Awww, a review without a posted comment is like an empty restaurant - makes me feel sad for all that food sitting uncooked in the fridge - OK Nate I could moan, as there are plenty of comparisons you might have made with the classical repertoire, but that would be partially paraphrasing my liner notes so never mind. MEANWHILE this is, by Ernesto's standards, an OLD CS release - nearly a dozen albums have appeared on the label since, including one of mine that nobody seems to have heard. Or is someone (Brian?) sitting on a huge pile of Creative Sources discs preparing a monster Bags feature? (Yo, Bivins...!) As far as I know the only chaps to have kept up with the CS catalogue as far as reviews go are PT's purple prose peddler Massimo Ricci and Wayne "Slammin Beats" Spencer.

"Or is someone (Brian?) sitting on a huge pile of Creative Sources discs"

I wish. Haven't heard anything on the label since last year's batch (that included 'Atolon'). Need to catch up....

I thought Atolon was on Rossbin? -- Oh there's probably plenty of classical comparisons I should have made but I'm an old jazzbo at heart!

I've got Dan's CS disc (have to revisit it!) but haven't heard the other recent CS releases. Maybe if no-one pipes up here I'll try & write it up.....

Oops, you're correct, that was on Rossbin. In any case, been a while since hearing anything new on CS.

I was happy to hear almost all CS realeses (excluding last three) and I must admit there is not a single one that failed me.
The disc of Blondy/Mariage/Warburton trio is a really great one (congratulation to you, Dan and your partners), but it is one of many great albums realeased so far by that label. I think you haven't written yet about "Kreis" and "ETWA" (both of them are brilliant) or "Vasistas" (good, but maybe too silent for me to be really apreciated) and I'm looking forward to read your opinions..
I think most of CS discs are fascinating journeys through the dark side of sound and the proof that beauty lurks everywhere, even (as Jose Oliveira calls it) in "forsaken regions of music". So listen and enjoy. All I can do is to recommend those records to You, because my poor English excludes me from the Bags staff.

Hey, your English seems fine to me, & I'd be interested to read your writeup of the recent releases.

Just been listening to the Warburton/Blondy/Mariage & it's a beaut.

Thanks, you're very kind, but I know my limits, so I can only recommend all those 3 discs (even Vasistas - it's hard listenable but it's a good one).
I suppose you've known it before, but I write it.
The "Prism" EP of Rodrigues/Thieke/Rodrigues can be downloaded from The Stasisfield mp3 label site (www.stasisfield.com) - quite good music, but "Kreis" (by those three men + Carlos Santos) is much better.

The titles could've been taken from Mr. Purple's menu :), but soundwise CS016 is a very ear catching ratissage dans la foret.

Might want to take a look at the reviews on the excellent creative sources site, where the violinist's productions are variously characterized as "ghostly" (Couture), "psychedelic" (Bivins), "visionary" but/thus "hopeless" (Ricci), and "creeping" (Spencer).

Encore

Just so his mighty fans won't make me eat my hamlet, I'll exclude him from the menu. Mercy.

[Nate] The aesthetic is austere rather than lacerating, however: uneasy assemblages of rustles and whimpers and langorous rubbings, the musicians faintly grazing the surface of their instruments rather than penetrating further inside.

[Mike] Nate, could you elaborate on the sound events you described as "rustles"? I haven't heard this disc (actually have never even heard of these musicians before!), and I'm having trouble imagining it for the violin-family, whereas whimpers and rubbings are the sorts of things that get me most excited in this subgenre you craftily called "just-barely-there improv". Would this be non-bowing sounds? Or maybe the guitar/piano guy? I tend to think of rustling as a composite of prototypically percussive and dull sounds. I've only heard a few CS discs so far and am looking forward to digging deeper, but I tend to give lower priority to heavily rustle-based music, as I prefer really sharp sounds and life is short.

A general question to all you more knowledgeable folks: Is there much else just-barely-there improv with instrumentation akin to the traditional acoustic violin-based quartet? I can't think of any, but I'm curious. I really love the few examples of string quartet free improv I've heard, especially Bob Marsh's Emergency String Quartet disc on SGM and Dominic Duval's string quartets, but they've been the older, action-packed, dense style of improv and I haven't encountered any lowercase stuff within this mid-sized ensemble bowed-string timbral format.

(By the way, this reminds me of something worth noting in passing: last night I witnessed a beautiful "string ensemble" free improv set of Helena Espvall-Santoleri (cello--incredible improvisor), Mat Maneri (viola), and Evan Lipson (doublebass), with the impeccably sublime post-Peterson drumkitter John McLellan accenting the very understated, sparse, slow beauty of this ad hoc combination I had arranged for a one-off performance at a private spring equinox party in Philadelphia. It was not extended-technique-based beyond the sizeable component of soft half-soundings, but they nursed the details and avoided the cliches of academic composition and free jazz. It was Maneri-esque (nb. that's not inevitable), but more mellow.)

