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Another great month of releases, and some important additions at Squidco: a great set of Clean Feeds grace our catalog; a two part Von Schlippenbach set of CDs on Intakt; several new Tzadik releases; Ken Vandermarks' new FME title on OKKA; a stack of My Cat Is an Alien and related releases; 3 new Creative Sources titles; Marhaug reissued on Utech; James Fei, now teaching at Mills College, records on the historic ANS instrument; two Buddha Box related CDs; Billy Martin's Illy B beats collected; two excellent Pi releases from George Lewis and Rudresh Mahanthappa; an amazing Yoshida project on Doubtmusic; the excellent reissue series of Samla Mammas Manna; Avram/Dumitrescu's Laboratory; several Satie and related discs on Salon LT; several releases on Dave Soldier's Mulatta label; superb Mode and New World releases; Lukas Simonis' (AA Kismet/VRIL) first self-released title; and (saving the best for last) NEWS FROM BABEL is finally reissued in a handsome box edition (look for reissued The Work, new Fred Frith/Janet Feder, Avi Belleli and Blitzoid releases in the next week!)
As we head into the shopping season we at Squidco wish you all a Happy Holiday, and hope that you'll find some time for yourself to listen to excellent and unusual music!!
"Any new recording by Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis and Roscoe Mitchell would be a notable occasion, but a recording by all three together is a genuine historical moment. All three are members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Muhal Richard Abrams (piano and percussion), a founder of the AACM, is a hugely influential musician who has been responsible for vastly expanding the boundaries of jazz. Roscoe Mitchell (saxophones and percussion) is well known as [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Tenor and Baritone sax player Rodrigo Amado is known from his work on Clean Feed, and his playing in Portugal and through Europe with Carlos Zingaro, Ken Filiano, The Lisbon Improvisation Players, etc. Here he presents his own label European Echoes' first release in a trio setting with Kent Kessler on double-bass and Paal Nilssen-Love on drums.
Cellist Mélanie Auclair's 2nd releases on Ambiances Magnetiques presents a series of 20 short tracks that mate music and ambient sound. Working with such strong players Antoine Berthiaume on guitar and Lori Freedman on clarinet, this is a release of interesting and reflective instrumental, textural and environmental works. "To interpret a place, to inhabit a space... Décor sonore is the meeting of music with the sounds that fill our daily lives. A sonic [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Cellist Mélanie Auclair's 2nd releases on Ambiances Magnetiques presents a series of 20 short tracks that mate music and ambient sound. Working with such strong players Antoine Berthiaume on guitar and Lori Freedman on clarinet, this is a release of interesting and reflective instrumental, textural and environmental works.
"To interpret a place, to inhabit a space... Décor sonore is the meeting of music with the sounds that fill our daily lives. A sonic [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"While altoist David Binney has demonstrated growth with each album he's released since emerging in the late 1980s, Out of Airplanes makes the biggest leaps yet, combining detailed composition with a looser improvisational approach that has evolved over the past couple of years. Electronics also make this the most texturally rich record of Binney's career. Binney's distinctive compositional style is intact, but he makes numerous departures on Out of Airplanes. Traditionally drawing on [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"While altoist David Binney has demonstrated growth with each album he's released since emerging in the late 1980s, Out of Airplanes makes the biggest leaps yet, combining detailed composition with a looser improvisational approach that has evolved over the past couple of years. Electronics also make this the most texturally rich record of Binney's career.
Binney's distinctive compositional style is intact, but he makes numerous departures on Out of Airplanes. Traditionally drawing on [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"While Brady's three previous Ambiances Magnétiques releases were all focused more on his work as a composer, GO [Guitar Obsession] brings the guitar back to centre stage, making it clear why Guitar Player Magazine has named the Montréal-based composer and musician "one of the 30 most important guitarists for the future of the instrument". The goal of the CD was to create a recording focused primarily on Brady's guitar playing and composing, rather than on complex studio [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"While Brady's three previous Ambiances Magnétiques releases were all focused more on his work as a composer, GO [Guitar Obsession] brings the guitar back to centre stage, making it clear why Guitar Player Magazine has named the Montréal-based composer and musician "one of the 30 most important guitarists for the future of the instrument".
The goal of the CD was to create a recording focused primarily on Brady's guitar playing and composing, rather than on complex studio [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Playing together since 1996 and on their 3rd release for Ambiances Magnetiques, Bull and Heïkalo's new offering is a work of ripe and mature improvisation, often percussive, simultaneously introspective, questioning and scorching, without compromise and artifice. Concentrés et amalgames features six guitar (electric, prepared, acoustic and classical) duets plus five other tracks in which Daniel Heïkalo and Arthur Bull's guitars pair up with Heïkalo's percussion, including [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"An extreme improvised musical journey led by two distant generations of avant-garde expressionism. This live concert was captured at UPENN, Philadelphia's Houston Hall in front of a 200+ audience eager to hear the unique and fresh chemistry. These free spirits let loose - blurring, exploring and exploding the boundaries of a great American art form. This is the impromptu meeting of two unique musical personalities in one particular week of October 2005.Dave Burrell has forged his own [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"An extreme improvised musical journey led by two distant generations of avant-garde expressionism. This live concert was captured at UPENN, Philadelphia's Houston Hall in front of a 200+ audience eager to hear the unique and fresh chemistry. These free spirits let loose - blurring, exploring and exploding the boundaries of a great American art form. This is the impromptu meeting of two unique musical personalities in one particular week of October 2005.
