The Remote Viewers

The Sunday Times
Sept 09
Stewart Lee

Walking jazz bass; dub depths; squawky brass from the Bristol funk-punk school; Miles Davis’s cosmic electronica; squally free-jazz sax; scratchy guitar recalling King Crimson’s no wave period; and a second CD of precisely arranged horns. This 14-strong British collective’s eighth album — a demanding double — buzzes with apparently incompatible elements. For some, the fact that the Remote Viewers include former members of Rip Rig and Panic, God, the Fall, Morphogenesis and Evan Parker’s trio will be enough. Sinister Heights offers a cram course in much of the music that mattered in the past 40 years.

All About Jazz
Sept 09

By Glenn Astarita

Reedmen David Petts and Adrian Northover form the crux of The Remote Viewers, a band that gained notoriety via several albums for the largely avant-garde and progressive jazz-based Leo Records. But this double CD release marks the duo's third release as an Indie record label entity. Here, they employ several instrumentalists, including British free-jazz denizens, bassist John Edwards and drummer Steve Noble among others, who span diverse backgrounds such as house music synthesist Darren Tate.

Petts and Northover pose many persuasive propositions, spawned by their familiar woodwind charts, often constructed upon extended note choruses, teeming with counterpoint and odd-metered phrasings. They also impart a layered schema while delving into a neo=Miles Davis Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969) groove during the acoustic-electric maneuvers featured on "Souls and Cities." Variety serves as an underlying framework for the band, where Dave Tucker's funkified wah-wah guitar licks and buoyant drum programming on "Fire Rhythm," anchor the saxophonists' piercing, free-form lines.
The musicians delve into circular motifs and avant spins on Afro-Jazz-Pop settings, while executing regimented and off kilter storylines amid inquisitive moments during "Spring Flood." In other regions of sound, they generate ethereal electronics noise-shaping panoramas with chamber-esque strings and improvisational metrics. Then, on "The Crowd Accuses," the band exhorts a lighthearted and choreographed sax arrangement, spiked by punchy accents and a sense of urgency. It's a divergent set that projects numerous insights into the ever-expanding realm of jazz, in all its multicolored inferences and flavors.

Rockerilla
Oct 09

Enrico Ramunni 7/10

Non era un compito facile dare un seguito al monumentale
“Control Room”, quintuplo CD uscito poco più di unanno fa,
ma possiamo dire che il collettivo aperto guidato dai sassofonisti Adrian Northover e David Petts ha superato brillantemente la prova, pur accontentandosi di un “normale” doppio album. Il primo volume
(“Time Flats”) alterna vibrazioni avant-rock di un certo spessore ritmico – affidandosi a percussionisti sempre diversi – a brani più pensosi
e dilatati, dal carattere interrogativo: il risultato è quanto mai vario e contrastato, spaziando dal groove di “Souls and Cities” e
“Sinister Heights”, ai confini del funk, al jazz notturno di
“An Absence of Windows”, da noir parigino anni ‘50.
Decisamente più dense e claustrofobiche le atmosfere del secondo CD “Mirror Meanings”, dove Petts dà sfogo alla sua tecnica di compositore
d’avanguardia per piccole formazioni di fiati, con misurati
inserti elettronici. Prevale una forma di musica da camera
fondamentalmente statica, fatta di note lunghe e meditate, ora sospesa nel vuoto cosmico, ora investita da vampe di sommesso ambientnoise
o trafitta dallo scintillio di uno xilofono. Anche i pezzi più dinamici intraprendono percorsi segmentati e introversi, orientati alla costruzione
di strutture formali e poco propensi ad una risoluzione melodica delle tensioni. Ma questo è il bello dei Remote Viewers, che esplorano scenari
differenti senza scappatoie di comodo, lanciando ogni volta il loro guanto di sfida.

"Musica Jazz" magazine,
vol. LXV, n. 8-9, August-September 2009,
(pdf)

Bad Alchemy
(pdf)

Monsiur Delire
July 09

I have been a fan of The Remote Viewers for over a decade, ever since I heard the sweet and disquieting voice of Louise Petts for the first time. Things have changed since then, especially lately, as the group has turned away from the song format to focus on complex instrumental compositions. Sinister Heights is a self-released double CDR set featuring David Petts and Adrian Northover, plus a long list of guests (among which are John Edwards, Caroline Kraabel, Darren Tate, and Dave Tucker). Stylisitically, this is very close to October Rush, disc 1 of the Control Room boxset, although the first of the two discs relies more heavily on rhythm. Strong writing blending melodicism, accessibility, and experimentation, with those angular sax lines, all wrapped into the “film noir” aura that is typical to this band (although less strongly since Louise’s departure). If, like me, you have come to terms with the group’s change of direction, this is a very good album with lots of material to be digested slowly. And if you are still expecting dark, moody art songs, well you’ve been warned.

www.progressia.net
Aug 09

On les avait quittés en 2007 sur une belle gamelle. Etalé sur cinq disques, Control Room relevait d'une tentative de création musicale éprouvante et d’une prétention rare. Les funambules de The Remote Viewers étaient alors bien décidés à fréquenter de nouveaux horizons expérimentaux sans les étonnants vocaux de Louise Petts, qui ajoutait à leur discographie antérieure un vrai magnétisme. Bref, une mauvaise tambouille particulièrement stérile et plombée par la complaisance.

Forcément, dur de ne pas rester sur la défensive avec Sinisters Heights qui constitue pourtant une bonne surprise. Ces Anglais qui triturent le jazz d'avant-garde, comme d’autres leur chewing-gum, ont su tirer les leçons de leur précédente mésaventure et ont engendré cette fois-ci un double album (ouf !) nettement plus convaincant. Tous instrumentaux, les titres parviennent enfin à envoûter de leurs atmosphères inspirées par le cinéma noir et blanc des vieux polars.

