|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CD
|
|
BB 224CD
|
Tim Story on Familiar: "When Jon Leidecker phoned in early 2012 with a proposition, it seemed a little too good to be true. Jon, part of a loose-knit west coast collective of sound artists whose work I much admired, wondered if Dieter Moebius and I might be interested in meeting him in a spectacular Montana mountain studio for a week of recording, no strings attached. Moebius, always up for an adventure, didn't need much convincing either. Converging on tiny Whitefish in September of that year, our little group of five (Moebius's wife Irene, and my wife Maggie couldn't resist either) spent a few marvelous days exploring nearby Glacier National Park before settling down in a motor lodge at the edge of town. The real revelation, we soon realized, was Brett Allen's Snowghost recording studio, perched chalet-style above Whitefish Lake. I'll leave it to others to comment on the music that resulted, but the experience -- old school togetherness and live musical interaction in an era of internet collaboration -- was remarkable. The days blended together, and at the end we left, reluctantly, with a hard drive full of what would become Snowghost Pieces (BB 167CD/LP, 2014) and Familiar. . . . Moebius's passing in 2015 adds a layer of deep bittersweet to memories of the Snowghost sessions, but the opportunity was unforgettable. The sessions were born of improvisations, the music only being discovered in the moment it was sounded. Specific allusions to the natural beauty that surrounded us might seem hard to spot in Familiar -- it contains some of the more restless and abstract music that was recorded that week. But the album's final track 'Vexed' echoes a bit of that strangely epic wilderness, and also perhaps the most perfect balance of the individual musical sensibilities of Jon, Moebius and I. One day sightseeing in the Rockies, along a particularly scenic stretch of road, we pulled over to gawk. While most of us were looking upward at some of the most spectacular vistas on earth, Moebius spotted a pink plastic construction marker half-buried in the gravel. A tawdry, dusty man-made 'flower' in the midst of paradise. Subversive, unexpected, unexplained, and yes, somehow familiar. The photo he snapped became this album's cover, an image discovered by the same curious spirit that led all three of us to the music."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP+CD
|
|
BB 224LP
|
LP version. Includes CD. Tim Story on Familiar: "When Jon Leidecker phoned in early 2012 with a proposition, it seemed a little too good to be true. Jon, part of a loose-knit west coast collective of sound artists whose work I much admired, wondered if Dieter Moebius and I might be interested in meeting him in a spectacular Montana mountain studio for a week of recording, no strings attached. Moebius, always up for an adventure, didn't need much convincing either. Converging on tiny Whitefish in September of that year, our little group of five (Moebius's wife Irene, and my wife Maggie couldn't resist either) spent a few marvelous days exploring nearby Glacier National Park before settling down in a motor lodge at the edge of town. The real revelation, we soon realized, was Brett Allen's Snowghost recording studio, perched chalet-style above Whitefish Lake. I'll leave it to others to comment on the music that resulted, but the experience -- old school togetherness and live musical interaction in an era of internet collaboration -- was remarkable. The days blended together, and at the end we left, reluctantly, with a hard drive full of what would become Snowghost Pieces (BB 167CD/LP, 2014) and Familiar. . . . Moebius's passing in 2015 adds a layer of deep bittersweet to memories of the Snowghost sessions, but the opportunity was unforgettable. The sessions were born of improvisations, the music only being discovered in the moment it was sounded. Specific allusions to the natural beauty that surrounded us might seem hard to spot in Familiar -- it contains some of the more restless and abstract music that was recorded that week. But the album's final track 'Vexed' echoes a bit of that strangely epic wilderness, and also perhaps the most perfect balance of the individual musical sensibilities of Jon, Moebius and I. One day sightseeing in the Rockies, along a particularly scenic stretch of road, we pulled over to gawk. While most of us were looking upward at some of the most spectacular vistas on earth, Moebius spotted a pink plastic construction marker half-buried in the gravel. A tawdry, dusty man-made 'flower' in the midst of paradise. Subversive, unexpected, unexplained, and yes, somehow familiar. The photo he snapped became this album's cover, an image discovered by the same curious spirit that led all three of us to the music."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP+CD
|
|
BB 167LP
|
LP version. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Includes a CD copy of the album. "Many brightly shining planets orbit the twin central star of Cluster (Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius). To be clear: as soloists Roedelius and Moebius have long since worked with all kinds of musicians whose congenial contributions add even more color to the polychromatic Cluster world. Yet no matter how distinctly their guests' creativity is expressed, Cluster's character is consistently audible. Snowghost Pieces very much fits the pattern: Tim Story, a distinguished electronic musician who had previous experience of working with Roedelius (the Lunz project, for example) and Jon Leidecker (Negativland, People Like Us), one of America's leading sonic pioneers using his Wobbly pseudonym, recorded an album of extraordinary complexity together with Moebius. All 11 pieces on the CD are rooted in hypnotic rhythm but are swept along in a bonanza of bizarre sound and noise which almost overwhelms the listener with information overload. Snowghost Pieces is no place for minimalism. On the contrary, new musical surprises come thick and fast, a blur of electronic and acoustic sounds. Moebius, Story, and Leidecker always keep harmony within their grasp, sometimes even dropping in little melodies; there is a deeply humane quality to their improvised interaction, never descending into noisy abstraction. The three musicians ensconced themselves in Brett Allen's exceptionally professional studio, high in the outlandish mountains of the state of Montana. The intimate studio atmosphere and surreal surroundings undoubtedly played their part in the creation of this fantastical music, the players availing themselves of abundant technical possibilities in the most brilliant and empathetic fashion. Snowghost Pieces is by no means a Cluster album, but to revisit the image at the top of the page, the distant reflection of the central star shone over the album recording sessions, radiating warmth for a whole week. The planets continue to circle in space." --Asmus Tietchens
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
CD
|
|
BB 167CD
|
"Many brightly shining planets orbit the twin central star of Cluster (Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius). To be clear: as soloists Roedelius and Moebius have long since worked with all kinds of musicians whose congenial contributions add even more color to the polychromatic Cluster world. Yet no matter how distinctly their guests' creativity is expressed, Cluster's character is consistently audible. Snowghost Pieces very much fits the pattern: Tim Story, a distinguished electronic musician who had previous experience of working with Roedelius (the Lunz project, for example) and Jon Leidecker (Negativland, People Like Us), one of America's leading sonic pioneers using his Wobbly pseudonym, recorded an album of extraordinary complexity together with Moebius. All 11 pieces on the CD are rooted in hypnotic rhythm but are swept along in a bonanza of bizarre sound and noise which almost overwhelms the listener with information overload. Snowghost Pieces is no place for minimalism. On the contrary, new musical surprises come thick and fast, a blur of electronic and acoustic sounds. Moebius, Story, and Leidecker always keep harmony within their grasp, sometimes even dropping in little melodies; there is a deeply humane quality to their improvised interaction, never descending into noisy abstraction. The three musicians ensconced themselves in Brett Allen's exceptionally professional studio, high in the outlandish mountains of the state of Montana. The intimate studio atmosphere and surreal surroundings undoubtedly played their part in the creation of this fantastical music, the players availing themselves of abundant technical possibilities in the most brilliant and empathetic fashion. Snowghost Pieces is by no means a Cluster album, but to revisit the image at the top of the page, the distant reflection of the central star shone over the album recording sessions, radiating warmth for a whole week. The planets continue to circle in space." --Asmus Tietchens
|
|
|
|