SOLD OUT

Thollem _ rhodes _ effetti analogici
Gino Robair _ percussione

Nel 2013 Thollem e Gino registrano questo album al Post - Consumer Studio di Nicholas Taplin a Oakland, CA. Ogni uomo e ogni donna che ama la musica e in particolare l'ampio spettro della musica sperimentale, già conosce questi due grandi artisti.

Gino Robair è un compositore americano, improvvisatore, batterista e percussionista. Nel suo lavoro (come solista e in ensemble di improvvisazione), suona strumenti preparati e modificati, sintetizzatore analogico, ebow, pianoforte preparato, theremin, oltre ad impiegare una grande varietà di oggetti (polistirolo, piatti rotti personalizzati, daxophone, metalli etc.). Robair è anche uno dei "25 percussionisti innovativi" inclusi nel Percussion Profiles (SoundWorld, 2001). Ha inciso con Tom Waits, Anthony Braxton, Terry Riley, Lou Harrison, John Butcher, Derek Bailey, Peter Kowald, Otomo Yoshihide, the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, e molti altri. Ha suonato dal vivo con John Zorn, Fred Frith, Eddie Prevost, Wadada Leo Smith e moltissimi altri. Gino gestisce la Rastascan Records, un'etichetta dedicata alla musica improvvisata. Come scrittore di tecnologia musicale, Robair ha contribuito a Mix, Remix, Guitar Player e Electronic Musician (EM), rivista dove è stato redattore per 10 anni. È autore di due libri, tra cui The Ultimate Personal Recording Studio (Thompson, 2006). www.ginorobair.com

Thollem è, come ama definirsi, un peripatetico pianista, tastierista, comproviser, cantautore, educatore e critico sociale. Le sue composizioni musicali e le sue performance spaziano dal post-classico, al free jazz, al noise al punk rock. Dal 2006 è stato perennemente in tour in tutto il Nord America e in Europa, sia come solista sia in collaborazioni con musicisti, ballerini e registi. Un breve esempio delle sue tante collaborazioni includono Stefano Scodanibbio, Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Nels Cline, Mike Watt e Susie Ibarra. Thollem è il direttore fondatore del Estamos Ensemble, un progetto che riunisce improvvisatori e compositori di tutto il Messico e degli USA di confine, così come di tanti gruppi diversi, come Tsigoti, Bloom Ensemble, Soar Trio, Magimc, Hand To Man Band e Bad News From Houston. Thollem ha dedicata la maggior parte della sua vita al pianoforte acustico, con 40 album pubblicati in 17 diverse etichette d'avanguardia; recentemente si è diretto verso una sfera elettrica con tutta una serie di nuove uscite discografiche. Questo disco è la seconda pubblicazione di Thollem su Setola di Maiale: The View From Up (SM2600) con Daniele Roccato, Marco Rogliano e Francesco Dillon è stato pubblicato nel mese di febbraio. www.thollem.com

"(...) Trio Music minus one documenta una perfomance svolta ad Okland di Thollem McDonas e Gino Robair: il minus one usato purtroppo segnala la mancanza di Dennis Palmer, musicista elettronico e artista visuale, scomparso nel 2013 (1): è un concerto anomalo per i due, poichè McDonas lo conosciamo soprattutto al piano, mentre Robair (pur essendo un percussionista molto apprezzato) di solito lo ritroviamo dietro a consolle, elettronica varia od oggetti che preparano strumenti; il gioco synth (nello specifico il rhodes) contro percussioni ha un gancio nella musica dei sessanta, quando l'abbinamento ben si sposava con le ambientazioni musicali jazz-rock o psichedeliche (si pensi a Miles Davis, il primo Chick Corea, ma anche a gruppi come i Cream); tuttavia non c'è un paritetico clima aperto alla visioni ordinate di giungle sonore, qui la disorganicità regna sovrana e comporta un maggior grado di libertà espressiva che tiene desti per la commistione dei suoni, cerca un confronto avanzato con i tempi, sebbene quello scenario (quasi post-industriale) deve affrontare i rischi della sperimentazione." Ettore Grazia, Percorsi Musicali, 2014.

