Father-daughter acts are rare in the music world and within the underground experimental noise music realm, there might be only one such amalgam. Father Don Dietrich (tenor sax) and daughter Camille Dietrich (cello) is that unique phenomenon, and while it’s an intriguing point of curiosity, it wouldn’t mean much if the racket they make wasn’t at least as intriguing.
Happily, it is. Don Dietrich is a long-time veteran of the noisy improvised music scene, as he made his name as a founder of the pioneering free jazz/noise rock combo Borbetomagus. Thus, Camille didn’t acquire a punk rocker mindset to her cello as a form of rebellion against her parents, it’s just built into her DNA. Using their virtuosity as well as ingenuity in the way electronic enhancements are used, the ‘Dietrichs,’ as they logically go by, take both the instinctive and intensive up to the highest level, attributes in abundance for their 2023 live happening Catch the Leaves.
Now comes the studio follow-up No Bahdu (Relative Pitch Records), which likewise contains absolutely no compromises nor concessions. Even denser and Inexorable than Leaves, the Dietrichs also expertly leverage the use of the sound-altering effects available to them.
Sometimes it’s hard to discern if a certain wailing sound is coming from a cello or a saxophone. It’s not only like that during “No stones” but at times, the cello scrapes make a racket that resembles an overdriven electric guitar. The song takes a brief breather only to catch its breath and scale up the cliffs of cacophony once again. Camille’s heavy metal ambitions come even further to fore on “No cones,” but so does Don’s. Infernal and unrelenting, it’s a symphony performed in hell.
When Don steps down from impossibly high notes and honks his horn like a traditional tenor saxophone during “No bones,” it’s noticeable because most of the time he’s blending in wholly with Camille’s cello, which somehow is able to establish a base industrial murmur while reaching up for ferocious howls. The unyielding “No Bahdu” is a distortion delight, where it’s perhaps a little easier to separate out the cello from the sax but that singular intent remains strong as ever.
The maximum chutzpah that permeates No Bahdu requires open minds about what elementally defines music. You probably ought not play this music at bridal showers but for getting the ya-ya’s out, this more than does the trick.
Get No Bahdu today from Bandcamp.
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