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4tRECk 7" No.1

4tRECk No.1

4tRECK No.3

4tRECk No.4

Dear Sam Callow!
Thank You so much for perfectly brilliant CD!!! Splendid, exceptionally interesting work! We were glad and proud discover Your creation - such bright! - for us and for our audience, touch Your highest culture and mastery. Sam, thank You for joy of dealings with Creation!
Much friendly love from Siberia.
Serge Tikhanoff
Radio Penguin.

4tRECk | 4tRECk 7" ep (4tRACk RECordings) by Dan Chinn in 'Misfit City' webzine.
Remember those three little pigs who built their houses of straw and sticks and wood? Two of them were stupid, weren't they? Anyone knows a house of straw is a silly idea, and won't last.
Well Sam Callow (who is in fact 4TRECK) built his house of driftwood. It probably won't last either. It looks a little bit ramshackle, and it was quite hard work much of the time, and solitary work too. For Sam is a contemporary scavenger, nudging up against the boundary where post-modernism blends into out-and-out recycling. He's the one-legged man with a hut on the sand dunes; the dark-skinned gypsy with his horse-drawn caravan. Or, less romantically (and more probably) he's the half-curmudgeonly, half-amused bedroom observer. Whatever world he inhabits is gloriously bereft of HMVs, BMWs, and FTSEs. The essence of unaspirational, he is a free-wheeling footloose soul.
Sam's "house-that-Jack-built" pieces record the sheer hard graft, the unthinking toil and rare glories of a self-built existence, reworking stray snatches of Sinatra and all of The Jesus Lizard's "Slave Ship" while occasionally poking a tongue at commercialism (just hear his "chop-up" cover of Survivor's uber-cheese anthem "Eye of The Tiger"). 4TRECK (think about
the name) is recorded on a 4 track recorder using "accordion, piano, sampled percussion and yet more accordion" plus methodology including "drum'n'matchbox'n'bass". How does it sound? Well, have you seen those ships made out of Coca-Cola and Lilt cans? Or those bar-stools made out of bottle tops? That's how it sounds.
This is painstaking but fun, slightly messy and very obviously hand-built. It's amusing, enjoyable, witty, slightly off-the-wall and ultimately endearing. In a world of mass everything, Sam's is a voice for the little man, for living your own life, no matter how tin-pot, for sticking a wry finger up at The Establishment. For graft and fun and 'avin' a lark. Thank God for the Sams of this world.

4tRECk | 4tRECk 7" ep (4tRACk RECordings). By Mark in 'Losing Today' fanzine (based in Rome).
From the crafted to the crooked, okay slightly unfair given that the 5 tracks housed on this little cutie are nothing if not remarkable. Sam Callow under the guise of 4 Treck messes with your hair and your ears over the course of twelve minutes to alter your perceived attitudes towards weird pop while throwing in for good measure, half a minute of well aimed and deserved retribution on Survivor. It's the first time I've had a chance to hear Mr Callow's art, the press release being proud in announcing that 4 full CD-R's have entered the, extremely fortuitous, public domain, something I'll have to add to the ever-lengthening shopping list. Okay then, a limited 7" 500 pressing that once heard will be puzzlingly loved and treasured. Opening with a Jesus Lizard cover, 'Slave Ship' is given a genial workout with a taste of sampled accordions, piano and percussion. The finished product is a sea saw sea shanty effect that weirdly recalls elements of Zeppelin's 'Kashmir' with lashing of eastern promise. Talking of 'Eastern Promise' a mix match of something sweet and something vaguely ghost like. Tingling soft melodies, reprise like feel, at times very Sackville discovering out rock. Sparse, ad hoc with a curious awkward flow. Best track here. 'Socasm' visits calypso and is so world music in take that one fears Paul Simon will come from hiding to reclaim it as his own, god forbid. 'Frankensinatra' comes across like a disfigured White Town, groovy to hell in a spasmodic way, cut 'n' paste radio friendliness with a serious bliss out feel. Last but by no means least, 'Eye of the Tiger', 35 seconds of John Zorn meets Napalm Death. Deserved retribution.

