The Squid's Ear Magazine


Valid Tractor (Pat Thomas / Dominic Lash / Lawrence Casserley): On The Validity Of Tractors (FMR)

Each track on this album is named for a tractor brand (Eicher, Kubota, &c.) and the liner notes are directions regarding a tractor's maintenance, as the ea-trio of UK improvisers Pat Thomas on piano & electronics, Dominic Lash on double bass, and Lawrence Casserley on a signal processing instrument provide 10 inventive improvisations that validate a sound working condition.
 

Price: $14.95


Quantity:

Out of Stock
Reordered on 11/17/2024

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 3.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Pat Thomas-piano, electronics

Dominic Lash-double bass

Lawrence Casserley-electronics


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Label: FMR
Catalog ID: 515-1018
Squidco Product Code: 26890

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2018
Country: UK
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded in the Singing Barn at Piggotts, in Buckinghamshire, England, UK, on July 3rd, 2013, by Matt Saunders.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

It's unclear where the obsession for tractors comes from, but the tracks on this album are each named for a tractor brand (Eicher, Yanmar, Kubota, &c.) and the liner notes give directions for validating a tractor's maintenance, as the ea-trio of UK improvisers Pat Thomas on piano & electronics, Dominic Lash on double bass, and Lawrence Casserley on a signal processing instrument provide 10 iexperimental improvisations that validate their excellent working condition. To work a pun, the resulting music, captured appropriately at Singing Barn at Piggots in Buckinghamshire in 2013 are beyond serviceable, and warrant your open ears as they explore the inner workings of their inventive machinations.


Artist Biographies

"Born 27 July 1960; Piano, electronics. Pat Thomas started playing at the age of 8 and studied classical music and played reggae. He began playing jazz at sixteen after seeing Oscar Peterson on television then listened to snatches of jazz on the radio before, in 1979, playing his first serious improvised gigs. From 1986 he played with Ghosts which was Pete McPhail and Matt Lewis.

In addition to programming his keyboards, Pat Thomas also utilises prerecorded tapes. He told Chris Blackford (1991), 'As far as the tapes are concerned I'll probably just sit in front of the TV and tape whatever's going on and so some editing afterward to decide what might be useful. ...But I don't actually put a label on each tape saying what's on there, so when I come to use them I don't know what I'm going to be playing. That obviously prevents me from setting things up. I pick them at random and see what happens. So I'm just as surprised as anybody else at what comes out'.

In 1988 he was awarded an Arts Council Jazz Bursary to write three new electroacoustic compositions for his ten-piece ensemble, Monads: Roger Turner and Matt Lewis, percussion; Pete McPhail, WX7 wind synthesizer; Neil Palmer, turntables; Phil Minton, voice; Phil Durrant, violin; Marcio Mattos, bass; Jon Corbett, trumpet; Geoff Searle, drum machines. The intention was to feature different aspects of electronics using improvisation so, for example, one piece - Dialogue - featured Pete McPhail and Neil Palmer, another concentrated on the interaction of percussionists and drum machines, and a third piece had Phil Minton and Jon Corbett improvising with a computer. The pieces were performed at the Crawley Outside-In Festival of new music in 1989.

Pat Thomas was invited by Derek Bailey to play in Company Week in 1990 and 1991 and he also took part in the Ist International Symposium for Free Improvisation in Bremen with the guitarist. He has been a member of the Tony Oxley Quartet (documented on Incus CD 15) and played in Oxley's Angular Apron along with Larry Stabbins, Manfred Schoof and Sirone at the 8th Ruhr Jazz Meeting and in the percussionist's Celebration Orchestra. He plays with Lol Coxhill in a range of combinations from duo to being a member of 'Before my time', is a member of Mike Cooper's Continental Drift, and he has a well established duo with percussionist Mark Sanders and a trio with Steve Beresford and Francine Luce. In 1992 Pat Thomas formed the quartet Scatter with Phil Minton, Roger Turner and Dave Tucker; funded by the Arts Council they toured the UK in 1993 and again at the beginning of 1997.

On the 'Festival circuit', Pat Thomas has appeared at: the Young Improvisors Festival at the Korzo Theatre, Den Haag (with Jim O'Rourke, Mats Gustafsson and Alexander Frangenheim); Angelica 95 in Bologna, Italy; the Stuttgart 5th Festival of Improvised Music 96 (with Fred Frith, Shelly Hirsch, Carlos Zingaro and others); and the 3rd International Festival 96 in Budapest (with Evan Parker, Phil Minton, John Russell and Roger Turner).

