Sat Dec 7
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Le Lieu Unique
Nantes
France
www.lelieuunique.com/evenement/oren-ambarchi-johan-berthling-and-andreas-werliin-ghosted-festival-prisme
Sat Dec 14
Oren Ambarchi solo
El Molino
Barcelona
Spain
https://www.elmolinobarcelona.com/artista/oren-ambarchi/
Sun Dec 15
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
El Molino
Barcelona
Spain
https://www.elmolinobarcelona.com/artista/ghosted/
Sat Sept 28
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Veyvey’s Rocking Chair
Veyvey
Switzerland
www.rocking-chair.ch
Sun Oct 6
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Out Fest
Barreiro
Portugal
outfest.pt/ghosted/
Wed Oct 9
Oren Ambarchi / Will Guthrie duo
Morphine Raum
Berlin
Germany
www.morphinerecords.com/raum
Tue Oct 15
Oren Ambarchi w/ Fredrik Rasten
Live soundtrack to ‘Dragon’s Return’
Ghent Film Festival – Videodroom
Ghent
Belgium
www.viernulvier.gent/en/agenda/7665/videodroom-2024/oren-ambarchi-x-dragon-s-return
Wed Oct 30
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Café Oto
London
UK
www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/ghosted-residency/
Thu Nov 1
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted w/special guest BJ Cole
Café Oto
London
UK
www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/ghosted-residency/
Sun Nov 3
crys cole / Oren Ambarchi duo
Presences Electronique 20 ans
GRM
Paris
France
https://inagrm.com/fr/showcase/news/861/presences-electronique-20-ans
Wed Nov 6
crys cole / Oren Ambarchi DJ set
eavesdrop festival
Berlin
Germany
ra.co/events/1967870
https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/oren-ambarchi-album-guide
Oren Ambarchi Explores the Potential of “What If?”
By Daniel Dylan Wray, August 20, 2024
Experimenting with strange sounds has been a part of Oren Ambarchi’s life since he was a child. His grandfather owned a junk shop in Sydney, Australia, where he grew up, and a curious Ambarchi would bring home effect pedals and reel-to-reel machines to play with. His teenage years were spent drumming in free jazz and noise rock bands before an abandoned guitar in a rehearsal studio led him to start experimenting with the instrument. “I never had any formal training,” he explains. “So, in the early days, I was more interested in electronics and pedals than the instrument per se. I used the guitar as a sound generator, trying to emulate what I heard on the early musique concréte, noise, and electronic records I loved.”
Thu Aug 8
Oren Ambarchi / Robbie Avenaim duo
Essential Tremors
Sydney
Australia
phoenixcentralpark.com.au/essential-tremors-24/oren-ambarchi-robbie-avenaim
Sun Aug 11
Oren Ambarchi solo (2 sets)
Omniversal Hum
High Note
Melbourne
Australia
ra.co/events/1965911
Sat Aug 17
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthing / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Piedicavallo Fest
Piemonte
Italy
www.piedicavallofestival.com/
Sun Sept 29
Oren Ambarchi / Mauricio Takara duo
+ crys cole, Carlos Giffoni
Arkaoda
Berlin
Germany
berlin.arkaoda.com
Tue Oct 15
Oren Ambarchi w/Fredrik Rasten
Live soundtrack to ‘Dragon’s Return’
Viernulvier
Ghent
Belgium
www.viernulvier.gent/en/agenda/7665/videodroom-2024/oren-ambarchi-x-dragon-s-return
Wed Oct 30
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthing / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Cafe Oto
London
UK
www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/ghosted-residency-1/
Thu Oct 31
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthing / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Cafe Oto
London
UK
www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/ghosted-residency-2/
Sun Nov 3
crys cole & Oren Ambarchi duo
INA-GRM Presences Electronique 20 ans
Paris
France
inagrm.com/fr/showcase/news/861/presences-electronique-20-ans
Wed Nov 6
crys cole & Oren Ambarchi DJ set
Eavesdrop Festival
Silent Green
Berlin
Germany
ra.co/events/1967870?sharedId=entity&subId1=null&subId3=7ErMMBwF6n4LZvS3anEWgM&partnerId=residentadvisor
Sun March 10
Oren Ambarchi solo
Perronnord
St Gallen
Switzerland
ambossundsteigbuegel.ch/programm/toctoc-32
Sun April 7
Phew & Oren Ambarchi duo
Rewire Festival
The Hague
Netherlands
www.rewirefestival.nl/line/up/2024
Thu April 18
Oren Ambarchi solo
St George’s Church
Lisbon
Portugal
zedosbois.org/en/programa/oren-ambarchi/
Sat May 25
Oren Ambarchi & Ilan Volkov & the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra present “Sous Vide”
Scelsi Sound Magic festival
Flagey
Brussels
Belgium
www.brusselsphilharmonic.be/en/concerts/scelsi-soundmagic-25-05-2024
2024
Sat Jan 13
Oren Ambarchi/Johan Berthling/Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
All Ears Festival
Oslo
Norway
www.munchmuseet.no/en/live/
Thu Feb 1
Oren Ambarchi presents Carpe Diem with Konrad Sprenger, Sam Dunscombe, Jules Reidy, Mike Majkowski, Will Guthrie
Kings Place
London
UK
www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/contemporary/oren-ambarchis-carpe-diem/
Thu Feb 8
Oren Ambarchi/Johan Berthling/Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Elbphilharmonie
Hamburg
Germany
www.elbphilharmonie.de/de/programm/ghosted-oren-ambarchi-johan-berthling-andreas-werliin/20213
Wed Feb 14
Oren Ambarchi/Johan Berthling/Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Bimhuis
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
www.bimhuis.nl/en/
