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R E S S B O T : GORGE TRIO "Open Mouth, O Wisp" CD |
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R E S S B O T : GORGE TRIO "Open Mouth, O Wisp" CD |
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PRESS COURTESY OF |
GORGE
TRIO Band Page
GORGE TRIO Photo Gallery
GORGE
TRIO page at Blue Ghost Publicity
FOXY DIGITALIS
The harmony of nature
consists in symphonious discord. -D.K. Mavalankar
Fans of rock and jazz music can be a lazy bunch. IÕll never forget seeing
Branford Marsalis in front of Ken BurnsÕ camera, with venom in his tone, accusing
Cecil Taylor of spouting Òself-indulgent bullshit.Ó The ignorant are always
the quickest to judge and, similarly, within days of the Gorge Trio releasing
their masterpiece, "Open Mouth, O Wisp" reviewers and listeners claimed that,
ÒThey donÕt mean anything; itÕs just a series of sounds made by meaningless
concoctions,Ò and that Ò'Open Mouth, O WispÉ' will leave you perplexed. Not
for the fact that itÕs groundbreaking or touching on genius status, but because
you will fail to pinpoint this music simply because of its derangement.Ó While
itÕs true that the group could leave any listener perplexed, itÕs misguided
and presumptuous to assume that the band has no meaning or purpose. On the
contrary, the Gorge Trio has made an album that intentionally refuses to comfort
the listener. This is not to say that the band has gone out of their way to
be difficult or esoteric but that they make music that can be valued on many
levels, many of which require a kind of listening not present in the vast
majority of music being made today. The album denies the listener any level
of comfort in favor of uncompromising, thought-provoking compositions that
straddle the increasingly blurry lines between rock, jazz, and experimental
music. "Open Mouth, O Wisp" might be one of the very few albums this year
that will reveal new and exciting things upon each hearing.
Not the least bit improvisational, the Gorge Trio move swiftly and erratically
through a seemingly endless amount of musical material ranging from free jazz
piano to dissonant double guitar attacks to Asian-tinged percussion solos.
This is, however, not an example of genre-jumping or post-modern appropriation
of cultural music. One of the brilliant things about this album is the way
it all sounds so clearly like the same band despite the stylistic twists and
turns. Despite the constant and disorienting variation, there is a harmonic
and rhythmic language of the bandÕs own creation that separates the music
from any discernable genre. Composed mostly without the precious backbeat,
moments of rhythmic clarity and stability are carefully chosen and never last
long. The feeling is one of constant unrest.
On first hearing, "Open Mouth, O Wisp" sounds unfocused and disjointed, but
more careful consideration reveals an album that is undoubtedly unified and
shockingly well-conceived. Despite its many inherent ambiguities, the amount
of detail and scrutiny given to this album by its creators over the last three
years is painfully evident. While ideas and sections are disjointed and seemingly
unrelated to one another, the longer the album plays the more clear it becomes
that it is leading to its finale Ð the epiphany that the above quoted reviewer
failed to notice.
If we consider "Open Mouth, O Wisp" as a search for unity (and in this kind
of music there is no right or wrong interpretation) then the music achieves
its goal in the final track, ÒTreasure House in Amber.Ó During the albumÕs
first 21 tracks, weÕre presented with an enormous variety of material but
when you get down to it, the only instruments used throughout the album are
guitars, piano, drums/percussion, synthesizers/electronics, and some strange
harp or zither-like instrument (a koto?) heard in ÒThe Spa Bird.Ó However,
even with this small amount of resources, at no time in the album are all
of these used in the same piece. Combinations and permutations happen but
these disparate elements are never used together until the final track. As
each instrument slowly begins to melt into the others through subtle changes
in voicing and rhythm, a human voice emerges, singing wordlessly. The CD ends
with all instruments playing together in complete harmony. ItÕs a gorgeous
moment in an even more gorgeous track, vaguely reminiscent of PresocraticsÕ
version of ÒMoon River,Ó though perhaps even more powerful since ÒTreasure
House in AmberÓ is free from any perceptible irony or sarcasm.
"Open Mouth, O Wisp" proves to be perfectly titled in that itÕs a collection
of small pieces: a wisp. On the surface it is a mess of incongruous music
haphazardly thrown together like a pile of leaves. Beneath its formless exterior
lies much more. The wisp is there, waiting to be explored and savored; waiting
to be, in a word, opened.
