Every so often outside provocateurs enter the insular organism of improvised music and shake things up. Several years ago the culprit was Spring Heel Jack. A shared moniker for the British duo of John Coxon and Ashley Wales, the ‘band’ began fostering collaborative connections with British and American improvisers through a series of projects on the Thirsty Ear label. Mixed reactions to the music followed, varying from incredulous head-scratching to enthusiastic praise. Coxon’s roots lay in pop production while Wales came out of a classical composition background. The pair initially teamed in the production of dance-oriented drum ‘n bass and dub projects. Through a serendipitous evolution they now keep heavy company with venerable free jazz and improv musicians like Wadada Leo Smith, Daniel Carter and Evan Parker.
As a natural outgrowth of their Thirsty Ear endeavors, the newly christened Treader label presents side projects by those players in their ever-expanding circle. Pressed in editions limited to a few hundred copies the first three titles in the series will likely become collector’s items in short order. Indicative of their rarefied numbers, the discs come ensconced in pastel colored fold-out cardboard sleeves embossed with a raised gold animal imprints and non-descript lettering. Accompanying information is utilitarian and minimal. Even track titles are left by the wayside, leaving the music largely free from extraneous connotative influence.
One of the most indelible anecdotes about Eric Dolphy involves his afternoons spent practicing with birds in his backyard. Treader’s first release immediately conjures parallels to Dolphy’s colloquies with his avian neighbors. Curiously, Evan Parker with Birds carries the incongruous faunal insignia of kangaroo. Parker favors mainly soprano, but also slips in a bit of tenor. Coxon and Wales are credited with the inconclusive instrumentation of “soundscapes.” The bird song components borrow from several sources and combine with field recordings of outdoor ambient textures made by Wales at several European sites. Dedicated to Steve Lacy (Chirps, Parker’s FMP duo recording with Lacy, also evinced ornithological qualities), the program opens in mediis rebus and stretches out over four tracks. The first one evolves over aqueous trickling backdrop of treated clucks, twitters and caws that occasionally overlays the sonorities of a burbling jungle stream over the panoply of bird speech. Parker traces gelid melodic lines on top that carry vaguely Arabic undercurrents, etching his tone occasionally with grainy rasps and also incorporating overdubbing. Soon familiar multiphonics tumble forth in a self-replenishing tide of circular breathing bracketed by the recurring croak of what sounds like a lonely macaw.
The second track shaves away the ambient filters leaving Parker in a more purely ‘acoustic’ setting with his winged partners. Quavering and tongued breath sounds siphon through pursed embouchure and reed, flittering in contemplative conversation with beak-born counterparts. Key pad patter and puckered percussive pops also punctuate the ersatz discourse. Electronics return for the third piece, eclipsing Parker and threading what sounds like the dull clack of pinball flippers and muted video game explosions into the lattice of doctored bird song. The fit between variously recorded elements is surprisingly snug. Parker unpacks his tenor on the disc’s final piece and blows plaintive dry gusts against canvas of crinkled antique LP static and humming machinery sounds. After another ambient section of looped church bells he returns to limpid soprano for a haunting Giuffresque close. All told it’s an oddly disarming and diffusive excursion, one that occupies an instantly unprecedented slot in Parker’s already capacious discography.
Coxon and Wales hold positions of more obvious prominence on Trio with Interludes. Here they join Parker and British percussionist Mark Sanders for a series of largely improvised studio encounters. Coxon relies on a small arsenal of keyboards, piano, harpsichord, National Trojan guitar and riveted tambour, while Wales occupies himself on piano, bass drum, the aforementioned tambour and flannel. The approach and feel align more closely with the pair’s various Thirsty Ear outings (Live and Sweetness of the Water). While neither is in the same improvisatory league as the acoustic musicians each still crafts irreverent and often humorous contributions. This time out the disc sleeve totem is a walrus and Parker leaves his soprano case latched shut. Broken into thirteen tracks, the program alternates between longer combative episodes and the shorter titular “interludes” for pianos and percussion that serve as the segueing cartilage between them.