"they've been the older, action-packed, dense style of improv"
Yes, don't forget the Quatuor Accorde on Emanem! Great disc (Wren, Hug, Durrant & Wastell - before the latter pair went all quiet), check it out. Not at all "lowercase" though.
"I haven't encountered any lowercase stuff within this mid-sized ensemble bowed-string timbral format."
I think the best example, though it's not an improvisation at all, is Radu Malfatti's string quartet "das profil des schweigens" (1997). Edition Wandelweiser EWR 9801.
Back to CS - Wayne reviewed Bertrand Gauguet's ETWA in last month's PT, and I've done KREIS for April. Vasistas (Denzler, Guionnet, Unami, Kinoshita) will be in the next issue after that - need to listen a few more times and it's a nonstop 67 minuter.
One more thing - sounds like Columbo - the trio disc with Blondy & Mariage was one of two projects I sent to Jon Morgan for Meniscus, the other being an earlier trio with Fred Blondy & Martine Altenburger. Mr Morgan agreed to release that about a year ago and that was the last I heard of the affair until last night, when an email arrived announcing that he had officially thrown in the towel. RIP Meniscus. So if anyone wants to release a trio album..

Oh, I'm really sorry to hear that, Dan. As you know, I really love that Blondy, Altenburger collaboration. Also, I know how hard it can be to wait/anticipate a year and then get a note like that. Bummer.

I do hope you'll keep trying to get that released (even if you don't recognize the greatness of late Schonberg) ;>{

[Dan] Yes, don't forget the Quatuor Accorde on Emanem! Great disc (Wren, Hug, Durrant & Wastell - before the latter pair went all quiet), check it out. Not at all "lowercase" though.

[Mike] Gosh, thanks! I got that Accorde disc a few years ago when Durrant came around these parts, but I've since totally forgot about it-- still buried in a "to listen to seriously" stack somewhere... I'm gonna pull it out soon! If memory serves me correctly, I got it because I was interested in Mark Wastell's playing, which I loved when I saw a trio with Fell and Davies many years ago...

[Dan]I think the best example, though it's not an improvisation at all, is Radu Malfatti's string quartet "das profil des schweigens" (1997). Edition Wandelweiser EWR 9801.

[Mike] Oh yes, I forgot about that! I love that disc! Trombone piece is beautiful too. Of course that hardly sounds like the instruments used! Which is good and bad... I am also happy that Malfatti doesn't restrict himself to improv as a blanket ideology like so many other people.

Wow, yeah, I spun the Quator Accorde briefly just now and I heard some amazing stuff even listening non-seriously. Some Dumitrescu territory in there! Yeah! Gotta dig into this one more soon!

Mike, if you can find a copy, you might check out "The Long Awaited Etcetera" on Recorded. While not uniformly in the rustle mode, it has some great non-scrubbing-type playing by violinist Katt Hernandez and cellist Helena Espvall-Santoleri in smallish ensembles.

[Walter] Mike, if you can find a copy, you might check out "The Long Awaited Etcetera" on Recorded. While not uniformly in the rustle mode, it has some great non-scrubbing-type playing by violinist Katt Hernandez and cellist Helena Espvall-Santoleri in smallish ensembles.

[Mike] Funny you should mention that. I mean, really funny! Ironies flying left and right! I was at all but one of the performances on that disc; I got that one the minute it was pressed; and a year or two ago I even wrote 95% of a very long review that I think is now lost forever in a recent hard-drive data backup failure!

Suffice to say that disc is very special to me! I consider it one of the finest discs of free improv in the past few years in terms of broadly representing a vital strain of underdocumented improvisors. And of course, Katt is absolutely incredible! Among violin improvisors, my top favorites are Mat Maneri (duh), Mari Kimura, and Katt.

The disc is not only readily available, but your timing is especially uncanny because it's being belatedly stocked by Downtown Music Gallery in the next few days and I've promised a blurb for it...

(Um, by the way, I noticed the comments about women in improv and improv discourse in another recent Bags thread... It's worth noting that there's an all-female avant-garde music/dance/video festival (Transmodern Age 2005) in Baltimore happening on April 8th/9th organized by Catherine Pancake (of Trockeneis fame). The reason this popped to mind just now is that Katt Hernandez and Helena Espvall-Santoleri are doing a duo, among other significant improv performances at the festival. There's a really significant female segment in the experimental improv world around these parts (Philadelphia/Baltimore), a great many extremely talented and dedicated improvisors. I find this gender topic gaudy, but I mention it for the benefit of those who are in that conceptual mode.)

