A morning stalk is what I have most mornings much to the annoyance of the wife. Still nature is as nature does. A Morning Stalker is a very different thing. In fact it's the name of an Aussie chap called Morgan McKellar who records under the name of said stalker. I'm sure he suffers from the whole morning stalk thing and if he reads this and passes comment I'll let you know somewhere or other. Hey we're all human. Anyway 'In Units' is a limited CD edition of 50 copies on Hellosquare of which we have a handful. It's a beautiful sounding album of cyclical deconstructed electronics and guitar loops. The fuzzy, almost shoegazey walls of sound on offer are sometimes disconcerting but stick with it as there's plenty going on to keep you happy. I do enjoy a good guitar loop. (Phil - Norman Records)

For some reason most of the releases on HellosQuare Recordings seem to find their way into my review pile, not that I'm complaining as they're a reliable label when it comes to live instrumentation and electronics. So currently playing is '230509' by Pollen Trio which is Austin Buckett, Chris Pound and Evan Dorrian. The three chaps knock out some live improvisations with drums, piano, double bass and percussion. It begins with lots of skittering splashy drums and piano on 'Paleburst' and then before you know it 'Morning Of' has been and gone. 'Syndrome' is really cool with lots of layers of intricate percussion and prepared piano. It's like a colony of tiny wooden ants all bumping into each other and out of the chaos comes this really gorgeous suggestion of melody. Good stuff as always and has electronic interventions from C.S.K.A. (Ant - Norman Records)

By now HelloSquare Recordings is a full on label for improvised music. Gone are the days of microsound and glitch, welcome improvisation, preferable played by trios. Pollen is no different. Its a trio of Austin Buckett on piano and preparations, Chris Pound on double bass and objects and Evan Dorrian on drums and percussion. They released before a very limited release with Seaworthy, but this is their first major release. Recorded during a three hour session, using multi-track with label boss Shoeb Ahmad at the controls, who mixed this and proved to be a new way of working for the band. Mystery guest C.S.K.A. adds some 'electronic interventions', but they are kept to a minimum. The album is quite good, just like 3millions or Spartak, all from the same house. Sometimes a bit (free-) jazz like, or totally free in approach, with the six pieces (lasting twenty-seven minutes) precise and to the point. Funky and groove, with an excellent production, displaying much depth. An excellent work. I wish there would be more like this, but then on this side of the earth. Is this the new jazz way from Australia? (Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly)

Previously known as the Austin Benjamin Trio, the newly-christened Pollen Trio, composed of pianist Austin Buckett, double bassist Chris Pound, and drummer Evan Dorrian, tackles six free improvisations on the mini-album 230509 abetted by the “electronic interventions” of Australian sound artist c.s.k.a. (Low Point), the combination of which calls to mind the memorable collaboration between Triosk and Jan Jelinek issued by ~scape a few years ago. 230509's material was recorded in a three-hour session at the Australian National University on a beat-up grand piano and a plenitude of other objects, and signifies an adventurous step forward for the Canberra-based trio in its embrace of outside influences. “Paleburst” hews closest to conventional piano trio traditions in blending waves of piano clusters, tom-tom rolls, and cymbal washes into a bar-breaking pulse that's both insistent and robust. Even here, however, it's apparent the players are determined to stretch the boundaries, and do so even more liberally elsewhere; Dorrian in particular is more Rashied Ali than Elvin Jones, if you get my drift—intent on stoking a wall of percussive sound unconstrained by adherence to a formal tempo—though Buckett too is as prone to building masses as he is etching melodic lines. Elsewhere, “Morning Of” and “Clamp” indulge in the kind of spontaneous skronk one associates with improv, while the double bass takes the lead role in “Syndrome” against a shimmering backdrop of electronics, piano showers, and percussive rambunction. (Ron Schepper - Textura.org)

