Sonic Youth Gossip - Davenport / James Blackshaw cdr

Split Cdr, released in March 2005 in an edition of 100 copies on Static. The Blackshaw tracks were recorded on home 4-track in 2004.

Davenport are a fiercely independent improvising collective from Wisconsin. Clay Ruby and Tony Endless are the only constant members. The sound is crafted from discarded and/or cheap electronics, field recordings and acoustic instruments and encompasses ecstatic folk, howling vocals, pure noise, percussion and drones.
They are incredibly prolific and I have no idea how many recordings they have actually released.
The music in uncompromising. They follow whatever path the sound lays and it ranges from meditative and musical to confrontational bursts of noise.
Inevitably, they don’t always end up somewhere rewarding for the listener. This isn’t really the point. They are documenting moments in their history and allowing us to listen as they evolve.
Their output is incredibly diverse and most of it is unavailable, but their recordings are definitely worth tracking down.

The pieces here are hypnotic earthy explorations where tension builds slowly and sounds collapse on themselves. Beautiful.

James Blackshaw’s recordings are in a different mood than on his other releases and he moves away from longer raga inspired playing and seems to focus on his guitar as pure sound. Inspired by Arabic forms and tunings combined with traditional British folk, these pieces are Blackshaw as an improviser. He incorporates other instruments and sounds, and here they have as much weight as the 12 string.

Davenport/James Blackshaw

http://grown-so-ugly.blogspot.com/

I'd check the whole blog for other Blackshaw gems if i was you.