#chris pitsiokos

[dustedmagazine]

Otomo Yoshihide and Chris Pitsiokos — Uncanny Mirror (Eleatic)

When talking about Otomo Yoshihide, one has to be specific as to whether they’re talking about the rock deconstructionist (as a member of the seminal Japanese avant-rock group Ground Zero), the Onkyo pioneer, the big band leader, or the improviser, amongst many other hats. Over the course of more than 30 years, Yoshihide has occupied a space within the avant-garde that no other musician dwells in. In recent years, however, he has found a more than capable improvising partner in saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos. Pitsiokos has managed to forge new forward-looking directions in spite of the retro-fetishistic tendencies of the free jazz scene, working with luminaries such as Luke Stewart, Wendy Eisenberg and Brandon Seabrook along the way.

Uncanny Mirror, the duo’s second release,features Pitsiokos on saxophone and laptop and Yoshihide on turntables, save for one track where he plays guitar. Yoshihide’s approach to the turntable as a vehicle for improvisation is a story of its own. Turntablists such as Christian Marclay, arguably the forefather of experimental turntable music, often use the instrument as a means of referencing various songs and sounds and taking them out of their original context, sometimes in a humorous manner. Yoshihide’s turntable work on Uncanny Mirror, however, is pure sound. The cracks and skips of the turntable are the instrument. The records used as source material are inscrutable, and knowing what they are seems to be beside the point.

The first track is titled “Original Glitch,” speaking to the fact that Yoshihide has employed technological malfunctions as sound sources long before doing so became an idiom of its own. Yoshihide sounds as though he is shooting sparks and fireworks out of his turntables, and Pitsiokos plays off of the madness. His saxophone style is deep and guttural, but also far more intricate and subtle than the typical Brötzmann worship would allow. Somehow, he sounds as though he is peeling apart his saxophone piece by piece through his playing. This frenetic energy is kept up throughout the duration of the record, pausing only on the sixth track “Lava Flow.” This track is a tense, ominous dirge; Yoshihide’s turntable sounds less like fireworks and more like waves flowing out from the ether, and Pitsiokos substitutes his growl for a slow, but no less aggressive, whining tone. The end result shows that, even after nearly a decade of working together, Yoshihide and Pitsiokos are far from exhausting the possibilities of their improvisational practice.

Levi Dayan

[jacobwren]

Chris Pitsiokos Solo October 2, 2022

[experimentik]

Experimentik #78 / 16.Oct.2024 /

Marina Cyrino / Alexander Markvart / Javier Areal Vélez

16. October 2024 / 20:30- (doors 20:00) *no entry during sets

3 x solo

Marina Cyrino - amplified flute, objects

Alexander Markvart  - feedback acoustic guitar, objects

Javier Areal Vélez - laptop

FB event ———————————

Marina Cyrino is a Brazilian flutist and sound artist based in Berlin. She works in the fields of improvisation, composition and performative installations. Her flute playing is characterized by singular techniques developed through the use of internal amplification. The rhythmic use of the flute, the extensive use of objects and balloons attached to the instrument, and the use of disassembled flute parts are other distinctive elements of her playing. She is a member of the Brazilian experimental music label Seminal Records.

photo © Cristina Marx_Photomusix

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Alexander Markvart - is a musician, member of theater projects and organizer of events and festivals. Born on January 5, 1987 in Kemerovo. Now based in Berlin. He is a notable figure on the Russian new improvised and experimental music scenes. Uses in many projects and performances a wide range of musical instruments: as quite common - piano, guitar, accordion, saxophone, trumpet, analog synthesizers, electric drums, flute, laptop, etc., and also various objects, wires, appliances, etc. Stylistically he works in a lot of musical genres from radical free improvisation, EAI, noise, hardcore, to well-structured projects, minimal techno and post-folk.

Founder of such polystylistic musical formations as Studio of Unconscious Music (SUM) and Siberian Improvisation Company (SIC!). Also in different years is a member of another experimental bands and projects - Sacrifices, Verevka, Radical Muzak Septet, MITLO, Klub Demboh, Inorganic Blossoming, PSVSV, Cherubs, Importunate Twins, Sekta Phoenix. Works and plays concerts in various projects with different musicians such as: Axel Dörner, Lucio Capece, Burkhard Beins, Mazen Kerbaj, Joke Lanz, Adam Asnan, Jonas Kocher, Fire! (Mats Gustafsson, Johan Berthling, Andreas Werliin), Ilia Belorukov, Joel Grip, Nick Sudnik, Michel Doneda, Bryan Eubanks and with many others. 

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Javier Areal Vélez (Buenos Aires, 1985) is an experimental music composer, improviser and curator. His recent work focuses on the coding of digital companions for the performance of live improvised music. Javier's electronic music develops around noisy polyrhythms of extra-human complexity to make the most deformed audiences move. He researches human+machine collaborations through the use of samples, synthesis, lights, and mechanical robots. Additionally, Javier has a long career as performer of prepared electric guitar. His characteristic style relies heavily on a primal technique that emphasizes timbre and rhythm over traditional forms, favoring intensity and dynamic contrast. Javier has released records on labels worldwide and has collaborated with artists such as Heiner Goebbels, Audrey Chen, Chris Pitsiokos, Violeta García, Brian Chase, Shayna Dunkelman and Jorge Espinal. He is a member of CALATO, KYSE and VVU and wrote commissions for ensambles Híbridx, Rotativo and Tempi. Over the past decade, Javier has performed extensively in Argentina and toured across South and North America, Europe and Japan. Javier is the founder and director of RUIDO Experimental Music Festival (active since 2017), and he coordinates the Sound Arts Center (CASo) of the Secretary of Culture of Argentina.

photo © Susi Maresca

---------------------------

Experimentik 2024  is supported by inm - initiative neue musik berlin / field notes

[chez-mimich]

LO SCORSO ANNO È ANDATA COSÌ…

Secondo il credo di François Truffaut, “Tre film al giorno, tre libri alla settimana, dei dischi di grande musica faranno la mia felicità fino alla fine dei miei giorni”, e come dargli torto? Tenendo conto che però i ritmi di Truffaut sono certamente inarrivabili, ne condivido di certo la filosofia. Quest’anno è andata così, però ho la pessima abitudine di non annotare i dischi che ascolto, ecco un buon proposito per il 2023.

