Upon first listens of Rhythmic Movement Disorder by avant-percussionist Robbie Avenaim, one could easily express surprise that this work is his debut solo album. That said, with his busy extra-curricular activities stretching back to the eighties, including co-founding the What Is Music? festival, his input into the notorious Phlegm and endless collaborations with the cream of Australia’s experimental and sound art crop, the almost infinite delay makes a lot more sense.
Rhythmic Movement Disorder snaps into action within the first few seconds of opener Headbanging, featuring heavily processed and carefully crafted percussion movements. Headbanging’s high pitches, wafts of sound and stuttery anti-rhythms hint at a classic knowledge of Improv technique, delicately honed within strict and relevant electro-acoustic compositional boundaries. Dense. Carefully managing a balance between composition and free-form improvisation.
Headrolling utilises bowed percussion and lo-fi electronics to create an unnerving, haunting, minimalist atmosphere. The counter-reactive pair of Bodyrocking and Bodyrolling provide an suitable ending point to the album, with an immaculate synthesis between analog, percussive and digital sounds conceived through masterful utilisation of dynamics, tempo, otherworldly percussion providing an almost avant-noir tone.
Combined as a singular piece of sound art, Rhythmic Movement Disorder serves as an outstanding aural document of one of Australia’s finest experimentalists.
Andrew Tuttle
