★Confront Recordings
At Sound 323
Originally released by Confront in 2013 on compact disc as The Complete August 15th 2001. Now freshly remixed and remastered in 2023 for release on a delux double 180g white vinyl LP set and digital. Recorded at Sound 323, London by Tim Fletcher on 15 August 2001
Cumino in Mia Cucina
** Edition of 300 ** Acoustic nylon strung guitar is not something I usually play but a visit by Duck Baker to our home in Rome inspired me to dig out my Brazilian version. I met Duck at Stefan Grossman’s house in the late seventies and embarrassed myself by replying to his question about what did i play by answering "you probably wouldn't understand", assuming he only played folk music. He produced from his bag and gave me a copy of a record with him, Henry Kaiser, Eugene Chadbourne, Owen Maerc…
A Thousand Sacred Steps
We owe this session to a touch of happenstance and a measure of forethought. Chris Abrahams was in London with The Necks for a residency at Café Oto, the capital's enterprising and valuable haven for adventurous music. Mark Wastell asked him whether, if he had any spare time whilst in the city, he’d be interested in doing a studio session as a duo.
The two have met a number of times over the years (including once in Berlin when Chris came to hear The Sealed Knot, the trio which Mark inhabits wit…
A More Attractive Way
** Edition of 500 + 20 pages booklet ** A More Attractive Way is a comprehensive study of live performances made by IST between 1996 and 2000. This set begins at the very outset of the group's career and features their debut concert at Club Orange in London and charts its way through further gigs in London, Billericay, Norwich and Cambridge. “A completely different intensity, but an intensity nonetheless,” Jo Fell reflects in notes accompanying A More Attractive Way. Her husband Simon, to whose …
Frequency Disasters
Low-frequency, high-impact events such as earthquakes and tsunamis are not preventable, three bodies in a room sonically engaging are even less so. Beresford’s architectural narrative drives Magaletti and Martino’s rhythmic interventions into compelling short stories about dancing, dressing in rags, dreaming, swallowing, flight, famine, transformation, and dystopias/utopias. Frequency Disasters are pianist, improviser and composer Steve Beresford, percussionist Valentina Magaletti and bass playe…
Beaming
Further on from a few phone conversations last week (graciously enabled in the first instance by the ever-generous Alan Skidmore) and the swift dispatch from Germany of the demo disc, I'm very excited to announce that Tony Oxley, one of the great forefathers of European improvised music, will be releasing a disc on Confront Recordings. I've played the demo about fifteen times in the last three days and it's absolutely incredible. Tony is 81 years old and as evidenced here, is still making except…
Virtual Company
Simon H. Fell : double bass. Mark Wastell : violoncello, percussion. Derek Bailey : (virtual) guitar. Will Gaines : (virtual) tapdance. Recorded at Cafe OTO, Dalston, London; 2nd March 2018.
An in concert, virtual Company performance from IST (on this occasion the duo of Simon H. Fell and Mark Wastell due to the snow-bound absence of Rhodri Davies) together with pre-recorded fragments of Derek Bailey and Will Gaines. IST’s Virtual Company calls on ‘the powers of improvisation’ (D. Bailey) to int…
Sound Mirrors
The UK’s network of crumbling sound mirrors - an early form of radar - supply cues for blues experimenter Mike Cooper and pivotal improvisor Mark Wastell (Company) in an inquisitive collaboration on Wastell’s Confront Recordings. The strange, austere relics of WWI were erected between 1916 and the 1930s and are found dotted along the South East and North East coastline of England, sometimes in farmer’s fields who’ll let you in for a look if you ask nicely (out to my guy in Boulby).With Cooper ma…
The Map Is Not the Territory
Max Eastley: arc (electro-acoustic monochord)Fergus Kelly: invented instruments, found metals, electronicsMark Wastell: tam tam, metal percussion, piano frameRecorded at Studio 3, Stoke Newington, London on 8th March 2017 by Rupert Clervaux. Edited, mixed and mastered by Fergus Kelly. Produced by Mark Wastell.
