RIO/AVANT-PROG

I have long moved past being amazed at the artists discovered by Cuneiform and their seemingly endless mission to make music available which the vast majority of people will ignore or decry, as what they do is so incredibly essential for those of us who understand and long may they continue doing so. Did you know it is their 40th anniversary this year?

Right from the opening we understand we are into something quite special as here is a band who have improvisation at their heart but are approaching it from a quite different angle to many of the bands as this is not jazz, but something darker and more experimental, angular and with many edges as they refuse to conform to expectations and produce something which is very left field indeed, even for the then somewhat resurgent progressive scene. It is as if King Crimson have decided to work at their most extreme experimental boundaries and then they have brought in influences from their previous genres to create something which is difficult to listen to, being quite obnoxious and challenging. However, it is also essential as one needs to understand just what rocky path the guys are going to be taking next, how it is going to diverge and split again as they continue up the tricky terrain, never taking the easy route. Having brothers in a band is always a benefit as they know exactly how each other thinks and where they are going to go, but the others are also joined into that mindset so while there are times when they let the listeners in on the secret with more melodic passages there are plenty of ideas where they act as a guide to us who are totally lost.

This is my first experience of NeBeLNeST, but I can see at some point I need to check out their other releases as well, as some 25 years after this was first released this is still an essential work for those of us who want our prog to be uncompromising and totally left field.

While this is still solidly RIO with a refusal to conform to any set norms or styles, there is no doubt they felt inspired to bring the guitars more to the fore than previously. This means that some of the music moves into more of a prog metal style and listening to the opening of "This Is My Wife" one realises this has much more in common with Zappa than one might expect before moving more into a metal and avant mix than even he might imagine before dropping into a wonderfully emotional fretless bass and percussion duet. It is the sheer breadth of styles they embody which makes this such a fascinating release, from a duo who are more than happy to be fully instrumental when the mood takes them, bringing in vocals when they feel the time is right. It is difficult to comprehend it is just the two of them creating this soundscape as it feels much more like a full band, with people bouncing ideas off each other as opposed to spending countless hours in a studio creating this line by line, thread by thread.

They seamlessly switch between prog which is more mainstream and the avant garde, often within the same song, making for very interesting listening indeed as one never knows which path the music is going to take, only that one cannot expect a musical pattern to be followed bar to bar, and even when one gets lulled into a false sense of security such as with the bass on "Pollock" one is sure it is soon to change into something quite different. Overall this is a fascinating album which progheads will do well to discover.

UNREST found classical trained bassoonist / oboist Lindsay Cooper fresh out of Comus and replacing saxophonist Geoff Leigh which in the process took the band into an entirely new direction as she would become a key member in the band's distinct Rock In Opposition repertoire. After a lengthy demanding tour with Faust, the band lacked enough newly composed material for the duration of a second album, therefore UNREST found HENRY COW upping their free improv game significantly and finding clever new ways of extending limited material into sprawling and mind-blowing musical motifs that were as dramatic as they were intimidating. Perhaps the most notable examples of HENRY COW's bizarre sense of reinterpretation comes with the opening "Bittern Storm Over Ulm" which deconstructs The Yardbird's B-side blues rock "Got To Hurry" and resurrects it as an unrecognizable display of progressive rock and avant-garde jazz freakery. Cooper's distinct oboe style immediately sets the album apart from its predecessor.

The following "Half Asleep_Half Awake," a John Greaves contribution is perhaps the most "normal" of the diverse swath of sounds and styles offered on UNREST with the most consistent bass groove and the only track to cop a bit of the Canterbury jazz vibe that traversed the debut thus adding a touch of warmth and familiarity before launching into some of the most alienating soundscapes of the HENRY COW playbook. The Frith penned "Ruins" shifts gears completely by evoking the classical world of Hungarian classical composer Béla Bartók and adopting his use of Fibonacci number sequences to forge the abstruse beats and harmonic orchestral effect which in conjunct with the avant-rock guitar and jazz accompaniments offered a bizarre mishmash of a rock-based futurism the early pioneers of rock and roll never could've envisaged in their wildest dreams. After a jittery and skronky display of contrapuntal excess, the track takes a hairpin turn into the world of 20th century classical before reprising the unique chamber music effect and finally an energetic rock-fueled outburst that cedes into a etheric sustain closing sequence.

