‘Noumena’ is the second volume of music capturing percussionist Tim Barnes in a variety of collaborative settings recorded in extraordinary circumstances over the past few years.Tim is a storied drummer, engineer and producer whose CV encompasses collaborations with a who’s who of late 20th and early 21st century music.He has recorded, performed and collaborated with countless artists, including Tony Conrad, Faust, Alan Licht, Jim O’Rourke, P.G.Six, Silver Jews, Sonic Youth, Stereolab, The Tower Recordings, Ken Vandermark, Wilco, John Zorn and many others.Through 2014, he was the proprietor of the boutique Quakebasket label, which documented a variety of projects at the forward edge of improvised and experimental music, including Tim’s duo with Glenn Kotche, On Fillmore.Now, Quakebasket has been revived to issue ‘Noumena’ and its companion album, ‘Lost Words’.In 2021, Tim was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 54, and he and his family went public with this immediately.The response from Tim’s network of friends and musical peers was overwhelming, and beginning in late 2021, collaborative recordings were undertaken, coordinated and assembled by Tim’s longtime friend Ken (Bundy) Brown, with whom Tim had worked in the past as a member of the group Pullman, early pioneers of the new Americana movement in the indie scene of the late 1990s.The recordings for ‘Noumena’ feature the playing of Joshua Abrams, Oren Ambarchi, Ken Brown, John Dieterich, Darin Gray, Glenn Kotche, Robert Carlos Lange, Ro(b)//ert Lundberg, Douglas McCombs, Matt Mehlan, Rob Mazurek, Tara Jane O’Neil, Jim O’Rourke, Chad Taylor, Thollem, Britt Walford and Mike Watt.As with ‘Lost Words’, ‘Noumena’ cuts a dramatic swath through a sweep of music styles, all of which are deepened by Tim’s versatile, intensely stimulated percussive feel.“I first played with Tim Barnes around 1999 in New York City.Our personal and musical connections intensified greatly as the years rolled on; indeed, with folks like Tim the musical is the personal.Tim’s performances, as a solo percussionist or collaborative drummer, have pushed me again and again to rethink my ideas of what it is to play music to and with other humans.He blows apart preconceived notions of what it is to play music by defining purpose through performance.And that purpose, to me, seems to be to illuminate and strengthen the power of communication and transformation inherent in every musical act.These two new Quakebasket releases demonstrate Tim’s eloquence as a drummer, and his superior abilities as an ensemble participant.The very existence of these records, our opportunities to experience them, is testament to a hunger satisfied in Tim’s closest colleagues.” – Will Oldham“Tim Barnes is the touch.One of the monumental music-makers of our time, he’s brought his profoundly attuned sensitivity to countless musical experiences, live and on record over the past four decades.Tragically, Tim has been wrestling with a debilitating illness.When this reality began to assert itself aggressively, his good friend and fellow-traveler Ken Brown made a mission of getting Tim playing in as many scenarios as possible, keeping him in touch and attuned.Much of that is documented here, all a testament to Tim’s ineffable touch; to the ineffable touch that is the man.We listen in celebration and gratitude.” – Nathan Salsburg
