Record Reviews

ABERRATIO ICTUS ~ ICTUS IRRITUS WHYPLAYJAZZ 022 (Barcode: 4050486933633) ~ SWITZERLAND ~ Avant-Garde Jazz Recorded: 2014 - 2015 Released: 2015 This is the debut album by the Aberratio IctusFind albums by this artist trio, which consists of Swiss vocalist Rea DubachFind albums by this artist, Swiss violinist Laura SchulerFind albums by this artist and German guitarist Ronny GraupeFind albums by this artist. The album presents nine pieces, two by Dubach, three each by Schuler and Graupe and one co-composed by all the trio members. The music is a unique amalgamation of many elements, combined into an Avant-Garde tapestry of sounds, which touches Folklore, Jazz and contemporary Chamber Classical music, but beats any attempt of classification. It offers very little melody as such, and rhythmically is uneven and sometimes almost chaotic; in short it is mainly concerned with momentary happenings rather than development which follows a pattern. As such it is very difficult to be absorbed by most conventional music listeners and has a very limited audience. That does not mean of course that this music is not interesting or not worth listening to, not at al; experienced Avant-Garde connoisseurs will find here many fascinating elements, both in the vocal explorations and the instrumental contributions, which are innovative, bold and even pioneering. Sadly such music falls into a very narrow niche as far as listeners are concerned and the dilemma between the musicians´ artistic integrity and their ability to communicate is perfectly demonstrated here. The aesthetics and the intellectual aspects of music like this one are often a subject of heated discussions between those who believe that music is all about communication between people and those who tend to think that it is a means of communication between a musician and his imagination. Regardless of what stand one takes, let´s remember that whatever was considered as Avant-Garde in the past often becomes the mainstream, often within a relatively short period of time. It gives me a lot of pleasure to see young musicians searching for their own voices, regardless of the consequences. Not less important is the fact that the WhyPlayJazzFind albums on this label label released this and many other unconventional music projects, with full awareness of the lack of their commercial potential. As long as we have musicians like these and record labels like this not everything is lost and our culture stands a chance of survival, at least for a while.

Updated: 12/04/2019Posted: 27/06/2016

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