PAKT - No Steps Left To Trace is out now in a variety of media: hi-res DL, double CD, and limited edition double vinyl. These are going fast! “ A drug free musical psychedelic trip , fans of Black Midi, Phish and Mr. Bungle might enjoy this…a giant step forward in experimental jazz music”
Produced by Tim Motzer & PAKT. more….
The Eternal, the debut release of improvisational duo Tim Motzer & Gregg Bendian, is the astonishing result of their first collaboration. Blending Motzer’s hypnotic, guitar-driven soundscapes with Bendian’s evocative, spacious tapestry of orchestral percussion, The Eternal traverses dynamic and dramatic landscapes – at times soothing, at other moments haunting and unsettled. These adventurous explorations might sit in the same musical realm as Takemitsu, Feldman, or Stockhausen, or the cinematic atmospheres of Jerry Goldsmith or Bernard Herrmann. Through their profound alchemy, Motzer and Bendian have spontaneously composed music that thrums with a sense of something primordial yet uncaged by time.
Read MoreBeacon is an extraordinary solo set by Tim Motzer, recorded live at beloved music venue Quinn’s in Beacon, NY, in front of an audience who listened in rapture to this totally improvised 45-minute journey.
Motzer has the innate ability to build captivating harmonic structures that seem to pull mesmerizing moods out of thin air. This set stays focused while untethering the cinematic dreamscapes to drift to where the music suggests it wants to go. Motzer follows this gloriously to the end, live without a net, in reverie. -dh
Tim Motzer - Beacon available here 24bit/48k hi-rez download
Read MoreDavid Torn - guitar, 'tronics, live looping
Tim Motzer - acoustic-electric guitars, electronics, looping
Jeremy Carlstedt - drums, turntable, op-1
“Collectively, Torn, Motzer, and Carlstedt create a cinema of the interior in which the attentive listener is enclosed. Narratives twist back in on themselves in an instant, spiking into unseen spaces. Their soundtrack is as loud as mountain thunder, as quick as a precious thought through thin air.
In the flux of their immediate chemistry, they ascend crescendos and dive deep into space, their bright harmonies scurrying towards silence, receding points left to dimly smoulder in the haze, a memory of stars.” Sid Smith
CD/DL: (Blade Of)
Orion Tango featuring Tim Motzer on guitars and electronics, Barry Meehan on bass, and Jeremy Carlstedt on drums release their most powerful album to date: The In Between on 1k Recordings.
Read More“Supergroups are rare in the world of modern guitar music but if any group qualified it would be this one!” Guitar Modern
PAKT is made up of fretless bass guitarist Percy Jones, guitarists Alex Skolnick and Tim Motzer, and drummer Kenny Grohowski. They are all very experienced players. Skolnick is best known as the lead guitarist in the thrash metal band Testament; he went on to freelance work, playing jazz with his Alex Skolnick Trio, and experimenting with World Music. Motzer has a long background in free improvisation as well, including the bands Bandit65 (with fellow guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel) and Orion Tango, plus many other recorded collaborations for his 1k Recordings label. Welsh bassist Jones (long time a New York resident) is known for his tenure in the jazz fusion group Brand X, collaborations with Suzanne Vega, as well as extensive studio work (especially with Brian Eno). Grohowski's recent associations include Imperial Triumphant, John Zorn, Brand X, Felix Pastorius & the Hipster Assassins.
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"PAKT recalls the fearless attitude and daring approach that originally defined progressive music: where the magic of the moment always triumphed over preconception. Templates be damned ... this music blazes its own path! This is truly exquisite fare, serving as a reminder to aficionados of what initially drew them to this most creative, visionary of genres."
At a time when we all took a deep breath and had a good look around – both at our outer and our inner worlds, Tim Motzer met his muse once again. Songs began to ‘drop from the sky’ as he puts it, songs grounded in the healing power of love. Some of the phrases read like mantras, meditations for a complicated time. He was inspired, quite handily, to perform and record all parts of these evolving compositions, including vocals – a first in his career. Mellotron, guitars, bass, prophet synth, optigan, wood flute, cymbals, drums, reed organ, electronics, drum machine, and toy keyboards all flow together in a lush and mysterious way, psychedelic at times, transcendent and futuristic at others.
