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CD in 8 panel digipak
• Live at the Spitz (part 1) (12:44)
• Live at the Windmill (22:33) mp3
• Charivari remnant (15:23)
• Live at the Stadtgarten (25:46)
total time 76:47
Cover photo by Juliet Singer
Released 2001
This is the fifth CD release by Morphogenesis, and the first since 1998. Although Morphogenesis do not play live very often, it is certainly our preferred working situation, where the interaction between the space, the people present and the available equipment create a variety of different situations. Substantial extracts from nearly all of our recent concerts appear on this, and a second volume. There is also the inclusion of one studio recording per CD. Perhaps one reason for our infrequent appearances is due to the size of the group, which usually varies from between 4 to 6 people all of whom have been working together for 10 - 15 years. This in itself is an unusual situation within experimental music. Another increasingly rare feature in electronic improvisation today is that we have never used laptops or samplers, and although a prerecorded CD was used on the Spitz concert it was scrambled through a varispeed DJ CD player. Prerecorded analogue tape is also used by manually inching the tape past the playback head. All other instrumentation (amplified objects, piano, biofeedback, water machine, percussion etc) is played and processed live. This release comes in an 8 page digipak. Volume 2 is likewise, and the total playing time of both volumes is just under 2 and a half hours.
ADAM
BOHMAN - prepared violin, balalaika, objects
RON BRIEFEL - vocals, varispeed CD player, electronics
CLIVE GRAHAM - springs,
Uher tape machine, autoharp, electronics
CLIVE HALL - piano, objects, electronics
MICHAEL PRIME - water machine, biofeedback, radio, electronics
ROGER SUTHERLAND (RIP) - percussion, piano
REVIEWS
ALLABOUTJAZZ (June 2001)
Morphogenesis produce music that has few (if any) points of reference
to other music. All of it is totally improvised yet it is unlike most
music labelled as 'improv'. The music is largely created using live
electronics but this is not an electronic band. Indeed, it is the other
instruments that Morphogenesis use that make them sound unique. Although
no instrumentation is listed for this CD, the Morphogenesis website
reveals their use of instruments that they have constructed themselves,
plus adapted or prepared conventional instruments such as violin, piano
or acoustic guitar. They also use sounds that have been filtered to
radically alter their tonal properties. These can be environmental sounds
such as traffic noise, or small sounds such as bubbling water picked
up using contact microphones. When other elements are included, such
as snatches of speech from radios and a bioactivity translator that
translates biological rhythms (of plants, fungi, humans) into electronic
sound, it is virtually impossible to identify individual components
in this unique soundscape. I am tempted to cite the more experimental
side of Pink Floyd (circa Ummagumma) as a reference point, but instantly
disclaim responsibility to Floyd fans who buy this CD solely on that
basis. Also, that comparison seriously undersells Morphogenesis. They
produce the broader, richer, weirder music. Live, Morphogenesis can
resemble mad scientists amok in a lab of their own making. The means
of production of their sounds is fascinating to watch. However, unlike
many improv recordings that are pale imitations of the live experience,
this one stands in its own right. It features four pieces, three recorded
live and one in their North London home studio, the last being a remnant
from their 1996 album Charivari music. All the music was recorded direct
to stereo. To listen to it is to be taken on a sonic journey that invites
the use of metaphors of intergalactic travel and the like. Awesome. (John Eyles)
ALLMUSIC
The last Morphogenesis album dated from 1998. It was time the best
live electronics group settled the score with not one, but two new CDs.
In Streams, Vol. 1: 1996-1999 contains excerpts of Morphogenesis' rare
live performances. plus one studio track (In Streams Vol. 2 works the
same way). Adam Bohman, Ron Briefel, Clive Graham, Clive Hall and Michael
Prime all interact through analog electronics and electrified objects:
no laptops, no samplers. Prime also uses his water machine and bio-feedback.
Roger Sutherland joins them on the studio track. After so many years
together, this outfit still produces the texturally deepest, most engaging,
most surprising electronically-based free improvisation. The synergy
and sense of combination they share is what makes the 22 minute 'Live
at the Windmill' feel like a journey inside and outside one's conscience.
Forget the sterile bleeps the laptop generation of musicians produce:
this music is chaotically organic. 'Charivari Remnant' lacks
variety when compared to the other pieces, but overall In Streams, Vol.
1 fills a gap in the ensemble's career. Fans will appreciate; newcomers
might find it a revelation. Strongly recommended. (François
Couture)
AUDION
45
I
guess it was inevitable that Clive Graham (the youngest and newest member
of the band) would end up with the job of compiling the Morphogenesis
archive, as everyone else in the band seems too involved in other projects
- or, is it that Clive (as the fan that later joined the band) is the
only one committed enough? VOLUME 1 is strange in that it doesn't feature
Roger Sutherland much, and he's often considered as the band's figurehead.