-EFI (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mthomas.html)
11/20/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Born Cambridge, England, in January 1980; played bass guitar since 1994; studied with Hugh Boyd and Pascha Milner and at Basstech (London) with Rob Burns, Terry Gregory and others. Played double bass since 2001; basically self taught, with grateful thanks to Simon H. Fell. First class BA in English Literature from Oxford University (2002). Received MA Composition from Oxford Brookes University in 2003, having studied with Paul Whitty, Ray Lee and others. Received PhD from Brunel University in 2010, having studied the work of Derek Bailey, Helmut Lachenmann and JH Prynne and been supervised by Richard Barrett and John Croft."

-Dominic Lash Website (http://dominiclash.blogspot.com/p/dominic-lash_5.html)
11/20/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Lawrence Casserley (born UK, 1941) has devoted his professional career, as composer, conductor and performer, to real time electroacoustic music. In 1967 he became one of the first students of Electronic Music at the Royal College of Music, London, UK, on the new course taught by Tristram Cary. Later he became Professor-in-Charge of Studios and Adviser for Electroacoustic Music at the RCM, before taking early retirement in 1995.

He is best known for his work in free improvised music, particularly real-time processing of other musicians' sound, and he has devised a special computer processing instrument for this work (picture above). He has worked with many of the finest improvisers, particularly Evan Parker, with whom he works frequently as a duo partner, in various larger groupings and in the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble. He also works as a soloist, processing sounds from voice, percussion and home-made instruments. CDs have been released by ECM, Konnex, Leo Records, Psi, Sargasso and Touch.

Much of Casserley's work has involved collaboration with other art forms, including poets, eg Bob Cobbing, and visual artists, including Colourscape artist Peter Jones. He is a Director of the Colourscape Music Festivals, presenting contemporary music in the unique environment of the Colourscape walk-in sculpture. He also collaborates with Peter Jones on sound/light installations.

Casserley's "instrumental" approach to live computer sound processing is the hallmark of his work; the Signal Processing Instrument allows him to use physical gestures to control the processing and to direct the morphology of the sounds. This is the culmination of forty years of experience in the performance of live electronic work; his earliest live electronic pieces were performed in 1969, and he has performed many of the live electronic "classics" of the 20th century; he has also collaborated with other composers to realise their electronic performance ideas. He is noted for the breadth and variety of his collaborations, which cross styles and generations."

-Lawrence Casserley Website (http://www.lcasserley.co.uk/biography.shtml)
11/20/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Kubota 5:29

