- Oren Ambarchi
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Oren Ambarchi Born 1969 Origin Sydney, Australia Instruments guitar, drums Years active 1986-current Associated acts Sunn O))) Website orenambarchi.com Notable instruments modified/experimental guitar Oren Ambarchi is a multi-instrumentalist who in major plays electric guitar and drums, with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. He was born in Sydney, Australia in 1969[1] to a Jewish family originally from Iraq.
Contents
Background
Ambarchi has been performing music live since 1986. In the late 1980s he played free jazz in Sydney, originally as a drummer.[2] In an interview with ABC Radio broadcaster, Jon Rose, Ambarchi described how he started playing guitar,
There happened to be one laying around in our rehearsal room. I picked it up and starting hitting it with drumsticks and using it in whatever way I wanted to use it in, and one thing led to another. I'm glad I wasn't trained. I've always loved rock music, I grew up listening to pop and rock, so that was in my mind, but I've also been interested in electronics. I never wanted to learn to play it properly, it was an object as much as an instrument.[2]
He was a member of noise band Phlegm with Robbie Avenaim, with whom he co-organised the What Is Music Festival. His work focuses mainly on the exploration of the guitar, though he also plays drums and percussion in some of his live performances.[3]
Sunn O))) Collaborations
Ambarchi contributed to drone doom band Sunn O)))'s Black One album in 2005, and has since become a frequent live performer with the band, as well as contributing to the Oracle EP and Monoliths & Dimensions album.[4] He also released a vinyl EP with Attila Csihar and Sunn O)))'s Greg Anderson under the name Burial Chamber Trio; and has performed with Attila Csihar and Stephen O'Malley, the other half of Sunn O))), under the name Gravetemple. Ambarchi also works in popular music contexts and is a drummer for the group Sun with vocalist Chris Townend formerly of Kiss My Poodles Donkey.
In May 2010 he performed live with Boris at the Vivid Live Noise Night curated by Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. Ambarchi collaborated with multi-instrumentalist Paul Duncan of Warm Ghost on experimental music projects.[5]
Partial Discography
- (1999) Clockwork, with Robbie Avenaim (Jerker Productions; ::room40:: reissue 2005)
- (1999) The Alter Rebbe's Nigun, with Robbie Avenaim (Tzadik Records)
- (2000) Insulation (Touch)
- (2000) Afternoon Tea with Christian Fennesz, Paul Gough, Peter Rehberg, Keith Rowe (Ritornell)
- (2002) Suspension (Touch)
- (2003) Sun (Preservation Records)
- (2003) Triste (Idea Records (US)))
- (2003) My days are darker than your nights with Johan Berthling (Häpna)
- (2004) Grapes from the Estate (Touch)
- (2005) Cloud with Keith Rowe, Toshimaru Nakamura and Christian Fennesz (Erstwhile)
- (2005) Black One with Sunn O))) (Southern Lord)
- (2006) Squire with Keith Rowe (For4Ears Records)
- (2000) Stacte Motors (Western Vinyl)
- (2007) In the Pendulum's Embrace (Touch)
- (2007) Grave Temple with Stephen O'Malley and Attila Csihar (Southern Lord Records)
- (2007) Burial Chamber Trio with Greg Anderson and Attila Csihar (Southern Lord Records)
- (2008) Spirit Transform Me with Z'EV (Tzadik)
- (2009) Monoliths & Dimensions with Sunn O))) (Southern Lord)
- (2010) Tima Formosa with Jim O'Rourke and Keiji Haino (Black Truffle)[6]
- (2011) In A Flash Everything Comes Together As One There Is No Need For A Subject with Keiji Haino and Jim O'Rourke (Black Truffle/Medama)
References
- ^ "Oren Ambarchi biography". Touch Music. 2002. Archived from the original on 06/01/2009. http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/Biographies/orenambarchi.html. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
- ^ a b Rose, Jon (2003). "Re-wired Guitar - OREN AMBARCHI". Australia Adlib. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.abc.net.au/arts/adlib/stories/s860640.htm. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
- ^ caleb~k (2001). "OREN AMBARCHI INTERVIEW". Angbase. http://www.angbase.com/interviews/oren_ambarchi.html. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
- ^ Stannard, Joseph (08/04/2009). "Sunn O))) Exclusive Interview Transcripts: Oren Ambarchi". The Wire (Issue 302). Wire Magazine. http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/2343/. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
- ^ "Warm Ghost". Partisan Records. 2011-05-08. http://www.partisanrecords.com/artists/warm-ghost/bio/. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
- ^ Currin, Grayson (16/08/2010). "Album Review - Oren Ambarchi / Keiji Haino / Jim O'Rourke - Tima Formosa". Pitchfork. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14559-tima-formosa/. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
External links
- Oren Ambarchi.com - Official website
- Live at CTM-festival in Berlin
Categories:- 1969 births
- Living people
- Australian experimental musicians
- Australian guitarists
- Australian Jews
- Australian people of Iraqi descent
- Electroacoustic improvisation
- Free improvisation
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