Format: CD
Price: £7.00

purchase through Paypal
price includes p&p

Album:
Mundane Occurrences and Presentations
(LIGHT002)

Artist:
Office-R(6)

Release Date:
Feb 2006

Tracklisting:
1.Relative in Enmity for the Members*
2.Operation Gratefulness to Articulate**
3.It Makes Events Circle Around it*
4.Different Methods to Achieve Music
(and Pre-Recorded Percussion)*

* from the structure number 1 series
**from the structure number 3 series

Download PDF Press Release (60KB)

Based in Amsterdam the Office-R(6) members originally come from Norway, the Netherlands, Turkey and the US. Among other experimental groups, they form part of the N Collective, "an international network of musicians, improvisers and composers" which "develop new music in the fields of improv, electronic music, noise, jazz, and contemporary music."
The Office-R(6) members are all central figures in the N-Collective, being part of numerous groups such as TAPE THAT, Mayas/Nutters/Olsen/Galvez, USA/USB, SKIF and the latest signings to Rune Grammofon; MoHa! (Morten J. Olsen with Anders Hana of Jaga Jazzist, Noxagt, Ultralyd, Morthana).

Although Office-R(6) share many basic elements with other contemporary groups, their approach to performing and recording makes them unique, both in principle and in practice. All tracks are performed live and are, in essence, improvisations around a handful of structures. These preconceived structures act as the matrix onto which the material is skillfully laid to form a musical whole. An electro-acoustic unit, Office-R(6) manage, in this process, to initiate an interesting dialogue between the electronic and the acoustic part of their sound. Each member of the group uses its advanced skills to maintain an impressive accuracy throughout each piece, which results in an almost mathematically precise combination of acoustic improvisation, electronic textures and sound experimentation. This hyperactive collision of prepared and intuitive elements though does not rule out the human touch. Among the frantic explosions of tones, samples and textures, the various parts of this unorthodox orchestra momentarily unite in a short climax, only to fall apart in the next split second. This continuous musical charge and change of pace is the driving force behind the group's dynamics, marking a tour de force of both discipline and stamina.

Office-R(6)'s friendly experimentation is informed by many different chapters of musical history. From legendary acts like Evan Parker, MEV and Anthony Braxton to contemporaries John Zorn (Game Pieces) and the finnish Rauhan Orkesteri, the group's musical references cannot be pin-pointed to a singular source. Their sound is, instead in constant flux, kept together by the determination to explore the boundaries of structured improvisation and the fusion between the electronic and the acoustic in a non-restricted environment.

REVIEWS:

Textura
March 2005
Improvs can be unpredictable, a case in point Afternoon Tea, the 2000 Ritornell set produced by Oren Ambarchi, Christian Fennesz, Paul Gough, Peter Rehberg, and Keith Rowe. Despite the impressive lineup, the collective music-making underwhelms; with none of the esteemed participants intent on seizing control or imposing direction, the disc's two long and aimless pieces ultimately sound uninspired.

And then there's the Amsterdam-based Office-R(6), a sextet comprised of Koen Nutters (bass), Robert van Heumen (laptop), Jeff Carey (laptop), Sakir Oguz Buyukberber (bass clarinet), Dirk Bruinsma (soprano, baritone sax), and Morten Olsen (percussion) whose energized interplay is never anything less than engrossing. Drawing upon electronic music, noise, jazz, and contemporary music traditions, the players attack their gnotty electro-acoustic improvisations with rabid ferocity. The disc's purposeful, stop-start interplay is permeated by perpetual flux and invention with electronic sputter, bass clarinet growls, bowed scrapes, saxophone honks, and sliced voice samples endlessly circling around and colliding with one another. Sounds converge at some moments before splintering off into multiple directions the next. Mundane Occurrences and Presentations at times resembles the kind of challenging music Luciano Berio might be creating were he alive today and in his composing prime.