TATE & LILES
'WITHOUT SEASON'
TRACK LISTING
· without season (part i)
· without season (part ii)
· without season (part iii)
· without season (part iv)
· without season (part v)
RELATED LINKS
Global Warming
REVIEWS
CHAIN D.L.K
Artist: TATE AND LILES
Title: Without Season
Format: CD
Label: Twenty Hertz
Rated: ****
Two teddy bears on the cover and a surreal statue of a fox-headed boy on a wheelchair on the back: what else could you expect from the collaboration of these two drone masters? Judging from the liner notes, Darren Tate has handed his sounds to Andrew Liles who has then structured and mixed the five untitled tracks. Some acoustic guitar plucking and a few accordion improvisations (by guest musician Kathleen Vance) are recognizable here and there (track 2 and 5), but most of the work is the perfect mix of sustained drones and natural field recordings you'd expect - which necessarily reminds of Monos' tradition, especially the finest moments of "Sunny day...". Brighter and almost bucolic moments alternate with powerful, awe-inspiring atmospheres - but all is graced by that sense of mystery and magic which is common ground between the two artists.
VITAL
WEEKLY
Coincidence it must be, but here's a second collaborative release
involving our man Andrew Liles, this time with one of favorite drone meisters
Darren Tate, who is known for his work with Ora and his solo
projects. On the cover (which I should add I don't like: it's combination
of both Liles and Tate's interests in pictures and these two simply don't
match. It was better to choose for either separately) Andrew Liles is
being credited as 'conductor' and Darren Tate gets credit for 'improvisations,
field recordings and squeeze box (and one Kathleen Vance on accordion),
so me thinks, reading such that Liles is the one who transforms all the
recordings made by Tate and Vance. As we all know by now, Liles has a
pretty surreal form of mixing his stuff, but actually he does he pretty
sober job here. In some instances he leaves Tate's playing in
tact and only seems to be adding a little bit of electronic effects. In
the early stages of the CD the music is rather drone based, not unlike
Tate's previous collaboration with Paul Bradley on Plinkity Plonk, yet
not as deep. Only as the CD progresses he gets to do what he does best:
a more collage oriented work, with piano sounds, coughing and accordion
playing - but it turns out to be just the last track.
All in all this is much more drone based work, certainly when compared
to last week's CD by The Wardrobe, Liles' work with Tony Wakeford, sober
in tone but with some more action than some of his UK colleagues. So it
might appeal to a lot of people, I guess. Quite nice indeed. (FdW)
ECR
I suspect this collaboration had to happen just to get that awful pun
of a name out of the way. Here Darren Tate and Andrew Liles create several
soundscapes that mix drones, field recordings and acoustic instruments.
The slowly evolving drone of 'Part I' builds until the bird, insect and
water sounds, that threaten to swamp it completely cease abruptly, leaving
only the naked drone. 'Part II' sees us back in the bayou being serenaded
by japanese hillbillies (which reads like an eighties slasher-movie plot).
The next two parts settle us into the warm embrace of the pure drones
that these two do so well on their own whilst 'Part V' brings an accordian
into the mix for what almost, but not quite, turns into a song. At various
timesthis album reminded me of both Volcano the Bear (a seemingly random
approach to instrumentation) and Nurse With Wound (a seemingly random
approach to everything) but fortunately what we have here is far more
than the sum of it's, maybe not influences but, contemporaries. Tate and
Liles are both skilled enough to stamp their own collective identity onto
the proceedings producing an album that I suspect will be haunting my
player for some time to come
THE WIRE
Despite a recent interest in solo productions collaborations
suit Darren Tate. In the late 80’s Tate was a founding member of
Ora alongside Andrew Chalk, Colin Potter and Lol Coxhill. Currently he
continues with Potter in Monos and has also ventured into a couple of
one-off collaborations such as Without Season with Andrew Liles. Here,
the two have split their roles in the project in deference to their primary
talents with Tate as the improviser and Liles the composer. Having recorded
events in natural settings where Tate can be heard crumpling leaves and
creaking hinges to the sounds of birds and draining aquifers, he passed
them onto Liles who shaped the context with the help of his synthetic
ambience into a elegant Gothic sensibility. On the first two tracks Liles
punctuates the division of labour by situating Tate’s unprocessed
haptic events against his own ominous melodic repetitions. While Liles
deftly manipulates all their materials together into dreamy vibrations,
Without Season is most rewarding when the synthetic and the natural are
allowed to cohabitate.
