The Squid's Ear Magazine


Sugimoto, Taku: Guitars (Meenna)

Three concisely plain compositions for guitar, two solo and one trio, are played only with open strings or natural harmonics, where all the tunings are respectively irregular, written by Tokyo-based guitarist and composer Taku Sugimoto and performed and recorded in St. Petersburg, Russia by guitarists Andrey Popovsky, Denis Sorokin and Alexander Markvart.
 

Price: $14.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Taku Sugimoto-composer

Andrey Popovskiy-electric guitar, semi acoustic guitar

Denis Sorokin-classical guitar, electric guitar

Alexander Markvart-acoustic guitar


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




Label: Meenna
Catalog ID: meenna-975
Squidco Product Code: 27928

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2019
Country: Japan
Packaging: Cardstock Sleeve, sealed
Tracks 1 and 2 recorded on Vasilievsky Island, Saint Petersburg, Russia, from February to March, 2018, by Andrey Popovsky.

Track 3 recorded in Kupchino, Saint Petersburg, Russia, on October 14th, 2017, by Sergei Tumanov.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Taku Sugimoto is a Tokyo-based guitarist and composer. Improvisation is one aspect of his work, but currently his main activities are composing and performing composed pieces (including those of other composers). He continues his global and concentrated interaction with composers from around the world, particularly those closely connected with Wandelweiser. Ftarri had previously released two albums under Sugimoto's name alone-Septet (2015) and Quintets: Berlin, San Diego (2017). On both CDs, his compositions are performed by other musicians (on Septet, Sugimoto also participates in the performance).

The CD Guitars, also released under Sugimoto's name, is comprised of three pieces that he wrote for that instrument. The first and third are guitar solos around 20 minutes long; the second is a guitar trio of about 10 minutes. The performers are three guitarists from Russia, and the pieces were recorded in St. Petersburg in 2017 and 2018. The solo compositions were performed by Andrey Popovsky (track 1) and Denis Sorokin (track 3); and the trio was performed by these two plus Alexander Markvart. All the performances are extremely simple and concise, but convey a feeling of complexity and richness. Abounding in an incomparable feeling of depth within their simplicity and candor, these are truly Sugimoto-like works."-Meena


A Brief Note on the Compositions by Taku Sugimoto

"All the tones of these 3 compositions for guitar(s) are played only with open strings ["solo for guitar 2" and "trio (for three guitars)"] or natural harmonics ("solo for guitar 1"), and all the tunings are respectively irregular.

The score of "solo for guitar 1" (2014-2015) shows 17 fragments or sections consisting of one or two melodies or bars. These fragments are played in any order and the number of repetitions of each melody or bar would be up to the performer: one person can play only one fragment throughout the performance. This composition has been played or recorded by Cristián Alvear, Denis Sorokin, and myself, and the interpretations are all quite different from one another. Denis's interpretation is wild and raw, and nevertheless very fascinating to me.

The tuning required for playing "solo for guitar 2" (2016) is so anomalous that it is impossible to play with a normally-tuned guitar. The interval between the 6th and 1st strings is a perfect fifth (G and D) and the other 4 strings are tuned to all different minor or major thirds (Bb or B): 1, 7/6, 6/5, 5/4, 9/7, 3/2.* The string used for the 6th string is the one which is normally used for the 3rd string. I chose a rather high register, because it is easier for me to tune the strings to pure intervals. While it is hard or troublesome to tune the strings for the composition, it is not difficult to play it. However, the performer's concentration is required. Andrey Popovsky's interpretation is plain, serene, and slow, which is surely what I intended.

"trio (for three guitars)" (2016) was composed for the concert that Tetuzi Akiyama, Cristián Alvear, and myself were to have. I never thought of writing a composition which needs anomalous tuning like "solo for guitar 2," since we had to play 2 or 3 other compositions besides mine. Then I got an idea that "it must be interesting to write a composition which is very simple to play but sounds similar to a solo piece like 'solo for guitar 2,' because there are three of us." Every guitarist plays only the 5th, 4th, and 3rd open strings, but each guitar is tuned differently, though all the 5th strings are tuned to A (see the score). I asked Denis if it would be possible to record the composition with electric, acoustic, and classical guitars, the same combination I did with Tetuzi and Cristián, or with three different types of guitars. The recording played by Denis, Andrey, and Sasha (Alexander Markvart) reminds me of something like imaginary folk music.

*All the tones of the recordings of "solo for guitar 2" and "trio" are almost exactly a semitone lower than written in the score, while the intervals between tones are alright. I thought I had suggested to Denis that he make the tuning a semitone lower to solve some practical matters, but Denis said that wasn't the case. What happened?"



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"Taku Sugimoto is a Japanese guitarist.

