16/01/2024
Nice chronicle of JOBO CD on Vital Weekly by Frans De Waard.
With considerably less space for all things improvised, there are always exceptions. When it's down to me, of course. Heddy Boubaker is an electric guitarist, and Yann Joussein is a drummer; they work as Jobo (or maybe as JoBo?). Boubaker's work was reviewed before, but *perhaps) not Joussein's; I don't know much about either of them. The inner sleeve of this CD is reserved for liner notes, but I can't read these, partly because it's in French (and I know I am not supposed to complain about that; let me say it's a severe limitation if you want to reach an audience beyond the borders of your language) and partly because the print is so damn small (alright, it's also on Bandcamp). This album has twenty-six short tracks, from 'Alacrite' to 'Zwinglianisme', each new track and a new letter from the alphabet. What attracted me, the not-so-much-into-improvised-music listener, was the brief character of these pieces. Very few are over two minutes, and none are longer than that. The two men play with unusual aggression, attacking drums and guitars. While their playing of these instruments is relatively conventional, the guitar is a guitar, and the drums sound like drums. Their playing is more akin to punk music, with brutalist short attacks on both instruments, and the fact that they never stretch their pieces gives this the aggressive punk vibe that I like in improvised music. I'm thinking of The Ex here, sans (and that French) any vocals, but sharing their love for a jazzy outburst. At forty-six minutes and twenty-six tracks, this is no easy listening music, but that's not the intention. As always, I think this kind of music is best enjoyed in a concert setting, as at home, it's hard to replicate the same volume and intensity or the interaction of musicians and audience. I can't turn up the volume required for this kind of music at home, but I tried, and the result was close enough for a massive thumbs-up. (FdW)
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