ReR TH2
THE ROAD TO ERZIN
GUSHe
THE CRACKLE OF FORESTS
M'A
Tim Hodgkinson's new album is another intense collision of contemporary classical music and rock energy, the latest in a series he initiated with 'Each in his own Thoughts' and 'Pragma'. Perhaps best known as a founder member of seminal avant rock group HENRY COW, Tim has since displayed many personalities: as an angry post punk Hawaiian guitarist in THE WORK, as post-noise/end of the world jazz explorer in GOD, and as a "free" improviser, as on his recent tour with KONK PACK. He was outed as a classical composer In 1994 with the release of "Each In Our Own thoughts", which partly drew on material originally conceived for Henry Cow, and introduced new pieces composed with sampler and computer.
The combination of played, sampled and computerised material was further developed in 1998's 'Pragma', leading to suggestions of a new all embracing musical language. This language has found its perfect expression in Sang, and the four major compositions show a maturity in Tim's writing which is extremely impressive. THE ROAD TO ERZIN pits a crazed solo viola against electronics, with a supporting cast of piano, saxophone and percussion. It is a tribute to the musicians of central Asia, where Tim has travelled extensively. GUSHe takes its inspiration from Iranian modes, conceived as a repertoire of motifs; a b flat clarinet does business with a backdrop of processed electric guitar and drums. THE CRACKLE OF FORESTS is the climactic centre of the album, a high-octane orchestral attack that flattens the listener with its mad complexities and frantic cross rhythms. The album concludes with M'A, a montage piece which draws material from Tim's composition EXAM, for wind orchestra, and fragments of his second string quartet. Centre stage is the voice of Federica Santoro, whose extraordinary vocals are processed and then catapulted into a strange world of competing orchestras, percussion and sound effects.
What is so effective in Tim's recent work is the requisitioning of rock production techniques; through the use of sampling and sound manipulation, the virtual orchestra hits the speakers with unprecedented force. What might seem a contradictory vision emerges as a wonderful amalgamation of composed, improvised, electronic, computerised and yet intuitive music.
"Not all great composers are dead. Some of them even appear in public as rock musicians. Tim Hodgkinson is such a composer" BOSTON ROCK
"Experimental music at its most urgent and exciting" THE WIRE