St. Francis Duo
Members: Stephen O'Malley, Steve Noble
All Life Long
Created between March and May 2020, Does Spring Hide Its Joy is an immersive piece, positioned as a “study in harmonics and non-linear composition with a heightened focus on just intonation and beating interference patterns”.
Cylene II
Tip! The second round of Cylene, Bonnet & O’Malley’s collaboration initiated in 2018 and continued without interruption since then in a slow stream of concerts, installations and recordings. A presentation of tones and resonances where harmonic intersections elevate from the deep and scale up to the far firmament in careful motion, drawing emotions viscerally from the chest, giving rise to the suggestibility of the soul.
Sept duos pour guitare acoustique & piano préparé
Sept duos pour guitar acoustique et piano préparé is the second duo recording from Stephen O’Malley and Anthony Pateras. Their first together, Rêve Noir (2018), took an electro-acoustic scalpel to a 2011 duo concert for electric guitar and piano, using Revox and digital treatments to twist and smear gig documentation into ghostly echoes and fractured drones. Here, in contrast, the music is entirely acoustic and presented as it was performed, without overdubs. Both players’ choices of instruments…
Volume 2
Super groups are always risky—the potential for disappointing fans or warring musical styles is high—but when longtime friends and masterful improvisers come together, they usually work. Evident in their first collaboration, simply titled Volume 1, John Dikeman (Saxophone; When The Time Is Right, 577 Records, 2021) joined musicians Pat Thomas (Piano; Shifa Live at Cafe Oto 2019, BleySchool 2019, Shifa Live in Oslo 2020, Educated Guess 2021), John Edwards (Bass; EMPoWered. 577 Records, 2021), and…
Does Spring Hide Its Joy
Created between March and May 2020, Does Spring Hide Its Joy is an immersive piece, positioned as a “study in harmonics and non-linear composition with a heightened focus on just intonation and beating interference patterns”.
Nurturing Exhibitions
*Limited edition of 200 copies. Includes a 48 pages art book and 2CD.* Six musical compositions by Phill Niblock, soil and cutting tree of Amanatsu orange from Masanobu Fukuoka Natural Farm, wooden pedestals, speakers, wooden benches, wooden planter, acrylic case, water, sunlight. An exhibition by Mathieu Copeland.
Nurturing Exhibitions was one of two concomitant exhibitions that formed Exhibition Cuttings at Le Forum / Fondation Hermès in Tokyo, Japan between April 23rd (Fri.) and July 18th (Su…
Volume 1
*In process of stocking* Super groups are not a riskless endeavor—but when they’re made up of longtime friends and master improvisers, they tend to work. On their collaboration, simply titled Volume 1, up-and-coming American saxophonist John Dikeman (When The Time Is Right, 577 Records, 2021) is accompanied by a group of UK-based music masters: pianist Pat Thomas, a 577 Records mainstay (Shifa Live at Cafe Oto 2019, BleySchool 2019, Shifa Live in Oslo 2020, Educated Guess 2021), bassist John Edw…
Öst-Väst Sommaren - MMXX-11
Stephen O'Malley’s contribution to the Matière Mémoire’s stunning MMXX Series, Öst-Väst Sommaren (MMXX-11), is a vast expanse of intricate ambience, texture, and tone that encounters the Sunn O))) veteran exploring quiet, introspective depths. Issued in a limited edition of 500 copies, on a single sided crystal-clear vinyl LP with a laser engraved artwork on the other, housed in a transparent sleeve printed with the MMXX logo, and containing an artist print by O'Malley.
M.A.N. – B.A.N.
