Off Brand – The Instrumentalest 2xCDr (Giant Tank)
Naebody saw this coming and certainly naebody asked for it, but Off Brand have recorded a double CD set's worth of improvisations for ACTUAL musical instruments. Euan Andrews has this to say...
"“Mildly frazzled in the valley of the real instruments.”
Free improvisation is often born through ravenous necessity, whether via the instinctive impulse to reinterpret musical codification or simply to avoid a TV dance-off. As their families gathered in the warming glow of a winter Saturday night, the Off Brand duo of Ali Robertson and Firas Khnaisser found themselves occupying an alternative interstitial space. Without the sound property safety net of a detritus-strewn folding table to hide behind, these twin 20-minute sets document Off Brand paring their sound back to basic components of rhythm ‘n’ squall. Robertson, in his debut behind drum kit, pelts out syncopated abstractions regurgitating in upon themselves as Khnaisser veers from darkest parasomniac blues on guitar to trombone moan and throb, suggesting an agnostic union between the Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Smegma. Hoarsely sucked trumpet curls its way around trombone splats before percussive clamour and scrape breaks out in a heat rash. Voices babble and scrunch while plastic horns emit gastric juices and the whole experience feels like a loving tongues-first kiss from a flatulent scrapyard. Close the doors and let Off Brand flood your sinkholes." - Euan Andrews (Journalist/ thinker/ nice guy/ TFEH regular/ Giant Tank disciple.).
Two homeburned compact discs packaged into card sleeves decorated with doodles fae the desk of Ali robertson. Limited edition of just 50 copies.
All sounds made & recorded by Firas Khnaisser & Ali Robertson in Leith on 23/9/23.
Artwork by Ali Robertson