Sonic Youth Gossip - View Single Post

Moshe · 09.13.2006, 03:01 AM

TOE-LP-66 TEXT OF LIGHT (featuring LEE RANALDO and CHRISTIAN MARCLAY) 052402 echo 4 LP 2004

The visionary ensemble Text of Light extends free improvisational experiments into an intermedia environment; the result in is a new chapter in the annals of free improvisation and mixed media.

The all-star members first gathered in 1999 to perform music to the films of Stan Brakhage and other members of the American Cinema avant garde of the 1950s-60s Brakhage's film Text of Light was the premiere performance and namesake of the group, whose original premise was to improvise to (rather than "illustrate") works from this under-known era of personal expression and breathtaking visual poetry.

The group features Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Alan Licht (guitars/devices), Christian Marclay and DJ Olive (turntables), William Hooker (drums/percussion), Ulrich Krieger (sax/electronics), and most recently Tim Barnes (drums/percussion). To date the group has performed with the following films: Brakhage's Text of Light, Dog Star Man, Anticipation of the Night and Songs; Harry Smith's Mahagonny outtakes, Oz: The Approach to the Emerald City, and Late Superimpositions.

This beautifully packaged LP is the group's first commercial release, and features original artwork by the late, great filmmaker, magician and alchemist, Harry Smith.

"The new 'Text of Light' quintet with Lee Ranaldo & Alan Licht on guitars, DJ Olive on turntable/sampler and Ulrich Krieger on sax accompanied films by Stan Brakhage, which were very strange and constantly in motion. Their sonic soundscapes fit Brakhage's films with a well seasoned and well placed stew of restrained, yet occasionally explosive results."
Downtown Music Gallery

--------------------------------------------------

XER-CD-99 LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS, JEAN-MARC MONTERA, THURSTON MOORE, LEE RANALDO MMMR CD 1997
XER-LP-99 LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS, JEAN-MARC MONTERA, THURSTON MOORE, LEE RANALDO MMMR LP 1997

As members of Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo continue to pump the most radical tenets of American experimentalism into the heart of rock music; in recent years they have also extended their reputations as world-class improvisers. French phenom Jean-Marc Montera records for the legendary FMP label and has collaborated with an amazing host of free-music luminaries, including Evan Parker, Paul Lovens and Han Bennink. However it is the keening blues wail of Loren Mazzacane Connors that leads this expedition of electric guitars to the furthest reaches of a vast, cinematic soundscape.
Recorded by Martin Stumpf (Phillip Glass, David Bowie) at Sonic Youth's Echo Canyon Studios, NYC.

"This is great improvised music. It is beautiful and complex and, most importantly, it breathes. As good and as moving as anything you'll hear this year."
John Fahey

-------------------------------------------------

XER-LP-99 LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS, JEAN-MARC MONTERA, THURSTON MOORE, LEE RANALDO MMMR LP 1997 (See XER-CD-99)

-------------------------------------------------

XER-CD-102 LEE RANALDO and WILLIAM HOOKER The Celestial Answer CD 2005

As individual performers, William Hooker and Lee Ranaldo are explosive. As collaborators, they are thermonuclear. A kinetic, avant percussionist and poet, Hooker is one of New York's most important band leaders, having fronted groups that included David Murray and David S. Ware. Ranaldo leads the improv supergroup Text of Light, whose fluid membership includes Hooker, as well as Christian Marclay, Tim Barnes and Mission of Burma's Roger Miller -- and of course, he's a co-founder of the indefatigably experimental Sonic Youth.

With The Celestial Answer, Hooker and Ranaldo have created a work of blindingly brilliant, elemental force. Rays of white guitar noise penetrate clouds of analog synth; molten drumming blasts across free-form poetics. The dynamic is beautiful and inspired -- a simple cold-fusion of intuitive interaction and boundless sonic freedom. These are thoughtful and emotionally attuned artists. Open your ears and they'll take you on a soaring voyage through an ecstatic firmament, into the howling mouth of infinity.

