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| 3.5 great | yigruzeltil | June 30th 17 |
Roananax was composed of Axel Dorner (trumpet), Robin Hayward (tuba), Annette Krebs
(electroacoustic guitar) and Andrea Neumann (inside piano & mixing board) and this archival
recording is billed by the label as a pioneering effort of the so-called "Berlin reductionism",
"though the music isn't necessarily what you'd expect". Actually, if you've heard almost any of
these improvisers in other settings, you can predict vaguely what should be going on. It's (still
quite nervous) textural improvisation not without soon to become tropes of the cutting-edge stuff
under the "EAI" rubric, but there's clearly some excitement of the newly (re-)found here.
Nevertheless, the Roananax side feels stellar in comparison to the let-down (for me) that is the B
side of the split album. Enter 2014, meet the new OBLIQ ensemble, composed of saxophonist Pierre
Borel, percussionist Hannes Lingens and Derek Shirley on electronics. The same ridiculously vague
"reductionist" tag is slapped on them even as they engage into pretty much the same vocabulary as
many Onkyo or Wandelweiser efforts from the past decade or so. Of course, advanced reviewers may
well find (as I see on the label's page) captivating details beyond the traditionally ear-piercing
sine waves or an evolution from the still fairly old-schooled improvisation on the A-side to the
egoless sounds of the newer ensemble. Do as you (dis)please... The coupling is still quite
strange.
Bump |
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Give Your Opinion on The Berlin Series, N. 3: Roananax 1999. Obliq 2014
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