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
Facebook: Squidco Sales



Heard In

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


  Paul Lytton / Erhard Hirt 
  Borne On A Whim: Duets, 1981
  (Corbett vs. Dempsey) 


  
   review by Jeph Jerman
  2023-12-12
Paul Lytton / Erhard Hirt: Borne On A Whim: Duets, 1981 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

Recorded in Belgium in April of 1981, this long-dormant set, originally to have been released on Lytton's PO Torch label, finally gets an airing thanks to the good people at Corbett vs. Dempsey. At the time, Lytton and Hirt were very active as a duo, as well as being members of the quartet X-Pact (with Wolfgang Fuchs and Has Schneider), and the King Ubu Orchestra.

Everything you'd expect is here: Flinty guitar pluckings peppered with harmonic volume swells and quick bits of feedback, scattershot drumming with well-timed surprise bombs and pitch-bent madness, the gamut is truly run. Overall, the duo swing between louder, more emphatic pronouncements and long passages of quieter interaction, and this is where some of the weirdest stuff happens. The uncanny speech-like asides. Hirt channels Eugene Chadbourne and Lytton responds with a wall of quick-handed strikes. The pitch bent harmonics with percussive comments at the beginning of "Passing" are particularly fun, and then it develops into a rapid-fire jamboree which isn't featured in the guide book.

Hirt's playing doesn't mimic other guitarists of the time, he sounds very much his own man. Sure, there's something very familiar in his timbres and string-deadened picking, his droning warble and off-kilter note placement, but this is probably down to the universal nature of the guitar and not really a case of imitation. (See the birds and whine section at the end of this track.) The stop-starts and volume gradations on "The Sensitive Stickler" will test your ears while enticing you with some very odd combinations, tap dancing on a bed of needles, cutlery affixed. These are a few of my favorite moments, I'm sure you'll have your own.

The early '80's was a very fertile period in the history of free improvisation, and it's very great indeed to have this document unearthed at last. A note on the cover says that this is Paul Lytton archives #1. Hopefully that means we can look forward to a lot more of this awesome music.







Comments and Feedback:



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

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Kim Jae Jung:
Shamanism
(Relative Pitch)



Joe McPhee/
Susanna Gartmayer/
John Edwards/
Maria Portugal:
Monster
(Klanggalerie)



Signe Emmeluth/
Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten/
Axel Filip:
Hyperboreal Trio
(Relative Pitch)



John Butcher/
John Edwards:
This Is
Not Speculation
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Izumi Kimura/
Lina Andonovska/
Dominique Pifarely:
Seven Dreams
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Jerome Deupree/
Sylvie Courvoisier/
Lester St. Louis/
Joe Morris:
Canyon
[2 CDs]
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Marc Baron/
Eric La Casa:
Contrefacons
(Swarming)



Francisco Lopez:
Untitled (
2021-2022)
[2 CDs]
(Bu Lang Tribute Cake)



Eventless Plot |
Haarvol:
The Subliminal Paths
[CASSETTE + DOWNLOAD]
(Innovo Editions)



Akmee:
Sacrum Profanum
(Nakama Records)



Karl Evangelista Quintet
feat. Bobby Bradford and
William Roper:
Solace Angles
(Asian Improv)



Sveio:
Latent Imprints
(577 Records)



The Sleep Of Reason
Produces Monsters (
Rasmussen/
Mitelli/
Rezaei/
Koenig):
The Sleep Of Reason
Produces Monsters
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)



Dan Brown/
Dan Reynolds:
Live At
The Grange Hall
[unauthorized][CASSETTE]
(Sacred Realism)



Matt Mitchell:
Sacrosanctity
(Obliquity)



Das B (
Mazen Kerbaj/
Mike Majkowski/
Magda Mayas/
Tony Buck):
Love
(thanatosis produktion/
Corbett Vs Dempsey)



Das B (
Mazen Kerbaj/
Mike Majkowski/
Magda Mayas/
Tony Buck):
Love
[VINYL]
(thanatosis produktion/
Corbett Vs Dempsey)



Mary Halvorson Septet:
Illusionary Sea
[2 LPS]
(Firehouse 12 Records)



Darius Jones:
Legend of e'Boi (
The Hypervigilant Eye)
[VINYL + DOWNLOAD]
(Aum Fidelity)



Irene Schweizer/
Rudiger Carl/
Johnny Dyani/
Han Bennink:
Irenes Hot Four
(Intakt)







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. (17152)