July 15, 2008
Review of Tonesucker's album Slaughterhouse by Pascal Ansell in DISKANT:
How many albums do you know of that were recorded in an abattoir? The noise/drone duo Terry Burrows and John Bowers answer that question under the name of Tonesucker, whose 2006 album ‘Slaughterhouse’ captures the intense claustrophobia of a filthy parade through an abattoir. The album opens with a monolithic guitar chord repeated every twenty seconds, the track’s title ‘Hook’ ominously punning on the portent of the horror that the listener / cow awaits. As the song develops there are some wonderfully weird guitar crackles that begin to burn then gently fizz out – just a sample of the great tones and effects the two guitarists Bowers and Burrows achieve in this album. One of the most nerve-wracking songs imaginable is ‘Crush’: a glacier-slow raising of pitch and tension, which achieved (I would guess) by gradually moving a slide up the guitar’s neck. On ‘Slice’ the duo treat us to hypnotic wavelength vibrations – that underlying hum synonymous with Earth and Sunn O))). It’s amazing to think ‘Slaughterhouse’ was recorded with just guitars (plus pedals and amps) – the array of sounds squeezed out of a couple of the instruments is immense. It’s an incredibly intense listen packed full of triumphant droning and delicious noise. According to Terry the final product of ‘Slaughterhouse’ insisted on “tortuous amounts of audio sculpting” – all worthwhile in a particularly effective four songs. Listening to this album makes you wish there was a drummer somewhere in the mix, and lo, Tonesucker have done the right thing. Drummer Steven Elsey joined earlier this year, and the band will surely benefit from this addition.
[Direct link to article doesn't work: go to DISKANT home page and enter "Tonesucker" in the search box.]
April 26, 2008
Tonesucker (Left-to-right: Terry Burrows, Steve Elsey, John Bowers) take part in live TV broadcast from Studio 3, Epic Studios, Norwich, UK to a location in Lithuania. Also performing are Liam Wells and Alex Sanders, Jason Dixon and Fran Wall.
April 19, 2008
TONESUCKER: The Killing of St Alphrege
Live Webcast of Sound and Moving Image marking the the anniversary of the killing of Alphrege, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1012. Click on the image to view video of the event.
March 15, 2008
TONESUCKER: Beware the Ides of March
Live Webcast of Sound and Moving Image marking the assassination of Julius Caeser and in anticipation of the overthrow of all forms of tyranny. Click on the image to view video of the event.
February 2, 2008
Tonesucker perform as part of the BLAND KRETSAR OCH LJUD MED JOHN BOWERS evening on Saturday, February 2, 2008, at Fylkingen, Stockholm, Sweden. It is the band's debut as a trio – now with drummer Steven Elsey. Also featured are Liam Wells (UK, tachyscope and analogue electronics), Phil Archer (UK, live circuit bending), Mattias Sköld and Sören Runolf (SE, breadboards and synthesizers), John Bowers and Vanessa Yaremchuk (UK/Canada, dreamachines, neural networks). This event is part of the node.stockholm festival.
[Photograph of Tonesucker by Vanessa Yaremchuk. Copyright 2008. Used with permission.]
December, 2007
.
.
Leonardo Music Journal publish article by J M Bowers and Vanessa Yaremchuk.
Related music and photography available on this site.
March 5, 2007
Tonesucker record exclusive track "Splatterstrum" for The Wire magazine. It will appear on The Wire Tapper 17 CD included with the May edition.
December 13 , 2006
Tonesucker and Sten-Olof Helström play set at Fylkingen, Stockholm
October 18 , 2006
J M Bowers performs concert at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
July 3 , 2006
Tonesucker
release their debut CD album, Slaughterhouse (Onoma01). Distribution
is through Shellshock.
The album can also be purchased online at the Onoma shop, Amazon
and Play.com.
A version will be soon available on iTunes and other digital outlets.
www.tonesucker.com
June 24 , 2006
Stegosaurus (J M Bowers, Terry Burrows, Alex Sanders and Liam Wells) perform
at Faster
Than Sound, a festival that claims to be "The first event of its
kind joining the dots between DJs, electronica music and other genres, brought
to you by artists from across the globe". You can watch a video of the
performance at Liam Wells' MySpace
page.
June 23, 2006
J M Bowers' Edison's Residue
(Onoma02), an album of 'pseudo-Victorian turntablism', is available as a free
download.
June 15 , 2006
Murmurations: University of East Anglia Electro-Acoustic Music Studio. Stegosaurus - J M Bowers (theremin, oscillators), Terry Burrows (theremin, VCS3), Alex Sanders (VCS3) and Liam Wells (Jen, home-built oscillator) - perform quartet improvisation on vintage electronic equipment as part of the Aldeburgh Festival's main programme. Further details on the Aldeburgh Festival website. You can watch a video of the performance at Liam Wells' MySpace page.
May 3, 2006
Tonesucker's
October 2005 performance with Mike Cassells at Tonedeaf IV in Kingston Ontario,
Canada is reviewed on the Music
Works website.
April 28, 2006
In
Summer 2006 Asmus Tietchens and Terry Burrows plan to begin work on their
third collaboration. The resulting album will hopefully be available in 2007.
www.tietchens.de
www.terryburrows.com
April 19, 2006
Onoma Research signs worldwide distribution deal with Shellshock.
March 16, 2006
Asmus
Tietchens, Terry Burrows, Die Stadt Records, Disaster Area Records and Onoma
Research have reached an agreement regarding the first CD editions of the
four-album Tietchens/Burrows work Watching the Burning Bride. Comprising
the albums Watching the Burning Bride by Asmus Tietchens and Terry
Burrows, Abfleischung by Asmus Tietchens, The Whispering Scale
by Terry Burrows, and Burning the Watching Bride by Terry Burrows and
Asmus Tietchens, the albums were released on vinyl between 1986 and 1998.
The boxed set will be a joint project between Onoma in the UK and Disaster
Area in Germany. Die Stadt will meanwhile continue their lengthy reissue program
of Tietchens 80s and 90s vinyl releases, which will include extended versions
of Bride and Abfleischung over the next two years.
www.tietchens.de
www.terryburrows.com
www.diestadtmusik.de
October 29, 2005
Tonesucker perform at WebJam09,
Norwich School of Art and Design, Norwich, UK. (Click on image to view video of the performance.)