ANNO 2022

"Tullio Pericoli: Frammenti", Palazzo Reale Milano, 02.01.22

“Il Mito di Venezia da Hayez alla Biennale” Castello di Novara, 09.01.22

“Tania Bruguera, la verità anche a scapito del mondo” Pac Milano, 15.01.22

“Ciò che si trova solo in Baudelaire” di Roberto Calasso, 12.01.22

“François Berthoud, Hyperillustrations”, Fondazione Sozzani, 22.01.22

“Annientare” di Miche Houellebecq, 23.01.22

"Ennio" di Giuseppe Tornatore, 02.02.22

“Grand Tour, sogno d’Italia da Venezia a Pompei”, Gallerie d’Italia Milano, 04.02.22

“Irreversible Entanglements”, Spazio Nova, Novara Jazz, 06.02.22

"Il capo perfetto" di Fernando Leo de Aranoa, 19.02.22

"Gabriele Boggio Ferraris Quartet" Taste of jazz, 24.02.22

"Chris Pitsiokos & Mulhouse Ensemble", Spazio Nova, 26.02.22

"Gabriele Boggio Ferraris Quartet". Opificio, 25.02.22

"A-Septic W/Vladimir Tarasov". Spazio Nova, 07.03.22

"Belfast" di Kenneth Branagh, 09.03.22

"Flee" di Jonas Poher Rasmussen, 13.03.22

“Chris Pitsiokos and Mulohouse Ensemble”, spazio Nova, 15.03.22

“Limes: la Russia cambia il mondo”, 20.03.22

Francesco Chiapperini: “On the Bare Rocks and Glaciers”, Taste of Jazz Opificio, 28.03.22

“Barry’s Trio”, spazio Nova, 03.04.22

“I Defunti” di Manu Larcenet e Daniel Casanave, 03.04.22

Gustave Flaubert: "Due racconti giovanili" a cura di Chiara Pasetti

Steve Mc.Queen: "Sunshine State", Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, 10.04.22

"Kris Ruhs: Heroes" Fondazione Sozzani, 16.04.22

"Steve Harries. Octopus" Fondazione Sozzani, 16.04.22

Anicka Yi: "Metaspore" Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, 19.04.22

"Bruce Weber wearing Kris Rhus Jewelry" Fondazione Sozzani, 16.04.22

"Tra due mondi" di Emmanuel Carrère, 16.04.22

"Concerto Passio 2022" Cappella Musicale del Duomo di Novara, 23.04.22

"Finale a sorpresa" di Mariano Cohn e Gastòn Duprat, 24.04.22

Elmgreen & Dragset: "Useless Bodies?", Fondazione Prada, 10.05.22

Haruki Murakami: "Gli assalti alle panetterie", 12.05.22

“Nostalgia” di Mario Martone, 29.05.22

“C’era una volta la DDR” di Anna Funder, 10.05.22

“Jazz Notes” di Giuseppe Cardoni, Opificio Novara Jazz 02.06.22

Daniele Cavallanti: “World of Music” di Daniele Cavallanrti Opificio Novara Jazz 02.06.22

“Stilnòva

Lisen Rylander Löve & Mirko Pedrotti + Biennoise, Nòva, 03.06.22

Lisen Rylander Löve “solo”, Mulino Vecchio di Bellinzago, 04.06.22

“Trio Korr”, Doneda, Grossi, Monico, Mezzomerico, 04.06.22

“Mynd”, Museo civico di Oleggio, 04.06.22

“We3” Barriera Albertina, 07.06.22

“Collocutor”: Church of Sound, Basilica di San Gaudenzio, 07.06.22

Tor Yttredal & Roberto Bonati, Museo Faraggiana, 08.06.22

Banda Filarmonica Oleggio e Roberto Mandarini, Broletto, 08.06.22

Shingai, Broletto, 09.06.22

Simone Alessandrini, “Storytellers” Mura rimane, 10.06.22

“L.U.M.E.” Lisbon Underground Musci Ensemble, Broletto, 10.06.22

Peter Evans “solo”, Basilica di San Gaudenzio 11.06.22

Alberto Braida “solo”, Casa Bossi, 11.06.22

Tom Arthurs & Giovanna Pessi, Giardino Palazzo Natta, 11.06.22

“ACRE” con Ermanno Baron e Peter Evans

Theon Cross, “Soundsystem Setup”, Broletto, 11.06.22

Kit Downes “solo”, Chiesa di San Giovanni Decollato, 12.06.22

“Erios Junior Orchestra”, Broletto, 12.06.22

Bruno Chevillon “solo”, Galleria Giannoni, 12.06.22

“Archipelagos” con Francesca Remigi, Parco dei Bambini, 12.06.22

“She’s Analog” Chiostro della Caninica, 12.06.22

“Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp”, Broletto, 12.06.22

“Artivismo” di Vincenzo Trione, 13.06.22

“Sotto gli occhi dell’Agnello” di Roberto Calasso, 20.06.22

“Album D’Annunzio” a cura di Annamaria Andreoli, 30.6.22

“Paris s’il vous plaît” di Eleonora Marangoni, 08.07.22

“Il costume femminile” di Georges Vigarello, 13.07.22

“Zero Gravity” di Woody Allen, 16.07.22

“La figlia unica” di Abraham B. Yehoshua, 19.07.22

“Non date a Cesare quel che è di Dio” di Claudio Balzaretti, 01.08.22

“Di notte, davanti alla parete con l’ombra degli alberi” di Peter Handke, 10.08.22