4tRECk | 4tRECk 7" ep (4tRACk RECordings). In 'Comes With A Smile'.
Sam Callow’s first vinyl excursion is a 5 track 7" consisting of both new and previously released material, showcasing the diversity/perversity of the 4tRECk brand. The mood of the recordings swing from defiantly lo-fi soca rhythms (Socasam), to Gastr/Fahey open tunings and electronics (Eastern Promise), via Casio tape loops complete with Ol’ Blue Eyes’ vocals disturbingly/unintentionally leaking through (FrankenSinatra). The interpretations of other artists’ material are equally inventive: The Jesus Lizard’s Slave Ship is re-recorded by an accordion led Black Sabbath, whereas Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger is wrestled to the ground by Melt Banana in a 35 second bout. Sam plans to expand his home recordings empire with a 10" 4tRECk compilation, due out on Pickled Egg later this summer.

4tRECk No.1 and No.4. In Sound Projector (10th edition) by War Arrow.
Damn. All this sarcasm ready to go and once again I am defeated. I'd probably find it hard to write at length about 4tRECk, but this is wonderfully played, composed, and recorded. Pretty impressive.

4tRECk | 4tRECk 7" ep (4tRACk RECordings). In 'The Fly' magazine by Karl Cremin.
There have been a handful of 4tRECk CDR albums, but this is the first release on 7" vinyl. The EP opens with an accordion-led cover of Jesus Lizard's 'Slave Ship', and gets more eclectic from there onwards; 'Socasam' is a rythmic Caribbean influenced number, 'Easten Promise' mixes harmonicas with finger-picked guitars and vocal harmonies, and 'Frankensinatra' mashes samples of ol' blue eyes with more jazzed-up accordions. Bewildering, disorientating and almost impossible to comprehend at times, but somehow fantastic.

4tRECk 'SLAVE SHIP' 7" E.P. (5t. 4treck 2002). By Erwan in S.T.N.T. (French radio and fanzine)
4TRECK le retour... et pas n'importe comment ! un 45 tours, un vrai, alors que Sam callow, le one-man-band-label de 4 Track, s'était toujours arrangé pour sortir uniquement des CDRs ! Ca commence par une reprise de "slave ship" de JESUS LIZARD ( sur "liar"...) : musette et redondance dans le plus pure esprit lofi déglingué ! tout est dans l'accordéon ! Bizarroide de titre (déjà téléchargeable depuis quelques temps depuis le site internet) qui dévoile par la même la générosité et l'électisme de la discothèque du type ! 5 pistes triées sur le volet, 5 morceaux pour entrevoir le monde épanoui du bonhomme : on retrouve aussi bien l'humour à la RUINS (facon "LO FI") ou la mélancolie popisante du GASTR DEL SOL bébètifié... et puis ca me fait toujours mourir de rire ces expérimentations débiles que n'auraient sans doute pas reniées les gens cotoyant les milieux de l'électronica guillerette, facon DATS POLITICS à la kermesse du foyer laïc d'HENNEBONT ! Ecoutez le fameux "eye of the tiger" et donnez m'en des nouvelles ! Fin, moi j'aime bien, maintenant vous...
(29/06/02)

4tRECk 'SLAVE SHIP' 7" E.P. By Mats Gustafsson in The Broken Face magazine.

A 7" starting with a musette style cover version - including shockwaves of accordion, sampled percussion and piano - of The Jesus Lizard's "Slave Ship" is all I need to be sucked in. This 12 minute long debut single presents the bizarre worldview of London resident Sam Callow AKA 4tRECk, and as it moves
back and forth from folk to electronica, from Beefheartian weirdness to exotica, it becomes very clear that there is no way I'll be able to put a tag on this. "Eastern Promise" sounds like Fahey playing samba music and the odd, slightly Ruins-esque cut up rendition of Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" still shakes the foundations of this very house. It comes as no surprise at all that the Pickled Egg imprint are planning to release a 10" 4tRECk compilation later this year. This is right up their genre-defying and surrealistic sound alley.