OK, you can scratch my last post--I now see that you're thanked on that disc, Michael, so I figure there's a pretty good chance you already have it!

Hm, re: the original question, if you're a fan of whimpers, rubs & scrapes, there are certainly plenty on the disc, which are probably more than enoguh to offset any rustliness you find offputting.

There's a fair bit of string quartet improv on the more recent of the Free Zone Appleby discs, by the way. It's more in the traditional improv vein than the spectral/minimalist vein. I found the disc kinda pretty but dull but I suspect that others might have more positive reports on it.

The 'Long-Awaited Etcetera' is indeed great stuff (the Jack Wright duet on there alone is terrific...) Her stuff with Marc Bison is nice too, but a bit too folksy/droney for me. You can actually buy her CDs directly from her by going to: http://zeitgeist.numachi.com/katt/music.html

Um, this week I'm trying to find some time to "master" (ie do my best to eliminate some unwanted room hum using my PC's limited EQing facilities) some violin and electronics duets I recorded last Sunday. There's a fair amount of "rustling" on 'em, though for the most part it's quite skronky. Like Kagel's mid-60s string quartets played spiritedly but very badly. Or something. Anyway, I'd be glad to post a copy to anyone who wants YET ANOTHER CD TO LISTEN TO, as any feedback wld be gratefully received.
matthew.milton@roughguides.com

oh and I've just remembered, IST's "Ghost Notes" CD has a piece on it entitled "Ritmico" ("by" Mark Wastell) in which all three musicians (Fell, Davies, Wastell) must play only on the bodies of their instruments. "Fire Music" by Carl Bergstrom-Nielson, on the same CD, is quite rustly too if I recall - though that might simply be the title of the piece colouring my memory of what it actually sounds like.

Matt, I'm always up for a new disc to listen to: drop me an email at DWarbur928@aol.com & I'll tell you where to send it. Dan

[Matt] The 'Long-Awaited Etcetera' is indeed great stuff (the Jack Wright duet on there alone is terrific...)

[MAP] Yes!!!! I totally agree with you, Matt. The disc is totally essential even just for that 17" duo piece! (Although it's the trio piece with Charles Cohen and Evan Rapport "Cricket Absynthe" that's not only my favorite on that disc, but probably a no-brainer for any all-time top ten list of personal favorite improv pieces I'd make! (Perhaps most people would not hear anything out of the ordinary on that one, but for me it's a musical miracle.) And if memory serves me correctly, bearing in mind this was well over 3 years ago, it was that trio set I cited in my festival review at the time as my favorite set, no minor distinction among the unforgettable music that occurred those four days of 2001!)

But thinking about that Hernandez/Wright duo really brings back special memories. I can still remember being the only other person in the room when they played together for the first time--it was a Saturday afternoon between public segments of the festival--and it was an absolutely mind-blowing musical bond they instantly achieved! The ideas were flying left and right and they were intertwining the whole time! It had all the timbral and rhythmic variation I lust for in free improv. As I had just heard Katt for the first time only two days earlier, I was still taken aback with surprise by her fresh and raw take on the Maneri sound. It's one of my fondest memories as a improv listener to have witnessed such an historic occasion! As I recall, the recording of that first meeting was somewhat compromised by the typical dynamic imbalance between unamplified violin and saxophone(but not a problem for these ears), and it was a week or so later when Jack was journeying up North and met with Katt (in Vermont as I recall?) that they played a duo again and recorded the piece on that CD. Some months before the record came out, I recall hearing that session on one of the CDRs Jack passes along from time to time of recent sessions that'll likely never be released, and I was absolutely astonished at that duo. Miraculous! In fact, now I can even recall playing that very same piece on that CDR for Bruce (of Downtown) one day to give him a taste of Jack Wright, who he hadn't heard yet, after being such a frequent victim of my babbling hype about Jack, and he remarked on its similarity to the early 80s playing of Zorn and Polly Bradfield together, which is a fascinating insight given that he was one of the 5 or so people who actually attended those sorts of gigs in NYC at that time, and besides being a fine compliment, it points to how far ahead of their time Zorn and Bradfield were in those underdocumented days. So yes, an amazing piece of music and very special to me! Sorry if my rambling is excessive here. I really do ramble a bit much for most people's taste and I bear the double-edged sword of being an unusually rapid typist... Please forgive me as this music and these people are very close to my heart...

Yes, Katt's extremely talented. I very much enjoyed playing with her (and, of course, my man Kendig) last weekend. She's really versatile and imaginative. Can't wait to hear the recording...