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.