A estadia do violetista improvisador João Camões em Paris resultou na formação deste trio com os franceses Jean-Marc Foussat e Claude Parle. Se a ausência, por cá, do músico português membro do Open Field String Trio e dos Earnear se fez notar, a sua actividade continuou em França. Agora que está de regresso, este é o grande documento desse período. Companheiro em múltiplas aventuras de figuras da primeira linha como Jac Berrocal, Daunik Lazro, Raymond Boni, Sophie Agnel, Jerôme Bourdellon, Ramón López, Makoto Sato e Carlos “Zíngaro”, entre muitos outros, Foussat surge em “Bien Mental” com um não especificado “dispositivo electroacústico” – maneira equívoca de referir um "setup" constituído por um computador, para trabalho de “sampling” em tempo real do trabalho desenvolvido pelos outros membros do grupo, e por um sintetizador analógico. Parle é, pelo seu lado, um dos mais importantes acordeonistas da actual improvisação, participando ainda em criações “intermedia” e em espectáculos de butô com os japoneses Masaki Iwana, Moeno Wakamatsu e Toru Iwashita.
Mais próximas dos universos da música experimental e da música contemporânea do que do jazz, as improvisações aqui reunidas optam pela saturação sonora. São poucos os espaços e os silêncios, tudo se fixando na adição e subtracção de camadas de eventos, o que pode tornar-se cansativo para quem não tenha hábitos de “escuta profunda”. A compensação surge com os sempre permutáveis jogos de timbres e com o amplo quadro de dinâmicas, assim mantendo a atenção desperta. A música é intensa, fluida e fortemente gestual, sempre com coisas a acontecerem, à vez ou ao mesmo tempo. Mas não, não se trata de algo de “mental” – o tipo de energia ministrado, a quase visceralidade das situações, o modo de entrega ao som e às tramas e, sobretudo, a interacção entre os três elementos demonstram que esta é uma música para os ouvidos, não para o intelecto.
Rui Eduardo Paes
“Fou records ! Fou comme Foussat, Jean-Marc, passionné de musique et de son, d’improvisation et d’exploration de paysages improbables en compagnie de musiciens qui partagent sa motivation. Cette fois, il concocte un environnement sonore à sa façon, à base de synthétiseur analogique et autres bidouillages pour dialoguer avec João Camões et Claude Parle. Embarquez ! Le voyage se mérite au fil de trois longues plages. “
João Camões Jean-Marc Foussat Claude ParleBien Mental Fou Records FR – CD 12
June 18, 2016
Déchirure
Bien Mental (FOU RECORDS FR-CD 12) is another unique slice of improvised music from the French label Fou Records, and it’s a team-up of the Algerian Jean-Marc Foussat, the French accordion player Claude Parle, and the Portuguese viola player João Camões. To my mind all three are practically outsiders…not exactly part of the star system of improvised music, coming into the arena through different personal pathways, and not even entirely sure if they want to align themselves with the precepts of the genre. Camões, for instance, was classically trained at the Conservatoire in Coimbra, and only found out the joys of free playing after he moved to Lisbon and got out on the streets; he prides himself on his “physical approach” to the instrument, and blends his classical skills with free playing techniques. Foussat is not unknown to us…we interviewed this lovely fellow in an early issue of the magazine, and though his releases may be sporadic and uneven, they always find a place in our heart. He’s a VCS3 player and can be very noisy with that instrument. His Marteau Rouge project enabled him to take that noise on stage and deliver slabs of analogue racket in the public arena. While he’s also known as a sound engineer – he recorded many improvisation gigs in the 1980s, including one or two for Company Week – he owns himself a shy and reclusive fellow, and in his printed bio here states how he started out playing the guitar but found instead he enjoyed the solitary pursuit of programming the synth, working with ruled paper and “trafficking the tape” as he calls it. As to Claude Parle, he would like to refuse any sort of classification, and likewise had a classical training which he pushed down a jazz route, and also diverting his skills to perform with visual artists, actors, and dancers – a path which some improvising “purists” might be reluctant to pursue. But Parle clearly welcomes collaborations, and it’s evident they do something to free up his creative juices. In maverick fashion, he claims he’s trying to develop his own language of playing, which he calls “direct music”. He’s not even certain if he really plays the accordion; his instrument is a prototype experimental device built for him by an Italian maker, and he’s still not totally satisfied with it.
What happens when three wayward and obstinate types of this nature join forces? The results are Bien Mental, or “totally bonkers” to use an English idiom. Three long pieces of extremely maximal and busy improvisation, but a music that’s also well removed from anything resembling aggressive, free-form, clattery and over-done improvised music. There’s a certain conviction and depth in all the playing that makes the music feel right, with a strong centre of gravity, and even if the notes are flying like sparks from a dynamo this is not some ephemeral Catherine Wheel of noise; there are indeed traces of classical structure, understanding of musical notation, and even detectable elements of this new language which Claude Parle is still attempting to formulate. I suppose this all points to an exciting journey of discovery; the musicians are still inventing new things, and not quite sure what they are exploring. They may be trying to access areas which have not already been chewed to pieces by the teeth of the other improvising jackals which roam our over-crowded musical forests.
