Trickfinger - Trickfinger II

Tracklist:

A1 Shift Sync

A2 Ruche

A3 Exclam

B1 Hasan

B2 Cuh

B3 Stall

That's fairly uninspiring, but given that the first album was promoted by the only non-excellent track on it, my hopes aren't dashed yet.

edit: just realised it's a playlist. Yeah, as predicted tracks 2-6 sound fucking brilliant, and 1 is really dull.

It sounds like these were b-side / improvisations he had no intention of releasing, so maybe some label shenanigans abound.

He had no intention of releasing the first lot either, nor the EP on Acid Test he did under his own name. The label were excited about them and talked him into it pretty much, hah.

https://www.absurdrecordings.com/

The Trickfinger project was recorded 10 years ago with no intention of being released at the time, made purely for discovery and learning experience.

“In my opinion, making music with no intention of releasing it is the best thing a musician can do for his own development in this day and age. The Trickfinger LP was made in that mindset, and it was the beginning of a new musical life for me. When I hear it, it sounds like I am opening up doorways to new worlds, and I never have had that feeling listening to music I made for the purpose of releasing it and selling it.”

All the music was recorded live onto a CD burner, through a cheap mixer. John would sit on a chair, in his living room, surrounded by five to 15 machines, and just keep programming and jamming until the track was ready to be recorded. There were no overdubs – recorded all live.

Acid Test unearthed these recordings and John agreed to a release. Trickfinger II is the second part to the recordings made during the winter of 2007.

Trickfinger II will be released September 8th, 2017 LP/CD/Digital on Acid Test, distributed worldwide by Wordandsound.

On first listen, a lot more experimental than the first one, some very odd layering of rhythms and melodies, a bit of soloing, less typically conventional acid this time around. The last track, 'Stall', stands out as one of JF's best electronic tracks to date. Will take a few listens to get into.