SQUIDCO & THE SQUID'S EAR UPDATE March 18, 2010

A bit of a delay getting this newsletter to you as we adjust to our new, larger Squidco World Headquarters! Great releases have been pouring in through the move, and we're catching up with the backlog. This time around, Not Two leads with releases form Mateen/Gjerstad, Joe McPhee, Szilard Mezei, Brian Willson, and Steve Swell; Tzadik reissues John Zorn's "Chimeras" and issues "In Search Of The Miraculous", plus puts out John King and Terry Riley CDs; Sataoko Fujii's Orchestra Tokyo on Libra, plus Gato Libre and First Meeting; Evan Parker and Dave Liebman on Red Toucan; Larry Looney with Oliver Lake on Metaphysical; David Ware's return, solo on Aum Fidelity; Barre Phillips' solo "Portraits" on Kadima; 3 great Vancouver releases on Drip Audio; Burkhard Beins and Michael Renkel's latest Activity Center on Absinthe, plus Andrea Neumann inside and out of the piano; 2 Chadbourne reissues on Chadula; 4 on Monotype; great vinyl releases from Mats Gustafsson in a mutated homage to Swedish Jazz, while Nate Wooley takes on the trumpet and the amplifier; Peeesseye and Talibam! record together; The Ex + Tom Cora's "Scrabbling..." is reissued; Elephant9's 2nd on LP; plus Barry Chabala on cassette, Eleh, Carlos Giffoni, New Monuments, Kyle Dunn, Moondog... and Musicworks Spring 2010 issue to read while listening!

The Squid's Ear will return in the next issue of this newsletter with new reviews.

