Salt Peanuts* (Denmark)

June 10 2020 by Jan Granlie

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

Kvintetten vi møter på platen «Double On The Brim» består av den kanadiske pianisten Karoline Leblanc, den brasilianske saksofonisten Yedo Gibson, trompeteren Luis Vicente, cellisten Miguel Mira og trommeslageren Paulo J Ferreira Lopes, de tre siste fra Portugal. Plten er innspilt i Lisboa den 27. februar 2019, og består utelukkende av solid, ekspressiv improvisert musikk som plasserer seg rett i den gode de4len av freejazzen.

Vi møter fem musikere som gjennom seks improvisasjoner, tar oss med på en musikalsk reise som innbefatter alle de gode sidene ved frejazzens historie, siden slutten av 60-tallet og fram til i dag. De fem musikerne serverer utrolig frisk og deilig musikk, hvor hver av de fem personlighetene kommer godt fram. Vanligvis eksperimenterer de innenfor forskjellige felt innenfor det musikalske språket og de er mer enn villige til å slå sine erfaringer sammen, for å skape noe nytt og spennende, og deres erfaringer fra den europeiske og amerikanske freejazz-scenen gir alle utløp for mange av sine ideer, som blir forent i dette prosjektet.

Setter man seg ned og lytter nøye etter hva de fem bedriver, får man nesten en nostalgisk følelse. For her får man nesten gjenhør med flere av «heltene» fra tidligere tider, som nå ikke er hos oss lenger. Pianisten Leblanc har mye av Cecil Taylor i sitt spill, mens saksofonist Gibson har lyttet mye på de første freejazzpionerene. Det samme kan man si om Vicente, som låter som en oppsamling av alle de vi elsker å lytte til av 60- og 70-tallets jazztrompetere som gikk utenfor «den gyldne middelvei».

De har alle en felles forståelse for hvordan den frie musikken låt i «barndommen», og med denne musikken godt innenfor hjernebarken, trekker de erfaringene med seg inn i dagens jazz, og blander den med nåtidige erfaringer og ideer. Men det er ikke slik at dette ender opp i et kaos uten hode og hale. For dette er musikere som lytter til hverandre, og som er vant til å utforske den nye jazzen og improviserte musikken samtidig som de trekker på en enorm erfaring. Det fører til at den musikken vi får servert, er energisk, logisk, eksperimentell, spennende og utrolig kreativ.

Alle musikerne leverer freejazz fra øverste hylle, og platen er blitt en deilig nyskaping, samtidig som vi kan sette oss rolig tilbake og minnes flere av våre favoritter fra tidligere tider. Og det blir aldri kopier av noe vi har hørt før. Det er kun inne i odene på musikerne at tidligere tider og tidligere, musikalske helter, befinner seg. De spiller sin musikk, og overfører de gamle heltenes musikk til oss via deres egne, musikalske språk.

Og hele veien preges musikken av en pågående energi, som nærmest presser oss opp i et hjørne, og tvinger oss til å følge med. Gibsons utrolig energiske og flotte saksofonspill, enten det er på tenor-, alt- eller sopransaksofon, kan minne om Coltrane på det mest energiske, samtidig som vi kan gjenkjenne Albert Ayler og mange av de andre fra den tiden. Vicentes trompetspill preges av hans skarpe tone, og han er den som gir oss melodiene i de seks «strekkene», mens Leblancs pianospill er ekspressivt og spennende, og ikke minst kreativt. Cellisten Miguel Mira bringer helt nytt spilkl på den store fela (eller den lille bassen) til nye områder, og når han setter stemningen i fjerdesporet, «Jaggy Glide», sammen med pianoet, merker vi hvor stor makt dette instrumentet har i sammenhengen, selv om det ikke er det instrumentet som «brøyter seg» mest fram. Og Ferreira Lopes’ trommespill er lydhørt og energisk fra start til mål, enten det er «full pinne» i bandet, eller de tar det ned i noe som minner om låter komponert av Albert Ayler.

Og sammen er dette dynamitt! Dette er energisk, tøfft og spennende, og da jeg satte på platen første gang, fikk jeg et solid sjokk, som førte til at platen ble spilt om igjen og om igjen, uten at jeg ble lei et eneste sekund, og hvor jeg stadig fant nye, spennende elementer og detaljer i musikken.

Tøffere enn toget!

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JazzWord (Canada)

March 29 2020 by Ken Waxman

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

Perhaps after it lost its cachet in ever-trendy New York, Energy Music went off to hide in Montréal, Lisbon and/or Brazil. At least that’s the impression conveyed by Double on the Brim. For except for some technical developments which mark this as a 21st Century session, the six tracks could have cut during Free Jazz’s 1960s heyday when it literally was The New Thing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. The quintet members bring a depth of emotion and improvisational smarts to their creations.

Recorded in the Portuguese capital, three of players are natives: trumpeter Luís Vicente, cellist Miguel Mira and drummer Paulo J. Ferreira Lopes. Portugal-based, the first two have played with many local and international artists including Carlos Zingaro and Rodrigo Amado. Based in Montréal, the drummer is most frequently partnered with pianist Karoline Leblanc, who is Canadian born. Brazilian saxophonist Yedo Gibson has been a peripatetic force throughout Europe, playing in many ensembles with everyone from Steve Noble to Cor Fuhler. Throughout this CD though the five demonstrate their connection, often with Aylerian upsurges from both horns; clattering drumming; double bass-like cello pulses; and piano strategies that encompass high-pitched clips and clanks and darker pulses from the instruments’ nether regions.

Aviary-pitched vamps from Gibson on each of his three horns and Vicente’s flutter tongued variations are some of the CD’s hallmarks. On the extended “Anthropic Jumble” for instance, the trumpeter’s peeps and cries are mixed with the tenor saxophonist’s slurs and snorts and string slices from Mira preserving fluid forward motion. Complementing and challenging them are the pianist’s arpeggiated runs that with rolling glissandi sometimes default into semi-Stride. A crescendo of multi-fingered keyboard prods to theme variations arrive next along with exposition expansion which is further fragmented by the saxophonist’s honks and tongue slaps. “Transmission”, Vicente’s trumpet feature, confirms his versatility with diversions into murmuring flutters as well as strident kazoo-like snarls. Yet before he creates an undulating coda of foghorn-low pitches, Leblanc’s rollout of steadying chords solidifies the sequence. With Gibson often overblowing while producing split tones and Lopes’ constant slaps and thumps, the energetic pace is maintained throughout, but never at the expense of coherence.

Overall, besides serving as a demonstration of the quintet’s evolutionary skills, Double on the Brim is a confirmation of the continued evolution and value of intense free playing.

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Citizen Jazz (France)

26 Janvier 2020 par Franpi Barriaux

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

Double On The Brim : doubler sur le bord, se frôler sur la crête… Les marges ont pour elles qu’elles génèrent des images qui peuvent sauter immédiatement aux oreilles. Elles peuvent se jouer de la vitesse, des frôlements périlleux, des accrochages vertigineux. C’est exactement la sensation qui saisit lorsqu’on tente de suivre le flux de l’alto de Yedo Gibson et de la trompette de Luís Vicente sur « In The Bloom », le premier morceau d’un quintet transatlantique en forme de parallélépipède particulier : on connaît bien les Portugais de la bande, avec le violoncelle de Miguel Mira, habitué des orchestres de Rodrigo Amado et la batterie de Paulo J. Ferreira Lopes, que l’on retrouvait avec Vicente dans le dernier album de la Canadienne Karoline Leblanc. Elle revient, avec Double on The Brim, à une formule plus étoffée où sa main gauche puissante et explosive fait toujours autorité. Mais c’est bien la nouvelle arête de double continentale, le Brésilien Yedo Gibson, qui en est la grande découverte, si ce n’est la forte attraction.
 
Il faut dire qu’il est mis dans de bonnes conditions, ce saxophoniste que les amateurs des aventures d’Ernesto Rodrigues avaient déjà pu entendre sur Nepenthes Hibrida. Dans le crépusculaire « Jaggy Glide », alors que la trompette de Vicente serpente entre le piano et les claquements secs du violoncelle, il sort de nulle part, avec un rôle quasi prométhéen. Le saxophone chauffe, étincelle, se cogne mais ne se brise pas. Seuls les angles sont aigus dans cet enchevêtrement de basses où même les frappes de Ferreira Lopes sont contondantes. Mais à force d’insistance et de coups de boutoir, le piano sort de sa zone de confort ; Karoline Leblanc reprend le dessus, la main droite remonte la pente avec souplesse en s’appuyant sur les constructions immuables de sa conduite rythmique. Les clusters pleuvent, ils agissent sur le souffle de Luis Vicente comme des jets d’acide. Un cyclone se forme, et l’auditeur est en son plein centre. La quiétude du chaos.
 
Avec ce nouvel album, Karoline Leblanc se positionne davantage dans une certaine tradition de l’échange transatlantique, avec un centre de gravité qui se situe non loin de Chicago. « Anthropic Jumble », sans doute le morceau le plus dense de Double on The Brim, est l’occasion de confronter la grande rigueur de la pianiste avec les déflagrations imprévisibles des soufflants. L’amalgame se fait naturellement, il est à la fois fluide et consistant, garanti sans grumeaux et impossible à figer. Le quintet très égalitaire est libre et sait jouer collectif. Un disque brillant qui confirme que la Canadienne est à ne jamais perdre de vue.

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Revue & Corrigée (France)

Décembre 2019 par Cyrille Lanoë

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

Avec Double on the Brim, le label atrito-afeito emprunte une nouvelle direction – ou une déviation. Avec cette nouvelle incursion au Portugal pour le label de Montréal, une dimension encore plus jazz s’ajoute à ce qui sonnait jusqu’ici de façon improvisée et minimale. Dans cette rencontre à Lisbonne du quintet composé de Karoline Leblanc au piano, Yedo Gibson à tous les saxes, Luís Vicente à la trompette, Miguel Mira au violoncelle et Paulo J Ferreira Lopes à la batterie, le jazz reste libre. Sur les starting-blocks dès le premier morceau, « In the Bloom », le jazz court le 100 mètres presque aussi vite que le free et écope de la médaille d’argent au centième près. Le demi-fond de plus d’un quart d’heure de « Anthropic Jumble » est moins mélodique, et s’articule autour d’un piano frénétique, qui passe ensuite le témoin à un sax tout aussi rebondissant. La course de haies « Jaggy Glide » est fatalement encore plus rebondissante, et laisse s’entrouvrir des brèches encore inexplorées jusque-là au catalogue du label. Des brèches construites autour d’un rythme soutenu, quasi-free-jazz à l’ancienne, j’ai envie de dire. Le 200 mètres du 5e morceau, éponyme de l’album, n’a plus besoin de remettre les chronos à l’heure, et sort tout le monde de son couloir : ça déborde, ça contourne et ça dépasse. On se demande sur quelle épreuve va encore briller notre quintet aux deux poumons : eh bien ça tape dans la main dans le relai 4×100 mètres sur (forcément) « Transmission ». Décidément, il valait bien mieux s’écouter ce disque que se taper le triste spectacle des championnats du monde d’athlétisme de Dubaï. Merci.

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FreeForm, FreeJazz (Brazil)

December 19 2019 by Fabricio Vieira

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

Fundado em 2013 em Montreal, o selo atrito-afeito tem realizado um importante papel em divulgar trabalhos que envolvem a criação da pianista canadense Karoline Leblanc e do baterista português Paulo J Ferreira Lopes. O 11º título do selo ilustra bem isso. Double on The Brim reúne um quinteto formado por Leblanc (piano), Ferreira Lopes (bateria), Luís Vicente (trompete), Miguel Mira (violoncelo) e o saxofonista brasileiro radicado em Portugal Yedo Gibson. Captado em fevereiro de 2019 no Namouche Studios (Lisboa), “Double on The Brim” traz seis temas. “In The Bloom” abre o disco de forma direta, com o quinteto todo em ação, sem introduções, como se estivéssemos já em um pico em uma apresentação, notadamente pela voracidade de Gibson e Vicente. O ímpeto do tema de abertura nos faz precisar de algum respiro para seguir. E o grupo parece saber disso: “Anthropic Jumble” chega na sequência de forma mais sutil, iniciando com a temperatura mais baixa para nos levar por longos 16 minutos de improvisação coletiva. “Singra Alegria”, a mais breve, com seus quatro minutos, tem bonito tema desenvolvido pelo sax. “Jaggy Glide” abre com o violoncelo em primeiro plano, sendo seguido por teclas e sopros sutis, que logo se desdobram em um potente solo de sax, acompanhado com inventividade pelo piano, dominando a maior parte da peça. Não sei se este é um novo grupo ou se foi um encontro ocasional, mas o forte resultado alcançado nos leva a esperar que outros títulos do quinteto venham.

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Kathodik (Italy)

December 4 2019 by Marco Carcasi

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

Sessione di registrazione del Febbraio 2019 in quel di Lisbona per un quintetto strumentale fra Canada e Portogallo, che conferma come nelle ultime uscite, il focus in casa Atrito-Afeito, si stia lentamente spostando su una forma di improvvisazione free jazz, lunare e dalle ampie aperture classico/contemporanee, che in questa occasione si tinge di forti tinte calde e spirituali, dove per lo più, a menar le danze sono il sax e la tromba di Yedo Gibson e Luís Vicente, che si avvitano o lascian andare in fumose e distese fasi soliste mentre l’insieme tutt’attorno placidamente collassa (la seduzione intensa di Singra Alegria).
Qualche soluzione raschiante in apertura a marcar territori d’azione di minor convenzione (Jaggy Glide), e poi ancora abbracci e atterramenti reciproci.
Riuscito e non privo d’interesse, ma la differenza in questo frangente non è in questa casa.

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The Wire (UK)

December 2019 Issue #430 by Daniel Spicer

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

There’s a hint of Cecil Taylor’s Unit Structures here, albeit without the structure. Instead of employing any recognisable heads or motifs, the quintet largely favour turbulent ‘everyone at once’ passages that rage and fume, with sudden flurries of intensified activity cresting like waves on a storm lashed sea. Exciting as this is, the most musically satisfying moments are in the brief pauses when one or more musicians drop out, allowing a fleeting solo to raise its head. Yedo Gibson wields a Dolphy-esque alto heehaw, contracting into tight super-altissimo. Luís Vicente unpacks an impressive armoury of trumpet growls and birdlike trills. But it’s pianist Karoline Leblanc’s show, as she drops clanging chords and vertiginous runs with ecstatic vim.

