Donkey: Show

Despite the unfortunate name, Hans Fjellestad and Damon Holzborn don’t make asses themselves here.

On this series of live recordings, these two members of San Diego’s Trummerflora Collective explore the netherworld of electroacoustic improvisation, noise art and free form jazz. The majority of these pieces might be interpreted as simply being soundscapes but these aren’t passive synthesized washes. There is astringent, menacing tone to them. Fjellestad and Holzborn manipulate their hard wired instruments with a bracing intensity, shifting between outright sheets of noise and more modulated orchestral patterns.

But the two don’t limit themselves to the electronic realm and on "Piso Mojado" are joined by clarinetist Matt Ingelis, who also picks up a violin on "Barrel Filler."

"Piso Mojado" is a convergence of acoustic guitar, clarinet and electronics that without the electronics is reminiscent of the jagged and terse exchanges between Anthony Braxton and Derek Bailey’s First Duo Concert (London 1974) .

The piece also helps to illuminate the way in which Fjellestad and Holzborn tackle their spirited interplay electronically. This is music that is just as capable of growling as it is signaling the landing of a alien spaceship.

This is not jazz in the conventional sense of the word, but more in the spirit of constructing adventurous sounds in the moment, irregardless of genre and style.