The duo of Slovenian master drummer-percussionist Zlatko Kaučič and double bass player Tomaž Grom, who is also the founder of the Zavod Sploh association, sounds like these two gifted improvisers transforming their instruments into untimely sonic generators. Kaučič sounds like a mysterious shaman who casts powerful spells while Grom sings with his bull fiddle and at times even sounds like an alien mad scientist who experiments with Earth’s resonant surfaces. Swedish sax player Martin Küchen, who wrote the liner notes for «Torn Memories Of Folklore / Raztrgana folklora spomina», observed that the listening experience of this duo «is a dresser of massive possibilities. Sudden endings? – then another drawer is opened as quick as the first one was closed – or left half-open».
«Torn Memories Of Folklore / Raztrgana folklora spomina» follows the debut album of this duo, «Uho Je Senca Očesa / The Ear Is The Shadow Of The Eye» (Zavod Sploh, 2019). There are no details if any of the ten pieces anything to Slovenian folk music, but there is plenty more than even the most trained ear can grasp in one listening. Kaučič and Grom have played together in various musical contexts since the nineties but only in recent years as a duo. Both Kaučič and Grom, who augments his bass with synthesizer, bring to this meeting tons of experience, strong-minded and highly personal approaches to time, space and sound, and, obviously, their own inventive extended techniques.
The atmosphere of this album is intimate but hyperactive. Kaučič and Grom burst with spontaneous ideas, and let the intuitive stream of sounds lead them. But they also know how to create enigmatic textures out of these sounds, as well as how to build the tension and relieve this intense tension with playful gestures. It is obvious that they enjoy shaping and molding sounds and rhythmic patterns, and do not intend to settle on any familiar sound or pattern. But most of all, Kaučič and Grom invite the curious listener to participate in their associative, secretive conversation, torn memories and expressive and enchanting stories, trivial complaints and ironic comments.
Eyal Hareuveni
Zlatko Kaučič (dr, perc), Tomaž Grom (b, cacophonator II)
Torn Memories Of Folklore (by Zlatko Kaučič and Tomaž Grom) from zavod sploh on Vimeo.