He initially gained attention in the late 1990s for his restrained, melodic playing, unusual in the world of free improvisation. Critic Bruce Russell describes this era of Sugimoto's music by writing: "Sugimoto is perhaps the pre-eminent stylist on the guitar ... He brings a golden glow to every session he partakes in, having abandoned amped up noise in favour of a much more introspective and calligraphic style of play."

Around 2002 his music became increasingly abstract, all but eliminating melody and featuring extended periods of silence.

He has collaborated with other Japanese musicians involved in the Onkyo movement, such as Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura and Otomo Yoshihide. He has also collaborated with musicians from European free improvisation scenes, notably trombonist Radu Malfatti and guitarist Keith Rowe."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taku_Sugimoto)
3/13/2024

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

"Andrey Popovskiy is one of the prominent figures in Russian contemporary improvised music scene. After numerous projects of the last ten years where he experimented with sounds of electric and acoustic guitars, composed for chamber ensembles and collaborated with all famous improvisers in St. Petersburg, Andrey concentrated on a quiet and miniature sound working with mini-amplifiers, e-bows, different surfaces and objects. The sound which demands active listening, everyday objects of our life (for example, baking forms for cookies or electric toothbrushes), silence and interaction with silence are the main trends of current improvised music scene which Popovskiy studies with great focus on detail and to the fullest extent. Besides musical activities Andrey is an art director of Experimental Sound Gallery and writes about music."

-Sound Art Gallery (http://soundartgallery.ru/?p=652&lang=en)
3/13/2024

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

"Denis Sorokin is an musician, improviser and artist from Saint-Petersburg. He was educated as classical and jazz guitarist. Studied modern painting with Eugene Orlov. As guitarist he performs a new academic music, pieces of Michael Pisaro and another composers from Wandelweiser, performs his own transcriptions for guitar of compositions of John Cage, Morton Feldman, Galina Ustvolskaya and another composers. As improviser he plays an experimental electronic music using no-input effects, prepared guitar and objects and also free improv using a cornet. Records released on lables Intonema (Russia), Poverty Electronics (USA), pan y rosas discos (USA), Linear Obsessional (UK), b-boim (Austria), etc. As an artist he works in abstract painting, drawing, photo, installation and performance. Also makes an artwork for covers of musical albums as such as british record lable Anoter Timbre, wich releases a new academic and improvised music. Participated in festivals of new music such as Sound Ways, Fin de siecle, Open Look, APosotion, Museum's Night, Teni Zvuka and others. Among the art projects - audiovisual installations and performances for loft Rizzordi, Museum of Nonconformist Art, New Alexandrinsky Theatre, Manifesta 10, Experimental Sound Gallery."

-Denis Sorokin Website (https://sorokinguitar.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html)
3/13/2024

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

"Alexander Markvart is an avant-garde musician, member of theater projects and organizer of events and festivals. Founder of such polystylistic musical formations as Studio of Unconscious Music (SUM) and Siberian Improvisation Company (SIC)."

-Vovne.ru (http://vovne.ru/)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Solo For Guitar 2 19:20

2. Trio (For Three Guitars) 10:20

3. Solo For Guitar 1 21:20

Related Categories of Interest:


Compositional Forms
Ambient & Minimal Music
Guitarists, &c.
Solo Artist Recordings
Trio Recordings
New in Compositional Music


