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Happy Halloween and Hello!
First we want to let all our NY Metropolitan customers know that we'll be selling at the WFMU Record & CD Collector's Fair this weekend, Friday November 3-Sunday November 5. We'll be stocking a lot of new CDs, closeouts and special prices, along with a good collection of rare and unusual vinyl LPs. If you're coming to the fair please stop by our tables (F12 & F13) and help us put a face to the name, we really love meeting our customers!
Below are new releases for the last month, which include new Tzadik releases, Hat Art (including restocking Polweschel's Archives of the North), Erstwhile, Cryptogramophone, Room 40, Sub Rosa, Emanem and Cuneiform titles; new Vandermark on Atavistic; the recently released Derek Bailey/Cyro Baptista on Amulet (look for Amulet back catalog in the next couple of weeks); two new ones from Dr. Chadbourne; a beautiful Art Zoyd issue; Ryhs Chatham's Gongs on Table of the Elements; two titles from Philip Glass; several New World releases; and classic restocks including Lars Hollmer titles, Robert Wyatt and Soft Machine Legacy, Non Credo and Iva Bittova, Incus titles, David Myers' (Arcane Device) Pulsewidth catalog, and several ZGA/Nick Soudnick releases.
"Our improv-guitar hero, Derek Bailey lives on through this intimate musical celebration with pastime collaborator, percussionist/vocal master Cyro Baptista. Snaking through unknown musical landscapes, discovering paths and creating new dialect along the way. These two masters have a connection unparalleled in the avant-garde world and they celebrate it for the last time at NYC's legendary performance space Tonic. 21 years ago, Derek Bailey asked Cyro Baptista to record an improvised duet [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Our improv-guitar hero, Derek Bailey lives on through this intimate musical celebration with pastime collaborator, percussionist/vocal master Cyro Baptista. Snaking through unknown musical landscapes, discovering paths and creating new dialect along the way. These two masters have a connection unparalleled in the avant-garde world and they celebrate it for the last time at NYC's legendary performance space Tonic.
21 years ago, Derek Bailey asked Cyro Baptista to record an improvised duet [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Challenging and intelligent free improv from this set of UK & European improvisers.
"What you are about to encounter is a meeting, an improvised meeting between two phenomenal string players. [...] Tomas first recorded for CIMP in 1996 and has never failed to inspire my spirits. This co-led encounter is, to date, the closest Tomas has come to leading a session. Mike first encountered Tomas at a Lou Grassi jam session and "just thought he was outstanding." Mike feels that the cello is the hardest instrument to cross over with, but found Tomas' playing "just killed." As a result, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Solo piano outting from this talented and underrecognized NYC improviser.
A release probably for the true Butcher fan, or any fans of Vanessa Mackness..."Here are ten improvisations between Brit saxophonist John Butcher and Scott vocalist Vanessa Mackness; ten pieces that skirt the edges of the very nature of what free improvisation is. Butcher's playing usually errs on the dry side of free improv, and this recording is no exception. His tonal palette is relatively limited (perhaps this is on purpose?), which gives most of his free work a samey-sounding ring [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
A release probably for the true Butcher fan, or any fans of Vanessa Mackness...
"Here are ten improvisations between Brit saxophonist John Butcher and Scott vocalist Vanessa Mackness; ten pieces that skirt the edges of the very nature of what free improvisation is. Butcher's playing usually errs on the dry side of free improv, and this recording is no exception. His tonal palette is relatively limited (perhaps this is on purpose?), which gives most of his free work a samey-sounding ring [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Entering into the music of the Kent Carter String Trio can be an unsettling experience. One has the feeling that fiction and reality have conspired to ensnare us in their own magic web. We arrive, curious and confident, ready to listen to the music that a famous American double bass player Kent Carter, a prominent exponent of contemporary jazz, has written for a string trio, a traditional line-up in European chamber music. And this is such music, even though in this case the double bass has replaced [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Nivesana is a beautiful CD. A seamless integration of Indian classical music, avant garde jazz, and electronic wizardry, the CD is a collaboration between legendary multi-instrumentalist Daniel Carter and percussionist Ravi Padmanabha. "Nivesana" is a Pali word with multiple meanings: it means entering, home, settling, and it also means attachment, clinging to. Part of the beauty of the CD is the way Carter and Padmanabha explore all sides of the word: the music certainly has a deep, centered [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Intricate interplay in open improvisations fueled by a sense of Bailey and Dadaistic sound sculpting."Living in the remote town of Rockaway, New Jersey, I am virtually alone in this world known as free improvisation. Although only 35 miles from New York City, i may as well be living in Iowa. While playing opportunities do come up occasionally, they are too few and far between for me - I like to PLAY. So here we have the next best thing. I played with Glenn thru the same means on the Blind [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Living in the remote town of Rockaway, New Jersey, I am virtually alone in this world known as free improvisation. Although only 35 miles from New York City, i may as well be living in Iowa. While playing opportunities do come up occasionally, they are too few and far between for me - I like to PLAY. So here we have the next best thing. I played with Glenn thru the same means on the Blind [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Live solo Chadbourne from 1980 with extremely unusual takes on standards, instrumental and vocal.
"The eight-word subtitle just about sums it up. Cline and his fellows don't take the often too reverential repertory approach with Hill's music, and instead offer up a programme that's as stimulating for its approach as it is for the ground it covers, and that ground is considerable, taking in as it does compositions recorded by Hill over nearly forty years. To hear what is effectively an overview of his music in this way is to be granted an insight into just how true to his own artistic vision [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Originally released as a limited audio companion piece for the Corbett vs. Dempsey gallery's "Musician <-> Artist" opening in Chicago, December 3, 2004, Eye & Ear features otherwise unavailable tracks by internationally reknowned artists from 1950 to the present. Of the gallery exhibit, it originally opened with a reception and live musical performance from Guillermo Gregorio, clarinet, and Jim Baker, electric piano, playing songs associated with Pee Wee Russell. The concept of the [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Originally released as a limited audio companion piece for the Corbett vs. Dempsey gallery's "Musician <-> Artist" opening in Chicago, December 3, 2004, Eye & Ear features otherwise unavailable tracks by internationally reknowned artists from 1950 to the present.
Of the gallery exhibit, it originally opened with a reception and live musical performance from Guillermo Gregorio, clarinet, and Jim Baker, electric piano, playing songs associated with Pee Wee Russell. The concept of the [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Andrew Cyrille, Mark Dresser, and Marty Ehrlich have formed a consummately cooperative jazz group, and C/D/E is their first recording. On tunes like Cyrille's melancholy "Aubade," Ehrlich's melody statement segues into some magically delicate group improvisation. Here, Cyrille limits himself to tiny cowbell hits, Ehrlich plaintively explores the tune, and Dresser dances around a funky walking line; no musician steps into the spotlight, yet the music is never without focus. This tune and others [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"We started the session around 8 p.m. with Dominic intoning the inspiration he has felt for his experience as a player with, and listener to, Cecil Taylor. A few suggestions as to strategy and the group commenced to all manner of sawing. They opened with First Movement, a rather disunified attack, but which soon gave way to a lovely and melodious centralized core that gained its footing and moved into more individual free forays and a beautiful representation of the melding of Jazz and classical [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Excellent electro-acoustic group from Vienna. "Many facets blending in a unique sound: if one had to give the recipe for the success of this Vienna band, one would probably have to point to the great variety of the musical perspectives which converge in efzeg; and which, according to the founder member Boris Hauf, are a major assett. 'What is important are the different backgrounds the five of us contribute from different musical fields. It was this which finally made me decide to start to experiment. [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Excerpts from sleeve notes: Davu Seru's growing interest and involvement in improvised music prompted him to contact me in 2000. The ensuing dance of conversation and private sessions not only yielded collaborative concerts in short order, but several recordings (Shih Shih Wu Ai 10, Elfin 1/2, Elfin 3), and, perhaps most importantly, a vital interpersonal dynamic. Though I first met Charles Gillett in the late nineties, it wasn't until a few years later that we really started getting [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Excerpts from sleeve notes:
Davu Seru's growing interest and involvement in improvised music prompted him to contact me in 2000. The ensuing dance of conversation and private sessions not only yielded collaborative concerts in short order, but several recordings (Shih Shih Wu Ai 10, Elfin 1/2, Elfin 3), and, perhaps most importantly, a vital interpersonal dynamic.