Summary of good points, then: a very good sympathetic encounter session between like-minded musicians and men with strong personalities, each with refreshing and unusual ideas about new directions for improvisation. An attractive sound; strange musical forms, but the blend of electronics, viola and accordion creates pleasing effects, bizarre detuned drones, and bittersweet combinations of noise/music, structure/chaos, and abstractions/tunes. A controlled, directed energy; the music doesn’t rush to a climax, but walks over its terrain with purpose and focus, with an undeniable weight and force behind it; the listener is happy to join this journey, rather than finding themselves confronted with a welter of angry, overly-complex tones and busy playing. Excellent piece; I sincerely hope these three can coincide again. No wonder they look so excited and triumphant in the inside photograph. Foussat and Parle in particular look as though they’ve just found buried treasure. Maybe they have. Maybe they feel compelled to share the joys of going “bien mental”. From 5th January 2016; many thanks to João for sending this.
Les notes de pochette contiennent un magnifique poème de Claude Parle qui nous livre ici une superbe partie d’accordéon entre le violon alto de João Camões et l’installation électrocutée de Jean-Marc Foussat. Enregistré à la maison, ce remarquable trio développe une symbiose étonnante entre les glissements microtonaux de l’alto, le chuintement des anches libres de l’accordéon qui font des anicroches aux gammes tempérées et les vibrations quasi motorisées du dispositif électro acoustique. Il y a dans cet univers un souffle et une matérialité qui évoque les affects de la voix humaine, une poésie des sons organiques. Une dérive initiée par le sciage des harmoniques à l’archet en ostinato mouvant jusqu’à un demi silence d’où vient sourdre le délire des touches de l’accordéon. L’Autre bout s’achève. A vingt ans : une pédale d’orgue imaginaire en unisson contrarié, des échanges subtils, des démarrages amorcés, une conception intéressante de l’occupation de l’espace sonore, des drones sensuelles alternent avec le charivari, du silence affleurent des murmures. Le trio attire l’écoute et l’attention par le renouvellement des propositions et une écoute minutieuse. La magie du glissando opère dans le languissement de longues notes tenues dont les couleurs pâlissent et les fréquences descendent de quelques commas. Les passages enlevés tels des guigues célestes, menées tour à tour par le violon ou l’accordéon, sont enchaînés par les grondements sous-marins de l’installation de J-MF ou des barbotements improbables. Il y a une véritable osmose entre les sons acoustiques et les bruissements électroniques. L’évocation d’une guimbarde de la Déchirure sonne le rappel de l’ostinato du morceau précédent version tzigane cosmique. Camões trouve le ton juste pour se joindre aux contrepoints affolés de Parle, lequel musicien n’a jamais mieux porté son patronyme : il parle aussi excellement musique qu’il n’écrit musique. Quand trois musiciens dissemblables mais animés par une sincère volonté de dialogue et de complémentarité échappent aux lieux communs : le Bien (commun) Mental. J’applaudis !!
Un trio à la composition insolite : un accordéon (Claude Parle), un alto (João Camoes) et un synthétiseur (Jean-Marc Foussat).
Avec ce dernier, c'est un méta-instrument qui est à l'œuvre. Il peut être une voix singulière, un nuage électronique complexe et chatoyant, un assemblage de sons d'ailleurs ... comme à côté des autres instruments.
Mais ici, Jean-Marc Foussat invite ceux qui partagent son aventure à puiser dans les ressources de leurs instruments (strictement acoustiques) afin de fondre les matières, tisser des voilages plus ou moins ténus, ou provoquer des déchirures, des brisures, des cassures, des failles, ou palpiter alentour ... inviter là des paysages sonores inouïs.
Et à peine y parviennent-il qu'ils se retrouvent comme enchassés d'échos troubles, incorporés dans une digestion sonore toujours inachevée.
Ils peuvent ignorer superbement et aller leur chemin, ou prendre dans leurs rêts cette matière protéiforme, la doubler, la picorer, rendre ténues les membranes cellulaires pour une osmose toujours indécise.
À cet art là, Claude Parle excelle, lui dont l'instrument est régulièrement sollicité pour produire une palette sonore aux frontières de l'électronique, une sorte d'orgue aux registres inhabituels. Les hauteurs de son deviennent secondaires. Les attaques, les vrombissements, les murmures... tout un langage comme déclencheur de rêves éveillés, comme matrice de paysages.
Et lorsqu'on croit aisément reconnaître l'alto, João Camoes joue à nous confondre.
Oui, cet musique est une réussite. Elle nous invite à écouter toutes fibrilles dehors afin de profiter du moindre courant pour faire voleter notre imaginaire. Elle nous offre bien des images délicates et étranges, des parfums entêtants, une forme d'ivresse des profondeurs qui ne se dissipe que lors du silence final. Chacun fera les connexions oniriques de son histoire propre, mais pour tous elles seront particulièrement prégnantes.
Pour carboniser toute tentative de chronique, Claude Parle avait commis un texte difficilement dépassable (voir photo ci-dessous). Il a fallu du temps pour l'oubli et une volonté délibérée de ne pas relire pour rédiger ces quelques mots.
Ce trio jouera en novembre à deux reprises :
- Espace Vitet le 11
- Souffle Continu le 12.
