The Squid's Ear
Writing about improvised, contemporary, experimental and unusual music,
following the activities of Squidco...
  •  •  •     Join Our Mailing List!



The Squid's Ear




Heard In

Reviews of artist releases:
cd's, books, magazines, &c.


  Humcrush 
  Rest At Worlds End
  (Rune Grammofon) 


  
   review by Max Schaefer
  2009-03-05
Humcrush: Rest At Worlds End (Rune Grammofon)

Ever the youngsters, Elephant 9 and Supersilent keyboardist Stale Storlokken and Food percussionist Thomas Stronen irritate, upset, provoke, enervate, and ultimately inspire with their skilled placement of excessive, bold, and sometimes irrational musical effects in the context of the Norwegian avant-garde jazz scene.

The album is of an innumerable brood, which sees the duo switch quite blithely from blapsy analogue-sounding synth creations, to deeply rounded and fleshly free jazz sounds, and spacily atmospheric pieces. "Stream" dips headfirst into a very loud sound ocean, consisting of a wonderful see-saw dynamism and enough baubled squiggle noise to make anyone remotely sensible want to do headstands. Rhythmic, fragmentary, staccato fragments of gusto and emphatic musicality continue to flash back and forth between the players, enveloping the environment without itself ever quite cohering into an integrated system, thus avoiding all manner of stylistic whatsits.

At this stage, the duo manages to exorcise their experimental demons, but it's done in a manner that is generally compelling, and rarely showy. Both players definitely know how to embellish a line, but, as especially witnessed in later tracks, also know how to remain mute, and how to branch out on their own just long enough.

When the players settle into a more highly integrated music, based on superfluity and pinched prissiness, soothing yet of a certain rigorous looseness, there is a sense in which they have remained faithful to the spirit of the album on a whole. Everywhere Rest At Worlds End is an intimately physical phenomenon, suitably fiery, articulate, probing, and playful.





Comments and Feedback:



More Recent Reviews, Articles, and Interviews @ The Squid's Ear...


The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Eldritch Priest:
Dead-Wall Reveries
(Another Timbre)



Jakob Ullmann:
Solo I/
Solo IV
(Another Timbre)



Ziv Taubenfeld
Full Sun (
Taubenfeld/
Moore/
Buis/
Ku/
Chientaroli/
Heggen/
Govaert):
Nomads
(Full Sun Records)



Jurg Frey with
ensemble]h[iatus:
Je Laisse A La Nuit
Son Poids
D'ombre
(Another Timbre)



John Zorn (
Marsella/
Smith/
Roeder):
Nocturnes
(Tzadik)



Amir ElSaffar/
New Quartet:
Live at
Pierre Boulez Saal
(Maqam Records)



Amir ElSaffar/
New Quartet:
Live at
Pierre Boulez Saal
[VINYL]
(Maqam Records)



Santiago Fischer Diez :
Songs
(Another Timbre)



Rempis/
Adasiewicz/
Corsano:
Dial Up
(Aerophonic)



Fred Frith &
The Gravity Band:
s/t
(Klanggalerie)



Elliott Sharp:
Mare Crisium
(zOaR Records)



Ivo Perelman/
Nate Wooley:
Polarity 4
(Burning Ambulance Music)



Joe McPhee:
Defiant Jazz: a Joe McPhee Taster
[VINYL]
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)



Armaroli/
Piccolo/
Sharp:
Imaginary Songbook
[2 CDs]
(Dodicilune)



Eva Novoa Trio (
w/ Daniel Carter/
Francisco Mela):
The Freedom Suite,
Vol. 2
(577 Records)



Eva Novoa Trio (
w/ Carter/
Mela):
The Freedom Suite,
Vol. 2
[VINYL]
(577 Records)



Fieldwork (
Iyer/
Lehman/
Sorey):
Thereupon
[VINYL]
(Pi Recordings)



Dan Weiss (
w/ Evans/
Okazaki/
Brennan):
Unclassified Affections
(Pi Recordings)



Dan Weiss (
w/ Evans/
Okazaki/
Brennan):
Unclassified Affections
[VINYL 2 LPs]
(Pi Recordings)



Satoko Fujii Quartet (
Fujii/
Tamura/
Yoshida/
Takeharu):
Burning Wick
(Libra)







Squidco
Click here to
advertise with
The Squid's Ear






The Squid's Ear pays its writers.
Interested in becoming a reviewer?




The Squid's Ear is the companion magazine to the online music shop Squidco !


  Copyright © Squidco. All rights reserved. Trademarks. (61870)