UK’s Musique Machine kindly reviewed two of our releases : COLIN WEBSTER & DIRK SERRIES – Light Industry and RUSSELL/KEUNE/VANDERSTRAETEN – On Sunday. Still a bit strange to read new reviews while our dear comrade JOHN RUSSELL just passed away. Let his name and legacy remain essential. Read here and here.
The great JOHN RUSSELL passed away. Our label had the priveledge to work with him, Stefan Keune and Kris Vanderstraeten for the release of ‘On Sunday‘ and slowly we got to know the person behind the mentor and innovator he’s. Since the 70s he has been a significant musician and guitarist in the free impro scene, UK and abroad. Focused on the acoustic archtop guitar, John was unique and wilful in his style of playing. For many, like affiliated musicians like Daniel Thompson and Dirk Serries, JOHN RUSSELL was a mentor, a source of inspiration and one of the greatests who paved the way for improvising on the guitar. To get an idea on the artist/human being himself, read this excellent interview with him.
Sleepwell, dear friend.
Last year KODIAN TRIO (Colin Webster, Andrew Lisle, Dirk Serries) was about to celebrate their 5th anniversary when covid19 decided differently. Their exciting tour got cancelled. The trio did one show, just prior to the national lockdowns throughout Europe, on February 29th, 2020, at the BRÅK festival (held at the fantastic Hundred Years Gallery, London UK). And now slated for a cd release on February 16th. Recorded and mixed by Martin Clarke for his own OEM Records. Check out the teaser.
Yesterday MIDIRA RECORDS released this beautiful tape capturing TONUS live at the Moving Noises Festival 2019 in the Christuskirche (Bochum, Germany). For this occassion TONUS was MARTINA VERHOEVEN (concertina) and DIRK SERRIES (accordeon) performing one of the ‘Modulation Grid’ graphic scores.
Available on bandcamp.
In these troubled times of a virus circulating and lockdown rules, Youtube becomes a relevant partner in keeping the mind sane and for us a platform to share our creativity on. We’ll expand this channel with homemade performances and hopefully public concerts in the near future, videos on the productional process and of course our digital event we’re presenting on March 20th. So join our channel and sign up (free of course) to receive updates. The more members the merrier and it will give us access to our own URL along the way. Thanks and see you there.
Mutation Theory is the excellent eclectic radioshow by Phillip B Klinger (also known as the tone-setting PBK whoes experimental music has been relevant in the field of industrial, ambient and experimental music since the early cassette network days). Episode January 2021, aired last night on KOWS, featured an excerpt from TONUS’ Ear Duration album. Still available from our store.
Listen to Mutation Theory here.
Printed magazine GONZO CIRCUS reviews two of our recent 2020 releases : COLIN WEBSTER & ANDREW LISLE ‘New Invention’ and KEUNE/RUSSELL/VANDERSTRAETEN ‘On Sunday’. The review is in Dutch.
Both albums are still available from our store.
Dirk Serries proudly contributes an impro solo guitar piece to Sunny Side Inc. Studio‘s ‘The Art Of The Solo’. A beautiful eclectic collection of solo pieces by a fascinating variation of (free) jazz and impro musicians.
Recorded and performed during lockdown 2020, around the theme of “isolation and the importance of human contacts”, at the Sunny Side Inc. Studio showcasing the incredible diversity this studio has to offer, besides the incredible live room we’re so found of to record most of our albums, we release, in. Support the studio, support DIY.
On UK’s Musique Machine RUBICON QUARTET’s ‘Crosscurrents’ album made their top 30 list of best albums of 2020 while ALAN WILKINSON & ANDREW CHEETHAM’s ‘The Vortex Of Past Time’ receives a beautiful review by the great Ken Waxman at Jazzword (Canada).
“Unabashed Free Jazz with wailing saxophone split tones and authoritative percussion punches has been part of the vocabulary since the mid-1960s and is now an accepted form like. Bebop, Fusion or Dixieland. Yet the emotional mojo needed to create exceptional sounds aren’t reached by all sessions. However this British duo raises the ante. Veteran reeds player Alan Wilkinson is known for his discs with Simon H. Fell and Paul Hession, while three-decades-younger percussionist Andrew Cheetham has worked with David Birchall.
From the very beginning of “Axial Velocity “ stentorian slurps are sourced from below his baritone saxophone’s s-curve by Wilkinson, spilling out a cornucopia of split tones as Cheetham’s cymbal clashes and pressurized patterning add to the exposition’s intensity. Until the end of the session after that, the saxophonist moves back and forth among circular-breathed repetitions, vocalized shouts, extended glossolalia and altissimo projections, Making a virtue of minimalism, Cheetham’s strategy includes bell ringing, steel-drum-like echoes metallic rim shots and accented press rolls. While much of the sounds move in this vigorous fashion, a patina of melody exists beneath the surface. It’s expressed most succinctly on the concluding “Outer Radius”, which ends with accelerating bugle-like rasps following a sequence of high-pitched squeals vibrating from inside the bass clarinet’s body tube are met by subtle cymbal slaps and drum-top clip clops. Otherwise full-throttle expression is paramount, with reeds lowing slurs or squawking snorts, ripping apart the narrative or briefly sinking to barely-there smears. With drum rumbles as deep and echoing as Wilkinson’s solos are, jagged excess is kept in check and making the overall performance compelling.”
dirkserries.com 