Works with unique soundmaking repertoires are far from uncommon on this site, but that doesn’t mean each one is exciting and fascinating in its own right. A notable few artists have researched the accordion as a tool for longform drone music or extended improvisation—Pauline Oliveros and Tizia Zimmermann are two great examples past and present, respectively—and even fewer, if any, have paired the demanding instrument with a windshield-wiper motor and fan activated truck shock absorbers (only the latest iteration of Gianfranco Piombo’s both visually and sonically enthralling setup), which makes Route des Sources something to behold, at the very least. The two untitled sides are built upon the soft mechanical trill of the motor, a meditative sound that (unsurprisingly) belongs to the same family as spun bicycle wheels and analog film projectors, soon joined by the evocative yawns, sighs, and trembles of Piombo’s unusual approach to the accordion, the multiple layers of drones and vamps feeding off each other in dense, ever-growing harmonic waves. On one side these currents collapse into a sporadic barrage of percussive punctures, while on the other they more promptly coalesce into something much more rhythmic, even propulsive. How Piombo manages to so precisely drift to that from minimal, purely textural tactility to is a mystery, but one you get to hear play out in its entirety, so the answer has to be in there somewhere.
Noise Not Music 