Andrey Kiritchenko/the Moglass/Courtis
Andrey Kiritchenko/the Moglass/Courtis
Nexsound/Carbon/Gold Soundz/Tibprod/1000+1 Tilt

Here we have an interesting threesome, Andrej Kiritchenko - a leading figure in the Ukrainian avant-garde, Anla Courtis - member of the legendary Argentinean band Reynols and lately a big name in the drone-circus and The Moglass - masters of the Ukrainian flatlands and wordless storytellers.

Firstly we meet Kiritchenko who manipulates sounds from Anla Courtis, and combines those with some of his own in his own very recognizable way. Here I have to say that Mr. Kiritchenko is a man who moves in the outer fringes of likeability - his fondness for frequencies of the unpleasant kind and compositions that moves very fast from theme to theme makes him a challenging listen. But the very same qualities are part of what makes him fresh and interesting. The meeting with Mr. Courtis' drones does him good in my book and provides his restless approach a much needed grounding and makes these three parts among my favourite works from Mr. Kiritchenko so far.

Next we meet The Moglass and their take on sounds from Anla Courtis. Several former reviews of their work makes it no secret how impressed I am with the depth and maturity of this band and these magical reworkings of Courtis' sounds only adds to my respect for these guys. The Moglass paints with sounds, but the palette is a cold monochrome and the beauty they conjure up is a fragile one - the world's ugliness is glimpsed through the cracks and sometimes brought to the foreground in short bursts.

The familiarity between Mr. Courtis and The Moglass is evident for all who happens to know these artists and Mr. Courtis reworking of sounds by The Moglass underlines this even more. Both working with a combination of acoustic and electronic sources and preferring the spacious drones makes them spiritual brothers, but there are also differences in how they approach the material at hand. The Moglass somehow incorporates the geography in their works; we can actually feel where the compositions are made, but Mr. Courtis is a more free-floating spirit. Maybe due to his extensive touring the last ten years or just cultural and personal differences. That almost the same sounds can yield that different a result is in itself a very interesting fact and should be worthy of further theoretical study. The adaptability of Mr. Courtis shows itself when we come to the two last tracks where Mr. Kiritchenko has provided the basic sounds. Here we leave the world of the drone behind and moves into regions of associative composition where each small sound finds its place and makes a bigger picture - like a mosaic. Not far removed from the techniques our own Tore Bøe and KA are known to use.

All in all a very rewarding experience. It took me a while to get to know this disc, it demands a very close listen to give up its secrets, but it's well worth the effort. It took five labels to get this CD out, and since two of these are Norwegian, one American, one Ukrainian and one from Greece, it should be possible to find a copy. (www.tibprod.com)

Copyright © 2007 Killer