The Squid's Ear Magazine


Made to Break: Before the Code (Trost Records)

MTB continues to inspire, merging shake-your-ass jazz with experimental electracoustic elements, blending players from Chicago (reedist Ken Vandermark & drummer Tim Daisy) and Europe (bassist Jasper Stadhouders of Cactus truck & Christof Kurzmann on electronics).
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Ken Vandermark-reeds

Christof Kurzmann-electronics

Jasper Stadhouders- bass

Tim Daisy-drums


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UPC: 9120036681965

Label: Trost Records
Catalog ID: TROST 141CD
Squidco Product Code: 21234

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2015
Country: Austria
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Amann Studios, Vienna, Austria, on November 11th, 2014 by Christoph Amann.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"No band has ever attempted to bridge the sounds of free improvisation, funk, and electronics before Ken Vandermark formed the quartet Made To Break. The groups fourth release Before The Code pushes the musical envelope a bit more into the stratosphere, maybe even into the musical mesosphere.

The saxophonist and composer whose credits include the seminal bands Vandermark 5, Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Resonance Ensemble, and Audio One, to name just four of his multiplicity of current and former groups, has, of late, set about unfettering his approach to composition. With Made To Break, he refrains from linear composing with improvised parts to a modular system with players allowed to shuffle and reorder the composed sections within a given tune.

This disc follows Cherchez La Femme (Trost, 2014) with electric bassist Jasper Stadhouders (Cactus truck) replacing Den Hoff. The music, maybe we should say the musicians, adopt a gratifying restlessness here. It's as if each modular section, like a shuffled deck of cards, keeps turning up winners.

The opening track, "Dial the number (for Agnes Varda)" tiptoes in with a tenor saxophone and bass melody that soon accelerates under drummer Tim Daisy's pulse. It's no mistake that the drummer is listed first in the printed lineup of each of the band's releases. His heartbeat is quite often the signature here, whether he is exercising his inner Clyde Stubblefield funky drummer or playing Paul Lovens-free. A few times he drops some breakbeats that, in their day, the Beastie Boys would have nicked. The track progresses through (dare we call them movements?) differing modules that shift the time, tempo, and focus. With the electronics of Christof Kurzmann the sounds can be looped or new sounds introduced. He plies bits of fuzz, some anarchist noisiness, and, at times, ambience to the mix.

The possibilities of this band are seemingly endless. Vandermark chose the electric/acoustic mix to balance the listen-close aspects against the move-your-ass parts. If it's the electric pulse of Stadhouders' bass and funky drums that gets you in the door, it is the potential for new sounds and exploration from Kurzmann's electronics, Vandermark's tenor saxophone and clarinet, and the rattle-tick-buzz of Daisy's percussive explorations that will keep you wanting even more."-Mark Corroto, All About Jazz

Also available on vinyl LP.
Get additional information at All About Jazz

Artist Biographies

"Born in Warwick, Rhode Island on September 22nd, 1964, Ken Vandermark began studying the tenor saxophone at the age of 16. Since graduating with a degree in Film and Communications from McGill University during the spring of 1986, his primary creative emphasis has been the exploration of contemporary music that deals directly with advanced methods of improvisation. In 1989, he moved to Chicago from Boston, and has worked continuously from the early 1990's onward, both as a performer and organizer in North America and Europe, recording in a large array of contexts, with many internationally renowned musicians (such as Fred Anderson, Ab Baars, Peter Brötzmann, Tim Daisy, Hamid Drake, Terrie Ex, Mats Gustafsson, Devin Hoff, Christof Kurzmann, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Joe McPhee, Paal Nilssen-Love, Paul Lytton, Andy Moor, Joe Morris, and Nate Wooley). His current activity includes work with Made To Break, The Resonance Ensemble, Side A, Lean Left, Fire Room, the DKV Trio, and duos with Paal Nilssen-Love and Tim Daisy; in addition, he is the music director of the experimental Pop band, The Margots. More than half of each year is spent touring in Europe, North America, and Japan, and his concerts and numerous recordings have been critically acclaimed both at home and abroad. In addition to the tenor sax, he also plays the bass and Bb clarinet, and baritone saxophone. In 1999 he was awarded the MacArthur prize for music."

