Reviews:
Contradictory to what
the name of this project suggests, Clang Quartet is really the one-man
project of drummer Scotty Irving (of Prog Metal band Geezer Lake) which
he started in 1997 as a personal expression of both sound and his faith.
Besides
playing the drums and having those sounds altered through electronics,
he's invented several home-made electro-acoustic instruments (those
most notable were made from saws, masks, and crutches) but also uses
guitars, keyboards, and sound collages of family tape recordings from
his childhood and field recordings for his sonic interpretations of the
Passion of Jesus Christ. His shows are a constant improvisation, never
lingering on the recorded moments as could be heard on his 1997 and
1998 demo recordings Hackneyed Psalms And Other Fried Features and
Saturday Night Sliver. He was then noticed by Silber CEO Brian John
Mitchell, whom decided to release the split cd-R Cemented In Stone (his
own Remora balancing Irving's noisy sound explosions) in 1999, before
releasing Clang Quartet's official debut Jihad on CD in 2000. The
follow-up album The Separation Of Church And Hate came in 2003, and
finding his music was strongly misunderstood, Irving focused on live
appearance from then on. Through his own Fried Features, he
self-released the 2005 cd-Rs Noise And Other Road Sounds (with material
collected from several live shows), Originals, Tributes, Rarities
(collected compilation with unreleased material) and The Demo Years 1,
The Demo Years 2, and The Demo Years 3 (collected demo works from his
1997-1998 cassette releases), and in 2007 RRR Records issued the
vinyl album Revival Of The Wretch (featuring live studio recordings).
Captured
on Ava is a live performance from 2008 at the Ava Gardner Independent
Film Festival, a 30 ½ minute exposé on the cacophony, chaos and order
which is so typical for Clang Quartet's music, and which is so
difficult to explain. There's an almost 8-minute passage where Irving
actually uses no electronics or samples at all, but before and after
the sounds he makes are at least partly shrouded to those of us, whom
have not been to any of his shows! Well, I've enjoyed more experimental
music of this ilk in the past, you know...but in this very case I feel
the link to the musical expression and faith a bit hard to find. Ah
well, as a means to break from Silber's usual output, this is certainly
a welcome album. Would not put it on as background on any of the
family's Sunday get-togethers though!
~ Concrete Web
So, going a bit obscure
today, Silber Records has a free EP available from the Clang Quartet, a
live performance piece dubbed Ava. Earlier today, I did subject myself
to the entirety of Ava, which is a thirty minute noise-centric work that
deteriorates into nonsensical static, softening here and there for percussion's
sake.
~ Letters from a Tapehead
Independent drone label Silber
Records are putting out a brace of free EPs, one of which is Ava, a one
track propulsive dirge by performance/noise act Clang Quartet. Heading
off into the desolate, dark, green-tinged sunset, 'Ava' is over thirty
minutes of cacophony, chaos, improvisation, noise and silence. It was recorded
from a live performance at the Ava Gardner Independent Film Festival back
in September 2008. It's actually quite coherent despite how disparate the
various homemade instrumentations may seem at times. It's a percussive
near-masterstroke - although the adherence to faith is unclear, it doesnt
deter from the aural journey. I'm listening to it for the second time as
I sit in the office gazing out at the green foliage outside, the rain steadily
coming down - it's striking a Merzbow-like chord. Interesting stuff.
Download 'Ava' it is 56MB,
but worthy, even for a one-off experience.
~ Sonic Masala
One of the few genuine contemporary
artists continuing what Steven Stapleton and Nurse With Wound began in
the 70’s, Scotty Irving’s Clag Quartet began life as a way of recording
audible expressions of The Passion of the Christ, often using found sound
elements via makeshift instruments of saws and crutches found in his home.
With ‘Ava’, we bear witness
to a harsh, cacophonic and visceral thirty minute live performance that
was recorded in 2008 as part of the Ava Gardner film festival. One can
only imaging the immersing environment at the show (visual and all) as
this ripped away ear drums, but sadly for those that were not there this
is as close as we can get.
~ Michael Byrne, Left Hip