Jason Robinson: Fingerprint & David Borgo (+): Initial Conditions

From the San Diego Trumerflora gangmember Circumvention come two new recordings. Jason Robinson's Fingerprint (Circumvention no 50) is a smooth free flowing affair. He plays tenor sax and 4 of the tracks here are a quartet with Kamou Kenyatta piano, Rob Thorsen bass and Nathan Hubbard drums. In his liner notes Robinson describes the music almost perfectly - 'sinewy lines, twisting and turning' like fingerprints. This quartet is relaxed and enjoyable: the music flows easily from them, everyone getting solos, including some sublime piano (the opening to Serendipity, for example, which is lightly reprised at the end). Throughout Hubbard's drums provide finely measure support, and the four instruments are well mixed so that each is identifiable.

The group is slightly expanded for Forest cover - with anothre sax and a trombone - which adds an extra dimension, particularly in relation to the brass sharing lines and harmonies. The centrepiece of the album, in terms of difference however, is Silence becomes a roar which is for a ten-piece orchestra with conductor. This is a strong piece, developing from a pastoral opening section and moving through variations until not quite a roar that ends it.
Cirumvention 53 sees David Borgo (sax, flutes - his name is in larger font, and has had a few releases, mainly on Circumvention and reviewed in &etc) in a trio with Biggs (bass) and Moore (drums): Initial Conditions.

As with most Circumvention releases, this is a very enjoyable one that rides the trio format to create a smooth sound. On a couple of tracks (We do? , Carla's pause or Speaking of a different tradition) the sax gets a bit edgy or scratchy, but not in an excessively confronting way but mainly to add depth and colour. While the trio is democratic, they all get solos, the sax is the driving instrument, and Borgo creates very nice lines through the tracks. Biggs' bass is strong throughout, but a minor issue with the instrument is that the solos are quite quiet (which is unavoidable) but they change the dynamic - but do make you listen! The rhythms set by Moore are excellent and come to the fore in Hiphopcrisy which has a complex percussive pattern held throughout as well as the drumming. A couple of tracks break the mould: Illusions opens with 2 minutes of wistful flute with restrained rhythms section and Meditation #1: girl born on saturday is a beautiful flute solo over bowed bass and shimmering percussion (I could have handled more of this). And Are you? was recorded live, showing that the band can hold it together.

Without confronting or excesses both of these albums offer complex and engaging music that is ultimately satisfying and exciting.

Marina Hardy - Pink Violin

Pink Violin - another album from public eyesore's Eh? sublabel (number 32). Marina Hardy is a multi-instrumentalist from Omaha and while no album image is available, there are other examples of her artwork on her myspace-space (from whence the poster came). This album is extraordinary - it is hard to believe that the range and depth came from her playing solo and multitracking (except for voice on one track and piano on another). To give you some idea I am going to run through each track.

Mkay - swirling voice and synth, humming dream a little dream of me plus general voice sounds and tchings
Cowgypsy - combining accordion, banjo, strings and brass in a strange parallel universe of country and klezmer, hinting at Johnny comes marching home, in an inspired mash-up
Zoom - a heavy metal surf electric guitar solo
Apple sauce pudding - a longer piece with ambient guitar, drums, washes, quite spacey, swirling violin and an echoed vocal loop, breathing and chanting
Funk - short, soft distant percussive swishes
Trummpet - layered and looped trumpet that builds gloriously, together with a futzy rhythm, before a long fade.
Spanish - mashed slide and spanish guitar with accordion and brass - all with a bright bouncing melody
Red teeth - a simple lovely picked guitar and harp melody
YipYip - bass, guitar, drums and strings in a cool instrumental
Yowsa - another cool piece with country slide, brushes, string bass and organ
Ceisel - a modernist violin solo
Nnow - high tone and violin, percussion and horns break in, and it all collapses into a light loop
It ain't necessarily so - violin and piano on this staple, with variations
Dollering - jazzy deep bass, piano, a yearning violin melody and drums.

This album is incoherent, but in a wonderful and extravagant way. There is no line that you can draw through it: only Yipyip and Yowsa demonstrate a flow, and that is hinted in the titles; and Funk could be the entree to Trummpet. But the variation and diversity are this album's strength and attraction. Apparently it took about 2 and a half years to complete this project, and it is beautifully and seamlessly constructed to fabulous effect. A great and stunning album.

