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.


  AMM 
  Aura
  (Matchless Recordings) 


  
   review by John Eyles
  2025-03-17
AMM: Aura (Matchless Recordings)

In early 2004, after Eddie Prévost, Keith Rowe and John Tilbury had been together as a version of AMM for over two decades, Prévost and Rowe disagreed about something Prévost had written in one of his books. After the AMM concert at Conway Hall, London, on May 1st, 2004, Rowe left AMM which continued as a duo of Prévost on percussion and Tilbury on piano. It was not until Sunday November 29th, 2015, the last night of that year's Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, that Prévost, Rowe and Tilbury once again appeared together as AMM. Following that concert the trio also appeared together in London on December 5th, 2015, Paris on April 7th, 2016 and Trondheim on June 9th 2016.

The AMM concert heard on Aura was recorded at the 159-seat Sibelius Museum concert hall in Turku, Finland, on October 8th, 2016. Probably because the Turku concert had been arranged prior to Rowe rejoining, it featured Prévost and Tilbury as AMM — making it a landmark as the very last AMM concert featuring the Prévost and Tilbury duo. On July 30th, 2022, as part of the celebrations of Prévost's eightieth birthday, the AMM trio was due to play at Café Oto, London. John Tilbury did not attend due to health issues and so the duo of Prévost and Rowe played together as AMM. Not long afterwards it was announced that July 30th had been AMM's last concert and that the group had disbanded... the end of an era.

The Turku concert itself was an impressive hour which demonstrates AMM at its spontaneous best as Prévost and Tilbury reacted to each other's playing and to the environment in which they played. Tentative at first, the telltale sound of Prévost's bowed cymbals gels with occasional piano notes sounded by Tilbury, who has frequently advised improvisers not to play for more than a third of the available time, advice that he follows here. The duo's sounds were ideally suited to the venue. Although Tilbury could not prepare the museum's grand piano to produce the sort of sounds he frequently employs, he found something to compensate — a harpsichord that the museum was exhibiting and inviting visitors to try out. The well-deserved prolonged applause from the audience speaks volumes.







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:


Ernesto Rodrigues/
Guilherme Rodrigues:
Pico
(Creative Sources)



Ernesto Rodrigues/
Ines Ferreira/
Carlos Santos/
Monsieur Trinite:
Cimetiere des Bateaux
(Creative Sources)



Evan Parker/
Andrea Centazzo:
Bullfighting On Ice!
Live In Padova 1977
[VINYL]
(Ictus Remastered Collection)



Alvin Curran/
Andrea Centazzo/
Evan Parker:
Real Time
[VINYL]
(Ictus Remastered Collection)



Alvin Curran/
Andrea Centazzo/
Evan Parker:
Real Time Two
[VINYL]
(Ictus Remastered Collection)



Studer/
Strinning/
Weber:
Cut
(Creative Sources)



Reeder/
Seward/
Weathers:
Two Meditations From
he Underground
(Editions Glomar)



Rotor (
Rodrigues/
Torres/
Santos):
Pulses and Paradox
(Creative Sources)



Udo Schindler/
Paul Rogers/
Ardhi Engl:
Ephemeral Essences
Of LowTone Studies (
For Trio)
(Creative Sources)



Eventless Plot:
Unlearning Noise
(Discreet Archive)



Fohn Ensemble (
Foschla/
Duerinckx/
Northover):
Fohn Ensemble
(Creative Sources)



Otherlands Trio (
Crump/
Jones/
McPherson):
Star Mountain
(Intakt)



Byron Coley/
Mats Gustafsson/
Thurston Moore:
Now Jazz Now:
100 Essential Free Jazz
&
Improvisation Recordings (
1960-80)
[BOOK]
(Ecstatic Peace Library )



Peter Evans/
Being & Becoming:
Ars Ludricra
[VINYL + DOWNLOAD]
(More Is More)



HobbyHouse (
Mia Dyberg/
Axel Filip):
HobbyHouse
[CD + DOWNLOAD]
(Relative Pitch)



Camila Nebbia (
feat/ Marilyn Crispell/
Lesley Mok):
A Reflection Distorts
Over Water
[CD + DOWNLOAD]
(Relative Pitch)



Zeena Parkins:
Lament For
The Maker
[CD + DOWNLOAD]
(Relative Pitch)



Peter Evans/
Mike Pride:
A Window, Basically
[CD + DOWNLOAD]
(Relative Pitch)



Uneven Eleven (
Segers/
Hawyard/
Kawabata):
Live In Brighton
(Discus)



Ilia Belorukov/
Alex Riva:
Wrestling For Futility
[CASSETTE w/DOWNLOAD]
(Notice Recordings)







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. (71447)