-Ken Vandermark Website (http://kenvandermark.com/2013/10/made-to-break-biography/)
3/13/2024

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

"Christof Kurzmann (vocals, lloopp, clarinet, alto sax), is an Austrian musician, performer, composer currently living in Buenos Aires. Beginning in 1994 he started his work in the field of experimental electronic music. Since that time Christof has collaborated with some of the most significant artists working in contemporary music and improvisation- including Toto Alvarez, Martin Brandlmayr, John Butcher, Eden Carrasco, Sebi Ciurcina, Werner Dafeldecker, Kai Fagaschinski, Fernanda Farrah, Bernhard Fleischmann, Michaela Grill, Margareth Kammerer, Leonel Kaplan, Bernhard Lang, Andrea Neumann, Fernando Perales, Eva Reiter, Marina Rosenfeld, Ursula Rucked, Burkhard Stangl, Michael Thieke, and Clayton Thomas- in groups such as El Infierno Musical, The Magic I.D., and Schee. During the course of his career, Christof has performed throughout Europe, Japan, North and South Amercia. He has also been a music curator since the mid 1980's, and in 1999 founded the record label, Charhizma, which has released more than 30 cds."

-http://kenvandermark.com/2013/10/made-to-break-biography/ (Ken Vandermark Website)
3/13/2024

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

"Jasper Stadhouders (Tilburg, the Netherlands, 1989) is a guitarist and bassist based in Amsterdam. He's performed music on stage since the age of 8. He is an active member of the international improvised music circuit. He is a co-founder of the bands Cactus Truck (with John Dikeman and Onno Govaert), Stadhouders/Govaert/De Joode Trio and two duos with percussionists Dag Erik Knedal Andersen and Nicolas Field. He is also part of such diverse bands as Spinifex and Lily's Déjà Vu, next to playing countless of ad hoc improv shows. Jasper also occasionally works in the fields of dance, theatre and contemporary composed music. He has played with Han Bennink, Ab Baars, Paal Nilssen-Love, Marshall Allen, Wolter Wierbos, Noel Redding, Ken Vandermark, Jim Black, Andrew D'Angelo, Terrie Ex, Andy Moor, Peter Evans, Frank Rosaly, Dave Rempis, Roy Campbell, Michael Moore, Jeb Bishop, Peter Jacquemyn, Wally Shoup, Ingrid Laubrock, Mars Williams, Michael Vatcher, Alan Wilkinson and many more. Jasper has performed extensively in Europe and the USA, as well as in India."

-Jasper Stadhouders Website (https://jasperstadhouders.wordpress.com/about/)
3/13/2024

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

"Tim Daisy (percussion) has been an active member of Chicago' s creative music scene since moving there in 1997. He has performed, composed, recorded, and toured with many of the city's celebrated musicians and ensembles, including the Engines, KLANG, the Rempis Percussion Quartet, the Resonance Ensemble, and the Vandermark 5. In addition, Tim maintains an active composing schedule, writing for his own bands (such as Vox Arcana and Group 4-34) as well as contributing music to a number of collaborative projects- including chamber groups, jazz ensembles, dance, and film. He has had the fortunate experience to perform and record with many great improvisers both from around the world, including: Fred Anderson, Jim Baker, Jeb Bishop, Magnus Broo, Xavier Charles, James Falzone, Erik Friedlander, Per-Ake Homlander, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Nate McBride, Joe McPhee, Dave Rempis, Steve Swell, Mikolaj Trzaska, Havard Wiik, Waclaw Zimpel, and Michael Zerang. Besides a regular concert schedule in Chicago, Tim has toured throughout North America and Europe, and has performed at numerous international music festivals."

-Ken Vandermark Website (http://kenvandermark.com/2013/10/made-to-break-biography/)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Dial The Number 20:29

2. Off-Picture No. 119 10:57

3. Window Breaking Hammer 23:43

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
European Improvisation and Experimental Forms
Free Improvisation
Quartet Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items

Search for other titles on the label:
Trost Records.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Made to Break
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Made to Break
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The electroacoustic quartet of Christof Kurzmann (electronics), Devin Hoff (bass), Ken Vandermark (reeds) and Tim Daisy (drums) performing live in Lisbon, an innovative and significant band developing new languages for improvisation.
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