“LIVE AT TUSK FESTIVAL 2013″ LP (TUSK, UK 2014)
Every year, TUSK Festival puts together a first-time trio selected from the assembled genii performing that weekend.
Over the 3 festivals so far, this simple trick has produced some pretty incredible results. 2011 saw Alan Bishop, Bill Orcutt and Chris Corsano throw down together for the first time, a union they enjoyed so much that they’ve since repeated it elsewhere. 2012 saw us merge the awesome talents of Michael Morley (Dead C, Gate), Gary Smith and Steve Noble for more revelations in sound and slack-jawed wonderment.
And in 2013, we managed to devise a trio that without question produced one of the most incredible performances of TUSK (or any) Festival to date – the stratospheric trio of Oren Ambarchi, Neil Campbell and Michael Flower. Ambarchi starts out on guitar and effects through a vintage Leslie speaker, Campbell exploring his astral table-top network and his Vibracathedral Orchestra colleague Flower’s guitar taking Canned Heat into outer space. Into side 2, Ambarchi moves onto drums and we truly have lift off!
The 3 members of this trio each come with exquisite pedigrees: Ambarchi with his run of solo albums via the great Touch label and collaborations with everyone from Keiji Haino and Jim O’Rouke to Fennesz, Stephen O’Malley, Keith Rowe, Voice Crack and more; Campbell with his intergalactic Astral Social Club and Vibracathedral Orchestra output and collaborations with Richard Youngs, Deacer Pinga, Matthew Bower and others, and VCO ally Flower’s work solo, as half of Flower-Corsano Duo, plus his many albums as part of MV&EE.
So – pouring 3 musicians of this calibre into one 12” piece of vinyl would be expected to produce some highly flammable results, and this searing record without doubt lives upto all expectations.
