PRESS —
“OK, I have to say, Star Maker Fragments is a big coup de cœur for me at the start of this year. On this album, Taylor Brook‘s composition is masterfully interpreted by her and TAK Ensemble. You start the album a regular human on planet Earth, but you find yourselves among a strange alien species, and end up a conscious, living star before exploding into multiverses. The journey is unique and wonderful; it’s best experienced with your full attention.”
— Can This Even be Called Music / Star Maker Fragments, TAK ensemble
“Sublime art… a masterpiece.”
— An Earful / Star Maker Fragments, TAK ensemble
“The six have birthed with this project an experimental chamber album unlike any other…engrossing and transporting…a presentation that plays like a live performance.”
— Textura Magazine / Star Maker Fragments
“The group puts the novel’s text to music with a varied and shimmering set of movements that dovetail seamlessly with Brook’s electronics.”
— Avant Music News / Star Maker Fragments, TAK ensemble
“TAK ensemble just goes for it. They make their music as free as the subject matter it is based on… It’s about how the music fits with each other to create these lurid soundscapes that seamlessly flow into one another.”
— Vital Weekly / Star Maker Fragments, TAK ensemble
“A placid jumble of bio- and zoomorphic manifestations worthy of Salvatore Sciarrino, the only mimetic hint before the perspective is drastically subverted with the sudden fall into a Kubrickian tunnel of light and color, a synaesthetic viaticum through which the interstellar journey begins…The first great proof of the maturity achieved by one of the most promising composers of the new generation.”
— Esoteros / Star Maker Fragments, TAK ensemble
“A very convincing encapsulation of the striking landmark book… intriguing.”
— The Wholenote, Editor’s Corner / Star Maker Fragments, TAK ensemble
“I greatly admire Ensemble Pamplemousse's rejection of good taste and their near total disinterest in seducing or charming the listener. Their work is demanding: You have to take the time to live in their astonishingly rich and detailed world and it’s glorious when you do.”
— Positionen / Lost At Sea, Ensemble Pamplemousse
“As one of the most prominent ensembles in the United States practicing truly experimental music, TAK’s command of the performance theatrics necessary in this genre shines even on a recording. Jam-packed with wild instrumental pyrotechnics (Sorey’s Ornations) alongside clever moments of vocal fry imitating bow overpressure (Gee’s Mouthpiece 28), a violin harmonic gliss tailing the accelerated whoosh of a whispered crescendo (Behzadi’s Az Hoosh mi..), and letter names of notes sung on the incorrect pitches (Diels’ The Colors Don’t Match), TAK and their composer collaborators have developed one of the most distinct and eclectic releases of the year.”
— I Care if You Listen / Oor, TAK ensemble
“New York’s TAK Ensemble show their range and curiosity on this terrific self-released album, alternating between full quintet pieces and bracing duos—all of them bristling with edge.”
— Best of Bandcamp, Contemporary Classical / Oor, TAK ensemble
“Over the past six years, New York's TAK Ensemble has emerged as a unique ensemble in contemporary music: the quintet has already released two albums, collaborating with composers Taylor Brook and Mario Diaz de Leon, which show the ensemble's dedication to working directly with composers and artists to create new work.”
— PSNY / Oor, TAK ensemble
“The music of TAK Ensemble is an impressive, exceptional and organic fusion of contemporary academical music…stunning experiments and wild, free, expressive and driving improvisations.”
— AVANT SCENA / Oor, TAK ensemble
— New Music Listening Club, Episode 2 / Oor, TAK ensemble
— I Care if You Listen, pre-release / Oor, TAK ensemble
— Contemporary ClassiCAST / Oor, TAK ensemble