OREN AMBARCHI

Eclectic Prog • Australia

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Oren Ambarchi biography
Originally from Sydney, Australia, Oren Ambarchi (b. 1969) is a globetrotting musician and composer, known for his deconstructions of rock music and the unique sonic signature of his digitally-processed electric guitar. Passionate about the acts of making and collecting records, Ambarchi was drawn to music at a young age, beginning as a drummer obsessed with classic rock before becoming entranced with jazz (both free and fusion). Ambarchi's performing career launched in 1986, playing standards by Miles Davis and John Coltrane in jazz ensembles before he moved to New York City later in the decade to study Jewish mysticism at a rabbinical college in Brooklyn. Ambarchi's interest in the guitar was piqued in 1993 after witnessing a performance by Fushitsusha's Keiji Haino at the Knitting Factory, beginning his lifelong fascination with the instrument and all the ways its tone could be electronically manipulated beyond recognition. Though rooted in the worlds of free improvisation, noise and experimental extended guitar technique, Ambarchi has greatly expanded his musical borders to become an exciting purveyor of 21st-century progressive rock.

As eclectic in his minimalist artistic approach as with his choice of collaborators, Ambarchi's discography sits at over a hundred albums, EPs or singles of electroacoustic music, drone, jazz-rock, progressive electronic, post-rock and krautrock. Ambarchi's recordings have been issued by dozens of varied esteemed labels like Touch, Tzadik, Southern Lord, Editions Mego and his very own Black Truffle (in operation since 2009). Ambarchi has performed around the world live and in studio with a wide array of the finest musicians in their fields like Fennesz, Keith Rowe, Phill Niblock, Z'EV, Charlemagne Palestine and Merzbow, with a particular number of avant-prog arists such as Otomo Yoshihide, Fred Frith, Zu's Massimo Pupillo, Fire! and John Zorn, who was one of his earliest supporters during his time in New York. As of this writing, Ambarchi has released twelve live LPs with his noisy free-psych-rock trio featuring Keiji Haino and fellow improv icon Jim O'Rourke. His love of low-end frequencies led to a stint performing in cosmic-metal band Sunn O))), along with several ongoing group projects with their members Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley.

With krautrock one of his many loves, Ambarchi's travels also saw him rubbing shoulders with several legends both classic and modern. Former Can vocalist Damo Suzuki m...Originally from Sydney, Australia, Oren Ambarchi (b. 1969) is a globetrotting musician and composer, known for his deconstructions of rock music and the unique sonic signature of his digitally-processed electric guitar. Passionate about the acts of making and collecting records, Ambarchi was drawn to music at a young age, beginning as a drummer obsessed with classic rock before becoming entranced with jazz (both free and fusion). Ambarchi's performing career launched in 1986, playing standards by Miles Davis and John Coltrane in jazz ensembles before he moved to New York City later in the decade to study Jewish mysticism at a rabbinical college in Brooklyn. Ambarchi's interest in the guitar was piqued in 1993 after witnessing a performance by Fushitsusha's Keiji Haino at the Knitting Factory, beginning his lifelong fascination with the instrument and all the ways its tone could be electronically manipulated beyond recognition. Though rooted in the worlds of free improvisation, noise and experimental extended guitar technique, Ambarchi has greatly expanded his musical borders to become an exciting purveyor of 21st-century progressive rock.

As eclectic in his minimalist artistic approach as with his choice of collaborators, Ambarchi's discography sits at over a hundred albums, EPs or singles of electroacoustic music, drone, jazz-rock, progressive electronic, post-rock and krautrock. Ambarchi's recordings have been issued by dozens of varied esteemed labels like Touch, Tzadik, Southern Lord, Editions Mego and his very own Black Truffle (in operation since 2009). Ambarchi has performed around the world live and in studio with a wide array of the finest musicians in their fields like Fennesz, Keith Rowe, Phill Niblock, Z'EV, Charlemagne Palestine and Merzbow, with a particular number of avant-prog arists such as Otomo Yoshihide, Fred Frith, Zu's Massimo Pupillo, Fire! and John Zorn, who was one of his earliest supporters during his time in New York. As of this writing, Ambarchi has released twelve live LPs with his noisy free-psych-rock trio featuring Keiji Haino and fellow improv icon Jim O'Rourke. His love of low-end frequencies led to a stint performing in cosmic-metal band Sunn O))), along with several ongoing group projects with their members Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley.

