iNK oN pAPER digital album release!!!

[High Mayhem Newsletter]

[image: High Mayhem]

High Mayhem Emerging Arts
http://highmayhem.org/

*iNK oN pAPER digital album release: GET IT NOW! *
http://highmayhem.org/downloads



Drum ‘n’ Bass Mayhem

By Peter Breslin



>From the core of the surprisingly varied Santa Fe, New Mexico scene with one
focal point at High Mayhem Emerging Arts, iNK oN pAPER’s Milton Villarrubia
III and Carlos Santistevan strip down, mash up and rumble their way through
a menu of trim, focused duets on their debut CD as a duo. As if drum ‘n’
bass took a detour through an electro-acoustic free-punk Jucifer and had its
downbeats addled or partly removed, the pieces hint at chaos while slyly
adhering to subtle, unexpected structures. Villarrubia’s drum sound is both
crisp and fat, with murkier timbres and startling digital effects peppered
by snaps, crackles and pops. Santistevan’s snarling, subterranean electric
bass is sometimes also suddenly whimsical, clean and conversationally
melodic. The minimalist, raw immediacy of the sound, captured meticulously
by the highly nuanced, high quality recording, alternates refreshingly with
dense washes of sculptured sound.



The proceedings for iNK oN pAPER’s debut CD (available as a download from
CDBaby, as well as download dropcards available through High Mayhem) have a
no bones start with _17 Hits_, precisely what the title indicates: 17
unison, staccato, non-metrical slams, followed by a densely meandering
series of improvisations, with the 17 hits returning periodically as a spine
to hold the beast together. Many of the pieces are enigmatically named after
locations or streets, such as _Cedar St._, featuring ominous rolls and
electronic effects from Villarrubia III’s toms and buzz saw low end
ululations from Santistevan. The odd meter _Sid-mars_ features a sinewy
31-beat line that is deceptively straightforward and some Alan Silva-style
plaintive bow work from Santistevan. In general, the duo mixes a fierce
willingness to take improvisational risks with surprising compositional
elements, both in arrangement of the duets and in reoccurring composed
themes. _Salt A&B_ is another example of the tension between prearranged
themes, this time a wandering street-beat influenced 5 count from
Villarrubia III, over-layered by aggressive phrases from Santistevan’s bowed
bass.



The duo’s music stays engaging and surprising not only by mixing composed
themes with improvised excursions in fine balance, but also through the
brevity of the individual tracks, with no title logging in at more than
5:30. In this way, each piece is a distinct entity, with its own flavor and
distinctive ground rules. Though leaving room for roiling and grungy buzz
and explosive gestures, each piece ultimately has the feel of a
self-contained composition. The sense is that there is a game afoot, with
Santistevan and Villarrubia III volleying suggestions back and forth,
ultimately charging to each piece’s logical finish.


iNK oN pAPER is an example of what underground presenting and producing
organizations like High Mayhem do best: provide a home for artists and
musicians whose commitment is to forms not embraced by the marketplace. High
Mayhem’s varied, uncompromising and adventurous catalog suggests a newly
emerging world of possibilities, with iNK oN pAPER carrying the message and
the mayhem gloriously.
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