The Flirts
Label: Erstwhile Records
Format: CD
Genre: Jazz
In stock
As wonderful is his duo with compatriot Cor Fuhler, who, like Prins, has gradually progressed from Bimhuis improv into electronic experimentation. This is a quite befuddling duo (as on Live, Prins utilises electronics, FM modulations and radio; Fuhler employs EMS Synthi AKS, turntables and mbiras), whose interaction is in a constant state of flux, and one whose ideas flow so liberally and create music which is at times so disorientating that it feels as though one is listening to it through some sort of prismic filter. The disc's most rapid rate of change is achieved on 'Fuchsine Rill', a fractally splintering, synapse-addling flood of sound which cross-fertilises Prins's high-speed pitch fractures with Fuhler's sweeping swathes of broadband noise interference in giddily gleeful sonic-overload collages (which develop at a rate comparable to the more frenetic moments on this label's previous Thomas Lehn/Marcus Schmickler duo). The inorganic nature of the sounds and the sheer speed of some of the playing mean that it's often difficult to work out who's doing what, a conundrum complicated by the fact that the two seem ever-ready to swap roles. They wisely don't attempt to maintain such a pace for the entirety of the disc, however, and the remainder of the pieces see Fuhler laying down solid blocks of churning sound-rumble, counterpointing Prins's modulated hiss with fuzzily linked sequences of single sounds, the two brilliantly interweaving outlandish tonal splurges in mutual sound-shredding binges. Wild, and all-round fantastic; I'd recommend ears be applied to any release wearing the names of either of these two, post-haste. (Opprobrium, Nick Cain)
Cat. number: erstwhile 017
Year: 2003