The Squid's Ear Magazine


Common Objects: John Butcher / Rhodri Davies / Lee Patterson: Live In Morden Tower (Mikroton Recordings)

Active in various formats since 2005 when The London Musicians' Collective commissioned the ensemble from electric harpist Rhodri Davies, this album with John Butcher (sax & amplifier) and Lee Patterson on amplified devices is surprisingly their first release.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Rhodri Davies-electric harp

John Butcher-saxophones, amplifier

Lee Patterson-amplified devices, processes


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Label: Mikroton Recordings
Catalog ID: cd 29
Squidco Product Code: 17996

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2013
Country: Russia
Packaging: Cardstock gatefold foldover
Recorded in concert on January 25th, 2013 at Morden Tower, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK by Phil Begg.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Rhodri Davies was commissioned by the London Musicians' Collective to put together an ensemble and present a new work for each of the five nights of the 14th LMC Festival of Experimental Music in 2005. Since then the group has invited a number of musicians to join the core members of the ensemble. The current full line up consists of the trio heard on this CD as well as Angharad Davies and Lina Lapelyte.

Morden Tower is one of Britain's best-known cultural landmarks. For the past 45 years, hundreds of leading poets, sound poets and experimental musicians have come from all over the world to give readings and make music in the ancient turret-room on Newcastle's city walls.

The evening consisted of three solos followed by the trio. The trio music has a noisier and more abrasive edge to it than the solos. This may stem from a need to search beyond the now all too familiar language of reductionism or it might be a response to Morden Tower itself and the alternative scene that has historically taken place within its walls.

This is common objects' first recording."-Mikroton


Artist Biographies

"Rhodri Davies was born in 1971 in Aberystwyth, Wales and now lives in Gateshead in the northeast of England.

He plays harp, electric harp, live-electronics and builds wind, water, ice and fire harp installations. He has released four solo albums: Trem, Over Shadows, Wound Response and An Air Swept Clean of All Distance.

His regular groups include: a duo with John Butcher, Common Objects, HEN OGLEDD: Dawson - Davies, a trio with David Toop and Lee Patterson, Cranc, The Sealed Knot and a trio with John Tilbury and Michael Duch.

In 2008 he collaborated with the visual artist Gustav Metzger on 'Self-cancellation', a large-scale audio-visual collaboration in London and Glasgow.

New pieces for solo harp have been composed for him by: Eliane Radigue, Phill Niblock, Christian Wolff, Ben Patterson, Alison Knowles, Mieko Shiomi and Yasunao Tone.

In 2012 he was the recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Grants to Artists Award."

-Rhodri Davies Website (http://www.rhodridavies.com/words/)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"John Butcher's work ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback and extreme acoustics.Originally a physicist, he left academia in '82, and has since collaborated with hundreds of musicians - Derek Bailey, John Tilbury, John Stevens, The EX, Akio Suzuki, Gerry Hemingway, Polwechsel, Gino Robair, Rhodri Davies, Okkyung Lee, John Edwards, Toshi Nakamura, Paul Lovens, Eddie Prevost, Mark Sanders, Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Phil Minton, and Andy Moor - to name a few.

He is well known as a solo performer who attempts to engage with the uniqueness of place. Resonant Spaces is a collection of site-specific performances collected during a tour of unusual locations in Scotland and the Orkney Islands.His first solo album, Thirteen Friendly Numbers, includes compositions for multitracked saxophones, whilst later solo CDs focus on live performance, composition, amplification and saxophone-controlled feedback.

HCMF has twice commissioned him to compose for his own large ensembles. Other commissions include for Elision (Australia), the Rova (USA) & Quasar (Canada) Saxophone Quartets, reconstructed Futurist Intonarumori (USA), "Tarab Cuts" (based on pre-WWII Arabic recordings, and shortlisted for the 2014 British Composer's Award) and "Good Liquor .." for the London Sinfonietta. In 2011 he received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists.

Recent groupings include The Apophonics with Robair and Edwards, Anemone with Peter Evans, Plume with Tony Buck & Magda Mayas and a trio with Okkyung Lee & Mark Sanders.Butcher values playing in occasional encounters - ranging from large groups such as Butch Morris' London Skyscraper and the EX Orkestra, to duo concerts with David Toop, Kevin Drumm, Claudia Binder, Paal Nilssen-Love, Thomas Lehn, Fred Frith, Keiji Haino, Ute Kangeisser, Matthew Shipp and Yuji Takahashi."

-John Butcher Website (http://www.johnbutcher.org.uk/Biog.html)
3/25/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Spatial Principle 4:00

2. Grade A Fancy 4:50

3. Thoracic Pattern 7:20

4. Breathless, Sodden Trash 31:36

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
John Butcher
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Trio Recordings

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Mikroton Recordings.


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