Martin Archer founded Discus thirty years ago this year and has pushing the envelope of what we might expect from jazz-based music ever since. Describing itself as the adventurous label, two recent releases that dropped through my letterbox are both vivid sonic adventures that use very different foundations as their jumping-off points.
Das Rad was formed by label boss Martin along with Steve Dinsdale and Nick Robinson as a place for collective composition. Their self-titled album is a long and varied journey that on my first listen I assumed was the work of about seven or eight players, but it is only the three of them. They create an expansive and dense song suite that, with the addition of electronics from all three, pushes the whole thing into experimental territory.
The bouncy synths of opener “Whatever You Want”, allied to a crisp acoustic guitar and flute, make for a propulsive and addictive rhythm. The guitar picks out odd textures and the sax is warm and welcoming. There is space for everybody here, but although I think of Discus as quite a free label, there is structure here that points some of the sounds in a kind of motorik direction. Americana guitars and wandering horns populate “Heisse Rader”, but the addition of a trilling flute lends a pastoral air to this track that is refreshing. The loop experiments on “Canterbury Steps” make it sparse yet meditative and it feels like the soundtrack to an esoteric wildlife show; a creature that is rarely seen being softly pursued through a mysterious landscape. There are elements to some tracks that remind me of Trans Am and their synth-led dash through a darkened cityscape, but here underpinned by guitar that lends it a more interesting feeling. There are a couple of particularly long tracks that stretch to ten and fifteen minutes, but they are not focal points of the album. You have the feeling that each track has a natural length that the trio decided on. So for the fifteen-minute “Porto Steps”, there is a smoothness to the beat and the saxophone that is overturned by the naughty electronics that scamper like mice in and out of the ever-evolving track, but there are also two tiny pastoral guitar sketches, “Fernweh 1″ and ” Fernweh 2″, that are like subtle palate cleansers. Snatches of Tortoise-like sounds appear on “Ohrwurm” and the texture of the guitar on “Tenser” grows a little wild, joining forces with an irresistible longform drone.The album rounds out with “London Steps”, which has more of a deserted seaside vibe, very relaxed and all about mood. The melodica is playful while the sax is more thoughtful, and it all ebbs and flows as the percussion wriggles and writhes around. You feel that this is very much a journey through the studio, their pot of ideas somehow holding together as they hop from one style to another. There is an improv element that has nothing to prove, just the gentle sound of musicians enjoying themselves but making a statement.
Beck Hunters‘ Has It Been Found? is all about improv. A trio of guitar, percussion and sax/bassoon, they have generated a series of responses of sorts to their 2014 album The Hunt Is On.
Now I must confess, I sometimes struggle with some free music, particularly if it is too insistent and abrasive. There is a time and a place for it and you really have to be in the right mood. Beck Hunters are almost the antithesis. It is playful and sensitive and each player is so conscious of how their element will interact with the other two that you can almost hear them tiptoeing. That isn’t to say that they don’t know how to push the song along when needed and they are fortunate to have such a responsive and subtle drummer who know just when to hold back and when to let loose.
The album is spread over four tracks of varying lengths (one is half an hour, but somehow never outstays its welcome) and rather like the Das Rad album, you feel that these tracks have a natural length, subconsciously agreed on. Opener “Yes And No” has subtle, taut drums, playful sax and exquisite high-end guitar. It doesn’t feel too serious and the players are constantly testing one another, but always leaving plenty of space for the others to colour in. Sometimes you feel that there is a half-remembered tune in there somewhere, but they grow bored and nip off at a tangent. I kept having an image of a troop of fox cubs bouncing and play fighting, circling one another and zipping off into the undergrowth. “What Is It?” comes across like the aural equivalent of a magic eye picture. If you stare with your ears into the middle distance, everything comes together like some alchemical transformation. The whistle blasts that permeate the track are a bit of a shock, particularly as they are not afraid to drop to near silence. The twenty-nine-minute ‘Guardians Of Truth” really pushes the limits of the listener’s hearing. Some of the sounds slip out of the speakers like wraiths residing in a rambling mansion. Outside, young Victorian ladies are playing hide and seek in that indolent way of people with a lot of time on their hands while inside, we move through apparently empty rooms, fleeting snatches of movement seen out of the corner of our eyes. Back outside, the sax circles like an ominous bird of prey, the sound looms awkward and gnarly, but gradually diminishes to some half-seen, barely remembered image, the rustle of bells and tiny guitar notes signalling the conclusion.The trio’s subtlety is a joy and final track “Paradox And Confusion” comes over like and enormous, abstract tapestry that closes the album out and leaves us with as many questions as when we started but that is the point. Beck Hunters are making us question our perceptions of sound, and you can’t ask for much more than that.
-Mr Olivetti-
