...a pure delight and so wide-ranging, with Martin’s ability at arranging as well as writing for choir and group proven to be a natural progression; but with such adept musical assistance as given by the group, it fits like a hand in a glove.
Martin Archer
9 posts
With just the two of them on an array of esoteric instruments including electric pencil sharpener, frog guiro, saxello and waterphone, they cover the most extraordinary textural ground and encompass works from the likes of Kandinsky, Pollock, Picasso and Monet. A clear labour of love, the pair bounced ideas backwards and forwards, editing down until twelve diverse and thought-provoking pieces emerged.
Reconvening the Ron Caines / Martin Archer AXIS for their fifth release and third in as many years, Practical Dreamers takes their usual approach and turns it on its head, leaving Ron to add his textured saxes to soundscapes already completed by Martin and sound processor Hervé Perez. ... At the same time, Martin has released a duo album with percussionist Walt Shaw, which is a much more visceral affair. Biyartabiyu leaps straight at you, the angular percussive textures and keening sharpness of the sax almost at odds but ever inquisitive in both registers.
Discus Ron Caines and Martin Archer reconvene here for their third Axis album, two years on from Dream Feathers and with a cast of collaborators that includes familiar faces and some new to the adventure, but all willing to lend their personal stamp to Ron’s suite of undulating shoreline visions. Spilt into three distinct suites, that sweet sax sound of his is ever present throughout Port Of Saints, […]
Discus Martin Archer is once again proving himself one of the hardest-working people in music with two very different collaborations in quick succession. It seems that every other release that comes from Discus involves his playing, but there is always an extraordinary diversity in styles and sounds. The latest albums here from avant-rock / prog jazz trio Das Rad and an improv duo with guitarist and old friend […]
Discus Martin Archer must have been busy over lockdown. Not only was he keeping an eye on the running of Discus, but he had time to be involved in a multitude of collaborative releases, two of which have dropped almost simultaneously and show two very different sides to his not inconsiderable capabilities.
Discus Martin Archer is one very busy man. As well as running the Discus label, he seems intent on putting out album after album with various different collaborators and under numerous styles. It doesn’t feel like so very long since the Anthropology Band‘s album rose like an incredible new sun over my world and I have been living with it since, trying to put its two-and-a-half hours of […]
Discus For Discus‘s eightieth release, Martin Archer has decided to go solo again, while also attempting to reproduce some of the sounds of his hornweb sax quartet that was active between 1983 and 1993. Not only that, it appears also as a kind of love letter to those saxophonists that have influenced him over the years of his playing, from the likes of Paul Desmond and Lester Young […]
Discus Ron Caines, for those who don’t know, is a bit of an unsung hero in some circles. He’s probably best known for East Of Eden, way back when, but he’s something of a renaissance man — accomplished visual artist, composer, free musician, gurt Bristolian… Sadly, Caines’ discography isn’t as fulsome as it should be, which is the case for way too many players outside of big fancy […]