Max Eastley, Peter Cusack

This CD represents a 25-year collaboration between renowned British avant-garde improviser Peter Cusack and instrument builder and sculptor Max Eastley. Cusack and Eastley have made these short episodes together between busy careers recording experimental music alongside artists such as Nicolas Collins, Steve Beresford, and David Toop). With numerous releases on ReR and Incus, the two musicians are mainstays of the British improvised music world, and Eastley is particularly prominent for his work with Toop in the '70s on Brain Eno's Obscure label -- which debuted his self-designed electro-acoustic instruments. Said instruments are highly developed kinetic sculptures powered by a range of forces from small engines to the wind or running water. The duo creates intriguing delicate compositions with these instruments, abetted by the transformed string instruments and electronics of guitarist Cusack, whose guitar is at times so far removed from its traditional use that it is hard to still call it a guitar. (Skip Jansen)