Also playing:

Gianni Gebbia (sax), Joel Grip (double-bass), Patrick Farmer (perc) & Dave Thomas (viola)
-
and Angharard Davies (violin) & Dominic Lash (double-bass)

And the whole photoset is here. Thanks to krolique.

Thanks to ma-vijaya.

performance:
fyodor makarov
adam read

music:
danya sinichkin
leva bomstein
slava smelovsky
maya dunietz
grundik kasyansky

obviously everything’s for free download (high resolution OGG)

jack wright, grundik kasyansky - chinese nightingale/ first meeting

Jack and I first played in December 2006. He and his saxophones arrived in our New York apartment early one Saturday afternoon and very soon I found myself involved in a super intense, almost unbearable set, which I recorded (”the first meeting piece”). Since then we played a few times in duet and in different groupings in New York and Philadelphia. In October 2007 Jack came to London. I had moved to UK about two months before and had rented a small flat in Clapham South. Jack was in the early stage of his latest Europe tour, while I was recovering after the long intercontinental move. My electronic setup was recovering from the move too, so I decided to use small acoustic objects instead (a bunch of brushes, music boxes, pencil shaper, grains, leaves and a boiled egg). Barbara - Jack’s wife - who witnessed this session, suggested that the music we played could serve as a soundtrack for Jan Svankmajer animations. I am not sure about it, I like his original soundtracks, but I think the music we played was funny. Somehow it resonated in me with the famous Max Ernst collage, so I proposed to call these recordings “The Chinese Nightingale”.

22:30,

Live at Levontin 7,

Tel-Aviv

Slava Smelovsky VB #1 -

Slava Smelovsky VB #2 -

פרק השלישי -

Slava Smelovsky VB #4 -

Slava Smelovsky VB #5 - 

Performing as simply Grundik + Slava, this pair has released several albums since beginning their partnership in 1994 though this is my first exposure to them. Arriving in one of the more needlessly aggravating packages I’ve seen (more annoying than those old Mort aux Vaches discs!), one is mollified somewhat by the inclusion of some neat little sepia-toned cards drawn by Igor Krutogolov. And the music’s pretty good as well.

Sixteen shortish tracks covering a wide range with portions of the text based on letters by the Russian surrealist poet Daniil Kharms. The opener is quite attractive, featuring some vaguely rhythmic accordion pumpings, Theremin-like wails and other odds and ends behind Slava’s deep but distracted voice, recalling Robert Ashley’s dream monologues. This approach would seem to be fitting for a homage to Kharms and indeed several of the better pieces possess an oneiric quality wherein a tonal element—single piano notes, for example—are played off against rougher, more environmental noises, as though the keyboard sounds are wending their way through a dark, slightly threatening field. A dreamlike, floating feeling accompanies much of the music, a voice wafting in the distance (sometimes Russian, sometimes English), hollow, windy roars, the plinking of a music box hammering out “Lullaby and Goodnight”. The works move in and out of focus, the sharply limned ones contrasting that much more with the blurrier examples, again evoking the pleasant, only mildly troubling feeling of a confused reverie. There’s even sitar! And is that an ocarina I hear? It’s a hodgepodge but an oddly effective one and well worth a listen.

Rruido’s website appears to be nonfunctional at the moment, but interested listeners can probably get more info about the disc from Grundik + Slava’s site

And keep in mind a hopefully upcoming release by Kasyansky and the Argentinean guitarist Leandro Barzabal; it’s a beaut.

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