Rafael Toral is renowned for treating electronic instruments as solo or lead instruments, liberating them from the textural roles they often play in improvised music. Having completed his decade-long Space…

Regresso ao passado e ao futuro com Rafael Toral
Gonçalo Frota

Make it Sharp: A Space Beyond Space
by Todd B. Gruel, February 2018

I played this tape and I must say I enjoy it to
some great extent. Maybe it’s the reduction in instruments, just drums and synth, and
not the extended jazz ensemble, which makes everything much cruder in approach.

This is experimental electronic music operating at a higher level of deliberation and thoughtfulness than nearly everything else in sound synthesis and free improvisation

there’s even a phase where the pair find themselves in a glorious space midway between morning birdsong and evening crickets

Proprio in questo contrasto tra acustico ed elettronico, tra valvole e materiali naturali risiedono l’interesse ed il fascino della registrazione.

Space Elements Vol. III
It all hangs loosely together like a wizard’s sleeve hanging off his bony arm, and the success rate of these odd instrumental pairings (squeaked clarinet and metal brushes; soft street bells and subtle “tap”s; cymbal-tom slaps and… SHIT, I DON’T KNOW WHAT ANY OF THIS IS) is near-perfect.

Space Elements Vol. III
Por Thiago Filardi e Ruy Gardnier

The energy on display in Live at Outfest is completely through the roof.