Studies in by Ted Byrnes

Ted Byrnes is one of the most athletic percussionists we've had the pleasure to hear. He approached this set of recordings by first setting up a series of constraints that involved which instruments he'd play (water drum, bells, rocks, metal pipes, and coffee cans, to name a few), where they'd be played (on concrete or a bed of rocks, for instance), and even how they'd be played (in this case, directly with his hands).

Each time you listen to these intensely visceral improvisational exercises, which were recorded live with a single mic, different textures and subtleties slide and scrape across your ear drums. Raw in the truest sense of the word, this is music brimming with pure, spontaneous energy that will make you reconsider the powerful possibilities that can erupt within forced circumstances and first takes.

Tracklist