Improvisation / Jazz:
$17.95   Buy  listen	Activity Center (Renkel / Beins): Lohn & Brot (Absinth Records)
	Since 1989 the Berlin duo of Burkhard Beins and Michael Renkel have created subtle and encompassing music improvising with a conglomerate of acoustic and electronic instruments.
$14.95   Buy  listen	Artifact iTi: Live in St. Johann (Okka)
	An amazing lineup of European, Chicago and UK players in a live set from the 2008 ArtActs Festival, music that merges the boundaries of ea-improv and free jazz.
$13.95   Buy  listen	Babin's, Tommy Benzene: Your Body Is Your Prison (Drip Audio)
	Bassist Babin's Benzene band mixes free improvisation with rock overtones, tight changes giving way to excellent solos from all members of this exceptional quartet.
$15.95   Buy  listen	Doneda / Toulemonde / Desmarchelier: Le Terrier (Monotype)
	Hardcore ea-improv from saxophonist Doneda, guitarist Desmarchelier and amplified objectician Toulemonde, active, attention-grabbing and downright frightening sound work.
$15.95   Buy  listen	First Meeting (Tamura / Fujii / Churko / Yamamoto): Cut The Rope (Libra)
	Trumpeter Tamura in an album of improvisational fragmentation, textural and timbral explorations, and rapid-fire juxtapositions that create kaleidoscopic sound collages.
$15.95   Buy  listen	Fujii, Satoko Orchestra Tokyo: Zakopane (Libra)
	Pianist-composer Satoko Fujii's Orchestra Tokyo formed in 1999 to perform her compositions, music that spans a wide range of styles and moods, complemented by a great set of soloists.
$15.95   Buy  listen	Gato Libre (Tamura / Fujii / Tsumura / Koreyasu): Shiro (Libra)
	Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura & bassist Norikatsu Koreyasu's Gato Libre with Satoko Fujii on accordion and guitarist Kazuhiko Tsumara, in their 4th release, beautifully melodic improvisation.
$15.95   Buy  listen	Gorzycki / Szczesny / Nowinski: Trio Poems (Monotype)
	The latest project from Rafal Gorzycki, leader of "Ecstasy Project" & "Sing Sing Penelope", here with music composed for poems and inspired by modern electronic, jazz and chamber music.
$15.95   Buy  listen	Hautzinger / Okura / Akiyama: Rebuses (Monotype)
	2004 improvised recordings from this trio of European and Japanese players using a fragile and fascinating mix of acoustics and electronics, rewarding music for detailed listening.
$13.95   Buy  listen	Inhabitants: A Vacant Lot (Drip Audio)
	The 3rd full length from Canada's Inhabitants expands the sonic experiments of this quartet's intuitive group improvisations, mixing rich feedback with alluring lyricism.
$14.95   Buy  listen	Liebman / Evan Parker / Bianco: Relevance (Red Toucan)
	Saxophonist Dave Liebman arranged this, his (surprisingly) first encounter with Evan Parker, with the help of drummer Tony Bianco, performing live at the Vortext for BBC Radio 3.
$13.95   Buy  listen	Looney / Lake / Smoker / Ellis: Urban Ruminations (Metaphysical Records)
	Pianist and prepared pianist Scott Looney in a quartet with saxophonist Oliver Lake, trumpeter Paul Smoker and bassist Lisle Ellis in live and studio recodings from 2005.
$17.95   Buy  listen	Mateen, Sabir / Frode Gjerstad feat. Steve Swell: Sound Gathering (Not Two Records)
	Studio recordings from saxophonists Mateen and Gjerstad's meeting with trombonist Steve Swell, bassist Clif Jackson and drummer David Gould in New York City, 2007.
$29.95   Buy  listen	McPhee / Duval / Rosen / Trzaska: Magic (Not Two Records)
	Joe McPhee's amazing Trio X with special guest Mikolaj Trzaska on alto sax and bass clarinet, phenomenal performances live from Poland's Alchemia club in 2007.
$17.95   Buy  listen	Mezei Solo, Szilard : When Spring (NotTwo Records)
	(Reissued on Not Two) Solo viola and double bass compositions from Voivodina Hungarian composer, violinist, viola player, and double bass player Szilárd Mezei.
$17.95   Buy  listen	neumann, andrea: pappelallee 5 (Absinth Records)
	Neumann mixes sound inside her piano with music from other musicians recorded through the walls of the house her apartment is situated in, creating a unique sonic work of unexpected contrasts.
$13.95   Buy  listen	NoMoreShapes: Creesus Crisis (Drip Audio)
	This Calgary based trio with Jay Crocker on guitar & electronics, J.C. Jones on trombone and Eric Hamelin on drums & percussion, mix free bop with small sound electronic improv.
$17.95   Buy	Other Dimensions in Music: Other Dimensions in Music (Silkheart)
	Other Dimensions In Music with Roy Campbell, William Parker, Daniel Carter and Rashi Bakr in their first release from 1990, free flowing ritualistic jazz of the highest order.
$15.95   Buy  listen	Phillips, Barre: Portraits (Kadima)
	Master improviser, bassist Barre Phillips performing live in 2001 as part of the Thomastik-Infeld "Bass Encounters" event, unique, unusual and lyrical approaches to the instrument.
$14.95   Buy  listen	ROVA Saxophone Quartet & Nels Cline Singers: The Celestial Septet (New World Records)
	The merger of Rova Saxophone Quartet with Nels Cline Singers brings out the best of both West Coast bands by balancing complex improvised and composed music with dense sonic material; recommended.
$17.95   Buy  listen	Steve Swell's Slammin' The Infinite: 5000 Poems (Not Two Records)
	Trombonist Swell's Slammin' the Infinte quintet with multi-reedist Sabir Mateen, pianist John Blume, bassist Matthew Heyner and drummer Klaus Kugel in works who's attitude are inspired by Walt Whitman.
$12.95   Buy  listen	Sunna Gunnlaugs: Songs From Iceland (Sunny Sky)
	Pianist Gunnlaugs recording in NYC with Tony Malaby, Drew Gress and Scott McLemore in a set of traditional Icelandic songs, melodic and masterly recordings.
$29.95   Buy	Swedish Azz (Gustafsson / Dieb13 / Nordeson / Holmlander / Carlsson): Jazz Pa Svenska (Not Two Records)
	New group by Mats Gustafsson & Per Ake Holmlander, five European improvisers loving, respecting, and playing the Swedish jazz masterpieces of the 50s and 60s with acoustic and electronic instruments - amazing!
$13.95   Buy  listen	Ware, David. S: Saturnian (Aum Fidelity)
	David Ware performed these 3 solo pieces live at NYC's Abrons Art Center, one piece each on saxello, stritch, and tenor sax, profoundly emotional and remarkable music.
$17.95   Buy  listen	Willson, Brian: Border Crossing (Not Two Records)
	New York drummer Brian Willson in a trio with bassist Dominic Duval and saxophonist Antonio Arnedo, performing original compositions and pieces by Wayne Shorter, Coltrane, and Ellington.
$27.95   Buy	Wooley, Nate: Trumpet/Amplifier [VINYL] (Smeraldina-Rima)
	NY trumpeter Wooley in three pieces of unrelenting pressure, from choking bursts of muteness to firestorms of sound - two pieces for trumpet, one for amplifier.
$13.95   Buy  listen	Zorn, John: In Search Of The Miraculous (Tzadik)
	Zorn with Rob Burger, Greg Cohen, Ben Perowsky, Kenny Wollesen and Shanir Blumenkranz in a work inspired by esoteric spiritual practices, white magic, ritual, traditional myths & ancient legends.

