Quarkspace's 11th installment in the Spacefolds series features a searing improvisational mix of Berlin-school electronics and instrumental post-spacerock. Enjoy the re-release of the album, now available on Bandcamp for the first time.
credits
released December 9, 2011
Darren Gough: Guitar
Chet Santia: Bass, Guitar, Loops
Jay Swanson: Keyboards, Synth, Loops
Paul Williams: Drumming, Synth, Keyboards, Loops
All Music Improvised by Quarkspace
Produced by Lance Starbridge.
Cover photo courtesy of NASA.
Reviews
The Quarkspace Spacefolds series of all improvisational jams continues with its 11th edition. I can’t call Quarkspace Columbus, Ohio based anymore because the members are now scattered. But these guys are old friends and periodically converge on the mothership (i.e., Paul William’s basement studio) in Columbus to record. As with Spacefolds 10, the new album features the original Quarkspace lineup of Darren Gough on guitar, Chet Santia on bass and guitar, Jay Swanson on keyboards and synth, and Paul Williams on drums, synth, keyboards and loops.
The album opens with Surfer Attack, a brief introductory piece with rapid fire electro-percussion and a pleasant melody. But the band get down to business with Quarkallax, a high intensity tension builder with beautiful singing guitar licks, 70s styled syncopated synth patterns, and various other electronics and keys. Last of the ADATs features Jay Swanson’s piano leading the way. Jay has a distinctive style and improvisational melodic flair that stands alone, almost sounding like a jazz pianist playing to a lounge crowd. And accompanying the piano are sweet cosmic guitar licks, bass and drums. The band get a groove going on Christophah Moltisanti. The guitar really rocks out, jamming away in a slightly Bluesy style, along with nice 70s flavored keys creating melody and soundscapes, and it’s all held together by the grooving electronic patterns. Flavioic Interlude and Flavioic Interlude 2 are both light, melodic space-jazz jams. Endless Autobahn has a cool offbeat rhythmic groove, which guitar and keys jam along to. I really like the searing cosmically acidic guitar that starts off Got Run Over By The Bus, eh John?. But there’s so much more going on as the jam includes shimmering psychedelic guitar, Chet’s distinctive jamming bass grooves, and a chilled but rocking spaced out vibe. It all mellows out at the end, including a bit of acoustic guitar in the last minute. A short track, The Tree Whose Leaves Fall Last is also one of the most serene. Really beautiful, and I like the way its offset by bits of jamming Blues guitar. Squirrel Inside a Scoop of Transparent Grape Ice Cream is a really cool mixture of elements, with dark jamming piano, classic prog keys, spaced out electronics, and wild wah’d funky Bluesy psych guitar. Lots going on here. Very intense. One of my favorites of the set. And Celestine Farewell is peaceful tune that, like the Farewell of the title, makes for a fitting closing track.
It’s always a pleasure hearing a new Quarkspace album. I still miss the days of their live shows. These guys could jam away for hours and it would always sound totally practiced and planned. If you like all instrumental, improvisational space rock, these guys have a sound very much their own. - Jerry Kranitz, Aural Innovations
This release from 2011 offers 69 minutes of engaging progressive jazz/rock.
Quarkspace are: Darren Gough (on guitar), Chet Santia (on guitar), Jay Swanson (on keyboards and synthesizers), and Paul Williams (on drums, synth, keyboards, and loops).
The first track is a short song with peppy e-perc and droning electronics punctuated by keyboards that evoke a cheery sentiment. The introduction of snarling guitar toward the end prepares the listener for the unexpected diversions ahead on the rest of the album.
Driving pulsations mark the opening of the second track. This foundation is tempered by a bevy of guitar pyrotechnics that wobble and spiral and achieve piercing pinnacles before diving back into the growling electronic loop to pursue further guitar contortions.
The third piece explores a more pensive milieu with languid guitar strumming and twinkling keyboards and sparse percussion. While the keys establish a cafe jazz mood, the guitar intrudes with delightful space age embellishments. The percussion attempts to support the jazz motif with erratic beats, as does the brooding bassline, while liquid electronics slither into the mix to boost the song's cosmic disposition.
The next track utilizes a quirky set of electro rhythms as the backdrop upon which the other instruments cavort with energetic relish. The guitar indulges in some complex diversions, while the bass generates a rumbling undercurrent that is seasoned by auxiliary tempos. Ultimately, the bassline conquers the flow with its alluring undulations.
The following piece adopts a more conventional mode of modern jazz enhanced by nimble percussives and twinkling guitar. The result is surprisingly accessible.
Next we have a track that combines bouncy electro rhythms with sprightly-fingered guitar while a moody electronic foundation churns just beneath everything.
The seventh piece encourages the guitar to get adventurous with intricate riffs and secondary strumming layers. Meanwhile the bass engages in its own groove, providing a luscious chugging geological strata within the mix. The freeform percussion succeeds in keeping up with these numerous threads of charismatic activity.
The next track presents a more laid-back persona, but the band's sense of animation will not be repressed, so the guitar and keys stray into more lively territory, followed by the nimble (but understated) rhythms. A sweet keyboard textural dominates the end of this short piece.
While a crisp electro pattern attempts to set a spry tone in track nine, heavy-handed keyboards bully their way in and commandeer the flow with regal piano chords. Chugging guitar rises to the challenge, and when that delivery fails to triumph, the guitar slips in a little funk to persuade everything into a lavish contest of instrumental wills. The appearance of spacey tones sweeps through the mix, lending a stately posture to the music. In the end, the demonstrative piano and a more eccentric guitar tie for supremacy.
The next track adopts a more languid temperament, allowing the guitar to display its romantic chops, while piano urges assertive action over auxiliary keyboard tapestries of delicate character.
The album concludes with a peaceful track consisting of controlled guitar sustains and somber keys. This serenity is punctuated by sparkling notes of a xylophonic nature.
Once again Quarkspace display the ease with which they conquer a variety of music styles and fuse them together into tuneage of bewitching appeal. - Matt Howarth, Sonic Curiosity
Church of Hed is the solo electronic space prog project of Quarkspace drummer/synthesist, Paul Williams. RIYL: Floyd, the
Orb, Stereolab -- Quarkspace is an American band together since the mid 80s. Known for combining spacerock and electronics with folk and progressive songwriting, their influences straddle the American and English psychedelic scenes of the late 60s with more modern influences....more
it's simply put anything a krautrock fan could hope for. It's a little masterpiece and 'Passage' is a little masterpiece within it. I'm getting strong Blade Runner vibes here and anything that gives me Blade Runner vibes is a winner. The fact that this band is not bigger is a crime. spaceistheplace82
After having had so much fun with the newly acquired Cursus by Robert Reed, I remembered, that I still had this somewhere in the wishlist - and that DiN label boss Ian Boddy launched a timely restricted NYP campaign for this live collaboration with Nigel Mullaney.
The album cover shows their setup for the event: Obviously a lot of equipment and a feast for friends of modular synths. Carsten Pieper