Just as well that Shea got derailed, so that we could witness this alternative Mottel manifestation!Īnother duo became a trio, as a translucent set involving Paul Van Gysegem (bass) and Mathias Van de Wiele (guitar) suddenly sparked with the sudden employment of effects pedals by the latter, completely switching from the serenity. Then, his next number had a trudging rock'n'roll approach, coupled with a circus acrobatic flipping motion. His second section had a repeating figure over which he soloed with an organ sound, getting more conventional with a filmic John Carpenter atmosphere. Aided by improviser and instrument- maker Cooper-Moore, Mottel has added three strings to his keytar, allowing Eastern trimmings, fed through pedals and boxes. This was no bad result, as this was quite a rare chance to catch one of his far-ranging improvised expeditions, planting down layers on beats, topped by a degraded, rough-hewn solo line, with bent psychedelics, warbling and vibrating. The NYC duo Talibam! were due to start early with a core set, but sticksman Kevin Shea had railway problems, so keytar maestro Matt Mottel was suddenly forced into solo mode. Old acorns in fresh jackets!Ĭitadelic featured several artists who presented different collaborative sets, working in unfamiliar formations. For "Epistrophy" and "Con Alma," they nurtured a spacious sort of swing, gently quirky, and slightly awkward in the airspace. The pair wandered inside their own malleable time-path, sometimes glancing against each other, and then capering off on their own ways. The main stage had a makeshift café bar to its side, with tables and chairs spread across the natural dip that formed the listening area. The first day opened with a duo, Ben Sluijs (alto saxophone) and Erik Vermeulen (piano), beginning gently with introspective sounds that untangled sensitively across the green environs. Whichever manifestations rose up during a particular set, this was music that was probably going to have strong appeal to the gathered audience, which began the day lightly, then multiplied for the climactic evening sets. Openly recognisable jazz structures shuffled time with electronic noisemaking, sheer abstraction skirted around vocal song, narrative content infiltrated suspended sonic attacking. This year's Citadelic basked in a varied selection that mixed high profile international guests with players well-known on the Belgian scene, or even specifically local to the Gentian heart. Improvised music acolytes are so often accustomed to hearing their fave artists down in a windowless dungeon. It's a revelation to absorb freedom sounds in the sunstruck open air, with grass, leaves, trees and gentle breezes. Usually, if free events are to be found in park surroundings, there's some overbearing commercial popularity at play, so it's very exciting that Citadelic offers the music that we might normally experience in a bare loft, a dank cellar, a back room of a bar, or maybe a converted slaughterhouse. El Negocito record label director Rogé Verstraete is given the keys to the gates every year, taking advantage of this greenery freedom, and seemingly enjoying complete artistic control. That's the appealing concept of the five-day Citadelic festival, which presents jazz, improvisation and other adventurous sounds, from around noon until around 10pm, in a continuous schedule that roams several dips and mounts, or caves and corners, of the sprawling Citadelpark in the beautiful Belgian city of Gent.
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