* Edition of 300. Double lp in a gatefold sleeve is set to be released in a limited edition of 300 copies * Asked if they would be interested to perform at the Summer Bummer Festival in 2019 with reed player Peter Brötzmann, both bass player Farida Amadou and drummer Steve Noble replied with a quick and definite ‘yes’. The plans to join forces with this iconic player existed already and the Summer Bummer Festival would be ideal to meet on stage for the first time. To show the extreme musical div…
Threnody, At The Gates
This trio is on to something extraordinary; full on furor brushed w thin melodic lines or rage contained in a certain kind of drunken beauty and bliss - all stumbling on towards the heard and the unheard - in a whisper, in a shriek, forces joined and disjoined....This trio is the whole in the never ending audible crack Johan Berthling: double bass; Martin Küchen: tenor and soprano saxophones, retardophone, flute; Steve Noble: drums and percussion. Recorded by David Carlsson at Gula Studion, Malm…
Atlantis
Following closely on the heels of his ravishing solo album Tomorrow is Too Late, Stockholm-based synthesist and improviser John Chantler switches gears to unleash the stunning second album by his trio with saxophonist Seymour Wright and drummer Steve Noble, Atlantis. Chantler is well-known for his solo electronic work, which frequently explodes richly layered ambient soundscapes into visceral explosions and thrilling physicality, to say nothing of his imaginative experimentation with the organ, …
Los Bordes de Las Respuestas
**500 copies, hand-numbered, limited edition with 3 photo inserts** Combining the searching, raucous spirit of free improvisation, massive guitar textures and slowly shifting moods of the drone / doom-tradition the Saint Francis Duo proves there’s still a place for adventure and innovation in the world of improvised music.Four years after their debut recording as a duo, influential guitarist Stephen O’Malley (Sunn O))), KTL) and master percussionist Steve Noble (Rip, Rig & Panic, Brötzmann, Park…
Front And Above
A new trio formed by John Chantler — best known for his solo synthesizer recordings and work with pipe organs — and two of the most instantly recognisable voices in the scene loosely associated with London’s Cafe OTO — drummer Steve Noble and saxophonist Seymour Wright. Their debut CD 'Front & Above' was released on Chantler's 1703 Skivbolaget label in October 2017.
"A terrific set that quietly opens a portal to a new world." — The Quietus
PEN
**500 copies** It is always a treat to see some major musical innovators in action. Especially in a mind-blowing line-up, at the top of their game and unrecorded until now on this impressive new Dropa Disc release.Evan Parker might be a member of some legendary trios – one with von Schlippenbach and Paul Lovens and one with Barry Guy and Paul Lytton – still this brilliant master of the saxophone and pioneer of free music managed to surprise us big time when he introduced his trio with John Edwar…
Muddy Ditch
Sebastian Lexer (piano+) and Steve Noble (drums and percussion) first played together in the winter of 2011 and what seemed like an unlikely, even oppositional, pairing quickly proved itself to be an extremely well-matched one. Noble\'s sharp vertical hits and Lexer's sustained horizontal textures echo, disrupt and enrich each other, producing music full of complex slants and intricate resonances. Sebastian Lexer : piano+. Steve Noble : drums and percussion. Recorded by Giovanni La Rovere at Ca…
Sunday afternoon (live at the Hundred Years Galley)
Live recording of Steve Noble, percussion with Daniel Thompson, acoustic guitar. Recorded in London in 2014. Repetitive accidents share space with manicured gestures and punctuation shocks to produce a pure abstract matter from the instrumental virtuosity.
Night in Europe
Featuring Martin Kuchen on alto sax, Johan Berthling on bass and Steve Noble on drums. I haven't heard this yet but I must admit that Martin Kuchen is one the best, most creative, diverse and inspired saxists we've heard from Scandinavia in the past decade. Check out any discs from his bands: Angles, Exploding Customer, Trespass Trio or All Included and you will hear some of the best playing around! Bassist Johan Berhling is also a member of Angles, Fire! Orchestra and projects with Ken Va…
Fractions
Free work from a real power trio – one driven by the drums of Steve Noble, who also plays a lot of percussion, and the bass of Dominic Lash – while Stefan Keune lays out some very bold work on tenor and sopranino sax over the top! The trio have a great way of mixing intense passages with much more subtle, spacious ones – so much so that the sonic range of the record is really wonderful – as the dynamic energy of the group continues to keep things interesting. Titles include "Two Far", "Cuts", "A…
Prediction and Warning
“Steve Noble [‘s] armoury of textures and tones is an acoustic mirror of [Ikue] Mori’s electronica, and just as spellbinding. He attacks his orthodox, loose-skinned drum kit from all angles, lays upturned gongs on the drumheads and is a master of orthodoxy as well as the avant-garde. His duet with Mori was the evening’s highlight, a pulsating welter of scrapes, thumps and press rolls interrupted by silences made sinister by the tick of an off-kilter metronome.” – Mike Hobart, Financial TimesIkue…