An unplugged but very intense set from a hot and summery Wednesday afternoon, recorded in the basement of Sound 323 in London, 2001. “Fell and Bailey goad each other into some of the most impassioned playing I've heard from either artist. The opening is explosive, with sonic shards and fragments flying across the sound stage, the two instruments at times indistinguishable in the sound mass. The later part of the track yields some respite, with arco bass and gentle atonal guitar lines - 'insect music' maybe - but the overall tenor is muscular and intense. The antagonists show no signs of flagging in their search for new instrumental sonorities - at one point I could have sworn there was a dog yelping in there." - Andy Hamilton THE WIRE --- Derek Bailey / acoustic guitar  Simon H. Fell / double bass --- Tracklisting: 1. Pre-Tea 1 - 14:072. Pre-Tea 2 - 12:313. Post-Tea 1 - 20:484. Post-Tea 2 - 12:57 --- Recorded by Tim Fletcher on 15th August, 2001 at Sound 323, London. 

IST went to New York in April 2001 to participate in Derek Bailey's Company Week at Tonic. Before Company proper started however, the two UK groups (the other being the Derek Bailey / Will Gaines duo) took part in a preview concert playing in their habitual groupings. The resulting trio recordings have never been previously released; as a special bonus the album also includes an unreleased quartet of IST + John Zorn, which took place during the Company event itself.  --- Rhodri Davies / harp Mark Wastell / violoncello Simon H. Fell / double bass John Zorn / alto sax [track 6]  --- Recorded at Tonic, Norfolk St., New York, 17 & 19 April 2001

"In the eight years leading to this concert performance at London's Freedom of the City Festival in 2003, IST had matured into one of contemporary music's most formidable units. Hundreds of gigs and rehearsals had hardened the group's collective language into a tongue none other was speaking at the time. External influences had been battered into an altogether different mode of operation, unique only to the three members of IST. Spectacularly authentic and innovative. The music captured on that May afternoon and presented here for the first time in its complete form, showcases aptly how far sonically IST had travelled since it's inception in 1995. Forging ahead with a true-self representation of art is never an easy task but IST were never ones to comply to expected form." "This Conway Hall appearance was the last performance undertaken by IST. Not through design, just a series of events. No small part was my decision soon after this concert to stop playing cello publicly. During the same period Simon was hatching plans to move to France, something he achieved in 2005." --- Rhodri Davies / harp Simon H. Fell / double bass Mark Wastell / violoncello --- Dedicated to Martin Davidson, Evan Parker & Eddie Prévost. Recorded Live at Freedom of the City festival Conway Hall, London, 5th May 2003.

IST's 1997 album, recorded at the Natural Music Club in Stockwell, London. Representing epsode 2 in the development of this group, the music sits interestingly between 'Anagrams To Avoid' and 'Ghost Notes'. The music is often still quite active, but with the first signs of the distilled nature heard in later work. The recording quality is surprisingly good, with just a few typical digital artefacts to remind us that this was captured on a 1990s portable digital recorder, plus a little occasional traffic noise to remind that this was London, after all. "Imagine three sailors improvising a route over a mythic sea . . . . . intricate music, resonant with folk memories. Davies, Fell and Wastell conjure a magic from the complex shuffle of plink-plonk, squeal and scrape." Gus Garside RUBBERNECK  --- Rhodri Davies / harp  Mark Wastell / violoncello Simon H. Fell / double bass --- Recorded live at the Natural Music Club, Stockwell, United Kingdom, 1997-04-09.