by Jarrett Hoffman
Two main ideas make up the improvisational language of drummer Leo Suarez on his solo album Marbles On Tile. Slowly-decaying or “soft” sounds form his base, and quickly-decaying or “hard” sounds are layered overtop.
But describing what that actually sounds like is more difficult. During a telephone conversation last week, Suarez brought up a helpful comparison: the Bauhaus paintings of Kandinsky. Clouds of color make up the background, “but on top there’s this highly complex construction of very defined shapes and lines,” Suarez said. “Even though that wasn’t exactly my inspiration, I was reading about his work at about the same time, and it all kind of made sense to me.”
Suarez will bring that musical language to CODA on Saturday, June 8 during a 9:00 pm concert as part of the Re:Sound Festival. Joining Suarez on the double-bill will be a fellow Philadelphian: madam data (Ada Adhiyatma), whose main tools of music-making are alto clarinet, handmade computer programs, field recordings, and old samplers. madam data’s set includes their Biological Time 1, described as “a structured improvisation that engages with the body’s sense of ‘waiting’ by framing durations of silence.”
In summing up last year’s inaugural Re:Sound Festival of New and Experimental Music,