the spirit of gravity is 25

Brighton's long-running electronic music promoters Spirit Of Gravity started as once-a month residents at the much missed grassroots music venue The Freebutt, tucked away behind Phoenix Art Studios and Gallery way back in 2001.  They have continued to present an exciting variety of underground - and not so underground - electronic live music in various venues since then, and what a spicy odyssey.  As an organisation of like-minded electronic musicians, they saw a need for a regular space for the more experimental type of electronic music makers in Brighton and have released compilations involving such luminaries as Scanner, Pilote, Multiplex, Henry Collins (Shitmat), Urban Myth, minimal impact, Terror Wogan, Andrew Greaves, Nil, Spheress and Noteherder & McCloud. 

As it's a milestone birthday this year, Spirit of Gravity have chosen to celebrate it with a twenty-fifth anniversary compilation cd.  Here are my highlights:

Chris Cook - Crows Part 3

Veteran Spirit of Gravity collaborator Mr Cook, (previously Hot Roddy, Remote among other projects), constructs this piece using strings, sitar and synth.  He concocts a flavour of Mick Karn and Peter Murphy's 1980s artrock sideline Dalis Car, but without referencing Karn's fretless bass machinations.  I particularly like the peculiar take on on the minor pentatonic scale played on sitar at one point.

Rashamon - Argent Vulpis

Deep synth blarps vye for supremacy against North African style machine drums and relentless hi-hats. But Mapanta this ain't. Vocal sample is ''...silver fox...'' which may or may not describe the demographic of high-end electronic music equipment buyers.  Roland TR-1000 owners, I'm looking at you.

Alien Alarms - Still Holding You

To me, this feels 90s drum n bass inspired. The vocal samples used: ''it feels right'' ''it's alright'' ''it was meant to be'' help this feeling along, putting this listener in mind of old Moving Shadow 12's.  However, this production may in fact be bang up to date given that there seems to be no end to the d'n'b scene in the UK and abroad.  Which is a good thing.  Ends with an unexpected drone synth crescendo.

Spheress - I saw Glimpses

Oh yeah; banging nosebleed techno keeping it in the family. Spheress is the offspring of one of the Spirit of Gravity co-organisers apparently.  Talking of the 90s, is that a sample of SMPTE timecode at the start of this track? Who else is old enough to remember that sound?  I like that there are some suitably harsh white noise hi-hats just to keep you on your toes.

Automouse - Blood And Stone

More nosebleed techno but with a glitch sensibility, making this offering quite minimal overall.  It reminds me of wishing I wasn't stuck in a tent between three different soundsystems at a 24 hour a day festival in France in the late 90s, but that's probably a story for another time.

Lewis Clay - Party Some Of The Time

Let's get slicey! The aural equivalent of a Jamie Hewlett cartoon.  Loads of style; just enough substance.

There are also tracks from Screaming Alice, ZIZO, Multiplex, Rackets, Meljoann, This Sound Bureaucracy, Noteherder & McCloud, Parz Permillion, minimal impact, EM and Cour'en.

It's true that Spirit of Gravity has become a Brighton institution; the kind that appeals to a wide audience despite its ''underground'' reputation, and with its strong group identity and multiple adherents involved in its organisation, will hopefully continue on for many years yet.

https://spiritofgravity.bandcamp.com/album/25

https://spiritofgravity.com/

Thirty six hours of HÁKARL

 

A continuous 36-hour improvised performance recorded live at Supernormal festival 2011 (Braziers Park, Oxfordshire). No loops, no sleep, maximum music. Released 15 years to the day and hour.

Instigator, Kev Nickells, drove the performance with the following premise:  ''My basic proposition: what happens when musicians enfeebled by sleep deprivation try to play?''   The musicians involved were Kev Nickells himself, Seth Cooke, Clive Henry, Jamie Glew-Osborn, Huw Webb and Barnabas Yianni.  The following instruments were made available: guitars, violin, percussion, drums, piano, sax, clarinet, toy piano, glockenspiel, ukulele, voices.  Apparently these players were joined by random festival goers from time to time.

It seems to me you can engage with this kind of colossal amount of material in one of two ways.  Either you take a purist approach and attempt the entire 36 hours in one sitting or, errr, you don't.  Dipping into one of the 108 twenty minute tracks on Bandcamp yields interesting surprises.  You'd think perhaps a project such as this might have a similar appeal to the prospect of a 36 hour Christopher Nolan film, such is the unavoidable commitment to the concept of time, but letting the whole thing run in the background as you go about your day offers the pleasant auditory experience of attending a Supernormal festival - the microphones pick up as many passing conversations as improvisational gambits. Alternatively, you could try a week of daily 5-hour sessions, or one track a day for an entire season perhaps. I’d go with Winter; to give me a reminder of the pleasure of attending a summer festival.

Kev Nickells has previous experience with long-duration projects; a solo 36-hour improvised piano recital in Bristol which predated (I think) this Supernormal performance, and participation in The Long Half Day; a 12 hour improv collaboration in Brighton also involving Benedict Taylor, Noura Sanatian, Tim Yates, Adam Bushell, Dan Powell and Chris Parfitt.  Nickells says this;

''I had wanted this to remain a transient experience for the festival-goers; after 15 years though the threat of bit-rot leads me to make the record public and available. By necessity this is improvised music; the sextet hadn't played together before, though I'd played with everyone in some capacity. My basic proposition: what happens when musicians enfeebled by sleep deprivation try to play? This release is the answer - again by necessity, it's often not entirely compelling; surprisingly often it's great. My memory is that consciousness slips out from between your eyes and into your hands and ears.''

