Muwei

Brazilian quintet Muwei have created a fascinating mash-up of free improv, sample-based recombinative appropriation (these guys appropriate from themselves as well) and skronky lo-fi noisiness. Take "El Guanaco," the six-track CD's first tune, for instance. Daniel Amaral uses his CDJ to insert Django Reinhardt's guitar into a looped collage of André Neme's throaty sax and Renato Godoy's thump-y drums. Nice! As all the pieces are derived from two extended improvisations, some "concepts" are the result of creative hindsight. "Wadada" came about from trumpeter Nicolau Lafetá's interplay with the CDJ's incorporation of the real Wadada Leo Smith's music, in this case, a non-trumpet sound and some string "bits." "Broken Heart Chester" begins with a sped-up sample that seems like a jungle animal chattering from a hallucinatory rain forest ambience of reverb, sustained tones and machinery rumblings. Part Matmos, part Miles Davis's In a Silent Way, looped fragments provide both context and minimalist structure, while bassist Felipe Zenicola adds non-linear bottom end commentary. Muwei's offering is well worth seeking out.