While primarily favoring a penchant for the trenchant instrumental workouts with improvised tape manipulations and pushing the musical avant-garde to the excesses of the extreme, "Linguaphone" showcases some rare vocal contributions albeit in wordless utterances in the context of chaotic noisy effects in the vein of Faust only augmented by Cooper's oboe sprinklings and Cutler's spasmodic percussive accents with pointillistic appearances of other band members channeling their inner Stockhausen. "Upon Entering The Hotel Adlon," a titular reference to a hotel in Berlin where German occultists started The Third Reich, showcases the most energetic display of rock run amok found on the album with spastic drumming patterns accompanied by frenetic free jazz saxophone squawking and bat[&*!#] crazy bass thumping seemingly displaying every conceivable time signature move coalescing all under the guise of a single track. The short "Arcades" offers a comedown moment with sparse instrumentation that slowly oozes angular rhythms and discordant sustain power.

As the album winds down with the Greaves 1972 composition "Don't Disturb Me" and deconstructed to only be resurrected in the form of "Deluge," the band pulls out their best sprinkling effects over a stabilizing bass groove which finds sputtering sounds bleeping in and out of existence while slinking sax naughtiness slithers to and fro between the cracks thus concluding one of the wildest prog experimentalism of the mid-1970s. UNREST fittingly describes its contents well as a menagerie of manic effulgence with a keen sense of uncompromising creativity. Add to that the amazing adaptability of eking out an entire album's worth of innovatory musical developments with only a handful of precomposed scores to work with. The improvisational skills were as impressive as the musical breadth of this team of musical agents seemingly operating out of a completely different world than any other act of the day.

While UNREST truly can be considered the pinnacle of avant-prog liberties run taken to the apex of creative freedom with no attempts to pacify the music normies of the era, it certainly latches on to the subconscious which picks up on the hidden patterns and structures and beckons for a deeper understanding. Perhaps one of those albums nobody will truly comprehend, it was certainly one that firmly established that HENRY COW was no one-trick pony, or should i say moo moo cow and had the chops to deliver an ever-evolving stylistic approach that seemed to have no limits. Although it requires a number of active listening exposures to even begin to sink in, UNREST is an acquirable taste that reveals much more than random noise chatter shrieking by in chaotic procession. Woefully ahead of its time, HENRY COW and albums like UNREST required several decades for zealots of extreme music to fully appreciate. While not as immediate as "Legend" nor as perfectly structured as "Western Culture," UNREST and its propensity to set sail across the vastness of what the world of sound had to offer resulted in some extraordinarily fascinating albeit bizarre musical experiments.

Once again this was primarily the workings of former Henry Cow members Lindsay Cooper who composed the music and Chris Cutler who wrote the song texts which as the debut delved into Marxist politics and personal alienation. Zeena Parkins returns with her array of electric and prepared harps, accordion and on this second album offers something new with an e-bow guitar. The most striking difference between the two NEWS FROM BABEL albums is in the vocal department. Dagmar Krause dominated the debut but this time around only appeared as a guest on the two ending tracks "Victory" and "Anno Mirabilis."

In fact five vocalists in all appear including Robert Wyatt on four tracks, future English film director Sally Potter on two tracks and Phil Minton who was a guest trumpeter on the debut but on this one makes a reprise as a lead vocalist on one track. Guest musician Bill Gilonis also contributes the occasional bass and guitar sounds when needed. Given the diversity of vocal styles on LETTERS HOME, this second coming doesn't offer the same consistency that albums by Art Bears or "Sirens and Silences / Work Resumed on the Tower" and although Robert Wyatt is a Canterbury avant-gardist legend, somehow his frail vocal style sounds totally out of place in the presence of a style of music pretty much built around Krause's unique singing style.

Another major point of separation is that LETTERS HOME seems to rely a lot more on the cabaret aspects of the NEWS FROM BABEL sound with the rock and jazz counterparts placed a little bit behind the scenes. The roaming through the avant-prog jungle approach of the debut also seems to have been tamped down a few notches with a greater emphasis on repetitive catchy motifs that establish and underbelly before unleashing the crazy counterpoints. All of this conspires to create a completely different album than its predecessor but unfortunately just doesn't rise to the same level of perfection to my ears. The album evokes the hodgepodge effect with a nonchalant randomness to the moods the different vocalists bring to the table.

It's certainly a brilliant album musically speaking with the same knotty angular nuttiness that the debut offered and plenty of blistering complexities laced like a time signature playground where no rules have been established. Pretty much anything Lindsay Cooper and Chris Cutler touched guaranteed a high quality alienating effect that no other musicians have even come close to replicating in the same manner. A slight step down in the inconsistency department as i find the vocal choices to work against the continuity rather than enhance it. Personally i would've rather seen Dagmar Krause as the sole diva in the house on this one but as it is it's still an excellent slice of high quality avant-prog which at this stage ended yet one more chapter in the extended Henry Cow playbook.