Correcting Sir Paul

Far be it from me to disagree with Sir Paul McC....but. The other night we watched the documentary on the making of Love: both the music and the Cirque du Soleil performance. The parts with the two Martins talking about how the mashed the tracks was interesting. The performance stuff was disappointing - very literal interpretations of the lyrics and the documentary emphasised the dancing, running around bit of their shows which I have always found filler between the exciting acrobatics.

Anyway, Sir Paul was commenting about how their works could be taken from the old recordings and brightened up. His comparison was with the manuscript of Tolstoy which just sits in a museum aging and gathering dust. An unfair comparison me thinks. If we want a literary one, a better comparison would be: remastering is like putting on a bright new cover, improving the layout and font and republishing; the sort of remixing done here would be like getting a new translation done.

But a better comparison would be with the sort of conservation/restoration done in the arts: freshening up The Nightwatch or cleaning the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Glad to have got that of my chest!

Mystified - Thomas Park - Treetrunk

It's like a game of checkers - one position leads you to another. A while back I blogged about the netlabel Webbed Hands, particularly the Rain series. Three in the group particularly captivated me - by Mystified. Which led to a wider search across the web.

First of all there are some other Mystified (real name Thomas Park) releases on Webbed Hands, some solo and some collaborations. But there is also a pointer to his own label Treetrunk which is based in the wonderful Internet Archive (and which I had also obliquely visited while completing my K M Krebs collection). Mystified's home page has some, though limited, information on both himself and the label. (and there's the now obligatory MySpace page - I must be getting to old, but I don't get the social networking side - but it does give you a chance to listen).

Mystified's music is an interesting mix of ambient and techno styles. Following the minimal structure of his entries in the Rain series, releases such as Constant or Free Passage focus on subtle changes in the layering of ambient noises (some dense, others more minimal). Seen also in Texture (with Stephen Phillips) and Intrigue (with Flores). To my mind this is one of Mystified's greatest strengths - some of the earlier releases, such as Electronic Ragtime are closer to the world ambient genre and are less 'unique'. Though are then used to great effect when combined with radio sounds and samples in Screams in Space

However, in addition, Mystified is also a phonographer and many of the releases are based around found and recorded sounds - Nocturne, Cavern of Tile, Mutescape (which mellows the sounds of the city) or South City Spring for example use these as the primary component, while Audio Paintings uses other components as well. These (and a compilation I included in the Webbed Hands review) are great examples of the power of phonography/sonography.

There is also more standard keyboard/tonal ambience such as Music for Infants and Clockwork. These pieces have an aleatoric feel that relates to Mystifieds aims to create fractal music: seen in Fabrication and a series called Fractal Diner (1 - 3 on Treetrunk; whose releases are primarily by Mystified) that feature slowly modulating delicate ambiences (there is also Fractal Reflections on Webbed Hands). Many of these reminded me (positively) of Brian Eno.

As an introduction two mixtapes are available - Oddities (a collection of pieces released across various labels and formats) and Big Shoulders (an homage to Chicago and composed over tracks created over an extended time)- which make a good starting point.

While most Treetrunk releases are by Mystified (in the normal way of weblabels) some others have also been released, including K M Krebs, Akashic Crow's Nest, Edward J Poley, Tim Doyle and the very flexible Tribe of Astronauts - all of whose interests seem to intersect with Mystified's.

This is all free music - varied but with a underlying strength and focus. I've enjoyed all the pieces I have downloaded - and now have all of Treetrunk (except number 7: one complaint is that there is no 'master list' of releases and an Internet Archive search hasn't brought it to light) and all the Mystifieds from Webbed Hands (including collaborations) - and find them very satisfying particularly for the deep minimal ambience that pervades many of them. (Mystified has also had many real releases, but I haven't heard any of those). Anyway, my advice is to try some Mystified: it's free and I am sure you will enjoy most if not all of it.

PS doing an internet archive search on Mystified I realise I have a lot more to collect - at least another 20! Expect an update eventually

When two become one - Iod

Among the net-labels in my 'watch' bookmark folder were two providing a very pleasant mix of ambient and gentle techno: StandardKlick and Eko: run out of the SRM label. These two have been closed (though all releases are still available on the new site) and replaced by a new one - Iod.

