Olive/Costa Monteiro free download

Although I haven't listened to this yet, a duo of Tim Olive and Alfredo Costa Monteiro sounds great on (virtual) paper. Each has developed his own idiosyncratic and unique take on prepared guitar, frequently ending up in noisy, gritty territory. The lovely Zeromoon label has made a free download release of the duo available here.



Here's what Costa Monteiro's website says:

The duo produces a rough, feral music with moments of surprising calm and beauty, using basic technology to blast into outer realms, dark atmospheres of varying density and great textural variety. Sharp cuts and gradual transformations carry the listener from seemingly chaotic noise to ordered spaces, pierced by shafts of light.

UPDATE: I have listened to it, and it's really good!

Lovens, Dorner, Drumm video

John Butcher on "Freedom and Sound"

Saxophonist John Butcher, a formidable and frequently brilliant improviser (I particularly recommend his recent duo CD with Rhodri Davies, Carliol) has a great essay on the Point of Departure website, titled "Freedom and Sound - This time it’s personal," republished in its original English from a translation in a German book. Butcher does as good a job as I've ever seen attempting to reconcile some of the supposed "contradictions" inherent in playing improvised music within certain internal and external aesthetic constraints, as well as to address the tension inherent in "improvising" within working groups or in other familiar situations. Throughout, he's engaging, insightful, and highly articulate, even bringing in recent psychological research.

Read the essay here.