anthony guerra                          image: michael rodgers 			 













        
joel stern                     image:michael rodgers
           


















			

 


 



 
       Reviews of Stern / Guerra's 'Stitch' (004)
       
       
       Guerras luminous drones loop through much of the 
       music, refracted at times into recurrent 
       sub-Frippertronics. Stern wafts clouds of 
       interference into this radiant atmosphere, 
       agitated particles of noise and found sound that 
       either hang around like dust or cling together 
       in a continuum that inverts the guitars serenity.

       Julien Crowley - THE WIRE, September 2003


       I could easily see myself disappearing in the smoky 
       trails of these glacial avant-garde improvisations 
       for hours, and when the performers involved approach 
       the genre with this sort of inventiveness and 
       excitement, I'll be happy just sitting where I am 
       right now, staring at nothing and everything at the 
       same time.
       
       Mats Gustafsson - The Broken Face 
       
       
       Stitch is an intricately constructed, deftly 
       sustained and pervasively atmospheric exercise.  

       Stewart Lee - Sunday Times, London

       
       If there are barriers between experimental electronica 
       and free improvisation, this lot are breaking them down. 
       
       Peter Marsh - BBC-experimental review


       "Stitch" is a marvelous recording, a beguiling
       approach to improvised music that deserves a wide
       hearing.

       Brian Olewnik - http://www.bagatellen.com


       Even in its most abstract, electronics-driven 
       moments, the music keeps a door open on melody 
       and harmony. The closing 19-minute track provides 
       the disc,s highlight. Here the guitar becomes 
       highly tonal, first slowly laying down a 
       post-rockish motif and later reappearing in a 
       sped-up incarnation as the gritty electronic textures 
       pulls it underwater.

       Francois Couture - All Music Guide


       The best piece of the untitled lot is the final, ninth, 
       piece, which takes up almost a quarter of the entire CD. 
       Starting with picking strings, it slowly evolves in to 
       laptop processed guitar playing, almost like a sweet lullaby. 
 
       Frans deWard - Vital           


       Stitch, the latest release by Australian/(sometimes)
       UK artists Joel Stern and Anthony Guerra is a dense, 
       pretty, dare it be said, almost tuneful release for 
       Impermanent Recordings (see Peter Blamey's Salted Felt 
       and Stasis Duo's Hammer & Tongs). Stitch is rewarding 
       texturally but even more intriguing structurally because 
       it is not about cohesion, more about fragments and the 
       transitions between them. It seems to be made of shards, 
       torn sections with ragged edges, some tacked loosely 
       together, some sutured so tightly the sonic fabric 
       puckers, the tensions tangible.

       Gail Priest - Realtime

      

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