There is no Love
Few copies, sold out at source. Additional contribution from Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixer) recorded by Steve Bates and David Sylvian, Montreal. Tubular bell and concert bass drum recorded by Matthew Sansom, Surrey University, 2006. Original text by Bernard Marie Koltès. Compositional structure by Mark Wastell. Mixed and mastered by Rupert Clervaux. Personnel: Rhodri Davies - lap harp, table harp, vibraphone, radio; David Sylvian - voice, vocal treatments, electronics; Mark Wastell - tam ta…
Tales Of Hackney
Arild Andersen (double-bass, electronics), Clive Bell (Thai mouth organ, shakuhachi, pi saw, shinobue), and Mark Wastell (percussion, shruti box). This genre defying trio release their debut offering, Tales Of Hackney. Quick to capture the energy and undeniable empathy of their celebrated live performances at Cafe OTO on September 24, 2017, the troika reconvened the following day for an intense ten-hour east London studio session. The beguiling, often meditative results see Andersen deploy his u…
Spinneret
Mandhira de Saram and Benoît Delbecq met in 2016 in Paris and soon discovered that they loved playing together. They recorded Spinneret a year later, over a day of quiet and meditative composing, at curious distance from the animated playing they are both usually drawn to in their own projects. With a natural flair for exploring the possibilities of their instruments, they weave together a delicate tapestry of sound and texture, which hangs as though stretched and suspended in the air. Spinneret…
Klinker
Factory pressed double CD in printed triple panel Ekopack cardboard sleeve. Derek Bailey : guitar. Simon H. Fell : double bass. Will Gaines : tap dance. Mark Wastell : violoncello. Recorded live at The Klinker, London on Thursday 24th August 2000. Compèred by Matt Scott. Original DAT recording by Tim Fletcher.Mixed and mastered by Simon H. Fell. Produced by Mark Wastell. One of the special qualities of improvisation is the array of responses musicians and performers have to the environment …
Archive : Volumes I-V : 2005 to 2009
Five CD box set in DVD size metal tin with PVC jacket. Very limited edition, 100 copies only ! Five factory pressed CDs. Five postcard inserts. Individually numbered. Mark Wastell has been organising larger formations of musicians, collectively known as The Seen, for over 10 years, featuring John Butcher, Wolfgang Fuchs, Rhodri Davies, David Toop, Phil Durrant, Lee Gamble and many more. Using predominantly improvised material with occasional instructions or themes distributed to individual music…
All Angels
Just when I thought I had collected all the recordings I could of Mark Wastell playing cello he unearths another gem from his vault, himself and Nikos Veliotis playing acoustic cellos. I started following Mark and the London/Berlin scene only about 6 years ago. I would be hard pressed to pick any other improvising cellists if had to choose a duet to hear. Lachenmann, Xenakis and Scelsi are my favorite cello composers and I imagine these two fellows are avid fans too. I missed out on the lowercas…
Ima
I recorded everything live in one take. The record is named "ima" which in Japanese translates to "now" or "in the moment" and is for my significant other Ami. We have unfortunately have had to do a long-distance thing which was/is more intense than I imagined it would be. I am away from her for a majority of each month and in those moments it can take a toll on me. These pieces are meant to capture that emotion, the sense of yearning, the pain of not being able to see someone you want to easily…
asinglewordisnotenough
Edward Hamel - Gray Neon Life : When Seth approached me to write a new work with the idea of speaking while playing, I thought it appropriate to use text from SAMO©, a collaborative tag used by Jean-Michel Basquiatand Al Diaz found around New York City. I wanted the finished composition to be equally affected by Seth as it was myself. I focused more on choreography and trajectory of movement rather than the organization of musical elements. Other than the opening harmonics, there are no specifie…
KIO GE
KIO GE is the result of the collaboration between the American sound artist Jeph Jerman and the Italian percussionists Paolo Sanna and Giacomo Salis. Twelve short improvisations that include minimal textures, field recordings, abstract atmospheres and organic sounds. Storytelling through sound with many faces.
Le Bruit De La Musique
It's always gratifying and exciting to be invited to perform at a Festival,especially if it is a local one organised by friends. Jo & I moved to rural France 12 years ago, and one immediate effect of leaving London behind was that I went from playing improvised gigs at least once or twice a week to a much less intensive rate of performance. In fact there are relatively few chances to perform improvised music in La France profonde, but Le Bruit de la Musique is one of two performing opportunities…
The Disruptive Forest
All compositions by Chris Cundy. Recorded by Chris Trent at the Cheltenham Synagogue on 20th September 2016. Mixed and mastered by Chris Trent and Chris Cundy - Edition of 100 copies