Three previously unreleased works by composer Phil Niblock--Index" (1969); "Tenor" (1972); "Boston III" (1972)--plus an earlier version, "Boston I", all rich works of microtones, overtones, and drones that point to the direction of his subsequent work; "Boston III" was recorded with Rhys Chatham (flute, voice), Martin Bough (tenor saxophone), and Gregory Reeve (viola, voice).
In Stock
Quantity in Basket: None
Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units
Sample The Album:
Phill Niblock-composer
Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.
Edition of 300 copies in digipak sleeve, including an 8-page booklet with photos and liner notes.
UPC: 769791985780
Label: Alga Marghen
Catalog ID: NMN 175CD
Squidco Product Code: 34455
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: Italy
Packaging: Digipack w/ booklet
Recorded in NYC and Boston, between 1969 amd 19 72.
"Boston/Tenor/Index presents for the first time some of the earliest works by the American composer Phil Niblock, including the three never before released "Index" (1969), "Tenor" and "Boston III" (both from 1972), thus making it possible to discover Niblock's starting point as a composer. Until now, it's been impossible to encounter Niblock's compositions from earlier than the '80s, a reality thankfully rectified by the long overdue publication of this Boston/Tenor/Index, now on CD from Alga Marghen.
"Tenor" (1972) represents the first evolution of Niblock's musical thought towards the aesthetics of microtones, overtones, and drones which the composer would develop in following decades. The piece was recorded by the photographer Martin Bough on tenor saxophone and gradually dubbed back and forth by the composer in his New York studio. The audio materials activated in "Tenor" through technologically de- and re-composed sounding textures, became a vehicle for those sound anomalies that would determine Niblock's audio poetics. Performing gestures are deconstructed though disseminating and editing processes by the imperceptible gestures of the composer.
With its smooth flowing structure, "Boston III" (1972) stands at the very beginning of this illusion. It was recorded at the Intermedia Sound studio in Boston with Rhys Chatham (flute, voice), Martin Bough (tenor saxophone), and Gregory Reeve (viola, voice); the composer himself also contributed with his voice.
"Index" (1969) is an improvised sound performance by the composer himself. The listener is lucky to listen to the movements of the artist's fingers hitting a guitar string and the soundboard in breathtaking tempo. The piece itself represents early minimalism in its virgin state, untouched by distancing technology. Guitar (both its body and strings), fingers and fingering fuse in a vehement action around which barely listenable sounds and resonances vibrate. This CD also includes "Boston I" (1972), or the first chapter of the "Boston" series. This 25-minute bonus track is less massive than "Boston III," but this version is much richer in dynamics and presents a more recognizable voice of each instrument. The music changes according to the loudness of playback. The interaction of the upper harmonics changes especially, with much richer overtone patterns being produced at louder levels.
The CD includes a bonus "Boston I" (1972) compared to vinyl edition, it's the first chapter of the "Boston" series. This 25 minute bonus track is less massive than "Boston III"; still this version is much richer in dynamics and presents a more recognizable voice of each instrument."-Alga Marghen
Edition of 300 copies in digipak sleeve, including an 8-page booklet with photos and liner notes.
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Phill Niblock "Phill Niblock is a New York-based minimalist composer and multi-media musician and director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation born in the flames of 1968's barricade-hopping. He has been a maverick presence on the fringes of the avant garde ever since. In the history books Niblock is the forgotten Minimalist. That's as maybe: no one ever said the history books were infallible anyway. His influence has had more impact on younger composers such as Susan Stenger, Lois V Vierk, David First, and Glenn Branca. He's even worked with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo on "Guitar two, for four" which is actually for five guitarists. This is Minimalism in the classic sense of the word, if that makes sense. Niblock constructs big 24-track digitally-processed monolithic microtonal drones. The result is sound without melody or rhythm. Movement is slow, geologically slow. Changes are almost imperceptible, and his music has a tendency of creeping up on you. The vocal pieces are like some of Ligeti's choral works, but a little more phased. And this isn't choral work. "A Y U (as yet untitled)" is sampled from just one voice, the baritone Thomas Buckner. The results are pitch shifted and processed intense drones, one live and one studio edited. Unlike Ligeti, this isn't just for voice or hurdy gurdy. Like Stockhausen's electronic pieces, Musique Concrete, or even Fripp and Eno's No Pussyfooting, the role of the producer/composer in "Hurdy Hurry" and "A Y U" is just as important as the role of the performer. He says: "What I am doing with my music is to produce something without rhythm or melody, by using many microtones that cause movements very, very slowly." The stills in the booklet are from slides taken in China, while Niblock was making films which are painstaking studies of manual labour, giving a poetic dignity to sheer gruelling slog of fishermen at work, rice-planters, log-splitters, water-hole dredgers and other back-breaking toilers. Since 1968 Phill has also put on over 1000 concerts in his loft space, including Ryoji Ikeda, Zbigniew Karkowski, Jim O'Rourke." ^ Hide Bio for Phill Niblock
8/7/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Boston III 25:22
2. Tenor 13:14
3. Index 7:45
4. Boston I 25:03
Compositional Forms
Electro-Acoustic
Sound, Noise, &c.
