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EMPTY CASTLES (4​/​2018)

by SPECTRAL (Ochs, Rempis, Johnston)

/
  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    from Chicago: Dave Rempis – alto/baritone saxophone
    from Brooklyn: Darren Johnston – trumpet
    From Berkeley: Larry Ochs – sopranino/tenor saxophone

    Recorded June 14th, 2017 at Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve in Bunker A-168.

    PLEASE NOTE: All digital versions of the 3 recordings by Spectral (Rempis, Johnston and Ochs) can be purchased directly at the AEROPHONIC website Hard-copy CD of "Spectral" is available from this page.

    credits
    released May 1, 2018
    Recorded, edited and mixed by Philip Perkins
    Recording assistant: Sara Thompson
    Mastered by Dave Zuchowski
    Design by Johnathan Crawford
    Produced by Dave Rempis

    Empty Castles is the third recording released by Spectral, a working horn trio split between the cities of San Francisco and Chicago that’s been active since 2012. As with their previous two releases, 2014’s self-titled studio debut, and 2016’s SPECTACULAR CONCERT RECORDING and digital-only release "Neutral Nation," this new recording showcases a free improvising band that fully embraces the term “instant composition.” While their performances are known for thoughtful pacing and development, methodically spinning off complex structures from scratch with an unparalleled sense of architecture, the context for this new recording pushes that approach to a new extreme. In this case, setting becomes character, like the spaceship in Alien, or the frozen landscape in Fargo, adding a new dimension to the band’s compositional process.

    Bunker A-168 is a 12,000-square foot concrete shell, perched slightly back from the water at the tip of the long peninsula known as Mare Island in Vallejo, CA, at the far northeast corner of San Francisco Bay. This long deserted mammoth, originally a munitions bunker in a former naval station dating back to WWII, is protected behind gates, set back from the road, and unseen through the overgrown grass that surrounds it. Hand-painted numbers in thick black paint on the heavy concrete walls designate each of the roughly fifty stalls originally intended for armaments, with the assistance of gently zig-zagging lines in those same heavy but efficient brush strokes that carve the space up further. They hang on the wall like calligraphic text on a Chinese parchment, providing definition to the sprawling and vacant background. The atmosphere created by these visual remnants combines with the highly charged acoustics of the space to add undeniable gravitas and austerity to these proceedings, such that every note hangs in the air as its own object, a tangible apparition to be thoroughly considered. These three improvisers use the setting to great effect, forced to further distill their sonic decision-making into territory in which every highly exposed gesture contains the gravity of a closing move in a well-matched game of chess. There was nowhere to hide during this recording session, every note staring back at its creators with fearless eyes. And the resulting musical tension is palpable, as the band tosses ideas up into the air between them, and sets them spinning off into the ether, each one on their own unique path.

    PLEASE NOTE: All digital versions of the 3 recordings by Spectral (Rempis, Johnston and Ochs) can be purchased directly at the AEROPHONIC website or at Aerophonic's bandcamp site. Hard-copy CD of "Spectral" available from this page.

    Includes unlimited streaming of EMPTY CASTLES (4/2018) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
Dirt Angels 08:58
2.
3.
Luminal 05:07

about

1) Dirt Angels 08:57
2) This Is Not Vermont 04:22
3) Luminal 05:08
4) Brooklyn Took It 05:28
5) Splash Zone 06:37
6) Protest Portal 08:49
7) Little Hymn 02:46
8) Bunker 05:08
9) Gravity Corridor 04:28

Recorded June 14th, 2017 at Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve in Bunker A-168.

Empty Castles is the third document of Spectral, a working horn trio split between the cities of San Francisco and Chicago that’s been active since 2012. As with their previous two releases, 2014’s self-titled debut, and 2016’s digital-only Neutral Nation, this new recording showcases a free improvising band that fully embraces the term “instant composition.” While their performances are known for thoughtful pacing and development, methodically spinning off complex structures from scratch with an unparalleled sense of architecture, the context for this new recording pushes that approach to a new extreme. In this case, setting becomes character, like the spaceship in Alien, or the frozen landscape in Fargo, adding a new dimension to the band’s compositional process.

Bunker A-168 is a 12,000-square foot concrete shell, perched slightly back from the water at the tip of the long peninsula known as Mare Island in Vallejo, CA, at the far northeast corner of San Francisco Bay. This long deserted mammoth, originally a munitions bunker in a former naval station dating back to WWII, is protected behind gates, set back from the road, and unseen through the overgrown grass that surrounds it. Hand-painted numbers in thick black paint on the heavy concrete walls designate each of the roughly fifty stalls originally intended for armaments, with the assistance of gently zig-zagging lines in those same heavy but efficient brush strokes that carve the space up further. They hang on the wall like calligraphic text on a Chinese parchment, providing definition to the sprawling and vacant background. The atmosphere created by these visual remnants combines with the highly charged acoustics of the space to add undeniable gravitas and austerity to these proceedings, such that every note hangs in the air as its own object, a tangible apparition to be thoroughly considered. These three improvisers use the setting to great effect, forced to further distill their sonic decision-making into territory in which every highly exposed gesture contains the gravity of a closing move in a well-matched game of chess. There was nowhere to hide during this recording session, every note staring back at its creators with fearless eyes. And the resulting musical tension is palpable, as the band tosses ideas up into the air between them, and sets them spinning off into the ether, each one on their own unique path.

credits

released July 29, 2019

PLEASE NOTE: All digital versions of the 3 recordings by Spectral (Rempis, Johnston and Ochs) can be purchased directly at the AEROPHONIC website.. Hard-copy CD of "Spectral" available from this page

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Larry Ochs

Ochs is primarily found in the worlds of “avant-garde jazz” or “improvised music,” composing music for bands such as Rova Sax 4, The Fictive Five, Kihnoua, Larry Ochs Sax & Drumming Core, Ochs-Robinson Duo. All-improv bands with musicians such as Nels Cline, Gerald Cleaver, Fred Frith, Darren Johnston, Mark Dresser, Vladimir Tarasov, Rodrigo Amado, Peggy Lee, Miya Masaoka ... more

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