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Orynx (Belgique)

13 novembre 2019 par Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

Quintet archétypique du free jazz où brillent spécialement le trompettiste Luis Vicente et la pianiste Karoline Leblanc. L’ensemble est cohérent et les musiciens plus que compétents. Six compositions tremplins pour l’improvisation collective. Au lieu d’une contrebasse comme de coutume avec cette combinaison instrumentale, on trouve, un peu trop en retrait, le très prometteur Miguel Mira au violoncelle. À la batterie, l’énergétique Paulo Ferreira Lopes et aux saxophones ténor, alto et soprano, le dynamique souffleur Yedo Gibson qui chauffe à blanc l’air ambiant. Je me réjouis de la volonté d’improviser collectivement et alternativement, même si le registre du quintette se cantonne à un exercice exacerbé sur la tension, l’énergie, la prolixité, un jeu staccato du saxophoniste, le déferlement au clavier avec quelques points de relâchement qui ouvre l’atmosphère vers des choses tout aussi intéressantes (le final de Double on the Brim en 5). Cela dit le saxophoniste fort en verve a de belles idées de jeu quand le groupe se réoriente. Le trompettiste lui-même souvent lyrique peut très bien frictionner la colonne d’air ou trouver des contrepoints bienvenus lorsque son collègue Gibson s’envole. La pianiste a le chic de faire des incursions atonales en clusters avec une belle logique, un sens des voicings free et un enchaînement subtil de motifs polyrythmiques dont l’intensité, la vitesse varient naturellement. Un beau mélange d’intuition et de science. Lorsque Karine s’échappe dans l’azur sans que les souffleurs n’interviennent, le batteur maintient les pulsations en éclaircissant la charge des roulements, créant un excellent équilibre  aérien entre leurs deux pôles percussifs. Et lorsque Yedo Gibson les rejoint un instant, il relance le débat avec ingéniosité. À noter la fragmentation forcenée du souffle sur l’embouchure de la trompette de Vicente, entre autres trouvailles sonores. Évidemment, la déferlante obère trop souvent l’écoute du violoncelliste au sein de l’orchestre. Malgré tout, ce quintet devrait faire les beaux soirs des festivals par la conviction et leur engagement sans faille.

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The WholeNote (Canada)

October 30 2019 by Stuart Broomer

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

Pianist Karoline Leblanc and drummer Paulo J Ferreira Lopes have a developing relationship with Lisbon, a warmer complement to their Montreal base. Lisbon is a burgeoning centre for free jazz and improvised music, with numerous performance spaces, these genres’ most active record labels (Clean Feed and Creative Source have produced over 600 CDs each since 2001) and a growing list of well-known improvisers taking up residence. Leblanc and Ferreira Lopes recorded A Square Meal there in 2016, and Leblanc recently recorded Autoschediasm in Montreal with Lisboan violist Ernesto Rodrigues. Double on the Brim, recorded in Lisbon this year, develops the connection further.

The quintet here includes Brazilian-born saxophonist Yedo Gibson, trumpeter Luís Vicente (returning from A Square Meal) and cellist Miguel Mira. There are six episodes, ranging in length from four to 16 minutes. The longest of them, Anthropic Jungle and the title track, are intense collective improvisations that pulse with vitality, moving tapestries in which instruments tumble over one another. The relatively brief Singra Alegria, almost dirge-like, foregoes the usual density, with Leblanc’s looming bass clusters creating an ominous mood in which Vicente’s subdued lyricism comes to the fore. Jaggy Glide is the most tightly focused, with Gibson’s alto spiralling through the dense rhythmic field created by Leblanc, Ferreira Lopes, and the versatile Mira, who can also provide convincing bass lines when required.

Sometimes instrumental identities will blur, but Leblanc’s brilliant articulation and Ferreira Lopes’ multidirectional drumming shine.

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Spontaneous Music Tribune (Poland)

October 21 2019 by Andrzej Nowak

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

Po krótkim odpoczynku, czas wrócić go ognistej muzyki. Free jazz pełną gębą, pięknie zatopiony w tradycji całego jazzu, nawet hard-bopowego, proponuje nam kwintet pod nieśmiałym przewodnictwem kanadyjskiej pianistki Karoline Leblanc, której wydawnictwa, sygnowane nazwą własnego labelu, są stałym gościem tych łamów. A towarzystwo dobrała sobie pianistka doprawdy wyśmienite – Yedo Gibson na saksofonach, Luís Vicente na trąbce, Miguel Mira na wiolonczeli i Paulo J Ferreira Lopes na perkusji. Nagranie z Namouche Studio, z lutego br., składa się z sześciu części, a trwa 58 minut i 42 sekundy.

Już pierwsze dźwięki nagrania mówią nam wszystko to, co winniśmy wiedzieć o intencjach muzyków – strongjazz, bardzo swobodna, masywnie podawana narracja, która brzmi jak temat, który zostaje natychmiast i po wielokroć rozimprowizowany. Kolektywizm, moc i gracja, a u stóp muzyków leży cała historia wolnego jazzu. Gęsta opowieść, co chwila zdobiona solowymi, krótkimi ekspozycjami, które barwią opowieść w takim tempie, iż recenzent nie nadąża z odnotowywaniem wszystkich ważnych epizodów. Ostra jak brzytwa sekcja rytmiczna z wiolonczelą, która nieustannie kąsa, saksofon i trąbka rozstawione na przeciwległych flankach, cios za cios! Brudne, szorstkie brzmienie wszystkich instrumentów, jakbyśmy nie spotkali muzyków w najlepiej brzmiącym studiu całego zachodniego Półwyspu Iberyjskiego, a raczej w przydrożnej oberży. Druga część próbuje przez moment tłumić emocje po obu stronach nieistniejącej sceny. Szczypta nostalgii, oczekiwanie na płomień życia. Nie trwa ono zbyt długo – kolektywna jazda zaczyna się już po niedługiej chwili. Odnotujmy świetny komentarz wiolonczeli wypuszczonej na smyku, tu w towarzystwie bystrego expopianisty. W 9 minucie muzycy podejmują pierwszą próbę szukania ciszy – piękny dialog saksofonu sopranowego i wspomnianej wiolonczeli, jakże bystra imitacja! Po chwili cały … kwartet wpada jednak do ognia (z Gibsonem na czele!), a milczenie zachowuje jedynie trębacz.

Trzecia historia, to skromne, wyciszone interludium, pełne niebezpiecznego smutku. Czwartą część otwiera Mira, Gibson preparuje, a Karoline używa tylko czarnych klawiszy. Wreszcie Vicente przerywa wielominutowe milczenie i wgryza się w narrację, niczym doświadczony borsuk. Brawo! Piąta część płyty startuje bardzo kolektywnie, z saksofonem tenorowym, jako głównym zaborcą czasoprzestrzeni. Znów kwintet połyka czas na pełnym gazie. Ostre piano, kanciaste dialogi saksofonu i trąbki, krew leje się strumieniami. Muzycy zdają się być w tej free jazzowej jatce dramaturgicznie przewidywalni, ale jakość ich reakcji i solowych ekspozycji znamionuje klasę światową. Ta uwaga tyczy się przede wszystkim brazylijskiego saksofonisty. Yedo, what a game! Czas na pieśń finałową – bystra free narracja budowana na rozgrzanym do czerwoności smyku wiolonczeli. Dęciaki pięknie preparują na dużej dynamice. Na finał fortepianowe fajerwerki, galopada sekcji i czyste szaleństwo w tubie saksofonu! Jego gorące podmuchy wieńczą tę niezwykle energetyczną podróż w znane-nieznane.

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Avant Music News (USA)

October 1 2019 by Daniel Barbiero

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

Double the Brim features the international quintet of Canadian pianist Karoline Leblanc, Brazilian saxophonist Yedo Gibson, and trumpeter Luís Vicente, cellist Miguel Mira and drummer Paolo J. Ferreira Lopes of Portugal. The group play an emphatic, expansive improvised music informed by classic free jazz. Although there are times when lead voices break through the collective sound, the majority of the music consists of an urgent polyphony in which foreground and background exchange places fluidly and one musician’s solo line imperceptibly mutates into an embellishment of another’s. Leblanc’s hyperkinetic pianism and Ferreira Lopes’ energetic drumming provide a solid foundation for these six intense tracks.

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Jazz.pt (Portugal)

September 2019 by Rui Eduardo Paes

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

A pianista canadiana Karoline Leblanc e o baterista português, mas radicado em Montreal, Paulo Ferreira Lopes são presenças habituais no MIA, o festival dedicado à improvisação que anualmente decorre no concelho de Peniche, e volta e meia apresentam-se em concerto noutros espaços de Lisboa. A circunstância juntou-os a alguns músicos com actividade na cena nacional, sendo o trompetista Luís Vicente talvez o mais habitual, e neste novo “Double on the Brim” encontramo-lo de novo. Na gravação realizada no início deste ano no Namouche participam igualmente o saxofonista brasileiro Yedo Gibson, residente nas imediações de Sintra, e o violoncelista Miguel Mira. O contexto colaborativo em causa levar-nos-ia a esperar que este disco decorresse nas praias da música livremente improvisada, mas é uma fulgurante incursão pela “fire music” edificada sobre a herança do free jazz o que encontramos.

Tal circunstância significa desde logo o seguinte: muito pouco do que aqui ouvimos tem uma marca europeia. Não é um jazz europeísta aquele que se toca nos seis temas reunidos – a opção até seria natural por parte de músicos que têm contribuído para essa frente criativa como Vicente, cujas parcerias com improvisadores do Velho Continente têm tido desfechos que vão muito para além da tradição americana, ou como o próprio Gibson, que antes de se fixar em Portugal ganhou relevo nos circuitos do jazz holandês, e precisamente com a linguagem que distinguiu este a nível planetário. Mira será, de todos, aquele que mais próximo está das raízes dessa “música de fogo” constituída sobre a herança de Coltrane e Ayler, mais até do que os participantes que provêm do Canadá, mas a opção idiomática e de linguagem terá partido da própria mentora desta reunião, Karoline Leblanc. O jazz improvisado deste CD não se toca apenas “à americana” – é de uma autenticidade e um poder afirmativo que não se distanciam muito do free original e da “fire music” de modelo afro-americano que nele se tem inspirado nas últimas décadas. Ou seja, põe-nos de bicos dos pés, atentos a cada labareda, e por vezes chega mesmo a queimar-nos.

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Avant Scena

September 15 2019

Leblanc / Gibson / Vicente / Mira / Ferreira Lopes – Double on the Brim

“Double On The Brim” was recorded by a group of featured jazz masters – it’s Karoline Leblanc (piano), Yedo Gibson (soprano, alto & tenor saxophones), Luís Vicente (trumpet), Miguel Mira (cello) and Paulo J. Ferreira Lopes (drums). Fresh, sparkling, evocative and innovative sound is created. All musicians are the masters of their art. They’re experimenting on various fields of musical language and are willing to create someting exciting and interesting. The improvisers had already developped their own and original sound – extended playing technique, expression and drive are the main compounds of it. Collaborations with other famous jazz masters, interesting projects, tours and concerts all over the world – that’s the main activites of these musicians.

All music is based on avant-garde jazz and collective improvisation. “Double On The Brim” is an organic mix of American and European avant-garde jazz streams, its innovations and traditions. The musicians are getting on brave ambitious free improvisations, dramatic culminations and integrating radical, specific, weird or simply crazy and exciting ways of playing. They also pay attention to the basics of avant-garde jazz – improvisers frequently get back to the roots of 1960’s avant-garde jazz. That’s how absolutely different and contrasting pieces are connected to one place. Experimental jazz and free improvisation are the main compounds, but the musicians are searching links to other jazz styles. The music is related to expressive and nervous bebop, aggressive hysteric hard bop, modern and dynamic contemporary jazz, steady cool or any other style. Huge range of extended playing techniques is created here – that makes a relation with contemporary academical and experimental music, sonoristic music or even repetitive ascetic minimalistic samples. An innovative and bright instrumental section is mostly based on experimental ways of playing, extended playing techniques, special effects and sonoristic experiments which make a great fusion with some very well-known ways of playing. A melody line is charming and simply fantastic – it’s kept by saxophones, trumpet and piano. All these three instruments make a great combo – musicians are masterfully corresponding to each other’s playing, getting on brave explosing riffs, booming driving culminations, immediate reponses and spontaneous solos. The main principe of improvisng is used everywhere, but is mostly heard on melody line. Different kinds of saxophones bring vividness, drive and expression. Yedo Gibson is mixing up innovative and exclusive experimental jazz, free improvisation and the roots of avant-garde jazz. Expressive melodies, hysteric perturbating riffs, dramatic culminations, wild breaking sessions, growling booming solos, hot thrills, vibrant impressive pieces, flowing passages and research of strange timbres contain the main base of it. That makes an effort to energetic, charming and thrilling sound of whole album and melody line. Firious, sharp, aggressive, perturbating and driving trumpet by Luís Vicente is the heart of the melody line. Trembling thrills, passionate melodies, moving glissando, breaking sessions, sharp frantic series, blooming culminations – all these elements are combined together with drive, expression and pleasure. Improviser manages to create dynamic, luminous and impressive sound. Piano by Karoline Leblanc is a mix of huge range of emotions, moods, characters and sounds. Pianist is mixing up together her hypnotysing and expressive playing manner, driving style, extended playing techniques, modern and charming musical language, wide musical knownledge and the will to create fresh, vital and eclectic sound. Vibrant tremendous culminations, sharp breaking chord’s sequences, booming terrific riffs, perturbating driving sessions, light flowing passages are leading elements in piano improvisations. The music is dynamic, emotional and driving filled with love, passion and energy. Sonoristic experiments, strange timbres, special effects, steady deep bass line which suddenly grows out to dramatic culminations, remarkable melodies, astonishing riffs and contrasting pieces gently brought together – that’s the base of effective, hypnotysing and original bass played by talented and creative bassist Miguel Mira. His bass opens the other side of the album – it covers silent pauses, minimalistic samples, ascetic tunes, eclectic and colorful variety of styles, emotional way of playing and exclusive musical decisions. Drums section by Paulo J. Ferreira Lopes is completely based on free improvisation and experimental jazz – the music is made spontaneously and with drive. The drummer is using his wide musical knownledge, modern musical language, extended innovative playing techniques and radical decisions to make an exceptional and original sound. Booming culminations, dramatic hysteric riffs, vibrant breaking sessions, silent pauses, light and subtle pieces, slow steady beats and huge range of ornaments and timbres are organically brought together. All musicians are improvising with drive, joy and expression – that makes astonishing, inspiring and touching sound.

