Niagara are pushing modern house music in
yet another direction. Their debut introduces one to their own
unmistakeable balance between tropical psychedelia and danceable
electronica.The Lisbon based trio's unconventional song structures rely
on a stripped down junction between hypnotic repetition and immersive,
experimental, spaced-out blips and cuts.
Drawing equal
parts of their raw analogue execution both from classic chicago tracks
as well as mid 70s german experimental rock and electronic
aesthetics,Niagara's skeleton of expression is an uncannily futuristic
blend of defying experimental electronic music.
Artwork was made
by American plastic artist Natalie Westbrook consisting of 100 different
handmade monoprints based on plantform imagery. Cd-R comes in a limited edition of 100 copies All music by Niagara All artwork & packaging by Natalie Westbrook useful links: http://www.myspace.com/niagaraaragain http://www.nataliewestbrook.com/
How fitting that these two musicians should come together for their first collaboration at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art! McDonas on piano and voice, and Dieterich (from Deerhoof) on guitar here present lovely, spare, sometimes jarring, sometimes gentle compositions that are thoroughly modernistic works of art in their own right. You’ll feel like a connoisseur as you listen to these artists and enjoy the cover work of visual artist Martha Colburn.
Un bel ritorno in pista quello del chitarrista John Dieterich, che fu dei Colossamite e del Gorge Trio e da una decina d’anni sta nei Deerhoof. In quest’album che esce per la portoghese Dromos accompagna il virtuoso pianista Thollem McDonas, attivo da anni nei circuiti ambiti jazz e sperimentali della Bay Area di San Francisco, per una serie di duetti dalla tensione forte e vivida per quanto sempre trattenuta, costretta, mai lasciata veramente libera di esplodere. I pezzi sono generalmente brevi e bozzettistici e centrati soprattutto sui movimenti dissimulatori ed estremamente diversificati di Thollem, che passa da chiari di luna debussyani a sparseness satiana, da gustosi cenni alla Monk a momenti più stralunati e sperimentali (Some Dancing People), fino a far apparire il suo strumento come fosse preparato (That’s Scary! To People). Da parte sua Dieterich pennella e disegna senza mai strafare se non occasionalmente (gliottimi crescendo di I’ll Keep Thinking e I Just Thought Give People), riservando accordi più aspri e acidi a pochi – ma molto incisivi – pezzi come That’s Scary! To People e Making A Report. La musica scorre con apparenza d’improvvisazione pur non avendone le caratteristiche più proprie ed evidenti (si tratta di composizioni, anche se in formato haiku) ed è veramente un ottimo esercizio non di stile. (7/8)
Manuel Mota, Afonso Simões • Ao vivo no espaço, Centro de desastres • CD-R Dromos Records • 1t-25:07
Tetuzi Akiyama, Edén Carrasco, Leonel Kaplan • Moments of Falling Petals • CD-R Dromos Records • 1t-33:06
Il nuovo cd di Manuel Mota (edizione limitata a 100 copie) è una collaborazione registrata dal vivo con l’amico Afonso Simões (Curia, Gala Drop) alla batteria. Ed è un disco eccentrico per Mota perché la sua chitarra è molto distante dai consueti movimenti astratti e si muove lungo sentieri elettrici grintosi e scoscesi di wah wah introverso, cupo, colmo di risonanze e gravido di riflessi, mentre la batteria improvvisa fornendogli semplicemente una spalla d’appoggio. (6)
Anche il cd di Tetuzi Akiyama (chitarra), Edén Carrasco (sax) e Leonel Kaplan (tromba) è in edizione limitata (250 copie) e similmente destino agli aficionados di stretta osservanza: radure di solfeggi e carezze di suono, ampio utilizzo di spazi vuoti (silenzi?) e malinconia persistente tra le maglie, le volute e i drones che si susseguono nell’indifferenza dell’ambiente circostante. (6)
Dromos Records is proud to announce the release of Caustic Gate by Wasteland Jazz Unit, a Cincinnati duo by Jon Lorenz (saxophone) and John Rich (clarinet).
Caustic Gate is no exception to their previous works, consolidating the reputation they’ve built in the past times in the lineage of great mavericks and art provocateurs, standing therefore beyond any easy definition of free jazz, noise or improvisation.
The sound of their instruments is stretched to the extreme, until they are barely recognizable, revealing new sonic and formal possibilities. This is music that confronts you to a point that’s impossible to be indifferent. Like a dare and an enigma at the same time, it exists in the paradox of being both primal and utterly complex.