Thu Feb 15
Oren Ambarchi/Johan Berthling/Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Joe Festival
Essen
Germany
www.jazz-offensive-essen.de/joe-festival/
Wed Feb 21
Oren Ambarchi/Johan Berthling/Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Artefact Sound Festival
Leuven
Belgium
www.stuk.be/en/program/artefact-sound-2024-oren-ambarchi-johan-berthling-andreas-werliin-ghosted-jules-reidy
Sat Feb 24
Oren Ambarchi solo
Volksbuhne am Rosa-Luxemberg-Platz
Berlin
Germany
www.volksbuehne.berlin/#/en/events/psychic-liberation-auguste-vickunaite-jack-callahan-jeff-witscher-oren-ambarchi
2023
Sun Nov 5
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
JazzFest Berlin
Berlin
Germany
www.berlinerfestspiele.de/de/jazzfest-berlin/start.html
Wed Nov 8
Oren Ambarchi solo
MPS Studios
Villingen / Black Forest
Germany
mps-studio.de/
Sat Nov 11
Oren Ambarchi solo
MIRA festival
Barcelona
Spain
mirafestival.com/en/
Wed Nov 15
Oren Ambarchi / Eric Thielemans duo
Jazz A Poitiers
Poitiers
France
jazzapoitiers.org/archives/evenements/oren-ambarchi-eric-thielemans
Thu Nov 23
Oren Ambarchi solo
Jazzfestivalen No 5
Pedek/Hopsfossen
Bergen
Norway
nymusikk.no/en/chapters/bergen-en
Wed Dec 6
Oren Ambarchi solo
Gigi-Hertz Festival 2023
ZKM
Karlsruhe
Germany
zkm.de/de/veranstaltung/2023/12/giga-hertz-festival-fuer-elektronische-musik-und-klangkunst-2023
Sat Dec 9
Phew & Oren Ambarchi duo + Akiko Nakayama
Mutek festival Tokyo
Spotify O-EAST
Tokyo
Japan
tokyo.mutek.org/jp/artists/phew-oren-ambarchi-akiko-nakayama
Thu Dec 14
Keiji Haino, Oren Ambarchi & crys cole trio
Polaris
Tokyo
Japan
polaris231214.peatix.com/
Sat Dec 16
Oren Ambarchi & Joe Talia duo
+ crys cole solo
Soto
Kyoto
Japan
soto-kyoto.jp/en/
Thu Dec 21
Oren Ambarchi solo
Omniversal Hum
Norla Dome
The Mission To Seafarers Victoria
Melbourne
Australia
events.humanitix.com/omniversal-hum-oren-ambarchi
Sat July 15
crys cole & Oren Ambarchi duo
@ Tabakalera
San Sebastian
Spain
www.tabakalera.eus/en/musika-dena-eta-ez-dena-festibala
Thu Aug 3
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Jazz em Agosto festival
Lisbon
Portugal
gulbenkian.pt/jazzemagosto/en/agenda/ghosted/
Sat Aug 12
Oren Ambarchi solo
Sanatorium Of Sound festival
Sokolowsko
Poland
sanatoriumofsound.com/artists/oren-ambarchi-2/
Tue Aug 16-20
crys cole and Oren Ambarchi – “Get Lost”
CAMP
Pyrenees
France
www.campfr.com/course/onsite/78/get-lost-with-oren-ambarchi-and-crys-cole
Sat Aug 26
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Summer Bummer festival
Antwerp
Belgium
www.trixonline.be/nl/programma/festival/summer-bummer-festival/2100/
Fri Sept 1
Oren Ambarchi solo
End Of The Road festival
Larmer Tree Gardens
UK
endoftheroadfestival.com/artist/oren-ambarchi/
Sun Sept 3
Oren Ambarchi solo
The White Hotel
Manchester
UK
ra.co/events/1715520
Thu Sept 7
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted with special guest Christer Bothen
(Venue TBC – either in a church or a barn)
Bovallstrand
Sweden
Tue Oct 3
Oren Ambarchi solo
Volume Festival
Art Gallery of NSW
Sydney
Australia
volume.sydney/
Sun Oct 22
Oren Ambarchi solo
Meet Factory
Prague
Czech Republic
www.meetfactory.cz/en/
Wed Jan 25
Oren Ambarchi solo
crys cole solo
Northcote Social Club
Melbourne, Australia
northcotesocialclub.com/
Tue March 14
Oren Ambarchi & Thomas Brinkmann duo
Moods
Zurich, Switzerland
tamriko.net/concerts/?lang=EN&_wb=topics/moods-carte-blanche-tamriko-kordzaia/
Sun March 26
Oren Ambarchi with The End
Pardon To, Tu
Warsaw, Poland
pardontotu.pl/event/2-nights-with-mats-gustafssons-the-end-ambarchi-werner-berthling-lauvdal-w-pardon-to-tu-jedyne-koncerty-w-polsce/
Mon March 27
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthlong duo
+
Oren Ambarchi with The End
pardontotu.pl/event/2-nights-with-mats-gustafssons-the-end-ambarchi-werner-berthling-lauvdal-w-pardon-to-tu-jedyne-koncerty-w-polsce/
Sunday April 9
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthing / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Rewire festival
The Hague, The Netherlands
www.rewirefestival.nl/event/rewire-2023
Sun April 16
Oren Ambarchi’s Carpe Diem w/Konrad Sprenger, Sam Dunscombe, Julia Reidy, Mike Majkowski, Will Guthrie
Minimal Music Festival
Bimhuis
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
www.bimhuis.nl/en/calendar/oren-ambarchi/
Sat April 22
Oren Ambarchi solo
Engine Room
Floriana, Malta
www.kinemastik.org/
Sat April 29
Oren Ambarchi presents SHEBANG – 4D sound mix
Stone Nest
London, UK
www.stonenest.org/events/4dsound
Fri May 12
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthing / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Rymer Auditorium
University of York
York, UK
yorkconcerts.co.uk/whats-on/2022-23/ghosted/
Sun May 14
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthing / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Kings Place
London, UK
www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/contemporary/ghosted/
Mon May 15
Oren Ambarchi’s Carpe Diem w/Konrad Sprenger, Sam Dunscombe, Julia Reidy, Mike Majkowski, Will Guthrie
Angelica Festival
Bologna, Italy
aaa-angelica.com/aaa/festival/edizione-festival-2023/
Wed May 17
Oren Ambarchi solo
25 Years Of Staubgold
Perpignan University
Perpignan, France
www.staubgold.com/
Sun June 4
Oren Ambarchi & João Pais Filipe duo
Serralves Festival
Porto, Portugal
www.serralves.pt/en/agenda-serralves/
Tue June 6
