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The Squid's Ear Magazine
April 9-13, 2025: Clean Feed 50% Sale! — 483 CDs & LPs at 50% off!


Borden, TJ / Steve Flato
In the Garden of Eating

Borden, TJ / Steve Flato: In the Garden of Eating (Full Spectrum)

Taking ironic inspiration from StockhausenÕs conceptual extremes, cellist Tyler J. Borden and guitarist Steve Flato fuse cello, microtonal guitar, modular synth, Gizmotron, and electronics in an absurdist yet introspective performance score, immersively weaving subtle textures and just-intonation harmonies shaped by physical and psychological excesses around food and discomfort.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Tyler J. Borden-cello, pedals

Steve Flato-micotonal guitar, Gizmotron, modular synth


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Label: Full Spectrum
Catalog ID: FS154
Squidco Product Code: 35951

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Sung Moon Recordings, by Andrew Esposito.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Originally conceived for a performance at the 2017 edition of the Slow SD festival at UCSD in San Diego, California, 'In the Garden of Eating' takes its core inspiration from Karlheinz Stockhausen's 'Gold Dust,' wherein the participating musicians are required to stay awake for an extended period of time prior to the performance. Borden and Flato's score instead calls for them to dine at The Olive Garden directly before the performance and consume of the restaurant's "endless" dishes until the point of physical discomfort - a calorically dense recontextualization of Stockhausen's vision.

"TJ asked me if we could fill a 2-hour slot at SlowSD and I was joking around to him and shot out the title 'In the Garden of Eating' as a dumb reference to both 'Inna-Gotta-Da-Vita' and the Garden of Eden," explained Flato via email. "I thought about that Stockhausen piece and placing physical and psychological extremes on the performer. The festival was about stillness, slowness - what would cause me to feel like that? Probably a large meal at the Olive Garden, one of my favorite terrible restaurants."

The version we present to you was recorded last year in Buffalo, NY and follows a slightly slimmed 75-minute version of the score built around varying patterns of microtonal just intonation intervals, as well as instructions on how to transition from section to section, thus providing opportunities for Borden and Flato to explore subtle deviations and side-roads along the way as the duo's microtonal guitar, cello, and various electronics glide across one other like so much cheap fettuccine alfredo.

In the years since the piece's inception, what began as a bit of an inside joke took on a deeper meaning. Flato now sees it as a meditation on his own disorders surrounding food, including diabetes, binge-eating disorder, and the use of food to relieve emotional distress.

"My diabetes was totally uncontrolled at the time of the original performance," recalled Flato. "No insulin nor medical treatment. I don't know whether it was some sort of self-test or a punishment, but I was in extreme discomfort up on stage. I was incredibly fatigued, and I think that comes off in the stillness of the music."

And so - we invite you to come in, have a seat, and don't forget, "when you're here, you're family."

Buon appetito!"-Full Spectrum


Artist Biographies

"Hailed for his "technically polished playing" as well as an "endless amount of musical knowledge and creativity", Tyler J. Borden is a rising force in the contemporary music landscape. A dedicated purveyor of modern music, Tyler has performed with many contemporary music luminaries such as the JACK Quartet, the Theater of Eternal Music Brass and String Band, the Slee Sinfonietta, Ensemble Offspring, Tony Conrad, Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, and Steve McCaffery. He has performed at the Soundways New Music Festival in St. Petersburg, June in Buffalo, the New Media Art and Sound Summit, and the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, and he has been a participant at the Lucerne Festival Academy and the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik. His performance of Witold Lutoslawski's "Cello Concerto" with the University at Buffalo Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Bassin was praised for how he "mastered the works intricacies with elegant grace." Currently, Tyler is a member of the [Switch~ Ensemble], a group dedicated to the performance of works that incorporate multimedia into live performance

Particularly committed to working directly with composers, Tyler has worked with several established composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, La Monte Young, Alvin Lucier, Phillippe Leroux, and Steven Mackey. He is particularly interested in the music of his generation and has worked extensively with many burgeoning young composers, such as Wojtek Blecharz, Zane Merritt, Ben Isaacs, Lena Nietfeld, and Matt Sargent. As a creative force, Tyler has been commissioned to write and perform by a variety of entities, including the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Hochstein Alumni Orchestra, and hammered dulcimer virtuoso Mitzie Collins He is also an active improviser, having performed in that capacity throughout North America and Europe, and he his improvisations are included in Guggenheim Fellow Kasumi's film "Shockwaves".

Tyler received his BM at Ithaca College, where he studied with Elizabeth Simkin and he received his MM at the University at Buffalo, where he studied with Jonathan Golove. Throughout his studies, Tyler has had the great fortune to be coached by many wonderful artists such as Irvine Arditti, Lucas Fels, Eric-Maria Couturier, Eric Huebner, Marcus Weiss, Rhonda Rider, Joel Krosnick, Peter Wiley,and Gil Kalish, as well as members of the Ying, Jupiter, and Borromeo string quartets. Currently, he is working towards his DMA at UC San Diego with Charles Curtis."

-Tyler J. Borden Website (https://tylerjbordean.com/bio/)
4/9/2025

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

Steve Flato is an electronic artists who has released alsubms on Lengua de Lava, Tape Drift, Kendra Steiner Editions, Copy for Your Records and more.

-Squidco 4/9/2025

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


Track Listing:



1. When You're Here 16:39

2. Complex Carbohydrate 14:29

3. The Endless Breadstick 21:19

4. Tour of Italy 18:34

Related Categories of Interest:


Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Guitarists, &c.
Stringed Instruments
West Coast/Pacific US Jazz
Duo Recordings
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New in Improvised Music
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The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

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