RUISKAMER #2: Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet / Elisabeth Klinck

Bill Orcutt Quartet

The legendary guitarist and composer Bill Orcutt presents his latest project: an all-star electric guitar quartet with Wendy Eisenberg, Ava Mendoza, and Shane Parish. Together they perform the music from Orcutt's "Music for Four Guitars" LP from 2022. The album has been described by Pitchfork as "expansive carpets of small rhythmic phrases, based on early minimalism and New York guitar groups like Glenn Branca Ensemble."

As a former guitarist of the notorious '90s group Harry Pussy, Orcutt is known for his stuttering re-performance of the blues guitar, weaving looping melodic lines and angular attacks in a dense, fractured landscape of American primitivism, outsider jazz, and stripped-down reimagining of the possibilities of the guitar.

The other members of the quartet are no less impressive. Wendy Eisenberg is an improviser and songwriter who uses guitar, pedals, tenor banjo, computer, synthesizer, and voice. Ava Mendoza has built a reputation over the past few years as one of the most exciting musicians in the New York scene, and Shane Parish is known as the frontman of the electric instrumental prog-punk band Ahleuchatistas and for his unique acoustic solo-fingerstyle work.

Elisabeth Klinck

Ghent violinist/composer Elisabeth Klinck has a background in classical music and makes experimental electroacoustic music. Think: hypnotic, free improvisation, field recordings. In recent years she has worked with the likes of Miet Warlop, Sarah Davachi, Ben Bertrand and Benjamin Abel Meirhaeghe. 

In April 2023, her debut album, "Picture a Frame," was released on the Hallow Ground label (on which Kali Malone is also signed). The album comes after a long period of seclusion and is the result of a collaborative process with artist Oscar Claus. 'Picture a Frame' is an intimate record in which Klinck's expressive playing and unconventional techniques are the foundation.