{"title":"The Necks","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Necks are an Australian experimental jazz trio formed in 1987. The band consists of Chris Abrahams on piano and Hammond organ, Tony Buck on drums, percussion and electric guitar, and Lloyd Swanton on bass guitar and double bass.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince 2001, The Necks has been collaborating with Tim Whitten in the studio. Whitten has mixed and engineered over 13 albums for the band, adding his expertise to their unique sound.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Necks' music is known for its improvisational style and ability to create mesmerizing sonic landscapes. With their innovative approach to jazz, they have gained a dedicated following worldwide.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"body","title":"Body","description":"\u003cp\u003eAustralia’s greatest cult band, \u003cstrong\u003eThe Necks\u003c\/strong\u003e, has a new piece to offer the world this summer, entitled \u003cem\u003eBody\u003c\/em\u003e. Different again to all previous Necks albums (20 in total), the band has chosen 10 words and phrases that summarize the four richly contrasting episodes of this hour-long, mesmerizing groove.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThey are as follows: Episodic, Driving, Dynamic, Layered, Celebratory, Soaring, Rocking out, Buoyant, Sustained, Perfectly paced. The album uses, yet again, the combination of \u003cstrong\u003eChris Abrahams\u003c\/strong\u003e (piano, keyboards), \u003cstrong\u003eTony Buck\u003c\/strong\u003e (drums, percussion, and guitar very much to the fore on this one), and \u003cstrong\u003eLloyd Swanton\u003c\/strong\u003e (acoustic bass) with \u003cstrong\u003eTim Whitten\u003c\/strong\u003e (engineer), who has recorded and\/or mixed the last twelve Necks albums.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Necks hold their own with the best of them when it comes to rhythmic complexity, but they have put much of that to one side for this album in the interests of conjuring their most relentlessly driving album since \u003cem\u003eHanging Gardens\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough it's their 20th release to date, the band continues to evolve, each release taken as another opportunity to test not one but a subtle suite of fresh ideas, including, on this record, an element of shock! At the same time, they remain steadfast in their exploration of the single overarching structural idea that has informed their work from the beginning - an imperceptible and organic modulation of quasi-interdependent musical entities; it's one of the few genuinely innovative ideas to emerge from the world of western music (in any genre) over the last 30 years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd it is so distinct - and so linked to these specific performers' personal sensibilities - that no one has attempted to follow. It's a very particular combination of patience, temperament, quiet virtuosity, economy and concentration - coupled with a unique understanding of experienced time - that has made the Necks one of only a handful of original voices working in music today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith the Necks there is no path and nothing but path; that's a fiendishly difficult combination to pull off, especially with such unassuming virtuosity.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rer Megacorp","offers":[{"title":"CD.","offer_id":50383471444299,"sku":"1041940","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/2ae7bdcc-19c4-4211-af29-e960d3e57db4_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726270422"},{"product_id":"travel-2","title":"Travel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eTravel,\u003c\/i\u003e the 19th studio album by Australian improvisational trio The Necks, documents their recent practice of starting each day in the studio with a 20-minute trio improvisation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe recordings offer some of their most ecstatic and captivating music cut to tape. As bassist Lloyd Swanton puts it: \"It's a really nice communal activity to bring us together in focus each day, and some lovely music has resulted from it.\" Although a straight \"live\" improvisation has never been recorded in the studio by the band, these tracks (save for some light overdubs\/post-production) feel closest to what they've been doing live for more than 30 years now.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e In 2017 Stephen O'Malley's Ideologic Organ label released the band's lauded \u003ci\u003eUnfold\u003c\/i\u003e, which first offered up this uncharacteristic studio work: four sub-20-minute pieces - instead of the typical 60+ minute arc for which the band is known - along with an obfuscated track list which leaves play order to the listener's hand. The album quickly sold out, and persists as a treasure in collections or as a high-priced 'Want' on Discogs.\u003ci\u003e Travel \u003c\/i\u003emarks a return to this double-LP format, offered in a beautiful gatefold package that features photography by Traianos Pakioufakis and impeccable mastering by Doug Henderson.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50383602680139,"sku":"2004777","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50383605006667,"sku":"2004778","price":42.