With krautrock one of his many loves, Ambarchi's travels also saw him rubbing shoulders with several legends both classic and modern. Former Can vocalist Damo Suzuki made a series of annual visits to Australia from 2002 to 2012, with Ambarchi acting as one of the peripatetic musician's four "sound carriers" for a 2004 Network performance at a record store in Melbourne (with a live LP released as The Swiftsure Session in 2017). Suzuki later returned the favour by sitting in with Ambarchi's Glenn Branca/Rhys Chatham-influenced project the Husbands. Guru Guru drummer Mani Neumeier also made a couple live Australian appearances in 2007 and 2009, with Ambarchi participating on guitar for each, demonstrated on Neumeier's 2011 CD Smoking the Contracts. In 2013, Ambarchi played a set with British kraut-droners Neil Campbell and Vibracathedral Orchestra's Michael Flower at the TUSK Festival, documented and released on vinyl the following year. Ambarchi also spent 2013 on stage and in the studio with kraut-adjacent guitar vanguard Richard Pinhas, contributing to the latter's solo LP Desolation Row and cooperating for the 2014 album Tikkun. From 2015 to 2017, Ambarchi lent his talents as drummer for three live sets with another space-guitar pioneer, Manuel G�ttsching and his Ash Ra Tempel Experience, joining forces with fellow fans Shags Chamberlain and Ariel Pink to play material from Schwingungen and Seven Up (the first show later released in 2017 as Live in Melbourne).

Ambarchi's early material, beginning with 1998's Stacte, leaned more towards free improv, glitch and reductionism in the vein of his inspirations Alvin Lucier, Alan Licht and labels like Mego and Staubgold, though fans of droning progressive electronic like Andrew Chalk and Mirror should gravitate towards 2001's Suspension and Persona and 2002's Mort Aux Vaches. Compared by critics to Labradford, Grails and Bohren & der Club of Gore, 2004's Grapes from the Estate and 2007's In the Pendulum's Embrace were groundbreaking works in his oeuvre which blurred the lines between his electroacoustic guitar ambience and jazzy post-rock minimalism.

2012 was an especially prolific year in which Ambarchi began to truly let loose his progressive inclinations, mostly leaving behind the academic free noise of his younger days for a more colourful sound palette, continuing in this direction up to the present day. Notable albums were Audience of One and its assortment of kraut/avant/electronic experiments (primarily its centrepiece "Knots") and its follow-up, Sagittarian Domain, a single extended track of motorik minimalism inspired by Faust, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Gavin Bryars and the coda to Prince's "Purple Rain." Ambarchi never left his prog-electronic proclivities behind, demonstrated in full-lengths like 2015's Sleepwalker's Conviction, 2017's Hotel Record (made with his partner crys cole) and 2019's Orgon Day (with Mark Fell, Will Guthrie and Sam Shalabi). He pivoted with 2019's Simian Angel, an ambient synthesis of Ambarchi's favourite 20th century Brazilian and jazz-fusion music, created with percussionist Cyro Baptista, in which British magazine The Wire detected Jon Hassell/Fourth World influences and described it as "an imaginary congress of late 1970s Cluster and ECM aesthetics." Ambarchi also continued to explore his minimalist post-rock/krautrock leanings with 2014's Quixotism, 2016's Hubris and 2022's Shebang, as well as collaborative LPs Aithein (2016; with Stefano Pilia and Massimo Pupillo) and the Ghosted duology (2022, 2024; with Fire!'s Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin).

