a r t i s t : Paul Hood & Michael Rodgers
t i t l e : Castles
d a t e : 2006
l a b e l : Twothousandand 3++1
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : Apr/2006
t r a c k s : 08
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 20,8 MB
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Paul Hood, turntables
Michael Rodgers, acoustic guitar
recorded 2005 : 21 minutes
Castles finds Michael Rodgers and Paul Hood riding high in the
saddle, as the guitar/turntables duo embark on a chivalric
journey that is touched with joy and trepidation,
steadfastness and sorrow. And inflatable castles.
TwoThousandAnd's first release on 3" disc, this is a special
limited edition produced in conjunction with Michael's 2006
tour of Australia and Japan.
Paul Hood
turntables, amplified objects
from london, uk.
Paul Hood was born in London in 1963. Paul has been performing
music since the late 1970's, originally working in numerous
post-punk/rock bands. Paul started working with vintage record
players in the early 1990s and has since continued to use
turntables as his primary instrument.
Paul works as a solo musician, in regular groups and in ad-hoc
combinations. Paul's collaborators over the years have
included a wide range of musicians from the improvising world.
He was part of the touring "Turntable Hell" group which
included Martin Tetrault, Otomo Yoshide, Martin Ng and others.
Paul was recently featured on volume 3 of Toshimaru Nakamura
and Tetuzi Akiyama's "Meeting at Off-Site" cd, and a trio cd
with Joel Stern and Anthony Guerra will shortly be released on
Paradisc (based in Kyoto).
Paul has also worked as a key organizer in the London
improvisation scene, starting the Instant Music Meeting club
in 1998 with the intention of bringing improvised and
experimental music to new audiences. This club has promoted
over 90 concerts and continues to be a regular feature of
London's creative music scene.
Michael Rodgers
acoustic guitar
from memphis, usa.
Michael played in Memphis bands before moving to London in
2000. He co-runs the TwoThousandAnd label with Anthony Guerra,
and is the label's resident designer. Ongoing projects include
We're Breaking Up (solo electronics), guitar/turntables trio
with Paul Hood and Blase Roccisano, and Broken Hands (guitar
duo with Guerra). Since June 2005 Michael has been a
co-producer for the ResonanceFM programme Coin On The Track
with Ross Lambert and Seymour Wright, looking at experimental
music from many angles. He has toured in Portugal, Spain,
Germany, Austria, UK, and USA. In early 2006 Michael completed
a tour of Australia and Japan. Much of his music reflects
personal ideas of distance, human relationships, density, and
things that are invisible.
www.twothousandand.com
A 21-minute suite comprised of eight movements, "Castles"
finds acoustic guitarist Michael Rodgers and
turntablist/object amplifier Paul Hood venturing into rather
unique territory from at least a couple of angles. Though not
at all out of character from previous recordings, RodgersÆ
essentially melodic and obliquely bluesy approach still comes
as something of a surprise (a pleasant one) when the disc
starts spinning. Right from the first track, he's picking out
delicate quasi-melodies, the notes resonating in a rich and
traditional manner. At the beginning of the suite, Hood's
manipulated records and other detritus form a rough, abstract
(though iterative) background for Rodgers' strumming. On the
lovely second track, "Three Scenes for the Black Fortress",
the guitarist gets deep into the thrum, pounding out chords
with rhythmic urgency while Hood sends out loops of end
grooves from platter interiors. But toward the end of the next
cut, "Battledore", Hood injects recorded dialogue from,
apparently, some Arthurian production, slightly fractured and
echoic, accompanied by Star Wars-type ray gun zaps. It's a bit
disorienting and the approach continues in various guises
throughout the remainder of the disc. Rodgers occasionally
veers off into Bailey territory ("Portcullis") and Hood dips
back into noise, but the specifically sourced material grows
more and more salient, though also more highly distorted. The
castles, as can be seen from the charming cover photograph,
are of the inflatable variety and one presumes that the
artifice found in the recorded sounds is an elaboration and
commentary on this fantasy world. One can read the increased
distortion in the voices as perhaps a growing childhood
realization that those turrets aren't made of stone and, if
so, it's an effective device. Portions of the last couple of
tracks, in fact, are almost painful to listen to (one may well
glance nervously at one's speakers, fearing they've been
blown), between the feedback-like hums and a hurdy-gurdy-like
riff on the final piece that sounds as if broadcast from a
$1.29 radio, on into the closing non sequitur of a call from a
car race.
"Castles" is a quirky work but by and large an appealing one.
I'm guessing continued listens might reveal more elements in
its twisted narrative. It's been issued in a limited run of
100 so, if you're interested, don't dally.
(Brian Olewnick, Bagatellen)
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01-Funnyland [01:49]
02-Three Scenes For The Black Fortress [04:43]
03-Old Castle Street [02:49]
04-Battledore [02:09]
05-Parapet [01:11]
06-Portcullis [03:28]
07-Sand Castles [02:16]
08-Moat [02:23]
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20:48 min