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Revue & Corrigée (France)

Mars 2019 par Cyrille Lanoë

Karoline Leblanc / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nicolas Caloia – Autoschediasm

Le titre donné à l’album du trio né de rencontres entre Québec et Portugal, entre le piano de Karoline Leblanc (atrito-afeito), la contrebasse de Nicolas Caloia et le violon d’Ernesto Rodrigues (plusieurs disques chez Creative Sources), se réfère à l’improvisation et à l’intemporalité. Autoschediasm se décline en trois mouvements : un premier aux sonorités douces et rondes, un deuxième qui joue un peu plus encore que le précédent sur le minimalisme et le silence, un dernier, le plus court, qui se fait plus enjoué et ondulant. Un disque aussi frais que le blanc de sa pochette.

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The WholeNote (Canada)

January 29 2019 by Stuart Broomer

Karoline Leblanc / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nicolas Caloia – Autoschediasm

Autoschediasm (the term indicates something improvised, offhand or casual) presents a three-segment collective improvisation created by Montreal-based pianist Karoline Leblanc and bassist Nicolas Caloia and Portuguese violist Ernesto Rodrigues. All are accomplished improvisers, but each brings different threads: Leblanc’s background stresses the classical avant-garde; Caloia’s career emphasizes free jazz; Rodrigues, who leads several distinct improvising orchestras in Lisbon, has championed free improvisation for over 30 years, appearing on scores of CDs.

While the title suggests something casual, the music sounds appropriate to its Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal setting, the trio bringing a high modernist discipline and precision to the work. The opening movement flows with an energy that is dense and light. Sparked initially by LeBlanc’s imaginative keyboard flights, in its later stages it settles into a churning rhythmic pattern that ignites Rodrigues’ radical virtuosity, resulting in a flurry of microtonal lines that sometimes create their own counterpart. Offhand? Casual? The only thing that distinguishes it from composed music is the challenge of writing it down.

The second movement takes a contrasting approach, developing little sounds, arising discreetly, sometimes pointillist, at times muffled, at others percussive, a gently humming underbrush alive with detail. The final segment moves from delicate sonic events to a turbulent, vibrant world that recalls the opening, a formal motion that exaggerates a pattern evident since the early classical era. It’s an act of “autoschediasm” rich in taut attention to nuance and form.

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FreeForm, FreeJazz (Brazil)

January 27 2019 by Fabricio Vieira

Karoline Leblanc / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nicolas Caloia – Autoschediasm

O novo registro do selo canadense atrito-afeito apresenta um trio que grava junto pela primeira vez. Aos canadenses Karoline Leblanc (piano) e Nicolas Caloia (baixo) se junta o português  Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), em um encontro que aconteceu no Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal, em junho de 2018. A apresentação, de pouco mais de 40 minutos, se divide em três partes, apesar de ser uma peça só, autoschediasm, que dá título ao álbum. Aqui estamos no campo da improvisação livre coletiva, em que os três instrumentistas exploram vias que se completam em diálogos ora harmoniosos, ora conflitantes, podendo ir cada um a um canto distinto ou se unirem para formar um todo de coerência estética e discursiva. Músicos experientes, conseguem criar, no geral, uma peça de inventivas possibilidades, soando como um conjunto camerístico de linhas moderadas mas desafiadoras, com sonoridades que devem exibir seu melhor no ambiente de uma sala de concerto – isso fica ainda mais evidente na detalhista “Part 2” –, onde cada movimento gestual pode ser captado pelo público. Leblanc, uma das destacadas pianistas da cena contemporânea, mostra um pouco de seu melhor em “Part 3”, quando duela com a viola, em empolgante desfecho a partir dos cinco minutos, que faz o registro encerrar de forma vibrante. O CD sai em edição limitada de 100 cópias numeradas.

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Kathodik (Italy)

December 24 2018 by Marco Carcasi

Karoline Leblanc / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nicolas Caloia – Autoschediasm

In casa della label canadese Atrito-Afeito, azione acustica e suoi stravolgimenti sono all’ordine del giorno.
Nel caso di questo bel live, registrato al conservatorio di Montréal, l’accento vien posto maggiormente sull’acustico.
Il piano e contrabbasso dei canadesi Karoline Leblanc e Nicolas Caloia e la viola del portoghese Ernesto Rodrigues, si esibiscono lungo il corso di tre numeri che inglobano attimi di burrasca, nervosa stasi e rapida liberazione conclusiva.
Con maggior aroma black (Cecil Taylor?) in chiusura e apertura (entrambi di reattiva e sensuale contemporaneità) e un espanso passaggio esplorativo sul corpo strumento (la seconda, strabiliante parte, tra suoni parassitari e decisa, minimale performance).
I naviganti navigano, noi seguiamo il loro ottimo percorso.

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Avant Scena

December 22 2018

Karoline Leblanc / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nicolas Caloia – Autoschediasm

“Autoschediasm” was released by “atrito-afeito” this year. Album was recorded by Karoline Leblanc (piano), Ernesto Rodrigues (viola) and Nicolas Caloia (double bass). These three musicians are interesting and creative jazz masters. Each of them has a new conception of avant-garde jazz. It’s formed by fresh ideas, innovative point of  view and wide imagination. Musicians like to make evocative musical decisions, inventive and experimental playing techniques, exotic combos, eclectic stylistic pairs and produce dozens of weird timbres. Their music is based on synthesis of avant-garde and experimental jazz, free improvisation and contemporary academical music. The music is filled with dynamic and rapid mood, who is contrasting with subtle, silent and peeaceful excerpts. The musicians are famous in avant-garde jazz scene – they are collaborating with numerous of other talented and interesting jazz stars. Together they create vivid, multi-colorful and bright sound.

“Autoschediasm” is filled with wide range playing techniques, interesting expressions and timbres. The music is somewhere between contemporary academical and free improvisation. The basics of avant-garde jazz are used here as the basic of whole musical pattern. It’s the main and the most important element of all – wild, free, subtle or dynamic collective improvisations are the main parts of each improvisation. The music is based on free and abstract musical pattern, who also is organic, multi-layed and polyphonic. Variable and dynamic rhythmic, modern harmony, rich musical language, intensive and impressive instrumentation, dozens of different layers, who are joined together – all these elements are interesting and brightly color whole musical pattern. The main idea of this album is to produce fresh, innovative and interesting sound. Musicians have a huge arsenal of instrumentation and expressions to do it. They manage to create fascinating and moving solos, impressive and roaring blow outs, vivid, remarkable and free improvisations, blowing, dizzy and wild passages, special effects and other elements. All these elements are gently fused together in one place. The music is based on different composing techniques – musicians have their own ways and fuse them with very well-known tendencies of modernism and contemporary academical music. Puantilism, repetitive rhythmic and melodic series, minimalism and post-minimalism, serialism, concrete music, ambient and other similar ways of composing are used here. All these elements make a strong relation with academical music. The musicians have a wonderful and precise playing technique – they can subtly and naturally passe through different moods, combine them without any effort or force and produce wide range of new and interesting timbres. The sound experiments, expansion of playing abilities and technical opportunities, search of new timbres are the main priorities of the musicians. They are dedicated to create free and evocative avant-garde jazz – the willing to form and keep stable, remarkable and attractive melodic line is less important for them. Music is filled with dozens of different tunes, timbres, expressions, pairs and combos – it makes exotic, warm, bright, expressive, moving, attractive, or – aggressive, abandoned, angry and odd sound with all its colors and tunes. Karoline Leblanc is a great pianist. She likes to fuse together uncompairable playing techniques, manners and episodes. Her improvisations are filled with furious, dizzy and aggressive rhythms, repetitive and turbulent series, dizzy, gentle and flowing passages, vivacious melodies, strange timbres and passionate glissando. These elements contain the most effective and moving pieces of her improvisations. Ernesto Rodrigues is an experienced and innovative violist. His music is bright, has rich and wide musical language. It’s beautified with odd timbres, gorgeous sounds, crazy or weird musical decisions, ambient and deep tunes, special effects and experimental playing techniques. Moving and abstract glissando, bordering dynamics, stable tunes, repetitive rhythmic series are contrasting with bright, intense, touching and passionate solos. All improvisations of viola make a huge effort to whole album – it brings the energy, live and much more interesting sound to the compositions. The elements of contemporary academical music are used here a lot – it finds a gentle combo with other instruments and free improvisation. Nicolas Caloia’s double bass improvisations are fantastic and wild. It’s also filled with bright sounds, weird timbres, luminous solos, intense and vibrant energy explosions and deep tunes. Musician masterfully tries out huge range of different ways of playing and composing – all these elements and compounds gently go along together. Double bass and viola form and keep strong background, which is brightly illustrated by ambient tunes, vibrant and deep sounds, special effects, repetitive sessions and electronics. The music of this album has interesting, evocative and bright sound.

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Spontaneous Music Tribune (Poland)

December 19 2018 by Andrzej Nowak

Karoline Leblanc / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nicolas Caloia – Autoschediasm

Kontynuujemy wątek improwizacji, tworzonej z dużą rozwagą I odpowiedzialnością za pojedynczy dźwięk. Przenosimy się do Montrealu, w scenie tamtejszego Konserwatorium Muzycznego meldują się, w roli gospodarzy – Karoline Leblanc na fortepianie, także preparowanym oraz Nicolas Caloia na kontrabasie, a w roli gościa – Ernesto Rodrigues na altówce, przy okazji wartościowy kontynuator wątku iberyjskiego dzisiejszej zbiorówki. Na płytę składają się trzy wątki – najdłuższy, krótszy i najkrótszy. Całość, zarejestrowana tego lata, trwa niespełna trzy kwadranse.

Pierwsza opowieść, stanowiąca niemal połowę nagrania, upływa nam na wyważonej, improwizowanej kameralistyce. Szumiące, chwilami wręcz taneczne pasaże na strunach altówki, kontrabas traktowany naprzemiennie pizzicato i arco, wreszcie skupiona pianistyka na klawiszach. Wszystko odbywa się w atmosferze świetnej komunikacji, jakakolwiek akcja nie pozostaje bez reakcji. Liryka i dynamika, szeroki wachlarz wrażeń estetycznych. Szczególnie urokliwe chwile, to 11-13 minuta, gdy muzycy decydują się na filigranowe rozmowy z akcentami preparacji na fortepianie i altówce, a także chamber bowed bass tuż pod nimi. Pod koniec trio dzieli się na następujące po sobie duety, które ubarwiają całą narrację. Precyzja, styl, dystynkcja, to elementy konstytuujące jakość tego nagrania.

Dwie krótsze improwizacje bardziej stawiają na sonorystykę, zmienność akcji i moc intrygujących inspiracji ze strony każdego z muzyków. W drugim fragmencie smakowity jest moment, gdy małe gierki toczą się niemal na poziomie podłogi, cisza wokół skwierczy, a muzycy stawiają na stylowe zaniechanie i przeurocze szuranie po strunach, także na dnie fortepianu. Jeszcze atrakcyjniejsza akustycznie zdaje się być finałowa opowieść. Szumiąca altówka, kontrabas, który trzeszczy niczym stara szafa w samym środku ciszy. Molekularna zabawa w wyłącznie udane koincydencje. Na ostatniej prostej muzycy czynią ciekawą pętlę narracyjną i wracają do kameralistycznej estetyki początku nagrania, czyli free chamber with meta jazz roots!

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Avant Music News (USA)

December 7 2018 by Daniel Barbiero

Karoline Leblanc / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nicolas Caloia – Autoschediasm

A release from the trio of pianist Karoline Leblanc and double bassist Nicolas Caloia, both of Montreal, and Portuguese violist Ernesto Rodrigues, Autoschediasm, recorded in June at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, is an example of discerningly improvised timbral polyphony. From the first instant Leblanc, Caloia and Rodrigues reveals themselves to be possessed of a fine collective chemistry based on keen listening and sensitive responsiveness. Each leaves adequate room for the others’ instruments to breathe and to sound; their music is the product of what appears to be an unforced, natural rapport. As instrumentalists, all three are primarily colorists working with the full palettes that piano, double bass and viola make possible. The group’s fluency in handling color is especially evident on the second track, an exploration of space and tone. The strings are particularly creative here, with Rodrigues spinning out a full spectrum of unpitched sounds against Caloia’s harmonics, plucked and struck notes, and pressure bowing. Leblanc’s discreet interventions serve as the keystone holding Rodrigues’s and Caloia’s centripetal forces in place. By contrast, on the first piece the trio craft a long but coherent improvisation on the basis of skillfully handled dynamics and a seamless blend of conventional and extended techniques. Leblanc is a deft player, playing inside and outside the piano as needed, and alternating lead and support–or simply staying silent–when the collective sound seems to demand it. Caloia gets a robust sound and provides a firm grounding with his powerful mid and lower registers; Rodrigues’s sense of texture comes out nicely in his use of rapidly bowed layers or plucked and tapped points of sound.

