This collaboration between Notice alumna Ryoko Akama (NTR036) and Québécois sound artist Anne-F Jacques manages to be both minimal and teeming with activity. Recorded during their winter 2018 U.S. tour, (here presenting stops in NYC at Phill Niblock’s Experimental Intermedia, and Boston’s Vernon Street Studios), these recordings feature occasional action-gestures over a whisper-bed of electronics, activated objects, along with Jacques' "contraptions and erratic devices" (a stated interest), which interject a variety of odd rhythms and sounds. When performing live, Akama and Jacques move fluidly across the room, stopping at various “object stations”, engaged with playful intensity. Patiently exploratory and hinting at a domesticity, these are wonderfully restrained performances; they project a pleasantness that results from the performers' masterful focus and choices.

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Recorded live:
Side A: January 29th, 2018, Experimental Intermedia, NYC
Side B: January 30th, 2018, Vernon Street Studio, Boston

Mastered by Branic Howard, Portland OR

Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery

Thanks to Phill Niblock, Katherine Liberowskaya, Cecilia Lopez, and Morgan Evans-Weiler

Available as 320k MP3 or 16bit FLAC    

Home built devices and electronic experimentation may not make for the easiest of listening experiences, but Ryoko Ayama and Anne-F Jacques combine these two elements in an especially compelling way.  I was most fascinated by the distinctly different character between the two performances despite them being only around 24 hours removed from one another.  The first half captures the structured approach and the musicality of their distinctly un-musical instrumentation, while the second comes across less about composition and more about the full exploration of sound.  The two performances complement each other perfectly and paired together makes for a fascinating, if occasionally challenging, tape. - Brainwashed

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Tracklisting:

1. Live in New York, Experimental Intermedia, 1/19/18 - 22:31
2. Live in Boston, Vernon Street Studios, 1/30/18 - 22:32