recordings contributes his gales of bowed tremolo and the 1851 Great Exhibition. In a nutshell, this textural flesh and bones on what starts off as a making, without the horn losing its brass iden- “B” distinguishes itself through a stiff mono- cleanly plucked melodies. represents her main interests: an antiestablish- narrow display of solo-clarinet tongue-slapping. tity. Finally, “Switches & Hose,” the lengthiest chromatic dance-beat towards, the end before Soledad serves equally well as both an ment stance, the empowerment of women, On the other hand, “The Ghost of Your Previous track, converts a foot pump, balloons, garden fading out with muted percussive knocks and Susan Alcorn. Soledad. Relative Pitch Records, RPR1032. introverted homage to Piazzolla and as an and an irrepressible urge to play, to be heard, Fuckup” is introduced with a sequence of explo- irrigation, taps, plastic containers, and reeds what sounds like a forest of insects. Jacques’ introduction to Alcorn’s own euphoniously to jump around—with dedication and focus, sive polyphony, until the swivelling theme is into an Outback orchestra. The alternately music has a strong physical presence, yet Astor Piazzolla’s eccen- exploratory artistry. and with an apparent zest for life. This is evident revealed. From then on until the concluding soothing and discordant narrative spawns remains playful—a tricky balance pulled off tricity as a composer —Nick Storring in a recording of her playing the keys, innards, organ-piano meld, thematic variations arrive genuine musical patterns without ever negating here with finesse. is overshadowed by and housing of a piano in a concert at Roulette. via piano-key clipping, low-pitched alto-clarinet the implements’ humble origins. —Lawrence Joseph his reputation as one It is concentrated improvisation but it’s also echoes and, finally, clarinet warbles that create Gorfinkel’s fascinating sound art leaves Lindsay Cooper. Rarities, Volumes 1 & 2. of the foremost expo- great fun, as if her fingers are playing tag on a relaxed line, even as the thick bass-clarinet- the listener wondering—but not being able ReR Megacorp, LC2/3. Kronos Quartet. Tundra Songs. Centrediscs, nents of tango music. and in the instrument. This album is a fitting and-drum groove keeps it grounded. to determine—which parts of the satisfying CMCCD 21015. The ostensible genre British reed player and memorial to a creative life that was cruelly cut Davis’ music reflects and conflates both creation result from his sound navigation designation tends to mask his poignant and composer Lindsay short by a horrific disease. composed and improvised strategies, so demand and how much of it is naturally generated. Hearing the first two peculiar mixture of forlorn sentimentalism, Cooper was an extra- —René van Peer for more large-scale compositions by her will —Ken Waxman tracks of Tundra Songs tense dissonances, and covert use of noise. ordinary musician. A likely increase—which she maybe senses, the is something of an eye- Susan Alcorn, herself an expert of oblique classically trained title of one of this CD’s compositions declaring, opener. The musicians Kris Davis. Save Your Breath. Clean Feed, Anne-F Jacques. Sable ou Sel. lyricism, understands this very well. Her trans- bassoonist, active in CF 322 CD. “Always Leave Them [Wanting More].” atrito-afeito 004. of the celebrated lation of Piazzolla’s compositions into the warm various fields, she was —Ken Waxman Kronos Quartet, sawing drawl of her pedal steel guitar on four of the primarily known for her work with the ground- Consolidating her Anne-F Jacques is a away at their instru- five cuts on her CD Soledad brings this into breaking improv-rock band Henry Cow. She considerable musical Montreal sound artist ments, produce driving, grinding sounds that Dale Gorfinkel. Switches & Hose. sharp focus, while insinuating her own imagin- also played in some of its successors, such as gifts, Canadian-born, Split Records, splitrec 25. who plays acoustic are very similar to the throatsinging games ation into the equation. and , and recorded New York-based Kris noise-music on invented of the northern Canadian Inuit people. After The album opens with a drowsy yet assiduous and toured with The Pedestrians, one of the Davis organized a Bringing out the innate instruments. Mechanical the initial surprise, you realize that the tech- take on the title piece—slowed to the point bands built around . In addition, uniquely constituted musicality of already loops are created when niques have high energy and taut strings in of the mere suggestion of a dance—and she initiated the Feminist Improvisers Group octet here to premiere existing objects or loca- various objects are common. The guttural grunts often emulate continues to unfold in a similarly dreamlike, and wrote several film scores. From the early or propogate her compositions. Confirming tions, Australian musi- attached to spinning motors amplified by sounds from the Inuit’s natural environment. nocturnal manner. In more typical readings ’90s onwards she had to gradually scale back her range, the eight tunes are breezy and cian Dale Gorfinkel contact mikes, assemblies that Jacques These elements bind this album together, of Piazzolla’s work—even the slow stuff—its her activities as a result of multiple sclerosis, animated in spots, while looped around a dense, invents novel instru- categorizes as her “rotating devices.” Unlike thematically and sonically. In Derek Charke’s chromatic snakings tend to be imbued with with which she had been diagnosed more than metal-like core. With an ensemble consisting ments or judiciously the digital world of perfect repetition, her compositions Cercle du Nord III and Tundra a nervous agility, but here one is really able a decade before. The illness