Vital Weekly

The third episode in the ‘Space Elements ‘ series of Portuguese musician Rafael Toral. “The Space Program is a long-term project launched in 2004, for performing music  with a post-free jazz mind-set but using strange sounds from electronics instruments’, Toral explains in the liner notes. For each episode Toral invites new musicians. This time the crew consists of Afonso Simoes (drums), Riccardo Dillon Wanke (rhodes piano), César Burago (maracas, tamborim, shakers, cowbell  claves, kokiriko), Tatsuya Nakatani (percussion), Victor Gama (acrux), Marco Franco(drums),Toshio Kajiwara (lap steel guitar). All of them play on just a few tracks, in duo, trio and quartet format. Rafael Toral (electrode oscillator, modified MS-2 pocket amplifier feedback, glove-controlled computer bass sinewaves,  filtered feedback circuit, modified MT-10 portable amplifier, modulated noise, modular synthesizer, tamtam) plays of course in every track.

What wondered me in earlier releases of his happens here again. Toral combines ingredients from jazz, presented by the guest musicians, with his disciplined playing and use of electronics. Each track has a very transparent outlook, even the finest and most detailed sounds and movements are not to be missed. The music is of a static nature, and deprived of the swing and drive we know from jazz. As ever the music is intelligently composed and performed very disciplined. This makes it work! (DM)