Ballister (Rempis / Lonberg-Holm / PNL)

Ballister

The transatlantic free improvising trio Ballister first came together at a closed session in 2009, and as any fan of improvised music can imagine, the band hit hard from the first note and hasn’t looked back since. The unabashed energy of Rempis and PNL, coupled with the electrified cello antics of Lonberg-Holm, make for a powerful listening experience that combines driving grooves with noisy textures and occasional melodic interjections. These sliding and overlapping rhythms often give the music a feeling as if a rug is slowly being pulled out from underneath the listener while the music still maintains a strong forward momentum. Reference points include the Julius Hemphill groups of the 70s and 80s featuring Abdul Wadud, Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time, and the early-70s explorations of Miles Davis’ electric bands.

Dave Rempis’ saxophone punctuation starts with a series of jabs and pops that eventually bounce about with an almost mischievous agitation. Countering that are the cello colors of Fred Lonberg-Holm that sound less like the product of an instrument usually thought of for its chamber-like qualities and more like the scratchy, electric disturbances. Underneath it all is Norwegian drummer PNL, whose playing can reflect frenzied immediacy one minute, brutal deconstruction the next and, in select passages, an icy calm.