Sift by Blast

The Press About "SIFT " :

- Review (& ratings) at rateyourmusic.com : rateyourmusic.com/release/album/blast4tet/sift/

- Review in allmusic.com : www.allmusic.com/album/sift-mw0001302026

- Reviews in Prog Archives : www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=25454

-”This is the seventh release(& second on ReR records) from this unique ensemble. Equally at home with the discipline of composition and the tightrope of improvisation Blast (now Blast 4tet) have evolved a fluid, pointillistic, unfathomable but transparent musical language that seamlessly integrates - over very short durations - highly complex writing and very free ranging improvisation, allowing the two languages to merge and combine into a new kind of logical exposition that makes sense but can't be reverse-engineered into its component parts. This is a music that lives through detail and exposition; neither resolving into composition, nor able properly to be understood as improvisation. In this respect Blast have solved a problem that has defeated many in the last 40 years (Chris Cutler).”


- " Met ‘Sift’ alweer het zevende album, slaat de groep Blast, een totaal andere richting in dan met de vorige plaat ‘As Nowhere As Anywhere’. Hier werd het kwartet uitgebreid met een zangeres en klarinettist, op ‘Sift’ keert Blast terug naar zijn wortels – vandaar de toevoeging 4tet aan de groepsnaam - ook al is hier elektronicaspecialist Elio Martusciello gastspeler.
Terugkeer naar de wortels wil niet zeggen dat Blast teruggrijpt naar het veilige verleden. Wel naar een concept dat bij dit kwartet uitstekend werkt: een stuk beginnen als (deels) uitgeschreven compositie om de muziek improviserend te besluiten. Was Blast aanvankelijk naar eigen zeggen een art-rockband, nu ligt de nadruk meer op openheid, op een gelijkmatiger synthese tussen gecomponeerde en geïmproviseerde muziek. Die de totaalklank in elk geval transparanter maakt.
Rauwe, bonkende passages, stammend uit de tijd van de art-rock klinken soms nog vluchtig door, maar het is vooral de interactie tussen de vier musici die de muziek van ‘Sift’ kenmerkt. Daarmee is meteen gezegd dat voor ieder bandlid een even belangrijke rol is weggelegd. De intensiteit en niet directe toegankelijkheid van Blast’s concept vereist, dat ieder bandlid ook nog eens zijn eigen dirigent is.
Blast heeft gekozen voor vijf composities van de hand van Dirk Bruinsma en Frank Crijns. Van die vijf stukken zijn er drie met een lengte van meer dan tien minuten, de andere twee duren drie en vier minuten. Door deze keuze maakt Blast het mogelijk te switchen tussen lang uitgesponnen, collectieve improvisaties en compacte portretten, die de technische mogelijkheden van iedere musicus mooi belichten. En die plaats geven aan details, waarvoor op eerdere albums van Blast geen plaats was. De elektro-akoestische invulling die het slotstuk ‘Pole’ kenmerkt, geeft Blast’s muziek een nieuwe dimensie, die zeker verder onderzocht moet worden. " (R. van der Heijden / 7 Oktober 2009)
www.jazzenzo.nl?e=341

-"Réintitulé BLAST QUARTET, le quatuor suisse-italo-batave nous délivre un nouvel opus de ce savant mélange de rock et de compositions contemporaines dont il est le spécialiste contre vents et marées depuis plus de deux décennies. Polyrythmies, contrepoint atonal, frises pointillistes, il devient carrément impossible de distinguer la part compositionnelle de celle improvisée tant les liens ont été tressés serrés. Exige une écoute attentive qui se verra récompensée au centuple. (B.Meillier,Orkhestra /FR., june 2009)"

-"Blast é quarteto holandês e Sift é seu sétimo CD ( assim a música do Blast tem elementos e similaridades com a de compositores como Ornette Coleman, Anthony Braxton, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Doctor Nerve e Steve Coleman). Um dos discos mais maturos e, ao mesmo tempo, experimental do Blast. Fabrizio Spera é o baterista que tem atuado com a banda já há algum tempo e sua contribuição para a coesão da banda é clara. Para os aventureiros de plantão, para os ouvidos que gostam de sonoridades novas, muito criatividade e experimentação. Outro CD vencedor do Blast. (R.Moraes,Progbrasil/BR., june 2009)"

