The Squid's Ear Magazine


W-2 (Sam Weinberg / Chris Welcome): Fanatics [CASSETTE + DOWNLOAD] (Astral Spirits)

The Brooklyn duo of saxophonist Sam Weinberg (Captain Phillips) and synth player Chris Welcome (Chris Pitsiokos, Mike Pride) in an album of abrasive, rhythmically abraded and contorted electro-acoustic improvisation, each player embedding themselves into each other's sound, at time making their instruments indistinguishable from one another.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Sam Weinberg-tenor saxophone

Chris Welcome-synthesizer


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Label: Astral Spirits
Catalog ID: AS048
Squidco Product Code: 24737

Format: CASSETTE
Condition: New
Released: 2017
Country: USA
Packaging: Cassette
Recorded at JACK, in Brooklyn, New York, on May 14th, 2016, by Jaimie Branch.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Brooklyn-based electroacoustic outfit W-2 have been honing their distinct sound over the past 2.5 years. Comprised of tenor saxophonist Sam Weinberg and synthesizist Chris Welcome (the Flying Luttenbachers), the music on Fanatics takes their decidedly contorted sound to its furthest extreme - ceaseless abraded timbres abound at every turn, punishing noise walls suddenly interrupted by abrasive blips, sudden digressions and an unflinching sense of urgency.

Given the disparate nature of their instruments, the blend that Welcome and Weinberg are able to conjure is enviable and one of the most notable aspects of the group-when listening to Fanatics it's often difficult to discern where certain sounds are coming from and who is producing them. Weinberg explains: "From the outset of the project, Chris and I were both really interested in exploring and exploiting the possibilities that come from thoroughly embedding ourselves deeply in each other's sounds. When playing with W-2 we've tried to develop a language that makes the two instruments indistinguishable from one another."-Astral Spirits


Artist Biographies

"Sam Weinberg is a Brooklyn based saxophonist, improviser and composer whose playing ranges from the textural and timbral to slippery and melodic. With equal footing in non-idiomatic free improvisation, free jazz, and notated musics, Weinberg attempts to push the language and capacity of the saxophone beyond its usual, assumed limits. Current outfits include Maestro Day, a quartet he co-leads with bassist Henry Fraser (along w Joe Moffett and Connor Baker) which explores novel forms of composition, structure and group interaction ; W-2 with synthesizist Chris Welcome, an abrasive, rhythmically abraded and contorted electro-acoustic duo ; Captain Phillips with snare drummer David Grollman which borrows performative elements and humor in its performances. Other improvised collaborations/ projects are many and varied and include the likes of Jaimie Branch, Jack Wright, Andrew Smiley, Brandon Lopez, Chris Pitsiokos, Jon Lipscomb and Weasel Walter.

For a year and a half, he was a curator at the weekly music series A.E. Randolph Presents at Bar Below Rye in S. Williamsburg, Brooklyn."

-Sam Weinberg Website (https://samweinbergsax.wordpress.com/about/)
3/27/2024

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

"From sparse chamber-jazz to spastic avant-metal, Chris Welcome lends his unique voice to a variety of ensembles. He has performed withHOT DATE, Apocalypso, Mothguts, Mike Pride's Drummer's Corpse, his own quartet, and many others. As a composer, he has written extensively for his quartet and for various chamber ensembles. His compositions combine space and pointillism with extended techniques, electronics and a loose, Jazz sensibility. Chris Welcome attended Rutgers University where he studied closely with Vic Juris, Stanley Cowell, and Ralph Bowen. He was born in 1980 in New York and grew up in the Chicago area where he studied guitar with Frank Portolese. He currently lives in Brooklyn, NY."

-Chris Welcome Website (http://chriswelcome.com/About.html)
3/27/2024

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


Track Listing:



SIDE A



1. Beige and Distrustful 10:44

2. Wrinkle Shouldered 01:55

3. Decisive Profanity 07:00

4. Infinite Care at the Outset 04:46

SIDE B



1. Thread and a Splinter 04:22

2. Generous Contortions 07:59

3. Handsome Lady With An Armful of Orchids 11:23

Related Categories of Interest:


Cassettes
Improvised Music
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Sound, Noise, &c.
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Duo Recordings
New in Experimental & Electronic Music
Physical Releases that include Download Codes

Cassettes
Improvised Music
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Sound, Noise, &c.
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Duo Recordings
New in Experimental & Electronic Music
Physical Releases that include Download Codes

Search for other titles on the label:
Astral Spirits.


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