Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$9USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
The Channels Limited Edition CD comes in a beautifully designed 6 panel gatefold wallet, all hand signed by the band and numbered (of 100). The package also includes a limited edition 2 sided (8in x 12in) poster with photo of the band by Avraham Bank, extended credits with album art, and download code all withinin a clear re-sealable slip case.
Includes unlimited streaming of Channels
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 2 days
edition of 100
$15USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
6 panel gatefold CD. designed by Jason Waggaman. painting by Tim Motzer.
Includes unlimited streaming of Channels
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Track listing:
1. Lost
2. Drift
3. Caravan
4. Out To Sea
5. Ashes
6. Channel
7. Oasis
8. Suspended
Personnel:
John Swana - EVI, electronics, trumpet, valve trombone, synth
Tim Motzer - acoustic-electric guitar, electronics, percussion, bass
Doug Hirlinger - drums
featuring
Anthony Tidd - six string fretless bass (on Drift & Channel)
"think Pink Floyd meets Miles Davis conducted by Sun Ra." John Diliberto, Echoes radio 2019
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Channels (1k recordings, 1k042) — "The debut release by three celebrated Philadelphia musicians John Swana, Tim Motzer, and Doug Hirlinger — is an album that immediately beckons and challenges the listener with evocative, multilayered electro-acoustic improvisations and compositions. Channels captures the unique energy and sonic chemistry between the players; the album’s dynamic tension also hints at today’s unresolved social, economic, political challenges. Questioning melodies and complex, brooding soundscapes are punctuated by free-jazz drumming. The record ebbs with harmonic drifts, languid electronic suspensions, and looping textural guitars and synths.
Channels originally began as a duo recording by Swana and Motzer. After a weekend of intensive, experimental improvisation at 1K Recordings in Philadelphia, they invited Hirlinger to respond on drums – which transformed the material. For several months afterward, Swana and Motzer pored over the live studio recordings, whittling down long-form improvisations and adding orchestral layers of brass to opening track “Lost.” Anthony Tidd (longtime member of Steve Coleman and Five Elements) contributed six-string, fretless electric bass melodies to “Drift” and “Channel.” The result is a uniquely intimate and urgent record – one that defies simple categorization and reveals its intriguing richness over time." KG
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Channels (1k Recordings), featuring American guitarist Tim Motzer, swarms with dark, serpentine drones, swirling echo-drenched brass and intriguing rhythmic pulses. All are liberally daubed onto an aural canvas, gradually coalescing into an immersive and intensely compelling picture. Sepulchral and possessed with a smoldering aura, its powerful mood occasionally conjures the smoke gloaming of Miles Davis’ He Loved Him Madly. Sid Smith, Prog UK, Jazz Prog
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"This year has been about what I'm terming "whachamacallit" records, discs that are unique and unclassifiable and cannot be readily pigeonholed into any one (confining) genre. There's been many in 2019, and some recent discoveries that I've acquired that fit the bill (such as Stephan Thelen's mind-altering Radio Osaka group, and Finnish outfit Oddarrang). The new trio outing by John Swana, Tim Motzer, and Doug Hirlinger is one such record. You hear echoes of David Sylvian/Rain Tree Crow, electrified Miles (and Laswell's remix/reconstruction thereof), Jon Hassell's fourth-world iterations, and a whole host of other electroacoustic signifiers. What you don't hear is boredom. This is a wonderfully immersive, colorfully textural disc that yields dividends the deeper you get in to it, the more times you spin it. It's a head-scratcher, and an ear-tickler, and one of the best things you can spend 50+ minutes with this year. Brilliant." Darren Bergstein
credits
released February 1, 2019
Recorded March 10-17, 2017 by Tim Motzer at 1k
Engineering assistance by Eric Bogacz
Arranged and edited by John Swana & Tim Motzer 2018
Mixed and produced by Tim Motzer June-September 2018 for 1k
Mastered by Eric Bogacz at Spice House, Philadelphia
Album cover painting: Tim Motzer
Album design: Jason Waggaman & tilomo
Photography: Avraham Bank
reviews:
"...echoes of David Sylvian/Rain Tree Crow, electrified Miles (and Laswell's remix/reconstruction thereof), Jon Hassell's fourth-world iterations, and a whole host of other electroacoustic signifiers....wonderfully immersive, colorfully textural disc that yields dividends the deeper you get in to it, the more times you spin it. It's a head-scratcher, and an ear-tickler, and one of the best things you can spend 50+ minutes with this year. Brilliant."
-Darren Bergstein
Channels (1k Recordings) featuring American guitarist Tim Motzer, swarms with dark, serpentine drones, swirling echo-drenched brass and intriguing rhythmic pulses. All are liberally daubed onto an aural canvas, gradually coalescing into an immersive and intensely compelling pictures. Sepulchral and possessed with a smoldering aura, it’s powerful mood occasionally conjures the smoky gloaming of Miles Davis’ He Loved Him Madly. -Sid Smith, Jazz Prog, (UK)
1K RECORDINGS
is an eclectic Philadelphia-based boutique label run by guitarist, composer, and producer Tim Motzer.
The catalogue features genre-defying solo releases and adventurous collaborations, spanning ambient soundscapes to progressive to electronic to art pop and beyond.
"A catalog of music that is as unique as it is unpredictable."
- WXPN, The Key
An amazing follow-up to Fractal Guitar. I came across Fractal Guitar as a fan of Markus Reuter, and after downloading that had to go ahead and download all the other music Stephan has on Bandcamp. Love this stuff... crimlarks
Tasmanian guitarist Julius Schwing embraces the visceral sounds of finger playing, incorporating them into his experimental guitar work. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 8, 2022