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Orynx (Belgique)

5 décembre 2018 par Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg

Karoline Leblanc / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nicolas Caloia – Autoschediasm

Pour ceux qui suivent le violoniste alto Ernesto Rodrigues, c’est l’occasion de l’écouter dans une dimension esthétique  différente par rapport à ses enregistrements « lower case / réductionnistes » publiés sur son label Creative Sources : sa remarquable maîtrise sotto voce est illustrée ici dans le cadre d’une musique libre jouée avec plus de possibilités sonores, vitesse, énergie, etc… Au piano, la remarquable pianiste canadienne Karoline Leblanc qui dirige aussi le label atrito – afeito et à la contrebasse Nicolas Caloia, lui aussi canadien et membre insigne du trio In the Sea avec Tristan Honsinger et Josh Zubot. Commençant en puissance, la première improvisation (Part 1 21 :26) évolue vers un jeu raffiné, la pianiste intervenant dans la table d’harmonie et le contrebassiste ponctuant le trilogue d’une main sûre. Le violon alto étire les sonorités en faisant miroiter les timbres de ses frottements délicats dans un tournoiement énergique aux cadences renouvelées. Vers la quatorzième minute, le clavier se soulève et emporte les cordistes dans une sarabande animée, orchestrale qui culmine dans des grondements dans les graves. Le contrebassiste pousse le trio avec ses doigts puissants et des vibrations (charlie) hadeniennes. Un bel enchaînement. La Part 2 s’entame dans le questionnement de la matière sonore, les vibrations des cordes du piano actionnées (frappes, frottements furtifs, frictions éthérées) dans la table d’harmonie auquelles répondent les timbres délicats de l’alto (viola) traité de manière ingénieuse et originale. D’un état d’apesanteur attentiste, s’échafaude une construction sonore sombre basée sur un dialogue sensible d’effets sonores maîtrisés dont les affects convergent avec une belle finesse. Par la suite, on découvre un bruitisme minimaliste et expressif (Part 3  9 :13), avec une conclusion enlevée qui renvoie à l’atmosphère animée de la Part 1. Cette expressivité est due au talent des improvisateurs qui savent faire « parler » leurs instruments dans une démarche presque « réductionniste ». À noter la maîtrise du toucher de la pianiste dans les cadences qui clôturent l’album. C’est en tout point remarquable et les trois Parties offrent un panorama de plusieurs  états de l’improvisation libre avec une grande cohérence. Le contrebassiste Nicolas Caloia s’intègre parfaitement dans l’ensemble avec une belle sensibilité et un goût du détail, chose essentielle dans la pratique d’Ernesto Rodrigues. De la vraie musique improvisée aboutie, assumée qui rassemble trois sensibilités – expériences différentes pour célébrer l’écoute mutuelle active. Une belle production de Karoline Leblanc, une artiste à suivre à la trace..

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Badd Press (Canada)

December 4 2018 by Kevin Press

Karoline Leblanc / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nicolas Caloia – Autoschediasm

This powerful new disc from Karoline LeBlanc, Ernesto Rodrigues and Nicolas Caloia is true to its title. Autoschediasm isn’t just a synonym for improv. According to Oxford, its use suggests “something done on the spur of the moment or without preparation; a hasty improvisation.”

It is certainly all of that. This is Cecil Taylor-level intense. Times three.

The album feature Karoline Leblanc on piano, Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and Nicolas Caloia on double bass. Leblanc and Caloia are both Canadians. Rodrigues, who brings the most extensive discography to the project, was born in Lisbon, Portugal.

Leblanc earned a reputation for herself as a concert pianist in the 1990s, premiering a number of Canadian composers’ work. As the decade wore on, she found herself drawn to less structured music. Since 1998, Leblanc has been best known for her complex improv style.

In addition to being a respected double bassist, Caloia is a composer, band leader and artistic director of the Montreal production company Musique rayonnante. He composes and performs with both chamber ensembles and orchestras.

While Rodrigues is clearly gracious enough to place himself second on this album’s bill, he is the group’s main attraction.

His 40-year career has earned him a following that includes lovers of contemporary, free jazz and other improvisational music. An accomplished violinist and violist, Rodrigues says electronic music was a major inspiration early in his career. He’s known to leverage instrument preparations and micro-tuning in his work.

All of the performers shine on this exhilarating three-part disc. Its range extends from quiet intensity to hang-on-to-your-hat. Remarkably though, it never overwhelms. The performances are entirely complementary to one another.autoschediasm is the kind of recording that makes us optimistic about the future of classical music.

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Kathodik (Italy)

October 1 2018 by Marco Carcasi

Total Improvisation Troop – Karma Moxie

Meno wild bunch del precedente “Man Of War” del 2014 (registrato dal vivo fra un via vai di artisti in formazione spesso modulare), “Karma Moxie”, ci presenta l’unità impro del Québec (voluta dai due ideatori del collettivo di Montréal Atrito-Afeito, Karoline Leblanc e Paulo J. Ferreira Lopes), alle prese con una più nitida e meno istintuale performance in sala di registrazione.
Piano, synth, effetti, oggetti rotanti amplificati, chitarra elettrica, bassi, contrabbassi, computer e percussioni metalliche, in formazione ridotta (insomma, oltre ai due sopra citati, Vergil Sharkya, Anne-F Jacques, Lawrence Joseph, Alexandre St-Onge e Peter Burton) a tesser una rete a maglie larghe, sul confine acustico/elettroacustico, di traslucidi segnali ingarbugliati ma non troppo.
Camere d’eco classico/contemporanee, attorno cui s’abbarbicano cocce e scorie blippanti o in stranito dialogo penzolante, fra il borbottio e lo stridore in controllo.
Trafori gentili di frequenze in ampia ambientazione parassitaria e austere contrazioni pianistiche.
Silenzi e ricerca del dettaglio.
Ben fatto.

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Revue & Corrigée (France)

Septembre 2018 par Cyrille Lanoë

Total Improvisation Troop – Karma Moxie

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FreeForm, FreeJazz (Brazil)

September 19 2018 by Fabricio vieira

Total Improvisation Troop – Karma Moxie

O coletivo canadense Total Improvisation Troop (TIT) foi criado em 2011 como um grupo mutável destinado a explorar diferentes vias, da sound art ao jazz acústico, sem ignorar a eletrônica, em meio a diferentes estratégias improvisativas. Após a coletânea “Man of War”, editada em 2014, o TIT edita agora Karma Moxie. O álbum é resultado de uma gravação realizada em setembro de 2017 no The Pines Studios, em Montreal, e traz cinco temas. Em septeto, o TIT está composto aqui por: Karoline Leblanc (piano), Vergil Sharkya’ (sintetizadores), Anne-F Jacques (objetos amplificados), Lawrence Joseph (guitarra elétrica), Alexandre St-Onge (baixo elétrico), Peter Burton (baixo acústico) e Paulo J Ferreira Lopes (cymbals). No campo da improvisação livre, aqui adentramos as esferas da música eletroacústica, onde os dois extremos se unem em equilibrada atmosfera, com piano em destaque de um lado, em diálogos contrastantes com a ampla esfera elétrico-eletrônica. Nesse processo, o papel do piano é fundamental, funcionando como uma espécie de liga, sendo a sonoridade do quinteto indissociável dele; muito presente, o dedilhado de Leblanc marca a abertura da maioria das faixas (1,3,4…), como que demarcando as vias que serão preenchidas pelos outros sons. O soturno início de “Under the Fickle Slate”, por exemplo, perderia sua profundidade sem os toques das teclas de seu primeiro minuto. O disco sai em edição limitada e numerada de 200 cópias.

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Trybuna Muzyki Spontanicznej (Poland)

September 14 2018 by Andrzej Nowak

Total Improvisation Troop – Karma Moxie

Wracamy do poszukującej elektroakustyki. Kanadyjska pianistka Karoline Leblanc i kolejna pozycja w katalogu labelu, przez nią prowadzonego. Septet zwie się dość buńczucznie Total Improvisation Troop, personalnie zaś to: Alexandre St-Onge – bas elektryczny z asystą komputera, Anne-Françoise Jacques – amplifikowane obiekty rotujące, Karoline Leblanc – fortepian i taal, Lawrence Joseph – gitara elektryczna, efekty, Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – talerze, Peter Burton – kontrabas, Vergil Sharkya – syntezator, efekty. Pięć dość zwartych, w formie i czasie, swobodnych improwizacji.

Troje muzyków odpowiada tu głównie za dźwięki akustyczne, czworo zaś za elektroniczne lub elektryczne. Ta wojna sprzymierzonych nie do końca prowadzona jest na równych prawach. Innym słowy, świat syntetycznych dźwięków jest tu w przewadze, nie tylko ilościowej, ale także dramaturgicznej. Przykład skupionej, uważnej narracji, chwilami nieco akademickiej. Kind of contemporary improve. Wiele udanych preludiów ze strony piana, kontrabasu czy perkusjonalii zdaje się gubić trop w trakcie konfrontacji z dość natarczywym i inwazyjnym światem syntetyki. Choćby w drugim utworze, gdy zwinna improwizacja inside piano natrafia na zgrzyty i plamy nieznoszącej sprzeciwu elektroakustyki. Karolina dzielnie trzyma stery improwizacji, jednak orszak obiektów, płaszczyzn i kabli nie odpuszcza choćby na moment. Wszystko brzmi trochę, jak soundtrack do polskich filmów fantastycznych z lat 70. ubiegłego stulecia.

Nieco ciekawsza zdaje się tu być druga część płyty, choćby fragment czwarty, gdy niebanalne piano snuje wartościowe opowieści, a elektroakustyka ogranicza się do kreślenia tła narracji. W części finałowej druga strona medalu proponuje coś na kształt syntetycznej perkusji w dalekim planie. Żywe instrumenty odnajdują wtedy skrawek przestrzeni dla siebie i nie marnują czasu.

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Orynx (Belgique)

14 septembre 2018 par Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg

Paulo J Ferreira Lopes / Karoline Leblanc – Kumbos

Electroacoustic Composition by Paulo J. Ferreira Lopes. Celui-ci est crédité synthesizers reel to reel recordings electromechanical devices percussion. La pianiste canadienne  Karoline Leblanc joue aussi du clavecin, de l’orgue et des field recordings. Le piano, on l’entend, est un Imperial Bösendorfer. Une œuvre intense de 46:36 où s’interpénètrent des traitements électroniques aux sonorités très détaillées, le clavier résonnant du grand piano, des bruissements provenant d’une installation (electromechanical devices), des bandes , des extrêmes sonores qui surviennent brusquement et se dissolvent…Plus qu’un paysage sonore, il s’agit d’un rêve, de portions du temps découpées et insérées aux autres dans une autre réalité, d’un cauchemar esquissé, le piano granitique et monstrueux nous rattachant à notre condition d’auditeur. Le son du piano semble quelque fois traité électroniquement. Karoline Le Blanc enfonce les touches graves avec puissance faisant résonner toute la caisse de résonance au maximum en symbiose avec les sons électroniques et quelques notes du piano altérées électroniquement. Œuvre complexe, dense, radicale, au cheminement imprévisible et vraiment intéressante qui mérite d’être écoutée à plsuieurs reprises pour en déceler les fils conducteurs.

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The WholeNote (Canada)

March 1st 2018 by Tiina Kiik

Paulo J Ferreira Lopes / Karoline Leblanc – Kumbos

Even if you really, really dislike electroacoustic music, give this release a try because its strength in sound, collaboration and experimentation lead to accessible listening. Montreal-based composer/performer Paulo J Ferreira Lopes utilizes his many, many clever and established electro and percussion skills to create a fascinating musical conversation with his collaborator, acoustic keyboards performer Karoline Leblanc, in this one-track, hand-numbered 200 limited edition sound adventures release.

Kumbos begins with an attention-grabbing recurring percussive opening and dense piano chords. The subsequent soundscape of high pitched squeaks and cymbal washes against piano textures is a pleasing juxtaposition of sound effects. More melodic piano lines provide contrast in the quieter sections. Love the sudden loud electronic crashes. Highly effective are the numerous silences interspersed throughout the work, which are welcome escapes from sound, and music in their own right. These add to the creation of musical intrigue leading to the final climactic conversation of more intense electroacoustic rhythms, large held piano chords and washes of sound colour.

There are touches of field recordings by Leblanc which are a bit of a strain to hear but are colourful musical diversions. Additional melodic piano sections would be welcome, as well as more drum kit against electronic effects. The production is clear and the instrument levels are balanced. Repeated listening adds to a gratifying appreciation of detail in performance and composition.

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Revue & Corrigée (France)

Janvier 2018 par Cyrille Lanoë

Paulo J Ferreira Lopes / Karoline Leblanc – Kumbos

Après le titre « A square meal » en quatuor (chroniqué dans notre numéro papier 113), nous retrouvons Paulo J Ferreira Lopez en duo avec Karoline Leblanc. La rencontre du piano et de l’électronique sur une composition de Paul JFL, paru sur leur label atrito-afeito. Quoiqu’en duo, les deux improvisateurs basés à Montréal multiplient les instruments : le piano, l’harpsichord, l’orgue et le field recordings pour Karoline, les synthétiseurs, le magnéto à bandes, un dispositif « électroméchanique » et les percussions pour Paulo. Une pièce découpée en de nombreuses parties offrant de beaux moments de silence et de respiration, présentée en une seule et même plage de 45 min environ. La profondeur du piano enveloppe des électroniques parfois croustillantes, souvent aiguës et à la teneur acousmatique de temps à autre. Les percussions sont quant à elles plutôt discrètes et se concentrent sur le timbre des cymbales jusqu’à ce que dans la deuxième moitié du disque s’installent des rythmes échantillonés en direct, au « son » presque trad’. Comme on dit en sport, « nous entrons dans le dernier quart d’heure » sous des contours électroacoustiques vibrants, sur des pulsations dynamiques, des aspirations frétillantes annoncent des cloches, ça crépite de toute part pour laisser apparaître quelques très fins field recordings. Le piano semble soutenir le débat (de belle manière) et appelle les voix sur les toutes dernières parties du disque. Des voix de femmes souvent. Souvent lointaines, a priori orientales, parfois et peut-être de cathédrale. Une fin toute cinématographique clôt les débats. Je retiendrai de ce disque certains paysages justement, mélange d’urbanisme et d’horizon, dans une électroacoustique très fraiche. Chaudement recommandé.

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Kathodik (Italy)

December 17 2017 by Marco Carcasi

Paulo J Ferreira Lopes / Karoline Leblanc – Kumbos

Minuscoli congegni elettrici in ronzante movimento, bave di synth e nastri in scorrimento manipolatorio (Ferreira Lopes). Piano, field recordings, organo e harpsichord la Leblanc. La consuetudine per la label del Québec, ma l’intreccio esposto fra rigori avant-elettroacustici e suggestioni classico/cameristiche, funziona e non ammorba, in virtù di un rodato approccio tendente all’essenziale e non di più, strutturatosi nel corso di un buon numero di produzioni/esibizioni d’insieme (il collettivo Total Improvisation Troop, “Hypnagogic Cartography 1”, il recente “A Square Meal”).
Gravi cluster di piano a incomber sullo sfondo, sibili e movimenti batterici in loop o inciampo, flebili urti di squittenti eventi astrali in sospensione, il silenzio avvolgente in cui ogni vibrazione appare e lenta/naturale, scompare.
Impro minimale da camera classica, a questo giro in torsione quasi da porta socchiusa su tese panoramiche ambient/post industrial.
Un’impeccabile, elegante livido.

