Borbetomagus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the musical group. For the Celtic city, see Worms, Germany.

Don_Dietrich & Jim Sauter; original photo courtesy Seth Tisue

Borbetomagus are a free improvisation/ noise music group.

[edit] Biography

Borbetomagus formed in 1979 when saxophone players Jim Sauter and Don Dietrich joined with electric guitarist Donald Miller. Bass guitarist Adam Nodelman was briefly a member.

Their aggressive music has been described as "a huge, overpowering, take-no-prisoners mass of sound." [1] One extended technique they use is called "bells together" where Sauter and Dietrich place the bells (openings) of their saxophones against one other while playing.

While the core trio listed above has been responsible for most of Borbetomagus's music, they have collaborated with Swiss circuit bending duo Voice Crack, Dutch cellist Tristan Honsinger, German double-bassist Peter Kowald, and others. In 2006, they recorded a collaborative album with Hijokaidan live at the Festival de Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville, Canada, and in 2007 their long out-of-print cassette Live In Allentown was released on CD with nearly twice as much material as the original. Sauter and Dietrich have also recorded a duo CD, and a collaborative CD with Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore.

[edit] Influence

They are considered widely influential on the Japanese noise music scene, as demonstrated by the re-release of their limited Live At Inroads cassette on CD by the Japanese label P.S.F. Records, as well as having a CD released by Osaka-based noise label Alchemy Records.

They have been influential on many American rock, free jazz, and noise musicians, such as Sonic Youth, Pelt, Thomas Ankersmit, and Kevin Drumm. Miller has worked with Pelt; he now resides in New Orleans, where he frequently collaborates live with Rob Cambre and others on E-Bowed guitars.