Rowe, Keith / Toshimaru Nakamura

ErstLive 008

Label: erstwhile Country: USA

"In September 2008, legendary guitarist Keith Rowe played four sets in three nights in the AMPLIFY 2008: light festival in Tokyo. The festival marked Rowe's fourth trip to Japan in his 40+ year career and the first time he was able to work closely with so many Tokyo musicians on their home turf. As the only non-Japanese participant in the festival, Rowe took the opportunity to both move his aesthetic towards his collaborators (in the duo sets), as well as to make a strongly contrasting individual statement in his solo set, which he later titled 'Cultural Templates'.

All four of those sets are now available in the ErstLive series: the premiere meeting of Rowe and Taku Unami; the aforementioned 'Cultural Templates', Rowe's first solo set ever in Tokyo; the premiere meeting of Rowe and Sachiko M, as part of the double CD 'contact', and now the concluding set to the festival, Rowe's duo with his long-time partner Toshimaru Nakamura, completing the tetralogy. AMPLIFY 2008: light was an intense and deeply immersive experience for all who were lucky enough to be present, and quite a bit of that was attributable to Rowe's four sets, which are now available for all to hear.

The ErstLive series is an attempt to capture the uncapturable: unedited, unpolished concert recordings packaged in a template design using two colors chosen by the musicians involved, with a photo of the concert on the back cover."-Erstwhile Records