stephen o'malley & steve noble: st francis duo

Having played together in Æthenor for the last couple of years, Steve Noble and Stephen O'Malley came together to play as a duo at Café OTO in 2011. These recordings are the result of these two hot and sticky nights in East London. Noble is a regular at Bo' Weavil Recordings, having appeared on over nine recordings for the label, and a linch pin in London's improvising community. So it was bound to be a memorable night of music to see these two meet. Steve Noble studied with Nigerian master drummer Elkan Ogunde in the early 1980s and over the last 20 years has played with most of the great players from all four corners of the globe. Stephen O'Malley is predominantly a guitarist, producer and composer who has been at the center of avant-garde/drone metal, best known for his group Sunn0))), and also a prolific collaborator with many of the finest improvisers. Noble sets the recording off with a full tribal charge, while Stephen, instead of firing off a shard of ecstatic notes and chords, coaxes his guitar into singing a slow, ever-growing roar. But soon the two are off into some wild, creative rampages -- exciting drum and guitar territory sounding at times not too dissimilar to Haino's Fushitsusha, brutally beautiful, shredded riffs from O'Malley meet with Noble's exuberant rhythmic force . On St. Francis Duo, the memory of these two nights can be heard in full violent sonic attack.