Rothko - Sunset To Sunrise

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4...according to our Clinton on Fri 16 Jul, 2010.

Rothko have been....um... trading the boards for quite some time now up towards 15 years at least I'd say. The template has generally remained the same, shifting in an out of ambience, one minute a band the next time a more solo type project from mainstay Mark Beazley. Their use of two bass guitars rather than the traditional 6 string marks them out from the post rock lot. The main starting point as comparison I guess would be The Durutti Column. There's a lot of the twiddly Reilly finger picking about but Rothko tend to edge towards the more experimental end and their songs turn into looser jams heading generally towards ambient pieces with soft synth washes, jazz inflected drumming. I guess its either indulgent or experimental depending on your viewpoint but either way it sprawls quite spectacularly and with deep resonant bass chords underpinning the loose, inspired playing it is at points very impressive. Worth mentioning that this retails for only £4.29. Bargain!

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Sunset To Sunrise contains the first completely new compositions by Rothko since 2007 s Eleven Stages Of Intervention on the Bip_H0p label. In the intervening years, the group have toured extensively in France and the UK, and they have also been spending time concentrating on their own projects; Ben and Tom Page [electronics and drums] with their group RocketNumberNine [fresh from a tour with Fourtet], Mark Beazley with his own solo work and Michael Donnelly [bass] with Ben Page as Elite Barbarian. Recorded over two weekends in late 2009 with original Rothko member Crawford Blair at the controls, and with nothing written in advance, the idea was to go back to the source, press the record button, and just play. Based around the notion of the passage of time from the setting to the rising of the sun, the five resulting tracks perfectly capture the live essence of the group; dark, heavy, expansive and intense. Released on Rothko founder Mark Beazley s own Trace Recordings label, Sunset To Sunrise is a taster for the next Rothko album, scheduled, again on Trace, for late 2010.

5...according to Mark Beazley.

Dear Norman Records, thank you so much for your support and kindness towards us through so many years. Sunset To Sunrise will now be the final release under the Rothko name, as we all go off to pursue other projects. Most notably Tom and Ben with RocketNumbernine, and their recent 12" vinyl release on Keiran Hebden's Text label, Matthew and Toby, with a Fourtet mix on the other side. And my own new group, Rome Pays Off, formed with original Rothko member Crawford Blair and Chris Gowers of Karina ESP and Signals.

Thanks again for selling our music. I'm most grateful to you.

Mark.

So, what do you think? Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!