Shoeb Ahmad, guitarist, computerist, flutist and vocalist of Spartak is a busy man. If not playing with Spartak, he might be creating his own music, or releasing work on his own HelloSquare Recordings label. A busy bee from downunder. Improvising music seems to be his main interest these days and Spartak his principle outlet for doing so. Its a duo of him and Evan Dorrian on drums, computer and field recordings, but also playing the electric organ on this release. They blend ambience music with rock themes and free jazz improv. This release, a sort of tour item for July's Australia tour (as well as two dates in Signapore and Malaysia) and in between two 'real' albums, sees an interesting expansion of their style. Things are quite dark, held back, subdued, even in the most 'loud' piece 'Sleet/Skid' they seem to be holding back. In the other three pieces it seems almost like they want to play a microsound like work with real instruments. Moody, textured, atmospheric. Free improvised but keeping things together in a great way. It must be great to see them performing live. I hope one day to catch them in concert here or over there. (Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly)


Spartak a is project from Australia by jazz drummer/percussionist Evan Dorrian and multiinstrumentalist/electronic musician Shoeb Ahmad who's also director of small label HellosQuare Recordings on which the reviewed album No Signal was released. This record may attract attention most likely of the fans of jazz and free interesting improvisation. Perhaps basic instruments here are drums and percussion – sounds of metallic drums scatter all around like an abstract carpet. It seems that they knock against each other and fly away like chaotic flash and collide again.
First of the four parts "In a Field Of Light" is totally under the power of drums. Only electronic drone, like thick glue, couple together the live placer of percussion and cymbals. This track can be considered to be the prelude, opening of the door and entrance into No Signal, and the following track "Sleet/Skid" is the central and the most significant part of the album, by the way, it's the longest one (more than 12 minutes). Except drums and percussion here one can hear field records, electronics, guitar and flute, even the voice of Shoeb Ahmad. Starting as slow ambient, this track develops with splendid cymbal waves. Than enter drums, guitar and others. One can feel the true jazz freedom, no limits – it's as if music starts to generate itself and control musicians' behavior developing its own composition and giving it more space and emotionality. While sounding "Sleet/Skid" gets really epic development and if you listen it live in an audience, I think everybody will be 'shocked' by such pressure.
"The Distance From Here To Time" and "Closure" is more dreary though not less interesting part of the album. In the second of these two parts musicians totally refuse to use drums and finish No Signal with very dark tangle of drone ambient, filled a little bit with rhythmical electronics sand. In some cases this record can be like a gulp of fresh air thanks to its freedom and creative energy hidden under the cover. (pi micron - Sound Proector)

On the half-hour No Signal, Spartak (label head Shoeb Ahmad on guitar, computer, and woodwinds and Evan Dorrian on drums and percussion ) presents four settings, one recorded live in Singapore in 2007 and three coming from the same sessions that yielded the group's upcoming 2010 release Verona. The mini-album is meant to be heard as a statement of intent for the Spartak concept which is all about sound manipulation, exploiting the studio's potential as an instrument, post-processing techniques, and merging electronics and free improvisation. Experimental notice is definitely served when “In a Field of Light”opens the release with seven minutes of metal clatter underscored by the hum of low-level electronics. Electric guitar shadings and drum flourishes lend “Sleet/Skid” a more natural sound by comparison, though the duo remains resolutely committed to extending the material's experimental character throughout the piece's dozen minutes. Dorrian again proves himself to be a player of some note in serving up a fiery attack that's explosive and inventive at every turn. Ahmed's agitated flute playing shifts the focus in another direction at track's end but it's ultimately most memorable as a showcase for the drummer's considerable talents. “The Distance From Here to Time” finds a mangled sampled voice engaged in an aggressive duel with Dorrian's drums, while “Closure” proves Spartak's eminently capable of dealing out a nightmarish ambient seeting when the mood strikes. No Signal certainly succeeds at establishing Spartak's uncompromising commitment to experimental exploration, a good deal more of which one expects will be tabled when the full album release appears next year. (Ron Schepper - Textura.org)

I don’t think I heard of Cleptoclectics either, who present their second release with ‘Open Tuned Occidentals’, after a release on Feral Media. Seven tracks here, all around two to three minutes. I think its an one man band, armed with a sampler to plunder around from the world of musical history. Hands on the keyboard to play various tunes with various keys, so its goes up and down the scale. Added are a bit of vinyl scratches and one-off sounds, to make a dense pattern of sound... (Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly)


’ve always been a sucker for desirable formats, so when this 3” CDR with hand printed inserts all housed in a hand stitched red felt sleeve landed on my desk, it instantly appealed to my curiosity.

