The Ominous Corner

"All the same, these constant fits of schizophrenia award The Ominous Corner“ a quality most comparable releases could only dream of: A nervous, subcutaneous tension keeping you glued to your seat and wondering what's next at all times." by Tobias Fischer (www.tokafi.com)

OKS Recordings of North America is pleased to announce The Ominous Corner, our ninth major release. This CD will soon be available through cdbaby.com as well as Amazon.com, Los Angeles’ Amoeba Records, Austin, Texas’s End of An Ear, Waterloo, New York’s Other Music and Kim’s Underground. It will also be available for digital download at iTunes and many other digital download services.

Marco Oppedisano is a composer and avant-guitarist who combines gorgeous classical structures with dynamic and experimental techniques. He has previously released a collection of solo recordings, Electroacoustic Compositions for Electric Guitar, and a collaboration with David Lee Myers, Tesla At Coney Island, both on OKSRNA.

The Ominous Corner, his second solo release for OKSRNA, marks a major shift in the work of this gifted musician. His work has become more focused, centering around his live playing. His musique concrète constructions are a jumping off point; a foundation for his mastery. He has processed his influences, such as Fred Frith, Marc Ribot and David Torn, and lifted his stylized playing into a symphonic grandeur along the lines of Mahler, particularly in the album’s title track.

Oppedisano’s work can sometimes be gorgeous and pastoral, yet his love of the spiky noise and squeal of the New York avant-garde scene balances the beauty with chaos in a profoundly exhilarating way. Marco’s strength is in his discipline to play in a way that avoids showiness, yet highlights his incredible chops. Marco weaves his notes and noise like brush strokes in Cityscape, painting lines like the NYC skyline viewed from a helicopter hovering above.

Throughout this album Marco lifts the listener up into the stratosphere with weightless and lovely sound works. The Cageian radios that surface in and out of Imaginary Portal and the ‘morning has risen’ feeling though out Renewal are just two of the many moments in this collection where Oppedisano achieves a lift-off like Tod Dockstader’s recent Aerial recordings, classic Fennesz or Keith Rowe.

Oppedisano’s previous solo release, Electroacoustic Compositions for Electric Guitar, was met with wide acclaim. Dave X of Startling Moniker said, “...(Oppedisano) demonstrates his ability to generate an extremely broad range of sounds from his instrument, from sonorous aquatic bells to swarming clouds of electronic chirping”. Tobias Fischer of Tokafi.com said, “Like a radio dial being turned by an invisible hand, the music switches from sound art to Metal Riffs, then gradually into waves of engulfing drones and a sequence of Frippertronics and consoling backwards chords.”

This CD-R marks the latest major release from the Brooklyn-based OKS Recordings of North America label run by Bill Byrne and his longtime collaborator, Jonah Goldstein. OKSRNA specializes in artist created CD-R releases that cater to tech-savvy listeners who are ready for new arenas of creativity for musical expression.
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Marco Oppedisano - The Ominous Corner

Liner notes:

Sounds on Cityscape, The Ominous Corner, Imaginary Portal and Renewal were derived from electric guitar, electric bass, female voice, radio, processed simple waveforms and midi instruments. Triptych consists of samples taken only from electric guitar and electric bass.

With the exception of Triptych, these compositions can be performed live for solo electric guitar and playback.

Marco Oppedisano, electric guitar, electric bass and electronics
Kimberly Fiedelman, spoken word and voice samples on The Ominous Corner and Renewal.

All compositions, Marco Oppedisano
(Out Your Ear, ASCAP)

Copyright, 2008

Photography - Marco Oppedisano
Design - Bill Byrne

OKSRNA - 016
OKS Recordings of North America
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