4tRECk Album No.4 (4tRECk). By John Kennedy in the Dominion newspaper, Wellington New Zealand (1 June 02).

Sometimes-uplifting sounds appear from far less exalted sources, like the humble home studio of Londoner Sam Callow, a.k.a. 4Treck. These instrumental pieces are played entirely by Callow on guitars, wind instruments, drums and various keyboards.

What you get is some very infectious tunes and many doses of mostly successful experimentation with the recording process. Folk Metal Eight has a have-to-smile melody cycle, re-iterated in multiple layers and a backdrop of sped-up voices artificially wavering but strangely moving.

There are echoes of Brian Wilson style genius and the sort of eclecticism that was almost an endangered species - check the titles: Kamchatka, Eastern Promise and Bossa Not Over. Behind the playful attitude is a considerable, self-contained talent. The forecasted graduation to 8-track recording for “Volume 5” promises much.

4tRECk Album No.4 (4tRECk). By Dan Chinn in Organ magazine and soon in his webzine Misfit City.
The latest in former Mariachi drummer (Actually I was the guitarist in Mariachi....whatever - Sam) Sam Callow's whimsical explorations into the world of lo-fi/lo-key/ improvised music (recorded on basic 4-track and featuring whichever instruments/objects Sam and friends can pick up and point at the mike)(Actually its all just me..-Sam) is engaging and loveable as its predecessors. Possibly more so, as No.4 is effectively 4tRECks folk album, centred on acoustic instruments which encourage the discovery of mellifluous or perky little tunelets.

Folk musics been previously explored (and abused) in the world of post-rock, but rarely as charmingly and unselfconsciously as here. Rhythms and metres jump joyfully from place to place. Acoustic guitars, celestes, tuned percussion, violins and squeezeboxes dominate Sams toybox, upstaging the clots of studio noise or tape-flipping. There are nods to Astor Piazolla, John Fahey, Gastr Del Sol, Fridge, the serener side of Captain Beefheart and Spirit of Eden, as well as to anyone who ever enjoyed ransacking the school instrument cupboard. IMP-Heavy sounds like Frank Zappa getting one hand on Smoke On The Water and the other on a beserk, Cronenbourg-model cloning machine. Eye Of The Tiger puts the riff from that Survivor soft-rock horror through a twitchy King Crimson/Charles Hayward sonic bacon-slicer, but pulls out before it gets too horrible.

This Album is a continuous series of happy moments, from which you can pick new favourites on each listening. Riding high in todays ranking are NO NO NO NOs sleepy drone chorus, nonchalant whistle and drunken melodica; the hiccuping accordion and steel-string slop of Folk Metal Eight ; the fiendishly complicated dance rhythms of Kamchatka ; the lively marketplace ambience of Bossa Not Over. This music could appeal as equally (and insistently) to Wire reading chinstrokers, toddlers, nervous wrecks in need of comfort, and lo-fi basement haunters. As well as to you - No.4 will make you chyckle, brighten your day, clear your mind and put a strange wiggly spring in your step. Trust me.

