Rough Assemblage “Construction and Demolition” [Tzadik]

Rough Assemblage is the five year collaborative effort of three creative & talented contemporary composers, Soul Coughing’s Mark Degliantoni, accredited symphonic / orchestral performer, Norman Yamada, and sadly deceased avant instrumental genius, Eric Qin. Such invigorating experimental pieces not only exhibit the depth & development of cooperative artistic sound creation but also the resulting tight knit camaraderie & intellectually intimate connections between mature close friends. Contributions begin in tranquil successions that progress through subtle dark ambience and invite rhythmic percussion, kooky keyboard samples, and other bizarre instrumentation. Sounds like fluid machinery with doors hinging open & closed and soft clinking tones that build into patterned clamorous din. Sometimes simple steady percussion is the norm. Other times avant garde anomalies traverse the stop & go actions reserved for free jazz exploits. Eerie lethargic harmonics & nether worldly chimes also firmly root themselves in the Construction and Demolition process. Highly intriguing and unexpected sound compositions somehow include classical instruments played in unusual manner and a peculiar method of sound wave emission from ‘ringing the pig!? During Construction and Demolitions production, Eric Qin suffered a fatal car collision while he was bicycling. His unfinished recordings were prepared & ‘completed? by Degliantoni and Yamada along with other gifted musicians and were constructed in accordance with Qin’s unique compositional techniques in mind. Despite Qin’s death, Rough Assemblage persevered in their efforts to demolish conventionality through music. Awesome!