Black Truffle

Black Truffle releases LP by 3/4HadBeenEliminated

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Tracklisting:

1. Nekyia
2. I Am A Prune Cake On A Background Of Corn Semolina

The experimental Italian quartet will to release two-track LP on Oren Ambarchi’s Black Truffle label.

Earlier this year when our Ian Maleney met with Oren Ambarchi in a Dublin pub before the Australian was due to play its small basement, he imparted of his label, “not many people know about a lot of the artists there but I believe the level is extremely high,” before suggesting 2016 was to present a wave of new music. As we enter August, Black Truffle this year has released long players from Charlemagne Palestine, free improve ensemble AMM and Ambarchi’s Pale Calling LP made with Kassel Jaeger and James Rushford. While most recently, Keiji Haino and Jim O’Rourke reconnected with Oren Ambarchi to release another collaborative album entitled I Wonder If You Noticed ”I’m Sorry” Is Such A Lovely Sound It Keeps Things From Getting Worse which follows several a series or irregular long-winded titles translated from Japanese.

Now invited into the Black Truffle stable is 3/4HadBeenEliminated, a trio-turned-quartet since drummer Tony Arrabito was invited to join Claudio Rocchetti, Stefano Pilia and PAN affiliate Valerio Tricoli’s improvisational trinity. Their forthcoming two-track Speak To Me LP presents the group with its sixth album, with Ambarchi and 3/4HadBeenEliminated crossing paths in the past by their involvement with Swedish label Häpna. Said to be recorded in Bologna and Berlin over several years, the album was made using “source material for compositions built up through layering, editing and analog manipulation,” which the label has aligned with the music Teo Macero, Faust and This Heat. Black Truffle further describe Speak To Me as melancholic instrumental ruminations that “sit alongside cracked electronics, concrete sounds and Tricoli’s whispered vocals, drawn together into dense assemblages animated by gradual transformations and sudden jump cuts.”

OREN AMBARCHI – ‘STACTE KARAOKE’

BT013front

12″ (Black Truffle 2014)

Two raw, ecstatic, face-melting guitar solos recorded in one take in the Ambarchi “Stacte tradition.” This time around, Ambarchi is backed up by a badass rhythm section from Texas, and together they ride the endless riff into the goddamn sunset.

KEIJI HAINO/JIM O’ROURKE/OREN AMBARCHI

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“Only Wanting to Melt Beautifully Away Is It a Lack of Contentment That Stirs Affection for Those Things Said to Be as of Yet Unseen”
CD/LP Black Truffle BT011

“Begun as a one-off collaboration in 2009, the trio of Keiji Haino, Jim O’Rourke and Oren Ambarchi has now become a solid working group, refining its craft through a series of annual concerts at Tokyo’s legendary SuperDeluxe. Much of their recorded work has focused on their intense, ritualistic take on the rock power trio of electric guitar, bass and drums. Presenting the entire first set of the trio’s March 2013 concert at SuperDeluxe (the second set will follow on Black Truffle later this year), Only Wanting to Melt Beautifully Away Is It a Lack of Contentment That Stirs Affection for Those Things Said to Be as of Yet Unseen is their fifth release and blows the instrumental palette wide open for a single continuous piece focused on acoustic strings, synth, flute and percussion. Featuring one of Haino’s most delicate and moving recorded vocal performances, the opening section of the record takes the form of a spare duet between O’Rourke’s 12-string acoustic guitar and Haino’s kantele (a Finnish variant of the dulcimer), behind which Ambarchi provides a hovering backdrop of wine glass tones. While on previous releases the listener has often sensed that Haino was firmly in the driver’s seat, here O’Rourke takes center stage with an acoustic guitar performance that takes the lyricism of John Abercrombie or Ralph Towner and refracts it through the free improvisation tradition of his mentors Derek Bailey and Henry Kaiser. The atmosphere of meditative, abstracted song is reminiscent of some of Haino’s greatest recordings, such as the legendary Live in the First Year of the Heisei volumes recorded with Kan Mikami. After this stunningly beautiful opening sequence, the performance moves organically through a number of episodes, including a dramatic central passage in which Haino moves to synth and drum machine, crafting a current of raw electricity that unfurls slowly over the gently pulsing foundations of Ambarchi’s cymbals and builds to heights of manic intensity. When Haino later turns to wooden flute, Ambarchi answers him with nimble hand-drummed percussion in a passage that calls to mind Don Cherry’s liberated combination of free-jazz improvisation and non-Western musics. The trio’s move away from the power trio dynamic bespeaks a risk-taking and questing spirit that refuses to be satisfied with repeating past glories, and yet the organic, immersive flow of this single improvisation attests to the intuitive bond that has formed between them over the last five years. Exuding the signature mystery and emotion of Haino’s greatest works, this release is perhaps the strongest statement yet from this acclaimed trio, and holds out a tantalizing promise for everyone hooked on their continuing exploration of ‘those things said to be as of yet unseen.” [Francis Plagne]

