If the city of Beirut doesn’t leap to mind as a hotbed of avant-garde musical activity, listen up: since 2005, the Al Maslakh label (translation: The Slaughterhouse) has been documenting far-thinking sounds from the small but vital Lebanese scene.  The “A” Trio’s first release, Music To Our Ears, was one of the most startling debuts of 2011; now, Roaratorio is proud to present their second album (and first vinyl release): Live In Nickelsdorf, recorded at the Konfrontationen Festival in 2012.  While far from the first to employ extended techniques on their respective instruments, Mazen Kerbaj (trumpet), Sharif Sehnaoui (acoustic guitar), and Raed Yassin (doublebass) create a music that bears little relation to others who traffic in the same outer realms.  Heavily textural, frequently perplexing, sometimes unsettling but always suffused with a provocative intelligence, this is the sound of a collective ur-mind that favors the long gesture over pointillistic strokes.  Their capacity for generating aural illusions – one would be hard-pressed to identify the instrumentation as three acoustic instruments, with no electronics or overdubs whatsoever – is astounding, but it’s their skill at harnessing these uncanny tones into a consistently engaging and powerful sound-world that elevates the “A” Trio into the front rank of contemporary improvisational groups.  A limited edition of 350 copies.  Download coupon included.

"A"  Trio - Mechwar Rayhin Mechwar (excerpt 2)

"A"  Trio - Mechwar Rayhin Mechwar (excerpt 1)

Jc Solo 1 Aug

Mazen Kerbaj : trumpet
Sharif Sehnaoui : acoustic guitar
Recorded @ STEIM Amsterdam.

Reductionism - Mazen Kerbaj & Sharif Sehnaoui

Mazen Kerbaj: trumpet
Ute Wassermann: voice

A couple of days after the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown, Ute Wassermann and Mazen Kerbaj started thinking of ways to play together from a distance. Shortly after, they settled on the following format: every day each of them records a one minute solo, while thinking of the other. At the end of the week, they put the 7 solos together with no further alterations. Here is Week One (a full album with 4 weeks and two bonuses will be released soon).

Telepathic Duo with Ute Wassermann – Week 1

Mazen Kerbaj

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