"(...) Pianiste extraordinaire, Thollem McDonas se fait entendre au piano électrique Rhodes et aux effets analogiques en compagnie du percussionniste Gino Robair, à la batterie et avec une panoplie de percussion métalliques, dans plusieurs séquences dynamiques et énergiques complètement improvisées. Le Rhodes fut un instrument roi dans la nouvelle vague jazz-rock et rock progressif des années 60/70 et McDonas s’en sert de manière ouverte et non conventionnelle. On a souvent entendu Gino Robair, un compagnon habituel de John Butcher et de la trompettiste Birgit Uhler, avec ses energized surfaces et des percussions électroniques. Ce n’est pas sans plaisir que nous le trouvons avec une vraie batterie dans un rôle un peu plus « conventionnel ». Huit pièces se détachent clairement par leurs propositions sonores, leurs directions in music, mettant en valeur les possibilités de cette formule inusitée. Après un démarrage assez « free-rock », nous avons droit à des échanges profonds, une belle collaboration dans laquelle le pianiste et le percussionniste construisent des espaces sensibles, mouvementés ou en apesanteur. McDonas, qui est un pianiste acoustique d’une virtuosité confondante, donne juste la bonne dose créant des ambiances envoûtantes et laissant le champ auditif libre pour les détails du jeu percussif de son camarade. Il a trouvé un style original qui s’accorde bien avec la recherche improvisée et la nature de son instrument, le quel est associé au groupe de Miles Electrique (le Live au Fillmore East avec Corea, De Johnette, Holland et Grossmann). On en retrouve ici quelques échos. On a oublié combien Robair est un percussionniste « classique contemporain » subtil et pertinent. Ils se répartissent les rôles de meneur, lanceur d’action, commentateur, soliste, accompagnateur, duettiste avec spontanéité et esprit de suite. Mc Donas et Robair ont des trouvailles sonores remarquables : dans quelques morceaux on a peine à deviner qui fait quoi. J’aime particulièrement ces instants où Robair fait vibrer une cymbale avec un archet secondé par l’exquise sonorité des effets électroniques de Mc Donas, simplissime: la note juste!! Le titre du cd évoque un hypothétique trio avec le regretté Dennis Palmer, disparu en février 2013. Cette musique est surtout le plus bel hommage qui soit. Ce duo se suffit à lui-même et l’album contient un magnifique équilibre se laissant écouter avec plaisir et intérêt. L’album parfait pour accrocher des oreilles branchées plus « rock » ou post jazz électrique et les emmener dans un beau voyage qui les amènera sans doute à aimer une autre musique, plus audacieuse, libre et improvisée et cela sans la moindre concession. Excellent." Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, Orynx-Improvandsounds, Improjazz, 2014

