This recording is the result of a collaboration between Vultures Quartet and Schuyler Tsuda as requested by the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis following the Vultures Quartet performance at the 2010 Spark Festival of new music. The recording was funded by the university and provided the performers with some unique on-site instrumentation, including access to a collection of vintage analogue synthesizers, various orchestral instruments, and a bursary to purchase scrap metal to make new instruments. The group recorded over four hours of material in the University of Minnesota's Music Department studios. This release is taken from those recordings, as selected and mixed by band member Anthony Donovan.
The collaboration between the musicians came about through a long time friendship between Schuyler Tsuda and Will Connor, who met in 2003 whilst studying music at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa. In the following years, Tsuda went on to work with Vultures Quartet members live in Germany and The Netherlands as well as submitting tracks to Anthony Donovan's periodic release of new music, Classwar Karaoke. This recording marks the first the group played together as a full quartet. The CD was entitled Sui Generis, which is Latin for "of its own kind" to reflect this new group with unique characteristics. Limited edition,
packaged in 3panel digipack
Release date: 18.05.2013
Musicians and instrumentation:
Schuyler Tsuda - sound sculptures
Anthony Dovonvan - live electronics, bass, balloon
Matt Chilton - laptop
Will Connor - percussion, metal, junk
Recorded by Schuyler Tsuda at University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA, October 2011
Mixed by Anthony Donovan at Cafe Abdab, Northampton, England, November 2012 - February 2013
Mastered at Formless Spawn Studios, London by Will Connor, March 2013. Graphic: Marcin Owczarek