The album is offered as a download for £3.60, making it 10p per hour of music, which I think makes it a pretty sweet deal.

https://hkarl.bandcamp.com/album/h-karl-communion

Incoming

 

Space(rock) on my doorstep - Mirror System et al in Lewes

Not for the first time, Steve Hillage & Miquette Giraudy bring their ambient techno project Mirror System to The Con Club in Lewes as part of a unique all-dayer, organised by Brighton promoters Om-Rock with assistance from The Electric Salad Co; the people who bring you KozFest, Glastonbury PsychFest, New Avalon Ballroom and other superb events.  This colourful shindig is loosely made up around bands and musicians affiliated with Gong and/or the late Daevid Allen.

Starting the ball rolling is The Gregg McKella Band, playing material from Gregg's excellent new solo album. Onstage, his band for this event includes Martin Litmus on bass and backing vocals - he engineered Gregg's album - Paradise 9 drummer Wayne Colyer, plus violinist Mister Eugene and special guest Cary Grace on modular synthesiser.  The band are super-tight and the arrangements allow room to breathe; particularly on their expansive version of Blind Willie Johnson's "Motherless Children". Gregg's songs hark back to his days busking in London in the 90s but suit the weight lent by expanding his material for a five piece band.

Solo synthesist Jah Buddha is up next. It's always a pleasure to catch Bob Hedger at work behind his fragrant piles of technology, whether he's dishing out Berlin School, techno or floating ambient with glissando played on his white headless Steinberger guitar (a nod to Daevid, perhaps).  Tonight he's playing new material; a construction that instantly energises the room with it's pulsing beats and filigree arpeggios - towards the end of the set he very firmly presses the button marked "RAVE!" but manages to always keep a velvety edge to his machinations.

Due to a vehicle breakdown en-route from Birmingham, there is no expected solo set from bazouki/guitar wunderkind Shankara Andy Bole.  Neither are his intricate improvisations part of Dark Zen Kollektiv's set tonight, which is a shame.  However, DZK comport themselves admirably despite this unfortunate turn of events ably assisted by Cary Grace and her multitude of magical modular devices.  Now on guitar, Martin Litmus references Andy Bole's rembetika-laden style momentarily, but the overall effect is one of brutal psych-jam tonight and that's all good.  The high point for me was the last ten minutes where after the bombast of their motorik jam, rather than lay down and surrender, DZK presented a sudden, challenging change of pace whereby small noises and electro-acoustic artefacts came to the fore, pushing the audience to listen closely.  Very brave and very commendable in my view.

Organiser Paul Woodwright's psych-rock trio Deviant Amps, fresh from a busy tour schedule over the last nine months or so played super-tight with panache.  You can practically smell the enthusiasm with this trio.  Propulsive meta-rock with ample melody and a big dose of fun.

Next on were NUKLI, whose fusion-style take on psych-rock really appeals to this listener.  You can tell they buy as much soul and funk records as space-rock.  They are notable also for being, I think, the only group to utilise vocal samples on a playback device tonight.  Used to great effect, possibly on an old tune if I heard guitarist Kev Hegan correctly; I know they've re-released some of their excellent early (90?) material recently.  Very much worth investigating.

Always a treat are The Glissando Guitar Orchestra who this evening are made up of Paul Woodwright from Deviant Amps, Kev Hegan and Mark Huxley from NUKLI, Bob Hedger and Gregg McKella all using guitars except Mark who is on bass.  I've seen this project a few times, sometimes with as many as twelve players, including Kavus Torabi from Gong / Cardiacs on occasion.  Initiated by Daevid Allen, it is more therapy than spectacle, you could say.  They play five minute drones, moving through musical keys as the sounds move through the chakras of the body.  You really need to be lying down to get the full effect of this - indeed some of the audience were - but it's an experience which is as much rooted in ritual as it is mindfulness.  Everybody should experience this at least once, in my view.

Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy need no introduction, and tonight they present the flip of their System 7 project; Mirror System.  A melange of ambient, dub ambient and techno disciplines,  ably demonstrating the skills and finely tuned ears that have kept them at the pinnacle of live electronic music for so many years.  As I mentioned earlier, this is the second of these all-dayers; the first happened in the same venue in April of last year, which I also attended and was similarly impressed.  These gatherings are full of friendly faces, people who have been part of this scene for a long time and consequently there's a nice vibe somewhat similar to an extended family gathering.  Hopefully this will continue as an annual event.

 all photos by Paul Khimasia Morgan

Jamie Drouin & Lance Austin Olsen - a field far beyond form and emptiness

 

Jamie Drouin & Lance Austin Olsen - a field far beyond form and emptiness

Infrequency Editions 2026

Deliberation, intention and wonder.  Kettles, contrabass, piano and crushed papers, among other things, jockey for supremacy in this fascinating construction by Messrs Drouin and Olsen.  Both veteran noisemakers, both active in the art world - Jamie Drouin is a visual artist, Lance Austin Olsen a painter - the rich palette on offer here shows both at the peak of their endeavours.  There is detail, as you might expect, in this solid 40 minute piece, but also plenty of surprises along the way.  Drones are used quietly to underscore particular passages or sonic events, but I get a sense of propulsion rather than ennui.  These drones are harmonically rich, despite their fleeting presence.  Silence - also as you might expect - fulfils a structural purpose, but the chunks of airy existence that are cut away are not overlong, as is sometimes the case with perhaps certain adherents of Wandelweiser principles, more bookmarking; turning the corner of the page over so that the listener can mentally refer back should they need to.  The recording itself is pristine; elements are close-mic'ed and yet enough space is left so that you can still hear the room.

