The Cellar and Point - Ambit

[Phlakaton]

These guys deserve some praise. Excellent album. It's been cruisin' along on my player all holiday weekend!

[Udi Koomran]

Wonderful album
Frankie you need to check this out !

[NogbadTheBad]

Great band, love the debut, saw them in Boston a month ago with Birdsong Of The Mesozoic in support, really excellent night of music.

[tallliman]

What does it sound like?

[Baribrotzer]

What does it sound like?

Like Frank Zappa doing instrumental hip-hop, to judge from that one track.

[NogbadTheBad]

They describe themselves as 'garage chamber' band, the detail of modern concert music, the improvisational sensibilities of downtown jazz and the emotional directness of rock, combined with the production values of hip-hop and electronica.

They feature electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, bass, drums, cello, violin, & vibes.

[markwoll]

A really nice disc. If I had to compare their sound, Forgas Band Phenomenon might be in the same neighborhood.

[zombywoof]

Lovely stuff!!

[nosebone]

What does it sound like?

The Claudia Quintet with guitars

A really nice album.

[Steve F.]

The Claudia Quintet with guitars

Not perfect, but pretty damn good for just 5 words.

[zombywoof]

The Claudia Quintet with guitars

A really nice album.

Don't forget banjo!

[Gravedigger]

Still bummed I didn't see them at Johnny D's in Somerville, Mass. I had knee surgery that week and
foolishly thought I would be up for a night out (much to my wife's admonishing). I started out the door
with crutches and didn't get very far before turning back. I had seen the Birdsongs a few times so The
Cellar and Point was the main attraction for me to go...

...at least I can listen to the cd.

[Scrotum Scissor]

The Claudia Quintet with guitars

Yes, but I also hear the odd distant similarity towards another off-kilter Cunei artist, namely the somewhat underrated Ergo. Description-defying stuff like these and Algernon and Janel/Anthony are some of the most stimulating musical news I've been exposed to this past decade, this and the "Brutal-prog" thing.

The Cellar and Point album hits quite hard on my personal top-10 list this year, it seems. Luvin' it big tyme.

[NogbadTheBad]

Yes, but I also hear the odd distant similarity towards another off-kilter Cunei artist, namely the somewhat underrated Ergo. Description-defying stuff like these and Algernon and Janel/Anthony are some of the most stimulating musical news I've been exposed to this past decade, this and the "Brutal-prog" thing.

The Cellar and Point album hits quite hard on my personal top-10 list this year, it seems. Luvin' it big tyme.

All great.

[thedunno]

This is probably my favorite album of the year.

[battema]

The Cellar & Point album is the bomb. They were terrific at Orion as well.

Ergo is also the schiznit...and are wonderful live performers.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Ergo is also the schiznit...and are wonderful live performers.

Are they still together? I'd love to hear more from them.

[battema]

Are they still together? I'd love to hear more from them.

Steve F would probably know. I certainly hope so...both their Cuneiform releases were excellent.

The studio albums from both Cellar & Ergo are similar in their use of processing, but live Cellar took a more direct 'live performance' route while Ergo incorporated quite a bit of post-processing (I suspect in a manner not entirely dissimilar from what Jan Bang does as part of his live remix concept).

[Steve F.]

Steve F would probably know. I certainly hope so...both their Cuneiform releases were excellent.

They have a new album in the can. I don't know what will happen with it.

[Scrotum Scissor]

The studio albums from both Cellar & Ergo are similar in their use of processing, but live Cellar took a more direct 'live performance' route while Ergo incorporated quite a bit of post-processing (I suspect in a manner not entirely dissimilar from what Jan Bang does as part of his live remix concept).

Interesting comparison. How did they (if at all) reproduce that strategy in a live setting - since you've (obviously) seen them?

Nice to hear that they are still recording, Steve.

[battema]

Interesting comparison. How did they (if at all) reproduce that strategy in a live setting - since you've (obviously) seen them?

Well....my understanding of the Bang concept is that performances at Punkt end up being dual performances...one live and one live remix, in separate spaces happening simultaneously. With Ergo, the various instruments were being fed back into processing software (I assume Sroka's laptop), processed and re-incorporated into the performance in real time (to be fair: I didn't go up afterwards and ask about the setup so this is just how it appeared from the audience perspective). I thought the results were excellent.

By contrast, Cellar and Point simply performed the works live, with little/no electronic enhancement (still quite excellent, albeit different). I tend to favor electronics in a live setting, and as such have a slight bias toward the blended approach that Ergo had.

It would be great to attend Punkt one day; I always read the reviews afterwards with considerable envy.

[battema]

(last bit of off-topic on Ergo, sorry)

I popped onto Ergo's homepage (http://www.ergoisaband.com/) and there's a small bit about the new album and what I assume were the initial plans.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Well....my understanding of the Bang concept is that performances at Punkt end up being dual performances...one live and one live remix, in separate spaces happening simultaneously. With Ergo, the various instruments were being fed back into processing software (I assume Sroka's laptop), processed and re-incorporated into the performance in real time (to be fair: I didn't go up afterwards and ask about the setup so this is just how it appeared from the audience perspective). I thought the results were excellent.

By contrast, Cellar and Point simply performed the works live, with little/no electronic enhancement (still quite excellent, albeit different). I tend to favor electronics in a live setting, and as such have a slight bias toward the blended approach that Ergo had.

It would be great to attend Punkt one day; I always read the reviews afterwards with considerable envy.

You know, I used to live in Kristiansand so I attended Punkt three years in a row. And yup, you're correct - it's a great event. I caught Nik Bartsch's Ronin there, in 2008 IIRC. Fabulous experience.

Thx for the infor on Ergo; I'll keep my eyes open when I'm not dead drunk. Meantime I'll continue digging the Cellar and Point, and prob keep at it anyway (even after new Ergo or being dead drunk).

PROG ON!!