- Gordyread more

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OREN AMBARCHI discography

Ordered by release date | Showing ratings (top albums) | Help Progarchives.com to complete the discography and add albums

OREN AMBARCHI top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.00 \| 1 ratings Stacte 1998	4.00 \| 1 ratings Stacte.2 1999	4.00 \| 1 ratings The Alter Rebbe's Nigun (with Robbie Avenaim) 1999	2.00 \| 1 ratings Insulation 1999	0.00 \| 0 ratings Flypaper (with Keith Rowe) 2002
0.00 \| 0 ratings Mort Aux Vaches 2002	0.00 \| 0 ratings Stacte.4 2002	0.00 \| 0 ratings Oystered (with G�nter M�ller & Voice Crack) 2003	4.00 \| 1 ratings Vigil (with Martin Ng) 2003	0.00 \| 0 ratings Strange Love (with G�nter M�ller & Philip Samartzis) 2004
5.00 \| 1 ratings Grapes From the Estate 2004	5.00 \| 1 ratings Lost Like a Star 2007	4.00 \| 1 ratings In the Pendulum's Embrace 2007	3.00 \| 1 ratings Spirit Transform Me (with Z'EV) 2008	4.00 \| 1 ratings Indeed (with Jim O'Rourke) 2011
0.00 \| 0 ratings Audience of One 2012	3.00 \| 1 ratings The Mortimer Trap (with Thomas Brinkmann) 2012	0.00 \| 0 ratings In the Mouth - A Hand (with Fire!) 2012	3.00 \| 1 ratings Black Plume (with Crys Cole & Keith Rowe) 2012	4.00 \| 1 ratings Sagittarian Domain 2012
0.00 \| 0 ratings Connected (with Robin Fox) 2012	4.00 \| 1 ratings Behold (with Jim O'Rourke) 2015	0.00 \| 0 ratings Subsound Split Series #4 (with Massimo Pupillo) 2015	4.00 \| 1 ratings Sleepwalker's Conviction 2015	3.00 \| 1 ratings Tongue Tied (with Johan Berthling) 2015
2.00 \| 1 ratings Pale Calling (with Kassel Jaeger & James Rushford) 2016	3.00 \| 1 ratings Hubris 2016	0.00 \| 0 ratings Hotel Record (with Crys Cole) 2017	3.00 \| 1 ratings Face Time (with Kassel Jaeger & James Rushford) 2018	2.00 \| 1 ratings Certainly (with Crys Cole & Leif Elggren) 2018
3.00 \| 1 ratings Hence (with Jim O'Rourke) 2018	3.00 \| 1 ratings The Vanishing (with Martin Ng & Ensemble Offspring) 2019	0.00 \| 0 ratings Oglon Day (with Mark Fell, Will Guthrie & Sam Shalabi) 2019	3.00 \| 1 ratings Simian Angel 2019	0.00 \| 0 ratings Tchatchkes 2021
0.00 \| 0 ratings Ghosted (with Johan Berthling & Andreas Werliin) 2022	0.00 \| 0 ratings Shebang 2022	0.00 \| 0 ratings Ghosted II (with Johan Berthling & Andreas Werliin) 2024

