any moment now, if not (god help us) at this very second the long anticipated decembermass will be leaking through the ether into the receptive orifices of our helpless victims. this month's supply of meshmass was only reduced to a cd's worth (with a mere 4 seconds to spare) after a desperate bout of whittling and trimming which lasted a week or more. we have 13 tracks some in the new 'bad religion' genre and others resembling post-rock, one which sabine claims is a tango, some almost jazz and others in general unclassifiable but notionally avant-garde. there is a piece which resembles bagpipes getting drunk and dancing. this is called normal things but i expect that is ironic. there are 3 pure duets of which climate is delightful blues for winter is mysterious and partida is short and also a duet with drum machine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

like last month we are sending it out in 2 editions, first mp3's and then 16 bit wavs so that you can download the format you want. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- so, lots of good stuff going out and lots of good stuff staying where it is. remember, it's only £10 to get one of these releases every month for a year, but i think we'll put the price up soon. new stuff every week on soundcloud, some of which after mastering and possibly furthwer editing might make it onto the next monthly mass - but might not. catch it while you can. ======================================================================================= meshmass - the sound of fat children.

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.