Black Truffle Records

Description

The yearly summit of Keiji Haino, Jim O’Rourke and Oren Ambarchi continues with Imikuzushi, which finds the group extending the power-trio strategies of last year’s highly praised ‘in a flash everything comes together as one there is no need for a subject’ (BT05) and bringing to them a newly sustained intensity. For this performance, Haino limits himself to electric guitar and vocals, forming complex networks of slashing rhythm work, noise squall and chromatic shredding, moving at times to near-silent passages of howled vocals and isolated, hanging guitar strums. The tendency towards driving free-rock which surfaced on moments of the trio’s last release is cemented here, with O’Rourke’s fuzzed-out, non-linear bass riffing moving the music into almost garage-rock areas, combining with Ambarchi’s drums to form a bedrock of hypnotic, metronomic pounding which transforms itself effortlessly into passages of flowing free-time.
Like all of Haino’s best work, the trio transcends any ‘rock’ genre exercise to enter a non-idiomatic zone of ritual intensity, creating a music formed purely out of instrumental and group-mind possibility. Presented as four unedited excerpts salvaged from an epic show that lasted well over three hours, the sometimes raw nature of the recording only adds to its directness and harshly emotive quality.

Francis Plagne, Melbourne, Nov, 2011

Released as a 6 panel digipak CD and as a limited edition double LP in a lavish gatefold with printed inner sleeves. Design by Stephen O’Malley with high quality live shots by Ujin Matsuo and stunning images by Tokyo based photographer and sound artist Shunichiro Okada

Description

The Mortimer Trap is an epic 77min "variation" of Morton Feldman’s For Bunita Marcus constructed by German experimentalist and techno icon Thomas Brinkmann and Australian sound artist Oren Ambarchi.

Pulsating waves of claustrophobic ambience generated from who-knows-what patiently builds into a throbbing rhythmic pulse of gorgeous sonic density.

Since the 80s Thomas Brinkmann has experimented with sound, its textures and its construction methods. His custom built two-arm turntable on Concept 1, the sampling of damaged records on Klick and various experiments with carved-groove vinyl are just a handful of career highlights that mark Brinkmann out as a true musical pioneer. Oren Ambarchi, primarily known for his solo guitar records for the Touch label, has worked with a diverse array of artists such as Keiji Haino, Fennesz, Phill Niblock, Jim O’Rourke, Voice Crack, Keith Rowe and Sunn 0))).

Ambarchi and Brinkmann first worked together in in Japan in January 2011 in a trio with Mika Vainio.
The Mortimer Trap is their first collaborative work as a duo.
Artwork and design by Thomas Brinkmann.

Description

Recorded one year after this international trio’s first release (‘Tima Formosa’ BT04), ‘in a flash everything comes together as one there is no need for a subject’ presents the entirety of a live performance that took place at SuperDeluxe, Tokyo on January 24th 2010. For their second performance together, the trio opted for an entirely different instrumental configuration. The dark improvisations of ’Tima Formosa’ were produced with Ambarchi’s signature electric guitar, O’Rourke on inside-piano and Haino primarily on vocals and electronics. Here they form a classic power trio: Ambarchi on drums, O’Rourke on bass and Haino on guitar, vocals, electronics and, in one amazing passage, lap steel. While the instrumentation has changed, the mysterious atmosphere of their first collaboration remains: far from a rock genre exercise, this performance is steeped in the dark ritualistic mood that characterizes all of Haino’s best work.

Haino is in truly phenomenal form herein, foregoing the single-instrument explorations of much of his recent solo work and his more peripheral role on the trio’s first release for a virtuosic and wide-ranging performance that takes in piercing leads, delicate strumming, jarring lap-steel interjections and his inimitable vocal caresses and howls. O’Rourke’s bass sometimes merges with Haino’s guitar to form crumbling walls of noise, at other times his dark ostinatos and runs add melodic weight. Ambarchi’s drumming moves from delicate, propulsive cymbal work to endless thundering streams of free-pulse pounding. The title of the release is appropriate: from the spacious and unpredictable slow-mo interactions of the first piece (reminiscent of some of the greatest Fushitsusha moments) to the wild free-riffing that concludes the performance, the trio seems uncannily attuned to one-another’s movements, and everything truly ’comes together as one’.

Francis Plagne, Melbourne, Jan 2011.

Released as a limited edition double LP in a lavish gatefold with printed inner sleeves, design by Stephen O’Malley with high quality live shots by Ujin Matsuo and a stunning cover-image by noise-guitar blaster and internationally renowned visual artist Marco Fusinato.

Description

Stunning document of the debut meeting of this international trio. Recorded live at the Playhouse, Kitakyushu, Japan in January 2009, Tima Formosa retains a mysteriously alien atmosphere throughout it’s 3 lengthy explorations with Ambarchi’s mesmerising textures and signature, deep guitar tones beautifully merging with O’Rourke’s Tudor-esque piano-feedback interjections. Haino provides the icing on the cake via his melancholic, higher consciousness choral vocals and bewildering electronics.