Next up is a CD album by Adam Trainer and comes to us all the way from the land down under courtesy of hellosQuare Recordings. 'Twice Worn' begins with an experimental piano and electronics piece called 'South China Sea II' that's fairly light and easy on the ears. Then 'Come Back: I'll' Change' goes into darker territory with deep guitar tones, morphing drones and crackly electronics. Then we're back into more modern classical territory with the haunting piano of 'Cabrini Green' with slightly unnerving electronics which is like a Library Tapes/Machinefabriek hybrid. The album continues to flow with a nice balance of feeling quite light and almost playful but still has a mysterious element running through the electronics. A most pleasant listen. (Ant - Norman Records)

Four new releases by Hello Square, and the first one is the only full length release. Its by Adam Trainer, who was a member of Polaroid Ghost and 29 Megacycles and shared a split release with label boss Shoeb Ahmad last year for the same label. It doesn’t say on the cover what he uses, sound wise, but judging by the musical content, I’d say it has a lot of field recordings, lots of processed guitars and a piano here and there. Seven pieces in total and its sounds pretty decent. Like so many thing that have Fennesz as its reference, Trainer does a nice job, without trying to be utterly ‘new’. He stays a bit more on the ‘music’ and less on the glitch side of things, which makes this quite enjoyable for those who think glitches are too alien. For whatever lazy reason I played this twice in a row - not wanting to get out of my chair and switch the CD I guess, and it sort slowly grows on me, plus it has a very relaxing touch to it. (Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly)

'Half Finished World' is by Felicity Mangan and its title reminds me of the Death Star like from what's out of Star Wars. Have you seen that building they're supposed to be doing in Dubai that looks like the Death Star? There was a picture of it recently in Vice magazine and it looked funny. This is one of those recordings that was apparently made to accompany visuals, in this case dance, so there's always a danger of feeling like there's some sort of crucial missing element but thankfully these slow moving tracks of rich, gentle drone with subtle electronic twinkling sidestep that particular issue with their sheer relaxing loveliness. It's a 3" jobber packaged in a cute felt pocket on HellosQuare. (Brett - Norman Records)

The set of three inch CDRs are all packed in felt, black, white and red, and may belong to eachother, but I’m not sure. Berlin based Felicity Morgan already released her ‘Half Finished World’ in 2005 and its music for a dance piece by Julia and Phoebe Robinson. Now its re-released in an edition of 10o for a ‘wider audience’. Hello Square calls it ambient music, and that’s true. The music is soft and not outspoken and seems to be dwelling on ‘atmospheres’. Quite minimal and totally derived in the digital domain it seems. That makes this more ambient glitch then regular old school, synth based ambient music I guess. Nice and too short this one. For a late night CD this could have easily lasted 45 minutes. (Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly)


Half Finished World was made for a Dance/Sound/Animation project in 2005 with Julia Robinson, Phoebe Robinson and Richard Griggs at Bus Gallery in Melbourne. This limited edition on HeliosQuarecordings is a remixed version of the original work. There is a deeply immersive edge to the construction with distinct sounds introduced and moved through time in cycles, developed, woven, recessed, attenuated. As one pattern reaches its form it is overcome by the next cycle or progression of treatment or introduction of sound event.

