Jazz Articles

London Electric Guitar Orchestra: Sticks and Stones

by John Eyles
March 21, 2006

This EP has a running time of just under twenty minutes and consists of one extended piece (indexed in three separate tracks). Recorded in 2001, the piece is almost the distilled essence of the London Electric Guitar Orchestra. In this expanded eleven-member version of the group, its guiding principles remain solid; as ever, the music is more about sound and experimentation than melody and virtuosity.

The album title refers to two contrasting sounds: a stick = attack, a stone = ...

Pocket: Pocket

by John Eyles
July 22, 2002

John Bisset and Alex Ward are both renowned free improvisers. Bisset organised the annual Relay improvisation festival, set up the 2-13 club and led the London Electric Guitar Orchestra. Ward, who also plays clarinet, famously appeared in one of Derek Bailey's Company Weeks when he was only 14. All of which makes Pocket even more remarkable than it would otherwise have been. The band and the album are both stripped back to the essentials, and have a classic ...

Burkhard Beins & John Bisset: Chapel/Kapell

by John Eyles
October 1, 2001

London-based John Bisset and Berlin-based Burkhard Beins have long collaborated in the annual London improv event Relay, and in the organisation of the 2:13 Clubs in the two cities. As a guitar and drums duo, they have an almost unlimited capacity to surprise. Over eight tracks, ranging in length from under two minutes to over twelve, they produce sounds that defy one to identify who is doing what--and how.Both Bisset and Beins employ unconventional, exploratory techniques. Beins is ...

Michael Renkel: Activity Centre Mowen and Moos Remix

by John Eyles
October 1, 2001

Hmm, this is an oddity. The duo of guitarist Michael Renkel and drummer Burkhard Beins call themselves Activity Centre. Mowen & Moos was their double CD (one CD called Mowen, the other Moos ) released on 2:13 records in 1999. You are unlikely to have heard it (or even seen it) as it was released in an issue of only 150 copies, each with individual cover art by Fehmi Baumbach; an instant collector's item. Now this (single) CD is Renkel's ...

Relay: Relay Eight

by John Eyles
September 1, 2001

Relay Eight? Wasn't their last release called Relay III? What is happening? Well, Relay is not a group or band. It is an event that happens in London as part of the Stoke Newington Festival each June. This release dates from 2000, the eighth such event. Relay III recorded the 1995 event. Others have not (so far) been documented on CD. All clear?Although seventeen performers are credited here, Relay is organised so that they play as a constantly ...