CD – Herbal International

Although the colorful and gestalt artwork by Rebecca Norton immediately draws attention, our first impression of the sounds emanating from this record is that they are comparatively irritating, distorted and lacking formal definition. The music was given life by some recordings of improvisations, captured using a setup used by the composer in live performances. Rutger Zuydervelt – the real name hidden under the alias Machinefabriek – leads us to discover the phases of the first album original recording, around the end of 2011, until the publication by the French label Nuun. Today Machinefabriek still uses the same setup: an old analogue Philips generator and several sound effects in combination. The lands explored by Rutger Zuydervelt in this project are not very new. The extreme first few minutes quickly become more dilated, faint, stratified and spatial. The artist has tried to capture a sense of spontaneity through playing with a large number of recorded material and relying less on post-production. This is partly connected to a request by two labels – Fake Jazz and Superior Standards – who had asked for more single tracks. Nonetheless, it would have been a shame not to collect in LP form all the involved materials, including also two previously released tracks, “Kreupelhout” and “Toendra”. On the whole, the final effect well represents for the listener the meaning of the work, without appearing unnatural. Aurelio Cianciotta

 

Live at NK, Berlin, April 27 2013