''...shortages have been fueled by US sanctions...'', a brief burst of humanity at 20 minutes; a female newsreader's voice cuts through with gale force.  Drumskins are rubbed, strings drubbed, a wooden object falls over on a desktop.  A pair of prepared piano notes hang in the air momentarily.  A drum skin activated into a bass sinetone disappears into the distance.  Breath becomes heavy as if readying for sleep.  More vocalising at 29 minutes, but this time male and incomprehensible.  A beautiful mid-high drone, possibly electronic in origin, then a single drop of 1980s digital reverb activated by unseen forces.  A hammer-tap positioned deep within a piano sound-box.  Adhesive tape is removed from an unseen surface as a door squeaks open in another part of the building.  The disparate events start to come quicker now with a wooden, reedy ambience - put the drum down; the sun starts to push through my curtain and I must reluctantly leave...

Wrong Côtes Wrong

 

Wrong - Wrong Côtes

UK - dl/cd - self-released 2026

Perrenial pop-noise purveyors and Brighton UK-based trio of TJ Cottrell, jimwg and Karl M V Waugh present their latest six slices of cosmic/psyche/blart pie; their first since 2024's Ect and sure to hit the receptive nerve-endings of the most demanding gourmands.

Another Side Of Another Side hits like The Myrrors meets Eno & Byrne's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts.  Optimum psyche vocals lacerate propulsive psycho-Surf guitar and a juicy, repetitive rhythm section.  Are You Out Tonight begins with spiky skanking guitar and a monolithic bassline. Then goes on to pit Gang Of Four -style guitar against 1960s Tropicalia vocals to strafe your mind and your feet.  Puts me in mind of early Here & Now almost.  Imagine hearing this drifting over a meadow near a stone circle in the early 80s... Never Again features a staccato approach to snare drum performed with a vigour seldom seen this side of Drumbo's finer moments in The Magic Band.  The pace slows down a bit with Irreversible; a weird amalgam of Parquet Courts and Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. A beautiful drone in the background that becomes clear at the end.  In fact this and Never Again heard together could be read as a Wrong Côtes' protest song.  "...the damage we have done...is irreversible..."  Picking the knees up again forthwith the boys launch into Super K, an update on the Neu brand of motorik but with catchy vocals.  Finally, Unhelpful takes the best new bass riff from VB's Henrik ''Benke'' Höckert's cryogenically frozen brane and slathers tape murk and lavishly overcompressed fx over the ending.

Peak dancefloor psyche - Wrong Côtes could sell this entire collection of tunes to The Oh Sees and buy a yacht with the proceeds.

Nandi – a concert film

 

Suriya Sweets – a fascinating fusion

Nandi – a concert film

Acoustic bassist Pascal Lovergne recently got in touch after I reviewed his trio Nandi’s 2017 album Mylapore for The Sound Projector magazine, to tell me about a new film documentary about his extended visit to South India. Documentaries about improvised music are occasional, at best – the last film specifically about improvisers I saw was part of the Meandre(s) set from 2023, which I wrote about here:

https://www.thesoundprojector.com/2025/08/06/canoe/

- so this film project directed by Ben Flinois is welcomed by this observer.

In it, Lovergne travels to South India to study Konnokol under the guidance of his bandmate; percussionist Suresh Vaidyanathan. They put a version of Nandi together with pianist Stefan Orins, percussionist Zohar Fresco and flautist Amith A Nadig and, naturally, play some shows. The viewer makes the assumption that Lovergne’s aim is to submerge himself both in the country of origin and the study of the music to better understand the nature of their Indo-Francais project. As well as the music culture and history, we learn a lot about Suresh Vaidyanathan’s background and Lovergne’s motivations, although Orins, Fresco and Nadig remain largely in the background.

The film is beautifully shot with plenty of travel footage and interesting sites alongside serendipitous encounters with local musicians and people going about their everyday business. It is relatively pacey, so one can only imagine the sheer quantity of footage the film-makers came away with. The edit ensures the material is accessible though - at one point, Suresh says “...but Konnokol, actually, is the easiest form of rhythm to enter your heart.” This is contrasted with Pascal Lovergne sat in the audience practicing counting out the rhythms with his hand. Elsewhere, we also see Pascal in his hotel room practising with earbuds in. Later, Suresh adds this observation: “Sometimes a wrong note is a blessing, because perfection is only for gods, right? Humans should have some faults.”

For those interested in fusion or improvisation – for the record, Nandi refer to themselves as a ‘’jazz band’’ – this film supplies a good hit. I found the travel footage fascinating as well. The director attempts to thread in a kind of ‘’pilgrimage’’ device by following Lovergne along a quiet beach as he carries a bag of marigolds looking for presumably a suitable potentially moksha-inducing location along the waters edge where he can commit the flowers to the waves. The full significance of Lovergne’s actions are not immediately apparent, but perhaps it acts as a way of introducing a further non-Western flavour into the film. It is a nice contrast to the many recordings of the group performing threaded throughout. On the whole, a solid, beautifully shot and engaging documentary.