Posté par dolphy00 à 07:30
CAMÕES / FOUSSAT / PARLE
«Bien Mental»
FOU RECORDS FR-CD 12
På coveret er det bilde av en lettskyet himmel, og inni coveret ser vi tre musikere som omfavner hverandre, og som ser ut som de har det utrolig morsomt. På baksiden av coveret kommer alvoret. Her er opplysningene nøkterne. Hvem spiller, hva spiller de og så de vanlige opplysningene om studio etc.
Med dette som inngang til denne innspillingne, må jeg innrømme at jeg ble litt forvirret. Hva er det egentlig man kan forvente av en plate pakket inn i et slikt cover?
Det dreier seg om tre musikere jeg ikke kjenner fra før, altfiolinisten Joäo Camões, elektronikeren Jean-Marc Foussat og accordeonisten (eller trekkspilleren) Claude Parle i tre komposisjoner som er improvisert fram i studio Pyjama i Frankrike den 8. og 11. januar, sannsynligvis i 2014.
Jeg er en av de som faktisk kan like frapperende og dyktig trekkspillutøvelse. Noen av mine favorittmusikere er trekkspillere, som argentinske Dino Saluzzi og finske Kimmo Pohjonen, og jeg innser at instrumentet kan brukes ytterst kreativt innenfor den nyere improvisasjonsmusikken. Men jeg blir litt skeptisk når det sttes sammen med en altfiolin og elektronikk. Derfor var jeg ytterst skeptisk da jeg satte på platen «Bien Mental».
Men etter å ha hørt gjennom platen noen ganger skjer det ting. En ting er at vi har å gjøre med tre gnistrende gode musikere, men å få fritt improvisert musikk for disse instrumentene på plate, er en utfordring som krever sin lytter.
Men gir du de tre litt tid, så oppdager du at de tre «komposisjonene» «L’autre bout», Á vingt ans» og «Déchirure» har mye å gi.
Man får assosiasjoner til bakgater i enfransk landsby, 50-tallsfilmer, eldre, franske vinbønder i samtale om årets produksjon og musikk fra en mørk kjellerbule i Paris eller ei havnebule i Marseille.
Men, selvsagt hadde det vært best å høre denne musikken i levende live der den ble skapt. Å høre slik musikk på plate blir aldri like bra som å sitte en meter fra musikerne å følge med i kommunikasjonen og intensiteten.
João Camões (altvio), Jean-Marc Foussat (elec), Claude Parle (acc)
4. januar 2016
João Camões / Jean-Marc Foussat / Claude Parle
Bien Mental
Fou Records, 2015
Jovem violetista português, João Camões passou pelo colectivo Woods, integra o trio Earnear (com Rodrigo Pinheiro e Mira, disco editado este ano) e é um dos vértices do Open Field String Trio. Esta formação, que se completa com José Miguel Pereira e Marcelo dos Reis, no início do ano de 2015 editou um disco com o histórico pianista Burton Greene e chegou a actuar com o português Carlos Zíngaro, no Jazz ao Centro 2012. Este disco novo, em trio com Jean-Marc Foussat e Claude Parle, resulta da estadia de Camões em Paris (que entretanto já regressou a Portugal). À viola d’arco de Camões junta-se a electrónica de Foussat e o acordeão de Parle. A música arranca de forma contida, um fiozinho electrónico, sobre o qual se polvilham um pozinhos das cordas e do acordeão. Os elementos vão-se sobrepondo até que se atinge um certo grau de saturação, mais para o final. Os três elementos interagem de forma dialogante, com Camões a mostrar-se herdeiro da imaginação e da capacidade reactiva de Zíngaro (talvez menos intenso na vertente de instigador, mas ainda é cedo). O terceiro e último tema, “Déchirure”, não é apenas o mais demorado, mas também aquele que acolhe momentos mais diversos, com o trio a explorar múltiplos ambientes ao longo dos seus dezanove minutos.
L'album cèle la rencontre entre deux générations que tout pourrait opposer mais que la musique improvisée rassemble dans une quête de nouveaux paysages sonores.
D'un côté, João Camões, jeune trentenaire portugais qui a étudié le violon classique à Coimbra, pour finalement découvrir la liberté de la musique improvisée à Lisbonne, au travers d'ensembles comme la Nueva Camerata, avec Carlos Zingaro, violoniste qu'on a entendu notamment avec Joëlle Léandre, ou l'Open Field String Trio rassemblant violon, guitare et contrebasse, à l'image du String Trio of New York (Billy Bang, James Emery, John Lindberg) et, en partie, de ses confrères String Trio of Amsterdam (Horsthuis-Reijseger-Glerum) et Italian String Trio (Geremia-Damiani-Tommaso).
De l'autre, deux vaillants sexagénaires français, défricheurs impénitents des chemins de traverses: Jean-Marc Foussat au dispositif électro-acoustique (dont on a parlé encore dernièrement) et Claude Parle à l'accordéon. Né à Sens en 1947, Claude Parle a étudié l'accordéon classique puis a amorcé un virage complet après avoir rencontré Don Cherry à Chateauvallon en 1972. Attiré comme Foussat par les dispositifs électroniques, il a travaillé dans la classe d'électro-acoustique de Nanterre et collaboré à des spectacles de danse Butoh.
