Norsordo, 2006

Horton's Pablo Feldman Sun Riley collaboration with Dax Pierson of Subtle on No Sordo

Cello – Alexander Kort (tracks: 1, 3, 5 to 7)

Melodica, Synthesizer – Dax Pierson

Vocals – Lon Huber (tracks: 1, 3, 6, 7)

Voice, Electronics, Computer, Guitar, Keyboards, Trumpet – Robert Horton (2)

1 Winterlong

2 When A Stone Speaks

3 Winterworld Dub

4 Piece Of The Sun

5 Pring Drive Along The Boundaries Of Nothingness Remix

6 Offguard

7 Living Room Music

This unique collaboration was born out of a deep love of experimental music. Four of the forefathers of hypnotic, rolling waves of leftfield sounds and genre-bashing composition are honoured here: Augustus Pablo, Morton Feldman, Sun Ra and Terry Riley. Robert Horton and Dax Pierson, two fine musicians in their own right, have created not only a homage to this four bastions of modern music, they have also created their own voice within the boundaries they have set for themselves with this project.

"It was at Amoeba Music in Berkeley, California, one of the largest record stores in the world. I was trading in some CDs that I’d burned. Among them was an Augustus Pablo dub album and a CD of Morton Feldman’s later works. The Amoeba buyer was Dax Pierson. He commented on my choice of music. I said, "Bizarre as it many seem, I think Morton Feldman and Augustus Pablo have something in common in the way they use space in their music." Dax agreed, and from that moment we became friends. We began planning a collaboration that would bring together those elements.

As it turned out, Dax, like Augustus Pablo, played melodica. I wrote a graphic score for melodica, cello, voice, and pre-recorded khaen. I recorded the khaen tape and we set up a recording date. We invited two other musicians to play the graphic score with us - Dax’s friend Alex Cort, cellist, from Subtle, and Lon Huber, vocalist from The Attemptations. The piece evoked the Pablo Feldman part of Pablo Feldman Sun Riley.

At the next session, Dax and I improvised using feedback boot* and Dr. Sample. The ghosts of Sun Ra and Terry Riley (even though he’s still living) seemed to sit in with us. Thus the Sun Riley part of Pablo Feldman Sun Riley.” - Robert Horton on Norsordo label

*"boot" is a four-stringed homemade

Robert Horton
Founded the Appliances, part of SF’s first wave of punk bands in 1979. Played at the inaugural mayoral ball for Jello Biafra. ISM (archival recording out now on 23productions) also in 79 was one of the first SF noise bands playing a series of house shows. Robert formed Plateau Ensemble in 1983, a tribal noise drone group who played in the Bay Area until 1987 drawing members from the Jon Hassell Group, ROVA, KU KU KU, Glorious Din, Eternal Glands of Secretion, Gamelan Seka Jaya, etc. Through out the 80’s and 90’s Robert participated in the cassette revolution releasing tapes in Japan, Italy, Belgium, Britain, and the USA. During the mid 90s to 2004 Robert’s time was mostly in doing Anti- Racism Educational groups called the UNtraining. He continued to record but hoarded it all for himself. Lately the dam has broken with releases on Foxglove, JYRK, 267-lattajjaa, Celebrate Psi Phenomena, New American Folk Hero, Barl Fire, Spanish Magic, mymwly, Sloow Tapes, 23productions, Important, Digitalis, Students of Decay, Audiobot, Rural Faune, Miscegeny, Onomoto, Important and Outa.

Robert records under his own name, Egghatcher, and Future Ears. He is currently a member of Attemptations, Kyrgyz(with Tom Carter, Loren Chasse, and Christine Boepple), Mudsuckers (with Tom and D Yellow Swans), Oppen, Beautiful Friend, Infinite Article, Broken Mask (with Michael Shannon), Dream Years (with Honey Owens), Microblind Haverstman (with Hal Hughes), Sky City, and the duo with Tom Carter.

Dax Pierson Dax is currently an active, yet non-touring, member of Subtle and 13&God. He was previously an active member of the touring edition of Themselves, The Why Because, Malcolm Mooney & The Tenth Planet, Winfred E. Eye and the Bart Davenport band. A longtime explorer/perpetrator of quality genre-hybrid music, currently resides in Oakland, California, where he has lived since 1996.