Keith Rowe‎ - Cultural Templates (CD)

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ErstLive 007

ErstLive 007 is a solo set from Keith Rowe, and took place on the second night of the AMPLIFY 2008: light festival in Tokyo in September 2008. This was Rowe's first ever solo set in Tokyo in his 40+ year career. CD in slimline packaging, with a photo of the concert inside.

For lossless (16/44) files, go to this page.
TRACK LIST

1.  Cultural Templates     36:31

(released December 8, 2008)
CREDITS

Keith Rowe: guitar, electronics

recorded on 20 September 2008 by Taku Unami at Kid Ailack Art Hall, Tokyo as part of AMPLIFY 2008: light.

design by Shane Arbogast
photography by Yuko Zama
​In September 2008, legendary guitarist Keith Rowe played four sets in three nights in the AMPLIFY 2008: light festival in Tokyo. The festival marked Rowe's fourth trip to Japan in his 40+ year career and the first time he was able to work closely with so many Tokyo musicians on their home turf. As the only non-Japanese participant in the festival, Rowe took the opportunity to both move his aesthetic towards his collaborators (in the duo sets), as well as to make a strongly contrasting individual statement in his solo set, which he later titled 'Cultural Templates'.

All four of those sets are now available in the ErstLive series: the premiere meeting of Rowe and Taku Unami; the aforementioned 'Cultural Templates', Rowe's first solo set ever in Tokyo; the premiere meeting of Rowe and Sachiko M, as part of the double CD 'contact', and now the concluding set to the festival, Rowe's duo with his long-time partner Toshimaru Nakamura, completing the tetralogy. AMPLIFY 2008: light was an intense and deeply immersive experience for all who were lucky enough to be present, and quite a bit of that was attributable to Rowe's four sets, which are now available for all to hear.

The ErstLive series is an attempt to capture the uncapturable: unedited, unpolished concert recordings packaged in a template design using two colors chosen by the musicians involved, with a photo of the concert on the back cover.
REVIEWS

Jeph Jerman, The Squid's Ear
Jon Abbey continues his documentation of all things Keith Rowe, here with a live recording from Tokyo, as a part of the AMPLIFY 2008 festival. I have listened to this recording several times now, and each time brings something different and new. From a crackly start he constructs a fairly typical (for Rowe) solo, along the way dealing with his self-disruptions and stumbles in a masterly way. At first, the use of what I take to be radio broadcasts (they could just as easily be samples on a laptop) was mystifying, but I hear now that they are perhaps a way of throwing the unknown into a very familiar situation.

Rowe buries a first bit of flute music in hissy statics (perhaps turning the radio dial?), and later deals with an aria by mostly leaving it alone until the end of the passage, where he brings his guitar in so subtly that it seems to be a part of the broadcast. That this section wasn't pre-planned makes it seem all the more startling. In between these points are Rowe trademarks, assembled carefully to form a winding fascinating story. Perhaps there is nothing new on offer here, but it's always nice to hear a master at work.