Though I first met Charles Gillett in the late nineties, it wasn't until a few years later that we really started getting [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Handbasket delivers Fire of Space orchestrations of musical influence from a variety of cultural locales, including Turkey, Siberia and the Punjab region of India. The band makes use of unusual instrumentation (in the tradition of early swing bands and Sun Ra) featuring double reeds, contra-bass clarinet, c-melody saxophone, accordion, acoustic piano and electric keyboards and effects processors.Founded by trumpeter and composer Jordan McLean, Fire Of Space features a raucous four-horn [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Handbasket delivers Fire of Space orchestrations of musical influence from a variety of cultural locales, including Turkey, Siberia and the Punjab region of India. The band makes use of unusual instrumentation (in the tradition of early swing bands and Sun Ra) featuring double reeds, contra-bass clarinet, c-melody saxophone, accordion, acoustic piano and electric keyboards and effects processors.
Founded by trumpeter and composer Jordan McLean, Fire Of Space features a raucous four-horn [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Snow Blind Avalanche is a completely different album than A Rock In The Snow also being released on Important though the two records were made during the same sessions. This vinyl only release is limited to 1000 copies with the first 200 on snow-white vinyl. Artwork by C. Spencer Yeh. Liner notes from Wolf Eyes bro John Olson aka Johnny Coors. The Flaherty/Corsano/Yeh power trio have emerged on album with a dual format/dual release for Important. Snow Blind Avalanche finds the Flaherty/Corsano/Yeh [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Snow Blind Avalanche is a completely different album than A Rock In The Snow also being released on Important though the two records were made during the same sessions. This vinyl only release is limited to 1000 copies with the first 200 on snow-white vinyl. Artwork by C. Spencer Yeh. Liner notes from Wolf Eyes bro John Olson aka Johnny Coors.
The Flaherty/Corsano/Yeh power trio have emerged on album with a dual format/dual release for Important. Snow Blind Avalanche finds the Flaherty/Corsano/Yeh [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Swinging jazz accordionists have always been a rarity but Erik Frank, who had a hit in 1944 with "Novelty Accordion," has often stood apart from the crowd. The accordion was a very popular instrument in Sweden during the first half of the century and Frank was one of the few accordionists who had a real feel for jazz. He was a professional musician by the time he was 16 and, in addition to the accordion, Frank was a saxophonist who played in big bands (but did not solo). On accordion he worked [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Based in Switzerland, saxophonist Christoph Gallio has been very active in Europe since the 1980s,but remains relatively unknown to American ears- even though his trio, Day & Taxi , toured the U.S. a couple of times. He performs and writes a wide range of music, from the sleek and elegant modern jazz of the aforementioned group to free improv (with Ensemble Uncontrolled) and Steve Lac -inspired song cycles. He has recorded for Leo, Slam, Unit, and his own label, Percaso. At age 20, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Based in Switzerland, saxophonist Christoph Gallio has been very active in Europe since the 1980s,but remains relatively unknown to American ears- even though his trio, Day & Taxi , toured the U.S. a couple of times. He performs and writes a wide range of music, from the sleek and elegant modern jazz of the aforementioned group to free improv (with Ensemble Uncontrolled) and Steve Lac -inspired song cycles. He has recorded for Leo, Slam, Unit, and his own label, Percaso.
At age 20, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Excellent rhythmically inclined compositions with a good sense of dynamics and attention to sound and sonic, a very interesting listen. The first 50 copies come attached with 3 pins."Gricer (slang): an individual with specialist knowledge. Gricer focuses on sounds, rhythm and tempo, and inhabits the spaces in-between, bypassing genres, and dodging clichés. The 12 compositions on this debut, self-titled album create their own dark dynamic through a combination of rock minimalism, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Excellent rhythmically inclined compositions with a good sense of dynamics and attention to sound and sonic, a very interesting listen. The first 50 copies come attached with 3 pins.
"Gricer (slang): an individual with specialist knowledge. Gricer focuses on sounds, rhythm and tempo, and inhabits the spaces in-between, bypassing genres, and dodging clichés. The 12 compositions on this debut, self-titled album create their own dark dynamic through a combination of rock minimalism, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"You don't want to approach Monk's music unless you know what you are doing and have the technical ability. Duval and Halperin have all of that plus the ability to bring a fresh creativity to very defined compositions. To further add to the challenge, they do it duo. This long-time-in-the-making project is a rich and full listening experience."-CIMP"This project-to deal with the music of Thelonious Monk head-on-is something Dominic Duval has wanted to do for years. The actual concept for [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"You don't want to approach Monk's music unless you know what you are doing and have the technical ability. Duval and Halperin have all of that plus the ability to bring a fresh creativity to very defined compositions. To further add to the challenge, they do it duo. This long-time-in-the-making project is a rich and full listening experience."-CIMP
"This project-to deal with the music of Thelonious Monk head-on-is something Dominic Duval has wanted to do for years. The actual concept for [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The first American release by Tokyo's new rising power Hisato Higuchi. Originally a puppeteer, Higuchi has transformed his glacial, shadow-box inspired hand movements to the twilight theater of electric guitar. His six-string tones and hushed vocals fan out from these haunted torch songs and burning embers of Patty Waters and Keiji Haino's quieter, introspective work. Overall, a beautiful meditation and entirely new vision of celestial blues. His seemingly wordless Japanese croon is a smoky, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Limited to 400 copies. "Two of the most intense young 'free' dudes from different parts of the globe (Kelley from Boston, Neilson from Leeds) unite for this completely weird record, taking free music to a different level, recorded on top of each other via mail. This sounds like moving the heaviest metal closet on a little rubber boat from Brighton to the east coast of the United States, kicking off with a heavy free jazzy tune full of retarded trumpets stuffed with little babies screaming for a [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Solo tenor saxophone work in multo-track improvisations inspired by a mixed-media presentation of saxophone and Balinese puppet theatre. Henry Kuntz has been involved in free jazz and free improvisation for more than 25 years. From 1973 to 1979, he published the internationally known and acclaimed newsletter-review Bells, a recognized authority in the field. He first recorded on tenor saxophone in 1977 on Henry Kaiser's Ice Death (Parachute 005). He has played musette and various wood flutes since [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
This 2-CD set captures the late soprano saxophonist's first solo concert ever in America, recorded in 1976 by Jim Elgo at the loft jazz space 'Environ,' one of the leading loft jazz performance spaces at the time, and the album reflects the relaxed loft ambience.
