The Squid's Ear Magazine


Lytton, Paul: ?! (Pleasure of the Text Records)

The first solo electronics and percussion album by radical and legendary British improvisor Paul Lytton since 1979, recorded in the studio in Germany, and using a wealth of homemade instruments, laptop, percussive devices, objects, and electro-mechanical devices.
 

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Paul Lytton-percussion, objects


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UPC: 616892293446

Label: Pleasure of the Text Records
Catalog ID: POTR1303
Squidco Product Code: 20776

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2015
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Recorded at KHM Studios in Cologne, Germany in 2014 by Gerald Schauder.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"The first solo electronics and percussion by the radical European improvisor in over thirty years, "?""!" is the culmination of decades of research into and experience of new modes of communication.

Lytton, a central figure in the British free improvisation movement of the 1960s and 70s which included Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, and Paul Rutherford, was instrumental in reshaping the way drums and percussion were viewed in free music. He is one of a handful of percussionists from that time whose work allowed the drum kit to become even more free from the timekeeping constraints of jazz up to that point; the instrument becoming less a set of drums and more a series of membranes on which to create an atmosphere.

His earliest experiments in homemade instruments and electronics with Evan Parker have spurred generations on to look outside systems with names such as "jazz" and "improv" and to explore new modes of communication in the moment. ?! marks the first solo recording of Lytton since 1979's The Inclined Stick on PoTorch. The recording, as expected, is more structural or stratified, than linear or narrative. It allows the listener multiple levels and multiple views into the ever- changing language of one of the 21st century's master musicians."-Pleasure of the Text



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"Paul Lytton (born 8 March 1947, London) is an English free jazz percussionist.

Lytton began on drums at age 16. He played jazz in London in the late 1960s while taking lessons on the tabla from P.R. Desai. In 1969 he began experimenting with free improvisational music, working in a duo with saxophonist Evan Parker. After adding bassist Barry Guy, the ensemble became the Evan Parker Trio. He and Parker continued to work together into the 2000s; more recent releases include trio releases with Marilyn Crispell in 1996 (Natives and Aliens) and 1999 (After Appleby).

A founding member of the London Musicians Collective, Lytton worked extensively on the London free improvisation scene in the 1970s, and aided Paul Lovens in the foundation of the Aachen Musicians' Cooperative in 1976.

Lytton has toured North America and Japan both solo and with improvisational ensembles. In 1999, he toured with Ken Vandermark and Kent Kessler, and recorded with Vandermark on English Suites. Lytton also collaborated with Jeffrey Morgan (alto & tenor saxophone), with whom he recorded the CD "Terra Incognita" Live in Cologne, Germany.

He played also on White Noise's pioneer electronic pop music album An Electric Storm in 1969."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Lytton)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. "?" 4:50

2. Imaginarium... not much of a narrative 6:32

3. Just because you can doesn't mean that you should (To the spirit of Alan Dawson) 7:09

4. Ars Est Celare Artem! 7:18

5. From comfortable to struggling 8:34

6. Iditarod 7:09

7. "!" 4:59

8. Concatenated without Abruption (for Dr S Johnson) 4:05

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Solo Artist Recordings
Percussion & Drums
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Objects and Home-made Instruments

Search for other titles on the label:
Pleasure of the Text Records.


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