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Trybuna Muzyki Spontanicznej (Poland)

December 10 2017 by Andrzej Nowak

Paulo J Ferreira Lopes / Karoline Leblanc – Kumbos

Na finał naszej grudniowej zbiorówki odrobinę odejdziemy od improwizacji. Czeka nas bowiem… kompozycja elektroakustyczna na dwie persony i spory zestaw przedmiotów, gotowych wydawać dźwięki.

Z kanadyjską pianistką Karoline Leblanc zetknęliśmy się w tym roku, przy okazji jej kwartetowej, pełnowymiarowej improwizacji w towarzystwie trzech Portugalczyków (A Square Meal, m.in. z udziałem Luisa Vicente i Hugo Antunesa). Tym czwartym był Paulo J Ferreira Lopes, który na płycie Kumbos zdaje się być postacią wiodącą.

On jest autorem 46 minutowej kompozycji, a generuje rozliczne dźwięki elektroakustyczne za pomocą syntezatorów, urządzeń elektromechanicznych, perkusjonalii, a także reel-to-reel recorders. Jego partnerka korzysta zaś z fortepianu, organów, klawesynu, a także wykorzystuje nagrania terenowe.

Trzy kwadranse w takich oto okolicznościach instrumentalno-narzędziowych mijają doprawdy uroczo. Paulo w ramach kompozycji wykazuje się dużą przedsiębiorczością, niemałym pomyślunkiem i dostarcza nam szereg frapujących dźwięków. Karoline mocnymi akordami piana sieje ferment i nie pozwala, by elektroakustyka całkowicie zdominowała utwór. Muzyka pełna jest smaczków, ciekawych zwrotów dramaturgicznych, nie stroni od emocji i intrygujących konstatacji. A recenzent wcale nie odczuwa braków w zakresie należytej porcji improwizacji.

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Monk Mink Pink Punk (USA)

November 2017 by Josh Rosen

Karoline Leblanc – Velvet Oddities

A pianist and multi-instrumentalist in the Total Improvisation Troop, a very large Canadian collective, Leblanc sits alone, spinning out nineteen short pieces on acoustic piano. The pieces defy categorization, sometimes resembling the works of Erik Satie, sometimes the work of Bill Evans, sometimes Philip Corner, but I assume all of these works are improvised, having the tenacity to veer off into interesting little tangents in a pleasing inquisitive manner. A few pieces explore keyboard mania, seemingly playing at top speed.

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Revue & Corrigée (France)

Novembre 2017 par Cyrille Lanoë

Karoline Leblanc / Luís Vicente / Hugo Antunes / Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – A Square Meal

Leblanc-Vicente-Antunes-Ferreira Lopes A Square Meal atrito-afeito 007 – Nük Vol au Vent Gex records. Deux disques me semblant complémentaires me sont parvenus quasi simultanément, il y a un petit temps déjà et je m’en excuse auprès des intéressés. Deux disques enregistrés en mai et juillet 2016 pour une sortie en ce début d’année. Un au Portugal par Paulo J Ferreira Lopes, l’autre en France par Jean-Marc Foussat. Deux parallèles entre fraicheur et générosité. Au Portugal, les artistes locaux PJ Ferreira Lopes, Luis Vicente, et Hugo Antunes s’associent à Karoline Leblanc, pianiste montréalaise . On retrouve le piano en pièce centrale de ces deux disques, sur celui de Nük il est tenu (dressé) par Cécile Thévenot accompagnée des percussions de Benoit Kilian. Le quartet manie avec beauté, tact et dénué d’effets inutiles, les envolées jazz improvisé et les moments de dispersion, pour une dynamique qui me paraît proche de The Necks. Il réussit avec brio à faire passer ses émotions du jeu intentionnel, à l’affût de sonorités claires, précises et pures. Cinq pièces qui héritent d’un mastering intransigeant rendant la rencontre encore meilleure. En France, le duo Nük reste là où le quartet explose, dans les récifs délaissés par l’impro pour y explorer les inspirations les plus rêches, les plus ténues, avec un piano joué aussi bien à l’intérieur que de façon traditionnelle. Evidemment, avec Jean-Marc Foussat à l’enregistrement, nous sommes proches des productions Potlach et Fou records bien sur. Plus électroacoustiques que chez le quartet, les sonorités perçantes jouent des coudes avec une électroacoustique linéaire, avec le souffle vibrant, sur un épilogue le plus long du disque, en écho au dernier (et super) titre de longueur légèrement inférieure. Entre les deux, plusieurs pistes à tous les sens du terme, parfois très courtes. Dans un dialogue au vocabulaire soutenu, agrémenté de tentatives de communication verbale susurrée, auxquelles répondent des râles frottés sur les peaux des percussions. Une électroacoustique fine, musclée et exigeante.

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The WholeNote  and  Jazzword (Canada)

October 1st 2017 by Ken Waxman

Karoline Leblanc / Luís Vicente / Hugo Antunes / Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – A Square Meal

As the equivalent of topping gooey Québécois poutine with piquant Portuguese sausage, this square meal is hard-edged and free-form, combining the talents of Montrealers, pianist Karoline Leblanc and drummer Paul J. Ferreira Lopes with Lisbon residents, trumpeter Luís Vicente and Hugo Antunes. Throughout, the quartet members function as master chefs for whom cooking Iberian-Canadian fare is commonplace.

With A Square Meal’s flavoursome main courses, spiky extended feasts, and sonic appetizers and desserts of the same quality, the tracks are spiced with slick piano glissandi, sifted trumpet whinnies, rounded double-bass plops and drums hammered with the efficiency of a meat tenderizer. Although infused with extended techniques, these splintered and kinetic courses also have a base of rib-sticking home cooking, since melodic slices are present throughout. Leblanc, for instance, may appear to be cramming too many notes into a tremolo outpouring, but like a seasoned cook that output fits succulently. The quartet’s replication of agile line cooking is most apparent on the 23-minute Creature Comforts. Open-ended with welcoming piano chords and a languid shuffle beat from the drummer, the narrative is swiftly shaded and sharpened with aggressive, double-tongued brass rasps, paced by string crackles from the bassist and active drum smacks. Just when it appears that Vicente can’t slur any more dissonant tones from his instrument, Leblanc’s steady comping pushes the trumpeter to mid-range blowing and joins him to return to the near-romantic theme of the beginning. A Square Meal may be unusual fare, but it’s undoubtedly musically nourishing.

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FreeForm, FreeJazz (Brazil)

September 15 2017 by Fabricio Vieira

Karoline Leblanc / Luís Vicente / Hugo Antunes / Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – A Square Meal

****(*)

A pianista canadense Karoline Leblanc se une aqui aos portugueses Luís Vicente (trompete), Hugo Antunes (baixo) e o baterista Paulo J Ferreira Lopes (este, radicado em Québec). O resultado é um impactante registro, captado em maio de 2016 no Namouche Studios (Lisboa). Editado pelo selo independente atrito-afeito, de Leblanc e Lopes, A Square Meal é uma exploração improvisativa que não ignora as trilhas do jazz (ou, mais especificamente, do free jazz). E o lírico free impro que emana do álbum realmente consegue alcançar momentos sublimes, como bem aponta de cara “Ken Tack”, faixa que abre o conjunto preparando os ouvidos para o melhor que virá. Se o quarteto soa bastante integrado, é inegável que piano e trompete acabam por brilhar mais, encantando-nos (parecendo até que sem esforço) em diferentes passagens. E isso pode ser apreciado em todas as faixas, com destaque para uma das mais extensas, “Mind and Intent”, que oferece de pronto cinco minutos de intensidade contagiante, antes de uma estratégica pausa que nos conduz para um processo em crescendo, que culmina com um intenso solo de piano que nos leva à mais relaxada etapa final. Um disco para ser ouvido vezes seguidas.

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bodyspace  and  A Forma do Jazz (Portugal)

September 12 2017 by Nuno Catarino

Karoline Leblanc / Luís Vicente / Hugo Antunes / Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – A Square Meal

Improv luso-canadiana.

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Musicworks (Canada)

July 2017 by Lawrence Joseph

Karoline Leblanc / Luís Vicente / Hugo Antunes / Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – A Square Meal

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Kathodik (Italy)

July 7 2017 by Marco Carcasi

Karoline Leblanc / Luís Vicente / Hugo Antunes / Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – A Square Meal

Un severo quartetto impro di ruvida matrice jazz/contemporanea, tromba/piano/contrabbasso/batteria (Leblanc / Vicente / Antunes / Ferreira Lopes), registrato in live di studio a Lisbona nel 2016.
Cinque composizioni istantanee, che inglobano spasmi spirituali (a maggior trazione negli inneschi tromba/contrabbasso), martellanti linee pianistiche di matrice classica (in controllato scaracollo o gocciolamenti d’opale al chiar di luna) e drumming in frenesia fratturante di avvito free europeo.
Silenzi, archetti, gorgogliamenti, respirazioni, schianti e metalli raschiati inclusi nel mazzo.
Zone di interazione rattrappito/minimale ed insistenze d’insieme, eleganti e di riflessiva irruenza.
L’opera di convergenza fra input sperimentali messa in atto dall’etichetta del Québec, procede spedita senza intoppi sulla tratta Canada/Portogallo.

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Orynx (Belgique)

26 Juin 2017 par Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg

Karoline Leblanc / Luís Vicente / Hugo Antunes / Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – A Square Meal

Encore un album avec le trompettiste portugais Luis Vicente, apprécié dans Fail Better !, Chamber 4, Clocks and Clouds, In Layers, quatre opus vraiment recommandables. Ces musiciens portugais s’activent se font connaître avec des improvisateurs français, anglais, américains… Rien d’étonnant de les entendre faire équipe avec une pianiste Québecquoise,Karoline Leblanc.  Free-jazz « free » lyrique, racé et rebondissant, piano mouvant et piloté par des mains expertes en phase avec les phrases tour à tour enflammées ou relâchées du trompettiste, qui n’hésite pas à éructer en cisaillant la colonne d’air. Le batteur Paulo Ferreira Lopes drive de la pointe des baguettes avec goût et une belle sûreté rythmique, sans oublier un sens de l’économie des gestes, le bassiste Hugo Antunes assure la pulsation première avec goût et de belles notes rondes ou s’échappe en frottant dans les harmoniques entraînant le trompettiste dans ses derniers retranchements, l’art bruitiste faisant merveille. Une réelle cohérence s’établit au fil des cinq morceaux vivaces, primesautiers, intenses, vécus et un vrai sens de l’improvisation. Au fur et à mesure que les morceaux défilent, une interaction de qualité entre chacun d’eux se développe comme une excroissance de l’identité sonore du groupe. Dans une formule instrumentale hyper reconnue, les quatre musiciens captivent l’auditeur avec brio, logique, spontanéité et sans bavardage. Une de leurs qualités est ce sens inné de la dynamique qui apporte la légèreté indispensable aux improvisateurs pour s’envoler. Karoline Leblanc fait un excellent travail de musicienne de groupe (collective) et Luis Vicente se confirme encore comme une voix particulière de la trompette (avec sourdine ou sans) qui dose ses interventions à la perfection, jouant son rôle de première voix du quartette avec le plus grand naturel : il joue ce qui doit être joué dans la logique du projet. Excellent !!

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Citizen Jazz (France)

11 Juin 2017 par Franpi Barriaux

Karoline Leblanc / Luís Vicente / Hugo Antunes / Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – A Square Meal

 Luís Vicente est un chasseur de perles, principalement planquées dans tous les recoins d’Europe. Il les déniche auprès des scènes les plus vivaces ou exotiques. Les pêches sont à chaque fois miraculeuses : de son récent In Layers avec Onno Govaert jusqu’aux collaborations avec le Tricollectif, sa trompette volubile est chez elle partout où elle est invitée. C’est un talent rare que d’imprimer toujours sa patte dans les divers univers où l’on plonge, sans pour autant tomber dans l’uniformisation.

Il y a certes entre What About Sam ? et ce quartet qui présente A Square Meal quelques similitudes, dans la fougue comme dans l’agitation qui cherche le mouvement perpétuel. On retrouve au côté du trompettiste une colonie intarissable de musiciens lusitaniens, à commencer par l’impressionnant batteur Paulo J Ferreira Lopes, idéal accélérateur de particules qui sait faire exploser les formes au bon moment (« Cubeb and Lime »). Toutes les participations de Vicente à un disque concourent à une communauté d’idée sur le devenir de l’improvisation mondiale plus que de la redite ou de l’expression d’une « bande ». La plupart des musiciens ici présents sont nouveaux dans sa discographie. C’est d’ailleurs Karoline Leblanc, jeune pianiste québécoise qui mène les débats, et c’est l’une des plus brillantes perles que Vicente ait jamais ramenées. On s’en convainc avec l’intense « Creature Comforts » où son jeu pugnace et cogneur se heurte de plein fouet à la contrebasse malmenée de Hugo Antunes. Sur cette basse aussi brûlante que de la lave, Luís Vicente souffle sur les braises dans un râle d’embouchure colérique, lorsqu’il ne s’atomise pas en divers éclats de cuivre.

Il serait caricatural de dire que la pêche a eu lieu dans les eaux territoriales de l’Amérique du Nord. A bien des égards, à l’écoute de « Ken Tack » et ces basses martelées par Leblanc, on se situe dans l’espace infini de l’improvisation européenne. Néanmoins, à la moindre étincelle -et elles ne tardent guère- on se souvient que le contrebassiste a beaucoup travaillé avec Chris Corsano, Nate Wooley ou John Dikeman (notamment avec Luís Vicente sur l’excellent Salão Brazil). Les rages soudaines, souvent attisées par les cordes, font régulièrement songer à cette proximité américaine, d’autant que la discographie de la pianiste, parue majoritairement sur le label Atrito-Afeito qui accueille A Square Meal, est très largement nourrie de cette tradition plus free, sensible dans un morceau orgiaque comme « A Square Meal », mais également dans un album tel Man of War avec le Total Improvisation Troop. Excitante découverte.

