Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Tim Olive & Alfredo Costa Monteira: 33 bays

2

Tim Olive & Alfredo Costa Monteira: 33 bays

By

View read count
Tim Olive & Alfredo Costa Monteira: 33 bays
33 bays is the second release from the duo of Canadian guitarist Tim Olive and Portuguese electro-acoustic artist Alfredo Costa Monteiro, following their previous A Theory of Possible Utterance (Zeromoon, 2011). On 33 bays, Olive plays one-string electric guitar plus electronics, while Monteiro uses electro-acoustic devices. The album was recorded live in the studio with no overdubs, in Kyoto, in October 2009, during a Japanese tour. Over several days the pair recorded a number of pieces of which only two were selected for this album, those two running for just under 28 and 16 minutes respectively.

As is so often true with albums where more than one participant is employing electronics, it is often impossible to determine who is responsible for any particular sound. The only sounds that can safely be attributed (to Olive) are those of an amplified guitar string being struck and scraped. Otherwise, the combination of the contributions is best judged as a totality. Not long into the first untitled track, there is a prolonged passage of a sound reminiscent of stone being scraped; as that is not in accordance with the credit for either player, it is best to appreciate the sound in context without being too concerned about its source; an observation that is true of the whole album.

Although their individual contributions often cannot be identified, the whole does sound like two artists playing together, responding sensitively to each other and interacting with one another. Electronically, they generate a huge array of sounds that go way beyond "pure" electronic sounds—sine waves, white noise etc—and are reminiscent of real world sounds such as stones being scraped or percussion being rattled.

The duo seems comfortable working with long durations, slowly building up its soundscapes and then letting them evolve slowly and organically without feeling compelled to introduce any sudden or dramatic changes. So, there are no nasty surprises or shocks. Rather, this is rich, detailed music that can serve different purposes: it can function as ambient, background music that can "just be there" without acting as a disturbance or irritant; but, if given full attention, it contains sufficient detail to command attention and repay repeated listens, offering something new each time.

Track Listing

Two untitled tracks.

Personnel

Tim Olive
electronics

Tim Olive: guitar, electronics; Alfredo Costa Monteiro: electro-acoustic devices.

Album information

Title: 33 bays | Year Released: 2012 | Record Label: 845 Audio

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.