Jorrit Dijkstra: lyricon, analog synthesizer, loop machine
Paul Pallesen: guitar, analog electronics
Steve Heather: drums, percussion, sampler
Recorded on January 9 and 10, 2006 by Colin McLean at 301 Amsterdam. Mastered by Ernst Karel. All compositions by Jorrit Dijkstra, Paul Pallesen, Steve Heather, except Rigop Me and Ziyak Me by Jorrit Dijkstra © Buma
All live improvisations, no overdubs. Design: Lysander le Coultre, Photography: Monique den Besten
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Reviews:
Featuring Jorrit Dijkstra on lyricon, analogue synth & loops, Paul Pallesen on guitar & analogue electronics and Steve Heather on drums, percussion & samples. Jorrit Dijkstra used to play alto sax and had a quartet disc with Guus Janssen (doing the music of Lee Konitz) and a duo disc with John Hollenbeck. Last year, Jorrit put together a project called Flatlands Collective, an all-star Chicago ensemble, with Jeb Bishop & Fred Lonberg-Holm. Jorrit has been moving more towards electronics using an analogue synth and a lyricon, an electronic wind instrument that was popular in the seventies. So for this disc, Jorrit has abandoned his alto sax altogether.
At first, I was worried that Jorrit's use of lyricon and analogue synth would be too much - perhaps this is that old jazz snob attitude that I have long since abandoned. This disc consists of six pieces, all live improvisations. The thing is they often do not sound improvised, they are very focused and song-like in the way they unfold. "Gumyt Me" has an eerie sound and subtle, suspense-filled groove. As the drummer plays a throbbing beat, the guitar and electronics drop selective sounds onto the sparse canvas. Quite mysterious and most effective. On "Fezex Me," the trio hums and buzzes with selective sonic layers of electronic crickets and other eerie electric insects. What I dig about this music is that there are no actual solos, it is creating images by altering textures and refining the sounds as they evolve. The trio sounds as if they are quietly rocking out on "Yoxia Me," that great pulse/groove and dreamy guitar are most effective. My head was nodding from side to side and I almost felt like dancing. Altogether this is a strange yet enchanting disc that doesn't quite sound like anything I've heard in a long while.
Bruce L. Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
It still happens, if only once in a while, that I get to be pleasantly surprised by a CD that I've found in my mailbox: a "mysterious object", recorded by an "unknown entity" (at least, unknown to me), that after the proper number of listening sessions reveals itself to be, if not an unprecedented masterpiece (I'm very sorry to say this, but for a long series of reasons, our present time is not the most favourable era when it comes to producing masterpieces), at least something that reveals a skillful use of form, and the chosen technical means.
This is the case with Rigop Me, an album that (according to the liner notes) is for the most part derived from live improvisations, with no overdubs (but I believe the work, which was recorded by Colin McLean at OT301 in Amsterdam, and mastered by Erst Karel, to have been mixed and edited later). Tone Dialing is the name of a trio of musicians performing here, whose degree of mutual understanding (though "open", the musical line is never vague, or uncertain) tells of a long mutual past knowledge.
The line-up consists of Jorrit Dijkstra on lyricon, analog synthesizer, and loop machine; Paul Pallesen on (electric) guitar, and analog electronics; Steve Heather on drums, percussion, and sampler. It's a trio whose sound, taken as a whole, has a pleasant "electronic" flavour, with a somewhat "lo-tech" (if not "lo-fi") trait that reminded me of Zga's "naïveté" (though this trio don't resemble Zga at all). Here, "at first sight", coordinates appear to be at about halfway between some "particles"-friendly approaches to modern improvisation that put sound under a microscope, and some trends ("illbient"? "intelligent techno"? "slow techno"?) that have the sound develop well inside a rhythm map.
Seeing the name "lyricon" made me fear for the worst: an old, almost home-made, instrument designed in order to give wind instruments the modern potential of synthesis (at a later stage than the Steinerphone, but well before Yamaha's industrial approaches), the lyricon reminds me most of all of Tom Scott's so-so explorations. Here the opposite is true: the instrument's sound is not clichéd, its timbres not so easily "recognizable". I have to add that - I did a Web search after assimilating the CD - Jorrit Dijkstra's background and projects (maybe he's not the leader, but here he's a first among equal) appeared to be quite different from what I had imagined; hence, maybe, a reason why this project is so strong.
At ten minutes, Gumyt Me is a very "user-friendly" opening track: regular rhythmic loops that repeat themselves at intervals that are quite apparent to one's ear, long events over a rhythmic figure, everything clearly placed on the time grid; snare drum played with brushes, a trebly guitar, interesting timbres, a closing rimshot.
For brevity's sake I will define the following track, Fezex Me, as a timbrally more varied and interesting, but totally free from an apparent pulse, version of the previous track. There's an "orchestral" crescendo at about 2' 50", with low-sounding percussion sounding almost like tympani, and two highly dramatic events - frequencies shifting abruptly - at about 5' 24" and 7' 07".
