Short Reviews [Markus Reuter Oculus - 2020 - "Nothing is Sacred"]

On May 15th, 2019, Reuter went into the renowned La Casa Murada studio in Spain, where Moonjune have recorded many albums, and with him there was David Cross (Fender Rhodes, Electric Violin), Fabio Trentini (Bass), Asaf Sirkis (Drums, Percussion), Mark Wingfield (Electric Guitar) and Robert Rich (Keyboards). When they left later that day, they had recorded this album, ‘Nothing Is Sacred’. All the musicians are very highly regarded not only for their musical ability but also the way they can bounce and improvise with each other, yet for this album Markus employed a more premeditated, disciplined, yet radically divergent approach to group performance. "This is insane music. I used a compositional system that basically disallowed the musicians to play intuitively. They had to follow rules which served to create really strange melodies and harmonies," Markus revealed. "In the back of my mind, I wanted to create something as fundamentally radical as was (Miles Davis') 'Bitches Brew,' back in the day ... sort of an improvising 'big band' – where each player is on their own when it comes to specific pitches but connected in terms of a common rhythmic grid and unified texture." The result is something which is experimental, yet somehow refined and controlled, experimental, yet also following some constraints and norms which makes it seem even more out there. Asaf has long been one of the most thrilling and exciting drummers around, while David Cross needs no introduction and of course has been playing live with Markus in The Stick Men. Wingfield is as experimental in his approach as Reuter, Trentini is a renowned fretless bassist while Rich is an ambient keyboard pioneer, and somehow they have come together in one room to bounce off each other and create something spectacular. There is no point of thinking of this in terms of traditional musical structures, just sit back and let the music wash over you, time and again to fully get inside the minds of those performing and attempt to get an understanding of what is going on. It is certainly time very well spent indeed.