Another Week of Great Discs from:

Paul Dunmall & Chris Corsano! William Hooker Trio! Sonny Simmons! Ernst Reijseger Trio! Acid Mother Temple! Xenakis Piano Music! Morton Feldman DVD!

Helmut Lachenmann! Pierre Henry! Henry Jacobs! Robbie Basho Tribute! Bob Dylan's Radio Hour & Frank Zappa's Freak-Out List DVD!

Plus a BIG comprehensive ATAVISTIC Catalog SALE including many 'last copies of'!




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Downtown Music Gallery FREE In-Store Performance Schedule Continues with:


Sunday, May 2nd at 6pm:
RAS MOSHE/KYOKO KITAMURA/JAMES KEEPNEWS/FRANCOIS GRILLOT!
Wonder Quartet with saxes/voice/guitar/bass!


Sunday, May Sunday 9th at 6pm:
SIMON JERMYN - Solo Guitars & Basses CD Release Celebration!
Plus Trio with: BILL McHENRY / SIMON JERMYN / JEFF DAVIS!


Sunday, May 30th at 6pm:
Two Duos from Norway - BALLROGG & VERTEX!
BALLROGG features:
ROGER ARNTZEN - acoustic bass
KLAUS ELLERHUSEN - alto sax & bass clarinet!
VERTEX features:
TOR HAUGERUD - percussion & samples
PETTER VAGAN - lapsteel & guitar!


Sunday, June 6th at 6pm:
MARCO CAPPELLI & TAYLOR LEVINE on Guitars!
CHRISTINE BARD on drums!


Sunday, July 25th at 6pm:
Jacob Zimmerman (alto sax)
Joe Moffett (trumpet)
Randy Pingrey (trombone)
Jesse Ward (electric guitar)


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This Saturday, May 2, 2010 at 8pm at The Brecht Forum..

Neues Kabarett presents

AREA + Mauro Pagani


Featuring: Patrizio Fariselli (piano/keyboards), Paolo Tofani (guitar/synthesizer), Ares Tavolazzi (bass/trombone), and special guest Mauro Pagani (violin/vocals).
For the second set, the band will be joined by a variety of local guests including Marco Cappelli

Neues Kabarett is delighted to present the historic reunion of Italian progressive rock legends, Area, almost 30 years after their break up following the death of iconic lead singer Demetrio Stratos.

Original Area members Patrizio Fariselli on piano and keyboards, Paolo Tofani on guitar, and Ares Tavolazzi on bass will be joined by Walter Paoli on drums. Mauro Pagani, their frequent collaborator and former member of Premiata Forneria Marconi, will provide violin and vocals.


Formed in 1972, Area grew to be one of the most respected and important bands of the blooming 70s Italian scene by blending experimental progressive rock and jazz fusion. The band frequently collaborated with such visionary artists as John Cage and Steve Lacy. Area recorded their first studio album Arbeit macht frei ("Work Brings Freedom"), a title taken from the entrance to the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp. The band found a following amongst youth of the time who were able to identify with Area's left-wing lyrics in a period of social and political turmoil. Area's sound merged rock, jazz, raw electronics and Eastern and Arabic music, and it was the blending of all these that made the band stand out. The band was founded on a strong and virtuosic musicianship, and Arbeit macht frei is considered an Italian progressive rock classic.


The Brecht Forum - 212-242-4201
451 West Street
Manhattan, between Bank and Bethune Streets


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NOW for this week's amazing releases!


