Guitarist Gene Pritsker delves into fascinatingly experimental sounds on these two latest releases. While the instrumentation is quite varied between the two sessions, and even within one of them, the attitude of sound and ear expansion prevails.
Trio Amalgamate includes Pritsker along with Dan Cooper/7b and Gernot Bernroider/dr varying their material between rock and funk on “Design Jam” to elliptical blues as on “Quaalude #1.” The guitarist’s tone gets a bit sandy and fuzzy on his Improvisations, while there’s a graceful fluidity on “Weeping” and “Lullaby.” Cooper’s 7 string bass is featured on “Antinomy” showing the band can be coherently in the pocket or willing to deviate off the path.
The Samplestra is a completely different concept, mixing acoustic instruments like violin, flute, piano and horn with electronic musings and rhythm. There’s an exciting bop to the mix of John Clark’s horn and effects on “Modified #1” and the coalescing of African voices with percussion and vibes on “Destined to Shed” is intriguing and beguiling. Some ambience turns into garage rock on “Electronically Tragic” and enticing work by Michiyo Suzuki’s clarinet is enhanced by the percussion work on “Mysterious Restless.” Even Debussy gets a chance to modernize, with “La Mer” having Kathleen Supove’s piano framed by some musings. Holds up well after many listenings.
Naxos Recordings