Back & Forth - Unavoidable Casualty [TH!N10]

Back & Forth is the illegitimate child of Steph Heen and Aziz Terug. Following a first EP released in 2007, the second in the Perishable series, they’ve swelled their ranks to include veterans Kadah Vresky and drummer David Arens and cooked us up another gem of cinematic proportions: the perfect soundtrack to drink hard liquor alone in a dingy bar. Smoking Polish cigarettes for company, all the way to the filter, till it burns; smoking to give flesh to the passing of time. Waiting for the night to end and the cold, grey morning to arrive, staring at the reminiscences swimming at the bottom of your glass. I’ll have some more of the same, thank you. And have whatever you want for yourself. There are intervals between the dreams. But I have no memory of them now. The world around me is dissolving, leaving only patches here and there. Except for a last, solitary note, that barely grazes the silence; just a faint, high tone, snuffed out and smothered like a flame.

nice

once again a great release!

amazingly artistic, luv the approach

review on Free Jazz Blog

Sampling and mixing jazz into trip hop and instrumental hip hop modes is not a new thing, but the quality of the work done here by my fellow countrymen of "Back & Forth" is worth mentioning, if only for the attention to detail for every aspect of the production, including the artwork and the more than unusual sleeve. The "band" consists of Aziz and Steph (no relation), who to my knowledge play no instruments, but just cut and paste music on music on music, and assisted on this album by electronics wizz Kadah Vresky and drummer David Arens. The end result, it must be said, is pretty strong. Slow and rhythmic, cinematic and dark, dramatic and stylish. It is cool and angst-ridden at the same time. Again an unusual combination. Their real strength is in their great ear for sound, selecting really powerful pieces and weaving them into a different context, creating something very coherent, really strong. Not real jazz, very much a further extension of what St. Germain and ELP did well before, and of equal quality. Nice work. Only 500 copies available.

Back & Forth's debut EP - The Breakdown Era - is still available for free download here

as is a mix concocted by Aziz here

 8)

a recording of Back & Forth live @ T.A.F. [04.07.09] courtesy of Léfésonor

review on the website of La Médiathèque

On dit souvent que nul n’est prophète dans son pays mais il y a des exceptions qui confirment la règle. Ce duo verviétois a le mérite de sortir un CD d’une qualité musicale originale.

Une découverte prometteuse, BACK & FORTH composé à la base de deux verviétois, Steph le Swing et Az le Jazz, sont des manipulateurs de sons hors pair, des « réassortisseurs » de musique et à eux deux, ils forment une anthologie du patrimoine musical. L’histoire du jazz, du hip hop, de la musique de film est subtilement décortiquée en parcelles sonores et recollée pour former un tout cohérent où l’on a l’impression d’être en terrain connu.

De plus, des parties de batteries, de basse, de contrebasse et de guitare enregistrées au préalable par Kadah/Vresky, David Arens + guests sont retravaillées et assemblées pour donner l’illusion du vrai, du live. Cette illusion est réussie car on se laisse prendre par le beat de batterie « recollée » qui insuffle un rythme et une cadence.

Un album vient de sortir, tirés à 500 exemplaires sur le label Thin Consolation et intitulé « Unavoidable Casualty » qui est un bel objet mais surtout une excellente découverte musicale originale et déjà remarquée par la Médiathèque.

Un voyage sonore réussi.

another mix courtesy of Aziz - MJ173 Bag Full Of Beats