PAUL DUNMALL/CHRIS CORSANO - Identical Sunsets (ESP Disk 4058; USA) Featuring Paul Dunmall on tenor sax & border (bag) pipes and Chris Corsano on drums. It should come as no surprise that the legendary ESP Disk label would release a CD by British tenor titan Paul Dunmall since ESP has long championed avant jazz from Europe as well as the US. ESP was the first US label to release albums from Gunter Hampel, Karl Berger, Peter Lemer (w/ John Surman), Karel Velebny & Nedley Elstak. Although percussion wizard Chris Corsano hails from the Boston area, he has done quite a bit of traveling & working with members of Sonic Youth, Evan Parker & Bjork, he did live in England for a period which is where this date was recorded in April of 2008.
The opening piece is the title track and it starts with those cosmic bagpipes swirling intensely similar to the spiritual sounds of John Coltrane playing soprano sax during the later Trane period. It is a most righteous way to begin this wonderful disc. "Living Proof" is next and it is an incredible duo for tenor & drums. Chris is an ideal partner for the powerful Dunmall tenor exhilarations. The two are well matched and the energy flows back and forth effortlessly. I dig the organic flow that holds this duo together through more boisterous and even somewhat calm sections. Chris takes a stunning drum solo on "Better Get Another Lighthouse" proving that his playing is in a class of its own. I don't think that I've another sax & drums duo that sounds as great as this one since listening to Trane's 'Interstellar Space' sessions from 1967 or Rashied Ali's fabulous duo disc with Louie Belogenis. Extraordinary is the only to describe this throttling, outstanding date! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12

SONNY SIMMONS With JOHN HICKS et al - Staying On The Watch (ESP Disk 1030; USA) Staying On The Watch, recorded for ESP-Disk' in the summer of 1966, still sounds advanced and powerful over 30 years later. Performing in a quintet with Barbara Donald (trumpet), John Hicks (piano), Teddy Smith (bass) and Marvin Pattillo (drums), altoist Simmons stretches out on mostly free-form original compositions.
CD $12


WAKE UP! [DEMIAN RICHARDSON/FEDERICO UGHI/DAVID MOSS/DANIEL CARTER] - Wake Up (Self Released; USA) Featuring Daniel Carter on saxes, Demian Richardson on trumpet, David Moss on electric bass and Federico Ughi on drums. Whoa! This sh*t is truly heavy duty! Since downtown reeds & trumpeter Daniel Carter has played with just about everyone in the downtown scene for the past three decades & can be found on more than a hundred discs, he certainly needs no introduction to those in the know. Drum great Federico Ughi also gets around to playing with many of downtown's best improvisers & runs the 577 Records label. Daniel & Federico have worked together on a half dozen discs so far and recently added young upstart trumpeter Demian Richardson to their ever-growing clan. Bassist David Moss is a newer name for me that I've only seen a couple of discs so far. Wake Up!'s philosophy is to wake up mankind, since they've become zombies slaving away & blindly accepting what has been handed to them. Wake Up!'s music is strong & spirited & intense! They are into solid grooves with burnin' solos from Daniel's sax and Demian's trumpet. On "The Queen" Demian plays some mighty electric wah-wah trumpet, sparring with Daniel's swirling sax and both interacting with the consistently slamming rhythm team. This is electric jazz at its best, super-tight and often in-your-face and not unlike some of the electric Miles sessions from the mid seventies. I dig the way the rhythm section speeds up and slows down throughout "Aiming to All Voices" which the horns on their toes as they trade ideas back and forth. There is a good deal of spirited interplay between all of the members of this great quartet, each player engaging the other and building the intensity to boiling point time and again. The quartet sound as if they are really having some fun, their vibe is infectious. Bassist David Moss was one who dropped this CD's off with us and was quite proud of the way the music came out. He should be, this is one of this month's hottest discs! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $15


