Will Guthrie is an oddball in the best sense of the word. He comes from free jazz and has made electroacoustic music, collaborated with electronic stochasticist Mark Fell and paid tribute to J Dilla and other beatmakers by playing drums over seemingly random sounds. Two years ago, he explored Indonesian gamelan instruments on the album »Nist-Nah« and now presents »Elders«, an album for which he has engaged eight other percussionists. Together they expand the contemporary approach to the gamelan tradition that he pursued on »Nist-Nah«, though luckily this endeavour and the resulting music do not have an exotic air about it but create entirely new forms. At times, this is reminiscent of jazz or percussion ensembles from the field of new music, but creates its own musical niche. Within it, everything is allowed and even vocals can be heard in between, when Jessika Kenney joins in on the eleven-minute opener. On »Elders«, ten different things seem to happen every second, different rhythms intertwine at any given moment and discrete sounds rub up against each other. Here the music grooves rigidly forward, there the Ensemble Nist-Nah Ensemble elegantly prances on the spot. This album explores strange, indeterminable moods with the most open of minds. Unheard-of music, in every respect.
Elders