Chicago/Brazil cornetist Rob Mazurek's project of intense and downright destructive jazz with an electronic edge from a great set of players."Mandarin Movie often recalls Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis in the way it subsumes individual voices into a murky sonic bog, but those looking for fusion jams will be sorely disappointed and probably a little bit disturbed. "Orange" perverts Isotope's clinical jazz-funk, with Mazurek's and trombonist Steve Swell's horns holding long, dissonant chords [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Chicago/Brazil cornetist Rob Mazurek's project of intense and downright destructive jazz with an electronic edge from a great set of players.
"Mandarin Movie often recalls Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis in the way it subsumes individual voices into a murky sonic bog, but those looking for fusion jams will be sorely disappointed and probably a little bit disturbed. "Orange" perverts Isotope's clinical jazz-funk, with Mazurek's and trombonist Steve Swell's horns holding long, dissonant chords [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Bennie Maupin worked with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 70's in the birth of the darker form of fusion that informed Miles' Bitches Brew and Hancock's Headhunters era. Still going strong in the new millenium, presented here with a percussively extended "trio" setting on all Maupin compositions."Bennie Maupin's highly personal bass clarinet sound helped define such classic jazz recordings as Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson's Big Fun and On the [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Bennie Maupin worked with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 70's in the birth of the darker form of fusion that informed Miles' Bitches Brew and Hancock's Headhunters era. Still going strong in the new millenium, presented here with a percussively extended "trio" setting on all Maupin compositions.
"Bennie Maupin's highly personal bass clarinet sound helped define such classic jazz recordings as Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson's Big Fun and On the [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"It takes a certain confidence to add another tenor saxist to your trio, but, in Matt Bauder, Seth Meicht's confidence is well founded. Not so much a tenor battle as an integrated and complementary pairing, this is gutsy assertive music that will satisfy all who like their music upfront and bold. Seth Meicht is a force coming on strong."-CIMP"In August of 2005 Seth sent me demos of his trio. These recordings really grabbed my attention, and some of them were eventually released on the [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"It takes a certain confidence to add another tenor saxist to your trio, but, in Matt Bauder, Seth Meicht's confidence is well founded. Not so much a tenor battle as an integrated and complementary pairing, this is gutsy assertive music that will satisfy all who like their music upfront and bold. Seth Meicht is a force coming on strong."-CIMP
"In August of 2005 Seth sent me demos of his trio. These recordings really grabbed my attention, and some of them were eventually released on the [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Myra Melford augments her to a quartet here with either trumpet or guitar, and the range of the group is augmented in turn by her use of harmonium and the use of electronics by both trumpeter Cuong Vu and bass player Stomu Takeishi. The resulting music is a mixed affair, marked by a certain anonymous quality that often makes its presence felt.[...] It's clear on the likes of "Yellow Are Crowds Of Flowers, II" that the Melford trio has reached some rarefied stage of musical understanding; [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Myra Melford augments her to a quartet here with either trumpet or guitar, and the range of the group is augmented in turn by her use of harmonium and the use of electronics by both trumpeter Cuong Vu and bass player Stomu Takeishi. The resulting music is a mixed affair, marked by a certain anonymous quality that often makes its presence felt.
[...] It's clear on the likes of "Yellow Are Crowds Of Flowers, II" that the Melford trio has reached some rarefied stage of musical understanding; [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Active for a dozen years, the Microscopic Septet were widely recognized as "New York's Most Famous Unknown Band." The group started with a basic reeds-and-rhythm texture (soprano, alto, tenor and baritone sax, piano, bass and drums) that was sonically similar to the sound of the Swing Era. However, they employed these textures to address a widely eclectic range of styles, from free-form music to R&B, rhumbas and ragtime. The result was a brilliant blend of fresh-sounding orchestration and inspired [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"David Moss pulls out all the stops of vocal diversity and percussive ideas. Together with the electronic magician Frank Schulte and the uncontrollable (im)possible object-soundmaker Axel Otto Moss has produced over 20 delightful astounding and lovable miniatures. Full of frothy life, refreshing chubbines and charming rogishness."-Michael Scheiner, Jazzpodium
"David Moss pulls out all the stops of vocal diversity and percussive ideas. Together with the electronic magician Frank Schulte and the uncontrollable (im)possible object-soundmaker Axel Otto Moss has produced over 20 delightful astounding and lovable miniatures. Full of frothy life, refreshing chubbines and charming rogishness."
"A major early release by tenorist Murray, 3D Family, recorded live at the Willisau Jazz Festival 9/3/78, appeared originally on Hat Hut records as a double LP before eventually being re-released on disc by hat ART. Murray performs here in a live context with one of his very strongest rhythm sections: the intensely musical South African bassistJohnny Dyani and veteran master drummer Andrew Cyrille. The program consists of all Murray compositions, weaving between burners, funky dances, and soulful [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
David Murray's portrait of Louis Armstrong, originally released on the Stash label in 1992, and now licensed to Random Chance. The set was recorded live at the Knitting Factory in NYC. Doc Cheatham was 87 at the time of these recordings!
AMM alumni Eddie Prévost with Brotzmann/Bailey peer Alan Wilkinson on alto and baritone and Joe Williamson, who's worked with Chadbourne, Tony Buck, etc, in a gig from the 2006 UK Freedom of the City festival.
"With its exciting blend of rock, jazz and jewish music, Rashanim has quickly become one of the most dynamic bands in the Jewish New Music scene. Their last release Masada Rock has garnered them much well deserved attention, and after extensive touring through Europe the band is more than ready for their third studio recording on Tzadik. Tighter than ever, this Jewish power trio rips through an electrifying program of mystical jewish melodies and middle eastern grooves."-Tzadik
This album was started, in earnest, as 'Protest Music' about arabophobia in a 'Post 9-11 World'. I wanted it to be auto-biographical (my given name is Osama) and somewhat clear in its intended dissent. After about six months of working with these goals in mind, things turned ugly... The whole notion of 'artistic dissent' felt like a very slippery form of self-aggrandizement. I began to think about how this all 'fit into' both marginal and mainstream culture. Why was I doing [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
This album was started, in earnest, as 'Protest Music' about arabophobia in a 'Post 9-11 World'. I wanted it to be auto-biographical (my given name is Osama) and somewhat clear in its intended dissent.
After about six months of working with these goals in mind, things turned ugly... The whole notion of 'artistic dissent' felt like a very slippery form of self-aggrandizement. I began to think about how this all 'fit into' both marginal and mainstream culture. Why was I doing [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Archie Shepp's 1975 studio recordings of his quintet paying homage to Charlie Parker.
[...] Shepp's sax has never sounded so rich and satisfying. Secondly, Richard Davis produces sounds on the bass unlike any you will hear elsewhere. "Total Package" is his feature piece and contains a variety of effects and phrases that must qualify for performance of the year. His work throughout is resonant and reliable, but on this track he explores areas that are totally his own. As if in response to this wizardry, Shepp seems in particularly creative mode. A sense of what has gone [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
[...] Shepp's sax has never sounded so rich and satisfying. Secondly, Richard Davis produces sounds on the bass unlike any you will hear elsewhere. "Total Package" is his feature piece and contains a variety of effects and phrases that must qualify for performance of the year. His work throughout is resonant and reliable, but on this track he explores areas that are totally his own.
