Nonplacelabel founder BurntFriedman is one half of Flanger with Uwe Schmidt (Atom Heart, Atom™,Senor Coconut) and Jaki Liebezeit should need no introduction as thelegendary drummerfor Can. Both men are no strangers to collaborations and thisparticular combo is now going on its fourth year of releases and liveshows. This disc unsurprisingly picks up right where the first oneand the in-between Out In the Sticks mini-LP left off. Nonplace
The Germanduo's secret rhythms expertly skirt the boundaries of genre andstyle—jazz, dub, funk, African, acoustic, electric, etc,...—andstubbornlyrefuse to commit to any single one. Liebezeit provides the acousticbeat backbone, his drumming stark and seemingly simplistic and, asalways, easy to identify. Friedman, also a drummer among other things(he's usually credited simply with 'other instruments'), supplies thedigital marrow and his signature attention-to-detail production tobring it all together and make it all shine.
Although it's no doubt afully collaborative and probably improvisational effort, Liebezeit isfirmly entrenched in Friedman's hard drive driven atmosphere andgroove. A handful of additional players from around the world fleshthings out with clarinet, melodica, vibraphone, bass guitar andacoustic and electric guitars. These tracks don't stand still butthey're in no hurry to get anywhere in particular either: the music isdeceptively lazy in it's fluidity and thoroughly addictive in due time.
The first three of the eight tracks were born elsewhere prior but herethey re-appear in new versions. The opener "Sikkerhed" surprises withbrash acoustic guitar strums and windwood melodies akin to thesorrowful horns of Burt Bacharach. "The Sticks" and "Mikrokasper"gracefully funk through micro sounds and, in the former, bass/beatinterplay and touches of guitar. "The Librarian" is the lone vocaltrack and is more sparse here than on last year's intriguing NineHorses (David Sylvian / Steve Jansen / Burnt Friedman) album, Snow BorneSorrow. Sylvian's inimitable vocals are much to the fore, yetbefitting of the vibraphone laced beats and vice versa. He longinglytalk-sings "oh my pretty, oh my sweet girl, it's a marvelous place /she designed it with escape routes for you and me / so to the librarywith a new card, grab your favorite books / look for blueprints to thestrains of our love." Lovely guitar harmonics and occasional chordshighlight "Niedrige Decken" while bell tones accentuate the utterlyhypnotic heart beat of "Fearer". The closer "Caracoles" (Spanish for"snails") builds nicely before lapsing into strains of melodica andmarimba.
Secret Rhythms 2 is addictive, and the more I listen, themore I want to listen to it, its predecessors and its hopefulsuccessors.
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