Z'ev / Francisco López - Buzzin' Fly / Dormant Spores

Quite a startling and surprising collaborative release from Z'ev, the American percussionist, and Franciso López, the Spanish sound artist, who swapped sound sources in the development of this. Z'ev's 'Buzzin' Fly' (In Loving Memory Of Tim Buckley) is awash with shimmering and buzzing tones. Occassionally fragmented percussive barrages break the murky soft-focus soundworlds, that, at times, tends towards dark ambient. It all leads to a swirling climax, a piercing, grating finale. The López composition 'Dormant Spores' is altogether more subdued incorporating periods of silence and calm, before shifting into magnified insectoid textures, ever increasing in volume, before cutting to restrained ambience. The final section appears to involve processed percussion and environmental sounds, where you can quite easily detect the input of each of the collaborators.

López's composition is cleverly constructed but I much prefer 'Buzzin' Fly' though I would have been hard pressed to guess that it was the work of Z'ev. So, like I say, a surprising collaboration but one that works well and will be of interest to followers of both. Buzzin' Fly / Dormant Spores is co-released by Black Rose Recordingsa and Lapilli. For more information go to www.lapilli.org