The artwork was made by visual artist Mariana Dias da Cunha and of consists of 200 different original linoleum cuts made out of discarded old encyclopedias. Cd-R comes in a limited edition of 200 copiesAll music by Wasteland Jazz UnitAll artwork & packaging by Mariana Dias da Cunha
All orders are shipped via Regular Portuguese Mail. If you wish to have
your items delievered to you through a different way, please send us an
enquiry to dromosrecords[@]gmail[.]com before ordering or visit http://www.dromosrecords.com for more info & other releases
"O duo de Manuel Mota (guitarra elétrica) com Afonso Simões (bateria) podia , ou não, remeter a música tocada ao que ambos fazem no contexto do Curia, quarteto constituído com David Maranha e Margarida Garcia. Se outros caminhos percorrem nas suas respectivas actividades, Mota com um jazz pontilhístico e de linhas quebradas ou em contextos de improvisação experimental (por exemplo, o seu recente encontro com Jason Kahn) e Simões investindo no free rock dos Fish & Sheep ou na electrónica “redux” de Rafael Toral, é precisamente pelo psicadelismo cultivado por aquele grupo que alinham neste registo ao vivo. A música é fluida, energética e evidencia um bom sentido de partilha, sendo apenas prejudicada pela fraca qualidade de gravação."
Dromos Records proudly announces the release of All for now by Thollem McDonas (Piano, Voice) and John Dieterich (Guitar).
Celebrating their first public collaboration, All for now is one of those special moments, when the empathy and complicity between two players emerges into something far wider, complex, and profound than the simple circumstance of their encounter.
In fact, as they play along, one wonders how did they have achieve such maturity in their first work together, evoking both their idiosyncratic inner voice and years of tradition in the lineage of free thinking and free playing.
The artwork of consists of 200 different original hand printed linoleum cuts on old salvaged photos by visual artist and filmmaker Martha Colburn, specially done for the occasion.
edition of 200 copies on orange cd-R. all music by Thollem McDonas and John Dieterich all artwork by Martha Colburn
Methods of payment :
-PAYPAL All orders are shipped via Regular Portuguese Mail. If you wish to have
your items delievered to you through a different way, please send us an
enquiry to dromosrecords[@]gmail[.]com before ordering or visit http://www.dromosrecords.com for more info & other releases
Not the Mota I was expecting. In my head, I, doubtless unfairly, would have conjured up a phrase like, "the Iberian Sugimoto". Well, here, in the company of drummer Simões, it's more like "The Portuguese Sharrock or Capspar Brotzmann". He raises quite the squall in this freewheeling, high-energy blowout. It's only about 25 minutes long and seems to cut out while things are still going on. I can't say it's an approach that holds much attraction for me, but if you've been aching for some Fushitsusha-style flailing explosiveness, you could do worse. Nice cover, with an individual smoke-burn on each copy.
"Just as I had been expecting a quieter Mota, I was probably anticipating a noisier, bluesier Akiyama but once again, I was flummoxed. Here he, along with Carrasco on alto and Kaplan on trumpet, play it soft and borderline melodic all the way through. Much space, a nice array of texture. Several lovely moments here, including one about 20 minutes in where I was strongly reminded of Roscoe Mitchell's Sound Ensemble from the early 80s (high praise). Again, it's a short disc, about 33 minutes, but strong and well-paced throughout, definitely one to hear. This release also has a great sleeve, folded origami like, as is the interior tissue sleeve. Good one."
Dromos Records is proud to announce All for now, by Thollem McDonas (Piano, Voice) and John Dieterich ( Guitar).
Recorded at the San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art, All for now documents the first live appearance of these two free spirits as a duo. The artwork will include hand printed linoleum cuts on old salvaged photos by artist and filmmaker Martha Colburn.
All of this will come in an edition of 200, that will be out in April 2010. Stay in tune for more news soon.
Combined, contrasted and contrapuntal guitar and trumpet textures – plus those of another instrument – are what tie together these notable sessions. Yet even though only a trio of instruments is involved on each – and Tokyo-based On-kyo guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama is present on two of the three CDs – the overall performances can readily be distinguished from one another.
More obviously separate is Crackleknob, the collaboration among three New York-based players: guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Reuben Radding and trumpeter Nate Wooley. Each has worked with a cross-section of other progressive players including composer Anthony Braxton (Halvorson), pianist Denman Maroney (Radding) and cellist Daniel Levin (Wooley). Not only that, but Wooley has also recorded in the past with Leonel Kaplan, a trumpeter from Buenos Aires with similar understated tendencies, featured on Moments of Falling Petals.
Kaplan’s associates on that disc are Akiyama, whose interests range across the electronic, improv and notated scenes, as well as Éden Carrasco, an alto saxophonist from Santiago. Akiyama – who plays a tape-delay electric guitar – is also on board for Rebuses, but his partners here are saxophonist and clarinetist Masahiko Okura from Tokyo, who plays with Japanese improvisers such as turntablist/guitarist Otomo Yoshihide; and Vienna’s quartet-tone trumpet specialist Franz Hautzinger whose playing partners range from synthesizer player Thomas Lehn to rock-styled ensembles.