"(...) Bay-area based Gino Robair brings his percussion sets and electronics to these disparate sessions of experimental music, displaying why he has over the years been involved with fellow travelers as different as John Butcher, Nina Hagen and Terry Riley. As well, his role is crucially and individually demarcated in each instance. Macabre as well as serendipitous Trio Music Minus One is also dedicated to a deceased player, Chattanooga, Tenn.-based synthesizer player Dennis Palmer (1957-2013), one-half of the Shaking Ray Levis. But the eight tracks featuring Robair and peripatetic Thollem (McDonas) Electric on Rhodes piano and analog effects are completely improvised. Constantly travelling, McDonas has played in North America and Europe with musicians ranging from William Parker and Pauline Oliveros to Mike Watt. Encompassing aleatoric textures that frequently can’t be ascribed to any one instrument, this duo also lives up to its CD title. With microtones from McDonas’ electric keyboard and Robair’s extended percussion array frequently blurred and tangled by electronic oscillations, clicks, clanks, growls, pops, squeaks and explosions, the result could arise from either man, both or neither. Concurrently primitive and futuristic, acoustic and highly electric, the two expose what could be resonations from plain wood or milk bottles at one second; solid-state buzzes and tangled signal processing the next. Utilizing the Rhodes’ electronic properties, the keyboardist comes up with flanged glissandi that are as likely to arise from a guitar as an electric-piano. With a skein of energized excitement running through the program, the wordy “Adding to the challenge: they didn’t ____” finale uncouples itself from diamond-hard acoustic inferences to climax with enough wavering amplified tones that in Arena Rock days the result could have been ascribed to trio of keyboardist Stevie Winwood, guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker. Nonetheless, as committed sound explorers not pop stars, McDonas and Robair cannily extend their creations with delicate percussion nicks and sizzles plus bubbling thrusts and key jabs. This temperate approach means that there’s reassuring satisfaction in following how low-energy development of themes, variations and recapitulations arise. Tracks such as “_____ charged _____ in space” and “_____ is the most _____ marker” imposingly express this sophisticated and methodical strategy. If quivering stretches and undulating smears can become descriptive in either quiet or near deafening expressions on Trio Music Minus One, than the Interactions Quartet methodically depicts how skilled improvisers enliven what could be a mere compositional exercise. The impetus here is a near-rigid stop-start sway, with the players adding the needed elasticity. Trio Music Minus One is a first-rate example of unpremeditated Free Music." Ken Waxman, Jazz Word, 2015.

01 They needed more _____ on _____ ,
02 which is _____ gas,
03 the densest and _____ moving
04 _____ charged _____ in space.
05 _____ is the most _____ marker
06 that distinguishes whether _____
07 _____ inside the _____ .
08 Adding to the challenge: they didn't _____ .

(C) + (P) 2014

SOLD OUT

Thollem _ rhodes _ analog effects
Gino Robair _ percussion

In 2013 Thollem and Gino recorded this beautiiful album at Nicholas Taplin's Post-Consumer Studios in Oakland, CA. Every man and woman who loves music and specifically the broad spectrum of experimental music, knows these two great artists.

Gino Robair is an American composer, improvisor, drummer, and percussionist. In his own work (as a soloist and in improvisation ensembles), he plays prepared/modified percussion, analog synthesizer, ebow and prepared piano, theremin, and bowed objects (polystyrene, customized/broken cymbals, faux daxophone, metal). Robair is also one of the “25 innovative percussionists” included in the book Percussion Profiles (SoundWorld, 2001). He has recorded with Tom Waits, Anthony Braxton, Terry Riley, Lou Harrison, John Butcher, Derek Bailey, Peter Kowald, Otomo Yoshihide, the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, among many others. In addition, Robair has performed with John Zorn, Fred Frith, Eddie Prevost, Wadada Leo Smith and many more. In addition, he runs Rastascan Records, a label devoted to creative music. As a writer about music technology, Robair has contributed to Mix, Remix, Guitar Player, and Electronic Musician (EM) magazine, where he was an editor for 10 years. He is the author of two books, including The Ultimate Personal Recording Studio (Thompson, 2006). www.ginorobair.com

Thollem is a peripatetic pianist/keyboardist, comproviser, singer-songwriter, educator, and social critic. His musical compositions and performances range from post-classical, to free jazz, to noise to punk rock. He has been touring perpetually throughout North America and Europe since 2006, performing solo works and collaborating with an array of musicians, dancers, and filmmakers. A brief sample of his many collaborations include Stefano Scodanibbio, Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Nels Cline, Mike Watt and many more. He is the founding director of Estamos Ensemble, a project bringing together improvisers and composers across the Mexico/U.S. border, as well as groups as diverse as Tsigoti, Bloom Ensemble, Soar Trio, Magimc, Hand To Man Band, and Bad News From Houston. Thollem has been dedicated to the acoustic piano for most of his life with 40 albums to date on 17 different vanguard labels recently leaping into the electric sphere with an array of new releases. This follows Thollem's recent release on Setola di Maiale. The View From Up (SM2600) with Daniele Roccato, Marco Rogliano and Francesco Dillon was released in February. www.thollem.com

