Sten Höstfält
29 Pieces for The Microtonal Guitar
Live at Knitting Factory New York
August 29, 2002
Sten Hostfalt Compositions, Improvisations,
Acoustic, Electric & Prepared Guitar, Electronics
Recorded by Jason Tubbs for KnitMedia, New York. Mixed and Mastered by Greg Thompson at Kampo Studios New York City.
Produced by Greg Thompson and Sten Hostfalt
29 Pieces for The Microtonal Guitar
Live at Knitting Factory New York
August 29, 2002
Sten Hostfalt Compositions, Improvisations,
Acoustic, Electric & Prepared Guitar, Electronics
Recorded by Jason Tubbs for KnitMedia, New York. Mixed and Mastered by Greg Thompson at Kampo Studios New York City.
Produced by Greg Thompson and Sten Hostfalt
Signal To Noise Magazine Issue 36 Winter 2005, page 53-54 Sten Hostfalt/Eternity Check [g-wOw 1214], 29 PIECES FOR THE MICROTONAL GUITAR LIVE AT KNITTING FACTORY NEW YORK [g-wOw 1215]. In these two releases, guitarist Sten Hostfalt develops a finely-detailed, insect-scaled musical system in which a thousand granular details, seemingly disjointed and unrelated, fuse to build a giant mound swarming with life. The centerpiece of Eternity Check is a 1992 Boston recording in which Hostfalt ringmasters a boisterous sextet. In this context the leader's fussy guitar work often comes off as the fine print in a broadside combining jazzy bass lines with spacy synthesizer wobbles and rockish riffs. The three shorter tracks on this disc, recorded in 2001, almost don't belong here ( although this 30-minute disc could hardly afford the loss ) With Magnus Lind's time-folding accordion arabesques, they presage the total immersion in a mini-verse of finely etched detail that Hostfalt takes to glorious extremes in 29 Pieces for Microtonal Guitar. Recorded live at the Knitting Factory in 2002, 29 Pieces is among the most riveting explorations of the microtonal world ever recorded. Its fine focus and beauty of details puts the cycle in a class with John Cage's exquisite "Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano". With few tracks lasting more than two minutes, Hostfalt contracts the material to the crystalline scale of fly wings, piercing the mind and soul with intimations of the deep and strange order of the universe. The live recording is almost desperately intense and immediate, and the disc has richly rewarded as many listeners as I have been able to give it ( five so far ). - Larry Cosentino
Jazz Review CD REVIEW by Don Williamson (2005) STEN HOSTFALT/29 PIECES FOR THE MICROTONAL GUITAR LIVE AT KNITTING FACTORY NEW YORK - "Sten Höstfält has more than absorbed the teachings of some of the free-jazz New England-based musicians he studied with at the New England Conservatory of Music and Berklee; he has internalized their thoughts to come up with his own investigations. As of late Höstfält has been exploring and presenting the theoretical propositions of Joe Maneri, who has identified 72 pitches within the octave, although traditional traditional Western musical theory involves at the most the 12 notes of the chromatic scale. All of a sudden the addition of six times as many tonal possibilities has opened up new vistas for sonic expression as the nuances between the normally expected vibrations are stated, rather than being contained within temporary pitch-wavering allusions such as "blue notes" or vibrato. It means that Höstfält now has developed his own repertoire that incorporates the microtones contained within expansion of pitches available to him. Tuning his guitar in intervals of a quarter tone and smaller, Höstfält sketches with his guitar, allowing the listener to connect the lines, rather than painting a mural, referring to traditional harmonic conventions even as as he microtonally upends them, removing the audience's comfort zone as he challenges it's combined expectations with a genuinely Innovative approach for guitar. In the future 29 Pieces For The Microtonal Guitar may be considered a groundbreaking work as Western musical theory catches up with the microtonality of Indian and Middle Eastern genres"
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All About Jazz CD Review: 29 Pieces for the Microtonal Guitar Live at Knitting Factory New York - "Sten Hostfalt takes the rigid confines of the Guitar and transforms it into an instrument capable of exploring the minute spaces between traditional notes by using altered tunings, mechanical preparations and electronically enhanced techniques. The result, 29 Pieces for the Microtonal Guitar, is an intriguing recording that shows just how far an instrument can be bent and altered to meet a more experimental and adventurous need, taking you on a journey to a place where rules, quite simply, don't exist and anything is possible. For those with ears broad enough to allow for the possibility that music can extend beyond the expected, and expand the potent boundaries of experience, 29 Pieces For The Microtonal Guitar Live at Knitting Factory New York constitutes a trip well-worth taking. William Burroughs once wrote "exterminate all rational thought" and, while there is an unquestionable logic behind Höstfält's work, it is so rooted in the unusual as to have the appearance of complete abandon." - John Kelman 2004