Tout au long des trois longues plages de Bien Mental (L'autre bout, A vingt ans, Déchirure), les voix du violon alto et de l'accordéon se mêlent à la trame sonore tissée par le dispositif électro-acoustique, entre crissements et bruissements, "au seuil du rugissement" comme le dit Claude Parle qui signe le texte surréaliste de la pochette: "Le crépuscule des volcans se lève sans cesse / Tandis que les spectres sourdent / Hors des fissures nyctalopes des errances tombales".
Quant à João Camões, il définit sa musique comme expérimentale et improvisée: "The trio's music, experimental and improvised, is intense and fluid. Between contrasting counterpoint, interchangeable timbre sets, restless soundscapes and rich dynamic ranges, there's no space for silence. The music comes in a torrent of layers and ideas that keep our senses alive".
Une musique spontanée et aventureuse.
Claude Loxhay
JOAO CAMOES, JEANMARC FOUSSAT & CLAUDE PARLE
BIEN MENTAL
(CD by Fou Records)
Fou Records is a small French label dedicated to improvisation music, mainly from French musicians that are
known in their field. I noticed such names as Léandre, Nozati, Lazro, Pauvros, etc. Many of the many releases
have Jean Marc Foussat as a participator, so he may be the initiator behind this label. He is a new name for
me, as are also Claude Parle and Joao Camoes. Foussat however is already operating since the early 80s as a
composer and musician, mainly in electro-acoustic environments. He made his first mark with his solo album
‘Abbatage’ in 1983. Of the same generation is Claude Parle, a classically trained accordionist playing in
improvised settings already for decades. Camoes is younger musician from Portugal. He is also classically
trained on the viola. In Lisbon he discovered the improvisation scene, where he now has several projects going
on. Together they combine an unusual instrumentation of accordion, viola and electro acoustic means. On their
release they offer three of their improvisations: ‘L’autre bout’, ‘A vingt ans’and ’Déchirure’. What they
have in common is that the improvisations move on in a constant and often restless flow. Moments of silence
are rare, although they play with dynamics as well. The opening of ‘L’autre bout’ is the exception to it,
as it starts from long extended sounds produced by Foussat. All three equally engage in their communicative
excursions. The improvisations are of a highly abstract level, but at the same time very lively and playful.
Their music is mainly built from short and quickly changing movements and gestures. The colouring of viola
and accordion with sounds of electro-acoustic origin is tasteful and works well. The music is very rich and
condensed. Some very engaging music is the result. (Dolf Mulder)
O violista João Camões (Open Field, Earnear) passou uma temporada em Paris, onde se uniu aos franceses Jean-Marc Foussat (dispositivo eletroacústico) e Claude Parle (acordeón). Do encontro, saíram três temas viscerais, bastante devedores do universo da música contemporânea, que não ignoram ruidagens e saturações em um processo em que preencher qualquer silêncio é um imperativo. O protagonismo de instrumentos como viola e acordeón não desemboca, como se poderia imaginar, em espaços camerísticos: a intensidade e a energia gestadas pelo trio nos faz por vezes esquecer quais são os instrumentos em ação no desenvolvimento das peças. O segundo tema, “À vingt ans”, se apresenta como o mais intrigante, com os três músicos produzindo densas camadas sufocantes logo de entrada, que atenuam a força mais à frente, mas apenas para retomar fôlego para novos picos. Não é claro se o trio se manterá em atividade ou não, mas seria bom poder ouvir outro registro deles.
Fabricio Vieira
João Camões, Jean-Marc Foussat & Claude Parle:: Bien Mental
Guy Peters - 22 februari 2016
Het is hier al vaker aangehaald: de versplintering van de vrije muziek over talloze microlabels die voortdurend heen en weer schipperen tussen verlieslatend en voorzichtig zelfbedruipend, heeft wel als voordeel dat het een zeer kleurrijk en internationaal plaatje oplevert. Zweden, Noorwegen, Zwitserland, Portugal, Polen, Litouwen, Duitsland, België, allemaal hebben ze een bijdrage te leveren. Een van de recentere Franse labels is Fou Records, dat intussen goed is voor anderhalf dozijn releases en dat nu dit speciale plaatje aan de man brengt.
De Fransen hebben altijd al een rol gespeeld. BYG Actuel was ooit een artistieke vrijhaven voor heel wat Amerikaanse expats en ook anno 2016 maken een paar labels er het mooie weer. Ayler Records, Rogueart, Dark Tree Records en een reeks anderen zijn intussen niet meer weg te denken uit de internationale improvisatie. Elektronicaspecialist Jean Marc Foussat, in de jaren negentig al betrokken bij de oprichting van Potlatch, startte een aantal jaren geleden zijn eigen Fou Records, waarop doorgaans Franse muzikanten te horen zijn (Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Joëlle Léandre, Raymond Boni, hijzelf …), maar regelmatig ook buitenlandse zwaargewichten aan bod komen. In 2014 kwam hij op de proppen met een bejubelde concertopname van het tot de verbeelding sprekende kwartet Derek Bailey, Joëlle Léandre, George Lewis en Evan Parker. En nu is er deze opvallende samenwerking van Foussat met accordeonist Claude Parle en de Portugese altviolist João Camões.
