Saturday 8 December 2012

Gaffer Fest Recording



In October my duo with Mark Holub played at Gaffer Fest in Lyon. I've posted my recordings of our whole set here for streaming and download. The recordings are just from the stage, so aren't high quality, but you get the feeling of what was a great night and a really excellent festival programmed by Frank from Gaffer Records. At the time I had mixed feelings about the set as we had both had very early flights to Lyon and the energy levels were quite low. But in retrospect I'm really pleased with how it turned out!




Monday 3 December 2012

Classwar Karaoke



A track from my forthcoming solo album features on the Classwar Karaoke Survey 0020. The survey includes works by over a hundred different artists and includes music, sound art, film, and more.

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Classwar_Karaoke/Classwar_Karaoke_-_0020_Survey/

Wednesday 3 October 2012

Webster/Holub/Anorak - Languages..

'Languages..' is the new live album recorded by the trio of Mark Holub, Sheik Anorak and myself at The Vortex jazz club in London earlier this year. It's out now on Gaffer Records on CD and all formats download.

Stream it or download it from here:


Monday 24 September 2012

Electronic Musik Compilation


A track from my forthcoming solo album 'Antennae' features on this recent compilation by the Electronic Musik netlabel.

The compilation features over 30 noise, improv, electronic, and experimental artists, and is available for free download from here.

Monday 17 September 2012

Gaffer Fest

I'll be playing at Gaffer Fest in Lyon on 13th October with Mark Holub. We're playing alongside Meurthe, Sheik Anorak's duo Kanine, and Marteau Rouge. Also on at the festival are our friends from Brighton - Bolide, Staer, Will Guthrie, The Pitch and many more. It's all happening at Le Periscope. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the Lyon area.

Details here: http://www.gafferfest.com

Tuesday 21 August 2012

Recent Webster/Holub Live Recordings







A few audio clips from recent Webster/Holub gigs in London. These were our last UK gigs for a while, as Mark is moving to Vienna. The next gig for us is at Gaffer Fest in Lyon in October.

http://www.gafferfest.com

Saturday 18 August 2012

Duo With Graham Dunning

I've just finished recording a series of saxophone and turntable improvisations with Graham Dunning. Graham is a sound/visual artist who uses a lot of field recordings, tapes, found sounds, custom vinyl, etc.. in his work. In this project he used a fairly minimal set-up of a turntable and mixer. For me this is a continuation of the solo work I've done recently, exploring extended techniques, and employing very quiet sounds. We'll be looking to release the recordings once we've finished the editing/mastering process. Meanwhile here's a link to Graham's work, and a couple of shots from the session:

http://grahamdunning.com



Monday 23 July 2012

Dead Neanderthals

Dead Neanderthals are an amazing sax and drums duo from Holland who combine noise, grindcore, free jazz and more. Webster/Holub will be supporting them at this London gig at Power Lunches in Dalston in a few weeks.

Here's some info and links for Dead Neanderthals:
The Dutch sax-and-drum duo Dead Neanderthals are not your average free-jazz experience. Incorporating elements from noise, jazz, metal and grindcore, they deliver a punch in the guts with every release. They already played festivals such as Le Guess Who?, De-Affaire and Incubate and they supported acts like MoHa!, Child Abuse, Neptune, Drum Eyes and Shining (No). Now it’s time to invade the UK!
http://deadneanderthals.bandcamp.com/


And here's a clip of Webster/Holub's set at Flim Flam last month:


Tuesday 3 July 2012

Anorak/Webster/Holub tour recordings

Here's an audio excerpt from the Anorak/Webster/Holub set at Port Mahon in Oxford during our mini-tour back in March:



There's also this excellent video of the whole set:



We also have a video clip from our set at Green Door Store in Brighton:



..and we have an excellent recording of the set at The Vortex that we're hoping to release later in the year.