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Solo Artist Recordings
New in Compositional Music
New in Experimental & Electronic Music
Recent Releases and Best Sellers
Search for other titles on the label:
Alga Marghen.
| Niblock, Phill Boston Tenor Index (Alga Marghen) |
| Three previously unreleased works by composer Phil Niblock--Index" (1969); "Tenor" (1972); "Boston III" (1972)--plus an earlier version, "Boston I", all rich works of microtones, overtones, and drones that point to the direction of his subsequent work; "Boston III" was recorded with Rhys Chatham (flute, voice), Martin Bough (tenor saxophone), and Gregory Reeve (viola, voice). | |
 | Niblock, Phill Working Touch [USB CARD] (Touch) |
| A massive archive of drone & ambient composer Phill Niblock's films and music, from recordings made between 2013 and 2016 in festivals and studios around the world, orchestrated with primarily acoustic instruments using rich and closely related harmonics, paired with moving images of people from around the world engaged in work; hypnotic and engrossing. | |
 | Niblock, Phill Ghosts And Others (Room40) |
| An engrossing set of compositions through field recordings captured around the globe, transitioning by passages of trains, trucks and cars and accompanied by unusual percussive elements and strange melodies, as Niblock invites us to a funeral procession, a collective farm, and untold other exotic and fascinating streets and unexpected environments. | |
 | Various Artists State of the Union 2.001 [3 CD BOX SET] (Electronic Music Foundation) |
| Originally released in 2001, Elliott Sharp's production of this 3-CD set collects 171 1-minute pieces from international artists over a vast field of musical approaches, with contributors including Christian Marclay, Eric Mingus, Fred Frith, Harry Smith, Henry Kaiser, Ikue Mori, Jack Womack, Jad Fair, Joey Baron, Marc Ribot, Merzbow, Phill Niblock, Zeena Parkins, &c. &c. | |
 | Formanex w/ AMM / Christian Wolff / Keith Rowe / Ralf Wehowsky / John Tilbury / Phill Niblock / ONsemble / Seth Cluett / Radu Malfatti / Michael Pisaro / Julien Ottavi / Kasper T. Toeplitz 20 Years Of Experimental Music [10 CDS] (Mikroton Recordings) |
| Their first release in 2000 performing Cornelius Cardew's "Treatise", for 20 years the Formanex quartet of sound artists, conceptualists and experimenters Anthony Taillard, Christophe Havard, Emmanuel Leduc, and Julien Ottavi are heard here in collaborations with Keith Rowe, Kasper T. Toeplitz, Ralf Wehowsky, Seth Cluett, Michael Pisaro, Radu Malfatti, &c. | |
 | Modney (Modney / Wooley / Gentile / Roberts / Pluta / Symthe / ...) Ascending Primes [2 CDs] (Pyroclastic Records) |
| Exploring tuning systems and the extremes of harmonicity and dissonance through compositions that employ prime numbers of players in solo, trio, quintet, septet, and undectet (11) configurations, violinist Modney takes listeners into transcendent and turbulent spaces spanning improvisation and composition, detailed in a 24-page booklet with collages from Ellsworth Kelly. | |
 | Meehan, Sean Magazine (Sacred Realism) |
| Working only with a cowbell from a charity shop in NYC, percussionist Sean Meehan, whose performances often take place in locations of unique resonant properties, discovered the Fort Jay powder magazine at Governor's Island--a compartment once used to store ammunition and explosives--using its sonic properties to capture these two recordings reflecting the original purpose of that space. | |
 | Franek, John About The Color Of The Moon (Edition Wandelweiser Records) |
| An album of evocative electronic and acousmatic soundscapes from German composer, electronic artist and keyboardist John Franek, who performs the four pieces on this album on organ and electronics, interweaving rich harmonics with stark tones, melding his sounds in slowly evolving interaction, like beams of light piercing peaceful atmospheres. | |
 | Corner, Philip On Tape From The Judson Years (Alga Marghen) |