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/unnamed_7b8c0ba9_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726273882"},{"product_id":"open-3","title":"Open","description":"\u003cp\u003e'Open' is the Necks' 17th album, and the 11th released by ReR. Here the band returns to the territory for which it is best known: a single, glacially mutating, long-form piece that runs for a little over an hour. Feeding into the ground plan are floating arco harmonics, minimalist funk, iterative piano figures, subliminal and liminal pulses, twittering electronics and at one point an arco bass choir. It is unequivocally a studio work, with layer laid on layer, while still, miraculously, remaining architecturally spare.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rer Megacorp","offers":[{"title":"CD.","offer_id":50389197259083,"sku":"367936","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/b20dbc63-bd78-48c6-bcba-b43c1b9b690e_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726355199"},{"product_id":"mindset-2","title":"Mindset","description":"\u003cp\u003enow in their 24th year, the necks' release 'mindset', their 16th album - and first lp, featuring two starkly contrasting tracks: the pulsating, raw, rum jungle and the slower building, rather hypnotic daylights. polyrhythms imbue both pieces with powerful forward motion, embroiled with which ethereal piano patterns interweave with bass, drums, electronics, churning hammonds and noise-guitars. drummer and percussionist tony buck writes: \"mindset shares some elements in common with our previous album silverwater (2009), mostly in some mixing approaches and rhythmic devices - a reflection of our ongoing fascination with polymetric material and varying simultaneous pulses... but it's a whole other thing again, and the two tracks are very different from one another - rum jungle captures the live approach of the piano, bass, and drum trio a lot more, while daylights features a bed of electronics and little sounds that slowly converge, coalescing into a multi-layered, multi-tempo, swirling soundscape.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50389198864715,"sku":"344233","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50389199094091,"sku":"344232","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/2baea8b8-0b21-4643-b0a5-e2624f4ea9ed_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726355255"},{"product_id":"relaxin-in-the-jungle-egyptian-double","title":"Relaxin' In The Jungle \/ Egyptian Double","description":"\u003cp\u003eBrand new 7-inch from the incredible duo The Double. Their first release since their debut album \u003ci\u003eDawn of the Double\u003c\/i\u003e in 2016. The Double are Emmett Kelly and Jim White - two dudes with resumes so massive it's not even worth bothering to try and drop names. For the recording session that produced this single they brought in bassist Matt Lux. The music The Double make is rhythmic, hypnotic and percussive. Says The Double of this new single, “after the Dance Craze, we took off to go relax in the jungle with our buddy Matt Lux”. 400 copies made.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"Black 7\" - 2048236","offer_id":50393458671947,"sku":"2048236","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/image002_59738a4f_thumbnail_4096.png?v=1726417680"},{"product_id":"bleed","title":"Bleed","description":"\u003cp\u003eAustralian minimalist-jazz trio \u003cstrong\u003eThe Necks\u003c\/strong\u003e' 20th studio album, \u003cem\u003eBleed\u003c\/em\u003e, explores a sublime language of stillness. With a single, 42-minute composition, \u003cstrong\u003eThe Necks\u003c\/strong\u003e masterfully express the unspeakable beauty of decay and space in yet another totally distinct entry in a vast and stunning body of work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50448378462539,"sku":"2217318","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"Green LP","offer_id":50448379642187,"sku":"2217319","price":27.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50448380625227,"sku":"2217321","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/201374980865_1193c4c8_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727090947"},{"product_id":"chemist","title":"Chemist","description":"\u003cp\u003ethis is the 13th release from australian maverick trio the necks, still occupying a genre-group of one. their slow, gripping, development of a single idea over the length of a whole cd, while somehow obvious, has proved uncopyable. having established their theme, with 'chemist' the necks break the habit of a lifetime and juxtapose three 20-minute tracks. be riveted by the drama of an improvised narrative as it unfolds in hyper slow-motion.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50483359580491,"sku":"274468","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/96d2a452-b4fc-43eb-bf9a-24b7aa201f1c_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727565635"},{"product_id":"townsville","title":"Townsville","description":"\u003cp\u003eback in stock the necks are one of the great cult bands of australia. chris abrahams (piano), tony buck (drums), and lloyd swanton (bass) conjure a chemistry together that defies description in orthodox terms. these three musicians are among the most respected and in-demand in australia, working in every field from pop to avant-garde. over 200 albums feature their presence individually or together, but the music of the necks stands apart from everything else they have done. the deceptive simplicity of their music throws forth new charms on each hearing. not entirely avant-garde, nor minimalist, nor ambient, nor jazz, the music of the necks is possibly unique in the world today. 