Adjacent recordings

Adjacent café #1: Sunday 17 May at cafe oto

2009-04-19T16:23:00.005+01:00

Improvised music as we know it since AMM started playing in the 1960’s has always shown strong ties with modern classical music: composers were often invited to join AMM and Cornelius Cardrew soon became a full time member. In the same time, pages of Cardrew’s graphic score Teatrise were played and tried by AMM as they were written and the group also gave performances of John Cage’s compositions.
In recent years, improvising musicians such as Radu Malfatti and Taku Sugimoto have concentrated their effort on composed works, many of which are performed by improvising musicians (Lucio Capece, Taku Unami, Toshimaru Nakamura, Axel Dorner and others). Others share their time between performance of modern compositions and improvisation (Angharad and Rhodri Davies, Lina Lapelyte, Dominic Lash, Benedict Drew, Julia Eckhardt, Robin Hayward and many more). Composers such as John Cage, Morton Feldman, Luigi Nono, Helmut Lachenmann, Michael Pisaro and the Wandelweiser collective are often cited as strong influence by improvisers. This rarely comes as a surprise when many recordings of improvised music do have strong aesthetic similarities, or at least a “shared feel”, with the work of these composers.

To which extent can we say that improvisation and composition are the most distant ends of the musical spectrum? Adjacent café is a night that aims at, far from offering an answer, acknowledging the situation described above and let the performers and the audience find the beginning of an answer for themselves.

Tonight we will listen to improvised sets by:

-Angharad Davies and Lina Lapelyte (vln, vln-laptop), who both work with composition and improvisation;

-Benedict Drew + Daniel Jones + Matt Milton (elec+text, turntable, vln).

Last but not least, Dominic Lash will play “café oto 1”, a composition for double bass and pre-recorded sine waves written by Radu Malfatti for this occasion and dedicated to Dom.

About Radu Malfatti:
16.12.43 born in Innsbruck
1965-70 looked for the Academy of Music in Graz
studied with eje thelin
spoke with sonny rollins
drank coffee with luigi nono
likes to play chess with siegfried fussy
read a lot, forgot everything
http://www.timescraper.de/malfatti/index.html

About the performers:

Angharad Davies is a violinist based in London. She is an active performer in contemporary, improvisation and experimental music both as a soloist and within ensembles.
Since making London her base in 2002 she has developed a specific approach to the violin, extending the sound possibilities of the instrument by attaching and applying objects to the strings or by sounding unexpected parts of the instrument's body. She is dedicated to exploring and expanding sound production on the violin.
http://www.angharaddavies.com/

Benedict Drew is an artist who works in performance, sound and video.
http://www.benedictdrew.com/
http://benedictdrew.tumblr.com/

Daniel Jones is an improvising musician based in Brighton. His primary instruments are turntables and contact microphones. He last appeared on the 'Leaving Room' disc alongside David Papapostolou and a solo set can be downloaded from the Compost&Height website. Daniel has plays and has collaborated with David Papapostolou, Helena Gough, Jez Riley French, Patrick Farmer, Matt Milton and Daichi Yoshikawa.
http://www.myspace.com/stringspingsandboingythings

Lina Lapelyte lives & works in London &Vilnius. Lina works as a sound artist and composer, performs live using violin and electronics. Her work encompasses sound installations, concert works, scores for dance, theater and film. One of her field of interests is collecting information and changing its meaning by putting it into a different context. Many of her sound installations are site specific and deal with the evoking of a sense of place through its own live input – people, their voices, nature, kinetic energy. She is a composer and performer in the laptop quartet 20,21- the ensemble devoted to the performances of graphical notation scores. She produces experimental radio programs for the ResonanceFM radio station. Her music was used in films made by Anja Kirchner, Bruse la Bruse. She collaborated with artists Douglas Benford, Arturas Bumsteinas, Edie Prevost, Anton Lukoszevietze, Enrico Glerean, MAndelbrot.
She performed or her works were shown in 'vanm' (London 09), Cut and Splice'(London 08), 'iFEM' (Ivalo 08), 'Lithuanian ART' 08 (Vilnius 08), 'Skanu Mezs' (Ryga 08), 'Holland Festival' (Amsterdam 07), 'Audio Art' (Warsaw 06).Recently she has been composing multi-channel electroacoustic violin pieces for her debut album.
www.myspace.com/lapelyte