Parker and Sanders put up with the knob twiddling, button pushing, string-torquing and instrument-abusing antics of their partners. In the opening minutes the Parker blows saucy tenor into the maw of gurgling, flanging electronics while the Sanders kicks up a racket on his kit. Unexpectedly the bottom drops out and a cascade of sci-fi detritus soaks and threatens to subsume Parker’s gnarled fractious lines. Shaking the synthetic suds from his mustache and beard, Parker hunkers down and soldiers on. Sanders sounds more at home, his bumptious, detail-oriented style meshing with the monkeyshine method of music making that Coxon and Wales appear to favor. Later Parker engages in protracted concert with Coxon’s particularly loquacious Roland MKS 80 console, man-driven reed versus man-driven machine with the winner a draw. Sander’s sticks carve a cavalier shadow beat as commentary and have their turn toward the disc’s close in a spasmodic exchange that throws off its fair share of funk. Not all of it works and the instrument-switching becomes a bit exasperating in spots. But all four men take pains to ensure that the interplay doesn’t wallow in needlessly prolix wankery. Repeat spins of this disc will likely depend on the listener’s affinity for the disorienting sensory horseplay of carnival funhouses.
Swallow Chase presents a solo recital by Sanders. Coxon and Wales’ roles scale back to producers’ status and the purely acoustic milieu presents an ideal telescope on the drummer’s itemized technique. The church mouse on the disc’s cover serves as an anthropomorphic analog to the mood of much of the music, quiet, delicate and fastidious in conception. On many of his previous gigs, particularly in the company of Evan Parker and bassist John Edwards, Sanders has favored an aggressive style that can border on the stentorian in terms of volume and impact. Not so here. This is a different, more subdued Sanders than the player on The Ayes Have It or The Two Seasons, more in synch with his approach on Nisus Duets (all three on Emanem). A quiet, contemplative cast drapes much of the program; one piece even incorporates snatches of silence for nearly half its duration as ballast for Sanders’ micro-level stick movements. Another (the last track) sounds like the disc is spinning at half speed and slowly winding down. Attenuating his sticks to the studio surroundings, Sanders’ also exploits the natural acoustics of the room.
Even with the emphasis on gradual development there is still a flurry of things going on and also a few spots where Sanders deploys some daunting muscle. Many of the pieces employ tempered cymbal (bowed and struck) and thudding tom play often favoring timbral exploration over rhythmic push, but still undergirding the action with an arching forward momentum. Peripheral implements like gongs and objects placed on skins enter the palette regularly. He also involves himself in various gamelan and East Asian percussion oriented asides. Through it all an extraordinary dexterity, both mental and kinesthetic comes into play. The disc is surprisingly frugal: nine untitled cuts float by in just under forty-two minutes. Its economical overall length gives each of the highly textured episodes welcome cohesion, an implicit sense of impetus and ending. The tactic also successfully safeguards against the intrusion of filler. Of the three inaugural Treaders this one takes the prize by a narrow margin, but each holds its charms. Coxon is reportedly at work on the second series of three. The current clutch already shows his efforts as quite removed from that of the typical boutique label.
[Treader titles are available directly through the Treader website.]
~ Derek Taylor
Do they accept double words in Scrabble? Remind me to use "prolix wankery" and try and align it with Triple Letter / Triple Word score squares.
What a strange looking label! Are these CDRs or "real" discs, Derek? Not that I'm all that desperate to expand my collection - the last SHJ outing was disappointing enough to put me off these guys for a while. Talking of Thirsty Ears, look forward to reading about the new Ware too while we're at it. I hope it's better than the last one too.
Time you changed da phoneme, non?
great cover art, but this whole 'let's-make-sure-most-people-who-want-one-can't-get-one' attitude makes me sick. I'm not even going to try, I will download them later. I hope they will come with big cover scans. why not make a CDR supply equal to the demand? anyways, it's an old discussion, and perhaps not one that needs to be revisited time & again.
Derek, the often used Latin expression for 'into the midst of things' is 'in medias res', but since there is no implication of movement in your use of the phrase (you're looking for 'IN the midst of things'), you should write 'in mediis rebus'. sorry I have to pick on these things, it's my job ;)
It's still a discussion worth following up on, David. I see Bernhard Günter's trente oiseaux label is going over to CDRs as opposed to more expensive "real" editions.. (Makes a big difference when you can break even by selling a few dozen instead of several hundred..) I'm not sure to what extent the labels themselves deliberately operate a "let's make sure most people who want one can't get one" policy.. The only label I know very well that releases things in seriously limited editions is Absurd (as I've mentioned before on other threads), and the reason that Nicolas Malevitsis does that is a) they're CDRs and b) question of budget. The fact that his editions sell out with alarming speed probably has much to do with the music itself. So let me know when you download these walruses and kangaroos and if they're any good I'll go & get them myself. Meanwhile, my favourite Latin inscription is one I saw on a building in Amsterdam: "Homo Sapiens Non Urinat In Ventum."