Dave Burrell has forged his own [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Subtitled Uri Caine plays Masada Book Two"Uri Caine is a musician of astonishing virtuosity and versatility. Coming out of the legendary Philly Jazz scene, his playing is an encyclopedia of styles from Tatum to Evans and beyond. With Moloch he interprets tunes from Zorn's Book of Angels in a breathtaking outing for solo piano. Virtuosic and soulful, this latest volume of material from Masada Book Two is an absolute tour-de-force. Fifteen musical miniatures by one of the world's greatest [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Uri Caine is a musician of astonishing virtuosity and versatility. Coming out of the legendary Philly Jazz scene, his playing is an encyclopedia of styles from Tatum to Evans and beyond. With Moloch he interprets tunes from Zorn's Book of Angels in a breathtaking outing for solo piano. Virtuosic and soulful, this latest volume of material from Masada Book Two is an absolute tour-de-force. Fifteen musical miniatures by one of the world's greatest [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The time-honored tradition of an accomplished jazz artist traveling alone, hooking up with like-minded musicians far off the beaten path, and creating music that approaches or belongs in the first tier of the artist's recordings, is alive and well on Open Spaces. Alto saxophonist François Carrier, drummer Michel Lambert and bassists Michel Donato and Ron Séguin (Donato plays on one track, Séguin on the other two) were more than ready for Dewey Redman on these 1999 performances, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Descriptions, images and ideas do not qualify the two part Moon Gone Down. Combining the near minimalist path of this years Departing of a Dream Vol. II and the clean guitar blues of his 1990 CD Rooms (S. Joan), Loren paints a vast portrait of the still night riding to its end. Not standing alone here, in between Loren's lone, distantly spaced guitar notes falls clinking metal, bass guitar and the distant moan of hounds.
Drummer Jack DeJohnette has had a long and innovative career, working with such luminaries as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Thelonious Monk, Stan Getz, Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock. Golden Beams is his own label, and this compilation is an introduction to the broad range of interests that have fueled DeJohnette's music.
In a snap judgment, Fasteau and Jordan do not appear to be the most musically sympathetic match. Jordan has the revered reputation for full bore ecstatic blowing on tenor. Fasteau's arsenal includes a bevy of sound devices implies chops sometimes diluted by multi-channeled focus. Both assumptions are proven wrong on this date and Fasteau in particular shows prowess on par with her peers. Fasteau avoids one of the chief foibles of some of her past Flying Note projects, that of tampering [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
In a snap judgment, Fasteau and Jordan do not appear to be the most musically sympathetic match. Jordan has the revered reputation for full bore ecstatic blowing on tenor. Fasteau's arsenal includes a bevy of sound devices implies chops sometimes diluted by multi-channeled focus. Both assumptions are proven wrong on this date and Fasteau in particular shows prowess on par with her peers.
Fasteau avoids one of the chief foibles of some of her past Flying Note projects, that of tampering [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Fourth release from the prolific Chicago reed player Ken Vandermark and his FME trio (Free Music Ensemble). This double disc of live recordings presents several concepts, each dedicated to a film legend (Orson Welles, Stanley Kubrick, Sergio Leone, Buster Keaton, etc). Vandermark is a leading free player, and he doesn't disappoint, with consistently challenging and enthusiastic playing from this incredibly talented set of musicians. Not to be missed!
Saxophonist Lori Freedman's 2nd release on Ambiances Magnetiques brings together 3 trios of Montreal heavyweights for excellent results and remarkably different results. "For me, the trio is the ideal formation for improvising music. In general, even numbers imply something known, where odd numbers feel open. "2" can create corners that "3" can melt down, transform. "3" is complete, continuous and infinite. Dynamics move stasis. It's playful. For 3 consecutive nights [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Saxophonist Lori Freedman's 2nd release on Ambiances Magnetiques brings together 3 trios of Montreal heavyweights for excellent results and remarkably different results.
"For me, the trio is the ideal formation for improvising music. In general, even numbers imply something known, where odd numbers feel open. "2" can create corners that "3" can melt down, transform. "3" is complete, continuous and infinite. Dynamics move stasis. It's playful. For 3 consecutive nights [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"For me, the trio is the ideal formation for improvising music. In general, even numbers imply something known, where odd numbers feel open. "2" can create corners that "3" can melt down, transform. "3" is complete, continuous and infinite. Dynamics move stasis. It's playful.
For 3 consecutive nights [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Sax legend Charles Gayle in a trio with double bass player Hilliard Greene and drummer Jay Rosen playing a series of Gayle compositions. "Gayle sounds like no one else. But he sounds so much like himself that his albums melt together into an indistinguishable mass. It makes little difference whether he plays alto sax, as he does here and on Live at Glenn Miller Café (Ayler; released earlier but recorded later), or tenor, as on Shout! (his previous Clean Feed release). [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Sax legend Charles Gayle in a trio with double bass player Hilliard Greene and drummer Jay Rosen playing a series of Gayle compositions.
"Gayle sounds like no one else. But he sounds so much like himself that his albums melt together into an indistinguishable mass. It makes little difference whether he plays alto sax, as he does here and on Live at Glenn Miller Café (Ayler; released earlier but recorded later), or tenor, as on Shout! (his previous Clean Feed release). [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This quartet was born during the third of Frank Gratkowski's visits to central North Carolina in general and Chapel Hill in specific (this visit was for 12 days-Ian). Recorded in John Wilson's newly finished studio in Winston-Salem, the quartet went in, set up, and recorded 8 improvisational pieces totalling nearly 62 minutes. The ride back to Chapel Hill was a dodgey matter to say the least, but the sounds captured that night show a depth of listening and complementary playing that sounds honed [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
NY trumpeter and flugelhornist Groder backed by the Sam Rivers Trio in a series of Groder and Groder/Rivers/trio original compositions. Excellent, driven and lyrical work in free yet succinct pieces.