Not much information accompanies the Strategy release I received—none, in fact—but the Sines of Life title certainly points the way. Presumably generated using heavily-processed sine tones, the single-track EP forms an interesting complement to Paul Dickow's other recent Strategy outing, the 7-inch Entr'acte release Noise Tape Reggae. Unlike the latter, Sines of Life is beatless, but the two do share a deep dub-inflected production aesthetic that's not dissimilar. The piece begins with whistling cries of the kind jungle birds might produce swooping over a lulling, reverb-soaked haze of synthetic tones and shadings. The background material gradually swells until it becomes a subtly-surging mass, at which time a bass part rather surreptitiously enters. It's an immersive piece that, by the twelve-minute mark, is so multi-layered one can't help but call it oceanic, and seductive too, in that one easily surrenders to its narcoticized drift, happy to inhabit its oasis for the release's nineteen-minute running time. (Ron Schepper - Textura.org)

Some 3 inch CDr action up next from Strategy with 'Sines Of Life' which is one single improvised track. The synth really reminds me of The KLF's all time ambient classic 'Chill Out'. It gives the track a real anchor for the other sounds to float around. It's a real moody piece that absorbs me from the very start. I particularly like the modular synthesizer sounds. There's lots happening but it never feels crowded. Quality beat free electronica which is totally encapsulating and feels slightly dubby with lush acidic/ squelches/ pulses. Out on HellosQuare Recordings. (Ant - Norman Records)

Paul Dickow is Strategy, and probably from Australia, although I’m not sure. Otherwise I still know nothing about him. His ‘Sines Of Life’ is an almost nineteen minutes improvisation of electronics, ‘recorded in one take’, using Audiomulch, guitar, Yamaha DX100 and ‘other electronics’, and is based around a not so fast sequencer pattern and swirling electronics around it. Think ‘E2-E4′ without the complexity, the longitude but simpler, like an excerpt of it. Its quite an alright piece of music and with the right length to stay in this minimal pattern. Ambient meets a bit of techno, but they don’t get around to dance. (Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly)

Paul Dickow aka Strategy presents a long fluid one take improvisation featuring a Triwave picogenerator developed by 4ms. It is quite a distinctive instrument, even being a mere two oscillator noise box and the results, played live through audiomulch, returned, looped, and granulated in real time are impressive in their depth and breadth of spectrum play. Dickow also utalises electric guitar, Modular Synthesizer and Yamaha DX 100 Synthesizer in the construction of this piece.

Here's a superfly CD by the Austin Benjamin Trio called 'Unraveled Rewoven'. The source music I couldn't be any less familiar with if I tried as I've not heard of the artist before. This EP is remixed by The Remote Viewer, Mapstation, Andrew Pekler and C.S.K.A It's 4 tracks only and it's quite expensive for what it is but it's limited and it came from Australia and that's quite a way you know. The Remote Viewer mix is gorgeous and one of the loveliest things I've heard them do in ages. Beautiful delicate acoustics and electronics which hiss and tinkle and create the sort of atmosphere you'll need for some Valentines night plumbing. I also love the Andrew Pekler thing on here. I swear he's some sort of genius as everything I've heard by him is amazing. I should check out some more of his stuff (only heard one and a bit albums). I won't go on but needless to say this is another strong release on The Hellosquare label! (Phil - Norman Records)

...But perhaps my interest was also stirred by the simultaneous release of it with 'Unraveled, Rewoven', a remix CD with four remixes, by The Remote Viewer, Mapstation, Andrew Pekler and C.S.K.A. In these remixes of course electronics do play a part, since each of the four artists samples favorite bits to construct a new piece, which however is still close to the original. The Remote Viewer has a nice sparse track of low sounds, while Mapstation adds a more electronic drum to it, and taking the piano and bass also into an electric field, with a nice uplifting track. Pekler stays close to the original, only to add, it seems, some effects to the original, while new artist C.S.K.A. waves together a more ambient piece with a strong focus on the piano sounds. Nice pieces here, taking the original into a new land. (Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly)