Opvallend omdat het twee veteranen (Foussat is een jonge zestiger, Parle bijna zeventig) bij een jonge dertiger brengt, maar natuurlijk ook door de merkwaardige en zeldzame combinatie van instrumenten en achtergronden. Zo is Parle klassiek geschoold, maar ging hij zich al in de jaren zestig toeleggen op vrije muziek, werkte hij als danser en acteur, én was hij in de weer met dichters en visuele artiesten. Foussat is al actief sinds de jaren zeventig en legt zich vooral toe op analoge synths, zoals de EMS VSC3, een compact model dat vooral gepopulariseerd werd door een resem artiesten uit de progressieve en elektronische muziek van de jaren zeventig. Camões is dan weer een exponent van Coimbra die in Lissabon belandde en hier aan bod kwam als lid van Earnear (met Rodrigo Pinheiro en Miguel Mira) en het strijkerstrio Open Field (met Marcelo dos Reis en José Miguel Pereira), dat onlangs nog een prachtdebuut uitbracht met veteraan Burton Greene.
Op Bien Mental, opgenomen begin 2015, leidt het trio tot een samenwerking waarin maximaal wordt ingezet op het dynamische potentieel van deze drie instrumenten. Jazz komt er niet bij kijken en van suggestief en ingetogen microtonale spelletjes is al evenmin sprake, ookal lijkt dat even waarop aangestuurd wordt in opener “L’autre bout”. Het gaat erg dromerig en zacht van start, met lang aangehouden klanken en subtiel opduikende boventonen van accordeon en altviool, en daaronder een zoemende synth. Gaandeweg maken de iele klanken plaats voor expressievere geluiden, waardoor het samenspel luider, dichter en excentrieker gaat klinken. De synth sist en ruist, imiteert een familie sprinkhanen en voor je het beseft, ben je in een haast agressief en fysiek samenspel beland, met hikkende erupties van de accordeon, nerveus wringende strijkstoksprongen op de altviool en een bescheiden geluidsmuur van het trio. Een korte introductie die meteen duidelijk maakt dat de drie een zo breed mogelijke dynamiek ambiëren, en die ook zullen aanhouden voor de duur van het album.
De twee resterende stukken, “À vingt ans” en “Déchirure”, goed voor respectievelijk een kloeke dertien en twintig minuten, zetten in op lang uitgesponnen contouren waarin de boel voortdurend transformeert. Er zijn een aantal stiltes en passages waarin basisideeën even in alle rust binnenstebuiten gekeerd worden, maar het zijn slechts tijdelijke rustpunten, muzikale afdakjes die maar even voor beschutting zorgen. In “À vingt ans” buit Foussat het bereik van zijn synth met aanzwellende raygun-golven verder uit, terwijl accordeon en altviool af en toe innig rond elkaar gevlochten worden, of net contrapunteffecten opzoeken. Een grillig parcours waarbij het regelmatig moeilijk te zeggen is waar het ene instrument begint en het andere ophoudt, en het aanvoelt alsof ze elkaar muzikaal te lijf willen gaan.
Dat maakt van Bien Mental geen plaat die je op de achtergrond opzet of waarvoor je even onderuitgezakt in de zetel gaat hangen. Het zou jammer zijn om de ritmische stuwing aan het begin van “Déchirure” op die manier te missen, of het intense spel van timbres en contrasten, de vloed van verklankte ideeën die in z’n meest extreme momenten bijna tegen de noise aanleunt. Wat de drie individueel doen is op zich niet nieuw, en zeker in Foussats spel hoor je ideeën die verwant zijn aan wat er de voorbije decennia gebeurde bij bands aan het spacey/kosmische uiteinde van de rock-‘n-roll, net zoals het fezelende gedruppel dat uitmondt in een ruisende regenmuur is intussen al een kapotgebruikte classic is, maar wat er tussen de drie gebeurt, biedt meer dan voldoende afwisseling en dynamiek om tot het einde te boeien. Aanbevolen voor liefhebbers van old school elektroakoestische impro met een eigen twist.
This is an absolutely restless 40 minutes of three-way improvisation, never pausing, never hesitating, never lost, never satisfied, a non-stop series of leaps from one fractured acoustic-electric soundscape to another with fearless movement, connection, and flow.
The unusual instrumentation is evenly balanced throughout, often blending seamlessly to create single unified sonic blocks. Foussat’s electronics take the role of wild card. From menacing low-level drones and white noise to electronic filigree and embellishment, he adds texture and builds atmosphere as Camões and Parle instruments lurch, sway, concentrate and expand, providing the breath for the body of sound.
The third track, Déchirure is probably the pièce de résistance, an improvised suite portraying a rolling auditory journey through an apocalyptic landscape of the present. But the whole disc is an exemplar of textural yin and yang. Frequently, harsh, frenzied avalanches of notes coalesce from the viola and accordion, usually embellished by Foussat to disturbing effect. Like the soundtrack to a film that David Lynch has yet to make. And then, periods of pause and gentility, the volume falls, abrasion dissipates, and the listener is permitted to catch their breath and connect to a little beauty before the next assault.
“Bien Mental” is an experiment in pure sound and while experimental improvised music often makes for an enthralling concert experience, it’s a little more difficult to pull off something compelling enough for home listening.
Camões, Foussat and Parle have done so.