Search for other titles on the label:
Meenna.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Popovskiy, Andrey / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nuno Torres
Ululo
(Creative Sources)
Sugimoto, Taku
Octet
(Meenna)
Part of Japanese composer Taku Sugimoto's Solo for Strings series, these works focus on bowed stringed instruments played only with natural harmonics, arranged with clarinets and flute, using long tones and repetition that allow the performer decisions on their length, performed by a Berlin-based octet including Catherine Lamb, Johnny Change, Samuel Dunscombe, &c.
Sugimoto, Taku / Takashi Masubuchi
Live At Otooto & Permian
(Confront)
Two extremely compatible guitarists are heard in two live recordings in Tokyo, Japan, at OTOOTO and at Permian, in 2017 & 2018, using unusual tunings, extended techniques and a patient sense of space and momentum that allows each of their contributions to resonate distinctively while maintaining a confident dialog of connected abstraction and exploration.
Rodrigues, Ernesto / Denis Sorokin / Guilherme Rodrigues
Loneliness In Saint-Petersburg
(Creative Sources)
Fragile and understated with long spacious sections, the trio of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola, harpsichord, e-bow guitar and field recordings, Guilherme Rordrigues on cello, and Denis Sorokin on ukelele and pitch pipes, distill the sense of isolation amid patient motion through the red city, sections defined by cars passing and augmented with birds; peaceful and beautiful.
Hannesson, Mark (Denis Sorokin)
Music For Guitar [2 CDS]
(Edition Wandelweiser Records)
Three compositions for solo guitar from Canadian composer Mark Hannesson performed in Saint-Petersburg by Russian guitarist Denis Sorokin and recorded by saxophonist and sound artist Ilia Belorukov; "Each Thing" and "If I Appear Comfortable" using space and a subtle development in extended works; "Triste" using progressions of distorted tones and decay.
Kobi, Christian (solo and with Taku Sugimoto / Yoko Ikeda / Wakana Ikeda
Atta!
(Monotype)
Four solo saxophone improvisations, two on tenor and two on soprano, using remarkable technique and concentration from Swiss improviser Christian Kobi performing live in Tokyo and Osaka in 2017, plus a live quartet improvisation with flutist Wakana Ikeda, violinist Yoko Ikeda, and guitarist Taku Sugimoto for an open-approached performance of detailed, minimal improv.
Liedwart, Kurt / Andrey Popovskiy / Martin Taxt
Hjem
(Mikroton Recordings)
A live concert at Dom Cultural Center in Moscow, Russia in 2015 from Norwegian tuba player Martin Taxt, Saint Petersburg violinist and object player Andrey Popovskiy, and ppool performer Kurt Liedwart focusing on sinewaves and noise, in an extended lowercase improvisation exploring harmonic and microtonal sounds.
Popovskiy, Andrey / Ernesto Rodrigues / Nuno Torres
Ululo
(Creative Sources)
Other Recommended Releases:
Hirose, Junji
SSI-7
(Hitorri)
Known mostly as a saxophonist on the Japanese improvised music scene, Junji Hirose has also released a series of albums using self-made analog noise instruments, here using a device where balls and small objects are placed on a large, shallow, round metal plate and moved by a compressor, here in four tracks with different objects and one with no objects at all.
suzueri (Elico Suzuki)
Fata Morgana
(Ftarri / Hitorri)
Tokyo sound artist Elico Suzuki attached or arranged "gadgets" including a small electric fan, a motor and a radio, to an upright piano whose upper and lower panels were removed and insides exposed, using their inherent sounds and those created by touching them to the piano strings to generate overlapping and evolving sound, ending each piece with force through the keyboard.
Hirose, Junji / mizutama / Kayu Nakada / Toshimaru Nakamura / Daysuke Takaoka / Yuma Takeshita / Tadashi Yonago
See You at Ftarri
(Ftarri / Meenna)
Three days of improvisations from the the 2019 meeting of Osaka-based musicians mizutama, Tadashi Yonago and Kayu Nakada, plus Tokyo residents Junji Hirose, Toshimaru Nakamura, Daysuke Takaoka and Yuma Takeshita in duos and trios, all using original sound-producing devices or creating sound by repurposing instruments or electronic devices in unique ways.
Jun, Yan / Jean-Luc Guionnet / Matija Schellander / Seijiro Murayama
Blue Mistake, Red Mistake
(Meenna)
While contrabass player Matija Schellander was performing a residency at the 2017 music Festival Artacts in Austria, this quartet formed with Paris saxophonist Jean-Luc Guionnet, percussionist Seijiro Murayama and Beijing-based vocalist Yan Jun, developing this work of quiet tension and sudden release, here from one of four performances, recorded live at Ljubljana in Slovenia.
Various Artists (curated by Nick Vander)
Walk My Way, Volume Five
(Orbit577)
The final of five volumes from this series curated by Nick Vander, a testament to the incredible musical range of the guitar and the imaginative possibility of guitarists around the world, with tracks from Harvey Valdes, Antonio Guillen, Boris Belica, Sandy Ewen, Denis Sorokin, Arvind Ganga, Pengboon Don, Josue Amador, Todd Clouser, and Mohammed Ashraf.
Duplant, Bruno
Deux Songes (Les Jours Sont Faits Pour Expliquer Les Nuits)
(Meenna)
Two beautifully subtle works for an ensemble of strings and electric piano from French composer Bruno Duplant, realized by the Boston-based Ordinary Affects ensemble or Jordan Dykstra, Morgan Evans-Weiler, JPA Falzone, Luke Martin and Ashley Frith, the first a quintet and the second a string quartet, creating illusory affects of motion and space through abstraction.
