984. Sri Aurobindo, Alan Watts’ The Wisdom Of Insecurity, Abraham Maslow (already quoted in the past in a Goebbels & Harth track, “Life Can Be A Gestalt In Time”). And then, Fritz Perls, Stanislav Grof, John C. Lilly’s studies on dolphin communication, Ken Wilber, Michael Murphy. Harth was, and still is, deeply interested and moved by the exploration of the “extraordinary human potentials”; to this day, he declares himself a follower of Transhumanism.

Accordingly, a number of selections amount to a direct allusion to the improvement of the individual. “Relation To Light, Colour And Feeling” begins with a poised yet intense dialogue between Bley and Phillips to open up in spacious linearity, splendidly rendered in unison by Nicols and Harth, Gurtu adding a few percussive flavours when Nicols starts vocalizing more abstractly. “Body And Mentation” is one of the most lyrical episodes of an uncharacteristically “tranquil” record as opposed to the Frankfurter’s standards, a beautiful counterpoint branded by the inner confidence of musicians who know how to move in and around a composition even when blindfolded. The chief’s tenor leads the dance with a poignant invocation, and nothing needs to be said anymore when that heartfelt call gives room to a sizeable measure of stirring passion. “Energy: Blood/Air” is a moderately swinging piece whose melodic jitteriness approaches post-bop territories - chiefly articulated by Nicols’ scatting - and another curious setting for the notions of Harth, who accompanies the English singer with a tone that could easily be defined as classic. A concise assertion by Bley is delivered in straightforward fashion, Phillips closing the segment with a solo of his own.

Gurtu opens “Come Oekotopia” with suggestive echoes, then a sax/bass duet enters the picture in somewhat edgy conversation. Again, it’s the main actor who steals the show with a trademark dramatic departure before the English vocalist joins in. The opening of “Waves Of Being” might be compared to certain pages from Lindsay Cooper’s book, a smart chapter of modern-day chamber flair instantly pushed towards liberal swing by Bley and Phillips, who exchange ideas and energies like two well informed friends. The succeeding passages - arcoed strings and bass clarinet proceeding jointly, holding hands in stunning beauty - are an authentication of the kind of artistic brilliance able to reallocate a tune from “normal” to “attractive” with a simple idea. The final “Transformate, Transcend Tones And Images” is sung by Nicols over an arco bass/piano rarefaction, evoking shades of Julie Tippetts ancestry. An appropriate winding up for a program that never really exalts or excites, but keeps us with the mind positively firm and the ears constantly vigilant, catching small signs and slight changes that nevertheless weigh a lot in the sonic economy.

This is an effort that discards histrionically charged gestures, revealing a different side of Harth. This man’s presence on ECM has been infrequent to say the least but – in the moments in which it occurred – some outstanding concepts surfaced in unpredicted ways, unquestionably distant from the lows to which the label has recurrently crumbled down from the almost unreachable benchmarks of its glorious times. Not a surprise that we’re still waiting for an official reissue of This Earth! – exactly the same thing that is happening with the historically essential Just Music.

Sweet Grittiness

CELER – Fountain Glider

A rather atypical but nonetheless very effective release by Celer, especially in virtue of what my expectations were after having seen the CD’s cover and read the sources (glider cabin during flights, runway wind, cello, violin, electronics). Let’s immediately clarify that the only identifiable sounds are the ones that weren’t generated by the “regular” instruments, as cello and violin were rendered utterly unrecognizable by broad-minded electronic treatments. There’s also a knowledgeable use of distortion, quite an innovation in the duo’s music (which, as a rule, is founded on undying reverberations and murmured fluxes of frequencies). The mastery lies in letting the adjoining constituents unfold without urgency, so that we feel like being shut within the cabin one moment – wonderful muted drones underlining the experience – and close to a nuclear plant the next, a strange sort of semi-harmonic defoliation of timbre going on and on, first shockingly then entirely welcome. This grainy invariability characterizes the disc’s second half pretty seriously, still possessing the enticing qualities that have stunned us in past releases by the Long duo. Given both the rarity of the edition and the unusual temperament of selected parts, I warmly thank Will for sending me a copy of this excellent work, although it’s by now out of print (a reissue has already been planned). (Students Of Decay)

LUIGI ARCHETTI – Null

Never I would envision, by reading the name Luigi Archetti in Krautrock chronicles of many years ago, his records standing among my favourite listens, independently of the genre, in 2010. Archetti’s work is multifarious – recordings, installations and whatever you could imagine from a bright 55-year old who left a depressingly decaying place (Italy) as a kid to go living in a wonderfully civil one (Switzerland). But, most of all, this man’s field of research deals with the analysis of the relations between the small constituents of an instrument and, at large, of the sonic consistency. He steers clear of styles and definitions, utilizing his axe as a generator of multitudes of different emanations. Drones are present, of course - intelligently deployed and with the right dose of gravel. Then, prickling granules of harmonics, portentously misshapen loops and gripping oscillations, often in the space of a single track. Music that expresses disagreement with the norm, yet doesn’t need noise to become another piece of obviousness. There’s nothing that can be described as comforting in the thirteen episodes of Null; still, the record has been spinning endlessly for two days and its qualities keep shining. Coldness revealing a heart, turbulence masked as immobility, breathtaking vistas apparently confined by structural limitations. Either percussively or with some kind of bowing technique, the radiance expressed by these detachedly calm sabotages is something unique. One of the few masterpieces heard in the year’s first quarter, an outing that will put guitar-manipulating pretenders to shame. (Die Schachtel)