(Though I often get the impression I spend my whole life doing just that..)
Dan, that’s definitely a phrase that cuts both ways, drawing blood from both recipient & user ;)
To answer your ?, they’re real cds, not cdrs. And the Ware is pretty awesome, but again, it’s a look back, not forward.
Far as I know Bags relies on a ‘random’ phoneme generator- mess with the works & it’s like playing god. ‘Sides, lagroo’s tenacity should be rewarded not remanded, right?
Thanks for the Latin lesson, David. My grasp of the language is only slightly better than my fluency in Aramaic and Sanskrit :) [correction made]. Good questions availability and numbers. John Coxon was kind enough to send promos for coverage & it appears there’s a virtual shop connected to the Treader site, but they don’t seem to have much in the way of distribution to other online outlets or brick & mortars. I do know Downtown Music Gallery carried them for a NY minute, but I think they've since sold out. Cadence doesn’t stock ‘em far as I know. Hopefully John will chime in here & explain some other ways of obtaining them.
Posted by: derek at February 22, 2005 5:27 AMEager punters can secure these Treader items at Sound 323, London.
Posted by: Brian Marley at February 22, 2005 7:53 AMThese Treader items are available at Sound 323, London.
Posted by: Brian Marley at February 22, 2005 7:53 AMThe third one of these, the one you seemed to like the best, sounds the least interesting to me, Derek. If I was gonna bother with any of 'em (and I'm probably not; time is precious round here these days, listening time most of all), I'd go walrus.
>Talking of Thirsty Ears, look forward to reading about the new Ware too while we're at it. I hope it's better than the last one too.
I've got a full-page write-up coming in the March Wire. It is better than Threads, though I recently revisited that disc and was somewhat pleasantly surprised.
Oh, and if anybody has listening time to spare, feel free to drop by my MP3 blog, Another Perfect Day. One metal MP3 per day, M-F. This week is Polish Death Metal Week, and will feature, in order, Lost Soul, Decapitated, Behemoth and Vader, with something surprising on Friday, maybe.
Posted by: Phil at February 22, 2005 10:13 AManother weigh in on the Ware--I liked the second disc with Hamid Drake best--I think it really cooks and the quartet sounds best with Drake in the drumseat. He played only 5 of those European dates (the 2nd disc is from 2003), and speaking to Ware didn't leave me to believe Drake would be playing with them again unless Brown was unavailable and Drake was free (not a common occurrence these days). Too bad. There's a lot of great playing on that disc.
I too liked Threads more than most. I look forward to your piece Phil; Derek, I liked yours very much; mine in OFN is destined to be the weakest (Ware was a tough interview)!
Posted by: Adam Hill at February 22, 2005 10:56 AMI’ve gotten a lot better over the years, but I’m still not a big fan of “everything but kitchen sink” keyboards & there’s a fair share of them on the walrus. In a couple of places Coxon goes completely apeshit on the MKS 80- fun in context, but it didn’t really stick with me after the fact. The Sanders has a better flow & intimacy; feels more like a cohesive album to these ears.
Phil, will definitely check out your Ware review in The Wire (there’s a shop here that allows reading right off the rack)- which was your favorite disc? Fwiw, I think it’s a completely different animal than THREADS- golden-maned lion versus musk-enveloped skunk. Well, maybe I’m being a bit harsh with the “skunk.”
And when the hell is the Miles tell-all hitting the stands?
Where's your Ware review, Derek? Is it online?
The Miles book is coming out this fall. I recently spoke to the publisher's art director about the cover - they wanted to basically knock off Bitches Brew and were calling me to see if I had any juice with the folks at Sony (ha, ha). I told them I didn't, but didn't think that idea was all that swell anyway, and would they consider ripping off On The Corner instead, or at least making the cover bright yellow? We had a fairly productive talk, I think (he said as all his suggestions were being blithely ignored, on the other side of the country, by people he'd never meet in his life) - they agreed with me that it should look more like an album cover than a book cover, though my favorite suggestion, that a photo of electric era Miles in full blare should be superimposed over a garish "van art" psychedelic sunset, was met with confused silence. We'll see. I'm still waiting for the editor to get back to me with his thoughts, at which point I'm going to insert some more material I've been sitting on (the third Yo Miles! release, the Isle of Wight DVD) and hope that settles it for good and all. You'd think the guy being dead over a decade would allow for some running out of things to talk/write/argue about, but nope.