Co-released with the Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu with deluxe packaging designed by Stephen O’Malley of Sunn 0)))

Description

Who would have thought a relaxed sunny afternoon, newfound friendships and some spur-of-the-moment would have resulted in what’s been described as ’one of the most compelling documents of both free improvisation and electronica’ (All Music Guide)?

It’s the people involved in ’Afternoon Tea’ - originally released in 2000 on German label Ritornell and now reissued on Black Truffle with a new master, bonus tracks and newly discovered live recordings after years of being out of print - that ensured it as more than a happy accident. The twin guitar presence of AMM’s Keith Rowe and Oren Ambarchi and kindred spirits of the laptop ’ Sydney’s Pimmon, Vienna’s Christian Fennesz and Peter Rehberg ’ made it a momentous day.

With all the players coming together during the 2000 What Is Music? Festival, ’Afternoon Tea’ stands as a highpoint of the then-emerging intersection between Powerbook performance and guitar improvisation. All subtley, nuance and detail, it is a revelation of restraint. Built on a steadying flow of burbling rhythm, the quintet slowly weave around each others’ sonics in layers to create a tonal palette immersive in its atmosphere and magnetic in its compulsion.

Hindsight clearly reveals the heart of these pieces ’ important to note considering they were recorded at a time when laptop performance was an alien concept to many in experimental music, suffering controversy and backlash as well as an over-abundance of pale approaches from many who took it on as novelty as opposed to serious musical pursuit. Those involved in the ‘Afternoon Tea’ session left their Australian tour inspired, citing their merry time in the country eating, drinking and hanging out at the beach as well as their performances as a direct influence on their following work. Many great live recordings were spawned from the tour itself including Rehberg & Bauer’s ‘passt’, Fennesz’ ‘Live at Revolver’ (both on Touch) and a collaboration between him and New Zealand’s Rosy Parlane (released on Synaesthesia). Additionally the seeds were sown for the Fennesz classic ‘Endless Summer’ from 2001 (Mego).

’Afternoon Tea’ remains one of the quiet and real achievers for experimental music of the past decade.

Remastered in May 2009 and with artwork designed by Stephen O’Malley.

Description

Originally released in 2000 as a limited vinyl only album, ‘Persona’ is now available on CD for the first time.

‘Persona’ was recorded in February 2000, just a week after the ‘Afternoon Tea’ collaboration with Fennesz, Pimmon, Pita and Keith Rowe. Utilizing a raw and spontaneous approach like the ‘Stacte’ series of solo releases, Ambarchi recorded the pieces on ‘Persona’ at home in a day, only using his guitar, a handful of effect pedals and a boombox as a monitor(!). Considered to be a ‘sister’ release to Ambarchi’s acclaimed ‘Suspension’ album on Touch, the material on ‘Persona’ (originally released on E.R.S. in a tiny edition of 300) was only heard by a handful of listeners. From the late 90’s his experiments in guitar abstraction and extended technique led to a more personal and unique soundworld and ‘Persona’ was an early document of this direction. Here, the pieces are hesitant and tense extended songforms, located in the cracks between several schools: modern electronics and processing; laminal improvisation and minimalism; and hushed, pensive
songwriting. It recalls the deceptive simplicity and temporal suspensions of composers such as Morton Feldman and Alvin Lucier, and the physicality of rock music, stripped back to its bare bones, abstracted and replaced with pure signal.

Remastered in December 2008 and with artwork designed by Stephen O’Malley.

Description

Originally released in 2000 as a limited vinyl only album, ‘Stacte.3’ is now available on CD for the first time.

Described by Wire scribe Jon Dale as "Alvin Lucier and Cluster collaborating for Mego", the concept of Oren Ambarchi’s ‘Stacte’ LP series - now comprising of five volumes - began in 1998. The first few ‘Stacte’ LPs were self-released by Ambarchi and featured his earliest explorations of the guitar and its sonic possibilities after a period known as a drummer in post-punk, noise and free jazz outfits. An idea was explored and investigated at length using a spontaneous approach, with Ambarchi treating each side of the vinyl like a canvas, slowly capturing a moment, patiently teasing every nuance and implication from each texture. His method allowed the listener to sink their teeth into something substantial over the course of the LP side’s entire duration, resulting in an otherworldly, cumulative impact of patiently unfolding compositions.
The ‘Stacte.3’ release (especially the LP’s second side) was a breakthrough for Ambarchi and it defined the parameters for his subsequent projects such as 2001’s ‘Suspension’ and ‘Grapes From The Estate’ from 2004, both released on the legendary UK label Touch.
‘Stacte.3’ is an early glimpse of Ambarchi at his most raw and minimal and it’s a fascinating, integral listen in his catalogue of sound works.

Remastered in December 2008 and with artwork designed by Stephen O’Malley.