Uneven Trio, Depending On Your Disposition

ALAN LICHT & LOREN CONNORS – Into The Night Sky

There’s this strange sensation with Loren Connors, which materializes intermittently inside my soul. In fact I’m not a fan, by no means thinking of him as a great guitarist; also, the way in which he articulates that unique variety of semi-atonal, reference-less blues never touched me profoundly as it seemingly happens to many people, at least reading the scores of rave reviews. Yet the curiosity of listening to another recording which includes TAFKAM (The Artist Formerly Known As MazzaCane) often returns because, somehow, I wish to be convinced of the man’s prominence. Into The Night Sky – the second duet with Alan Licht after 2003’s In France – features elements that confirm this balance of moderate admiration and obstinate non-believing. At times the first chapter “Map Of Dusk” recalls two high school classmates locked in a room and meowing around with inexpensive Strat imitations and a few even cheaper pedals. Uninteresting strumming and indecisive meanderings mostly directed to nowhere, except for a small number of airier sections where ampler spaces between the notes help our concentration to build a little muscle. The title track is decidedly better, introducing acceptable levels of dissonance, a whiff of jangling alternativeness and mild experimentation based upon noisy manipulation and stringed indistinctness, a modicum of melodic construction leading us through the deeper levels of elusiveness. Unequivocally preferable to the preceding half, which sincerely sounds as below par material when compared with the latter. (Family Vineyard)

SIMON WHETHAM – Understory

Published last year, this is a good album of field recordings made by Whetham during a 2-week artist residency led by Francisco López in 2007 in the Amazon rainforest region in Brazil, called Mamori Sound Project. It’s not a radical statement but does contain a few attention-grabbing sections, particularly in the second half in which the voices from the forest and other local presences are modified, looped, collated and manipulated in compositional fashion to elicit fascinating specimens of nebulous sonority which encourage our speechlessness. At the beginning, the original sources are deployed consecutively over the course of brief snapshots: airplanes, insects, wonderfully singing birds, wind, rain, you know the score. One is convinced of being in front of the umpteenth chapter of “uselessly beautiful” environment-based outing. As the time goes, though, the action becomes more interesting, a worryingly still atmosphere prevailing with sporadic unexpected events waking us up from a state of inertia. When the CD has ended a sense of completion has thoroughly defeated the “been there, done that” initial reaction. (Trente Oiseaux)

TERRY FOX – The Labyrinth Scored For 11 Different Cats

After reading about the “orchestration” and having never heard the piece (original date: 1977), I instantly begged good old Ed Benndorf at Dense Distribution to send a copy of this, given that cats are one of the (not many) proofs of intelligence present on the planet. Dozens of these amazing creatures walk around and over me every day, reminding that their silences reveal more than a million human words. The late Terry Fox got this idea when the cat of a friend started to regularly stretch on his lap whenever he went to see him, associating the typical droning emission of the feline with mathematic formulas linked with the circular labyrinth of the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Chartres which he had visited in 1972, remaining fascinated in the process. Well, for what my opinion is still worth, this is just a 70-minute curiosity verging on the utterly boring, a record that might keep you company for a while, but that’s all. No artistic relevance whatsoever, no illumination or bliss in sight. The purring is obviously lovely to listen to, even if there are sections in which its magnification recalls a snoring drunkard rather than a cute, chubby, warm hairy ball grabbing the flesh of your thighs with nails (several of our little monsters do that when they’re oh-so-happy of being caressed). A delusion indeed. Better go down to the kitchen, pour some milk and rip a pack of Whiskas open… I already hear them calling. Gremlins, perhaps? (Choose)

Pretty Obscure Releases Deserving A Mention

CHRISTIAN LILLINGERS GRUND – First Reason

Apparently, master pianist Joachim Kühn fell in love with drummer and composer Christian Lillinger’s work at a first listen, having had the chance of appreciating his playing at a festival in Ibiza in 2008. He is also the producer of this record, besides lending hands as a performer in three of its eleven pieces. Basically, Grund (=ground in German) is a quintet made of two reedists (Tobias Delius and Wanja Slavin) and two bassists (Jonas Westergaard and Robert Landfermann) in conjunction with the leader. The adjective that immediately springs to mind when listening to this recording is “cerebral”, not necessarily (and not always) in a negative sense. The well-oiled correlations between the parts and the right amount of emancipation thrown in every once in a while contribute to depict a music that sounds sharp but not acrimonious, elements of tradition and scientific analysis of the instrumental relations weighing exactly the same. If the intelligibility of the arrangements is absolute and the procedural democracy shown in all the tunes substantial – contrapuntal friction and thorny melodic linearity both critical ingredients of the recipe - nevertheless there’s a noticeable level of frigidity getting in the way of a thorough enjoyment of the CD, which in essence appears as a fine-sounding rational exercise with a couple of noteworthy moments (such as the superb “Feldarbeit”). Definitely one for the intellect, not for the heart. (Clean Feed)