TOKAFI
Two hugging teddy bears on the cover, a cat’s face on the CD, a
title called ‘Without Season’ and a plastic, or is it ceramic(?),
wheelchair-bound boy with the head of a fox: Visual impressions of an
album, which lists Andrew Liles as the “Conductor”. So what
to expect of a recording by this busy duo of musicians with a huge output
of experimental music? Well, experimental it is and let’s just put
it this way: This album is definitely worth listening to.
In his garden (which must be a real heaven!) Darren Tate taped some terrific
field recordings. In Part One – of a total of five on this CD -
we hear running water, and its sound makes you imagine a fresh, cool spring,
dashing downhill over stones, finally ending its run in a quiet pond while
birds are chirping away playfully and a mild wind runs through the trees,
moving their leaves in a delicate underlying swoosh. There are buzzing
insects, criss-crossing around, moving close only to get away in a hurry.
All that accompanied by drones that sound like one continous tone of a
bell, changing once in a while, sometimes harmonious and quieting, sometimes
swelling to deep, almost threatening sounds. These drones are so very
effective in making the listener more and more sensible for the sounds
of nature! And yet, almost unexpectedly, they fade away, almost into non-existence,
but they still are of important presence, while the sounds of living creatures
take over. Only a short while later to be extinct by the drones again,
which conquer the field and leave the listener in a dream and mantra-like
condition.
This theme goes on through the recording in various variations. Disharmonic
accordion sounds come in, changing their tune with the changes in the
sounds of nature. Interestingly enough, Kathleen Vance is credited for
the accordion play, while Darren Tate signs responsible for the ‘squeeze
box’ play. Whatever you want to make of this (or the conductor-crdedit
for Liles), we also find special thanks to Mitchell, who “thought”,
and Potter, who “acted”.
But let’s get back to the music. While parts three and four feature
the underlying themes which we looked at before, part five is really outstanding
in its introduction of (yes, that’s right!) a waltz. The accordion
– or was it the squeeze box(?) – performs short-cut harmonies
set in the waltz rhythm, accompanied by piano tunes, that refuse to join
in the rhythm, but produce underlying, slow melodic chords. This creates
a truly upflifting atmosphere, and to me it is the ultimate irony behind
these recordings, which is already hinted at in the credits.
Really, this feels to me like frolicking around with the oh-so-serious
approaches many people hold. This recording prooves that there is a lot
of space for relaxation and enjoyment. Just let your feelings take charge
and allow yourself to laugh about what you may encounter (even if it’s
only you who thinks it’s funny!). This piece is great, especially
in the very sense I’ve just described. Thanks to Darren Tate and
conductor Andrew Liles, as well as all people envolved in producing this
fine music, we all can finally smile when listening to experimental music.
Fred Wheeler
TATE & LILES
'WITHOUT SEASON'
Twenty Hertz - CD - 2005 - (UK)
BRAINWASHED
Written
by Lucas Schleicher
Wednesday, 30 November 2005
An incredibly fertile and industrious musical world is going on right
beneath everyone's noses. While this or that magazine is busy trying to
pin down the next 10 big bands or the next big scene, musicians like Darren
Tate of Monos and Andrew Liles are busy making music, lots of music, and
nearly everything they release tackles some new sonic territory.
They refuse to be any one thing except consistent, producing a prodigious
amount of work. Yet they don't receive as much coverage as they should,
much of their work going ignored even by those publications claiming to
bring their audience the cutting edge in musical innovation.
Cinematic probably best describes the work of Andrew Liles, though a term
like that fails to hint at all the nuances that make his music so intriguing
and fun. Darren Tate, on the other hand, works with Monos, a group comprised
mostly of him and Colin Potter. Their work reaches further into the world
of drone music, populated as it is by layers and layers of dense electronic
sound and warped samples. Unlike some collaborations, it is actually possible
to hear the merging of these two approaches on Without Season. The notes
claim that Liles was just the conductor and that Tate, along with guest
Kathleen Vance, worked on most of the source material. If this is true,
it just goes to show how unique Liles approach to music is. His trademark
humor and strange understanding of horror are all present on this disc
along with Tate's thick sound and careful use of variation.
Everything from piano and the sound of candy wrappers unfolding to an
accordion and the use of bird calls can be found on this album. Nothing
is too exotic, strange, or out of place for either of these guys. Want
to tie together the sound of birds, running water, a fat man moaning,
and the faint ringing of crystal glasses? These guys will do it and they'll
convince you that each of these sounds are out to kill you while they're
at it. That or the distinct possibility of being suffocated will come
to mind and all the claustrophobic nightmares everyone has will somehow
come to life and finally deliver on their promise.
