tape and paint game
CDR 9 (Splitrec)

available for purchase through Half Theory, Metamkine, Sound323 and other outlets..

joel stern - field recordings, contact mics, electronics, editing, mastering
jim denley - alto sax, field recordings, editing, mastering

'This is a project developed over 2 years. We initially recorded, and then corresponded with our recompositions, recorded again, and recomposed again and again, adding and subtracting. So it feels to us, like a sort of finely honed collective cooking session'.

recorded in melbourne and brisbane 2003 + 2004

artwork / design
jim denley

1. cornish tape strategem
2. ancho-rubbed ground
3. wild game crockpot
4. non-reflective orange hens
5. free range oat chimes
6. battery tea-smoked ploy
7. small orange horizon cake
8. endgame

total time 42.01

review by Lawrence English in Paris Transatlantic
Recorded in a number of improvised sessions over 2003 and 2004, this duo release from two of Australia’s more eclectic improvisers is a largely an exploration in texture and varying degrees of density. Both musicians have an innate understanding of the possibilities of acoustic texture: Denley’s sax playing continues to develop his alternate language of click, pops and gurgles, whilst Stern’s work with electronics and processed field recordings evokes an equally personal language of secret sonic worlds. When their personal approaches are combined, their complimentary nature is obvious, notably on "Non-Reflective Orange Hens", which finds Denley sitting in an electronic cage of Stern's creation generating warped sounds as if to scratch a way out through the bars, and "End Game", whose gritty electronic pulses and masked sax snippets creates genuine intensity from a surprisingly small number of sonic devices. At its most vivid, this record reflects a clear ability of both musicians to evoke the unfamiliar from the seemingly familiar – an increasingly difficult task in this age of audio plenty.

from Bagatellen
"Stern’s collaboration with alto saxophonist Jim Denley (who also contributes field recordings and other electronically-oriented work) is a tougher haul, Guerra’s balancing lyricism being replaced by an approach every bit as raw as Stern’s. The saxophone, when it can be picked out of the mix is usually—and unsurprisingly--played as a tube of blown-into metal with pop-able keys, though there are occasional forays into multiphonics that, today, almost come off as old-fashioned! The structure of the pieces, eight of them over some 42 minutes, is blockier, much less inclined to the continuous nature of the work on “Outdoor Bowers” though the ones that come through most strongly for my ears are those (like “ancho-rubbed ground”) with some sort of steady thread woven in, even if (especially if) that thread mutates from static to hum to music box. But you’re often confronted with sharp cessations of activity followed by 90 degree turns into something else. There’s a whole bunch of satisfying crunchiness to be found here, a lot of good noise nutrition—even the birds put in a brief reappearance! If, at the end of the day, I find myself more drawn to the first disc, it’s simply because I find that particular combination of talents uniquely rewarding. Both recordings are easily worth the purchase as Stern continues to forge onward, one fascinating collection of sounds after another."- Brian Olewnick

review part 2 by Anthony Magen
Being caught in a sudden shower of rain is not to dissimilar an experience as when listening to Joel Stern + Jim Denley on tape and paint (split CDR 9). In a shower the everyday experience is dramatically transformed by the physicality of falling water. It can have any number of affects upon where it lands and subsequently flows. You might get wet!
This may or may not have been welcome, depending upon your personal position. For instance, on the way to an engagement it might dampen your enthusiasm, as your preparation has been watered down, conversely on the way
home, proposition on arm, it might heighten the tactile excitement that unexpected fluid events can catalyse.
It can require the listener to shift from one foot to the other to avoid the experience or to bath in it refreshingly.
The sound can be simply complex or overpowering, even threatening, as in a flood situation; drowning out all but the essential sounds of heart and breath. This is what is can be experienced in the contrasting movements at the onset of a downpour, a shift in the sensory perception. New smells arise as seemingly static objects devolve with atmospheric
pressure. Structural adaptations are made in the duo's process of playing/ recording like mycelial structures of underground layers that only fruit over ground in favourable conditions, there momentarily for all to bear witness, before
again vanishing to the undergrowth of fecund feedback. While physiological responses are heard in the metabolic rates that are timely established and re-established throughout the 42 minutes.
Behavioural adaptations result in movements of varying duration. Spatial orienteering flows like water along constructed terrain, following palimpsest textures containing cracks and macroscopic lakes that reveal a fathom beyond first impressions. In a misty rain movement the comforting droplets inspire a mood shrouded in mystery and magic. The very presence of this magical transformation, that of gas to a liquid is reminiscent of the duos relationship. Life forces fuse to
produce a vital state that naturally fluctuates with expanding and contracting fields of focus.
It all passes by in an unhurried and terse fashion, leaving ears to choose a new focus to the familiar space once it passes by.

