The Squid's Ear Magazine


Montgomery, Gen Ken: Endogeny (Tribe Tapes)

Sound and visual artist Gen Ken Montgomery released this album on cassette on the Directions Music label in 1990, here reissued in 2020; the two side-long pieces were performed live and then remixed, creating a fascinating and elaborate tapestry of tapes, concrete and mechanical sounds alongside instrumentation of percussion, violin, voice, &c.
 

Price: $5.95


Quantity:

Out of Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Gen Ken Montgomery-amplified drum skin, brass pipes, violin, answering machine, synthesizer, electronics, violin, voice, field recordings


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Label: Tribe Tapes
Catalog ID: TT-21
Squidco Product Code: 28628

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2020
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded at Gencave, in New York City, New York, 1989.



Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Originally issued in 1990 by Direction Music, 2020 reissue authorized by Gen Ken Montgomery. "



"I am not entirely sure, but I don't think I reviewed Endogeny when it first came out on Direction Music in 1990. Hearing the music I am not even sure I heard it, even when being in contact with the label at that time. I surely heard Gen Ken Montgomery's music by then and was always fascinated by that, his connection to Conrad Schnitzler and his Generator space in New York, which was a venue doubling as a shop (or vice versa) for weird music. The pieces here are for various instruments that were mixed.

'Gattertor' on the first side has "amplified drum skin, brass pipes, violin, answering machine and synthesizer" and which was played in concert and later mixed. It has all the markings on Gen Ken Montgomery, using mechanical sounds, tape-loops and synthesizer to provide a more ongoing mix of sounds, set against the more impromptu playing of the violin or voice treatments. The piece is divided into sections where one instrument is the dominant sounds, be it bell sounds in the beginning, scraping the violin, the machines and the synthesizer drone towards the end.

'Father Demo Swears' on the other side is a recording of "processed electronics, violin, voice with additional live recordings made outside the window of D. Myers during mix down" and is a more continuous action of scraping the violin in front of the open window while in the background various degrees of sound effects are applied, mostly delay. This is a form of direct music that shows the influence of Conrad Schnitzler, I think. This is unconventional music, certain brutality in playing the instruments and right at the moment, direct action. A nice revived document, hopefully, to be followed by more of that."Frans de Waard-Vital Weekly


Get additional information at Vital Weekly

Artist Biographies

"Ken Montgomery is a New York-based visual artist and "sound/composer" whose involvement in the cassette-culture and mail-art movements of the late seventies led to the creation, in 1989, of the first and arguably still the most important sound art gallery in New York City: Generator. Located first in the East Village and later in Chelsea, Generator's wide scope and novel approach toward audio art made it a vector-point for some of the most interesting and important artists from around the world. Ken was also the founder of A.T.M.O.T.W.- Art is Throwing Money Out The Window - and Generator Sound Art Inc., and he co-founded the seminal experimental labels Generations Unlimited and Pogus Productions. As a composer in the early eighties Ken was creating multi-channel sound works often performed in total darkness. More recently Ken has been focusing on visual art, collage, bookmaking, and international correspondence art. As The Minister of Lamination (a.k.a. Egnekn) he is the world's foremost practitioner of sonic Lamination Art. Montgomery has collaborated with a wide variety of artists including Conrad Schnitzler, Andrea Beeman, David Lee Myers (Arcane Device), Zoe Beloff, Michael Zodorozny, and Ishtvan Kantor (a.k.a. Monty Cantsin).

As a sound artist Ken Montgomery finds novel ways to work with sound. He has created an audio-only CD-ROM (Inner Eye / Outer Ear), a record label for experimental music (Generations Unlimited), the first sound art gallery in NYC (Generator), and a Ministry devoted to conducting one-on-one listening rituals (The Ministry of Lamination). Since 1985 he has been performing multi-channel sound concerts in intimate settings, often in total darkness. Montgomery began creating soundtracks for non-existent films in 1979 and distributed them on cassettes through what became known as the International Cassette Network. In composition and performance Montgomery has employed an ice crusher, an aquarium, a refrigerator, a hand massager and a laminator, to name a few.