IN SAND – Whatever

A quintet specialized in “free chamber improvisation” as per their own definition, whose playing is heavily informed by strings (Gus Garside - double bass, Richard Padley - guitar, Danny Kingshill - cello, Satoko Fukuda - violin and percussion) but also aided by a laptop-managing Scandinavian soul, Thor Magnusson. Garside and Kingshill were two thirds in the excellent The Pursuit Of Happiness on Emanem, the third member being the fantastic and unreasonably unsung Sylvia Hallett. There’s a lot of meat to be chewed in this recording, which expands the vocabulary of improvisation without sounding sacrilegious, always keeping a door open to comprehension. Idealistic mixtures, chaotic conjunctions and sudden clearings of the instrumental horizons succeed in absence of a manifest logic, yet determine the birth of one during the course of the events. Remaining anchored to this spiny consecutiveness – namely, following what the players do not including befuddlement - is nigh on unfeasible, due to the material’s constantly shifting dynamics and severe fragmentation. This notwithstanding, the music agrees to the creation of a comfortably human habitat, at least for the well-versed. Irony and grace are appropriately utilized, and the rare instances in which things really don’t work (for example, when voices appear) are easily forgotten. The electronic excrescences are rarely seen in the front row, still resulting extremely functional when spotted. Overall an interesting album, though not truly one for the ages. (Uneasy Listening)

Yet Another Odd Couple

IF, BWANA - Clara Nostra

Here’s a stimulating substance for the serious cultists of psyche-affecting drones, just in case it was missed the first time (which would show that they’re not so serious after all). Clara Nostra - originally published in 1999 on Pogus, was entirely prepared with manipulated tapes saturated with clarinets, which were superimposed and bounced in hundreds of ping-ponging tracks until a (demonstrable) total of 106.476 was reached. Astronomical figures aside, this is purely and simply one of the best low-frequency albums ever made. A massive monolith comprising barely traceable movements in mammoth subsonic stasis, which is what distances this music from the “press a single key, feed the Lexicon and go eat something” shallowness of the 98% of today's releases in this area (yes, I'm getting repetitive, but am not going to stop anytime soon). Put this in your player, set the volume to a decent level and feel the air flooded by quivering liquids, the heartbeat and the breathing rhythms slowing down, the consciousness dilating (…and several loose parts in the room trembling). This thing is also extremely helpful against external noises, therefore you can consider it a means of positive isolation (nothing beats Klaus Wiese’s Space in that sense, though: if plagued by, say, the neighbour’s son’s racket, use that CD in infinite repeat for absolute cerebral ecstasy and utter destruction of any extraneous egotistical behaviour). With this magnificent record, Al Margolis arrived very close to that height. Lots of kudos to Echomusic for bringing it back from the depths of memory, if only in a 99-copy extra-limited edition. (Echomusic)

THE RESPECT SEXTET – Sirius Respect

The Respect Sextet (Eli Asher, James Hirschfeld, Josh Rutner, Red Wierenga, Malcolm Kirby, Matt Clohesy, Ted Poor - hey, they're seven...) are affirmed professional players working in disparate areas. As a general rule I’m quite averse to tributes, however this one's good enough to have been listened to four or five times in the last days. Two apparently opposite poles of the musical spectrum, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Sun Ra did indeed share something, especially when peculiar considerations about the cosmos and its infinite relations became a fundamental part of the equation. Still, their music couldn't be more different, hence a hats off to Respect for having managed to render the chosen selections so well amalgamated in this coherent program. That these men can handle instruments is obvious, yet there's heart behind the technical refinement: everything is performed with concentrated joy and enthusiastic precision, the arrangements - fairly courteous to the ears - usually tight, occasionally even meticulous. The Ra materials - which include "Jet Flight", "Angels And Demons At Play" and a gorgeous snippet of "Velvet" - are typically brisker and relatively garrulous, a "shake your booty" attitude always present, with rare exceptions (i.e. certain monotonous solos). The Stockhausen pieces - among them "Leo", "Pisces" and "Capricorn" - are also characterized by a jazzy vibe that the composer would probably not appreciate, but in this particular context work fine. The exception (which, not accidentally, constitutes my choice moment of the CD) is a magnificent version of "Set Sail For The Sun", sensible introspection - under the shape of mysterious tones slowly unfolding in restrained tension - finally prevailing upon the overall sense of elegantly zealous divertissement. (Mode Avant)