ASK

Ask was formed by Martin Archer and John Jasnoch, and has gradually distilled from an ensemble which has had up to six members.

As a studio based duo - 1996 to 2004

The duo has its origins in a music partnership going back to around 1980, when both members were part of the electric jazz group Bass Tone Trap. The music is informed equally by the cool spaces of ambient electronics and by the instrumental virtuosity in which the music is rooted. It contains the micro-second interactions of free improvisation alongside the more roomy expansions of electronic music. The duo creatively utilises conventional instrumentation together with electronics, new music technology, specially constructed instruments and amplified objects. Ask has developed a music and method where intention and chance meet on equal terms and which stretches the definition of interactive playing.