Rammel, Hal

Midwest Disquiet

Label: Penumbra Country: USA

"As a visual artist, composer, and performer Hal Rammel has been designing and building unusual one-of-a-kind musical instruments since the mid 1970s. The amplified palette - first constructed in 1991 - is simply an artist's palette with various wood and metal rods attached to be played with mallets or bows specifically designed for the instrument. Amplified with a contact microphone it generates sounds which on first hearing may be likened to a mbira ('thumb piano') or to a prepared piano or - when played with a bow - to a cello or viola.

Midwest Disquiet is Hal Rammel's first solo recording on the amplified palette since the release of the Crouton 10" Like Water Tightly Wound early in 2007. Solo recordings of the instrument are few and far between. Only the set of three 7" singles Lost Data from 2006 and the 1994 collection Elsewheres (all released by Penumbra Music) round out its sparse discography.

On Midwest Disquiet the unique timbal qualities of the palette are carefully explored from the rough growls of "Throttle and Disregard" to soft percussive rattling on "Distance So Vivid." Six performances round out this 50 minutes disc, including two variations on "The Undiscovered" and an extended all-percussion piece titled "Distance so Vivid," all captured in an intimate detailed recording mastered at Chicago 's Experimental Sound Studio."-Penumbra Music

Regarding Hal Rammel's previous amplified palette recordings:

"This is music for which descriptions are useless - a record that by its existence alone fails a description merely in words. Accompanied by a photograph of his invention and a detailed description of the process, it comes as beautifully packaged as the music contained inside. In a nutshell, an instant classic record."-GAZETTE

"The music retains a ruminative character but balances careful consideration with a willingness to just let things happen and see what transpires. The results are simply lovely, deep and, for some of us, intensely nostalgic."-Bagatellen