WILLIAM HOOKER TRIO With DAVID SOLDIER/SABIR MATEEN - Yearn For Certainty (Engine 32; USA) "Building a masterful solo as revenge, as fuel to the scheme of dreaming." - William Hooker.
Featuring William Hooker on drums & spoken words, David Soldier on violin, guitar, mandolin & banjo and Sabir Mateen on saxes, flute & clarinet. This session was recorded at Roulette in NYC in April of 2007. Downtown drum master and multi-bandleader, William Hooker, consistently leads diverse and challenging ensembles, picking his collaborators with an eye towards spiritual unity and focused freedom. I look forward to each and every group he assembles since I know that a certain special magical transformation will take place. For this colossal trio, William selected two of downtown's best from much different backgrounds, the unstoppable reeds wiz Sabir Mateen (from Test to William Parker to Matt Shipp) and string pioneer David Soldier (Soldier String Qt to the Kropotkins to leading elephants playing gamelan music). A more eclectic trio would be hard to imagine.
You would probably not expect acoustic guitar on a William Hooker session but this is how this disc starts with calm spoken words and calm, lovely acoustic guitar. William uses simple but effective words to describe a most natural scene, which is followed by some poignant sax from Sabir and more sublime guitar from David. The trio evokes different vibes on each of the five pieces. "Century's Soles" features banjo, clicking percussion and somber yet thoughtful sax. "Commonplace Travel" is a powerful free trio for wailing sax, violin and propulsive drums taking us higher and higher. "Magistrait" has a most haunting vibe which features rolling mallets, eerie violin and simmering sax & later elegant clarinet. The final piece is a transcendent for shimmering wah-wah violin, more flowing mallets and an overall hypnotic vibe. William Hooker does a beautiful job of balancing the trio strengths just right and leaving us mesmerized and in awe of their supreme beauty. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12

YUGANAUT [STEPHEN RUSH/TOM ABBS/GEOFF MANN] - Sharks (Engine 34; USA) This is the second disc from Yuganaut, the personnel remains Stephen Rush on Rhodes electric piano, Moog synth & trombone, Tom Abbs on bass, cello, tuba & didjeridoo (often simultaneously) and Geoff Mann on drums, percussion & trumpet. Although this disc was recorded in a studio at the University of Michigan, the rhythm section is NY-based. It seems that Mr. Rush is a professor at the U of Michigan and has worked with Roscoe Mitchell. I recall the first Yuganaut disc being another of those overlooked gems and now here we are again with yet another dynamite CD.
Starting with what sounds like some sort of ritualistic drums, bass, flute & toys jam, we sail to into the suspense-filled netherworld of strange dreamscapes. The trio takes their time to build their own castle a few bricks at a time, occasionally erupting with flurries of crazed activity. The combination of spooky synth, didjeridoo and sizzling cymbals add moments of eternal bliss to our journey. Mutated horns add a ghost-like vibe to "Lost in the Field" with some sinister bowed bass bending our minds into weird shapes. This disc does a fine job of taking us along for strange and surprising journey, through the heavens and into the spheres. Parts remind me of Sun Ra's space trip to the stars. Next stop Jupiter! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12


ROSS BOLLETER - Night Kitchen (EMANEM 5008; UK) An hour of ruined piano - 14 solo improvisations on up to 5 ruined pianos simultaneously with no overdubbing. These tracks (with two exceptions) were recorded at night, or at dawn at the latest. The four or five pianos occupy most of the kitchen, and are set up so that they can be played simultaneously. 63 minutes.
CD $18


CAROLINE FORBES - Set 1: Eight Postcards (CForbes 1-8; UK) Ms. Forbes is a well-known photographer and was recently in town with Evan Parker. She left us with a half dozen sets of her charming postcards which feature composers & musicians: Evan Parker & Steve Lacy, John Zorn, Lee Konitz, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Ennio Morricone, Iannis Xenakis, Toru Takemitsu and Arvo Part. Handsomely printed on thick posterboard. While supplies last.
Set of POSTCARDS $8