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthing / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Fasching
Stockholm, Sweden
www.fasching.se/?date=0&artist=all&view=default&c=2
Wed June 7
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthing / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Alice
Copenhagen, Denmark
alicecph.com/en
Thu June 8
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthing / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Teatro Torresino
Padova, Italy
www.centrodarte.it/concerti/2023-06-08-ghosted/\
Fri June 9
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthing / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Lido di Savio
Ravenna, Italy
www.areasismica.it/prossimi-eventi/
Sun June 11
Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthing / Andreas Werliin – Ghosted
Clandestino Festival
Gothenburg, Sweden
https://clandestinofestival.org/2023/
Thu June 15
Oren Ambarchi’s Carpe Diem w/Konrad Sprenger, Sam Dunscombe, Fredrik Rasten, Mike Majkowski, Will Guthrie
Art Basel – Messeplatz – Installation by Latifa Echakhch
Basel, Switzerland
www.artbasel.com/
Tracks:
Shebang I
Shebang II
Shebang III
Shebang IV
Credits:
Oren Ambarchi – guitars & whatnot
with:
Chris Abrahams – piano on III & IV
Johan Berthling – acoustic bass on III
BJ Cole – pedal steel on II & IV
Sam Dunscombe – bass clarinet on I & II
Jim O’Rourke – synths on III & IV
Julia Reidy – 12-string guitar on III & IV
Joe Talia – drums on the whole Shebang
Recorded at Choose Studios, Berlin by Joerg Hiller
Additional recording at Challis Studio, Sydney by Chris Abrahams, ‘The Batcave’, Stately Wayne Manor studios, London by BJ Cole, Summa, Stockholm by Johan Berthling, The Crystal Ball, Berlin by Sam Dunscombe, Steamroom Japan by Jim O’Rourke and Good Mixture, Berlin by Joe Talia
Edited by Joerg Hiller and Oren Ambarchi at Choose Studios, Berlin
Mixed by Joe Talia and Oren Ambarchi at Good Mixture, Berlin
Mastered by Joe Talia at Good Mixture
Executive Producers: Konrad Sprenger & Dick Wolf
Extended guitar hero Oren Ambarchi returns with Shebang, the latest in the series of intricately detailed long-form rhythmic workouts that includes Quixotism (2014) and Hubris (2016). Like those records, Shebang features an international all-star cast of musical luminaries, their contributions recorded individually in locations from Sweden to Japan yet threaded together so convincingly (by Ambarchi in collaboration with Konrad Sprenger) that it’s hard to believe they weren’t breathing the same studio air. Expanding on the techniques used on Simian Angel (2019), we can never be entirely sure who is responsible for what we hear, as Ambarchi’s guitar is used to trigger everything from bass lines to driving piano riffs.
Picking up from the staccato guitar patterns that ran through Hubris, Shebang’s single 35-minute track begins with a precisely interwoven lattice of chiming guitar figures, expanding Hubris’ monolithic pulse into a joyous, hyper-rhythmic melodicism that calls up points of reference as disparate as Albert Marcoeur, early Pat Metheny Group, and Henry Kaiser’s It’s A Wonderful Life. Building from isolated single notes into densely layered polyrhythms, the muted guitar tones are joined by subtle touches of shimmering Leslie cabinet tones and guitar synth. Simmering down and funnelling into a single note, the guitar stew is soon thickened by Joe Talia’s propulsive ride cymbal, which blossoms into a beautifully flowing yet rigorously snapped-to fusion funk, whose ever-shifting details skitter across the kit – think 70s heavyweights like Jack DeJohnette or Jon Christensen. An unexpected entry of guttural bass clarinet licks from Sam Dunscombe begins the series of instrumental features that pepper the remainder of the piece. Soon we hear from the legendary British pedal steel player B.J. Cole (hopefully known to some listeners from his outer-limits singer-songwriter masterpiece The New Hovering Dog or, failing that, ‘Tiny Dancer’), whose languorous yet uneasy lines float in and out of a shifting rhythmic foundation supported by a single note bass groove, cut through with aleatoric synth articulations
Though single-mindedly occupying its rhythmic space throughout, Shebang’s dense ensemble sound is carefully composed while drawing on the free flow of improvisation, with individual voices momentarily coming to the fore and subtle changes in harmony and texture. Perhaps the most surprising of these shifts occurs around half-way through when the smoke of a buzzing synth crescendo from Jim O’Rourke clears to reveal something like a piano trio, with Ambarchi’s guitar-triggered piano patterns providing restless accompaniment to flowing melodic lines from Chris Abrahams of The Necks, while Johan Berthling’s double bass and Talia’s drums fill out the bottom end. Before long, things take another left turn as Julia Reidy’s rapidly picked 12-string guitar lines take centre stage, with O’Rourke’s monumental synth clouds hovering in the distance. The ensemble surges through a slow series of harmonic changes before the whole shebang dissolves into a delirious synthetic mirage.
Bridging minimalism, contemporary electronics, and classic ECM stylings, and bringing together a cast of preternaturally talented contributors, Shebang is unmistakably the work of Oren Ambarchi: obsessively detailed, relentlessly rhythmic, unabashedly celebratory.