As if in response to this wizardry, Shepp seems in particularly creative mode. A sense of what has gone [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"These flute and acoustic guitar duets were recorded in a variety of places under widely varying conditions in 1994 and 1995. They range from Ian Vickers' and Neil Metcalfe's flats to concerts in Hollywell to a proper studio in London. Despite the discontinuity of their circumstances, these proceedings do provide a flow-through -- if not see-through -- listen to the incremental process of improvisation that occurs between Smith and Metcalfe. Sonority is the elemental base from which tonal extensions [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Talat is a dynamic new ensemble based in New York that plays original music crossing the borders of Jazz, Middle Eastern Groove and Klezmer. Featuring a quintet of some of the most talented players out of the new generation, this is a brilliant debut CD that will delight fans of Masada, Rashanim, Satlah and the Hasidic New Wave. Loping melodies, catchy hooks and improvisational fireworks from a new generation bringing Jewish music to exciting new places."-Tzadik
"Cecil Taylor's style is unique, with an awesome authority that has remained with him to the present day. He is now a stylistic leader and his playing has proved to be the inspiration behind almost two generations of pianists, as well as to musicians on a wide range of other instruments. His colleagues here (Archie Shepp on tenor saxophone, Buell Neidlinger on bass, Sunny Murray and Dennis Charles on drums) respond to the strength of his music. This is another good, contrapuntal performance [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"A Discontinuous Line is the first studio recording of the new incarnation of the Vandermark 5, Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist Ken Vandermark's most enduring and versatile ensemble. The Vandermark 5 has been an acoustic quintet since trombonist/guitarist Jeb Bishop dropped the electric instrument from his arsenal in 2001, taking his final leave last year. With the arrival of cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, the group once again has the capacity to deliver the electronic maelstroms that [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Trio X first worked together as part of a 1998 CIMPhonia (CIMP 175 and 178) gathering with Paul Smoker, Mark Whitecage, David Prentice, and Peter Kowald from which they carved out their group, Trio X, and made their first recording (The Watermelon Suite, CIMP 183). Roulette at Location One is their eighth recording and the latest release. This session is a beautiful representation of Trio X's brilliant use of theme development, emotional impact, and thoughtful musicality. It's a hell [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Trio X first worked together as part of a 1998 CIMPhonia (CIMP 175 and 178) gathering with Paul Smoker, Mark Whitecage, David Prentice, and Peter Kowald from which they carved out their group, Trio X, and made their first recording (The Watermelon Suite, CIMP 183). Roulette at Location One is their eighth recording and the latest release.
This session is a beautiful representation of Trio X's brilliant use of theme development, emotional impact, and thoughtful musicality. It's a hell [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Marucci & Webb have been playing together for years. Even so, when they teamed up with former associate Ken Filiano no one could have guessed that the resulting quality and quantity of music would be so great. This is the first of two CDs documenting two days of the recording of Mat's original and memorable compositions. Released in the same order they were played, this Bop/Freebop session shows that the genre need not be revisionist but freshness and creative artistic integrity can be relative [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This is a reissue of the highly acclaimed 2001 album, Suspension by australian musician Oren Ambarchi. Oren Ambarchi is an electronic guitarist and percussionist with longstanding interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. Born in Sydney in 1969, he has been performing live since 1986. His work focuses mainly on the exploration of the guitar, re-routing the instrument into a zone of alien abstraction where it's no longer easily identifiable as itself. Instead, it's [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"AVVA is the duo of Toshimaru Nakamura and Billy Roisz, based in Tokyo and Vienna respectively. AVVA stands for "Audio Video/Video Audio", referring to the working method of the duo. Nakamura produces the music using the internal feedback from his no-input mixing board, Roisz uses that as the basis for her optical moving patterns, and Nakamura has a TV monitor showing Roisz' output, so the whole process is circular and created in real time. Since 1998, Nakamura has been exploring the possibilities [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"AVVA is the duo of Toshimaru Nakamura and Billy Roisz, based in Tokyo and Vienna respectively. AVVA stands for "Audio Video/Video Audio", referring to the working method of the duo. Nakamura produces the music using the internal feedback from his no-input mixing board, Roisz uses that as the basis for her optical moving patterns, and Nakamura has a TV monitor showing Roisz' output, so the whole process is circular and created in real time.
Since 1998, Nakamura has been exploring the possibilities [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"For well over a decade, Australia's Lloyd Barrett has been issuing all manner of intricate sound works - from diligent examinations of postconcréte sound and abstracted rhythmic projects to spacious ambient works. In 2005, he committed himself to create Mise en Scene, a work drawing on the concepts of filmic sound and exploring the possibilities of philosophies suggested by authors and theorists such as Michel Chion. The resulting album heralds a bold statement of intent [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"For well over a decade, Australia's Lloyd Barrett has been issuing all manner of intricate sound works - from diligent examinations of postconcréte sound and abstracted rhythmic projects to spacious ambient works.
In 2005, he committed himself to create Mise en Scene, a work drawing on the concepts of filmic sound and exploring the possibilities of philosophies suggested by authors and theorists such as Michel Chion.
The resulting album heralds a bold statement of intent [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
An unusual dance record for fans of the incredibly talented violinist and singer. "Iva Bittová is known as an experimenter who does not stick to one style only. She likes to join musicians of all genres and [this] CD is the evidence of this fact. Iva Bittová has been working together with DJ Javas for several years and gradually, their joint performances reached the status when they decided to record it on an album and so now you may hear the set of the house DJ Javas with [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
An unusual dance record for fans of the incredibly talented violinist and singer.
"Iva Bittová is known as an experimenter who does not stick to one style only. She likes to join musicians of all genres and [this] CD is the evidence of this fact. Iva Bittová has been working together with DJ Javas for several years and gradually, their joint performances reached the status when they decided to record it on an album and so now you may hear the set of the house DJ Javas with [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Cel (2001) is one of the Pulsewidth CDR-only releases and shows a different side to David Lee Myers' music. The majority of sounds are from Feedback sources, simple 1 millisecond electrical spikes, and filter thumps, with additional processing. These are used as samples which are loaded into computer sequencers with "live playing" capabilities. Very rhythmic but mostly undanceable clicks, pops, and ticks to get you twitching."-Pulsewidth
"Richard Chartier's sound installation and recorded pieces evoke a state of aural awareness. Working with a variety of minimal structures and refined sound sources, Chartier has been responsible for some of the most austere audio works of recent years. Aesthetically refined and creatively provocative, much of his work has focused on the edges of perception, both in frequency range and amplitude. On Current, his latest work to be released in conjunction with his upcoming performances in Australia [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The act of conjuring remarkable sound from found objects is at the very heart of this recording from American musicians Greg Davis and Jeph Jerman. Having met in Arizona some years back, Davis and Jerman commenced working together on a series of recording projects. Improvising with a range of implements and devices ranging from sticks, stones and lo-fi electronics to prepared instruments, gongs and broken percussion, the pair sought to develop a personal language that reflected their [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The act of conjuring remarkable sound from found objects is at the very heart of this recording from American musicians Greg Davis and Jeph Jerman. Having met in Arizona some years back, Davis and Jerman commenced working together on a series of recording projects.