But, that's Morphogenesis for you, as the name suggests, the band and
the music is something of constant change and rebirth. The range of
styles here is not so much the familiar Morphogenesis either, as some
parts are much more dark and industrial sounding than what one normally
associates with Morphogenesis, and some other parts are even vaguely
melodic (something I've never heard in Morphogenesis before), contrasting
with the more cataclysmic texts one expects. There's also a lot in the
way of previously unheard textures and ideas. It's difficult to be more
specific without going into great detail, or getting into clichˇs or
comparisons. I'll just tell you - it's vivid, atonal but focused, and
a fascinating listen for anyone into the weirder realms of electronic
sound. (Alan
Freeman)
AURAL
INNOVATIONS #18 (January 2002)
During
the 1960s, two different streams of thought in the composition and performance
of Electronic Music developed within the Academic Avant-Garde. One emphasized
a joining of ideas regarding the incorporation of Aleatory Improvisation,
the other more traditionally oriented utilizing precisely placed sonic
events. Pursued by bands/composers such as Musica Ellectronica Viva,
Groupo Nova Constanza, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Hans Werner Henze, AMM,
and in America the work of the LA-based Negative Band, the use of improvisation
opened new doors out of the traps of Western Classical composition,
but this direction seemed to lose favor during the mid-to-late 1970s.
With the rise of so-called "Post Punk", a few Rockers began to follow
these directions; Throbbing Gristle (in their case, it may be more inspiration
by Hawkwind rather than Stockhausen), Whitehouse and SPK started to
work in areas of atonality and improvisation, but these projects were
still-born due to the lack of ability on their instruments (i.e. They
couldn't play!!!), and their flirtations with Nihilism, Fascist imagery,
downright Junior High school shock techniques or thinly-veiled sexual
pornography!. They did spawn a series of imitators during the 1980s;
calling their work "Industrial", most of this movement were merely untutored
losers engaged in using the (then) new 4-track Cassette recorders to
engage in Audio masturbations! I became aware of the work of MORPHOGENESIS
in 1986, when my group (ALIEN PLANETSCAPES) began to release our tapes
on the Sound of Pig Cassette label. Founder Al Margolis gave us a number
of recordings of bands he thought worked in similar areas to AP. Some
were great, some were trash, but MORPHOGENESIS stood out as working
in the area of the aforementioned innovators without the moaning nihilistic
BS of so many of the "industrialists!" And by golly, they could actually
play well enough to make the music quite challenging! Over the years,
there has been a stream of releases, including a noteworthy LP in 1988,
("Prochronisms", on Pogus Records) and a few more Cassette releases
followed. More recently come these two CDs, which were released in the
UK during 2001, and they give a very high account of the positive progression
of the band's music. Adam Bohman, Ron Breifel, Roger Sutherland, and
Clive Hall are the main protagonists, and their performances, both live
and in studio, unfold with the same beauty as an Olivia Butler novel.
The band both creates its own Electronic Music circuits, as well as
using Synthesizers, Tapes, found instruments, Transistor radios, a piano
frame and various effects devices to conjure up worlds of sound that
are elastic, shifting and bending to bring the listener new experiences!