"One of the most evocative and successful meetings of East and West reunites to weave their magic spell via kayagum, electric guitar and percussion. Invite the Spirit was a sensation when it was first released in 1983 and now over twenty years later they are sounding better than ever. Joined by two scintillating Korean P'ansori vocalists on several tracks this is a whole new take on the Korean shamanistic tradition. Over seventy minutes of timeless, ecstatic, magical music unlike anything you've [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Psychedelic NY sax player Bonnie Kane meets the prolific Jeffrey Shurdut in the ambitious "Ends of the Earth" project, performed at Spoken Word Series, curated by Shayna Dulberger.
"Rodrigo Amado, the man who leads the band with a changing lineup - which he named Lisbon Improvisation Players, or LIP if you're in a hurry - likes double meanings. First of all, the one created with the letters L, I and P, alluding to the presence of a saxophone and giving sensual indications of just how this music is played: lips to perform and lips to seduce you. Then, there's the ambiguity of a jazz approach, something between hard bop and free, but totally improvised, with no structures, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Alto sax player Rudresh Mahanthappa's second release on Pi is a studio set of a quartet setting with the excellent NY pianist Vijay Iyer, taking on the subject of cryptography. "Once again the outside world has provided a launching point and a system of order to draw from for Rudresh. The music on Codebook stems from ideas and concepts related to cryptography. The varied systems provided the groundwork for Rudresh to approach the DNA of the compositions from fresh and previously unexplored [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Alto sax player Rudresh Mahanthappa's second release on Pi is a studio set of a quartet setting with the excellent NY pianist Vijay Iyer, taking on the subject of cryptography.
"Once again the outside world has provided a launching point and a system of order to draw from for Rudresh. The music on Codebook stems from ideas and concepts related to cryptography. The varied systems provided the groundwork for Rudresh to approach the DNA of the compositions from fresh and previously unexplored [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"A celebration of the 10th anniversary of this percussion duo's first release (Percussion Duets), and testimony to the unique creative force of these former John Lurie National Orchestra/Lounge Lizards percussionists! A powerful mix of textures, grooves, blood and guts from Africa to South Philly.The sound quality is excellent and you can really lose yourself in this 'otherly' dimension, which these two artists create every time they perform together. Many people showed up for this dynamic duo's [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Billy Martin has an obsession with percussion, and his Amulet records was founded to document that love. In this instance, the Medeski, Martin and Wood drummer's focus is on the instrument used by Amazon Indians for magic and ritual. The rainstick is a long tube made from a dried bamboo or cactus branch. When dried, the tiny seeds inside loosen and flow in a chattering way when the tube is tilted, making a sound very much like a delicate flow of rain. This album is a collection of eight recordings [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Farmer's Reserve was recorded at the "Shack" in Hawaii in 1996. The shack was MMW's infamous retreat spot in the 1990's where they would live escaping the cold winters back home in NYC. After recording their hit record Shackman (Gramavision/Rykodisc) they returned to record the antithesis, a spontaneous avant garde journey of various acoustic and electric sounds. A continuous 40-minute improvisation followed by a 15-minute epilogue. This recording is pristine and will win the hearts of audiophiles [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This is the first record by Medeski Martin & Wood, originally released in 1992. This independently produced CD captures the trio's acoustic piano format and includes a horn section. This version is remastered with a bonus track from the original recording session."-Amulet
"This recording began as an idea to unite the Modo Trio with muliti-keyboardist/instrumentalist Jamie Saft. Although Saft did not pen any compositions here, his flowing playing and vast array of sounds, from the lusciously mysterious to vibrations that can only be described as consciousness-melting, contribute to make his presence strongly heard on nearly every track. While this is a recording that primarily explores the territory where electronics meets improvisation, these are all musicians [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This recording began as an idea to unite the Modo Trio with muliti-keyboardist/instrumentalist Jamie Saft. Although Saft did not pen any compositions here, his flowing playing and vast array of sounds, from the lusciously mysterious to vibrations that can only be described as consciousness-melting, contribute to make his presence strongly heard on nearly every track.
While this is a recording that primarily explores the territory where electronics meets improvisation, these are all musicians [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This last release in the From the earth to the Spheres split series set up by Maurizio and Roberto Opalio aka My Cat Is An Alien on their own Opax Records imprint, sees the Italian cosmic duo splitting the vinyl with well-known audio visual artist, performer and turntable-art innovator Christian Marclay together with cello improviser Okkyung Lee, ubiquitous figure of downtown NY avant-garde scene. Their track "Rubbings" on side A is the result of a live performance recorded at [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This last release in the From the earth to the Spheres split series set up by Maurizio and Roberto Opalio aka My Cat Is An Alien on their own Opax Records imprint, sees the Italian cosmic duo splitting the vinyl with well-known audio visual artist, performer and turntable-art innovator Christian Marclay together with cello improviser Okkyung Lee, ubiquitous figure of downtown NY avant-garde scene.
