Re: David Torn

[Daryl Shawn <darylshawn@gmail.com>]

Agreed. It was among the very best shows I've seen in a year of many. (I 
really need to start meeting the other loopers in NYC! Next time I go to 
something loop-oriented I'll post here...)

I liked it better than the material on Prezens, actually. These 
improvisations were so coherent, even as both sets were just 
uninterrupted blocks of sound, and were more organic than Prezens, in my 
estimation. I liked the way that Torn would sample and re-play Berne, 
often creating rhythmic grooves, while Ches would loop his own stuff and 
create grooves as well, sometimes using a tiny Moog.

Torn really put his EDP through the wringer, I was amazed at what he was 
doing loop-wise. Lots of very quick loops, as well as big ambient 
backgrounds to some seriously gnarly lead playing. In his rack was also 
a PCM42 and PCM70, which were used for big 'verbs, harmonies, and some 
pitching of samples. A pretty simple setup otherwise, just a Rane 
one-space mixer, plus a few fuzzes, a phaser, a delay, and a compressor 
on the floor. Interesting to compare to our friend Fripp.

BTW, he's calling this trio "Aarses" - naming it gives me hope that 
he'll keep playing regularly with them, or even recording.

Awesome stuff, I'm still kinda reeling.

Daryl Shawn
www.swanwelder.com


> that was quite the kick ass show last night at littlefield, Brooklyn with
> David Torn and Tim Berne...folks should have stayed for both sets, he
> played more guitar in the second set!
>
> - those "other" people who didn't make it missed a great show.
> - it sounded very much like Prezens, but with Chaz Smith on drums.
> - I didn't realize that Berne also plays bari.
>