The first release is a minimal ambient/techno ep by d'incise Eloge de l'usage et de la lenteur which fits with the general feel of the labels: softly erupting tones, some electro-futzes and an overall feeling of relaxed restraint.

I assume the label will continue with a similar roster, which has seen albums by Alexandre Navarro, Daniel Maze, Kenneth Kirschner, Letna, Marcos Romero among others whose names are perhaps even less familiar. ANyway, the new label and its precursors are worth looking into: and it is always nice to be around for the birth of a new one.

origami - the art of folding musical chairs: T H Boe and others

The intricate world of the Origami Republika 'collective' is too complex to revisit here. A short version - a very fluid collection of musicians who release music under groupings/subunits with Origami in the name (for over 17 years), perhaps T H Boe is the most active 'agent' (each member has an A number - Boe is A22, Genesis P-Orridge is A188 etc). All product not only gets the label number but also a KomKol catalogue number - now well over 200. A fair bit of material is available freely - and there are also the Allied Forces of Light. Anyway - go to the home page for more and more details! Ampersand has touched on the Republika in the past, and now T H has sent three disks to taste.

They feature Boe and his acoustic laptop - which is pictured here. A briefcase with bells, wires, mikes and other pieces of arsenal for creating small close sounds. Reviewed in ascending order of both length and numbers. Baunoten by Origami Boe is released on Con-v as an MP3 (CONV, cnv42). It is one of 6 support gigs that Boe did for Einstuzende Neubauten in 2004. The Con-v site has a link to his description of the creation - the base is a recording based on EN's webcasts, which gives a variable drone base, over which Boe improvises on his laptop. This provides tinkles, twangs, shimmers and assorted simple noises. The piece starts quietly and there is a sudden eruption of shouting, an exchange, then clapping and the audience quietens down - perhaps the EN crowd were expecting something different! The dronework was recorded in a room with open mikes so feedback hiss and rumbles build at various times. Boe has some running twang-play, shimmers, an earthslide of contact mike rubbing, banging and a simple toy-piano like melody that provides a highlight before ending to clapping. This is an interesting short work which may have benefited from more emphasis on the drones - which would have given a better balance.

As Origami Tacet Boe is joined by Michael F Duch on double bass, which adds live drone. E.xtrem t.on (ambolthue records MP3ambolt-9 there are a few Origami releases on this label) was recorded live in August 2007 and is a single track (but with 4 parts). It opens with a short plinking competition before sliding into more complex work, the bass offering slides, pulses (that seem looped), plucking and soft scraping while Boe pops, clicks, and percusses. The tracks can be identified as the structure changes - the pulsing loop is played with rapid percussions, a drone accompanies an earthquake of contact miking, a more abstract bass solo or the toy piano (or plucked tight strings in the box) with similar sounds from the bass. This is a very nicely paced album - well considered changes and combinations, with the two artists working off each other. The acoustic warmth of the bass is a great boon, balancing the shorter harsher acoustic laptop material.

Finally, the Origami All-stars Earwitness (tecnonucleo TN002) sees Boe joined by violin, synth and samples. There are 7 tracks recorded in the studio. Unlike many improv albums it starts with a very quiet, restrained piece which emphasises silence. This changes as the album develops - there are some noisy passages. On the whole the violin seems to add sounds other than bowed strings: there are a couple of places where there is some, through the drones could be synths; the synth is largely identified through feedback and assorted noise and to be honest I can't say what the samples were. Overall the album is surprisingly restrained - while it gets noisy and full at times, it is largely a lighter brew of drones, hisses, acoustic laptop work, feedback and so on. Some tracks are particularly attractive - buzzing, feedback, harmonium like tones in 3; the active battling tumble of 6; hollow taps and some sawing on 7; the warmth that occurs in 3 after the loudness has decreased. However, I was left feeling that the wholes was less than the sum of the parts - the balance of the instruments is too weighted to the high end, harsher noises, and the tonal varietywhich underpins the other two pieces is missed. And as the Beethoven quartets surround me as I write this, perhaps the emotional depth offered by the double bass is what makes that album more appealing - and the violin could have supplied it here.

(all these releases are available for free download - follow the linked text - so you can hear for yourselves)