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Trybuna Muzyki Spontanicznej (Poland)

April 26 2017 by Andrzej Nowak

Karoline Leblanc / Luís Vicente / Hugo Antunes / Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – A Square Meal

Muzyków odnajdujemy w czeluściach piekielnych Namouche Studios. Słoneczny poranek (?), prawdziwa (!) wiosna za oknem. Przy fortepianie gość z Kanady, Karoline Leblanc, po prawdzie zapewne główny inicjator spotkania, a już z całą pewnością wydawca muzyki, jaka za moment powstanie. Tuż obok niej, nie pierwszy zresztą raz, perkusista Paulo J Ferreira Lopes (przyznaję, że widzę go po raz pierwszy). Kolejni dwaj muzycy już szczerzą do nas zęby, bo znamy się świetnie – Luis Vicente na trąbce i Hugo Antunes na kontrabasie. Materiał muzyczny, który zgrabnie wyimprowizują w/w muzycy, zostanie skodyfikowany w pięć fragmentów z tytułami, potrwa godzinę zegarową, a trafi do nas dzięki płycie A Square Meal

(atrito-afeito, 2017). Podmiot wykonawczy określony zostaje poprzez wymienienie z imienia i nazwiska wszystkich muzyków w takiej to kolejności instrumentalnej – piano, trąbka, kontrabas i perkusja.

Od razu zaznaczmy, iż płyta stanowi nieprzerwany ciąg improwizowanych dźwięków, a zaczyna go głęboki, nisko zwieszony pasaż fortepianu. Wtóruje mu niezwykle stanowczy kontrabas, skupiona perkusja i trąbka w stanie delikatnej preparacji. Wstęp nie jest przegadany, a kwartet w mgnieniu oka osiąga większą motorykę. Narracja jest gęsto tkana, bez specjalnych fajerwerków, toczy się zwinnie, zwartym szykiem i zdecydowaniena temat. Demokracja wewnątrz kwartetu nie budzi zastrzeżeń służb specjalnych, a muzyka płynie bardzo wartkim strumieniem, brocząc w oceanie dalece swobodnej wymiany myśli i empatycznych zachowań wszystkich muzyków. Struktura pomysłu na improwizację nie jest nadmiernie skomplikowana, stanowi wyważony konglomerat indywidualnych incydentów, udanie łączonych w kolektywne wypowiedzi. Określeniefree jazz winno paść w tym momencie i stanowić stały punkt odniesienia dla tego nagrania. Tak istotne dla jakości muzyki parametry – umiejętności muzyków i adekwatna wyobraźnia – są tu udziałem każdego, a w szczególności, co nas zupełnie nie dziwi, Luisa Vicente.

W trzecim fragmencie tej dość jednorodnej i skupionej opowieści, dopada nas dalece frapujące wyciszenie po dość intensywnym galopie – szmery, westchnienia, tarcia, tłuste smyki i nieśmiałe preparacje pianistki. Dramaturgia tej orgii improwizacji opiera się na pięknym dysonansie budowanym na styku kontrabasu (kanał lewy) i trąbki (kanał prawy). Ich wymiany poglądów, subtelne zwroty dramaturgiczne są kluczem do interpretacji zamysłów wszystkich muzyków. Karoline niechybnie czerpie dużą radość z operowania klawiszami odpowiedzialnymi na niskie częstotliwości, co stanowi istotny powód dla odbiorcy, by częstowgryzać się w jej pianistykę. Perkusista bywa tu czujny, nienachalny i choć momentami ledwie znaczy swoją obecność, to trudno byłoby sobie wyobrazić ów kwartet bez jego udziału. Mistrzem ceremonii, mimo demokratycznego statusu w zespole, pozostaje jednak doskonały trębacz, który co rusz zrywa nam kurz z powiek i uwalnia tony endorfin. Szczęśliwie dla obrazu całości, pozostali muzycy spokojnie nadążają za jego wyobraźnią. Być może, w niektórych momentach, brakuje nieco pieprzu w tej muzyce (preparacji piana? Karoline – więcej odwagi!), ale samo obcowanie z interakcjami na linii Antunes-Vicente nakazuje ustawiać ocenę tej płyty na wysokim szczeblu. Pierwsza część czwartego upływa nam na studiowaniu niezwykletaylorowskiej galopady pianistki. Free pełną gębą! W tym samym niemal momencie istotnie odżywa także perkusista, dając krótkie i kompetentne solo, które skutecznie zagaduje, jak zwykle nadaktywny trębacz. Robi się z tego ekscytujące duo, które subtelnie stemplują jednodźwiękami kontrabas i piano. Być może ten moment winniśmy uznać za najbardziej wartościowy na krążku. Finał – dynamiczny, dwuminutowy – wybudza nas z dalece udanego muzycznego letargu

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The Sound Projector (UK)

April 15 2017 by Paul Khimasia Morgan

Karoline Leblanc – Velvet Oddities

PETALODY

This arrived with a hand-written note on a very nice piece of marbled paper. Perhaps the marbling is the work of Karoline Leblanc as well, perhaps not. The design of the cd sleeve is also very striking. A warm-yellow sleeve; a single fold-over piece of card, but professionally printed in full colour; the yellow on the outside augmented with a four bar graphic – three turquoise bars and one red on its face. Upon opening, on the inside the background is red with the same graphic but with one red and three white bars. There is no written information on the inside apart from the indication that these are nineteen individual pieces of piano improvisation. This description is included on the back cover as a helpful subtitle for the casual observer. The longest piece of music is just under four minutes while the shortest is very brief at only 58 seconds. I use the term “music” deliberately; these are very “musical” improvisations; no extended technique, Cageian preparation or augmentation with everyday objects here. These nineteen tracks actually work very well if listened to straight through in one sitting and perceived as a whole piece, or a whole movement. Leblanc demonstrates some very technical playing and clearly she is a very accomplished pianist – I think she plays instruments other than piano as well, namely violin, harpsichord, organ, and most interestingly, the Ondes Martenot: an early electronic orchestral instrument. If you are not familiar with the Ondes Martenot, imagine something not unlike a scaled-up Stylophone. And go and source a copy of Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony and be amazed. I’d be very interested to hear her tackle the Ondes with a similar approach to this.

She appears to be involved with an improvising scene in Montreal; I think her initial entry-point some time ago being through free-jazz. She runs the atrito-afeito label with another musician, the improvising drummer, Paulo J Ferreira Lopes. I think Velvet Oddities is a very impressive piece of work with a good flow throughout the course of the album. Indeed, with this many short pieces, I’m sure a lot of thought would have gone into the sequencing of tracks, which benefits the material greatly. It works very well; is very dynamic, and because of the high level of technique, a lot of it is leaning towards – or revealing the influence of – classical piano music more than it is Electro Acoustic Improvisation. But that’s no bad thing. Yeah, I like it. Edition of 100.

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Jazz.pt – Ponto de escuta (Portugal)

March 8 2017 by Rui Eduardo Paes

Karoline Leblanc / Luís Vicente / Hugo Antunes / Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – A Square Meal

A pianista canadiana Karoline Leblanc e o baterista português, mas radicado no Quebec, Paulo Ferreira Lopes são presenças assíduas no MIA –Encontro de Música Improvisada de Atouguia da Baleia, e no mês de Maio de cada ano que vai passando é possível igualmente ouvi-los a tocar com músicos locais em alguns espaços de Lisboa.  “A Square Meal” foi gravado precisamente por essa altura em 2016, no prestigiado estúdio Namouche de Joaquim Monte, com Luís Vicente no trompete e Hugo Antunes no contrabaixo. O mais curioso deste encontro de circunstância é o facto de encontrarmos Leblanc e Ferreira Lopes num contexto mais jazzístico do que lhes é habitual. Regra geral, os seus territórios de acção são as músicas livremente improvisada e experimental, com a primeira a revelar um sólido “backgroung” clássico em tudo o que faz, seja munida de sintetizadores, em formato de piano solo ou a dirigir grandes ensembles.

Poderíamos ser levados a pensar que são as presenças de Vicente e Antunes os “triggers” de tal desenlace, mas o certo é que o jazz está presente no estilo pianístico da protagonista deste encontro (para qualquer lugar onde desviemos a atenção ela está lá, de algum modo), sendo particularmente devedor ao “clustering” de Cecil Taylor. E se ao vivo me ficara antes a impressão de que a sua abordagem pessoal se define pela economia de elementos e pela nuance das abordagens, eis que aqui a encontramos em desenfreada entrega, com um “drive” e uma pujança feitos de síncopes e pulsações que não são menos “groovy” por tenderem para a abstracção e a deflagração rítmica. Nunca se é apenas uma coisa, e este disco tem como valência maior revelar-nos uma outra Karoline Leblanc. […]

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Musicworks magazine #126 (Canada)

Fall 2016

Karoline Leblanc – Velvet Oddities

Leblanc runs the Atrito-Afeito imprint with Paulo J. Ferreira Lopes, and has appeared on four of the six albums issued to date on that label. Previous releases have displayed her considerable skill in sculpting sound with electronic synthesizers (Hypnagogic Cartography 1 and The Aethernauts/Dust Model for an Imperceptible Time) and in organizing large ensembles (with the Total Improvisation Troop). On Velvet Oddities we discover that she is equally talented on solo acoustic piano.

Although eleven of the nineteen pieces clock in under two minutes, while none reach the four-minute mark, fleet fingers allow Leblanc to pack a slew of notes into each number. With no time for wandering, themes are concisely stated and territories expeditiously staked out, strict discipline keeping the ideas in focus. Each track explores subtly different notions, but there is a stylistic unity that suggests an album-length suite. Left-hand bass runs and repeating melodic cells frequently hint at Cecil Taylor’s influence, but this music is more gentle and concise than Taylor’s. If the constant hanging chords and abruptly ending lines seem jarring to newcomers to the music, those more acclimatized to free-jazz piano may find that it streams with a soothing flow. The CD is ideal for early-morning contemplation or late-night decompression, as quiet mingles with disquiet.                 (Lawrence Joseph)

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Discorder magazine (Canada)

July 14 2016 by Dora Dubber

Karoline Leblanc – Velvet Oddities

Québec Great Karoline Leblanc’s Velvet Oddities is a series of 19 brief piano improvisations from her Montréal-based label: atrito-afeito. The LP continues Leblanc’s exploration of sonic freedom and experimentation as she produces inventive and temperate compositions.

Leblanc’s career began as a prominent classical Canadian pianist, playing several world premiers of Canadian composers throughout the ‘90s. But since 1998 Leblanc has been experimenting with traditional free jazz and unrestricted musical expression. She is less known for the result of her stylistic revolution, which is heavily improvised, flighty, protracted, and largely self-produced.

atrito-afeito, releases content made exclusively by Leblanc and Paul J Ferreira Lopes, another Montreal-based artist with a similar interest in innovative musical freedom. The label’s releases are a series of largely improvised collaborations and solo releases. Their group, Total Improvisation Troop (TIT) is self described as a “modular structure for freedom” combining visuals and traditional and contemporary sounds to redefine textual performance with expressive liberty. atrito-afeito is a self-created platform for Leblanc and Lopes to create whatever kind of content interests them, unaffected by typical industry limitations and they have used this opportunity to produce genuinely personal and original music.

Alternating between urgent chords and gentle trills, Leblanc has created a cathartic collection of improvisations in Velvet Oddities. Leblanc’s mastery of pause and suspense on her beautifully paced tracks seduces and soothes the listener. While the tracks range from five minutes to less than one, with most of the songs hovering between two and four, every piece combines dramatic interjections and consistent melodies as Leblanc trips over keys and chords on her own authentic creative odyssey. Leblanc’s position allows her creative and productive freedom and Velvet Oddities is a gratifying addition to her growing repertoire.

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Kathodik (Italy)

June 2 2016 by Marco Carcasi

Karoline Leblanc – Velvet Oddities

Diciannove brevi tracce di improvvisazione per piano di taglio cameristico/contemporaneo.
“Velvet Oddities” è una piacevole digressione rispetto alle astrazioni maggiormente elettroniche, che l’artista di Montreal ci aveva in precedenza proposto.
Attimi convulsi che paiono inarcar la schiena fino a spezzarsi, rattrappimenti e scarse pause riflessive.
Particolarmente efficace, nella sua urgenza di matrice classica/colta europea che a tratti, par assumer le sembianze di un nevrotizzato ragtime.
Una gradita sorpresa “Velvet Oddities” (poi non cosi rigida e severa come si potrebbe immaginare).

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The Sound Projector (UK)

January 1st, 2016 by Ed Pinsent

Anne-F Jacques – Sable ou Sel

SAND GRINDING MACHINE

In same package as previous received from Karoline Leblanc was a copy of Sable Ou Sel (atrito-afeito 004), by the electro-acoustic genius Anne F. Jacques. We’ve heard her before on Montréal Tape Run from her own Crustacés Tapes label, and performing with Tim Olive as Anne-Françoise Jacques on the Dominion Mills album. I’m getting the idea she likes rotating surfaces; while the method behind Sable Ou Sel is not explicitly revealed, it reminds me very much of the effect I used to get on my old Dansette record player from my earliest youth when we forgot to change the needle, or tried using the 78 RPM stylus on a modern micro-groove record. On this 100-copy CD, Jacques makes an aural close-up of an event or events not unlike what I’m describing, and mesmerises us with the relentless power and ominous sense of doom this creates. If Greek mythology was right all along and our destinies are woven for us by three Godesses who handle the threads of Fate, then this is the sound of their cosmic spinning wheel at work – even if such inventions post-date Plato’s Republic. Perhaps Anne-F Jacques sees all of life as a rotating wheel, and our sad existence as futile as that of a hamster morosely carrying on the daily grind. Whatever her world view, it takes some clear-eyed artistic vision to focus so remorselessly on the sonic details that preoccupy her to this degree; the minimalistic vision is presented with incredible focus and determination, blocking out any other possible view. An extremely compelling artistic statement!

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The Sound Projector (UK)

January 1st, 2016 by Ed Pinsent

Karoline Leblanc – The Aethernauts/Dust Model For An Imperceptible Time

MOON OVER MONTREAL

Karoline Leblanc is a musician from Montreal who we first heard as one of the core members of Total Improvisation Troop, and their ensemble work Man Of War earned a tip from Ian Sherred’s hipster beret, who enjoyed the “clangorous, vaguely sinister” vibe. Now here she is with a solo album of synthesiser music created on her Alesis and Moog devices (the former being an item of choice when you want to imitate analogue sounds and behaviours). Both pieces The Aethernauts / Dust Model For An Imperceptible Time could be characterised by their long-form approach, and their overall purity – what we hear is tentative sketching of details on an uncertain abstract canvas, as if fearful of ruining the simplicity of primed white hessian.

