It is a strange and unlikely fact that it has taken this long for Eric Hamelin to appear on his own Bug Incision Records release. The drummer-percussionist-electronicist has been at the forefront of Calgary's experimental music world since before Bug Incision’s inception, in fact, laying down tracks in Calgary with Wooln’ipples, his punk-jazz duo with Chad Van Gaalen. And not long after this he played in the seminal Calgary free-improv big band the Whistleburn Ensemble, assembled by fellow percussionist Chris Dadge for a performance at the 2006 edition of Mutton Busting, a mini-festival tucked into the city’s long-running High Performance Rodeo festival. In the years that followed, he formed Nomoreshapes with guitarist/composer Jay Crocker and trombonist JC Jones and released Creesus Crisis on Drip Audio in 2010, but the group eventually wound down, in duo form, upon Crocker’s move to the east coast in 2011. And while Hamelin did appear with NMS on a few tracks of Best of Bug Radio on CJSW (bir-six), a compilation of live broadcast recordings of new, Bug Incision-related groups on 90.9 FM, his own vision has not been represented in full-length form to date. Which is precisely where All Greased Up For Nothin’ comes in. Hamelin and Bug Incision head proprietor Chris Dadge had been playing in duo formations for years, presenting various combinations of percussion, junk, acoustic guitars, and strings. While most of these outings were live and spontaneous in nature, Cryingsnice presents a more focused approach to the duo’s improvising, with overarching concepts in place, restrictions and allowances adhered to, and a desired end result in mind. A lot of these components of their music have to do with the gear chosen - this is Dadge’s first full outing on violin alone - but also the multitude of sessions that informed the sound and approach for this recording. This album, their first, presents two tracks recorded live off the floor in Dadge’s Child Stone Studios. (Benoit Hughes)
credits
released October 2, 2020
Chris Dadge: amplified violin /// Eric Hamelin: drums, percussion
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by CD at Child Stone Studios
Fall 2018, Calgary, Alberta
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