A cassette split with Vibrating Skull Trio & Packard/Hoogland
released May 17, 2018
Vibrating Skull Trio:
John McCowen - Bb clarinet & resonator
Eli Namay - prepared guitar
Phil Sudderberg - drum kit
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Oscar Jan Hoogland - electric clavicord
Ryan Packard - electric drums
A ≠ A is a set of recordings and critical theory that serve as an attempt to soberly position myself in the world both culturally and politically. The writing portion of A ≠ A is an examination of the nature of symbols in relation to the human brain, how symbols constitute large scale class based societies, and what that might mean for struggles both culturally and politically. I make the case for understanding political struggle and cultural struggle as representing two distinct yet interrelated activities, each affecting the other but ultimately having distinct scopes. While the writing represents an offering in the realm of political struggle the recording is an offering in the realm of cultural struggle. Through the strategic deconstruction and reconstitution of familiar cultural symbols the recording will hopefully allow folks who are not necessarily immersed in experimental music traditions to viscerally experience the possibility for creative activity outside of the aesthetic logics of both the commercial market and the ivory tower. As well as illustrating how dominant value systems (ideology) function in a society dominated by monetary exchange value, the writing in turn critiques this kind of cultural activity as, although necessary, inadequate on its own for the liberation of humanity from both direct and abstract domination. For this project the decision to present the recording and writing side by side, but at a formal distance, is not an arbitrary one. It is based on my analysis of the distinct scopes of cultural and political struggle, and hopefully illustrates a hew type of dialectical communication that does not settle into static images for the sake of ontological comfort, or organizational or careerist expedience.
released May 17, 2018
Eli Namay - Upright and Electric Bass, Design, Engineering & Production
Alexa Rixon - Design and Printing
All music by Eli Namay except "Ducks on the Pond" (traditional) and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (Harold Arlen & Y.E. Harburg)
"Two Europeans" was recorded at High Concept Labs
Tom Weeks - Alto saxophone
Nathan Corder - Electronics
Eli Namay - Upright and electric bass
Bill Harris - Drums, percussion, duct tape
Recorded live at the Music Garage on April 22, 2018.
Recorded/engineered by Bill Harris.
Mixed/mastered by Eli Namay and Bill Harris.
Artwork by Dan McDonald Studios.
Speech samples from Rick Roderick's lecture "Fatal Strategies."
This recording sees Bay Area improvisers Tom Weeks (alto saxophone) and Nathan Corder (electronics) team up with Chicago improvisers Eli Namay (upright and electric bass) and Bill Harris (drums) to document their first meeting in Chicago in April of 2018. The quartet maneuvers between brutal, apocalyptic bop soundscapes and textural pointillism, with improvisations largely framed by a concise and miniature format.
Tom Weeks is a composer, improviser, and saxophonist from the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. He has received a Bachelor's degree in Jazz Composition from Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA, and a Master's degree in Composition from Mills College, Oakland, CA. He has studied with Roscoe Mitchell, Fred Frith, Zeena Parkins, Pauline Oliveros, Chris Brown, W.A. Mathieu, Steve Adams, Richard Evans, Phil Wilson, and Greg Hopkins, among others. His music is influenced by various African-American musical traditions, the historical avant-garde, and the heavy metal and hardcore traditions; utilizing improvisation, extended techniques, and traditional and experimental notational practices.
Nathan Corder is an Oakland-based composer of works for electronics, objects, and arrays of people. Focusing on translational procedures, transduction, and process-based composition, Corder’s music has been performed throughout the U.S. and abroad. Active as a composer and improviser on custom-designed electronics and guitar, Corder has collaborated with artists such as Roscoe Mitchell, William Winant, Jaap Blonk, and Tatsuya Nakatani. He is also an active member of the bands TONED, monopiece, Nude Tayne, and Jitters.
Eli Namay has been working to develop a musical practice that is informed by critical theory and political activism. Artistically, he is particularly focused on how cultural and economic symbols mediate social relations (ideology, social reproduction, etc). Eli is interested in exploring ways economic and ideological influences on music might be disrupted artistically, thus creating a genuinely creative practice that is emotionally healing for both the listener and practitioner. This has led him to an interest in non/pan-idiomatic improvisation, experimental notation that gives rise to a multiplicity of outcomes, and the use of liminal perceptual frameworks.
Bill Harris is a drummer, composer, improviser, and audio engineer from Pittsburgh currently based in Chicago. He is an active member of Chicago's improvised and creative music scene, whose music has been featured at venues such as Constellation, Elastic Arts, The Hungry Brain, The Hideout, and many others. He co-leads groups such as Four Letter Words, Devouring the Guilt, and Bowlcut, and currently operates and produces for Amalgam, an independent, 100% artist-run collective and label, documenting creative and improvised music in Chicago. Bill also runs an independent recording studio, contributing as a producer and as a multi-instrumentalist on studio sessions.