OREN AMBARCHI Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.00 \| 1 ratings Clockwork (with Robbie Avenaim) 1999	0.00 \| 0 ratings Thumb (with Keith Rowe, Sachiko M, Otomo Yoshihide & Robbie Avenaim) 2002	4.00 \| 1 ratings Triste 2003	0.00 \| 0 ratings Honey Pie (with Keith Rowe & Robbie Avenaim) 2004	3.00 \| 1 ratings Squire (with Keith Rowe) 2006
0.00 \| 0 ratings הופעה באוגנדה 2008	3.00 \| 1 ratings Live at Corsica Studios 2010	0.00 \| 0 ratings Tima Formosa (with Jim O'Rourke & Keiji Haino) 2010	0.00 \| 0 ratings Hit and Run (with Joe Talia) 2011	2.00 \| 1 ratings またたくまに　すべてが　ひとつに　なる　だから　主語は　いらない (with Jim O'Rourke & Keiji Haino) 2011
3.00 \| 1 ratings Dream Request (with Robbie Avenaim) 2011	3.00 \| 1 ratings Wreckage (with James Rushford) 2012	0.00 \| 0 ratings Nazoranai 2012	3.00 \| 1 ratings いみくずし (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2012	3.00 \| 1 ratings Cat's Squirrel (with Merzbow) 2013
0.00 \| 0 ratings まだ　暖かい内に　この今に　全ての謎を　注ぎ込んでしまおう (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2013	0.00 \| 0 ratings The Just Reproach (with John Tilbury) 2013	4.00 \| 1 ratings Live at Tusk Festival 2013 (with Neil Campbell & Michael Flower) 2014	0.00 \| 0 ratings ただ美しく溶けてしまいたいのに、まだまだ満ち足りていないから、まだ見えていないはずのもののほうが愛おしく思えてしまう (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2014	0.00 \| 0 ratings ここに　与えられた　この身体、全部　使い切ってやる　という者の、お茶の　時間 (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2015
0.00 \| 0 ratings Live Knots 2015	0.00 \| 0 ratings Aithein (with Stefano Pilia & Massimo Pupillo) 2016	0.00 \| 0 ratings 君は気がついたかな「すみません」という響きがとても美しいことにそれ以上悪くしないように (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2016	0.00 \| 0 ratings 燦燦と輝く　誠の「異なること」さて何処へ行く (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2017	3.00 \| 1 ratings Knotting (with Will Guthrie) 2019
0.00 \| 0 ratings 昔は天才と呼ばれていた者だけが完全犯罪（時には革命と呼ぶ）を企てた今は誰でもボタンひとつで事を成すことが出来てしまう (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2019	3.00 \| 1 ratings Gallivant (with Crys Cole) 2021	0.00 \| 0 ratings 一辺が5秒の深さ　横に並ぶ水玉模様　上下に移動する点滅 (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2021	4.00 \| 1 ratings Live Hubris 2021	0.00 \| 0 ratings 「選ばされてしまう　はめになる」このことが　もう閉じることが無かったはずの謙虚さに「もういいかい」と　自らに問いかけ続けさせる (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2022
0.00 \| 0 ratings 1.7.22 (with Jules Reidy) 2022	0.00 \| 0 ratings Double Consciousness (with Eric Thielemans) 2023	3.00 \| 1 ratings いいこいいこがたつた一つだけ足りないと悪　たつた一つだけ多と善　そんなもんさ (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2024

OREN AMBARCHI Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

5.00 | 1 ratings

Fateless (with Martin Ng)
2006

OREN AMBARCHI Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

4.00 | 1 ratings

Intermission 2000-2008
2009

OREN AMBARCHI Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

0.00 \| 0 ratings Der Kleine K�nig 2002	0.00 \| 0 ratings Lynx 2002	4.00 \| 1 ratings My Days Are Darker Than Your Nights (with Johan Berthling) 2003	0.00 \| 0 ratings Worried Friends / Nervous Enemies (with Lasse Marhaug) 2007	5.00 \| 1 ratings Destinationless Desire 2008
4.00 \| 1 ratings A Final Kiss on Poisoned Cheeks 2008	4.00 \| 1 ratings Raga Ooty / The Nilgiri Plateau 2012	0.00 \| 0 ratings The Seven Inch, Vol. 2 (split with Luminance Ratio) 2012	3.00 \| 1 ratings Stacte Karaoke 2014	3.00 \| 1 ratings Stacte Karaoke II 2017
0.00 \| 0 ratings Panama / Suez (with Konrad Sprenger & Phillip Sollman) 2018	0.00 \| 0 ratings Tokyo Knots 2020	3.00 \| 1 ratings Sbagliato 2020	2.00 \| 1 ratings Tummypen42 (with Robbie Avenaim) 2020	0.00 \| 0 ratings Viscount Gort 2021

OREN AMBARCHI Reviews

Showing last 10 reviews only

Thanks to gordy for the artist addition.