Dave Foxall
(…) The other album from João was recorded much more recently (January & February of this year) — indeed more recently than any of the others mentioned here — Bien Mental on Jean-Marc Foussat's Fou Records. (I have yet to see this album for sale in the US, although I saw it mentioned in a comment elsewhere.) Besides frequent Léandre collaborator Foussat (b.1955) on electronics, Bien Mental features Claude Parle (b.1947) on accordion, a musician with whom I was not previously familiar. Parle, whose explicit interests include dance music, is very much central to this trio, although Camões makes for a vigorous & transformative counterpart, yielding a unique trio sound. Although it's also difficult to point to an ensemble that's actually the same, I find comparables (a term I guess I'm going to borrow from a field to which I'm otherwise quite averse, real estate) for the sound of this trio much easier to find: The already mentioned trio of Colophony, Growing carrots..., & Tuning Out, as well as, and in particular, Phase/transitions, likewise featuring an accordionist (Oliveros) with the other two musicians on electronics & a more conventional classical instrument, in that case saxophone. All of these albums feature what I've described in the past as an "immersive" sound, sometimes slower-moving & atmospheric in this case, with those with strings in particular punctuated by elements of discontinuity. Perhaps in keeping with its mental health evocation, Bien Mental also has a bit of a stormy quality, rumbling & swelling, and uses more ostinato technique than the other albums mentioned. The electronics often add a mesmerizing quality to the accordion-viola dialog, but at a few points, Foussat resorts to what I can only describe as "synthesizer clichés" (perhaps intended in a nostalgic vein, or maybe simply to deconstruct the sound of car alarms). The result seems more explicitly human in that sense, at least as compared to some of these other albums that evoke weather, animals, etc. (It's also interesting that as different as Bien Mental & Earnear sound, my comparisons do overlap.) The result is another novel & creative improvised sound combination, also well worth hearing. There are parts of it that I thoroughly enjoy. Indeed, I'm interested in hearing more from any of these performers, and as I hope this discussion makes clear, Camões is clearly a significant new (at least to me, this year) artist on the improvised music scene. The three albums I've heard from him could hardly be more different, yet his contribution to all three groups is striking. (…)
Todd McComb / Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts
http://www.medieval.org/music/jazz/
Outre le fait d’être présent, en tant que technicien du son, sur de nombreux enregistrements (je crois bien que le premier fut l’album initial de Massacre, Killing Time, en 1981 !), comme en témoignent aussi certaines parutions récentes sur son propre label Fou records, Jean-Marc FOUSSAT est aussi pleinement musicien. Activité révélée lors de la parution du premier enregistrement de Marteau Rouge*. Depuis, d’abord parcimonieusement, puis de plus en plus ces dernières années, il intervient dans les musiques improvisées avec son dispositif électroacoustique. C’est ainsi qu’on le trouve cette année en compagnie du violoniste portugais originaire de Coimbra João CAMÕES et de l’accordéoniste Claude PARLE (qui émargea dans les années 80 dans les formations de Jac Berrocal et de Michel Potage), et quelques semaines plus tard avec le pianiste Henri ROGER.
Bien Mental propose trois improvisations. La première, L’Autre Bout, est assez linéaire et se développe tel un court drone quelque peu perturbé. À vingt ans qui lui succède prolonge cette entrée en matière sonore en densifiant ses effets et en imposant des sons qui semblent ramper, se cacher, réapparaitre tels des grouillements d’insectes. La déchirure, de près d’une vingtaine de minutes, débute sur des atmosphères assez sereines, mais qui glissent lentement vers des paysages plus orageux, d’où jaillissent des sons plus hachés d’accordéon, de violon ou d’effets électroniques pris de convulsions. Dans cette confrontation en trio, il faut toutefois retenir le travail sur la masse sonore, visant d’une certaine manière à créer une fusion entre les divers instruments. (…)
* Si l’on excepte un vinyle paru à l’aube des années 80, abattage »
Pierre Durr / Revue et Corrigée
http://revue-et-corrigee.net/?v=parutions&parution_num=106
(…) Bien Mental es un proyecto originado durante la estadía de João Camões en París y que integra a los experimentados músicos franceses Jean-Marc Foussat (Jean-Marc Foussat & Les Autres, Foussat, Guérineau & McPhee, Marteau Rouge) en electrónicos y Claude Parle (líder del Claude Parle Large Ensemble y colaborador en espectáculos de danza But? junto a los maestros Moeno Wakamatsu, Tore Iwashita y Masaki Iwana) en acordeón.
El trío encabezado por Camões elabora un diseño estético que -al conjuro de la improvisación, un acercamiento a la música no idiomática y la utilización de una inhabitual alineación tímbrica– fusiona conceptos comprendidos en las piezas gráficas indeterminadas, la ausencia del concepto tradicional de clímax, un sentido de espacialidad apegado al expresionismo abstracto y un tratamiento protagónico del material sonoro que elude, deliberadamente, la entronización melódica. En ese contexto, la experiencia auditiva se dirige con naturalidad a no esperar otra cosa de la obra más que alcanzar una fascinante e introspectiva sensación de abandono.
L’autre Bout configura un paisaje sonoro austero, opresivo y enigmático, caracterizado por módulos repetitivos de evolución lenta y la utilización de procesos graduales de mutación que, finalmente, devienen en un final liberador.
En el temperamento episódico de A Vingt Ans van asomando climas que recuerdan al concepto de masa sonora enarbolado por György Ligeti, un interludio de tono camerístico, la rotación en el protagonismo instrumental -con notables aportes de Claude Parle en acordeón y João Camões en viola- y una resolución catártica gobernada por las imaginativas oleadas en electrónicos de Jean-Marc Foussat.
