★Confront Recordings
Refraction
I first met Mark sometime in the early 90’s when we were both working in Chelmsford. He was running Soundworld Records above the musical instrument shop of the same name, I was over the other side of town in an insurance brokers. I’d played quite a bit of free improvisation at that point, mostly at the old LMC in a quartet called Make Shift together with Peter Urpeth, Stuart Wilding and long-time colleague and playing partner Geoff Collins. But had been away from it for a few years and wa…
Goethe
"Across a dozen years, the duo of Jerman and Barnes has offered powerful, minimal music rooted in a shared dedication to the creative act of listening. Jerman is a veteran of the creative music scenes in Denver and Seattle, and in more recent years has been thoroughly investigating the sonic possibilities of the desert Southwest where he lives and works. Tim Barnes's resume as a percussionist, engineer, and curator is studded with all-star collaborators including Tony Conrad, Sonic Youth, Ken Va…
Le Ring
This group is the result of crossed relationships. Denzler and Dörner know each other for 15 years, Denzler and Gerbal work together in several projects, Dörner and Gerbal are both members of Peeping Tom. As a trio, they played their first concert in Berlin in March 2015 and the music was immediately obvious. The sound of the group is a malleable space in which the musicians generate small or bigger shapes, simple and complex sounds, irregular and mechanical rhythms.
Trembling Shade
Recorded live at Exploratorium, Berlin on 19 March 2015 by Johannes von Wrochem. Berlin is truly the spiritual home of The Sealed Knot - with the trio having played there numerous times since it's debut in the city at Ramschift Zitrone in 2002. In more recent times we've been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to perform at regular yearly intervals, the most recent of which is the concert captured on this recording from Exploratorium in March 2015. Many thanks to Matthias Schwabe for the i…
Now and Then
Ian Brighton is an improvising guitarist known mostly for his work between the 70s and the early 90s playing alongside Lol Coxhill, Philipp Wachsmann, Marcio Mattos, Trevor Taylor, Frank Perry, Radu Malfatti Veryan Weston and Larry Stabbins. He also was part of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble with John Stevens, Trevor Watts and Evan Parker, the Tony Oxley Quartet and co-founder, with Trevor Taylor, of the Alternative Music Orchestra. After an absence of nearly 30 years, interest was expressed whe…
Vapour
Schall und Rausch was formed by accident, a considered accident with some intentions. Johan Arrias was in Berlin the summer of 2014 and we took that opportunity to work together and thought about possible combinations. Axel was free and Kai was also open to the idea to play a house concert together. It was warm, free, and immediately there was a sense that the music was asking questions and answering them in equal measure. There was a sense of joy that appears when possibilities reveal themselve…
10tet
Recorded live at Ftarri on 16th October 2013. Recorded & mastered by Taku Unami. ".... it was October 2013 ... Radu, Klaus and Nikos came to Japan. The last day of their tour, Ftarri was booked but it was uncertain what would be done there … so we decided to invite all our friends to join just a few days before." (Taku Unami)
Tetuzi Akiyama : acoustic guitar
Moé Kamura : voice
Radu Malfatti : trombone
Kazushige Kinoshita : violin
Masahiko Okura : tube
Nikos Veliotis : cello
Taku Unami : electric…
isotopic
Cremaster: Ferran Fages - feedback mixing board, electro-acoustic devices / Alfredo Costa Monteiro - objects on electric guitar, electro-acoustic devices & Sophie Agnel: piano. Recorded separately in Barcelona and Montreuil between 2009 and 2011. Final assemblage in March 2012. Mastered by Ferran Fages. Between 2010 and 2012 Cremaster started a series of collaborations with Sophie Agnel and Angharad Davies. After more than 10 years dealing with electro-acoustic devices they wanted to go further,…
Fjordgata
John Butcher, saxophones. Michael Duch, contrabass. Jazzfest Trondheim, Trondelag Senter for Samtidskunst, 9th May 2015. Recorded in concert by Jonas Krossli and mastered by Karl Klaseie. Thanks to Ernst-Wiggo Sandbakk and Randi Martine Brockmann. 'I first heard John Butcher in 2001 playing duos with Rhodri Davies and Derek Bailey on the CD Vortices and Angels. I was completely mesmerized, particularly by the two tracks in the end with John and Rhodri playing together. Vortices and Angels is sti…
Bagpipes and blackberries