review Part 1 by honeyant
Satin Bower bird; ptilnorhynchus violaceus
The Satin bower bird belongs to the bird of paradise family, native to Australia and New Guinea. They were so named from the remarkable bowers or galleries which they construct. In size the different species can vary somewhat with Satin Bower birds being being 27cm - 33cm. The plumage of the males and females being dissimilar in adult form, the males, a striking glossy blue-black with a pale bluish white bill and a violet-blue iris, and females greyish-green above, off-white with dark scalloping below and have brown wings and tail, with the bill that is browner in colour. Young males may begin to acquire their adult plumage in their fifth year and are not fully 'attired' until they are seven. Satin Bowerbirds have an amazing variety of sounds, including whistles, buzzing and hissing, as well as extraordinary mimicry. Satin Bowerbirds prefer the wetter forests and woodlands, and nearby open areas. They are found along the majority of the eastern and south-eastern coast of Australia. The mature males are mostly solitary, but the 'green' birds are often seen in groups or quite large flocks. In winter (outside of the breeding season), birds move to more open country, and occasionally enter orchards. At this time, mature males may join the 'green' bird flocks. The bowers consist of two arcing walls of twigs, built on the ground. It is then decorated with bright blue-coloured shells, bottle tops, flowers, bones, drinking straws, feathers and any conspicuously coloured stolen objects. A mixture of chewed vegetable matter and saliva is used to paint the walls of the bower and the bower owner meticulously maintains it throughout the year. These are not nests, but places of amusement, and in them the male performs queer antics to attract its mate. This involves ritualised display of exaggerated movements, such as strutting and bowing, with outstretched wings and quivering, and accompanied by a variety of mechanical-sounding calls, such as buzzing and rattling interspersed with mimicry. One of the bower decorations is usually carried in the male's bill. If impressed, the female will move into the bower avenue for mating and then leaves, while the male readies himself for courting more prospective females.
Both in architecture and ornamentation, these birds show remarkable skill and taste.

review by Frans De Ward in Vital Weekly
"Jim Denley isn't perhaps someone who is reviewed a lot in Vital Weekly, but he is still one of the leading persons in the Australian improvisation scene, playing with anyone (it seems) and everywhere (that is a fact). Denley' skills lie in playing the alto saxophone, but you never have the idea that it's one. Plus he is responsible for field recordings and editing and teams up with a younger, newer generation improvising musician Joel Stern, who lived in London for a while, but I believe is now back in Australia and who plays electronics, feedback and field recordings and does a share of editing too. The editing is important. The material itself was recorded through methods of improvisation, but all the material was carefully looked at, added too, cut and reshaped, and put together in a collage form of one kind or another. This makes this still sounding improvised on a superficial level, but if you listen carefully, then you notice all the editing parts. The opening piece 'Cornish Tape Stratagem' for instance with it's precise edits, is almost like a popsong. Multitracking plays a bigger part in some of the other pieces, such as the more subtle 'Ancho-rubbed Ground' or 'Wild Game Crockpot'. Here it seems that some specific layers form the backbone of a piece over which other sounds were dubbed. The whole things sounds surprisingly electronic, with the saxophone playing usually a sustained note, rather than free-form melodies. The whole encounter of eight tracks breaths a very vibrant and lively atmosphere. All together a most enjoyable release, a well-done mixture of improvisation and composition." (FdW)

".......Recorded in Melbourne and Brisbane between 2003 and 2004, "Tape and Paint Game" is a similar animal, though the approach is much harsher. Joel Stern utilizes some electronic treatments, field recordings and feedback, all to good effect. His use of stingy feedback and high-pitched nails-on-chalkboard has a largely loud effect. While Denley plays some multiphonic passages on his alto, his use of field recordings is ever more awe-inspiring. Are those crickets we're listening to on much of "Non-reflective orange hens"? Near the end of the piece, I get a picture of a very frozen Denley playing his instrument in the tundra cold of the Antarctic region, while his musical partner uses large waves of oscillating feedback. "Small orange horizon cake" sounds as if it were recorded in an ominous cave. Complete with slow-spittle breaths provided by Denley and electronic treatments from Stern, the piece represents a perfect snapshot of a cold, desolate place. " taken from GAZ-ETA