4tRECk | 4tRECk #4 (4tRECk) by Simon Berkovitch in Comes With A Smile (No. 9):
As the name suggests, the work of 4tRECk is a series of musical journeys documented on one of the simplest forms of home recording equipment: the beloved 4-track tape machine. In the eyes of 4tRECk (or indeed his alter ego Sam Callow, composer arranger and 'label boss'), the utilisation of basic equipment need not be seen as a limitation to ones musical progress. Quite the opposite in fact: Sam relishes the challenge of finding new ways of making the most primitive technology produce interesting results. This fourth CD-R release sometimes finds our intrepid hero in the arena of world music, but mercifully without any pretensions of authenticity. Elements of various musical cultures are absorbed and reworked through the 4tRECk four track, with a surprisingly hi-fi sound. The bulk of the album is a semi-acoustic affair, with various picked guitar styles pleasingly prominent. The opening 'Folk Metal Eight' offers whimsical English folk rock guitar accompanied by a series of recorders and bowed string instruments, very much in the vein of the quirkier music of the celebrated film score of 'The Wicker Man'. This folky style is reworked in a jaunty instrumental piece witha blues/Cajun feel ('Acoustique') and again in the raga frenzy of 'Eastern Promise', with additional psychedelic effects of treated cymbal washes and fizzing electronics. It seems that 4tRECk has great affinity with the grand tradition of the eccentric outsider artist, as the accordion led 'Recordian pt 2' has its roots in the mantras of Ivor Cutler. Elsewhere, though, things just get plain weird. The very one-man band nature of this project means that 4tRECk is keeping time with himself whilst 'playing' a series of instruments via the four track. Anybody familiar with The Legendary Stardust Cowboy`s 'Paralysed' will understand how frightening this notion can be. Eccentric time signatures and instrumentation fight for centre stage all over tracks such as 'Harmonique' and 'Kamchatka'. The brutal guitar/drums battle of 'Imp Heavy' attempts to demonstrate what The White Stripes might sound like if their primary influence was the Wyatt-less Soft Machine, instead, instead of grungy swamp blues. These progressive recordings are not for the faint hearted, especially as 4tRECk elects to conclude #4 with a disgusting cut up 35 second rearrangement of Survivor's 'Eye Of The Tiger', with discordant riffs reassembled at random. This shouldn`t come as too much of a surprise from a man who has covered the theme from 80s helicopter drama 'Airwolf' on 4tRECk #3. The overall mood of 4tRECk #4 is split between the off kilter acoustic pieces and deranged experimentation, but in both instances 4tRECk`s maverick DIY spirit remains untamed.

Chris Cutler in the ReR Recommended catalogue:
4TRECK : No. 3. CD-R. Third by Sam Callow, a kind of more experimental instrumental R. Stevie Moore, who works on stretches of time building musical structures that aren't really pieces the way a group or a soloist would make pieces. They are melodic, rhythmical (often poly- or additively) and not at all abstract or electronic. Care is taken with sound, not to make it strange, just to make it essential. Wide instrumentation, no winds though. Sketches, but the kind of sketches you keep and which sometimes capture something elusive and haunting. This one: Big sounds, odd rhythms, plunderwork, stretched structures, strangeness. Even some lounge exotica (almost). Start here.

Stephane from Autres Directions:
Les trouvailles du prodige Sam Callow aka 4tRECk viennent de donner vie à un quatrième morceau de bravoure. Alors que nous nous remettions à peine de ce no.1 (voir ci-dessous) qu'il nous avait fait parvenir afin de nous présenter sa musique (et que son inspiration débordante avait permis la réalisation de no.2 & no.3), 4tRECk publie no.4, un disque qu'il décrit comme son plus acoustique.

La légèreté bucolique, la finesse des arrangements et la simplicité de la mélodie font de Folk Metal Eight, le titre qui nous berce en ouverture de l'album, un petit moment de détente au charme désarmant. Mais la musique de Sam Callow ne peut pas se tenir droite plus de 6 minutes au compteur, et après une évolution vers un mathcore acoustique, elle termine sa course effrénée par un hymne guitaristique rock. Certains titres tendent d'ailleurs vers un certain post-rock (The Sorts), acoustique qui plus est (sur Bossa Not Over, Kamchatka), voire Gastr Del Sol ou Jim O'Rourke (sur Recordian Pt.2, Acoustique) - soient des références très éloignées de no.1. L'humeur est également ici moins festive, plus mélancolique. Le son est généralement très particulier : les méthodes d'enregistrement du garnement sont comme les pochettes de ses auto-productions, frappés du sceau diy (4tRECk s'enregistre seul, chez lui, sur quatre pistes et parfois sur MD) ; et ce son "cheap" rend sa musique encore plus chaleureuse, présente, colorée. Ainsi, ce lointain neveu de Daniel Johnston compose des mélodies touchantes avec les vieux instruments qui traînent au fond de sa jolie cave (guitares, violons, percussions, harmonium, piano), comme ce No No No No qui pourraît être un Black Heart Procession enjoué. Enfin, le disque se clôt par trois dernières chansons plus courtes, qui renvoient davantage à son no.1 car plus barrées, bruyantes, avec cette drôle de relecture -méconnaissable- de Eye Of The Tiger...

