actuellecd

Review

Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery, 23 novembre 2007

This has been put for a month or so, but the promo just arrived this week and listening to it, I am glad that it did. This was recorded at the 2005 Victo Festival, which I did attend as I do every year and I did witness this show. Considering that this was three Victo Fests ago, I do remember enjoying it, but not exactly what went down. Both turntablists are Canadian and at least a generation apart. I’ve heard/see Martin Tétreault on a number of occasions, but had only heard of that young whippersnapper, Kid Koala. Martin is known to play his turntable itself and often without using records. For this set, both DJ’s decided to use records and selected certain albums since they were playing on stage in a cinema. Tétreault decided on records by artists that had played at Victo previously like Anthony Braxton, Yamatsuka Eye, Univers Zero, Otomo Yoshihide and Fred Frith. The results are most surprising, often quite fascinating. Each piece is a spicy blend diverse samples. A jazz drum solo, a spoken word demonstration record, static sounds sped up and slowed down, layers of crackling record sounds, odd electronic snippets and assorted sections of music. Themes rarely last very long and both DJ’s work quite well together twisting their sounds into a strong mix. Both are restless improvisers who match wits with striking results. My favorite section is when they work with some old blues records and get into a great earthy groove and still turn things inside out. Word is that some Canadian distributor has already sold some 500 copies, which is even more surprising for a CD of so-called “new music.” Much better that anyone could have anticipated.

The results are most surprising, often quite fascinating.