Unraveled, Rewoven is issued as an Austin Benjamin Trio release but really the EP should be as much (if not more) credited to the remixers who participate in the project. On the eighteen-minute EP, The Remote Viewer, Mapstation, Andrew Pekler, and Australian artist C.S.K.A. give thorough and markedly contrasting makeovers to four tracks from the trio's debut full-length Amalgama. Though Chris Pound's double bass and Evan Dorrian's drums are still prominent in the mix, “The Doublethinkers” mutates into six minutes of dreamy, crackle-speckled flow that's very much in that inimitable The Remote Viewer style. Stefan Schneider gives “Resonance As A Colour” a funkily motorik Mapstation treatment that's not unlike the kind of makeover To Rococo Rot (of which Schneider's a member) might bring to it. Pekler dabs at “Xenosphere” in subtler manner by refracting it through treatments without displacing attention too much away from Austin Benjamin's piano and his bandmates' rhythm accompaniment. “Mantra For Napoleon” becomes a meditative and glassy set-piece in C.S.K.A.'s hands, suggestive of echo-drenched tones wafting through the hallways of an immense cathedral. Having artists as highly-regarded as The Remote Viewer, Mapstation, and Andrew Pekler is obviously a coup for the trio and will no doubt help bring more attention to its own music. (Ron Schepper - Textura.org)

Jazz music? Jazz music it is. The Hello Square Recordings label have developed from shoegazing laptop music into a jazz label. Perhaps not as clear cut on the release by Klumpes Ahmad, which a duo of Adrian Klumpes (piano, rhodes, contact microphone, FX pedals) and labelboss Shoeb Ahmad (guitar, tapes, computer, pedals, mixer). This is perhaps not the real jazz, as some may expect from my intro here, but then I must admit I heard the other ones first. Then, when playing Klumpes Ahmad, I noticed the piano especially playing slow jazzy motifs here, whereas much of the rest of instruments find their origins in laptop techniques. That may sound like an odd mixture, but its one that works quite well, I must say. Highly moody tunes, with a crackle base, loops of field recordings, heavily treated guitars, but then also laidback piano sounds on top. Not the real jazz thing of course, but I wish it was: I would certainly want to hear more of it. (Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly)

Despite its title, In Bed We Trust is not a lazy album. While far from hyperactive, it’s a very delicate collection of precise improvisations recorded by Canberra’s Shoeb Ahmad (who besides being one half of Spartak has released solo records on labels such as Low Point, Cook an Egg and sound&fury) and Sydney’s Adrian Klumpes (formerly of Pivot, currently of 3ofmillions and creator of 2006’s beautiful Be Still album).
Ahmad’s processed instrumentation is all over opening track ‘Prologue’, before the focus shifts to Klumpes’s piano on ‘Her Lovers and My Letter Hand’. The first track in an unofficial triology, it builds like the crest of an uneven wave, Klumpes throwing more and more notes against Ahmad’s slowly-shifting wall of sound. It’s followed by the shimmering radiance of ‘Her Birds and Her Pin Cushion’ and the minimal, spacious ‘My Bedside and Her Paper Flowers.’
The eight-and-a-half minute ‘The Turn’ sees Klumpes skilfully disrupting swirling clusters of static with brief, controlled bursts of piano notes. The fragile melody of ‘You Can Have What I Take’ takes on a haunting quality when combined with the track’s subtle, grainy background noise. ‘Credit and Refinance’ is the album’s darkest moment, and threatens to drag the mood right down before ‘Other’s Dream’ allows tiny shards of scattered light to shine through the gloom.
Klumpes and Ahmad have found an entirely sympathetic space within which to improvise, and have developed their own intuitive language through which to communicate their ideas. Evenly paced and expertly crafted, In Bed We Trust is the perfect album for quiet afternoons spent under (or at least on top of) the covers. (Adam D. Mills - Mess+Noise)

The duo of Adrian Klumpes and Shoeb Ahmad both from Australia, have at various occasions come together to record some music which is now presented under the moniker Klumpes Ahmad and with album title In Bed We Trust.
Adrian Klumpes used to be member Triosk, a jazz trio who also played with Jan Jelinek, Shoeb Ahmad is a member of Spartak and runs the hellosQuare label. Both the musicians are part of the Australian electronic music scene.
The 10 edited improvisations we find on In Bed We Trust are a combination of Ahmad's guitar play and Klumpes' piano play. These instruments have been processed with computers, effects and tapes. The result of this are 10 pieces that laver between ambient, modern classical, jazz and micro music. Klumpes & Ahmad really know how to work on the details in this music. The combination they bring here works really well. Where the piano is always quiet and relaxing, the guitar adds dirt to the pieces. The fuzzy guitar bits, which at points remind vaguely of shoegazer, deliver a needed disturbance to contrast with the jazzy piano play. Especially in the piece Credit and Refinance this duality works really well.
The two know to find a good balance between the different elements in the music, sometimes showing more of the clean piano, where at others the processed sounds take over. But always both elements are there, aware of each other’s presence.
In Bed We Trust is a nice record and makes me want to hear more of these two people, either solo or together. Wonder how they would do if the music wasn’t improvised but more worked on. Would it be even better, or would the magic go? (Sietse van Erve - EARlabs)


