It’s release day for these two albums
(already in my possession through the magic of mail order). Both are demanding
listens worthy of your attention. Richard Pinhas is a French
guitarist/synthesizer guru probably best known for Heldon, who released seven albums in the ’70s, each one searching
for the ideal blend of man and machine…and often finding it. He’s continued along
the same ferociously experimental path, and has been incredibly busy lately,
touring and recording with kindred spirits everywhere. In fact, he almost
played down the street at the Fox Cabaret last summer, but the show fell
through. (The Fox wasn’t quite ready to reopen, unfortunately, but it’s too bad
the Western Front or VIVO didn’t step in, as either of those would have been an
ideal venue.) These two new albums, both on Cuneiform, document two of Pinhas’s
latest collaborations. Together they paint an expansive, vivid portrait of his
globetrotting, playing-in-the-moment modus operandi.
Tikkun pairs Pinhas with Oren Ambarchi, a
multi-instrumentalist who has worked with SUNN O))) amongst many others. It’s a
CD/DVD set, with the audio portion consisting of three tracks over 69 minutes.
The DVD captures a further 41 minutes of duo madness on stage in Paris. The liner
notes are rather cryptic, but from what I can decipher, the CD includes
contributions from Joe Talia (track 1, I think), Merzbow, Duncan Pinhas and
Eric Borelva (tracks 2 and 3, I think). Track 1, “Washington, D.C. – T4V1,” has
some of the relentless, industrial qualities of Heldon, with its sequenced foundation.
The guitars don’t waste any time; they raise a storm almost immediately.
Ecstatic noise rains down while the drummer bides his time, finally crashing in
after about 10 minutes. By now the trio have almost obliterated the sequencer’s
pulse as the chaos climaxes. The final 15 minutes see the storm dissipate—the
guitars become more spectral, the drums die down to the ticking of the ride
cymbal, creating an almost unashamedly beautiful denouement. The
feedback that returns just before the end carries a definite threat, though. The next
two tracks are little more static. Ambarchi (I believe) lays down some solid
beats on “Toyko – T4V2” overtop a subtly shifting drone of guitar, loops and
electronic sorcery. Eerie insectoid sounds dominate the opening of the final
track before it all rushes headlong into a vortex of transmissions from beyond
the cosmos. Overall, these dense pieces are not for the timid or overanxious. It’s
music you need to sink into with a generous spirit; it rewards careful
listening.
Welcome in the Void is a strange title. In
my mind I always correct it to "Welcome to
the Void". But this isn’t about what I want, so Welcome in the Void it is. It
sounds inclusive and reassuring: “(We are all) Welcome in the Void” is one
interpretation. The album fills that void with 68 minutes of free-flowing music
from Pinhas and Ruins drummer Yoshida Tatsuya. There are two tracks. Part One
is a 4-minute preview or overture for Part Two, which sprawls forth
over 64 minutes, which may be a new milestone in my music collection
(it outlasts Dopesmoker, but just barely). Pinhas’s tracks of “stereo loop
guitar” and “loop stereo guitar” create almost choral melodies. The way sounds emerge and overlap reminds me of No Pussyfooting at times. Yoshida’s drumming brings out the wild side of the
music—pushing and pulling with respect to tempo, or appearing in boisterous,
freeform bursts—yet he gives Pinhas a lot of space. He even drops out for the
final eight minutes of Part Two to let the guitarist bring the track to a soaring
conclusion himself. Compared to Tikkun, Welcome in the Void is the easier
listen—being strictly a duo recording with a distinct division of instruments, it’s not so much of a challenge to pick out what’s going on—and right now it’s
my favourite of the two. Admittedly, this is just after a couple of listens,
and my second pass of Tikkun was far more rewarding than my first.
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