Improvising with a range of implements and devices ranging from sticks, stones and lo-fi electronics to prepared instruments, gongs and broken percussion, the pair sought to develop a personal language that reflected their [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"A collaboration with painter Alex Ross, a really whacked-out cut-and-paste album using "real" instruments, samples of everything including the kitchen sink, and DLM's electronics. Fun. We think."-Pulsewidth Album artwork by Alex Ross.
"FM3, one of China's most progressive sound art groups, with their latest release, "Hou Guan Yin" marks the rise of a new Chinese sonic art form. The "Buddha Machine" is their phenomenal release that breaks down the limits of music format. Teaming up with legendary Chinese rock singer/musician Dou Wei in their latest release "Hou Guan Yin", once again they go beyond the boundary by creating a new sonic map of its own. With additional sound input from well-known Chinese experimental music icon, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Harmony in Ultraviolet is Tim Hecker's sixth album. It is a continuation of Hecker's interest in spectral communications, noise, impressionist musics, thresholds of listening pleasure/pain, and the limits of digital composition. This album is a significant development of his song-craft, challenging the usefulness of descriptors such as ambient, drone, metal, noise and even electronic music. If references are necessary it could be described as a sonata for the elements, songs of crackling [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Japanese sound & noise experimenter K. K. Null with 2 long recordings. Kosmista Noisea 1 is taken from 2 separate live recordings in 2003 & 2004, combined in the studio into one piece with Talcent, Italy on the left channel and St. Etienne, France on the right channel. This technique is designed to give more depth and multiple dimensions. Kosmista Noisea 2 is a 45 minutes long non-edit of an entire live performance in Antwerpen/Belgium, showing the diversity of KK Null's music from [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Limited edition of a CD originally sold on tour, presenting unreleased material from 1983-2006, or as Steve Stapleton puts it: " "An accumulation of discarded musical vermin 1983-2006.""With 18 untitled tracks, there's no shortage of the mutant voices and clanks from the darkness that I've come to expect. However, I was most surprised by the amount of rhythmic material found here, especially on the second half of the disc. "Track 10" could very well be a backing track left [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Limited edition of a CD originally sold on tour, presenting unreleased material from 1983-2006, or as Steve Stapleton puts it: " "An accumulation of discarded musical vermin 1983-2006."
"With 18 untitled tracks, there's no shortage of the mutant voices and clanks from the darkness that I've come to expect. However, I was most surprised by the amount of rhythmic material found here, especially on the second half of the disc. "Track 10" could very well be a backing track left [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Ourobouros (2001) was the first album of solo Feedback Music since 1993. The same sort of feedback matrix as used in previous outings is employed, but each mixer line is true stereo to make fuller use of today's stereo effects processors. Four effectors are used, and minimal input from a non-sampling rhythm generator on occasion. The sounds can be very ethereal, or evoke insect and small animal noises, or can be reminiscent of "real" instruments. Most tracks are recorded live with only slight [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Spacious and dark instrumental compositions from this quintet playing on an extended set of Eastern and Western instruments. A fascinating sound pallette used in dynamic ways on 23 tracks. Instruments used: jushichigen / koto / kayagum / contrabass / grand piano / piano / shamisen / rkang-gling / shakuhachi / xun / electronic drums / metal sheets / springs / objects / taiko / orchestral little drum / timpani / mbira / receiver / Chinese gongs / trombone
The 14th release in Korm's Kapotte Muziek series is a reworking of the very first Kapotte Muziek workshop and concert held in September 1997. Rehberg, who has worked with the likes of Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke, Otomo Yoshihide, and Sachiko M, here steps away from his more typical noise oriented work to craft a beautifully soft but well spoken piece."When I became aware of experimental music in the 1990s Peter Rehberg/Pita was among the first people whose work I strongly admired. But about [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
The 14th release in Korm's Kapotte Muziek series is a reworking of the very first Kapotte Muziek workshop and concert held in September 1997. Rehberg, who has worked with the likes of Fennesz, Jim O'Rourke, Otomo Yoshihide, and Sachiko M, here steps away from his more typical noise oriented work to craft a beautifully soft but well spoken piece.
"When I became aware of experimental music in the 1990s Peter Rehberg/Pita was among the first people whose work I strongly admired. But about [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Resonant Coil (2001) is another departure, this time using guitar strings as the basis for most sounds--though you might not be able to tell. The music lies somewhere in the area between the Fripp & Eno material and more abstract sound field music. On many tracks feedbacking processors play the major role, and in a couple of cases there is no string input at all. This makes for a group of pieces which can vary between the quasi-melodic and atonal sound washes."-Pulsewidth
"The turntable has enjoyed a varied history in the realm of performance and experimental music. From the early phonographic works of John Cage to the spliced cut-ups of Christian Marclay in the 1980s, the device has proven to be a versatile tool for the creation and transformation of sound. Following a joint billing at Brisbane's Metro Arts Space in 2002, Melbourne-based composer Philip Samartzis and sound artist Lawrence English shared a 30-minute performance that was to become the beginning of [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Australian electro-acoustic composer Philip Samartzis is an increasingly vital presence in the Australian sound community. His work over the past decade and a half has offered a prophetic vision for each of his chosen formats and aesthetic approaches.On h [ ] Samartzis is joined by minimal Japanese composer Kozo Inada, who brings with him an equally refined and austere sound sensibility. Between them, these two composers collaborate to produce a highly detailed work that juxtaposes, obscures [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Australian electro-acoustic composer Philip Samartzis is an increasingly vital presence in the Australian sound community. His work over the past decade and a half has offered a prophetic vision for each of his chosen formats and aesthetic approaches.
On h [ ] Samartzis is joined by minimal Japanese composer Kozo Inada, who brings with him an equally refined and austere sound sensibility. Between them, these two composers collaborate to produce a highly detailed work that juxtaposes, obscures [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Janek Schaefer first surfaced 10 years ago with his sound-activated tape recorder installation 'Recorded Delivery'. He followed that with a range of award winning turntable and vinyl related projects including the random playing Skate LP, and the Tri-Phonic Turntable which he hand built to transform sound. In recent years, Schaefer's work has expanded into areas revolving around composition, installation, and the exploration of site specific instrument and location recordings. 'In The [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Janek Schaefer first surfaced 10 years ago with his sound-activated tape recorder installation 'Recorded Delivery'. He followed that with a range of award winning turntable and vinyl related projects including the random playing Skate LP, and the Tri-Phonic Turntable which he hand built to transform sound. In recent years, Schaefer's work has expanded into areas revolving around composition, installation, and the exploration of site specific instrument and location recordings.
'In The [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
A ritual soundtrack from Nick Soudnick, for an installation at the AKHE Engineer Theatre. AKHE is an absurdist theatre group in St. Petersburg, Russian, pushing theatre to it's limits with extremely minimalistic props and funding. Soudnick is, of course, the prolific sound artist who started his career with the excellent industrial/instrument-building band ZGA.
2006 soundtrack for the AKHE Engineer Theatre from ZGA's Nick Soudnick. This work falls into the avant-classical arena and is performed by a large brass and string group with a chorus, supplemented by metal percussion, electronics and samples. A large, exciting and dramatic work. AKHE is an absurdist theatre group in St. Petersburg, Russian, pushing theatre to it's limits with extremely minimalistic props and funding.