(John Shand - Sydney Morning Herald)

OK, I'm going to be honest with you, because we're friends, right? I was internally debating myself all of last week over whether I should play something off the fantastic collab between Adrian Klumpes and Shoeb Ahmad. Both of these musicians have impeccable pedigrees. Klumpes was an original member of Pivot, and played a starring role in avant-jazz kings Triosk. He also released a briliant album of processed piano entitled Be Still a couple of years back. Canberra-based Shoeb Ahmad might not have as high a profile CV as his musical partner, but Ahmad's prolific CD-R releases of ambient, effects-laden guitar work is just as stunning and mesmerising as any of Klumpes' material. They really are a match made in minimalist heaven.
You're probably wondering why I was in two minds about playing a Klumpes Ahmad song then. The reason is, their work is minimal. Like, reeeeeeeally minimal. It's something Fenella could easily play on The Sound Lab, but is there a threshold for Home & Hosed? That's the question that bugged me: how minimal is too minimal for Home & Hosed? Some people (like yours truly) would describe Klumpes Ahmad as a hypnotic, mesmerising excursion into ambient soundscapes. Others might label it a boring slice of musical wankery.
'Her Lovers and My Letter Hand' is a fine example of what you can expect from In Bed We Trust: amorphous soundscapes, discombobulated piano melodies and wispy, ethereal guitar work. What I love about In Bed We Trust is its emotional ambiguity. It's an album that could mean anything to anyone, or change meaning depending on what's happening around you. I was listening to it on the train, and all of a sudden it became perfect post-modernist music to society's New Urbanisation drive. But put it on during a rainy day, and In Bed We Trust becomes life's melancholy soundtrack.
So, my friend, I need to know what you think! Would this be out of place on Home & Hosed, or does minimalist avant-jazz have its place on the show? (Dom Alessio - Triple J Home & Hosed Blog)

Australian musicians Adrian Klumpes and Shoeb Ahmad are, for a number of reasons, extraordinarily congruous collaborators. Both have provided the more textural, ambient components of experimental improvising jazz groups, Klumpes as part of the widely acclaimed trios Triosk (The Leaf Label, ~scape) and 3ofmillions (Space Dairy) and Ahmad in duo with drummer Evan Dorrian in Spartak (Low Point, hellosQuare). While both have defined their sounds on a group level in a very specific way, the solo output of Klumpes (his remarkable solo piano album Be Still on The Leaf Label in 2006) and Ahmad (albums and CD-Rs on Low Point, Cook An Egg, sound&fury and others), as developed over the past several years, has followed a comparable aesthetic – loop-based, ambient and deeply melodic – but with a notable tendency to stray into noisier, degraded sound worlds.

In Bed We Trust, like 3ofmillions’ debut album immediate or Spartak’s forthcoming second album Verona, was conceived more directly in terms of a process, media or generalized sound rather than specific musical structures. All of these albums ultimately involved a few days at most of recording and producing material. Similarly, the emphasis is on constructing tight performative relationships to facilitate intuitive movements in both large scale and small scale structure. One track, “The Turn,” is almost a précis on directing such structure in an improvisatory context – Adrian Klumpes, demanding a regular, but organic change in direction to avoid holding patterns.