Déchirure ofrece un extenso relato dictaminado por su desarrollo aleatorio y espacioso en donde confluyen la construcción de inquietantes paisajes sonoros, el ubicuo aprovechamiento de técnicas extendidas y una singular impronta narrativa que reúne elementos asociados a la música clásica contemporánea con la avanzada de la improvisación libre.
En síntesis: Bien Mental es un álbum de exigente acceso y abierto a múltiples lecturas, pero de innegable contenido emocional y creativo. (…)
Sergio Piccirilli / el intruso
http://elintruso.com/2016/02/11/joao-camoes-x-2/
I came across the word “retrofuturism” recently, and it immediately called to mind Jean-Marc Foussat (I’m still digesting Improvising Being’s remarkable four-disc Alternative Oblique retrospective from last year). The word denotes a particular brand of nostalgia, a way of remembering how the past envisioned the future. Needless to say, this “future of the past” is often not what came to be. The EMS synthesizer propped on the table in front of Foussat is retrofuturistic, a dated and dulled cutting edge, at once a continuing promise of new frontiers and a stark reminder of how different the present is from that once-imagined future.
Bien Mental invokes a lot of complex ideas about nostalgia, music-making, and finding a way forward. Foussat’s analogue electronics are joined by João Camões and Claude Parle on viola and accordion. These instruments bring a strong nostalgia of their own, but how the three are blended in the improvisations of Bien Mental becomes the ground for our own ideas about what the music of the future might be.
“À vingt ans” opens with the sounds of a toy laser—sounds that immediately evoked my childhood—which are quickly looped and distorted, merging into a rising violaccordion drone. For three such different instruments, it’s both exhilarating and disorienting how easy it is to follow the thread of one, only to find it leads to another altogether. At times it’s uncanny how well Foussat can tweak some cosmic-sounding oscillation to pulse in time with Camões’ increasingly rapid bowing and Parle’s huffing bellows. Foussat is the rare knob-twiddler who can overcome some of the normal pitfalls of integrating electronics with improvisation: he frequently feeds external source material (including his own heavily-masked voice) into his setup, allowing him to rapidly and organically adapt pitch and rhythm to the vagaries of the other instruments, all while benefiting from the timbres and extensions available only to electronics.
Though Foussat’s electronic arsenal may favor him as the chameleon, it is Parle who is often the most surprising. Another improvising accordionist, Adam Matlock, has noted that the piccolo stop in an accordion produces a “tremendous sound, almost electronic in nature,” a function of its strong overtones. In the density of Bien Mental, the complex partials of Parle’s accordion turn it into a kind of aural Velcro, latching to its neighboring sounds and binding everything that much more tightly.
But where Foussat and Parle are seasoned limit-pushers, the young Camões makes an impressive showing. He already perked many ears last year as part of the Open Field string trio, and on Bien Mental he often adopts a modulated style of bowing that produces a continual, ebbing stream of sound not unlike the pumping of Parle’s accordion bellows. This microtonal spate darts in and around everything, consonant and dissonant at once. His is a sound both refined and unhinged, like the great Barry Guy: the unpredictability of free improvisation coupled with the precision of chamber music.
Bien Mental is a strange and captivating record. It might be true that some day, we’ll load it into our obsolete CD players, and with retrofuturistic nostalgia chuckle: “remember when we thought this is what the music of the future would sound like?” But today, it doesn’t seem so far-fetched—this is something we haven’t heard before.
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Joao Camoes, Jean-Marc Foussat, Claude Parle, Bien Mental
Three masters of the adventurous art of avant improvisation join forces and give us an album that deftly explores the outer realms of possibility in spontaneous music making. It is Joao Camoes, Jean-Marc Foussat and Claude Parle and their Bien Mental (Fou Records CD 12). It manages to create three exceptionally advanced sonic tapestries composed in various ways by Camoes and his viola, Foussat and his live electro-acoustics, and Parle and his accordion.
What they create are free new music statements, sensitive, creative and extraordinarily alive spontaneities that are inspired, wonderfully colored and musically significant. It is music of an abstracted sort in the lineage of great ensembles such as MEV and il Gruppo, only distinctively original.
The sustain possibilities of all three instrument complexes can give us considerably varied masses of sound as well as punctual outbursts operating in a fascinating sort of dialectical relationship. There is great energy at times, relative repose and an intimate chamber sound that can become alternately huge and almost orchestral. To say that this is music of our time is a truth, but as far as a literal representative meaning to the abstractions I would say that you may build a dialogue of meaningful interactions in your mind but that the music first and foremost simply is. What you hear in it comes after the fact of the artists' determination to commingle advanced sounds and let them have meaning as the considerably fulmanous sonic abstractions they are, but fulmanous in a non-literally directed sense.
Well, so the point is that the music SOUNDS beautifully. It is an achievement. A masterpiece of its kind. This is landmark avant improv. So you should get it if that means a lot to you as it does to me. Highly recommended.