“Chris Ware” Centre Pompidou, 20.08.22

“Tatiana Trouvé, le grand atlas de la désorientation” Centre Pompidou 20.08.22

“Le reste est ombre: Pedro Costa, Rui Chafes, Paulo Nozolino” Centre Pompidou, 20.08.22

“Shirely Jaffesi, un américaine à Paris”. Centre Pompidou, 20.08.22

“Simon Hantaï: l’exposition du Centanaire”, Fondation Vuitton, 21.08.22

“La Couleurs en fugue”, Fondation Vuitton, 21.08.22

“Un seconde d’etérnité” Bourse de Commerce Paris, 21.08.22

“Allemagne/Anée 1920/Auguste Sander”, Centre Pompidou, 22.08.22

“Mirdidingkinghati Sally Gabory” Fondation Cartier Paris, 23.08.22

“Jean Painlevé: les pieds dans l’eau”, Jeu de Paume Paris, 23.08.22

“Les mondes Surrealiste de Elsa Schiaparelli” Musée des Arts Decoratifs Paris, 24.08.22

"Maison Dior", Parigi, 25.08.22

"Non date a Cesare quel che è di Dio" di Claudio Balzaretti, 31.08.22

"I miei giorni alla libreria Morisaki" di Satoshi Yagisawa, 05.09.22

"Il signore delle formiche" di Gianni Amelio, 11.09.22

"Un occidente prigioniero" di Milano Kundera, 20.09.22

"Chris Ware: la bande dessinée réinventée", 22.09.22

"Maigret" di Patrice Leconte, 23.09.22

"Remix the Cinema" Nu Arts and Community, 28.09.22

"Arsenal Ensmble: Nosferatu" Nu Arts and Community, 28.09.22

Gli instabili vaganti: "Lokdown Memory", Broletto Arts and Community, 29.09.22

"Elisabetta Consonni: Il secondo paradosso di Zenone", 29.09.22

"Sofia Donato, piano solo" Giardino Faraggiana Nu Arts and Community, 30.09.22

"Dove è più profondo"" Chiesa di Sant'Agostino, Nu Arts and Communite, 30.09.22

Ghenadie Rodani fisarmonica solo, canonica, Nu Arts and Community, 01.10.22

"As I was moving ahead occasionally I saw brief glimpses of beauty" di Jonas Mekas, Nu Arts and Community, 02.10.22

Joan Thiele, Nova, Arts and Community, 01.10.22

"Omar Soulyman" Nu Arts and community, 28.09.22

Ivan Ronda, organo. Festival di musica sacra. Basilica di San Gaudenzio, 09.10.22

"Unknown Unknows" Triennale di Milano, 15.10.22

"Il corridoio rosso" AA.VV., Catalogo mostra Triennale di Milano, 17.10.22

"Unknown Unknows" catalogo mostra Triennale di Milano, 20.10.22

"L'occasione fa il ladro" di Gioacchino Rossini, Teatro Coccia, 29.10.22

"La stranezza" di Roberto Andò, 30.10.22

"Il crogiolo" di Arthur Miller, regia di Filippo Dini, Teatro Strehler, 4.11.22

"Swinging Stravinsky" di Biagio Bagini, 7.11.22

"Ardenza" di Daniela de felice, 9.11.22

Anna Bassy, Nova, Nj Weekender Fall Editions, 12.11.22

Andrea Passenger, dj set, Nj Weekender Fall Editions, 12.11.22

Rosa Brunelo (e Tamara Osborne Collocato" Nòva Nj Weekender Fall Editions, 12.11.22

Dayakoda in solo, Nçva, Nj Weekender Fall Editions, 12.11.22

Jeff Parker solo, Nçva Nj Weekender Fall Editions, 13.11.22

Nicola Conte, Dj Set, Nçva, Nj Weekender Fall Editions, 13.11.22

Kahlil 'El Zara Quartet, Nova, Nj Weekender Fall Editions, 13.11.22

"Eros e Thanatos" Ilia Kim, piano. Conservatorio Cantelli-Amici della Musica, 14.11.22

"Tutta un'esistenza" Ivana Francisci, piano e Susanna Rigacci soprano, Conservatorio Cantelli-Amici della Musica, 22.11.22

"Lo stato delle cose" di Chiara Alessi", 23.11.22

“Recycling Beauty”, Fondazione Prada Milano, 03.12.22

Il fotografo Léon Herschritt, 09.12.22

“La Russia di Putin” di Anna Politkovskaja, 11.12.22

“Le otto montagne” di Felix Van Groeningen e Charlotte Vandermeersch, 26.12.22

“Bosch, un altro Rinascimento”, Palazzo Reale Milano, 30.12.22

“The Fabelmans” di Steven Spielberg, 31.12.22

[burlveneer-music]

Shayna Dunkelman & Javier Areal Vélez - Miru Mira - improvisations on drums & prepared electric guitar