Rigop Me is a composed track, with a slow unison lyricon-guitar which almost works as a theme, with percussion in the background; all becoming faster, almost double-time, the guitar now playing chords; here the lyricon performs a melodic line whose sound changes, from that of a harp to the peculiar, bell-like sound of something going through a ring modulator. "Dramatic" drums enter at 5' 30", in closing we have a brief loop (almost like a LFO cycle).
Overtly rhythmic, trebly cymbals, a bass drum that bit by bit comes to the foreground, with a "medium" groove, Yoxia Me reminded me more than a bit of Can: at first, of Can in their Soon Over Babaluma period, then - when the lyricon started sounding like an "ethnic flute" - of Can in some of their Ethnological Forgery Series episodes; there's a strange guitar, sounding at first almost like a mutation of those "sliding" chords played by classic-era Steve Cropper, then sporting some funky accents!
Oemik Me works quite well in opposition to the previous track: not as rhythmically pushed, it's timbrally quite varied, with a very expressive low-end frequency, and a nasal timbre so typical of the square wave that, near the end, unexpectedly gives shape to a rhythmic figure.
Closing the CD, another composed track: the brief Ziyak Me has a nice synthetic part which almost works as a tuba part, trebly cymbals, and some slow guitar arpeggios; a nice melody played on the lyricon is in the background, then the guitar is playing almost like a mandolin, then more cymbals and drums; surprisingly, the final result reminded me of something quite on the Pastoral (!) side.
© Beppe Colli 2008, www.CloudsandClocks.net | June 4, 2008
The Tone Dialing trio consists of reedist Jorrit Dijkstra, guitarist Paul Pallesen and percussionist Steve Heather. In addition to their own (semi-) acoustic instruments they play all kinds of electronics. The opt for the 'old fashioned' technique of analogue equipment, which has a much more marked character than the often so clinical digital sounds. Dijkstra plays the lyricon, a rather obsolete electronic wind instrument, which provides the occasional beautiful glisses, if the instrument is recognizable at all in the primeval soup that the threesome serve up on 'Rigop Me'. And just like all instruments collide into an atmospheric soundscape, the three musicians become one with the music. What counts, is not the individuality of the three musicians, but the individuality of the group sound, which is completely unique. The only thing Tone Dialing's open improvisations occasionally reminded me of, were the early sound experiments by Pink Floyd and other sixties psychedelic bands. But passed on to the 21st century, of course.
Herman te Loo, www.jazzflits.nl
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Tone Dialing’s music has developed into an idiosyncratic language, combining elements of free improvisation, minimalism, and the aesthetics of “glitch” electronica. The trio originated in 2000 with weekly performances at Amsterdam’s alternative ASCII Internet café – blending their sounds with punk hackers tapping keyboards in the background. Stretchy chord landscapes, hesitant guitar picks, subtle feedback effects, sampled drum noises, and analog synth textures are the ingredients for Tone Dialing’s trancey interactions. Dijkstra, Pallesen, and Heather’s carefully structured improvisations often develop slowly with a delayed sense of drama, and respect beat and melody as important musical elements.
After the limited edition CDR Elektrodoki (2001), Tone Dialing’s first official CD release Rigop Me (Evil Rabbit Records 07) features Dijkstra on Lyricon and analog synth, Pallesen on guitar and Heather on percussion and samples. This intensely focused document shows the progress of their long-lasting chemistry in six beautiful improvisations.
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Saxophonist and Composer Jorrit Dijkstra spent his formative years in Amsterdam’s vibrant improvisation community, before moving to the United States in 2002. He has received the prestigious Podium Prize and has worked with Willem Breuker, Guus Janssen, Benoît Delbecq, Herb Robertson, Barre Phillips, Ikue Mori and Jandek. His current projects include his Flatlands Collective, with leading Chicago improvisers, and an electro-acoustic duo with New York drummer/composer John Hollenbeck. Dijkstra uses analog electronics – including the Lyricon, a vintage electronic wind instrument from the seventies – to extend his already flexible saxophone style.
Paul Pallesen counts as one of Holland's biggest guitar anti-heroes. He somehow balances a quiet reserve with a broad emotional range. Apart from being a deeply-rooted improvisor, he is a master in African guitar traditions and Celtic folk banjo styles. He composes for his own folk-improv group Bite the Gnatze and plays in the Astronotes and the Gravitones. He has worked in theater productions and with many figures in the Amsterdam improvisation scene, including Cor Fuhler, Jaap Blonk, Wilbert de Joode, and Martin van Duynhoven.
Australian percussionist Steve Heather left Melbourne for Amsterdam in 1994, and currently lives in Berlin. His huge dynamic range, combined with his precise sense of groove, make him one of those drummers that are so hard to find. Apart from his junkyard drum set he uses the percussive qualities of cactuses, chopsticks, shells, and mushroom boxes in combination with a sampler triggered by his drumset. He has worked with Martin Siewert, Boris Hauf, Toby Delius, Jon Rose, Cor Fuhler, Andy Moor, and Axel Dörner, among others.
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