Exquisite Corpses from P.S. 122

Exquisite Corpses - Exquisite Corpses from P.S. 122

The game of exquisite corpses, the rendering of a collectively composed portrait where each player is only given a hint of the contributions of the other participants is both a child's game and favorite pastime of surrealists. It takes the form of a drawing or a piece of writing in which one person starts a piece, folds the paper over leaving only a word or a couple of lines showing, and each successive person continues the drawing or writing in the same manner.

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All compositions were developed collectively at several meetings. They are essentially blueprints specifying time-slots to be filled by the musicians, the monitoring environment (what the player hears while recording tracks; this is always a small fraction of the piece), and some directives for mixdown. There were no instructions on what or how to play within the time-slots. Considerable thought went into the problem of translating a drawing game, which yields a concrete result, into sound, which is an ephemeral, temporally dependent form. One cannot, in an instant, apprehend the whole of a six minute piece of music as one might be able to apprehend a drawing. Further, one can look at all parts of a drawing in any order, without respect to the times of creation. Etc., and so on; we talked a lot. The results were pieces involving tracks recorded back-to-front, noise gates used to flash "windows" of sound in and out, and foot switches to alter the players' headphone mixes.

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These are improvisations, and they are all first takes (no one was allowed to re-record their tracks). Meaning that above all spontaneity and invention inform specific sonic choices; and they inform the residue from scores and schemes, not the other way round. (from the liner notes)

Credits:

David Watson - shears, stick violin, guitar, trumpet; Judy Dunaway - guitar, balloons; Anthony Coleman - sampler; Raissa St. Pierre - drums; Guy Yarden - violin, piano; Leslie Ross - bassoon; Linda Austin - guitar; Bruce Kaplan - guitar; Doug Henderson - peckhorn, bass, toy piano; Sue Ann Harkey - 12 string guitar; Cinnie Cole - sampler; Mike Sappol - bass, busy box, tape loops; Nell - vox; Ruth Peyser- guitar; Chris Cochrane - guitar; Doug Seidel - guitar, congas; Nancy Campbell - saxophone; Ikue Mori - drum machine; Evan Gallagher - junk, percussion, toys, piano; Sue Garner - bass; Zeena Parkins - keyboard; Catherine Jauniaux - voice, flute; George Cartwright - saxophone, flute; Matthew Ostrowski - analog synthesizer; Bob Lipman - guitar; David Sardy - drums, bass; Paul Hoskin - contrabass, clarinet; Steve Peters - saxophone -- Santa Fe

Fred Lonberg-Holm - travicello -- San Francisco

Will Sternberg - guitar, tapes -- Paris

Bruno Meillier - saxophone -- St. Etienne

released in 1990

Tracklisting:

1. Template {6:07}

2. Burst {0:33}

3. Pushmepullyou C {1:31}

4. Ostrich A {2:07}

5. Crocs & Gators {3:36}

6. Absent Friends 2 {1:52}

7. Gators & Crocs {3:39}

8. Ostrich B {2:07}

9. Flip Flop A {5:24}

10. Bozoburst A {1:10}

11. Planarian Worm {7:10}

12. Pushmepullyou A {1:39}

13. After the tone {4:16}

14. Pushmepullyou B {3:12}

15. Flip Flop B {5:13}

16. Absent Friends 1 {2:11}

17. Duet Seeds {3:43}

18. Bozoburst B {1:07}

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