| Early tape collage works from Fluxus founder and member of the Experimental Media Foundation Philip Corner, five distinct pieces recorded and developed between 1962 to 1963 in New York's Lower East Side, including Lucinda Pastime" for a a dance piece by Lucinda Childs, and "Oracle, a Canata on Images of War" commissioned by the Living Theatre; includes a 16-page booklet. | |
 | Palestine, Charlemagne MMXX-06: VVVOOOODDDOOOO DDDDOOOOODDDDDOOOOO [CLEAR VINYL] (Matiere Memoire) |
| The expansive mind of composer and experimenter Charlemagne Palestine presents an extended drone work performed on organ, building from a peaceful single note to a harmonically rich combination of tones with a haunting vocal quality, subtly shifting and building in momentum then slowly fading out to the 20 minute mark; an epic journey in polyphonic transition. | |
 | Power, Ian Diligence (Edition Wandelweiser Records) |
| Two works for solo instrumentalists by Baltimore composer Ian Power, both written in 1984: "mahrem bir eser | a private work" using microtonal harmonics and electronic noise, performed by cellist Mariel Robers and recorded in 2016 at Brandeis Univeristy; and "swathe" using overtone and microtone performed by clarinetist Gleb Kanasevich and recorded in NYC in 2019. | |
 | Brown, Chris Retrospectacles [2 CDs] (fo'c'sle) |
| A fascinating 2-CD retrospective of the solo piano and computer work from 1990 to 2016 of San Francisco Bay Area experimental composer Chris Brown, whose work focuses on evolving paradigms of human-machine interaction through live signal processing, generative polyrhythmic textures, and a cohabitation of both formal control and indeterminacy. | |
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
 | Rave, Ada In Search Of A Real World (Relative Pitch) |
| A collection of sonic poems & images that are inspired by her search for a 'real world' — more tangible and less virtual — presented by Argentinian saxophonist based in Amsterdam, Ada Rave, performing on tenor, soprano & sopranino saxophones with differing preparations for each improvisation, while also being influenced by the native music of the Mapuche people and Argentinian folk music. | |
 | Chrysakis, Thanos Music For Trumpets, Bass Clarinets And Saxophones (Aural Terrains) |
| In configurations of solo to an 11-piece ensemble, Aural Terrain assembles great players including Tim Hodgkinson, Jason Alder, Yoni Silver, Chris Cundy, &c to perform works by composers John Cage, Gerard Grisley, Giacinto Scelsi, Thanos Chrysakis, Jule Kjaer and Tim Hodgkinson; seven acoustic compositions written between 1978 and 2022 that prominently feature horns as trumpets, clarinets and saxophones. | |
 | Parker, William / Cooper-Moore / Hamid Drake Heart Trio (Aum Fidelity) |
| A mesmerizing and organically spiritual album of collective improv from three global travelers based around the NY and Chicago scenes--long-time collaborators William Parker, Cooper-Moore and Hamid Drake--their instrumentation on this beautiful album also uniquely global, including doson ngoni, shakuhachi, bass dudek, Serbian flute, Ney flute, ashimba, hoe-handle harp and frame drum. | |
 | Surplus 1980 Illusion of Consistency [CD] (Surplus Industries) |
| Composed using an "exquisite corpse" method during the pandemic, where each player provided a partially complete track with instructions to expand their concept, enlisting an incredible set of musicians across the US & Europe, directed by Moe! Staiano, including Jesse Quattro, Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, GW Sok, Amy X Neuburg, Darren Johnston, &c &c. | |
 | Musicworks #148 Summer 2024 [MAGAZINE + CD] (Musicworks) |
| Summer 2024 issue of Canada's new music magazine, with composer & sound designer Stefana Fratila on the cover; plus articles on Evan Parker & Matthew Wright; Big Ears review; Filipino-Canadian composer Juro Kim Feliz; Brunswick composer & sound artist Charles Harding; the Canadian Afro-Cuban duo behind the ensemble Okan; plus album reviews, essays and a CD of tracks from artists in the magazine. | |
 | Lamb, Catherine Curva Triangulus (Another Timbre) |