2. McCormick 2:55

3. Claas 2:48

4. Mahindra 3:48

5. Kioti 11:21

6. Sonalika 4:35

7. Eicher 8:29

8. Yanmar 4:42

9. Agco 3:50

10. Jinma 3:16

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Trio Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
FMR.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Other Recommended Releases:
Ericson, Sture / Pat Thomas / Raymond Strid
Bagman Live at Cafe Oto
(577 Records)
The first trio collaboration between London pianist and innovator Pat Thomas and Swedish improvisers, Sture Ericson on saxophones, and Raymond Strid on drums, performing live at Cafe OTO in London in 2019 for four improvised soundscapes about the fictional character "Bagman", using extended and prodigious technique with both disruptive and melodic intentions.
Lash, Dominic Quartet (w / Carmona / Tejero / Ward)
Limulus
(Spoonhunt)
Honing their conversation in their third release as a band, British double bassist Dominic Lash's Quartet with Javier Carmona on drums & percussion, Ricardo Tejero on alto saxophone and Alex Ward on electric guitar are heard live at Cafe OTO in London, Lash providing all compositions and arrangements over six wide-ranging, edgy and innovative improvisations; outstanding!
Tucker, Dave / Pat Thomas / Thurston Moore / Mark Sanders
Educated Guess Vol. 1 [VINYL]
(577 Records)
The "guess" was guitarist and electronics artist Dave Tucker's educated guess that these four musicians--himself, pianist/keyboardist Pat Thomas, guitarist Thurston Moore and drummer/percussionist Mark Sanders--would create someting extraordinary if he brought them together for a concert at London's Cafe OTO, this boundary-pushing album the indisputably successful result.
Tucker, Dave / Pat Thomas / Thurston Moore / Mark Sanders
Educated Guess Vol. 1
(577 Records)
The "guess" was guitarist and electronics artist Dave Tucker's educated guess that these four musicians--himself, pianist/keyboardist Pat Thomas, guitarist Thurston Moore and drummer/percussionist Mark Sanders--would create someting extraordinary if he brought them together for a concert at London's Cafe OTO, this boundary-pushing album the indisputably successful result.
Locals, The (Thomas, Ward / Thomas / Lash / Hasson-Davis)
The Locals Play The Music Of Anthony Braxton
(Discus)
An upbeat and energetic performance at the Konfrontation Festival, Ulrichsberg in 2006, featuring six early compositions by Anthony Braxton, arranged by pianist Pat Thomas and performed by the quintet of superb improvisers and interpreters Alex Ward on clarinet, Evan Thomas on electric guitar, Dominic Lash on electric bass, and Darren Hasson-Davis on drums.
Arcturus (Jean Nichel Van Schouwburg / Lawrence Cassserely / Yoko Miura
Sverdrup Balance On Tour
(FMR)
A collection of live recordings from Sverdrup Balance, the trio of Lawrence Casserley on signal processing instrument, Yoko Miura on piano & Melodeon, and Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg on voice, recorded during their 2019 autumn tour in U.K., Belgium and North Italy, a skewed but generally optimistic group of ea- and voice improvisers with a wealth of creative inspirations.
Thomas, Pat / Dominic Lash / Tony Orrell
BleySchool [VINYL]
(577 Records)
Referencing the deceptively simple and memorable melodies of pianist Paul Bley, the trio of Pat Thomas on piano, Dominic Lash on double bass, and Tony Orrell on drums & percussion pay homage to the late pianist through his own work, plus compositions from Cara Bley, Ornette Coleman, Duke Ellington, and one collective improvisation; a sensitive and lyrical modern jazz album.
Musson, Rachel / Pat Thomas / Mark Sanders
Shifa: Live at Cafe Oto [VINYL + DOWNLOAD]
(577 Records)
"Shifa", or "Healing", is the London-based trio of saxophonist Rachel Musson, pianist Pat Thomas, and drummer Mark Sanders, here in a live concert at Cafe Oto in 2018 of two collective improvisations of arching sax lines, rolling and potent drumming, powerful block chords and intricate lines, from dark to joyful moments, an intoxicating tonic for the ears.
Shock Troops
Central Dada Time
(FMR)
Recorded in 1989 and only now released, this studio album includes Pat Thomas on keys & electronics in a sextet with guitar & bass, synth, turntables, electronic wind instruments, drum machines, samplers, &c., merging ea-improv approaches with disruptively odd asides, fragmented voices, and swelling interventions, making something otherworldly out of then-revelatory technology.
Nauseef, Mark
All In All In all
(Relative Pitch)
Influenced by rock, jazz, Javanese and Balinese gamelan, NY drummer Mark Nauseef's career has embraced an inclusive blending of styles, heard in this fantastic new album embracing compositional and ea styles, recorded with previous collaborators including Tony Oxley, Bill Laswell, Walter Quintus, along with Sylvie Courvoisier, Pat Thomas, Miroslav Tadic, & Arthur Jarvinen.
Corringham, Viv / Lawrence Casserley
Anemoi
(FMR)
Lawrence Casserley is a pioneer of real time electroacoustic music, since the 60s working with other artists and developing his Signal Processing Instrument, using physical gestures to process and morph sounds; here he works with British vocalist and Deep Listening teacher Viv Corringham in an other-worldly collaboration of voice and electonics.
Holy Quintet, The (Change / Drouin / Lash / Lazardiou / Ryan)
Borough
(Mikroton Recordings)
The meeting of Johnny Chang (viola), Jamie Drouin (suitcase modular synth), Dominic Lash (double bass), Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga(zither, and David Ryan (bass clarinet) recording at Bourough welsh Congregational Chapel, in London in 2013, recorded by Another Timbre label leader Simon Reynell, for a unique merging of disparate approaches to ea-improv.
