Out of My Face, the second CD release from Micro-East Collective, primarily resulted from an invitation by Eugene Chadbourne to play the Tonic New Music Series.
Eugene invited us on July 4th for an August 7th gig. Within the next couple of weeks, we were able to get committments from fifteen North Carolina Micro-East performers and five members of Dr. Nerve, a long-standing compositionally-based New York group.
Aaron Oliva, double bass, electric bass
Carrie Shull, oboe
Chris Eubank, cello
Corey Sims, trumpet, alto horn, accordion
Crowmeat Bob, alto sax, trombone, bass clarinet**
David Jordan, clarinet, slide whistle, suona
David Morris, tuba
Ed Butler, percussion
Eric Furfine, flugelhorn **
Greg Decker, baritone, tenor sax
Ian Davis, percussion
Jennifer Hancock, piano**
Jeff Brown, tenor, alto, soprano sax
Leo Ciesa, percussion*
Mark Simonsen, vibraphone, xylophone, percussion
Martha Bausch, flute, piano
Michael Lytle, contrabass and bass*
Nick Didkovsky, guitar*
Rich Robeson, guitar, shakuhachi
Rob Henke, trumpet*
Walker Martin, guitar
Yves Duboin, soprano sax*
William McConaghy, trumpone, cornet, slide trumpet
* On Tracks 2-11 only (recorded during performance 7 August 1999 at the Tonic New Music Series (107 Norfolk Street, NYC, NY)
** On Tracks 1-12 only (recorded during performance 14 November 1999 at Go! Studios (Brewer Lane, Carrboro, NC)
Compositions and Improvisations
1 Sound Bites (2:36)
2 Quartet 7899 (2:55)
2.1 Postulate (9:31)
3 Acme Allusions (2:20)
4 Out of My Face (2:24)
5 Determinant (7:16)
6 Factor 8 (3:38)
7 Simulation (4:05)
8 Bucket 13 v1 (3:01)
9 Fabric v1 (6:25)
10 12 X :15 v1 (3:06)
11 Buried Textures (6:49)
12 Black Velvet II v1 (4:02)
Total Time = 55:22
Recorded with two Neumann TLM-103 microphones in an x-y coincident pair, ART Pro MPA mic preamp, and Alesis LX-20 ADAT in 20-bit/48kHz format.
Mixed, sequenced, & mastered by Chris Stamey at Modern Recording (Chapel Hill, NC)
Produced by Chris Stamey and Ian Davis
All Rights Reserved by the Composers and Performers
Cover art and design by Bill Ellsworth (http://billellsworth.com)
Tracks 1 & 10 c1999 William McConaghy; tracks 2 c1999 D. Morris, M. Simonsen, N.Didkovsky, W. Martin; track 3 c1999 J. Brown; track 4 c1999 N. Didkovsky/Punos Music/BMI; track 2.1, 5 c1999 Micro-East Collective; track 6 c1999 G. Decker, R. Robeson, Y. Duboin; track 7 c1999 C. Shull, C. Eubank, C. Sims, M. Lytle; track 8 & 9 c1999 C. Sims; track 11 c1999 D. Jordan; track 12 c 1999 Black Velvet II
Text from the back cover of "Out of My Face"
It's killing heat on the highway. Doctor Nerve's jammed in a car blasting down the east coast. On tour in late summer. A thermos of coffee offers miniscule sips. 110 degree heat in a black tar truck stop. A Les Paul and a guitar amp baking in the trunk. Drum skins sweating. Sampling electronics frying. Bass clarinet parched. Soprano cracked and bleeding. The heat. It's killing.
North Carolina. The Good Neighbors' house in good mother shade, offered by the boughs of thick trees. There is a bright lake nearby. We swim. We sit on a dock. We put on our sunglasses. That night, we start a tiny snowball of improvisation in Ian's living room. It grows effortlessly. It becomes a monster: an avalanche that roars for hours, bursts out of the house, gushes out to nearby homes. Hell's heat's forgotten. This is a Good Place. We stay.
Years later, it is Ian Davis behind the wheel, heading up the coast, bringing with him the Micro-East Collective: a disparate collection of twisted musicians dedicated to pounding the living daylights out of those areas where composition and improvisation collide. It's hot again. And it's late. Scores keep the ideas in focus, while each moment rides on each musician's decisions. Now there's no time for philosophy. We have 15 minutes to discuss something like 15 scores before the gig. Confusion, clarification, the forgotten instruction, the moment. The Moment! Doctor Nerve and MEC. Damn, this is going to be fun. Nick Didkovsky, 1-08-00, NYC
The music on this CD was recorded in performance at Tonic (NYC) on 7 August 1999 and at Go! Studios (Carrboro, NC) on 14 November 1999. Very different rooms in very different places, but with a great commonality - the North Carolina-based membership of the Micro-East Collective, a village orchestra for this century that believes the past made some exotic choices in exactly the right way. The membership fluctuates. Fifteen Carolina members traveled to New York in August to play with five guys from Dr. Nerve. Seventeen played the Go! Studios party for release of MEC's first CD, 062099. We're up to 22 members as I write this. And chance determines more than the composition of the Collective for any given performance. Chance is a valued partner of our composers and compositions and performances, our van riders and our collaborators.
What does it sound like? That's a sacramental piece of business between you and your CD player, friend, but I'll say that it is music that takes place in the irreplaceable and unique moment. It is music that acknowledges the esthetic of John Cage, George Crumb, Anthnoy Braxton, many others, whilst disobeying their instructions. It is music that takes the powerful and fleeting suggestions of its performers to heart, then reshapes them into a world of collegial conversations without words and vivid dialogs in a foreign tongue. It is music that cannot be described until your ears let it in. Try it.1/17/00 Ian Davis
To contact Micro-East Collective for additional information, interviews, upcoming recordings, or performances in your space, please send e-mail to :
iandavis@umbrellarecordings.com
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