- Borbetomagus
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This article is about the musical group. For the Celtic city, see Worms, Germany.
Borbetomagus 
Don Dietrich and Jim SauterBackground information Genres Free jazz, noise rock Years active 1979 - present Labels Agaric Associated acts Voice Crack, Tristan Honsinger, Peter Kowald, Hijokaidan Website borbetomagus.com Members Don Dietrich
Donald Miller
Jim SauterPast members Adam Nodelman Borbetomagus are a free improvisation/noise music group. They are cited by critics[1] as pioneers of aggressive improvised noise music.
Contents
Biography
Borbetomagus formed in 1979 when saxophone players Jim Sauter and Don Dietrich joined with electric guitarist Donald Miller. Bass guitarist Adam Nodelman was briefly a member, and they have occasionally collaborated with others.
Their aggressive music has been described as "a huge, overpowering, take-no-prisoners mass of sound."[2] One extended technique they use is called "bells together" where Sauter and Dietrich place the bells (openings) of their saxophones against one other while playing.
While the core trio listed above has been responsible for most of Borbetomagus's music, they have collaborated with Swiss circuit bending duo Voice Crack, Dutch cellist Tristan Honsinger, German double-bassist Peter Kowald, and others. In 2006, they recorded a collaborative album with Hijokaidan live at the Festival de Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville, Canada, and in 2007 their long out-of-print cassette Live In Allentown was released on CD with nearly twice as much material as the original. Sauter and Dietrich have also recorded a duo CD, and a collaborative CD with Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore.
Name
Borbetomagus refers to the Celtic origin of the German city of Worms.
Influence
They are considered widely influential on the Japanese noise music scene, as demonstrated by the re-release of their limited Live At Inroads cassette on CD by the Japanese label P.S.F. Records, as well as having a CD released by Osaka-based noise label Alchemy Records.
They have been influential on many American rock, free jazz, and noise musicians, such as Sonic Youth, Pelt, Thomas Ankersmit, and Kevin Drumm. Miller has worked with Pelt; he now resides in New Orleans, where he frequently collaborates live with Rob Cambre and others on E-Bowed guitars.
Discography
- Borbetomagus (Agaric, 1980)
- Work On What Has Been Spoiled (Agaric, 1981)
- Borbetomagus (Agaric, 1982)
- Live at InRoads (Sound Cluster, 1982)
- Industrial Strength (Leo 113, 1983)
- Barbed Wire Maggots (Agaric, 1983)
- Borbeto Jam (Cadence, 1985)
- Bells Together (Agaric, 1985)
- Zurich (Agaric, 1985)
- New York Performances (Agaric, 1986)
- Live in Allentown (LowLife, 1986)
- Seven Reasons For Tears (Purge 027, 1987)
- Fish That Sparkling Bubble (Agaric, 1987) with Voice Crack
- Barefoot in the Head (Forced Exposure, 1990) with Thurston Moore
- Snuff Jazz (Agaric, 1990)
- Asbestos Shake (Agaric, 1991) with Voice Crack
- Buncha Hair That Long (Agaric, 1992)
- Coelacanth (Agaric, 1992) with Shaking Ray Levis
- Experience the Magic (Agaric, 1993)
- L'Atlas Des Galaxies Etranges (Non Mi Piace, 1993)
- Live in Tokyo (Alchemy, 1997)
- Songs Our Mother Taught Us (Agaric, 2003)
- Both Noise Ends Burning (Les Disques Victo, 2007) with Hijokaidan
- À Go Go (Agaric, 2009)
References
External links
Categories:- Avant-garde ensembles
- Free improvisation ensembles
- Noise musical groups
- American experimental musical groups
- Cadence Jazz Records artists
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