Teufelmuzik by Suspensão

Live recording on May 27th 2023 by Kellzo at SMUP, Parede.
Mixed and mastered by Flak.
Graphic design by Carlos Santos.
Photography by Nuno Martins.
Production by Ernesto Rodrigues.

REVIEWS

Sur la pochette rouge intense de ce CD il y a un diable noir qui pose sa main par-dessus une table (teufel) pour toucher un instrument de musique invisible (muzik). Orchestre de huit musiciens (ou plus) d’improvisation, Suspensão n’est pas à son coup d’essai et chaque nouvel album voit un changement dans sa composition. Si Ernesto Rodrigues (alto et crackle box), Nuno Torres (sax alto) et Carlos Santos (électronique) se retrouvent dans les onze éditions, João Madeira (contrebasse), José Oliveira (percussion), Flak (guitare) avaient déjà participé à quelques albums du groupe et sont des collaborateurs réguliers d’Ernesto Rodrigues. Ici, la pianiste Luisa Gonçalves et le saxophoniste soprano João Gato complètent l’ensemble. Il y a une densité de sons émis par chacun des huit improvisateurs qui se croisent, s’étagent, se différencient dans des mouvements constants avec des phases de silence d’un, deux, trois ou quatre.. d’entre eux. Une masse grouillante, des rhizomes subtils, un réseau de connexions qui s’allument, vacillent, grondent ou s’éteignent sans logique apparente, mais suivent des sentiers qui illuminent l’espace sonore ou s’effacent dans les bruissements d’activités fébriles ou sous des drones bourdonnants ou effilés. Une musique collective, fruit d’une écoute mutuelle studieuse ou dérapage de l’imaginaire. Des éléments hétérogènes (timbres, vibrations, textures, suraigus, graves, chocs, frottements, crissements, fragments) confluent dans un éventail d’interactions qui aspirent à un état d’esprit homogène de communion de différences étalées au grand jour : une fois échangées, partagées, disparues, alors que de nouvelles propositions surgissent ou s’immiscent et regénèrent la trame ; la durée se dilate, le paysage a évolué au point d’être méconnaissable, inexplicable, métamorphosé sans raison. Aucun d’entre eux ne peut vous en donner la raison, le but, ni expliquer ce qui arrive, est arrivé ou va arriver. Mais ils jouent, cherchent des sonorités, s’écoutent, réagissent, se taisent, recommencent, continuent ou s’arrêtent jusqu’à ce qu’un faisceau de vibrations électroniques s’étale, s’étiole et s’éteint après avoir été rejoint par deux ou trois autres musiciens que nous ne pouvons à peine identifier. C’est un mystère, une démocratie totale, une liberté qui force à suivre une partition invisible à laquelle il faut peu ou prou se soumettre au lieu de quoi elle perdrait tout son sens. Une improvisation collective vraiment prenante et réussie!! Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg (Orynx)

"Teufelmusik" is one of the five albums relased by the band this year, covering a period of performance between 2015 and 2023. The ensemble consists of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and crackle box, Nuno Torres on alto saxophone, João Gato on soprano saxophone, Luisa Gonçalves on piano, Flak on electric guitar, João Madeira on double bass, Carlos Santos on analog synthesiser, and José Oliveira on percussion. 
The album covers a live performance on May 27th of this year, and consists of one, long fourty minute track. In the best tradition of the label, the music is a carefully forward-moving electroacoustic improvisation, on which all instruments create a dense, dark collective sound, that oscillates and shimmers in many layers around a central focal point. Even if all instruments move freely in and out of the total sound, a core is maintained, like an implicit solidity resulting from its fleeting parts, almost like a auditory reflection of moving atoms creating the illusion of a fixed reality. 
The dissonance could explain the album's title: "the devil's music", banned through history by the catholic church and reflecting the position of the establishment for any music that breaks the boundaries of the conventional. Think also of jazz, rock 'n' roll and metal. In contrast to these genres, this music is anything but loud or exuberant, this music here is in a category of its own. It is eery, compelling, strange at times, disconcerting, appealing, captivating and intense. It requires equally intense listening to capture all the ungoing shifts in sound colour, the creative subtleties and nuances, the various ephemeral threads and barely audible unattributable instrumental voices. 
A collective 'tour de force', the kind of achievement that can only mean that somehow the devil's involved. Stef Gijssels (The Free Jazz Collective)

The music continues the lines of the previous records, but maybe is even more lyrical, peaceful, and reflections full? This is a live recording from May 2023 by Kellzo at SMUP, Parede. As Bandcamp explains: ""Teufelmusik" is one of the albums released by the band this year, covering a period of performance between 2015 and 2023.
The ensemble consists of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and crackle box, Nuno Torres on alto saxophone, João Gato on soprano saxophone, Luisa Gonçalves on piano, Flak on electric guitar, João Madeira on double bass, Carlos Santos on analog synthesiser, and José Oliveira on percussion. The album covers a live performance on May 27th of this year (2023), and consists of one, long forty-minute track. In the best tradition of the label, the music is a carefully forward-moving electro-acoustic improvisation, on which all instruments create a dense, dark collective sound, that oscillates and shimmers in many layers around a central focal point. Even if all
instruments move freely in and out of the total sound, a core is maintained, like an implicit solidity resulting from its meeting parts, almost like an auditory reflection of moving atoms creating the illusion of a fixed reality." Maciej Lewenstein

Portugal's suspenseful reductionist improvising ensemble, blending acoustic and electronic instruments in delicately detailed motion, heard in this live recording at SMUP in Parede from Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Nuno Torres (sax), Bruno Parrinha (bass clarinet), Luisa Goncalves (piano), Flak (electric gutiar), Joao Madeira (bass), Carlos Santos (analog synth) and Jose Oliveira (percussion). Squidco

Ernesto Rodrigues (Lisbon, August 29th 1959) has been playing the violin / viola for 50 years and in that time has played all genres of music ranging from contemporary music to free jazz and free improvisation, live and in the studio.
The relationship with his instruments is focused in sonic and
textural elements as well as the use of extended techniques.

creativesourcesrec.com
ernesto-rodrigues.blogspot.pt
erdiscography.blogspot.pt