Keith Rowe/Sachiko M/Toshimaru Nakamura/Otomo Yoshihide EL005 (Erstwhile Records)
Without a doubt one of the great releases in the genre and a landmark of 21st century improvisation this imposing three CD set is truly unmatched by any other release this year. Set the challenge of performing an improvisation for four hours at the 2004 Amplify festival in Berlin the four musicians more then rose to the challenge. This task, to create an improv over such a duration that flow, has direction and is not just a long series of techniques and styles seems almost insurmountable. This beautifully packaged three disc set reveals that they were not only able to pull this off but to do so masterfully. Removed of the constraint of time they are able to develop everything at length to take ideas and work them all the way through. The interplay between the four, with none of them seeming to take the lead, but creating a gestalt sound that seems to arise from the center of their interactions. The sounds on this disc seethe and writhe for hours, sometimes more aggressive but typically at a slow deliberate burn culminate not in a wash of sound but in a nearly hour long withdrawal. The conclusion of this piece, so predicated on what has come before takes up the bulk of the third disc and seems to take the sound inside itself completely and leave us in the end with a delicate void. The last three tracks on this is one of the most stunning bits of music I've ever heard, but it is so reliant on the previous three hours that it is impossible to take it in isolation. And this is the triumph of this music, like the great symphonic works it's conclusion is a part of the whole, its power is the entire piece of music.
4g cloud (Erstwhile Records)
Aptly titled this discs provides us with three separate live performances of the Four Gentlemen of the Guitar. Disc two with it's long disc length track especially gives one the feeling of laying out in the field next to a coal fired power plant and daydreaming on the clouds floating above. Clusters of sounds in a hazy atmosphere, warm guitar and cold computer layer into a music that progresses toward a conclusion but also has layer upon layer of depth. Beautiful, gauzy music it lulls the listener in it's grip, this is music that meets Eno's axiom for ambient music - it melds into the background but rewards a closer listen. On the first disc we are given a track that sets the stage, that reveals our four gentlemen. A nice bit of music, pleasant and engaging but nothing the committed fan of modern improv would find unexpected. But the next track opens things up. The sounds are more unrecognizable, more spacious but in a post-Sugimoto manner. Sounds simply disappear as if whisked away, no longer available for consumption and when they return it is for a different purpose. The Deformed Veil is apt - things are covered up, but inadequately. This one track, out of all the wonderful music from this year, hints to me of a possible next direction of this music.
John Tilbury/Marcus Schmickler Variety (A-Musik)
This has been a banner year for John Tilbury with a disc of solo improv (see below), a duo AMM release, a recording of his Beckett interpretations and finally this duo with Marcus Schmickler. This recording seems to be John improvising on piano, edited together, manipulated and then layered with background sounds by Marcus. A complex palette of sounds is on this disc, generally behind the piano which seems to have been confined (by editorial choice one wonders) to the more Feldman-esque range of John's playing. Lightly propelled by the background hums, tones and layered captures from the piano. The ending sees a blurring of the sounds together and yet the piano still stands out as it build toward a resolution that sounds as if the piano is being played over a child's radio, lost in the distance.
Sean Meehan Sectors (for Constant) (SoSEDITIONS)
A two disc set of solo snare drum music that comes incased in pressed together paper. Packaging that requires destruction to reveal it's contents (though some savants managed through anal labour to preserve it as much as possible) Revealed inside are two normal CDs that both contain space, interspersed with the impure tones caused by rubbing dowels on cymbals placed on a snare drum. These sounds float in and out of long spaces seeming coming out of nowhere to interfere with the external sounds, build to a relatively high volume, abide a while and then fade away. These sounds work with the space, caress it and join it. They aren't defined by the space, or exist to prove a point or an aesthetic, they are simply there as much as the sounds they joining and thus reveal.
