Locatelli / Braida

The Big Margotta [VINYL]

Label: Broken Research Country: USA

"This marks the third release for the duo of Alberto Braida and Giancarlo Locatelli, the first being the incredibly austere Diciannove Calefazioni which was our initial introduction to perhaps the premier group of purpose and restraint in improvising music. Big talk I know but the fact is that these two have developed a dialogue thru their long partnership and friendship that stands as reminder of the potential that contemporary improvisation has always held and the manifestation of many of it's myriad possibilities.

Our primary regard for Diciannove Calefazioni [Nineteen Calefactions] and our recent regard for the slightly more boisterous Big Margotta is how well considered their approach to reduction is. Rather than the methodology of Berlin or of Boston, what the group did was to take Beckett's approach to language and apply it to music; that is, to reduce it right to the point of collapse. In Beckett's case language still operates within the rules of grammar and in this duo's case they still operate within the rules of harmony but sans goofball mawkishness, tropes or boring melodicism. If there were fewer notes it wouldn't work and if there were more it would be overbearing. The duo language here is so fleet and well-handled it gives the listener an opportunity to hear experimental music that fulfills both of those qualifications."-Brokenresearch