- Nick Hennies
http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/gorgetrio_wisp.html
EXCLAIM!
By Eric Hill September 02,
2004
Like other Skin Graft acts before them, Gorge Trio are a rock band playing
jazz prize fighter-style: equal parts pummelling power and fancy fretwork.
The band, three-quarters of the dismantled Colossamite, has an arsenal that
goes beyond its power trio past to include more acoustic instruments as well
as occasional electronic flourishes. The 22 tracks consist of brief spasms
of full out rocking/computer distress, surprisingly tender acoustic sketches
that fade out gracefully, while other longer ideas toy with elements of both
of the above. ÒIntimate AdditionÓ resembles George ShearingÕs Peanuts themes
played simultaneously by a metal band. Ed Rodriguez and John Dieterich both
have guitars strung too tightly with barbed wire and they often seem to tangle
together in lacerating battles for supremacy, as on ÒParis Trap.Ó Recuperation
comes in the form of ÒThat Pilot Set,Ó a gently shifting acoustic pastoral
that Loren Connors would be proud of. In essence the trio seems to be updating
the interplay pioneered by such Õ70s jazz units such as Brotzmann/Benink/Van
Hove, who polarised their work with dexterous complexity and elbow-in-the-ribs
humour. Open Mouth, O Wisp outshines the like-minded, more narrowly focused
albums by the Flying Luttenbachers and Don Caballero. The band is not interested
in boundaries, seeing only lines they can cross at high, noisy speeds.
http://exclaim.ca/index.asp?layid=23&csid1=10686
JUST ADD NOISE
Imagine a casino's house lounge act at the peak of an acid trip and the absolute
manic height of their bi-polarism joining the stage with a surreal folk guitarist,
a classical pianist and the members of Primus at which point they struggle
for the spotlight in an all out sonic melee and occasionally come to a point
of consensus for a pleasing improvisation set. That comes close to describing
the experimental acoustic-electro-rock-clash territory whose borders are defined
by the members of Gorge Trio which include former three quarters of Colossamite
and members of Deerhoof, Natural Dreamers, Sicbay and The Flying Luttenbachers.
Much like Deerhoof, (but with only one track having any type of vocals) all
tradition musical patterns and theories fly out the window like an old cigarette
cellophane as your cruising down the freeway with all your windows wide open.
On one hand, this music is grueling to listen to. It is not easy or soothing
although momentary clips of "pleasing" melodies exist sandwiched among the
hysteria. But on the other hand, it is always engaging and never gives you
a chance to rest - kind of like a boxer keeping you on your heels through
the entire bout but never really deliver the uppercut needed to finish the
job. hmmmmm.
was once asked a list of questions in a email - I can't remember by who, but
that's beside the point. One question that I recall was "What band would you
like to punch in the eye?" - or some body part on the face, maybe it was the
mouth. Anyway, I had just finished listening to Deerhoof's Milk Man so I answered
Deerhoof. Sorry guys, I take it back...
Let's all give Gorge Trio a round for going against the grain. Thanks.
http://justaddnoise.com/reviews/g/gorgetrio.htm
ALL MUSIC GUIDE
Past Gorge Trio releases found the New England threesome stretching out for
extended improvisations that had a lot in common with the moves of the U.S.
and European free improvisation communities. With Open Mouth, O' Wisp, the
group moves from the broad strokes of the past to a series of densely packed
miniatures, all 22 of which clock in at a running time that just breaks the
half-hour mark. There have always been Russian egg constructs within their
previous lengthy jams, but here some of the layers are given markers, allowing
listeners to step into the fractured crossfire as well as enjoy this as a
well-constructed whole. The more constructed pieces here, like "Intimate Addition,"
recall the Gorge Trio's other incarnation as Colossamite stripped of the heavy
rock gestures (screaming vocals and two volumes: loud and louder) that aligned
that group with the math rock of Don Caballero, placing the trio closer to
the source, Captain Beefheart. There are other moments worth calling out,
too, like guest Keiko Beers' flute turn on "Invisible Student," but they all
amount to points on a very busy map that begs to be taken in as a whole. And
the whole is quite marvelous, an epic in miniature that encourages repeated
listening.