Graham Halliwell Recorded Delivery (Confront Collectors Series)
Layers of pure tones from eBowed harp, feedback saxophone, tam tam are manipulated into a stunningly beautiful set of music here. Each track features a different source or collaborator for Graham; Rhodri Davis, Mark Wastell and Steve Roden. Graham adds his ethereal sax and studio manipulations in such a way that it reveals more rather then covers up the source material. Delicate and yet intensely focused this was a release that I wasn't expecting and was immediately taken by.
Bill Livingstone A Piobaireachd Diary vols 1-4 (Self Released)
In this the year that Bill retired from competitive piping he embarked on a project to record both his thoughts as well as his brilliantly playing of that most wonderful of pipe music, Piobaireachd. Each track is introduced by Bill with ideas he received from instructors, through his own knowledge or even just the experience of performing at certain venues. One of the best recorded pipes I've heard with absolutely masterful playing and a selection of some of the best and biggest tunes this set is essential. One can only hope that the promised additional four volumes are released soon.
Christian Fennesz/Sachiko M/Otomo Yoshihide/Peter Rehberg EL004 (Erstwhile Records)
Another piece of documentation from the Amplify 2004 festival that just further demonstrates what a high water mark in modern improvisation that was. This short improv is perfect in it's length and it's depth rewards multiple listens. Truly a piece where the four improvisors blend into a single soundscape whose detail unfolds and wraps around itself of the course of it's length.
Jonathan Coleclough/Lethe Long Heet (special edition) (ICR Distribution)
Another one of Coleclough's brilliant and deep drones enhance by Lethe's micro details, muted events and (eventually) some cataclysmic bowing. One of the few times getting the "special edition" is absolutely worth it as the nearly forty minute piece on the second disc leads to such a strong climax for the whole set.
Allison Kinnaird The Silver String (Temple Records)
One of the primary forces behind the resurgence of the traditional harp of Scotland here Allison plays both the lowland Gut harp and the wire strung harp of the Highlands and Islands. Further variety is brought to this disc via a piece on the on brey harp, guest performances by Ann and Charlie Heymann and Allison's own original compositions. Add to that the bonus DVD of Allison's exquisite glass work highlighted by her performance and this is truly the best harp set of the year.
John Tilbury Barcelona Piano Solo (Rossbin)
The first disc of John's solo piano improvs is a welcome and wonderful edition to his catalog. An exploration of the sounds of the piano it moves in increments toward a resolution that seems to hover in our ears before the audience applause. The model of this is more Cage's Sonatas and Interludes then the Feldman that Tilbury is usually associated and the slight pauses here and there almost feel like page flips as a new sonata comes up. This disc gives a sampling of a few John's array of techniques and with the piano only lightly prepared and purely acoustic it demonstrates how wide his range really is.
The Tallis Scholars Requiem (Gimmell Records)
The Requiem is by it's very nature a powerful and emotional piece of music. The Tallis Scholars here provide three Spanish Requiem's sung brilliantly and with their usual attention to the appropriate performance styles. Deep and beautiful music, this has gotten almost constant play since I have gotten it - good music to put on as one goes to sleep.
Siobhán Armstrong Cláirseach na hÉireann (Maya Recordings)
Siobhán has recorded many different historical harp albums but this is her first of all wire strung material. Appropriately enough it is entirely Irish music and is played on one of David Kortier's amazing Trinity College replicas. An amazing Irish harper, playing the music of Ireland on that most Irish of harps is clearly a sign of the resurgence of Irelands national instrument on it's native shores.
GOD Anti-Sex/Anti-Wiretappong (Made in Taiwan) (Little Enjoyer/JYRK/GMBY)
Cracked electronics and contact mic'd surfaces with some radio and other random sound sources provide the layers of textures in this release but do little to describe how evocative it is. These tools have been used frequently in modern music, but the members of GOD manage to wring new and compelling sounds out of them. Fairly raw, yet under control this fine slab of improv is both enjoyable in and of itself and perhaps indicates a new source of improv for the upcoming years.