Posted by: Phil at February 22, 2005 11:54 AMAdam, thank you for the very kind word on my Ware piece- I wasn’t sure how it was gonna turn out.
I’d love to hear more about those comments he made re: Drake. From my vantage the Susie date was the best of the bunch (encouraged in my opinion given that it spills over onto the other two discs). Drake was great, but I got the sense that he wasn’t really clicking with Shipp some of the time. I thought he spurred Ware beautifully though & he and WP have a copasetic fit matched by very few. Brown still leaves me lukewarm. It’s not that he’s bad, just that compared to others who have filled the drum slot (even Marc Edwards) he still seems like a step back, rather than forward.
Anyone know if finished copies of LIVE IN THE WORLD contain exact dates for the performances? I had to consult Rick Lopez’s indispensable WP gigography to glean those details.
Posted by: derek at February 22, 2005 11:57 AMOh, yeah, my favorite disc of the triple. I'm kinda torn between 1 and 2; I definitely felt 3 was the most disposable of the set, though it too had its moments. Disc 1 would have been the clear winner if it hadn't been for William Parker's totally momentum-sapping solo in the middle of "Aquarian Sound." I was reminded of an old Calvin and Hobbes cartoon where Calvin is flying downhill on roller skates, unable to stop, and asks Hobbes for advice - what he gets is "Steer into a patch of gravel and fall down!" That's what Parker's solo, in the middle of that luscious groove/vamp, felt like to me. I loved hearing Drake on Disc 2, and hearing all those super-old tunes replayed. Hamid was playing so hard, too - he sounded like Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey or somebody half the time. Fantastic to hear that huge thwack behind Ware's most fervid soloing.
Posted by: Phil at February 22, 2005 11:59 AMSweet. Who do I talk to about scoring a galley? And is there a petition I can sign to lobby for the "van art" cover?
Hey, didn’t some guy just publish a book on Electric Miles? I spotted the spine in a book store a few weeks ago & thought it was yours before noticed the incongruous author’s name. I think it was called LAST MILES? And since you mentioned it, curious what you think of UP RIVER?
The Ware is up over at Dusted Magazine.
Posted by: derek at February 22, 2005 12:08 PMLol...looks like my JT review of the Ware set will express a minority view...
Posted by: Chris Kelsey at February 22, 2005 12:16 PMI had a problem with Shipp's solos on disc one--I found them indecisive and circular and even at moments, blundering. And I had a different take about his playing with Drake--he comes off to my ears as more confident and inventive. Disc 3 is sort of unnecessary, but at least it's a well-priced package.
When I said to Ware that I thought Drake really got things going beautifully for them, Ware seemed to think I was saying that Drake was a missing ingredient or something. (he's a very sensitive/defensive guy!) Maybe I was saying that? Because I honestly think Drake's date will draw some people to it who might otherwise think they had their fill of Ware, and they will not be disappointed.
Posted by: Adam Hill at February 22, 2005 12:21 PMThat’s funny Phil, I thought the reading of “Aquarian Sound” was way too long, but my beef was more with Shipp than WP. I actually dug the low-key tandem thing he & Susie got into before the ensemble close. But I’m with you on the sweetness of hearing the Silkheart songbook dusted off on disc two.
Posted by: derek at February 22, 2005 12:50 PM''but this whole 'let's-make-sure-most-people-who-want-one-can't-get-one' attitude makes me sick. I'm not even going to try, I will download them later.''
David, i don't think anybody releasing cd-rs is really trying to impose collector's item bullshit ideology. In the most cases it's not about exclusivity at all but more bout exclusion. The idea bout ''a propper cd'' is still strong among the distributors, record shops and even magazines. So for a ''cd-r'' label it is really hard sometimes to get the cd among the people. And belive me when we at L'Innomable release a cd-r in edition of 150 copies and proclame it sold out, that means we don't have any copies left at our place but in 99 % they re still on the shelves of a record shop who was supportive enough to take them (BIG THANX TO ALL OF THEM!!!). ''A propper cd'' idea is even stronger among the possible listeners unfortunately ...
all best
Posted by: lukaz at February 22, 2005 1:23 PMHey Chris, don’t just drop the cryptic LOL, dish...