LOUISE DAM ECKARDT JENSEN - You Look Like Your Mother, Would You Like Some More Sauce? (Peacock 14; USA) Featuring Louise D E Jensen on alto sax & voice. I can't tell very much about Ms. Jensen except that she came down to DMG this week with bassist Tom Blancarte & left us with this fine solo sax effort. This disc was recorded with the mic up close so that we hear the breathy sounds along with her sprawling alto sax explorations. Louise has strong, warm tone and sounds a bit Lee Konitz like on the first piece. On "My Origin" she blends a couple of spinning sax lines with her haunting vocal sounds. I like the way she takes single sax line and plays it in a variety of different ways, like a theme and variation done slowly and carefully. For "I Don't Like Rottweilers" Louise takes layers of strange vocal sounds and twists them together in a somewhat disturbing mix. On a few of these pieces Louise will take the melody and sing it through her sax in a most charming way. Ms. Jensen is a fine saxist who seems to have a way with playing calm yet slightly twisted sounds on her sax. I've never seen her name around town although this disc is on Jessica Pavone's Peacock label which often presents music from various Braxton collaborators. Female sax players are still a relative rarity nowadays outside of Biggi Vinkeloe & Ingrid Laubrock. We can now add Louise Jensen to that slowly growing list of fine sax explorers. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12


RICHARD BLIWAS - Astral Prints (Rising Rose 07; USA) Featuring Richard Bliwas on piano, Vox Continental organ, vocals, percussion, songs, artwork & production. In a better balanced universe Richard Bliwas would be world famous for his charming songs, sly keyboards, delightful voice and slightly skewered melodies. This is Mr. Bliwas' 7th self-produced disc and again he has left us with a modest gem. Richard's songs rather cryptic with somber layers of eerie keyboards and quietly twisted vocals. The piano and organ slowly sail around one another while Richard's dreamy voice hovers in the distance. The overall effect of this disc is that it creates its own melancholy surreal world.The layered keyboards seem to float on clouds and swirl around one another magically. It takes some time to hear to the words which are partially submerged in an ocean of warm, cerebral ether. If Sun Ra were still on the planet earth he could most likely decipher what Richard is singing about. I am not so sure I understand but I do catch the drift as it disappears into the air. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $14


GROOVE LELE & ERNST REIJSEGER TRIO - Zembrocal Musical: Music From Reunion Island (W&W 167; Germany) The group Groove Lele was founded by the children of Granmoun Lele (a.k.a. Pepe Dynamite), musical icon of Maloya. Musicologists have described his music as a mixture of traditional music from Zanzibar, Mozambique, Somalia, Madagascar, and the Congo or Cameroon - a style that consists essentially of the human voice and percussion. As the music of the slave riots and the slaves' descendants, Maloya was for a long time played secretly and connected with the fighters for independence. Granmoun Lele composed over 200 songs, which tell about daily life. He passed away in 2004 at the age of 74. Among the 12 musicians of his group, seven were his children - and they decided to carry on under the group name Groove Lele. On October 1, 2009 Maloya became part of UNESCO's world heritage list. Willy Phileas and Ernst Reijseger met for the first time for an artistic collaboration. Reijseger, an acclaimed cellist open to all musical styles, teams up here with Groove Lele and invites longtime partners Alan 'Gunga' Purves and Mola Sylla to join him. Together they present a unique program performed during this year's Musiques de Nuit Festival summer in Bordeaux, France. The album name, Zembrocal Musical, alludes to one of Reunion's famous dishes, whose eclectic combination of ingredients lends its name to this tasteful 'mash-up.'
CD $17


ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. - In O To Infinity (Important 297; USA) "Acid Mothers Temple follow up their classic cover of Terry Riley's 'In C.' This is also the first Acid Mothers Temple record in a long time to feature the voice of Cotton Casino. Beginning with their cover of Terry Riley's 'In C,' AMT went on to create 'In E' and 'In D,' as well as their collaboration with Ultrasound on 'In G.' Now they return to the concept, with four new tracks -- 'In A,' 'In Z,' 'In 0' and 'In 8.' As far as music is concerned, a scale could be anything. The names of the scales from A to G are no more than conventions, decided on through human logic. However, beginnings and endings, nothingness and the infinite are not conventions or human creations. Rather they are part of the cosmos and they can be applied to all things that exist. On these pieces they follow their belief in this truth, journeying from beginning to end, from end to beginning, from nothingness to the infinite, and from the infinite to nothingness..."
CD $14


