The Squid's Ear Magazine

Butcher, John / Kurzmann, Christof

The Big Misunderstanding Between Hertz and Megahertz

Butcher, John / Kurzmann, Christof: The Big Misunderstanding Between Hertz and Megahertz (Potlatch)


 

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product information:

Personnel:



John Butcher-tenor, soprano saxophones, feedback tenor

Christof Kurzmann-lloopp, pick up


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UPC: 3491570000328

Label: Potlatch
Catalog ID: P106
Squidco Product Code: 7197

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2006
Country: France
Packaging: Jewel tray, not sealed.
Tracks 1-5 recorded by Christof Amann at Amann Studio, 6-9 recorded by Tobias Levin at Westwerk.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Assembled from two recordings from September 2002 and another one from April 2003, The Big Misunderstanding Between Hertz and Megahertz documents one of John Butcher's less obvious collaboration projects. This is not the first time that the saxophonist duets with an electronician, as his albums with Phil Durrant and Toshimaru Nakamura can testify, but in these 45 minutes with laptop artist Christof Kurzmann, he pulls his saxophones deeper than ever into the realm of electronics.

His trills, burps, rasps, controlled feedbacks and breath intakes have never sounded so non-acoustic here, where they are accompanied by electronic...trills, burps, rasps, feedbacks and various textures that can be mistaken for breath intakes. No, this is not a game of imitation -- Kurzmann also produces a number of more "pure" electronic sounds --, but the two improvisers are successful in blending their individual approaches. For instance, in the short Bee Space, everything heard seems to come from a single performer. In Shilling, sax feedback and electronics first meld together, before each musician takes a few steps away from the other, concluding the piece in more typical sax-and-electronics fashion (that is, a sax that sounds a bit more like a sax and electronics that paint their own playground instead of messing around with the other guy's).

The Big Misunderstanding... offers nine rather short pieces -- four under three minutes, none longer than nine -- featuring tight, dense, rich improvisations. Kurzmann is extremely resourceful and Butcher engages him with what sounds like the thrill of discovery. In a year where Butcher followers have been extremely well treated already (Polwechsel's Archives of the North, The Contest of Pleasures' Albi Days), this album turns out to be another keeper."-

François Couturel All Music Guide l October 2006

Artist Biographies

"John Butcher's work ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback and extreme acoustics.Originally a physicist, he left academia in '82, and has since collaborated with hundreds of musicians - Derek Bailey, John Tilbury, John Stevens, The EX, Akio Suzuki, Gerry Hemingway, Polwechsel, Gino Robair, Rhodri Davies, Okkyung Lee, John Edwards, Toshi Nakamura, Paul Lovens, Eddie Prevost, Mark Sanders, Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Phil Minton, and Andy Moor - to name a few.

He is well known as a solo performer who attempts to engage with the uniqueness of place. Resonant Spaces is a collection of site-specific performances collected during a tour of unusual locations in Scotland and the Orkney Islands.His first solo album, Thirteen Friendly Numbers, includes compositions for multitracked saxophones, whilst later solo CDs focus on live performance, composition, amplification and saxophone-controlled feedback.

HCMF has twice commissioned him to compose for his own large ensembles. Other commissions include for Elision (Australia), the Rova (USA) & Quasar (Canada) Saxophone Quartets, reconstructed Futurist Intonarumori (USA), "Tarab Cuts" (based on pre-WWII Arabic recordings, and shortlisted for the 2014 British Composer's Award) and "Good Liquor .." for the London Sinfonietta. In 2011 he received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists.

Recent groupings include The Apophonics with Robair and Edwards, Anemone with Peter Evans, Plume with Tony Buck & Magda Mayas and a trio with Okkyung Lee & Mark Sanders.Butcher values playing in occasional encounters - ranging from large groups such as Butch Morris' London Skyscraper and the EX Orkestra, to duo concerts with David Toop, Kevin Drumm, Claudia Binder, Paal Nilssen-Love, Thomas Lehn, Fred Frith, Keiji Haino, Ute Kangeisser, Matthew Shipp and Yuji Takahashi."

-John Butcher Website (http://www.johnbutcher.org.uk/Biog.html)
3/27/2024

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

"Christof Kurzmann (vocals, lloopp, clarinet, alto sax), is an Austrian musician, performer, composer currently living in Buenos Aires. Beginning in 1994 he started his work in the field of experimental electronic music. Since that time Christof has collaborated with some of the most significant artists working in contemporary music and improvisation- including Toto Alvarez, Martin Brandlmayr, John Butcher, Eden Carrasco, Sebi Ciurcina, Werner Dafeldecker, Kai Fagaschinski, Fernanda Farrah, Bernhard Fleischmann, Michaela Grill, Margareth Kammerer, Leonel Kaplan, Bernhard Lang, Andrea Neumann, Fernando Perales, Eva Reiter, Marina Rosenfeld, Ursula Rucked, Burkhard Stangl, Michael Thieke, and Clayton Thomas- in groups such as El Infierno Musical, The Magic I.D., and Schee. During the course of his career, Christof has performed throughout Europe, Japan, North and South Amercia. He has also been a music curator since the mid 1980's, and in 1999 founded the record label, Charhizma, which has released more than 30 cds."

-http://kenvandermark.com/2013/10/made-to-break-biography/ (Ken Vandermark Website)
3/27/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. aume (2:55)

2. bee space (2:54)

3. klafter (8:55)

4. redwood second (7:18)

5. schilling (6:08)

6. seer (2:51)

7. shilling (8:40)

8. therblig (3:54)

9. thimbleful (2:21)

Related Categories of Interest:

Improvised Music
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
John Butcher
December 2006
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Free Improvisation
Recordings by or featuring Reed & Wind Players
Duo Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Potlatch.


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