a bit of Arthur Russell

http://vimeo.com/16158818

Rob Patterson http://ratiofarm.blogspot.com/ made a lovely video of some of my set at the Post Family Gallery in Chicago. Thanks, Rob!

(photo by the Ratiofarm)

some really supportive words from Peter Margasak at the Reader about Architeuthis Walks On Land!

http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/21/katherine-youngs-bold-bassoon

[K]ickass bassoonist Katherine Young is back in town for a couple of concerts, the first of which is this evening.... During her days in Chicago, Young's regular musical partner was violist Amy Cimini; they both live in New York these days, and they're still playing together. Their long-running duo project Architeuthis Walks on Land recently released its second album, Natura Naturans (Carrier), a bracing blast of free improvisation that benefits from the pair's mutual familiarity—their rapport is clear, whether they're shadowing each other with ghostly harmonics or colliding strident squawks and slashing double stops. Bassoon and viola aren't typically associated with the kind of raw dissonance and extended technique on display here, and "Glitterbird" has an almost Chinese tonality that suggests an erhu-guan duet. Recordings like Natura Naturans vividly refute the claim that free improvisation has worked itself into an idiomatic rut and no longer has the power to surprise. Yes, predictable free improv does happen, but a project like Architeuthis Walks on Land makes it clear that we're not at the end of the line.

Sept & Oct Musical Activities (2010)

9/11 - Bill Baird's music
@ IPR
(featuring Tucker Dulin, Erica Dicker, Dave Ruder, Nathan Stein, Alexander Waterman, Kenny Wang, Karen Waltuch, the composer, and me)
w/ a set by Loren Connors

9/16 - Bike Lane, chamber music by Leah Paul
@Barbes - 8 pm
(featuring Paul, me, Karen Waltuch, and Chris Speed)

9/21 - solo set
@ Zebulon
w/ Snake Eats Electric Blanket and Baby Copperhead

9/29 - a work-in-progress performance of Bradley Kemp's puppet opera w/ improvising musicians, Triangle, at "Punch"
@ Dixon Place

10/8 - the Fancy
@ Union Hall
w/ We Can't Enjoy Ourselves & Leah Paul's the Bridesmaids

10/9 - Till by Turning
@ Vaudeville Park
w/ Brent Arnold & Jessica Pavone
performing new music by Erica Dicker, Emily Manzo, K.A.Y. plus more!

10/10 - Architeuthis Walks on Land
@ Douglass Street
w/ Brian Chase & Josh Sinton + Douglas Dietrick


** 10/21-10/23 -- IN CHICAGO! **
10/21 - live on WNUR 89.3 FM
11 am
on Michael Corsa's show
www.wnur.org

10/21 - Collaborations , Improvisations, and New Compositions
w/ TOMEKA REID (cello), JASON STEIN (bass clarinet), K.A.Y.
@ Elastic
10 pm
also: NICK BROSTE TRIO : Nick Broste – trombone, Keefe Jackson – reeds, Anton Hatwich – bass
www.elasticrevolution.com

10/22 - WFMU 91.1 FM
9 am-noon
a solo set I recorded on Oct 11 will air on Scott McDowell's show, "The Long Rally"
http://wfmu.org

10/23
@ Post Family Gallery
Elementary Princess of Evil: RYAN INGEBRITSEN - electronics, ERICA DICKER - violin NICK BUTCHER - electronics KATHERINE YOUNG - bassoon, electronics
8 pm
http://thepostfamily.com


10/26 - Yarn/Wire record release extravaganza!
@ AC Institute
547 W. 27th St, 6th floor, NYC
8 pm
w/ performances by my Carrier Record labelmates Yarn/Wire, Loud Objects, the Kenners, and K.A.Y.
+ the screening of a new music video by Corey Fogel
+ FREE BEER provided by the Chelsea Brewing Company!
$20 (includes CD!)

