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Hans Koch / Frantz Loriot / Jonas Kocher: Stranger Becoming
by Mark Corroto
The title says it all, Stranger Becoming. Not “becoming stranger," but Stranger Becoming as in unusual yet attractive or tasteful. That certainly is a perfect descriptor for the music generated by the trio of Hans Koch(clarinet), Frantz Loriot (viola), and Jonas Kocher (accordion). All three have a background in classical music which serves as the foundation for the sound of this session. From that cornerstone the trio delves into free improvisations on these six tracks. Their music is ...
read moreFlin van Hemmen: You Can Know Where The Bombs Fell
by Mark Corroto
The Dutch-born guitarist turned drummer turned pianist turned studio sound engineer Flin van Hemmen follows Casting Spells & The Coves (Neither/nor Records, 2019) with You Can Know Where The Bombs Fell, another artifact of his post production and processing of recorded sound. He makes use of samples from the Casting Spells sessions, but unlike that release, the individual voices of Todd Neufeld and Eivind Opsvik are only barely recognizable. This outing is more field recording, best described as the the ...
read moreFlin van Hemmen: Casting Spells & The Coves
by Mark Corroto
If you live in the US you might have seen a television commercial for a mortgage company that utilizes Bob Dylan's composition “The Man In Me." Did the advertising firm choose this song because music gives us a sense of a shared experience? Certainly. Was the experience from the original Dylan recording New Morning (Columbia, 1977), or more likely, the shared occurrence come from the the soundtrack to the cult film The Big Lebowski. Does this use make mortgages cool? ...
read moreHåvard Volden / Carlo Costa: In the Wake
by Jakob Baekgaard
How would it sound if the American primitive guitar of John Fahey met the avant-garde of abstract jazz improvisation in the wilderness? Guitarist Håvard Volden and drummer Carlo Costa give the answer on their album In the Wake. The cover by Brooke Herr is an image of an abstract seascape that resides somewhere between the referential image and a manipulation that goes beyond the image. The same thing goes for the music that uses the recognizable sounds ...
read moreWhile We Still Have Bodies: While We Still Have Bodies
by Tyran Grillo
While We Still Have Bodies names the collaboration of trombonist Ben Gerstein, bassist Sean Ali, saxophonist Michael Foster, and percussionist Flin van Hemmen. The more one listens to their spontaneous creations, however, the less important such roster division becomes, receding in deference to forces without proper name. To achieve such effect is no small task, for it requires a selflessness that can only come from musicians who understand themselves.In this hour-long free improvisation consisting of tape collages, lo-fi ...
read moreWhile We Still Have Bodies: While We Still Have Bodies
by Mark Corroto
Has music always been about making something from nothing? Before the invention of instruments, birds sang and nature kept time. Jimi reminded us, “and the wind cried Mary." Before notes on a page, there was just blank paper, after notes, came improvisation and things got interesting. Class dismissed.I'm betting the quartet While We Still Have Bodies follows the lesson above, applying the concept of devolution. Not the classical definition of transfer of rights, powers, property to another, but ...
read moreSean Ali: My Tongue Crumbles After
by Karl Ackermann
Improvisational bassist Sean Ali began his musical life as a guitarist, studying sitar and oud along the way. The Ohio native has been in New York City for more than a decade now and performs as a solo bassist, an ensemble player, and a spoken-word artist. He is the founder of The Mudbath Orchestra, a large ensemble that has been performing in and around NYC since 2011. My Tongue Crumbles After is Ali's solo bass debut album and features eight ...
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