Rhythm becomes implied in this musical context, based on the shifting
textures rather than performing metric functions, and there is never
a "lead" instrument, but the ability to react to the others is what
makes the music so successful! The band credits some well-known names
in experimental music (Eddie Prevost, Sonic Youth) on some of the live
dates, leading me to believe that the band plays a variety of venues
to very diverse audiences. (In the UK, venues are often mixed, with
many different types of bands appearing together, something that has
been lost in the States). Both of these CDs have no dead spots musically,
but the music does demand the listener pay close attention, and a little
knowledge of the history of Improvisational Electronic Music doesn't
hurt. To new initiates to this music, welcome, MORPHOGENESIS is a good
place to start. The CDs can be found at various stores that specialize
in Avant-Garde Music, or through Wayside. (Doug Walker)
AVANT
20
The fifth album by criminally neglected improvising electro-acoustic
ensemble Morphogenesis is perhaps their most varied selection of work
to date. For those unfamiliar with their work, comparison to the laminal
method of improvisation developed by AMM is not inappropriate. Both
groups share a keen appreciation of contemporary 'classical' music,
evidenced in their instinctive grasp of structure, attack and dynamics
during in the process of spontaneous creation. Morph are a larger group
than AMM's current triumvirate however, and their soundworld is several
shades darker. They take instrument preparation and invention further
too - be it Roger Sutherland's amplified springs or Michael Prime's
plant bio-feedback machine. At the risk of sounding lazy and opting
out of commenting on the music presented here, I could take David Ilic's
oft quoted description of AMM discs being 'as alike and unalike as trees'
. The remark is perhaps even more apposite and exact in the context
of Morphogenesis, whose music, like AMM's not only evolves as naturally
and organically as unchecked flora or vegetation, but actually uses
organic noises of plant emissions at its heart! Given the darkness and
rich detail of Morph's music however, I may wish to add to Ilic's remark
'...in a Barbizon school forest-scene painting'. No sounds ever jar
or sound out of place, however harsh the apparent juxtaposition - piano
chimes float into harsh metallic scrapes and then disappear into bubbling
pools of liquid with perfect logic. It is all the more impressive when
you stop to consider that their process is invariably live first-take
improvising with only minimal post-production tweaks. Rarely can such
a risky process lead to such a consistently rewarding end product -
perhaps the final comparison to the great AMM that I'll make. I can't
resist making one personal observation about the second track though,
recorded live at London's 'Windmill' in November 1999. The foregrounding
of electronics on this piece stopped me in my tracks with its uncanny
similarity to the more abstract editions of Mego's Viennese electronica
- a side of Morphogenesis which I hadn't previously heard, though it
now seems so obvious when I return to Solarisation. In Streams is simply
four more pieces of beautifully recorded and exquisitely presented Morphogenesis
music. If you already like their work then you'll have bought this disc
already - if you're a newcomer then buy it soon, as it makes a fine
point of entry to some of the most timeless improvised music currently
being made. (Fred Grand).
Elekt
Noiz 6 (translated)
The traditon of British improvised music is so profound that it
is very hard to give some examples of who are the most avant-garde artists
like AMM, Keith Tippett's Ovary Lodge, Centipede, Incus, London Musicians
Collective, etc. Actually, that kind of music is on the avant-garde
scene but we could find unity in each sound which is worthy of being
called 'British style'. This CD is gentle and also refreshing
- like a rainbow appearing in the sky afterrain. So this is why many
people love this 'British Taste'. British group Morphogenesis has definitely
got that kind of Biritish manor and also it seems like a haze around
their sound. However, Morphogenesis do not play with ordinary instruments.
As far as we see Adam Bohman's hand-made instrument (which could have
been made out of some rubbish), hand-made electric equipment and other
things are shown on the CD cover, there is no rule, high technology
and low technology are completely mixed. Each member has their original
context and these noises are mixed skillfully. The mixed sounds react
on unpredictable harmony but still keep having pretty style like Chemical
Garden.
Clive Graham, a member of Paradigm Discs is now one of the most important
people who has been introducing the free/experimental music around Britain.
This is not only digging up very precious and rare pieces of music (Trevor
Wishart, Pauline Oliveros, etc.) and also new concrete artists (Kymatik,
Akemi Ishijima, etc). Especially, two Rev.
Dwight Frizzell's CDs and re-releasing CDs of Brast Burn/Karna Khyal
who I have never heard before. It is absolutely incredible and we should
not ignore what will be the next. (Koji Tano)
The
SOUND PROJECTOR 9
The Morphos are one of Britain's best experimental groups, working
in an almost indefinable area that embraces elements such as group improvisation,
electro-acoustic methods, tapes, radios, home-made instruments, and
pure electronic music. Given the high quality of their few releases
and live performances, it's surprising we don't hear more from them.
But this is largely due to the infrequency with which the group plays
in the first place. Their membership is slightly fluid and varies between
four to six players, and it's not easy getting everyone to co-ordinate
at the same time, especially as they all have other commitments. In
the second place, there is a rigorous discipline to the release programme,
which is abstemious - there' s a large backlog library of recorded tapes,
both studio and live experiments, but not all of these are deemed worthy
for public inspection. On this release, for example, there's a remnant
from 1996's Charivari project, originally released I think on the Streamline
label. Plus three live events from 1997 and 1999. Six very distinct
and talented music personalities feed into th' Morpho sound. I should
stress that the processes of playing, recording and releasing within
the group are quite egalitarian, and (though I once made the mistake
of dubbing Michael Prime the 'main man'), there is no star player. Michael
Prime of course is notable for his excellent electro-acoustic recordings
involving natural phenomena like water, weather and plants. He might
be responsible for the group's interest in using 'bio feedback' and
the 'water machine'. Roger Sutherland (on one track only here) wrote
a definitive book on the history and methods of 20th century music.
