Septile is a trio which was founded in New York City in the summer
of 1997 and consists of Rhys on trumpet, Jonathan Kane on drums and
DJ Elated System on turntables. Here is the press release from their
first CD single, which was released on the Ninja Tune / Ntone Label
in February of 1998:
Cat. No (Form):
NTONE28 (12"), NTONECDS28 (CD)
Tracks: Domestik Life, Septile, Rotate, Bleach
Released: 23rd February 1998
Rhys Chatham switched from guitar in favor of electric brass at the
start of the nineties. He sold his GLS by Leo Fender and released his
debut album on fuzz trumpet, it was the acclaimed NEON CD for Ntone,
which was co-written with Martin Wheeler. Now Rhys has teamed up to
co-compose and collaborate with New York drummer Jonathan Kane and DJ
Elated System, who hails from the Bronx, to form a new band called
SEPTILE, which is the title of their new CD single for Ntone.
Although he is currently living in Paris, Rhys has a long history on
the New York downtown music scene, from playing in La Monte Young's
Dream House band at the start of the seventies with Terry Riley and
Jon Hassell as well as being in Tony Conrad's group "Ten Years Alive
on the Infinite Plain". Rhys was soon playing with his own minimalist
guitar band at CBGBs, Max's, The Mudd Club and Danceteria during the
late seventies and early eighties and began performing all over the
world with drummer Jonathan Kane at the start of the nineties with
his band of 100 electric guitars. Naturally enough, Rhys favors
making his trumpet sound as much as possible like an electric
guitar.
Jonathan Kane has bravely gone where no drummer has gone before.
Currently with La Monte Young's Forever Bad Blues Band, he plays
fiercely in a three hour tour de force. With Rhys Chatham's 100
electric guitar orchestra he is the only drummer and featured
soloist. Hailed as 'Virtuosic' (N.Y. Times), 'Tireless Drumming
Phenomenon' (Village Voice), 'Magnificent, Mighty'(N.Y. Daily News),
'Volcanic'(Rolling Stone), 'Extraordinary, Technically and
Artistically Unsurpassable'(Espresso Sera, Italy), Kane also tours
and records with a galaxy of new music luminaries including Gary
Lucas' Gods and Monsters, Dave Soldiers Kropotkins (with Mo Tucker),
Elliott Sharp, Tony Hymas (Jeff Beck, Jack Bruce) John King and many
others, and he was a founding member of the legendary industrial
group, Swans. He has also composed for dance, theater, and
television.
DJ Elated System, aka Danny Hamilton, co-composer on the SEPTILE CD,
is a helluva guy and hails from the Bronx. He has played with, among
others, Billy Bang, Lee Ranaldo, Wayne Horvitz, Bad Brains; and Bobby
Previte. Due to a lack of sense of humor on the part of his banker
his email account was closed down, hence the brevity of this
biographical submission, soon to be updated...
The name of the new CD on Ntone is SEPTILE. What is a septile,
anyway? A septile is an astrological aspect, it's the angle formed
when a circle is divided into seven equal parts; it signifies
influences from the beyond or "otherworldliness". Says Rhys in his
own words; "Our goal is to get in touch with our audience's
spirit-body by creating a series of extremely repetitious,
mind-deadening sounds. We find that by deadening, possibly destroying
the intellect, you can actually make people feel. We attempt to make
people stop thinking for as long as possible when they listen to what
we do. We believe that, as time goes by, we stop people from thinking
more effectively, at least that's what we hope."