we're coming to the end of the year (you may have noticed) and meshmass are busy discussing next year's agenda. we plan on being enormously famous and wealthy by june (there are just a few details to sort out) but we look forward to the new year confident in the certain knowledge that the wave of the future is to be stupid ugly and old.............................................................................................................................................................as usual.
dreadful MESHMASS, architects of the death of music have compiled another voyage into the unknown, the full horror of which has even now been visited upon their helpless victims, burrowing its unholy path into their neural cortex and disestablishing the pillars of sanity.
yes,
novembermass is upon us and this edition of the monthly cycle features yet more previously unimagined combinations of sound. many of them last no longer than a pop music single, between 3 and 5 of your earth minutes.
viz and to whit:
santosis - a sort of vaguely african sensation overcomes us amid the breathy keyboards and innocent piano sounds. even has some sort of lonely-sounding tune.
tempo robado - (possibly 'stolen time').
smerch - a slippery jazzism.
string theory - with its nagging pianisms.
overstrung - a naked duet.
rodentious - even breathier and with additional shimmerings, there is an invasion of marimbas.
approach - a duet which almost has a tune.
thicket - a confused funk.
ouvertude - attractively dressed in heavy reverb, this duet is full of extraordinary tonalities and wobbly bendings.
peccavi - ('i have sinned') an r&b organ instru-mental-disorder.
habbibi 2 - a rather sedate and attractive duet.
and
warblemonger - one of their minor epics, really rather a beauty.
and not only this, but meshmass also played half an hour of entirely improvised duet at the peculiar 'green door store', a tunnel located conveniently underneath brighton station. some people were there and did not leave but didn't look particularly impressed either. richard tickled his guitar with feathers on a rotating and illuminated device which he had apparently stolen from a child. peter played his new alto and we are all hopeful that one day he will find out how.
meshmass can be found on soundcloud which is undergoing a revolution at the moment with its content producers in a fury about changes to the site which mean (among other things) that people can repost tracks on their own page without apparently giving appropriate credit. i can only conclude that this is the point at which this site - like many others before it - attempts to 'monetise' itself around its established community and loses the sympathy of that community in the process - see 'myspace', 'official fm' and others for similar examples....
and of course for a mere £10 or €15 you can obtain through the wonder of the internet a monthly portion of at least one hour of new music (as outlined above, for example) - apply to auralwitness@gmail.com or go to the website.
bless you all, your little cotton socks and cute button noses and a very merry christmas from all at meshmass mansions.
at halloween our heroes meshmass played the last set at the last ever gig at the open house in brighton. the venue - an upstairs room in the popular pub near london road station - will be much missed and is (absurdly) being turned into offices. meshamass played a set entirely of improvised duets, very exposed and risky, but sustained no permanent damage. strangely enough the intended headline act of the night played first and then buggered off back to london and personally i feel that london is welcome to them.
newly edited and almost available, the octobermass subscriber package is so excessively long that it has caused a rupture in the space-time continuum and is thought to curve light into attractive spiral shapes due to its gravitational pull. estimates vary but i have transferred the tracks onto 2 cd's and one lasts almost 74 minutes (which is already too long) and the other 53 which is just ever so slightly too short. in any case, even allowing for the 2 second gaps my software imposes between tracks that is more than twice as much as we were meant to make this month- more than 2 hours - and we still left out loads of stuff we were quite happy with and would have released at other times without the slightest tinge of embarrassment. the list:
sand dancer has fat bass chords and a burbling keyboard which ghostly distortions float over. richard's major contribution when it arrives is extraordinary, sounding as though it was being extracted from another continuum. it all plays out with a mildly heroic melody.
stumble develops a slightly african flavour - possibly yam, or cocoa powder - but begins with a solemn procession of organ chords before the bouncy drum parts and the delightful little guitar flourish drag us off. the saxophone restrains itself from outright violence with surprising delicacy and then returns as all join in a cheerful exit.