Adam Bohman : unamplified objects. Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg : voice.Recorded at Oxo Studio by Adrian Northover on 18th July 2014. Edited and mastered by Adrian Northover. A senses stimulating meeting, recorded in central London's former slaughter house, Oxo Tower. Piching Adam Bohman's scraped and scrunched clutter with the hum and bubble of Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg's voice. Unimagined pitches and timbres collide and oscillate, drawing the listener into an ever deepening, real-time sound scu…
F.E.R. (For Eliane Radigue)
The composition began at home studio in September 2013 and then in 2 weeks residency in September/October 2014 at the GMEM in Marseille with the technical support of Jérôme Decque, then recorded in October 2014 at GMEM concert room in real time & finally mixed in September 2015 in GMEM studio.A piece in tribute to the French composer pioneer of the minimalist electronic music 'drone' (continuous sound), Eliane Radigue.'Since 2002 and the edition of the trilogy piece 'Adnos', on the American labe…
Tides
"I had sent Neil an electronic ‘backing track’ to improvise on, with the idea to keep my part intact as the spine of this new piece. But once I received Neil’s recording, things turned out differently. While toying around with his saxophone improvisation, I noticed it was full of fantastic details, and wanted to emphasize these. I tried overlaying looped parts, with wonderful results. So the original idea went out the window, and I decided to solely work with Neil’s improvisation. I approached ‘…
Quartet
The newly formed quartet is making its debut performance at the gallery. Alan Wilkinson (alto saxophone), Olie Brice double bass,Dominic Lash (double bass), Mark Wastell (cello). Mark Wastell Quartet is combining the unavoidable and reverential influence of the great jazz pioneers of the 20th century with the sophisticated integrity of the modern day improviser.
Social Insects II
Social Insects are the bass clarinet player Hans Koch and the electronic musician Gaudenz Badrutt. They have collaborated on various musical projects for years and in 2011 founded the duo. Hans Koch is mainly known as a member of the Hardcore Chambermusic Trio Koch-Schütz-Studer, but also as a soloist as well as for his collaborations with Phil Minton, Fred Frith, Paul Lovens etc. As a bass clarinet player he has developed a very personal style. The electronic musician Gaudenz Badrutt is m…
Playing The Schoolhouse
Playing The Schoolhouse, a new CD EP length composition by David Sylvian recorded in March of this year in Norway. Based on an improvisation by Jan Bang and Sylvian it also features contributions from Otomo Yoshihide and Toshimaru Nakamura. 'Confront is a small bespoke label, that specialise in small run editions. David has been a long time admirer of what we do and the way we do it - and a loyal customer too - as well as a contemporary of a number of the artists on our roster. I asked David t…
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.
Broken Light
Recently formed quartet composed of Mark Wastell, violoncello with Olie Brice and Dominic Lash, basses, and Alan Wilkinson, alto saxophone and bass clarinet. Improvisations of Huntington Ashram Monastery '(Alice Coltrane) and' Lonely Woman '(Ornette Coleman). Two interpretations and two originals. Registered in 2015.
North and South
Alan Wilkinson, saxophone, clarinet, Kim Johannesen, electric guitar, Ola Hoyer, bass, Dag Erik Andersen Knedal, battery. Live at Café Oto, London in 2014. Power and emotion of a seasoned saxophonist against routine improvisation with young musicians from the Norwegian scene already well informed on the issues of the scene!
For John Ayrton Paris
Recorded in Barcelona on 20 May 2013. Thaumatrope: a card with different pictures on either side, which, when the card is twirled rapidly, appear to blend into one. For John Ayrton Paris is the discographic debut of Taumatrop, a duo formed in the year 2013 by Ferran Fages and Eduard Márquez. During the months of March, April and May 2013, Taumatrop worked on the construction of long, dronic pieces (initially with guitar and ultimately with electronic devices), in which the intention was to prod…
Live At I'klectik
"This was my first trip to series of improvised music curated by Sue Lynch at The Horse at Cafe I'Klectik in SE London. What a treat! The evening opened with a sensitive and controlled duo of Hutch Demouilpied (trumpet, flute), Keisuke Matsui (guitar, electronics) this was followed by an intense and beautiful trio of Maggie Nichols (vocals), Caroline Kraabel (alto saxophone) and Charlotte Hug (viola, voice).This I thought a very hard performance to follow. But the trio of Richard Sanderson (ampl…