James Rushford and Joe Talia
James Rushford and Joe Talia are a Melbourne-based duo of national and international renown. Performing chiefly on viola, piano, drums and percussion, the duo creates ecstatic and terrifying environments that play with the very limits of the instruments' capabilities. At times static, at times fragmented, the brooding nature of their work loosely references classical Spectralism, avant-garde improvisation and musique concrète, with a unique and bold approach to performance and recording.
Their upcoming record, Paper Fault Line, is a through-composed tour-de-force of instrumental concrète, blistering noise and contemporary classical virtuosity. The duo's members have synthesized their rigorous training in improvisation, audio engineering and composition, to assemble an album highly distinctive from, and more sonically varied than, their first (Palisades, Sabbatical Records 2009).
Meticulously recorded and mixed by Joe Talia in Melbourne this year, with additional recording at WORM Rotterdam, the duo invited experimental luminary Anthony Pateras to collaborate on Paper Fault Line, expanding the record's sonic terrain with his Doepfer A-100.
Rushford and Talia are currently organizing another European Tour for May 2011, visiting Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Spain and Italy, following Rushford's 2011 residency at the La Rochelle institute.
Aside from the duo's regular performances, its members regularly collaborate with musicians including Oren Ambarchi (appearing on his upcoming solo record), Marco Fusinato, Steve Heather, Phill Niblock, Clayton Thomas, Jon Rose and Robin Fox. They have performed at various worldwide festivals such as Moers (Moers), Klangfest (Vienna), Mono (Brisbane), Now Now (Sydney), Audio Art (Krakow), The Melbourne international Arts Festival and the Melbourne International Biennale of Exploratory Music. They have also previously toured Europe multiple times, performing at venues such as Instants Chavires (Montreuil), Cave 12 (Geneva), Amann (Vienna), STEIM (Amsterdam), Soopa (Portugal) and NBI (Berlin).
Their previous collaborations have been documented on labels such as Remote Control, JazzHead, Cajid Media and Sabbatical.
For further information on the duo, please visit www.myspace.com/jamesrushfordjoetalia,
or email rushfordtalia@gmail.com
"Joe Talia and James Rushford seek out the exotic and erratic terrain of their instruments. They are purveyors of stasis: part instrumental concrete, part alien drone.”
– Lawrence English
"These gentlemen are active in an eclectic range of creative contexts, with sound as a shared recurring filament. This cavernous electroacoustic fabrication finds its heart in exploration of the unforeseen voices of their selected instrumentation and devices. These include prepared violas, autoharp, spring reverb tank, and various metal objects. The ensuing extended compositions incorporate elements of ethereal drone and instrumental concrète, with stasis as a recurring theme."
– Mark Groves, Sabbatical Records
"The music below sounds like it has been made with sine waves, but I guess it isn't. Highly refined music this is. No doubt created through improvisation, but then I guess this is not their first result in doing so. I think after hefty experimentation they came to these results. An excellent release at that. Great music at work here."
– Vital Weekly
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James Rushford & Joe Talia – Palisades (2009)1) Excerpt 1
Performed by James Rushford and Joe Talia. Produced by James Rushford and Joe Talia. Engineered, mixed and mastered by Joe Talia @ Chinatown. Artwork and design by Olle Holmberg. |
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Other Audio1) Live at Instants Chavirés, 29/04/2010
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Live
30/10/10
Sunshine & Grease, Melbourne.
24/10/10
SBBTCL @ Workers Club, Melbourne.
1/9/10
MUDRA (James Rushford, Sophia Brous, Peter Knight, Joe Talia, Judith Hamann) @ Heide Gallery, Melbourne.
29/9/10
Instants Chavires, Montreuil, France
23/2/10
Make It Up Club. Bar Open, Fitzroy.
7/10/09
Empress. North Carlton.
17/9/09
Old Bar. Fitzroy.
21/5/09
Palisades Album Launch. Feat. Thembi Soddell/Anthea Caddy and Forth Impact @ Old Bar. Melbourne.
18/5/09
Now Now, 1/475 King St, Newtown. Sydney.
9/4/09
MONO Festival. Institute of Modern Art. Brisbane.
3/12/08
Stutter. Horse Bazaar, Melbourne