#on the blink

[dustedmagazine]

Amadou / Cambien / Rempis — On The Blink (Aerophonic)

Dave Rempis has been a stalwart presence in Chicago’s scene for a quarter century, but when folks start writing books about him, they may view this past year as a pivotal moment. At the end of the summer, he stepped down from his roles as a board member and Improvised Music Series organizer for Elastic Arts, and recently he’s also spent more time playing out of town. Now comes On The Blink, which reveals his work with some new faces.

The CD documents the start of the saxophonist’s new trio with a pair of Belgian improvisers. Farida Amadou plays electric bass, and while she has garnered deserved attention for some encounters with veteran free music folk like Han Bennink and Steve Noble, she’s also worked in local punk and groove bands. Jonas Cambien is a pianist who has been based in Norway for fifteen years where he leads a tune-oriented trio that’s recorded for Clean Feed, but he’s also studied and performed Arabic music in Egypt. Both are a bit younger than Rempis, and each has been busy in diverse parts of the European improvised music scene, but neither has been well documented on American labels. Cambien and Amadou have some shared history, and after the latter played a one-off gig with Rempis late in 2021, the idea of this trio was hatched.

Both of the Belgian musicians use electronics to broaden their options, and Cambien also prepares his piano. Both of them play quite rhythmically, but neither is particularly concerned about imposing a steady time signature. This gives the music a heavy, lurching quality, with gaps where all manner of interactions and alien interludes take place. On “Exotropia,” the first of the album’s four long pieces, acidic surges, muted pops, and retuned string resonations erupt in proximity, complementing one another without locking into obvious patterns. Rempis waits a full four minutes before joining the fray; one might suppose he took some time figuring out what he could contribute to a duo that sounds quite complete unto itself. But once he’s in, he’s all in, playing quick, pungent tenor phrases that lure Cambien into more idiomatic free piano playing. But Amadou has none of that. She disrupts the rush with a series of muddy bumps, as though she’s methodically blowing up every woofer in a speaker showroom. This intervention pushes her and Cambien into more voltaic territory, which Rempis alternately sinks into and plays over.

Ice broken, the trio spends the rest of the album pushing and testing. For Rempis, this is new territory, and his playing here has an existential dimension, as though he’s reevaluating the merits and reasserting the virtues of his intense, jazz-rooted approach. For the Belgians, it’s a chance to incorporate a culturally and stylistically different tongue into their established dialogue. And for the listener, it’s a chance to hear something new made out of available parts, which this stuff is all about — right? So far, this trio has confined its gigging to the low countries; here’s hoping they tour more broadly, and that it sets the stage for Amadou and Cambien to make inroads into the USA.

Bill Meyer

[rebelpeas]

i miss c!quackity

[breakingjustxn]

well i mean, not wrong // credits: @screamingemonight on Instagram

[gossippool]

one of the funniest parts of the honda odyssey scene is right after logan pulls the car over because he's so obviously burning with rage over wade lying to him, but then wade says he made an "educated wish" and that bewilders logan so much he goes from being mad to just blinking and staring at him like this

and then wade goes on that long spiel about how he needs to save his family and at the end of all that logan just says "did you say you made an educated fucking wish?" his baffled ass was NOT listening 😭

[kvotheunkvothe]

please picture a dragon. now, imagine it loafing like a cat. hunkered. legges in tight beneath. tail tucked close. eyes half lidded. front feets and claws curled under.

please image this dragon

[cheezitofthevalley]

MORE ocean/fish graphics

because why not.

let me know if you made any of these and want credit/removal.

animated fish divider by @animatedglittergraphics-n-more!

[fawndollie]

HUGE music blinkie dump.. found some mayhem ones too which i was surprised about!!

[hattersarts]

"have you met the husbands who run the bookshop down the street?"

[rizsnt]

looking at someone who's not looking back 👽🎥🎙️

[starscream-is-my-wife]

LL Megatron gets transported to the G1 cartoon (pre movie) guns don't kill anyone, everyone is more focused on their one liners then battle, wizards are real, days dont mean anything, what a silly universe

[sidsinning]

I HATE YOU ALIEN STAGE FUCK FUCK FUCK

LUKA IF HYUNA DOESN'T END YOU I WILL

[barghest-land]

i have nothing smart to say about bg3 yet but have this

[thismightbeconsideredart]

"Yay! My first real class!" -> "wait a second this doesn't make any sense..." speedrun

i just love @kianamaiart 's magical girl ocs so much i had to try my hand at animating an aika

[zzzzzzzzzzoom]

THE BASTARD IS LAUGHING

[valtsv]

"angels are covered in thousands of eyes" is fine but it doesn't go far enough for me. angels should also have no eyelids.