Art music

OTO Digital

Ka Baird

Despite having known each other for many years, and having a long-held affinity for each other's work, this recording documents what was the first time Rie Nakajima and Phill Niblock had collaborated together. Recorded in September 2014, the work includes Niblock’s sound collage piece “Crick” and Nakajima performing in response to Niblock’s early seventies film "T H I R”.

Also included in Niblock’s piece ‘Bag’ which was presented on the same night and features David Watson performing on bagpipes.  This recording is from Niblock’s original files.

https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/shop/rie-nakajima-phill-niblock/

Rie Nakajima & Phill Niblock

Available to pre-order soon!

Otomo Yoshihide - Guitar 
Sachiko M - Sine Waves 
Evan Parker - Saxophones 
John Edwards - Double Bass 
Tony Marsh - Drums 
John Butcher - Saxophones (Side B)

Recorded during Otomo Yoshihide and Sachiko M's first residency at Cafe OTO in 2009. The excerpt above is from the second (Sextet) side of the LP.

Otomo is in residency again at Cafe OTO on 20 & 21st September and also joins FIRE! as a special guest (alongside Mariam Wallentin) on the 19th! 

More info: http://cafeoto.co.uk/fire-with-special-guests-otomo-yoshihide-mariam-wallentin.shtm

Otomo Yoshihide / Sachiko M / Evan Parker / John Edwards / Tony Marsh / John Butcher

A pioneering force behind the evolution of minimalism, violinist and composer Tony Conrad’s performances employ a droning, mesmerizing performance idiom of long durations, amplification, and precise pitch to explore new worlds of sound. In this episode, Conrad performs live on solo violin in celebration of ISSUE Project Room's 10th anniversary, recorded live in July 2013.

Conrad returns to ISSUE Friday, October 18th 2013, performing solo on a bill that includes the lo-fi analog drones of LA multi-instrumentalist Lee Noble, and a collaborative performance by Damon McMahon aka Amen Dunes and visual artist Tom Thayer.

Polymath Tony Conrad is known by many names: composer, filmmaker, video artist, media activist, writer, and educator. Associated with the founding of minimal music and underground film, he is well known for his pivotal role in the formation of the Velvet Underground and as a co-founder The Dream Syndicate— who utilized intonation and sustained sound to produce what the group called "dream music", what we know now as drone. Conrad has composed more than a dozen audio works with special scales and tuning for solo amplified violin with amplified strings. Conrad has played and collaborated with Rhys Chatham, Charlemagne Palestine, Jennifer Walshe, Tony Oursler, Eli Keszler, and many others. In the early 1970s Conrad produced several series of works that severely stretched the limits of “film,” including his cooked and electrocuted films, and the “Yellow Movie” series, and "The Flicker" (1966), which is considered a key early work of the structural film movement. Conrad’s work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, Documenta, Venice Biennale, Tate Modern, LA Museum of Contemporary Art, and many others. He exhibits at Greene Naftali Gallery in New York and Galerie Daniel Buchholz in Berlin and Cologne. Conrad’s early career is the subject of a study by Branden Joseph, Beyond the Dream Syndicate: Tony Conrad and the Arts after Cage (Zone, 2008).

Tony Conrad solo at ISSUE, 7/2013

Despite having known each other for many years, and having a long-held affinity for each other's work, this recording documents what was the first time Rie Nakajima and Phill Niblock had collaborated together. Recorded in September 2014, the work includes Niblock’s sound collage piece “Crick” and Nakajima performing in response to Niblock’s early seventies film "T H I R”.
 Also included in Niblock’s piece ‘Bag’ which was presented on the same night and features David Watson performing on bagpipes.  This recording is from Niblock’s original files.


Rie Nakajima & Phill Niblock (DS009 excerpt)

Despite having known each other for many years, and having a long-held affinity for each other's work, this recording documents the first time Rie Nakajima and Phill Niblock had collaborated together. Recorded in September 2014, the work includes Niblock’s sound collage piece “Crick” and Nakajima performing in response to Niblock’s early seventies film "T H I R”.