-"Blast continues with their own distinctive brand of progressive/jazz/rock quirkiness. Each member of the quartet contributes at least one piece. The title piece is first and it is a tight blast of complex quick changing layered counterpoint. In some ways it sounds as if it were influenced by that unique Beefheartian herkyjerkiness, yet there is much more going on as it constantly shifts between gears and tightly written connections. Towards the end of this piece I can hear some Zappa or other similar modern classical influences. "Cklack" starts with a twisted alien funk sort of groove yet it is filled with tight unexpected twists and turns. I dig the way their drummer, Mr. Spera, is at the center of "Fluke" while the bari sax, guitar and bass spin intricate circles around him, speeding up as they go and eventually slowing down to a spacious, suspense filled conclusion, again ending with some odd alien sorta funk. Another thing that stands out throughout this entire disc is the consistently sophisticated harmonies that the saxes and guitar play. On the final piece, "Pole" (written by the drummer) Italian composer Elio Martusciello is added on electronics, which adds some strange sonic twists to their sound. The piece almost sounds conducted as it shifts quickly or starts and stops and changes into something else. It does sounds as if it is a completely different band, more of a modern classical electro-acoustic ensemble. Perhaps it is a strange way to bring this disc to a close but it does help to calm things down after a most exuberant set of Blast's crafty music before the final piece. (Bruce Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery, NYC/USA, august 2009)"

-"Ooooh... It had been a while since the last CD I heard from this Dutch band who, in the ‘90s, were Europe’s answer to Miriodor. "Sift" is a very good album of rock-in-opposition: complex, whimsical chamber rock that’s both entertaining and thoughtful. Each group member contributes at least one composition, and Elio Martusciello has a guest appearance (he used to be in the electroacoustic group Ossatura with Spera). A nice surprise, from a group that remains cutting-edge. (F.Couture, Monsieur Délire / FR., september 2009)"

-"With 'Sift', already the seventh album, Blast goes a completely different direction than the previous album "As Nowhere As Anywhere". Here the quartet is expanded by one singer and clarinetist, with "Sift" Blast returns back to his roots - hence the addition of "4tet" to the band - even though electronics specialist Elio Martusciello is a guest player. Returning to the roots does not mean that Blast goes back to the safe past. But to a concept that works well in this quartet: to start a piece as (partly) written composition and ending it in an improvisational form . Blast now focuses more on transparency, on a more balanced synthesis between composed and improvised music. Which as a result opens the details of the total sound-field . Raw, pounding passages, dating from the art-rock influence sometimes echoes , but it is mainly the interaction between the four musicians that the music of 'Sift' features. Which means that each band member has an equally important role. Blast has selected five composition. Of those five, three pieces with a length of more than ten minutes, the other two , three or four minutes. By this choice it is possible to switch between long drawn-out collective improvisations and compact portraits, who expose the technical capabilities of each musician beautifully and that give place to details . The electro-acoustic interpretation that the finale piece 'Pole' characterizes gives Blast's music a new dimension, which certainly should be further investigated. (Rinus van der Heijden , Jazz en Zo /NL, september 2009)"

-"The overall register is low,especially when Bruinsma's baritone sax spars with Conca's snapping, gritty bass, but the music remains light and tangy thanks to Spera's drumming and Crijns's acidic angular guitar. It's skilful alternation of composed polyrhytmic intricacy and spiky freakout is impressive without being flashy! (Dan Warburton, The Wire /Eng., september 2009)"

-"Sounding intricate and poly-thematic, Sift reminded me of some compositions Tim Hodgkinson wrote for Henry Cow, especially Living In The Heart Of The Beast, Spera's drum parts here sounding quite a bit Cutler-like. There's a nice development after the transition that occurs at 3' 36", a bit too dark-sounding for me. The change in ambience after 7' 20" sounded a bit too disconcerting for me, then it's the Hodgkinson climate again. Penned by Conca, the brief Cklack sports a surprisingly funky attack, clarinet, bass/soprano unisons, and a moment of Henry Cow/Unrest starting from 1' 12", the snare drum played brushes, and a fine "accelerando" at 3' 08". Sounds fine. After a slow cadenza strategically placed at the start, the long composition penned by Crijns, Fluke, has a groove (at 46") and a riff (at 59") that really reminded me of Frith-era Material, circa Memory Serves. Spera has a fine moment starting at 3' 26", his frenetic snare with brushes in the foreground, while bass and baritone sax play underneath (definitely one of those moments where a bit more clarity would help). I couldn't help but notice the two chords, played "staccato", at 9' 29" and at 9' 30": it really sounds like the end to Lament by King Crimson, before that instrumental coda in odd time; instead, here we have the "Material" theme. Swerves, by Bruinsma, is a nice "different moment": a svelte theme, a fine soprano, a good Spera in the general direction of "Great Black Music", with maybe a tip of the hat to Don Moye. I asked myself: Does the fact of considering the album closing track, Pole, as the album's best, imply by necessity a value judgment about the whole album, Pole being so different in terms of inspirational sources and number of notes per minute? It's a question I'll leave to readers! Though it has a long, frenetic moment for soprano sax, those silences and "mysterious sounds" that inhabit Pole reminded me a lot of Ossatura, the other line-up of which Spera is a permanent member. Here the "cicadas at night" that appear here and there, and those "Zappa-like" moments - listen to the fade-up from 13" to 20", and the complex sonic picture starting at 2' 32" - are a dead giveaway of the presence of fellow Ossatura Elio Martusciello, who guests on this track. (Beppe Colli, Clouds and clocks /IT., september 2009) "

