Ettrick, darph/nadeR & Ant Lion November 30, 2006

San Francisco's Ettrick is a self-destructive free jazz/black metal assault featuring two multi-instrumentalists rotating through every permutation of their drum and sax duo. Jacob Felix Heule and Jay Korber explore the extreme sounds that can be wrenched from their instruments through brute force – screaming through saxophones, throwing drums and other such impolite extended techniques. The doubled instrumentation provides a situation to explore playing contrasting and complimentary styles on like instruments.

darph/nadeR (or d/n) began as a side project in 1999, when Jared Butler and myself (Cory Thrall) decided to join forces as a duo. originally calling ourselves 'cosmonaut', we started by making songs on an old Mac using the program Sound Edit 16 (this was one of a very few releases done on computer - after this album our focus shifted to live instruments - synth, guitar, percussion, bass, as well as field recordings, voice, a little computer stuff here and there, drum machine, samples, more.......). after completing a whole album of songs made with SE 16 (1999's "...and now, a word from our sponsors..."), it was shelved and never released, due mostly to lack of funds (a handful of CDr copies of this album were actually made, without cover art, and given to a few friends). in mid 1999, we decided that there were too many other projects called 'comsonaut' (duh!), so we searched for a new name. after watching "Hardware Wars" (a late 70's "Star Wars" parody) for the millionth time, we finally found one. the character Darph Nader, the unintelligible "naughty person" and parody of Darth Vader, hit home with both of us instantly - here was a character whose communication was completely distorted and not understood. we thought back to how our music was being received by people, our friends, all who heard it and our other noise project, the noise rock band 'drinking coffee from counselor troi's head' - they couldn't understand it, or it just "wasn't their thing". we began to really relate to this character made completely out of farce, a point not to miss when thinking of d/n's early works and attitude. so, the name of our project was changed to 'darph/nadeR' (the additives are there just for the way it looks when typed out, the shape of the word all together), and this change was made final with the recording of our first released album, 1999's "A: Stereo Tape System Vol. One", which was the first release on our record label we had just started (samsa records), and was a one-sided c90 limited to 12 copies. these were all given out to friends for free. the end of 1999 brought about our 2nd release, the one-sided c90 "this should be our space one", which was also released by samsa, but to a run of 8 copies that were also distributed among friends for no cost. "this should be..." was the first d/n release to have a guest star in the line-up - Diana Morales, who would later become the most active d/n guest, having recorded the most music with us than anyone else. on December 31st, 1999 we played our first live set as d/n at a New Years party. "it sounds like some kind of destruction", the host had said.....
now firmly planted in 2006, we have come "full circle" in a way with the release of "galaxy" (our 4th Infinite Sector album, with a physical CDr release - featuring a 13 minute 'bonus song' - coming from Krakilsk), which is a return to earlier sounds mixed with the ideas of the past few years, and with some new ones added in. we feel we have learned a lot over the years, especially about what we're capable of, and we feel secure with our sound now, free to do as we please. and, we're still learning.

Jesse Quattro (of Ant Lion) is a composer and vocalist. She sings with Secret Chiefs 3 on 'Book of Horizons' as well as forthcoming releases by the group. She has a duo Old Timey Music project with Eric Landmark of the Numbers, harmonizing on murder ballads and sacred hymnals circa 1910 and prior. While completing her BA in Music Performance/Composition at Mills College in Oakland, she also writes backyard folk-ish songs with guitar and releases about one solo album a year. Her current solo albums are 'Neurotic in the Afterlife', available through her myspace page (see link above), and 'Closer to the Wolf' available through Utech Records. Jesse Quattro's musical projects and bands range from singing with EyeHateGod and Carniceria (metal) to Bulgarian Voice Ensembles, Noise and Freak-Out Jazz Improv. Bands that she has sung for include: The Abstractions, Saint of Killers, Carniceria, Fall of the Bastard, Moe!kestra, Old Timey w/ Eric Landmark, Slaughterhouse Flies, NoLogo, and Secret Chiefs 3.

Official Website: http://ettrick.org