The Squid's Ear Magazine


Kodian Trio: II [VINYL] (Trost Records)

The uniquely voiced free improvising Kodian Trio formed of saxophonist Colin Webster using aggressive techniques and unusual approaches to his horn, electric guitarist Dirk Serries (vidnaObmana) throwing spiky lines in forceful and unorthodox dialog, and in-demand UK drummer Andrew Lisle providing underpinning and punctuation, in six far-ranging and impressive tracks.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Dirk Serries-electric guitar

Andrew Lisle-drums

Colin Webster-baritone saxophone, alto saxophone


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UPC: 9120036682559

Label: Trost Records
Catalog ID: TROST 168LP
Squidco Product Code: 25160

Format: LP
Condition: New
Released: 2017
Country: Austria
Packaging: LP
Recorded at Sunnyside Studio, in Anderlecht, Belgium, on October 16th 2016.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"London based saxophonist Colin Webster is quickly establishing himself on the European avant garde scene. Working with a broad range of collaborators, Webster is know for working from extreme sonic palettes - from minimal to maximal, constantly pushing boundaries. Webster first worked with Serries on the landmark 'Endless Voids' performance led by Dead Neanderthals at the 2014 Incubate Festival. Since this initial meeting, the two have worked on different collaborations both live and in the studio, a number of these encounters involving the drummer Andrew Lisle.

Also based in London, Andrew Lisle's quick and highly textural playing is making him highly in-demand in the fertile improvisation community. In turns both propulsive and abstract, Lisle has worked with a number of key UK-based improvisers including Alex Ward, Daniel Thompson, Seymour Wright, and also plays in Roland Ramanan's Tentet, and punk-improv band Shatner's Bassoon.

Dirk Serries - curator of the Tonefloat's New Wave of Jazz label - is hardly your average improvising musician. Even though the man has a fondness for the classic free jazz of the sixties and seventies and the current updates, his own talents lie elsewhere. As a master of texture, a skill which he's been able to forge and refine for more than 30 years (as vidnaObmana, Fear Falls Burning, Microphonics, with collaborative projects and, more recently, under his own name), he has always been involved in the more abstract, or sound-oriented wing of experimental music. Serries is now less reliant on his trademark effects and loops. A new 'naked' language that veers from gentle strumming to scribbling, pointillism and occasional outbursts of disjointed howls. Pulling from his great experience in the worlds of ambient and industrial music, as well as from masters like Derek Bailey, Serries' approach is improvisation that relies purely on his relationship with his electric guitar, prepared or not."-Kodiantrio.wordpress.com



"Europe's free jazz scene continues to race forward, to the delight of its small but ardent fan base. The self-described "improvising power unit" Kodian Trio is doing its part to keep things hopping.

Featuring Dirk Serries on electric guitar, Andrew Lisle on drums and Colin Webster on alto saxophone, the three-piece recorded its second album at the Sunny Side Inc. studio in Brussels, Belgium. It's a trip.

For the uninitiated, Webster and Lisle are both active improv players that have been steadily growing their respective audiences with each project. Serries' background is a bit more varied. The guitarist had his start in industrial and ambient music before turning to improvisational jazz. He recorded under the name Vidna Obmana between 1984 and 2007.

What will strike you first on this six-track effort is the extraordinary mix of Webster's saxophone and Serries' guitar. Despite the fact that Webster used just one instrument and Serries just one pedal effect, both are way out there. This could come across as a contest for attention. On the contrary, Serries' jagged-edge playing underscores Webster's delivery beautifully. Imagine a modern dance piece performed on the edge of a cliff.

That intricacy extends to Lisle's drum kit. Despite the lack of elbow room, his playing provides an entirely separate focal point. You will find yourself distracted by his bandmates repeatedly. But he will pull you right back. Lisle adds a dimension to the album that may be understated at times, but packs a wallop where it's needed most.

Kodian Trio have only been together since 2015. London's Café Oto served as a fitting birthplace. Perhaps the album's final track-in which Webster (a self-confessed metal head) blows kisses of various size and shape through his saxophone-is a kind of love letter to what The Guardian called "Britain's coolest venue."

