Jeff Kaiser-Andrew Pask: The Choir Boys

Sound sojourners Jeff Kaiser and Andrew Pask create unique sonic landscapes on The Choir Boys, utilizing both the instrumental expertise for which they are known as well as tapping their broader ambitions with live processing. The music ranges from ambient electronic to industrial Stockhausen, with plenty of hard blowing along the way.

Pask begins with his bass pennywhistle, processed while he plays. The swirling and smearing goes from a pan pipes sound to an impending storm. When the whistle is put aside, low rumbling machines dominate. Clarinet rises from the electric shower and participates as one sound among many. "Dim Effigies begins with a sound like dental work gone terribly wrong. An elaboration on Japanese noise music, a startling metallic drone creates the backdrop for Pask's blistering alto improv. After a solo muse, rich oily electronic sound wavers slightly, with Pask's calming bleep becoming looped and distorted.

Vocal clarinet opens "Carbon Icon, with Kaiser's muted trumpet giving rapid chase. Small electronic flashes mar the monolithic drone. Pask again weaves clarinet through the burbling background. Kaiser, processed almost beyond recognition, sets "The Variability of Stammering Arrows in motion. His muted tones circulate through the speakers with distorted echoes. Pask's clarinet then feeds the altering software more tones. Kaiser puts his horn through its paces with loops and distortions coming back at him. Kaiser, with Pask on soprano, plays it out.

On "Blue Air Habit Pask's tenor plays off instant reworkings of his own phrases, triggering otherworldly responses. Interdimensional drones with altered sax ruminations end it. A slightly modified duo, "Tumbling Abstention, takes Kaiser on some lip-shredding passages that bounce back. "Reliquaries features an uncluttered improvised duet with clarinet and trumpet.

After releasing his large and complex Alchemical Mass, Kaiser demonstrates with this collaboration with Pask his ability to swing from stars in a duet setting as well.