Adrian Northover et David Petts, qui forment le duo de souffleurs, ont visiblement bossé comme tous bons artistes, en coupant, triant et condensant leur musique pour ne garder que le plus pertinent. Ils ont en outre conféré une chaleur acoustique bienvenue et admirablement mise en valeur par une autoproduction au son claire et naturelle. L’emploi très snob des boîtes à rythme de quatre sous a donc disparu pour laisser place à d'authentiques percussionnistes capables de rendre attentif à l’austérité inquiétante de l’album.

Les deux parties sont néanmoins assez différentes. La première, intitulée Time Flats, joue sur le rythme et la coloration alors que le second, Mirror Meanings, s'avère plus difficile, sinistre et provocant. Chacun prendra selon ses affinités. Certes, les progressions chromatiques monomaniaques des saxophonistes en agaceront plus d’un. Il faut reconnaître toutefois que la formation a su évoluer dans le bon sens en créant un monde polymorphe toujours aussi radical et personnel, à la sensibilité clairement moins arrogante, pour ne pas dire plus accessible. Les amateurs d’expériences jazz pourront y jeter une oreille intéressée.

Christophe Manhès

Note : 7/10

http://www.distler-tontechnik.de/zores/
Aug 09

The Remote Viewers sind für diesmal Adrian Northover, s/asax, electr., mbira – David Petts, tsax, electr. / Comp. – Susan Lynch, tsax, fl. Wie schon bei ihrem letzten, im Ausmass kaum auszulotenden Projekt, arbeiten sie auch diesmal mit einer Menge musikalischer Wegbegleiter, die an den Tracks in unterschiedlichem Ausmass beteiligt sind. Der retrofuturistische, düster-urbane Sound dieses Saxophonensembles wird so um unterschiedliche Facetten bereichert oder auch gänzlich abgebogen. FreundInnen von Louise Petts Gesang gehen diesmal leer aus. In fahler Beleuchtung werden akrobatische-kühle Klangkonstruktionen erstellt. Distanziertheit und Strenge gehen aber auch zusammen mit dramatischer Energie und insistierendem Drängen. Freilich, HörerIn werden auch beinah zwei Stunden Musik geboten, die niemals in irgendwelche Authentizitätsfallen zu laufen bereit ist. The Remote Viewers liefern eine akustische Beschreibung der Gegenwart, aber sie vergessen niemals, dass sie dabei den Part auf der Bühne übernommen haben. ZuhörerInnen bleiben draussen und sind gehalten, nach eigenem Ermessen mit den Dingen umzugehen, die ihnen dargeboten werden.

Die Bandbreite ihrer Gäste reicht weit, Darren Tate ist mit Electronics wieder dabei, John Edwards wirkt am Bass bei der guten Hälfte der Stücke mit, Adam Bohmann bedient verstärkte Objekte.

Das Eardrum Percussion Ensemble ist auf einem Track zu hören. Dave Tucker spielt Gitarre und programmiert drums.

Ein Grabstein in Liebe: somnambuler, sardonischer Humor, ein schwarzer Funken in einem akustischen Film noir. Im Spiegel dieser Musik erscheinen wenige schöne Dinge. Wenns gut geht, ist Energie zu spüren, belebt durch afrikanische Rhythmen und den munter mäandernden Klang der Mbira. Meist ertönen aber scharfgeschnittenen Silhouetten der Dystopie, von Bedrängnis und Eile. Fahl und metallisch wird da der Klang der Saxophone, zwischen allen Gewissheiten, ratlos.

Somit bekommt mensch bei The Remote Viewers vielleicht die bei allem auch ertönenden Drive ungemütlichste Musik ab, Musik, die um einen Schlund der Entfremdung sich aufbaut und davonmacht. Die ungestüme Fahrt mit Black Dice ist zwar etwas nervig, führt aber immer wieder an vertrautem Gelände vorbei. Mit Spunk befinden wir uns als HörerIn dann in faszinierenden Regionen, wo vieles möglich ist, manches rätselhaft bleibt, aber die mögliche Kraft von Musik stets gegenwärtig ist.

Anspieltipps

Jazzwise
Sept 09

Adrian Northover (ss, as, elec, mbfra), David Pens Its, dec), Susan Lynch (Is, II), John Edwards (dH n), Steve Noble (d), Adam Bohman (amplified objects), Caroline Kraabel (as), Dave Tucker (g, drum programming), Phi Marks (d), Eardrum (perc ensemble), Darren Tate (elec), Ken Butcher (barit s), Rachel Bartlett (as) and Rosa Lynch-Nortbover (xylophone). Rec. 2008 and 2009

Vocalist Louise Petts is absent from this release - the follow-up up to 2007's 5-CD box-set, The Control Room - whittling The Remote Viewers' core team down to saxophonists David Petts and Adrian Northover, but, lack of vocals

notwithstanding, it's stili unmistakably their own aesthetic. And it's a strange one at that, built around austere, angular saxophone compositions -somewhere between modern classical and Henry Cow - brought to life by a cadre of London's top improvisers. The trouble comes from the wildly varying ways in which they try to give these pieces substance: from woefully dated drum machine programmes to a percussion ensemble playing African rhythms to, most successfully, Steve Noble's fizzing free-jazz drums. It seems like an unfocused trawl through disparate ideas, none of which is entirely convincing. The second CD works better by jettisoning the backing tracks altogether and presenting the sparse, stony-faced pieces nakedly unadorned - but it's an overcast, doleful experience. Daniel spicer