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the one ensemble of daniel padden
Chris Hladowski - bouzouki, bow and clarinet Fergus Hetherington plays vioin on the introduction to 'Joker Burlesque'. Hanna Tuulikki sings on 'Neither One Thing'. "At times turbulent and at others sombre: the music of Daniel Padden and his One Ensemble covers a lot of emotional ground. Formerly a solo venture, Padden – himself a key member of the hydra-headed Volcano the Bear – is now joined by Chris Hladowski, Peter Nicholson and Aby Vulliamy. Hladowski and Vulliamy, together with Hanna Tuulikki (who lends her voice to this recording) also release music under the moniker Nalle. Together, this topsy-turvy Glaswegian quartet put together tiny symphonies that incorporate elements of Eastern European folk, minimalist drone and string-laced chamber psych. The One Ensemble’s humbly haunted, multifarious tales look back to post-WWII Europe, following displaced settlers voyaging across the Atlantic towards the unknown. Cello, bouzouki, clarinet, guitar and piano all play a key role in reciting the woeful tale of humanity’s uncertain future. The most prominent and effective instrument however, is Padden’s plaintive wordless vocal, which at times evokes spirits formerly unearthed by Jeff Mangum. The intoxicating brew crafted by the deft hands of The One Ensemble is not difficult to swallow; its complex palette is cleverly disguised with beautiful melodies and a healthy dose of hopefulness. Padden and his band of minstrels have created a truly unique and engaging record, one that should be celebrated for the rare beauty contained within. Highly recommended!" 9/10 -- Bryon Hayes (3 April, 2007) - Foxy Digitalis live at VPRO radio December 2005 Brainwashed Handmade Series Hand002 songs:
Recorded and mixed live 14th November 2004 by Berry Kamer at VPRO This recording does what all good radio sessions do and then some. Multi-instrumentalist Daniel Padden (Volcano the Bear) has loosened his grip on the material from his virtually solo The Owl of Fives LP and recast it live with a ferociously elegant quintet. The performance of these seven pieces (some new at the time of recording and some re-titled excursions) are as open as they can possibly be while still holding in place the identifiable elements that define the song. The opening scrape, saw, and rattle of “Clown Flinging” is a deceptive beginning to a song steered by intricate strings and a mournfully sharp bouzouki melody. The instrument’s clinking metallic chimes clank perfectly against the ever-reliable genius of Alex Neilson’s (Jandek/Taurpis Tula) free percussion work. When Padden’s own sing-along drunken caterwaul intertwines with the swooning viola, it’s obvious that this set of songs has design at its core despite the slack reins. For a set of songs written and performed by the bandleader, Padden is surprisingly open with the improvisational spotlight. There’s never the feeling that anyone is softened or curtailed from going with the freer flows by a diktat from Padden. The players are more than capable of bringing the most in the possibility of improvisations within these compositions. The album’s air is thick with the sweat and steam of Eastern European traditional Gypsy music, heavy doses of Klezmer, touches of Flamenco, and Russian stylings. The cello and voluptuary viola build and capture the gorgeous driving windswept widescreen feel of these ineffably romantic genres. The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden may mine same territory as acts like A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Silver Mt. Zion, and Black Ox Orkestar, but this release packs in many more obvious moments of passion and merriment. Themes like “Weevils” and the strong rhythmic element of “Mustard Mustard” help conjure dancing desert ingénues and other unhelpfully atrocious stereotypes, but there’s magic here. Where some of the eclecticism of Padden’s solo and group studio work can sometimes sound like the kitchen sink wasn’t too far away, this has everything in its right place. The mixture of traditional and the spirit of exploration give the music a fire and a passion that doesn’t seem to be boiling over in much “modern” music lately. Padden’s rousing shouts and chants (alongside another unidentifiable band members) add to the energy levels urging the band onwards toward almost anthemic heights. The music’s complexity and the band’s obvious vigour set a high benchmark for followers. The classical look of the handmade letterpress sleeve only adds to the overall impression that this is something special. VPRO have been lucky enough to catch one of those rare moments in time when a band are truly on fire. (Stylus) Daniel Padden is one-[fourth] of Volcano the Bear and, as heard on