Jazz Articles about The Remote Viewers

The Remote Viewers: Pitfall

by Alex Franquelli
May 22, 2015

I love a bit of Remote Viewers in the evening. If it's not in the scarcely busy second to last northbound Victoria Line carriage, I follow their urban drifts while strolling, hands in my pockets, on a straight line: the shortest trajectory from A to home. The things you see while listening to this London-based septet are the stuff you wouldn't notice otherwise. Pitfall closes a circle, one that started back in 2012 when the marvellous City of Nets came ...

The Remote Viewers: Crimeways

by Alex Franquelli
December 19, 2013

There is an almost indiscernible, cynical element in The Remote Viewers' music. It is probably hidden between the folds of its noir aesthetics, where contemporary fables of cops and thugs, the fuzz and hoodlums, seem to flourish in the dark corners of complex rhythmic patterns and atonalism. Or it is maybe the juxtaposition between the nocturnal, austere strut of the conversations entertained by the saxophones and the rare but effective interludes in a major key. Whatever it is, it works. ...

The Remote Viewers: City Of Nets

by Alex Franquelli
September 13, 2012

From A to B. The language spoken by The Remote Viewers is one that feeds itself with the interferences caused by lines crossing each other at various speeds in a continuous effort to connect the dots. We, the humans, are the thriving beads forever longing that 'B' we, sometimes, don't even want to reach. City of Nets is a beautiful picture of a random post-industrial environment, of its contradictions and its organized chaos moving at the pace of our routine: ...

The Remote Viewers: To The North

by Glenn Astarita
May 14, 2011

The ongoing saga of The Remote Viewers entails personnel changes that are neatly fitted into a particular program or stream of consciousness. On To The North, saxophonists Adrian Northover and David Petts extend the band's distinct methodology via a four-sax attack, with marimba and a standard rhythm section. True to form, the musicians pursue off-kilter rhythmic underpinnings, extended note choruses and contrapuntal contrasts. The group's identity partly resides within its penchant for executing staggered phrasings and semi-structured motifs ...

The Remote Viewers: Control Room

by Nic Jones
May 18, 2008

The Remote Viewers Control Room rermegacorp 2007

This five disc set is limited to 200 copies, which automatically gives it the distinction of being collectable. Although each disc is obviously the work of a set aggregation, there's sufficient depth and diversity in the ground covered for each to warrant separate discussion.

The Remote Viewers reside on that sparsely populated ground where systems music meets free improvisation and those two fields in turn ...

The Remote Viewers: Sudden Rooms In Different Buildings

by John Kelman
March 25, 2004

More sparse than previous records (and also more emphatically electronic), Sudden Rooms in Different Buildings finds the British trio known as The Remote Viewers continuing to explore strange scenery. While what they do clearly has a limited audience, they manage to carve out a musical landscape that defies comparison and, consequently, makes for a captivating listen for those who dare visit it.

Starting off with a reading of David Sylvian’s “Ghosts” that is almost completely unrecognizable until Louise Pett’s delicate ...

The Remote Viewers: The Minimum Programme Of Humanity

by Glenn Astarita
July 1, 2002

This is one of those bands that is hard to categorize. At times, this British trio can come off sounding like a futuristic pop outfit with a Gothic twist. Or a modern jazz group that melds programmatic sax parts with free spirited improv. Whereas the musicians enhance their palate with streaming synths, electronic percussion and subtly conveyed 4-note melodies on pieces such as “Traveling In A Comfortable Car.” To that end, “The Remote Viewers” feature the gorgeous and sometimes hauntingly ...