I always tell musicians, whenever you perform for a large body of people, you must hear the real grand fundamental tone that comes from the people. You have to arrive there and go into a nice little area where you plant yourself and you try to hear that big sound, that harmony that everybody’s making- the way they’re talking, the laughter. I get the fundamental tone of all of that. Once you get that tone, all the things are going to fall into place because all of the people are just the harmonics.
[…]
What I do is I try to internalize that sound, and say ‘what does that feel like to me.’ If I feel it’s a positive sound, then I say ‘this thing could take me someplace else.’ I can give them a much greater whatever-they-need if I do this or I do that. If I feel hurt from there, what I do is change that around. The thing is this- somebody would say ‘everybody’s not going to respond to this.’ But if you can get a large segment of people in there just to be thinking very positive, then the person next to them is going to feel that! You try to get harmony in there. People always want to be in a surrounding where they feel people are positive. If you people are smiling, feeling great comfort, not intimidated, they can relax and feel no stress. So everybody helps each other out.
But you as an artist… What I’m talking about is an artist has to be really together. Spirit-wise, body-wise, mind-wise. You have to be in the best condition that you can be in. Or else you’re no good to anybody. It’s like a medical doctor telling you ‘I can take care of your cold’ and he’s sneezing and coughing all over the place.
Inclusion Principle operates in a space between electronics, nu-jazz, contemporary electroacoustic music and free improvisation tending towards a minimalist approach.
Formed in 2006, the group released its first eponymous CD ‘the Inclusion Principle‘ that year, with a second release ‘The Leaf Factory Fallback‘ in March 2010. ‘Third Opening‘ was a radical change in sound; the double cd released in 2015 was constructed in the studio with extensive sound design and arrangements of improvised material. It featured Peter Fairclough, who joined the group between 2014 and 2019. The fourth album ‘The 4, the 8, the 10’ was designed in studio during a period of lockdown and released in 2021.
The arkiv documents all live performances of the group, now available to stream and download.
For the first performance that started off the project, Martin and Hervé play a similar set up of laptop and woodwinds and yet have a different approach to their instruments. Put together, there is a chemistry that inspire and drive their improvisations towards a wide range of soundscapes.
The choice of instruments and sounds on their palette allows them to dramatically change their music between beat driven electro, minimal and microtonal improvisation via electroacoustic experimentation and nu-jazz.
There is something for all in their music. First and foremost, they share an enjoyment of sound and performance which touches their audience, no matter what style they may adopt.
We decided to base the name on a theory of the research physicist Wolfgang Pauli. We found a correlation in that we both worked with a digital scalpel on fields of microsounds; a science which took both our instruments and processed field recordings a little closer to the chemistry of natural sounds, complete with harmonic DNA sequences and rhythmical fragments quantum-jumping from cell to cell. We were intrigued by the idea of the ‘exclusion principle’ and decided that Pauli was ‘not even wrong’ in his theory since Martin and Hervé successfully managed to sit together in the same room. In the end, our main source of inspiration will always be deep listening and a fascination for the science of the natural world. Sometimes, sitting in silence for hours in the crest of birdsongs or in wafts of windy harmony is more profitable than practicing scales. And to a certain extent, each of our improvised performances plays itself as an unspoken intense inner excitement. And we leave it to rest, a little calmer, as if something had happened in the space between thoughts…
Inclusion Principle have released three albums and an archive of live documents, available via the discus website or their bandcamp page.
For a while, Inclusion Principle has been inviting guests to join the duo. These included:
Rosie Brown (vocals), Mark Hadman (electronics), Stephen Chase (strings, objects and mini amplifiers), Chris Bywater (electronics), Tarana (violin, voice and fx), Peter Fairclough (drums and percussions), Mark Sanders (drum set).
The group has been touring as ambassador artists for Jazz North in 2016-2017.
fizzle, Birmingham 09 april 2019 (with Mark Sanders)
samuel worth chapel, Sheffield 10 dec 2017 (with Peter Fairclough)
nether edge social centre, Sheffield 20 june 2006 (the day Inclusion Principle was born)
reviews:
” ‘The 4, The 8, The 10’ is an accomplished, meditative listening experience.”
