Twin Rocks (Live Band)
Twin Rocks was released by Omni Records in November of 2023. The recording and production period was mostly in the isolation days of the famous pandemic and perhaps that’s why the idea of a live band performing the music was never really an option, all the players were living all around the world anyway: Jonah-Parzen Johnson in N.Y.C., Berke in Abu Dhabi, Arve Henriksen in Oslo, Ozan Tekin in Cologne, Selim Saraçoğlu in Amsterdam, Mahmut Albulak in Berlin and Ozan Kısaparmak in Istanbul. The logistics. So the release lived a somewhat quiet life for a year, with no official release show.
Only two attempts presented tiny bits of musical ideas from the album in two separate underground shows in Istanbul. First one was a duo of Berke and Ozan Kısaparmak in bant mag’s “havuz”, an attic turned into a concert space almost the size of a typical Kadıköy apartment (December 2023). As the bass man and the drummer, the two musicians felt like they could provide satisfactory lower frequencies for a band of bigger size.
The second show was in “eksibir”, a basement floor in Şişhane. Even though he wasn’t one of the musicians on Twin Rocks, for this event legendary Serdar Ateşer joined Berke and Ozan Kısaparmak (January 2024). Again it wasn’t a show full of Twin Rocks music, only some more ideas, the tip of the iceberg. Both shows were accompanied by Koray Kantarcıoğlu (AKA Grup Ses) on the vinyl decks adding field recordings, spoken words and necessary moods to the Twin Rocks soundscape.
Other than the two shows there were two videos launched on YouTube: director Mehmet Ömür’s cut of his old footage shot in Morocco for the song “The Way Back Hill” and director John J. Holden’s cut of even older footage shot by Mihran Tomasyan back in his days on a bike wandering around Brazil for the song “Snake Behind Valley”.
Bicycle rides were in the very heart of the creation period of the album. The main idea behind everything was that Berke wanted to compose such music that was focused on accompanying his daily mountain bicycle rides through his own headphones. In the mornings he would chop samples from two cassettes from his childhood, he liked to call the first cassette “The Red Tape” which was a solo guitar track, the very same track recorded over and over, was the starting point of the music on Side A of the Twin Rocks LP, the second cassette being called “The Green Tape” was a suggestion of a seller in a record shop, with his exact words it was meant to be “North Jazz” which Berke later found was nothing Nordic at all, but something inspiring enough to build the basis of the music on Side B of the record. A dusty Fostex 4 track did the repitching just fine. Morning sample work was bounced down to digital and made ready for each evening's rides. Day by day the ride territory got extended and he started pinning down certain spots with imaginary location names slowly creating a map without even knowing which was eventually drawn by him and used on social media.
The unusual thing was that a release show featuring almost all of the actual players of the album (except Selim and Mahmut) was booked a year earlier than the release date and it was scheduled for November 2024 which happens to be the first birthday of the release. Booking two years in advance is a weird thing, so much can happen in such a long time.
Twin Rocks appeared as 6 separate tracks on most digital platforms. But the LP version had two gapless sides, each side merging 3 tracks with “hazy” transitions referring to some of the imaginary locations on the map mentioned above; these so-called hazy tracks were not included on the digital version. When the 5 piece band (Arve Henriksen, Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Ozan Takin, Ozan Kısaparmak and Berke Can Özcan) finally got to meet at Borusan Music House in November 2024, the album was played in its entirety for the first time and these hazy parts were also explored deeper and longer in a collective improvisation manner. This concert was recorded by Can Aykal and his gang, mixed by Feryin Kaya, now being cut into a new live album and waiting to be released in the near future. Until then the band will be looking into gathering up again and continue creating even more exciting music.
Original Press Release
Istanbul born performing artist, producer, composer and instrument builder Berke Can Özcan takes you on a captivating journey through the depths of nature on the Lycian Way -a 520 km long hiking trail in southwestern Turkey around part of the coast of ancient Lycia, named after the Lycian civilization that once ruled in this region-. As Özcan ventures deeper into uncharted territory on the trail, he stumbles upon a sight that sparks an artistic flame, the Twin Rocks. In collaboration with critically acclaimed Norwegian trumpet mastermind Arve Henriksen and Brooklyn-based baritone saxophonist Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Özcan immerses the listener in a mesmerizing soundscape that echoes the wonder and mystery of the trail leading to ancient Lycia.
This collaboration weaves together a tapestry of sonic explorations that capture the essence of Özcan's journey. The ambient-jazz album's delicate balance between organic sounds and electronic manipulation creates a dreamlike atmosphere that transports the listener to the rugged terrain of the Lycian Way. Mastered by three-time Grammy winner Dave Darlington, each track on this ethereal album mirrors a different aspect of the journey to Twin Rocks, meticulously composed by Özcan, Parzen-Johnson and Henriksen with each section of the trail in mind.
The album is infused with melodic bird songs and sound walk recordings that add depth and texture to the ethereal soundscape.
Özcan’s array of self-crafted instruments made out of bamboos, soda bottle caps, straws, house keys, terracotta flower pots alongside with his long time companions like his steel drums, chimes, gongs, and vibraphone, serve as the medium through which he expresses the reflections of his encounters in his own world of rhythm and melody.