The Squid's Ear Magazine


Physique (Sam Scranton / Neil Quigley): Curve Tote (Amalgam)

Creating soundscapes from homemade instruments, Text-To-Speech, AI voices, lap steel guitar, found objects, field recording, &c., the duo of sound artists Sam Scranton from Chicago and Neil Quigley from Kilkenny, Ireland, present six unusually unfolding compositions of deceptively relaxed environments layered with mysterious elements and a sly sense of humor.
 

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product information:

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Sam Scranton-electronics

Neil Quigley-electronics


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Label: Amalgam
Catalog ID: AMA030
Squidco Product Code: 32185

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2019
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
The initial recording took place in an Evanston basement on April 19, 2019. Subsequent edits and recordings in Chicago, Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, Cork, Kilkenny Social Welfare Office, Neil's leaky shed in Kilkenny. Recorded by the artists.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Physique is Neil Quigley (Kilkenny, IRL) and Sam Scranton (Chicago, IL). Together they make music by any and all means. Truly, no sound or technique is off limits as they assemble compositions that combine rich, warm sonic atmospheres with musical objects of objectively bad taste.

Curve Totem is their debut album as a duo. Their magpie approach to composition builds novel musical landscapes from homemade instruments, Text-To-Speech and AI voices, lap steel guitar, Ableton presets, found object percussion, field recording, the sounds of General MIDI, Light Resistor Boxes AND MORE. At times organic and earnest, and at other turns shiny, digital and distanced, their music often begins with improvisation that Quigley and Scranton revise and restructure over time. The sound world is eclectic, but the music retains a core aesthetic focus that runs throughout. The results are densely layered, maximal, percussive, crisp experimental music with a sense of levityand pure pleasure.

The Rock and Garfinkle features an AI voice trained on Quigley and Scranton's speech, becoming an uncanny fusion of their vocal ticks and quirks. Greetings combines an ominous drone with friendly, welcoming gestures. "Retrieval System" brings together woozy lap steel with digital birds. There's a lot going on on this album. In fact, we checked and you can't put any more sounds on an album. It's brimming."-Amalgam


Artist Biographies

"I am a composer/performer/artist based in Chicago. I improvise and record music with percussion and electronics. I make evening-length tear-jerker conceptual ceremonies. I make installations with friends that take the form of guided tours, psychedelic waiting rooms, and swarming sonic creatures.

I have presented work nationally and internationally at festivals, conferences, and performance series such as the Darmstadt Ferienkurse, Indexical, Composit, NUNC! 3, New Music Gathering, Frequency Festival, the International Conference on Music and Minimalism, Outer Ear Festival, and Omaha Under the Radar. My music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Borealis Festival Radio Space, WFMT, and released by Parlour Tapes+.

I play music in bands: Honestly Same (with Zach Good, Mabel Kwan, Lia Kohl, Zach Moore), Beautifulish (with Katherine Young), Physique (with Neil Quigley), with records released on Amalgam and Shinkoyo Artists Pool."

-Sam Scranton Website (https://www.samscranton.com/about)
3/27/2024

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

Neil Quigley is a sound artist and performer from Kilkenny, Ireland.

-Physique Website (https://www.samscranton.com/bands#/physique/)
3/27/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Greetings 8:05

2. Edens Office Plaza 10:57

3. The Beacon 5:13

4. Restorative Nostalgia 6:30

5. Retrieval System 3:53

6. The Rock and Garfinkle 10:42

Related Categories of Interest:


Electro-Acoustic
Electroacoustic Composition
Organized Sound and Sample Based Music
Duo Recordings
Field Recordings
Electronic Forms
Spoken Word
New in Experimental & Electronic Music
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
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The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

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