On Rebuses the emphasis is strictly minimalist. Brass timbres leak onto toy guitar-like twangs produced by slurred fingering, abut barely breathed peeps and disconnected note patterns from the saxophonist, and rest on an undertow of electronic flanges, spins and clatters. Throughout, Akiyama’s licks aren’t often wedded to folksy finger-picking but concentrate instead on ringing chords and slack key approximations, circling the others’ tones and constantly launching envelopes of dissonant patterns. More upfront here than elsewhere, the guitarist’s downward-cascading licks plus crackling amp distortions bring forth belligerent split tones or vulture-like cawing from the reedist.
Occasionally Okura interrupts flat-line air expelling to complement with tongue slaps, fluttering squeals or rolling blows, the equally sporadic rubato squeaks from Hautzinger. For his part the trumpeter prefers tremolo grace notes which usually reflect back onto themselves. As well, in contrast to Akiyama’s divisive string rubs and chordal flanges, Hautzinger’s tongue-rolled air is connectively chromatic. Eventually collective note patterns shape the five long tracks into suite-like form.
More precious and much shorter, Moments of Falling Petals, with Akiyama on acoustic guitar, consists of a single track improvisation which moves between silencers, gentling undulations and unexpected crunching eruptions. With Kaplan’s timbres initially centred on muted growls and Carrasco’s on peeps, squeals and chromatic slurs, only Akiyama’s coldly outlined notes cut through the undifferentiated sonic and silences. Eventually his snaps and strums are challenged by side-slipping shrills and bell-muted pressure from the saxophonist plus spittle-encrusted angled grace notes from the trumpeter. Following a climatic water dam-like roar from the horns, and a subsequent extended period of silence, the piece’s final variation is divided among whimpering pressure from Kaplan, which becomes louder and more atonal by the end; brassy spetrofluctuation from Carrasco; and microtonal slurred fingering from Akiyama – with a conclusive resonating twang.
Moving north from Buenos Aires to Brooklyn, not only do Halvorson, Radding and Wooley run through 10 tunes in less than 48½ minutes, but each number also has a quirky title. The game plan here involves triple counterpoint with an emphasis on dissonant unison harmonies. Performances by this trio are as macro as the others are micro, without losing sight of post-modern minimalism that is mixed with jazz-styled improvisations.
In this context at least, Halvorson’s output is spikier and louder than Akiyama’s. During the course of “Libidinous Objects & the Decay of Self”, for instance, she works herself from watery chromatic picking to distorted lines and finally into a display of scattered notes and slurred staccato fingering. Radding thickly thumps in response, while Wooley leaks the odd brass tone. Meanwhile, “In the Teeth of Ideology” serves as a showcase for the bassist, whose wood-splintering-like scrubs and col legno ruffs replace his usual thick stopping and walking. Stepping back to strum, the guitarist cedes the remaining space to Wooley, whose hushed output is simultaneously lyrical, wispy and Impressionistic.
Elsewhere each seems to be vying to discover whose playing can be the most moderato and low-pressured. However an extended improv such as “Quavering Voices of the Mutilated” shows off their multi-directional counterpoint in greatest detail. With the broken chord action connected by Radding’s pumping lines, the guitarist moves from chunky rasgueado to spidery fingering while the trumpeter’s interpolations evolve from tremolo buzzing to sounds that are fortissimo, shrill, grainy and slurred. When this centrifugal performance climaxes, silences, delay and discursion eventually combine into lyrical connectivity.
Although Crackleknob distinguishes itself from the other two sessions with a brash – perhaps New World-styled – forthrightness, each of the CDs demonstrate winning methods for enlivening trumpet-guitar trio sessions that simultaneously explore and evolve. "
Dromos Records proudly announces the release of “Ao vivo no espaço - Centro de desastres” by Manuel Mota (electric guitar) and Afonso Simões (drums) .
Documenting a live performance by these two pivotal figures of the Portuguese underground, ao vivo no espaço - centro de desastres stands as an supreme example of free thinking and sonic creativity, opening new grounds for the improvisational structures they previously made, both solo or in projects such as Curia or Fish & Sheep .
All the covers are handmade and each one of them was burned differently by Manuel Mota.
Cd-R comes in a limited edition of 100 copies. all music by Manuel Mota and Afonso Simões all Artwork & Packaging by Manuel Mota
Dromos Records is foremost a space open to cross-functional interaction and communion between artists.Making use of DIY strategies, we try to be not only a distribution method but also a point of merging and exposure, giving voice to artists that perform on the margins and at the same time establish a strong relationship between music and plastic arts.
Dromos Records is run as a non-profit principle. All proceeds go directly to the artists, subsequent releases or to the funding of label activities such as providing opportunities for musicians and plastic artists to collaborate, perform, record and publish their works.