The Squid's Ear
Recently @ Squidco:

Charles Mingus:
Presents Charles Mingus To Pre Bird, Revisited (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)

Three sides of Charles Mingus in this remastered reissue set: the 1961 Candid album Mingus Presents Mingus with the classic quartet of Eric Dolphy, Ted Curson and Dannie Richmond; then the Mercury release Pre-Bird from the same year, in ensembles performing the music of or influenced by Duke Ellington, along with the ambitious and brilliant through-composed work, "Half Mast Inhibition". ... Click to View


Franz Koglmann:
Near Blue - A Taste of Melancholy (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)

Presented in two versions--a stereo mix and a binaural mix for headphones--flugelhorn improviser and composer Franz Koglmann leads his septet of exceptional players through 10 original Koglmann compositions, sophisticated works that show influences from Ellington to Franz Joseph Haydn or Johann Strauss, in pieces influenced by or tipping the hat to modern artists, musicians and writers. ... Click to View


Nikolaus Gerszewski :
3 Works For Strings, Giusto Chamber Orchestra (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)

Giusto Chamber Orchestra performs three works for twelve strings by German composer and visual artist Nikolaus Gerszewski, whose music of shifting pitches, vibrations and volumes--compared with experimental sound & noise work--is influenced by composers Radulescu and Dumitrescu's spectral music, James Tenney's "swell form" and Cornelius Cardew's graphic scores. ... Click to View


Void Patrol (Sharp / Stetson / Martin / MacDonald):
Live @ Victo (Victo)

A wild and adventurous concert and one of the highlights of the 39th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville from the electric improvising quartet of Elliott Sharp on electric guitar & electronics, Colin Stetson on bass, alto & tenor saxophones, Billy Martin on drums & percussion and Payton Macdonald on marimba, vibraphone & African xylophone. ... Click to View


Federico Ughi (w / Leo Genovese / Brandon Lopez):
Infinite Cosmos Calling You You You, Vol. 1 (577 Records)

The first album under 577 label leader and drummer Federico Ughi's name in five years brings together the incredible bass skills of Brandon Lopez and expansive Argentinean keyboard sonics of Leo Genovese, the first of two planned volumes recorded in the studio for a boundary-less album of acoustic and electric improv influenced by the music and philosophy of Sun Ra. ... Click to View


Federico Ughi (w / Leo Genovese / Brandon Lopez):
Infinite Cosmos Calling You You You, Vol. 1 [VINYL] (577 Records)

The first album under 577 label leader and drummer Federico Ughi's name in five years brings together the incredible bass skills of Brandon Lopez and expansive Argentinean keyboard sonics of Leo Genovese, the first of two planned volumes recorded in the studio for a boundary-less album of acoustic and electric improv influenced by the music and philosophy of Sun Ra. ... Click to View


Sven-Ake Johansson / Alexander Von Schlippenbach:
uber Ursache und Wirkung der Meinungsverschiedenheiten beim Turmbau zu Babel [VINYL 2 LPs & PAL DVD] (Trost Records)

Documenting the 1994 avant music drama composed by pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and accordionist Sven-Ake Johansson, uber Ursache und Wirkung der Meinungsverschiedenheiten beim Turmbau zu Babel (on the cause and effect of the disagreements over the building of the Tower of Babel) through a double LP, DVD, libretto and 16-page booklet in a solid box set. ... Click to View


Musicworks:
#147 Winter 2024 [MAGAZINE + CD] (Musicworks)

Winter 2024 issue of Canada's premiere new music magazine, with Saxophonist Andrew MacKelvie on the cover; plus features on Indonesia's Music Subculture; Sonny-Ray Day Ride; Solidaridad Tango; A History of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble; plus album reviews, essays and a CD of tracks from artists covered in the magazine. ... Click to View


Witches & Devils (Williams / Vandermark / Lonberg-Holm):
At the Empty Bottle (Knitting Factory Works)

Before his ecstatic Xmas series, An Ayler Xmas, Chicago saxophonist Mars Williams led the Witches & Devils quintet of Mars Williams on reeds, Ken Vandermark on reeds, Jim Baker on keyboards, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and Kent Kessler on bass, an incredible and passionate free jazz group paying tribute to the music of Albert Ayler, heard live at The Empty Bottle in 1997. ... Click to View


Simulacrum:
Mechatronics (Evil Clown)

This ensemble features 3 core Evil Clown members--David Peck on reeds, winds, percussion & electronics; Eric Woods on analog synth; and Bob Moores on space trumpet, guitar & electronics--with guests Michael Caglianone on reeds & percussion, Robin Amos on electric zither and keyboards; Faruq Hassan on samplers & keys; Albey OnBass on bass; and Michael Knoblach on military devices. ... Click to View


Peter Brotzmann / Paal Nilssen-Love:
Chicken Shit Bingo (Trost Records)

Often performing together as a duo after their initial 2004 Chicago Tentet encounter, drummer/percussionist Paal Nilssen and multi-reedist Peter Brötzmann typically released albums of live performances, this 2015 studio date in Antwerp unique in their catalog, an exemplary set of recordings, particularly with Brötzmann on a new contra-alto clarinet and Paal adding gongs to their improvisations. ... Click to View


Peter Brotzmann / Paal Nilssen-Love:
Chicken Shit Bingo [VINYL] (Trost Records)

Often performing together as a duo after their initial 2004 Chicago Tentet encounter, drummer/percussionist Paal Nilssen and multi-reedist Peter Brötzmann typically released albums of live performances, this 2015 studio date in Antwerp unique in their catalog, an exemplary set of recordings, particularly with Brötzmann on a new contra-alto clarinet and Paal adding gongs to their improvisations. ... Click to View


Jean Derome:
La Chaleur De La Pensee (Ambiances Magnetiques)

Concepts of community, dialog, sharing and transmission, or "recontre", are the linking ideas between these four works commissioned of Montreal composer and wind player Jean Derome, developed for four Quebec ensembles, these pieces combine contemporary and improvisational forms, the scores shaped by constraints from the combinatorial mathematics of Marin Mersenne. ... Click to View


Giuseppe Doronzo / Andy Moor / Frank Rosaly:
Futuro Ancestrale (Clean Feed)

Having worked together in other collaborations, this was the first meeting as a trio by Giuseppe Doronzo on baritone sax & Iranian bagpipe, Andy Moor on electric guitar and Frank Rosaly on drums, performing live at BIMHUIS in Amsterdam for a contemplatively charged set of unorthodox instrumental approaches using contemporary improv attitudes through structured and collective playing. ... Click to View


Norbert Pfammatter / Florestan Berset / Francesco Losavio:
A Vol D'Oiseau (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))

The Swiss guitar trio of Florestan Berset on electric guitar with Norbert Pfammatter on drums and Francesco Losavio on double bass perform a mix of lyrical compositions from Berset, along with lyrically inclined collective improvisation from the group, each player bringing unique approaches to their instruments in a highly compatible set of conversations. ... Click to View


CHANGES TO blind:
Volume Eight: Before Birth to Expiration (Squidco Records)

The eighth album from the long-running CHANGES TO blind project of Phil Zampino, eight works drawing on compositions & improvisations, acoustic & synthetic instruments, field recordings & samples, with guests Levi Erik providing field recordings & voice and Wilmington, NC's 910 Noise Members of Carl Kruger, subterrene, John Bishop, Authorless and Ryan Lewis. ... Click to View


Marc Baron / Mark Vernon:
post-chance (erstwhile)

Mailing unspooled 1/4" tape to each other along with a magnet to randomly erase part of each tape, Marc Baron & Mark Vernon captured these fragments and placed them into sequence based on the minute past the hour each was originally recorded, contrasting the degraded recordings with the original; an exacting but fascinating method of creating something unexpected and uniquely engaging. ... Click to View


Elliot Sharp:
Arbor (zOaR Records)

A collection of arboreal pieces for solo acoustic guitar--wood transformed into a resonator with the help of metal oscillators and digital manipulation--performed in the studio by NY guitarist and improviser Elliott Sharp, developing the works around trees, "austere and intense", each piece unfolding like delicate branches of acoustic and ethereal framework. ... Click to View


Hal Russell / Mars Wiliams:
EFTSOONS [VINYL] (NESSA)

Eftsoons (defined as "soon after") is the 1981 duo album from NRG Ensemble leader Hal Russell with ensemble saxophonist and Chicago mainstay saxophonist Mars Williams, who also performs on slide whistle, bells and "lots of other stuff", Russell also performing on cornet, vibraphone and toys; an exciting and energetic album of truly free, inspired playing! ... Click to View


Leap of Faith:
Quest for Uncertainty (Evil Clown)

Joining the Boston free improvising duo of David Peck on clarinets, saxophones, clarinets & flutes, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice--the core duo of Leap of Faith Orchestra--are Bonnie Kane on tenor sax, flute & electronics, and John Loggia on drums and percussion, capturing the extended title track and a brief, "possible outcome" as a summation. ... Click to View


Ivo Perelman / Mark Helias / Tom Rainey:
Truth Seeker (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))

Meeting at Park West Studios in Brooklyn, the NY trio of Ivo Perelman on tenor saxophone, Mark Helias on bass and Tom Rainey on drums record seven collective free improvisations of great depth and expression, unhurried playing that concentrates on the group dialog, yielding space for exceptional soloing supported by perceptive interaction; masterful! ... Click to View


Scheen Jazzorkester & Cortex:
Frameworks - Music by Thomas Johansson (Clean Feed)

Merging jazz organizations, Norwegian trumpeter & composer Thomas Johansson brings together the third stream large band Scheen Jazzorkester with the electric jazz band Cortex (Kristoffer Alberts (baritone & tenor saxophone), Ola Høyer (double bass) and Dag Erik Knedal Andersen (drums)), for a rousing, exciting and diverse live concert at Hamar Teater in Norway. ... Click to View


Joana Sa:
A Body as Listening (Clean Feed)

The concluding opus of a trilogy that began with "Through This Looking Glass" and followed with "In Praise Of Disorder", Portuguese pianist Joana Sa merges acoustic piano with well-balanced electronics and resonance, using preparations and fragments of previous recordings to create a uniquely expressive solo performance: forceful, fragile, and captivatingly fascinating. ... Click to View


Scratching Fork (Malinowski / Rychlicki / Zadruzynski):
Scratching Fork II (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))

The 2nd album from the Polish guitar trio of Marek Malinowski on guitar, Robert Rychlicki-Gasowski on double bass & bass guitar, and Wojciech Zadruaynski on drums, performing Malinowski's embraceable mix of lyrically inclined modern jazz compositions with an explorative side, balancing structure with free space for sprightly spontaneity, a beautiful followup. ... Click to View


Zakrocki / Garbowski / Gradziuk:
Ballads And Blues [2 CDs] (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))

A series of electroacoustic improv "Ballads" and "Blues", beautiful and chimerical works at the intersection of strings and a miscellany of percussion, patiently and unhurriedly unfolding under the deep listening ears from the Polish trio of Patryk Zakrocki on prepared electric guitar & granular delay, Maciej Garbowski on double bass and Krzysztof Gradziuk on multipercussion, objects & toys. ... Click to View


Elliott Sharp:
The Collapsed Wave (zOaR Records)

The NY duo of Elliott Sharp and Don McKenzie pay tribute to guitar-oriented instrumental rock as practiced by Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin, Sonny Sharrock, Miles Daves, &c, music that valued virtuosity and embraceability, with Sharp performing on Strats, Les Pauls, steel guitar, a Vietnamese ghita phim lom on Uchuu, mandola & mandocello and Telecaster. ... Click to View


Tragic Assembly + Tatsuya Nakatani :
Live at the Artscenter (Soul City Sounds)

The NC Tragic Assembly free improvising trio of Charles Chace on guitar, Crowmeat Bob on reeds and Phil Venable on upright bass are joined for this 2022 concert at Carrboro, NC's ArtCenter by improvising percussion powerhouse Tatsuya Nakatani, adding sonic expansion and rhythmic punctuation to this trio's typically drum free configuration, heard in four striking improvisations. ... Click to View


Miharu Ogura:
Ogura Plays Ogura (thanatosis produktion)

Following her 2022 album Ogura Plays Stockhausen, Japanese born, Frankfurt-based pianist Miharu Ogura turns her attention to her own compositions, presenting five uniquely creative works unfolding in pacing that surprises the listener, balancing silence and clusters of layered patterns that move at differing speeds and rhythms, from simple clarity to labyrinthine entanglement. ... Click to View


Henrik Olsson / Aviva Endean:
Split Series Vol. 2 (FRIM Records)

Part of the split series from Swedish label FRIM (Association For Free Improvised Music), this album presents the two solo concerts from an evening at Rönnells Antikvariat during the 2022 Sound of Stockholm festival, first from drummer Henrik Olsson performing on turntables & objects; then from Aviva Endean on clarinets, electronics, voice & plastic pipes. ... Click to View


Wadada Smith Leo / Joe Morris:
Earth's Frequencies (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))

Delicately forceful, the live concert at Real Art Ways, in Hartford, Connecticut as part of the ImprovisatioNOW concert series, is a perfect encounter between two legendary New York improvisers--trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and guitarist Joe Morris--capturing five dialogs of impressive technique and creative expression, including references to Monk and Ma Rainey. ... Click to View



  •  •  •     Join Our Mailing List!



The Squid's Ear
Facebook: Squidco Sales

The Bottom Shelf is where artists keep the records in their collections that they might not want you to see. Revealing early influences, unusual appetites or just guilty pleasures, we offer a peek at the shelves of some of our favorite musicians.


  Anthony Coleman's Bottom Shelf  

Schlanger Jordan Parker
[Photo by Kurt Gottschalk] 
OK, here goes...My bottom shelf...well, first, a little cultural philosophy: Back in the day, there was some kind of frisson connected with liking/loving/being influenced by music that was outside of whatever was considered culturally acceptable. Jazz inched its way in slowly but surely, starting in the early '30s - and now it's part of a good Liberal Music Education. And I remember those great early days (in the '80s) where David Garlard (on WKCR at that time) would shock by announcing a "work" by Ferrante and Teicher or Esquivel with the same gravitas that another would give to the names "Mozart" or "Beethoven." But those days are over...WFMU, Zorn, Post-Modernism (in its decadent phase - if that's not a redundancy) changed all that. My Bottom Shelf is downright canonical.

How could I have found the perfect soupcon of Romantic Irony to counterpoise the weight of the mournful Sephardic songs in my Sephardic Tinge project if wasn't for the revelation of Irving Fields' Bagels and Bongos (Decca 8856). Magnificently cheesy arrangements for trio - Yiddish hits "Latinized." The version of "Belz" changed my life (in a small way). Why isn't this on cd? Fields glides over the keys with not one iota of Jazz feeling In (George) Lukacs-ian terms, that's what makes his version more "authentic" than my brooding cover version, redolent as it is with all kinds of references. He has a couple of perfectly played klezmer clarinet riffs that function as signifiers throughout the disc. I've stolen them all. He's like Ahmad Jamal - he just knows what will work on piano in a trio context and what won't. The master!

My used copy of Organ Jazz Samba Percussion by Andre Penazzi (Audio Fidelity DFS 7020) comes from the discard of the library of a Montreal radio station - CHOM. On the back is hand written "A bit of a nothing set - But???" A nothing set??? Philistines! They don't have any idea how long I looked for this one. It was a major item on the playlist at Soho Music Gallery, the record store where I worked in the late '70s/early '80s (along with Zorn, Tim Berne, Anton Fier, etc...). A nearly indescribable melange of rhythmic virtuosity, unbelievable facility with the variety of the stops available on that magificent dinosaur of an instrument - the '60s electric console organ. And a resolute, unbending, almost ascetic schlockiness. A footnote: For years this was one of the only Brazilian albums in my collection. I say that with neither pride nor shame - it just was.

Next - a whole series of discs connected to some sort of unhealthy but complex German fixation; I'll start with the most complex: Songs of the Spanish Civil War Vol. 1 (Folkways FH 5436). Let's face it, I was a weird kid. I loved this record - I knew all the songs by heart. In a way, this isn't even a Bottom Shelf record, except in how it relates to the others in this sub-group. Ernst Busch was a stirring, moving great singer. The lines from "Freiheit!" ["Die Heimat ist weit/ Doch wir sind bereit/Wir kaempfen und siegen fuer dich: Freiheit! (Far off is our land/yet ready we stand/We're fighting and winning for you/Freedom!)] still (today!) give me goosebumps. And Eisler's "Song of the United Front" and "The Peat-Bog Soldiers" are both acknowledged masterpieces.

But still . . . at the distance where we are, communism and communist anthems (especially the humorless German variety) have something touchingly kitsch about them. No such exegesis is necessary to locate the perverse moment at the heart of Hitler Is On The Air! (Radiola 2MR-8889) or Hitler's Inferno (Audio Rarities 2445). Ialso had the second one of these as a kid, and all of these discs have inspired endless reflections (which continue to this day) about the nature of the Political in music - especially when you consider the music alone and try to put the text on the side for a second (as virtually no critic in the history of rock has - even for a second). The similarities between music from the Far Left and the Far Right. The differences. The mediation of a foreign language - how that aids reflection. How it impedes it. I could write a book... Somehow, you haven't quite lived until you've heard the Storm Troopers sing "Wenn Die S.S. und die S.A. Aufmarschiert" or the Hitler Youth sing "Die Jugend Marschiert," and "On The Air" was my first exposure to the phenomenon which is Charlie and his Orchestra - the Nazi propaganda swing band. Parodies of American big-band hits - lyrics like "I hate to see the evenin' sun go down/because de German, he done bombed this town" (St. Louis Blues) played by the best jazz musicians the occupied nations had to offer... indispensable! (some of the Ernst Busch tracks are available on the CD Der Barrikaden Tauber Barbarossa (EdBa 01303-2), all Folkways are available from Smithsonian/Folkways on special order, and Charlie tracks have been lovingly reissued on a series on Harlequin (I have HQ CD 03).

OK...I could go on all day. But I'll leave you with a masterpiece of horrendous '80s Yugoslav Pop. To continue the "canonical" theme, my cd Disco by Night would have been impossible without this music. It helped me escape the dangerous tendency to fetishize the "folklorical" as the only significant product of a culture. Within its totally commodified nature, this music told important truths about the Yugoslavia of that moment in time. If they would've listened to their own truths....People often say it sounds like Turkish pop. Well, not to me, although there's no shortage of terrifying Balkan-isms. Anyway, I promisedyou a masterpiece ... The oxymoronically - titled The Best of Lepa Brena Vol.5 (JVP Vertrieb CD 018) contains her magnum opus "Sitnije Cile Sitnije," produced (unlike most of her hits) by the Brian Eno of Yugoslav Pop, Kornelije Kovac. The difference between this and other tracks is in Kovac's clever dialectical manipulation of the Western and Eastern elements: The parade bass drum of the Balkan brass band, the clarinet and accordion, the Eastern scales...and then the handclaps, the synthesizer hooks. The touch of a poet. New Year's Eve, Belgrade, 1981 turns into 1982. The Top 10 Video Hit Parade. Number 1: "Billie Jean," Number 2: "Sitnije Cile Sitnije." Do I really have to say more?




Previous Bottom Shelf Articles:
Our Own Bottom Shelves
Gary Lucas
Ron Anderson


The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Federico Ughi (
w /
Leo Genovese /
Brandon Lopez):
Infinite Cosmos
Calling You You You,
Vol. 1
(577 Records)



Sven-Ake Johansson /
Alexander Von Schlippenbach:
uber Ursache
und Wirkung der
Meinungsverschiedenheiten
beim Turmbau zu Babel
[VINYL 2 LPs & PAL DVD]
(Trost Records)



Charles Mingus:
Presents Charles Mingus
To
Pre Bird,
Revisited
(ezz-thetics by
Hat Hut Records
Ltd)



Franz Koglmann:
Near Blue -
A Taste of
Melancholy
(ezz-thetics by
Hat Hut Records
Ltd)



Void Patrol (
Sharp /
Stetson /
Martin /
MacDonald):
Live @ Victo
(Victo)



Peter Brotzmann /
Paal Nilssen-Love:
Chicken Shit Bingo
(Trost Records)



Jean Derome:
La Chaleur De La Pensee
(Ambiances Magnetiques)



Giuseppe Doronzo /
Andy Moor /
Frank Rosaly:
Futuro Ancestrale
(Clean Feed)



Hal Russell /
Mars Wiliams:
EFTSOONS
[VINYL]
(NESSA)



Scratching Fork (
Malinowski /
Rychlicki /
Zadruzynski):
Scratching Fork
II
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Ivo Perelman /
Mark Helias /
Tom Rainey:
Truth Seeker
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Elliott Sharp:
The Collapsed Wave
(zOaR Records)



Scheen Jazzorkester
&
Cortex:
Frameworks -
Music by
Thomas Johansson
(Clean Feed)



Quatuor Bozzini:
Jurg Frey: String Quartet
No. 4
(Collection QB)



Ensemble SuperMusique:
Le fil d'Ariane
(Ambiances Magnetiques)



Wadada Smith Leo /
Joe Morris:
Earth's Frequencies
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Paul Dunmall /
Paul Rogers /
Marc Sanders:
Wildlife
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Susanna Hood Trio:
unPacked
(Ambiances Magnetiques)



Jonas Cambien:
Maca Conu
(Clean Feed)



PNY Quintet (
Swell /
Brown /
Edelin /
Giron /
Betsch):
Over The Wall
(RogueArt)







Squidco
Click here to
advertise with
The Squid's Ear






The Squid's Ear pays its writers.
Interested in becoming a reviewer?




The Squid's Ear is the companion magazine to the online music shop Squidco !


  Copyright © Squidco. All rights reserved. Trademarks. (16563)