actuellecd

Particles and Smears

Kevin Drumm, Martin Tétreault

Chicago-based Kevin Drumm (guitar, electronics) and Montréal-based Martin Tétreault (turntables) traveled in separate musical circles, each unaware of the other’s work, until a Chicago-based organization, Lampo, booked Tétreault for a concert with Drumm and the ubiquitous Jim O’Rourke in September of 1999. While Tétreault was in Chicago, he and Drumm spent some time in the studio, and this CD contains the results, as recorded by TV Pow’s Todd Carter. Drumm, best known for his two superb solo records on Perdition Plastics, and Tétreault, best known for his collaborative series of discs on Ambiances Magnetiques with the likes of Otomo Yoshihide and Ikue Mori, meld their techniques seamlessly to form a thoroughly integrated record. While both musicians are more than capable of playing solo sets filled with compelling ideas from beginning to end, here both seem to make a conscious effort to subsume their identities in order to create a greater work. “The often brittle, overwhelmingly tactile sounds which Drumm and Tétreault produce are so finely intertwined it‚s an act of futility to guess whose thwacks, crackles, pops, hums, and squeaks are whose. The duo‚s enjoyment practically oozes from their savvy interactions, as they rigorously reach deeper and deeper into themselves and their instruments to find new noises. But even as they forage, their sense of purpose is never lost. This is free improvisation of the highest level; stunning proof of imagination transcending scrap-heap technique.” -Peter Margasak

CD (ERSTWHILE 006)

  • Label: Erstwhile Records
  • ERSTWHILE 006
  • 2000
  • Total duration: 59:03
  • Jewel case
  • 125 mm × 142 mm × 10 mm
  • 90 g

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