Posted by: derek at February 22, 2005 1:24 PMdon't believe luka. the true reason for him only releasing editions of 150 cd-r's is that l'innomable is a FAKE label, really. the truth is that it is an ultra-nationalist corporation whose sole purpose is to wash money through the sales of fake "audio" cd-r's (ever wondered why the "music" sounds so strange? it's because the discs contain hidden data and codified messages for terroristic groups all over the planet. they're not even ment to be played in an audio player). so luka (who's real name i don't know) and his co-conspirators wash money for the shitonian government who in turn sells arms to columbian drug-cartels who in turn sell cocaine to poor american kids to prevent them to go to school and help the us-economy flourish. so at the end l'innomable is just one more piece in the puzzle of international terroristic activity and anti-americanism. dan warburton and i have actually written a piece about this subject. ckoom!!
Posted by: tomas at February 23, 2005 12:48 AMTomas, I told you to lay off the fuckin All Bran, man. Now look what you gone and done, bro - blown the whole fuckin gaff on EAI worldwide. Bang goes our Grammy. Sigh. OK so maybe we can now reveal the names of the next ten releases on the soon-to-be-disbanded SMERSH CDR label. Here's what you're missing, suckers..
1. Sunny Murray and Sachiko M "Live Mud Wrestling at Madison Square Garden"
2. Matthew Shipp & Snoop Dogg "Pass The Real Book, Motherfucker"
3. "Loren Connors Plays Pee Wee Herman"
4. Rudolph Grey / Jim Hall quartet with Nils Henning Orsted Pedersen and Weasel Walter
5. Grover Washington / Reggie Washington Quintet "Banned in DC"
6. Various Artists "Ben's Teenage Hearthrobs", compilation of favourite get-ur-Zappa-on legover music specially curated by the famous Derek Bailey biographer (artists include Little Feat, THF Drenching, Wilkinson / Hession / Fell & Paul Minotto)
7. Tomas Korber / Dan Warburton "Conspiracy Theory" (deconstructed split electronica CD mangling reductionist classics into unrecognisable screes of noise)
8. Billy Bang Plays Your Favourite Vietnam Soundtracks (foot tapping hits from Apocalypse Now, Deer Hunter, Platoon tastefully rendered by Sgt Bang and his troops)
9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (39 CD set) read by Mark E Smith
10. Zbigniew Karkowski plays Debussy piano music
One of the above is REAL.
Posted by: Dan Warburton at February 23, 2005 2:50 AMLOL!! :-D
if only...
I d take 10 copies each of these plus probably 20 of # 7
1. Sunny Murray and Sachiko M "Live Mud Wrestling at Madison Square Garden"
2. Matthew Shipp & Snoop Dogg "Pass The Real Book, Motherfucker"
3. "Loren Connors Plays Pee Wee Herman"
4. Rudolph Grey / Jim Hall quartet with Nils Henning Orsted Pedersen and Weasel Walter
5. Grover Washington / Reggie Washington Quintet "Banned in DC"
6. Various Artists "Ben's Teenage Hearthrobs", compilation of favourite get-ur-Zappa-on legover music specially curated by the famous Derek Bailey biographer (artists include Little Feat, THF Drenching, Wilkinson / Hession / Fell & Paul Minotto)
7. Tomas Korber / Dan Warburton "Conspiracy Theory" (deconstructed split electronica CD mangling reductionist classics into unrecognisable screes of noise)
8. Billy Bang Plays Your Favourite Vietnam Soundtracks (foot tapping hits from Apocalypse Now, Deer Hunter, Platoon tastefully rendered by Sgt Bang and his troops)
9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (39 CD set) read by Mark E Smith
10. Zbigniew Karkowski plays Debussy piano music
bye
noël - we missed you!
Posted by: tomas at February 23, 2005 9:37 AMDoes Loren Connnerors still look like Emo Phillips?
ckoom, baby.
Posted by: trid at February 24, 2005 11:46 PMso abnout this new ware trio set. would anyone like to make me very happy and burn me the first disk from it. I am a huge ibarra fan and fan of that band but really dont have much interest in hearing the other 2 disks, or have any money to buy any new cds. I would really appreciate it. drop me an email if you could help out
j
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