Suspicious Activity |cs213

Things that give me pause: an awkwardly constructed name (formed from bassists Sean Ali and Pascal Niggenkemper) and 22 tracks on an improvised disc. They explain the latter in notes, differentiating between live performances, where the pieces are lengthier, and the recording where they "wished to present the listener with musical vignettes that could show the variety and diversity of music created with two prepared double basses". Really, not necessary. Interspersed here and there are some strong cuts, especially when the pair get to the darker, woodier realms of there iinstruments, but there's also a lot of busy and effects-driven work with little or no sense of idea development. Hopefully the decide to issue more extended pieces in the future. Brian Olewnick (Just Outside)

Things that give me pause: an awkwardly constructed name (formed from bassists Sean Ali and Pascal Niggenkemper) and 22 tracks on an improvised disc. They explain the latter in notes, differentiating between live performances, where the pieces are lengthier, and the recording where they "wished to present the listener with musical vignettes that could show the variety and diversity of music created with two prepared double basses". Really, not necessary. Interspersed here and there are some strong cuts, especially when the pair get to the darker, woodier realms of there iinstruments, but there's also a lot of busy and effects-driven work with little or no sense of idea development. Hopefully the decide to issue more extended pieces in the future. Brian Olewnick (Just Outside)

L'agacement que l'on peut ressentir devant ce catalogue (assumé au demeurant comme tel, au prétexte de collecter des « vignettes musicales » représentatives) de vingt-deux saynètes improvisées par Sean Ali & Pascal Niggenkemper aux « contrebasses préparées » se dissipe curieusement au fil de ce qu'il faudrait envisager comme un ensemble de diapositives proposant des perspectives différentes sur un même problème – celui qui confine presque à un genre : le duo de contrebasses (Kowald & Parker, Léandre & Saitoh, Guy & Phillips, Dafeldecker & Fussenegger, etc.).

Frappant, sciant, fouettant, vrillant, Niggenkemper (dont on connaît les prouesses chez Clean Feed, Red Toucan ou NoBusiness) & Ali dépassent la simple tentative d'épuisement de la contrebasse : ouf ! Guillaume Tarche (Le Son du Grisli)