In a sense, the two performers have defeated some of the issues with generating interesting improvisatory material already, by limiting track lengths to between two and eight minutes. The spontaneity works undoubtedly to Klumpes and Ahmad’s advantage – the kind of intuitive reactions between the performers are as organic as anything pre-planned. In any case, the two have such concise, ordered sounds that at no point does anything sound like it lacks intention or refinement. The real fortunate truth for these performers is that much of their sound design relates to live and reactionary processing, where the progression of the audio itself in real time is the prime informer of musical development. Indeed, this appears to be part of the very crux of the album’s process – to create work that is at the same time amorphous and unified, one which is admirably achieved.

When taking in the sound of In Bed We Trust, it becomes apparent that Klumpes and Ahmad are both obsessed with melody and rich harmony, as well as achieving them through baffling, heavily processed color. Throughout the album, Ahmad’s guitar and Klumpes’ keyboards and piano are cut, looped, distorted and EQ'ed into a replica of the original sound. However, the world behind the smokescreen of processing is as sentimental and melodic as any other. Some of these tracks allow through more of this than others – particularly with the remnant jazz sense in Klumpes’ melodic construction. “You Can Have What I Take” brings together the most striking of both of these elements, beginning with Ahmad’s gorgeous, spluttering guitar chords, and progressing out to rich textures of piano and guitar, at times, stunningly, beginning to resemble each other.

It’s these moments that ultimately galvanize In Bed We Trust, after the refined foundation from which these tracks have been built. On the surface of this album, Ahmad and Klumpes are extraordinarily competent improvisers; it is the way they listen to and react to each other and themselves that makes this album work. However, with the electro acoustic processes that lead to the creation of a note and sound, there’s an even greater tapestry of interactions to consider between the players, their instruments and each other, one that Klumpes Ahmad has undeniably conquered. (Marcus Whale - The Silent Ballet)

The real jazz comes from the Austin Benjamin Trio, named after the pianist and bandleader of the three, also with Chris Pound on double bass and Evan Dorrian on drums. They have been part of the Andi & George Band and Spartak. This is unVital music, but usually its used to denounce something rock like, but here its jazz, acoustic jazz to be precise. I have no knowledge whatsoever of jazz, but this seems to me not too regular. The drums play patterns that we know from dub music, but never too long or too ongoing, before going back to piano and bass sounds. Like jazz, that much I know, each player gets his solo, per piece. Its a crazy release, and although nothing I would play very often, I must admit I had pleasure in hearing this, even if it was for the sheer pleasure of hearing something else than field recordings, laptops or noise. (Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly)

It's easy to be cynical about the current state of the jazz avant-garde – the Evan Parkers and Anthony Braxtons of the world aren't getting any younger, and worthy successors seem few and far between – but occasionally a record like Amalgama comes along and (temporarily, at least) nullifies such complaints.
Across 11 fluid tracks, The Austin Benjamin Trio - pianist Austin Benjamin, bassist Chris Pound and drummer Evan Dorrian – develop and explore a unique intuitive relationship that combines elements of both composition and improvisation into an ever-moving whole. Juxtapositions like this form the core of Amalgama. The mellow and somewhat spooky atmospheres of tracks like 'Xenosphere' and ‘Mantra for Napoleon’ are offset by the brighter, more playful moods of 'Cicada' and 'Solal and the Cat'. Elsewhere, Benjamin's minimal piano lines are skirted by Dorrian's scattershot beats and feather-light cymbal flourishes, while seemingly traditional melodies and structures are undermined by the group's restless approach to playing.
Key to Amalgama is the trio's understanding of the delicate art of subtlety. Even in a moment like the rousing climax of 'Honest Iago', there's a definite restraint at play. The only real exception is explosive closer 'The Magnus Effect', which sees them break out of the mellow mold of the rest of the album. It feels like a cathartic release of built-up tension.This isn't jazz as co-opted and corrupted by chardonnay-sipping, clove cigarette-smoking Francophiles with affected accents and awful clothes. Nor is it a skronk-fest seemingly designed to be as unlistenable as possible. Amalgama is pleasant but not smooth, experimental but never noisy. With plenty for fans of acts such as The Necks, Uri Caine, Triosk and even Spring Heel Jack to enjoy, Amalgama is a refreshing slap in the face to the pervasive pessimism regarding jazz. (Adam D. Mills - Mess+Noise)