David Watson and Tony Buck: Ask The Axes

Rating: ★★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

David Watson (bagpipes) (d, perc)
Tony Buck (d, perc, g)

Label:

Besom Presse BP02 (LP)

October/2019

Media Format:

LP

RecordDate:

November 2017

This Antipodean account-opener from the duo of Kiwi bagpiper David Watson and drummer Tony Buck (from Australian long-form specialists The Necks) is a real time-twister. Over two epic excursions - both cuts venturing beyond the 22-minute mark -highland hums choke into spluttering life before Watson doubles-up, and then triples, with penetrating circular saw-like whirrs, atonal ululations and more traditional-sounding skirl, his instrument occasionally assuming the mutant marching-band jargon of Albert Ayler's tenor sax. Buck's sawdust-shuffling shakers, martial snare rolls and rumbling floor-toms disrupt the underlying mantle, fracturing the pipes' banshee-like bellows with intensifying appetite. Fans of The Necks' sprawling improvisations will locate plenty of common motifs, as will those familiar with Buck's recent outings with Zu bassist Massimo Pupillo. Yet, it's the relentless pummel of Outside The Dream Syndicate, by avant-garde violinist Tony Conrad and krautrock cosmonauts Faust, which provides a more appropriate analogue. Just like that 1974 ritual, Ask The Axes frequently blurs the lines between its moving components and those standing still.

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