Phil Jackson, ACID DRAGON
“That a variety of moods are conjured so effectively speaks volumes about how both artists are in synch with their objectives, so clearly vested in the realization of their ideas, so highly attuned to their birthing of new musics that to accompany them on their magical mystery tour is an experience not soon forgotten.”
Darren Bergstein, DMG
“The cover art for this album, of mist-wrapped trees which are gradually emerging is perfect for the ways in which Archer and Perez develop the pieces here – and, of course, I mean develop as a photographic metaphor of the ways in which an image gradually forms when the prepared sheet is placed in its bath of chemicals. There is so much creativity in the management of sounds on this recording that it can be easy to miss the ‘background’ and focus on the instruments duelling in the ‘foreground’. But this is, I think, to miss both the process of the music’s creation and the ways in which these fine musicians work. The ‘background’ is the structure of the piece. The texture of the sounds and the ways in which they merge and split creates the rhythmic, harmonic and emotional core.”
Chris Baber, Jazzviews
“Perhaps most crucial to Inclusion Principle’s sound but unmentioned in the credits is silence. For as layered, dense, and exciting this album is, it is equally patient and restful, a glorious tribute to space and sound.”
Lee Rice Epstein, The Free Jazz Collective
“This strange hybrid produces a world where the space is as important as what fills it. Oddly hypnotic, but far from meditative, Third Opening maintains the Discus tradition of sprawling double albums where time ceases to have meaning. The oft used electric piano and the nature of the beats puts this album firmly in a nu-jazz bracket, a pigeonhole that seems to me to have no boundaries, and is therefore more than fitting in this case.”
Roger Trenwith, Astounded By Sound
“The first (factor of place) to the last track (not looking for another now) is impressive how unstable atmospheres, is vague and nebulous and imposes itself – in the simplicity of a crystalline musical logic – a powerful and inexorable, rhythmic groove, who decided then leaves space, just as logically, in more reflective moments. A masterpiece.”
KATHODIK
“Ces disques révèlent sans arrêt des surprises à chaque écoute, ne serait-ce que par l’ajout des percussions et par un fourmillement de sons qui jaillissent de sous la couche de surface déjà particulièrement riche.
Philippe Renaud, Improjazz
“Third Opening is all about technology interfacing with three human beings seamlessly… the performances captured live in the studio are exemplary. Recommended.”
Paul Khimasia Morgan, Sound Projector
“What you are hearing are the results of initial meeting between the two. First hour, first day. Improvised. Minimal, detailed, immaculately recorded.
Not so much a sound installation as a room in which you finally get to hear the sound that were already there, but the very elements are broken down to their basic particles forming into glitch electrics where electrons reveal themselves from within the whole.
There’s something of the alchemical about it as nature’s music forms these things.
It’s a productive and worthwhile collaboration between two heavily experienced instrumentalists with an impressive sense of awareness.”
Hassni Malik, Irrational Arts
“I have not heard a better album from Martin Archer yet.”
Petr Ferenc, hisVOICE
“The sense of considered, focused interplay between the participants is undeniable. An hour or so of abstract noise passes imperceptibly, then, suddenly, everything feels shockingly different.”
Stuart Lee, Sunday Times
“A CD of intricate moments, steering away quite nicely from many of the clichés associated with the vague beast that is the improv genre. Both (players) do indeed seem to be on an extended nature trip, albeit a microscopic one…..It’s an album of abstract micro-events, none of which help pin the improvisation down, and it feels at times that we’re moving along with the musicians on a cellular level of sound…..What I hear is the deep thinking of stones and the beating hearts of young trees, the dying wishes of leaves falling to the ground and the absurdist symphony of a gently running stream…..Guaranteed to make even the most hardened sceptics want to smell new spring flowers and run naked through the fields.”
Aaron Robertson, Sound Projector
“The sound-construction/deconstruction works to a truly great effect here.”