Natura Naturans Reviews

Time Out New York :
"[C]ompellingly weird....[T]he pair's improvisations embrace both droney drift and harsh angularity." (8/19)

http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheBlog/archives/2010/10/21/katherine-youngs-bold-bassoon:

"[A] bracing blast of free improvisation that benefits from the pair's mutual familiarity—their rapport is clear, whether they're shadowing each other with ghostly harmonics or colliding strident squawks and slashing double stops....Recordings like Natura Naturans vividly refute the claim that free improvisation has worked itself into an idiomatic rut and no longer has the power to surprise. Yes, predictable free improv does happen, but a project like Architeuthis Walks on Land makes it clear that we're not at the end of the line."

http://freejazz-stef.blogspot.com/2010/08/architeuthis-walks-on-land-natura.html :

"[T]his is not unobtrusive music. This is not classical chamber music. This is raw and refined. This is expressive sophistication. They've found a voice and musical direction that is all their own. I hope they keep searching in this direction."

http://wedgeradio.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/architeuthis-better-not-step-on-my-lawn/:

"The music is organic, with the two instruments played acoustically, no effects. It sounds mostly improvised, with all the dynamism that the label implies. Some tracks linger on one trick or formation for a while, like the upward duet squeaking on 'Glitterbird,' but the sound is full of variations and pulse....The two together create a vivid sense of color."

http://www.tokafi.com/news/vital-weekly-749/:

"Whatever happens their improvisations have a strong soul and concept, due to the fact that both musicians play together already for some time and make a very good team."

Time Out New York
"[M]indbending...."

Aug 19 @ the Sycamore

8:30 pm - $5
@ the Sycamore
on Courtelyou in Ditmas Park Brooklyn

PRETTY MONSTERS:
Erica Dicker, violin
K.A.Y., amplified bassoon
Owen Stewart-Robertson, guitar++
Mike Pride, percussion

after our set, Jacob Wick performs solo music from his SWARM project!!!

2010 Improvisor Festival in Alabama

i'm excited to head down to Birmingham, AL, and play a solo set as part of the 2010 Improvisor Festival! http://www.theimprovisorfestival.org

Sat. 8/7 - 7:00pm
@ "The Listening Room" @ Pepper Place
http://www.pepperplace.net/Map_to_Us.html

i'll be sharing the evening with Craig Hultgren, Phantom Limb-Cardew, Tea Time With Flaura, and Boojack

>>> and if you are on facebook, here's a link to some video from the performance. after i played a few solo pieces, the members of Tea Time w/ FLAURA came onstage and we performed together for a while -- while the tea was being made: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=1580503155758&ref=mf

July Shows

*** 07/07 - 8 pm
Architeuthis Walks on Land RECORD RELEASE SHOW!!
@ Local 269 (269 Houston)

w/ Jessica Pavone's Army of Strangers & Owen Stewart-Robertson's Army of Strangers

the record's coming out July 15 on Carrier Records, but you can preview our jams here: www.carrierrecords.com.

here's a lil bit about each project:

Army of Strangers:
Wordless songs inspired by life's cast of characters.
Jessica Pavone (violin, viola), Pete Fitzpatrick (guitar), Jonti Siman (bass guitar), Harris Eisenstadt (drums)
-
This Sporting Life:
A project that attempts to address the absurdity of the competitive life through snippets of song, text, and athleticism.
Owen Stewart-Robertson (guitar/compositions/champion), Myk Freedman (lap steel), Josh Sinton (bari sax/bass clarinet), and Jacob Wick (trumpet)

-
Architeuthis Walks on Land:
"A gelatinous blob with seriously evil arms" - -You think you know what the bassoon and the viola sound like, but you don't!
Amy Cimini (viola), Katherine Young (bassoon)

and here's some info about Natura Naturans, AWOL's new record:

>>Sawing, sputtering, gurgling and wailing, Architeuthis Walks on Land is every bit the displaced and terrifying cephalopod that the name suggests. The viola and bassoon are two instruments rarely associated with free improvisation and noise; yet on Natura Naturans Amy Cimini and Katherine Young rip it up with particular aplomb, weaving disjunct lines, constructing chaotic sound masses, and raising towering monoliths. Crafting their improvised materials into tight structures, the eight tracks on Natura capture the compositional, timbral and expressive breadth of this uncommon coupling: from divergently soloistic to profoundly intertwined playing, from a slowly unfolding intimacy to a jagged and kinetic style. Cimini and Young lunge and flutter through their materials with the intuition and energy of constant discovery.

**** 07/21 9 pm
The Fancy
@Ars Nova

**** 07/23 - 8 pm
w/ Wet Ink
@ Miller Theater

*** 07/24 - 9 pm
Solo set
@ Douglass Street Music Collective
295 Douglass St, Bklyn
http://295douglass.org/

w. Jacob Wick doing something awesome!