Notice Recordings’ Chicago origins were heavily galvanized by regularly seeing sets by cellist
Fred Lonberg-Holm and multi-instrumental improviser Zoots Houston. Both have since separately relocated to Kingston, NY, where they continue to engage with the kinds of musical exchanges exemplified here. This set, recorded live at Chicago’s Elastic Arts, finds them performing with percussionist Ben Bennett. Bennett, a musician and performance artist, is a notable figure in the current and vibrant free improv and jazz scene in NYC; recent collaborations include
Michael Foster and
Jack Wright, among others. All three players metaphorically deconstruct their instruments while scattering pockets of agitated hot air on the performance floor, augmented with pedals, radioesque static sweeps, tightly propelled breaths, and extended techniques. This is dry, heavily structural, bristling stuff, with periodic digressions into melody and a strong control of focused and at times uncomfortably magnified timbres. Much of the material is urgent and electronic, filling the space and remaining firmly gestural. These two sidelong sets display slices of time coming from strong voices within this niche of contemporary improvisation.
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Ben Bennett / percussion
Zoots Houston / synthesizer, objects
Fred Lonberg-Holm / cello
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Recorded live at Elastic Arts, Chicago by Dave Zuchowski, July 21, 2016
Mastered by Branic Howard, Open Field, Portland, OR
Artwork and layout by E. Lindorff-Ellery
Letterpress printed by Small Fires Press, New Orleans