Paula Garcia Stone & Sue Lynch - Burning Cacti

 

Paul Garcia Stone & Sue Lynch

Burning Cacti

Cassette / DL  LOR164  Linear Obsessional  2021

 

A very cool item from this abruptly defunct South London imprint from a little while ago.  I scored a cassette version direct from the artists at a recent live gig, but although this label Linear Obsessional have ceased operations, you can still listen to all of their sizeable catalogue mostly documenting the South London improv/experimental scene free of charge on their Bandcamp.

Recorded during isolation, there are two pieces here produced by the players using the method of exchanging pre-recorded material back and forth electronically.

“Lockdown Duet” is eleven fascinating minutes of Garcia Stone’s manipulated field recordings and electronic modifications in duet with Lynch’s multitracked saxophone improvisations.  The result is an intriguing collision between the micro and the macro, indoors and outdoors, jazz and non-jazz, natural and unnatural sounds; which I thought gives an overall sound like processed and edited bodysounds.

The second piece, “Burning Cacti”, presents more plaintive saxophone and restrained field recordings.  Sue Lynch’s playing here is as powerful and delicate as anything I’ve heard this side of John Butcher.  She is capable of highly technical melodic playing as well as powerful blart and this versatility pairs well with Garcia Stone’s more abstract material.  The pair meander a cosmic route through alien desert valleys, pointing out the beautifully desiccated flora as they go.

https://linearobsessional.bandcamp.com/album/burning-cacti

Dark Zen Kollectiv - Live at The 19th Dream Of Dr Sardonicus Festival 2023

 

Dark Zen Kollectiv

Live at The 19^th Dream Of Dr Sardonicus Festival 2023

CD  FRG Records  FRGCD068  2023

A cracking document on FRG Records (The Orb, Sendelica) of just one of Dark Zen Kollectiv’s live festival performances from last year, that they have titled “Ice Locks Up The Stones”, the significance of which is unfortunately not known to me.  However, I am a big fan of this shapeshifting spacerock outfit, which on this outing consists of Marek Bublik on drums, Shankara Andy Bole on guitar, bazouki and synth, Martin Litmus (from Litmus) on bass and synth and Bob Hedger (aka Jah Budhha - Phaselock, The Glissando Guitar Orchestra) on synths and guitar.  Regular bassist Mark Huxley carried out the mixing of this recording.  Over the course of an hour, the group improvise around a loosely composed structure, often alternating instruments, creating a dynamic and involving soundworld which references Rembetika, psych, progressive, desert blues, Kosmische and ambient with a tiny splash of Groundhogs which is all good by me.  The musicians are all drawn from established bands and know their way around a Neu! pastiche.  Central to this project is the miscellaneous strings of founder Shankara Andy Bole (Shankara, The Glissando Guitar Orchestra) who pushes the material along remorselessly.  Surrounded by a slew of technology, Bob Hedger captures the intricacies of both Berlin School and Kosmische maneouvres while Martin Litmus enthusiastically investigates the low-end capabilities of the Dr Sardonicus Festival sound system.  He’s locked in with drummer Bublik, due to their work together in Litmus, no doubt.  Exciting and beautifully realised - highly recommended.  See also the new self-released KOZFEST disc on the Dark Zen Kollectiv Bandcamp.

https://sendelica.bandcamp.com/album/dark-zen-kollective-live-at-19th-dream-of-dr-sardonicus-festival-2023

https://darkzenkollectiv.bandcamp.com/music

Bill Thompson - and the sky breaks open

 

Bill Thompson

and the sky breaks open

CD  ASH149  Ash International 2024

Two excellent pieces of electronic music blossoming slowly in the space where ambient music meets the art gallery.  American artist-in-London, Bill Thompson is the curator of the long running Mercury Over Maps concert series and has a history of collaboration with the likes of Phil Durrant, Mark Wastell’s THE SEEN, Yoni Silver, Keith Rowe, EXAUDI and Faust.  Here, Thompson puts his Moog guitar improvisatory strategies to work in order to explore new ground – at least new to me - specifically digital and analogue technology-based longform drone possibilities.  If you’re interested in hearing Bill’s less drone-based Moog guitar improvisation, you can also check out another recent release; his album Feine on Scatter Archive.  Those wary of the perceived purposelessness of nu-new age ambient or are suspicious of the austere rigour of some drone works, be assured that and the sky breaks open is a scrupulously rendered work of sublime peace.  Structural artefacts cavil while roiling voltage seeks to erupt from the very surface of Thompson’s guitar pickups.  These results were recorded “…late at night during long solo improvisations…” and were given an extra sheen by the mastering hand of Stephan Mathieu.  Thompson’s intentions are straightforward – “…explorations of the material at hand, the objects on the table…thus met on its own terms in the fulcrum of improvising-composing-performing allowing what emerges to emerge…”

https://ashinternational.bandcamp.com/