Those who enjoy analogue electronics or reasonable simulacrum thereof will enjoy her slow and drifty music, even if there aren’t any especially innovative sounds on offer from her settings, nor does she favour the soggy maximalist mudscapes of Pauline Oliveros. What I do like is the absence of pre-programmed, pre-digested ideas; it does genuinely appear to be music made and performed in real time, and Leblanc is never content to let the machines do half the work for her. On the contrary, it’s more plausible to think that she’s tamed and domesticated them to the extent that they perform like two trained housecats, obediently showing respect and love to their mistress.

The animated film by illustrator and film-maker Frederico Penteado for which The Aethernauts was composed as a soundtrack can be seen on Vimeo or through his own website. But seeing this film can make Leblanc’s music too “narrative” or interpretive, when it’s better enjoyed on its own non-associative terms. More successful for me is Dust Model For An Imperceptible Time, composed in 2015, which is in two parts titled ‘Alluvium’ and ‘Moon Tinge’; through her titles alone, Leblanc evokes vast distances of time and space, and indicates she’s more interested in exploring soil deposits than attempting to account for human civilisation.

I say this to convey something of the epic scale of her work, and the inhuman emptiness of it; it really does appear to have been composed and realised from a very lofty viewpoint, from which we can observe cosmic events unfolding even when we don’t understand what they mean of have any scientific equipment to interpret what we’re seeing. In short – Tangerine Dream’s early works, squared, and compressed to their most basic components.

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Revue & Corrigée (France)

20 Décembre 2015 par Cyrille Lanoë

Karoline Leblanc – The Aethernauts/Dust Model For An Imperceptible Time

Anne-F Jacques – Sable ou Sel

Nouvel essai solo pour KAROLINE LEBLANC avec deux pièces électroniques dont une bande son pour le court métrage “The Aethernauts” réalisé par Frederico Penteado. Aprés Németh et le film “Koi”, voici donc à nouveau sur cette page de la musique pour image. Avant de parler de l’image en question, attardons nous sur le sonore. Un peu comme chez Németh, il nous est donné d’entendre plusieurs pistes en une, avec un va-et-vient électroacoustique mêlant du field-recordings à de la composition linéaire, horizontale, en bourdonnement. Un exercice plutôt inhabituel comparé au reste du catalogue. Une électroacoustique aussi futuriste que les images. Ces images animées en court métrage traitent partiellement de science fiction, d’art plastique, d’un regard interrogatif voire méfiant (ça c’est pour le masque à gaz du personnage principal par exemple) sur le monde urbain et industriel environnant. Une bande son qui a très bien su s’inspirer du film, avec une pointe d’abstraction non négligeable. La deuxième pièce du disque ne se regarde pas. Même si elle reprend ce travail minimaliste, pour l’emmener vers des résonances de sine-wave dans un effet de drone qui fonctionne plutôt bien. Cette pièce en deux parties affirme le travail presque plastique de KAROLINE LEBLANC. L’abstraction toujours en avant, jusque dans le titre “(…) Imperceptible time””, pour une vision bien personnelle des musiques électroacoustiques et acousmatiques, réalisées sur synthétiseur Alesis et Moog. Toujours sur Atrito Afeito, avec un autre CDR usiné tiré à 100 exemplaires, celui d’ANNE F. JACQUES. Un album court avec deux piéces anonymes ou presque, surement “sable” et sel”, d’une dizaine de minutes chacune. Deux pièces sur la vibration, le souffle et la spatialisation. Une électroacoustique mécanique et dynamique à la fois. Cette vibration nait parfois de frottements amplifiés pour se fondre dans des ambiances froides. Nous semblons plongés dans des manipulations d’un dispositif aux sonorités saturées, un mécanisme parfois perturbé dans son fonctionnement par des interventions humaines. Mais c’est assez flou tout ça, n’est-ce pas ? Surement ce qui me plait dans ce disque, une ambiguïté entre composition synthétique et manipulations en temps réel. Ou pas…En tout cas on ne sait pas trop et c’est surement ce qui est bien.

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Decoder Magazine (USA)

October 13 2015 by Bryon Hayes

Anne-F Jacques – Sable ou Sel

Karoline Leblanc – The Aethernauts/Dust Model For An Imperceptible Time

Montreal-based label Atrito-Afeito really put their musical microcosm into focus with the release of the Total Improvisation Troop CD-R, and now Paulo J Ferreira Lopes, Karoline Leblanc and their cluster of like-minded adventurers of thorny tonal territories are back. This time, it’s a pair of CD-Rs that are acting as sacramental offerings to those translucent, electrically charged spirits that ring our collective imaginations. Leblanc herself puts forward a pair of synthesizer pieces for her solo recorded debut. The first, “The Aethernauts,” is the soundtrack to an eponymous film created by Frederico Penteado. It’s a wonderfully oblique work that accompanies the dark visual atmosphere perfectly. “Dust Model for an Imperceptible Time” via  is a two-part suite that slowly unfolds over thirty-five minutes, with uncanny synthesizer textures that beam into and out of focus. Coming in at just over twenty minutes, Sable ou Sel — the second CD-R — is a brief taste of Anne-F Jacques’ rotating amplified objects. Sandpaper-like timbres are wrangled from an unknown host of most likely commonplace items, cast by Jacques into a captivating spell that seems to shift in density as it fills whatever space it encounters.

Both of these discs are still available from the label, so hit up both the Discogs page for Leblanc’s synthesizer maelstroms and Jacques’ prickly tectonic activities to score a copy of each.

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Kathodik (Italy)

October 8 2015 by Marco Carcasi

Karoline Leblanc – The Aethernauts/Dust Model For An Imperceptible Time

Tre lunghe composizioni dal Canada, penzolanti fra rintocchi drone music e ricerca elettroacustica.
L’iniziale The Aethernauts, soundtrack per il corto di animazione omonimo del portoghese Frederico Penteado (visionabile su fpenteado.co.uk), a maggior tasso sfrigolante.
Dust Model For An Imperceptible Time suddivisa in due movimenti (Alluvium e Moon Tinge), ad emetter cupe rifrazioni cosmiche, misteriche ma non ostili.
Paesaggi gorgoglianti apparentemente immobili ed ectoplasmi di vibrazioni aliene.
Tutto molto classico, tutto molto ben fatto.

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le son du grisli (France)

Septembre 2015 par Pierre Cécile

Anne-F Jacques – Sable ou Sel

Cent copies seulement ? Parfois (c’est le cas pour ce CD d’Anne F Jacques), c’est bien dommage. Mais félicitons / envions sa centaine d’auditeurs, et moquons ceux qui devront se contenter de SonoreNuage (bam, de la trad’, que j’espère bien du Québec).

Maintenant, comment Anne-F. provoque-t-elle ce dommage ? Avec quel instrument ?, je veux dire… Une caisse claire remplie de cordes de contrebasse ? Rien n’est moins sûr. Alors une contrebasse préparée avec un morceau de carton comme ceux que les enfants attachent à l’une des roues de leur vélo avec une pince à linge ? Sans doute non… Des moteurs, alors ? De l’électronique, en fait ?

En tout cas ça gronde et ça craque, sur ces deux pièces d’une dizaine de minutes. Ça a un goût de bois, d’insectes nocturnes et quand on trouve les deux c’est que Jacques passe les deuzes dans un moulin à café. Moi qui raffole de ce genre d’expérience, j’ai enfin trouvé la musique qui va avec !

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Musicworks magazine #122 (Canada)

Summer 2015

Anne-F Jacques – Sable ou Sel

Anne F Jacques is a Montreal sound artist who plays acoustic noise-music on invented instruments. Mechanical loops are created when various objects are attached to spinning motors amplified by contact mikes, assemblies that Jacques categorizes as her « rotating devices. » Unlike the digital world of perfect repetition, her improvisations are brought to life by erratic variations arising from the malleable mechanics of her contraptions.

Sable ou Sel contains two tracks labelled simply « A » and « B », each close to eleven minutes in duration. An ever-present pinkish noise background reminds one of listening to a seashell – if one could vary the intensity, which at times threatens to rupture speaker cones with low frequency bursts. Against that backdrop, Jacques adds layers of static sparks and engine grinds, along with more delicate irregular ticks. While this is unmistakably coarse music, it is less harsh compared to the more extreme forms of the industrial genre. Rather than the postapocalyptic cityscape of Eraserhead, we hear the nuts and bolts of small parts being assembled and disassembled, stamped, stapled, and falling to the floor. The overall impression is of a day in a disorganized tack factory located in a highly reverberant silo. While both tracks share similar textures, « B » distinguishes itself through a stiff monochromatic dance-beat towards, the end before fading out with muted percussive knocks and what sounds like a forest of insects. Jacques’ music has a strong physical presence, yet remains playful – a tricky balance pulled off here with finesse. (Lawrence Joseph)

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mink monk pink punk (USA)

September 2015 by Josh Ronsen

Total Improvisation Troop – Man of War

This is an absolutely stunning large ensemble from Montreal, featuring some fourteen creative musicians I have never heard of, most of them playing multiple instruments, acoustic and electric, and some, Slava Egorov and James Annett, playing “home made electric lyre” and “modified bulbul tarang.” Trombones, double basses, pianos are no less welcome. All live hometown performances, the six tracks span from the jungle-like calls and textures of “Salmagundi” to the thirty minute title track, spreading tentacles of energy in eight different directions. Parts of this sound like they were lifted from a 1972 ESP LP, just wonderfully eclectic and impressive. Drummer Paulo J Ferreira Lopes and keyboardist/percussionist/etc. Karoline Leblanc may be the leaders, or at least organizers of the group. The music sounds egalitarian, everyone working to make everything as interesting as possible.

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le son du grisli (France)

Avril 2015 par Luc Bouquet

Troupe d’Improvisation Totale – Man of War

Tout est dans le libellé : TIT (Total Improvisation Troop ou Troupe d’Improvisation Totale). Réunis autour de la pianiste Karoline Leblanc, une quinzaine de musiciens improvisateurs affrontent la matière. Toutes et tous accrochés à une horizontalité anxiogène, ils ne vont que rarement instruire le crescendo mais plutôt entretenir une couleur avant de lui dessiner de fines nuances.

Man of War est le premier set d’un concert donné à la Sala Rossa de Montréal en décembre 2012. La matière est solide et ne verse pas dans la surenchère. Une trompette (Paul Serralheiro) s’affranchit du territoire puis laisse les guitares (Alex Pelchat, David Dugas Dion, Alexandre Corbeil) envahir le cercle. Après une (re)tombée en silence, l’improvisation retrouve l’angoisse originelle, les miaulements d’un saxophone lointain (Geneviève Gauthier) attisant quelques frayeurs bien (re)senties. Plongées ligetiennes et saillies métalliques seront convoquées le temps de courts extraits de deux concerts donnés quelques mois plus tard à la Brique, toujours à Montréal. A suivre, me semble-t-il…

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Revue & Corrigée (France)

Mars 2015 par Cyrille Lanöe

Troupe d’Improvisation Totale – Man of War

Le label montréalais Atrito-Afeito augmente la cadence et sort son troisième disque. Après deux soli ou presque par Paulo J Ferreira Lopes et Karoline Leblanc, c’est ensemble qu’ils créent une Troupe d’Improvisation Totale en 2011. A leur initiative, ils ont monté ce projet de seize musiciens d’horizons aussi variés que l’électroacoustique, l’électronique et le free-jazz. Dans cette impression de retour à la pratique en ensemble (mon dernier exemple en tête est le Paal Nilssen-Love Large Unit), nous assistons à un bel exemple de cette approche du matériau, d’approche de la verticalité sonore en groupe, mêlant leurs horizons dans une balade sonore douce comme sait le faire le trombone sur cette très longue belle première pièce, « Man of War », de plus de trente minutes. Ce qui laisse alors une petite demie heure aux deux autres pièces, « Titanum alloy » et « Tit is a bird ». L’oiseau est d’ailleurs une belle image à cette balade sonore dont je parlais. C’est assez aérien effectivement. On retrouve cette fraîcheur d’un autre endroit montréalais de pratique collective, mais dans un esprit plus rock, La Casa del Popolo. En premier lieu dans un esprit plus jazz. Dans un second temps sur des nappes électroniques minimales, puis sur des boucles électroacoustiques proches d’un autre ensemble, le Mimeo, pour terminer sur une note plus contemporaine, plus tonale.

La dernière pièce laisse parler les cordes sur « Clothesline ». Un très beau moment acoustique attrayant. Tout comme sa collègue « Bird’s eye view », qui clôture la chose dans une improvisation libre hypnotique. Je risque de me répéter mais il se passe des choses intéressantes sur ce label, encore une fois.

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The Sound Projector (UK)

March 12 2015 by Ian Sherred

Total Improvisation Troop – Man of War

Man of War from the Total Improvisation Troop, who aren’t afraid to use the acronym TIT. Rightly so. After all, as one section of this CD informs us, “Tit Is A Bird”, and much of this music sounds like the contact calls of an amorphous, roving flock, although not one containing any birds you’re likely to see at your peanut feeder. TIT can also stand for “Titanium Alloy”, which is the other pole of the group’s sound – metallic, clangorous, vaguely sinister.

Man of War comprises six tracks taken from live performances across various venues during 2012/2013. The title track is 33 minutes long, and is surprisingly delicate and diffuse given its martial name, almost fading away to silence at one point. The following three tracks are the “Titanium Alloy” selection, including ‘Lacemakers in Bedlam’, which should give you an idea of the sound, if you bear in mind that the lace is being made with metal wire. Finally, we have the “Tit Is A Bird” section, two tracks which lie somewhere in the middle of the TIT spectrum.

The recording features 16 musicians overall, playing everything from electric guitar, trumpet and trombone to hair clippers and cookie tins, all wrapped up with lots of electronics. The nucleus of the group seems to be Karoline Leblanc (synthesizers, gongs) and Paulo J. Ferreira Lopes (drums), but this really is an ensemble piece. Everybody joins in, everybody is given space to play, nobody grandstands or shows off.

