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Philip Gayle -
Mammoth Flower
CD
1. Mammoth Flower
2. ????? (minus inu)
3. Ceann Ruadh Tiresias
4. Zone (in three parts)
5. ???? (geketsutoketsu)
6. I Ain’t Got No Think
7. TN 35
bandcamp
pg: banjo, bass, cello, door, guitars, mandolin, percussion, piano, toy piano, voice, ukulele, waterphone
special guests: Shogo Ohshima alto sax on tracks 1 and 7, Shizka Ueda voice on
track 1, and Omusubisan and Fuuchan vocals on tracks 1, 6, and 7
Recorded and mixed at Beat Club Studios, Utsunomiya, Japan in April 2022
Mastered by Makoto Kubota (www.makotokubota.org)
Artwork by Kohei Akiba (www.instagram.com/kohei_akiba)
Front cover painting: Dragon
Inside cover painting: Figure
Artwork photographed by Toshiya Suda |
Reviews:
(Vital Weekly) t's been a long time since I reviewed 'Babanco Total' by Philip Gayle (Vital Weekly 815), and upon re-reading, I have no idea how it sounded, but it seemed to be using voice material. DM reviewed a CD in Vital Weekly 1154. Gayle has been active since the late 1990s and has several releases, mainly on Yabyum Productions and Family Vineyard. Gayle plays various instruments on this disc: banjo, bass, cello, door, guitars, mandolin, percussion, piano, toy piano, voice, ukulele and waterphone. There are also three guest players: Shogo Ohshima on alto saxophone, Shizka Ueda on voice, and Omusubisan Fuuchan on vocals. The latter on three pieces, the second on one and the first on two. They all appear on the long opening track, a whirlwind of sound. Everything is stuck inside a multitrack recorder and played simultaneously without a proper mix, so chaos prevails. It sounds very much like a free improvisation thing, and as such, maybe not my thing, but with the instruments as object approach, sitting next to chaotic excursions on the saxophone, this is something that extends beyond regular improvisation, I think; a bit more orchestral due to the number of sounds and instruments used. But then, I have to realise this piece contains four players, but the difference becomes apparent in the following pieces. There is no more extended density here, but the sounds open up, and there is a much sparser approach. Overtones ringing from objects played with a bow in both 'Minus Inu' and 'Ceann Ruadh Tiresias', a delicate moment of calm music after fifteen minutes of chaos. This is followed by more chaos, again about fifteen minutes long, but solo by Gayle, who uses the stereo spectrum
in full force; you can play this hearing only the left or only the right channel or in stereo; maybe that's why it's called 'Zone (In Three Parts)'. 'geketsutoketsu' is the final sparse one, before two short bursts of collaborative explosions. I enjoyed the variety here, which made the more die-hard improvised bits easier to digest. - Frans De Waard
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