BLURBOXER - The Invention Room (Self Released; USA) Killer Bob features Dave Scanlon on guitar, toys & voice, Johan Andersson on tenor & soprano saxes & voice, Rob Lundberg on bass, noises & voice and Max Jaffe on drums, percussion & voice. Killer Bob played here at DMG last Sunday (4/25/10) and played a quiet yet intense & creative set. For this disc though, they have the volume turned up and are much more rambunctious. KB are a tight, punk-post band with both jazz and rock influences and occasional crazy vocals recorded from a distance. On "Vast to Make Me" there is great short spoken word section where different voices speak at the same time. I dig that "Spread Enormous" has a slow sax line yet a quick rhythm team groove until the sax speeds up and they jump together while the guitar plays tight noisy counterpoint. Pretty shrewd and ambitious for these cool young cats. What impressed me about this band is that work they way through a variety of different styles and genres, not settling on any one thing for very long. "8 Bars for Ann" is a delightful, laid back ballad that shows their more romantic side, an unexpected change of events. "Carson" is a long & winding piece which goes through a number of different sections. In the first part Dave takes a long nifty noise guitar solo by manipulating and banging on the strings while the rest of the quartet plays tight patterns around him. The interplay between the guitar & sax with the rhythm team is consistently engaging as they move through different scenes or events. At 32 minutes, I guess that this disc would be considered an EP, yet it is still fresh and fascinating throughout no matter what the length is. If you get a chance to see Killer Bob live, go for it! If you don't live in the tri-state area , then you can still get this great little disc for an inexpensive price. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $10


SIMON JERMYN - Hymni (Diatribe SOLO 8388; UK) This is a solo project featuring Simon Jermyn on basses & guitars. Irish bassist & composer Simon Jermyn is one persistent dude. He forced me (at gunpoint no less) to listen to an earlier trio CD of his and I was sure glad he did. Simon has worked with the great Belgian reeds wiz Joachim Badenhorst as well as with Ryan Blotnick (CD on Songlines). Here Simon has put together an auspicious solo effort for basses & guitars, adding layers of each and turning them into a unique blend. "Lama" opens with what sounds like a few lines of bowed electric strings, the sound is immensely haunting and rather hypnotic as the strings are slightly bent and creak a bit. This slides directly into the title track, "Hymni" which sounds a bit like Hugh Hopper's stunning solo electric bass performance on '1984'. It sounds as if Simon is using a small propeller on his strings to great effect while fingering the strings to change the floating melody. Simon adds a quaint, delicate melody to the second half of this piece while rubbing the other strings to add a bit of mystery. Each piece glides perfectly into the next one so that it feels as if this is a suite and we are on thoughtful journey to different planets. On "There Were Nine of Them I Think", Simon does a great job of playing lovely Jaco-like fretless chords along with ringing notes and eerie bowed bent string weirdness. What a great combination of sounds! Each piece on this disc features Simon manipulating the bass or basses (and occasional guitar) in some way that feels most natural and adds a calm sense of mysteriousness with fragments of floating melodies. By far, this is the best solo electric bass effort I've heard since Hugh Hopper's classic solo album '1984' from 1973. Simon Jermyn will be playing here at DMG solo to celebrate this disc and in a trio with Bill McHenry & Jeff Davis on Sunday May 9th at 6pm for free. Please come down if you can, a splendid time is guaranteed for all. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $14


KILLER BOB - Killer Bob [CD ep] (Self Released; USA) Blurboxer is mostly a duo of G.L. Diana (sitar & electronics) and Lisa Dowling on double bass with a couple of guest clarinetists: Patrick Holmes & Tony Jarvis sitting in on a few tracks each. It's strange that the liner notes mention just electronics, sitar, acoustic bass & clarinets yet when the music starts what we hear is (sampled?) piano, strings and gentle electronics. Hmmm. The music is mostly improvised & half of the tracks feature one or the other clarinetist. What is interesting is the way that GL takes the clarinet and adds bits of subtle electronics to the mix. Lisa plays some lovely bowed bass on "Moha" (reminding me of "As You Said" by Jack Bruce during his Cream days) while GL adds subtle yet eerie electronics around her. "Gitano" features a sublime sitar and acoustic bass duo, calm and quaint. I dig that much of this is quite skeletal, just a few notes here & there with nothing cluttered. "Kitscratch" is just one circular clarinet line repeating with bowed bass going up and down. Electronic droplets are added as occasional spice. Few folks can do so much with so little. The few duos with sitar and acoustic bass work best and are sublime and softly exotic. What I like about this disc is that it deals mostly with a vibe that evokes warm dreamy memories. I can see how this music would be perfect for a film sequence involving fading dreams of better days. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $5