"Stage is Steinbrüchel's second full-length solo release on LINE. The album contains 10 scenes that move between warm organic and melodic digitalised sounds and cold crystalline-like sparks. The sounds and compositions are even more detailed and have a more melodic approach then previous recordings by Steinbrüchel. Single isolated and stretched tones are structured together with smaller loops and particles of clicks and noises into dense atmospheres. Parts of the sounds used [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center was the first electronic music center to be established in the United States. From 1959 to the late 1970s, it was one of the premiere sound facilities in the world. The vast majority of pieces composed at the Center-approximately three hundred-were composed during this period. Some have become classics of music history. This selection, drawn from those seminal years, is an excellent overview of the wide variations in musical style and aesthetic [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center was the first electronic music center to be established in the United States. From 1959 to the late 1970s, it was one of the premiere sound facilities in the world. The vast majority of pieces composed at the Center-approximately three hundred-were composed during this period. Some have become classics of music history.
This selection, drawn from those seminal years, is an excellent overview of the wide variations in musical style and aesthetic [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Sub Rosa's 1998 release reissued as part of their "Soundworks" series, this CD features unreleased material from electro-acoustic artists on the relationship between the growth of civilization and the bodies of water that draws them together. Includes 29 notes on water & architecture by Guy-Marc Hinant. "Nature, cities, water, concrete... Water eating rocks, shores. Cities eating landscapes, life. Those two elements are interconnected, though fighting. In between there [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Sub Rosa's 1998 release reissued as part of their "Soundworks" series, this CD features unreleased material from electro-acoustic artists on the relationship between the growth of civilization and the bodies of water that draws them together. Includes 29 notes on water & architecture by Guy-Marc Hinant.
"Nature, cities, water, concrete... Water eating rocks, shores. Cities eating landscapes, life. Those two elements are interconnected, though fighting. In between there [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Second release from the collaboration of Nick Sudnick (ZGA) and Alexander Lebedev-Frontov (aka Linija Mass). 72 minutes of experimental analogue electronics, ambient, metal and concrete sounds, loops, sampled voices, &c. Cover artwork by Lebedev-Frontov, limited edition of 500.
"Ami Yoshida and Christof Kurzmann are both well-respected artists within the international community, each performing in a wide range of contexts from abstract to pure pop. Both are best known for their long-running duos, Yoshida for Cosmos (with Sachiko M) and Kurzmann for schnee (with Burkhard Stangl). This project finds them in far less comfortable territory, and a s o is the outcome of two years of hard work. Ami Yoshida strives to create a pure sound, abstracting her voice [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Ami Yoshida and Christof Kurzmann are both well-respected artists within the international community, each performing in a wide range of contexts from abstract to pure pop. Both are best known for their long-running duos, Yoshida for Cosmos (with Sachiko M) and Kurzmann for schnee (with Burkhard Stangl). This project finds them in far less comfortable territory, and a s o is the outcome of two years of hard work.
Ami Yoshida strives to create a pure sound, abstracting her voice [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The chamber rock-cum-avant-garde ensemble Art Zoyd had a studio in Mons. The contemporary Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles was based in Maubeuge, just across the Franco-Belgian border. When musical directors Gérard Hourbette and Jean-Paul Dessy decided to work together they formed the Centre Transfrontalier de Production et Création Musicales and began to welcome composers in residence. Expériences de Vol is a triple-CD set of recordings featuring both ensembles performing works [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Martyn Bates' solo and collaborative projects from 1979-2006. Bates is best known from the duo Eyeless in Gaza which he formed in 1980 with Peter Becker. Meanwhile he has developed his own folk style in various settings, which is put in perspective on this "best-of" collection. "[...] Bates managed to shape a unique, instantly recognizable form of music - that voice! - based on a deeply rooted, 100% English folk tradition. In our opinion, he is also greatly underrated [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Martyn Bates' solo and collaborative projects from 1979-2006. Bates is best known from the duo Eyeless in Gaza which he formed in 1980 with Peter Becker. Meanwhile he has developed his own folk style in various settings, which is put in perspective on this "best-of" collection.
"[...] Bates managed to shape a unique, instantly recognizable form of music - that voice! - based on a deeply rooted, 100% English folk tradition. In our opinion, he is also greatly underrated [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Dr. Chad with Monster, Randy Hutton and Jimmy Carl Black, with several solo tracks and some archival matrial. Always interesting and well-paced, it's another welcome addition to his immense catalog - the Monster material particularly is inspired stuff, while the solo/song material shows Chad's instrospective side, reminding of how lyrical the oft-cantankerous doctor can be. As always unusual and fascinating packaging (see specifications below) that make one want to own several just to see what [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
2005 issue of Tony Conrad's collaboration with Faust and Jim O'Rourke on violin. "Minimalist pioneer Tony Conrad and notorious Krautrock progenitors Faust met just three times: in the studio to record the ground-breaking Outside the Dream Syndicate in 1972, and twice on the concert stage in the mid-1990s. This recording documents their third and final encounter, at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, February 18, 1995. The difference between the original session and this live [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
2005 issue of Tony Conrad's collaboration with Faust and Jim O'Rourke on violin.
"Minimalist pioneer Tony Conrad and notorious Krautrock progenitors Faust met just three times: in the studio to record the ground-breaking Outside the Dream Syndicate in 1972, and twice on the concert stage in the mid-1990s. This recording documents their third and final encounter, at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, February 18, 1995. The difference between the original session and this live [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"One of Lars Hollmer's most exciting projects of the 2000s is undoubtedly SOLA, featuring six Japanese musicians who bring their own fiery and energetic take to the Swedish composer/keyboardist's music. Hollmer's most well-known collaborator in SOLA is probably drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, the exemplary percussionist from the crazed avant bass/drums duo Ruins, but everyone in the group is highly skilled and uniquely attuned to Hollmer's musical world, perhaps none more than violinist Yuriko Mukoujima. [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"All the depth, beauty, charm, and wonder of Lars Hollmer's music can be found in 1997's Andetag, recipient of a well-deserved award from the Swedish equivalent of the Grammys. Although one can hear many musical elements throughout the CD, it is a disservice to Hollmer to describe him merely as a synthesist of diverse genres and styles into some form of pastiche. His compositional sense is too strong for that, matched by his ability to tug at the emotions with the dramatic buildup, the warm textures, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"From the first notes of "Nationsjazz," it's clear that this Lars Hollmer CD will be one of the most stunning efforts of the Swedish composer, bandleader, and accordionist/keyboardist's lengthy musical career. The tune is explosively performed here, with SOLA drummer Tatsuya Yoshida [Ruins] slamming through the shifting rhythms, Wataru Ohkuma wailing on the clarinet, and violinist Yuriko Mukoujima joining with the clarinetist to drive Hollmer's themes into Mahavishnu-esque territory. But as is [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"A collaboration between Kira Vollman and Joseph Berardi. Unlike Humdrum, their other collaboration which deals strictly with the voice and percussion in a more or less improvisational expression, NON CREDO takes advantage of the duo's multi-instrumental abilities and focuses them in a structured song form or instrumental piece. Non Credo uses a variety of layers, textures, and rhythms that blend together for a cohesive, if quirky, mood. The voice is used at times as another instrument in this [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Metatron is over 2 hours of spacey and flowing music that isn't afraid to rock out completely as well, by French electronic rock pioneer Richard Pinhas (on guitar and electronics), with Jerome Schmidt on laptop, drummer Antoine Paganotti (Magma) and ex-Heldon members Didier Batard (bass), Patrick Gauthier (minimoog) and Alain Renaud (guitar), as well as Chuck Oken, Jr. (Djam Karet) on synths and Philipe Simon on violin on one track each. While a lot of this is definitely comparable to Tranzition, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Dark rock with attitude, as featured on the .2 Contamination David Bowie tribute release and Strange As Angels, a tribute to the Cure (on this album they cover The Cure's "Cold")."Sounding like, say, Type O Negative meets Dead Kennedys by way of Ministry, it's not surprising that the ever-evolving Ahab Rex's iconoclastic music slices and dices through the usual dark rantings expected and instead serve up a brain salad surgery that's completely of their own making. While they [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Dark rock with attitude, as featured on the .2 Contamination David Bowie tribute release and Strange As Angels, a tribute to the Cure (on this album they cover The Cure's "Cold").
