“At A Moment’s Notice” compiles three tracks of instantaneously formed music from an artist whose work typically involves carefully sequenced and layered integration rather than real-time spontaneity.

After two individual sets performed by improv duo .es and electronic composer Stefan Goldmann at Nomart Gallery of Osaka, Japan, the event’s curator invited the three musicians to play together – an announcement made in front of the audience, without prior notice and with seconds to go… Goldmann met this challenge by loading a set of samples from an earlier release on The Tapeworm, “Haven’t I Seen You Before”, and firing them off through a delay unit while shifting time and pitch settings, creating a three-way conversation with Sara Dotes on piano and percussion and Takayuki Hashimoto on alto saxophone, shakuhachi, guitar and harmonica.

“Echoes Of An Era“ is a previously unreleased piece based on guitar improvisation channeled by a long-form looping device, originally recorded during the sessions for “Haven’t I Seen You Before”.

By contrast, the recording from the Tapeworm label’s 10th anniversary at Cafe Oto employs a rich base of prepared layers, whose temporal structure is constructed on the spot and performed without the aid of a premeditated temporal grid.