Their track "Rubbings" on side A is the result of a live performance recorded at [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Each album or performance by My Cat Is an Alien is an invitation to leave on a cosmic journey, without resorting to the numerous clichés of the space music genre. Think instead of a synth-less Ash Ra Tempel coming across the quiet improvisation current. Think of stripped-down music made of looped droning guitars, caressed percussion, toy instruments and toy microphones being used while boldly disregarding all printed warnings. Think of a cosmos glorifying its vacuous interstellar space, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Mark O'Leary continues to excite imagination by recording with new and new partners of the highest caliber. His previous recordings with Matthew Shipp, Mat Maneri, Tomasz Stanko, Uri Caine, Ben Perovsky got outstanding reviews. This time he took to the studio two veterans of new music Steve Swallow and Pierre Favre. The music is very different from what you've heard before, and Mark's writing is much more subtle and melodic."-Leo"Irish guitarist Mark O'Leary's budding discography features [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Mark O'Leary continues to excite imagination by recording with new and new partners of the highest caliber. His previous recordings with Matthew Shipp, Mat Maneri, Tomasz Stanko, Uri Caine, Ben Perovsky got outstanding reviews. This time he took to the studio two veterans of new music Steve Swallow and Pierre Favre. The music is very different from what you've heard before, and Mark's writing is much more subtle and melodic."-Leo
"Irish guitarist Mark O'Leary's budding discography features [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Orange Blossom is the 12th title in the Document Chicago series, which has been recording the latest generation of the city's illustrious creative music scene for the past four years. Founded in 2002, Herculaneum mixes creative improvisation with diverse influences such as 20th Century avant-garde composition and Romany Gypsy brass bands to create a cohesive yet cosmopolitan new sound. Orange Blossom, the group's follow-up to its eponymous self-released 2004 debut, documents its expanding song [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Tribute album to Alan Lomax, the man who, more than any other, have worked to "bring the music to light", in the widest and most absolute meaning of the word. A record that the space brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, aka My Cat Is an Alien, share with Fabio Orsi, considered by the improv duo as the most interesting emerging Italian musician, from the "bloody heart of Naples". In his track, Orsi inserts lots of voices "stolen" from the infinite recordings made by Lomax along decades of meticulous [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Omegathorp: Living City, features Parran's four-part title composition (a setting of poetry by the late Glenn Spearman), as well as Deutsch's "Kwama Okura" and an improvised piece inspired by the ensemble's unusual instrumentation. Parran (heard here on alto clarinet, E-flat contrabass clarinet, soprano saxophone and bamboo flute) has appeared on more than 50 recordings over the last three decades, including collaborations with The Band, Anthony Braxton, Don Byron, Anthony Davis, Julius [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Omegathorp: Living City, features Parran's four-part title composition (a setting of poetry by the late Glenn Spearman), as well as Deutsch's "Kwama Okura" and an improvised piece inspired by the ensemble's unusual instrumentation.
Parran (heard here on alto clarinet, E-flat contrabass clarinet, soprano saxophone and bamboo flute) has appeared on more than 50 recordings over the last three decades, including collaborations with The Band, Anthony Braxton, Don Byron, Anthony Davis, Julius [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Phantom Limb & Tetuzi Akiyama is a collaboration between Misters Hansen & Fennelly on electric organs and Misters Forsyth & Akiyama on electric guitars. While the Japanese boogie/lowercase guitarist was on a mammoth tour of the US, they met once in June 2006 for a concert at the free103point9 Project Space in Brooklyn, home to said online radio and transmission arts organization [and Squidco Radio!]. The ensuing thirty or so minutes of music is preserved here by Archive Recordings [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"For many, it's quite a surprise to listen to Elliott Sharp performing Thelonious Monk's tunes. Knowing his fondness for extreme situations in the fields of noise music, experimental rock and hardcore improvisation, his use of a selection of compositions considered "standards" of the be bop school, written by one of the top figures in the history of jazz, can seem a bit strange. To understand it, we have to go deeper in the musical universe of this guitarist who also plays other instruments - [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Incredible 3 CD set from Text of Light. This is the project of Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, with Alan Licht, William Hooker, Christian Marclay, Tim Barnes, Ulrich Kreiger and DJ Olive. They perform live to a backdrop of Stan Brakhage films, and no set is ever the same. The first 1000 copies of this lavish set have been issued in a special metal box with the 'ToL' logo embossed on the lid, as both a tribute to, and a pastiche of PiL. The first 1000 copies will also come with a round full-colour booklet." [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Excellent session at Ayler's favorite Glenn Miller Café, free blowing yet tight arrangement with an open-minded approach to improvisation, including the minimal and fascinating "Electrance." Exciting and cutting edge music.
"Billy Martin has been curating Turntable Sessions every summer at various NYC "Downtown" clubs since its inception at Exit Art's LP Show in 2001. Each show features a DJ with various musical improvisers that are paired together. Many of the performers are meeting for the first time on stage. Luminaries from NYC's Downtown scene and friends of Medeski Martin & Woods' Billy Martin contribute for a strange trip through turntables, laptops, amplifiers and microphones in front of a live audience."-Amulet
"Through different types of flute, electronics and field recordings Sabine Vogel affirms her strong compositional individuality in a truly splendid work, which uses air as a primary ingredient for a series of microscopic analyses of the sonic content of incorporeality. Vogel's phonetics are made of pretty simple elements that reveal multitudes of tiny facets; her pieces scan the no man's lands of sounds lacking the consistency of a proper body, bringing out forward-looking harmonics that render [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The pianist alone in the studio. That is the counterpole to von Schlippenbach's work with the Globe Unity Orchestra; at the same time, it is also an orchestral challenge in the form of the keyboard, hammers, and strings of the piano. He prepared four twelve-tone compositions and a few ideas for pieces, including a few brilliant themes by Monk or Dolphy. What's left is the freedom of going it alone and losing oneself in oneself, motivated by a life's work in motion ... With tremendous [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Schlippenbach's 'Tales' have a stunning stentorian elegance. He leavens the starkness of the tone rows with chords and time values that create split-second splashes of harmonic color and shifting rhythmic feels. In the improvised section of the 'Tales,' Schlippenbach drives these elements to the brink of the jazz idiom one moment, and atomization the next. Each of the 'Tales' is followed by a varying number of tracks that can heard as an antiphonal four-part series that moves progressively [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Collecting Wolf Eyes with John Wiese 7" releases, with two CDRs that were originally released in limited editions between 2003 & 2004, all remastered by John Wiese.
