Colin Newman Teams w/Tortoise on BBC

Part of BBC 3's "Late Junction" pairing up disparate artists; to be aired Oct. 15.

By Blurt Staff

Tortoise recently hunkered down, on August 26,  in BBC's Maida Vale Studio with Wire/Githead frontman Colin Newman. It was part of a series of collaborations set up by BBC Radio 3's "Late Junction" wherein artists who might not usually work together to spend a day in the studio recording a session (not unlike those "In The Fishtank" projects from a few years ago).

Previously the BBC has paired up Tunng and Tinariwen, resulting in a tour together. Other recent sessions have included Wildbirds and Peacedrums meeting Micachu, as well as Adem and Sweet Billy Pilgrim. The Tortoise-Newman summit is set to be aired October 15 at 11:15 pm (London time) over BBC 3.

According to the BBC, "When Tortoise and Colin Newman, two heavy-weights of underground music, went into the studio no one quite knew what to expect, but when the day was over both parties felt that the session had been amazingly productive and agreed that the resulting recording was something to be proud of."

Newman and Dan Bitney added their comments:

DAN: "This experiment could have gone wrong in so many ways, trying to basically improvise with someone you've never played with before...sometimes it just doesn't happen even with people you're used to playing with!  I'm really happy with what we came up with. Colin was great to work with and I find it refreshing to make recordings that aren't 'fixed' with hours of editing, more of a 'that's what happened' recording experience."

COLIN: "What I can say is this. I don't think here was any way in which anyone could have predicted if this would work or not, the approach was to expect zero that way disappointment would be best avoided!  However, in truth it came out way better than anyone had a right to expect. The pieces are not developed, mainly taken after a single or no run through and mixed on the fly but there is enough in their basic energy to make one wonder if this is a project which may well have a life beyond the confines of a single visit to the BBC studios in Maida Vale.... A couple of the tunes have refused to vacate my 'internal walkman'.."

Incidentally, for non-UK fans,  the program is also available to listen again for up to seven days after broadcast via the website: www.bbc.co.uk/radio3