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:1hmyxddb4oly~T1
SPLENDID E-ZINE
The Gorge Trio are drummer/percussionist Chad Popple (Colossamite), guitarist
Ed Rodriguez (Sicbay, Flying Luttenbachers) and keyboard player / electronicist
John Dieterich (Deerhoof, Natural Dreamers), and their long-awaited, three-years-in-the-making
third album satiates their creative impulses with a dazzling set of pranksterish,
off-the-scale improv-rock mayhem. Essentially an album of intricately textured
sketches, Open Mouth, O Wisp is both tremendously heavy-going and oddly accessible.
The album's more tautly-structured pieces verge on surgical precision. The
cardiac musicological flurry of "Intimate Addition", for example, immerses
the trio in a stop-start jerk of dizzyingly symphonic math rock. If the "song"
lasted any longer than its appointed 92 seconds, musicianly injury would almost
certainly ensue. The similarly disorientating scree of "Paris Trap" fuses
a multi-layered screech of guitar wail, hyper-caffeinated poly-drum spazz
and subtle electronic caterwauling. If you're looking for comparisons, an
epileptic fit at a Melt Banana show is about the best I can offer. On "Health
Seekers", however, The Gorge Trio seem to embrace a dirty, Zep-like funk,
augmented with dainty, skippingly joyful keyboard. Only when the song crashes
into a hellbound, spasmodic noise assault are its aims laid bare. And yet,
melodies and rhythms that could be categorized as "recognizable" are presented
almost as fleeting thoughts amid more pressing, deliriously scatty improvisational
concerns. The album opens with "A Comedy In Sun", a discordant, arrhythmic
piano clatter that soon explodes into a bluster of dual-guitar fiddling and
sporadic, disjointed drum taps. The subsequent "Memo To An Apparition" is
ten (count them!) seconds of spluttering electro-static. Even in the form
of tersely brisk sketches, the sheer volume of ideas being subjected to unrecognisable
butchery are too vast and scattered to effectively annotate. With this in
mind, Open Mouth, O Wisp really needs to be experienced in order to be fully
understood, or at least grasped. A confusing, confounding riot of the trio's
haywire imaginations, it is essentially a found-sound patchwork, littered
with innumerable moments of fragmented, transitory genius.
http://www.splendidezine.com/review.html?reviewid=10878991198410
Pennyblackmusic Magazine
Quite an intriguing album from Gorge Trio this one. On first listen it just
sounds like a bunch of people tuning up their instruments and you wonder if
just theyÕve just recorded the bits before and after the actual songs. But
on repeat listening it shows a greater depth than youÕd first expect with
moments of quite delicate beauty. A purely instrumental release and the third
album from the self proclaimed "self-organising future intelligence" which
includes members of Deerhoof and the Natural Dreamers. There are 22 tracks
here but only one of them is longer than three minutes and ten are sub-60
seconds. Like a sound track to a movie youÕll never quite understand, 'Open
Mouth, O Wisp' screeches and strums along rapidly, changing direction, pace
and volume just when you think you might have it figured out. Eventually the
listener is just forced to sit there and accept it on its own terms which
do then prove rewarding. Frustratingly however, it never quite breaks out
into the full-blown songs you canÕt help but feel are somewhere just below
the surface.
http://www.pennyblackmusic.com/cgi-local/rbmagrev2.pl/SID=1856334/?articlesearch=1607
tlchicken.com
IÕve just listened to Open Mouth, OÕ Wisp, the latest release from Gorge Trio
(Skin Graft Records), and IÕm still in shock a bit. This power trio (comprised
of members of Deerhoof, Sicbay, The Flying Luttenbachers, and Colossamite)
has managed to take an already splintered approach to making music, and shatter
it even further. Opening with a piano arrangement thatÕs as playful and precarious
as a child in a 1981 Sesame Street skit, Open Mouth... quickly rambles into
the random. Jumbles of guitar and drum strip and stir over each other. Samples
and effects step in to round out the musical scenery. The pacing becomes furious,
and the listener is soon engulfed in a bottomless well of sound. At times
quiet and wistful, these 22 tracks play like random noise in the open city
air. Long periods of silence are sporadically broken with jabbing bird call
riffs and collapsing high-rise thuds. Minutes of calm, experimental buildup
are suddenly derailed by sparse moments of a more tangible, not-so-broken
harmony. Soothing and mind-grinding all at once, this album plays less like
a rock LP and more like a brand new take on free jazz. A thorough listen to
Gorge Trio brings the title track of Miles DavisÕ Bitches Brew to mind, just
because so much of this album involves a methodical rise of the music in one
direction, only to be demolished and start up again on a brand new path. Add
to that the softly tongued closing track, featuring the cooing moans of Deerhoof
singer Satomi Matsuzaki (the only vocals on the whole album), and youÕre totally
left wondering exactly what you just listened to. At the same time, you just
canÕt wait to press "play" and do it all over again.
