js “Bleed” is the second album from the trio of Reuter, Motzer and Grohowski. Their first album, “Shapeshifter”, was a very intense and discordant affair recorded live, and it consisted of first take free improvisations. For this second album, the band opted for a studio setting, and although they continued with the free improvisational approach, they also took some time in the studio to edit and shape the music, while also adding some keyboards here and there to flesh things out. The end result is a more musical sounding album, but still with much of the intensity of their live outing. Once again, Markus Reuter and Tim Motzer handle the guitars and electronic gizmos, while Kenny Grohowski handles the drums. All three members add touches of Fender Rhodes, Hammond and Mellotron to the final product. This is very powerful music, and although they also have moments of calm and sensitivity, there is always this lurking feeling that all hell can break loose at any moment. Some music that these guys could be compared to could include Terje Rypdal, Sonny Sharrock, King Crimson, and Miles’ “Dark Magus” album. Every member of this trio has strong chops and the guitar pyrotechnics in particular are impressive.

Although this music is freely improvised, they do a good job of avoiding boring sameness and expected clichés. The opening title track features a heavy drone while Markus spins off a very ‘Frippertronics’ type solo. On “Caustum” they open with delicate finger picking guitar before Markus eventually adds a metallic solo. “Oracle Chamber” sports the closest thing to a familiar repeating rock riff and “Impenetrable” has the band in total free jazz mode. On “Monolith”, the band sounds like a dead ringer for mid 70s King Crimson, particularly the middle section of Crimson’s famous “Starless” song. Album closer, Externalities …” has the band floating away in an unsettling urban ambiance. If free form industrial fusion laden with screaming guitar solos is your sort of thing, it does not get much better than this.

js “Truce 2” is the second installment for the Markus Reuter led trio known as Truce. The making of this album was supposed to take place almost two years ago, but with the pandemic and its fallout going down, things got postponed for quite a while. “Truce 1” was mostly free form jazz rock jams in a style somewhat similar to Robert Fripp’s King Crimson circa mid-70s. When Reuter and his crew, Fabio Trentini on bass and Asaf Sirkis on drums, got back together after the long break, they tried to pick up where they left off in a similar fashion, but soon found that they had all changed considerably and this Truce 2 was going to be an entirely different beast. This time around, rather than just playing unedited free jams, the band decided to organize things a bit, and they also indulged in some editing and overdubs as well. The end result is a more powerful and direct musical statement, and the music itself also changed. Although there is still some of the funk-rock jams of the first album present, this second album is much more metalish, industrial, noisy, abrasive and intense. “Truce 2” may have less jazz fusion, but in many ways it’s the better of the two albums. The power and intensity of this music will slam you upside the head for real. Even in this album’s quieter ambient moments, there is a feeling that the damn may break and unleash a torrent at any moment.

Its hard to come up with artists with a similar sound, but maybe some of the more metal oriented John Zorn projects might come to mind, as well as guitar heavy avant-garde fusion groups like Last Exit and Power Tools, as well as Miles’ “Dark Magus” and the 90s version of King Crimson. Although they do hit a groove now and again, much of this album has a constantly shifting focus in which musical ideas are presented for a while and then hastily cast aside for something else. You can listen to Truce 2 many times and still hear things you missed before. Markus is still one of today’s top soloists, and he often reels off Pete Cosey style sheets of rapid fire stinging guitar shrapnel. Band mates Fabio and Asaf have also grown in confidence and offer musical ideas far beyond what happened on their first outing. Sure, some fans are going to miss the more familiar sound of their first album, but give “Truce 2” a chance, it is one helluva a ride, totally devoid of clichés and expectations.

js Its funny how synchronistic events can be sometimes. I was halfway through reading Mark Prendergast’s informative book on minimalism and ambient music, “The Ambient Century”, when this excellent CD of contemporary minimal music arrived in the mail, Markus Reuter’s “Sun Trance”. For those not yet aware of Markus, he is an imaginative electric guitarist and sound sculptor known mostly for his work with ex-King Crimson alumni in The Stick Men, where he displays his affinity for innovative guitarists such as Robert Fripp, Terje Rypdal and Sonny Sharrock. “Sun Trance” is very much in the minimalist tradition with its repeating motifs and slowly unfolding structure, but thanks to some inventive compositional techniques and inspired playing this CD rises above the sameness that can sometimes mar more generic offerings in the minimal approach.

Reuter composed this piece for the Mannheimer Schlagwerk, an eleven person ensemble that uses a variety of tuned and non-tuned percussion, electronic instruments and a bass clarinet to produce interweaving melodies that Markus eventually begins to solo over. Fripp fans will recognize Reuter’s solo guitar sound as it bears a strong resemblance to Robert’s beautifully sustained tone on “The Heavenly Music Corporation”. The trick to good minimal and ambient music is not letting the use of repetition and slow movement become trite or boring. One clever technique that Markus uses is to occasionally supply complete breaks in the music so that the ensemble can return with a different set of melodic figures. Another helpful element is the drum beat, a very down tempo dub influenced part that is played with enough syncopation and shifting accents that it totally disguises the time signature and keeps things from being too predictable.

js Although he is also a composer and instrument inventor, in the rock world Markus Reuter is mostly known for his Robert Fripp influenced guitar work in King Crimson related projects such as Stick Men and The Crimson Projek(Ct). On his new album, “Truce” Markus sets out on his own with Asaf Sirkis on drums and Fabio Trentini on bass for some fearless free form avnt psych-rock improvs. The Fripp/Crimson influence is still there, but you can also hear some of the same guitarists that influenced Robert, such as Pete Cosey, Terje Rypdal and Sonny Sharrock. Asaf and Fabio are an excellent rhythm section, and its often Trentini’s hard driving Bill Laswell influenced dubbish melodic bass lines that keep these jams together.

The opening track, titled the same as the album, is the top number with its energetic beat and clearly stated guitar onslaught. On this one Markus makes his case for being one of the top soloists in today’s crowded guitar pyro-technique field. From here the band plows into a couple of slow jams and then on to some somewhat scattered wanderings here and there. On “Let Me Touch”, Fabio tries to get the band back in the groove with a limber Jaco style bass line, but the guitar responds with a less distinct and heavily processed sound. There are good moments all the way to the end, but the tight focus of the opener never really returns.

The make or break for “Truce” is how much you enjoy hearing three very talented rock fusion musicians totally winging it without any pre-determined compositions. Its not easy pulling off a session like this and these three do about as well as anyone could hope to.