I just heard some stuff by him and really like what I hear. He seems pretty prolific - any recommendations on where to begin or essential recordings?
Thanks!
Jeff
I just heard some stuff by him and really like what I hear. He seems pretty prolific - any recommendations on where to begin or essential recordings?
Thanks!
Jeff
Fulton Street Maul and Sanctified Dreams are the only CDs I have. Both are excellent.
The current band, with albums on ECM, are pretty great.
I also am very fond of a very early one called "Spectres".
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
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“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
Absolutely. His writing is wild, knotty, and involved - it tends to sound a bit to me like three Monk tunes played simultaneously, all in different keys and time signatures. I even hear a bit of a stylistic overlap with some avant-prog. However, that's probably a coincidence more than anything else - perhaps a result of both Berne and the avant-proggers listening to the same kind of 20th Century classical music. Although Matt Mitchell (piano in Berne's band Snakeoil) was once a member of Thinking Plague, and Ches Smith (Snakeoil's drummer/vibist) has played with Secret Chiefs, Trio Convulsant, and other Bay Area avant-proggers.
The Ancestors
Mutant Variations
Fulton Street Maul
Saturation Point (Bloodcount)
Discretion (Bloodcount)
The Shell Game
Pace Yourself (Caos Totale)
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
The Sublime And (Science Friction)
Fractured Fairy Tales
I Think They Liked it Honey (Big Satan)
This tune kicks all sorts of ass.
The Prezens show in (2008?) in Cambridge was amazing. Keeping an eye on this thread...
Been a fan for decades and he has tons and tons of releases.
These are the one's that stick out for me (I tend to like the one's with guitar on them as Marc Ducret was his "go to" guy for a long time and he's the shit!)
Sanctified Dreams (no guitar but still great)
Fulton Street Maul (Frisell all over this)
Caos Totale-Pace Yourself (Ducret rules)
Caos Totale-Nice View-(Ducret Rules even more)
Miniature (the self titled one...this is a trio with Berne/Joey Baron/Herb Robertson
The Sevens (we started to get into a little studio fuckery on this one, Torn plays a big roll on this, but not on guitar)
Hard Cell-The Shell Game--this one features Craig Taborn on piano and electric piano and he is massively cool
Snake Oil-Shadow Man--no guitar but stellar comps and incendiary playing
Snake Oil-You've Been Watching Me-stellar comps (squared) plus guitarist Ryan Ferreria who was unknow to me but is now my effen hero!!
I'm leaving off shitloads of other releases, like Bloodcount and Big Satan but the above are essential.
best
Michael
If it ain't acousmatique-It's crap
The new one along with Steve Coleman's Synovial Joints have been holding my attention lately.
Mind Over Friction 3 CD set available from Berne's Screwgun store. http://www.screwgunrecords.com/records.html
Includes Science Friction studio album, plus two live discs.
A couple of the lps mentioned (such as The Sublime and (Science Friction)) were released on Thrsty Ear's "Blue Series Contiuum", which Matthew Shipp convened. For a while, a decade or so back, pretty much everything that was coming out in this series was essential.
First off, thanks for the suggestions - especially to Michael. I have a feeling this thread may get pretty costly before too long!
Yesterday I downloaded Unwound by Bloodcount and have given it a couple of listens. This is some damn good stuff. The interplay between the musicians is phenomenal and it's astounding the way they switch from (what sounds like) improvisation to composed parts so seemlessly - apparently a hallmark of Berne's stuff.
I'm probably going to d/l some more Bloodcount today - there are some over at Screwgun with Ducret and I'm eager to see what he brings to the table.
After that, who know - the Caos Totale discs seem to be very highly regarded, but I'm seen some videos of Snakeoil and am very impressed. And there's more Bloodcount.... Damndamndamn. I will need to practice some admirable restraint here!
Okay, I'm really hooked now.
On Tuesday I added:
Lowlife: The Paris Concert Vol1 (Bloodcount)
Pace Yourself (Caos Totale)
Then on Wednesday I went with:
The Shellgame
The Sublime And (Science Friction)
Pardon the pun, but I really do need to pace myself here. Lots to absorb. I was loving the Science Friction stuff on its first listen last night, and I gave Lowlife a really good listen on the train this morning. Phenomenal stuff here, and so much more to explore!
Late to this party, but a big Tim Berne fan.
I think some of his earliest material that was later compiled into "The Empire Box" is some of his strongest. Songs and Rituals in Real Time is my favorite of these, but the whole box is very solid. I think it's offered for download now as the CDs are long OOP. The cast of characters include Nels Cline, Alex Cline, John Carter, Paul Motian, and Vinny Golia.
I think you made good choices with the Bloodcount, Caos Totale, and Science Friction groups as well.
WANTED: Sig-worthy quote.
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