Jazz Now CD REVIEW by Kenneth Egbert 2005: 29 PIECES FOR THE MICROTONAL GUITAR LIVE AT KNITTING FACTORY NEW YORK " Not for the faint of heart, but more for those of us who think that the late great David Tudor got a bit 'easy listening' towards the end, and Derek Bailey may very possibly be the God that others of us thought in the 1960s Eric Clapton was. Utilizing Joe Maneri's Micro scale "Alive on the Dead Screen" shreds and distort over a droning, howling background while "Icons" quick-picks through a seemingly decaying landscape. Beyond rapturous. "Dialogue" from the 'Lighters' suite pits Höstfält improvising against a tape of himself from an earlier timeframe, very sharp and 'on point', while the 'Major Changes' sequence moves more into John Fahey territory - with well-thought-out and absorbing results. In fact this entire 40-minute live recording from the Knitting Factory NYC (8-29-02) reaches that peak early and stays there with very little difficulty. Certainly one advantage of using a microtonal scale is that you will get new runs of notes, new chordal matrices. For an illustration note, "Roll", last section of the suite "Eight Variations" a furtively smooth run of cacophonous tones that fit together only because Mr. Höstfält and the listener want them to. High-density, highly logical in a completely different way and highly recommended " |
Cadence Magazine October 2005 edition, Grego Applegate Edwards CD Review: Sten Hostfalt/29 Pieces For The Microtonal Guitar Live at Knitting Factory New York. - "Sten Hostfalt is perhaps the better known of the group of guitarists in this batch, having played and/or recorded with Bobby Shew, Paul Bley and Jimmy Giuffre. Hostfalt uses conventional instruments and obtains microtones through various other means. More or less pure-toned microtones, buzzes, string scratches and other timbral textures weave in and out of the aural palette in an attractive complexity."Major Changes" begins with electric low notes, then follows with rapid figuration, microtonal chords and arpeggios. "Eight Variations" features Jazz-like figurations without a tonal center, mostly acoustic. Lower strings seem down-tuned and punctuate the texture dynamically. "Alive on the Dead Screen" brings in increased energy. A white noise wash of electronics in the background to distorted electric noise-oriented Post-Hendrix utterances you hear the influence of the Hendrix at Monterey finale and "Third Stone from the Sun". The electronic wash varies, interjecting Morse-code-like high frequency punctuations underneath the psycho-workout. Pretty convincing. "Diplomacy" turns again to the acoustic guitar with added prepared objects that provide percussive metallic timbres and low buzzes. Starting sparsely, the figuration becomes rapid. On "Lighters II" prepared guitar with a metallic slide produce intriguing koto-like sounds. If you find Derek Bailey's solo guitar works to be of interest, Hostfalt gives you another angle on exploring tone colors and guitar abstractions that you will not want to miss".
Altrisuoni (Italy) CD Review by Alekos Pandelis: Eternity Check and 29 Pieces for The Microtonal Guitar Live at Knitting Factory New York [Altrisuoni.Org 2004] "Sten Höstfält guarda alla microtonalità come ad uno sviluppo organico dalle tecniche tradizionali e dalle pratiche compositive e alla conoscenza del sistema del dodici toni, diatonicismo, cromatismo e serialismo, cosi come alle serie degli ipertoni e al principi fondamentali dell'acustica". Riconosce le proprietà uniche del sistema a 72 note ET, un sistema ideato da Maneri che usa 72 toni fissi per l'ottava al fine di definire l'espressione all'interno di un virtuale tono continuo. Con un'esperienza accademica di studi sulle tecniche compositive microtonali, parallela al suo lvoro di strumetista e compositore nella musica jazz improvvisata, per Höstfält la microtonalità è piu di un semplice ingrediente della musica, ma rappresenta una vera e propria fonte d'ispirazione per il fraseggio, il ritmo, l'interpretazione armonica e melodica. I due lavori qui recensiti potrebbero essere visti uno come l'espansione dell'altro, nel senso che come strumentista appare chiaro che Höstfält abbia voluto innanzi tutto sviluppare le tecniche tradizionali della chitarra a sei corde, strumento che tra l'altro suona con particolare bravura, sperimentandole poi su un più largo ensemble di strumenti. L'interplay tra mucisisti - tutti largamente noti nella scena improvvisativa di New York-contribuisce a dare una particolare verve a questo disco, forse più pieno, senza riserve o manierismi, proprio perche' il gioco si allarga ad una squadra che risponde con un particolare spirito. Dal punto di vista strettamente jazzistico, questo approccio, dove il confine tra parti scritte e preparazione accademica e libera e creativa improvvisazione è davverolabile, l'approccio di Höstfält sembra dare nuovo ossigeno, molta energia e una particolare luminosità tanto all'approccio qualto all'esecuzione. Un jazz complesso, mai troppo astratto, capace di trovare bei momenti di poesia. Un ottimo risultato per uno che ha una vita di musica davanti a sè !
