Tomas Phillips / Jason Bivins – Blau

Blau marks the first collaboration between Tomas Phillips and Jason Bivins…

A marriage of guitar improvisation and through-composition, its immediate reference point beyond lowercase sound art is the work of painter Barnett Newman. His solid color canvases, broken by vertical lines of various shades, reveal an aesthetic preoccupation with minimalist imagery aligned with a reverence for the philosophy of Spinoza. An equally pleasurable matrimony. – Dragon’s Eye

Original digital artwork Blue With Lines, (after Barnett Newman) by FOURM (BGN)

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Jason Bivins is from Washington, D.C. After playing in “rock” bands throughout high school and at Oberlin College (usually some amalgam of post-punk, metal, and prog), he went to graduate school at Indiana University, where he became active in free improvisation beginning in 1993. After playing in large ensembles, power trios, electroacoustic duos, and in solo performance, he formed the Jason Bivins Trio and, in 1999, Unstable Ensemble (which continues to exist and has recorded four albums).

After moving to North Carolina in 2000 (where he teaches Religious Studies at North Carolina State University), Bivins began a long-standing association with percussionist Ian Davis, with whom he performs in a duo, in large ensembles (the defunct Micro-East Collective and the eNtet, units which performed with musicians like Dennis Gonzalez, Frank Gratkowski, and Chris Cutler, among others), and in the long-standing groups UE and the Impermanence Trio (with Richmond-based reeds player Jimmy Ghaphery). He has recently collaborated on a project with pianist Nobu Stowe, reedist Ross Bonadonna, and sound artist Lee Pembleton.

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Tomas Phillips (b. 1969) is a composer, novelist, and teacher whose sound work focuses on improvisational performance and minimalist through-composition. He began composing electronic music in the early 1990s, releasing limited edition cd-rs, most notably under the moniker Eto Ami (with Dean King), and has since created music for installations and collaborations in dance and theatre. Labels to release his music include Trente Oiseaux, Line, Non Visual Objects, and Koyuki. Tomas has taught in the disciplines of literature and fine arts at various universities in the US, Québec, and Finland. Having completed an interdisciplinary PhD at Concordia University in Montréal, he currently lives in the US, where he teaches literature at North Carolina State University.

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www.dragonseyerecordings.com
www.myspace.com/tomasphillips