crys cole + oren ambarchi

crys cole + oren ambarchi

‘Whenever the writing crew here at Bug Incision starts to have a hard time summing up an artist, or finding economical ways to describe their music, it’s a good sign that we’re in for a treat. We’ve found that the most interesting, and often most enduring artists working within the realm of “experimental” music are delightfully difficult to pigeonhole, and this double bill is a perfect example of this very favourable dilemma. New Works Calgary and Bug Incision are beyond pleased to present the killer double bill of crys cole and Oren Ambarchi, at High Line Brewing, on Monday, October 24.

Describing the sonic world of sound artist crys cole might be about as tough as it gets in this regard. Her work deals with the reappropriation of small, simple, everyday sounds and sonic environments, recombined and refocused to present them in a new and distinct light. At times seeming like a sort of auditory sleight of hand, the listener could find themselves wholly engaged in a combination of sounds containing elements that seem experientially familiar - that is, registering a sound they may have heard before, but not necessarily in a musical context - and slowly, effortlessly, it becomes something wholly other. cole’s first solo album Beside Myself was described by Freeform Freakout as “a sort of hazy dream logic with vaguely recognizable sound sources derived from live performances, studio sessions, and field recordings breezing by and in-and-out of focus.” 

cole, who originally hails from Manitoba, has worked with Annea Lockwood, Keith Rowe, Graham Lambkin, David Behrman, Tim Olive, and will appear on the upcoming Autumn Fair LP on Sean McCann’s Recital label. Anyone familiar with those names, as disparate as they are, may glean a further little glimpse as to what cole’s music offers. Aside from her continually expanding body of solo work her most prolific guise is that of Ora Clementi, a duo with Australian composer-performer James Rushford, and her ongoing duo project with Ambarchi. Ora Clementi has issued LPs on great labels such as Ambarchi’s Black Truffle, Penultimate Press, and London venue Cafe Oto’s OTORoku imprint. The Hub blog called her duo with Ambarchi “a continuing exploration of their musical and romantic relationship, marked by the subtlety of investigation which has defined both of their careers,” and those albums make up a significant part of her discography as well. Her website, which also documents her extensive works in the realm of site-specific installations, is well worth a good perusal.

Multi-instrumentalist, producer, improvisor, composer, label runner, and prolific in all of these areas, Oren Ambarchi is one of the foremost individuals working in the realm of “experimental” music these days, and he’s been doing it for the last 25+ years. Hailing from Australia, and still frequently based there, he got his start early in his home country, playing music (originally as a drummer) and organizing gigs, festivals (see What Is Music), and generally making great efforts to heat up his surrounding community while beginning to assert his own musical priorities through a variety of early projects. A trip to New York allowed him to witness the thriving “downtown” scene of the late 80s/early 90s, and a fortuitous meeting with avant-lynchpin John Zorn led to some early releases and exposure for his nascent projects.

It wasn’t until the late 90s, however, that things really got rolling, and he started to develop his identity as a guitarist. But, in a typically idiosyncratic stroke, it was through his complete re-imagining of how that instrument could speak that made him so unique. Ambarchi’s use of the Leslie rotating speaker (usually found paired with a Hammond B-3 organ) in conjunction with his guitar lends the six-string instrument a wholly new sonic aspect, and combined with his excellent sense of pacing and balance, this has been one of the cornerstones of his sound. He presents a cool, placid environment for his guitar work and subtle arrangements that is as beautiful as it is utterly beguiling. 

He worked frequently around this time with artists involved in the so-called “lowercase” scene (Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura, Christian Fennesz, Tetuzi Akiyama) and also established working relationships with masters like tabletop guitar innovator Keith Rowe (AMM) and electro-acoustic pioneer Günter Müller. Ambarchi also has a long, rich working relationship with Jim O’Rourke, and while the two have released a handful of excellent duo recordings, his trio with O’Rourke and legendary Japanese musician Keiji Haino is one of the juiciest areas of his discography. Across a spate of near-yearly releases, the trio explore different instrumental combinations on every record, ranging anywhere from free rock explosions to quasi-New Age meditations to sections much more difficult to describe, and all the more worth hearing for that very reason.

Finally, one would be remiss to exclude his solo (that is, under his name only) recordings that have also been steadily slipping out over the years on a variety of labels like Editions Mego, Touch, and more recently Drag City. While these albums are solo in name, they’re often rounded out with contributions from a huge range of guest players (including crys cole on many occasions), are focused on slowly evolving rhythmic ideas, and really foreground Ambarchi’s skills as a producer, editor, and curator of disparate voices expertly woven into highly listenable instrumental music’. - CHRIS DADGE, BUG INCISION

Pertinent links:
https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2022/09/06/the-aquarium-drunkard-interview-oren-ambarchi/https://kraak.net/avant-guardian/crys-cole-oren-ambarchi
https://www.blacktrufflerecords.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oren_Ambarchi