Dominic Lash is a double bassist and composer. He lives in Oxford and is very active on both the Oxford and London improvising scenes. He aims in his work to cover a broad range of approaches to improvisation and contemporary composition through varied and diverse collaboration. To this end, performances in the last six months have seen him on stage with musicians including Tony Conrad, Taylor Ho Bynum, Harris Eisenstadt, Peter Evans, Paul May, Evan Parker, John Russell and Mark Wastell, as well as the poets Sean Bonney and Keston Sutherland. His most recent CD releases are Monster Club with Tony Bevan and Chris Corsano and No Now Is So with the Alexander Hawkins Ensemble. Upcoming highlights include the CD Bestiaries (a duo with Patrick Farmer on Cathnor) and performances with Steve Beresford, John Butcher and Phil Minton.
http://www.dominiclash.co.uk

Matt Milton is a free improv violin player based in london UK. (Sometimes voice, sometimes saw, sometimes other objects, not all of which have been purchased for less than a fiver at Maplins) Tries to attend Eddie Prevost's weekly Friday evening workshop as often as poss. Organises sporadic gigs in London – see www.myspace.com/exteroceptor. Known to dabble in folk and blues guitar, mandolin and song (more of which to follow if anyone ever invents a 54 hour day). Occasionally plays bluegrass fiddle for the filthy recidivist of rockabilly, Rod Stern.
http://www.myspace.com/mattmilton

St Mark's church with a new trio, again

2009-03-20T10:57:00.002Z

IMPROVISED MUSIC at St.Mark’s Church, Islington

A very exciting line-up put together by Simon reynell, in a church that is now famous for its great acoustics. Only 5 minutes walk from Angel tube station, a couple from Sadler's Wells theater; in the quiet surroundings of a Georgien square, not to be missed!

Friday 27th March, 8pm

Max Eastley (arc)
Fergus Kelly (cabinet of curiosities)
Mark Wastell (tam-tam)

Mathias Forge (trombone)
Phil Julian (electronics)
David Papapostolou (cello)

Leo Dumont (percussion)
Matt Milton (violin)

St.Mark’s Church, Myddelton Square,
Off Pentonville Road, EC1R 1XX
2 minutes walk from The Angel tube station
8pm Friday 27th March, £6 entrance

Daniel Jones solo in Brighton, 20th March

2009-03-09T12:21:00.004Z

Dan will play a rare solo set at a night organized by Simon Whetham.
See the flyer for more info.

Oto, Daichi and David present...

2009-02-13T19:24:00.010Z

Explorations in improvised music.

Wednesday 4 March, 8 pm, £6/4

Cafe Oto, Dalston, London.

Today's concert will feature 3 sets that, each in their own way, question the nature of improvisation and of the experimentation involved in the making of such musical events.

Phil Durrant will play a solo with his computer based assemblage "Maschine".

A new trio composed of Paul Abbott (self made electro-acoustic instrument), David Papapostolou (cello, objects) and Seymour Wright (alto sax, objects) have been collaborating behind closed doors for a few months and will play a concert together for the first time.

Grundik Kasyansky (electronic) and Daichi Yoshikawa (feedback) have probably played together during Eddie Prevost's workshops, but they will confront their unruly electronics for the first time in a live context. They will play a trio with leading Israeli reedist Yoni Silver.

Further info about the musicians:

Paul Abbott (electro-acoustic instrument): "...Sometimes diagonally involved. Sometimes not. The main objective seems unclear, but appears to be somewhere close to the ground..." - Cryogenic Banana
http://www.paulabbott.net/

Phil Durrant (Maschine) has been active for more than 30 years, as a violinist in groups with the likes of John Butcher, John Russell and in the landmark trio with Thomas Lehn and Radu Malfatti. He later developed a computer-based virtual instrument that allows Phil a degree of control on his own sound more akin to the manipulation of “real” instruments and in the same time distinctly digital. Phil is also part of the pan-European electronic orchestra MIMEO, curated by Keith Rowe.
He has recently toured and performed in France and Germany, with his group Trio Sowari. The group reflects his wish for a project that merges the sonic of acoustic instruments (Bertrand Denzler saxophone and Burkhard Beins, drums) with the digital sound world of his laptop.
http://efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/mdurrant.html

Grundik Kasyansky (electronics): works in collaboration (improvisation, live installation) and solo (composition, improvisation, installation). He also designs sound for dance, theatre and film. He formed Grundik+Slava together with Slava Smelovsky in Israel in 1995. The duo quickly emerged as the key project in the Israeli experimental and electronic scene. For the last ten years he collaborated with lots of musicians, dancers, filmmakers and artists. He was born in Moscow in 1974, moved to Israel in 1991, moved to New York in 2001, moved to London in 2007, ...
http://www.myspace.com/grundikkasyansky

David Papapostolou (cello, objects) is intrigued about the basic characteristics of the sounds he generates with his cello and how these interact with other people’s sound and the performance space. He also works with electronics and field recordings and runs the Adjacent label.
http://adjacent-recordings.blogspot.com

Yoni Silver is one of the leading figures of the Israeli free improvisation scene - bass clarinetist and multi-instrumentalist Yoni Silver's music ranges from just-audible bass clarinet improvisations to full on noise, semi- composed pieces for varying ensembles, and computer music.

