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"Bassist Simon H. Fell
produces flawless improvisations, it seems, with an awesome
regularity these days, and Descension's
new disc Live,
March 1995 is no
exception. It's no easy picnic, either. The music's blistering. Just
be sure to buckle yourself in." CADENCE
"A perfect documentation of a
concept - Ascension + Simon Fell's double bass and Charles Wharf's
alto, soprano and b cl - that couldn't be much righter......places
all concerned in a new and unfamiliar context, allowing a rare
opportunity to hear four very fine improvisers in a fascinating
one-off setting." Nick Cain OPPROBRIUM
"A glorious cascade of music
that proves it is precisely the pursuit of pure energy and dissonant
thrill that can make something vital out of improvisation.....It has
the gauntlet-in-the-face impact of music that changes lives. Aural
crucifixion with so many thorn-in-flesh beauties you just have to
keep playing it." Ben Watson THE WIRE
"The way Descension
rearrange the building blocks of rock begs comparison with bebop's
rewrite of Broadway. Simply put: music to bet your life on." Ben
Watson HIFI NEWS & RECORD REVIEW
"Descension's
four members strolled onstage and went straight into a thirty-minute
wall of delirious post-Coltrane Noise. I was taken aback by the
detail and gory complexity of the sounds. In the intermission
Thurston Moore bounded up to Descension's dressing-room: "Gee!
Is that what the Pistols were like?" Having had the fortune to
see both, I can only pronounce that Descension were, if anything,
better." Ben Watson VARIANT
"Watching this beautiful,
jagged noise split the audience into warring camps felt like one of
the great countercultural blows of the 90s. The tension generated was
a real shot of creative adrenalin, much less collusive and jaded than
more fêted avant garde events." Ben Watson THE WIRE |