Chuck Rosenberg, Aural Innovations #43
“This electroacoustic set retains the spontaneous qualities of a live recording, mashing up abstract textures, field recordings and extended techniques.”
Jazzwise
biography:
martin archer
Following an early career with 1980s jazz punk pell mellers Bass Tone Trap, followed by the fondly remembered and widely gigged Hornweb Sax Quartet, Martin disappeared into the recording studio for 15 years in 1994, from where he produced a series of highly acclaimed albums for his own Discus imprint. In recent years, as well as forging a three album creative partnership with veteran vocalist Julie Tippetts, Martin currently works with avant rock groups Orchestra of the Upper Atmosphere and Combat Astronomy, 35 voice experimental music choir Juxtavoices, minimalist improv to nu-jazz laptop duo Inclusion Principle, and most recently Engine Room Favourites, in which Martin revisits his AACM roots.
hervé perez
Sound artist/composer from France, now based in Sheffield, UK.
He works across genres, drawing from many influences in jazz, electro-acoustic, contemporary music, experimental electronics, free improvisation, immersive sound art and ancient techniques of sound therapy alike.
Hervé’s research approaches sound as vibration, the relation between sound and objects or spaces, architecture and the body.
His use of field recordings and sound design is concerned with frequencies and harmonic relationships found in nature, how they relate to the physical world, and how the sounds of natural elements connect to our own resonances.
He has developed a very personal way to process and sculpt location recordings to reveal their musical features and maximise resonance with the listener and their experience of sound.
technical details:
IP usually travels completely self contained including small venue monitor system. Your house PA however may enable us to travel lightly, which is preferred. Two tables are required for laptops and associated electronics. Atmospheric lighting is appreciated.
martin – stereo out from laptop/DI box + mike + stand for woodwinds
hervé – stereo out from laptop/DI box + mike + stand for woodwinds
PA with speaker arrangement for true stereo output
joe formanek – drums, laptop
hervé perez – alto saxophone
contact:
sndsukinspook_at_live.com
info_at_latermusic.com
Mirror Shards is the project of Joe Formanek, multi-tasking on drums, live processing, electroacoustic techniques and DJing to perform a fluent orchestration of improvisation and composition.
Hervé Perez features on alto saxophone bringing a highly individualised style of jazz melody, extended techniques and contemporary harmonic rhythms in a single honed voice.
The group balances the use of technology and interfaces into the exciting movements of live spontaneous composition. The two strong voices of multidisciplinary artists and powerful improvisers performing with laptops keep alive the performative aspect of playing acoustic instruments.
Drawing from both traditional and non-traditional backgrounds, and a long experience of both composition and performance, Mirror Shards is an exciting reflection of new directions in jazz.
Mirror Shards started with Hawaiian composer / improviser Joe Formanek’s creation of two unique innovations: What he calls “Percussionist 2.0” and improvising with history using a database. Percussionist 2.0 was the result of an attempt to create an instrument in which a percussionist could fluently express himself acoustically and digitally via DSP. However, while doing the acoustic input and the digital output is usually done by two as common practice, the Mirror Shards apparatus is an attempt to do both actions simultaneously. This new instrument proved to be more than just an instrument but a new way to play percussion. It now seems like the natural step in the evolution of percussion, as doing these functions at the same time -instrumental and digital manipulation – feels percussive. After several layered improvisations a database of recordings came about, and within it an organized recorded history of all the improvisations which have been all based on older improvisations. With it a sense of time, mood, and a progression of wisdom seem to all mix and blend with each new play, resulting in a constantly improving richness of the myriad of the Self.
Biography:
Joe Formanek
Improviser and composer, Joe Formanek employs an electro-acoustic apparatus, Mirror Shards, which is at once a drumset-laptop using digital signal processing and a history-database DJ station.
A large collection of recorded material are at a fingers touch during a performance. Central to the concept of Mirror Shards is a layering of samples and digital processing which confront the live sound with past events.