-"Sift (ReR, 2009) was recorded by the Dutch-Italian-Swiss quartet and was basically structured around three lengthy suites. Sift exhibited the hiccupping and jagged structure of post-rock scores. Fluke sounds more organic, thanks to a syncopatic exotic-tinged rhythm and to a minimalist-repetitive section that is coordinated by a metronome-like guitar. Pole is another harsh statement of counter-counterpoint, neurotic repetition and anticlimatic pauses. A lot of tension and drama is execuded by this line-up of Blast. (P.Scaruffi, www.scaruffi.com/vol6/blast.html , oktober 2009)"

-"Sift" Blast4tet Review by tmay102436. I have fastly become a Blast! fan. What a catalogue of changing styles, yet remaining the same. On this, their latest release "Sift" - this is a true combination of avant stylings born through improvisation creating the composition. If you don't like avant guard, in it's truest form (Henry Cow's experimental side for instance) then this isn't the one for you. BUT! if you can listen - and I mean, sit and listen - this is beautifully crafted music. Without stepping on toe's here, this is REAL avant, not a prog band just letting loose, freeform meandering. No, this is composed through improvisation music at its highest form. The sectional playing (drums/bass) are phenomenal, and the melodic dissonance superb. As some of you know, I have my own prog group, and even though I love the traditional progressive rock (of which my music is) - this is the other path - and one that needs to be taken more seriously - RIO at its finest. (tmay, Progarchives.com, Oktober 2009)

-"Over the years, Blast have maintained an important position in the roster of post-RIO groups whose craft is based on typical elements of compositional complexity and somewhat brainy improvisation. If some of their past works didn't manage to consistently tickle this writer's passion, given an often excessive search for complications that somehow hindered the music's vital flow, the reduction of the structure to a sax/guitar/bass/drums quartet (respectively Dirk Bruinsma, Frank Crijns, Paed Conca and Fabrizio Spera) has indubitably done a lot of good to the group's overall sound, which is now lean and mean without convolutions and surpluses, the compositions functionally engaging while keeping an intelligent experimental edge. Basically, Sift privileges structures which juxtapose the superimposition of meters and a pungently angular approach to the phrasing. The deriving geometries - informed by a type of dissonance that will feel natural to whoever is experienced in this area - appear logically considered, transparent in a way, coherently articulate. This interlocking of different patterns and pulses - circular reiteration upon square foundations, instantly interchangeable tempos in the space of thirty seconds - is the essence of practically everything here, as symbolized by the temperamental succession characterizing "Fluke" which starts with a funky feel to throw players and listeners alike right into the arms of neurotic ostinatos, the whole slowed down by sparse clustery chords during the calmer sections. Throughout the program Blast emerge as a solid unit, not four separate entities: they never transcend the limits of instrumental intelligibility, Bruinsma's baritone probably the only color that might be seen as a tiny trademark in an otherwise compact palette made of semi-clean guitars, ever-focused bass lines, a brand of drumming that modifies the ensemble's physiological beat at the flick of a switch ("Swerves" being a nice example in that sense). Speaking of Spera, his "Pole" represents a digression of sorts, although cooked with the same ingredients utilized in the rest of the album. This piece sounds in fact more as a studio-conceived electroacoustic composition, its origins possibly lying in a handful of pre-constructed segments; the vibe remains utterly improvisational, though - just like everywhere else. Elio Martusciello contributes with electronics in this track, the fitting conclusion for an almost faultless release, an accurate dosage of components in the ideal time span of less than 44 minutes. ( Massimo Ricci , Squidco.com,Oktober 2009)"

-"Extremely complex jazz/rock compositions from this ensemble. They seem to be using the name Blast4tet now, as this is the basic quartet that has been around for nearly two decades. (The group has been known to occasionally blossom into a larger outfit, always called Blast.) These guys are very good players on woodwinds, electric guitar, electric bass, and drums, and the all-instrumental compositions -penned by the group members- are pretty advanced structurally. Many changes of direction, from elaborate ensemble composition to tight electrified funk, then moving into more freewheeling directions, and then back again. The melodies, harmonies, and rhythms are all over the place and hard to describe. I do wish the band would calm down just a tad and stick to one musical idea for more than a minute; this music is amazing but can be hard to follow sometimes with its twists and turns. Overall, the band sounds to me like the jazz/rock band Zu might sound if they were more polite and had a guitarist, maybe someone like Jeff Parker, on board. #5 does change the formula, being a dark, almost soundscape thing with a guest adding electronics." (Reviewed by Max Level on December 1, 2009 at 8:09 pm / KFJC 89.7 FM)

Blast, formed in 1989 by Dutch guitarist Frank Crijns and saxophonist Dirk Bruinsma, with a line-up that included up to ten elements, released Purist Sirup (Vonk, 1992), that took as inspiration the orchestral Frank Zappa of Burnt Weeny Sandwich (1970) or the later Orchestral Favourites (1979).