Previously only available as part of the THRAK boxed set released in 2015, ATTAKcATHRAK is now available to download as a standalone item.
A companion piece to the original THRaKaTTaK which was compiled from 1995 recordings of the short improvisations that were a nightly part of THRAK, this new selection is derived from the 1996 ‘THRaKaTTaK Tour’. With the Complete 1996 Tour recently added to the Nugs streaming service here’s a chance to listen to how the improvisations from those concerts have been used to create a further hour of extended THRaKKING.
The band’s improvisations were also evolving, in part influenced by the longer forms heard on THRaKaTTaK, and as the album’s producer David Singleton explains:
“The band went out and toured again in 1996 and they themselves then lengthened their improvisations in response to what they had heard on the album. Both Robert and I thought we should go back and make THRaKaTTaK again because there is now a different style of material to make it with”.
Another difference to the earlier album is that the ATTAKcATHRAK audio comes from the multi-track recordings rather than the stereo board recordings of the original, allowing for a more sophisticated blending of material that might have originated in several different countries, months apart.
David further elaborates: “The process of recording with found sound, so in effect you are learning to compose using pieces of music that already exist. The first thing you do is you simply listen to all the improvisations, I think I listened to 50 versions of THRAK over three continents and you listen to each of them and you start noting down the tiny bits you like.” David would go on to work on the album over the course of a couple of months, gradually refining the material and allowing the creative process to unfold, “ it’s not really subjective I think it’s objective you simply have to do what the music demands… trust the music!”
The arrange window for ATTAKcATHRAK in Logic
“Each of the colours is a separate edit from a different city. The whole thing lasts about 50 minutes and I think there are 30 or 40 edits so there's roughly an edit every minute”.
Mixed, edited and assembled by David Singleton
Live recording engineer: Noah Evens.
Download the album ATTAKcATHRAK
Listen to the complete 1996 THRaKaTTaK Tour
For an in-depth guide to the making of the album listen to David Singleton explain all on the King Crimson YouTube Channel.
With several of the King Crimson boxed sets now out of print, we are planning to release more material that has previously only been available in the boxed sets here on dgmlive, and we're taking requests!
