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ANDY MOOR / KAFFE MATTHEWS, "LOCKS"
Guitarist Andy Moor is best known for frenetic harrangues in the Ex andDogfaced Hermans. His idiosyncratic six string scratchings getreprocessed via Kaffe Matthews computer on these recordings ofimprovised encounters. Matthews mutates the raw angular attack andchime of Moor's guitar into loops, drones and static buzz which Moorresponds to in turn.
Matthews sometimes just loops a two tone fragment,at others crushes the guitar into thin spidery high pitcheddigi-screech. Veering from rattling unwinding machine cog splintersthrough short patches of sparse plucking hum calm to loose freeformthunderous excavation textures, they stay just ahead of thrummingabstraction with some odd but simple rhythmic moves that skip merrilyaround complex dissonant edges, unfurling repetitive patterns,coalescing and fragmenting. They make a fine unfettered noise and knowhow to effectively build and release tension. Whilst "She Is Nice"charges forth in hectic flux, "Builder Bloomsberg" opens with arepeated dipping strum over click clack loops that slowly morph into afluctuating bipolar drone where the sound sources seem to merge. ThenMoor builds an ever more discordant fractious guitar onslaught overMatthews' pulsating loops. The track climaxes with the computer rippingthe strings from the guitar and strangling an unsuspecting studioengineer. So that didn't really happened but since this is a recordingimagination can color the events it portrays. Kaffe Matthews' last solorecording to reach these ears 'CD Cecile,' seemed to dispense with theviolin that she'd previously used as a sound source, at least in anyrecognisable form, so it's quite good to hear her take on the guitarhere. Mostly guitar remains recognisable as such, but occasionally, ason the low drone eerie ambience that concludes "Here Is Your Coat," thelaptop textures seem to hold sway. This would probably be much more funif you could see how Andy Moor's attacking the guitar as he's quite avisual performer if his days in Dogfaced Hermans are anything to go by.Something I find a little strange about recordings of improvisation isthat they often grow with repeated listenings. This might seem tocontradict the essence of improvisation, which is instantaneous actionand reaction, but perhaps makes sense of the point of actuallyreleasing improv recordings in the first place. At first this CD seemedto out stay its welcome at almost the full seventy minute mark, butafter a few plays seemed to be over in a flash. Maybe the machine cogswere the atonal sounds of time compacting and unravelling.Occasionally, as on the Instant Chavires gig segment of "Here Is YourCoat," it's almost like a lighter fleet footed cousin of the heavyrecord shop emptying storm of the FM Einheit / Caspar Brotzmannencounter preserved on 'Merry Christmas.' If you ever wanted to hearthe spikiness of the Ex in a much less anchored setting then this issomething you should hear and I'd also recommend that fans of SonicYouth's more wayward freakout tendencies check this out. -
Matthews sometimes just loops a two tone fragment,at others crushes the guitar into thin spidery high pitcheddigi-screech. Veering from rattling unwinding machine cog splintersthrough short patches of sparse plucking hum calm to loose freeformthunderous excavation textures, they stay just ahead of thrummingabstraction with some odd but simple rhythmic moves that skip merrilyaround complex dissonant edges, unfurling repetitive patterns,coalescing and fragmenting. They make a fine unfettered noise and knowhow to effectively build and release tension. Whilst "She Is Nice"charges forth in hectic flux, "Builder Bloomsberg" opens with arepeated dipping strum over click clack loops that slowly morph into afluctuating bipolar drone where the sound sources seem to merge. ThenMoor builds an ever more discordant fractious guitar onslaught overMatthews' pulsating loops. The track climaxes with the computer rippingthe strings from the guitar and strangling an unsuspecting studioengineer. So that didn't really happened but since this is a recordingimagination can color the events it portrays. Kaffe Matthews' last solorecording to reach these ears 'CD Cecile,' seemed to dispense with theviolin that she'd previously used as a sound source, at least in anyrecognisable form, so it's quite good to hear her take on the guitarhere. Mostly guitar remains recognisable as such, but occasionally, ason the low drone eerie ambience that concludes "Here Is Your Coat," thelaptop textures seem to hold sway. This would probably be much more funif you could see how Andy Moor's attacking the guitar as he's quite avisual performer if his days in Dogfaced Hermans are anything to go by.Something I find a little strange about recordings of improvisation isthat they often grow with repeated listenings. This might seem tocontradict the essence of improvisation, which is instantaneous actionand reaction, but perhaps makes sense of the point of actuallyreleasing improv recordings in the first place. At first this CD seemedto out stay its welcome at almost the full seventy minute mark, butafter a few plays seemed to be over in a flash. Maybe the machine cogswere the atonal sounds of time compacting and unravelling.Occasionally, as on the Instant Chavires gig segment of "Here Is YourCoat," it's almost like a lighter fleet footed cousin of the heavyrecord shop emptying storm of the FM Einheit / Caspar Brotzmannencounter preserved on 'Merry Christmas.' If you ever wanted to hearthe spikiness of the Ex in a much less anchored setting then this issomething you should hear and I'd also recommend that fans of SonicYouth's more wayward freakout tendencies check this out. - samples:
- For sound samples go and have a look at unsounds.com as Graeme's feeling especially lazy this week.
