Squidco: Sharp, Elliott: OCTAL: Book Five for 8-string guitarbass

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Artist Title Label

Sharp, Elliott

OCTAL: Book Five for 8-string guitarbass

(zOaR Records

- USA)

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Returning to his custom Koll 8-string guitarbass for the fifth volume of the Octal series, Elliott Sharp builds improvisations from concepts in physics, language and philosophy, using a prime-number-derived tuning system alongside preparations, slides, EBow and spring bows to exploit the instrument's broad bass-to-guitar range, resonant body and richly layered electroacoustic color.

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Product Information:

Personnel:

Elliott Sharp-8 string guitar bass

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UPC: 755491376393

Label: zOaR Records
Catalog ID: ZCD 210
Squidco Product Code: 37857

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2026
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Studio zOaR, in NYC, in May, 2026.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"In Book Five of the Octal series, each composition is based on a term from physics, language, or philosophy, the words providing the sonic impetus and framing the improvisations. These pieces came about after a startling realization: my last recorded work with the incredible 8-string fanned-fret guitarbass built for me by Saul Koll was in 2013.

The Koll 8-string remains unmatched as an electroacoustic sound source that also happens to be an instrument with the full range of bass and guitar. The David Gage Realist piezo pickup mounted in the bridge allows one to introduce acoustic transients and the physical manifestation of the vibrating strings on a resonant body. Mixing the piezo with the Lollar magnetic pickup yields a rich and vibrant soundfield.

To record these pieces at Studio zOaR, the mag pickup was plugged into a 1965 Fender Princeton Reverb amplifier mic'd with an EV RE20 dynamic and the piezo into the Fender 75 head with Hartke 2x10" cabinet mic'd with an EV PL76 condensor. A Neumann TLM170 in omni mode captured room sound. Everything was recorded into ProTools where mixing was realized using only some limiting and reverb for a hyperreal sonic image.

The final element that defines Book Five is the tuning system which was derived from Prime Numbers. Frequencies were calculated for a series of Prime ratios with some of the results transposed by octaves to work optimally with the string gauges of the Koll. The lowest string, 1/1, was tuned to D at 74.42 Hz with the rest to follow:

1/1: D0 = 73.42 3/2: A0 = 129.24 17/16: Eb = 178.42 5/4: Gb = 229.71 7/4: C = 260.55 11/8 G^ = 312.21 19/16 F = 370.42 13/8 Bb = 456.71

There are those that attribute mystical qualities to tunings based on Just Intonation or Prime Numbers. I consider myself immune to this sort of parascience but these systems do provide alternative colors and melodies as well as vertical simultaneities that differ from the usual harmonic structures found in Western music. Preparations, slides, EBow, and spring bows were also used to create sounds outside of any tuning system."-E# - NYC - May 2026

Artist Biographies

• Show Bio for Elliott Sharp

"Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer.

A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City for over 30 years, Elliott Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from orchestral music to blues, jazz, noise, no wave rock, and techno music. He leads the projects Carbon and Orchestra Carbon, Tectonics, and Terraplane and has pioneered ways of applying fractal geometry, chaos theory, and genetic metaphors to musical composition and interaction.

His collaborators have included Radio-Sinfonie Frankfurt; pop singer Debbie Harry; Ensemble Modern; Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; Kronos String Quartet; Ensemble Resonanz; cello innovator Frances Marie Uitti; blues legends Hubert Sumlin and Pops Staples; pipa virtuoso Min-Xiao Feng; jazz greats Jack deJohnette, Oliver Lake, and Sonny Sharrock; multimedia artists Christian Marclay and Pierre Huyghe; and Bachir Attar, leader of the Master Musicians Of Jajouka.

Sharp is a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, and a 2014 Fellow at Parson's Center for Transformative Media. He received the 2015 Berlin Prize in Musical Composition from the American Academy in Berlin. He has composed scores for feature films and documentaries; created sound-design for interstitials on The Sundance Channel, MTV and Bravo networks; and has presented numerous sound installations in art galleries and museums. He is the subject of a new documentary "Doing The Don't" by filmmaker Bert Shapiro."-Elliott Sharp

-Elliott Sharp website (http://www.elliottsharp.com/bio.html)
8/21/2026

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

^ Hide Bio for Elliott Sharp

Track Listing:

1. Octaline 3:29

2. Scattering Halo 3:25

3. Analemma 3:33

4. Theia 3:05

5. Gyrify 2:13

6. Missa 3:05

7. Pentafacie 2:47

8. Mani Festi 2:14

9. Asympatry 2:48

10. Polariton 3:58

11. Stella Tenebris 8:07

12. Seiche 3:20

13. Point Of Intervention 5:04

14. Lossolalia 2:04

15. Dronality Five 6:37

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