"Abu Tarek" was recorded in August 2003 in Lebanon; "no cuts no overdubbing" states the laconic liner notes: not a surprise since it's the Creative Sources standard, but still one wonders where these sounds could possibly come from. Both Hautzinger and Kerbaj play trumpet, but, except for the elegiac sparkles of "Hermel", no conventional trumpet playing is to be recognized here (again, nothing new for the Lisbon label). Water running through rusty pipes, green logs burning, natural gas emissions, bat signals... everything comes to mind but a "regular" trumpet. While obviously harsh and confrontational, this improvised session has many beautiful moments, thanks to the variety of inventions of the two performers, really melting into each other's sound. A bumpy path, but also one that the listener will want to walk several times.

A wonder duo here...Batman and Robin?...nee...Bruno Dorella from Ovo/Ronin/Bar la Muerte fame and Giambeppe Succi from Madrigali Magri. Madrigali were a sort of depressed-blues/desertic-skeletal-rock combo both melodic and dissonant (if you wonna give a try I suggest "Negarville"), for all of you who can read italian language there's a nice surprise since Giambeppe definitely knows how to write lirycs. Bachi da Pietra could be the final "d-evolution" of Giambeppe Succi solo performances as Madrigali Magri with Bruno playing a minimal drumset and giving the most of the songs an extra "weight" with his death-blues-Swans alike way of drumming. This two guys have received a lot of attention by the italian alternative magazines and you can bet they deserved it: good recording, ghostly ballads, visceral songwriting, deserted landscapes...this release speaks in terms of "mud and blood". You can compare them to Nick Cave "depressed-Birthday Party-era" meets Songs Ohia's "Ghost Tropic" meets Faust'o (a.k.a. Fausto Rossi) gone bad (as if he could have been even worse) meets the the devil himself. The recording is ok and titles like "Verme" (Warm), "Primavera di sangue" (Spring of blood), "Prostituisciti" (Prostitute yourself) can give you an hint of "the air you're gonna breath" while listening these "murder ballads". This' the soundtrack of a car break-down in the middle of the nowhere therefore take it or leave it. Anyhow if you never heard anything with Giambeppe I think you'd better start from Madrigali Magri...if you're a fan instead: just go for it!.

Recorded in 2003 at Stralau 68 (Berlin), this 54-minute single-track cd is a remarkable recording of an improvised session by Bertrand Denzler (tenor saxophone), Axel Dörner (trumpet, computer), Daniel Erdmann (baritone and soprano saxophones), Michael Griener (drums) and Günter Müller (ipod, md, selected percussions, electronics). As austere as the cover photos, "Stralau" gradually shifts from the initial low-end blows to more frantic passages of screeching reeds and metallic percussions, then settles, in the second half, to a nebula of crackling electronics. I guess no major editing has occurred, so let's say this was a particularly tight and inspired performance, where all musicians did know how to self-distribute their own spaces. As with many recordings of Müller's, the electronic element adds a sort of spiderweb cohesiveness even to the most rarefied moments.

Recorded in May 2004 by Andreas Berthling, "Agape" features five improvised tracks by Küchen (prepared and non prepared alto sax) and Stackenäs (guitar, low-budget electronics). I suppose both artists are Swedish; I only know that the latter released a solo cd of acoustic guitar pieces on Häpna some years ago. Don't be mislead by the title, as "Agape" is quite a fierce and obsessive cd. Instruments melt and stratify in a droning mass, and even in its many subdued passages this is a very "full" and powerful work. The feedback(?)-driven drones (tracks 1, 3, 5) are almost minimalist in a Lucier-like way, but with the subtlety of ever-changing details coming from a live improvisation.

Here we have three long takes: a couple of big suites and a shorter closing track. Field-recording (even if "microphoned-live-performance" could be more appropriated), "concrete music" and electronics melted together with a really "personal touch" by the hyperactive musician Alessandro Bosetti and by Antje Vowinckel. The period of recording ranges from Y2k and 2003, funny, because after two years it all still sounds "fresh", above all if compared to a lot of similar releases without a sparkle of its "inspiration". As you can imagine it's hard to express an aesthetical opinion about a record like that (yes, it's "unconventional" music as you can guess) and its fruition remains really subjective, some of you will complain about the fact "every fruition, be it a book/records/painting/whatever is subjective" and you're right, but it becomes a bigger problem when the work is so unconventional that standard categorizations fall. Subjective or not, if you listen to "Charlemagne, la vue attachèe..." with your beloved headphones, I'm sure you'll live this experience of "music where something is happening" and let me also add the second "song" (Kitchen place) has some really "musical moments", both during the "confidential" "home-performance" and during the high frequencies' blast. An homogeneous cd without any doubt, despite the big lapses of time passed between the different takes it all could have been performed during the same session. To be listened silently with loads of patience (the way it SHOULD always be) and keeping in mind Mr. Bosetti is "different" musician according to the specific project to which he's working (visit his personal website, please).