No.4 est un disque régulièrement surprenant, émerveillant. Et 4tRECk de devenir, pour ces quelques instants, l'artiste le plus émouvant qui soit.

John Peel introducing 'Socasam' on his show (BBC Radio 1):
Click here: Intro (0:32, MP3 94 kbs)

Robert Sandall and Mark Russell chatting about 'Eastern Promise' before and after playing it on Mixing-it (BBC Radio 3):
Click here: Before (0:22, MP3 66 kbs) After (0:46, MP3 138 kbs)

Chris Cutler in the ReR Recommended catalogue:
4tRECK: No. 1 Eccentric and original record, with some very interesting pieces, some complex rhythmic material (a little after Mats and Morgan) and a strange eclectic mix of other styles and fragments, featuring voice, piano, guitar, drums, melodica, casio, TV, Tape manipulation, vibraphone, accordion, jews harp, junk and so on. (tiny echoes of Beefheart, Zappa, early Americana, Exotica, 60’s electronics but essentially this is a highly original confection, so comparisons don't help. Composed material. Home-made. CDR. Limited Supply.

Erwan in S.T.N.T. (French radio and fanzine):
SAM CALLOW is coming back ! Toujours à la tête et aux oreilles de son projet 4Treck/4Track, l'anglais nous livre ici le 4ième volume de ses aventures musicales du début 2001... Les temps pluvieux ont fait leurs effets ! Ca commence par de la mélancolie à n'en plus finir : guitare sèche, mélodies à pleurer, des ambiances à la gastr del sol dans son côté nostalgie - folk-itude ! Puis un coup d'énervement, un coup de verglas, ça se déglingue d'un coup, l'adrénaline monte dans un relent de technique et de breaks rythmiques facon 'home made'... c'est toujours rigolo : un peu comme si les ruins s'étaient mis au folk... c'est toujours étonnant cette approche de la musique... la musique de son 'chez soi', celle de sa chambre ou de sa cuisine... très touchant ! Combien ont enregistré des morceaux à l'accordéon, à la guitare sèche, à la batterie ou aux cartons... des soirées de cassettes aujourd'hui recouvertes d'années de poussière et de tonnes de cartons ? Beaucoup ? Oui ? Mais Sam, lui, est passé à l'acte ! il a créé son label de cdrs pour sa propre musique... et rien que pour ça, ca vaut le détour ! 4Treck est fan de Gastr del sol, des ruins, de beefheart, de zappa... et de son chez soi ! Pour résumé, 4TRECK est blues folk barge mélancolico guilleret ! Etonnant non ? Je trouve çà très touchant ! Le prochain volume du bonhomme augurera l'arrivée de sons électroniques si l'on en croît la liste de mp3s sur son site internet. ****

Garlon Hairmungus in Probemusic.
4tRECk No.1 If anybody is making a short feature film and needs a soundtrack for a scene incorporating a strange alien abduction and extraterrestrial scientific experimentations on country folk, I would strongly advice using 'Bouncy Country' the opening track on CD No.1 by '4tRECk'. 'Bouncy Country' is a six minute epic instrumental with some absolutely brilliant patterns and subtly strange sounds that loop and fade continuously, it is by fair the longest track on this the first of three home made CD-R's (rumours have it, the 4th is on its way). I get the feeling the track could however go for hours like a pre-programmed Casio keyboard, and you still wouldn't think it was two long. The remainder of the cd, contains much the same sound with layers of various weird and wonderful instruments and patterns taking you on a journey to an area beyond Area 51. It is quite difficult to offer any comparisons for this cd (which I feel is always a very good sign!), however to paint a literal picture in your mind, imagine 'The residents' kidnapping 'Lou Barlow' gagged him and locking him in a room with; themselves, a 4 track, a Casio keyboard, a drum kit, congo's, a Jews harp and a holiday brochure for the Caribbean Islands. I hazard a guess that the outcome wouldn't be too dissimilar to 4tRECk's No.1!