forced her to of Ben Goldberg, Oscar Noriega, Joachim introduces standard ones into unexpected improvisations are brought to life by erratic Songs, the two main pieces on the CD, sound- to appreciate each distinct melodic turn and retreat within herself up until her death in 2013. Badenhorst, and Andrew Bishop, all playing surroundings. This brief CD offers four specific variations arising from the malleable mechanics scapes from the Canadian north and throat the way it sits against the varying degrees of This is all the more bitter in light of the music different-sized clarinets, with drummer Jim examples of his particular skills. A Melbourne- of her contraptions. singing are returning points of reference. harmonic opacity. she made, as evidenced on the commemora- Black and guitarist Nate Radley, plus Gary based multi-instrumentalist, Gorfinkel is sophis- Sable ou Sel contains two tracks labelled Tundra Songs itself, taking up more than half With each successive track, Alcorn’s enviable tive CD set Rarities, Volumes 1 & 2. It is a Versace on organ and Davis on piano, the ticated in his use of the microtonal properties simply “A” and “B,” each close to eleven of the album, is an especially gripping piece. command of her unwieldy instrument is more compilation culled from various sources, mostly engendered textures frequently imply many of trumpet and especially of vibraphone. minutes in duration. An ever-present pinkish It follows the annual cycle of seasons, revolving and more revealed, but one never gets the limited editions of vinyl albums and cassettes. associations, often during the same tune. “I’m Walking in a Room, with Two Vibra- noise background reminds one of listening around a gruesome summer tale about the impression of excessive displays of virtuosity In Cooper’s compositions it is not only the “Whirly Swirly,” for instance, despite its phones,” for instance, not only riffs on Alvin to a seashell—if one could vary the intensity, creation of animals out of the fingers a man or that she’s fighting the instrument’s innate that takes the limelight. Just as often, fanciful title, is actually a multipart suite. Lucier’s best-known composition, but also which at times threatens to rupture speaker hacks from the hands of his daughter. Vocalist resonant legato. Rather, the increasing number she gives soprano and soprano sax twin leading After the rock-influenced lead guitar faces captures the shimmering colours that result cones with low frequency bursts. Against that Tanya Tagaq improvises with the quartet, of surprising colours that emerge—gong-like roles. They make the music sound sprightly, off against metre-less free-jazz drumming, from Gorfinkel’s blending of the vibes’ tonal backdrop, Jacques adds layers of static sparks providing a raw, breathless edge to their virtu- chordal swells, brittle music-box-like figures, joyous, exuberant. This is further enhanced a piano interlude introduces raucous multi- rubs and strokes. These precise crossovers and engine grinds, along with more delicate osic melodies. Most of this music is rivetting, nimble contrapuntal dances and swooping by the jumpy, bouncy rhythms that drive the reed vibrations that sweep across juddering and intersections are notable, since the wobbly irregular ticks. While this is unmistakably coarse as if evoking the rush of a sleigh run over ice glissandi—are blended progressively into a melodies forward. The buoyant mood is even organ smears. Before the piece climaxes with a tones are never precisely parallel. “Gong Cage” music, it is less harsh compared to the more fields. Out of respect for the North, however, single cohesive palette of sound. there when the contents of songs are grim or duel between pounding piano and percussion, exhibits superior instrumental skill, as he extreme forms of the industrial genre. Rather Charke somehow couldn’t limit himself in the Her one lone original composition on the despondent, as in the vignettes that make up a stark clarinet line stands out from other reed uses mallets to quiver and wobble a modified than the postapocalyptic cityscape of Eraser- materials he wanted to use. So, in a sense, the album, “Suite for Ahl” (the only track that’s not Pictures from the Great Exhibition. That piece textures, harmonized in such a way that baroque Indonesian kinetic sound sculpture in a bird- head, we hear the nuts and bolts of small parts entire North is crammed into one half hour. a solo), fits in remarkably well, with opening was originally released as a subscription-only motifs are evoked. Arranging only for reeds and cage, so that a vague Oriental lilt is added to being assembled and disassembled, stamped, Everything, except perhaps for stretches of nods vaguely in Piazzolla’s direction. Bassist addition to the LP Rags, a score for a film that rhythm doesn’t limit Davis either. A track such gentle vibraphone-like insinuations. “Enoggera” stapled, and falling to the floor. The overall white emptiness. Despite all the arctic sounds, Michael Formanek frequently anchors the low contrasts the poverty and the miserable life as “Jumping Over Your Shadow,” for example, shows how bubbling grace notes and moist impression is of a day in a disorganized tack the piece actually comes across as a rather end, freeing Alcorn to produce wild ripplings of women in nineteenth-century London sweat- shows how limpid bass-clarinet tones mixed burrs from a modified trumpet can integrate factory located in a highly reverberant silo. tense urban composition. of texture and fluid high sweeps, while he also shops with the abundance and opulence of with calliope-like keyboard juddering can put almost perfectly within genuine aviary song- While both tracks share similar textures, —René van Peer

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