FROM SCRATCH - Five Rhythm Works

" Beginning in 1974 and based in New Zealand, the sound-performance group From Scratch used an evolving array of percussion instruments -- including found and repurposed objects as well as custom-made percussion instruments -- to create a distinctive rhythmic music, texturally rich and tonally sumptuous. The music has a sophisticated, fluid, and intelligent polyrhythmic drive and prominently features pitched percussion, using microtunings and just intonation in tightly structured pieces that evolve and mutate around intricately interlocking melodic and rhythmic elements. Given their Pacific identity, one can find similarities with a number of Asian Pacific musics; their music will appeal to open-eared listeners interested in such musics, and it will also intrigue admirers of the early work of Steve Reich and Terry Riley. Formed by Phil Dadson upon his return to New Zealand following his late-60s involvement in the UK with Cornelius Cardews Scratch Orchestra, Aucklands From Scratch embraced an egalitarian ethic, focusing on cooperation, integration, and the union of opposites. These principles are clearly heard in the music here, with all the players interlocking and with the music exploring and exploding the polarities of melody/rhythm, local/global, group/individual, minimal/maximal. These four tracks, ranging from 1974 to 1982, are propulsive and yet serene; percussive and yet sweetly tonal; and toe-tappingly alert, forming an immersive and distinctive soundworld. All tracks here are newly remastered from the original master tapes; Passage" was the groups first recording and is previously unissued. Includes English liner notes by Andrew Clifford and rare photos." - EM.