"As Otomo once said to us, "it's not what you play that matters, but how you play it". The "how" of music making is everything for this composer, arranger and improviser and it was naturally that he changed his proceedings in the last decade or so. From the heavy sampled madness of both his electronic music and the group Ground Zero, in which he mixed his love of jazz and rock and dealed with an overdose of sound information, Otomo Yoshihide turned minimal, reducing the materials to the essential. [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Darkly evolving electro-acoustic compositions with a beautiful and organic sonic palette, reminding at times of Illusion of Safety."Charalambides' Tom Carter and Robert Horton have become close collaborators over the past few years, appearing in a handful of projects together [...] But when they are stripped back to a duo, the sonic onslaught is just as dense and impressive. Steeljaguar Rocket is the second album, following-up Lunar Eclipse. Horton again acts as the puppetmaster, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Darkly evolving electro-acoustic compositions with a beautiful and organic sonic palette, reminding at times of Illusion of Safety.
"Charalambides' Tom Carter and Robert Horton have become close collaborators over the past few years, appearing in a handful of projects together [...] But when they are stripped back to a duo, the sonic onslaught is just as dense and impressive. Steeljaguar Rocket is the second album, following-up Lunar Eclipse. Horton again acts as the puppetmaster, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
3 studies created with the ANS, a photoelectronic instrument created by Eugene Murzin in 1958, currently residing at the Theremin Center (Moscow Conservatory). 720 tones are generated via bands printed on glass discs, gated by a "work surface" covered in black mastic and resynthesized via photocells.
"The FM3 Buddha Machine is a low-fi loop playing device containing nine pre-recorded loops which cannot be changed by the user. Due to manufacturing imperfections, individual machines play the loops with a slightly different sound, pitch and duration. The built-in playback circuit, with its low sampling rate and bit resolution, produces a very rough sound, similar to ancient computer games or talking toys. Rich, spacious textures and moving echoes occur when many of these machines are played [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The illy B Eats series is a compilation of the funkiest dance-hall beats by Medeski Martin & Wood drummer Billy Martin. These drum tracks were specifically recorded for DJs, musicians, and fans of Martin's grooves. Performed, mixed, and mastered to make even the jaded nod their heads, it's bumpin', thumpin', and you'll be humpin' to these breaks!Billy Martin continues to invite all artists for collaborations that contribute mixes using his beats from previous illy B Eats records. [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The illy B Eats series is a compilation of the funkiest dance-hall beats by Medeski Martin & Wood drummer Billy Martin. These drum tracks were specifically recorded for DJs, musicians, and fans of Martin's grooves. Performed, mixed, and mastered to make even the jaded nod their heads, it's bumpin', thumpin', and you'll be humpin' to these breaks!
Billy Martin continues to invite all artists for collaborations that contribute mixes using his beats from previous illy B Eats records. [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Untitled # 164 came out of a project commisioned by the ARGOS festival in 2004, Brussels Sonic Matter. Using field recording made in the city together with TRMX, Johan Vandermaelen, Martiens Go Home, and Building Transmissions; Lopez mutates and records these into an intense 73 minute composition.Francisco López is internationally recognized as one of the major figures of the underground experimental music scene. Over the last twenty five years he has developed an astonishing [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Untitled # 164 came out of a project commisioned by the ARGOS festival in 2004, Brussels Sonic Matter. Using field recording made in the city together with TRMX, Johan Vandermaelen, Martiens Go Home, and Building Transmissions; Lopez mutates and records these into an intense 73 minute composition.
Francisco López is internationally recognized as one of the major figures of the underground experimental music scene. Over the last twenty five years he has developed an astonishing [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Hailing from the land of the rising snow, Lasse Marhaug has become one of the most commanding and respected sound artists in Norway. As a musician and composer he has contributed to cd, vinyl and cassette releases for labels throughout Europe, Asia and America. Aside from solo work, Marhaug contributes to several ensembles including Nash Kontroll (iDEAL) and a large Jazkamer unit (Smalltown Supernoise) with black metal legends Enslaved. Having collaborated with artists from varying fields of [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This is the greatest of all drum beat CD's for DJ's, producers and anyone else who needs to get down with their bad selves. Produced by Scotty Hard (Wu Tang Clan, Prince Paul, DJ Logic, Medeski Martin & Wood, Sex Mob, Tricky, Material, Grave Diggas, PM Dawn, De La Soul, Cypress Hill...)-Amulet
"This work was created out of the desire to wed acoustic and digital instrumentation in a particular compositional field, one that allows room for (a)tonal and silent gestures alike. Piano and ³koto² are accompanied by the shifting texture of physically manipulated organic materials, in combination with minimal electronics whose function is to engage rather than to counter the non-digital elements. More than an homage to Morton Feldman, the title is a direct reference to his own series [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Roberto Opalio of My Cat Is an Alien in duo with Ramona Ponzini on percussion. Opalio is the primary environmental shape for this piece, his 'instrument' listed as "Sounds from the Cosmos" is a shimmering palette of electronic sound environments and effects. Ponzini and Opalio use these environments for small instrument improvisations. Ponzini's bells, windchimes and handmade percussions and Opalio's mini-keyboard and toy piano are appealing and haunting, making a mesmerizing and spacey track [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
[...] Adriano Zanni, also known as Punck, is not exactly the man I would expect on this all improvisation label. So far his releases were all stuck in the microsound corner, but perhaps he's opening new territories. Zanni uses laptop, field recordings, found sound and sampling to create his music. It proofs indeed to be the odd ball of this batch of his releases, even when the first track sound like an improvised affair. Zanni finely waves field recordings together with sounds recorded from objects [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
There are various artists releases and then there are various artists releases... this 13 track release made its way to Squidco as a promo and immediately made it into rotation on our weekly radio show. The album is well sequenced as it presents electronic, electro-acoustic, spoken word, lyrical and noise pieces, even a track played entirely on bicycles! At a very nice price, packaged in a dvd snap case and pressed onto a jet black CD, this is a compilation well worth any eccentric collection. [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
There are various artists releases and then there are various artists releases... this 13 track release made its way to Squidco as a promo and immediately made it into rotation on our weekly radio show. The album is well sequenced as it presents electronic, electro-acoustic, spoken word, lyrical and noise pieces, even a track played entirely on bicycles! At a very nice price, packaged in a dvd snap case and pressed onto a jet black CD, this is a compilation well worth any eccentric collection.
