Powerplant encompasses the work of some of the most dynamic young British artists, bringing together the virtuoso percussionist Joby Burgess and live sound engineer Matthew Fairclouch. The musical duo are joined by visual artist Kathy Hinde, creating experimental and challenging repertoire, which includes a video of their combined imaginations. The repertoire also includes a new take on Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint, first commissioned in 1987 for guitarist Pat Metheny, placing the percussionist against a pre-recorded tape of himself. The pieces by Kraftwerk, widely acknowledged as the pioneers of modern dance music, also feature highly on this disc with arrangements for string quartet and a variety of percussive and electronic instruments. This disc is an Enhanced CD, and features a short video performance that can be viewed when using the disc in a computer.
"Powerplant is a collective brougth together by percussionist Joby Burgess, combining Burgesss oplaying with electonics and soundscapes devised by Matthew Fairclough and visuals by Kathy Hinde. This disc provides an intriguing sample of their rogramming - a mix of original works created by Burgess and Fairclough, and a particularly striking piece, Temazcal, by the electro-acoustic composer Javier Alvarez, alongside arrangements of Steve Reich and three numbers by Kraftwerk. Electric Counterpoint, originally composed in 1987 for the guitarist Pat Metheny, is part of a series in which Reich combined a solo instrument with prerecorded tapes of itself. Burgess transfers it to xylosynth, a hybrid instrument somewhere between a xylophone and a synthesiser, to create a glinting, chiming soundworld that seems perfectly judge for Reich’s-intricate canonical writing. The Kraftwerk arrangements - including one of tour de france, which itself uses a theme by Hindemith as its main rith - range much more widely, with the Elysian Quartet involved as well, though the textures always have a techno veneer." *** Andrew Clements
