By Eyal Hareuveni
Rapid Zen is a new free improvising trio featuring prolific Portuguese,
Rotterdam-based double bass player Goncalo Almeida, Sweden-born,
Barcelona-based (after 40 years in Argentina) turntablist and vocal artist
Barbara Togander (known for her recorded collaborations with Argentinian sax
player Camila Nebbia, and has performed with Otomo Yoshihide, Christof
Kurzmann, Andrea Parkins and dieb13), and Catalan, Barcelona-based magician
drummer-percussinist Vasco Trilla (who has played before with Almeida in the
Low Vertigo trio with Catalan guitarist Diego Caicedo). Fried Brains is the
trio’s debut album, and it was recorded at Underpool Studios in Barcelona in
June 2024.
Don’t hold your breath in anticipation of instant karma or rapid
enlightenment, but with such resourceful and imaginative improvisers, you
can enjoy a series of chaotic and colorful collages and rhythmic pulses
comprised of manipulated and processed vocals, fast turntable sampling,
powerful double bass playing with an array of extended bowing and percussive
techniques, and unorthodox and always inventive percussive ideas. There is
nothing spiritual, but the rapid flow of left-of-center ideas may
recalibrate your brain’s wave frequencies to the point of frying.
Each of the nine pieces suggests a distinct, layered and nuanced sonic
palette, with endless references, from the frenetic, pixie-like vocals
(“Catalyzing Zen”); through the inquisitive and hypnotic spoken-word art of
Laurie Anderson (“Clockwork Predictability”); ornamenting solo arco double
bass playing with concise alien comments (“Nine Pimientos”); evoking a
mysterious, film-noir image (“Super Perfume”); creating enigmatic and
minimalist radio and sound art (“Constantinopla”); the nervous choir of
manipulated chants and fragmented pulse wishing their brain will be fried
(on the title piece); twisted, spiraling church-bells sounds (“No One’s
Home”); to the last, subversive but surprising lyrical experiment to
modulate the listener’s heart rate to Rapid Zen’s disorienting frequencies
(“Hearts Modulation”). There are tons of imaginative sonic ideas to process
before attaining a Zen satori.