DAVID CROSS & ANDREW BOOKER: ENDS MEETING

This is actually an unreleased album from 2006 which has just been made available, after David and Andrew had met when the David Cross Band were touring with Peter Banks's Harmony & Diversity, and Andrew was drummer for the latter. David and Andrew arranged to meet one evening in October 2006 and recorded the improvisations which have now finally been released on David's own Noisy Records imprint. I first came across Andrew prior to his time with Banks, when he was in the duo Pulse Engine, although these days he is probably best known for his work with Sanguine Hum. But I have always been impressed with his approach to electronic drums and the way they can be so much more than "just" percussion, and somehow he manages to capture both a tribal and a modern feeling to this session. David surely needs no introduction and will always be thought of fondly by many for his time with King Crimson, but he is much more than just a sideman for Fripp, as his work with Dialeto among others will attest to.

Here we have two guys who know there are no limits to what they are doing, apart from time itself, so just continued to bounce ideas off each other and we are lucky now to be able to hear the results. It is avant garde, it is exciting, it is demanding, it is enthralling, and always interesting. Some of the sounds David produces sounds more like an electric guitar than violin, and it is strident and direct. Worthy of further investigation.