Design by Stephen O’Malley with high quality live shots by Ujin Matsuo and stunning artwork by Norwegian noise legend Lasse Marhaug.

AMBARCHI/O’ROURKE/HAINO

Black Truffle presents a stunning document of the debut meeting of international trio Oren Ambarchi, Jim O’Rourke and Keiji Haino. Recorded live at the Playhouse, Kitakyushu, Japan in January 2009, Tima Formosa retains a mysteriously alien atmosphere throughout its three lengthy explorations with Ambarchi’s mesmerizing textures and signature, deep guitar tones beautifully merging with O’Rourke’s Tudor-esque piano-feedback interjections. Haino provides the icing on the cake via his melancholic, higher consciousness choral vocals and bewildering electronics. Co-released with the Center For Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu with deluxe packaging designed by Stephen O’Malley of Sunn 0))).
Black Truffle web site: www.blacktrufflerecords.com

Afternoon Tea reissued by Black Truffle

It’s the people involved in ‘Afternoon Tea’ – originally released in 2000 on German label Ritornell and now reissued on Black Truffle with a new master, bonus tracks and newly discovered live recordings after years of being out of print – that ensured it as more than a happy accident. The twin guitar presence of AMM’s Keith Rowe and Oren Ambarchi and kindred spirits of the laptop – Sydney’s Pimmon, Vienna’s Christian Fennesz and Peter Rehberg – made it a momentous day.

With all the players coming together during the 2000 What Is Music? Festival, ‘Afternoon Tea’ stands as a highpoint of the then-emerging intersection between Powerbook performance and guitar improvisation. All subtley, nuance and detail, it is a revelation of restraint. Built on a steadying flow of burbling rhythm, the quintet slowly weave around each others’ sonics in layers to create a tonal palette immersive in its atmosphere and magnetic in its compulsion.

Hindsight clearly reveals the heart of these pieces – important to note considering they were recorded at a time when laptop performance was an alien concept to many in experimental music, suffering controversy and backlash as well as an over-abundance of pale approaches from many who took it on as novelty as opposed to serious musical pursuit. Those involved in the ‘Afternoon Tea’ session left their Australian tour inspired, citing their merry time in the country eating, drinking and hanging out at the beach as well as their performances as a direct influence on their following work. Many great live recordings were spawned from the tour itself including Rehberg & Bauer’s ‘passt’, Fennesz’ ‘Live at Revolver’ (both on Touch) and a collaboration between him and New Zealand’s Rosy Parlane (released on Synaesthesia). Additionally the seeds were sown for the Fennesz classic ‘Endless Summer’ from 2001 (Mego).

‘Afternoon Tea’ remains one of the quiet and real achievers for experimental music of the past decade.