The album's title, 'Miru Mira,' means "to see" in Japanese and Spanish consecutively. Senses play a significant role in this daring collaboration between percussionist Shayna Dunkelman and composer Javier Areal Vélez. Combining a playful exploration of the senses with phonological connections between Spanish and Japanese languages, ‘Miru Mira’ takes inspiration and finds connection through linguistics and sound. Shayna and Javier’s collaboration was slow to materialize, taking nearly ten years. The two improvisers first met in New York at a concert in 2012 and then later reconnected in Argentina in 2017. Javier organized a visit of Shayna's band at the time (Xiu Xiu) to perform at RUIDO, an experimental music series he curates. Eventually, the two improvisers resolved to play together and a plan to record materialized quickly and organically. Fran López, an artist/musician/engineer friend from Argentina who lives in NYC, attended the duo’s only gig in Brooklyn and offered to record them right away. As the plan for recording materialized, the studio and engineering of the record sharpened in focus to celebrate and capture the live and unique feel of a guitar and drum duo. Fran proposed the band put the guitar amp opposite to the drum set, facing each other directly. This way, the amp bleeds into all of the drum’s mics, but in a balanced way and the guitar sound resonates in the drumset itself. Miru Mira’s phonological song title convention connects to the aural resonance of the live and organic sound captured in the studio. “Both Shayna and I tend to play quite loud,” according to Javier, “so it was a very warm session, keeping the intense energy of a gig almost.” Javier Areal Vélez is a composer, improviser and curator, who performs mostly on electric guitar, with or without objects stuffed between its strings. His musical approach relies heavily on a primal technique that emphasizes timbre and rhythm, avoiding traditional forms in favor of intensity and dynamic contrast. The physicality of his interactions with the guitar create estranged sonic entities that evolve haphazardly outside of specific genres. In the later years, his solo work has included also the development of AI entities that listen and improvise with Javier via the use of samples, synthesis and mechanical robots. Javier has performed concerts in Argentina, America, Europe and Asia, and has released recordings in a dozen independent labels worldwide as a soloist, band member, and through collaborations with artists such as Violeta García, Chris Pitsiokos, Audrey Chen, Brian Chase, Shayna Dunkelman, Nicola Hein, Ryoko Ono and Jorge Espinal. Javier is the founder and director of RUIDO experimental music festival since its inception in 2017. He is also the coordinator of the Sound Arts Center (CASo) of the Ministry of Culture of Argentina. www.javierarealvelez.com.ar www.instagram.com/javierarealvelez Shayna Dunkelman is a musician and percussionist based in Brooklyn, NY. Dunkelman is known for her versatile and unique techniques, and use of electronics to access a sonic pallet not found in acoustic percussion. In addition to solo performances, Dunkelman performs with Pulitzer Award-winning composer Du Yun, Balún, Emily Wells, Grammy Award-Winning Attacca Quartet, Ali Sethi, and her percussion duo Nomon with her sister Nava. Born and raised in Tokyo to an Indonesian mother and an American father, Dunkelman became a multi-instrumentalist performing alongside her mother. Dunkelman became increasingly active in the alternative music scene as a member of the band Xiu Xiu, touring the world for 6 years. As part of Xiu Xiu, Dunkelman shared stages with Genesis P-Orridge (Psychic TV), Sun Ra Arkestra, Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails) to name a few. Dunkelman has recorded and performed with pioneers of avant-garde experimental musicians such as Yuka C. Honda, John Zorn, Yoko Ono, and Thurston Moore and performed at Carnegie Hall, Centre Pompidou, The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, The MET, Terminal 5, QAGOMA among others. www.shaynadunkelmanmusic.com  Recorded and mixed by Fran López in NYC in January 2020.license

[burpenterprisejournal]

WJM AT AMORPHQ #12

2024/10/3 Amorphq #12 LFZ / DELZANT / MEA BERTHEAU / PITSIOKOS / TAVIL WJM IZQUIERDO / POSSIDENTE PAS Berlin - DE

On Thursday November 3, WJM will perform a solo set for the twelfth round of the Amorphq series to be held at PAS Berlin Petersburg Art Space Kaiserin Augusta Allee 101, 10553 Berlin Atelier HH, aufgang II door h20 start h21

amorphq #12 LFZ / DELZANT / MEA Giorgio Mo_o Elleeffezeta / electronics Cécile Delzant / violin Filippo Gillono / acoustic guitar, no-input mix

BERTHEAU / PITSIOKOS / TAVIL Romain C. Bertheau / electronics Chris Pitsiokos / alto saxophone Utku Tavil / percussion

WJM / playback devices IZQUIERDO / POSSIDENTE Lorena Izquierdo / vocal Paolo Possidente / percussion

+ @hellergehtsnicht djset https://soundcloud.com/hellenny artwork by @annanyamburamarafatto

[flowerlikelives]

My only fetish is guys who look exactly like this playing solo sets in the NYC avant garde scene. Chris Pitsiokos please hit my line

Jason Crumer Taken on December 15, 2006

source: flickr 📸: thisreallyhappenedok

[manic-exposure]

Tyshawn Sorey and Chris Pitsiokos

Edited Screen Capture.

[thephilosopheroftheboudoir]

CP. Unit

Guillotine 

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 8, No. 11

We like Patrick Shiroishi so much, we covered him three times. 

Once more we gather round the Dusted table (which is imaginary), giving thanks for all we’ve received and preparing to overindulge. We binge not on pie or stuffing, but music, noise rock and free jazz improvisation, black metal and distorted cello, synthesizer-altered violin and Michigan shoegaze, and we have a triple helping of Patrick Shiroishi, because, why not? Contributors include Patrick Masterson, Bill Meyer, Jonathan Shaw, Jennifer Kelly, Ian Mathers and Bryon Hayes. God bless us every one.

Chat Pile — “Tenkiller / Lake Time” (The Flenser)

Hear those lurching, filthy tones in the background of the official trailer for indie horror movie Tenkiller? See the kid with the skateboard’s shirt? “Are you scared?” Well, if you’re a fan of Oklahoma City’s Chat Pile and not a fan of twang, maybe you should be given the b-side to The Flenser’s latest cassingle that excerpts two cuts from the film’s official soundtrack — all of which Chat Pile is responsible for. The eponymous a-side is far more in the expected vein of what the band most recently (and successfully) pulled off on God’s Country over the summer, but “Lake Time (Mr. Rodan)” is akin to how The Men opted out of harsher noise-rock territory for the breezier spaces of countrified/country-fried jangle. “This is gonna be fun,” says a character toward the end of the trailer. And doesn’t it feel that way when these guys are involved? Yeehaw!