Adam Bohman is a wonderful English eccentric who released a completely
wackoid CD of his hand-held cassette diaries on the Paradigm label -
which label happens to be run by Clive Graham, also a member of the
Morphs. Each of these sumptuous recordings has a slow-moving grandeur
- you get the impression of a gigantic, lumbering (but very dignified)
beast, with many limbs, moving slowly from one dark corner of a cave
to the other. In our chosen field of music, slow-moving has sometimes
been mistaken for non-eventful turgidity. The music of Morphogenesis
could never be mistaken for uneventful! The richness of each musical
episode reveals itself, gradually, through careful listening - but finally,
each of these 'Streams' is brimming with ideas and fascinating sound
events, like a stream full of salmon. You have only to lower your aural
'net' and fish in a fine harvest. There is respect in the playing -
respect between the musicians, and for the listener. Despite the apparent
slowness of everything, the changes that occur are in fact quite dramatic.
If you could picture the 22-minute 'Live at the Windmill' track as a
geological sample, for example, the seismic shifts in the layers of
strata would be astounding. Finally, perhaps it is worth stressing that
there isn't a laptop or a sampler anywhere in sight on the Morpho table
of instruments; nothing but good old analogue and acoustic equipment.
The hands-on approach even extends to the way tapes are used - not simply
played, but run manually over the tape-heads, inch by inch. Now that's
what I call Morpho! (Ed Pinsent)
The
SUNDAY TIMES (15.4.2001)
Live performances by the London experimental music collective Morphogenesis
showcase few conventional instruments. Instead, the group are enmeshed
amid piles of found objects, and wires trailing out of water tanks,
like lab technicians at work on a secret experiment. 'In Streams' comes
in a lavish gatefold sleeve that at least shows enough photos of the
group in action to give the uninitiated some idea of the sources of
these undulating bubbles and squeaks. These days, any bedsit theorist
could cook up a superficially not dissimilar sound on a home computer,
but Morphogenesis' press release stresses they never use laptops or
samplers. 'In Streams' hour or so of elliptical shifts in non-melodic
mood is the result of organic collective improvisation, and if you are
prepared to make the leap of faith required to trust these determinedly
difficult eggheads, you're in for a unique experience. (Stewart Lee)
VITAL
266
Since long Morphogenesis belong to my favourite groups of improvising
electro-acousticians, with a line up of 4 to 6 people, playing a wide
variety of amplified objects (I saw their member Adam Bohman last year
in concert playing strings, objects and what have you, and if this is
just one Morpho... phew!), piano, biofeedback (by that other active
member, Micheal Prime). Seeing those pictures on the cover it must a
be crowd, yet over the years and many concerts, Morphogenesis have entered
a thoughtfull play of their own. A playing in which there is much space
and freedom for every single player. Careful improvising their way,
they proof to be good listeners too... And speaking of good listeners,
I strongely recommend headphones while playing this CD. There are some
beautiful stereo moments captured and also some subtile parts which
may be lost while playing it over a set of speakers. One track is a
studio piece, but sounds exactly as the live pieces. Great stuff throughout. (Frans de Waard)
The
WIRE (May
2001)
Morphogenesis are all too rarely seen or heard, yet their live performances
can be impressive events, remarkably open and mobile arrangements of
sound that pack a gradual but unstoppable cumulative punch. 'In Streams',
their fifth CD contains three live recordings and one studio performance.
The group have marked out distinctive territory through improvisation
with unconventional sound sources including plants, fungi and a 'water
machine', and numerous amplified objects. There's also voice, a piano,
a violin, a balalika and a guitar, but usually their sounds are heavily
prepared or treated. Morphogenesis don't use samplers or laptops (though
some CD's and analogue tape are occasionally fed into the mix) so nearly
all the sounds are produced and processed live. Some of the working
relationships date back 15 years: a quintet on most of these tracks,
they've clearly arrived at very close understandings with one another.
Their music (like that of AMM, with whom they are sometimes compared)
is hard to describe, arriving as a tense, ever shifting assemblage of
sounds. There's an awe inspiring feeling of evolving dynamism to this
work as the players listen intently to what's growing up around them.
It tirelessly evades any kind of focal point, throwing up its own narratives
on the hoof. It may be the 'biofeedback' but the work has a curiously
organic feel - the music's movements are evolutionary. Many of the sounds
are clear and firm, but against these sounds is a welter of hiss and
fuzz. It sounds as though bells are pitched against lawnmowers, waterfalls
against arc-welding equipment, glass against glass wool. Stubbornly
unfashionable, Morphogenesis continue to steer their jumble-heaped trestle
tables into promising new territory. The fierce collective concentration
they bring to their improvisation and the sheer breadth of sound that
they manage to organise make much of the electronic work floating around
right now look monochrome by comparison. (Will Montgomery)