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memory palaces

by TAG Thompson/Alford/Golden

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1.
das fingerspitzengefuhl 07:16
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2.
red tooth big claw 04:20
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3.
hygee 04:19
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4.
ocean made of springs 07:03
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5.
memory palace 07:37
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6.
eardrops 02:50
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7.
marmol resbaladiza 03:08
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8.
kogarashi 04:23
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about

For the long standing improvising trio TAG, Memory Palaces represents a look into the microscopic, a shrinking of their usually louder and more flamboyant electric sets.

The group's desired challenge was to record an album in Thompson's living room that would utilize the acoustic upright piano, micro percussion, and acoustic resonator guitar. In contrast to their usual reliance on amplifiers and full drum kit, this set had to have a heightened dynamic sensitivity to preserve the acoustic quality of the instruments in the recording. TAG’s customary trademark of striking sonic vignettes, textural surprise, and juxtaposition of approaches are contained in Memory Palaces, where listeners can hear how this ensemble creatively improvised and composed musical solutions in this confined space.

This album features all the surprising timbral shifts that the group is known for. To facilitate these shifts, Thompson employs his invented piano augmentation device, the Infastain Piano, and uses computers to manipulate the sound as it interacts with the piano’s soundboard. Alford uses imaginative techniques on the resonator guitar and implores the use of objects for muting and scratching the guitar’s strings and body. Golden draws from a wide array of micro acoustic percussion instruments and thoughtful electronic sound design.

Using the studio as a creative tool, they have magnified miniature sounds so that the microscopic becomes enlarged and striking. Guitar strings played with a hair brush, scotch tape on the piano strings, rolling marbles on a drum head, dual live sampling of the acoustic guitar, and a piano augmentation device are some of the curious sounds contained in these vibratory palaces of grandeur.

Dynamic and spatial restrictions do not hurt this trio’s creativity, rather, they shape opportunities for new imaginative inventions and possibilities. Memory Palaces reveals the inventions from this particular space and time as an auditory artifact.



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credits

released September 1, 2022

Will Thompson- Infastain Piano
Chris Alford- Resonator Guitar
Bruce Golden - Percussion

Produced by Chris Alford
©SEE ALL MUSIC ©WATIV music ©QZain Musik

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Chris Alford - Mystic Form Records New Orleans, Louisiana

Mystic Form Records is an artist run label with focus on improvisation. Featuring Alford and his colleagues. New Orleans based, Mississippi born guitarist/composer /improvisor Chris Alford keeps feet in the muddy roots with eyes looking beyond the horizon ... more

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