3.00 \| 1 ratings Stacte 1998	4.00 \| 1 ratings Stacte.2 1999	4.00 \| 1 ratings The Alter Rebbe's Nigun (with Robbie Avenaim) 1999	2.00 \| 1 ratings Insulation 1999	0.00 \| 0 ratings Flypaper (with Keith Rowe) 2002
0.00 \| 0 ratings Mort Aux Vaches 2002	0.00 \| 0 ratings Stacte.4 2002	0.00 \| 0 ratings Oystered (with G�nter M�ller & Voice Crack) 2003	4.00 \| 1 ratings Vigil (with Martin Ng) 2003	0.00 \| 0 ratings Strange Love (with G�nter M�ller & Philip Samartzis) 2004
5.00 \| 1 ratings Grapes From the Estate 2004	5.00 \| 1 ratings Lost Like a Star 2007	4.00 \| 1 ratings In the Pendulum's Embrace 2007	3.00 \| 1 ratings Spirit Transform Me (with Z'EV) 2008	4.00 \| 1 ratings Indeed (with Jim O'Rourke) 2011
0.00 \| 0 ratings Audience of One 2012	3.00 \| 1 ratings The Mortimer Trap (with Thomas Brinkmann) 2012	0.00 \| 0 ratings In the Mouth - A Hand (with Fire!) 2012	3.00 \| 1 ratings Black Plume (with Crys Cole & Keith Rowe) 2012	4.00 \| 1 ratings Sagittarian Domain 2012
0.00 \| 0 ratings Connected (with Robin Fox) 2012	4.00 \| 1 ratings Behold (with Jim O'Rourke) 2015	0.00 \| 0 ratings Subsound Split Series #4 (with Massimo Pupillo) 2015	4.00 \| 1 ratings Sleepwalker's Conviction 2015	3.00 \| 1 ratings Tongue Tied (with Johan Berthling) 2015
2.00 \| 1 ratings Pale Calling (with Kassel Jaeger & James Rushford) 2016	3.00 \| 1 ratings Hubris 2016	0.00 \| 0 ratings Hotel Record (with Crys Cole) 2017	3.00 \| 1 ratings Face Time (with Kassel Jaeger & James Rushford) 2018	2.00 \| 1 ratings Certainly (with Crys Cole & Leif Elggren) 2018
3.00 \| 1 ratings Hence (with Jim O'Rourke) 2018	3.00 \| 1 ratings The Vanishing (with Martin Ng & Ensemble Offspring) 2019	0.00 \| 0 ratings Oglon Day (with Mark Fell, Will Guthrie & Sam Shalabi) 2019	3.00 \| 1 ratings Simian Angel 2019	0.00 \| 0 ratings Tchatchkes 2021
0.00 \| 0 ratings Ghosted (with Johan Berthling & Andreas Werliin) 2022	0.00 \| 0 ratings Shebang 2022	0.00 \| 0 ratings Ghosted II (with Johan Berthling & Andreas Werliin) 2024

