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Agusti Fernandez / Zlatko Kau?i?: Sonic Party

By John Sharpe
August 7, 2015
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Agusti Fernandez / Zlatko Kau?i?: Sonic Party

Sonic Party documents a live meeting between Catalan pianist

Agusti Fernandez

piano
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Agusti Fernandez and Slovenian percussionist

Zlatko Kau?i?

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Zlatko Kau?i?. Unlike similar encounters with his countryman

" data-original-title="" title="">Ram��n L��pez, all the selections here are generated on the fly. Such pairings accentuate the percussive nature of the piano, and all the more so because Fernandez is one of the greatest proponents of this in his determined delving into the keyboard's innards. In spite of residence abroad and appearances throughout Europe since 1975, Kau?i? 's discography remains relatively slight, though it does include collaborations with heavyweight saxophonists such as

Evan Parker

saxophone, soprano
b.1944

" data-original-title="" title="">Evan Parker,

Peter Brötzmann

woodwinds
1941 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Br?tzmann and

Steve Lacy

saxophone, soprano
1934 - 2004

" data-original-title="" title="">Steve Lacy.

Credited with ground drums, Kau?i? majors on unconventional textures and seems more a percussionist rather than drummer. His tendency toward the higher pitches through untethered cymbals and gongs counterbalance the pianist's rich voicings. He is less concerned with momentum than prospecting coloration and timbre. As a collaborator, Kau?i? proves receptive and most importantly transparent, allowing sufficient space for Fernandez' parts to stand out, as on "Sirob" where he joins partway through, but only to embellish a very quiet minimalist passage. If anything perhaps there is a tad too much empathy and not enough assertion from the Slovenian.

As ever Fernandez exploits the potential of the entire instrument. While he taps into a deep vein of lyricism, like that revealed on his El laberint de la memoria (Mbari, 2011) in the opening "Us And Other's," later in the same cut he also evokes

Cecil Taylor

piano
1929 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Cecil Taylor with his dashing evenly articulated lines and call and response between the registers. His piano preparations blend well with the metallic percussion on both the title track and "Lonci" where he scrapes and rubs on the strings creating broad slabs of sound until ultimately it becomes impossible to tell who is doing what. On "Monde," after a delicate extemporized melody, Fernandez once again switches his attention to the piano interior where his manipulations resonate with Kau?i? 's chimes and exotic sonorities. It's a favorite gambit winningly explored throughout this set.

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Track Listing

Us And Other's; Sonic Party; Lonci; Sirob; Free Nest; Monde; The Hug.

Personnel

Agusti Fernandez

piano

Agusti Fernandez: piano, prepared piano; Zlatko Kau?i?: ground drums.

Album information

Title: Sonic Party | Year Released: 2015 | Record Label: Not Two Records

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