Daniel Menche - Creatures of Cadence

Crouton/Longbox
crou032/lbt040

Now, there's a cover!

“Creatures of Cadence” is an impressive, well-varied and imaginatively structured new release from Daniel Menche. I’m only minimally familiar with his prior work but what I’d heard, live and on disc, tended toward the maximally electronic. So I was a bit surprised to hear on the opening track quiet, microtonally bowed strings and softly plucked cello (I think) swirled around a heartbeat-like pulse. It sits in this drone state for the duration, the elements subtly altering but retaining their character. The entire disc has a similarly strong ebb and flow, the four pieces nestling together comfortably even as they build in intensity.

Track 2 explodes with the tocsins of clanging bells over muffled drums that connote something of a West African feel. The drums boil furiously to the fore until their essence, as well as that of the bells, is subsumed into an electronic distillation, transforming the work into a wonderful, surging turbine that merges into the following cut, morphing into a steady drone, again augmented by strings. The surrounding sounds take on a kind of ambient aspect, as though they’ve been serendipitously picked up inside the space through which the drone is boring. The rhythm is still there, backgrounded and abstracted a bit, but continuing to provide impetus as the drone evolves into further levels of strung out richness. And I believe horns enter the mix as well; in fact there are times when this section is reminiscent of the original recording of Riley’s “In C”. When a zither enters into the picture toward the piece’s end, you can’t help but think of an updating of Laraaji!

Menche saves the best for last though, the fourth track a molten stew of drumming, again sounding very much out of the Ghanaian tradition. Cross-rhythms build patiently but inexorably, natural and electronically enhanced. It’s absolutely hypnotic, the patterns welling and subsiding though always propulsive, a hollow wash of sound eventually appearing beneath, as before incorporating the percussive elements into a raging swarm, pulsating like a power plant on the verge of blowing. With about a minute left, Menche pulls the plug, allowing for decompression and the release of several cubic meters of steam.

Note: Two release concerts for this disc will be held in Chicago and Milwaukee later this month, each event featuring an opening set by Olivia Block. Details here: longbox

[the fine folk at Longbox sent along three earlier discs from the label. Time constraints compel me to only offer a brief synopsis, but all are well worth hearing:

Greg Davis/Steven Hess – Decisions (lbt033) - An extremely imaginative and strong set of duet improvs for laptop and percussion from 2003 that compares favorably with Davis’ recent release with Jeph Jerman, “Ku”.

Jon Mueller/Jim Schoenecker – The Interview (lbt035) – Live percussion/synth duo from a show in Milwaukee in 2003, a drone crescendo featuring bowed metal and bowls, rich and rewarding.

Adam Sonderberg/Paul Bradley – Anoxia (lbt032 and twenty hertz TH004) A beautifully modulated drone piece dipping into and out of tonality, a lovely bath of sonics. Fans of Ms. Block’s work will enjoy it.]