The experience of “driving” the apparatus is a surreal encounter with one’s previous stages of artistic development, forcing a critical reflection and interaction with one’s past.
Joe Formanek has been involved with Francisco Lopez (composer), Chris Formanek (composer), François Ducat (film director), Kouta (composer), and Hervé Perez (sax, composer).
Hervé Perez
sound artist/composer/performer from France, now based in Sheffield, UK.
Hervé has been composing music and performing live around europe for 20 years. Playing solo and in various groups, he draws from jazz, electro-acoustic, contemporary music, experimental electronics, free improvisation, immersive sound art and ancient techniques of sound therapy alike.
His research approaches sound as vibration, the relation between sound and objects or spaces, architecture and the body.
On the soprano saxophone, Hervé focuses on extended techniques and abstract peripheral sounds structural to the instrument as a physical resonant object. His work on alto merges traditional and jazz harmonic approaches with extended techniques and multiphonics.
Sounding out, one of his current projects, is an exploration of architecture, outdoor acoustics and sacred sites. Documents of in situ improvisations, inspired by the spirit and the special characteristics of a location.
With a focus on collaboration and interaction, Hervé has performed with artists whose practice is immersed in free improvisation, closely working with Mick Beck (sax, bassoon), Martin Archer (winds, el.), Philip Thomas (piano), Jez Riley-French (el.), Ian Simpson (el.), Charlie Collins (drums), Constantin Popp (live processing, diffusion), etc. in the UK and also Michel Doneda (sop sax), Jonas Kocher (accordion), Simon Berz (dr, el.), Rodolphe Loubatiere (dr), d’Incise (el, objects), Cyril Bondi (dr), Heddy Boubaker (sax), Cia Barbet (dance), Joe Formanek (dr, el) in Europe.
current projects:
sounding out – explorations of outdoor acoustics, sacred sites with the soprano saxophone, investigating the nature of space and architecture, natural topography.
room harmonics – experimental recording technique using sound to represent architecture and spatial relationships
”The quartet”, contemporary jazz improvisation
“inclusion principle”, duo with martin archer (discus label) – electroacoustic improvisations with laptops, winds, objects
“Mirror Shards” EAi to melodic jazz with Joe Formanek (drums and live processing)
“weave/unravel”, duo with constantin popp – soprano sax, processing, multi-speaker diffusion
“WHM” minimal improv/free jazz trio.
“kipple”, free jazz/improv sextet
“Ethernet Orchestra” networked improvisations by Roger Mills
“Graphic Ships” generative graphic score for networked improvisations by Jesse Ricke
technical details / requirements:
drums – 2/3 mikes+stands
electronics – 2 channels stereo out
sax – 1/2 mikes+stands
optional: feed from saxophone into electronic setup via 1/4 inch jack
with blessings from a blazing summer, sounding out is heading south. this series takes in tors and turbulent skies, the cut out coast of devon, gentle hills and country lanes of dorset in search for formidable locations
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guides for brides
alto saxophone, 08 july 2014
st mary the virgin, compton abbas, dorset
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behind the gate
alto saxophone, 08 july 2014
st mary the virgin, tarrant crowford, dorset
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the faded cross
alto saxophone, 08 july 2014
st mary the virgin, tarrant crowford, dorset
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end of the road
alto saxophone, 08 july 2014
st andrews church, winterborne tomson, dorset
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all beings are winter bourne
alto saxophone, 08 july 2014
st andrews church, winterborne tomson, dorset
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change of scene
alto saxophone, 07 july 2014
st catherine chapel, dorset
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shadowplay
alto saxophone, 07 july 2014
st catherine chapel, dorset
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full of empty space
alto saxophone, 07 july 2014
st catherine chapel, dorset
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shimmers
alto saxophone, 07 july 2014
st catherine chapel, dorset
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the long walk
alto saxophone, 07 july 2014
ilfracombe parish church, devon
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opening
alto saxophone, 07 july 2014
ilfracombe parish church, devon
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verity
alto saxophone, 07 july 2014
ilfracombe parish church, devon
nexttime studio 