Mon Jan 31
crys cole & Oren Ambarchi duo
40 years of Touch
CTM festival
Berlin
Germany
www.ctm-festival.de/festival-2022/programme/schedule-part-1/event-detail/event/ctmevent-109
Thu Feb 3
Oren Ambarchi solo
Ear We Are festival
Biel
Switzerland
www.earweare.ch/de/
Tue Feb 15
crys cole & Oren Ambarchi duo
Radiophrenia
CCA
Glasgow
UK
www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/radiophrenia-live-to-air-cryscole-oren-ambarchi-amaya
Wed Feb 23
Oren Ambarchi & Karl D’Silva duo
Unity Centre
Rotherham
UK
Sat April 9
Rachel Morend, Marie Piot, Oren Ambarchi & crys cole perform WHIRLED MUSIC
(Max Eastley, David Toop, Steve Beresford, Paul Burwell)
Archipel Festival
Geneva
Switzerland
edhea.ch/en/evenements/festival-archipel
Sun April 10
Oren Ambarchi solo
Archipel Festival
Geneva
Switzerland
2022.archipel.org/fr/program/oren-ambarchi-solo
Mon April 11
crys cole & Oren Ambarchi in discussion with Max Eastley, David Toop and Steve Beresford
La Becque
Switzerland
https://nb-no.facebook.com/pg/LaBecque/posts/?ref=page_internal
Sun April 17
Oren Ambarchi & Robert AA Lowe duo
Presences Electronique
La maison de la Radio et de Musique
Paris
France
www.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/podcasts/l-experimentale/concert-presences-electronique-partie-3-avec-claire-rousay-oren-ambarchi-robert-aiki-aubrey-lowe-1076989
Tues April 26
Oren Ambarchi solo
Strange Brew
Bristol
UK
www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/strange-brew/tue-26-apr-strange-brew-pres-oren-ambarchi-ashley-paul-live-73206
Thurs April 28
Oren Ambarchi solo
+ Ora Clementi, Judith Hamann
Cafe Oto
London
UK
www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/black-truffle-present-oren-ambarchi/
Thurs May 5
Oren Ambarchi solo
+ Oren Ambarchi/Richard Pinhas duo
Le Ciel
Grenoble
France
Tue May 17
AMBARCHI /HÄUSERMANN / KOCH / LÄNG
Cafe Kairo
Bern
Switzerland
www.cafe-kairo.ch/kultur/ambarchi-haeusermann-koch-laeng
Wed May 18
AMBARCHI / HÄUSERMANN / KOCH / LÄNG
Kunsthaus Pasquart
Biel
Switzerland
www.pasquart.ch/en/event/ambarchi-haeusermann-koch-laeng/
Thu May 19
AMBARCHI / HÄUSERMANN / KOCH / LÄNG
Barakuba
Basel
Switzerland
www.barakuba.ch/2022/19/05/ambarchi.haeusermann.koch.laeng
Fri June 3
crys cole & Oren Ambarchi duo
KAIOLA festival
Bilbao
Spain
www.facebook.com/kaiolafestibala
Thu June 9
Ambarchi/Sollmann/Sprenger trio
Primavera Sound
Barcelona
Spain
www.primaverasound.com/en/artist/oren-ambarchi-konrad-sprenger-phillip-sollmann
Fri June 10
Oren Ambarchi solo
Jazz Is Dead Festival
Planetario di Torino
Turin
Italy
www.sentireascoltare.com/news/jazz-is-dead-2022-oren-ambarchi-planetario-torino/
Fri June 24
Ambarchi/Sollmann/Sprenger trio
Monheim Triennale
Monheim
Germany
www.monheim-triennale.de/en/programme/signature/phillip-sollmann
Fri July 1
Oren Ambarchi / Julia Reidy duo
A Tribute to Peter Rehberg
Cafe Oto
London
UK
www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/a-tribute-to-peter-rehberg-1/
Fri July 15
Oren Ambarchi solo
Rocca Sforzesca
Bagnari di Romagna
Italy
m.facebook.com/events/1024369808216673
Thu July 21
Oren Ambarchi & Konrad Sprenger duo
Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Tel Aviv
Israel
levontin7.com/festival/
Fri Aug 19
Oren Ambarchi solo
Waking Life festival
Portugal
wakinglife.pt/program/
Wed Aug 24
Ghosted – Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin
Meteo Festival
Mulhouse
France
www.festival-meteo.fr/artiste/ghosted/
Thu Sept 8
Ambarchi Black Truffle DJ set
Ufurstudios
Berlin
Germany
ms-my.facebook.com/events/396351389265255/403458405221220/
Thu Sept 15
Oren Ambarchi – SHEBANG album launch
MONOM
Berlin
Germany
www.monomsound.com/events/shebangalbumreleasebyorenambarchi
Tue Oct 11
Ghosted – Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin
Unsound Festival
Krakow
Poland
www.unsound.pl/en/bubbles/artists/ghosted
Wed Oct 12
Arnold Dreyblatt Band (Dreyblatt/Ambarchi/Schütz/Sprenger)
+ crys cole
Black Truffle fest #1
Arkaoda
Berlin
Germany
berlin.arkaoda.com/
Mon Oct 24
Oren Ambarchi solo
+ crys cole solo
@ Highline Brewing
Calgary
Canada
https://www.newworkscalgary.com/crys-cole-oren-ambarchi
Sat Oct 29
Oren Ambarchi solo
+ crys cole solo
+ Seracs
@ Ace Art Inc
Winnipeg
Canada
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/crys-coleoren-ambarchiseracs-tickets-431460338487
Sat Nov 5
Oren Ambarchi solo
+ crys cole solo
@ Tranzac
Toronto
https://www.showclix.com/event/departures-ii-oren-crys
Thu Nov 10
Black Truffle festival
Oren Ambarchi presents HUBRIS
+ Bellows
+ Francis Plagne
@ Arkaoda
Berlin
Germany
http://berlin.arkaoda.com/
Sat Nov 12
Oren Ambarchi solo
+ crys cole solo
@ Enveloping Sound Concert Series
Stavanger
Norway
Sat Nov 26
Oren Ambarchi solo
@ KASSTL
Antwerp
Belgium
www.casstl.com/onresonance
Sat Dec 3
Oren Ambarchi & the Athens Symphony Orchestra present “Sous Vide”
Conducted by Ilan Volkov
Tectonics Festival
Athens
Greece
www.onassis.org/whats-on/tectonics-athens-22/tectonics-athens-22-2nd-day
Sun Sept 5
Oren Ambarchi solo
Scenasonica