WILLIAM PARKER - At Somewhere There (Barnyard 313; Canada) "Featuring William Parker on acoustic bass, dousn' gouni and double flute. The wonderful solo offering was recorded at Somewhere There, a small gallery space in Toronto in July of 2008. Solo concerts and even solo CD's by the great bassist William Parker are a rarity, making this disc an even more special gift. Listening closely to this disc, I know it could be only one bassist - William Parker. His signature spiritual bowed bass sound is like no one else's. I can hear so much within that sound: nature, wood, horse-hair, singing strings, ancient spirits, bent notes like a voice singing directly from the heart, strength, sorrow, rejoice, transcendence, warmth, glow, affirmation, the real thing, the surreal thing, living, breathing, levitating, ascending, transforming, believing, dreaming out loud, dancing on rubbery strings, beauty, life, just keep going on & on. This piece is called "Cathedral Wisdom Light" and it is a long, consistently enchanting journey on the acoustic bass. While William is bowing up a storm, it is like the foundation being played with. The inner string that holds everything together is being manipulated in a most mesmerizing way. It is hard to do anything else but be transfixed by the way that William tugs at those strings. The line-up for the next Vision Fest (2010) has just been announced and the honorary William & Patricia Parker will be residing. This disc will help to prepare us for the great celebration of life that the Vision Fest will usher in next month. Until then, we need this disc to make our lives feel better.." Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $15

[btw, this disc was advertised last week for $16; it is $15, and anyone ordering it was only charged $15. If not, contact us for your $1 credit]



IANNIS XENAKIS//AKI TAKAHASHI - Vol. 11: Works With Piano (mode 217; USA) "Aki Takahashi follows up her acclaimed first disc of Xenakis piano works (which won the 'Diapason d'or' in France) with this second volume -- this time works for piano with instruments. She is joined by an all-star cast of players: Rohan de Saram (formerly of the Arditti Quartet), the JACK Quartet, and the Callithumpian Consort conducted by Stephen Drury. All works are underrepresented in current recordings or difficult to find at all. The legendary Eonta -- a blistering work with one of the most difficult piano parts ever written -- receives its first new recording in over 10 years. The brass writing specifies spatialized movement for the brass players -- including playing directly into the piano for its resonance -- both dramatic to see and hear. Akea 1968, written for Claude Helffer and the Arditti Quartet, is not a typical addition to the romantic tradition of the piano quintet. It signaled the beginning of a more inward, reflective phase of Xenakis' output. Morisima/Amorsima was composed with the aid of a computer in 1962. This is the only readily available recording. Paille In The Wind (1992) for piano & cello performed with Rohan de Saram. This is the only available recording."
CD $15

MORTON FELDMAN - Ed. 8: Trio [DVD] (mode 216; USA) "Feldman's Trio is a 105-minute work in one continuous movement, slowly and beautifully folding and unfolding itself through its long duration. Both Aki Takahashi and Rohan de Saram (formerly of the Arditti Quartet) worked closely with Feldman. Marc Sabat is among today's great Feldman interpreters, having recorded the complete violin music on Mode. This is the only readily available recording of the Trio in the U.S.A."
About the DVD edition: The recording sessions were filmed and directed by Tim Chu in High Definition Video, widescreen format. The intimate video allows the viewer to enjoy the subtle interplay of the performers. The DVD format allows the 105-minutes of the Trio to be enjoyed continuously on one disc without a break. DVD Bonus: Video essay on Feldman and the Trio by the noted German composer and Feldman expert Walter Zimmermann (31 minutes). Recorded in hi-definition 96khz/24-bit sound; DVD presented in surround as Dolby and DTS." Region 0, NTSC rormat; aspect ratio: 16:9.
DVD $22
also available as 2 CD set for $28


