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No Title 03:33
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Live Tea 1 12:43
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Live Tea 2 08:24

about

Who would have thought a relaxed sunny afternoon, newfound friendships and some spur-of-the-moment would have resulted in what’s been described as ’one of the most compelling documents of both free improvisation and electronica’ (All Music Guide)?

It’s the people involved in Afternoon Tea – originally released in 2000 on German label Ritornell and now reissued on Black Truffle with a new master, bonus tracks and newly discovered live recordings after years of being out of print – that ensured it as more than a happy accident. The twin guitar presence of AMM’s Keith Rowe and Oren Ambarchi and kindred spirits of the laptop ’ Sydney’s Pimmon, Vienna’s Christian Fennesz and Peter Rehberg made it a momentous day.

With all the players coming together during the 2000 What Is Music? Festival, Afternoon Tea stands as a highpoint of the then-emerging intersection between Powerbook performance and guitar improvisation. All subtley, nuance and detail, it is a revelation of restraint. Built on a steadying flow of burbling rhythm, the quintet slowly weave around each others’ sonics in layers to create a tonal palette immersive in its atmosphere and magnetic in its compulsion.

Hindsight clearly reveals the heart of these pieces – important to note considering they were recorded at a time when laptop performance was an alien concept to many in experimental music, suffering controversy and backlash as well as an over-abundance of pale approaches from many who took it on as novelty as opposed to serious musical pursuit. Those involved in the Afternoon Tea session left their Australian tour inspired, citing their merry time in the country eating, drinking and hanging out at the beach as well as their performances as a direct influence on their following work. Many great live recordings were spawned from the tour itself including Rehberg & Bauer’s passt, Fennesz’ Live at Revolver (both on Touch) and a collaboration between him and New Zealand’s Rosy Parlane (released on Synaesthesia). Additionally the seeds were sown for the Fennesz classic Endless Summer from 2001 (Mego).

Afternoon Tea remains one of the quiet and real achievers for experimental music of the past decade.

Remastered in May 2009.

credits

released June 1, 2000

Oren Ambarchi: guitar
Christian Fennesz: computer
Paul Gough: computer
Peter Rehberg: computer
Keith Rowe: tabletop guitar

Tracks 1&2 recorded at Big Jesus Burger, Sydney on Feb 8, 2000
Edited & mixed by Oren Ambarchi at Big Jesus Burger on April 14, 2000
Engineered by Chris Townend
Originally released as the 'Afternoon Tea' CD on Ritornell/Mille Plateaux

Track 3 recorded at Big Jesus Burger, Sydney on Feb 8, 2000 (afternoon) & recorded at the Palladium, What Is Music? festival, Sydney on Feb 8, 2000 (evening)
Edited & mixed by Christian Fennesz, Feb 2000

Tracks 4&5 recorded at the Palladium, What Is Music? festival, Sydney on Feb 8, 2000 (evening)
Previously unreleased

All tracks remastered by Lachlan Carrick at Moose May 18, 2009

Cover image: Marco Fusinato
Design: Stephen O'Malley

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about

Oren Ambarchi Australia

Oren Ambarchi is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. His work focuses mainly on the exploration of the guitar, "re-routing the instrument into a zone of alien abstraction where it’s no longer easily identifiable as itself. Instead, it’s a laboratory for extended sonic investigation". (The Wire, UK). ... more

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