thrickle (as featured at the festival of brown), has an absurdly funky rhythm part which started life as synthetic french horns but in this incarnation it starts with cellos. it's got some jolly bass parts too and the very attentive will notice the saxophone passing through the guitar's effects at one point. when the written sections suddenly stop were left with gentle sax, cello and guitar.
flying low over water has the appearance of being a minor meshmass classic and features an hallucinatory keyboard part which seems to have someone gasping in it (but does not). there's a chugging continuo under it and some fat organ chords. when richard brings in the chorussy guitar and the flute-bass tune is added everything floats along nicely, just skimming the white crests of the waves.
half a chance begins like an updated beat group but then a section of guitar chords combines with a violently distorted keyboard ushering in a couple of fat and chirpy basslines. the return of the chords gives way to harmonium and sax with a rumbling chewed up drone at the back of it. sax and guitar then begin the final section trading sharp rhythmic structures across the beat.
melting mowbray an orchestra of ghostly flutes introduces this which is then hung across some electric piano chords. the sax enters squeaking but soon reverts to its october default of smoky charm, where it is eventually joined by tiny metallic tones amid the extended chordal overlays richard also provides.
schwenk has one of those echoed piano lines we used to use a lot complemented by a little nudging guitar line and loads of softly distorted drums. it develops a sort of film noir atmosphere when the sax enters around 5:00 and drops away to leave the piano fading.
scrub starts with a sweet and clean guitar introduction with gentle plucked chords and quickly hits the brick wall of rhythm, fat chords from string/organ and there we are into the guitar and sax melody which is positively soppy.
slow tide is a three part series of duets, very relaxed and even beautiful.
into land plays sustained single notes from alto and guitar against each other, producing some actual harmonies. in the end richard plays chords and it all resoves into a soft tune that makes you suspect that they know what they are doing.
and
hanging out based on richard's playing of a tuned percussion simalucrum, this is a phone duet.
it is truly an embarrassment of riches (only increased by the fact that rich thought we hadn't done much good work this month) and has brought forth a commitment that we should "do less and do it worse" in future.
you have been told.
septembermass is now out and available to subscribers. this edition of the monthly release lasts some 79 minutes and features a range of musical delights in both mp3 and wav formats for your listening convenience.
szabo 1 and 3 are fine examples of this little understood genre with spitting electronics and additions. szabo 3 in particular has the quality of constantly driving forward as further waves of musical energy pass over and beyond.
wilderness appears to be lush and attractive until some ghastly monster is uncovered beneath the vegetation.
all over sinks back into relaxation.
abnormal has hints of balkan gipsy brass about it - kalashnikov, anyone?
smoothing over is as sweet as we can manage, the bassline shadowed by alto sax.
jazzbo slim is a quirk all of its own. i have seen it described as 'frankly jolly'.
i have no idea starts with a piano figure and develops uncontrollably over an extended period.
operational load is a soft duet.
and finally
strict elephants features an invasion of ghostly trombones and can be sampled at the moment on the meshmass soundcloud page as a demonstration of what is available to our lucky subscribers.
i recommend the septembermass to you as a good example of our work - most of it was the product of one week's session and it was very hard indeed to reduce the production to the quite excessive length it stands at.
meshmass played the festival of brown on sunday 23rd at brighton's eminently brown coach house, the world's least visible venue. they were joined by guests tim green (tenor sax) annie kerr (violin) and nigel french (percussion) and played for 90 minutes. having guests is good and interesting but it was a relief to sink back into a duet towards the end. we had our usual recording session on tuesday and produced just over 50 minutes of new music some of which (strict elephants, i believe) is even now available to the discerning listener (and the other one too) on soundcloud.
on friday peter played alto in a scratch quartet supporting a trio led by ken vandermark at the safe house in brighton. ken vandermark is a well-known improviser from chicago who has played with all sorts of famous people. it was quite startling how high he could make his clarinet go and he was impressive on the tenor sax too. the drummer mark sanders was extraordinary. not only that but peter has bought himself another alto, this one being a selmer mark Vl which has had some alterations made to it. this means he has 3 altos at the moment, so if anyone wants to buy a conn 6M 'ladyface' they know where to come. only the cruel would suggest he needs so many saxophones because he hopes to find one that he can play.