In 2008 Montgomery was a visiting artist and taught Sound Art and New Media at the University of Cincinnati - College of DAAP. Montgomery has presented his sound work in Europe, Canada and the U.S. In New York his sound work has been heard at The Whitney Museum, P.S. 1, The Kitchen, White Columns, Rotunda Gallery, Issue Project Room, Pierogi 2000, Experimental Intermedia, P.S. 122, Roulette, Lotus Music & Dance, Gargoyle Mechanique, and The Pyramid Club. Montgomery was Artist in Residence at Harvestworks in 1992 and the Spritzenhaus in Hamburg in 1999. He received a Sound Art Fellowship from Media Alliance and The Jerome Foundation in 2000, and in 2003 he was awarded a NYFA Fellowship in Computer Arts.

Montgomery's music has been released on the finest labels in the world - De Fabriek, Esplendor Geometrico, Staalplaat, Banned Productions, Firework Editions, XI Records, GD Stereo, Pogus, Tellus, Touch, XV Parowek, Generations Unlimited and Generator Sound Art."

-Gen Ken Montgomery Website (https://www.genkenmontgomery.com/bio.shtml)
12/11/2024

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


Track Listing:



SIDE A



1. Gattertor 31:32

SIDE B



1. Father Demo Swears 31:28

Related Categories of Interest:


Electro-Acoustic
Organized Sound and Sample Based Music
Field Recordings
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Improvised Music
Solo Artist Recordings
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
New in Experimental & Electronic Music

Cassettes
Electro-Acoustic
Organized Sound and Sample Based Music
Field Recordings
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Improvised Music
Solo Artist Recordings
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
New in Experimental & Electronic Music