15 tracks made with the FM3 Buddha Machine.."It was about three years ago whilst loafing in one of Beijing's finer foot massage joints that Christiaan Virant, the other half of Chinese duo FM3 to Zhang Jian, began to riff mutation fantasies as applied to the Buddha Machine. The Buddha Machine is a literal translation from Mandarin for the small plastic box, driven by two double 'A' batteries, that grinds out low-fi looped sutra variants [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
15 tracks made with the FM3 Buddha Machine..
"It was about three years ago whilst loafing in one of Beijing's finer foot massage joints that Christiaan Virant, the other half of Chinese duo FM3 to Zhang Jian, began to riff mutation fantasies as applied to the Buddha Machine. The Buddha Machine is a literal translation from Mandarin for the small plastic box, driven by two double 'A' batteries, that grinds out low-fi looped sutra variants [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Polish electronic musician & percussionist Paul Wirkus, often using textured slowly pulsed electro-acoustic constructions with unusual strucutural devices to draw the listener's attention. "When Paul Wirkus' previous album "Inteletto D'Amore" came out on the Quecksilber label two years ago, for The Wire magazine it was the most engaging and fully formed work in the field of glitchology to that date. "What makes Wirkus such a master is his ability to show enough of the source [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Polish electronic musician & percussionist Paul Wirkus, often using textured slowly pulsed electro-acoustic constructions with unusual strucutural devices to draw the listener's attention.
"When Paul Wirkus' previous album "Inteletto D'Amore" came out on the Quecksilber label two years ago, for The Wire magazine it was the most engaging and fully formed work in the field of glitchology to that date. "What makes Wirkus such a master is his ability to show enough of the source [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Finally given the treatment this set of CDs deserves, News from Babel fills out the discography of the series of bands that started with Henry Cow, Henry Cow/Slapp Happy, Art Bears, leading to News from Babel. (The Last Nightingale would really make the picture complete, and the sequence ends with Cutler's Domestic Stories.) All 3 CDs in the box are remastered and repackaged with full text and illustrations. News from Babel was inaugurated with Henry Cow alumni Chris [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Finally given the treatment this set of CDs deserves, News from Babel fills out the discography of the series of bands that started with Henry Cow, Henry Cow/Slapp Happy, Art Bears, leading to News from Babel. (The Last Nightingale would really make the picture complete, and the sequence ends with Cutler's Domestic Stories.) All 3 CDs in the box are remastered and repackaged with full text and illustrations.
News from Babel was inaugurated with Henry Cow alumni Chris [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Songwriter / avant-folk phenomenon Joanna Newsom in her 2nd Drag City release. Newsom and her harp, beside one solo work, are augmented by a four piece band and a full orchestra of 30, which includes such odd instrumentation as mandolin, accordion and horse skull. Having Van Dyke Parks and Steve Albini on board and mastering at Abbey Road makes for incredible arrangements and production on an album that justifies the response Newsom has been receiving.
The third Samla Mammas album perfects the form established in Maltid, taking the ridiculously tight playing into an even more confident and impressive realm. The album focuses more on instrumental work, though a piece like "Come a Little Closer" reminds us of the bands' love of the absurd. Still it's their particular blend of quickly shifting groove rock, folk, novelty and eclectic improvisation that impresses, and this is an impressive record!
With the gifted Costes Apetrea added to the band, the second Samla record is an entirely different affair from the self-titled original. The musicianship remains phenomenal, one could compare them with any contemporary or many to come, in their complex yet groove based style with improvised and experimental additions now becoming a part of the mix. Overall the speed is turned up considerably, as is the almost manic humour that now bursts through, making the record a joyous, weird and wonderful [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
The first Samla Mamma Manna's first release is probably the most relaxed and lyrical of the lot, similar in intent and psychedelic oddness to Gong, but with a special Scandinavian folk flavor. It's a rock record more than any other of their releases, but informed by incredibly skilled playing and an unusual sense of humour that was to grow and twist exceedingly as the band progressed. Recommended to get a good look at the band's history, but if you're looking for more RIO meat then move on [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Lukas Simonis; guitarist, composer, lives in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and co-founded and works for WORM (a centre for experimental arts). For most of his musical career, he has played in bands and projects that seldom managed to play 'straight' music, despite moving within the field of 'rock' (e.g. Dull Schicksal, Trespassers W, Morzelpronk, Liana Flu Winks, AA Kismet, Vril and Coolhaven). His interests also lie in the direction of more abstract 'sound'; using electronics, improvisation, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Lukas Simonis; guitarist, composer, lives in Rotterdam (Netherlands) and co-founded and works for WORM (a centre for experimental arts). For most of his musical career, he has played in bands and projects that seldom managed to play 'straight' music, despite moving within the field of 'rock' (e.g. Dull Schicksal, Trespassers W, Morzelpronk, Liana Flu Winks, AA Kismet, Vril and Coolhaven).
