From Scratch / goat / Don't DJ / Utena Kobayashi Group [ "8,9,10" and "9,10,11" from Gung Ho 1,2,3D ] CD [EM1160CD]

Digital version available at https://emrecords.bandcamp.com/

From Scratch was an innovative and highly influential New Zealand-based sound-performance group, making extensive use of found and repurposed objects as well as custom-made instruments in their intricately interlocking percussion music. One of their signature instruments consisted of carefully tuned PVC pipes, played with foam rubber mallets; arrays of these feature prominently, along with drums and tuned percussion, in Gung Ho 1,2,3D, an extended composition which sumptuously investigates polyrhythmic relationships indicated by the number sequences which title each section of the piece. Featured here is the original 1982 recording of the "8, 9, 10" and "9, 10, 11" sections of the piece, previously issued in 1988 by Flying Nun.

Rounding out this 2LP and CD release are three 2016 translations of the piece, based on the original score. Japanese group goat provides a driving rhythmic and mathematical analogue, which From Scratch's Phil Dadson, who provides liner notes, describes as "a fast moving shadow, familiar in outline but from another world". German producer Don't DJ imbibes the tribal spirit of Gung Ho and its sense of ritual to deliver a hypnotic immersion, and Utena Kobayashi Group adds wordless voice-worlds and distorted blasts to the ever-onward mix, before a final tropical down-shift.


Tracks:

"8, 9, 10" and "9, 10, 11" from Gung Ho 1,2,3D

Performed by
1. From Scratch (1981)

Interpreted by
2. goat
3. Don't DJ
4. Utena Kobayashi Group