The Squid's Ear Magazine


Arrias / Munthe: Torso And Legs (Bug Incision Records)

Free improvisation in the SME/Derek Bailey lineage from the duo of Stockholm-based John Arrias on sax and clarinet and Gothenburg-based Christian Munthe on acoustic guitar, using extended techniques with accessible language in unhurried and intertwining improvisations.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



John Arrias-alto saxophone, clarinet

Christian Munthe-acoustic guitar


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Edition of 99 copies, color covers in plastic sleeves

Label: Bug Incision Records
Catalog ID: bim-69
Squidco Product Code: 19775

Format: CDR
Condition: New
Released: 2014
Country: Canada
Packaging: Plastic Sleeve
Recorded in Gothenburg, Sweden in October, 2011.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"It is not to hard to view the playing of Christian Munthe through the post-Derek Bailey continuum-lens of acoustic guitar-based improvising. But, aside from a few superficial similarities, Munthe makes himself distinct, to these ears, at least, by focusing - quite intently, in fact - on some of the very things our acoustic guitar-wielding, ever-looming improv father-figure avoided almost entirely. For all Bailey's innovations in this field, it's notable that he approached the guitar as a finished, perfect piece of music-making equipment, to be taken at face value, technically speaking. Munthe has a carved out a wonderful place for himself by inhabiting some very non-traditional guitar approaches. He plays on detuned strings, freely uses the body of the instrument as a tactile sounding surface (he even has an excellent album called Backside Suite in which he only uses said side of the guitar), and possesses a very naturalistic, intuitive-sounding approach to his manglings. Arrias possesses a clarinet sound that sounds as if its folding in on itself, with smeared notes, overtones, and gnarled fingerings sneaking out from being kept under wraps. The duo's sound in general is not the constant, steady stream of phrases and gestures associated with certain strands free improvising; rather theirs is a music fraught with tension and discomfort, but also a certain naturalism within this, quite off-the-cuff-sounding and unprecious.

For those not in the know, Munthe is a Gothenburg-based improvisor and philosophy professor, and has logged hours with Mats Gustafsson (in the very early Two Slices of Electric Car and latter Two Slices of Acoustic Car), Phil Minton, Roger Turner, Gunther Christmann, and Patrick Farmer. Arrias has been based in Stockholm since 2005, and plays a variety of reeds with such players as Tetuzi Akiyama, Angharad Davies, and Axel Dorner, as well as leading his own quartet. Very excited to present two new names to the Bug Incision roster, and the first in a two-part release of Munthe duos."-Bug Incision


Edition of 99 copies, color covers in plastic sleeves

Artist Biographies

"Born 1962 and residing in Gothenburg, Christian Munthe is a Swedish free improviser concentrating on the sonic possibilities offered by an acoustic guitar. Since the 1980's he has performed/recorded solo as well as with Günter Christmann, Anders Dahl, Nina de Heney, Patrick Farmer, Mats Gustafsson, Thomas Lehn, Paul Lovens, Phil Minton, Tatsuya Nakatani, Christine Sehnaoui, Roger Turner, Phil Wachsmann, a.o. He runs the label forsake recordings."

-TeamRock.com (http://teamrock.com/artist-directory/c/christian-munthe?id=0qre8KdQXYOTQTjtFTDp8d)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. I 6:52

2. II 9:50

3. III 19:34

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Duo Recordings
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms

Search for other titles on the label:
Bug Incision Records.


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