Read MoreNew Releases from 1k:
Shadow Duo - Swirling, new single! (1k053)
Tim Motzer & Bernhard Wostheinrich - in the blue of a vast boulevard (berlin 2017) (1k052, US edition)
Tim Motzer - Dorset (1k051)
Charlotte Munn-Wood & Tim Motzer - Warp / Weft (1k050)
https://1krecordings.bandcamp.com/music
Read MoreGrab some popcorn and tune into Markus Reuter's Podcast #17 which offers an inspiring deep dive into Tim Motzer's improvisational wizardry, behind the scenes tour stories, and the inside story on past and upcoming releases.
Read MoreThursday January 14, Tim chats with Bandit65 bandmate & jazz guitar virtuoso Kurt Rosenwinkel about making music in these times, the power of music, improvisation, Bandit65, and more. Watch at 12 Noon EST, 6pm Berlin time. Check your time zones. Watch at Instagram.com/timmotzer
Tim Motzer’s live chats kicked off with EP1 last November with drummer, and long-time musical colleague Gintas Janusonis on the eve of their streaming concert with Vernon Reid; EP2 visits Cincinnati guitarist, singer songwriter Rob Fetters who recently released his album Ship Shake; EP3 featured guitarist/ sonic alchemist David Torn in an inspiring chat about improvisation, and his early influences. Episodes 1-3 can be found at Tim’s IGTV.
Read MoreTim Motzer discusses his vast range of musical tastes and how the music of his youth has influenced him. Though difficult to point to only one album as his top pick, The Beatles “Magical Mystery Tour” album deserves a deeper exploration.
Singer Fides Krucker and Guitarist Tim Motzer talk with Esthetic Lens about what they have been working on. Together, they share a candid peek inside the life of two prolific creators.
Read More“Though 2020’s pandemic slowed his roll where live concerts are concerned, Motzer continued to record and release music at a happily alarming rate on labels such as MoonJune, Heartcore, and his own 1k Recordings. Motzer reacquainted himself with an earlier love. Painting. Stretched across large original canvases and small stations such as covers for his CDs.”
Read More"In his younger years innovative guitarist Tim Motzer may well have been influenced by the classics No Pussyfooting, Evening Star or Discrete Music, but his many releases in the soundscape vein have always shied-away-from reproducing exactly the sound of these pioneering artists. If Motzer is channeling anything from the 1970s it is the forward-thinking spirit of innovation and the freedom to try new things that arose uniquely out of this period. His album 'Inside' (61'01") arrives in another, different era of transformation, one in which we have all been asked to re-think our lives...."
Watch the interview here: https://youtu.be/U7iPMKfuBgw
Please read the rest of the review of "Inside" on the STAR'S END website: http://www.starsend.org/TMInside.html
Read MoreRead an illuminating article from Sylvianvista.com about the making of The Day the Earth Stole Heaven from the Nine Horses album Snow Bourne Sorrow. https://sylvianvista.com/2020/07/10/the-day-the-earth-stole-heaven/
“…bright acoustic guitar chords herald ‘182/9’. Later we would recognise this as the unmistakable theme to ‘The Day the Earth Stole Heaven’. Tim Motzer’s guitar work is integral to the sprightly tempo and buoyant feel of that Nine Horses track. Indeed, his musical invention earned the only writing credit on the album outside the core trio…”
Read MoreThanks to your requests for a physical edition, I've painted 16 covers. These editions are very limited—exquisite, one-of-a-kind, handpainted, signed, and numbered works of art. Included is a 2-sided art postcard with original cover print, track listings, album credits, and download code for those of you who may not have a CD player!
Read MoreA brand-new release: Tim Motzer - Inside, an album of sonic meditations, available now on bandcamp.
Read MoreAnthony Tidd and Tim Motzer’s 51minute conversation about the healing power of music, art, the Act4Music festival, and Tim Motzer’s curated concert launch during these historic times.
Read MoreIt's been 20+ years of creating and releasing music at 1k Recordings, and what a beautiful journey it has been. What started as a label to release my solo work and collaborations blossomed beyond my wildest expectations. This specially curated 20-song collection is a look backwards, some songs decades old, some recent, some previously unreleased, both studio and live. It's a genre-spanning retrospective that serves as a portal for dreaming and for meditating on life’s unanswered questions…
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