Bill Thompson - Improfest - Ash International

 

Bill Thompson

Improfest

UK  Ash International  2026 - download

A live document of Bill Thompson’s streamed performance with his Moog guitar, live electronics and found objects at Improfest in February 2022. A sophisticated drone composition performed at London’s Rearview Studios, this is his latest work on London’s Ash International imprint. I previously reviewed Bill’s And The Sky Breaks Open from 2024 also on Ash International. You can read that here:

https://honestmusicfordishonesttimes.blogspot.com/2024/11/bill-thompson-and-sky-breaks-open.html

Initially, Thompson pivots from calming low-mids to diverting mildly overdriven high-end information with aplomb. This produces beautiful results, particularly in the first third of the piece. There’s a culmination of anxiety-inducing squeal shredding the nerves around the 12 minute mark before the piece collapses into a warm deep tissue massage of the cortex lasting long enough to put this listener into a very relaxed state. Here, there seems to be some kind of rotational action upon the strings of Thompson’s Moog guitar. A bell-like pulsing is then foregrounded while randomized squealing emerges from the distance. Before long something is dancing on the strings while oscillations build. Two thirds through, feedback is harnessed for texture, like an auditory approximation of the multi-coloured event horizon in Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey. Thompson tears melodic sparks from a building chaos. The final three minutes sound like a large tube amp blowing its valves until only a thin veil of pure tone and the idle manual tapping of guitar strings is left. Highly recommended.

https://billthompson.bandcamp.com/album/improfest

https://ashinternational.bandcamp.com/

Three Guest cd Reviews by Joe Candy

Somnambulance - from the chalk to the stream - 2025 self-released

Tracing a path from Berlin School to Dub Ambient via drone and shoegaze…

This studio recording from this somewhat relaxed group of west country electronicists sees them responding to an unexpected summer rainstorm as nearby stream transforms into a powerful river as the rains flow off the chalk hills. "from the chalk to the stream" is one 39 minute-long improvisation. It builds on previous Somnambulance releases - the recent "Tripartite Drifting Lab" on Liverpool's Moolakii Club Audio Interface, "Wally's Ashes" from 2023, and their two cds on Colander Records - with Andy Roid's shift from synthesisers and Digitakt to his recently acquired modular set-up, coupled with Saul Yarg's decision to employ a second, rhythmic, guitar to complement Just George's filigree looping guitar work and King Razor's inclusion of radio broadcasts and other sampled material, this current version of the group seems ready to embark on their next project: a documentary-style film of live performances in unusual locations. I look forward to seeing the results."

https://somnambulanceuk.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-chalk-to-the-stream

Rubber Bus - Urban Dust ep - 2025 Rubber Bus Records

A related item to the Somnambulance dudes, joined by Tim Hawthorn, (who has worked with the late great Daevid Allen and latterly with The Invisible Opera Company of Tibet), who is usually found leading The Anarchetypes or composing soundtracks for films.  Here he takes on the guise of a kind of visionary poet railing against many and various contaminants in the home, the environment and the planet generally.  These sentiments can either be taken literally at face value, or as I prefer, can be seen as a stylistic vehicle for concerns of a more existential or personal nature.  The musicians create a unique kind of spacerock dub-reggae combination with some lovely, twisted guitar work, pounding electronics and delicate wafts of production tricks in order to perplex the listener.  The album version is presented first - from the new Welcome To Karmic City long player - followed by three remixes by members of the band, and if that wasn't enough for you, there's two live tracks added as well.  The live version of Noh Yogah is from a Real Music Club show in Brighton and features occasional member Daniel Spicer - the author of books on the Turkish Psychedelic Underground and Peter Brotzmann - while the live version of Assassin was recorded at New Avalon Ballroom in Glastonbury and features the redoubtable Tim Hawthorn on vocals.  Apparently Rubber Bus are rarely seen in public - they don't tour as far as I'm aware, preferring to hit unwary festivals without warning.  I'd advise you to keep an eye out though - from the evidence presented here they are as unhinged live as they are on record, so well worth checking out.

https://rubberbus.bandcamp.com/album/urban-dust-ep

mazenta z - Doubt thou the stars are fire - 2025 self-released

Titled after a line from Shakespeare, this cd is one of the most compelling ambient releases I have heard this year.  The mysterious mazenta z are a trio of two synthesiserists and a guitar player based in Brighton, UK.  Hellbent on control of their material, they recorded, mixed and mastered the tracks themselves and roped in one of their partners, painter Hiroko Lewis, to contribute the fine artwork for the sleeve.  The music itself is ambient in style - and consequently extremely relaxing - but runs a gamut of influences from 1970s jazz fusion through David Sylvian and Holger Czukay's mid-80s experiments and more recent YouTube Lockdown Ambient, (I just made that genre up).  I like the way the guitars merge with the electronics so that a gravity-defying mass is created; not exactly diaphanous or lightweight, but existing in its own plane almost, without compelling the listener's attention; just as good ambient music should.  When you focus in on the material though, there is a world of detail; not just a featureless drone landscape. There is an interview with them by the Battery Operated Orchestra guys on their YT channel if you want to know more.

mazenta z interview with Battery Operated Orchestra BOOCAST

https://mazentaz.bandcamp.com/

- Joe Candy, July 2025

2024 - The Year Politicians Looked The Other Way - an end of year list

END OF YEAR MUSIC ROUND-UP 2024

Best live performance (tied):

Limpe Fuchs at The Rose Hill Arts Hub, Brighton 13^th July

L’Anarchie Flotant at KozFest 2024

Basil Brooks (Zorch / Space Falcons) / Brian Abbott (Invisible Opera Company of Tibet) / Shankara Andy Bole / Ashenashae Farnham (Daevid Allen) / Mark Huxley (Dark Zen Kollektiev)

Top 9 live performances

Dhangsha at Hundred Years Gallery, Hoxton, London 29^th June

BANTU at Spirit of Gravity, Rossi Bar, Brighton 5^th September

Mark Wastell / Steve Beresford / Sylvia Hallett / Maggie Nichols / Dirk Serries / Benedict Taylor / Colin Webster at Hundred Years Gallery, Hoxton London 31^st March

