(Killed In Cars) Millevoi and Moffett, half of the DeBlase Quartet, join guitarist Alban Bailly (leader of another favorite avant-jazz band of mine, Inzinzac) on this recent release by Public Eyesore imprint Eh? records for a decidedly more free-improv setting than I've heard from the Many Arms camp yet. "Strange Falls" captures 8 improvisations by this trio, incorporating many extended techniques and effects. And unlike a lot of the free improv records I've been hearing lately, there are passages using recognizable clusters of notes, too: the overall emphasis is on soundscaping, with lots of breathing and scraping sounds from the subtle to the violent, but I must admit that I really like when projects like this incorporate pitched sounds. Take the second track, "Panspermia," for example. Almost 8 minutes in length, making it one of the longest tracks on this record, it leans heavily on taps, scrapes, glissando sounds, and electronic sounding pops running into an envelope filter, but the long trumpet tones in the introduction act as a nice anchor for the sounds evolving around them, and the scalar/chromatic guitar runs flowing near the center of the piece give shape and direction to the undulating, increasingly frenetic sounds building up alongside. When the dynamic level drops and the focus turns to relatively delicate sounds later, it feels like a useful context has been established for digging into the deeper nature of the abstract sounds. While I think this album will appeal primarily to those who are already into free improv and EAI, these fragmentary but frequent moments of pitched content give the album extra potential as a sort of "gateway drug" into free improvisation for folks coming from relatively more conventional jazz backgrounds, too. So jazzers beware: spend some time with "Strange Falls," and you just might find yourself revisiting those Nate Wooley and Jack Wright records you bought but never quite "got" with a new ear. I think my favorite track here is the pointillistic "Tungska," with a great blend of out-jazz trumpet lines and short, fast punctuation from both guitars. The manipulations of unison notes in the following track "Star Rot" are super compelling, too. But the whole album hangs together very well, and it's more of an album-length experience with track breaks for convenience to my ears. I should also mention that this is a great headphone record--most of the tracks feature generous stereo separation between the 2 guitars, with the trumpet mostly down the center of the stereo field, and it's a lot of fun to feel the sounds darting and slithering back and forth between your ears. - Scott Scholz