Howard Stelzer/Jason Talbot - Four Sides

Howard Stelzer/Jason Talbot
Four Sides
C.I.P.
012

It’s refreshing, in a way, that after all these years of listening to music which qualifies as noise in the minds of most people, that I can still innocently put on a recording and have an initial reaction of, “What is this cacophony?” This double-7” album by Boston-based musicians Howard Stelzer and Jason Talbot consists of seven short tracks (totaling 20 or so minutes) from performances in their hometown and the Netherlands, all of them brutal, all happily obliterating any notion of a boundary between music and noise. I had seen Stelzer as a member of the BSC a couple of years ago and thought that, in many respects, his contributions were the most intriguing that day, though his sounds were leavened by virtue of being one musician out of eight or nine. I’d also heard this duo’s earlier 2003 release, “Songs”, which had left me pretty much unmoved. Listening again to that disc, I think the central aspect that caused my indifferent reaction was actually the relatively restrained air, the fairly cohesive overall sense I received, causing the tracks to sound somewhat indistinguishable from this or that noise improv performance or recording. Given that the casual listener would certainly find anything produced by these guys to be ear-splitting, abrasive and aggravating enough to immediately propel the disc into the nearest wall, this may seem odd but in the nether reaches of improv just as well as in any other genre, ruts develop, pathways become well-trodden.

Some of the difference may lie in the sound quality of the vinyl recording which possesses a greater immediacy and makes a strong, visceral impression, much like a punch in the gut. Admittedly, my preference tends toward music that subtly emerges from (and takes cognizance of) its surroundings and this sort of thing lends itself to all sorts of non-musical associations (like some wack job who all of a sudden starts yelling into your ear) but at least as a break, as a jolt from the usual, it has a bracing aspect to it that conjures up a fondness that might not normally be forthcoming. The sounds (Steltzer manipulates a cassette recorder, Talbot a turntable, by the way) are generally abrupt, often disassociated with anything in their temporal vicinity, harsh and jagged. They’re like pieces of sonic shrapnel, differing from each other only in terms of particular shape but torn from the same grenade. Maybe think of Jason Lescalleet without his continuity. Liking or not liking it seems a little beside the point; I can’t imagine I’ll be playing the discs very often but I do like the fact that it’s out there, planting a stake a bit further out in the territory of the possible than may be considered prudent. Whether their pathway ultimately proves viable or not, it’s simply good to hear it explored and “Four Sides” is certainly worth hearing and thinking about.