| Inspired by the geometric and illusory work of artist Bridget Riley, Catherine Lamb's "Curva Triangulus" borrows from Renaissance music that she "warps" by interjecting geometric musical figures, performed by the Proton Ensemble of Bern using traditional, new and historic instruments, all underpinned by the 16th century microtonal Vicentino arciorgano organ. | |
 | London, Frank / The Elders Spirit Stronger Than Blood (ESP) |
| Paying homage to recordings from Mingus, Sanders, Thornton, &c, albums that shaped his approach to jazz composition and playing, trumpeter Frank London and his band The Elders--Marilyn Lerner, piano; Hilliard Greene, bass; Newman Taylor Baker, drums; and Greg Wall on sax on 3 tracks--perform six sophisticated London compositions that bridge modern improv with 60s post-bop lyricism. | |
 | WHO Trio (Hemingway / Wintsch / Oester) Live At Jazz Festival Willisau 2023 First Visit Live (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd) |
| Reimagining familiar and more obscure works of Duke Ellington through the lense of contemporary improvisation, including "Mood Indigo", "Black and Tan Fantasy", "Self Portrait of the Bean", "Burmingham Breakdown", &c., from the powerful Who Trio of Michel Wintsch on piano, Banz Oester on double bass and Gerry Hemingway on drums, captured live at the 2023 Jazz Festival Willisau. | |
 | Coleman, Ornette Free Jazz To Ornette! Revisited (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd) |
| Exploring further the concepts of free jazz, saxophonist Ornette Coleman's back-to-back 1961 & 62 albums find the composer and innovator in a ground-breaking double quartet that includes Eric Dolphy, Don Cherry & Freddie Hubbard, Scott LaFaro & Charlie Haden, and Billy Higgns & Ed Blackwell; then with quintet with Scott LaFaro temporarily taking Charlie Haden's chair. | |
 | Oxley, Tony Quintet Angular Apron (Corbett vs. Dempsey) |
| British percussionist Tony Oxley returned to this piece multiple times after debuting it in the early 1970s, drawing on both European improv and contemporary composed music, heard in this previously unreleased 1992 live performance with the superb quintet of legendary trumpeter & flugelhornist Manfred Schoof, UK pianist Pat Thomas, US bassist Sirone and UK saxophonist Larry Stabbins. | |
 | Terrazas, Wilfrido / Kyle Motl Seven Gifts (FMR) |
| Seven Gifts as an offering through seven improvisations between double bassist Kyle Motl (Peter Kuhn Trio, Kyle Motl Trio) and Mexican flutist Wilfrido Terrazas, transforming their instruments through texture and tone to draw imagistic and free flowing stories in each conversation, applying unique and evocative approaches to their dialogs. | |
 | Countryman / Toyozumi / Bates Lovely Tago (On A Sunday Night) (FMR) |
| The first of two performances at Tago Jazz in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines in 2024 between first generation Japanese free improv drummer Sabu Toyozumi, Malaysia-based bassist Richard Allan Bates, and Philippines-based alto saxophonist Rick Countryman, two contrasting sets from the first of a week of performances and studio recordings between three extraordinary collective players. | |
 | Countryman / Toyozumi / Bates Lovely Tago (On A Friday Night) (FMR) |
| The second of two performances at Tago Jazz in Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines in 2024 between first generation Japanese free improvisational drummer, Sabu Toyozumi, Malaysia-based bassist, Richard Allan Bates, and Philippines-based alto saxophonist, Rick Countryman, this energetic concert recorded after two days in the studio developing their collective sound. | |
 | Borca / R. Brown / W. Parker / Workman / Nicholson / Murphy / Ibarra / Taylor-Baker Good News Blues (NoBusiness) |
| A vital member of groups led by Jimmy Lyons, Bill Dixon, Cecil Taylor, Joe Morris and William Parker, bassoonist Karen Borca is heard in two Vision Festival performances under her own name performing her own compositions in trio, quartet and quintet formations with luminaries Rob Brown, William Parker, Reggie Nicholson, Susie Ibarra, Todd Nicholson, Paul Murphy and Newman Taylor-Baker. | |