Patrick Masterson

 Cunningham / Nguyen / Shiroishi — Basket of Knives (Astral Editions) 

Basket of Knives by Cunningham / Nguyen / Shiroishi

This cassette documents the first-time convergence of three busy American improvisers from as many time zones. Drummer Thom Nguyen lives in Asheville NC, violinist Alex Cunningham resides in St Louis MO, and alto saxophonist (this time, anyway) Patrick Shiroishi is a Los Angeleno. But they were definitely in the same space when they made this recording, tuning into each other’s idiosyncratic improvisational approaches. Nguyen’s body-blow drumming draws on heavy rock parameters, but retains the suppleness of free improvisation, and the other two make judicious use of effects to warp and broaden the resources of their respective instruments. On the final track, it’s hard to say exactly how Shiroishi makes the sounds that he makes, but the vocal quality of his contributions combine with a drizzle of gong and cymbal tones to impart a ceremonial air.

Bill Meyer

 Epectase — Nécroses (Frozen Records)

Nécroses by Epectase

<p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=332432060/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="https://epectase.bandcamp.com/album/n-croses">Nécroses by Epectase</a></iframe></p>

Epectase’s terrific 2018 LP Astres was a continuous sequence of surprises and near-comic transitions, few of which should have worked and nearly all of which did: for example, from a recognizable variety of contemporary black metal to Southern-boogie guitar heroics, in a span of four minutes. This new record dispenses with those wacko ambitions and imaginative leaps, in favor of a much more consistent sound. It’s black metal, it flirts with a proggy cosmiche aesthetic and it mostly goes hard. On the LP’s closing track “Nécrose,” the more focused intensity is quite effective, issuing in a song that builds and thrills. But by that point, the record has already logged 34 minutes, including a scenery-chewing, goth-infused opening (full of pronouncements like, “Something calls my soul, a sacred truth / A divine black land,” delivered by what sounds like a young Francophilic Vincent Price) that’s hard not to giggle at. While the wide-open, pranksome environment of Astres could absorb that sort of thing, the more gravid sensibility of Nécroses sags under its weight. When guitarist Titouan le Gal is given space to riff and solo, the record cooks, but the histrionics fail to entertain.

Jonathan Shaw

 Lori Goldston—High and Low (SofaBurn)

High and Low by Lori Goldston

You probably think of the cello as a mellow, well-behaved instrument, its voice rich, autumnal and grounded. Well, Lori Goldston would like a word, because her cello, deployed for everyone from Kurt Cobain to Mirah to David Byrne, is an altogether unrulier beast. It’s prone to fevered moans and frantic saws, to intervals of peace bounded by wild scratch improvisations. She plays the cello like Paul Flaherty plays the saxophone, like she maybe wants to break it. High and Low captures her in full, mutinous form, slow moving but agitated in the long, freewheeling dissonances of “Real and Imagined,” taut and vibrating with unease in the whorl of “Crossing Over Place,” forthrightly mournful in the closer “We Miss You.” “Moss on Rock” is quite possibly as rock as a cello can ever be, buzzed with distortion and haunted with voice-like overtones and clattering with drums (that’s Danny Sasakie). Long live the disrupters, especially when they play orchestral instruments.

Jennifer Kelly

Raquel Gonzalez — Sonic Creations For Violin And Lyra (Trouble In Mind: Explorer Series)

Sonic Creations For Violin And Lyra by Raquel Gonzalez

The modern-day music obsessive may not be nourished by tunes alone. Recognizing that, Trouble In Mind has instituted the Explorer Series, a cassette sub-label devoted to figures on the fringe of sound shapery. Previous instalments have delved into drone, fingerstyle guitar, and home electronics. Raquel Gonzalez is a Chicago-based violinist and software engineer, but this electronic music recording is framed as a dialogue between two pieces of hardware. The titular lyra is not the ancient Greek stringed instrument, but the Lyra-8, an “organismic” synthesizer. Put crudely, the device has a mind of its own, and Gonzalez’ efforts to influence its output, either by playing the violin into the thing or tuning its knobs, are more conversations than acts of absolute control. One can hear the actions of bowing and knob-turning shaping the sounds, but there’s also an unruly quality to the resulting fizzes and buzzes that can be attributed to the synth doing what it’s going to do. For maximum effect, pop this tape into a safe-but-aged boombox, and feel the fuzz.

Bill Meyer

 Greet Death — New Low EP (Deathwish Inc.)

Michigan shoegazers Greet Death’s 2019 record New Hell (which some of us got to a bit late, ahem) was a strikingly hard-edged and bleak example of the form, with the extended workouts of the title track and “You're Gonna Hate What You've Done” leaving particularly deep bruises. As you might guess from the title of their new EP, their first as a quartet after adding Jackie Kalmink on bass, that bleakness hasn’t lessened a bit here. The surprise is that even as songs like “Punishment Existence” and “I Hate Everything” refine the mordant despair that makes Greet Death so distinctive (the band definitely makes music for listeners who can identify with lines like “I remember feeling relatively fine / part of me that died”), musically this new EP registers as much gentler than before, maybe even… pretty? Whether it’s the deceptively bright surge of “Panic Song” or “Your Love Is Alcohol”’s dissipated beauty, the result makes wallowing for 20 minutes or so feel more appealing than ever.

Ian Mathers  

 Party Dozen — The Real Work (Temporary Residence Ltd.)

There’s a lot of different directions you can take a sax-and-drums duo, and the Sydney-based Party Dozen (Kirsty Tickle on saxophone, Jonathan Boulet on drums and sampler) have gone with a decidedly aggro one, as is evident as soon as “The Iron Boot” opens their third LP by kicking the listener in the face. This tight, noisy 35 minutes doesn’t lack dynamic range though; in addition to ragers like “The Worker” and “Major Beef” they deftly handle the noir-ish atmospheres of “Earthly Times” and lost 1970s horror soundtrack vibes on the closing “Risky Behaviour.” Even when they bring in Nick Cave for a brief, Birthday Party-style cameo at the end of the raucous “Macca the Mutt” one of Australia’s most indelible performers kind of just folds into the duo’s assured and frequently abrasive sound. It’s hard work, but they’re very good at it.