3.00 \| 1 ratings Clockwork (with Robbie Avenaim) 1999	0.00 \| 0 ratings Thumb (with Keith Rowe, Sachiko M, Otomo Yoshihide & Robbie Avenaim) 2002	4.00 \| 1 ratings Triste 2003	0.00 \| 0 ratings Honey Pie (with Keith Rowe & Robbie Avenaim) 2004	3.00 \| 1 ratings Squire (with Keith Rowe) 2006
0.00 \| 0 ratings הופעה באוגנדה 2008	3.00 \| 1 ratings Live at Corsica Studios 2010	0.00 \| 0 ratings Tima Formosa (with Jim O'Rourke & Keiji Haino) 2010	0.00 \| 0 ratings Hit and Run (with Joe Talia) 2011	2.00 \| 1 ratings またたくまに　すべてが　ひとつに　なる　だから　主語は　いらない (with Jim O'Rourke & Keiji Haino) 2011
3.00 \| 1 ratings Dream Request (with Robbie Avenaim) 2011	3.00 \| 1 ratings Wreckage (with James Rushford) 2012	0.00 \| 0 ratings Nazoranai 2012	3.00 \| 1 ratings いみくずし (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2012	3.00 \| 1 ratings Cat's Squirrel (with Merzbow) 2013
0.00 \| 0 ratings まだ　暖かい内に　この今に　全ての謎を　注ぎ込んでしまおう (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2013	0.00 \| 0 ratings The Just Reproach (with John Tilbury) 2013	4.00 \| 1 ratings Live at Tusk Festival 2013 (with Neil Campbell & Michael Flower) 2014	0.00 \| 0 ratings ただ美しく溶けてしまいたいのに、まだまだ満ち足りていないから、まだ見えていないはずのもののほうが愛おしく思えてしまう (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2014	0.00 \| 0 ratings ここに　与えられた　この身体、全部　使い切ってやる　という者の、お茶の　時間 (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2015
0.00 \| 0 ratings Live Knots 2015	0.00 \| 0 ratings Aithein (with Stefano Pilia & Massimo Pupillo) 2016	0.00 \| 0 ratings 君は気がついたかな「すみません」という響きがとても美しいことにそれ以上悪くしないように (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2016	0.00 \| 0 ratings 燦燦と輝く　誠の「異なること」さて何処へ行く (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2017	3.00 \| 1 ratings Knotting (with Will Guthrie) 2019
0.00 \| 0 ratings 昔は天才と呼ばれていた者だけが完全犯罪（時には革命と呼ぶ）を企てた今は誰でもボタンひとつで事を成すことが出来てしまう (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2019	3.00 \| 1 ratings Gallivant (with Crys Cole) 2021	0.00 \| 0 ratings 一辺が5秒の深さ　横に並ぶ水玉模様　上下に移動する点滅 (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2021	4.00 \| 1 ratings Live Hubris 2021	0.00 \| 0 ratings 「選ばされてしまう　はめになる」このことが　もう閉じることが無かったはずの謙虚さに「もういいかい」と　自らに問いかけ続けさせる (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2022
0.00 \| 0 ratings 1.7.22 (with Jules Reidy) 2022	0.00 \| 0 ratings Double Consciousness (with Eric Thielemans) 2023	3.00 \| 1 ratings いいこいいこがたつた一つだけ足りないと悪　たつた一つだけ多と善　そんなもんさ (with Keiji Haino & Jim O'Rourke) 2024

0.00 \| 0 ratings Der Kleine K�nig 2002	0.00 \| 0 ratings Lynx 2002	4.00 \| 1 ratings My Days Are Darker Than Your Nights (with Johan Berthling) 2003	0.00 \| 0 ratings Worried Friends / Nervous Enemies (with Lasse Marhaug) 2007	5.00 \| 1 ratings Destinationless Desire 2008
4.00 \| 1 ratings A Final Kiss on Poisoned Cheeks 2008	4.00 \| 1 ratings Raga Ooty / The Nilgiri Plateau 2012	0.00 \| 0 ratings The Seven Inch, Vol. 2 (split with Luminance Ratio) 2012	3.00 \| 1 ratings Stacte Karaoke 2014	3.00 \| 1 ratings Stacte Karaoke II 2017
0.00 \| 0 ratings Panama / Suez (with Konrad Sprenger & Phillip Sollman) 2018	0.00 \| 0 ratings Tokyo Knots 2020	3.00 \| 1 ratings Sbagliato 2020	2.00 \| 1 ratings Tummypen42 (with Robbie Avenaim) 2020	0.00 \| 0 ratings Viscount Gort 2021