borbetomagus: the eastcote studios session

Dancing Wayang present a new and rare studio album by US noise legends Borbetomagus titled The Eastcote Studios Session. Recorded in 2014, it unites fire-breathing saxophonists Jim Sauter, Don Dietrich and face-flaying guitarist Donald Miller whom together summon one of their most forceful yet detailed sonic onslaughts to date. The bulk of Borbetomagus releases over the last forty years have been taken from live recordings. This particular workout, however, took place in the eponymous studio in London and was captured, mixed and mastered with exacting care and attention. That means all the amps lived to tell the tale. It means that the listener can really focus on just what is going on in this music, the individual elements that form the unique "what the...?" that is the Borbetomagus experience. Not that this record isn't monolithic. It's as dense and slab-like on first approach as the vinyl it's pressed on, initially impenetrable and resistant. But that's monolithic as in an Ayler solo, a Bomb Squad production, or a Hijokaidan live meltdown. Or indeed like the structure in Kubrick's 2001. Get close, there are whole worlds in here. It takes serious improv chops and acute listening to carve the detail deep throughout the red meter levels that you'll find in this music. Sauter, Dietrich and Miller have been playing together more than long enough to take their music to that level and beyond. It is a work by musicians who know their instruments and how much they can subvert, distort and reverse engineer them and keep them sounding just the way they want. This studio recording is a new kind of peak. In Jim Sauter's own words: "This is unlike anything we've ever recorded before." Borbetomagus are Jim Sauter (sax), Don Dietrich (sax) and Donald Miller (electric guitar). They have played together since 1979 and have released over 30 albums, cassettes and 7"s. The trio cast a seething, many-tentacled shadow of influence over the Japanese and American noise scenes and stand as wild, brutish brethren to many of our finest European improvisers. Merciless, undeniable and monstrously beautiful. Housed in Dancing Wayang's customary hand-screenprinted wrap-around sleeve featuring an explosive collage designed by renowned British artist Richard Wilson. Liner notes by Edwin Pouncey (Savage Pencil, The Wire). 180 gram vinyl in an edition of 500.