But where things really get weird is in the way they play. This recording deliberately goes over the top, taking surprising twists and turns and flirting openly with blatant iconoclastics. Hence, Pirotton the Sedate seems to remember playing with Bill Frisell, (one-time member of Mauve Traffic – surprise, surprise) and goes overboard with pedal effects, out-of-step counter melodies and expressionist distortion.
Add to that Pougin’s palette of colour-sounds and polyrhythms – a novel alternative to the traditional arsenal of jazz percussionists – and Houben’s Phoenix-like facelifted phrasing which has a scorched feel that fits him like a glove.
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