Armatures at The Bee’s Mouth, Hove 23^rd June

Emily Burridge & BJ Cole at Semley Music Festival, Semley, Wiltshire 6^th July

The Glissando Guitar Orchestra at Lewes Con Club, 9^th November

Paradise 9 at Lewes Con Club, 9^th November

Mark Wastell / Bill Thompson / Dominic Lash at MOM, Canvas & Cream, Forest Hill 24^th October

Julian Lage at CHALK, Brighton 24^th November

Best “studio performance”

Entropy Zero (Brian Abbott, Andy Roid, Bob Hedger) at Visual Radio Arts

Kavus Torabi at Visual Radio Arts

Best YouTube performance

Helene Vogelsinger - any

Look Mum No Computer - Buel & Kjaer Room at This Museum Is Not Obsolete

Most Returned To album of the year (tie-break)

Normil Hawaiians – Empires Into Sand – Upset! The Rhythm

This Celestial Engine – This Celestial Engine – Discus Recordings

Top 7 “ambient” albums

Modulator ESP – Hydra Equinox  -  www.modulator-exp.co.uk

Laurel Halo – Atlas - Awe

Ah! Kosmos & Hainbach - Blast Of Sirens - FUU Records

Ian Boddy & Dave Bessell – Polarity  -  DiN

Martin Taxt – Second Room – SOFA Recordings

Bruno Duplant – quelques instants d’eternité – Moving Furniture Records

Brighton Ambients – With Dhangsha On Our Minds  –  The Slightly Off Kilter Label

Top 3 improv/modern composition albums

Bee Reiki Trio (Beresford/Afifi/PKM) – bee Reiki – Discus Recordings

Fredrik Rasten – Lineaments – SOFA Recordings

Bill Thompson – and the sky breaks open  -  Ash International

Top 5 electronic albums

Sonic Arcana – Ecliptical Drift  -  Sonic Arcana

The Utopia Strong – The BBC Sessions – Rocket Recordings

Jah Buddha – Live at Control Voltage

Dhangsha – Broadcast Signal Intrusion – Brachliegen Tapes

Polypores – The Album I Would Have Released In An Alternate Universe  -  Moonbuilding / Castles In Space

Top 6 “rock” albums

GONG – Unending Ascending  - k-scope

Ulrika Spacek – Compact Trauma – Tough Love Records

Ozric Tentacles – Lotus Unfolding – k-scope

Thurston Moore – Flow Critical Lucidity – The Daydream Library Series

Deviant Amps – The Castle In The Sky – D Amp Recordings

Paradise 9 – Science Fiction Reality – Flicknife Records

Best event of 2024

KozFest 2024

Top 3 events of 2024

Mirror System et al at Lewes Con Club

Julian Lage at CHALK, Brighton

New Avalon Ballroom at The King Arthur, Glastonbury

My This Year’s Favourite Song of All Time Song

Karen Dalton – There’s Something On Your Mind

 

 

DISCLAIMER - Some of these records may not actually be from the current year.  I may have only heard them for the first time this year.  Anyway, I don’t care – I like them.

Laurel Halo - Atlas

 

On these hazy evocations of another time and a mischievous subversion of the ambient genre, LA-based Laurel Halo takes only the merest suggestion of jazz standards and ingeniously manages to create something simultaneously relaxing, perplexing and disorienting.  Played at low to medium volume, Atlas creates a mysterious ambient soundscape.  At higher amplitudes the detail of Halo’s compositional ideas and creative approach to  production and sampling come to the fore of this dense but rich confection.  Plus, there are contributions from Lucy Railton on cello, James Underwood on violin, saxophone by Bendik Giske and the vocals of Cobey Sey spread over the ten pieces presented here.  These “natural” elements help solidify the music into a seamless fine aggregate coating every surface of our existence.  I used it daily as an effective relaxation tool for a couple of months back in the summer.  Having moved on in lightyears from 2015’s dubstep-filtered In Situ or her cinematic compositions on Raw Silk Uncut Wood from 2018, I feel Halo is developing an important catalogue – her recent release Octavia (INA / grm) is a composition for piano and electronics – a way of truly seeing/hearing the past in new and bewildering detail.  Pretty special, and unmissable.

www.laurelhalo.bandcamp.com

Ian Boddy & Dave Bessell - Polarity

 

Ian Boddy & Dave Bessell

Polarity

CD / DL  DiN87  DiN  2024

One of my favourite electronic albums from 2024, this.  Beautiful drift.  And it’s a live performance!  If you dig synthesiser music and you’re not familiar with the UK’s DiN label I urge you to address that at your earliest convenience.  DiN is a long-running label featuring the top-quality output of many interesting modular and synthesizer boffins, not least that of label head Ian Boddy himself.  Polarity was recorded at Awakenings; a music event organised by Phil Booth, Dave Buxton and Jez Creek at Lea Hall Pavilion, Rugely on 25^th November 2023.  Ian Boddy plays a modular set-up augmented by Moog Matriarch and Buchla Easel Command, while Dave Bessell uses his own Eurorack equipment with Minimoog and Moog Sub 37 alongside a Vermona Perfourma and electric guitar.  The music engages me from the get-go; propulsive, although definitely on the “ambient” side of electronica, the ideas flow fast and don’t let up.  The sheer presence of the material is impressive, as you would expect from modern synthesiser music, and extra props should go to Phil Booth, the evening’s soundman.  One of the best live electronica recordings I’ve heard this year, and I’ve been lucky enough to be exposed to some great live electronic performances this year from Mirror System, Entropy Zero, Armatures, Mazenta Z, and l’Anarchie Flotant.

