| Attention Span | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1990 | |||
| Recorded | September – December 1989 | |||
| Studio | Various
| |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 45:21 | |||
| Label | RecRec | |||
| Bob Ostertag chronology | ||||
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| Fred Frith chronology | ||||
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| John Zorn chronology | ||||
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Attention Span is a collaborative album by Bob Ostertag,Fred Frith and John Zorn,released in 1990 by RecRec Music. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [6] |
Ted Mills of AllMusic said of Attention Span that it is "not as cohesive as some of his other,more conceptual works (sometimes you wonder if the whole thing is a favor to his fellow artists),but certainly not without worth." [6]
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Power" | Ostertag, Zorn | 1:07 |
| 2. | "Paper Jam" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:16 |
| 3. | "Warning" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:25 |
| 4. | "And Gate" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:10 |
| 5. | "Necker Cube" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:56 |
| 6. | "Fold" | Ostertag, Zorn | 1:06 |
| 7. | "Ebb Tide" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:51 |
| 8. | "Marketing Research" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:21 |
| 9. | "Fixed Resistor" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:17 |
| 10. | "Radiant Power" | Ostertag, Zorn | 1:14 |
| 11. | "Depth Reversal" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:21 |
| 12. | "Dangerous Zone" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:37 |
| 13. | "Hit the Road" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:21 |
| 14. | "Smoking" | Ostertag, Zorn | 1:55 |
| 15. | "Waiting" | Ostertag, Zorn | 1:31 |
| 16. | "Electric Flux" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:36 |
| 17. | "Cocktail Lounge" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:35 |
| 18. | "Coat Check" | Ostertag, Zorn | 1:05 |
| 19. | "Detour" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:24 |
| 20. | "Meter" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:59 |
| 21. | "Circuit Breaker" | Ostertag, Zorn | 1:11 |
| 22. | "Surge Impendence" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:40 |
| 23. | "Vision" | Ostertag, Zorn | 1:57 |
| 24. | "Black, To a Chimp" | Ostertag, Zorn | 0:20 |
| 25. | "Neon" | Ostertag, Zorn | 1:00 |
| 26. | "Emergency Shop" | Ostertag, Zorn | 3:14 |
| 27. | "Flame" | Frith, Ostertag | 1:54 |
| 28. | "Bone" | Frith, Ostertag | 5:39 |
| 29. | "Jolt" | Frith, Ostertag | 6:03 |
| 30. | "Bolt" | Frith, Ostertag | 4:37 |
| 31. | "Loops" | Frith, Ostertag | 0:56 |
| 32. | "Drowning Offshore" | Frith, Ostertag | 2:43 |
Adapted from the Attention Span liner notes. [7]
Musicians
Production and design
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 1990 | RecRec | CD | ReCDec 33 |
Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as a founding member of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. He was also a member of the groups Art Bears, Massacre, and Skeleton Crew. He has collaborated with a number of prominent musicians, including Robert Wyatt, Derek Bailey, the Residents, Lol Coxhill, John Zorn, Brian Eno, Mike Patton, Lars Hollmer, Bill Laswell, Iva Bittová, Jad Fair, Kramer, the ARTE Quartett, and Bob Ostertag. He has also composed several long works, including Traffic Continues and Freedom in Fragments. Frith produces most of his own music, and has also produced many albums by other musicians, including Curlew, the Muffins, Etron Fou Leloublan, and Orthotonics.
Robert "Bob" Ostertag is an American musician, writer, and political activist based in San Francisco. He has published seven books, one feature film, a DVD, twenty-six albums, and collaborated with numerous musicians.
Keep the Dog was an American-based experimental rock touring band from New York City formed in 1989 by English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith. The sextet was conceived as a review band for performing selections of Frith's repertoire of compositions from the previous 15 years.
Fred Frith appears on over 400 recordings. This is a selection from bands he was/is a member of, collaborations with other bands and musicians, and his solo recordings. The year indicates when the album was first released. For a comprehensive discography, see the Discography of Fred Frith by Michel Ramond, Patrice Roussel and Stephane Vuilleumier.
Step Across the Border is a 1990 avant-garde documentary film on English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith. It was written and directed by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel and released in Germany and Switzerland. The film was screened in cinemas in North America, South America, Europe and Japan, and on television in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France. It was also released on VHS by RecRec Music (Switzerland) in 1990, and was later released on DVD by Winter & Winter Records (Germany) in 2003.
Step Across the Border is a soundtrack double album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, of the 1990 avant-garde documentary film on Frith, Step Across the Border. The album features music from the film performed by Frith and other musicians, and covers ten years of Frith's musical career from 1979 to 1989.
The Stone: Issue Two is a 2007 live album of improvised experimental music by Fred Frith and Chris Cutler. It was recorded at The Stone in New York City on 15 December 2006 and was one of four CDs released between 2006 and 2010 by Tzadik Records to raise funds for The Stone. It was Frith and Cutler's fourth collaborative album.
Voice of America is a 1982 live collaborative album of improvised experimental music by Fred Frith, Bob Ostertag and Phil Minton. It was recorded live at PASS, New York City in January 1981, and the Actual Festival at the ICA, London in August 1981. The album was released on LP by Rift Records in 1982. RecRec Music reissued the album on CD in 1994.
Getting a Head is the debut solo album of live improvised music by experimental sound artist Bob Ostertag. It features Ostertag playing a homemade real-time sound sourcing system with Fred Frith on guitar and Charles K. Noyes on percussion. The album was released on LP by Rift Records in 1980. It was later released on CD by ReR Megacorp in 2000, and by Seeland Records in 2001. In a review of Ostertag's 2009 book, Creative Life: Music, Politics, People, and Machines, Chris Gehman described Getting a Head as "wonderfully strange and inexplicable".
Like a Melody, No Bitterness is the sixth studio album by Bob Ostertag, released on October 13, 1998 by Seeland Records.
Verbatim is the fifth studio album by Bob Ostertag, released in May 1996 by Rastascan Records.
Fear No Love is the fourth studio album by Bob Ostertag, released on February 18, 1995 by Avant Records. The album's concept deals with the phobias surrounding queer love including fear of intimacy, fear of gender, fear of stereotypes, fear of AIDS, fear of rejection and fear of fear.
Say No More is the third studio album by Bob Ostertag, released in 1993 by RecRec Music.
Say No More in Person is a live album by Bob Ostertag, released in 1993 by Transit.
Sooner or Later is the debut studio album of Bob Ostertag, released in 1991 by RecRec Music.
Burns Like Fire is the second studio album by Bob Ostertag, released in 1992 by RecRec Music.
PantyChrist is a live album by Bob Ostertag, released on May 18, 1999 by Seeland Records.
w00t is the eighth studio album by Bob Ostertag, self-released on October 15, 2007.
Motormouth: Bob Ostertag Plays the Buchla 200e is the ninth studio album by Bob Ostertag, released on February 1, 2011 by Seeland Records.
Bob Ostertag Plays the Serge 1978–1983 is the twelfth studio album by Bob Ostertag, released on June 30, 2014 by Analogue Motions Studio and Kandala Records.
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