'townsville' is their latest live album. it is 1 track, 53' 41\" long, and was recorded live in australia february 2007.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50525993795915,"sku":"291486","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/9b5dc356-9270-4ed4-b2bd-c61536e5db83_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1728038263"},{"product_id":"three","title":"Three","description":"\u003cp\u003eLast year The Necks survived a performance 135 metres underground in a Polish salt mine, with the Cracovia Sinfonietta; recording with \u003ci\u003eThe Swans\u003c\/i\u003e and winning the Richard Gill Award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music - and to coincide with \u003ci\u003ethis\u003c\/i\u003e release they’re embarking on a substantial tour of Australia that takes in the \u003ci\u003eSydney Opera House\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePerth International \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eArts Festival\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eMuseum of Old and New Art\u003c\/i\u003e, in Tasmania. This is a new Studio recording.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rer Megacorp","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50989418774859,"sku":"1084918","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/a2112115597_10_366dcad0_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1734542761"},{"product_id":"vertigo-7","title":"Vertigo","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe release of a new Necks album is always news. This is Rer's 12th to date - and the Necks 18th. While most ensembles are driven by personalities, the Necks are powered by an idea. A very large and simple idea - which now seems completely obvious.... but only because the Necks thought of it and made it work. Now their pleasure (and ours) is sequentially to re-imagine and explore that idea - the prime directive of which seems to be to be that each unfolding step and every passing detail of any performance be allowed to evolve organically out of the musical conditions established at its moment of departure. In other words, we are in the territory of chaos and catastrophe theory; of hurricanes and butterfly wings... And, since one can never step into the same river twice, each beginning has led to wildly unpredictable and variant outcomes; imperceptibly: you never hear the changes until somehow they have already happened. \"We end up\", Lloyd Swanton writes, \"in a very different place from whatever our initial notion ... had been.\" In the case of Vertigo, we are dropped straight into an almost Feldmanesque musical universe, in which sounds - seemingly disconnected - are already there; creating space rather than inhabiting it. Then, without trying, they mutate. Not mechanically and not according to any pre-determined process - because it's always clear that what we hear is being played by human beings; that it's music. A special kind of music that is not pushy or demanding or demonstrative, but rather co-operative, spatial, ambiguous. A music that leaves room for its listeners.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rer Megacorp","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50990584561995,"sku":"394148","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/7443324f-9529-46ee-9591-045031ccf671_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1734565326"},{"product_id":"disquiet","title":"Disquiet","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003cem\u003eDisquiet\u003c\/em\u003e, The Necks stretch their immersive, shape-shifting sound across three discs and more than three hours of labyrinthine, patient intensity. This is their twentieth studio recording and it marks the 39th year of the band’s existence. Meticulously recorded and sculpted, the four extended pieces on Disquiet see Tony Buck, Chris Abrahams, and Lloyd Swanton pushing at the outer edges of their collective intuition, building and unraveling hypnotic structures with microscopic focus. Present is the usual arsenal of piano, double bass, and drums, and all the in-between of sounds undefined and sources obscured. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe music of The Necks has always carried a profound sense of shared responsibility –– between the players, of course, in their utter commitment to the improvisational –– but also between the work and its audience. With music so open, there are profound opportunities to choose: what to focus on, whether to focus at all, etc. \u003cem\u003eDisquiet\u003c\/em\u003e takes this further: there is no particular listening order prescribed. There is no “Disc 1, Disc 2, Disc 3.” The music itself seems to stretch time, and this presentation challenges ideas of sequencing. The Necks, one may argue, are a mode of discovery as much as they are a band. Regarding the sound itself, The Necks’ signature restraint and textural depth remain, with subtle tonal shifts, evolving motifs, and roiling phases of keen and propulsive clatter, strains of subdued surprise and unmatched intentionality –– as ever, expansive and absorbing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Northern Spy","offers":[{"title":"3CD","offer_id":53183040979275,"sku":"R2083-0934","price":29.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/201375062890.jpg?v=1755255382"},{"product_id":"the-necks-box","title":"The Necks Box","description":"\u003cp\u003eUnavailable for a few years. 8 of their best CDS are now in this sturdy box. 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