Ernie Paik wrote a memory on Dennis Palmer, to whom the disc is dedicated. "It’s easy to talk about Dennis Palmer — musician, artist, educator and to me and others, a close friend — in terms of his accomplishments, among them co-founding the Shaking Ray Levis performing group with Bob Stagner and the 28-year-strong non-profit The Shaking Ray Levi Society, before passing away on February 15, 2013. What isn’t so easy is articulating this complicated person who measurably made his home town of Chattanooga more vibrant, more benevolent, and yes, a little weirder, and often had a profound influence on those he encountered, in all spheres, and not necessarily just those in the music and art worlds. Dennis often spoke of “living in the moment,” which ties in with his love of musical improvisation but has resonance far beyond the arts. “Living in the moment” is being open-minded, receptive, flexible and inventive. One of the most impressive improvisers I’ve experienced, his creativity overflowed, taking inspiration from everything, from birdsongs — Dennis could recognize any bird native to this area — to satirical targets, with the conviction that humor had every right to exist in art. Dennis personified a quote from Col. Bruce Hampton — Dennis’s friend and collaborator — which paraphrased is, “Take your work seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously.” Although he could generate ideas quickly, he never, ever did anything half-heartedly. On paintings, he would sweat over the tiniest detail; when working on a new recording, he ensured it was recorded and mixed to exacting standards. “Living in the moment” is not complacency, but it is doing the best with what you have. I have indelible memories of the time that Chattanooga was first exposed to Thollem at a show in 2007, with a small but rapt and appreciative audience. Undeterred by not having a traditional venue available in which to present Thollem, Dennis volunteered his house — the only time I've known that to happen — not wanting to pass up the opportunity to offer an incredibly intimate and rare performance, to a circle of friends. I knew that Dennis and Gino were long-time friends, and Dennis was always enthusiastic about having him in town, most recently in 2012 and before that in 2010, and collaborating on projects, like Dennis's cover art for Gino's brilliant I, Norton album. I think Dennis secretly envied Gino's hair, too. For Dennis, friendships were not superficial. Having dealt with heart issues for the last decade and a half of his life, and knowing of the history of heart trouble in his family, he chose wisely what he did with his time and with whom he spent it. Lengthy phone and face-to-face conversations over wine were staples in his life. His friendships had meaning and depth, and he always preferred depth rather than breadth; that said, Dennis had many friends who would consider him to be a close friend. When I spoke with mutual friends after his death, I couldn't count the number of times I heard things like, "I just had a great conversation with him a few days ago," or "We talked for an hour a week ago." I'm convinced that Dennis had the ability to connect with any person in the world. He could find common ground with everyone, and I remember being tickled when he mentioned that one of the reasons he watched current animated children’s movies was so he could connect with the kids he taught. That wasn’t the only reason, of course—he himself was a kid at heart. However, those who bonded with him on an aesthetic level and really understood why he was so fond of improvisation, his personal heroes like Derek Bailey and Rev. Howard Finster, synths, cartoons, prog rock, etc. — that was a whole other level of friendship. Dennis was comfortable with his friends, but it wasn't a comfort that equated to sitting still. It was more of a kind of trust, where you are comfortable with collaborators so that you can let your creative spirit go, unfettered. I’ve witnessed Dennis in classrooms, and he had that rare combination of patience, empathy, awareness and insight that the best educators possess. He found ways to tear down communication barriers; he told me that some of his most emotionally demanding work was at day camps for grieving children at Hospice of Chattanooga. Some of these children were too distressed to even want to speak, so Dennis would use music as a tool for children to open up; for these children, the simple act of hitting a drum was an expression and the first step toward communicating. I have never understood the idea of getting closure when it comes to death. Closure signifies an end, but when losing someone close, there really should be no end. Honoring and remembering Dennis is not about living in the past — we must first understand the past and then move forward; Dennis was a sworn enemy of the status quo, after all. Like live improvisation, relationships can sometimes be messy, but more often than not, they are rewarding. With collaborative improvisation, one first takes in what others create and then gives back, and this new album from Thollem and Gino really nails it, regarding capturing the complexity of joy, along with tumult and darkness that Dennis's improvisational energy projected. There’s an exercise with which Dennis would often close his classes, involving asking the students to remember their last good feeling and give it to themselves, then to all in the room, and finally to the whole universe. Paying tribute to Dennis Palmer does not mark an end; it is about channeling the kindness, generosity and creativity he embodied, and sending it out to the cosmos, multiplied."