By Damien in Autres Directions (French Radio and Webzine):
Incarné par le jeune Sam callow et premier volet d'une série prometteuse de CD-R, 4treck nous confronte à un univers décalé. Parsemé d'ambiances allant d'une pop-folk à un free-jazz loufoque, notre londonien nous déroute, s'amuse et fait des siennes sans qu'on ne s'y attende. On imagine Sam voyageant, tout d'abord mélancolique comme dans Shanty in C où harmonium et violon s'enlacent pour mieux finir par se brouiller, puis chemin faisant c'est au tour des fanfares et musiques hawaïenne... C'est bien là une drôle de mixture et il est difficile d'y mettre un étiquette. Notre jeune homme jongle avec les styles et l'illustre parfaitement en s'amusant à reprendre Ruins et T.L.C. ( oui, oui, le girls band ! ) dans le même morceau. En écoutant 4treck, on pense à the Ex, au Residents, à Jad Fair, à Old Time Relijun, où plus proche de nous aux palois de Kourgane où aux bordelais de l'Observance. Trituré et déroutant, 4Treck n°1 est une réussite, entêtant comme avec 365 degrees, on en redemande encore !

Bernhard Geunter (Electro-acoustician, composer):
" the kind of humour the music shows, and also hearing people working with changing meters (a dying art, as it seems, which i used to practice myself, before finally going for near-timelessness... :) provided a very entertaining experience. i couldn't stop grinning stupidly while listening... :) a welcome change from all those shallow waters that many people want to have respected as deep art..."

Erwan in S.T.N.T. (French, radio and fanzine):
4TRECK est le projet et label de sam CALLOW dont le gout pour les musiques 'hocomprenez 'fait à la maison', est assurément hyper prononcé ! Imaginez vous dans votre chambre, ou votre cave, à enregistrer toutes sortes d'instruments : voix, guitare, batterie, vibraphone, accordéon, mélodica...etc pour ensuite triturer tout ça, les remixer en quelques sorte, et finalement compiler toutes vos expérimentations 'cavi-nesques' sur K7s ou CDRs... et bien vous avez imaginé avec précision comment monter un label de K7s ou CDRs dans la plus pure tradition punk et Do It Yourself ! Un label donc un peu dans la lignée, et façon de penser, de K records, label de BEAT HAPPENING et consorts, mais qu'entre nous soit dit, ce 4TRECK anglais privilégiera plus le côté expérimentation que son confrère américain ! Le disque quant à lui, sonne un peu comme les vieux DANIEL JOHNSTON, l'expérimentation en plus... on pourra de la sorte entendre quelques lointains échos de commandant BEEFHEART voir ZAPPA par endroit... mais le tout est surtout hyper naturel et donc sensible ! On sent volontiers la mélancolie, la déconnade et surtout l'humour du type ! Un escale chez sam CALLOW, sans caméra ni trompette !

Phil Todd in the Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers catalogue:
4tRECk "NO.1" (4trk CD) Homemade prog-rock with lots of weird time signatures, unexpected instruments etc. Like an "English" version of MAGMA or RUINS. CDR release.

Hoppy Kamiyama (Optical8, God Mountain...etc):
"I really enjoyed to listening your sampler CD-R. Especially I am impressed by pieces with voice."

Franck Stofer (Sonore Records):
"Zappatastic"

Andrei Cabanban (class B Media, American Heritage, Tetsuo):
"I'm on Track 5 (No.1) right now, and I think this stuff is extremely creative. Really cool s**t! "