Ex Covento di San Francisco
Piazza della Motta
Pordenone, Italy
https://m.facebook.com/events/518201039481397?active_tab=about
Thu Sept 9
Ever Present Orchestra play Alvin Lucier & Gavin Bryars
Ambient Festival
St Aposteln
Koln, Germany
Fri Sept 10
Oren Ambarchi & Marta Zapparoli in conversation
Ambient festival
Koln, Germany
Fri Sept 10
Ever Present Orchestra play Alvin Lucier
Ambient Festival
St Aposteln
Koln, Germany
Sat Sept 11
Ever Present Orchestra play Alvin Lucier
Ambient Festival
Zionskirche
Berlin, Germany
Sat Oct 16
crys cole & Oren Ambarchi duo
+ Leila Bordreuil
Les Ateliers Claus
Brussels, Belgium
http://www.lesateliersclaus.com/activities/frontporch-day-2-oren-ambarchi-crys-cole-leila-bordreuil
Sun Oct 17
Weavings
Unsound festival
Teatr Laznia Nowa
Krakow
Poland
https://www.unsound.pl/en/dp-authentic/events/weavings-unsound2021
Thu Oct 21
Oren Ambarchi & Stephen O’Malley perform Lucier’s “Criss-Cross”
Sound Of Distance Festival
HKW
Berlin, Germany
https://www.hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/2021/the_sound_of_distance/start.php
Sat Oct 23
Annea Lockwood’s “bayou borne (for pauline)”
Performed by crys cole, Oren Ambarchi, Werner Durand, Sam Dunscombe, Michiko Ogawa, Emilio Gordoa
Sound Of Distance Festival
HKW
Berlin, Germany
https://www.hkw.de/en/programm/projekte/2021/the_sound_of_distance/start.php
Sat Nov 6
crys cole & Oren Ambarchi duo
FAQ festival
‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
https://www.faqfestival.nl/
Tue Nov 9
Oren Ambarchi’s “Carpe Diem”
featuring Konrad Sprenger, Julia Reidy, Sam Dunscombe, Mike Majkowski, Samuel Rohrer
Gebaude 9
Koln, Germany
https://rausgegangen.de/events/reihem-prasentiert-oren-ambarchi-ensemble-carpe-diem-ua-jose-0/
Thu Nov 11
Oren Ambarchi solo
Le Guess Who festival
Utrecht, The Netherlands
https://www.leguesswho.nl/lineup/oren-ambarchi
Tue Nov 16
Oren Ambarchi’s “Carpe Diem”
featuring Konrad Sprenger, Julia Reidy, Sam Dunscombe, Mike Majkowski, Samuel Rohrer
KM28
Berlin, Germany
https://www.km28.de/
Wed Nov 17
Oren Ambarchi’s “Carpe Diem”
featuring Konrad Sprenger, Julia Reidy, Sam Dunscombe, Mike Majkowski, Samuel Rohrer
KM28
Berlin, Germany
https://www.km28.de/
Sat Nov 20
Charles Curtis, Stephen O’Malley & Oren Ambarchi perform Alvin Lucier’s “V” and “Criss-Cross”
Philharmonique Luxembourg, Luxembourg
https://www.philharmonie.lu/de/programm/omalley-ambarchi-curtis-performing-alvin-lucier/3537
Wed Nov 24
Gravetemple – Attila Csihar, Stephen O’Malley, Oren Ambarchi
Advanced Music Festival 2021
Bratislava, Slovakia
https://m.facebook.com/events/4590650090996952
Wed Dec 1
Oren Ambarchi / Konrad Sprenger / Phillip Sollmann
Kaserne
Basel, Switzerland
https://www.kaserne-basel.ch/de/spielplan/ambarchi_sollmann_sprenger/01-12-2021_20-00
Wed Dec 8
Charlemagne Palestine, Oren Ambarchi, Eric Thielemans trio
Vooruit
Ghent, Belgium
https://www.vooruit.be/en/agenda/2937/support_tbc/RUISKAMER_3_Trio_Thielemans_Ambarchi_Charlemagne_Palestine_Eric_Thielemans_Oren_Ambarchi/
Thu Dec 9
Oren Ambarchi & Eric Thielemans duo
Werkplaats Walter
Brussels, Belgium
https://www.werkplaatswalter.be/news/
Sat Dec 11
Oren Ambarchi solo
Venue TBC
Poznan, Poland
Wed Dec 15
Oren Ambarchi solo
Arkaoda,
Berlin
Germany
berlin.arkaoda.com/
Wed July 14
Ambarchi/Sollmann/Sprenger trio
Berghain
Berlin
Germany
www.berghain.berlin/en/events/72828/
Wed July 28
Ambarchi/Sollmann/Sprenger trio
OstGut streaming event
Berghain
Berlin
Germany
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hRb9Yv_VXM
Thu July 29
Oren Ambarchi, Will Guthrie, Stephen O’Malley trio
A L’arme festival
RadialSystem
Berlin
Germany
www.radialsystem.de/programme/66215/239041/?lang=en
Tue Aug 10
Oren Ambarchi /Joe Talia duo
KM28
Berlin
Germany
www.km28.de/
Sat Aug 14
crys cole / Oren Ambarchi duo
24 Jaar Ultra Eczema
De Nor
Antwerp
Belgium
denor.be/events
Sat Aug 28
Oren Ambarchi solo
@ TwoHappy Festival
Funkhaus
Berlin
Germany
www.facebook.com/pg/mapache-152180478156038/community/
Sun Sept 13
Gravetemple – Attila Csihar/Stephen O’Malley/Oren Ambarchi
@ Wiener Fest Wochen
Halle E im Museums Quartier
Vienna
Austria
www.festwochen.at/en/gravetemple
Thu Sept 24
Charlemagne Palestine / Oren Ambarchi / Eric Thielemans trio
@ Kanal
Brussels
Belgium
kanal.brussels/en/events/charlemagne-palestine-oren-ambarchi-eric-thielemans-0
Wed Sept 30
Charles Curtis, Oren Ambarchi, Stephen O’Malley perform Alvin Luicer
@ Le Lieu Unique
Nantes
France
www.lelieuunique.com/en/evenement/stephen-omalley-with-oren-ambarchi-and-charles-curtis/
Thu Oct 1
Charles Curtis, Oren Ambarchi, Stephen O’Malley perform Alvin Luicer
@ Festival Strasbourg
Eglise Saint-Paul
Strasbourg
France
festivalmusica.fr/manifestation/1685/deep-listening
Fri Oct 2
Mats Gustafsson / Oren Ambarchi / Eric Thielemans trio
@ Heart Of Noise festival
Innsbruck
Austria
www.heartofnoise.at/de/2020/home/
20+ new and exclusive tracks recorded by Touch artists. A photographic counterpoint,
