Zürich-based alto sax player Anton Ponomarev and Nagoya-based alto sax player Ryoko Ono never met in person or played on the same stage or studio and their self-titled duo was recorded remotely in 2019 when both stayed at their respective locations. But both share similar aesthetics with a strong affinity to fiery, super intense music, often spiced with noisy electronics. Ponomarev collaborated before with Japanese noise pioneer Merzbow and with the legendary Pussy Riot. Ono, who mixed and mastered this recording, is best known as half of prog-jazz duo Sax Ruins (with drummer Tatsuya Yoshida) and is a member of the avant-metal band Plastic Dogs.
The opening, 23-minutes of «Baundanskella» demonstrates the duo’s merciless and brutal sonic approach. Layers of rough, grinding electronics, nervous sax wails with occasional and highly processed sax interjections amass into nervous, massive and very, expressive walls of sounds that owe much to the seminal legacy of Peter Brötzmann. The following shorter pieces «Trintofjalla» and «Ribengrulla» deepen these punishing, apocalyptic veins but ornament the dense texture with futurist, cinematic tension and noisy, industrial sounds.
Not for the faint of heart.
Eyal Hareuveni
Ryoko Ono (s), Anton Ponomarev (s, elec)