Jazz Views (U.K.) CD REVIEW August 2004. STEN HOSTFALT/29 PIECES FOR THE MICROTONAL GUITAR LIVE AT KNITTING FACTORY NEW YORK - "As alien as the harmonies are, as abstruse as the overall concept is, Höstfält's approach draws the listener into it's most extrinsic world. Even rapid-fire and more aggressive pieces like "Micronic" and "Roll" manage to somehow lull the listener with a somewhat hypnotic sensibility. The more processed pieces that comprise the five-part suite "Alive on the Dead Screen" may be more jagged and sharp, but they still create an ambience that is strangely appealing.
Guitar Player Magazine CD Editor's Pick Feb. 2005 Rants & Raves ; 29 Pieces For The Microtonal Guitar Live at Knitting Factory New York - Barry Cleveland.
C | Net / Download.Com 2006 - "With just a regular old guitar, Sten Hostfalt completely rethinks and restructures conventional technique " - Editor's Pick [track: ICONS]
Altrisuoni (Italy) CD Review by Alekos Pandelis: Eternity Check and 29 Pieces for The Microtonal Guitar Live at Knitting Factory New York [Altrisuoni.Org 2004] "Sten Höstfält guarda alla microtonalità come ad uno sviluppo organico dalle tecniche tradizionali e dalle pratiche compositive e alla conoscenza del sistema del dodici toni, diatonicismo, cromatismo e serialismo, cosi come alle serie degli ipertoni e al principi fondamentali dell'acustica". Riconosce le proprietà uniche del sistema a 72 note ET, un sistema ideato da Maneri che usa 72 toni fissi per l'ottava al fine di definire l'espressione all'interno di un virtuale tono continuo. Con un'esperienza accademica di studi sulle tecniche compositive microtonali, parallela al suo lvoro di strumetista e compositore nella musica jazz improvvisata, per Höstfält la microtonalità è piu di un semplice ingrediente della musica, ma rappresenta una vera e propria fonte d'ispirazione per il fraseggio, il ritmo, l'interpretazione armonica e melodica. I due lavori qui recensiti potrebbero essere visti uno come l'espansione dell'altro, nel senso che come strumentista appare chiaro che Höstfält abbia voluto innanzi tutto sviluppare le tecniche tradizionali della chitarra a sei corde, strumento che tra l'altro suona con particolare bravura, sperimentandole poi su un più largo ensemble di strumenti. L'interplay tra mucisisti - tutti largamente noti nella scena improvvisativa di New York-contribuisce a dare una particolare verve a questo disco, forse più pieno, senza riserve o manierismi, proprio perche' il gioco si allarga ad una squadra che risponde con un particolare spirito. Dal punto di vista strettamente jazzistico, questo approccio, dove il confine tra parti scritte e preparazione accademica e libera e creativa improvvisazione è davverolabile, l'approccio di Höstfält sembra dare nuovo ossigeno, molta energia e una particolare luminosità tanto all'approccio qualto all'esecuzione. Un jazz complesso, mai troppo astratto, capace di trovare bei momenti di poesia. Un ottimo risultato per uno che ha una vita di musica davanti a sè !
Jazz Views (U.K.) CD REVIEW August 2004. STEN HOSTFALT/29 PIECES FOR THE MICROTONAL GUITAR LIVE AT KNITTING FACTORY NEW YORK - "As alien as the harmonies are, as abstruse as the overall concept is, Höstfält's approach draws the listener into it's most extrinsic world. Even rapid-fire and more aggressive pieces like "Micronic" and "Roll" manage to somehow lull the listener with a somewhat hypnotic sensibility. The more processed pieces that comprise the five-part suite "Alive on the Dead Screen" may be more jagged and sharp, but they still create an ambience that is strangely appealing.
Guitar Player Magazine CD Editor's Pick Feb. 2005 Rants & Raves ; 29 Pieces For The Microtonal Guitar Live at Knitting Factory New York - Barry Cleveland.
C | Net / Download.Com 2006 - "With just a regular old guitar, Sten Hostfalt completely rethinks and restructures conventional technique " - Editor's Pick [track: ICONS]
