Artist : Oren Ambarchi
Title : Intermission 2000-2008
Genre : Ambient
Year : 2009
Date : 12/2009
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 05
Label : Touch
Source : CDDA
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Length : 60:12 min
Size : 76,5 MB
Tracklist:
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01.Intimidator 12:45
02.Iron Waves 11:45
03.Moving Violation 08:20
04.The Strouhal Number 07:06
05.A Final Kiss On Poisoned Cheeks 20:16
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60:12 min
Track listing: 1. Intimidator 2. Iron
Waves 3. Moving Violation 4. The
Strouhal Number 5. A Final Kiss On
Poisoned Cheeks Intermission brings
together a range of material Oren
Ambarchi has contributed to compilations
and limited edition vinyl releases
between the years 2000 and 2008.
Highlights include two live recordings -
an early, fragile solo guitar recording
taken from a radio broadcast in 2000 and
A Final Kiss On Poisoned Cheeks, his
powerful 12" recorded live in Vancouver
in 2007 and originally released on Table
Of The Elements. Additional tracks
include Iron Waves an exclusive track in
collaboration with vocalist Paul Duncan
and Intimidator featuring Australian
pianist/composer Anthony Pateras
originally released on Southern Lord.
These are special anomalies in the
Ambarchi canon but nonetheless feature
the hallmarks of his unique soundworld,
all underpinned by his trademark deep
guitar tones and meticulous attention to
detail. All tracks are newly remastered,
many of which are available on CD for
first time. Track notes: Intimidator
Guitars and prepared piano recorded at
Jerker House and Enormodome, Melbourne
in 2006 Anthony Pateras: Prepared Piano
Originally released on the 2LP version
of 'In The Pendulum's Embrace' Southern
Lord, USA Iron Waves Remix of Paul
Duncan's 'Parasail' from the 'Above The
Trees' CD, Hometapes, USA Guitars,
Bells, Cymbals recorded at Jerker House,
Melbourne and BJB, Sydney in 2008
Previously unreleased Moving Violation
Guitars recorded at Jerker House,
Melbourne November 2005 A version was
originally released on Touch's 25th
anniversary CD, Touch 25, UK The
Strouhal Number Guitar recorded live at
2SER FM Sydney in 2000 by Tony Dupe'
Originally released on 'Live & Direct'
CD Spunk/Preservation records, Australia
A Final Kiss On Poisoned Cheeks Guitar
recorded live at Vancouver New Music
Festival Oct 17, 2007 by Gary Morgan
Bells and motorised cymbal recorded at
BJB, Sydney Originally released as a
limited 12" on Table Of The Elements,
USA All tracks remastered by Lachlan
Carrick at Moose, Melbourne August 2009
Biog Oren Ambarchi's works are hesitant
and tense extended songforms located in
the cracks between several schools:
modern electronics and processing;
laminal improvisation and minimalism;
hushed, pensive songwriting; the
deceptive simplicity and temporal
suspensions of composers such as Morton
Feldman and Alvin Lucier; and the
physicality of rock music, slowed down
and stripped back to its bare bones,
abstracted and replaced with pure
signal. From the late 90's his
experiments in guitar abstraction and
extended technique have led to a more
personal and unique sound-world
incorporating a broader palette of
instruments and sensibilities. On recent
releases such as Grapes From The Estate
and In The Pendulum's Embrace Ambarchi
has employed glass harmonica, strings,
bells, piano, drums and percussion,
creating fragile textures as light as
air which tenuously coexist with the
deep, wall-shaking bass tones derived
from his guitar. Ambarchi works with
simple constructs and parameters;
exploring one idea over an extended
duration and patiently teasing every
nuance and implication from each
texture; the phenomena of sum and
difference tones; carefully tended
arrangements that unravel gently;
unprepossessing melodies that slowly
work their way through various
permutations; resulting in an
otherworldly, cumulative impact of
patiently unfolding compositions.
Ambarchi has performed and recorded with
a diverse array of artists such as
Fennesz, Otomo Yoshihide, Pimmon, Keiji
Haino, John Zorn, Rizili, Voice Crack,
Jim O'Rourke, Keith Rowe, Phill Niblock,
Dave Grohl, Gunter Muller, Evan Parker,
z'ev, Toshimaru Nakamura, Peter Rehberg,
Merzbow and many more. Since 2004
Ambarchi has worked with American avant
metal outfit Sunn 0))) contributing to
many of their releases and side-projects
including their Black One album from
2005 and the recent Monoliths &
Dimensions release. For 10 years
together with Robbie Avenaim, Ambarchi
was the co-organiser of the What Is
Music? festival, AustraliaÆs premier
annual showcase of local and
international experimental music. The
festival hosted over 200 local and
international performers. Ambarchi now
curates the Maximum Arousal series at
The Toff In Town in Melbourne and has
recently co-produced an Australian
television series on experimental music
called Subsonics. Ambarchi recently co-
curated the sound program for the 2008
Yokohama Triennale. Ambarchi has
released numerous recordings for
international labels such as Touch,
Southern Lord, Table Of The Elements and
Tzadik. In 2003 his live release Triste
received an 'honourary mention' in the
Prix Ars Electronica digital music
category. Oren Ambarchi is signed to
Touch Music. Reviews:Dusted (USA): It
never fails; the week after you compile
your year-end lists, a record turns up
that should have been on one.
Intermission 2000-2008 certainly
deserves more notice than itÆs likely to
receive given that is is a semi-archival
collection with a November release date
because even though it is, as the title
suggests, a collection of pauses, its
five tracks cohere as a weighty
statement of just what Ambarchi is
about. The Australian
guitarist/percussionist has one of those
discographies that is challenging to
track. Higher-profile solo releases,
mostly on the Touch label, alternate
with limited edition efforts, some
vinyl-only, some revised from iteration
to iteration. Ambarchi is also an
inveterate collaborator who is even
harder to pin down in communal mode;
heard back to back in a blindfold test,
not many newcomers would be likely to
locate the same musicianÆs presence on
records by Sunn O))), Sun, the
Menstruation Sisters, Four Gentlemen Of
The Guitar, and Lasse Marhaug. But you
ignore these permutations at your peril,
since AmbarchiÆs on-the-side activities
often match or exceed his top of the
line solo releases. You might easily
have missed IntermissionÆs contents
since they come from the lower-profile
side of his work. First comes
ôIntimidator,ö which vinyl partisans may
recognize as the fourth-side bonus track
from the Southern Lord version of In The
PendulumÆs Embrace. There it maintained
an ambivalent relationship with the rest
the recordÆs material, since the
metallic (but not at all Metal)
sonorities of guest Antony PaterasÆs
prepared piano kept it from mixing
easily with the original Touch CDÆs
music. But despite the afterthought
status apparently conferred by virtue of
being the added-on track for a boutique
format, it summed up PendulumÆs main
point, which is also one driven home by
Intermission; that the physical presence
of sound, more than any given instrument
or tone, is AmbarchiÆs real material.
You donÆt just hear the strike of hammer
on strings, it seems to lightly brush
your collarbone; wavering sine waves
seem to dance between your ears; bass
notes weigh upon you like the water at
the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The
pressure of each sound is enormous, and
yet as soothing as a Zen garden.
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