"Sounding like, say, Type O Negative meets Dead Kennedys by way of Ministry, it's not surprising that the ever-evolving Ahab Rex's iconoclastic music slices and dices through the usual dark rantings expected and instead serve up a brain salad surgery that's completely of their own making. While they [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"With a recent surge of interest in the 1970s jazz/rock ensemble Soft Machine encouraged by a wealth of archival recordings, some may view use of the word "Soft" by past members to be opportunistic-but that would be unfair. [...] Other efforts share the common denominator of Hopper and Dean. And despite these various offshoots capturing aspects of the greater whole that was Soft Machine, with the exception of Polysoft they've avoided direct reference, performing little, if any, material from [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Dean & Hopper's Soft Machine legacy in what proved to be Elton Dean's final studio recording. An excellent example of the continuous creative life of a fine musician. "The problem with reunions is that they usually serve a fan base looking for classic repertoire and little in the way of new material and direction. Fortunately, in the 25 years or so since the legendary British jazz/rock group Soft Machine disbanded, two members of the classic lineup-saxophonist/pianist Elton Dean and electric [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Dean & Hopper's Soft Machine legacy in what proved to be Elton Dean's final studio recording. An excellent example of the continuous creative life of a fine musician.
"The problem with reunions is that they usually serve a fan base looking for classic repertoire and little in the way of new material and direction. Fortunately, in the 25 years or so since the legendary British jazz/rock group Soft Machine disbanded, two members of the classic lineup-saxophonist/pianist Elton Dean and electric [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This CD marks the first release of a live performance by Soft Machine's Bundles line-up featuring Allan Holdsworth on guitar. This concert, recorded for Radio Bremen in January 1975, consists of most of the Bundles material, which hadn't yet come out although in the can since the previous summer, plus a couple of band improvs and solo showcases for Mike Ratledge, Roy Babbington and John Marshall. That era of Soft Machine was unique in that, taking the band's long established tradition of continuous [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The Soft Machine were one of England's original and best psychedelic bands, emerging out of the same "UFO Club" London scene at the same time as Pink Floyd. While the band would always undergo constant personnel and stylistic change, their best known lineup in their psychedelic days was the trio of Kevin Ayers-bass, guitar, vocals, Mike Ratledge-organ and Robert Wyatt-drums, vocals. They played many shows and built an audience in "swinging London" and beyond. A link with Jimi Hendrix's management [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The trio's first effort for this enterprising New York City-based progressive rock record label is a powerpacked affair indeed. Think of asymmetrical parts, Van Der Graaf Generator, Morphine and King Crimson morphed into one neat little package, enhanced by twelve-string bassist Clint Bahr's zealous vocalizations. The instrumentation consists of drums, bass, and sax, as the band's scorching rhythmic maneuvers complement a fast track methodology. They circumvent any perceived limitations [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
1st release for the Brooklyn based Barge Recordings, here sequencing an excellent compilation of electronic and acoustic works. Includes an exclusive 12 minute track from Circle, and work by Tim Hecker and Loren Connors. A fine way to launch a new label!
"Zorn continues his intense new rock direction with a second release by the dynamic all star trio from his acclaimed song suite Moonchild to present an intense and mysterious tale of magic and alchemy. Featuring the mad vocal wizardry of Mike Patton singing in preverbal language accompanied by long time cohort Trevor Dunn on electric bass and Joey Baron on drums, this is Zorn at his edgy and uncompromising best. An opera of unbridled madness and complexity that will make your jaw drop. Recorded [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Among the many composers who have drawn inspiration from the music of Indonesia, the one whose outlook became most pervaded by the structure of gamelan music may be Barbara Benary (b 1946), co-founder and guiding spirit of New York's Gamelan Son of Lion. A quiet, self-effacing presence on the New York music scene for almost four decades now, Benary has maintained a low profile, but behind the scenes she is well connected. A child of Manhattan's conceptualist movement, she was the designated [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Among the things I find especially attractive - sometimes frustrating, but seductive and rewarding - about Cardew-s works in this period is the fact that these scores are gleefully experimental. (They) are purposely confusing, sometimes contradictory, and open to interpretation to the point where the performers must make many compositional choices on their own, somtimes gently guided by the composer, other times not."-Art Lange
"The hour-long "Two Gongs" fills the entirety of [this] disc with its ethereal, droning psychedelia. While written in 1971, the '89 recording documented here features Chatham, along with fellow composer Yoshimasa Wada coaxing heavy, overlapping tones out of a pair of Chinese gongs. The instruments buzz and hum, moving in waves from deafening rattles to soft, muted drones. The monstrous noise that Chatham concocts is far more akin to the seismic crashes of monstrously distorted guitar feedback [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
A personal favorite for Conrad, this is an extended work for pump organ with a massive sound. "If you have a lot of fillings, you may want to think twice before listening to this track, lest some of them vibrate loose. Tony Conrad is a guy who knows how to drone. None of that low-end organ-damaging stuff for him; he's all about the sustained screech, usually on violin—Outside The Dream Syndicate, his collaboration with German art-rockers Faust, is a maddening classic. [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
A personal favorite for Conrad, this is an extended work for pump organ with a massive sound.
