Titicacaman Records CAT#38
Ur
by Gunther’s Grass (2022)
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TRACK LIST:
01) Vaalbara 15:31
02) Ur 16:00
File under: experimental.
Channeling the inexorable force of massive continents slowly advancing over churning magma, Gunther’s Grass presents two new compositions named for ancient supercontinents of the Archean Eon over three billion years ago, Vaalbara and Ur.
Originating in San Diego, California, Gunther’s Grass is the trio of Marcelo Radulovich on the medieval hurdy-gurdy, Christopher Adler on khaen, a free-reed mouth organ of Laos and Northeast Thailand, and Scott Walton on contrabass. Their vibrating acoustic dronescapes are the foundation for intricately layered studio compositions sculpted by Radulovich. For their previous releases Never in the Future that Dawned Earlier On and Bastille Day & Other Lullabies, the trio augmented their sonic palette with guest artists. For Ur, the trio instead adds piano work by Adler and Walton -each accomplished pianists- both of whom chose to work with the rich variety of timbres made possible on the inside of the instrument rather than with the keys. The trio works remotely, individually contributing successive layers to an evolving mix under Radulovich’s hand: electronically-distorted hurdy-gurdy, drones and melodies from khaen in different keys, piano strings played with mallets and fingers, and inexhaustible torrents of roaring and resonance from the contrabass.
BIOS:
Marcelo Radulovich has been active as a musician/producer and multimedia artist since the early ‘80s, with a multitude of releases, some under his name and many with various bands, and he continues to explore creating hybrids of music and testing boundaries in visual art at Titicacaman Studio.
Christopher Adler is the world’s leading innovator in creating, commissioning and performing contemporary music for the khaen. His work is featured on Tzadik, Innova, Centaur, his own label Liber Pulveris, and many others.
Scott Walton is a bassist and pianist whose music negotiates the terrain between jazz, free improvisation, and the classical avant-garde. Integral to the Southern California and San Francisco Bay Area new music scenes for nearly 30 years, he is now based in southern France.
CREDITS
All music by Gunther’s Grass
Christopher Adler: khaen, piano
Marcelo Radulovich: hurdy-gurdy, electronics
Scott Walton: contrabass, piano
Recorded/produced by Gunther’s Grass, mixed and mastered by Marcelo Radulovich, Summer 2022. Cover design by Marcelo Radulovich.
Titicacaman Records CAT#24
Bastille Day & Other Lullabies
by Gunther’s Grass (2017)
BUY : amazon | iTunes | bandcamp
Gunther’s Grass plumbs the imaginary dreamscapes of lost cities, ancient battles and remote frontiers with six new enigmatic improvised assemblages featuring instruments spanning continents and centuries. Gunther’s Grass is a collaborative project by Marcelo Radulovich, Christopher Adler, and Scott Walton that has coaxed lush drones, exotic melodies and grinding noises from their instruments for over a decade.
Christopher Adler on khaen, recording session for Bastille Day & Other Lullabies, Titicacaman Studio, July 2017.
For their second album they are joined by guest artists Jennifer Bewerse (cello on Le Bastille), Nathan Hubbard (vibraphone on Tierra del Fuego), and Eric Starr (trombone on Tarnopol). Marcelo Radulovich performs on the medieval hurdy-gurdy, a keyed string instrument played with a rotating disc, and sculpts each composition with electronic post-production. Marcelo has been active as a musician/producer and multimedia artist since the early 80s, with a multitude of releases, some under his name, many with various bands, and he continues to explore creating hybrids of music and testing boundaries in visual art at Titicacaman Studio. Christopher Adler performs on the khaen, a bamboo free-reed mouth organ from Laos and Thailand, and on single-free-reed pipes from Northern Thailand called pii jum. Christopher is the world’s leading innovator in creating, commissioning and performing contemporary music for the khaen and his work is featured on Tzadik, Innova, and many other labels. Bassist Scott Walton is active in the San Francisco Bay Area creative music scene, and sought after throughout California as an artist whose music negotiates the terrain between jazz, free improvisation, and the classical avant-garde. Bastille Day and Other Lullabies was recorded at locations throughout California and mixed at Titicacaman Studios in Cardiff, CA, in the summer of 2017.
Read a review in Here Comes the Flood
“The trio builds structures that appear to be impregnable or even unscalable at first, but on closer inspection offer handholds and hidden routes. Surrender to the flow with an open mind and the soundscapes unfold. It’s like making your way to the jungle to find the structures that have been overgrown with dense vegetation.”
Hans Werksman
Read a review in Dusted Magazine
“Built on the novel confluence of acoustic bass, hurdy gurdy and the Southeast Asian free-reed instruments khaen and pii jum, the West Coast trio’s music is slow, dark and overwhelmingly thick with timbral friction…. I’m not sure where else to find music with quite so tactile a layering of the keening, the grating and the groaning. My guess is that it only exists here, wherever that is.”
Eric McDowell
CREDITS
All music by Gunther’s Grass
Christopher Adler: khaen (Lao/Northeast Thai mouth organ), pii jum
Marcelo Radulovich: hurdy-gurdy, rub-a-metatron
Scott Walton: upright bass
Guests:
Eric Starr: trombone (track 2)
Jennifer Bewerse: cello (track 5)
Nathan Hubbard: vibraphone (track 6)
Recorded/produced by Gunther’s Grass, Summer 2017.
Cover design by Marcelo Radulovich.
Titicacaman Records CAT#07
Never in the Future that Dawned Earlier On
by Gunther’s Grass (2005-2012)
BUY : amazon | iTunes | bandcamp
Gunther’s Grass began in 2005 as a collaboration between Marcelo Radulovich and Christopher Adler, to bring together two ancient drone-based instruments from across the world, the medieval European hurdy-gurdy and the Lao/Northeast Thai mouth organ khaen. Both instruments present the idiosyncracies of their respective traditions and the instabilities of delicate acoustic instruments.
Through the lens of contemporary improvisation, Gunther’s Grass explores these traditions and the tension between the precision of tuning characteristic of drone-based music and the instability of the real instruments in their environment.
CREDITS
All music by Gunther’s Grass
Christopher Adler: khaen (Lao/Northeast Thai mouth organ)
Marcelo Radulovich: hurdy-gurdy
Scott Walton: upright bass (tracks 1, 4 & 6)
Guests:
Charles Curtis: cello (tracks 3 & 5)
Marcos Fernandes: tamboura box (track 4)
Recorded/produced/designed by Marcelo Radulovich at Titicacaman Studio, 2005-2012
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