Rama Parwata is a Melbourne based percussionist and composer, who’s also a member of doom outfit Whitehorse and committee member and co curator of Melbourne improvisational institution The Make It Up Club. His debut album comes from a lot of directions at once. Whilst its percussion based with some impressive frenetic flailing, there are also these beautiful moments of stillness, where electronic drones and subtle pulses gently push the music forward. It’s strange and experimental, yet there’s also a very firm grip on dynamics and texture. You can hear everything from ambient music to freejazz in these diverse pieces.
There’s a certain looseness/ freedom in the way everything comes together. You get the sense that improvisation played a large part in this process. Whilst the drum kit is the prevailing sound, and you’ll hear it played in every conceivable way possible across these five pieces, and there’s also these weird underlying electronics – or perhaps feedback systems, reminiscent of Toshimaru Nakamura’s no input mixing board experimentalism. There’s also gurgling synths, and even heavily processed vocals. It’s such a fascinating release, there’s so much that is familiar, yet also so much just out of reach. You can hear everything from mutant disco to demented R&B to fractured noise to industrial ambient and electro acoustic electronica. It covers a ridiculous amount of ground, yet there’s also something immediately identifiable as him. Yet he remains a really difficult guy to pin down. You never know what’s coming next.