the view from Hampstead Heath during the London lockdown. Touch: Isolation is a subscription project that will evolve over the coming weeks. Click here to subscribe.
A time to support independent music while it still exists!
“Please keep your distance, the trail leads from here…”
The cancellation of gigs and festivals has already severely impacted our artists creatively and financially. In addition it has denied you, our audience, the opportunity to see them play and support them. The notion of ‘independent music’ might, in effect, be pushed deeper into the self-isolation mode it is already struggling to break free from. We don’t need studios to the same extent, but we do need a stage, a physical reference and if not, a mental space with which to question the drive to online existence.
We set out to respond to these challenging times in a creative and helpful way. The idea is to present Touch: Isolation whereby a new exclusive track from one of our artists, each with a bespoke photograph/cover image, is presented on a regular basis over the coming weeks. All the income received is collected from your subscriptions and put in a kitty, the proceeds of which are then divided up between the contributing artists.
These new and exclusive interventions will include works by Oren Ambarchi, Richard Chartier, ELEH, farmersmanual, Fennesz, fennesz sakamoto, Bana Haffar, Howlround, Philip Jeck, Bethan Kellough, Daniel Menche, Anthony Moore, Yann Novak, Zachary Paul, Claire M Singer, Geneva Skeen, UnicaZürn, Mark Van Hoen, CM von Hausswolff, Chris Watson, Jana Winderen and others to be confirmed – all expertly mastered by Denis Blackham.
We invite you to take this unique opportunity to support the artists, without whom there would be no alternative to corporate art… support the industries which realise the artists’ creation – the uncredited producers, designers, software developers, distributors, vinyl cutters, mastering engineers, friends and family etc., who all symbiotically depend on the other to bring their works to fruition…
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The subscription costs £20 for 20 (or more) tracks – please support the artists by investing in the Touch: Isolation project, and expect surprises – good ones for a change.
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Social distancing. Actual space. If you can get out, you have to get out. Escape velocity – from Brexit, then somehow prevent institutional meltdown? The UK shows the way, in a method that beggars belief.
The photographs were taken on Hampstead Heath during the early days of the UK/London lockdown, 25 March 2020, primarily in West Heath and the area around Golders Hill whose open space minimises the problems of social distancing. The weather, being superb after weeks of high winds and heavy rain, seemed a metaphor for regeneration and recovery, with the trees coming into bloom – in defiance of the scene we witnessed 33 years earlier after the Great Storm of October 1987 when, in the days that followed, the Heath looked like an arboreal graveyard.
The objective is to find a sense of quiet celebration, to look at the balance between the detail and the scaling force of open spaces. Let’s hope they can remain open.
To make 20 (or more) record covers in less than a week for sound and music we had yet to hear, and to then match the photography to each artist’s contribution… If this seems somewhat in the style of the children’s game, ‘Pin the tail on the donkey’, then perhaps that’s more apt than pretending we know how everything fits together at this juncture.
This might also be seen an opportunity to give an early documentation to the mental state of 2020, remembering the year 2000 and the threat of the ‘millennium bug’, this may well become known as the year when x melted into y, to avoid z.
Roughly a dozen years ago, life went broadband. Today we see our reliance on digital systems like never before.
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‘As a dwindling member of the generation that lived through and served in the Second World War I think in some ways this is much worse. It was possible to live in a country area and apart from rationing see little of the war. Bombing was spasmodic and haphazard, and our defences were really good. After a year, there was very little chance of an invasion and much of life – sport, theatres and radio, continued as before. Restaurants and hotels remained largely open, rationed according to turnover.’ David John Harding, b. 1925.
Further reading:
furtherdot blog
igloo magazine
ambient blog
Broadcasting House, BBC Radio 4
Xenographica
Oren Ambarchi – guitars & whatnot
Cyro Baptista – percussion & voice
Recorded by Randall Dunn, Joerg Hiller, Iuri Oriente and Oren Ambarchi.
Edited by Joerg Hiller and Oren Ambarchi at Choose Studios, Berlin.
Mixed by Joe Talia and Oren Ambarchi at Good Mixture, Tokyo.
Cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin.
Executive Producers: Konrad Sprenger & Dick Wolf.
Photography by Traianos Pakioufakis.
