Compose without melody, and what might you get? An alternate universe whose vastness can be explored by just three players. If the players are really, really good.
Surrounded by many drums and other strikables, Randy Gloss, Andrew Grueschow and Austin Wrinkle of the CalArts-originated Hands On'Semble are not jamming. They start with a beat, amplify on it, mutate it, overlap, switch to another beat, all in predetermined ways. Seated left, Wrinkle acts as the essential, uh, rhythm section, often on lower-pitched drums. On the right, Gloss overlaps shivering sustains on scraped gongs, or teases diabolical complexities from simple frame drums and tambourines. in the middle, Grueschow conjures polyrhythms on talking drums and executes precise whip-bending wobble on a sheet of Plexiglas -- a sonic and visual stunner.
The music goes around and around, each piece a fascinating combination of rhythms and sounds from Africa, India, Indonesia and the secret insides of the mind. Untethered from their original religious and healing contexts, the forms become more abstract and intellectual, yet retain a mathematical beauty that serves the spiritual demands of modern Western consciousness. When we hear a metallophone quietly dinging out the mantric four-note riff of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," we recognize that, even if a half-century has passed since 1965 and perceptions have changed, a thousand-year lineage continues.
In fact, Hands On'Semble have established a space where every sound balances. Even when a patron shatters his wine glass, the tinkling crash seems designed to complement the trio's interplay. And when someone comes to sweep up the spill, the broom grooves too.
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PHOTO FROM A YOUTUBE VIDEO OF A 2017 BLUE WHALE PERFORMANCE, POSTED BY RANDY GLOSS.