09.13.2006, 03:01 AM	#4
Moshe Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 5,865	TOE-LP-66 TEXT OF LIGHT (featuring LEE RANALDO and CHRISTIAN MARCLAY) 052402 echo 4 LP 2004 The visionary ensemble Text of Light extends free improvisational experiments into an intermedia environment; the result in is a new chapter in the annals of free improvisation and mixed media. The all-star members first gathered in 1999 to perform music to the films of Stan Brakhage and other members of the American Cinema avant garde of the 1950s-60s Brakhage's film Text of Light was the premiere performance and namesake of the group, whose original premise was to improvise to (rather than "illustrate") works from this under-known era of personal expression and breathtaking visual poetry. The group features Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Alan Licht (guitars/devices), Christian Marclay and DJ Olive (turntables), William Hooker (drums/percussion), Ulrich Krieger (sax/electronics), and most recently Tim Barnes (drums/percussion). To date the group has performed with the following films: Brakhage's Text of Light, Dog Star Man, Anticipation of the Night and Songs; Harry Smith's Mahagonny outtakes, Oz: The Approach to the Emerald City, and Late Superimpositions. This beautifully packaged LP is the group's first commercial release, and features original artwork by the late, great filmmaker, magician and alchemist, Harry Smith. "The new 'Text of Light' quintet with Lee Ranaldo & Alan Licht on guitars, DJ Olive on turntable/sampler and Ulrich Krieger on sax accompanied films by Stan Brakhage, which were very strange and constantly in motion. Their sonic soundscapes fit Brakhage's films with a well seasoned and well placed stew of restrained, yet occasionally explosive results." Downtown Music Gallery -------------------------------------------------- XER-CD-99 LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS, JEAN-MARC MONTERA, THURSTON MOORE, LEE RANALDO MMMR CD 1997 XER-LP-99 LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS, JEAN-MARC MONTERA, THURSTON MOORE, LEE RANALDO MMMR LP 1997 As members of Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo continue to pump the most radical tenets of American experimentalism into the heart of rock music; in recent years they have also extended their reputations as world-class improvisers. French phenom Jean-Marc Montera records for the legendary FMP label and has collaborated with an amazing host of free-music luminaries, including Evan Parker, Paul Lovens and Han Bennink. However it is the keening blues wail of Loren Mazzacane Connors that leads this expedition of electric guitars to the furthest reaches of a vast, cinematic soundscape. Recorded by Martin Stumpf (Phillip Glass, David Bowie) at Sonic Youth's Echo Canyon Studios, NYC. "This is great improvised music. It is beautiful and complex and, most importantly, it breathes. As good and as moving as anything you'll hear this year." John Fahey ------------------------------------------------- XER-LP-99 LOREN MAZZACANE CONNORS, JEAN-MARC MONTERA, THURSTON MOORE, LEE RANALDO MMMR LP 1997 (See XER-CD-99) ------------------------------------------------- XER-CD-102 LEE RANALDO and WILLIAM HOOKER The Celestial Answer CD 2005 As individual performers, William Hooker and Lee Ranaldo are explosive. As collaborators, they are thermonuclear. A kinetic, avant percussionist and poet, Hooker is one of New York's most important band leaders, having fronted groups that included David Murray and David S. Ware. Ranaldo leads the improv supergroup Text of Light, whose fluid membership includes Hooker, as well as Christian Marclay, Tim Barnes and Mission of Burma's Roger Miller -- and of course, he's a co-founder of the indefatigably experimental Sonic Youth. With The Celestial Answer, Hooker and Ranaldo have created a work of blindingly brilliant, elemental force. Rays of white guitar noise penetrate clouds of analog synth; molten drumming blasts across free-form poetics. The dynamic is beautiful and inspired -- a simple cold-fusion of intuitive interaction and boundless sonic freedom. These are thoughtful and emotionally attuned artists. Open your ears and they'll take you on a soaring voyage through an ecstatic firmament, into the howling mouth of infinity.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|