his beautifully twisted recordings as The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden, a talented composer in his own right. No false advertising; the first two One Ensemble albums, self-titled (Catsup Plate) and "The Owl of Fives" (Textile), were almost entirely solo affairs with Padden manning everything from guitar, bass and percussion to piano, violin, bouzouki and voice to conjure a spectral gypsy folk/jazz informed by European roots, the early art pop of Robert Wyatt and the bizarre violin-scapes of Aranos. "Live at VPRO Radio" (the home of the revered Mort Aux Vaches releases) is a CD-R that comes via Brainwashed's Handmade Series in an edition of 500 in folded letterpress sleeves. It's both an extremely lavish and minimal package, which accurately reflects the haunted ensemble performances captured within. This edition of the One Ensemble is in fact a quintet, with stunning support from Chris Hladowski (bouzouki), Jandek sideman Alex Nielson (drums/percussion), Peter Nicholson (cello), Aby Vulliamy (viola), and Padden rounds things out on guitar and vocals. Like Steven R Smith's Hala Strana, The One Ensemble takes much of its musical inspiration from more unlikely, but still relatively familiar, territory and combines it with a free jazz or prog approach. Jewish Klezmer, Gypsy and other Eastern Euro styles are drawn into Padden's dense web of ominous tonal phrasings, only to be built up, distended, collapsed and rebuilt. Volcano the Bear's early albums play like Nurse With Wound covering Robert Wyatt's "Rock Bottom," so it's no surprise that Padden's take on European roots leaves plenty of space for freer deconstructions, but what is surprising is just how beautiful these new renditions of his earlier recordings are. "Live at VPRO Radio" is dense with abstract ideas yet manages the rare feat of being composed and spontaneous. Padden's Wyatt-like vocal warbles might be hard for some to wrap their head around, but such an emotionally expressive tone fits right in among this surrealist display. Had I heard "Live..." in 05, it would've easily been among my favorite releases of the year. (9/10) - Lee Jackson, Foxy Digitalis I must admit to being rather dismissive about much of the current wave of so-called "free folk," and certainly I've also been guilty of declaring much of the music it has produced as being the product of an insufferable scenesterism. However, I've also been among the first to praise the truly worthy examples of the genre, and this new release by The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden clearly demonstrates that amazing work continues to come out of the new folk zeitgeist. For all of the undeniably interesting music, performance and aesthetic ingenuity that this scene has produced, it has also spawned an equal amount of talentless opportunism and obnoxious marketing, and a surplus of overpriced limited CD-Rs and LPs filled with senseless cacophony of questionable musical value. I mean, how many different ways are there for a bunch of unshaved bohos to pound tunelessly on a bunch of instruments they never bothered learning how to play, anyway? Live at VPRO Radio was recorded live in 2004, in a performance by the Ensemble for the famous Dutch radio station, and it's one of the most stunning live albums I've ever heard, without a doubt. The performance captured in this radio session easily eclipses Daniel Padden's two studio albums, and also exceeds the rather high standards set by his previous work with Volcano the Bear. The seven tracks on this CD showcase a marvelously talented composer and arranger leading an ensemble of adept musicians through his startlingly unique sound world. Far from sounding like some slapdash, impromptu assemblage thrown together for a one-off gig, the group sounds as if they were born to play Padden's songs, and after hearing this album, it's hard to imagine them playing anything else as well or convincingly. As on his studio albums, Padden freely borrows from the '60s psychedelic folk of groups like The Incredible String Band, along with a wide variety of disparate ethnic musics, but unlike his albums, which often sounded jarringly eclectic, Live at VPRO Radio sounds gloriously cohesive: a triumphant spontaneous creation of a wholly idiosyncratic style of folk music. Though it is tempting to pick through and try to identify specific ethnic signifiers in this beautiful melodies created here by bouzouki, cello, guitar, viola and drums, all of the music here feels of a piece. Under the supervision of Padden, this group effortlessly draws upon a veritable constellation of tantalizingly familiar musical traditions--Jewish Klezmer, Gypsy, Russian and British trad-folk, etc.