Instant (album)

Untitled

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link

Instant is a double compact disc by the Dutch experimental post-punk band The Ex. The band recorded the album in conjunction with many guest musicians, notably members of Holland's Instant Composers Pool (ICP) for whom the album is partially named, the other part being that the Dutch term for "free improvisation" literally translates to "instant composition."

Background

The Ex had long collabroated with ICP members and featured those recordings on the double album Joggers and Smoggers and on the box set 6 (The Ex album)6. Instant marked the band's first album of entirely instrumental and improvised music. Instant's 32 tracks feature shifting duos and trios of musicians performing on a wide array of conventional (electric guitars, reeds, brass, etc) and non-conventional (e.g., toffee-tin bass) instruments. Though the entire album could have fit onto one 70-minute CD, the band formatted it for a briefer listening experience with each of Instant's 35-minute discs containing 16 short tracks.

Track list

Disc 1

1. "If the Hat Fits the Suit"
2. "Duo Rumpus"
3. "Kloptimog Twist"
4. "Baars vs. Karekiet"
5. "Keng Lil Surf"
6. "Duo Triptych Too"
7. "Lip Up, Stump"
8. "So Low, Solex?"
9. "Skoplje Bop"
10. "Buildance"
11. "Bratunac"
12. "Horsemeal"
13. "Expoobident"
14. "Slow Sleeper
15. "Duo Loom"
16. "Te-Au-O-Tonga"

Disc 2

1. "Travel On, Poor Bob"
2. "What Inflexibility?"
3. "Bon-Go Tell You Git-La La"
4. "Duo Variola"
5. "Meanwhile Back in Ozone Street"
6. "Smuiger"
7. "Rusticles"
8. "Atoll"
9. "Exile O'phonics"
10. "Danse Maudit""
11. "Knit Knack + Zoom"
12. "Oh Muted Foghorn"
13. "Duo Tonebone + Hitgit"
14. "The Turtle the Hare"
15. "Karremans' Last Measure"
16. "There Were Sonic Bangs in the Songs I Sang, There Was Nothing Tickling No One"

Personnel

The Ex

• Terrie (guitar)
• Luc (bass
• Andy (guitar, viola)
• Katrin (drums)
• Han Buhrs (harmonica, guitar, toffee-tin bass)
• G.W. Sok (various)

Various band members also play organ, accordion, samples + tape, djembé-springs, mbira, reed shakers, musical saw, acoustic guitar, double-bass, chairs.

Guest musicians

• Ab Baars (saxophones, clarinet)
• Wolter Wierbos (trombone)
• Han Bennink (drums)
• Michael Vatcher (drums, percussion)
• Tristan Honsinger (cello),
• Dolf Planteijdt (acoustic guitar)

Recorded at the Koeienverhuurbedrijf, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Produced by Dolf Planteijdt.

Notes

• Cogan, Brian. Encyclopedia of Punk Music and Culture. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2006. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-313-33340-8.
• Mount, Heather. "Three Looks into The Ex". In Crane, Larry. Tape Op: The Book about Creative Music Recording, Volume 2. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation, 2010. pp. 230–233.
• Robbins, Ira A., ed. The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock: The all-new 5th edition of The Trouser Press Record Guide. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0684814374.
• Sok, G.W. A Mix of Bricks & Valentines: Lyrics 1979–2009. New York: PM Press, 2011.
• Temporary Services. Group Work. New York: Printed Matter, March 2007.