Ashtray Navigations
Ashtray Navigations was formed in 1994 in Stoke On Trent, England, by Phil Todd, inspired by the UK’s underground tape music scene. Using the barest minimum of outdated equipment, Todd recorded and self-released dozens of limited edition cassettes (now much sought after by collectors), which presented his vision of homemade psychedelic rock and avant-garde noise electronics. This led to vinyl and CD releases on labels such as Siltbreeze (USA), American Tapes (USA), Veglia/Kraak (Belgium) and Todd’s own Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers imprint, culminating in a tour of the USA in 1999 which was the first real incarnation of Ashtray Navigations as a live music project. The new millennium saw a move to Leeds in England, many more releases in multiple formats and more live performances, this time featuring Ashtray Navigations as a group project featuring Todd and various collaborators including Chloe Jarvis, Matt Robson (Random Number), Ben Reynolds and drummer extraordinaire Alex Neilson. Following the departure of half the band to Glasgow, Todd has recently been playing with Melanie Crowley (Ocelocelot, Sculkptress) and Phil Legard (Xenis Emputae Travelling Band), though the majority of the recordings released are performed by Todd alone. This trio line-up was one of the few UK acts to play at the Thurston Moore curated All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in 2006. Todd has also collaborated either in recordings or live performances with a whole variety of other artists, including Merzbow, Jandek, The New Blockaders, Paul Hession, MV & EE, Sunroof!, Nackt Insecten,The Vibracathedral Orchestra and Courtis.
“Sub-aquatic synth bubble, busted-up cassette-tape hiss and distorted electric guitar hover that sounds like a mythical god banished from the realm of light and trying desperately to clamber his/her way out of a dark bottomless void where time itself stands still.” James Blackshaw
“AN remain a puzzlingly underrated but integral part of the UK underground scene. ‘Exploding Blue Floor Martin Denny is the best British solo electric guitar record since, what, Ray Russell’s Secret Asylum?” David Keenan, The Wire March 2009
Flower Corsano Duo
Michael Flower has been involved in a number of solo projects and is best known for his work with Vibracathedral Orchestra. The original group came together when Mick Flower began recording with Neil Campbell and Julian Bradley, who had released a number of homemade cassettes and an LP of their duo work. They self-released 2 CD-R albums before Campbell suggested merging the nascent group with the trio Flower was working with alongside Bridget Hayden and Adam Davenport, forming the best-known five-piece Vibracathedral Orchestra line-u
Chris Corsano plays (with Paul Flaherty, Jim O’Rourke, Björk, Evan Parker, Jandek, Thurston Moore, Vampire Belt, Six Organs of Admittance, etc.) drums.
The Four Aims LP/CD (VHF, 2009)
*Brainwashed – “There are few sounds so unique in improvised music today, and the duo’s perfection of this kind of head-on freedom is rarely matched in any circle….Building into a frenetic and undulating weight, the unit moves with a singular vision all too rare. Instant response is one thing, but Flower and Corsano can shift mood along with tempo, atmosphere with melody and approach with feel. This sort of elasticity and balance results in some of the most distinctly surprising and exciting sounds happening today.” – http://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7454&I…
*Pitchfork – “Along the way they evoke Rudolph Grey’s far-out travels with Rashied Ali, Keiji Haino’s bursting solos in Fushitsusha, maybe even what Jimi Hendrix and Mitch Mitchell are playing in the after-life.” – http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11165-i-brute-force/
*Dusted – “The Radiant Mirror, the pair’s 2007 debut, is a blistering document, matching Corsano’s kitchen-sink percussion work with Flower’s electrifying Shahi Baaja (also known, in a bit of a misnomer, as an Indian banjo) in one of that year’s best records. The Four Aims finds the scope of the duo’s instrumentation widened, with more diverse results, but, at its core, this disc remains true to the pair’s original M.O., and with two musicians this gifted, it’s hard to imagine their collaborative work being anything less than outstanding.” – http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4887
*Tiny Mix Tapes – “In compositional breadth, in technical twinkle, in (a)tonal assault, this is a deeply humbling record, the inscrutable blueprint for progress.” – http://www.tinymixtapes.com/Flower-Corsano-Duo
*Foxy Digitalis – 9 out of 10 – http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/reviews.php?which=4195
The Radiant Mirror LP/CD (Textile, 2007)
*#26 on The Wire’s Top 50 of 2007 list
*Mojo’s Underground Album of the Week – http://cor-sano.com/flower/images/mojo.jpg
*Tiny Mix Tapes’ year-end list of 24 “Eureka Albums of 2007″ – “Chris Corsano and Mick Flower make fire. That no-need-for-an-introduction drummer and the founding member of UK’s Vibracathedral Orchestra inaugurated this year with an explosive three-song album.” – http://www.tinymixtapes.com/2007-Eureka-Albums-of-2007
*Alan Bishop’s (Sun City Girls/Sublime Frequencies) Best of 2007 list in Arthur Magazine
*Bookmat – “Wailing psychedelic tangled droning and plucking is set against pounding unpredicatable percussion – it’s as if Hendrix picked up and left for India, bag of narcotics in tow and then bumped into Elvin Jones before recording a night-long improv session.” – http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=89435