Design by Lasse Marhaug.
After a trilogy of spectacular explorations of relentlessly driving rhythms – Sagittarian Domain (2012), Quixotism (2014) and Hubris (2016) – Simian Angel finds Oren Ambarchi renewing his focus on his singular approach to the electric guitar, returning in part to the spacious canvases of classic releases like Grapes from the Estate while also following his muse down previously unexplored byways.
Reflecting Ambarchi’s profound love of Brazilian music – an aspect of his omnivorous musical appetite not immediately apparent in his own work until now – Simian Angel features the remarkable percussive talents of the legendary Cyro Baptista, a key part of the Downtown scene who has collaborated with everyone from John Zorn and Derek Bailey to Robert Palmer and Herbie Hancock. Like the music of Nana Vasconcelos and Airto Moreira, Simian Angel places Baptista’s dexterous and rhythmically nuanced handling of traditional Brazilian percussion instruments into an unexpected musical context. On the first side, ‘Palm Sugar Candy’, Baptista’s spare and halting rhythms wind their way through a landscape of gliding electronic tones, gently rising up and momentarily subsiding until the piece’s final minutes leave Ambarchi’s guitar unaccompanied. While the rich, swirling harmonics of Ambarchi’s guitar performance are familiar to listeners from his previous recordings, the subtly wavering, synthetic guitar tone we hear is quite new, coming across at times like an abstracted, splayed-out take on the 80s guitar-synth work of Pat Metheny or Bill Frisell. Equally new is the harmonic complexity of Ambarchi’s playing, which leaves behind the minimalist simplicity of much of his previous work for a constantly-shifting play between lush consonance and uneasy dissonance.
Beginning with a beautiful passage of unaccompanied percussion dominated by the berimbau, the side-long title piece carries on the first side’s exploration of subtle, non-linear dynamic arcs, taking the form of a gently episodic suite, in which distinctive moments, like a lyrical passage of guitar-triggered piano, unexpectedly arise from intervals of drifting tones like dream images suddenly cohering. In the piece’s second half, the piano tones becomes increasingly more clipped and synthetic, scattering themselves into aleatoric melodies that call to mind an imaginary collaboration between Albert Marcoeur and David Behrman, grounded all the while by the pulse of Baptista’s percussion. Subtle yet complex, fleeting yet emotionally affecting, Simian Angel is an essential chapter in Ambarchi’s restlessly exploratory oeuvre.
Delighted to present this special festival celebrating Oren Ambarchi’s 50th birthday and 10 years of his Black Truffle label. Spilling over three unmissable days, the festival (curated by Oren himself) features a packed international bill of special guests, projects and collaborations, all closely associated with Oren and his label.
Oren Ambarchi is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and musical polymath who has been releasing records with the frequency of someone who prefers studio time to sleep. His remarkably prolific and diverse oeuvre since the 90’s has included releases such as “Suspension” (2002), “Grapes From The Estate” (2004), “Audience Of One” & “Sagittarian Domain” (both 2012), “Quixotism” (2014) & “Hubris” (2016).
Ambarchi continues to collaborate with artists the world over and in the last few years his longform compositions have featured many friends and collaborators constituting some of his most adventurous work to date and demonstrating his slippery capacity for stylistic shapeshifting whilst retaining his singular musical language.
Black Truffle Records is an Australian-based label for experimental, improv, noise and abstract music, founded by Oren in 2009. There are around 50 releases to it’s name, featuring the likes of Alvin Lucier, Annea Lockwood, Keiji Haino, Charlemagne Palestine and many more www.blacktrufflerecords.com
Oren is one the musicians we hold highly in our international community of adventurous artists, and we feel privileged to host this unmissable festival.
cafeoto.co.uk/events/oren-ambarchi-50-black-truffle-10-festival/
76pp full colour book + CD
33 tracks – 78:59
Limited edition of 1000
Release date: 11th December 2017
Track listing:
Into the Open
Mika Vainio – Behind the Radiators
AER – Just Before Dawn
Bethan Kellough – Twelve
Wire – A Year A Second [For BCG]
London in a Week
Carl Michael Von Hausswolff – Sine Missing One
Chris Watson – Deepcar
Jana Winderen – Bronx Tunnel
The Magical Land of the North
Claire M Singer – Storr
Hildur Gudnadottir – Death 200AD
Three 20 – Four Twelve
Philip Jeck – Deed of Gift
Walking on Water
Simon Scott – Storm of the Fens
Eleh – Overt One
The Love Train
Russell Haswell – Demons
Heitor Alvelos – Expectant
I’m a Schoolteacher on Holiday
Johann Johannsson – Mingyun
Mark Van Hoen – Prescient
Fennesz – Paint It Black (remastered)
Sohrab – JV Dream
It’s Enough to Make You Weep
Strafe FR – Virgin
Before The Sea @ Falasarna
Jim O’Rourke – Despite The Water Supply
Situation Stabilised / BJ Nilsen – Atom Mother
Peter Rehberg – Cinecom
Gateway to the Garden
Oren Ambarchi – Testify
The Sound of Eleven
In a 24/7 world there is no greater challenge than “to be in command of one’s own time”. Is it true that the ability to download anything, at any moment, constitutes freedom? Has the ‘value’ of music, art and design been stripped bare? “I Google, therefore I am”…
Touch MOVEMENTS has been compiled over the course of 3 years. It is a response to many requests for Touch to publish a fuller account of Jon Wozencroft’s photography for the cover art of the project. The book follows the music, which was compiled step-by-step, like a jigsaw – there was not an “open call” to the artists, rather a sequential development which gives the CD a special narrative quality. And since our last Touch 30 compilation in 2012, the accuracy of the music has grown and rises to the challenge of what sound can do to transform perceptions about the immediate emotion of musical work and its more difficult, longer term evolution.
