Trummerflora

Trummerflora equals brilliant. The 15 strong experimental/improvisational ensemble has elicited such praise from Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians leader and trombonist George Lewis in Wire as, "It’s nothing like I have ever seen… which I think eventually will be known around the world.” Most will scoff at these claims. In a world where new and exciting only translates into widespread success if you have an army at your back, the San Diego collective is blazing a trail already trodden in different vehicles by neighbours the Plot and more stylistically contemporary kin William Parker and Hamid Drake, which adds a lot of weight to Lewis’s dubious claim. Following in the now indelible footsteps of the likes of Sun Ra and Pauline Oliveros, the Trummerflora explore the musical landscape at their fingertips by listening to the silence and making sweet love to it with their instrumentation. Adding another level is turntablism. Joe Calzo scratches halfway through "Track 1,” while Marcos Fernandes takes field recordings to a synthetically futuristic level on "Field Day.” As we’ve seen through the explosion of our own Canadian collectives via the internet, it’s possible for marginalised movements to make their presence felt internationally. However, while Malkmus never endorsed BSS on Pitchfork, Trummerflora’s been blessed with relative equivalence. That dichotomy fairs well for their development.