Electronic / Experimental:
$14.95   Buy  listen	Burning Star Core: Inside The Shadow (Hospital Productions)
	A reissue of an obscure tour-only recording from 2005 brings to the light the flickering dance of Mr Yeh and his dives into organic drone music.
$12.95   Buy  listen	Chadbourne, Eugene: The Secret of the Cooler / The Bird Cage (Chadula)
	Double CD reissue of 2 of Doc Chad's 80s cassettes, combining two extended compositions utilizing home overdubbing and homemade instruments, released in their entirety.
$15.95   Buy  listen	Cremaster (Fages / Monteiro): Noranta Graus A L'esquerra (Monotype)
	Excellent noise played with feedback mixing board, pick-ups and objects on electric guitar from electronic artist Ferran Fages and objects-on-guitar-ist Alfredo Costa Monteiro.
$19.95   Buy  listen	Dunn, Kyle Bobby: A Young Person's Guide To (Low Point)
	Two CDs of Kyle Bobby Dunn's compositions, rich in timbre, painterly, romantic and haunting washes of pure sound and ornate yet subtle mix of classical instrumentation.
$15.95   Buy  listen	Eleh: Location Momentum (Touch)
	The mysterious electronic music project Eleh in their first release of digital recordings, powerfully building sound structures that interact in rich electronic environments.
$14.95   Buy  listen	Giffoni, Carlos: Severance (Hospital Productions)
	Compositional electronic music using sound and noise in minimalist structures of dark tonal qualities, complemented by disturbing artwork and images.
$15.95   Buy  listen	New Monuments: (Important Records)
	With members of Borbetomagus, Graveyards, & Burning Star Core, this trio "attempt to soundtrack the maiden voyage of a luxury cruise ship constructed solely out of granite cement and ball bearings."
$9.95   Buy  listen	Pisaro / Chabala: Black, White, Red, Green, Blue / Voyelles (Wind Measure Recordings)
	Cassette-only release of guitarist Chabala performing Pisaro's 2004 score, plus Pisaro remixing Chabala's recording into "Voyelles", using cassette tape hiss as a structured sound source.

Rock/RIO/Prog:
$12.95   Buy  listen	Chadbourne, Eugene: I Lost My Ass in Las Vegas / Muppet on the Way (Chadula)
	2 CD cassette archive reissue combining live solo recordings with a multitracked homestudio demo that was the basis of the "Vermin of the Blues" album, and additional unreleased songs.
$23.95   Buy	Elephant9: Walk The Nile [VINYL] (Rune Grammofon)
	Elephant9's 2nd release pushes this Norwegian power trio even harder in a Hammond organ-infused rock that combines elements of rock, jazz, psychedelia, funk and prog.
$14.95   Buy  listen	Ex, The & Tom Cora: Scrabbling At The Lock [VINYL] (Mississippi Records)
	North American reissue of a rock masterpiece blending angsty punk rock and free improv with tight rhythms, roaring guitars, smart lyrics, and the late Tom Cora's amazing cello work.
$29.95   Buy	Peeesseye + Talibam!: [VINYL] (Smeraldina-Rima)
	New York bands Talibam! and Peeesseye together for a limited edition album mixing rock, sound and noise, and altogether unknown territory!

Compositional:
$13.95   Buy  listen	King, John: 10 Mysteries (Tzadik)
	Composer John King in his 2nd Tzadik CD, embracing a cross of genres - rock, jazz, blues, &c. - with the Crucible band including Mark Feldman, Cornelius Dufallo, and Alex Waterman.
$19.95   Buy	Moondog: Rare Material [2 CDs] (Roof Music)
	Rare recordings collected on this 2 CD set from Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin, 1916-1999), including tracks from the un-reissued "Bracelli", and "Instrumental Music" LPs.
$13.95   Buy  listen	Riley, Terry: Autodreamographical Tales (Tzadik)
	Terry Riley in a set of musical dream diaries, with Riley playing all instruments, singing & narrating his unique dreams; plus 2006's "The Hook Lecture" for piano and voice.
$13.95   Buy  listen	Zorn, John: Chimeras [revised] (Tzadik)
	Revised version of this 2001 chamber work inspired by the remarkable worlds of Henry Darger, Lewis Carroll and Unica Zurn, remastered and resequenced with a new postlude.

Magazine:
$17.95   Buy  listen	MusicWorks: #10 Spring 2010 (Musicworks)
	The great Canadian magazine of improv and compositional music, with articles on Yannis Kyriakides, Charles Stankievech, Anna Friz, loK8Tr, plus a 12 track CD including those artists.

THE SQUID'S EAR The Squid's Ear is Squidco's companion online magazine, featuring reviews of Squidco items from independent writers. Click here to go to the Squid's Ear.

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