press « Ultramarine

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Temperatures
Eksra
Ultramarine LP

Given that Noise as a movement was predicated on a desire to break free of straightjacket musical structures, it’s ironic that some of the more stimulating groups working in that zone have retained elements of rock. Units such as Mathew Bower’s Skullflower, the transatlantic trio PeeEssEye and Edinburgh’s Muscletusk have blended guitars and drums into the hum and roar of Noise to create a visceral, hybrid free rock. Temperatures are a London based duo of bassist/vocalist Peter Blundell and drummer James Dunn, who strip the form back to the bone, relying on the natural properties of their instruments, a handful of pedals and a synth wired up to the drums to create unruly, improvised Noise rock.

The obvious comparison would be Lightning Bolt, but Temperatures have a less bludgeoning, more light-footed approach, with Dunn’s drumming owing more to free jazz than hardcore, even hints of Prog. But there’s an infectious sense of irreverence and adventure that stops them getting bogged down anywhere too long. The two untitled tracks on the A side of this debut LP move from arrhythmic clatter, through shambolic Beefheart-style riffs and into an extended Krautrocking trance-groove. Through all of this, Blundell adds an extra layer of intrigue with murky, unintelligible vocal proclamations, sounding like Vivian Stanshall with his head in a bucket, learning to speak Esperanto in his sleep.

The B side is less propulsive – and less compelling – exploring instead some of the electronic textures you might experience at a standard Noise gig, with distorted bass and synth loops that hark back to late 1980s Industrial. When Dunn rises up with a heart-stopping swell of freeform percussive activity – and a touch of Chris Corsano’s feverish attention to cymbals and toms – it’s enough to make you thankful that the drum’s not dead.

Daniel Spicer
The Wire # 313 / March 2010

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Questions In A World of Blue - by Ed Pinsent / The Sound Projector
http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2009/12/06/ultramarine/

The Ultramarine Records label used to be based in Brooklyn, now it’s in Italy, but its New York allegiances are still somewhat in evidence…pleased to receive four vinyl items which represents almost their entire output to date. Ninni Morgia Control Unit (UM005) is a double LP by this Brooklyn guitarist who teams up with veteran free honker Daniel Carter and drummer Jeff Arnal, to create four sides of not-unpleasant jazz-rock fusion music. Superficially, the sound of the album seems to be in thrall to the 1970s – Bitches Brew, Weather Report and late Soft Machine records are some obvious touchstones, but I’m hoping to find time to engage with Morgia’s soloing work (he also plays electric sitar, autoharp, keyboards and percussion) to discover something original he may have to offer us. Scott Colburn’s mastering gives the set added dynamic punch, and SpiralSmokey provided the dazzling cover art.

Chris Forsyth is the Brooklyn guitarist who can do no wrong for me. Here he is with Shawn Edward Hansen (from Phantom Limb and Bison) withDirty Pool (UM002), a gorgeous LP of instrumental music blending Forsyth’s golden-sunshine notes with the balmy Farfisa organ work of Hansen on these 2005 recordings. The entire A side is devoted to ‘I First Saw You’, a totally gorgeous continuous improvisation played in a single key inhabiting some zone of paradise where the best of Popol Vuh meets up with languid psychedelic musings. Forsyth’s confident strokes and licks contain compressed moments of pure genius. The cover here is attempting to emulate the look of an old Folkways or Origin Jazz Library LP, both of which wraparound paper pastedowns on black textured sleeves.

Amolvacy is an ad-hoc trio comprising two New Yorkers, Dave Nuss (No-Neck Blues Band) and Sheila 16 (Laboratory Theatre Group), joining forces with English wackster Aaron Moore from Volcano The Bear. A La Lu La (UM003) situates itself quite some way from the lengthy explorations of No-Neck, offering rather short and condensed tunes where the two guys demonstrate instrumental prowess with percussion and acoustic instruments, throwing out stark and wayward notes with inspiration. Over the top of these faux-primitive rhythmic backdrops, Sheila 16 caterwauls her unintelligible free-form wailing in shrill tones. Homage to various hip underground records from the 1960s is implied in these musical statements, and the back cover is printed with lines of quasi-Beat Poetry. Pressed in clear vinyl and housed in a very unusual fold-out cover with flaps.

Temperatures are of course English, the London duo of Peter Blundell and James Dunn, for whose recorded output I have cultivated a very soft spot of earth in the garden of my mind. Eksra (UM004) shows them using bass, drums, and synth as though the instruments had only just been discovered out of an archaeological dig, and the players are two scientist-musicians speculating wildly as to the original purpose of these unknown artifacts. Most effective is when Blundell adds his hideous grunting vocalising to certain tracks, arriving more successfully to my mind at the sort of primordial semi-conscious holy utterances that Sheila 16 claims to be aiming at. Eksra is not as outright brutal as their early work, yet still delivers many crushing tromps and bludgeoning moments. I have no idea what the image on the front cover could be, but it feels decidedly sinister, like the printout from a ghastly machine that measures psychic disruptions in the atmosphere.

