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Jac Berrocal / Vincent Epplay / Tzarina re-Tuned — Sparkling Sessions - Copenhagen
(Fou Records FR-CD-60, 2024, CD)

Catalogue — Assassins
(Fou Records FR-CD-64, 2024, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-02-22

Sparkling Sessions - Copenhagen Cover artAssassins Cover art

One of the brighter lights of the French independent and avant-garde scene since the early 70s, trumpeter and composer Jacques “Jac” Berrocal has also appeared in several films, as well as releasing numerous albums from 1973 onward, including many collaborations. He is also a founding member of the group Catalogue (along with Jean-François Pauvros and Gilbert Artman), and worked with the group Vidéo-Aventures in the mid-80s. The two albums under review here are one of those collaborative efforts and the latest release from Catalogue, both from the latter half of 2024.

Sparkling Sessions contains five studio tracks by the quartet of Berrocal, Vincent Epplay (synthesizer, samplers and effects) and Tzarina — the Danish avantgarde jazz duo of Jakob Draminsky Højmark (keyboards and snare) and Jørgen ‘Le Bastard’ Teller (vocals) — plus three additional live tracks featuring Randi Pontoppidan (vocals and effects), Tanja Schlander (vocals), and Per Buhl Acs (synths) making the live group a seven-piece, not a sextet like the album cover states. Warning: this is one wild ride — not for the faint of heart — it may send your guests running from your apartment screaming with their hands over their ears. The music of the Sparkling Quartet is fairly interesting, full of sound and vocal samples, spoken bits, twisted sonic elements, and electronics. Other than Berrocal’s trumpet, one can’t really be certain who is doing what, besides the sound of the snare and swirl of electronics. The opening cut, “Protegeons les Miroirs” (“Protector of Mirrors”), leads the listener along through a maze of sounds for six and a half minutes, without ever really developing into anything remotely recognizable, but that changes with “J.J.V.J.” that is a seamless continuation from the opener, sporting a bit of a jazz feel, though every bit as restless and dreamy. “Warsava Night” puts Berrocal’s trumpet in the spotlight while the other instruments and electronics buzz around chaotically. Note that all of the tracks blend together seamlessly as if the result of a single non-stop set. “Morse Code” and “Plane of Delight” close the studio session with spoken voices over some fragmented samples and electronics. Jump to the live concert at the Sparkling Sound Festival in Copenhagen (2020) by the sextet (actually septet): the first track is pretty much an introduction to the set, whereas the second segment (close to fourteen minutes long) features screaming voices, electronics, howling, faux animal sounds, spoken words (essentially nonsense, but who am I to judge?), and plenty of chaos. The two female voices are quite magnificent at times, though those moments come and go, with Berrocal’s trumpet nearly everpresent, either in the background or foreground. There is percussion here and there (maybe samples), but no cadence per se, and other than a short poem that is read around the nine minute mark, the septet carries on in pretty much an avant-garde freeform freak-out. The final segment of the live concert is a seperate entity but essentially a shorter (five minute) piece in the style of the second, but even more out there.

Catalogue has been a going concern since 1979, and the way I figure, Assassins is the group’s fifth release, though with the three untitled tracks clocking in around 22 minutes in total, I guess one could consider it an EP. Gilbert Artman is a drummer and multi-instrumentalist who should be fairly well known to all Exposé readers for his group Lard Free in the 70s, and as the musical director of Urban Sax in all the years since, but he’s been involved in a lot of other projects along the way. Jean-François Pauvros is a guitarist who acquits himself with invention and power throughout — and an abundance of brutal snarly distortion — and of course Jac Berrocal is all over it with his trumpet (and more distortion), perhaps making all the crazy electronic sounds as well when the trumpet gets a rest. The three pieces at hand are nothing short of a free-form improvisation with some occasional shouting and restless chaos in excelsis. I do enjoy it, the same way that I enjoy the albums by Chord (with Nick Didkovsky), though this (for the most part) features a steady cadence, it’s really just semi-organized noise and madness, a catharsis of sorts. But proceed with caution, and understand that this probably isn’t for everybody. Make this your ringtone and nobody will ever call you again!

Filed under: New releases, 2024 releases

Related artist(s): Jac Berrocal / Catalogue

More info
http://www.fourecords.com/FR-CD60.htm
http://www.fourecords.com/FR-CD64.htm

 

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