Oren Ambarchi

Oren Ambarchi
Oren Ambarchi
	Oren Ambarchi, Japan, 2007
Background information
Born	1969 (age 54–55); Sydney, Australia
Genres	Avant-garde, free improvisation, jazz, rock music,electronic, ambient, noise
Instrument(s)	Guitar, drums
Years active	1986–current
Website	orenambarchi.com

Oren Ambarchi (born 1969) is an Australian musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays mainly electric guitar and percussion.^[1]

Biography

Oren Ambarchi was born in Sydney to an Iraqi Jewish family.^[1] Ambarchi has been performing live since 1986. In the late 1980s he played free jazz in Sydney, originally as a drummer.^[2] In an interview with ABC Radio broadcaster, Jon Rose, Ambarchi described how he started playing guitar:

There happened to be one laying around in our rehearsal room. I picked it up and starting hitting it with drumsticks and using it in whatever way I wanted to use it in, and one thing led to another. I'm glad I wasn't trained. I've always loved rock music, I grew up listening to pop and rock, so that was in my mind, but I've also been interested in electronics. I never wanted to learn to play it properly, it was an object as much as an instrument. ^[2]

His work focuses mainly on the exploration of the guitar, though he also plays drums and percussion in some of his live performances.

Along with longtime collaborator, drummer Robbie Avenaim, he co-organised the 'What Is Music' Festival in various cities in Australia from 1994-2005. ^[3]

Ambarchi contributed to drone metal band Sunn O)))'s Black One album in 2005, and became a regular live performer with the band for the next several years, as well as contributing to the Oracle EP and Monoliths & Dimensions album.^[4]

In 2009 Ambarchi begins a series of trio performances in Japan with multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke and iconic Japanese musician/singer Keiji Haino. This meeting was recorded and released in 2010 under the title 'Tima Formosa' on Black Truffle records. This trio collaboration continues annually at the renowned Tokyo venue Super Deluxe. Each concert is documented and released on Ambarchi's Black Truffle label. the first one being the acclaimed 'Indeed' in 2011.^[5]

In 2017 he began working with American composer Alvin Lucier, performing new compositions for electric guitar.^[6]

Ambarchi has run the record label Black Truffle since 2009.

Selected discography

(1998) Stacte (Jerker Productions)
(1999) Stacte.2 (Jerker Productions)
(1999) The Alter Rebbe's Nigun with Robbie Avenaim (Tzadik)
(1999) Insulation (Touch)
(2000) Persona (ERS)
(2000) Afternoon Tea with Christian Fennesz, Paul Gough, Peter Rehberg, Keith Rowe (Ritornell)
(2000) Reconnaissance with Martin Ng (Staubgold)
(2000) Stacte.3 (Plate Lunch)
(2001) Suspension (Touch)
(2002) Honey Pie with Robbie Avenaim and Keith Rowe (Grob)
(2002) Thumb with Robbie Avenaim, Keith Rowe, Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M (Grob)
(2002) Flypaper with Keith Rowe (Staubgold)
(2002) Mort aux Vaches (Staalplaat)
(2002) Stacte.4 (En/Of)
(2003) Sun (Preservation Records) with Chris Townend
(2003) Triste (Idea Records, Southern Lord)
(2003) Vigil with Martin Ng (Quecksilber)
(2003) My days are darker than your nights with Johan Berthling (Häpna)
(2003) Oystered with Günter Müller and Voice Crack (Audiosphere)
(2004) Grapes from the Estate (Touch, Southern Lord)
(2004) Strange Love with Günter Müller and Philip Samartzis (For4Ears)
(2005) Cloud with Keith Rowe, Toshimaru Nakamura and Christian Fennesz (Erstwhile)
(2005) Black One with Sunn O))) (Southern Lord)
(2006) Squire with Keith Rowe (For4Ears)
(2006) Stacte Motors (Western Vinyl)
(2006) Willow Weep and Moan for Me with Tetuzi Akiyama and Alan Licht (Antiopic)
(2007) In the Pendulum's Embrace (Touch)
(2007) Lost Like a Star (Bo'Weavil)
(2007) Gravetemple with Stephen O'Malley and Attila Csihar (Southern Lord)
(2007) Burial Chamber Trio with Greg Anderson and Attila Csihar (Southern Lord)
(2008) Spirit Transform Me with Z'EV (Tzadik)
(2008) A Final Kiss on Poisoned Cheeks (Table of the Elements)
(2008) הופעה באוגנדה (Uganda)
(2009) Monoliths & Dimensions with Sunn O))) (Southern Lord)
(2010) Tima Formosa with Jim O'Rourke and Keiji Haino (Black Truffle)^[7]
(2011) Hit & Run with Joe Talia (Touch)
(2011) Indeed with Jim O'Rourke (Editions Mego)
(2011) In a Flash Everything Comes Together as One There Is No Need for a Subject with Keiji Haino and Jim O'Rourke (Black Truffle/Medama)
(2011) Dream Request with Robbie Avenaim (Bo'Weavil)
(2012) The Mortimer Trap with Thomas Brinkmann (Black Truffle)
(2012) Audience of One (Touch)
(2012) Connected Robin Fox (Kranky)
(2012) In the Mouth – a Hand with Fire! (Rune Grammofon)
(2012) Black Plume with Keith Rowe and Crys Cole (Bocian)
(2012) Raga Ooty / The Nilgiri Plateau (Bo'Weavil)
(2012) Sagittarian Domain (Editions Mego)
(2012) Wreckage with James Rushford (Prisma)
(2012) なぞらない (Nazoranai) with Keiji Haino and Stephen O'Malley (Editions Mego)
(2013) Cat's Squirrel with Merzbow (Black Truffle / Hospital Hill)
(2014) Quixotism (Editions Mego)
(2014) Tikkun with Richard Pinhas (Cuneiform Records)
(2016) Hubris (Editions Mego)
(2017) Hotel Record with Crys Cole (Black Truffle)
(2018) Face Time with Kassel Jaeger and James Rushford (Black Truffle)
(2018) Hence with Jim O'Rourke and U-zhaan (Editions Mego)
(2019) Simian Angel (Editions Mego)
(2019) Oglon Day with Mark Fell, Will Guthrie and Sam Shalabi (33 33)
(2020) Dreamlet (ATTN:SPAN)
(2021) Live Hubris (Black Truffle)
(2022) Ghosted with Andreas Werliin and Johan Berthling (Drag City)
(2022) Shebang (Black Truffle)
(2024) Ghosted II with Andreas Werliin and Johan Berthling (Drag City)
(2024) With Pats On The Head, Just One Too Few Is Evil One Too Many Is Good That's All It Is with Keiji Heino and Jim O'Rourke (Black Truffle / Medama Records)