Also included in Niblock’s piece ‘Bag’ which was presented on the same night and features David Watson performing on bagpipes.  This recording is from Niblock’s original files.

Photo: Fabio Lugaro

Phill Niblock 'BAG' (DS009 Excerpt)

Metamorphoses

5th track off of Ka Baird's "Sapropelic Pycnic" release on Drag City Records, 2017

Oneiric

Having released her 'Melancoholic' 7" on American Tapes back in 2012, it was super special to have Sharon Gal play a solo set as part of Wolf Eye's residency last year. 23.9.18 slinks around the demonic end of Gal's doings, akin to her work as Mama Wata (duo with Andie Brown) and Meltaot (with Edwin Pouncey). Bells and electronics summon malevolent birdsong and creatures lit by the light of a willo-the-wisp. 

---

Sharon Gal / electronics, vocals

---

Recorded live at Cafe OTO on Sunday 23rd September 2018 byt Shaun Crook. Mixed & mastered by Jimmy Dunn. All music by Sharon Gal.

DS130 - Sharon Gal "23.9.18" [sample]

DS135 - Irreversible Entanglements and Pat Thomas - 5.4.18 [sample]

One of Stockholm’s most versatile and probing pianists returned to OTO last Autumn, and we're pleased to release both sets from the evening - a solo and a special duo. Having met in 2014 when playing with Johan Arrias, Lisa Ullén and Welsh violinist Angharad Davies reunite for a gorgeously spacious set. Both extremely technically accomplished but led by a sensitivity to so many musics, their duo set is a highlight.

DS131 - Lisa Ullén & Angharad Davies - 14.10.18 [sample]

Pleased to present the full recording of Pat Thomas' moving tribute to Duke Ellington on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of his birth. According to Thomas, Ellington "never stopped discovering, never played the same tune in exactly the same way twice", and the same could be said here. The tunes are all there, but they emerge unpredictably, warped and hammered through the body of the piano in Pats own way. The second set was an hour long, with Pat rolling through' Rockin’ in Rhythm', 'Isfahan' and 'In a Sentimental Mood' in a collage of heavy harmonics, serious swing and a wicked appreciation for exploration. An absolute pleasure to be in the room for this one, and tremendously happy to share the recording. 

"Deconstructing and reconstructing as part of the interpretative process is second nature to Thomas. The obvious is kept at his arm’s length so from tangential start points, unforgettable melodies would creep back to plant flags firmly in the ground." - London Jazz News

DS139 - Pat Thomas Plays Duke Ellington [sample]

1st ever TN live show, Cafe OTO, Jan 6 2018 

Putative track sublisting: Go Decay!; Mercurial Seal; The Fire of Hate; Towers, Open, Fire; Fresh Borg Shining Fight/Agitator; Born in the Wrong Time/Destroyer/Buddy/Under the Void

(ft. Brigitte Fontaine, Babyfather, Areski, David d'Ath, Peter Gutteridge, Cameron Bain, Herman Meville, Peter Perrett and Celia Mancini)

---

Madame Tlank / voice, violin, glockenspiel, grand piano

D.Velimirovich / soprano saxophone voice

clinical wasteman / backing tape, voice, Yamaha SU-10, gtr

---

Mixed live & recorded by James Dunn; post-mixed/"mastered" by clinical wasteman (i.e. James is not to blame for anything)

DS146 Triple Negative - Dio Boia

As you can imagine we are under huge pressure at the moment and are working flat out to ensure Cafe OTO survives this. The impact of this situation is extremely acute for small venues like ours and we need all the support we can get to pull through. Please donate what you can, if you can. Thank you. 

Cafe OTO opened in April 2008 with the aim of providing a home for creative new music that exists outside of the mainstream. It comprises one large cafe/performance space open during the day serving food and drink with an evening programme of live music almost seven nights a week. 

OTOROKU is part of OTOProjects - a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) that has been set up to manage the programme at Café Oto. Any profits from OTOROKU are put back into supporting what we do and will help us to continue programming the best musicians and performers from all over the world.

www.cafeoto.co.uk

Phill Niblock 'BAG' (DS009 Excerpt)

cafeOTO