low resistence group
anthony guerra - electric guitar, electronics
joel stern - field recordings, contact mics, electronics
paul hood - GP3 record player, amplified objects, mixing desk

six improvisations recorded in London
14 November 2002
18 Ausgust 2002 at resonanceFM

edited/mastered by joel stern, melbourne april 2003

visual artwork / design
michael rodgers

available for purchase through Half Theory, Erstwhile, Groundfault

Listen to Track 1



by DAVID STUBBS in The Wire October 2004

Low Resistance Group is a superb and convincing résumé of several trends in contemporary improv: the incorporation of sound material recorded in the outside world and used as raw material for live transformation (Luc Ferrari's description of DJ Olive and eRikm as "les nouveaux concrets" applies just as well to Stern), contact microphones to reveal the secrets of surfaces and objects and an openness to diatonic harmony and a readiness to accept the influence of folk, pop and rock as willingly as early European improv incorporated – and ultimately subverted – jazz. Certainly the most convincing outing of its kind since last year's Open on Erstwhile, this is a beautifully recorded and superbly mixed album, instantly captivating yet rich in detail.
Dan Warburton (paris transatlantic)

Due to the extremely various types of sounds used and also to the high degree of human element carried by the resulting music, this electroacoustic patchwork by Guerra, Hood and Stern is lively and convincing. The mix of guitar, electronics, turntable and field recordings is a nice multidimensional concoction of dynamic ranges and "beyond-the-limits" sonic palettes, conducing the listener through the six improvisations without effort or ear straining. Textural abrasions are sapiently alternated with oneiric gatherings in a place where originality and creativity are not confused with amateurish tentativeness. Everyone knows exactly where to put his hands, so that apparently raw sketches gradually evolve and morph themselves into a dense architecture of fresh ideas. Substantial and intelligent, this kind of stuff is what the "new music department" needs to get a shot in the arm by well deserving and inquisitive-minded sonic experimenters.
Massimo Ricci -Touching Extremes

All three of these musicians are well-known the world of improvisation, especially in London, even when they come from Australia. During various sessions in 'a room in New Cross on a warm summer day' and at Resonance FM, they recorded a whole bunch of material, which is now edited by Joel Stern for this release. Guerra plays electric guitar and electronics, Paul Hood plays turntables and Joel Stern uses electronics, custom microphones, feedback systems, field recordings and small objects. Their work, either solo or in combination with others, has been released on a whole bunch of labels, including their own TwoThousandAnd label. We are dealing with some hardcore improvisation here, but nevertheless one of the better kind. The guitar tinkles nicely away here, and beneath there is the unearthly rumble of the turntable stylus and the many small objects at hand. A car passes in the background: a field recording or an open window in the hot room? Throughout these forty-five minutes this music is full of these kind of small surprises. Carefully crafted, small, microscopic soundblocks with some more open ended strummings and e-bow doodlings, make this into a highly varied disc of improvised music. Great stuff.
(FdW) - Vital Weekly

Recorded in November 2002, the three fine Australian musicians responsible for this album have all progressed notably in the interim. Nonetheless, the six improvisations herein have their moments and, with the advantage of hindsight, lay something of the base for more recent activity. Guerra (on guitar), Hood (turntables, amplified objects, mixer) and Stern (field recordings, contact mics, electronics) are well positioned to construct dense sound assemblages, Guerra often (as is his tendency) providing some tonal leavening amongst the noise. The opening track, in fact, has a good deal in common with some of his solo work, backwards guitar (if I’m not mistaken), coursing through the gritty, debris-strewn soundscapes evoked by his colleagues. Along with the fifth track (all untitled), it’s the most strikingly successful, combining sonic richness with an implied propulsion. I’ve been a sucker for this direction before and I remain so. However, it’s the sort of music I prefer to enjoy on a longer scale. Here, the shorter improvisations cast a somewhat constrained feeling over the disc, lending it more the air of a sampler than of a cohesive statement, something that’s never been a problem with releases from the same group of musicians, in varying contexts, on their own Twothousandand label. Several of the remaining tracks are harsher and more fragmentary, for this listener’s taste an area where they’re a smidgen less effective, sounding not very distinguishable from the work of others in similar territory. I continue to have the impression that their underlying lyricism, however masked or buried, is one of the great strengths of this cadre of improvisers. This includes Stern’s choice of field recordings which often possess an uncanny and unsettling beauty akin to those of Toshiya Tsunoda. Any misgivings I have are not so much about the music itself, much of which is excellent, but simply that the musicians involved have moved on considerably in the relatively brief interval between recording session and release and I’m much more keen to hear what they’ve done this past summer than two years ago. Low Resistance Group (I’m unsure, incidentally, whether this is just the title of the disc or the working band name) is still worth hearing, however, even if the ground covered will be familiar to fans of the individuals involved.
Brian Olewnik - bagatellen

"Evidence that these players from the small-ish labe TwoThousandAnd are starting to gain ground and recognition with this elegantly packaged release on a Japanese label...Each track, the opener in particular exerts a magnetic pull on the listener with gently throbbing fields of drones, crackles and fizzes."
Ed Pinsent - The Sound Projector 13th issue

Australian improvised music has come into its own. Many listeners have become familiar with Oren Ambarchi, whose collaborations with Voice Crack, Keith Rowe, and other improvisers have put him on the map. But many of the best recordings from Down Under have come courtesy of these three musicians (not least on the excellent label Two Thousand And). Here Anthony Guerra plays electric guitar and electronics (I highly recommend his solo recording Spool [#2], by the way); Paul Hood plays GP3 record player, amplified objects and mixing desk; and Joel Stern is credited with field recordings, contact mikes and electronics. They whip up six tracks of quite varying approaches, all combining – with different degrees of intensity and success – field recordings, electronics and guitar. Each is an improvisation recorded in London in 2002, and remixed (and to a certain degree, possibly reconstructed) back home in Melbourne.
The best piece on the disc is the opening track, which features snatches of prerecorded crowd noise and applause segueing into lovely melodic loops that are stalked persistently by crackles, glitches and other claustrophobic noises that prevent the mood from stabilizing. Much of the most prominent material comes from Guerra bowing his guitar (something he does quite effectively but which, in the last two years, he seems to have abandoned). Each of the improvisations here is interested in density of sound, though none is particularly challenging; the mood is often quite drone-based and could reasonably be called psychedelic. The aqueous, subterranean feel of the fifth selection – with its grittiness and edge – is a pleasantly provocative exception (it also features the most direct, visceral, and volatile exchanges of the disc).
But the overall tranquility (dare I say the low resistance?) is interesting because, even though many of the individual sounds used here – rubbed metal, hissing, high-pitched feedback and electronic crackles – might seem extreme on their own, the integration of the lot yields a very warm, very human sound. I suspect that some keys to this impression are Stern’s adept choice of field recordings and Guerra’s intimate, Burkhard Stangl-like guitar work. The brevity and relative focus of these tracks is to be admired, though it might be better appreciated in a single long-form improvisation. That may be just nitpicking, since this is fine music. But it’s hard not to be conscious of the superior work these musicians have done elsewhere.
Jason Bivins - Dusted Magazine