Monday 7 May 2012

Recent Airplay/Podcasts/Mixtapes

Tracks from 'The Claw' have had some airplay recently on various radio shows, blogs and podcasts all over the world. Most are still available to stream or download, so check them out. It's great to be included alongside some great artists that I really respect. I've compiled some of them here:

Taran's Free Jazz Hour (1): http://taransfreejazzhour.com/podcast/92012.html

Taran's Free Jazz Hour (2): http://taransfreejazzhour.com/podcast/132012.html

The Mystery Lesson: http://mysterylesson.posterous.com/124102051

Free Form Freakout: http://fffreakout.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/fffreakout-podcast-40.html

WRUR 91.1FM: http://dev.wruw.org/guide/playlists.php?show_id=535&playlist_id=26039

Ink Project Mixtape: http://soundcloud.com/inkproject/ink-project-mixtape-12-free-1

Tiny Mixtapes: http://m.tinymixtapes.com/chocolate-grinder/mix-chocolate-grinder-mix-47-slower-combing-eggs

Fractal Meat On A Spongy Bone: http://ntslive.co.uk/?p=8879 

Far Side Virtual: http://www.pbsfm.org.au/node/18942

A track from my previous album Koi Bombs was also recently featured on this free Gaffer Records compilation, alongside tracks by Mats Gustafsson, Weasel Walter, and Sheik Anorak:

http://gafferrecords.bandcamp.com/releases


Also worth metioning this review (in French) of a gig I did in Lyon back in March with Sheik Anorak and Clement Edouard: http://666rpm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/report-colin-webster-sheik-anorak.html

Monday 2 April 2012

The Claw - Available Now


'The Claw' is my new duo album with Mark Holub, and is now available to buy, download, and stream from Raw Tonk Records!

http://rawtonkrecords.bandcamp.com

The album is available as a high quality all-formats download, or CD with individual screen-printed artwork by Oliver Pitt. 'The Claw' is also the first release by my own label 'Raw Tonk'.

Asteroid - Black Lines


A performance I was involved in by sci-fi improv collective 'Asteroid' has been released as a free download by netlabel Electronic Musik, with accompanying remixes by Noise Research and Guy Harries.

The EP can be downloaded from Archive.org: http://archive.org/details/BlackLinesem171

Saturday 18 February 2012

Monday 13 February 2012

'The Claw' - Artwork

Just received the artwork for my new duo album with Mark Holub - 'The Claw'. The cover was designed and individually screen-printed by Oliver Pitt (www.oliverpitt.co.uk).  The album should be available on CD and Download in a few weeks time.



Tuesday 7 February 2012

Sheik Anorak / Colin Webster / Mark Holub - Tour

In March the new trio of Sheik Anorak, Mark Holub, and Colin Webster are on tour in the UK:

March 19th - Port Mahon, Oxford
March 20th - The Vortex, London
March 21st - Green Door Store, Brighton

Lyon-based guitar-shredder, and free jazz noisenik Sheik Anorak is known for collaborating with like-minded souls all over the world, including: Mario Rechtern, Weasel Walter (from the Flying Luttenbachers), Clement Edouard, Yoann Durant, and Matthieu Peyraud. He also moonlights as head-honcho of Gaffer Records, releasing amazing music by the likes of Mats Gustafsson, Talibam!, OffOnOff, Jazkamer, and many others. 
For this tour Sheik Anorak is joining forces with Led Bib sticksman Mark Holub, and saxophonist Colin Webster.
www.sheikanorak.com


For all three dates they are joined by Lyon-based power-jazz-trio Lunatic Toys, and for the Brighton gig by Bolide as well.


Also, on March 7th the trio of Sheik Anorak, Colin Webster, and Clement Edouard (from Lunatic Toys / Loup) are performing a special show at Buffet Froid in Lyon.

Saturday 7 January 2012

Solo recording session

A few weeks ago I did a solo saxophone recording session.  I did the recording at Shiftworks - a studio I've used a for my trio and duo recordings - and used the same engineer, Alex Bonney.  I took alto, tenor, and baritone for the session.  The idea was to record  a series of very quiet improvisations with as much emphasis on breath sounds, and mechanical key noise as on the naturally produced sounds of the saxophone.  We set up two close-mics, and also attached some very small DPA mics to the saxophone itself - on the crook, on the bell, and inside the bell.  I've posted a few photos from the session below.

Musically, I tried to explore breath sounds, percussive sounds, resonance, extreme quiet, mechanical sounds (key/pad noise), sub-tones, multiphonics, overtones, 'non-notes', and combinations of these elements.  The temptation to play a 'natural' note would usually lead to the termination of these short improvisations.  These ideas had been on my mind for a while after exploring them almost by accident during some very quiet practice sessions at my flat, and it was great to finally get them on tape.  I'm hoping the recordings will see the light of day sometime later in the year.