All sorts of jazz, free jazz and improv. Never for money, always for love.
The soundtrack to a 'reverse road-movie' which would begin at the end of the journey, Départementale 985 sounds like a tragicomedy of stillness carried by the words and voice of Fred Poulet and by Gilles Coronado's compositions and guitars.
This record is the result of a love affair spanning nearly twenty years with the first album of the Golden Retrieval duet of Gilles and Fred, recorded in 2002 by Bruno Letort on his Signature label for Radio France. It was about time that their second effort, created and recorded over 5 days in April 2006, was finally published.
The follow-up to their self-titled first album, "Murs Absurdes" finds the duet of Eric Brochard and Fabrice Favriou (Derviche) presenting five new 'sequences' (numbered VI to X).
These are (unlike the first 5 on the previous disc) not separate, independent tracks but conceived to be played as a continuous 'suite', building layer upon layer, turn after turn, a 38+ minutes wall of sound, still hypnotic, still powerful.
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Founded in 2000 in Sweden by Jan Ström and Åke Bjurhamn, Ayler Records has gained recognition among free jazz fans over the years by releasing both archive and contemporary recordings from artists as diverse as Jimmy Lyons, Noah Howard, Peter Brötzmann, William Parker or Charles Gayle, as well as documenting the Scandinavian free jazz scene.
In 2009, Ayler Records moved to France where it is now operated by Stéphane Berland who had joined the label in 2005, bringing with him the will to open the catalogue to forms of improvised music in less direct relationship with the free jazz history, while remaining faithful to the original spirit.