Borbetomagus
THE EASTCOTE STUDIOS SESSION
180 gram LP album with free digital download
edition of 500 

The bulk of Borbetomagus releases over the last near 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. A rare enough situation when this scorched earth trio leave the room. More importantly 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 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.

DWR011, released November 2016