// Essential Listening

In spite of its name, the Moritz Von Oswald Trio has rarely made direct overtures to jazz. But it has absorbed jazz practice in subtle ways. Primacy is given to improvisation. Live, in-the-room recordings are favoured over multi-tracked studio work. The lineup is fluid, too, with recent albums featuring a cast of players alongside the core group of Von Oswald, Max Loderbauer and Sasu Ripatti (aka Vladislav Delay). This game of musical chairs continues onSounding Lines, on which Ripatti is replaced by afrobeat legend Tony Allen. This time, the personnel change comes with a drastic change of soundand not an entirely good one.

Ricardo Villalobos, aChilean-born German electronic music producer, DJ and well known for his work in the minimal techno and microhouse genres, mixed the album and whether intentionally or not, it’s his influence that looms largest. Gone are the sonorous clangs of Ripatti’s homemade percussion and the rich, reverbed spaces that tied the trio to dub. Instead, we get dry, ultra-precise minimalism. The opening track is a ten-minute techno trudge, its clockwork precision teased and tested by Allen’s dextrous snare work. The focus is placed squarely on rhythm.

At its best moments,Sounding Linesdrifts in an intriguingly ambiguous space where each member invokes the genres theyre best known for playing while bending generously to accommodate their partnersVon Oswald bringing out his underutilized funky side, Allen using his inimitable Afrobeat style to sculpt a techno beat in negative space, and Loderbauer washing the whole thing in warm ambience. The three showcase a strong and singular shared vision, and in the moments where the music pulls you in deep enough to share it with them, its a beautiful thing. (via Resident Advisor)

Label: Honest Jon’s Records
Format: 2 x Vinyl, 12″, 33 RPM, Album, Stereo
Country: UK
Released: 2015
Genre: Electronic
Style: Dub Techno, Experimental

File under: House / Electro / Techno