Common Objects (Davies / Butcher / Davies / Lapelyte / Patterson / Thomas)
Skullmarks
(Meenna)
Distributing the group--John Butcher, Angharad Davies, Lina Lapelyte, Lee Patterson, Pat Thomas, and Rhodri Davies--inside the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, Butcher chose 4 shamanic objects from the museum's ethnographic collection, evoking water, air, earth, spirit, ritual and utility, used as a score orchestrating varying combinations of players; intense and profound improvisation.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Nakamura, Toshimaru / Tetuzi Akiyama
Idiomatic Expressionism
(Ftarri)
A singularly beautiful and quirky album of electroacoustic improvisation from long-time collaborators and organizers of Japan's "Meeting at Off Site", Tetuzi Akiyama on acoustic guitar and Toshimaru Nakamura on no-input mixing board, their second duo album since 2009's Semi-Impressionism on the Spekk label, here recording in the studio for five dialogs of lovely eccentricity.
Capece, Lucio / Katie Porter
Phase To Phase
(Ftarri)
Rich harmonics and interstitial interactions between two bass clarinets, as Utah-based Katie Porter and Berlin-based Lucio Capece exchanged recordings to develop two compositions, the first focusing on expression in the context of freedom in time, the 2nd using strict time to explore the effects of overlapping-phasing; reference The International Nothing.
Guthrie, Will
People Pleaser 2 [VINYL]
(Kythibong)
Impressive experimental approaches to organized recordings of rhythmic and melodic percussion, a mix of quirky and curious samples & loops, spoken word, field recordings and inexplicable origins, captivating the listener in concise and diverse expositions and dynamic pacing, a journey in "pleasingly" upbeat passages and moments of awe and contemplation.
Allum, Jennifer / John Butcher / Ute Kanngiesser / Eddie Prevost
Sounds of Assembly
(Meenna)
Assembled in London to improvise music for Stewart Morgan's film Eddie Prevost's Blood, this release adds much more material beyond the soundtrack, in a superb example of free and charged creative improvisation seeking unique combinations of expression, from Jennifer Allum on violin, John Butcher on saxophones, Ute Kanngiesser on cello and Eddie Prevost on percussion.
McPhee, Joe / Jen Clare Paulson / Brian Labycz
The Mystery J [VINYL]
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Taking its title from the rum-running yacht on which McPhee's father sailed from Nassau to Miami, this free electroaoustic improvised concert with Joe McPhee on pocket cornet & alto saxophone, Jen Clare Paulson on viola and Brian Labycz on electronics was captured live in 2014 at the Sugar Maple in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during Okka Fest 6, released as CvsD's first vinyl LP.
Fujii, Satoko Tokyo Trio
Moon on the Lake
(Libra)
Pianist Satoko Fujii introduces a new trio with two younger and very active musicians on the Japanese jazz scene--bassist Takashi Sugawa and drummer Ittetsu Takemura--recording in 2020 at Pit Inn in Tokyo for their 3rd live date together, performing five lyrical Fujii original compositions, including "Aspirations" from her album with Leo Smith & Ikue Mori.
Shyu, Jen & Jade Tongue
Zero Grasses: Ritual for the Losses
(Pi Recordings)
An articulate and important collection of songs devoted to the marginalized voices of women around the world from NY vocalist Jen Shyu, performed in a masterful quintet with Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet, Mat Maneri on viola, Thomas Morgan on bass, Dan Weiss on drums, Shyu singing and performing on percussion, piano, Taiwanese moon lute, and Japanese biwa.
Johansen, Per Oddvar / Seijiro Murayama
Dented Time
(Ftarri)
Bringing together two masterful percussionists -- Norwegian drummer Per Oddvar Johansen and Paris-based Japanese drummer Seijiro Murayama -- for a distinctive drum duo, each musician using a minimal set that combines a snare drum with small objects and cymbals, for an album of six improvisations and two composed pieces, all showing restraint in rhythmic interaction.
Frasch, Heather / Ryoko Akama
Linking
(Ftarri / Meenna)
US sound artists Heather Frasch and UK Ryoko Akama, who together run the mumei journal exploring the relationship between text and sound, in works commissioned by Bruno Duplant based on written texts, each interpreted, recorded and edited by the other using objects, field recordings, electronics, cello & voice, with one piece from Frasch and two versions from Akama.
Taylor, Mike
Trio, Quartet & Composer, Revisited
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Found dead in the Thames River in 1969, pianist & composer Mike Taylor left a legacy of two solid & lyrical jazz albums, of which the complete Trio album and one track from Pendulum are remastered; but he was also a songwriter for the Eric Clapton/Ginger Baker/Jack Bruce band Cream, of which three Taylor compositions with lyrics and vocals by Baker are included.
Sinclair, Iain / London Experimental Ensemble
Dark Before Dark
(577 Records)
Writer Iain Sinclair joins The London Experimental Ensemble to perform his narrative work, a sequel to Living With Buildings: And Walking With Ghosts, telling a surreal story of the imaginary 25-year journey of a whalebone box, told in detailed images and incredible sonic support through keys, strings, brass, winds, guitar, electronics and voice; profoundly powerful.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC