August 2009 • Sabbatical
This is one of those albums that is incredibly difficult to review, where I'm not sure if I'm not "getting" something of if it's just a deliberately confusing release. While I like to think I'm pretty comfortable with most forms of jazz by this point, Pivixki's self-titled debut has me a bit baffled.
In fact it's even hard to call it jazz: while a drums and keyboard duo is a good setup for jazz, the music they play steps so far out of normal jazz's repertoire that it has more in common with grindcore or the more avant-garde modern classical (which is in itself an improbable combination). The music is incredibly chaotic and free-form with its atonal keyboard ramblings and random drum riffings, which sometimes synchronize with each other and sometimes go completely off the rails.
That's not to say the music isn't interesting; far from it: the drum lines and piano riffs are actually quite varied. There is plenty of blasting to go around, for sure, but also lots of quieter solo bits, a steady rock beat in the third track, etc. Apart from the relatively consistent blastbeats, though, the song structure is of course very free-form and random, making it hard to get a grasp on any of the music as it blazes by. Obviously that's a major point of the album, so for a lot of people this isn't a bad thing, but it's not really for me.
I guess I'm simply just not into music with too much of a randomness factor. I'm sure with enough listens I could probably grow to really enjoy this, as there are a lot of sections that really aren't too shabby, but on the whole it's a difficult listen. Granted, its short length helps, and I am very reluctant to dismiss this album, but I can't honestly say I recommend it.
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