Remastered in May 2009 and with artwork designed by Stephen O’Malley.

www.blacktrufflerecords.com

Black Truffle | Reissue of Oren Ambarchi releases

A new label, Black Truffle, is re-issuing two rare recordings from Oren Ambarchi:

Stacte.3
Format: CD
Catalogue Number: BT01

Originally released in 2000 as a limited vinyl only album, ‘Stacte.3’ is now available on CD for the first time.

Described by Wire scribe Jon Dale as “Alvin Lucier and Cluster collaborating for Mego”, the concept of Oren Ambarchi’s ‘Stacte’ LP series – now comprising of five volumes – began in 1998. The first few ‘Stacte’ LPs were self-released by Ambarchi and featured his earliest explorations of the guitar and its sonic possibilities after a period known as a drummer in post-punk, noise and free jazz outfits. An idea was explored and investigated at length using a spontaneous approach, with Ambarchi treating each side of the vinyl like a canvas, slowly capturing a moment, patiently teasing every nuance and implication from each texture. His method allowed the listener to sink their teeth into something substantial over the course of the LP side’s entire duration, resulting in an otherworldly, cumulative impact of patiently unfolding compositions.

The ‘Stacte.3’ release (especially the LP’s second side) was a breakthrough for Ambarchi and it defined the parameters for his subsequent projects such as 2001’s ‘Suspension’ and ‘Grapes From The Estate’ from 2004, both released on the legendary UK label Touch. ‘Stacte.3’ is an early glimpse of Ambarchi at his most raw and minimal and it’s a fascinating, integral listen in his catalogue of sound works.

Remastered in December 2008 and with artwork designed by Stephen O’Malley.

TRACKLISTING:
01. Stacte.3A
02. Stacte.3B

Persona
Format: CD
Catalogue Number: BT02

Originally released in 2000 as a limited vinyl only album, ‘Persona’ is now available on CD for the first time.

‘Persona’ was recorded in February 2000, just a week after the ‘Afternoon Tea’ collaboration with Fennesz, Pimmon, Pita and Keith Rowe. Utilizing a raw and spontaneous approach like the ‘Stacte’ series of solo releases, Ambarchi recorded the pieces on ‘Persona’ at home in a day, only using his guitar, a handful of effect pedals and a boombox as a monitor(!). Considered to be a ‘sister’ release to Ambarchi’s acclaimed ‘Suspension‘ album on Touch, the material on ‘Persona’ (originally released on E.R.S. in a tiny edition of 300) was only heard by a handful of listeners. From the late 90’s his experiments in guitar abstraction and extended technique led to a more personal and unique soundworld and ‘Persona’ was an early document of this direction. Here, the pieces are hesitant and tense extended songforms, located in the cracks between several schools: modern electronics and processing; laminal improvisation and minimalism; and hushed, pensive songwriting. It recalls the deceptive simplicity and temporal suspensions of composers such as Morton Feldman and Alvin Lucier, and the physicality of rock music, stripped back to its bare bones, abstracted and replaced with pure signal.
Remastered in December 2008 and with artwork designed by Stephen O’Malley

TRACKLISTING:
01. Alma
02. Vogler
03. Persona

Black Truffle web site: www.blacktrufflerecords.com

Touch & TouchRadio | Publishing & Licensing

Oren Ambarchi is exclusively published by Touch Music [MCPS]. His work is also released on Touch, one of the most influential independent labels based in the UK [founded 1981/2].

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Discography

Here are Oren Ambarchi’s releases with the titles linked to the relevent page in the TouchShop. Reviews of all of Oren Ambarchi’s releases can be read here

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Biography & Photos

Oren Ambarchi is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. His work focuses mainly on the exploration of the guitar, “re-routing the instrument into a zone of alien abstraction where it’s no longer easily identifiable as itself. Instead, it’s a laboratory for extended sonic investigation”. (The Wire, UK).

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Features & Press Coverage

Reviews of all of Oren Ambarchi’s releases on Touch can be read here

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