#mark wastell

[musicmakesyousmart]

Mark Wastell - Vibra #2

Longbox Recordings

2005

[musicmakesyousmart]

Mark Wastell - Come Crimson Rays

Kning Disk

2007

[musicmakesyousmart]

Lasse Marhaug / Mark Wastell - Kiss of Acid

Monotype Records

2011

[musicmakesyousmart]

Arild Andersen, Clive Bell, & Mark Wastell - Tales of Hackney

Confront

2019

[dustedmagazine]

Jan Bang/David Toop/Mark Wastell — Compound Full of Bones-Translucent Thousands (Confront Recordings)

Compound Full of Bones, Translucent Thousands by Jan Bang / David Toop / Mark Wastell

It is fascinating to contemplate the state of the magnum opus in 2022. If the concept is still viable, to what degree has concentration trumped expansion and development? This trio offering is a case in point. David Toop, Mark Wastell and Jan Bang — and these names will certainly be familiar to any improvisation enthusiasts — convened in 2019 to record three improvisations which were then combined and subjected to the wonderful and frightening universes of alchemic procedure. This is the document at hand, and it manages to capture the moment-to-moment syntax of the individual contributor while continually eschewing it.

As is so often the case, instants must suffice in the face of sonic complexities almost too rich to digest let alone articulate. At 2:43 of the 35-minute single track, the slow airy build, complete with micromotions in exquisite detail, simply evaporates. It neither fragments nor transforms, it just isn’t, that is beyond only the brief reverberation demonstrating former presence. After it, the open space rustles with promise, and Wastell’s tam tam is in full effect. The contrast is equal parts thrilling and unnerving. The track could be said to have a slow build with moments of culmination, like at 18:44, where that tam tam highlights a Bang sample or two at much higher volume. Return to the opening to trace that individual threads more completely, Toop’s tiny exhortations, especially at 5:08, amidst a sea of other small objects afloat in the infinite possibilities the music offers.

For each moment of clarity and recognition, there’s a manipulation, a switch of environment that renders all preceding  it somehow obsolete. At 13:29, or thereabouts, occurs one of those sea-changes. Yes, one kind of drone is replaced by another, but beyond that, the entire environment changes, moving from an open translucent feel to something narrower, not quite inhibited but smaller and less sibilant. It’s a slow fade, one so cinematic as to be imperceptible until it concludes. It modifies all sounds in its silent wake. It, and similar transformations throughout, form the hub of the wheel that keeps the music moving, but it almost functions behind the scenes, making each overlaid experience more than it is via a charmingly impossible alchemy. Maybe this piece is not a magnum opus in the traditional sense, but it represents the ensemble contributions of three veteran musicians in the presence of something more, a transformation of transformations.

Marc Medwin

[cdlistening]

IST, 'A More Attractive Way: disc 3 (17/02/1998)' CD (Confront)

Monday, January 3, 2022, 7:28pm (full listen)

Still slowly moving through this excellent box set of IST live recordings. I'd been initially quite wrong about what the general modus operandi of this group was - they're not completely the austere lowercase improv group I'd thought they were - and, as if to drive that home even further, this concert is definitely the closest I've heard them get to what one might consider classic UK-style free improv, typified by a high degree of instrumental abstraction, a somewhat linear progression to the pacing (no start quiet, get loud, end quiet business here), an obviously high degree of interactive listening, and deeply virtuosic playing, which can in lesser hands be difficult to detect with instruments like prepared harp, cello, and double bass. The presence of guest John Butcher here is welcome; he fits perfectly into the music, as usual, and really makes me want to hear the other expanded IST mentioned in the liner notes, with Tom Chant and Mark Sanders.

[cdlistening]

IST, 'A More Attractive Way' CD box set, disc 2 (Confront)

Thursday, August 12, 2021, 7:35pm (full listen)

I'm not sure who exactly I had this trio confused with before I got this set; perhaps it was the group VHF, which also counts Simon H. Fell as a member, and is possibly (having releases on Erstwhile) a more minimally-inclined trio? IST is certainly not minimal; in fact their wide-ranging approach to improv is vaguely kitchen sink-y, but now that I know what to expect, I'm quite enjoying it. The harp is a great improv instrument, and someone (guessing Wastell) is engaging with a lot of percussive action on this; very good, and looking forward to moving further into this box set.

[cdlistening]

IST, 'A More Attractive Way' CD box set, disc 1 (Confront Core Series)

Sunday, July 4, 2021, 6:45pm (full listen)

This beautiful box commemorates not only the 25th anniversary of the group, but also the passing of Simon H. Fell last year. Lovely packaging and great liner notes provide a great backdrop to hours of this fine string trio (harp, cello, and double bass, with a plethora of preparations) who cover a huge amount of ground in the realm of free improvisation. Going to have a fine old time working through this beast of a release.