Splatter Trio - Splatter Trio (RASTASCAN RECORDS 2018)

Guitarist Myles Boisen likens a Splatter Trio show to watching an artist paint: "...you get to see us creating our art in front of you rather than offering prepackaged musical experiences." 

The name of the band reflects the messy act of creation: "We chose the name 'Splatter' because that's what we wanted the music to be like. Painterly, but also kind of bloody... half-Pollock and half-Peckinpah." 

Splatter formed after saxophonist Dave Barrett (then a member of Club Foot Orchestra) saw a 1987 performance of John Zorn's Cobra Ensemble that included Myles and Gino. Years of collective experience with the likes of Anthony Braxton, ROVA Saxophone Quartet, Snakefinger, Fred Frith, and Dead Kennedys gave the three exceptional skill with experimentation and improvisation. 

Rather than being slaves to song structure, they play with it. Gino calls structure "our main material, like sonic playdough... as if the playdough just sort of appears as we play." Myles says, "We don't get lost, but we also don't know where we're going." 

When these musicians play together, they seem intent on surprising and delighting each other. They typically have no set list; instead, one of them starts playing something and the others play whatever makes sense at the time, sometimes complementing the other musicians, sometimes going off in a completely different direction. The result gives the audience a constantly changing stream of squawks, beats, swirls, jokes, splashes, and noise, an improv soundtrack for the listener's own private contribution. 

"When the musicians play together each goes his own way, but they meet from time to time."

Cambodian proverb

Dave Barrett: saxophones, other winds, black eye

Myles Boisen: doubleneck electric guitar/bass, Casio

Gino Robair: drums, marimba

1. If Then 00:37

2. Crumple 01:36

3. Progress 01:24

4. Angry Instances 01:10

5. Splatter Waltz 03:00

6. Music (for Mingus) 05:19

7. Garden 03:27

8. Peck 'n Paw 01:53

9. Sunda 05:11

10. Python 05:43

11. Burnt Norton 01:53

12. '66 Station Wagon Theme 01:53

13. Cigarettes 04:43

14. Jesus deSade 04:32

15. Islam in Berdoo 06:08

16. Above Paradise 03:18

17. Outdiana 05:55

18. Shit Hits The Fan 02:58

19. KPFA Theme 00:12

20. Sheesh (Monk's Dilemma) 01:11

21. Dissolve/I Found My Thrill (for Miki) 03:07

22. Sludge Hiatus 02:28

23. If Then (Brief Reprise) 00:05

Splatter Trio - Anagrams (RASTASCAN RECORDS 2018)

"Like the soundtrack to an insect's thoughts before, during and after it hits the windshield."

--Gavin Report 

"Fun noise, the brilliance of chance exuberance, the mysteries of communication - that's all here."

--S.F. Weekly

What happens when you take the basic elements of your tunes and reorganize them as you play? That was the basic operating principle of the Splatter Trio at the time this album was recorded. 

Using the anagram as a metaphor, Splatter regularly juxtaposed its melodies, riffs, chord progressions and beats in new and unexpected ways during each performance. Songs were rarely played the same way twice, and the results often lead to the creation of new tunes. 

Describing the band's approach on this album, the poet Steve Benson wrote "The whole is an explosion of the sum of its parts' incongruence."

Dave Barrett: saxophones, saxcello, ocarina, DX-7

Myles Boisen: doubleneck guitar/bass, Casio

Gino Robair: drums, percussion, sampler, radio

1. Three Tests for Detecting a Lack of Control 04:19

2. Urban Ethnic 04:26

3. 11/02 #4 Stretched 01:18

4. Matching Tye (for Eddie Prevost) 04:32

5. Twilight Erie 03:37

6. We Are Ordinary, C'mere 03:55

7. Splatter vs. The Titans 03:05

8. 1920 06:50

9. SatUrN ReseArch 02:52

10. El Cerrito 01:17

11. Tango Big Boy 04:26

12. Sin Wing Swinging 05:55

13. Field of Lost Edges 03:55

14. The Pardon Me Shower 00:56

15. Dear Jonathan 06:57

16. Not For Strangers 06:18

Splatter 3+N - Clear The Club (RASTASCAN RECORDS 2018)

Clear the Club began as a series of studio-based jams by Splatter 3+3, which added Michaelle Goerlitz, Len Paterson, and Dave Slusser to the Splatter Trio. Other friends were invited to do overdubs and snippets of live and studio recordings were added. 