www.DiN.org.uk 

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/

Confront Recordings 25th Anniversary Concert, Bethnal Green, London 31st October 2021

As well as being a respected improvising musician in his own right, with ensembles including THE SEEN, The Sealed Knot, IST, Oceans Of Silver And Blood, The Scotch Of St. James and more, Mark Wastell has been releasing non-mainstream music of all stripes on his Confront Recordings imprint since 1996.  Furthermore, he ran his independent music retail outlet Sound 323 from premises in Highgate in London for many years where - in the shop's basement space - he also hosted concerts of improvised music by practitioners such as Derek Bailey, Steve Beresford, Nmperign, Burkhard Beins, Tim Hodgkinson, Henryk Rylander, Tom Chant, Dom Lash and many others.  My own interest in the shop began in 2005 when I got off the Tube opposite, rang the doorbell for the first of many times and after making a few cd selections to purchase, harangued Mark into agreeing to stock one of the first releases on my own DIY label; a 7" by cellist Bela Emerson.

Today, Mark hosted a full six hours of non-stop improv fare - duos of musicians with work published on Confront Recordings interspersed with films made during previous Confront events.  The audience seemed to be a 50/50 mix of musicians and enthusiasts, opportunities to catch up with friends "post-pandemic" [...watch this space - Ed.] , for me, giving the event the feel more of a family gathering than "just another" gig to attend in The Smoke.  In fact, the audience was rather larger than Mark possibly expected as initially everything was to be presented in the chapel at the rear of St Margaret's House; after the first performance by Steve Beresford and Clive Bell, the live performances moved into the hall in the adjacent building, with the film screenings in the chapel itself. 

Steve Beresford and Clive Bell

Steve Beresford and Clive Bell set the tone perfectly for the day's activities; an exquisite blend of Steve's ceaseless experimentalism on the chapel's upright piano and the bag of objects and devices he brought with him amplified through a 3 watt amp, and Clive's beautiful playing of a curious double-horned wind instrument I must find out the name of the next time I'm in the same room as him.  Halfway through their extemporisations, Steve throws in a snippet of melody from a jazz standard on the piano (possibly - I was outside in the warmth of the sun at the time, listening through the open doors) which elicits an audible wave of glee from the listeners.

Lockdown has given musicians the time and opportunity to try new things in isolation, and so it has been for double-bassist Dom Lash who bought himself a Fender Telecaster guitar and an overdrive pedal and spent his time developing a very interesting and personal approach to electric guitar over the last year or so.  His duet with saxophonist and composer Simon Rose was possibly the highlight of the day for me, although this may not be the last time I use that phrase in this piece of writing.  Solid body guitars are not usually the first choice for players who position themselves within the "jazz idiom" - even at the very fringes, where we are today - but Lash uses the Telecaster's basic yet unique design super-effectively; the biting, percussive nature of the instrument highlighted by the sheer power in his contrabass-trained hands.  Simon Rose's playing, in contrast, is fluid and shimmering; a warm glow of sunlight on the craggy rockface of Lash's guitar.  Dom boots the overdrive pedal on and off sporadically for emphasis on particular notes. 

Jennifer Allum and David Toop

Violinist Jennifer Allum and the uncategorisable David Toop - who no doubt today is away from his current book-writing project in order to play some flute - present a quiet, beautiful, still duet that gently issues forth like a soft westerly breeze off a lake on a spring morning.  Allum's extended techniques extract the full potential from her instrument while Toop hovers strangely close to silence in the most engaging ways.  In contrast, Alan Wilkinson's and Douglas Benford's maximalist quietude produces some of today's most unexpected moments of beauty.  Quite rightly considered one of the UK's premier saxophonists, halfway in, Wilkinson breaks out what I think I'm right in thinking was a bass clarinet - my apologies if that's completely wrong Alan, I was standing right at the back of the hall - whose lower register kicks their improvisation up a gear.  Throughout their set, Douglas Benford busies himself with a hand-pumped harmonium while simultaneously selecting objects from a variety of percussion instruments laid out at his feet.

Phil Durrant and Martin Vishnick

Phil Durrant and Martin Vishnick traded musical tics and splutters on mandolin and classical guitar respectively.  I've seen Phil perform before; usually on modular synth equipment of varying types and so was pleased to have the opportunity to see him tackle the mandolin.  Their performance was very lively and consisted of two distinct improvisations, both employing a wealth of extended techniques and creative interplay.

For the latter part of the day, live electronics began to emerge, beginning with Luigi Marino's control surfaces, software and feedback strategies running through a powered monitor - presumably for optimal bass response - in a duo with violinist and member of The Ligeti Quartet, Mandhira de Saram.  I've previously seen Marino using multiple bowed cymbals to create dense layered sound, and here, he uses technology to similar effect.  Mandhira's violin work blends very well and it is apparent that they are both having fun developing their sounds in real time.  My set with the Zurich-based multi-disciplinary artist Jason Kahn was very enjoyable; today Jason used only his voice - a strategy he used the previous day when we performed acoustically outdoors in the Sussex countryside with percussionist Ken Hyder and saxophonist Tim Hodgkinson.  I utilized the remains of my long-suffering acoustic twelve-string guitar with transducers to produce a "playable" feedback system.  Jason was at the very end of his first UK tour since the onset of the pandemic.  Slowly, slowly the world opens up again.