meshmass will have a week off now but should reconvene for a recording on october 9th. some time before that we will have to select and distribute the september edition of the monthly mass.
i can hardly wait.
meshmass played at the fourth FESTIVAL OF BROWN.
they were AUGMENTED by GUESTS.
they played for an hour and a half.
the guests were:
ANNIE KERR : violin
TIM WOOD : tenor saxophone
NIGEL FRENCH : percussives
they all did remarkably well considering they hadn't the faintest clue what was going on..... but then again nor did we, of course.
there is a recording of the performance.... in fact i think there are 2 recordings. if we post one to the 'meshmass live' page on soundcloud we will let you know.
we remain available for living-room performances at domestic volumes. get in touch at
auralwitness@gmail.com
meshmass are playing at the festival of brown on sunday 23rd.
we reprint here a text about the event:
one and all
you are cordially invited to attend the fourth FESTIVAL OF BROWN, an art event celebrating that most downtrodden of colours.
From 4pm until 10 on Sunday 23rd of September 2012
at the coach house, 22 walpole road, kemp town, brighton
there will be performances and events including
music: Annie Kerr (violin) re-interprets bach, the choir of rolls, meshmass, and also various improvisers.
dance and performance from Carolina Diaz and (independently) VV.
A slideshow of international photographers.
films and projections by Sabine Portela (and others.)
spoken word performances by Dr. Peter Pick, E.L.Wisty, Annie Kerr (recently runner-up in a BBC poetry competition), and Tim Wood.
Various examples of brown art including feltwork, pottery, painting, sculpture and hangings. (no public hangings of people or animals are scheduled.)
The coach house is a most secluded and special little venue which you WILL NOT BE ABLE TO FIND. There will be cake and other delicious things to eat. Those attending can be assured of a most unusual and interesting exposition of the range of brown and of a warm and friendly atmosphere.
going out any minuet now (or a waltz would do) the all new august meshmass subscription packet - 100% meshmass or your money back. this (last) month yielded a bumper crop of unstrumentals (and some strumentals as well) and we have after great effort whittled the supply down to 13 tracks at a total of 80 minutes or so, just short enough to fit on a cdr (after a bit of a panic).
they include: 2 selections from a solemn crimsoballad called 'snoring ghosts' - with good reason as it reminds us of early progressive rock (it's not our fault it just happened like that).
2 pieces of 'fat reduced edda' entitled 'elfsdottir' - somewhere in there is a sinuous tune.
3 separate and individual improvised guitar and saxophone duets ranging from 5:30 to 8:05.
2 bits of 'any known carrot', one of which features the frightful spectre of mariachi trumpet (and one of which does not).
another 'loungecrime' piece, called 'uncle smooch'. a short, loud metalfunk excursion called 'doppo' (not one of the marx brothers).
and 2 other pieces quite impossible to describe.....
most pieces are around 5 minutes long (amazingly enough) and only one exceeds 10 minutes, and that by only a smidgin. (a smidgin is a technical term, don't worry about it, we professionals like to display our esoteric knowledge by adopting an impenetrable vocabulary).
'snoring ghosts part 1' is the featured soundtrack to a splendidly atmospheric video by 'art conspiracy' which will soon be posted to their vimeo site.
august. a good month after all.
it's time for the creatures of the meshmass archive to slither out from their holes and publish the junemass compilation - 66 and a half minutes of crunchy goodness from this month - which includes
at the edge of the world - a desolate cry involving the sounding stones of pinuccio sciola, some car-horns and a little bit of soprano saxophone.
ossuary - rather a delicate piece with alto saxophone. it starts with a sort of rippling and looped saxophone. the end is quite calm, by which time the sax is a soprano.