We have 34 songs, a running time more than 90 minutes, and a trio out to break your brain. This is not music to put on and relax to, or play in the background, it has the intensity and drive of punk, mixed with King Crimson at their most eclectic, Art Zoyd, Can and so much more. There is RIO, mathcore, prog metal, a refusal to conform to standard tunings, melodies, or time signatures with all that matters is the connection between the three musicians who are so in sync with each other that one can only wonder how many hours they spent together honing their craft. This is not music which will ever find a wide audience, but those who understand what is happening in front of their ears know their minds have been expanded by experiencing something which is very different indeed.

There is an intense ferocity at play, uncompromising and abrasive, with music often played staccato at pace, with little room for pleasantries as they take the ideas of Zappa and Beefheart and move them to a whole new plane. The only way to enjoy this is to leave your preconceptions of what music should sound like at the door and open your mind to something very different indeed. You need to understand that it is unlikely you will enjoy this when you play this the first time, but for those who are willing to give this the time this is something very special.

I have been following the music of Roz Vitalis for well over a decade now, and there is no doubt they are one of my very favourite Russian bands, but one is never quite sure in what direction they are going to lead us, and this album finds us in a different mood to what I normally expect. While there are still RIO elements, there are less of the modern classical (although some songs, such as "Fountain", still demonstrate those roots), and in many ways this release finds the band both experimenting with their sound and becoming somewhat more commercial. This means it is one of the easiest of their albums to enjoy the first time it is played, and I certainly do not agree with some of the comments I have seen regarding the content, arrangements or production as while this may not be as dynamic and off the wall as their wonderful live albums, they are a quite a different band in the studio and this is far more reflective.

This is their eleventh studio release, and it is nice to see a band continuing to explore what they wish to achieve and how they are going about it as opposed to going through the motions. I continue to be excited when I see they have a new release available and while this may not be as essential as some of theirs, it is still one I have enjoyed immensely and isn't that what listening to music is supposed to be about?

Asceta is an ensemble from Chile who would perfectly fit-in in that description. Formed in 2020, they have now released two studio albums where concepts such as avant-garde, chamber music, rock in oposition (RIO) lie, and though yeah, we could label their musical style, what they create is full of freedom.

For this second released entitled 'Erebus, la suite de las sombras', the 7-piece ensemble (and their two guest musicians) developed a 50-minute album where darkness reigns, where a somber and tense atmosphere leads the path to an spiritual realization. The album starts with 'Preludio' and yeah, I can tell they have been influenced by acts such as Art Zoyd or Univers Zero. The music sounds like a nightmare, however, there are moments of tranquility which, in fact, could be confusing, however this musical journey could be a simile to our own life journey.

'Pseudo-fonía del tormento' is an exquisite track where we can appreciate how good the ensemble understand each other, we can hear every of the instruments played in a great way, clean, pure and emotional. Violins, bassoon, cello, piano, drums and much more, all adding their grain of sound and also creating colorful moments, because though we can clearly listen to some obscure grey passages, there are several instants where their diversity of sounds provoke brighter atmospheres and color palettes.

'Concilio de brujas' is a beautiful and surprising track, because I thought it would be another passage where obsurity reigns, but no, here we perceive a shiny, cheerful meeting where calm takes over. Love the wonderful amalgam between strings and winds. But when the next track arrives, darkness and tension are implemented once again. This is an extraordinary epic track divided in two, first 'El hereje y el devoto' brings what RIO is about, music with no boundaries, with high quality and with a considerable amount of difficulty (both, to play and to dig). I love the music changes, so challenging, so full of quality and personality. There is a constant dialogue between the instruments, but I highlight the work of flute and clarinet creating the brighter side, while bassoon and cello defend the darker side. 'Profanos y arcanos' is quite interesting because it is a mixture of colors, nuances and emotions, we can create some images in our heads, I can picture a meeting of gods and ascetics, who are dialoguing in order to live in harmony. This is a great track.

'En lo alto y en el abismo' has a more vertiginous rhythm and sound, the faster the more tense, drums here are wonderful throughout the track, delicate but intense, fabulous. Of course that softer piano moment also caught my attention here, but later where the passages explode, it is exquisite to listen to the strings at unison developing the song's different episodes.

'Por sobre mi cadáver' is a great example of a proggy avant-garde track. I love its short and constant changes in tempo and mood, it can sound a bit chaotic, and maybe its intended, but what I love is their capacity of bringing brief moments of disguised tranquility and then embrace us with the chaos once again. The album finishes with 'La danza de los condenados' in which the rhythm in moments, represent a dance indeed, "dance of the damned", it could perfectly work for a silent film. So after the different passages of the album, where light and darkness where shared, the ascets have nothing left but accepting their fate, and live under Erebus' rules.

A great album from this Chilean ensemble. Applauses!