Saxophonist John Butcher - now bearded - and double-bassist Olie Brice present a muscular free jazz weaving magical auras of trepidation, activation energy and release.  Butcher's playing is always exhilarating to witness, meanwhile Olie Brice underpins and builds structures here, demolishes there, in fun, technical and fascinating ways.

Facing a long and most likely tedious drive back to Brighton, I regretfully make my move back to the car during Sylvia Hallett and Chris Dowding's set.  Having watched them set up, however, I was expecting an esoteric combination of violin and trumpet experiments with digital technology with Chris' trumpet exhibiting a particular Jon Hassel-esque quality during their soundcheck.  However, as I was leaving, I stopped to listen in the dark of the gardens of St Margaret's House as the pair wove an enchanting web of detourned melody; a folk influence here, a lament there; a twinkling of DSP artefacts trailing from each flourish mirroring the retina-bloom of the fairy lights hanging from the canopies at the rear of the Café.  Beautiful.

I particularly liked that throughout the entire event, the visual artist Gina Southgate was painting the musicians; working swiftly and effortlessly, producing an amazing body of work. 

A big shout-out also to the excellent fresh coffee and vegan menu in the Café and the tireless George Paris, Programme Manager at St Margaret's House, and of course the weather, which thankfully stayed warm and clement throughout the entire event allowing everyone the space and freedom to wander around the site at leisure without fear of getting rained on.  If this is the bar for gig-going in outside-Lockdown times, I'm all for it.  And I'm really looking forward to attending the next milestone in the Confront Recordings journey.

Photos and text by Paul Khimasia Morgan, October 2021.
 

contact microphones under duress

 

Simon Whetham

Forced To Repeat Myself

USA  Misanthropic Agenda  mar056  CD  (2020)

Misanthropic Agenda may be known for their earlier output from noise artists such as Lasse Marhaug, Merzbow, John Wiese, and Sissy Spacek but more recently, the label has recently released material that could be described as coming more from the experimental music/sound-art frontiers by people like Joe Colley, Fransisco Meirino and Andrea Borghi, so Whetham is in appropriate company here.

It seems to me that Simon Whetham is concerned with the Interior.  Not only the interiors of the rooms he performs in; his and our own interior worlds.  In a similar way to Rie Nakajima or, Choi Joonyong or Holly Jarvis, he analyses the physical attributes of his performance environment and extracts auditory information from it using a selection of his most appropriate techniques.

On Forced To Repeat Myself, he presents eight tracks portioned out of performances from a 2018 tour in Europe.  The sleeve cites nine locations - Vilnius, Bologna, Marghera, Acqui Terme, Turin, Milan, Cagliari, Pietrasanta and Dortmund - so I assume some or all of the eight tracks are assembled from multiple concerts, rather than each track being a direct document of a particular performance.  This is confirmed by Whetham’s statement that the album was “composed” in Marseilles in 2020, making it less a document, rather a piece in itself.  As such, Whetham takes admirable liberties with the idea of a “cohesive production” and combines audio that seems to have been recorded in many varied and interesting ways.  One moment you are listening to his devices from a distance on the distorted and heavily compressed built-in mics of ghetto blasters - and various other recorders of differing types no doubt - the next you are up close to the action with a loud direct feed from the mixing desk of one of his contact mic’s attached to an unknown surface.  Objects and devices move, rotate, perhaps even perambulate around the performance space(s).  In the absence of any visual information on the cd packaging bar two photographs of rows of empty seating - which may have anything or nothing to do with these live concerts - we will likely never know what we are actually listening to.  But I like this.  What I have gleaned about Whetham's practice is that he combines sounds which are normally too quiet to be noticed with self-built devices that mostly seem to be designed to produce acoustic sound, either by themselves or when interacting with the performance space in some way.  I have also known him to experiment with pushing audio equipment to destruction in various ways in previous work, but again, in the absence of sleeve-notes other than a simple “…all source materials…were extracted from performance recordings…” what specific techniques and “instrumentation” - if that is the correct word, even - are also unknown.  You do get the feeling that things are set up by Whetham and then left to their own devices and accidents or unintentional events are encouraged; a microphone dies in a hail of electronic pops on track six, elsewhere things collapse, spill, stop working, bump into each other, scrape along the floor or are perhaps even flung out of the artist’s way.  Over and over again.  It’s like Whetham takes a living gallery installation with him on tour. 

Lovely design on the packaging.  The heavy card digipak with high quality black and white print shows off the images by Monica Nannini, Laure Catugier and Jürgen Dünhofen well.  The circular disc image is by Whetham himself.  Recommended.  

 https://misanthropicagenda.bandcamp.com/album/forced-to-repeat-myself

Three from Betwixt & Between

Quinie / Jacken Elswyth

Betwixt & Between 4

UK  Betwixt & Between  no number  Cassette/DL  (2019)

Excellent unsolicited surprise arrival through the letterbox here.  And on cassette too, today’s favoured format of the avant-garde.  A split release, so a side each for Glasgow based Quinie, accompanied by friends Gordon Bruce and Tom Merewether and Betwixt & Between head Jacken Elswyth who resides in London.  Elswyth and her cohorts are part of a growing movement gaining a reputation for continuing the folk tradition.  Any folk music scholar/enthusiast will probably tell you how the songs have been and should be passed down through time, with no proscribed limits on interpretation per se, thus keeping the tradition alive, current and relevant.  This, I suspect, is an important part of Elswyth’s motivation.  She’s also an excellent banjo player, as evidenced here.