Cundy, Chris
Gustav Lost
(FMR)
A melodic set of improvisations composed by bass clarinetist Chris Cundy, using approaches for songwriting to create compelling jazz compositions, in a band with Fyfe Dangerfield on piano, Mat Martin on guitar, Hannah Marshall on cello, Mark Sanders on drums and Dominic Lash on bass.
Wachsman / Thomas / Turner / Frangenheim
Gateway '97
(Creative Sources)
An excellent quartet of UK and European improvisers recording at Gateway Studio, London in 1997, a set of 8 intriguing recordings emphasizing the acoustics end of free improvisation with accented electronic interventions.
Articles, The (Thomas / Gustafsson / Turner)
Goodbye Silence
(FMR)
The trio of Mats Gustafsson on saxophone and electronics, keyboardist Pat Thomas and percussionist Roger Turner performing live in Derby in 1998, a challenging and fascinating set.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Koch, Hans / Paul Lovens
Nephlokokkygia 1992
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
1992 live performances demonstrating masterful freedom in improvisation, recorded while on their first tour as a duo after working together in larger ensembles, from Hans Koch on clarinet, bass clarinet and tenor & soprano saxophones, and Paul Lovens on drums, cymbals, gongs & musical saw, in four live improvisations from Bulgaria presented in the order recorded.
Wachsmann, Philipp / Trevor Taylor / Paul Medley / Matthew Hutchinson
Old Dreams New Horizons
(FMR)
Quartet, trio and duo sessions between Paul Medley on alto saxophone & bass clarinet, Trevor Taylor on percussion & electronics, Matthew Hutchinson on piano, and Philipp Wachsmann on violin & electronics; improv and ea-improv that uses space and patient pacing, merging approaches from Circuit Electro-Acoustic Ensemble with an overall acoustic chamber feel--beautiful.
Angles 9
Beyond Us
(Clean Feed)
Now a distinct edition of saxophonist Martin Kuchen's concept, the Angles 9 ensemble is captured live at the Zomer Jazz Fiets Tour in The Netherlands in 2018, performing Kuchen's embraceable and lyrical compositions, allowing his masterful band--including Magnus Broo, Johan Berthling, Mattias Stahl, &c.--great opportunities for collective playing and profound soloing.
Tomlinson, Alan Trio
Inside Out
(FMR)
A live performance at IKLECTIK in London in 2018 from trombonist Alan Tomlinson's inventive trio with Phillip Marks on drums & percussion and Dave Tucker on electric guitar, with special guest John Edwards joining on bass violin for the title track, in a superb display of free jazz led by an essential member of the London free jazz scene since the 70s.
Brighton, Ian
Marsh Gas [REISSUE]
(FMR)
Reissuing the 1977 album from UK guitarist Ian Brighton, written as an instrumental story for children, apparently very sophisticated children, in a mix of composed and freely improvised passages, using non-idiomatic approaches with unusual and extended techniques, open atmospheric passages and strange transitions, a peculiar and wonderful album of imaginative playing.
Dunmall, Paul / Philip Gibbs / James Owston / Jim Bashford
Inner And Outer
(FMR)
Paul Dunmall's 2018 studio album in a quartet with James Owston on bass, Jim Bashford on drums, Philip Gibbs on guitar, and Dunmall on tenor saxophone, Gibbs's hollow-body opening up the band sound as Owston and Bashford trade rapid responses or provide solid grooves, the themes of the dialogs focused on space and time through intricate, complex and profound interaction.
Dunmall / Siegel / Pursglove / Sanders
As One Does
(FMR)
Two saxophones take the front line in Paul Dunmall's 2018 studio album, the leader on tenor saxophone with fellow tenor player Julian Siegel, also on bass clarinet, while Mark Sanders drums and Percy Pursglove handles bass and also trumpet, as the band falls into a hard bop mode, weaving lines together over wonderfully turbulent and soulful grooves; outstanding.
Chrysakis, Thanos / Sue Lynch / James O'Sullivan / Joe Wright
Iridescent Strand
(Aural Terrains)
Very much in an AMM mold of electroacoustic improvisation, this album of intense cooperation and sonic depth presents five sections numbered by Roman numerals, performed in the studio by the adept and investigative quintet of Thanos Chrysakis on computer & synthesizers, Sue Lynch on reeds, James O'Sullivan on guitar, and Joe Wright on sax & dynamic feedback system.
Butcher, John / Philippe Lauzier / Eric Normand
How Does This Happen?
(Ambiances Magnetiques)
The Montreal free improvising, experimenting duo "Not The Music" of bassist Eric Norman & bass clarinetist Philippe Lauzier invited UK saxophonist John Butcher for concerts in Ottawa and Montreal, recording the two impressive 5-part series heard on this album--"en consequence" (consequently) and "par irruption" (by bursting), of masterful and profoundly pensive prowess.
Drone Trio (Davis / Frith / Greenlief)
Lantskap Logic
(Clean Feed)
Recording in the Bay Area at the Mills College Chapel in Oakland, the Drone Trio of Fred Frith on electric guitar, Phillip Greenlief using extended techniques on alto & tenor saxophones, and Evelyn Davis on the Chapel's pipe organ, use the natural resonance of the chapel and their masterful skills as improvisers to evolve fervid and powerfully sonorous environments.
Timespine (Sa / Kilma / Trips)
Urban Season
(Shhpuma)
Resonant and upbeat exploratory free improvisation in the 2nd album from the Portuguese trio of Dead Combo guitarist To Trips, and String Theory members, Adrian Sa on zither, field recordings & reactive software and John Klima on electric fretless bass, in beautifully rambling melodic work with unusual sonic environments and asides, an appealing and absorbing album.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC