“For the first of six Anglo-German collaborative concerts at the Vortex, devised by Evan Parker and generously supported by the Goethe-Institut, Systems Quartet offered a reassuringly uncomfortable collision between live instrumentation and electronic intervention in what Parker reckoned would probably be the most confrontational event of the series.

Axel Dörner with his specially adapted Firebird slide trumpet and laptop, and Rudi Mahall on a substantial bass clarinet, took up the leftstage, complemented to the right by the black-clad rhythm section of Adam Linson on string bass and electronics and Parker's long-time collaborator, percussionist Paul Lytton.

They served up a complex sonic brew, rarely straightforward, often juddering in and out of bleak, mechanically-hinted environments, with the spectre of electrical malfunction hovering overhead. The insinuation of unlikely processed sounds and a perpetual unravelling of morphed transformations suggested the shifting scenes of a film's soundtrack. Frenzied and frenetic, rising to the density of sound associated with the ICP Orchestra, they could equally drop to ethereal, delicate pulses and waves.

Paul Lytton used his fingers so lightly on his snare that a ladybird might have been scuttling across the skins. Dörner blew on a mike which picked up the edges of his breath; he sampled and reprocessed sounds so that for moments there would, disconcertingly, be no active players, even though virtual duets were being enacted.

Sparks and crackles, thunderous semaphore and various strands of interference were introduced to build up a spacious yet condensed landscape. [...] Linson's intense application to fretboard and bridge confirmed an anchoring presence, linking in to Lytton's exceptional, low-key percussive invention with great assurance.

The nervous anguish of the siren sounds, the waves of weather and insect swarms were complemented by the odd touch of humour. [...] The musicians' instincts and experience made it all hang together with finely-wrought coherence.”

 

“The London jazz club's second annual Evan Parker-curated "Might I Suggest" Festival presented a six-night programme celebrating Anglo-German musical collaboration. [...] The festival opened on Tuesday, with the Berlin-based Systems Quartet's blistering free-jazz aesthetic souped up by ad-libbed electronica. [...] Their acoustic material followed the standard contours of through-improvised performance – sparse beginnings, full-blooded climaxes and spiky duets punctuated by moments of calm. It was lifted out of the ordinary, though, by the periodic injection of mightily distorted samples of what the musicians had just played.”

Casserley and Linson “open up impressive vistas.”

 

“This studio meeting delivers a wide range of surprising (and often gritty) textures. A difficult though rewarding listen.”

 

“The buzzing intensity this duo creates is just the ticket.”

 

“An entrancing effort that stands out in radiant colors among similar undertakings of this ilk.”

 

“Ecco un esempio da non perdere di quintaessenza della musica elettro-acustica!”

 

“Casserley et Linson transforment le temps et l'espace et plusieurs écoutes successives n'en altèrent le rayonnement multidimensionnel. Fascinant.”