Following Touch Folio 001 in 2015, this series is a dedication to finding new ways of audiovisual publishing, somewhere between the twin peaks of a jewel-cased CD and a lavish box-set. The two elements of sound and the visual work in parallel to create the idea of an “Ear-book”, whose interdependency reveals itself over time, and allows the richest of listening and viewing experiences. The music and the photography is fully annotated, alongside a rarely-seen manifesto by the Surrealist film-maker Jan Švankmajer which celebrates the spirit of the creative act.
Based in Sydney, Australia, Oren Ambarchi is a gifted composer, multi-instrumentalist and improviser who has been traveling the world, crafting a most singular musical vision for the past twenty five years. He’s also an enthusiastic listener and avid record collector, a gourmand and happens to be one of my favorite musicians around. On a quick visit to New York for performances with Alvin Lucier and Loren Connors, Oren dropped by for a candid conversation about his early days as an Hasidic student in NYC, record collecting, learning to play guitar, running his own record label and a whole lot more. I love Oren’s music deeply and am delighted conversation got to happen. After our talk, Oren and I headed over to Russ & Daughters Cafe and gorged on smoked fish and chopped liver.
CD - Double Gatefold Vinyl - Download
Vinyl Track listing:
A: Salt
B: Knots pt. 1
C: Knots pt. 2
D1: Passage
D2: Fractured Mirror
On Audience of One, Oren Ambarchi presents a four-part suite which moves from throbbing minimalism to expansive song-craft to ecstatic free-rock. His previous solo albums for Touch exhibited a clear progression towards augmenting and embellishing his signature bass-heavy guitar tones with fragile acoustic instrumentation. Audience of One, while also existing in clear continuity with these recordings, opens the next chapter.
CD - 3 Tracks
Track Listing:
1. Fever, A Warm Poison
2. Inamorata
3. Trailing Moss in Mystic Glow
Oren Ambarchi continues his otherworldly investigations with "In The Pendulum's Embrace", a dark twin to his landmark 2004 album "Grapes from the Estate" [Touch # TO:61]. Returning again to the hallowed halls of BJB Studios in Sydney, Ambarchi expands the scope and range of his unique musical language, incorporating an even broader pallette of instruments and sensibilities. Despite the use of glass harmonica, strings, bells, piano, percussion and guitars, it's startling that the world created is still unmistakably his own, and that there is such a cohesion of vision throughout the albums's three lengthy pieces. With this record there's an even more tenuous coexistence of fragility and density; sounds as light as air mingling with wall shaking low-end. The converted already know the kind of trance-inducing euphoria of Ambarchi's music.
Newcomers will be scouting the back catalogue...
CD - 5 tracks
Track listing:
1. Intimidator
2. Iron Waves
3. Moving Violation
4. The Strouhal Number
5. A Final Kiss On Poisoned Cheeks
Intermission brings together a range of material Oren Ambarchi has contributed to compilations and limited edition vinyl releases between the years 2000 and 2008. Highlights include two live recordings - an early, fragile solo guitar recording taken from a radio broadcast in 2000 and A Final Kiss On Poisoned Cheeks, his powerful 12" recorded live in Vancouver in 2007 and originally released on Table Of The Elements. Additional tracks include Iron Waves an exclusive track in collaboration with vocalist Paul Duncan and Intimidator featuring Australian pianist/composer Anthony Pateras originally released on Southern Lord.
These are special anomalies in the Ambarchi canon but nonetheless feature the hallmarks of his unique soundworld, all underpinned by his trademark deep guitar tones and meticulous attention to detail. All tracks are newly remastered, many of which are available on CD for first time.
7" Vinyl - 2 tracks
Side A: Highway of Diamonds
Side B: Bleeding Shadow
Electric guitars, organ, samples, bells, percussion and motorised cymbal recorded at BJB Studios, Sydney with additional overdubs made at home 2005-2007. Gratitude to Fairport Convention and Boris D Hegenbart.
CD (deleted) - 4 tracks
Track listing:
1. Corkscrew
2. Girl With The Silver Eyes
3. Remedios The Beauty
4. Stars Aligned, Webs Spun
Oren Ambarchi's third solo project for Touch [after Suspension and Insulation] sees him reaching beyond the work for electric guitar that he's become recognised for, expanding his palette and taking his investigations into another sphere entirely. Grapes from the Estate features new instrumentation (strings, tuned bells, percussion and others that can only be guessed at), but the singular and unmistakable influence that Ambarchi exerts on these new materials is what makes it such an indelible work.
There is a reconciliation of his love of song-based music and his determination to deal in pure sound. The result is a work that truly eludes such arbitrary definitions. Grapes From The Estate is an all consuming experience that draws the listener out of an ordinary sense of time, into a world beyond it.
CD (deleted) - 6 tracks
Track Listing:
1. wednesday
2. vogler
3. this evening so soon
4. gene
5. suspension
6. as far as the eye can see
CD (deleted) - 11 tracks
Tracklist
1. Préambule (0:16)
2. Murmur (3:47)
3. Snork (14:26)
4. Lungs (3:47)
5. Simon (2:42)
6. Strategem (5:01)
7. Study N°1 (3:20)
8. Study N°3 (4:37)
9. Concurrents (2:54)
10. La Notte (4:06)
11. L'Eclisse (5:52)
Insulation is a well-focused, neatly varied work that falls somewhere between the concrète constructions of Tod Dockstader and the abstract soundscaping of Pan Sonic or the Mego crew. Each track is a self-contained entity exploring fresh terrain - from chaotically layered clashes to eerie, isolationist incursions - even as it gets along with its neighbours. Most surprising is how Ambarchi avoids any form of computer processing or editing.
With plenty of low end activity, the album has a particularly visceral impact. Waves and smears of heavy bass wash against the body or burst outwards in sudden, shuddering jolts. Drones distort and spear outwards as irritants, while the layers of micro-activity bristle and barb against the skin.