His interests also lie in the direction of more abstract 'sound'; using electronics, improvisation, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
The prolific Ruins drummer Yoshida Tatsuya meets Tipographica's guitarist Imahori Tsuneo in a work created through a process consisting of composition and improvisation. Developed via file exchange, overdubbing, and extensive editing on computer, this work reveals their remarkable aptitude for music through their improvisation, composition, extensive editing and so on. Play it loud!"-Doubtmusic
Family Cracks is well titled, as it closes the door on the second chapter of Samla Mammas Manna history. The band had already renamed themselves to Zamla Mammas Manna, and original drummer Hans Bruniusson had left the band to be replaced by Vilgot Hansson. The band had been touring throughout Europe, and had now been influenced by the Rock in Opposition Project that Henry Cow began in 1978. This album is by far the most assertive of their releases, pushing the band and the music as hard as [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
As the Samla Mammas Manna developed, their focus on improvisation grew, as did their international attention. Costes moved on to other projects, and guitarist Eino Haapala replaced him; the band modified their name to Zamla Mammas Manna. Songs moved to the background as instrumental music took the lead, fed from a vast palette of styles that always anchored on rock, often in intensely sophisticated yet melodic ways. Chris Cutler, drummer of Henry Cow, remarked that they were one of the best [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"7 fine new works performed by the Hyperion Ensemble with soloists Victor Arsene, Tim Hodgkinson, Robert Reigle, Gustavo Aguilar, Vinny Golia, Denis Simandy and Chris Cutler. An excellent collection of innovative pieces with, unusually, on this occasion almost no electronics."-ReR Megacorp
"A spectacular collection of musicians from all over the map, including Leo Smith, Joan La Barbara, Mark Feldman, Morton Subotnick and Merzbow perform dynamic interpretations of compositions by one of America's greatest musical experimentalists. Influenced by the work of Jackson Pollock and Alexander Calder, Brown pioneered graphic, improvisational and open form scores in contemporary concert music as early as 1952. This heartfelt tribute, organized by the Earle Brown Foundation to commemorate [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The music of George Cacioppo (1927-84) is important in the history of 20th century music composition as the missing link between the American "sound based" music of the 1960s with the "sound centered" music of Giacinto Scelsi and his disciples, the French spectral composers, Tristan Murail and Gérard Grisey. Critical of serial music and academicism's failure to take into account the nature of sound itself, Cacioppo was inspired by radical composers such as Varèse, Cage and [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The music of George Cacioppo (1927-84) is important in the history of 20th century music composition as the missing link between the American "sound based" music of the 1960s with the "sound centered" music of Giacinto Scelsi and his disciples, the French spectral composers, Tristan Murail and Gérard Grisey.
Critical of serial music and academicism's failure to take into account the nature of sound itself, Cacioppo was inspired by radical composers such as Varèse, Cage and [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The celebrated L'Album des Six of 1920 is now recognised as a landmark in 20th Century modern music. Similarly the artful relationship between the composers who formed 'Les Six' and their mentors Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau forms an important cornerstone of the inter-war avant garde.This 74 minute anthology also includes music composed by Satie and Les Six for spectacles staged by Cocteau between 1917 and 1920, as well as Arthur Honegger's futuristic Pacific 231, and music by Georges [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The celebrated L'Album des Six of 1920 is now recognised as a landmark in 20th Century modern music. Similarly the artful relationship between the composers who formed 'Les Six' and their mentors Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau forms an important cornerstone of the inter-war avant garde.
This 74 minute anthology also includes music composed by Satie and Les Six for spectacles staged by Cocteau between 1917 and 1920, as well as Arthur Honegger's futuristic Pacific 231, and music by Georges [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This CD combines two classic Crumb compositions of the 1970s expertly performed by members of The Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic under the direction of conductor Juan Pablo Izquierdo. Black Angels for string quartet was written as a response to the Vietnam War. The work draws from an arsenal of sounds including shouting, chanting, whistling, whispering, gongs, maracas, and crystal glasses. The score bears two inscriptions: in tempore belli (in time of war) and "Finished on Friday the Thirteenth, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"This CD combines two classic Crumb compositions of the 1970s expertly performed by members of The Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic under the direction of conductor Juan Pablo Izquierdo.
Black Angels for string quartet was written as a response to the Vietnam War. The work draws from an arsenal of sounds including shouting, chanting, whistling, whispering, gongs, maracas, and crystal glasses. The score bears two inscriptions: in tempore belli (in time of war) and "Finished on Friday the Thirteenth, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"For his third CD on Mode, composer, trombonist, improvisor Roland Dahinden explores the string quartet medium. Each work is dedicated to and influenced by a major visual artist. Dahinden's four works refer to images by artists, but at the same time avoids illustrating it in a literal way. The sounds move through space thanks to a dynamic binaural system recording. Listening with stereo loud speakers, you find yourself towards the periphery of the space, listening with head phones, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"For his third CD on Mode, composer, trombonist, improvisor Roland Dahinden explores the string quartet medium. Each work is dedicated to and influenced by a major visual artist.
Dahinden's four works refer to images by artists, but at the same time avoids illustrating it in a literal way.