--but at the same time, manages never to directly reference any of them. Many of the songs are radically reworked versions of tracks that originally appeared on 2004's The Owl of Fives, but they have been retrofitted to work within the live ensemble context, and arrive much the better for these alterations. I mentioned ISB, and while the comparison seens an appropriate one, it also fails to get across the power and ferocity of these performances, many which build to loud, celebratory climaxes, Padden enthusiastically egging the band on with non-verbal chanting and cajoling. Though the players are drawn mostly from the free folk scene, it is perhaps inaccurate to refer to this album as a work of free folk, as each song is clearly a work of composition. However, the performances captured here do not seem over-determined or rigidly rehearsed. On the contrary, it seems as if the group feels perfectly confident to travel outside of the lines of Padden's songs, and his songs provide a wonderfully loose structure upon which subtle group dynamics and improvisatory passages can play an important part. I can't be the only one who has often wondered if ensembles like Sunburned Hand of the Man or Jackie-O Motherfucker might be better and more reliable if they actually took the time to write some songs. There isn't a moment of wasted space or directionless meandering on Live at VPRO Radio, because the group can always fall back on the strong backbone of Padden's impressive songs. Live at VPRO Radio is a gorgeous and hypnotic work that joyously trips and tumbles through a dark, mediaeval wonderland that exists only on an astral plane; a collection of whimsical funeral dirges for a merry band of wandering monks intoxicated on bad liquor and thujone. It is a collection of hymns to wood sprites and elves; it is the soundtrack to suddenly noticing the glorious spectacle of an ant crawling up a tree trunk carrying a leaf. It is a magical conjuring act by a group of trickster alchemists wandering in a foreign land. It is often all of these things and sometimes none of them, but it is always unmistakably beautiful music. - Jonathan Dean, Brainwashed
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recorded between 2000 and 2003 "I don't think it's possible to overrate the importance of the landscape. It will always suck you in but it will affect you in different ways depending on location. I don't think it's a coincidence that a lot of the most fascinated music created today has its origin in places draped in natural beauty or which hold certain characteristics of a similar power. I'm not quite sure what's magical about the place Daniel Padden calls home but judging by the sounds presented on his second solo outing Owl of Fives there got to be something. Padden is known for his work with the indescribable and quite wonderful Volcano the Bear combo and this solo album is right up there in terms of sonic qualities. As a matter of fact I think he's actually trekking to the same valley of hidden music that the 'Bear so successfully pay a visit every now and then. It's like the music just has been hanging in the air of this specific vista, awaiting the right guy to come along and interpret it to something, which is audible for the masses. What we're served is a kind of free folk which comes packed with equal parts melancholia, dissonance and fragile beauty. No track is ever built up the way you expect them to be but there's nothing forced about these multi-instrumental folk meanderings. I am not really sure how Padden manages to be so successful at his game but there's something so natural in the way keys, strings, horns, bells, percussion merge into one united trail through the wilderness. Words like stumbling, fractured and fragmentized comes to mind but the overall impression is rather the one of seasons going by and colors changing in accordance to the sounds presented. Imagine an instrumental version of Tanakh teaming up with Kemialliset Ystävät or Tower Recordings and you're definitely in the right terrain. And what a mesmerizing terrain it proves to be." Mats Gustafsson Read the Brainwashed review in the review section of the Brain The One Ensemble of Daniel PaddenDecember, 2002 US CD, Catsup Plate CPR714 songs:
Recorded between 2000 and 2001 with the exception of 8, which was recorded years several years earlier. "An astonishing solo album...an epic voyage of beautifully composed experimental music...A god-like record." Steve Hanson, Careless Talk Costs Lives / Ptolemaic Terrascope "Strikingly beautiful at times, Padden's music truly comes from another place. Wholly unique and lush with feeling, "The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden" is a rare and unclassifiable masterpiece." Other Music Catsup Plate has a few copies left of this CD |
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