The Squid's Ear Magazine


Das Rad: Funfair (Discus)

The UK improvising rock/prog band Das Rad in their seventh album, expanded from the original trio of guitarist & mellotron player Nick Robinson, woodwind & keys player Martin Archer and drummer & synth player Steve Dinsdale, to this quintet with bassist Jon Short and guitarist & vocalist Peter Rophone, evolving their expansive approach merging electronic, jazz and rock music.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Nick Robinson-guitars, mellotron

Martin Archer-keyboards, woodwind

Peter Rophone-voices, acoustic guitar

Jon Short-bass, double bass

Steve Dinsdale-drums, synthesizer


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UPC: 5051078014623

Label: Discus
Catalog ID: 180CD
Squidco Product Code: 35228

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: UK
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Das Rad once again refuse to stand still with this fifth release. Since recording Veer in 2023, the sublime voice of new member Peter Rophone has become fully integrated into the music, and bassist Jon Short consolidates his position by being in at the ground floor on these new pieces, forming a flexible and dynamic rhythm team with drummer Steve Dinsdale. "Das Rad once again refuse to stand still with this fifth release. Since recording Veer in 2023, the sublime voice of new member Peter Rophone has become fully integrated into the music, and bassist Jon Short consolidates his position by being in at the ground floor on these new pieces, forming a flexible and dynamic rhythm team with drummer Steve Dinsdale.

All the basic tracks on this new release were recorded live in the studio, followed by the band's trademark careful editing, refinement and further orchestration of the top line music - Rophone's haunting and intimate multi tracked voice, Nick Robinson's incisive guitars, plus mood + mystery from Martin Archer's overdriven keys and multi instrumental woodwinds.

This process gives the music a very organic basis without any sacrifice of complexity or variety. Improg - progressive music based in improvisational practice - in the truest sense of the word, moving from hard hitting to pure abstraction."-Discus

p> All the basic tracks on this new release were recorded live in the studio, followed by the band's trademark careful editing, refinement and further orchestration of the top line music - Rophone's haunting and intimate multi tracked voice, Nick Robinson's incisive guitars, plus mood + mystery from Martin Archer's overdriven keys and multi instrumental woodwinds.

This process gives the music a very organic basis without any sacrifice of complexity or variety. Improg - progressive music based in improvisational practice - in the truest sense of the word, moving from hard hitting to pure abstraction."-Discus


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Artist Biographies

Nick Robinson: "I'm a looping guitarist living in Sheffield, England. I have been performing for 45+ years in a variety of professional bands and latterly, as a solo artist / collaborator.

Repetition and Intuition are the key factors behind my music, which places dynamics & timbre high up the list. I see the guitar as an organic sound source that uses looping technology and laptop treatment to build moods & soundscapes. My pieces are born, evolve and die away."

-Nick Robinson Website (http://looping.me.uk/)
10/2/2024

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

"Martin Archer was born in Sheffield, England, in 1957. He started playing saxophone at age 15 and first got active on the Sheffield improvisational scene in 1973. In the early '80s, he recorded an LP with Bass Tone Trap, his first group. In 1983 he formed the saxophone quartet Hornweb, which, in ten years of existence, released three albums. It is during that time that Archer released his first solo album, Wild Pathway Favourites (1988) and founded the Discus label on which he since releases all his music.

In 1993, he disbanded Hornweb and turned to synthesizers and sequencers while shifting his activities from stage to studio. He developed a compositional approach in which he records improvisers soloing, then manipulates this raw material, combining it with electronics and structuring it into a whole new piece. This technique is illustrated on Wild Pathway Favourites, Ghost Lily Cascade (1996), and Pure Water Construction (with bassist Simon H. Fell, released in 1999). Later works such as Winter Pilgrim Arriving (2000) moved toward more constructed and less abstract pieces, even making room for melodies and rhythm tracks at times.

Apart from his solo work, Archer is also involved in Ask, a duo with guitarist John Jasnoch, and Transient v Resident, an ambient electronics project with Chris Bywater."-All Music, François Couture



"Martin Archer is a composer / improviser who is equally at home on stage or in the studio. His own distinctive saxophone playing is rooted in AACM jazz. Through his use of keyboards and electronics, and as a studio producer, he extends this interest into extended song form and leftfield rock music. He is also co-director of the uncategorisably avant choir Juxtavoices.

His principle music work is the Discus Music label, the imprint for his various releases, notably by the groups described below.

His current jazz based projects include Engine Room Favourites (current a 4 drummer, 14 piece big band), Story Tellers (6 piece group including shaman instruments alongside the conventional instruments), plus various ad hoc smaller groups. All of these are strongly aligned with AACM tradition and teaching.

Archer has a long running duo with veteran vocalist Julie Tippetts. Each of their highly acclaimed CD releases deliberately explores song from a different perspective - the duo aims to be truly progressive, and takes in elements from jazz, rock, soul and pure abstraction.

Archer's main live performance vehicle is the trio Inclusion Principle with Herve Perez and Peter Fairclough. The group operates in a space between electronics, nu-jazz, contemporary electroacoustic music and free improvisation. In performance you will hear pure jazz skill, electronic beats and areas of texture and abstraction all seamlessly woven into a fascinating and constantly shifting tapestry of sound.

The sprawling Orchestra Of The Upper Atmosphere was formed by Archer as an improvising rock group with shades of Terry Riley, Magma, Alice Coltrane and Sun Ra, very much in the progressive / krautrock tradition, and noted for its large scale string, horn and vocal arrangements.

Also in rock music, Archer is a member of the USA based heavier than plutonium prog / sludge / zeuhl group Combat Astronomy under the direction of Jamie Huggett.

Surprising, delighting and occasionally alarming audiences for a number of years now, Juxtavoices is a 30 piece choir for mainly untrained voices co directed by Archer with Alan Halsey which has racked up dozens of performances and issued three CDs.

This eclectic combination of sources and highly individual applications makes Archer a unique inhabitant of the school of English maverick composer / improvisers. "-Discus

-All Music, Discus Records (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/martin-archer-mn0000146946)
10/2/2024

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

Jonathan Craig Short is a British bassist and cellist from Sheffield. He is known for the groups Deep Sky Divers, Das Rad, and Sheelanagig.

-Discogs (https://www.discogs.com/artist/1245225-Jon-Short)
10/2/2024

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

"Steve Dinsdale plays keyboards and drums in the leading British electronic trio Radio Massacre International, who have released a plethora of albums over the last 20 years and played concerts in both Europe and America. He is also a member of Orchestra of the Upper Atmosphere and Engine Room Favourites, and has several solo albums to his name."

-Bishop's House (http://www.bishopshouse.org.uk/index.php/events/315-das-rad-robinson-archer-dinsdale)
10/2/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Medley: The Kindly Ones / Look In / Steps Out Of Line / Lookout Later 30:56

2. Dream Of Golden Sun 05:55

3. One Star Away 04:31

4. Dissolving In The Mirror 07:36

5. Grimbling 08:00

6. Medley: Lookout Again / Funfair / Impossible Picnic / Warfair 18:08

7. The Empress At Home 03:22

Related Categories of Interest:


Rock and Related
Progressive Rock
Improvised Rock
Improvised Music
Song Based Music
Quintet Recordings
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
New in Rock Forms
Recent Releases and Best Sellers

Search for other titles on the label:
Discus.


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