(2020) Bernhard Meyer and John Hollenbeck - Grids



Review:
On their first collaborative duo album, NY drummer John Hollenbeck and Berlin bassist Bernhard Meyer create their own experimental signature with a combination of unbound rock and ambient electronic sounds. Investigations of both industrial and minimal music, and a considerable amount of chilled, low-pressure beats are also found in Grids. Inspired by landscapes around the world, the album starts and finishes in atmospheric suspension with “Black Rock Desert” and “Vya”, respectively. The innate mystery of the former has its origins in the chromatic bass moves that populate the textural paths conducted by Hollenbeck’s iridescent brushwork. Siding with it in tonal quality, the latter piece takes the shape of a tone poem bathed in melancholic dark hues. Also ambient-oriented, “Kozhim, Naroda and Balbanyu” depicts the Russian rivers with a minimalistic, downtempo approach. Yet, you’ll find sweeping rattling sounds and patterned bass noodles spotted with harmonics. If “Xina Bena Jordao” alludes to the folk Amazonian culture of Brazil by mixing its rhythms with trip-hop vibes and presenting bass chants dubbed with murmuring overlaps for texture, then “Peace-Athabasca” paints the Canadian Delta referred in the title with an interesting combination of indie rock and electronic music. Meyer’s aesthetic bass work brings some dissonance and echo to a composition stirred by Hollenbeck’s rhythmic transfigurations. On “105, Sangkat Boeing Profit, Khan 7”, the duo focuses on a specific Cambodian scenery, incorporating screeches, slams, clanks and microsounds in the insistent mechanical routines that Hollenbeck’s prepared piano is in charge of. The rigidness of this industrial procedure becomes variable in frequency, and soothing bass lines and effects carried off by Meyer consent in giving the piece a serenely composed conclusion. “Uluru-Kata Djuta” is a sonic reconnaissance of the Northern Australian park, a protected area characterized by peculiar rock formations. Tinged with attractive sound effects, this number is plotted with a more tangible substance.



Tracklist:
01 - Black Rock Desert
02 - Peace–Athabasca
03 - Kozhim, Narada, and Balbanyu
04 - Hydraotes Chaos
05 - Subtropolis
06 - Xina Bena Jordão
07 - 105, Sangkat Boeung Prolit, Khan 7
08 - Uluru-Kata Tjuta
09 - Vya


Media Report:
Genre: ambient, jazz, post-rock
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits