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Contemporary Noise Ensemble: An Excellent Spiritual Serviceman

2022; The MIT Press; Volume: 46; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1162/comj_r_00654

1531-5169

Ross Feller,

Diverse Music Education Insights

The Contemporary Noise Ensemble is a Polish band that relies heavily upon synthesizers and prerecorded materials. Their current format features a much-reduced line-up, as well as a shift in aesthetic direction. One might describe this situation as fewer people covering more bases. After a break of nearly ten years they have released a new album entitled An Excellent Spiritual Serviceman, on the German independent label Denovali, known for its promotion of electronica, ambient, experimental pop, contemporary composition, and sound art.Denovali states on its homepage that it considers a release's artwork and packaging as essential as the music, “the combination of both is meant to result in a coherent piece of art.” Their information pages contain wordless, clickable photographs. So any would-be buyers must engage with each picture in order to find the album they seek. One might argue that this process is as inefficient and full of surprises as life itself. In the case of the present album, the cover photograph displays various analog tools and implements that might be equally used for sound making or instrument construction. A few appear to be thrown in for humorous effect, such as a pipe—but not the kind you might find in a hardware store. The tools have been carefully arranged, horizontally and vertically, inside a square frame, not unlike the score for Earle Brown's “December 1952.”The title of the first piece in An Excellent Spiritual Serviceman, “Dance of the Headless Jazz Expert,” suggests a further degree of critical humor. More context is revealed when one considers that the Contemporary Noise Ensemble's previous releases might aptly be categorized as music that is jazz-related, without succumbing to some of the standard formal structures or harmonic progressions. Conversely, the current album takes its impetus from progressive rock, intelligent dance music, synth bands, and minimalist musics. From the perspective of jazz practice, this first piece can be described as headless, since there is no real sense of melody (or a head). Instead, we hear the rhythm section as in a music-minus-one work, which jazz educators utilize for pedagogical purposes and jazz players use for practicing their improvisations, as well as the heads.“Dance of the Headless Jazz Expert” features thick layers of step-sequenced synthesizer patches and a drum set. The music is unified by the use of similar rhythmic patterns, some of which interlock, contrapuntally. Many of the synth patterns contain repeated arpeggiations that conjure minimalist techniques used by other electronic musicians who also made references to popular musical forms, such as Larry Fast (Synergy), the German group Tangerine Dream, and the recently deceased Greek composer Vangelis.After a 56-second sci-fi introduction, the piece charges forward, propelled by mallet percussion sounds and a walking bass pattern. Periodic breaks in this texture occur, in which the bass and drums stop, leaving only the synthesizer and mallet instruments. Gradually the piece builds by the addition of layers and instruments, and material changes—for example, the walking bass pattern changes into a descending pattern, chained to the kick drum part. On top of this we hear various “raw” waveforms and a vibraphone sound that, when placed together, come close to resembling a melody that pays audible homage to Delia Derbyshire's realization of the Doctor Who theme through its use of portamento and sustained, chordal tones.Around two-thirds of the way through the piece we experience a false ending, essentially a longer break than those mentioned previously. All the layers drop out except for the step-sequencer part and the drums, in what might be described as a duo-solo role. The actual ending features a simple, 30-second fade-out, a formal relic that is currently out of favor in pop or progressive rock music.The second piece, “The Queen is About to Spin,” features fast Philip Glass–like synthesizer arpeggios (from his Glassworks period), whistling (think Bobby McFerrin's “Don't Worry, Be Happy”), and a rich, sub-bass synth patch that will connect with hip-hop listeners. Add to this an energetic, and at times unpredictable, drum part, and the result is minimalist concert music suitable for club play. The formal structure includes more surprises, such as sudden modulations and textural shifts. The latter include the sudden addition of a tremolo, surf-guitar part that conjures a concept about which the ethnomusicologist Thomas Turino has written, known as creative indexing—essentially the act of juxtaposing two or more musical indexes in novel ways.In “Easy Time,” the third work, the surf-guitar reappears, without tremolo but with the addition of a muted organ patch. A poetic text, in English, is read by an alto voice over these materials, occurring twice in the piece. The text speaks about issues relevant to the recent global pandemic. There are breaks, in which wooden and metallic percussive and synthesizer instruments take prominence, and a series of sustained chords that slowly change (or morph) every twelve beats. Against this, the drum part plays syncopated counterrhythms that effectively make the chordal changes sound unpredictable.The next piece, “All Systems On . . . !” begins with a series of sawtooth arpeggios that are carefully shaped using an envelope generator with gradual, linear attacks. Counter lines are added that create audio artifacts, not unlike those found in the early “pattern” work of Steve Reich. These are effectively mixed via spatial techniques that situate them clearly in the stereo field. About halfway through, the piece briefly dies out, and is redirected with high frequency string sounds and the addition of spatial tremolo that rapidly moves the synthesizer parts from ear to ear. The sum result is akin to a trance-music composition held together with accouterments from progressive rock practice.The same characteristics are also found in “Accident in the Forest,” the fifth piece in this collection. However, the synth parts are more pronounced and contain more disruptive elements. Near the midway point separate synth parts are set against each other in counterpoint that is matched with the drums’ hi-hat part. As the piece quickly fades out one might consider that not much new ground is explored in this work.Conversely, “C'mon I'll Show You Something” begins with newly heard, filtered Karplus-Strong string sounds in wavelike formations, before being interrupted by a medium-tempo rhythm part that carries the piece through much of the remaining time. Gradually an organ part with fast vibrato is brought in to further define the slow-moving chord progression, containing many seventh chords, providing a melancholic sense.“The Caprice” takes many of the previously mentioned elements and remixes them into a novel combination. Like “Easy Time” it features a recited text. Along with this we hear a backdrop of energetic jazz-rock fusion sounds and minimalist arpeggio patterns. The synth patches resemble those from “The Queen is About to Spin.” And the utilization of audio artifacts creates a similar effect as found in “All Systems On . . . !”Material and structural recycling also feature prominently in “Bad Cat.” We hear a pop-song chordal progression, heavy layers of synthesizer patches, fast sequenced arpeggios, and a driving bass and drums rhythm section. Additionally, parts of the overall texture dropout and reenter, serving as the primary shaper of the formal plan. The most significant dropouts feature raw, organ sounds, which, again, draw reference to much work by Glass.Lastly, the album's title track uses a shuffle beat underneath rhythmic, sung vocalizations, the content for which borders on indecipherable. Many of the sounds are moved around in space, creating a dynamic, ever-changing tapestry. But this is short-lived as the track's length is just over 3 minutes and 50 seconds, about half the length of each of the previous works.This album contains some novel and powerful examples of electronic music that are unafraid to push or cross, stylistic and aesthetic boundaries. The instruments used are tightly controlled through programming and mixing. The mixing is not without fault, however. Many of the tracks are over mixed, especially in the mid-high frequency range, which makes the individual layers less distinct than they could have been. Similarly, some of the tracks would also have benefitted from more attention to spatialization and depth. Some listeners might take issue with the significant role played by repetition, but given the genres engaged, this issue can be considered “par for the course.” All things considered, this album is worthy of serious attention.