simon h. fell - compilation i

this is pretty rewarding and worth repeating. loose, in and out of abstraction, lots of little pockets.

"Fell's major sequence of compositions is titled Compilation (in total, four projects were issued under this heading). Despite the governing title, these are not collections of previous material but new, large-scale works. The musical language makes overt use of serialist procedures (such as tone rows, retrograde structures, &c), as well as many other techniques: extensive studio layering, overdubbing and reordering of material (so that seemingly "live" performances may be the result of carefully edited-together improvisations and/or notated material), and use of aleatoric techniques to "degrade" or distort precomposed structures into new shapes. Free improvisation, rock and jazz all form key parts of the musical language; one section of Compilation IV even includes a simultaneous homage to Karlheinz Stockhausen and Henry Mancini. The cast of musicians drawn on for these pieces usually included a mix of classically trained players, jazzers and free improvising musicians, as well as wild cards like the noise guitarist, Stefan Jaworzyn. While virtuoso players such as Evan Parker and John Butcher were essential to the projects, Fell often deliberately made use of amateur or student musicians, too, not as a makeshift but as an intentionally democratising and less predictable element."

label: bruce's fingers
condition: vg+/vg with a bit of soiling/shelfwear to jacket, comes with insert.