Jean Tinguely

Awesome and obscure release, the music on this disc is a collection of awesome noisy sound works establishing Tinguely in the tradition of Luigi Russolo’s noise machines or John Cage’s Imaginary Landscapes. Tinguely’s sculptures rotating parts create awkward rhythm patterns, metallic rattlings and loud percussion sounds, more often than not on the verge of falling apart. Similar sounds can be heard in Jean-Marc Vivenza’s robust take on ‘bruitisme’ or Pierre Bastien’s self-build mecano instruments. The inclusion of an organ automaton and bass sounds on ‘Bascule VII’ is a major improvement on other Tinguely machinery sound sculptures. In this piece, the pace is slow, the recording is lively and surprising, various noises appearing rather haphazardly (chains clinking, drum percussion sounds, engines hum)