MUTA

Bricolage

Label: Al Maslakh Country: Lebanon

"There's nothing rococo or impressionistic about Bricolage's improvisations, which take full sonic advantage of the electronics developed since Cardew's time as an avant gardist. Almost without exception the undercurrent includes variants of processed harp timbres, organ-like layered drones from the sruti box and expanding puffs and verbalism from the flute that grows ever wider as the tunes develop. A prime example of this is "Encilion", which is studded with scrapes and friction produced from unyielding objects; rustling and stopped strings; and what could be the sound of marbles striking dense surfaces. "Driphlith" on the other hand exposes irregular diaphragm-forced breaths from the flutist; inconsistent twangs, plucks and picking from the harpist; and the percussionist demonstrating happens when sticks are rotated, bounced and struck against hard surfaces following jack-hammer-like reverberations.

Nonetheless the most illustrative examples of this triple interface occur during the more-than-13-minutes of adjoining "Llinyn" and "Osgo". Culminating in a slowly vanishing layered ostinato that gives way to a climax of piccolo-pitched tones and percussive clip-clops, the narrative begins with what sounds like an auto motor turning over mixed with pulsating electronic impulses. As acoustic as it is electronic, the first piece also includes heavily vibrated flute multiphonics; resonating multi-string plunks, with the strings further excited by an e-bow; plus watery pops, shuffles and smacks produced by the cumulative use of chimes, claves, a wood block and a cow bell."-Ken Waxman, Jazz Word