# Unsquare > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Unsquare > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Unsquare.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsquare > Source revision: 1329539194 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) For the Dave Brubeck composition, see [Unsquare Dance](/source/Unsquare_Dance). ***Unsquare*** is a 2008 [studio album](/source/Studio_album) by [Maybe Monday](/source/Maybe_Monday), a [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco) based [experimental](/source/Experimental_music) [electroacoustic improvisation](/source/Electroacoustic_improvisation) music ensemble featuring guitarist [Fred Frith](/source/Fred_Frith), [koto](/source/Koto_(instrument)) player [Miya Masaoka](/source/Miya_Masaoka) and [saxophonist](/source/Saxophone) [Larry Ochs](/source/Larry_Ochs_(musician)). It is their third album and includes guest musicians [Gerry Hemingway](/source/Gerry_Hemingway), [Carla Kihlstedt](/source/Carla_Kihlstedt), [Ikue Mori](/source/Ikue_Mori) and [Zeena Parkins](/source/Zeena_Parkins). *Unsquare* was recorded at East Side Sound Studio in New York City on November 18, 2006, and was released by [Intakt Records](/source/Intakt_Records) in Switzerland in January 2008. ## Reception In a review of *Unsquare* at *[All About Jazz](/source/All_About_Jazz)*, Kurt Gottschalk called Maybe Monday "a ridiculously strong trio", and described their collaboration with Hemingway, Kihlstedt, Mori and Parkins on this album as "a dizzying, fascinating set of music".[1] Clifford Allen wrote at *Bagatellen* that Maybe Monday are not unlike the British free improvisation group [AMM](/source/AMM_(group)). He noted that which instruments are producing which sound is not important – it is the combination of those sounds that matters, the "subsuming of the parts to the whole".[2] Allen added that "to parse *Unsquare* would be a disservice to the breadth of its canvas – this is a very rich recording of electro-acoustic improvisation."[2] Jason Bivins wrote in *[Cadence](/source/Cadence_(magazine))* that the inclusion of the four guests "unsettl[ed] the group in just the right ways and thicken[ed] the sound provocatively".[3] He was impressed that they did this "without weighing the music down or sacrificing space".[3] Bivins described *Unsquare* as a "very fine record".[3] Reviewing *Unsquare* in *[DownBeat](/source/DownBeat)*, Bill Shoemaker was initially concerned that the presence of guests on Maybe Monday's third album would upset the "alluringly precarious elegance and intensity" of their earlier work.[4] But he was pleased at how "keenly ensemble-minded" the guests are, and that they appear to have "infallible instincts for when less is more and when more is much more".[4] The album's pieces "pivot between sparseness and density, altering a consistently bracing mix of acoustic and electronic elements".[4] Shoemaker felt that the way the instruments connect, "the twacks of koto and low-register harp; the gravelly drones of guitar and laptop; the smudges of reeds and bowed strings", explains the growing interest in electro-acoustic improvisation.[4] ## Track listing All tracks composed by [Maybe Monday](/source/Maybe_Monday). Sources: [Liner notes](/source/Liner_notes),[5] [Discogs](/source/Discogs).[6] ## Personnel - [Fred Frith](/source/Fred_Frith) – electric guitar - [Miya Masaoka](/source/Miya_Masaoka) – 25 string [koto](/source/Koto_(instrument)), electronics - [Larry Ochs](/source/Larry_Ochs_(musician)) – sopranino and tenor saxophones **Guests** - [Gerry Hemingway](/source/Gerry_Hemingway) – drums, percussion, voice - [Carla Kihlstedt](/source/Carla_Kihlstedt) – electric and acoustic violins - [Ikue Mori](/source/Ikue_Mori) – electronics - [Zeena Parkins](/source/Zeena_Parkins) – electric harp, electronics Sources: [Liner notes](/source/Liner_notes),[5] [Discogs](/source/Discogs).[6] ### Sound and artwork - Recorded at East Side Sound Studio, New York City on November 18, 2006 - Mixed at Ruminator Audio, San Francisco - Mastered at Headless Buddha Mastering Lab, Oakland, California - Marc Urselli – engineer - Monte Vallier – mixing - [Larry Ochs](/source/Larry_Ochs_(musician)) – mixing, producer, liner notes - Myles Boisen – mastering - [Intakt Records](/source/Intakt_Records) – producer - Emilie Clark – cover art - Jonas Schoder – graphic design Sources: [Liner notes](/source/Liner_notes),[5] [Discogs](/source/Discogs).[6] ## References 1. Schoemaker, Bill (October 12, 2008). ["Unsquare"](https://www.allaboutjazz.com/miya-masaoka-unsquare-and-koto-accordion-by-kurt-gottschalk.php). *[All About Jazz](/source/All_About_Jazz)*. Retrieved October 5, 2019. 1. Allen, Clifford (March 11, 2008). ["Maybe Monday – *Unsquare*"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150923181536/http://www.bagatellen.com/archives/reviews/001951.html). *Bagatellen*. Archived from [the original](http://www.bagatellen.com/archives/reviews/001951.html) on September 23, 2015. Retrieved October 5, 2019. 1. Bivins, Jason (July 2008). "New Issues: Esther Lamneck/Eugenio Sanna; the Nuttree Quartet; Ryan Blotnick; Joshua Walker; Garrison Fewell/Eric Hofbauer; Mads Thorsen; Dave Askren; DC Improvisers; Andy Brown; Mike Minasi; Margaret Slovak; Maybe Monday". *[Cadence](/source/Cadence_(magazine))*. Vol. 34, no. 7–9. pp. 255–259. [ISSN 0162-6973](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0162-6973) 1. Schoemaker, Bill (June 2008). "Unsquare". *[DownBeat](/source/DownBeat)*. Vol. 75, no. 6. [Chicago](/source/Chicago): Maher Publications. p. 72. [ISSN 0012-5768](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0012-5768) 1. Ochs, Larry (2008). *Unsquare* (CD liner notes). Intakt Records. 1. ["Maybe Monday – Unsquare"](https://www.discogs.com/Maybe-Monday-Unsquare/release/2306798). *[Discogs](/source/Discogs)*. March 10, 2008. Retrieved October 3, 2019. ## External links - [*Unsquare*](http://www.intaktrec.ch/132-a.htm) at [Intakt Records](/source/Intakt_Records) - [*Unsquare*](https://fred-frith.bandcamp.com/album/unsquare) at Intakt Records on [Bandcamp](/source/Bandcamp) - [*Unsquare* reviews](http://www.intaktrec.ch/rev132-a.htm) at Intakt Records --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Unsquare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsquare) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsquare?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.