MNEMONIST ORCHESTRA – Mnemonist Orchestra (Dys ‎– DYS 01 / LP-1979)

Label: Dys ‎– DYS 01

Format: Vinyl, LP / Country: US / Released: 1979

Style: Free Jazz, Abstract, Noise, Experimental

Recorded in March 1979, Fort Collins, Colorado (U.S.A.).

Artwork [Booklet Art] – McGregor, Yeates, Hougen

Artwork [Labels] – Yeates, Hougen

Photography By [Jacket Cover] – McGregor

Concept By [Jacket Cover] – Sharp

Conductor, Tape [Taping Assistance] – Bruce McGregor

Engineer [Sound Engineering] – Mark Derbyshire

Producer – William Sharp

Matrix / Runout (Side A runout, etched): DYS 01 A RD 18404

Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, etched): DYS 01 B RD 18405

"DYS 01" was recorded in March 1979, Fort Collins, Colorado (U.S.A.). The musicians improvised within loose arrangements intended to suggest the concept of each piece. All pre-taped sounds were mixed live with the other instruments.

Record contains an 8 page insert with various art prints made by the project. LP in thick, handglued cover. Limited to around 100 copies.

side 1:

A1 - Input .................................................................................................................. 12:00

A2 - Vulnerable, Then Functional ............................................................................. 11:40

Side 2:

B1 - Corrosive On Contact ....................................................................................... 11:20

B2 - Stasis ................................................................................................................ 15:40

MNEMONIST ORCHESTRA:

Steve Chaffey – drums, percussion

John Herdt – electric guitar, percussion (A2, B2)

Torger Hougen – spoken word, illustrations

Bruce McGregor – tape, conducting, photography, illustrations

Dave Mowers – trombone, percussion

Hugh Ragin – trumpet, percussion

Steve Scholbe – alto saxophone

William Sharp – tape, conducting, arrangements, production, cover art, design, piano (A2),

5-string electric guitar (B1)

Randy Yeates – spoken word, illustrations

Additional musicians:

Dave Calvin – bass guitar (B1, B2)

Dave Marsh – bass guitar (A1, A2)

Nicki Relic – piano [prepared piano]  (A1, B1, B2), spoken word (A1)

Mnemonist Orchestra is the eponymously titled debut studio album of the free improvisation ensemble Mnemonist Orchestra, released in 1979 by Dys Records. – Extremely Rare LP...

The album was recorded in March 1979 by a group of friends and collaborators coming from diverse backgrounds, including musicians, visual artists, and scientists. Interested in the possibilities of spontaneous interaction among a diverse group, they intended the album to be an exploration of the effects of technological saturation on society, particularly upon children. The music drew heavily from musique concrète and film music, both of which would continue to influence the ensemble's future works.

There are thirteen in Mnemonist Orchestra : trumpet, trombone, alto sax, guitar, piano, bass, vocals, percussion, etc. Mark Derbyshire is the tape manipulator who brings together hundreds of free fragments; Bill Sharp is the ideologue and the spokesperson. The four movements of the symphony take place in an absolutely chaotic and uncoordinated way, independent and random sound elements follow each other quickly: monologues, jazz improvisations, background distortions, toy noises, electronic fanfares, and so on to infinity. Input is the archetype: free instruments and voices at the Art Enseble Of Chicago, with the clownesque trumpets, the other instruments that agree with indifference and nonchalance, guitar distortions, bells.the chirping of a sax in an electronic tornado leads to a crazy hard-rock for guitars forgotten with frantic and dissonant harmony of the winds. In Corrosive a tenuous piano sonata is hit by a chaotic free jazz jam. The masterpiece is Stasis , another disconnected delirium of wind instruments on a percussive carpet made of random gongs, broken objects, clock ticks, beaten metal sheets; a decaying orgy of crumbling sounds. They are absurd pieces that owe more to avant-garde jazz than to rock or electronics. Their paranoid ritual develops according to a very specific emotional thread, a convulsive gesticulation that leads to psychic collapse through a progressive rarefaction of the material.

(Review By: Achim Breiling)



If you find it, buy this album!