"(...) Bay-area based Gino Robair brings his percussion sets and electronics to these disparate sessions of experimental music, displaying why he has over the years been involved with fellow travelers as different as John Butcher, Nina Hagen and Terry Riley. As well, his role is crucially and individually demarcated in each instance. Macabre as well as serendipitous Trio Music Minus One is also dedicated to a deceased player, Chattanooga, Tenn.-based synthesizer player Dennis Palmer (1957-2013), one-half of the Shaking Ray Levis. But the eight tracks featuring Robair and peripatetic Thollem (McDonas) Electric on Rhodes piano and analog effects are completely improvised. Constantly travelling, McDonas has played in North America and Europe with musicians ranging from William Parker and Pauline Oliveros to Mike Watt. Encompassing aleatoric textures that frequently can’t be ascribed to any one instrument, this duo also lives up to its CD title. With microtones from McDonas’ electric keyboard and Robair’s extended percussion array frequently blurred and tangled by electronic oscillations, clicks, clanks, growls, pops, squeaks and explosions, the result could arise from either man, both or neither. Concurrently primitive and futuristic, acoustic and highly electric, the two expose what could be resonations from plain wood or milk bottles at one second; solid-state buzzes and tangled signal processing the next. Utilizing the Rhodes’ electronic properties, the keyboardist comes up with flanged glissandi that are as likely to arise from a guitar as an electric-piano. With a skein of energized excitement running through the program, the wordy “Adding to the challenge: they didn’t ____” finale uncouples itself from diamond-hard acoustic inferences to climax with enough wavering amplified tones that in Arena Rock days the result could have been ascribed to trio of keyboardist Stevie Winwood, guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker. Nonetheless, as committed sound explorers not pop stars, McDonas and Robair cannily extend their creations with delicate percussion nicks and sizzles plus bubbling thrusts and key jabs. This temperate approach means that there’s reassuring satisfaction in following how low-energy development of themes, variations and recapitulations arise. Tracks such as “_____ charged _____ in space” and “_____ is the most _____ marker” imposingly express this sophisticated and methodical strategy. If quivering stretches and undulating smears can become descriptive in either quiet or near deafening expressions on Trio Music Minus One, than the Interactions Quartet methodically depicts how skilled improvisers enliven what could be a mere compositional exercise. The impetus here is a near-rigid stop-start sway, with the players adding the needed elasticity. Trio Music Minus One is a first-rate example of unpremeditated Free Music." Ken Waxman, Jazz Word, 2015.

