Ricardo Villalobos/Max Loderbauer: Re: ECM (ECM)

 |   |  <1 min read

Villalobos/Loderbauer: Rebird
Ricardo Villalobos/Max Loderbauer: Re: ECM (ECM)

The usually restrained ECM isn't a risk-averse label -- how well some remember the textural noise of Lask and the guitar abuse of David Torn -- so when they open the vaults for manipulation you know the result will be nothing like the Verve and Blue Note remix albums.

Here this Berlin-based electronica duo improvise with pre-existing tracks by John Abercrombie, Miroslav Vitous, Enrico Rava, Arvo Part and many others over two discs but only sparingly draw from them fragments, melodic lines or a brush of cymbals. Nothing aimed at the dancefloor with these guys.

They keep their contributions equally discreet, subtle and restrained. They become part of the process of studio improvisation but the less-is-more attitude wins out. Some will bemoan the almost complete absence of the source material in many places.

But the unique result is a music with an enticing weightlessness and an accumulation of small details.

Recommended to open ears.

Like the sound of this? Then try this

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Los Straitjackets: Jet Set (Yep Roc)

Los Straitjackets: Jet Set (Yep Roc)

With guitarist Peter Posa's White Rabbit retrospective topping the charts for the fourth week, this collection of echo-heavy cocktail hour and retro-rock guitar tracks by this long-running... > Read more

Pitch Black: Third Light (Dubmission/digital outlets)

Pitch Black: Third Light (Dubmission/digital outlets)

Most often known for their deep and profound electro-dub -- which often evokes the darkness of the New Zealand bush and power of the ocean-battered coastline -- here on their sixth album Pitch... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Ariel: Yellow Submarine (1997)

Ariel: Yellow Submarine (1997)

Another track from the often hilarious and sometimes worrying Plastic Soul Vol 4 album which is a compilation of mad Beatles covers, many from Russia. Ariel weigh in with two entries, A... > Read more

WINGS: WILD LIFE, CONSIDERED (1971): “And in the end . . .” there's a begin-again?

WINGS: WILD LIFE, CONSIDERED (1971): “And in the end . . .” there's a begin-again?

In the Beatles' Anthology DVD, their producer George Martin observed that no one – other than the four young men themselves – knew what it was like in the hurricane that was... > Read more