"If you have a lot of fillings, you may want to think twice before listening to this track, lest some of them vibrate loose. Tony Conrad is a guy who knows how to drone. None of that low-end organ-damaging stuff for him; he's all about the sustained screech, usually on violin—Outside The Dream Syndicate, his collaboration with German art-rockers Faust, is a maddening classic. [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"George Crumb should be seen not as an isolated, iconoclastic voice who emerged unexpectedly in the '60s and continues to follow his own separate path, but as another important historical figure in the long line of American maverick composers... As a composer in search of transcendence, think of Ives, Cowell, Morton, Partch, Ellington, Nancarrow, Carter, Cage, Feldman,Tenney, Monk, among others, each in their own way. It is in this company that George Crumb belongs. A company beyond category."-Art [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Far-West News is the late Luc Ferrari's three-part aural travelogue of time that he and his wife Brunhild Meyer spent in the American Southwest in 1998. Far-West News strains familiar categories of genre; as Ferrari himself writes, 'It's not a report or a soundscape, not a Hörspiel or an electronic work, not a portrait or a recorded reality exhibit, not a transgression of reality or an Impressionist account, not a so on or so forth. It's a composition....[C]omposition in some cases, especially [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
1999 release, repressed; the debut release on Dave Grubbs's reissue-oriented label. "Interrupteur is largely static music, a music of long tones periodically interrupted by aleatoric events. If it references musical minimalism (particularly Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Robert Ashley), this surely counts as an intuitive, very personal result. Tautologos 3 pursues the idea of the superposition of cycles of different lengths that, once set into motion, will continually result in new events. [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"A concert pianist and vanguard composer, George Antheil (1900-1959) became known as the "Bad Boy of Music." The ultimate American in Paris, Antheil was an avant-garde provocateur of the first order who made his name composing iconoclastic compositions: the loudest and brashest classical music of his time. But this album gives us three new performances-two of them world-premiere recordings-which reveal another, forgotten side of Antheil, the incurable romantic. Written in 1926, after the [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"A concert pianist and vanguard composer, George Antheil (1900-1959) became known as the "Bad Boy of Music." The ultimate American in Paris, Antheil was an avant-garde provocateur of the first order who made his name composing iconoclastic compositions: the loudest and brashest classical music of his time. But this album gives us three new performances-two of them world-premiere recordings-which reveal another, forgotten side of Antheil, the incurable romantic.
Written in 1926, after the [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Analog contains three seminal works in Glass's musical history. In the late 1970's, Philip Glass was asked by two film producers, François de Menil and Barbara Rose, to write music for a film they were producing. The film was Mark di Suvero, Sculptor and it was Glass's first film score, predating even Koyaanisqatsi. The score took its titles from the names of di Suvero sculptures shown in the film, including Étoile Polaire (North Star) and others. "Dressed like an Egg" is a never [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Philip Glass's serious work in the field of "world music" was recognized long before the term entered the popular vocabulary. One of the most fruitful experiences was with Uakti - Aguas da Amazonia, composed by Philip Glass and performed by the Brazilian ensemble Uakti (pronounced wah-keh-chee), an aural journey through the waters of the Amazon. Over the last twenty years, the award winning experimental group Uakti has developed a major international following. After being introduced to Glass [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Wyschnegradsky saw microtonality as a mystical impulse, a metaphysical method of transcendence; not so for the pragmatic Ives, whose father invented instruments and playfully experimented with twisted tonalities and microtonal singing. For Ives, microtonality was another technique (along with his fistful-of-notes clusters, collisions of keys, out-of-tune quotations, and multiple marching band allusions) toward the ultimate acceptance of all conceivable dissonances. Today, Ives' and Wyschnegradsky's [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This release coincides with the recent passing away of György Ligeti. It consists of his complete music for piano and includes previously unrecorded works, making it the only comprehensive survey so far of a genre in which this great figure of 20th century music was active until the very last years of his life. On it Fredrik Ullén, who in Gramophone has been described as 'a pianist as stylish as he is scintillating', combines newly recorded material with two discs (BIS-CD-783 and 983 [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Four Tet and Tortoise meet Aphex Twin and Brian Eno in So Percussion's breakout indie-electronica project, Amid the Noise. To be released alongside So Percussion's national tour with (Bjork collaborators) Matmos in October 2006, this disc pushes So Percussion into the limelight as a one-of-a kind band of 4 drummers. Breathtaking soundscapes and quietly surging beats are created live with a battery of percussion instruments from across the world, treated with minimalist electronic [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Four Tet and Tortoise meet Aphex Twin and Brian Eno in So Percussion's breakout indie-electronica project, Amid the Noise. To be released alongside So Percussion's national tour with (Bjork collaborators) Matmos in October 2006, this disc pushes So Percussion into the limelight as a one-of-a kind band of 4 drummers.
Breathtaking soundscapes and quietly surging beats are created live with a battery of percussion instruments from across the world, treated with minimalist electronic [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This historic recording features the first-ever release of the two earliest surviving recordings of David Tudor's seminal work, Rainforest. Sandwiched in between are six keyboard works by Gordon Mumma in recordings featuring the composer and his close collaborator, Tudor. Together, these works constitute a fascinating and historically important document of the 1960s avant-garde in America. In early 1968, Merce Cunningham created a new dance whose apparent impetus was Colin Turnbull's [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This historic recording features the first-ever release of the two earliest surviving recordings of David Tudor's seminal work, Rainforest. Sandwiched in between are six keyboard works by Gordon Mumma in recordings featuring the composer and his close collaborator, Tudor. Together, these works constitute a fascinating and historically important document of the 1960s avant-garde in America.
In early 1968, Merce Cunningham created a new dance whose apparent impetus was Colin Turnbull's [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This marvelous recording of these elusive works features composer-supervised performances by a hand-picked group of renowned new-music exponents. "Your first encounter with the music of Christian Wolff leaves you with the impression you've just heard (or played, or read) something totally strange, unlike anything else you know. And yet, upon reflection, you realize it is at the same time something completely ordinary and normal, as familiar in its way as any number of repetitive actions [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This marvelous recording of these elusive works features composer-supervised performances by a hand-picked group of renowned new-music exponents.
"Your first encounter with the music of Christian Wolff leaves you with the impression you've just heard (or played, or read) something totally strange, unlike anything else you know. And yet, upon reflection, you realize it is at the same time something completely ordinary and normal, as familiar in its way as any number of repetitive actions [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Frog's Eye features a fascinating selection of Ziporyn's orchestral music. Partnering with the heralded Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Ziporyn moves the orchestra out of the Western Hemisphere and into the realm of world fusion using Balinese and Indian modes. 'Drill' features a solo by Ziporyn on bass clarinet and soprano Anne Harley sings poetry by Li Shangyin and W.S. Merwin on 'The Ornate Zither and the Nomad Flute'. Discussing his inspiration for the title track of this album, Ziporyn [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Important sound document of a radio work by the iconic (and sometimes insane) Anton Artaud, originally recorded in 1947, and previously released by Sub Rosa in 1996. Includes an informative booklet about the original broadcast in English and French. The tracks labeled Sound Efffects alone are worth the price of the disc... "After hearing Artaud's work, the director of the french radio censored it on the spot. What we issue here is the complete broadcast (including texts performed [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Important sound document of a radio work by the iconic (and sometimes insane) Anton Artaud, originally recorded in 1947, and previously released by Sub Rosa in 1996. Includes an informative booklet about the original broadcast in English and French. The tracks labeled Sound Efffects alone are worth the price of the disc...
"After hearing Artaud's work, the director of the french radio censored it on the spot. What we issue here is the complete broadcast (including texts performed [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
What is that sound? A field recording of some cowboy singing to the moon, his music echoing off the mountains? Well, close. Bill Brunese is that cowboy, traveling the rails and mending fences along the way. But the echo is not from nature--it's from his Roland Space Echo. It's the sound of his music bouncing off the mountains in his mind.The recordings that make up "The Man From Winchell Mountain" were cut by Bill during the 1980's (he's now 94) on a cassette tape machine in his living [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
What is that sound? A field recording of some cowboy singing to the moon, his music echoing off the mountains? Well, close. Bill Brunese is that cowboy, traveling the rails and mending fences along the way. But the echo is not from nature--it's from his Roland Space Echo. It's the sound of his music bouncing off the mountains in his mind.
The recordings that make up "The Man From Winchell Mountain" were cut by Bill during the 1980's (he's now 94) on a cassette tape machine in his living [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
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