"(...) Pianiste extraordinaire, Thollem McDonas se fait entendre au piano électrique Rhodes et aux effets analogiques en compagnie du percussionniste Gino Robair, à la batterie et avec une panoplie de percussion métalliques, dans plusieurs séquences dynamiques et énergiques complètement improvisées. Le Rhodes fut un instrument roi dans la nouvelle vague jazz-rock et rock progressif des années 60/70 et McDonas s’en sert de manière ouverte et non conventionnelle. On a souvent entendu Gino Robair, un compagnon habituel de John Butcher et de la trompettiste Birgit Uhler, avec ses energized surfaces et des percussions électroniques. Ce n’est pas sans plaisir que nous le trouvons avec une vraie batterie dans un rôle un peu plus « conventionnel ». Huit pièces se détachent clairement par leurs propositions sonores, leurs directions in music, mettant en valeur les possibilités de cette formule inusitée. Après un démarrage assez « free-rock », nous avons droit à des échanges profonds, une belle collaboration dans laquelle le pianiste et le percussionniste construisent des espaces sensibles, mouvementés ou en apesanteur. McDonas, qui est un pianiste acoustique d’une virtuosité confondante, donne juste la bonne dose créant des ambiances envoûtantes et laissant le champ auditif libre pour les détails du jeu percussif de son camarade. Il a trouvé un style original qui s’accorde bien avec la recherche improvisée et la nature de son instrument, le quel est associé au groupe de Miles Electrique (le Live au Fillmore East avec Corea, De Johnette, Holland et Grossmann). On en retrouve ici quelques échos. On a oublié combien Robair est un percussionniste « classique contemporain » subtil et pertinent. Ils se répartissent les rôles de meneur, lanceur d’action, commentateur, soliste, accompagnateur, duettiste avec spontanéité et esprit de suite. Mc Donas et Robair ont des trouvailles sonores remarquables : dans quelques morceaux on a peine à deviner qui fait quoi. J’aime particulièrement ces instants où Robair fait vibrer une cymbale avec un archet secondé par l’exquise sonorité des effets électroniques de Mc Donas, simplissime: la note juste!! Le titre du cd évoque un hypothétique trio avec le regretté Dennis Palmer, disparu en février 2013. Cette musique est surtout le plus bel hommage qui soit. Ce duo se suffit à lui-même et l’album contient un magnifique équilibre se laissant écouter avec plaisir et intérêt. L’album parfait pour accrocher des oreilles branchées plus « rock » ou post jazz électrique et les emmener dans un beau voyage qui les amènera sans doute à aimer une autre musique, plus audacieuse, libre et improvisée et cela sans la moindre concession. Excellent." Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, Orynx-Improvandsounds, Improjazz, 2014

"(...) Trio Music minus one documenta una perfomance svolta ad Okland di Thollem McDonas e Gino Robair: il minus one usato purtroppo segnala la mancanza di Dennis Palmer, musicista elettronico e artista visuale, scomparso nel 2013 (1): è un concerto anomalo per i due, poichè McDonas lo conosciamo soprattutto al piano, mentre Robair (pur essendo un percussionista molto apprezzato) di solito lo ritroviamo dietro a consolle, elettronica varia od oggetti che preparano strumenti; il gioco synth (nello specifico il rhodes) contro percussioni ha un gancio nella musica dei sessanta, quando l'abbinamento ben si sposava con le ambientazioni musicali jazz-rock o psichedeliche (si pensi a Miles Davis, il primo Chick Corea, ma anche a gruppi come i Cream); tuttavia non c'è un paritetico clima aperto alla visioni ordinate di giungle sonore, qui la disorganicità regna sovrana e comporta un maggior grado di libertà espressiva che tiene desti per la commistione dei suoni, cerca un confronto avanzato con i tempi, sebbene quello scenario (quasi post-industriale) deve affrontare i rischi della sperimentazione." Ettore Grazia, Percorsi Musicali, 2014.

01 They needed more _____ on _____ ,
02 which is _____ gas,
03 the densest and _____ moving
04 _____ charged _____ in space.
05 _____ is the most _____ marker
06 that distinguishes whether _____
07 _____ inside the _____ .
08 Adding to the challenge: they didn't _____ .

(C) + (P) 2014