Jachna/Buhl - Tapes (2013) ***1/2

Jachna/Buhl

Wojtek Jachna - trumpet, flugelhorn, electronics
Jacek Buhl - drums, percussion

Tapes (2013)

By Stef Gijssels

Last year I praised the Polish duo of Wojtek Jachna on trumpet and Jacek Buhl on drums for their skills, yet I thought they could do better in finding a more personal style and more coherency in their musical vision, and that's exactly how they have improved, as if they had read this blog, which of course might be the case. The only counterargument is that the music on this album contains a collection of older material, dating from 2009 and 2010.

Anyway, it is fun to listen to, innovative in its construction of multilayered sounds, with sometimes joyful trumpet phrases à la Rob Mazurek, lots of electronically distorted and looped sounds, carefully structured pieces, with the occasional high energy drumming and lots of "nu jazz" influences and sometimes weird but fun adventures in avant territory.

Despite the collection of loose recordings, the album brings a lot of variation and a strong unity of strange beauty, and since it is absolutely free, also in financial terms, the value offering is excellent. My advice for the next album (if they read this), is to ask money for the download. The music is more than worth it.

Can be downloaded from here.