Bass Tone Trap was formed in 1981 when Paul Shaft and Martin Archer's previous group, the ethno-Stockhausen inspired "de tian", possibly Sheffield's unlikliest ever group, co-opted additional recruits Carver, Jasnoch and Infanti from the Sheffield Free Music Group. After an initial period with synthesizer player Ian Clarricoates, the group was completed by the addition of vituoso free jazz / RnB sax man Derek Saw, surely one of the most underrated and unsung stylists ever to remain hidden from general public view.

Given their respective backgrounds one might have been expecting the new group to be more interested in amplified egg slicers than in the riotous jazz-punk pell-mell which quickly became the group's trademark sound. But as listeners as well as players all the group were equally interested in pop as well as experimental musics, and saw a role model / middle ground in, especially, the electric band music of Ornette Coleman. The result was a more or less equal mix of Prime Time, Art Ensemble of Chicago, free improv and white boy funk - not so unusual when you look at the corresponding "No-wave" scene in New York at the same time, or Don Was' Ze label experiments, and indeed the whole Sheffield ethos of popular music colliding with experimentation apparent from Cabaret Voltaire or The Human League.

These reviews relate to the original 1983 vinyl release and to contemporary concerts:

"BTT are the most original band to come out of Sheffield, and if you don't believe me, listen to Trapping." - Proper Gander
"BTT play with passion and humanity - for human beings who might get some use out of those qualities" - Source unidentified
"BTT spat it out for us all to see how it should be done" - Sheffield Telegraph
"A high level of invention, atmosphere and execution by six very talented musicians.....a fine ensemble achievement." - Michael Holloway, Jazz Beat
"This Sheffield six piece brim with courageous ambition, two guitarists and two reed players locked in a clinch somewhere between Soft Machine and Archie Shepp. The swirl of circular improvisations suggests this is one collective who could actually play a jazz-rock that moves and involves." - Richard Cook, NME
"A fine debut album.....rough and raw." - Sounds
"BTT are imaginative and adventurous - they spread the word" - The Bishop and the forty-nine articles
"BTT are Sheffield's answer to the Art Ensemble of Chicago, and they know how to entertain" - Unidentified review
"This band has done what no other is doing - playing in a rock context to a rock audience and in a jazz context to a jazz audience without changing a single note, and succeeding" - Unidentified review
"A mish-mash of freeform jazz, jagged funk and empty spaces...great to tangle to." - This is entertainment
" A truly progressive and accessible group" - Unidentified review

Re-issue available now from Discus in the UK and from Music a la Coque elsewhere.

Martin Archer
April 2006