BANAUSOI - Imagines
Atypeek Diffusion/Circum-Disc CD MICROCIDI022
Petr Vrba: trumpet, clarinet, electronics; Václav Šafka: drums, percussions, objects; Ondrej Zajac: guitar, voice
Tracks II and VI recorded at Mr Wombat, Praha, Czechia, the rest at Divadlo 29, Pardubice, Czechia.
Banausoi is a Czechian trio performing sometimes heavy rock that has just encountered totally free improvisation. The trio was formed after Zajac and Šafka played an improvised concert in Praha’s ‘Punctum’, a community project in Praha which acts as a base for the alternative, creative scene, generating workshops, theatre performances, discussions, concerts and author's readings. Vrba was in the audience and so they came together.
Drummer Šafka speaks of the concert experience: “There is communication between the three of us during concerts and it is, more than anything else, a sense of occasion.” He attaches various objects to the skins of the drums and plays with a bow on the cymbals.
Vrba describes the outcome as “A delicate mixture of abstract and raw material, with more melodic and often rhythmical stuff, sometimes delightfully powerful”. He adds layers of raw, suggestive electronics to his trumpet and clarinet playing, both instruments played with extended breathing techniques.
Zajac’s guitar playing is effects-laden and he occasionally adds his voice to the trio’s remarkable tablet of abstract, raw sounds. Speaking about the principles guiding the band’s work, the guitarist states “In our local music scene, it’s not usual to hear clarinet, electronics, or the mentality of European, free improvisation at the same time, but even if you don’t notice all those aspects, you can simply enjoy the good music”.
Although Banausoi is a very new, young band, Imagines shows them off as a very fine troupe indeed, superbly well-rehearsed and absolutely in command of their free improvisation. Their interchanges and relationships are elegant and erudite and the whole opus is grammatically seamless. It’s a very fine work indeed.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Atypeek Diffusion/Circum-Disc CD MICROCIDI022
Petr Vrba: trumpet, clarinet, electronics; Václav Šafka: drums, percussions, objects; Ondrej Zajac: guitar, voice
Tracks II and VI recorded at Mr Wombat, Praha, Czechia, the rest at Divadlo 29, Pardubice, Czechia.
Banausoi is a Czechian trio performing sometimes heavy rock that has just encountered totally free improvisation. The trio was formed after Zajac and Šafka played an improvised concert in Praha’s ‘Punctum’, a community project in Praha which acts as a base for the alternative, creative scene, generating workshops, theatre performances, discussions, concerts and author's readings. Vrba was in the audience and so they came together.
Drummer Šafka speaks of the concert experience: “There is communication between the three of us during concerts and it is, more than anything else, a sense of occasion.” He attaches various objects to the skins of the drums and plays with a bow on the cymbals.
Vrba describes the outcome as “A delicate mixture of abstract and raw material, with more melodic and often rhythmical stuff, sometimes delightfully powerful”. He adds layers of raw, suggestive electronics to his trumpet and clarinet playing, both instruments played with extended breathing techniques.
Zajac’s guitar playing is effects-laden and he occasionally adds his voice to the trio’s remarkable tablet of abstract, raw sounds. Speaking about the principles guiding the band’s work, the guitarist states “In our local music scene, it’s not usual to hear clarinet, electronics, or the mentality of European, free improvisation at the same time, but even if you don’t notice all those aspects, you can simply enjoy the good music”.
Although Banausoi is a very new, young band, Imagines shows them off as a very fine troupe indeed, superbly well-rehearsed and absolutely in command of their free improvisation. Their interchanges and relationships are elegant and erudite and the whole opus is grammatically seamless. It’s a very fine work indeed.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
