Christian Marclay, Mats Gustafsson

Edition of 500, no repress, no digital. After closing out Smalltown Superjazzz’ run in 2015, Mats Gustafson fires up its new iteration - Actions For Free Jazz - in the lacquer crackling, spittle-riddled investigations of ‘Link’ with avant-turntablist Christian Marclay  Both known for charting paths less travelled, here they point to strange, liminal zones of perception on their first collaboration, with Gustafsson’s electronically processed tenor and baritone sax channelling an ecology of wee beastie insect sounds against the  the signature unpredictability of Marclay’s palette of turntables and noise.  The first cut is a proper ripper featuring both in a dual to unpick the maddest variety of fractured sounds in rapid flux, before they gel in grittier, viscous roil on ‘Nacre’ only to erupt with destructive noise force,and resolve with the melodic whirligig of ‘Superbad’.  Trust the other side is equally cracked up, running from playful scree recalling some alarm of Smegma and Sun Ra in ‘Old Rose’, while the rudimentary drones and hacked clatter of ‘Long Distance’ and the could almost be compared with Wolf Eyes’ sludgy trip metal smudges, and their title track attempts to invade your ears like a troupe of determined ants as Gustafsson’s sax acts like anteater slurping them up thru your other ear.