Seymour Wright’s approach to the saxophone is unique in the way every square inch of the instrument is thoroughly, systematically explored. What fascinates the listener at first is the rawness of Seymour’s sound, then one hears the relentless exploration at work, almost as a aim in itself.
Seymour is a member of the 9! ensemble, the trio SUM with Eddie Prevost and Ross Lambert, and has previously released records with Eddie Prevost, Keith Rowe, Sebastien Lexer, John Lely, Ross Lambert. Make sure you check his solo “Seymour Wright of Derby”, available for download at the address below!
http://incalcando.com/seymour_wright/

Daichi Yoshikawa explores the perfomative and sonic possibilities of feedback generated through piezo and magnetic pick-ups.

St Mark's church with a new trio

2008-11-19T13:48:00.001Z

THURSDAY 27 NOVEMBER
7.30PM, £5/£4

Small But Perfectly Formed presents a night of improvised music with:

Clive Bell (shakuhachi)
Bechir Saade (ney)
-
Daichi Yoshikawa (electronics)
Paul Abbott (schee, computer)
David Papapostolou (cello)
-
Ute Kangiesser (cello)

St Mark's Church
Myddelton Square
London, EC1R 1XX

It's a lovely church. We chose this venue for it's unique acoustic.

There will be a wine stall.

2 minutes walk from Angel tube.
Bus: 30, 73, 205, 214, 394, 476

Clive Bell studied the shakuhachi (Japanese flute) in Tokyo, and the khene (Lao mouthorgan) in Laos and Thailand. Recently he has worked with Okeanos (contemporary music group), Jah Wobble, Karl Jenkins, Complicite Theatre, Sylvia Hallett, David Ross, dance music producer David Harrow, jazz pianist Taeko Kunishima, and the BBC Singers. He has composed music for theatre shows by Complicite, Kazuko Hohki, the Whalley Range All Stars and IOU Theatre, and for radio plays by Louise Oliver, Kazuko Hohki and Pomme Clayton. He writes for The Wire magazine. www.clivebell.co.uk

Bechir Saade is a wind instrument musician focusing mainly on the bass clarinet and the ney. He has studied the traditional Arabic repertoire as well as jazz styles. He is part of the Lebanese experimental music ensemble - Moukhtaber Ensemble which includes Sharif Sehnaoui, Christine Sehnaoui and Mazen Kerbaj. With them Bechir has played with David Stackenas, Jason Kahn, Gene Coleman. He recorded with Matt Davis, Rhodri Davies, Samantha Rebello and Clive Bell on the label Another Timbre. www.bechirsaade.com

David Papapostolou focuses on the use of abstract textures, silence and abrupt dynamics changes in order to create music that is both meditative and complex. He has released music on his own Adjacent imprint (as well as on Mattin's Desetxea netlabel (desetxo138).

Paul Abbott (www.paulabbott.net/), Daichi Yoshikawa and Ute Kangiesser display the dynamism of a new generation of improvisers. Gathered around the workshop of Eddie Prevost they have been involved in a wide diversity of projects (free improv, folk music, classical music, installations and collaborations with dancers or filmmakers). What brings coherance to these projects is the quality of their listening to the other and to their environment.

Show this Thursday November 6

2008-10-30T12:26:00.005Z

Line up:

set 1: Jones / Papapostolou / Yoshikawa (electronics / cello / feedback)
set 2: Tim Parkinson (piano solo, compositions)
set 3: Lexer / Wright (piano+ / alto sax)
set 4: Haegenborgh solo - Haegenborgh / French duet - Haegenborgh / French / Farmer / Davis

Beware, early start!!

7pm (performances will begin early !)
£6 / £5

Cafe OTO

18 - 22 Ashwin street

Dalston, London, E8 3DL

New release - Daniel Jones & David Papapostolou - Leaving room

2008-06-01T19:39:00.007+01:00

Here is the first official release on Adjacent. It is also the debut effort of my duo with a very promising young musician, Daniel Jones (turntables, acoustic instruments and electronics; mixing desk feedback and laptop played with pick-up for me) and was recorded during a sunny afternoon in Brighton UK, on Feb 15th.

The six tracks presented here document, we believe very faithfully the place our musical relationship was at this point. We are proud of this recording and hope you will enjoy losing yourselves into the deceptively meditative quietness and restrained pace, the crevices and the sometimes sharp, fragmented textures that inhabit our sound-world.

See the post below for full view of the front and the back of the card cover, with track listing and the instrumentation.

coming soon...

2008-04-08T20:52:00.001+01:00

Daniel Jones & David Papapostolou - Leaving room (adjacent001)