Ian Mathers

 Pile — “Loops” (Exploding in Sound)

Don’t let the professionally shot video and polished studio overdubbing of “Loops” fool you: Rick Maguire’s still one of America’s best songwriters, still a musician capable of contorting rock conventions amid weathered lyrics and his band’s formidable backing chops. What at first sounds like it’s going to be on the thrashier side of the quartet’s oeuvre instead mutates a different way, holding steady as a sludgy midtempo rocker that adjusts for Maguire’s slurs and soars (“Tell me, are you being honest? / ‘Cause they deserve the truth from you” he stretches out toward the end) before an almost elegiac outro hinting at a whole other solo interpretation that might, in fine Pile tradition, be the best part of the whole thing. Tracked and mixed almost a year ago now, All Fiction will see a release in February; anyone with an iota of sense ought to be excited for it.

Patrick Masterson

 PinkPantheress — “Do You Miss Me?” (Warner Music UK)

Gemma Victoria Walker broke out of the TikTok trenches with the featherweight “Pain,” but her self-christened "new nostalgic" sound that amounts to wistful bedroom dance-pop akin to Air France, Doss, Clairo, Sally Shapiro or Doja Cat when she's being coy without the pyrotechnics is slowly cohering, as evidenced by “Do You Miss Me?” The template of sneaking in a couple of verses before a hummable chorus that she immediately backs away from is still here — that half-remembered feeling could arguably be the foundation of her whole ethos — but even at a slender two minutes, you get the impression this is something more fully realized, more thought out. Maybe it’s just that there are a ton of words packed into not a lot of space to Kaytranada and Phil’s muted yet insistent thump, all airy propulsion, all tension and longing. It’s clear she’s coming into her own, even if the baby steps make it harder to see at close range.

Patrick Masterson  

 Chris Pitsiokos — The Art of the Alto (Relative Pitch)

Art of the Alto by Chris Pitsiokos

Chris Pitsiokos approaches music from several directions, using a variety of tools. But his primary piece of hardware is the alto saxophone. The Art of the Alto is not his first solo recording on the instrument, but it is, as the title suggests, a window onto his efforts to move beyond being a guy who plays the horn into the realm of being an artist who makes statements with one. This is not an easy in 2022. Giants like Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell have already stomped giant footprints into the earth, and the self-aware artist knows that they stand inside the behemoths’ footprints. Pitsiokos also has an eye and ear on the work of non-alto saxophonists; in particular, one can hear the influence of Evan Parker upon “Shale” (all eight of this CD’s tracks are named after rocks). Pitsiokos may not be making unprecedented imprints upon the landscape, but he navigates the territory adroitly, ably connecting points of tone, contour, and rhythm like a navigator learned enough to know where the stars are on a given night without looking over his shoulder. The saxophone is his astrolabe, but his headspace confidently contains the star chart.

Bill Meyer

  Seawind of Battery — Clockwatching (Island House)

IH-001: Clockwatching by Seawind of Battery

Mike Horn, a New York City guitarist who has made music with Goldkey and Sunblinders, spins out radiant, slow-moving clouds of lingering tone and this first outing as Seawind of Battery. Melodies push forward shyly out of long, pensive drones, yet the mix feels light as air and unconflicted. In “Summer Hymn,” the notes hang on, so that what you hear is a blend of what has come before and what’s happening now. Still, there’s no murk in the mesh of tones, just a bit of ambient glow to them. “Levels” sets a trebly tremor on repeat, then ruptures it with muscular runs of electric guitar, giving the whole piece an aura of anticipation and immanence. This is an extraordinarily serene and lovely album, which spreads calm all around it. As is often the case, Clockwatching makes time stand still.

Jennifer Kelly

The Senders — All Killer No Filler: 1997-2001 (Left for Dead)

The Senders shared stages with punk and proto-punk legends like Johnny Thunders and Wayne Kramer, were friendly with Blondie and played all the clubs that birthed NYC punk rock, but they weren’t punk rockers. Instead, this ragged four- (sometimes five-) some played a feral sort of blues rock, stripped down and ferocious. Though it occurred at basically the same time, their music was utterly at odds with the big ticket blues rock of ZZ Top, the Allman Brothers and Led Zeppelin. Phil Marcade, a Frenchman, led the band in a hoarse, incendiary growl and also played harmonica. Wild Bill Thompson played Chuck Berry-nodding riffs. Steve Shevlin, a former boxer, played bass and Marc Bourset drums. Some nights, Danny Ray blared on saxophone. The band covered blues classics like Howling Wolf’s “Killing Floor” and Fats Domino’s “I’m Gonna Be a Wheel,” and swaggering originals like “The Living End” with equal abandon. It was as raw as punk but bent like blues. This two-disc set captures the Senders in their late 1970s fury and, notably, includes previously unreleased live tracks with Johnny Thunders sitting in. The sound isn’t great, but the fire is unmistakable. A worthy, mostly forgotten chapter in New York City rock history.

Jennifer Kelly

 Patrick Shiroishi — Evergreen (Touch)

Evergreen by Patrick Shiroishi

Ed. Note: Due to some miscommunication and disorganization, we have two takes on this album.  Enjoy!  