JOÃO CAMÕES / JEAN-MARC FOUSSAT – À La Face Du Ciel !
by Massimo Ricci
Shhpuma
We tend to lose certainties nowadays. Without launching pleas for the invention of new terms to depict improvisation (and forgetting for a minute the “entire-history-of-avantgarde-in-pills” of the liner notes), let me just declare that this is a tough record to swallow. It’s taking this writer a considerable number of spins to recognize its noteworthy traits; an appreciative comprehension is gradually growing after a gut reaction of perplexity, probably due to a weakened psychophysical conditions during the initial approach. So, for starters, don’t blame the artists.
The music comes packaged in two lengthy suites. As always in duets where a single acoustic instrument and electronics are involved, this is all about actions, reactions and counter-reactions. In extreme synthesis, Camões’ viola is the source that gets denucleated, liquefied and sprayed across the ether by Foussat’s apparatuses. This happens according to methods exercising a remorseless destruction of the “romanticism” typically linked to strings (which in itself would represent a plus). Sometimes the outcome is extremely intriguing, recalling a pair of solitary souls attempting to communicate via atypical timbral attractions and somewhat unpractical contrapuntal solutions. Still, in selected fragments of the first track “Suite Pour La Trosième Oreille” a cruel use of distortion renders the aural colors truly ugly more often than not. I’m fighting with myself to accept them as they are, in the name of an open-minded tolerance of diversity.
However, do not question the quality of the interplay - top rank throughout - and do focus on the finer features of this work. We’re in presence of creative minds that want to go forward, regardless of aesthetic issues largely depending, as previously hinted, on the listener’s contingent state. Ultimately, the textural essence of À La Face Du Ciel! is remotely comparable to the body of a person who spends a whole day in front of the sea, sniffing the scents and looking at the innumerable ripples before returning home with the skin completely sunburnt. Badly aching, yet willing to reiterate the experience.
Massimo Ricci | June 14, 2016 at 10:29 am | URL: http://wp.me/p12OhG-1A0
Bien Mental (FOU RECORDS FR-CD 12) is another unique slice of improvised music from the French label Fou Records, and it’s a team-up of the Algerian Jean-Marc Foussat, the French accordion player Claude Parle, and the Portuguese viola player João Camões. To my mind all three are practically outsiders…not exactly part of the star system of improvised music, coming into the arena through different personal pathways, and not even entirely sure if they want to align themselves with the precepts of the genre. Camões, for instance, was classically trained at the Conservatoire in Coimbra, and only found out the joys of free playing after he moved to Lisbon and got out on the streets; he prides himself on his “physical approach” to the instrument, and blends his classical skills with free playing techniques. Foussat is not unknown to us…we interviewed this lovely fellow in an early issue of the magazine, and though his releases may be sporadic and uneven, they always find a place in our heart. He’s a VCS3 player and can be very noisy with that instrument. His Marteau Rouge project enabled him to take that noise on stage and deliver slabs of analogue racket in the public arena. While he’s also known as a sound engineer – he recorded many improvisation gigs in the 1980s, including one or two for Company Week – he owns himself a shy and reclusive fellow, and in his printed bio here states how he started out playing the guitar but found instead he enjoyed the solitary pursuit of programming the synth, working with ruled paper and “trafficking the tape” as he calls it. As to Claude Parle, he would like to refuse any sort of classification, and likewise had a classical training which he pushed down a jazz route, and also diverting his skills to perform with visual artists, actors, and dancers – a path which some improvising “purists” might be reluctant to pursue. But Parle clearly welcomes collaborations, and it’s evident they do something to free up his creative juices. In maverick fashion, he claims he’s trying to develop his own language of playing, which he calls “direct music”. He’s not even certain if he really plays the accordion; his instrument is a prototype experimental device built for him by an Italian maker, and he’s still not totally satisfied with it.
What happens when three wayward and obstinate types of this nature join forces? The results are Bien Mental, or “totally bonkers” to use an English idiom. Three long pieces of extremely maximal and busy improvisation, but a music that’s also well removed from anything resembling aggressive, free-form, clattery and over-done improvised music. There’s a certain conviction and depth in all the playing that makes the music feel right, with a strong centre of gravity, and even if the notes are flying like sparks from a dynamo this is not some ephemeral Catherine Wheel of noise; there are indeed traces of classical structure, understanding of musical notation, and even detectable elements of this new language which Claude Parle is still attempting to formulate. I suppose this all points to an exciting journey of discovery; the musicians are still inventing new things, and not quite sure what they are exploring. They may be trying to access areas which have not already been chewed to pieces by the teeth of the other improvising jackals which roam our over-crowded musical forests.
Summary of good points, then: a very good sympathetic encounter session between like-minded musicians and men with strong personalities, each with refreshing and unusual ideas about new directions for improvisation. An attractive sound; strange musical forms, but the blend of electronics, viola and accordion creates pleasing effects, bizarre detuned drones, and bittersweet combinations of noise/music, structure/chaos, and abstractions/tunes. A controlled, directed energy; the music doesn’t rush to a climax, but walks over its terrain with purpose and focus, with an undeniable weight and force behind it; the listener is happy to join this journey, rather than finding themselves confronted with a welter of angry, overly-complex tones and busy playing. Excellent piece; I sincerely hope these three can coincide again. No wonder they look so excited and triumphant in the inside photograph. Foussat and Parle in particular look as though they’ve just found buried treasure. Maybe they have. Maybe they feel compelled to share the joys of going “bien mental”. From 5th January 2016; many thanks to João for sending this.
