Aside from Broken Record Chamber, the eclectic, electric Jim Black is involved in various solo guitar projects, an acid jazz funk band called Gospel Space Juice, a pop rock group, Satsuma, and most recently, a free(-improv) country band! (The final frontier?)

Jess Conn-Potegal's drumming talents spill over into 'Q', a live house/ drum n' bass/ improv outfit, and Immaculate Misconception, which delves into spoken word, soundscapes, improvisation and composition. He also lends his turntables to the ambient sounds of Kinetic Step.

Ben Wilson has been playing clarinet for more than half his life. You can hear his clarinet playing with the Meathook Ensemble (compositions with free improvisation), and Ensemble Symposium, a small ensemble performing 20th century classical and original compositions. He also employs drum machines and electronics with the harsh noise/ ambient electronic onslaught called Hospital, and Agenbite, a large and wild new jazz/ contemporary ensemble.

Field 1:::

Free Improv for Robots
   Broken Record Chamber
   Jess Conn-Potegal (turntables, electronics)
   Jim Black (guitar, electronics)
   Ben Wilson (drum machine, electronics)

Three individuals from different musical backgrounds, each with his own unique vision, meet at an Otomo Yoshihide/Ruins concert and the resultant collision becomes Broken Record Chamber.  BRC ploughs a new sound field, through which meanders various sonic life forms, not excluding the patrons of the Epic hole-in-the-wall, The Sugar Refinery, where much of this was recorded.   Imagine, if you can, a garage band version of Otomo chucking a used record store down the stairs.

Like true grandchildren of McLuhan, BRC are at home in the global village, where instant access to all things electric is the norm.  Drawing from acid jazz funk to pop rock, from punk to ambient electronic to improvisation, and from large ensemble jazz to 20th century classical, the diverse and combined talents of Jim Black, Jess Conn-Potegal and Ben Wilson have coalesced into a categorical no-man's land: an urban/ environmental, signal-to-noise, DIY improv-ambient adventure kit.

"...these animated improvisations have a vitality that is often excluded by the term 'sound art.' Four live tracks, including the 19 minute 'French Reggae Strangulation', reveal how the trio's fractious constructions and prickly textures thrive in concert performance." -- Julian Cowley, The Wire

Are you looking for something really weird? The BROKEN RECORD CHAMBER blends turntables, guitar and electronics and shapes it into something unclassifiable. Somewhere between the discharges of Ground Zero and the soundtracks of Atari 2600 video games, Jess Conn-Potegal, Jim Black and Ben Wilson create sound sculptures that can be both striking at times and pitiful at others. The last few tracks are live recordings and the sound quality suffers, especially on 'French Reggae Strangulation', where the crowd become very noisy. Still a nice record and something to discover." -- François Couture,

11 tracks

More SPOOL

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do (Toshimaru Nakamura and Sachiko M)

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VHF / Extracts (Graham Halliwell, Simon H. Fell and Simon Vincent)

Knack On (Voice Crack)

Zeug Für Schlagquartett (Schlagquartett Köln)

A Table of Opposites (Greg Headley)