KOTRA & ZAVOLOKA – wag the swing

(CD, Kvitnu)

I missed out on reviewing the Zavoloka versus Kotra EP titled „to kill the tiny groovy cat“ on Nexsound (check it out as a free download on www.nexsound.org) but the mixture of electroacoustic noise and funky electronics was remarkable already. Especially in contrast to the large size and drone orientation of their earlier live-collaboration „untitled live“ as part of the nexsound live reports, the harsh disruptions and swift changes from one soundlayer to the next, came almost as a surprise. On the other hand, Zavoloka’s collaboration with the techno-artist AGF was all based around beats, beats and more beats, with a complete change and fresh start every minute. Structurally, only Gintas K has laid down a more strict and theoretically organised work in the last months on „60 x one minute audio colours in 2kHz audio“ – but fortunately we are still far from such terrain. Usually, such formula-based analysis of sound are hard to bear and boring to hear. „Wag the swing“ is the latest of Kotra and Zavoloka collaborations and it contains a surprise in each of its 24 tracks.

There is something interesting about the small or short form in musical experimentation, because it demands focus and concentration. It seems easy to dwell on an electroacoustic idea for ten minutes or longer to really sink into it and feel its texture and layout, but if you ask yourself to chose just two minutes of your droning, where do you start? Searching for the core of the idea or the sound you have built and then reducing all the work you have had so far to this singular moment demands a lot of willpower and strength, because it means cutting off and throwing away a lot. Not a lot of difference to mainstream rock, it seems, were some artists get away with one basic idea over the course of various albums and become superstars, while others throw a dozen ideas into a single song and have to starve as critic’s favorites. „Wag the swing contains at least 24 ideas worked out into full tracks and with a bunch of manipulating and producing strategies thrown on top.

Highlights include the blistering noise meets bassline meets spacey echoes „analogue tender“. „Out of nowhere“, the starter of „wag the swing“ uses a simple line of (bass?-)guitar notes and then re-arranges, manipulates and de-constructs them into a gently flowing electronica track that would have come expected on 12k. Other tracks are hacked and distorted aural bricollages of sounds and bitstreams, rendered in chaos or seeming chaos. Harsh sounds change tone with vibrant, organic ones and plenty of holes in between („a taste of live life“). The amount of traceable soundmaterial is astounding as well as the many cuts and slices in other tracks. The latter one starting to impress like a noise artists parody of the drum’n’bass excesses of late. Then there are funky moments that simulate heavy minimal electro, straight bass lines working fervently against the rhythm of the noise basis underneath or beside (most prominent on a track entitled „swing you, swing me“ which brings up pictures of the bassplayer in one room and the noise producer in another with no audio connection between them), sometimes working with it heavily („moonlight in mirror“) and even glitch noises.