Produced by the Splatter Trio. Basic tracks engineered by Joshua Heller. Mixing and additional engineering by Myles Boisen and Gino Robair at Guerrilla Recording and Solitary Confinement. Mastered by Myles Boisen at the Headless Buddha Mastering Lab, Oakland, CA. 

Synthspotter: Buchla Electric Music Box on track 2; transistor organ on track 3; Maestro theremin on track 4; Oberheim OB-8 on tracks 3 and 14: Moog Sonic Six on track 5; Analogue Systems and Blacet synth modules on track 15.

Splatter Trio:

Dave Barrett—saxophones, saxello

Myles Boisen—guitar/bass doubleneck, sonics

Gino Robair—drums, synths, keyboards, theremin, guitar

with

Michaelle Goerlitz—percussion

Len Paterson—guitar

Dave Slusser—saxophone, Slussomatic

Sheldon Brown—reeds

J.A. Deane—live sampling

Chris Grady—trumpet

Mark Growden—reeds

Jake Rivera—bass

John Shiurba—guitar

Ellie Schoenwetter—bass

1. Top of the Hour 00:48

2. Michaelle's Theme 05:10

3. Ruminations 07:51

4. Space Calculated in Seconds 03:16

5. Butter Churner (3/4/5) 04:03

6. Sselim 07:50

7. Teo 02:31

8. Peter Herley Pt. III 04:08

9. Stares at the Sun 04:09

10. Glitchfarben 02:02

11. Base 5 Curly Motherfucker 02:01

12. Nevada 02:47

13. In That Dark World 03:22

14. Peter Herley Pt. IV 05:27

15. The Mumbler 02:12

Parker. Guy. Lytton. Trio - Breaths and Heartbeats (RASTASCAN RECORDS 2018)

"To know the number of steps one has been allotted from the beginning. The number of heartbeats and breaths. The number of bites."

— Elias Canetti "The Secret Heart of the Clock" 

The music presented here was recorded in one day. We worked in three blocks of time: the first session was with saxophone, bass and drums. Nine pieces were played. The second session was for the percussion interludes, the "breathers" of the titles — here we used orchestral percussion instruments , rattles, shakers and gongs in addition to Paul's usual kit. Around twenty short pieces were recorded. In the third session we again played the usual saxophone/bass/drums music of the trio. Without being aware of the number at the time, we recorded a further nine pieces. We were playing knowing that the sequencing of the material would be done later. 

Editing, as a music studio term, often implies the cosmetic enhancement of performances by recording in short sequences and then, by careful selection and recombination, creating an apparently flawless master. This kind of editing is anathema to the spirit of improvisation and many would argue to the spirit of all music making. nevertheless, it is increasingly common for recordings of classical works to be compiled with an edit ever ten seconds. 

The editing that has been employed in this work is more akin to film editing, perhaps better termed montage, where the sequencing of takes is arrived at in a process separate from the filming but where the integrity of each take is determined in real time. There is a formal symmetry to the sequence chosen which could be represented by the schema: 1A2B3C4D5E6F7F'6E'5D'4C'3B'2A'1. 

However, since "breaths" and "heartbeats" have been pre-combined in compiling the sequence for CD, there are just 12 track numbers which limits (but does not prevent) the listener altering the overall form by programming a different running order — although to retain the intended alternation of "breaths" and "heartbeats' track 12 will always have to be last. This shaping of the final form, by decisions made after the playing is finished, is an inevitable part of recording and something which distinguishes it from pure performance. My usual approach is to present the pieces in the sequence they were played. This CD is different. 

— Evan Parker 

Evan Parker: soprano and tenor saxophones, percussion

Barry Guy: bass and piccolo bass, percussion

Paul Lytton: drums and percussion

1. Breath and Heartbeat 1 07:54

2. Breath and Heartbeat 2 07:19

3. Breath and Heartbeat 3 10:29

4. Breath and Heartbeat 4 02:19

5. Breath and Heartbeat 5 03:35

6. Breath and Heartbeat 6 04:44

7. Breath and Heartbeat 7 04:05

8. Breath and Heartbeat 8 03:30

9. Breath and Heartbeat 9 03:43

10. Breath and Heartbeat 10 03:53

11. Breath and Heartbeat 11 05:31

12. Breaths and Heartbeat 06:07

Recorded 3 December 1994 at Gateway Studios, London, England.

Engineer: Steve Lowe

Assistant engineer: Ray Matthews

Digital Mastering Dave Bernez

Production coordination: Maya Homburger

Executive producer: Gino Robair

Design: Lucija Kordic

All pieces © 1995 Parker/Guy/Lytton