Avantgarde Extreme

The violin and cello duo cannot be considered as a musical rarity; yet it is also far from one of the most popular instrumental combinations in Western classical music. It is a challenging ensemble for both those composing for it and those venturing in the performance of its repertoire. It is a duo which invites counterpoint: the deep nature of both instruments and their vocation is to melodic singing, to the sustained lines which translate the human being’s aspiration to vocality into instrumental music. In consequence, to undertake a composition for violin and cello duo is also to implicitly accept the challenge of polyphony, and to affirm one’s mastery of its most intricate secrets.

Columbia, apparently attempting to cash in on Pink Floyd's explosion in popularity, released this album in 1981 under Nick Mason's name when in reality he's simply the drummer in this incarnation of Carla Bley's ensemble; Ms. Bley composed all the music and lyrics for this project. It's possibly her most overtly pop-oriented album, with all eight songs featuring vocals by Soft Machine alumnus Robert Wyatt. The music, by Bley's standards, is fairly pedestrian if occasionally catchy, though the lyrics are often wryly amusing…

ICS Vortex has been one of the world’s most high profile extreme metal personalities since his debut on the international metal scene with Norwegian Avantgarde Black Metallers Borknagar back in 1998 on The Archaic Course album. In addition to handling the clean vocals and bass in Dimmu Borgir for more than a decade, Vortex has been heavily active as a studio musician and has 15 major releases in a large variety of different styles of metal to his credit, as well as a decade of restless worldwide touring experience with different groups. ….