Martin Küchen & Herman Müntzing Scheibenhonig Duo at Swieta Krowa (14.04)

I arrived bit late for this one but still got to see more than a half of a very long 1st set (around 80 minutes). It was Martin Kuchen's name that attired me to the event although I knew well it would be something completely else than the music he plays with Angles or Trespass Trio (fabulous bands by the way). With Herman Muntzing he would create a long electro-acoustic improvisation that had clearly nothing to do with jazz. It would be indeed hard to say what had it to do with.

When I entered the place I could see both Martin and Herman sitting on the floor of the stage, both surroundered by all kinds of objects, somewhat of an installation. With all kinds of drones buzzing and bugging at the end of your head they would create a spare, minimal, meditative and hypnotic sonic enviroment. In a way that every, usually circumstantiall, aspect of sound is valid, every hiss, click, noise, whisper. Something that is completely zen, pure, floating over the reality.

This is sound creation where all of the aspects of traditional music get mixed. It is as much about the visual and stage performance. It is all about sounds not notes, not rhythms, harmonies or else. Texture is both form and substance. Where repetitions that appear seem to follow some secretive mathematic equations. Where sound is trandescent. Where instrument is treated like an object (body of an instrument used to produce the sound), but also any object can become an instrument.

The most accurate review of the concert could well be just a complete catalogue of objects on the stage, I managed only to make a part of those. A toothbrush, 3 electric toothbrushes, glass, metal plate, metal bowl, knife, plastic tubes, shoe cleaning brushes, toy car, razo machine, pocket radio... Especially Herman's electronic installation is impressive as he wires simple objects and throug some kind of amplifications creates different waves by touching those with different objects. Imagine reverb of the sound without the send, magnified thousand times...

For the second set they clear some of the stage, leave only a handfull of accessories and invite Michal Dymny (guitar improviser from Krakow I've written about already on couple of occasions: here for example). He adds more dynamics to the proceedings, the sound are more busy, the texture is dense and deep. And he proves  as able in experimental ways of guitar plucking as he straps the strings with a wire, plays on them through a metal plate or us a mini-fan. The 'music' is also meditative but more in a trans way, not just floating but also disturbing the air and more energetic set, making for a good balance of the entire concert.

Inspiring and unique experience. And that is probably the ultimate goal of this kind of art. Not music, not performance but common experience of an entirely different reality.

Martin Kuchen - alto sax and objects

Herman Muntzing - balalajka, self-made electronic and string devices, objects

Michal Dymny - guitar, objects

Swieta Krowa (Holy Cow); Krakow; 14.04

Ray Dickaty, Michal Dymny, Tomasz Choloniewski at Cafe Bethel – 9.12

Now this came to my attention at the very last moment (thank Facebook for invitations :) and while both Michal and Tomasz are active on local improvisor's stage in Krakow and I knew their playing, Ray Dickaty was a new name, quick look around the web and I was already curious about hearing improvise a guy who played with a rock band – Spiritualized, and visit to his myspace page reaffirmed my decision to go to the place.

Ray plays tenor, Michal is on electric guitar with an array of strange or common objects (plastick sticks, metal plate, electric razor, comb) and Tomasz, apart from regular drums set, a table full of metal bowls (looking Ikea) and enamel pots (from Olkusz) that played with drumsticks sounds a bit like marimba maybe. They start and guitar puts in the rhythmic drive with fingers drumming the bass strings, then moving to more spare notes, disjointed, abstract. The music gets a nice forward drive provided by Tomasz or Michal, sometimes both, with rock dynamic and its immediacy sometimes coming forward. Great group interplay, sometimes playing some kind of musical catch and run, at other moments longing howls short sound outbursts on saxophone over drone background provided by electric noises on strings. Group moving swiftly between hushed and overblown, melodic labirynths and some simple two or three notes motives, tribal or rock drumming and rhythm-less sounds with pulse all over the place, like dots and lines on some abstract painting. Never staying too long in one place, creating a series of miniatures, divided into pieces (1 st set, 4 improvs), or linking them one to another with some sudden turns and twists (2 nd set, 1 suite-like improv). With saxophone quite often in the background and Michal on guitar taking the lead part (finding some great sounds with the guitar on his lap, and metal plate over the strings, drumming on it with fingers, plastick sticks or razor machine). Overall great concert and it's inspiring to see so many places and musicians locally engaged in free improvisation music.

Hopefully the place will stay open for this kind of performance since it was the first (or one of the firsts) events of this kind in there.