Bill Meyer:

Throughout its 40 years of existence, Touch has carried itself more like a nexus of cross-platform, independent artistic practice than a record label. It has celebrated its 40th anniversary with a series of site-specific events, and not many artists have appeared at more than one of them. Patrick Shiroishi performed at two, in Santa Cruz and San Francisco, and has followed up with this digital-only release. Best known as an improvising saxophonist, Shiroishi’s work actually spans several genres and explores concerns with relationships, social justice, and personal and national history. Evergreen represents Shiroishi’s reaction to the Touch catalog. Made mainly from field recordings made at Los Angeles’ Evergreen Cemetery, which is the resting place of several of his relatives, and slow-moving synth melodies, it projects an uneasy ambience. Periodically a sax or clarinet surfaces in the mix, giving a sharper focus to the music’s diffuse melancholy, but the source of the sadness only materializes near the end, in the form of a relative’s recollection of the trials that Shiroishi’s ancestors faced during World War II.   

Bryon Hayes:

Evergreen is Patrick Shiroishi’s debut for the UK-based Touch label. Here he’s dialing back his reed vibrations in favor of ambient emanations in line with the imprint’s oeuvre. The music treads a similar path to that of Across Water, a split release with Jessica Ackerley that arrived earlier this year, in that it is as subtle and eloquent as it is passionate and poignant. Shiroishi’s visits to the eponymous cemetery, in which generations of his family lay resting, yielded the field recordings upon which he constructed this lengthy piece. He augmented these with synths and additional recordings, as well as his voice, sax, and clarinet. There is a bivalent nature to this composition, as Shiroishi used both diurnal and nocturnal field recordings to form the emotional core of the music. The daylight half is airy and expansive, while the sunset brings harsher timbres along with it. Each of these modes carries with it a distinctive beauty, and together they demonstrate Shiroishi’s mastery of emotional expression through sound.   

 Heather Trost—Desert Flowers (BaDaBing)

Desert Flowers by Heather Trost

“Frog and Toad Are Friends” whorls and billows with euphoria, its giddy synths twining out like plastic tendrils, its vocals denatured to breathy “ahs” and buried back in the mix. There is no audible trace of Heather Trost’s other instrument, the occasionally melancholy violin. This hand-clapped, wordless tribute to a well-loved children’s book has a fantastical air, as does, indeed, the rest of this wide-eyed with wonder collection. Trost’s voice is high and calm and uninflected, a la Julee Cruise; she could be singing for children. “Blue Fish,” the one from the Flux Gourmet soundtrack, proceeds in a stately, harpsichord-ish fashion, its weirdness (which, by all accounts, echoes the film) subterranean, unconfrontational and unsettling. Trost works again with her husband and Hawk and Hacksaw Partner, Julian Barnes, to create tiny, glowing paradises that are just a little off.  

Jennifer Kelly

 Use Knife — The Shedding of Skin (Viernulvier)

Use Knife started out as a Belgian modular synth duo, but before this, their debut album, they met Brussels-based Iraqi musician Saif Al-Qaissy, who quickly became part of the band. The Shedding of Skin definitely still has plenty of that original focus on analogue, outsider electronic music, but a significant and successful infusion of influences, forms, and instruments from Arabic music gives the trip real distinctiveness and bite. Mixed at Montreal’s Hotel2Tango by Jerusalem in My Heart’s Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (who also plays buzuk and synth on the Coil-esque centrepiece “To Feed the Gentry”), the six songs here (including a brief, yearning reading of traditional song “Ed Wana Ed”) aim somewhere between the club and the experimental atelier, or possibly some kind of ritual space. The real success here is making music that feels like it would work equally well in any of those areas, even if you’re just listening on headphones.

Ian Mathers

 Yard Act Vs. Mad Professor — “Pour More” (Rough Trade)

Post-punk’s affinity for dub goes right back to Public Image Ltd.’s earliest experiments fucking around on Richard Branson’s dime (RIP Keith Levene), so there shouldn’t have been any shocked faces in the house hearing how Leeds’ Yard Act enlisted legendary producer Mad Professor to remix The Overload as The Overdub (natch). The latter — who’s worked with Lee “Scratch” Perry, Sly and Robbie, Sade and Massive Attack — gives “Pour Another” the dub touch by minimizing James Smith’s garrulous observations and emphasizing the rhythm section in a rework that wouldn’t sound out of place at a DFA party 20 years ago or upstairs at Eric’s 20 years before that. Available exclusively on vinyl through Rough Trade at the moment, but like everything else, that’ll surely change in due course.

Patrick Masterson  

 Yleiset Syyt — Toisten Todellisuus (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Toisten Todellisuus by Yleiset Syyt

This raucous compilation release from rousing punks Yleiset Syyt may have you flashing on 1984 — not for the street punk vibes (although you can hear some echoes of Oi! in this Finnish band’s sing-along choruses), more so for the thrilling realization that many 1980s kids (ahem) had upon reading the international scene reports in MRR. “Holy shit! There’s hardcore bands in Ljubljana! A-and in Helsinki!” Yep, still are, as this record evidences, and Yleiset Syyt are a mighty outfit. The band synthesizes some of the best elements of street punk, melodic hardcore and anarcho-punk, creating songs with hummable parts and lots of lose-your-shit moshpit moments. Toisten Todellisuus (roughly “the reality of others”) includes the band’s S/T EP from 2019 and Umpikujamekanismi from 2021, for 20 minutes of unstoppable punk energy. These Laplanders play fast and hard, providing as much pleasure as punishment in their tough tunes. Check out the killer guitar work in “Bileet Ohi” and the crazy great riffs in “Jatkuvaa Sotaa.” Punk’s not dead, America. Better listen up.

Jonathan Shaw

[jacobwren]

Irrational Rhythms and Shifting Poles (excerpt) by Chris Pitsiokos (binaural/headphone mix)

[freethejazzblog]

Free The Jazz #45 [for Takashi Miike]

1 - Han Bennink Trio - Gordijn / Supertyphoon (from "Adelante", 2017 ICP)

2 - Archie Shepp - Sorry 'Bout That (from "The Magic of Ju-Ju", 1968 Impulse!)

