Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Imperfect Masters - This Humanly Mess: Music of El Cerrito for Clarinet and Boot, Vol. #23 (fon35)





voluminous, woozy sounds that breath life into the night.  peace and love to my friends at Humboldt Relief :)


  Even prior to experiencing this tape, the story on the back of the j-card proved intriguing; I pondered the words for a long time, continuously re-reading them.  Under the radiant energy of the crescent moon, a beautiful amalgamation of tones from two adept improvisers begins to slowly drift into the listener's head-space.  Throughout This Humanly Mess: Music of El Cerrito for Clarinet and Boot, Vol. #23, on Full of Nothing, a bucolic vibe is emitted.  Imperfect Masters is the duo of Robert Horton and Dan Plonsey.  Robert Horton is known for creating musical instruments, one of which, the boot, features on this release.  The boot is a four string slide instrument. His partner on this release, Dan Plonsey, is a renown composer and saxophonist - though he utilizes the clarinet on this release.

Upon pressing play, these skilled improvisers seem the perfect match: the woozy strings of Horton intersect perfectly with the soporific, slowly expanding sound emitted from the clarinet.  In the next track, droning strings vacillate uninhibitedly in the background. Plonsey's clarinet ascends ever so gently at the beginning before matching Horton's energy with fluctuating tones.  There is a lovely intersection of jazz and blues in the third track.  The resonant strings of the acoustic boot coalesce nicely with the hovering clarinet. On the fourth track of side A, drone and boot combine with the soft emanations of the clarinet.  Droning and resonant strings create the perfect backdrop for the diffuse - and at times coiling - clarinet, which envelops the head like indica haze - one of my favorite tracks on the tape.  Frenzied strings abound at the beginning of the second track on the flip.  Shortly, Plonsey's clarinet howls - yet, not too aggressively - while scraped strings exist in the back of the mix.  In the last track, energy slowly exudes from the clarinet - quiet stillness engulfs the listener as strings wobble gently.  Before long, the boot oscillates, becoming more prominent.             

Lately, I've been listening to this on the porch under the starry sky and luminous moonlight - nice conditions for these vibes.  This Humanly Mess: Music of El Cerrito for Clarinet and Boot, Vol. #23 is highly recommended. Produced on red, transparent tapes with lovely artwork provided by Ivan Afanasyev, this tape is sold out at the source.  However, Tomentosa always has the goods.  One may purchase This Humanly Mess: Music of El Cerrito for Clarinet and Boot, Vol. #23,   from Tomentosa.

peace and love, friends :)