Carried out as a single piece in five parts, Without Season builds, recedes,
and recycles itself without bothering to stop or take inventory of where
it has been. Its 40 plus minute duration is over far too quickly, feeling
as though it passed in ten. At times the record is beautifully dreamy,
almost as though it were sewn together using silk and nothing more. Even
the abrasive parts, especially the awesome hum that opens the album, sounds
smooth and fine as it rumbles outward.
The album closes with a simple melody played out between vague environmental
sounds, an accordion, and a piano and its wandering rhythms end up portraying
the whole of the album perfectly. There's a sense that Tate and Liles
set out to get lost on this record and to bring back all the details no
matter how illogical they all might turn out to be. This particular meeting
has produced an exceptional and strange record. It stands out among many
of the other collaborations I've heard and marks another high point for
both Tate and Liles.
PARIS
TRANSATLANTIC
One
of the most coherent albums to come out of Northern England, a region
that has generated some of the purest electroacoustic works in the last
two decades from the likes of Colin Potter, Jonathan Coleclough, Paul
Bradley and Andrew Chalk, Without Season fuses the skills and the vision
of two fine purveyors of egoless kneadings of therapeutic field recordings
and pellucid naive electronics, in the form of Andrew Liles (whose solo
work is well represented by his excellent Drone Works on this same label),
acting here as a "conductor", and Darren Tate, who provides
most of the sonic material, including his trademark environmental sounds
(water flowing and splendid birds on top) plus a squeezebox and various
"improvisations". Also present is Darren's neighbour, 79-year
old Kathleen Vance, whose stuttering accordion, heavily processed and
accompanied by rare piano touches and synthetic waves, characterizes the
final movement, a conceptual continuation of Tate's recent Trees Kissing
Trees (Fungal), on which Vance was also prominently featured. Instruments
mesh with the rainbow arcs of reverberating exploration in a meeting of
three solitary souls who decided to share a little of their intimacy.
MR
THE
UNBROKEN CIRCLE
Tate and Liles are Darren Tate and Andrew Liles collaborating on this
album. Darren Tate is credited with ‘improvisations, field recordings
and squeeze box’ whilst Kathleen Vance is credited with accordion.
Andrew Liles is mysteriously only credited as ‘conductor’
and appears to be there to produce and balance the music. What strange
and ethereal music it is too.
Darren Tate brings us some excellent field recordings that were captured
in his garden of flowing water, bird song, creaking wood and insects.
Set with this are minimalist electronic sounding drones, slow to develop
like marsh gas rising. The music is so slow and often almost imperceptible
that the listener’s attention is drawn to the field recordings.
Odd digital noises that seem to be unrecognisable speech appear at times.
Reverb is added to the field recordings which sound set into a landscape,
bird songs seemingly both close at hand and in the distance. Electronic
effects and layered field recordings grow in tension, a controlled cacophony
of nature. This falls away and the field recordings fade out leaving only
the surreal drones, the soundtrack to uncontrolled dreams, our minds left
to wander and loop until they find reason.
On the second part, hesitant plucked string sounds and distant accordion
replace the drones, a distorted squeeze box and a sound like pigs snuffling
combine to disorienting impact. Small chime sounds come in towards the
end. In the third part a huge accordion drone starts set in a cavern of
reverb, the air moving slowly through the reeds. Reflections of accordion
notes hang in the air, the original notes fading into the distance. The
never ending reverb gives the accordion notes a glacial quality closer
to the works of Thomas Koner than traditional accordion music. Over time
the original signal is lost, only the echoes eventually remaining. By
the fourth part the sound is minimal even ominous, formless clouds of
sound slowly seeping into the atmosphere. Over the course the sound is
processed eerily giving the music a mood like that of a 1950s British
science fiction film, the land infected, the air poisoned, each person
alien to the other.
The fifth and final piece is both the most conventional and also disturbing.
An accordion plays a broken, strange folk melody merged with crow sounds
and odd resonant processing. A piano plays dislocated notes, so few it
is as though you imagined it. Over time all the other instruments are
removed leaving only an the piano and a feeling of superstitious unease.
This is a highly experimental album but one that reveals itself slowly
with a building doomed, almost macabre atmosphere atmosphere. Your garden
has never seemed so disturbing.
