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Imagines

by Banausoi

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Artwork by Klára Zahrádková & Daryan Hardi

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    Artwork by Klára Zahrádková & Daryan Hardi

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1.
2.
Gorgoneion 04:16
3.
Periegesis 08:59
4.
5.
Phaenomena 07:02
6.
Stoa Poecile 06:57

credits

released May 13, 2021

Banausoi are
Petr Vrba: trumpet, clarinet, electronics,
Václav Šafka: drums, percussions, objects
Ondrej Zajac: guitar, voice

Recorded at Mr. Wombat & Divadlo 29 by Václav Šafka
Mixed at Rozsochanec Studio by Václav Šafka
Mastered at Catesound by Róbert Geci & at Laboratoire Central by Gabriel Séverin
Cover art and graphic design by Klára Zahrádková & Daryan Hardi

Produced & released by Circum-Disc & 13 raw

Reviews:
Banausoi is a Czech-Slavok trio with Petr Vrba (trumpet, clarinet, electronics), Vaclav Safka (drums, percussions, objects) and Ondrej Zajac (guitar, voice), which may seem a traditional line-up, their music is at times rocking out and at other times fairly traditional free jazz. Here is where rock meets (free) jazz, but also there are some interesting sustaining moments here. In the opening piece 'Aeneas Tacticus', for instance, the wind instruments, feeding through some lengthy delay modules, offering an additional layer of space, until the drums start to play wilder patterns, signalling the end of the piece. 'Gorgoeion' is an example of their heavy rock meets total free improvisation. But they also know to control the chaos, engage in a playful discussion between their instruments and leaving space in between notes (in 'Periegesis' for instance). It is pieces like that made me enjoy this more traditional free play. I tend to think, alright, we know this free play all too well, let's move on to something we don't know and then Banausoi seems to have heard me and comply with my request. I didn't keep an exact tally of what is what here, but I would think the total free pieces are in a minority here, which is ultimately good news for me. (FdW, www.vitalweekly.net/1283.html )

You would think otherwise, but Banausoi is not a band with decades of experience, and instead a rather fairly young trio. Petr Vrba, Václav Šafka and Ondrej Zajac describe themselves as a »Czechoslovak musical think tank« and in addition to a number of concerts had only one release to their name so far.
However, their debut album »Imagines« completed during lockdown(s), shows the three of them as a well-rehearsed team and masters of free improvisation. Whether heated noise rock borrowings, screeching free jazz or gentle sounds that take on ambient character here and sound like imaginary folk tunes there: across these six pieces, the interplay between the musicians is as elegant and to the point as the result is stylistically wide-ranging and open-ended. »Imagines« achieves the rare feat of sounding thoroughly composed down to the last detail and yet as if played out of the moment. There is probably no better surrogate for live concerts to be had, at least in this season. (bit.ly/3ukqLlQ)

The Czecho-Slovak trio Banausoi – trumpeter, clarinetist and electronics player Petr Vrba, known from his collaborations with innovative European improvisers as fellow-trumpeters Axel Dörner and Franz Hautzinger, drummer-percussionist Václav Šafka and guitarist Ondrej Zajac, releases its debut album, «Imagines», described by the trio as a collection of stories intertwined with the aesthetics of radical improvisation and Greek mythology. The name of the trio comes from the Old Greek word «banausos», a reproachful term for a person working with their hands, and at that time musicians were part of this group of people. The song titles are also inspired by Greek mythology, similar to the cover and visuals created by Klára Záhradková and Daryan Hardy.
The trio was founded after Zajac and Šafka played an improvised concert in Prague’s Punctum, and Vrba was in the audience. Vrba, Šafka and Zajac using their hands for many unusual sonic tasks. Vrba adds layers of raw, suggestive electronics to his trumpet and clarinet playing, both instruments played with extended breathing techniques. Šafka attaches various objects to the skins of the drums and plays with a bow ton the cymbals. Zajac’s guitar playing is effects-laden and he occasionally adds his voice to the Banausoi impressive palette of abstract and raw sounds.
Banausoi describes itself as a ‘musical think tank’ that «performs in pretty much whatever genre it wants at the moment, always improvised and always with love». The music of Banausoi flows from abstract segments that stress strong melodic and lyrical elements towards intense and rhythmic, sound-oriented, chaotic and brutal storms, and vice versa, as in the opening piece «Aeneas Tacticus». Banausoi sounds like a much larger outfit when it exhausts its sonic palette but never settles on chartered modes or obvious moods, but seeks to expand its improvised strategies. On «Gorgoneion» the thorny, intense sonic envelope veils an engaging Mediterranean dance, articulated by Vrba. «Periegesis» sketches a lyrical yet unsettling, cinematic drone, occasionally disturbed by Šafka’s restless drumming. «Dialogues Of The Dead» dives into an enigmatic, minimalist soundscape. «Phaenomena» builds its tension methodically and Banausoi concludes this adventurous journey with the poetic and gentle «Stoa Poecile», beautifully narrated by the guitar of Zajac, with subtle West-African overtones.
(Eyal Hareuveni, salt-peanuts.eu/record/banausoi/)

