Program

Eric Ross war ein persönlischer Freund des Erfinders Robert Moog, dessen Neuentwicklungen auf dem Gebiet elektronischer Instrumente er aus erster Hand erhielt und in seine Klangwelten einbaute.
Aber auch auf dem Gebiet des Jazz ist Eric Ross überaus erfolgreich, er spielte mit solchen Grössen wie John Abercrombie, Larry Coryell, Andrew Cyrille, Oliver Lake, Leroy Jenkins, Byard Lancaster und mit den Blues-Legenden Champion Jack Dupree, Lonnie Brooks, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and BB King.
Auftritte beim Jazzfestival in Montreux und beim North Sea Jazz Festivals waren Meilensteine seiner Karriere.

Die Video-Kunst von Mary Ross, die zur Musik projektiert wird, ist nach den musikalischen Abläufen und Strukturen ausgewählt, arrangiert und organisiert. Mary Ross gilt als Pionier der Digitalfotografie. Bereits in den frühen siebziger Jahre nutzte sie Video-Technik und Computer, um Fotos - also Digitalfotokunst - zu schaffen. Viele dieser einzigartigen Werke befinden sich in Kunstsammlungen, Bibliotheken und Galerien weltweit, von Paris, Zürich, Cambridge, Kopenhagen und New York.

Eric Ross (born in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, USA) received his B.A. and M.A. from the State University of New York. He premiered his Concerto for Orchestra at Lincoln Center in New York, and released his first solo album, Songs for Synthesized Soprano, in 1982. He has written symphonies, chamber pieces and many works for solo instruments. He's performed concerts of his original music at the Newport, Berlin, Montreux, and North Sea Jazz Festivals, the Copenhagen New Music Festival, the Kennedy Center, and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival among others worldwide.
Eric performs on piano, guitars, synthesizers, and the Theremin. For over twenty years, he has led his own ensemble that has featured jazz greats John Abercrombie, Larry Coryell, Andrew Cyrille, Oliver Lake, Leroy Jenkins, Byard Lancaster, new music virtuosos Robert Dick, Lydia Kavina, Youseff Yancy and many others. He has also played with Blues Legends Champion Jack Dupree, Lonnie Brooks, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and appeared with BB King on Danish RTV.
With his wife, Mary Ross, Eric presents multi-media concerts of video, film, computer art, dance and music. He began playing the Theremin in 1975, and has performed on radio, film and television. He has written an Overture for 14 Theremins and performed on the 1997 World Premiere of Percy Grainger's Free Music No.1 in New York City. In 2006, he was guest artist on the No.1 Best Selling CD in Japan, Aqi Fzono's Cosmology.
As a teacher, Eric Ross has lectured on the Theremin, piano, guitar, and electronic music at colleges, universities and schools throughout the United States and Europe. He was Master Teacher at the First International Theremin Festival and is considered to be the foremost authority on Frederick W. Riesberg, Franz Liszt's last pupil. Eric was a personal friend of inventor Robert Moog, the theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore, and in 1991 had met and played for Professor Lev Termen himself. Eric Ross has drawn inspiration from these artists to continue developing the Theremin as a voice in his own compositions.

Gifted, adventurous and above all else creative, Australian-born and Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist Anthony Buck is one of modern music's true dark horses. Probably better known around the traps as Tony Buck, this musician has had his fingers in just about every non-mainstream musical pie you can imagine.

Since graduating from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Buck dabbled heavily in the Australian jazz scene before seeking further waters - heading out to Japan, Holland and eventually Germany. Along the way he left his subtle yet defined stamp in underground music across the world, through groups like part-Japanese hardcore/impro group Peril and minimalist improvisational trio The Necks, among a plethora of others.

Anthony Buck's collaborations outnumber his solo efforts, so it's interesting to see how well his individual musical language makes its mark. With Project Transmit, we see yet another side of this multi-faceted musical personality: giving a firm nod to bands like Shellac and My Bloody Valentine, Project Transmit is the creation of Buck's hardcore, post-rock side.

Retaining the experimental edge that encompasses much of his music, each song on this record is rich with texture and momentum, Buck starts with a basic, minimalist idea - be it a driving riff, a syncopated melody or rolling rhythm - and builds upon it with layers of sounds and harmonies. The album's grinding opener What You Want offsets a discordant guitar riff with slicing, jangly guitar, while Follow You's hypnotic tribal rhythm ascends into something reminiscent of Sonic Youth's more melodic moments.

The music on Project Transmit crosses from a more simplistic pop sensibility - like the harmony-rich and elegant Kayla to the album's final track Time - to something more aggressive and industrial. The ferocious Blood sears with frenetic and often-cacophonous guitar noises, showcasing Buck at his most experimental.

One of the album's strongest tracks and definite highlights, What I Mean's schizophrenic journey takes the listener from the frighteningly insistent introduction of Buck growling, "Does it feel better, man?" through to an almost-wistful lyrical refrain in just over nine and a half minutes. And just when you think he hasn't got any more surprises to pull out of his well-tuned hat, he takes it one step further; including on his album a dramatically post-rock cover of Bob Dylan's Masters of War.

Musically, Buck gives as much as he pulls back, which means that very rarely do you see the song's entire image until the track has completely faded out. The album's layers are numerous and dense. To truly appreciate Anthony Buck's musical language, it's important to catch the tiny, but significant details in this album. The jangly guitar edges, the well-placed harmonics sounds, the subtle edges, even the humming vocals: listen closely - otherwise, you might just miss something.

http://www.fasterlouder.com.au/reviews/music/15719/Anthony-Buck--Project-Transmit

Project Transmit probably isn't the album most people expected Tony Buck to make, especially not those only familiar with him as the drummer with freeform jazz trio The Necks. An exploration of rock's minimal underbelly, it has more in common with Shellac than any kind of jazz.

At every turn, Project Transmit offers up a new surprise. Buck turns Bob Dylan's Masters of War' on its head, carving an aggressively hypnotic dirge out of the oft-covered peace anthem. There are shades of The Cure lurking inside the shimmeringKayla', traces of June of 44 in Blood's combination of propulsive rhythm section and disjointed guitar. Then there's the jangly indie-pop ofFollow You', the measured stomp of Love You' and the meditative swirl of closerTime'. There's an immediacy to these tracks, a certain visceral quality, that Buck has never really explored in The Necks.

The focus here is very much on the guitar. Buck's playing is kinetic; a collision of heavy, muscular grooves and glistening harmonics. His drumming is largely restrained, content to take a back seat for the album's bulk, only rarely breaking out (as on Kayla'). Vocally, Buck tends towards low-key repetitive phrases, with the odd exception (his venomous delivery onMasters of War', the sweet melodies of `Follow You').

Don't go into Project Transmit expecting anything even resembling The Necks, or there's a good chance you'll come out disappointed. But listened to in its own right, removed from all context and preconceptions, Project Transmit is a brilliant album of agitated, abrasive noise rock.

http://www.messandnoise.com/releases/2000199