Indeed, there is a playfulness inherent in the work that sets the Kodians apart from free jazz groups intent on testing their listeners. This light-heartedness is at least partly due to how often the trio plays together. (They seem to thrive on back-to-back performances.) All three give Sunny Side high marks, and describe the session as smooth and problem-free."-Kevin Press, All About Jazz



"Some are building directly on the foundations of pioneers like Evan Parker, John Stevens and Derek Bailey, while others are always on the lookout for fresh, contemporary sounds, or try to combine them. But they're all united by a similar curiosity, a search for finding their own voices and a never-ending reinvention of themselves. This also seems to be the case with the brand new Kodian Trio of Andrew Lisle, Dirk Serries and Colin Webster. While they first played together as members of a quartet with Amsterdam-based saxophone player John Dikeman and recorded two albums in April of 2015 (a live album that appeared on Webster's Raw Tonk Records and a double studio album on New Wave Of Jazz), the trio reconvened for a studio session at the end of October that same year.

Kodian Trio's debut release immediately makes a strong case for these guys' adaptive skills, as the results here are recognizably theirs, but also very different from the releases with John Dikeman. It sounds as if all three of them even widened their range and dynamics to compensate for the loss of a colleague. Serries is more assertive, sometimes front and center of the collective. Webster also brought his alto and tenor saxophones to the studio. And Lisle also goes way beyond the usual abstractionism, using pretty extreme textures one moment and offering a forceful attack the next .

This is free music that actually lives up to its ambitions and frequently uses its maximum potential for individual and collective freedom, while at the same time maintaining a coherence that only becomes apparent with repeated and/or intense listening. It requires an effort, but the rewards are an insight into a unique musical language.

"the three confidently navigate their way through real-time improvisations scalding to the touch. Yes, blistering episodes surface-dissonant squeals from Dikeman, prickly shards from Serries, and volatile flourishes by Lisle-but so too do fleeting moments of calm as the trio brings a unified sensibility to the undertaking. With the exception of the surprisingly restrained fifteen-minute closer "III," I catches the trio breathing communal fire: imagine forty-six minutes of bristling, molten improv and you're in the right ballpark. I offers compelling exercises in musical democracy."-Textura - Canada



"These musicians are far too talented to simply go hell for leather or indulge in macho noise grandstanding. Instead, their noise-making has an intricacy and control while still sounding spontaneous and raw. Webster tends to avoid the obvious low end raunch of the baritone, using its sheer physicality to lend force to high register squalls and breath effects. His introduction of the alto sax halfway through the third side is an unexpected delight, as he embarks on a bright, Eastern European tinged solo over some of Lisles's most energetic and inventive drumming. The long drones and deconstructed funk of the final side bring further evidence of this trio's resourcefulness and imagination." The Quietus - UK


Get additional information at All About Jazz

Artist Biographies

"Since his first releases in the early 80s, uncompromising Belgian artist Dirk Serries has garnered respect from and invitations to collaborate with recognised musicians like Steven Wilson, Steve Von Till, Justin Broadrick, Cult Of Luna and Alan Sparhawk of Low. He has been commisioned to write works for Dutch national television broadcaster VPRO, the Antwerp Zoo as well as architectural festival Biënnale Rotterdam and worked on stage with the Holland Symfonia orchestra. His discography encompasses stylistically diverse releases on labels like Relapse, Projekt, Conspiracy as well as his current creative partner Tonefloat, an outfit with years of experience in vinyl editions for acts like Porcupine Tree, Robert Fripp, Theo Travis and Anja Garbarek. Over the past thirty years, he has toured extensively through Europe and the USA and performed at some of experimental music's major venues and concert spaces, as headliner or in support of Low, Mono, My Bloody Valentine, Jesu and others.

Dirk Serries never shied away from collaborations with Justin Broadrick, Steve Roach, Sam Rosenthal, Alio Die, Theo Travis, David Lee Myers, Asmus Tietchens, Stratosphere, Serge Devadder, Willem Tanke or under seperate entities like The Sleep Of Reason (with Jon Attwood), Continuum (with Steven Wilson), Principle Of Silence (with Joris De Backer), The Eightfold Model (with Michael Beckett), Akhet (with Marc Verhaeghen, Paul Van Den Berg), 3 Seconds Of Air (with Martina Verhoeven, Paul Van Den Berg) and The Black Fire (with Robert MacManus).