http://www.tlchicken.com/view_story.php?ARTid=2561
Seattle Weekly
Piano! How refreshing! It turns out that Ed RodriguezÕs little doodle of harmony
on the opening track of the latest from San FranciscoÐMinneapolis binaries
Gorge Trio is the first of many small surprises. The out-jazz-rock trioÕs
third release is rife with sketches as evocative as unfinished conversational
fragments. Chad PoppleÕs vibes on "The Age of Almost Living" play as an answer
to John DieterichÕs whining guitar on "Paris Trap," while RodriguezÕs snare
echoes the synthetic beats found on "The Lurker." Open Mouth is a playful
listen, which you might expect since DieterichÕs principal group, Deerhoof,
has built a Candyland cottage industry of artful, messy punk rock. Here, DieterichÕs
guitar indulges in fuzzbox feedback, yet often skips a beat or two in order
to accommodate RodriguezÕs polyrhythmic tones ("Plum Sign"); "Intimate Addition"
could score a slapstick cartoon. Dieterich weaves his jagged guitar like pipe-cleaner
spirals, relaxing into "Roof Halves and Dew Drop Gems" by tickling Sun City
GirlsÐstyle mono-riffs, then teasing them into blooming feedback. Gorge TrioÕs
22 instrumental vignettes appear assembled as haphazardly as their acid Mad
Lib song titles, and like an ad hoc score to a Hal Hartley flick, Gorge Trio
can be chatty. But theyÕll slow down just enough and let the picture do the
talking.
http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0428/040714_music_cdreviews.php
Tiny Mix Tapes
Maybe you go for this kind
of music. Some guy smashing a piano with 6-month-old babies really gets your
musical boner popping. Gorge Trio and their North American debut, Open Mouth,
O Wisp, have all the qualities of your favorite noise-rocking experimental
bands. In fact, they're actually in some of them. Gorge Trio's resume reads
like a laundry list with bands like Deerhoof, Sicbay, Collosamite, The Flying
Luttenbachers, Natural Dreamers, and Ice Burn. So bust out the books, this
album is best enjoyed with a bachelor's degree in music. Open Mouth, O Wisp
sounds something like noise rock lite. Imagine a band warming up, only they
get hit by a tornado every couple of tracks. That's Gorge Trio. It runs that
line of being good artsy and bad artsy. Either way, this isn't something you're
going to play at a party, and it's useless for making out with anyone except
the nerdiest music geeks. Still, this album is interesting in an academic
way. Every guitar pluck and drum hit is crystal clear and isolated. When the
noise breaks through, it scrapes at the teeth. It can be grating and violent.
During the 22 tracks, little shards of music occasionally poke out and bring
the listener back to old familiar territory, but then fall back into pieces
broken on the recording room floor. It's a strange mix when the easy stuff
is the exception to the rule. If you're the sort of person that loves your
music difficult and you've taken a music class or two, then maybe the Gorge
Trio is the right trio for you. But if you want something a little easier,
then you probably shouldn't have read this far. Seriously, who reads a music
review to the bottom anyway? Crazy art lovers who like stuff like the Open
Mouth, O Wisp, that's who. Get a life music nerd.