relinquish - a lush duet with alto sax and fretless guitar.
mentholated corpse - the cool alternative. more sounding stones and some strange twanging noises accompany richard's fretless.
misreading rune 2 - a fairly driving piece utilising samples drawn from the work of rune martinsen a composer of drones and atmospheric pieces to be found on soundcloud. it starts with some zithery sort of sounds from richard's collection and even includes some actual singing.
felafel proof - soprano sax and fretless guitar support themselves on a bed of snarls. it ends with surprising delicacy.
swim - a fairly long duet with quite unexpected twists in its development.
there's a lot of richard's extraordinary 11-string fretless guitar-thing on these recordings which cover a broad range of mesmass' field of expression.... we commend this package to the house.
even as (with palsied and trembling fingers) i type these words meshmass are sending out the MAYMASS package to lucky subscribers on various continents (some of whom have paid money for the privilege and some of whom seem to have forgotten.) this month the recipients will get 6 tracks totalling 64:34 including one violent duet (giving out) 3 pieces involving the 'sounding stones' of sardinian sculptor pinuccio sciola (the veiling earth 1&2 and hinterland), a driving pulsework with several drumkits (plumb) and a big long fat instrumental called hummer (which either does not know the words or is modelled on unreasonably large american military transport vehicles - possibly both.) the sessions involved richard's yamaha 12-string guitar and his godin fretless sort-of-guitar-thing which also has too many strings and both soprano and alto saxophones.
.
.
between you and me may was rather interfered with from a meshmass perspective since peter went off and played the soprano saxophone in various peculiar locations (outdoors, underground and so-on) and there was a limited amount of time for meshing and massing. so it might not be a classic month, although i think 'giving out' is unusual and interesting and 'hummer' is a very strong piece. 'plumb' starts slowly with a fat, distorted pulse but after the piano entry more and more drummers join the party. it also features richard playing ghost organ. 'hinterland' is very pleasant and includes a sample of some very excited chickens doing soul-singer impersonations as well as typically incompetent piano playing and some rather charming alto saxophone. 'the veiling earth' is split into 2 contrasting sections, the first is more or less dominated by soprano saxophone and the second much darker and more full.
and while i remember.... which is to say before i forget again.... meshmass is (or possibly are) officially the sound of childhood obesity. documentary makers at rutgers university (which is in the united states of america, incidentally, not in rutger at all) have asked us for permission to use 'guias sonores' (a very long piece which covers several continents) in a film about efforts to combat childhood obesity (variously described as 'an epidemic' and 'your own fault, fatty'). we are naturally flattered to have made such a glamorous field our own and are printing hundreds of (imaginary) t-shirts with 'meshmass - the sound of fat kids' written on them.
meshmass is proud... or are proud.... anyway, proud or at least happy to announce.... or content to announce but happy that in fact.... (oh for heaven's sake get on with it!) there is new music up on soundcloud, a piece called 'the veiling earth'.... or about half of that piece, the second half in fact, thus 'the veiling earth (2)'.
this piece is the first to feature samples of the 'sounding stones' of the sardinian sculptor pinuccio sciola, but is probably not the last.
and not only that, there is a whole new place to find meshmass, at 'new official fm', complete with yummy photographs.
now that may is over we are turning our thoughts to selecting the maymass package, and once again we will struggle to select anything less than 2 hours although we aim for 1 hour and although we only had 2 sessions in may as opposed to our more usual 4 or so.
lots of stuff, people, and all yours for only £10 a year.
