from the "Shameless Self-Promotion" Dept.

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Three New 5uu's Songs

are downloadable here

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#1 "BULLDOZER"...June 2004 Ginger Studio, Tel Aviv

Scott Brazieal: keyboard

Chris Cutler: electri-kit

Ned Rothenberg: shakuhachi

Dave Kerman: brush drums, chair squeaks, toothpicks

Udi Koomran: computer, cassettes

Scott sent a meandering sort of electric piano track that reminded me of garrulous, human blathering. Since it was in no particular meter or time signature, Udi quantized it, and I set about to discern the new, ever-changing time signatures so I could play brush drums and toothpicks to the rhythm. Udi happened to be mastering a solo show that Ned had recently performed here in Israel, and the shakuhachi section sounded fantasic. The long, breathy approach seemed to be the musically intrinsic opposite of the piano track, so I convinced him to fly it into the mix, merely to see how it would sound. It was the rhythm track's perfect compliment. Chris' unrelated, electric-drums were then quantized and, amazingly, shared some rhythmic approximations of the keyboard (one of those happy accidents one can only wish for). To relate to the "blathering" aspects of the keyboard track, we flew in news commentary from Israel's incursion into Palestine and historic, taped accounts of Ariel Sharon ordering his forces that, "everything in the way is to be levelled, no exceptions". And yes, that's a real bulldozer playing the final solo.

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#2 "RESOLVE"...May 2004 Ginger Studio, Tel Aviv

Bob Drake: drumstick slide-bass

Dror Fieler: contrabass saxophone

Scott Brazieal: keyboard, autoharp

Chris Cutler: electri-kit

Dave Kerman: guitar, hand percussion

Udi Koomran: computer

Deborah Perry: vocals (by proxy)

Probably not realising it, both Bob and Chris sent tracks in 9/8 and 7/8 timings. We managed to lock them up (by means of timecompression and expansion) and to make from them wierd, funk/club grooves. Guitar patterns were cut up to fit these, and akeyboard melody was flown in for the vocal line. The problem was that I hadn't written any texts, so we meticulously extracted differentwords that Deborah had sang on a previous disk (Abandonship), and used the computer to change their durations, note values and pitches to match those of the keyboard melody: "While doubt hides from ghosts, dismissing neighbors' screams; Pose not to refute the seeds of sordid dreams. Contrition steps forth, stays lost on angels' face. All will is the shield there burning with such grace". At the end you can hear the pallette of extracted words before being processed. Dror's huge, sax insanity was recorded by Udi at Noise Studio in summer 2000, but lay dormant until now. Bob had recorded the wierd 20 sec. loop of Chris playing crazy, speed/techno-electric drums, and we cut up one of Bob's shredding basslines to fit these timings and tempos. Scott's sounds added an ethereal tone symbolising the resolve of angels.

#3 "COMMUNITY"...May 2004 Ginger Studio, Tel Aviv

Avi Belleli: vocals

Dave Kerman: piano, chains, vocals

Janet Feder: prepared guitar

Chris Cutler: electri-kit

Udi Koomran: computer

This is a more straight-forward composition, where Belleli and myself multi-tracked many vocals to approximate the sentiment of a large gathering, sadly prone to certain aspects of assimilation.The impetus for the keyboard composition were a series of guitar strums sent to us by Janet (where her strings were prepared with all sorts of appurtenances); But these were later cut and pasted in are-arranged order, which forces the listening ear into the active role of transforming the piano chords into something they were not naturally meant to be. Chris' sounds offset the jagged enterprise, adding a naive sense of placation, and the chains represent a societal penchant for comfort, stability and surety in a world frought with uncertainty.