White Noise Session

Short solo set filmed at the White Noise Studio in Winterswijk, NL. Huge thanks to Marlon Wolterink for recording it.

http://www.whitenoisestudio.com

it's on like boiled corn

'it's on like boiled corn' is my new solo album released on Norwegianism Records. The album is a series of short improvisations and explores similar territory to my previous solo album 'Antennae', using a strict palette of minimal saxophone sounds, with an emphasis on breath and mechanical noises over "pure/natural" notes.

The album is currently available only as a limited edition CD (50 copies), and a download option will be available soon.

Buy / stream here:

Solo Tour

Upcoming solo shows in the UK and Netherlands:

March 20th: LUME @ Long White Cloud, London (also duo w/ Andrew Lisle)

http://lumemusic.co.uk

March 28th: Norwegianism Festival @ Roodkapje, Rotterdam

http://norwegianismrecords.wordpress.com

March 29th: Supporting 'The Gate' @ OCCII, Amsterdam

http://occii.org/events/the-gate-us-dan-peck-tom-blancarte-brian-osborne/

Norwegianism Festival

Recent Press and Reviews

Some recent reviews of Dead Neanderthals - '…And It Ended Badly'

Kinda Muzik (Holland), November 2013:
http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/dead-neanderthals/and-it-ended-badly/24499/

'…And It Ended Badly' was also featured in the top 7 albums of the week on Kinda Muzik:
http://www.kindamuzik.net/de7even/de-7even-week-48-2013/24508/

Enola (Benelux), November 2013:
http://enola.be/muziek/albums/22692:dead-neanderthals-meat-shovel-and-it-ended-badly

Don't Count On It (US), November 2013:
"… a must listen for all jazz heads this year"
http://dontcountonitreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/dead-neanderthals-and-it-ended-badly.html

Spiral Shadow (Germany), November 2013:
"Webster, Kokke, and Aquarius have created a very complex piece of art that is worth being discovered and unravelled piece by piece"
http://spiralshadow.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/dead-neanderthals-and-it-ended-badly.html

'…And It Ended Badly' and Webster/Holub 'The Claw' were both covered in Canadian blog Monsieur Delire:
http://blog.monsieurdelire.com/2013/11/2013-11-05-websterholub-dead.html

'…And It Ended Badly' and my solo tape 'Antennae' were covered in Brazilian blog Free Form Free Jazz:
http://www.freeformfreejazz.com/2013/11/nas-prateleiras-novidades-do-velho.html?m=1

'…And It Ended Badly' also had an excellent review in the November print edition of Dutch magazine 'Gonzo Circus':
www.gonzocircus.com

Antennae - Available Now

After long delays, my solo album 'Antennae' is finally available on cassette from the Gaffer Records store: www.gafferrecords.com

The album is a series of short improvisations exploring a strict palette of minimal saxophone sounds, with an emphasis on breath and mechanical noises over "pure/natural" notes. The instrument was close-miked to heighten the presence of these sounds. However, no effects, multi-tracking or external processing were applied to the recording. 

Each cassette comes with a digital version of the album, which contains two bonus remixes by Graham Dunning and Alex Bonney. The digital version is available to stream or download here:
http://gafferrecords.bandcamp.com/album/antennae

Transient Constellations All-Dayer

On 7th September I'll be performing my first solo improv set at the excellent Transient Constellations all-dayer at The Windmill in Brixton.

http://transientconstellations.tumblr.com

New Solo Album - Antennae

My new solo album 'Antennae' will be released on cassette and download by Gaffer Records in a few weeks time. In the meantime you can now stream the album from Gaffer's bandcamp page:
http://gafferrecords.bandcamp.com/album/antennae

The album is a series of short improvisations exploring a strict palette of minimal saxophone sounds, with an emphasis on breath and mechanical noises over "pure/natural" notes.

Antennae was recorded, mixed and mastered by Alex Bonney. The download version also features a remix by Alex, and one by Graham Dunning.

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/

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.

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.

Solo improvisation

I'm working on some close-miked solo improvisations at the moment. There's still some technical issues to address, but here's a taster of a work in progess:

solo 1 by colinwebster