Lean Left: The Ex Guitars Meet Nilssen-Love/Vandermark Duo

Café Oto, London

11/09/2011

This was an unmissable opportunity to catch an occasional collaboration between established improv duo Paal Nilssen-Love and Ken Vandermark, and guitarists Terrie Ex and Andy Moore of Dutch anarchist post-punk veterans The Ex, coming together under the Lean Left banner. The group was in town just in time to promote the second volume of their self-titled début on Smalltown Superjazz, of which Volume one was one of my favourites of last year (you can read my review of it elsewhere on this site.) Sadly, however, I could only make the first of two nights at Café Oto, for each of which Lean Left were joined by invited guests. On the 11th, this gave us a rare chance to catch Dutch saxophonist Ab Baars on stage in London.

The first piece in the collectives’ first set was so ferociously intense I forgot to take notes, with Vandermark on tenor coming on very much in the style of Peter Br?tzmann and Nilssen-Love maintaining a boggling rate of percussive turnover, while the dual guitars set about their excoriating business. This set the pace for much of the rest of the night, which was not one for faint hearts. The second piece, however, began with Vandermark on clarinet, tapping its keys as the Ex guitars
mirrored him in tapping and wringing sound from de-tuned instruments. Terrie Ex, who spent much of the first set with a drumstick between clenched teeth for ready use, then proceeded to grind his machine head into the floor to produce a low moan of feedback while Andy Moore vibed congruent effects from the whammy bar. Although Nilssen-Love had yet to fully engage, Vandermark’s contribution was barely audible at first. But then Moore became more insistent, locking in with a now resurgent Nilssen-Love, and Vandermark switched back to tenor for a frenetic, lurching garage rock-out that gradually boiled down to a more viscous pace, finally coming full circle to end with reed pops and key rattles from Vandermark’s sax and and clicks of electricity sparked from jammed guitar pick-ups.

Ab Baars joined the core Lean Left quartet in the second set. The Dutch saxophonist has played with Ken Vandermark before, and has appeared on the same stage as the Ex, but he didn’t seem particularly comfortable this evening. He more than held his own though, and even added a touch of moderation to a music that might otherwise be a touch too raw for sensitive ears (such as those of the lady sitting behind me, who told her partner indignantly that she would rather have spent the evening at home, listening to Tony Bennett; well it takes all sorts). Baars got the set underway, but Vandermark soon overrode his solo with a sequence of screeches that signalled intensity in the offing. The Ex guitars chimed in with mechanical propulsion, and Nilssen-Love made an unexpected detour into break beats and insistent hi-hat. This appeared to wrong-foot everyone in the front line until Terrie Ex came back with a brief delta blues abstraction, and gradually the heat was bought back up until everyone was rocking out in true Ex post-punk style. Vandermark and Nilssen-Love were obviously relishing every moment.

The next improvisation began in a loose, scrappy alt-rock stagger before briefly going supernova. A fascinating discourse between Baars, Moore and Nilssen-Love emerged from the fallout, before the drummer gave way to Vandermark, and Moore to Ex, leaving the two horns and Ex’s guitar engaged in a flurry of fast tapped-out pecks and screeches that Moore re-joined to add a softly tapped-out sheet of ambient drone. The guitars and Nilssen-Love continued to forage for sound while Baars and Vandermark paired up for a louche, exploratory sax duet. Nilssen-Love worked this up into a spiky but soulful strut, and the collective mined this rich seam until Ex had to abandon play to stop his baggy trousers falling down. Unfazed, he began a third improvisation by scraping a deftly controlled series of high interlocking tones from his fret board with a small cymbal. First Vandermark, and then the full group took this long solo up for development, with Baars surprising me by unleashing a shrill counter-solo that became a new locus for more scrappy but assertive group interaction. Vandermark again stepped up to take things up a few notches in true catharsis through noise, with Nilssen-Love now breaking in hard and all hands locking into serried, staccato riffs.

Ken Vandermark, Paal Nilssen-Love and the Ex Guitars were back at Café Oto the following night, this time with master improv drummer Steve Noble on hand to bolster the percussion arsenal. Sadly I couldn’t be there, but I’ll bet it kicked like a mule.

COMMENTS

From Tony Dudley Evans;

The second night was brilliant with the second set with two drummers (Steve Noble joining Paal Nilssen-Love) really outstanding.  In the first set I was impressed how Ken gave real direction to the music, adding both surprisingly melodic passages as well as more groove based sections.  In the second set the interaction between Ken and the drummers, and also between the two drummers dominated with the guitars adding interesting textures.  Altogether a wonderful and exciting night that shows the vibrancy of the current free improv scene.

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