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from FOXY DIGITALIS

Label spotlight: Ultramarine

by Brad Rose

Ultramarine is a new label, but hot damn is it looking like one hell of a keeper. Started in the bowels of New York City but now operating out of scenic Italy, one look at the artists that they’re working with will tell you all you need to know. Longtime Foxy Digitalis favorite, Chris Forsyth (of Peeesseye, etc) has a record coming out with the insanely underrated Shawn Hansen while Amolvacy is readying the follow-up to their killer LP on Black Velvet Fuckere. Keep in touch, cuz they’re gonna be on fucken fire.

Who started the label and why?

I started the label when I was living in New York, while I was studying sound engineering and electronic music. The reason why I started it is that I wanted to collaborate and be useful to some of the musicians that I appreciate most. I know that it’s a weird time for music today, there’s a lot of confusion, but my ideas are pretty clear and my way of working does not just end at the record release stage, there are a lot of labels who do that already. I like to start an actual collaboration with the artists I work with: go on tour together, play music together, exchange ideas, etc…

What’s the story behind the name?

I chose the name of the label from an Ash Ra Tempel song, a band that I love. The song was on The Private Tapes, and makes me think of something really “psychedelic”, in its deepest meaning. Something that has to do with the sea, that I really love.

What keeps you inspired to continue doing the label?

What inspires me most is my love for music, and this is what I want to do all my life.

What’s the hardest thing about running an independent label these days?

It’s not easy to run an independent label today! CDs don’t really sell anymore, that’s why I’m planning on releasing only vinyl for now. It’s great though that vinyl came back! Record stores complain that they don’t sell, another reason why is that many people download music for free, and that’s a problem for everyone’s survival… the best way to sell records today is still selling them live when the bands go on tour.

If you could work with any one artist, who would it be and why?

Too many! Trying to keep it real, Smegma is a band I’d really love to work with, because I admire their strong DIY spirit, with which they have kept the band alive for over 30 year. They set a great example for many young bands today. Their music is a mix of all the things I like: free jazz, psychedelic, industrial, surf, punk, improvisation… some musicans from the free jazz scene: Henry Grimes, Sabir Mateen, Milford Graves…. there is no need to say much about them. They have been so important for music, and their contribution has not been fully recognised yet. Finally, Loren Connors, simply because I’m in love with his music. The purest music I’ve ever listened to.

What’s your demo policy?

Pretty simple: I listen to everything I receive. If I like it, I’ll contact the person who sent it, and the first thing I do is try to get to know them better. If we start a friendly relationship, more than a business one, I consider the possibility to work with them.

What do you have planned for the future?

After the first release (The Right Moves CD), I’m about to put out Amolvacy, a band I’m very proud of… their music sounds very unique to me. Chris Forsyth & Shawn Edward Hansen, a beautiful record of guitar and Farfisa organ, very intimate. Then a duo from London: Temperatures, that somehow reminds me a lot of early Throbbing Gristle, another big love of mine. A 2LP from guitarist Ninni Morgia with free jazz sax player Daniel Carter (another “old school” musician who has played with Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor…) and drummer Jeff Arnal. This is a record I especially care about because I admire the guitarist’s work, very versatile and able to play many different styles, with a very special intensity. Will follow: Gate (Michael Morley of the Dead C), the Italian band My Cat Is An Alien, Tom Carter, Kawabata Makoto, Lichens.

What’s the best record you’ve heard in the past year?

Volcano The Bear / La Société des Timides à la Parade des Oiseaux. I feel like adding two more records I’m listening to a lot lately, although they’re not new: “Human Music” by Jon Appleton and Don Cherry and “Voice Is The Original Instrument” by Joan La Barbara, both are really amazing albums.

Any closing advice?

I’d like to finish this saying that today’s musicians should not forget that Music is a form of communication, a way to send important messages to the people, and not just a means to satisfy their useless ego.

– Brad Rose (19 August, 2009)

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The Right Moves “The End Of The Empire“ CD

On their 2007 debut This is Your Message, The Right Moves consisted of trumpeter Peter Evans, guitarist Ninni Morgia (La Otracina/Quivers) and drummer Kevin Shea (Talibam!/Storm And Stress). That line-up produced a raucous jazz/Noise hybrid, but The End Of The Empire takes a mellower tack. This is due in part to Evans being replaced by bassist Stuart Popejoy, but also to Morgia employing a more open, sky-seeking guitar style. Patiently doling out twangy echo and shimmering textures, the guitarist turns the Brooklyn based trio’s approach from jazz to jam. While the eight pieces here sometimes sound like beatless soundtracks, they often reach higher, into the territory occupied by Davis Redford Triad, Marble Sheep And The Rundown Sun’s Children, and Karl Precoda’s underappreciated Last Days Of May.

“Meet You At The Black Sands” starts mysteriously and almost Wild Western in style before escalating into an enveloping thundercloud, while on “When We Were American” Popejoy’s and Shea’s initially sparse rhythms congeal unpredictably into clusters of beats. The group follow those with the somewhat stagnant “Cleaning Up The Desk”, whose lethargic motion seems to be about waiting for a kickstart that never arrives.

That’s a rarity though. Most of The End Of The Empire leans toward the heights of its best track, “Living Underground”, a revving rumble in which Morgia bends and buffs his fiery tones like Jimi Hendrix to fit the rhythmic shuffle that surrounds him. It feels odd to say any group could be better without Peter Evans, but tracks like that one makes a pretty convincing case for the increased sonic coherence created by this line-up of The Right Moves . (Marc Masters, The Wire Magazine, August 2009)