Czas na czecho-słowacki ansambl i dalece podgatunkową podróż po bezdrożach bystrej, chwilami silnie elektroakustycznej improwizacji, czynionej wszakże z nerwem, a incydentalnie z prawdziwie rockowym temperamentem. Aktorzy tego spektaklu są następujący: Petr Vrba – trąbka, klarnet i elektronika, Václav Šafka – perkusja, instrument perkusyjne i obiekty oraz Ondrej Zajac – gitara i głos. Czesi i Słowacy proponują nam sześć dobrze zaplanowanych improwizacji, nagranych u siebie (data nieznana), które trwają łącznie niepełne trzy kwadranse.
Muzycy bez zbędnych wstępów przystępują do dzieła! Gitara śle frazę, trąbka ambientowy dron, a perkusja zaczyn narracji. Dwa pierwsze składniki tego koktajlu lepią się w elektroniczny loop, który niesiony jest na żywym i od początku aktywnym drummingiem. Akcja dość szybko nabiera gęstości i tempa – gitara kipi electro rockiem z posmakiem afrykańskiej polirytmii, a trąbka krzyczy wniebogłosy same dobre frazy! Po pewnym czasie muzycy zwinnie zdejmują nogę z gazu i uroczo kłębią się oparach post-fussion-jazzu. W kolejnej opowieści pojawia się nerwowy klarnet. Gra czystymi frazami, a dla przeciwwagi gitarowe pick-upy demolują nam uszy ostrymi dźwiękami. Obrazu całości dopełnia intensywnie improwizujący, ale wciąż energetyczny perkusista. W trzeciej improwizacji muzycy zdecydowanie zwalniają tempo – elektroniczne pętle, rezonujące talerze, wreszcie dęte drony, które łapią pogłos, jak niezamaskowane twarze covida. Opowieść nie szuka dynamiki, raczej zagłębia się w otchłani zdrowej, czerstwej psychodelii.
Kolejna część budowana jest przez gitarowe rzężenia, zgrzytliwą elektronikę i żywe, choć mroczne perkusjonalia. Muzycy kreują suspens z niebywałą łatwością, jakby nie robili nic innego przez całe życie, tylko straszyli niegrzeczne dzieci, które nie chcą spać. W piątej części znów niepokój sieją opary dark ambientu i dekonstruowane, dęte frazy. Dopiero po kilku przebiegach rozpoznajemy, iż jest z nami ponownie klarnet, ale i on topi się w poświacie ambientu. Żywa perkusja ciągnie tu dwie strugi post-elektroniki i kreuje klimat przypominający wielominutowe improwizacje formacji Yodok III. Na starcie szóstej improwizacji słyszymy lejącą się wodę i gitarę, która wydaje się być nad wyraz żywa, nieskażona syntetyką. W tle rezonują talerze, ale opowieść łapie prąd jak tonący brzytwę – electro pogłos i kompulsywne elektrowstrząsy perkusji budują nową opowieść. Znów towarzyszy nam klarnet skąpany w podrasowanym elektronicznie dronie. Niespodzianka goni tu niespodziankę do ostatniego dźwięku. (bit.ly/3nLVcPi)

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13 raw Prague, Czechia

13 raw is focused on music we love and often play in our radio program we have run over ten years on Radio 1. We like free improvisation, radical forms of jazz, weird stuff, electronic beauties, noise, unconventional songwriting and modern composition...Predecessor to 13 raw was Unusual Records label, our attempt to create LPG (long play graphics), MCs with comic book or CDr with unusual coverage. ... more

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