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Walt Shaw — Cave Printmaker
(Discus Music 9014DL, 2025, DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2025-12-18

Cave Printmaker Cover art

We last covered percussionist Walt Shaw on his 2025 collaboration Towards Momentum with Jim Tetlow, itself a follow-up to 2023’s Inner Skull Trail, and his 2024 collaboration with Martin Archer Biyartabiyu, and though it may seem like Shaw works mostly in collaborative settings and as a member of groups (Orchestra of the Upper Atmosphere, for example), he occasionally releases solo material — Burnt with a Brilliant Light came out in 2020, and his latest Cave Printmaker is the subject of this review. While one might usually expect solo albums by a drummer to feature more aggressive use of the drum kit, at least in a rock or jazz setting, Shaw uses his array of percussives and electronics in a far more explorative way, one that is both gentle and surprising, utilizing a wide array of sound sources, including electronics, to achieve his ends. Some of the pieces may be sparse and on the quiet side, but others make a bolder statement, sometimes overdubbed. We are often treated to a merging of field recordings, percussion, electronics, gongs and bells, even ceramic bowls, plastic pipes, wood blocks, bowed cymbals, and even occasional voices. Many of these pieces tie in with Shaw’s artistic endeavors, for exaple “Cavetrace” which was recorded in real time from a gallery installation which involved a large block of ice with various sized pebbles embedded — as the ice melts the pebbles fall onto amplified strings, thr result being at once surreal and otherworldly. For each of the fifteen tracks, Shaw documents all of the “instruments” that were used to create it; initially it doesn’t matter — one should just get to know the contour of the sounds and appreciate what’s there at face value, but eventually one will probably get curious (like myself) and want to take a look at the documentation in the booklet as to how this or some other sound was created, and there the clues can be assembled. If you’re looking for jazz or rock anything with a steady cadence, Cave Printmaker is not the place. This is more the essence of pure sonic exploration, not abrasive, not disturbing, but definitely a collection for the fearless sonic explorer.

Filed under: New releases, 2025 releases

Related artist(s): Walt Shaw

More info
http://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/cave-printmaker-9014dl-2025

 

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