Phases and Stages

Bozzio/Mastelotto

(BoMo) What do two world-famous drummers like Terry Bozzio and Pat Mastelotto do when recording their first album together? Lose their drum kits, for starters, because there ain't a standard trap set to be found on this eponymous debut. Instead, every minute of this hourish release is filled with acoustic hand drums, twisted samples, gongs, and sonic flotsam and jetsam. This may contrast the best-known associations for these two Austin-based timekeepers -- for Bozzio, Zappa and Missing Persons; Mr. Mister and King Crimson for Mastelotto -- but it's similar to what the pair performed with Hartt Stearns at One World Theatre in January, although it's more condensed and less abstract here. Along with worldly acoustic percussion, the drum duo enlarges their list of available noisemakers with the help of digital tools. This opens up new vistas, and does so more easily than trying to re-create these moods acoustically. The downside is that some rhythms are too cut-and-pasted and the timbre of some instruments too digital. There are highlights, like "Blap," which showcases the drummers' seemingly three-dimensional looping of time, and "Wood Bells," the perfect backdrop for the sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Still, too many pieces are like "Jack Benny." The track is full of novel, sometimes-disturbing sounds. This is a good thing. Yet the looped beats on which the track is built don't hold up, and the result loses flavor over time.