NOUMENA

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 collabo-
rations with a who's who of late 20th and

early 21st century music. He has recorded,

performed and collaborated with count-
less 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 Quake-
basket label, which documented a variety

of projects at the forward edge of impro-
vised 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 imme-
diately. 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 90s.
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 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 pur-
pose, 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