References

^ ^a ^b "Oren Ambarchi biography". Touch Music. 2002. Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
^ ^a ^b Rose, Jon (2003). "Re-wired Guitar – OREN AMBARCHI". Australia Adlib. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
^ caleb~k (2001). "OREN AMBARCHI INTERVIEW". Angbase. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
^ Stannard, Joseph (8 April 2009). "Sunn O))) Exclusive Interview Transcripts: Oren Ambarchi". The Wire (Issue 302). Wire Magazine. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
^ "Oren Ambarchi / Jim O'Rourke: Behold Album Review | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
^ "Sold Out! Works by Alvin Lucier + Record/Book Release: Alvin Lucier, Oren Ambarchi & Gary Schmalzl, Ever Present Orchestra | ISSUE Project Room". issueprojectroom.org. 9 November 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
^ Currin, Grayson (16 August 2010). "Album Review – Oren Ambarchi / Keiji Haino / Jim O'Rourke – Tima Formosa". Pitchfork. Retrieved 29 May 2011.

External links

Oren Ambarchi.com – Official website
Oren Ambarchi on Discogs – Discogs page
Oren Ambarchi artist feature page on Wire Magazine
Oren Ambarchi's Bandcamp – Bandcamp

[touch-archive-1] "Oren Ambarchi biography". Touch Music. 2002. Archived from the original on 5 October 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2011.

[adlib-2] Rose, Jon (2003). "Re-wired Guitar – OREN AMBARCHI". Australia Adlib. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 May 2011.

[angbase-3] ~k (2001). "OREN AMBARCHI INTERVIEW". Angbase. Retrieved 29 May 2011.

[wire-sunnO-4] Stannard, Joseph (8 April 2009). "Sunn O))) Exclusive Interview Transcripts: Oren Ambarchi". The Wire (Issue 302). Wire Magazine. Retrieved 29 May 2011.

[5] "Oren Ambarchi / Jim O'Rourke: Behold Album Review | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 3 February 2018.

[6] "Sold Out! Works by Alvin Lucier + Record/Book Release: Alvin Lucier, Oren Ambarchi & Gary Schmalzl, Ever Present Orchestra | ISSUE Project Room". issueprojectroom.org. 9 November 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2018.

[pitchfork-timaformosa-7] Currin, Grayson (16 August 2010). "Album Review – Oren Ambarchi / Keiji Haino / Jim O'Rourke – Tima Formosa". Pitchfork. Retrieved 29 May 2011.

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