by baht habit on Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:29 pm
The upcoming release will most likely not be as bleak as 'blemish'. But all of the signposts so far point to a challenging product. From the roster of contributors that I am aware of so far, I get the hunch that beauty and melody won't be the overall aim.
Recording began back in 2004, right after the conclusion of the Fire In The Forest Tour. The majority of contributors have been affiliated with the Erstwhile Records label and they are an extremely experimental bunch of artists. With hindsight and the opportunity to get better aquainted with this record label, it would be simple to conclude that Sylvian was very influenced by these artists when he created 'blemish'.
Many of these musicians have worked together in various situations over the past decade.
It appears that Christian Fennesz has been the procurer of these players. Members of an ensemble from Vienna named Polwechsel collaborated with Fennesz on their Wrapped Islands cd from 2002. Guitarist Burkhard Stangl, bassist Werner Dafeldecker and drummer/percussionist Martin Brandlmayr are all slated to be on the upcoming release. There's been no confirmation but I had read that Polwechsel's saxophonist John Butcher also took part in a session.
Other confirmed contributors include table top guitarist Keith Rowe (who seems to be the defacto 'godfather' of this subversive movement which has been christened 'electro-acoustic improvisation), pianist John Tilbury and saxophonist Evan Parker. Rowe and Tilbury worked in the avantgarde ensembles AMM and MIMEO. Parker had worked in free-jazz combos with Rowe and his troupe, as well as having worked with Derek Bailey in various combos.
Sachiko Matsubara and Toshimaru Nakamura have added their electronics and sample glitches to releases with Fennesz and Rowe and they both have taken part in sessions for the upcoming release - they are both on the Sylvian / Brandlmayr collaboration "Sleepwalkers".
I recommend checking out the Erstwhile Records website and listening to a few of the samples of these artists.