meshmass have returned from their scattered hauntings of peculiar places - it is alleged that peter was found playing the soprano saxophone in a disused mine on a mediterranean island (but this can scarcely be true, surely) and that richard has had a headache for a month. the long-delayed and no doubt anxiously awaited april edition of the monthly mass is now available to subscribers on the interweb. it contains approximately 74 minutes of music including a fairly abstract saxophone and guitar duet (delta), a noisy dance-rocker which utilises a megaphone (step away from the groove), the highly attractive 'sauerkraut', 'peace flapping loose' (a 'duet with pulse' - very gentle and pleasant) laptop-based instrumentals 'nosebleed' and 'culminator' and 'the futility foundation' with additional vocals. also the charming duet 'sanctivated'. all pieces are as usual improvised direct to stereo, edited and in this case most have been painstakingly remastered with eq, compression and limiting applied. so that's 8 pieces ranging from 5:45 to 15:27 in length and from the quietly charming to the rampantly noisy with all sorts of weirdness in between. not a bad month, all in all.
work is now proceeding on may's harvest which so far includes a number of samples drawn from recordings of 'sounding stones' made by the sculptor pinnuchio sciola. art turned into art? anything is possible.
(except what you just suggested of course, which is obscene.)
i notice and am not surprised to see that we have 1 follower and it is probably us. never mind, we have become used to the fact that we are of no interest and we carry on regardless. we're currently working on the marchmass - this month's compilation of last month's production at the nothing works - and so far we have whittled it down to just slightly more than twice as much as there ought to be. it would be sensible to hold some over for harder times to come, but since when were we sensible? honestly people, you literally do not know what you are missing - a peculiar but charming blend of pyschedelia, intelligent dance, ambient, jazz, electronica and improvised music delivered free with a picture every month for only £10 a year. there is no other way you will ever hear this music, only perhaps 10 - 20% of it reaches soundcloud - a sample of new work is always available there, however.
we're looking for gigs. we have one on april 14th at the coach house, 22 walpole road kemp town, 8.30 and are in contact with unfortunate individuals in berlin and ghent, but we will come and play in your living room too. think of it as having a living stereo. (which only plays meshmass of course - a bit of a disadvantage i know but we promise to take all the soundwaves away with us when we leave.)
for bookings, subscription enquiries and etc. contact
auralwitness@gmail.com
meshmass played last night to a bath of fire. no computers were involved and the video didn't work, but we played anyway. lola, ruby and pippa were wonderful candle-porters and sabine portela staged the event with her keen and adaptable sensibility. thanks to sara-jane at the coach house, kemptown - we will be playing there again.... better and more complicatedly. (oh god).
we are negotiating with berlin to go and play there. don't hold your breath since so far these negotiations have been ongoing for 5 months. but they have resumed.....
new meshmass on soundcloud - a long piece (this time!) called 'guias sonores' - check your portuguese road atlas.
a new and strangely wonderful video from meshmass. dancing plastic in the tidal river accompanied by the 'loungecrime' hit horvendile. give yourself 8 minutes of peculiar enjoyment.
a plastic horvendile
a plastic horvendile
beastly new meshmassmusic going up on soundcloud even now! what's worse, someone has lent peter a tenor saxophone which seems incredibly large and loud and permits him to make howling and screeching noises even worse than before. one of the new pieces sounds like bach only like bach gone wrong, of course... a sort of mock baroque, perhaps. good heavens, whatever next.
easily led by meshmass
easily led by meshmass
oh, wonderful persons, here we are again, all scattered in our separate worlds. the creatures of meshmass have gathered and once again produced inordinate quantities of what they call 'music' (some auditory phenomenon, they claim, carried by 'waves' in the 'air' - the sort of hippy-dippy lunatic explanation one might expect from such types) and an example of this new production is available free to you below. i should warn you that it lasts more than 30 of your earth minutes and passes through several states or emotions before sliding into a quiet somnolence.
returning after an undeserved and unrequested holiday the enigma that is meshmass have recorded, edited and uploaded to soundcloud some new pieces. they include unregulated unlicensed and frankly unhygenic forays into dub production styles ("inna dub stylee" as they so poetically put it) and a great deal of overlapping drum programming. everything changes, everything stays the same. we wish all the many thousands of meshmassmaniacs a cheery new year despite george osborne and the imminent (and surprisingly painless) default of greece, and herewith place one million curses on the syrian dicatatorship.
unit 8 by meshmass
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