Search for other titles on the label:
Tribe Tapes.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Cammisa, Edoardo
io_u,E
(Sublime Retreat)
Understated and enigmatic, the work of Northern Italian sound artist Edoardo Cammisa, aka Banished Pills, presents a very short work on decay, and then two expanded sound works composed from synthesisers, spring reverb, microphones, field recordings, no-input mixing, organ & sampler; the environments are murky but with movement, and engaging in their dark evening ambiance.
Zenial
Lancelot's Delusions
(Sublime Retreat)
The music project of Polish sound explorer Lukasz Szaankiewicz is Zenial, merging minimal ambient and micro-sounds with field recordings and a sense of skewed motion, creating long-form virtual journeys through strange environments, or in rich textures of a dark night accompanied by slowly moving tones, his years of experience heard through exceptional sonic qualities.
Illusion Of Safety & Z'ev
Illusion Of Safety & Z'ev [VINYL w/ DOWNLOAD]
(Tribe Tapes)
After the collaboration of Illusion of Safety and Z'EV which culminated in a performance at Enemy in Chicago in 2007, Z'EV approached IOS member Daniel Burke to collaborate on an album, providing Burke with a number of short acoustic recordings which Burke developed into these compositions merging his own field recordings, sampling, electro-acoustics, and Eurorack modular synth.
Wilson, Kelsey
Secular Music [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD]
(Marthasville Fine Audio Recordings)
An album of sonic environments reflecting on religion in the Southeast from Atlanta, GA drummer and sound artist Kelsey Wilson, using organ, tapes and field recordings to create dark and brooding meditations intended for loud playback, five opaquely layered constructions of ambience and drone, crackling tape loops, low-tones synths and disembodied voices.
Mr. Stonecipher / Joshua Marquez
Faux [CASSETTE]
(910 Noise)
A split cassette between Wilmington sound artists Joshua Marquez, a Filipino-American composer, guitarist, and activist who explores the liminal space between tone and noise; and Mr. Stonecipher, aka Ryan L Lewis IV, a sound artist and filmmaker who works with dramatic sound and feedback of a cinematic quality, often employing unusual objects as source.
Hawkins, Chester
Metabolism Quartet / Nocturne For Poppy [CASSETTE]
(Zeromoon/ Intangible Arts)
Electro-psychedelic explorer Chester Hawkins presenting two live performances in Washington DC -- one recorded in isolation at Intangible Arts' studio (4th September 2018) and one in public at Rhizome community arts space (8th September 2018) -- improvised autopsies of Lutoslawski's String Quartet by means of three granular synth engines and one tape-edit/concrete emulator.
Pisaro / Chabala
Black, White, Red, Green, Blue (Voyelles) [CASSETTE]
(Winds Measure)
Guitarist Barry Chabala's interpretation of composer Pisaro's piece, instructing the performer on structure and pitch but allowing the precise timing and sound to the player; plus a reworking of Chabala's recording taking advantage of cassette hiss and sine tones.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Yoshida, Tatsuya x Kentaro Nakao
T.h.e.d.i.e.i.s.c.a.s.t
(Magaibutsu Limited)
Captured during their 2023 tour, the super-energetic, instrumental Japanese avant-rock duo of drummer Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, Koenji Hyakkei, &c) and bassist Kentaro Nakao (Number Girl, &c) selected the best of their rugged and bewilderingly skillfull improvisations from three concerts at Bordland in Sendai, at Crates in Morioka and at Sublime in Aomori.
Das Rad
Veer
(Discus)
Adding bassist Jon Short to their lineup, the 4th album from Das Rad continues the band's genre-merging approach of rock & improv forms rooted in prog, kosmiche, and jazz rock, this post-pandemic album bringing the band back together for live interaction, their enthusiasm evident in their energetic intercourse, particularly in the extended suite "Expergefactor".
Anthropology Band
Scald - Live 2022 [3 CDS]
(Discus)
Recording at London's Cafe OTO, and at the 2022 Newcastle Festival Of Jazz And Improvised Music, saxophonist and composer Martin Archer's exceptional 8-piece line up of his exuberant avant-electric jazz band blurring lines between 70's Miles and AACM abstractions, is heard across three CDs of fiery soloing, contemplative transitions, and spectacular group interplay.
Orquesta del Tiempo Perdido (Jeroen Kimman)
Sepk
(Shhpuma)
Fusing many styles into a strange jazz-like environment fueled by exotica, electronica, orchestral forms and unusual transitions, Dutch multi-instrumentalist & composer Jeroen Kimman, along with ten Amsterdam musicians including John Dikeman, Koen Nutters, Michael Moore and Mark Morse, present Kimman's unusual and often rubbery musical vision while continually fascinating his listeners.
Dead Mauriacs, The
Le Parc, rapport d'observations
(Sublime Retreat)
The mysterious French audio collective The Dead Mauriacs led by Olivier Prieur in a 3-part work of electroacoustic compositions sourced from field recordings made during time spent in Brussels, developing these works based on daily recordings of audio observations at cafes, parks, churches, plus manipulated objects and some parakeets in a park; truly inspired collage work.
Zuydervelt, Rutger
Porcelain (soundtrack for the film by Jenneke Boeijink)
(Machinefabriek)
The soundtrack for Dutch/Belgium/Italian co-production "Porselein" (Porcelain), a psychological drama by Jenneke Boeijink, recorded with cellist Francesco Guerri and using a motif from Henry Purcell's "The Fairy Queen", the album release including 12 additional tracks; powerful, emotional and passionate music of great tension and brilliant performances from Guerri.
Musson, Rachel / Naoko Saito / Audrey Lauro
