New sounds from ‘unsolved’ instruments

I saw one of those posts the other day… one of those ‘there is no new music anymore’ posts. Apparently, we (who is ‘we’? humanity? western civilisation? the Illuminati?!) have “solved” the guitar – there is nothing new left to be discovered with the instrument; all new guitar music is simply a recombining of established sounds.

Pfffft!

What a paucity of imagination… a lack of sonic appreciation… a failure of adventurous spirit. Not to mention an utter ignorance of all the fresh sounds (yes, even on the guitar!) that have been released in the last few years.

Anyway, my internal outrage prompted this list: a selection of albums recorded with a single instrument in which the instrument doesn’t sound like itself… i.e. it’s being used to create sounds hitherto unassociated with the saxophone, bass, drums, or whatever (…sometimes through use of effects and processing, sometimes not).

This list is (obviously) incomplete and reflects only what I’ve managed to stumble across in the last decade. Whether you find the results to your taste or not, these are all artists digging deeper, branching out, probing and augmenting the limits of their instrument and technique to break new sonic ground.

Nothing is ever “solved”!

–

Leon Michener, piano
“Klavikon” (2015)
This sounds more like avant-garde, experimental techno than it does a piano. Not surprising given that the piano in question is filled with various objects, toys, gubbins and Heath Robinson structures (zoom in on the cover pic!) and then sounds are further tweaked via amplification, delay, filters, ring modulators, and so on to seem more like drums, bells or music boxes than a grand piano. (Nonclassical)

Tom Chant, saxophone
Solo (2023)

Tom Chant is pretty unique anyway as improvising saxophonists go. But here he dives deeper, exploring the low flatulence and shrill vibration that the tenor saxophone is capable of. (Note: at the launch gig, the discomfort was too much for some. Still, a couple of walk-outs is a recommendation for this list!) (Hera Corp.)

Carme López, bagpipes
“Quintela” (2024)

Bringing an Oliveros sensibility to experimenting with the Galician bagpipes, López has created a subtle and sensitive drone album, eschewing the instruments stereotypical banshee reputation. Headphones and a deep listening approach recommended. (Warm Winters Ltd.)

Espen Lund, trumpet
“ÆTonal” (2021)

Lund uses extreme amplification in the studio for this recording – not so much playing the trumpet as playing the feedback cloud that results. The metallic love-child of Tony Conrad and Sunn O))). Glacial, industrial, a wall of very untrumpetlike noise. READ MORE… (self-released)

Dominik Strycharski, recorder
“Flauto Dolphy“ (2017)

Eric Dolphy’s ouevre (esp. Out to Lunch) is nigh universally revered for it’s nimble innovation. Not the kind of music to be re-done on the recorder? Think again. Strycharski breathes, hums and groans life into this homage, forcing a reappraisal of the recorder’s possibilities along the way. To cite another Dolphy title: Outward Bound! READ MORE… (Fundacja Słuchaj)

Maria Bertel, trombone
“Monophonic” (2024)

At times, Bertel’s amplified trombone sounds like an avalanche… a grinding, weighty, constant-danger-of-being-crushed storm of sound. At others, it’s an alien voice – all clicks and basso profundo glottal stops – transmitted from a heavy gravity gas giant beyond our ken. (Relative Pitch Records)

Han-earl Park, electric guitar
“Of Life, Recombinant” (2021)
Arguably, the ‘easy’ way to extend an instrument’s possibilities is through use of effects or processing. While not FX-free, Han-earl’s explorations always (to me) seem rooted in painstakingly developed technique (check out his on-take studies on YouTube) In sound and technique, a quantum jump beyond where most guitarists are inclined to explore. (New Jazz & Improvised Music Recordings)

Aurelijus Užameckis, upright bass
“Signals” (2021)

Sound and technique may be (relatively) conventional here, but Užameckis expands and alters his bass sound by playing inside the Brønshøj water tower in Copenhagen (apparently, the room has a reverb of around 13 seconds). The sound is huge, echoes bouncing and rebounding across the sound source, changing the approach to the instrument. (CRRNT Collective)

Farida Amadou, electric bass
“When It Rains It Pours” (2024)

Amadou’s approach to the electric bass is highly idiosyncratic. The opening track starts off as a Gieger counter, morphs into upper atmosphere interference, and proceeds through drone and rumble and ends with an electrical hum. From heavy machinery through dysfunctional radio receiver to light percussion – this bass rarely sounds like one. (Week-End Records)

Valentina Magaletti, drums
Baterie Fragile, (2022)

Magaletti’s technique is more than extended/varied enough to feature on this list but here she’s applying it to a porcelain drum kit (a sculpture conceived by Yves Chaudouët, also featured on Magaletti’s similarly named 2017 album – also on UJNSQ). This gives everything a unique delicacy, kind of a muted steel pan sound which Magalettie proceeds to tease and tickle, using the limited palette to create something fresh. (Un je-ne-sais-quoi)

–