Clearly, there are some good nights out to be had in Montreal for anyone who enjoys free improvisation. Encouraging evidence of a vibrant and healthy scene.

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Kathodik (Italy)

February 22 2015 by Marco Carcasi

Total Improvisation Troop – Man of War

Concepito nel 2011, il TIT (Total Improvisation Troop) è ampio laboratorio strumentale dedito alla ricerca elettroacustica/impro jazz.
“Man Of War” raccoglie sei tracce estratte da tre live tenuti in quel di Montreal.
Belle ammucchiate umane dove tutto par sufficientemente sotto controllo.
Nessun accatastamento (casuale/scriteriato).
Materiali acustici lasciati fluir liberamente, qualche scontro inevitabile, ampie zone di non distensiva riflessione.
Brandelli di tradizione jazz, innestati su azioni collettive di raschiante concretezza, tra pigolamenti e traforazioni assortite.
Moduli espressivi ad incastro e contaminazione rugginosa fra generi.
Tira una bell’aria in quel di Montreal.
Daje!

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Decoder Magazine (USA)

January 20 2015 by Bryon Hayes

Total Improvisation Troop – Man of War

In the late 1960s, a number of pioneering ensembles sprouted up in England, focused around the notion of free improvisation. AMM and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble are probably the most notable, yet it was the less conspicuous People Band that really took to the idea of total freedom in music, and pushed even that notion to its extreme. Always changing and growing, blurring the boundaries of what “instruments” and “audience members” were, this cabal of merry maniacs has almost been forgotten. A couple CDs available from the Emanem label are all that remains of the group’s recorded output, although they still perform to this day.

The Montreal-based Total Improvisation Troop takes the torch from that enigmatic English ensemble and reinvigorates it with a modern sensibility. Incorporating electronics, toys and traditional instruments from both the jazz idiom and other cultures, this gang – whose membership is malleable but is centred around multi-instrumentalist Karoline Leblanc – really engages with the spirit of total musical freedom. Man of War documents three of the Troop’s performances from around Montreal between 2012 and 2013. The title track is a lengthy set of fiery free jazz banged out by a dozen skilled improvisors. The three-part “Titanium Alloy” is a bleary-eyed, gelatinous noise-scape that swells with electronic glee. Somewhere in between these two extremes lies “Tit is a Bird,” in which the group attempt to recreate a horror film soundtrack from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. This really is essential listening…

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Kathodik (Italy)

October 31 2014 by Marco Carcasi

Karoline Leblanc & Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – Hypnagogic Cartography 1

Acuta sperimentazione elettroacustica, organizzata in lunghe stringhe elettronico/dronanti (dal forte aroma kraut), inframezzate/disturbate da intromissioni di pulviscolo noise e rapidi sommovimenti glitch.
La canadese Karoline Leblanc, ai synth e al piano, il portoghese Paulo J. Ferreira Lopes a mixare, tagliare e cucire.
Stati di (sinistra) quiete, al cui interno brulicano insetti dispettosi e ronzanti.
Materiali acustici in lenta deformazione, che si offrono volentieri, come una sorta di collage di fake field recordings (di cui in realtà, non vi è traccia alcuna).
Una calibrata esposizione di processi istantanei (in asciutto montaggio da contemporanea), di notevole fascinazione allucinatoria (con a staccarsi dal resto, il veloce intermezzo per solo piano di Dichotomic Syntony).
Progressioni descrittive increspate, non proprio rassicuranti.
La Oliveros di un tempo, una pacca sulle spalle gliela darebbe.
Evita piuttosto in scioltezza il tipico effetto tappezzeria.
Non male e in bella edizione limitata.
Fatevi sotto.

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Revue & Corrigée  (France)

Septembre 2014 par Cyrille Lanoë

Karoline Leblanc et Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – Hypnagogic Cartography 1

Après un solo remarqué, Paulo J Ferreira LOPES s’accompagne ici de Karoline LEBLANC pour un duo aux sonorités « planantes ». Ici on s’affaire aux ambiances, aux textures, là ou en solo, Paulo s’entretenait plus au jeu. Le terme « hypnagogic » a été journalistiquement inventé par David Keenan (ah ces journalistes anglais!) en 2009 pour désigner une pop synthétiquement folk et presque krautrock futuriste (invention pour remplir des pages du Wire ou réel nouveau courant ? je penche pour la première impression, sans sous estimer les groupes associés bien évidemment, dont Sun Araw, Ariel Pink…). Bref on est pas là pour parler de ça mais vous aurez bien compris le lien avec le titre de ce disque dont on parle. On est bien ici dans le planant, lien avec cette « scène ». Quatre pièces au synthétiseur, mêlant nappes, signaux et strates ondulantes à quelques fréquences à bon escient. Trois courtes, et une dernière longue pièce majeure de presque 27 minutes. Du minimalisme ambiant que l’on retrouve parfois chez Experimental Audio Research. Une place au silence est souvent laissée, de vraies respirations à ces ambiances toutes aussi exploratrices que futuristes. J’aime bien cette ambiguïté où l’on pourrait se croire à la fois chez Sonic Boom et Thomas Lehn (en moins frénétique). Sonic Boom, Experimental Audio Research, des artistes entre la musique pop (ou un certain attrait ou regard pour celle-ci) et les expérimentations stagnantes, finalement ne serait-ce pas aussi de l’ « hypnagogic pop » ? Un bien bel essai néanmoins, aussi discret que remarquable. Presque contemporain.

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Vital Weekly #936 week 24 (Netherlands)

June 2014 by Frans de Waard

Karoline Leblanc & Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – Hypnagogic Cartography 1

The music seems to be all electronic and quite moody, but not in a regular sort of drone way. Leblanc seems to me is more an improvising mind, with perhaps a love for all things modern classical. That is most apparent in that one track that uses the piano, the short ‘Dichotomic Syntony’. In the other piece it’s all more electronic and highly moody, but also quite playful. That’s something I quite enjoy actually. It stretches the boundaries of your perception a bit more. Oh yes, it’s a bit ambient like, but hang on, there seems to be more to it. That sort of thing. It works out very nicely… a most pleasant release. (FdW)

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Chain D.L.K. (USA)

June 17 2014 by eskaton

Paulo J Ferreira Lopes- Feeze

I was unfamiliar with this Montreal-based Portuguese artist, but he has worked with a host of choreographers, multimedia artists, filmmakers, sound and visual artists, vocalists, and musicians. The label, which is run by Lopes and longtime collaborator pianist Karoline Leblanc, had little commentary on this disc, so let’s dive in to the music. This is some interesting electronic music that is difficult to classify. At times it is noisy (‘Recept’, Destino’), other times it relies on heavy, pulsating drone (‘Eventualidade’, ‘Norte’), and still other times it has a kind of glitchiness that is endearing (‘Premonition’, ‘Capsule’, ‘Post’). However, at other times it just went on a bit too long without really going anywhere (‘Transeunt’). Still, if you like your music with a lot of noisy electronic blips and bleeps, this is made just for you. I didn’t find this album to be something that would be too far out there for more mainstream listeners who are just getting into edgier music. It’s challenging, of course, but this isn’t an Ant-Zen release from Merzbow. Not a bad introduction to the artist or the label. This album weighs in at around 39 minutes and limited to 150 copies.

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Musicworks magazine (Canada)

Spring 2014 #118 by Lawrence Joseph

Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – Feeze

Paulo J Ferreira Lopes is a Montreal drummer and coconspirator behind Total Improvisation Troop. Feeze collects ten tracks for Roland Jupiter-4 analog synthesizer and reel-to-reel tape,  thus revealing another side of Lopes, who has also worked with choreographers and visual artists and in sound theatre.  It was recorded one bleak winter in 2000, and its cover art has a fuzzy white wave floating through a stark black background, an apt metaphor for this restless nocturnal music.  Although most tracks are constructed around throbbing electronic motifs and burly textures, the lack of samplers and drum machines gives the music a decidedly human vibe. Careful layering of fresh material through time reveals true compositions, not just a collage of cyclic riffs. The longest track, at just under seventeen minutes, is ”transeunt”, a flickering hypnotic drone of snaps and pads. The title track is the only one with live percussion, conjuring up a gnarling swirl of menacing madness. Feeze skates the icy edge between dark industrial and avant-ambient, while paradoxically remaining warm and inviting.

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Revue & Corrigée (France)

Février 2014 par Cyrille Lanoë

Paulo J Ferreira Lopes  – Feeze

PAULO J FERREIRA LOPES est un batteur portugais basé à Montréal. Il vient de fonder avec Karoline Leblanc le label Atrito-afeito. La première réalisation est un cd d’un de ses solo. Un essai daté de 2000 sur synthé analogique, bandes, effets et batterie, naviguant dans les sphères des musiques ambiant, vintage et forcément Kosmiche Muziek. Un peu à la manière de ce que l’on a pu entendre sur les K7 Kommanull d’Enregistrement Temporaire ou Häk. Le spectre des musiques électroniques est quant à lui bien présent et me permet de faire le parallèle avec Brou de Noix entre autres. Mais aussi pourquoi pas, avec celui des soundscapes de Rafael Anton Irisarri. Sachant aussi improviser, il n’en est pourtant pas question ici. La batterie quant à elle n’est présente que sur l’unique morceau éponyme, une forme courte de krautrock répétitif réussi. Il ouvre des espaces cotonneux, rassurants, sur la pièce centrale d’un gros quart d’heure “Transeunt”, une ritournelle minimale toute en lègéreté, proche de productions allemandes du label Kompakt, plutôt affilié à la techno minimale avec quelques excursions dans les musiques ambiant. Un label d’ailleurs référence à l’époque de l’enregistrement de ce “Feeze”.

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a closer listen (Canada)

November 28 2013 by Joseph Sannicandro

Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – Feeze

The inaugural release from Atrito-Afeito, a new Montreal-based label specializing in small runs of improvised music.  For Feeze, drummer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and sound artist Paulo J Ferreira Lopes has crafted 10 compositions culled from synth explorations recorded in Montreal back in 2000.  Ferreira Lopes began playing music over 30 years ago in his native Portugal, limiting his live performances to contexts that privilege the act of improvisation.  That which works in a live ensemble might not always transfer well to a recording, but Ferreira Lopes is able to transfer his long experience into highly compelling electronic worlds.

Feeze presents a diverse series of  sonic landscapes ranging from skittering rhythms to lumbering drones.  The opening track “Eventualidade” builds gradually from a low flutter to a high-pitched whistle, fading out ever so gradually.  I’m reminded a bit of Gas, though instead of encountering a rave in the forest, the muffled sounds recall something more like hearing an alarm from across a loft party while in a hazy state of inebriation.   The eponymous track begins much more kinetically, and truly sounds like a percussionists sensibility behind the module.  The underlying beat isn’t quite predictable but is regular enough to drive the track forward and ground the wanderings going on above, perhaps not unlike a freer, blurry version of Harmonia.  In fact, much of the album recalls aspects of the proto-industrial work of Conrad Schnitzler, Klaus Schulze, even some Moebius & Plank… that is, the best of German kosmische music, though minus the discreet drum programming.  Occasionally some of the pieces even suggest techno, such as the plodding “Dance,” though even these tracks are far too abstract for the dance floor.  Rather the rhythmic elements give Ferreira Lopes an element to build tension against, and serve to structure the album as a whole.  Many of the tracks, such as “Premonition, ”  are quite short, around one to three minutes in length, though they seem even shorter.  These compositions do not wear out their welcome, but rather leave the listener craving more.   They drift slowly, establishing a sense of place but not lingering too long.  “Premonition” paves the way for “Norte,”  the second longest track at 6:19, lumbering unhurriedly, slow and arrhythmic but maintaining a quality of levity.

Under a low pulse, the high end flutters suggestively in “Capsule,” quickly transitioning into the lower tones, skimming the surface of “Recept” before crashing out.  These imagist false starts were just setting the stage for the cornerstone of the album.  At 16:50, “Transuent” occupies almost half the 40 minute disk.  Whereas the previous tracks were content to fade back into the void after establishing a mood or image, here Ferreira Lopes pushes the plateau to the breaking point.  Not reliant on dynamics, instead “Transuent” slowly cycles through repetitive cycles in a deeply meditative way that has no relation to the techniques of “New Age” synth music.  The final two tracks, “Destino” and “Post,” are a fitting denouement.  “Destino” ratchets up the tension in a near abrasive drone, and “Post” lumbers to life, increasing in frenetic activity right up until the curtain drops.

Though the sessions that produced this album are now 13 years old, they’re certainly worthy of a proper release.  Considering the recent renewed interest in analogue synth music (forgotten legends like JD Emmanuel and young upstarts like 0PN and Emeralds), Feeze is sure to find a dedicated audience, inviting repeat listens, and probably remixes as well.  Keep an eye on this label.

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Vital Weekly #903 week 43 (Netherlands)

October 24 2013 by Frans de Waard

PAULO J FERREIRA LOPES – FEEZE (CDR by Atrito-Afeito)

On both accounts here new names. Both the label, for which is their inaugural release, and the artist are for me new names. The release looks great with a silk screened slipcase… Music wise Lopes taps into the field of electronic music, which crosses various genres, such as techno music – be it not always with dance able rhythms, but repeated blocks of sound anyway – electronic music from the sixties, but without the notion of longer compositions. Lopes’ pieces are more alike improvisations, although I wouldn’t be surprised if that was otherwise, and in most of the pieces he keeps his stuff together and relatively brief. That makes this quite a vivid and diverse release…synthesizer doodles and occasional feedback like sounds being played with a fine sense of micro melody. Hardly abstract at all, and throughout most pleasantly listening music. Not too difficult or academic, but nicely refreshing. (FdW)

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Cult Montreal (Canada)

October 30 – December 4 2013 vol.2 no.4

Paulo J Ferreira Lopes – Feeze (atrito-afeito)

This is the debut release from a new Montreal-based label specializing in small runs of improvised music. For Feeze, Ferreira Lopes has crafted 10 compositions culled from synth explorations recorded in Montreal back in 2000, a diverse series of sonic landscapes ranging from skittering rhythms to lumbering drones, and one that’s certainly worthy of a proper release. Considering the recent renewed interest in analogue synth music (forgotten legends like JD Emmanuel and young upstarts like 0PN and Emeralds), Feeze is sure to find a dedicated audience. (Joseph Sannicandro)

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