The Region Of Braille Responsibility [CD with English Braille Sheet]
(Armageddon Nova)
Three female saxophonist from around the world--Rachel Musson (UK), Naoko Saito (Japan) and Audrey Lauro (Belgium)--in a compilation of solo saxophone works, two extended pieces from Musson and Satio, and four shorter works from Laura, with a CD insert with English Braille characters, and a QR code that, when scanned, plays the audio information for the album.
Kosi
Stranger In Every Town
(self-released)
NY/East Coast Jazz vocalist Kosi presents her 5th album, a rewarding album of original songs that depict her experiences touring as an independent singer-songwriter through jazz idioms influenced by blues and rock forms, her strong voice emotional and expressive while supported by a core sextet of New York musicians; lyrical, solid, passionate.
Hodgkinson, Tim / Jason Alder / Chris Cundy / Yoni Silver / Heather Roche / Shadanga Duo / Thanos Chrysakis
Music For Bass Clarinets
(Aural Terrains)
A live performance at London's Cafe OTO from composer Thanos Chrysakis, performing compositions focused on the deeper reeds from composers Christian Wolff, Iancu Dumitrescu, Hannes Kerschbaumer, Georges Aperghis, and Chrysakis himself, in configurations from solo to quintet, with Tim Hodgkinson, Jason Alder, Chris Cundy, Heather Roce, Yoni Silver, and Shadanga Duo.
Galiay, Frederick (Viard / Sebastien / Boudart / Galiay)
Time Elleipsis
(Ayler)
Dramatic, darkly thrilling music with moments of sheer beauty from French electric bassist Frederick Galiay and his Camaeleo Vulgaris ensemble, a sextet performing Galiay's compositions in a potent mix of electric guitar, electrified baritone sax, synthesizer, and two drummer/percussionists, recorded after a dozen live concerts honing the material to this riveting studio version.
Ratchet Orchestra
Coco Swirl
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Active since the early 90's, the superb Montreal super-group Ratchet Orchestra under the direction of Nicolas Caloia with 19 performers presents 10 works including the title track, with soloists including Jean Rene, Lori Freedman, Jean Derome, Ellwood Epps, Sam Shalabi, Craig Petersen, Yves Charuest, Joshua Zubot, Scott Thomson, Isaiah Ceccarelli, &c.
Derome, Jean
Somebody Special
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
Drawing on the work of Steve Lacy's quintet, Montreal saxophonist Jean Derome pays homage to the late saxophonist through a selection of 9 Lacy pieces with lyrics from Brion Gysin, Lao Tseu, Herman Melville, &c, in a quintet with Derome on alto sax, bass flute & voice, Karen Young providing vocals, Alexandre Grogg on piano, Normand Guilbeault on bass, & Pierre Tanguay on drums.
Astroturf Noise (Harmet / Nagano / Swanson / Martin / Bernstein)
Astroturf Noise
(577 Records)
Astroturf Noise is Sam Day Harmet on mandolin, Sana Nagano on violin, Zach Swanson on bass, Billy Martin on percussion, and Sarah Bernstein on violin, living at the intersection of American folk & roots music and free improvisation, using effects and sonic additions in an unusual mix that the quintet makes completely natural and all their own.
Irving, Tony / Massimo Magee
Vitriol And The Third Oraculum
(577 Records)
Two separate live recordings from the UK sax & drum duo of Massimo Magee on tenor, alto and sopranino saxophones, and drummer Tony Irving (Ascension), both captured in 2019 at The Globe in Newcastle Upon Tyne and at Hundred Years Gallery in London, as they burn through three free jazz dialogs of passionate playing informed by personal history and creative drive.
Sun Ra Arkestra
Heliocentric Worlds 1 and 2
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
The two volumes of "Heliocentric Worlds", recorded 7 months apart in 1965, represent perhaps one of greatest chapters in Sun Ra's legacy, bringing together his immense orchestration skills with future-leaning free jazz, allowing his players expanse inside disciplined compositions that reflect on both space and the then-new freedom explored by jazz soloists.
Turbulence
Tumult
(Evil Clown)
The extended horn section for the Leap of Faith Orchestra is heard here as a quintet with PEK (reeds), Jim Warshsauer (reeds), Bob Moores (trumpet), Eric Dahlman (trumpet) and Duane Reed (baritone horn), all using an a vast collection of percussive instruments, game calls and other devices, to create a journey of tone, color, interactive playing and rhythmic intervention.
Turbulence
Eddy Flux
(Evil Clown)
The extended horn section for the Leap of Faith Orchestra from the Boston-area collective led by reedist/multi-instrumentalist David Peck, here with PEK on an assortment of saxophones, clarinets, flutes, game calls and percussion, the other horns from Michael Caglianone on sax, game calls, wind sirens and percussion, with drums, bells, bowls and other percussion from Yuri Zbitnoff.
Burke, Rob / Ben Monder / Tom Rainey / Ben Grayson
Slip Sliding
(FMR)
Rob Burke composed the first seven pieces for this experimental NY quartet, the multi-reedist joined by guitarist Ben Monder, drummer Tom Rainey, and Ben Grayson on electronics, the last "Discordat" a collective improvisation in 4 parts, as the band investigates emotional approaches to playing, using subtle distortion and Grayson's post-editing sonic additions.
Carrier, Francois / Tomek Gadecki / Marcin Bozek / Michel Lambert
WIDE
(FMR)
A burning album of collective free jazz from Canadian compatriots Francois Carrier on alto saxophone and Michel Lambert on drums, on a spring tour of Europe, performing at Poland's MOZG in Byrgoszcz, home of the MOZG Festival, with Polish tenor saxophonist Tomek Gadecki amd bassist Marcin Bozen, also on French Horn, in an exhilarating set of three extended improvisations.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC