October 3, 2019:
I'll admit I've been distracted this week. On Monday morning we extended our Squidco shop family with the addition of a new kitten: Cassette (Cassie for short). Allow me to introduce you to our latest permanent employ-kit, who will be overseeing your orders for many years to come!
Cassette's name joins our series of musical cats, starting with Vinyl, our first Wilmington shop cat, and Maverick (named after the record label) who moved from NY and replaced Vinyl in the shop because, well, because he needed to go on a diet. Chess takes his name from his black and white coat (he's an American Tuxedo) which I agreed to because of Chess Records. Cassette takes Maverick's place after his journey ended last month, and has already confounded Chess with his cuteness. With an affinity to vinyl records, as shown below, this illustration also make clear her similarity to the venerable tape format and how she's obviously a great fit for Squidco.
Photo by Carl Kruger
Three essential box sets lead this blog entry, starting with Another Timbre's 5-CD box of Morton Feldman solo piano works, realized by Feldman interpreter Philip Thomas. Ken Vandermark advances his Momentum series with a 5-CD box of duos with an incredible set of improvisers: Kris Davis, Hamid Drake, Paul Lytton, Ikue Mori, and William Parker. And Paal Nilssen-Love also brings us a 5-CD set of the Norwegian 60s and 70s jazz unit The Quintet led by saxophonist Carl Magnus Neumann and bassist Bjornar Andresen, of which a young Nilssen-Love was the drummer. This box reissues their long out of print album, and then adds 4 live and studio sessions.
Feldman, Morton (Philip Thomas): Piano [5 CD BOX SET] (Another Timbre)
Containing the majority of minimalist composer Morton Feldman's compositions for solo piano, 3 CDs if short works and 2 for the magnificent "For Bunita Marcus" and "Triadic Memories", performed by one of the foremost interpreters of Feldman's work, Philip Thomas, and presented in a sturdy 5-CD box set with 52 page booklet with notes from the performer and artwork.
Vandermark, Ken (w/ Lytton / Mori / Davis / Parker / Drake): Momentum 4: Consequent Duos 2015>2019 [5-CD BOX] (Audiographic Records)
A limited box set collecting duo recordings featuring Ken Vandermark in collaboration with internationally and acclaimed musicians -- Kris Davis, Hamid Drake, Paul Lytton, Ikue Mori, and William Parker -- documented on 5 CDs that were recorded during performances at Vandermark's 2nd Stone residency in NYC, January 2018, and at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago.
The Quintet (Neumann / Andresen / Opsvik / Gutvik / Nilssen-Love): Events 1998-1999 [5 CDs] (PNL)
A 5 CD box set that tells the story of The Quintet, which brought two of the most important proponents of Norwegian free jazz in the 60s and 70s--saxophonist Carl Magnus Neumann and bassist Bjornar Andresen--together with younger generation drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, bassist Eivind Opsvik, and guitarist Ketil Gutvik, reissuing their 1999 album and adding 4 studio and live sessions.
There are 4 main US scenes that I count as vital for the music that we sell. They also are the fountains of unexpected genre merging, fusing different forms together in natural ways from the knowledge of the musicians involved. Those scenes are New York (sometimes referred to as the Downtown NY Scene); Chicago; West Coast Bay Area; and the Boston Metropolitan scene. This is not to denigrate other great scenes in the US, such as Austin, TX, Knoxville, TN, Nashville, &c. &c... but our catalog draw heavily on the former list. Also I should clarify that, in my mind, NY encompasses portions of Philadelphia's scene as well as a healthy Boston to US exchange, LA belongs with the Bay Area/SF scene, and Chicago influences and draws from a great section of the mid-West. Being in close proximity to the US, Montreal's fertile scene deserves special notice, and is the source of some of the finest reimagining of new music on the planet.
This week the West Coast was brought to mind as we finished cataloging the new Surplus 1980 album, a band led by drummer/percussionist Moe! Staiano. I know of his music through following the Bay Area band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, where I hit two rich veins through Sleepytime and innovative violinist and singer Carla Kihlstedt.
We have sold several titles from each of those sources, but the interesting thing I explored this week is the series of connected bands that flow out of those fountains:
going somewhat backward, Surplus 1980 leads back to Moe! Staiano, leads to Sleepytime, Moe!Kestra!, Mute Socialite, leads to Idiot Flesh and Book of Knots, Species Being, Faun Fables, Charming Hostess, Acid Rain, but then also Tin Hat (Trio and otherwise), Causing a Tiger (Kihlstedt / Bossi / Ismaily), Thin Pillow , Cosa Brava (Frith / Kihlstedt / Parkins / Bossi), Dalaba / Frith / Glick / Rieman / Kihlstedt, and Rova Channeling Coltrane. I'm sure I'm missing several other connections, but you can see that this wonderful network of bands leads to both complex rock forms, and also idiomatic and non-idiomatic improvisation. Out of personal interest I assembled 37 albums all stemming from these two sound, making a wonderfully diverse set of genres and mashings thereof!
Here are a few currently in-stock items that relate to this list, spanning albums from coast to coast and international labels.
Surplus 1980: Pigeon Obstacle Course (Dephine Knormal Musik)
Created out of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and drummer/percussionist Moe Staiano's Mute Socialite, this 7-piece improvising rock band turns rock on it's side in mostly instrumental, energetically complex and twisted rock pieces with acerbic social narrative, the band employing three drummers, bass & two guitars, piano and trumpet from Darren Johnston.
Surplus 1980 Collectiv Ensembl With G.W. Sok : Forget All This (Music a la Coque)
Surplus 1980 Collectiv Ensembl takes the current members of drummer Moe! Staiano's Surplus 1980 along with associated musicians, including Kyle Bruckmann, John Shiurba, Vicky Grossi, Paul Costuros, &c, with vocals from Dutch vocalist G.W. Sok (The Ex), in an album of avant post-punk rock, sophisticated but determined and pointed music, an unusual hybrid of impressive styles.
IMP
Surplus 1980: Pigeon Obstacle Course [VINYL + 7''] (Dephine Knormal Musik)
Created out of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and drummer/percussionist Moe Staiano's Mute Socialite, this 7-piece improvising rock band turns rock on it's side in mostly instrumental, energetically complex and twisted rock pieces with acerbic social narrative, the band employing three drummers, bass & two guitars, piano and trumpet from Darren Johnston.
Mute Socialite: More Popular Than Presidents and Generals (Dephine Knormal Musik)
Dynamic and hyperkinetic songs from this West Coast band with Moe! Staiano (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum), rugged and impressive instrumental rock including a cover of Massacre's "Killing Time".
Kihlstedt / Bossi / Ismaily: Causing A Tiger (Les Disques Victo)
The trio of violinist/vocalist Carla Kihlstedt, bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Matthias Bossi explore the language of memory and dreams through songs, improvisation, and field recordings.
Cosa Brava w/ Fred Frith: Ragged Atlas (Intakt)
Fred Frith's West Coast Cosa Brava with Carla Kihlstedt, Zeena Parkins, and Matthias Bossi playing all Frith compositions driven by his love of the (improvised) rock format.
Rova Channeling Coltrane: Electric Ascension - Live At The 2012 Guelph Festival + "Cleaning The Mirror - A Documentary by John Rogers" [Blu Ray + DVD + CD] (RogueArt)
Rova led by saxophonist Larry Ochs expands their translation of John Coltrane's "Ascension" in this amazing 3 disc CD/DVD/BluRay set of their cathartic performance at the 2012 Guelph Jazz Festival with a stellar lineup including Mazurek, Frith, Cline, Mori, Drake, &c &c.
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