Ignaz Schick / Oliver Steidle: ILOG2

The combination of Berlin based musicians Ignaz Schick and Oliver Steidle, known as ILOG, expands on the concepts of free improvisation with ILOG2 to include, for the lack of a better term, mania. Their frantic, often feverish, improvisations bring to mind both John Zorn's Naked City and William Burroughs' cut-ups. The opening piece, "There Is No Escaping," is a collision of vocal samples, frenetic drumming, and turntable scratches driven by hyper-speed beats. The amazing feat here is this track and the remaining eleven pieces were laid down in real time with no overdubs. The opener, plus "This Is Not A Love Song" and "In Your Face," are the sampling and turntable equivalent to the rapid fire improvisation of Charlie Parker's alto saxophone.

Schick started out as a saxophonist, but has migrated to composing and turntablism. He has worked with a prepared turntable much like an improvising pianist might alter the insides of the instrument with objects. Schick makes sounds by way of a rotating platter, often altering pitch and looping sound. Same for Steidle, whose main instrument is a drum set (think Balázs Pándi) to which he adds percussive objects, samples and loops. Besides the frantic improvisations, the pair trade in pacific dreamscapes such as "Using The Secret," "In Your Face" and puzzling field recordings like "Spanish Ghetto Music Brat." This collaboration takes its cues from DJ culture and free improvisation and artists like John Oswald and the Beastie Boys.

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