Juno 3 (RAM-163CD)

disc art (copyright 2023 Ramble Records)
Art by Han-earl Park. Design by Atharwa Deshingkar. © 2023 Ramble Records.

Juno 3 (RAM-163CD), the debut album by the trio of Han-earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas, is out now on Ramble Records!

The music on this album transports me to scenes from retro-scifi stories to those of present-day mass transit. It is, to my ears, the sounds of junction crossings, signals from space, and mysterious telegraphy; sometimes evoking impressions of walking by streams under footbridges, at others, of rushing through Manhattan Chinatown. Recorded live at Cafe OTO during the trio’s first meeting, we knew then that we had something special.

I think the sounds and the performances on this disc are all ’round captivating, gripping and fascinating, and the production work, exceptional. Take the journey with us: I’m super proud of the music, and I am thrilled to finally share this with you!

[Get the CD/download from Ramble (Bandcamp)…]

CD: $18 AUD plus shipping. Download: $8 AUD.

description

Get ready for the latest release of challenging and imaginative music from Ramble Records with Juno 3, the debut album from the trio of Han-earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas. Recorded by Shaun Crook live at Cafe OTO, London, and mixed (refracted and rephrased) by Han-earl Park, the album is a particle sim of sounds which spelunks from derelict urban ravines to cybernetic rainforests, while catching auditory glimpses of crashing robotic waves, and strange telegraphic messages from space.

Nautiloid capsule tumbles
across field lines.
An impracticably agile,
graceful derailment.

Juno 3 is Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone and electronics) and Pat Thomas (electronics). The eponymous album document the first meeting—interactive, relational—by this trio as it takes a journey: launching from the familiar of the Hackney club space into future imagined By Others. We coax it into our space.

Motion and motifs. (Switching gears, shedding engines.) Modes of transport change from first principles: future-past transit networks give way to bioengineered surfboards.

Bodies collide, unwind, and we’re up again. Reaching crossings; navigating junctions.

Intermodal is the only game we know. Networks (and bodies and vessels) weave, twist, cross then interweave, intertwist and intercross. (We, nocturnal monstrous shapes, turn and return to the deep.)

And, as the album comes to a close (thump’n’snap—bodies unwind), we find ourselves awakened back in the familiar club space. Or: half familiar. The same chairs, the same tables, the same staff. But not the same chair, not the same table, not the same staff.

personnel

Han-earl Park (guitar), Lara Jones (saxophone and electronics) and Pat Thomas (electronics).

track listing

Orbital Dusk I (6:04), Orbital Dusk II (4:20), Orbital Dusk III (2:29), Orbital Dusk IV (6:03), Diel Vertical Migration I (6:31), Diel Vertical Migration II (4:38), Diel Vertical Migration III (4:33), Diel Vertical Migration IV (7:36), Metastability (7:24). Total duration: 49:36.

recording details

Music by Han-earl Park, Lara Jones and Pat Thomas.

Recorded live March 20, 2022, Cafe OTO, London.
Recorded by Shaun Crook.
Mixed by Han-earl Park. Mastered by Chris Sharkey.

Art by Han-earl Park. Design by Atharwa Deshingkar.

Thanks to Richard Barrett, Heather Frasch and Richard Scott; to Fielding Hope and everyone at Cafe OTO, Laura Cole and everyone at Fusebox, Wesley Stephenson of Jazz North East, and Peter O’Doherty of Northern Lights Project. Shoutouts to Corey Mwamba, Graeme Wilson, rit. and Una Lee. The performance was presented with funding from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

© and ℗ 2023 Ramble Records.

Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe

Funded by Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe.

Only Regrets, and The Alte Münze Sessions

QLH: Only Regrets (cover artwork)
Artwork by Han-earl Park. © 2023 Han-earl Park/QLH.

Here are two recent releases from two very, very different projects. Let’s start with some sweetly queasy, and queasily sweet avant-pop love from QLH (Quentin Tolimieri: synthesizers; Luca Marini: drums; and Han-earl Park: guitar). It’s music that is simultaneously too much, and not enough: there are voids that need filled, but it’s impossible to figure out where they are for the kitchen sink.

Then we can move to a collection of austere, uncluttered melodic compositions from The Names (Heather Frasch: flute; Carina Khorkhordina: trumpet; Koen Nutters: upright bass; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Quentin Tolimieri: bass and soprano melodicas):

QLH: Only Regrets

Quentin Tolimieri (synthesizers), Luca Marini (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar).

Music by Quentin Tolimieri, Luca Marini and Han-earl Park.

Track 1 recorded by Luca Marini, Berlin, October 11, 2022.
Additional recording by Han-earl Park, Berlin, October 22, 2022.
Track 2 recorded by Marini, September 27, 2022.
Additional recording by Park, September 29, 2022.
Mixed by Han-earl Park.

Artwork by Han-earl Park.

Thanks to Musikfonds / Neustart Kultur.

© + ℗ 2023 Tolimieri/Marini/Park.

The Names: The Alte Münze Sessions

Heather Frasch (flute), Carina Khorkhordina (trumpet), Koen Nutters (upright bass), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Quentin Tolimieri (bass and soprano melodicas).

Melodies, harmonies, and basic arrangements by Koen Nutters.

Recorded by Brendan Dougherty at Alte Münze Studios, Berlin, May 7 and 8, 2022.
Mastered by Taku Unami.

Graphic design by Dinara Vasilevskaia.
Band photo by Agata Guevara.

© + ℗ 2023 Waveform Alphabet.

#artsandthepandemic: a couple of cancellations

I’m very sorry to announce that, due to circumstances beyond my control, I have had to cancel my appearance at cuba cultur, Münster this Sunday (December 19, 2021). QLH with Quentin Tolimieri and Luca Marini will still be performing, but with the guitar chair occupied instead by the awesome Jasper Stadhouders. Go catch this one-time-only trio. [Get tickets…]

I had also due to help behind-the-scenes at the launch event for mumei, the profoundly curious and adventurous music journal edited by Ryoko Akama and Heather Frasch. That event is taking place on Saturday (December 18) at KM28, Berlin. Should be a fascinating evening; please check it out if you’re able. [Reserve seat…]

Musikfonds / Neustart Kultur

STOP PRESS: The Names at Schillerpromenade, Berlin

This Friday (July 16, 2021), at 8:00pm: The Names (Heather Frasch: flute; Carina Khorkhordina: trumpet; Koen Nutters: upright bass; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Quentin Tolimieri: melodica), plus Duchamp & Wizard Ashdod, perform as part of the Keith Bar Open Air Music Series (Outside Keith Bar, Schillerpromenade 2, 12049 Berlin). Admission is free.

See the performance diary for up-to-date info. [echtzeitmusik calendar…]

Performance diary (Berlin) 071321

upcoming performances
date venue time details
July 16, 2021 Outside Keith Bar
Schillerpromenade 2
12049 Berlin
Germany
8:00pm The Names (Heather Frasch: flute; Carina Khorkhordina: trumpet; Koen Nutters: upright bass; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Quentin Tolimieri: melodica) presented as part of the Keith Bar Open Air Music Series. Also performing: Duchamp & Wizard Ashdod. Free admission.
[echtzeitmusik calendar…]

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