http://www.tinymixtapes.com/musicreviews/g/gorge_trio.htm
Where YÕAt Magazine
Hailing from the California
Bay Area, Gorge Trio is a side project featuring members of Colossamite, Sicbay,
and Deerhoof playing intricately structured compositions with punkish energy
and improvisatory zeal. The guitars are of the angular twang persuasion Ð
a school of guitar sound extending from Captain Beefheart to Gang of Four,
Marc Ribot and U.S. Maple Ð of which IÕm particularly fond, and they widen
the palette with acoustic guitars, piano, and even guest spots on flute and
koto. The drummer sounds like heÕs spent equal time listening to Bill Bruford,
John French and Milford Graves, walloping and pushing the band with manic
energy tempered by taste and restraint when needed. The 22 instrumentals are
short and packed with interesting ideas, with little time given over to grooves
or soloing, so donÕt be put off by the jazz-ist "Trio" moniker Ð this is still
rock music, kids. Gorge Trio just differ from your average rock instrumental
outfit in that theyÕre more ambitious and smart (take that, jam bands), but
also more ready/willing/able to break a sweat and go a bit berserk in a way
that Trans Am and Tortoise definitely do not. Get your skronk on.
CloakandDaggerMedia.com
From the first track of Open Mouth, O Wisp, it is plainly obvious that this
album is anything but typical. With most tracks clocking in at around a single
minute, Open Mouth, O Wisp appears to be a quick feeling, light record. However,
upon further listening, this is obviously not the case. The jazzy piano played
on the opening track, "A Comedy in Sun", while chaotic, is obviously planned
and based on musical theory. On first listen, one might assume that Gorge
Trio stepped into a recording studio, placed small, musical robots by each
instrument, turned them on, and instructed the engineers to record the outcome.
Utilizing musical dissonance in a strangely aesthetic manner, Gorge Trio has
created a record that breaks musical boundaries. Gorge Trio is an extremely
talented band. The jazz jam of "Intimate Addition" proves this fact: the dueling
keyboard and guitar solo, later joined by the bass and drums, is strangely
catchy. "That Pilot Set," a slightly -- although not much -- more traditional
track features a beautifully played acoustic guitar. Gorge Trio's previous
effort, For Loss Of, is mostly longer, more chaotic pieces. Released in 1999,
it is clear that Gorge Trio has matured musically. While maintaining a similar
feel, Open Mouth, O Wisp is much more listenable, and can easily live beyond
the novel concepts of the artistry. This album is minimalism (and, at times,
a sort of 'maximalism') used at its strongest. The use of each instrument
makes sense -- the bells on "Bitter Drum", the piano in the closing track
"Treasure House in Amber", the driving electric guitar in "Health Seekers"
-- the list goes on. Drawing from influences that seem to range from Parker
and Guaraldi to Portnoy and Gabriel, Gorge Trio has managed to create an album
that entrances the mind with the innovation and rule breaking Gorge Trio manages
to pull off so well.
http://www.cloakanddaggermedia.com
Exoduster
If I were to tell you that this three-piece consisted of members of Deerhoof,
Colossamite, Natural Dreamers and the Flying Luttenbachers what would you
think? Well, there could be a number of thoughts to cross your mind about
their sound. One for surely would be that Gorge Trio uses a wrath of instruments
and discordant sounds. Others can be left to your own imagination. With their
third release and first non-import for the U.S., Chad Popple, Ed Rodriguez
and John Dieterich offer twenty-two tracks of mostly noise that I'm sure to
be missing the point of. Only on a few songs do I find enough to salvage including
"Intimate Addition," "Roof Halves and Dewdrop Gems" and "Youth Island." I
dig some of the things that this massive collective of artists knock out (e.g.,
Deerhoof, Natural Dreamers, etc.), but other projects seem simply like exercises
in noise. Gorge Trio seems like an exercise. It is a case of hands in too
many cookie jars.
http://www.exoduster.com
"Open
Mouth, O Wisp" CATALOG LISTING MP3:
YOUTH
ISLAND (size: 1.5 mb)
MP3: PARIS
TRAP (size: 1.6 mb)
MP3: THE
AGE OF ALMOST LIVING
(size: 2.1 mb) RELATED ARTIST:
COLOSSAMITE
COLOSSAMITE
"Economy Of Motion"
CATALOG LISTING
COLOSSAMITE
"Frisbee" CATALOG
LISTING
COLOSSAMITE "All
Lingo's Clamour" CATALOG LISTING
MP3: ARKANSAS
HALO (size: 2.6 mb) from the album "Economy
Of Motion"