3 - Grachan Moncur III - Space Spy (from "New Africa", 1970 BYG)

4 - Michael Thieke / Tim Daisy / Ken Vandermark - Yellow Fern (from "Triptych", 2017 Relay)

5 - Dre Hocevar - Unknown Unknowns (from "Collective Effervescence", 2016 Clean Feed)

6 - Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers - Are You Real (from "Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers", 1959 Blue Note)

7 - LAMA + Joachim Badenhorst - Metamorphosis III (from "Metamorphosis", 2017 Clean Feed)

8 - François Tusques - Souvenir de l'oiseau (from "Free Jazz", 1965 Mouloudji)

9 - Vijay Iyer Sextet - Good On The Ground (from "Far From Over", 2017 ECM)

Listen to a new show each week on 8K, and find previous shows over at Mixcloud.

[chez-mimich]

CHRIS PITSIOKOS & MULHOUSE ENSEMBLE

Il jazz è meraviglioso soprattutto quando ci si prepara ad ascoltare qualcosa che poi si rivela essere qualcos’altro. È accaduto anche sabato sera, allo Spazio Nòva di Novara, in occasione del concerto di “Chris Pitsiokos & Mulhouse Ensemble”nell’ambito della stagione invernale di Novara Jazz. Se in un ensemble coabitano strumenti come la chitarra classica e la ghironda, e il gruppo fa riferimento ad una città piantata dentro il cuore dell’Europa, ci si aspetterebbe di ascoltare un jazz “folkeggiante” (stai a vedere che ho inventato un termine nuovo). E invece no, o forse un po’ sì è un po’ no, certo è che, chi vedendo una ghironda, ha pensato di trovarsi immerso in un mondo fatto di elfi ed unicorni, forse è rimasto un po’ deluso, ma chi frequenta la scena del jazz contemporaneo e di ricerca, sa bene che questa ricerca è ormai andata molto oltre quello che si poteva immaginare. Ma si sa che la ricerca si auto-riproduce all’infinito e i traguardi non sono mai visibili, né ben definiti e comunque, e qui sta il bello, non si raggiungono mai. Ecco allora che invece dei boschi incantati si viene catapultati in uno studio della “Scuola di Darmstadt”. Scherzi a parte, al primo ascolto, qualche evocazione folk i magnifici musicisti del “Chris Pitsiokos & Mulhouse Ensemble” lo hanno data, facendola però vorticare subito in un enorme acceleratore di particelle musicali che ha trasformato la primigenia materia in un caleidoscopio di suoni di difficile classificazione (per fortuna), ma certamente segnati da una spiccata ricerca dissonante ed elettronica. Il gruppo, che porta il nome della città dove nel 2020 si è formato l’ensemble, ha incantato per il multiforme colorismo sonoro e per le atmosfere caratterizzate da un jazz di ricerca con “spot” su assonanze decisamente folk. Il bello è però che questo folk non si sa da dove arrivi, molti passaggi soprattutto quelli della chitarra di Nicolas Ingras e della ghironda di Morgan Creze hanno una denotazione folk, ma non una connotazione geografica o etnica precisa. Ed è in questo che risiede l’assoluta originalità di questo Ensemble che, ricordiamolo, è composto da musicisti provenienti da quattro paesi: dagli USA Chris Pitsiokos al sax contralto, dalla Francia Baptiste Defremont al

synth, Morgan Creze alla ghironda, Nicolas Ingrand alla chitarra preparata, Camille Dianoux alle campionature e all’elettronica, Romane Rosser al pianoforte e voce, Siham Maidon al vibrafono, dalla Svizzera Martin Hess al contrabbasso e dall’Italia Nicola Arata alla batteria.

Una mescolanza ormai indispensabile nel jazz, musica di popoli e di idee in movimento. Nel bellissimo concerto di sabato sera, c’è stato spazio per molte altre suggestioni oltre a quelle già citate, che vanno dall’apporto del piano preparato e allo “spechless” asemantico di Romane Rosser, alla batteria assai poco tradizionale di Nicola Arata (che di ricerca, anche sul campo, se ne intende parecchio), al mutevole vibrafono nordico e temperato di Siham Maidon e, naturalmente, al collante dell’intero ensemble, il sax di Chris Pitsiokos che sembra essere il discreto trait-d’union tra le varie individualità e il filo conduttore di un “set” a tratti fluente, ma anche ricco di asperità sonore e che alterna momenti delicati e vagamente melodici a sperimentazioni ardite. Dire quale posto occupino le differenti nazionalità, risulta essere difficile, o per meglio dire arbitrario, perché ormai le contaminazioni hanno contaminato tutto il contaminabile e il jazz, ma anche le arti visive se mi è concessa una riflessione, è la materia stessa di questa contaminazione. Quel che c’è di bello è che dopo il processo contaminatorio, è rimasta la musica, quella di gran qualità ascoltata sabato sera, musica che non annulla le differenze, ma le amalgama rendendo il processo compositivo ed esecutivo ancora più ricco. Ed è molto importante, ancora di più nei tempi tormentati che stiamo vivendo, comprendere che l’insieme è sempre di più della somma delle parti.

[jgthirlwell]

02.21.17 Weasel Walter led a performance of his large ensemble at Roulette, in a long form work which was an intense barrage of semi-orchestrated free-jazz skronk. The players included Weasel Walter on drums and composition, Tyshawn Sorey and Steve Swell on trombones. Matt Nelson, Chris Pitsiokos and Michael Foster on saxophones, Jaimie Branch and Forbes Graham on trumpet, Tim Dahl and Brandon Lopez on stand up bass, Brandon Seabrook on guitar and Leila Bordreuil on cello.

[alanlicht]

Last minute solo electric show tonight at Knockdown Center

I will be doing a solo set Sunday Feb 12 at the Knockdown Center on a bill with trumpeter Nate Wooley and saxophonist Chris Pitsiokos, who are each doing solos as well. Things start at 9, Facebook page with more info here