Two from defkaz Records

Tyshawn Sorey/Adam Rudolph/Sae Hashimoto/Russel Greenberg/Levy Lorenzo –Archaisms II ***** (defkaz, 2024) 

 

By Fotis Nikolakopoulos

I use the five star rating rarely, but sometimes there’s seem to be no other way to express your gratitude towards the music. As it is with Archaisms I, the duo of Tyshawn Sorey and Adam Rudolph from 2023, the second release under the same name, this is a small masterpiece on its own. Whether it is a duo or an expanded version of it…

This time the original duo is surely expanded by like minded artists Sae Hashimoto and Russel Greenberg of the experimental duo Yarn/Wire and Levy Lorenzo of the ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble). I got puzzled by Sorey’s comment that Archaisms II still, at least in parts, is a duo. On a first listen, I believe, the recording (two side long tracks on vinyl called Archaisms Γ and Archaisms Δ) seems more open just by the addition of the three artists. The hidden antithesis here is that Archaisms I was a totally open recording, but, again, why this comment?

After repeated listening I realized what was obvious from the beginning but my preconceived ideas about the music made me fail to understand. All the different voices in this recording, on both tracks, serve the same purpose of interaction and playing in unison. Even though the first side of it is mostly Sorey and Rudolph, while the second track is conducted more collaboratively, there is a strong cohesion between the artists and the music. The main focus is the expansion of the initial vision about the music.

The music on Archaisms II definitely engulfs the word free but, certainly, is not free jazz, if you want to label it. Apart from a certain amount of skill involved (not only in producing the music but also in the way to interact and play collectively), the music involves a lot of listening, connecting and understanding each other’s language. Experimental it is, but not in the way of this genre needs to typify, in order to sell, music. Quite the contrary, experimental in the way we experiment and improvise every step in our way to live each day.

Listen here:

 

 

Michalis Siganidis – Dead Slow (defkaz, 2024)

I must state right from the start that this album had a transcendence affect on me after repeated listening. I, still, can’t be sure if its Siganidis’ organic and aggressive (reminding me, for some personal and incomprehensible reason, Fred Hopkins) approach towards the double bass (he also plays electric bass on Dead Slow) or the conjunction with the fx and loops by Jannis Anastasakis. To be honest, from some point on, I just wondered around in my head with the music, not trying to differentiate, or cut into smaller parts, the final result.

Dead Slow is a great achievement for defkaz as it is, along with what goes on abroad, documenting the current stream of music coming from Greece. Siganidis is one of the important figures in Greek modern music –call it free jazz, improvisation, experimental or whatever else.

Putting the double bass totally into the foreground is not an easy task. Both mentally and physically. I so much enjoy its so many qualities (especially its percussive nature), so I must comment that I prefer the parts where the electric bass is not present…The organic playing of both musicians, the way they create cinematic atmospheres of aggression and relaxation at the same time cancel the boundaries of “two” musicians playing, creating a sole entity of music. Siganidis’ clusters of rhythm might be the core of Dead Slow, but the surrounding ambience never fails to remind that this is a duo.

I’m talking about ambience here, a word that usually describes environments, but the music on Dead Slow is mostly esoteric, sounds, chords and electronic vignettes that struggle, and certainly need, to be heard. By us, who exist outside of their minds. And they do. Dead Slow is great and, again, is on vinyl.

Listen here:

 

@koultouranafigo