The sounds move through space thanks to a dynamic binaural system recording. Listening with stereo loud speakers, you find yourself towards the periphery of the space, listening with head phones, [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
More excellent and important music from New World's reissue series of CRI releases. "The music on this recording illustrates the essential integrity of the work of Morton Feldman (1926-1987) and one of its fundamental strengths-its continuously unfolding unanimity of purpose. There are few composers of his generation whose first and last published work (in Feldman's case Journey to the End of Night of 1949 and Piano and String Quartet of 1986) span youth and final years with such a concentrated [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
More excellent and important music from New World's reissue series of CRI releases.
"The music on this recording illustrates the essential integrity of the work of Morton Feldman (1926-1987) and one of its fundamental strengths-its continuously unfolding unanimity of purpose. There are few composers of his generation whose first and last published work (in Feldman's case Journey to the End of Night of 1949 and Piano and String Quartet of 1986) span youth and final years with such a concentrated [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"Lion's Eye for Gamelan was commissioned in 1985 by Barbara Benary for Gamelan Son of Lion. Lion's Eye for Synthesizer was commissioned concurrently by Neil Rolnick for iEAR Presents at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Both versions were performed in 1985. The intention to combine both pieces in order to expand the tempo range of the Gamelan was first realized in May of 1989 in performances by the Berkeley Gamelan in Oakland and San Francisco, California under the direction of [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Double CD set performed by Goran Gorisek and Richard Cameron-Wolfe, combining Satie's celebrated Rosicrucian compositions (1891-94) with an instrumental performance of the esoteric 'christian ballet' Uspud (1892) and the sublime Pages Mystiques (1893). For a brief period Satie was appointed official composer for the Ordre de la Rose-Croix Catholique du Temple et du Graal, founded in Paris by the flamboyant mystic Joséphin Péladan. Although brief, this so-called 'Rosicrucian adventure' [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"The acclaimed 1990 recording of the sparse but haunting 'symphonic drama' Socrate (1918) together with a collection of Satie songs written between 1886 and 1923 [...]"-Salon LTD "Satie's account of the last days of Socrates, written for voices and orchestra, and typically the piece finds a meta-drama through aloofness and the removal of operatic stylisation"-The Wire, 12/06
"The acclaimed 1990 recording of the sparse but haunting 'symphonic drama' Socrate (1918) together with a collection of Satie songs written between 1886 and 1923 [...]"-Salon LTD
"Satie's account of the last days of Socrates, written for voices and orchestra, and typically the piece finds a meta-drama through aloofness and the removal of operatic stylisation"-The Wire, 12/06
"An enthusiastic Dada activist in Paris between 1920 and 1924, Satie collaborated extensively with Tristan Tzara, Man Ray, Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau, wrote often in Francis Picabia's journal 391, and was a sworn enemy of the proto-Surrealist faction lead by Andre Breton. According to Man Ray, Satie was "the only composer who had eyes." All of Satie's principle Dada-related works are included on this unique 70 minute CD, including: Trois morceaux en forme de poire, performed by Satie [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
New World continues to please with their high-quality reissue series of long out of print CRI albums. Early work from Laurie Anderson and Laurie Spiegel mark the album as something special alongside artists such as Johanna Beyer, Ruth Anderson and Pauline Oliveros. "The music on this album exhibits an exciting, wide-open, freewheeling approach to the medium of electronic music which has come to be typical of this genre in the late 1970s. No longer are composers obsessively concerned [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
New World continues to please with their high-quality reissue series of long out of print CRI albums. Early work from Laurie Anderson and Laurie Spiegel mark the album as something special alongside artists such as Johanna Beyer, Ruth Anderson and Pauline Oliveros.
"The music on this album exhibits an exciting, wide-open, freewheeling approach to the medium of electronic music which has come to be typical of this genre in the late 1970s. No longer are composers obsessively concerned [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"With accuracy and humor, Peter Zummo (born 1948) often describes his unique music as "minimalism plus a whole lot more." He is an important exponent of the American contemporary classical tradition whose compositions explore the methodologies of not just minimalism, but also jazz, world music, and rock, while seeking to create freedom in ensemble situations. Zummo's realization of the contemporary urge to make music that behaves like "Nature in its manner of operation" (John Cage) is to encourage [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
On the cover: Joanna Newsom. Features: Lasse Marhaug, Christoph Kurzmann & The Charhizma label, Hauntology: Simon Reynolds on Ghostbox, The Caretaker, Trunk records, Beat Furrer, Victor Gama. Invisible Jukebox: Om
Elephants, who have the largest brains of any land mammal, can in fact play music, as the Thai Elephant Orchestra demonstrates. NY violinist and composer David Soldier has been working with the Orchestra in a series of compositions and realizations for the orchestra. This is their 2nd release."The Thai Elephant Orchestra was co-founded by Richard Lair of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang and performer/composer Dave Soldier. This CD is more tailored for children than [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
Elephants, who have the largest brains of any land mammal, can in fact play music, as the Thai Elephant Orchestra demonstrates. NY violinist and composer David Soldier has been working with the Orchestra in a series of compositions and realizations for the orchestra. This is their 2nd release.
"The Thai Elephant Orchestra was co-founded by Richard Lair of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang and performer/composer Dave Soldier. This CD is more tailored for children than [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
"PNIMA...INS INNERE is more than a opera or music theater piece about the holocaust. It is a piece that deals with the way we react to a traumatic experience. PNIMA is an attempt to create a different kind of music theater. No traditional libretto, no plot, only mental situations. No singers who are actors, it is a non-verbal non-narrative experience. On the stage are two actors who do not sing or speak, on the sides of the stage are the vocal and instrumental soloists. It is based on a novel [ ... continued @ Squidco ]
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