Pulverize the Sound

Olivier Lété
Ostrakinda
Jazzdor Series 15

Matched almost identically instrumentally these trios bring a contrasting raucous and restrained approach to their music. True to their name the members of the American Pulverize the Sound (PtS) start off playing amped at 10 and like Spinal Tap often proceeds to 11 during seven tracks jammed with continuous playing that never seem to stops. All the pressure and murkiness implicit in PtS’ improv-punk delivery is dissipated on French electric bassist Olivier Lété’s Ostrakinda, though there no loss of animation or groove in its nine tracks.

Consisting of trumpeter Peter Evans, electric bassist Tim Dahl and percussionist Mike Pride, PtS members have worked with everyone from Evan Parker and Frank Lowe to Lydia Lunch and MDC. While Rock figures in the musical beginnings of the other trio, Jazz and improvised music looms larger. Trumpeter Aymeric Avice has worked with Sylvain Kassap; unique percussionist Toma Gouband with Michel Doneda and electric bassist Olivier Lété with Lous Sclavis.

Exploding with the equivalent of Metal riffs on the first track PtS continue the attack on the subsequent “Repatriation”. Smashing together bass guitar crunches, droning drum patterns and half-valve whinnies and honks from the trumpeter the three soon augment their sound to prestissimo opaqueness consisting of piccolo brass squeaks, guitar-like buzzing flanges from the bassist and percussion clanks mixed with vocalized mutters and murmurs. But to prove that the band doesn’t limit itself to grinding textures into submission, melodic wedges are also heard among the emphasized thumps, squawks and vibrations.

These sound swerves are most noticeable when Evans’ squeezed triplets and muted slurs become horizontal patterns that are almost circularly breathed. “Lifo “ is nearly a conventional brass showcase as the trumpeter blends toneless flutters and fragmented burbles into grace notes that climax in buzzing bass tones backed by percussion shuffles. A dissolving Ped Pier-like riff distinct from elevated bell-shaped brass notes also characterizes the concluding “Ex-All”, which doubles as Dahl’s showcase. On it the bassist transforms string twangs and reverberations into a concentrated linear pulse only slightly disrupted by brass squeals and drum crashes. More committed to solid pressure than the others, Pride’s unwinding is given its widest exposure on the extended “STAG”. Cymbal rattles, glockenspiel patterns and drum pulsation add to Dahl’s andante string sluices and foot pedal stomps, as the trumpeter moves from jarring bugle-call-like triplets to low-pitched flatulence. Drum press rolls and amp-buzzing thickened string strokes meet emphasized trumpet grace notes for the finale.

Brassiness and rips are on tap from “Au commencement Toujours la Forêt”, Ostrakinda’s first track and from then on. But Avice’s trumpet blowing is muted by interaction with the friction created by percussion rubs and grinds plus slurred fingering from the bassist. Shortly afterwards mariachi-like dual brass tones are heard as songs with balladic forms as prominent as bluster are introduced. Although these Arcadian themes expressed by sequences such as the muted horizontal trumpeting on “Oreste” help define the program’s parameters, themes are prevented from sliding into prettiness by bassist’s supple slurred fingering and thumb popping as well as the drummer’s hand drum tapping and positioned smacks from stones and other implements.

Named for an ancient Greek game where players could unexpectedly reverse their roles, Ostrakinda gives the members of this trio chances to showcase unique motifs within certain tracks. Still, “l’Écho des Clairiéres”, the lengthiest track is also the most characteristic of these quick changes. Balancing flugelhorn-projected grace notes and plastic stick-like echoes from the percussionist, suddenly before the half-way mark the piece turns around as the trio members slap, thump, smear and shake to a bouncy near-dance rhythm. Mixed with irregular string popes, portamento brass glossiness and drum pops and cranks, it demonstrates that a program can be both tonal and technical.

Highly tightened or looser, fully improvised or based on Lété’s themes, the interpretations of the material by each trio shows how blending these textures produce creations that are particular and profound at the same time.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Black: 1. Downtick 2. Repatriation 3. STAG 4. Breakover Point 5. Lifo 6. Sinker 7. Ex-All

Personnel: Black: Peter Evans (trumpets); Tim Dahl (electric bass and microphone) and Mike Pride (drums, glockenspiel and auxiliary percussion)

Track Listing: Ostrakinda: 1. Au commencement Toujours la Forêt 2. Razzo 3. Un Lavoir 4. Le Petit Homme 5. Hey!!! 6. Oreste 7. Historical to Philippe Gareil 8. À l’Écho des Clairiéres 9. Marcher dans la Nuit

Personnel: Ostrakinda: Aymeric Avice (trumpet and flugelhorn); Olivier Lété (electric bass) and Toma Gouband (drums and percussion)