On the other side of the tape, Quinie sings songs “…embellished with occasional bells, whistles and percussion interspersed with odd interludes of reedy drone”  These drones are fantastic - not at all in a “ambient/dark/moody” kind of way; more playful and upbeat and possibly played with good humour on reed-based instruments associated with traditional Scottish music, I suspect.  I was not 100% sure whether Quinie is the name of the band or an alias of the singer/artist Josie Vallely until I turned up Vallely’s website where she states “…I have a personal practice under the name Quinie that brings together my interest in Scots song, sense of place and an investigation of women’s representation in the Scottish Tradition”. Of the six tunes here, half are songs by Matt McGuinn (“Red Yoyo”), Duncan MacRae (“Wee Cock Sparra”) and Lizzie Higgins, (“Wha’s at the Windy”).  Vallely’s delivery is captivating and the weird musical attenuations lend proceedings a mysterious feeling.  Really beautiful stuff.

Alula Down / Jacken Elswyth

Betwixt & Between 5

UK  Betwixt & Between  no number  CD/DL  (2019)

This is sent from Betwixt & Between’s Jacken Elswyth, here presenting her amazing banjo-picking skills - “clawhammer” I believe might be the accurate terminology, but I stand to be corrected if I’ve completely misunderstood the term - and in keeping with the B&B series, alongside four songs from Hereford-based Alula Down, a duo of Kate Gathercole and Mark Waters who do a nice line in gently delayed acoustic guitar and drone-making harmonium, glass harmonica (one of my all-time favourite instruments to listen to - check out also sound artist Camille Norment's recent work) and “gentle feedback” better to accompany the singer’s voice with.  Both artists’ approach are based in the folk idiom - an area of music I think I should mention I know very little about - in fact, they both present versions of a traditional (the one Peter Bellamy recorded in the 1970s?) song called “Sweet Lemeny” but with very different results.  Elswyth also uses a drone as an accompaniment, the exact nature of which is not stated on the cassette sleeve, but reading through the text on the B&B Bandcamp site it appears to be bowed banjo.  “Last Chance set”, my favourite of her three pieces is a range of extrapolations of the Appalachian dance tune.

Aside from their version of “Sweet Lemeny”, Alula Down contribute three bird-themed songs, “Sprig of Thyme”, “Three Ravens” and “Blackbird”.  The acoustic guitar on “Sprig of Thyme” is processed ever so lightly with echo, making not an eerie sound, but producing a very bright and active clarity.  On “Sweet lemeny” a repeated series of plucked harmonics shifting the guitar into otherworldliness by way of filtering or eq-ed overdrive, while Gathercole’s vocals are treated with subtly ever increasing tape echoes creates a sublime result.  The duo’s use of feedback, harmonium and glass harmonica on “Three Ravens” is similarly effective, paired as they are with Gathercole’s close-mic’ed, intimate vocal.  “Blackbird” pushed the guitarist right towards the back of the room, it seems, while gradually letting the sounds of the fields outside the walls of the studio back in.

Ryan Eyers / Jacken Elswyth

Betwixt & Between 6

UK  Betwixt & Between  no number  Cassette/DL  (2020)

Since receiving B&B numbers #4 and #5, I have received #6 and randomly met Jacken Elswyth in person at a TST (record stall) pop-up at the Evening Star in Brighton thus putting a face to this excellent series of releases.  Jacken‘s side begins with a seven minute rendition of Jon Bekoff’s “Lone Prairie”.  The tune is cyclical and Elswyth adds drones which almost segue into the start of the following song, “Caravan” by Mark Stevenson.  Stevenson is a contemporary figure in the British folk scene

In “Improvisation for amplified banjo(29.3)” Elswyth bucks tradition by utilizing probably something as simple as a transducer or contact mic on the banjo through the nearest guitar amp.  But what a sound!  Clouds of upper harmonics and the abstracted character of the set-up made the instrument unrecognisable to me in the opening moments.  This piece affected me in a similar way as did Rhodri Davies’ processed harp recordings on Wound Response from 2012.  The joy of hearing the unexpected; the reversal of what the instrument was designed to be.  The world swings back on its axis for the two and a quarter minutes of acoustic “Improvisation for banjo (30.1)”.

On Ryan Eyers’ side we are treated to five “short sketches” of solo drumming on what to my ears seems to be a jazz-style full kit.  Unusual as solo kit drum recordings may be, this work serves as more than just an introduction to Eyers’ skills or some kind of showcase simply to generate future employment.  Perhaps referencing the recent prevalence of online “sample-packs” by certain synthesiser enthusiasts, Eyers sees it as much a resource as a finished work.  The pieces certainly sound great - facilitated by someone who knows how to mic up a drumkit; perhaps Eyers himself?  Named as sketches, these three-something minute pieces are exactly that, and thus surely that is their nature.  The first piece serves as a kind of ritual beginning to proceedings - setting the scene, settling the mind, focussing the body.  The minimalist development of “Sketch 2” reminds me of Nissenenmondai’s singleminded sticksperson Sayaka Himeno, but Eyers puts far more variation into these three minutes than Himeno usually does.  “ Sketch 3” is a full-tilt syncopated riot, Andy Ramsay-like but without any convoluted motorik.  I can imagine it as the backbone to a Stereolab-influenced piece by someone somewhere.  “Sketch 4” is an absorbing journey into repetition and melody, which flows neatly into “Sketch 5” utilizes tuned toms and hi-hat exclusively to produce something between Afrobeat and The Butthole Surfers.

I suspect physical editions of items in this series are and will be made available in tiny editions, but the good news is all seem to be available as digital downloads alongside previous items B&Bs 1-3.  For further folk edification, see the Bancamp site.  A fine - in both senses of the word - strand of the current doings in the UK folk idiom.

  www.betwixtbetweentapes.bandcamp.com