Marcos Fernandes, Hans Fjellestad, Haco, Jakob Rii

This CD reads like a "how to” on making electronics and acoustic drums/voice/toys live together, and the key seems to be about making music as opposed to playing instruments. Jazz-inflected drums swirl around laptop/synth washes and pulses (i.e. "crawl”) and there are enormous and satisfying stretches of space where Haco may squeak like a small bird imitating a rusty hinge (i.e. "speak”). The sounds themselves are varied when the analogue synths have their own dance with the laptops and the differences get beautifully mixed. While I suspect an improvised session ending in some smart editing a ways down the line from the event, this CD displays an intense level of musicianship and compositional sensibility. The thing that really makes it sing is the friendliness of the whole thing. As intense and stretching as it gets, it never loses its connection to me as a listener and there are plenty of times where light and humour lift the moment.