Six new releases on Cathnor

[Daniel Jones]

Richard has asked me to pass this on to y'all:

"Cathnor is very pleased to announce six new releases, five available now, with a sixth due within a couple of weeks, but available to pre-order. In stock now are the next four instalments in the Vignettes Series of 3" discs, plus one new Standard Series release, with the other imminent release also belonging to the Standard Series.

The four Vignettes discs come from Daniel Jones, Cremaster, Manfred Werder realised by Will Montgomery and Neil Davidson, all quite different releases that we are proud to release for a variety of reasons.

The Standard Series release available now is by Toc Sine, who are the all-electronics duo of Pascal Battus and Jean-Luc Guionnet. Forthcoming very soon, but available to pre-order, the next Standard Series release will be jointly published alongside the excellent Another Timbre label- a full length CD named Dying Sun by the established trio Looper.

The first of these are now available from the Cathnor shop (http://cathnor.com/Cathnor_New_Shop.html).

Following the success of previous offers there will be further special offers available for those wishing to purchase several of these discs at once."

http://cathnor.com/index.html

[b-owen]

Daniel, psyched to hear your new work and the latest batch of Cathnor's!

[jkudler]

i really liked the looper clip on the AT site.

[simon reynell]

Spent the evening listening through to the new Cathnor discs. They deserve to be discussed here as they'll be virtually the only releases of note not reviewed on The Watchful Ear.

The only full-length disc is by Toc Sine - the electronics duo of Pascal Battus and Jean-Luc Guionnet. IMO a very strong and impressive disc, but quite an exhausting listen as it's pretty abrasive at times. Certainly rewarding if you have the energy for it. The recordings are from 2008, but it sounds cutting edge to my ears. Definitely worth a good listen, especially if you like your improv to be electronic.

The four 3" discs:
'Igneo' by Cremaster (Fages / Monteiro duo), a set from a festival in Spain in February. I thought that I'd find this one as impressive as ever but too abrasive to like very much - which is what I've found with several of their previous releases. But in fact it's more restrained than most of their earlier discs and I enjoyed it enormously - and could happily have listened to another 20 minutes (a frustration I often have with 3" discs that I like). So instead of more Cremaster, I had to make do with 'Do Not Send to Tweed', 20 minutes of solo playing by Scottish guitarist Neil Davidson, who I've heard before on a couple of Creative Sources discs. And this was a real treat. Great stuff, and a huge advance on his earlier discs IMO. Really strong textural playing, more electronics than guitar (though definitely guitar-based). As Neil's not well-known, I suspect this one will get overlooked, but I'd recommend it very highly.

Then a recent Manfred Werder prose score 2009(5) as realised by Will Montgomery. The score is simply a single sentence quotation from Francis Ponge, with no indications at all as to how the prose might be realised as music. As ever with Werder, it's an interesting and challenging idea, but so open that it depends totally on the input of the performer(s) to make it interesting. In this case I just don't get it. Will Montgomery uses the score as the basis for two 10-minute field recordings, both taken at different places near to the M25 motorway (which circles London). So you hear mid-distance traffic noise and very little else. Certainly not beautiful, but not interestingly ugly either IMO - just rather dull. I'd love to hear other realisations of the piece, but I doubt I'll play this one again. [it may just be me; you shouldn't be put off trying it]

Finally Daniel Jones' s solo electronics set When on and off collide. Daniel has done some excellent work in small groups over the past few years - as can be heard on disc in his duos with David Papapostolou (Leaving Room) and Barry Chabala (Undercurrents) and in the trios Tierce (with Jez riley French and Ivan Palacky) and Loris (with Patrick Farmer and Sarah Hughes). I haven't liked the solo work of his that I've heard quite as much, but this one is very enjoyable in an ultra-minimalist kind of way. The music is so slight that it's as if it's almost embarrassed to be there. Oddly engaging, and for once the 20 minute time limit feels just right. [and it would have made a lovely realisation of the Werder score...]

So overall a strong, electronics-based batch, with the Neil Davidson perhaps being the stand-out for me.
I'd be interested to know what other people thought.

[Richard Pinnell]

Thanks Simon, appreciated.

If you have ordered any of this batch and are waiting (im)patiently for them to arrive I apologise for the delays, its been a hectic few weeks for me... (grovel grovel....) all orders have been sent out though with a freebie in every one that has been delayed. Apologies...

Just one point about Simon's words... with the exception of an eBow on about half the disc, Do not send to Tweed is entirely acoustic...

and the Looper release is now finally available!

[Dan Warburton]

Sorry to disagree witb Simon, but my favourite of the 3" discs is the Cremaster, by a long stretch. Outstanding - shame there wasn't a full album's worth of material. But at least this way you can play it three times in a row, which is what I did yesterday (ha, that sounds like something Richard would say).
Sorry to agree with Simon, Richard, but I was also distinctly underwhelmed by the Werder / Montgomery.

[simon reynell]

Sorry to disagree witb Simon, but my favourite of the 3" discs is the Cremaster, by a long stretch. Outstanding - shame there wasn't a full album's worth of material.

don't apologise for the (slight) disagreement, Dan! It's good when people have different opinions & different favourites - much better than when they follow others' tastes like sheep.

[Dan Warburton]

Baaaaaa humbug

[mudd]

i already plan on preferring the werder/montgomery, just to disagree with both of you. hopefully my copies will arrive soon so i can justify my rash opinion, but until then i'm prepared to fight you both over it.

m

[Dan Warburton]

While you're waiting, sit by the side of the nearest freeway and listen carefully.. or, better still, check out Will's own albums, especially Water Blinks

[Daniel Jones]

Bit of a round up from Brian Olewnick here:

http://olewnick.blogspot.com/2011/01/ne ... ssued.html

Thanks Brian!