The Squid's Ear
Writing about improvised, contemporary, experimental and unusual music,
following the activities of Squidco...
  •  •  •     Join Our Mailing List!



The Squid's Ear




Heard In

Reviews of artist releases:
cd's, books, magazines, &c.


  Taku Sugimoto 
  Guitars
  (Meenna) 


  
   review by Brian Olewnick
  2021-07-20
Taku Sugimoto: Guitars (Meenna)

Three compositions by Sugimoto, two for solo guitar, one for guitar trio, performed by Andrey Popovsky, Denis Sorokin, and Alexander Markvart. The disc includes detailed notes on the piece by Sugimoto, especially involving tunings.

Of Sugimoto's compositional works over the last couple of decades, these surely number among the most approachable. As unusual as the tunings may be, the resultant readings, at least by these three guitarists, feature clearly struck notes that are more or less tonal, follow in quasi-scalar patterns and are deployed in small groups with fairly regular, if very slow, rhythms. 'solo for guitar 2', has a microtonal feel to it and proceeds at a slow, steady walk, as though carefully contemplating its surroundings. Static but very alive, it's a gem of a work. 'trio (for three guitars)' uses, at the composers request, one each of acoustic, "semi-acoustic" and classical guitars, all tuned differently. The sense isn't so dissimilar from the preceding work except that the feeling of "three" is there, a kind of slow round passed between the players, the timbre of the instruments also not so far apart.

'solo for guitar 1', with Sorokin on electric, is a beast of a somewhat different character. For about half the piece, the pace, while by no means fast, is a bit quicker than before, the notes louder (not loud) and containing a degree of burr; they're clear, but there's an un-sanded aspect to them, very attractive. It's laid out in several discreet sections, each a few minutes long, each having a differing but related aspect. The tones, in groups of four, five, eight, etc., are again presented with a regular cadence but the timbre and tonality shifts a bit between sections and the tempo shifts slightly as well, Not "static" like the other works, more a series of static pictures taken along a walk that only varied a bit along its length, but those variations have become important and beautiful. After an extra-long stretch of silence, the composition resumes at a slower pace, much more like the first track, but the notes often carry an electric shimmer that was necessarily absent earlier.







Comments and Feedback:



More Recent Reviews, Articles, and Interviews @ The Squid's Ear...


The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Derek Bailey/
John Stevens:
The Duke of
Wellington
(Confront)



Paul Dunmall:
Away With
Troubles And Anxieties!
(Discus)



Shifa (
Musson/
Thomas/
Sanders):
Ecliptic
(Discus)



Natsuki Tamura/
Satoko Fujii:
Ki
(Libra)



Borah Bergman/
Anthony Braxton/
Peter Brotzmann:
Eight By Three
(Mixtery)



Hedvig Mollestad Trio:
Bees In
The Bonnet
(Rune Grammofon)



Acid Mothers Temple &
The Melting Paraiso
UFO:
Black Mountain
ide
(Rolling Heads)



Evan Parker/
Bill Nace:
Branches (
Live at Cafe OTO)[VINYL]
(Open Mouth)



Alexander Hawkins/
Taylor Ho Bynum:
A Near Permanent State
Of Wonder
(RogueArt)



Joseph Holbrooke (
w/ Derek Bailey/
Gavin Bryars/
Tony Oxley):
Last Live 2001 -
In Memoriam
Derek Bailey
And
Tony Oxley
[2 CDs]
(Tzadik)



Zeena Parkins:
Modesty Of
The Magic Thing
(Tzadik)



Dave Douglas (
Douglas/
Ridout/
Adewumi/
Brennan/
Pass/
Royston):
Alloy
(Greenleaf Music)



Ivo Pereleman/
Nate Wooley/
Matt Moran/
Mark Helias/
Tom Rainey:
A Modicum
Of the Blues
(Fundacja Sluchaj!)



Angles 11:
Tell Them
It's The Sound Of Freedom
(Fundacja Sluchaj!)



Sifter (
w/ Lisa Mezzacappa):
Flake/
Fracture
(Queen Bee Records)



Jean-Marc Foussat:
Abbatage
(Fou Records)



Chester Hawkins:
Apsis
(Intangible Arts)



Karl Evangelista's Apura +
Andrew Cyrille:
Bukas
(577 Records)



Frode Gjerstad/
Alexander von Schlippenbach/
Dag Magnus Narvesen:
Seven Tracks
(Relative Pitch)



Kaze (
Fujii/
Tamura/
Orins/
Pruvost) with/ Koichi Makigami:
Shishiodoshi
(Circum-Libra)







Squidco
Click here to
advertise with
The Squid's Ear






The Squid's Ear pays its writers.
Interested in becoming a reviewer?




The Squid's Ear is the companion magazine to the online music shop Squidco !


  Copyright © Squidco. All rights reserved. Trademarks. (4701)