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.


  Memorize The Sky 
  In Former Times
  (Clean Feed) 


  
   review by Jeph Jerman
  2008-11-20
Memorize The Sky: In Former Times (Clean Feed)

Matt Bauder (reeds), Zach Wallace (double bass) and Aaron Siegel (percussion) have been performing and recording as Memorize The Sky for about a decade, and their music has the sense of refinement such longevity can bring. It is a music of carefully placed "notes" and "sounds" wherein both notions become blurred. It drifts slowly, but not aimlessly, and it is often difficult to tell just what the source of some sounds is.

After a low-key opening of buzz-rolled snare and rising/falling tones, a slight rhythmic suggestion like a spoked wheel turning is overlaid with slight melody, breath sounds and what could be water. The piece grows seemingly of it's own accord.

All of the untitled tracks on this disc were recorded live in Austria, but very little information about them is given. I am assuming these gentlemen are improvising, and if so the restraint displayed in these five untitled tracks is admirable. The second piece begins with plucked bass notes and scrabbly drumhead scratchings, joined eventually by popping notes from tenor sax. The interplay is slowly intensified but never reaches fever-pitch, more like smeared free jazz, the recollection of a band through the haze of memory. The third piece has high-pitched harmonics and metallic ringing with flutter-key overblowing, each player's sounds raising and sinking like waves. It has a resemblance to electronic music in its modus of sonic layering, but with acoustic instruments... and no electronic effects that I can discern. Toward the end of the piece one is reminded of Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians' in the timbre and quick bowing of the bass; the billowing chords here are especially beautiful.

The final offering definitely resembles a song, like an old ballad played exceedingly slowly, and it gives the whole disc a sense of moving toward this, as if the players were creeping ever so glacially toward a theme, which is stated briefly and then it's gone. Not an after-thought, but a culmination.





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. (3564)