After bringing his projects vidnaObmana (1984-2005) and Fear Falls Burning (2005-2012) to a satisfying conclusion, Serries no longer considers it necessary to hide behind alter egos. Confident enough to operate under his own name, he is continuing his ongoing search for uncharted territory while keeping in mind the essence which made him want to work with sound in the first place. Fascinated by the power of purity, he has built a reputation for building a personal galaxy of harmony and dissonance through dense caleidoscopes of slowly unfolding motives. His upcoming second microphonics-album is a further refinement of this approach. Eschewing stereotypical genre exercises, Serries refuses to be labeled as a guitarist, weilding his instrument in a way which never denies its original tonal colours while bringing out the unique intimacy of his music.

Released in 2008, Serries's debut studio album under his own name was all about analog warmth and natural acoustics. For his second full-length and in a bid of creating the perfect sonic space, he has now taken on the challenge of engaging in a dialogue with digital processing. Lyricaly titled 'microphonics xxi - xxv - mounting among the the wings, there's a light in vein. the burden of hope across thousands of rivers', the album was released to critical acclaim in March 2013 on renowned Dutch label Tonefloat as a CD and double 10″ vinyl.

The sobriety of his studio work is mirrored by Serries's philosophy to performing live, based on the concept that music should be heard, not seen. Focussed like a monk immersed in prayer, he is performing his music almost in complete darkness and entirely in real-time, making use of both electric amplification and the natural resonance of the room and taking the particular characteristics of each venue into consideration. This way, not a single gig sounds the same as the night before.

While writing the follow-up to his second microphonics solo album, his ongoing fascination for jazz for more than 15 years solidified in 2011 when he was invited by improv and jazz musicians Kristoffer Lo and Tomas Järmyr to form YODOK III. Recording their debut album, completely performed real-time, at the legendary Athletic Sound Studio in Halden (Norway), brought projects in a rapid stream and on the right track. Teaming up with both musicians, in their trio format and with Tomas Järmyr on drums as duo THE VOID OF EXPANSION, Serries collaborates as well with Belgian jazzdrummer Teun Verbruggen as ART OF COSMIC MUSINGS and goes into a duel with Dead Neanderthals, Cactus Truck's American sax player John Dikeman and Dutch drummer Onno Govaert, UK saxophonist Colin Websters, UK drummers Andrew Lisle and Steve Noble. Born was Tonefloat's New Wave Of Jazz and the future foresees no boundaries, 30 years and onwards."

-Dirk Serries Website (http://www.dirkserries.com/)
3/13/2024

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

"Andrew Lisle is a drummer from Northumberland, UK, currently based in London. In 2008 he began studying Jazz at Leeds College of Music and soon discovered a passion and talent for free improvisation. It was during his time at LCoM that he co-founded the band Shatner's Bassoon with five like-minded musicians (and fellow graduates) Johnny Richards, Michael Bardon, Oliver Dover, Craig Scott and Joost Hendrickx. To date the band have recorded two studio albums (receiving wide-spread critical acclaim) and have toured the UK extensively.

After graduating in 2011 he moved to Lisbon, Portugal where he had the opportunity to further develop his musicianship. He spent much of his time at the Clean Feed Records' base of operations Trem Azul playing with the city's veteran improvisers including Rodrigo Pinheiro (Red Trio), Hernani Faustino (Red Trio), Rodrigo Amado and Luis Lopes among others.

Since moving to London in 2013 his virtuosity and musicality has established him as a sought-after drummer on the Jazz and improvised music scene, performing and recording with some of the most innovative musicians in the UK and beyond. These include Colin Webster, John Edwards, John Dikeman, Alex Ward, Dirk Serries, Alan Wilkinson, Matthew Bourne, Rachel Musson and Mark Sanders.

On-going projects to date include: Orbits, Kodian trio, Colin Webster/Andrew Lisle, ​Ales Ward Item 10, Dikeman/Lisle/Serries/Webster to name a few."

-Andrew Lisle Website (http://www.andrewlisle.com/biography.html)
3/13/2024

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

Colin Webster is an improvising saxophonist based in London. He is a frequent collaborator with Mark Holub, Graham Dunning, Andrew Lisle, John Dikeman, &c.

-Squidco 3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



SIDE A



1. 3:24

2. 8:49

3. 11:04

SIDE B



1. 4:41

2. 8:00

3. 10:03

Related Categories of Interest:


Vinyl Recordings
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Trio Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Trost Records.


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