Showing posts with label tilman lewis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tilman lewis. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Recording: saucering

Artist: saucering

Song: [1st piece, 1st section]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #117), June 2, 2026.

saucering - [1st piece, 1st section]

This trio brings together spontaneous composers Tilman Lewis (cello), Nilan Perera (guitar), and Laura Swankey (voice). Announcing their presence with a cool album earlier this year, this set saw them exploring their instruments mostly without technological manipulations (both Swankey and Perera are dab hands with the effects pedals, but weren't deploying them here).

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

[saucering will be playing at The Tranzac on Monday, September 28th.]

Sunday, August 4, 2024

Recording: The Knot

Artist: The Knot

Song: [2nd piece, excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 3, 2024.

The Knot - [2nd piece, excerpt]

It had been a spell since Tilman Lewis and Nick Storring had played a gig together as The Knot (this one, perhaps?) but their sense of interplay was still a main feature here. Alnother feature: possibly the largest assortment of preparations I have seen from the two, including (according to my notes): ebow, strips of metal, clips, tinfoil wads, plastic fork, electric fan, etc. Storring may have been leaning a bit more into the deadpan comedy all of that entails, but the sounds were seriously alluring and occasionally uncanny.

Sunday, November 27, 2022

Recording: Lewis/Perera/Sacks

Artist: Tilman Lewis/Nilan Perera/Rick Sacks

Song: [2nd piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (SynCirSundays), November 13, 2022.

Tilman Lewis/Nilan Perera/Rick Sacks - [2nd piece]

Another Synaptic recombination for Nilan Perera (and his baritone guitar) in this set with frequent sparring partner Rick Sacks joined by special guest Tilman Lewis on cello, conjuring up some no-wave skonk'n'scrapes, proggy byways and a closing ballad over the course of the set.

You can check out some visual documentation from the set over at the SynCirSun youtube playlist:

[SynCirSundays is back at The Tranzac on December 11th, presenting The Electronoise Orchestra with Connor Bennett, William Davison, Mira Martin-Gray, Mike Hansen and Heraclitus Akimbo.]

Saturday, April 13, 2019

Recording: The Knot

Artist: The Knot

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Array Space (MFS 10th Anniversary Celebration: A Night of Improvised Music), February 10, 2019.

The Knot - [excerpt]

Every year around Valentine's Day, I tend to remember that it's this blog's anniversary. Then I check back to that first entry, see I'm already a day late, and go on with life. This year, I was thinking about it well ahead of time, and seeing that big, round (and mightily unexpected) tenth anniversary approaching, it seemed befitting to do something a little special. That ended up being a pair of shows, conceptually split into "improvised" and "rock" nights.

For the former, Somewhere There helped out by lending me their regular second Sunday of the month slot at Array, and from there, it was just a matter of winnowing it down from the dozens of people that I wanted to ask to play. There are a lot of projects get shuffled into zombie mode — not dead, just shifted into the inactive pile as other artistic endeavours (or, just life) get in the way. Sometimes it just takes a "hey, whatever happened to...?" kind of conversation to stir something back up, and looking around for a special "reunion"-type set for this show, I managed to get The Knot back on stage.

This duo for acoustic (and often prepared) improvising cellos from Tilman Lewis and Nick Storring were regulars on the scene a little while back, but besides a tape a couple years ago there hasn't been much activity. But right from the start, the pair fell into some nice zones bowing (and not bowing) their cellos, gliding from rough skronks to double-barrelled pointillistic plinks.

[Nick Storring will be guesting with the Two Ted Country Blues (Allison Cameron/Kurt Newman) at The Tranzac next Wednesday (April 17th).]

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Recording: The Knot

Artist: The Knot

Song: [end of first piece]*

Recorded at Holy Oak Café, September 26, 2012.

The Knot - [end of first piece]

Full review to follow. A satisfying night of unconventional music, with the first couple sets celebrating some new releases from the Arachnidiscs label. Improvising cellists Nick Storring and Tilman Lewis offer one side of a new entry in the label's exciting split tape series, and in this excerpt, we can hear them move from stately beauty to squeaking disarray to some plucked treated strings that sound like something from a nightmare version of Bartók.

* I suspect that this was an improvization without a title, but please leave a comment if you know otherwise!