Oren Ambarchi, Robbie Avenaim

Its initial release - an edition of 100 3CD-Rs on Ambarchi's Jerker Productions label back in 1999 - let it slide by just enough aesthetic radars to register among cognoscenti. Coupled with Ambarchi's solo work from the era, the recording marked a shift from the gonzo-rock of the duo's previous band, Phlegm. Things happen throughout Clockwork that had never really happened before. Recorded in front of a live audience for that 'what we did on our holidays' feel, Avenaim and Ambarchi unravel their detourned instrumental panoply into a series of parallel universe propositions - (ie. If Ambarchi's concurrent vinyl-only Stacte series was Alvin Lucier and Cluster collaborating for Mego, then Clockwork is Mickey Hart's Gamelan Orchestra performing Ionisation). This reissue of Clockwork - its reinstatement in the 'marketplace' for immediate edification and dissemination - and that one of the most important pieces of the Ambarchi-Avenaim puzzle will finally achieve its deserved position within a trajectory of non-idiomatic improvisation.