EDWIN ROXBURGH - Solos And Duos (NMC 161; UK) Soliloquy 3 performed by Sulki Yu, violin; Flute Music with an Accompaniment performed by Michael Cox, flute; Nigel Clayton, piano; Soliloquy 2 Dimitri Murrath, viola; At the still point of the turning world? performed by Edwin Roxburgh, oboe; Lawrence Casserley, electronics; Soliloquy 4 performed by Marie McLeod, cello; Aube: a ballet for dancer and percussion performed by Nicholas Reed, percussion; Duologue for David performed by Hsin-Yun Huang & Dimitri Murrath, violas. "The diverse activities of performing, conducting and teaching have been constant motivations to Edwin Roxburgh's principal profession, composing. The works on this new release are inspired by the virtuosic skill of the performers featured on this recording -- many of them past students -- and they are joined by the composer himself in his meditative and transcendent work for oboe and electronics, At the Still Point of the Turning World in which the sound of the oboe is fed through various delay effects. This work was first performed in 1979 under the direction of electro-acoustic pioneer, Barry Anderson who operated the analogue 'delay table' -- which was initially designed for a performance of Stockhausen's Solo -- with the help of twelve technicians.
CD $20


HELMUT LACHENMANN - String Quartets [H-SACD] (Neos Jazz 10806; Germany) Performed by Stadler Quartett (Frank Stadler, 1st violin; Izso Bajusz, 2nd violin; Predrag Katanic, viola; Peter Sigl, cello). "Lachenmann is one of the most prolific contemporary German composers whose 75th birthday we celebrate on November 27th (2010). On the occasion, NEOS Music will release his string quartets performed by the Stadler Quartett on May 1, 2010." Stereo/multichannel hybrid SACD that can be played on any CD player.
CD $20

YORK HOLLER - Topic/Horizont/Mythos/Schwarze Halbinseln (Neos Jazz 10829; Germany) Topic for large orchestra, dedicated to Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1967); performed by WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln/Michael Gielen. Horizont quadrophonic electronic music, dedicated to Ursula und Cuno Theobald (1971/1972); performed by Studio fur Elektronische Musik des WDR, Peter Eotvos and Volker Muller, realization. Mythos for 13 instruments, percussion and 4-channel tape, dedicated to Hans Zender (1979/1980, rev. 1995); performed by MusikFabrik/Zsolt Nagy, Studio fur Elektronische Musik des WDR, Volker Muller, sound direction. Schwarze Halbinseln for large orchestra, vocal and electronic sounds on 4-channel tape, dedicated to Karlheinz Stockhausen (1982); performed by WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln; WDR Rundfunkchor Koln/Diego Masson, Studio fur Elektronische Musik des WDR; Volker Muller, sound direction, Marie-Louise Gilles, speaker (tape).
CD $20

YORK HOLLER - Spharen/Der Ewige Tag (Neos Jazz 11039; Germany) Spharen for large orchestra and live electronics (2001 - 2006) performed by 2010 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. Der ewige Tag for mixed chorus, large orchestra andlive electronics (1998 - 2000, rev. 2002) performed by WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln, WDR Rundfunkchor Koln/Semyon Bychkov. "With his orchestral cycle Spharen (Spheres), composer York Holler created a large-scale work that bundles together the literary, artistic, and personal experiences of the past decades like in a magnifying glass. Spheres consists of six 'sound images' of different character, of which the first five were written during the years 2001 to 2005; after the death of his wife, Ursula Holler-Heidemann, in January 2006, Holler added the concluding sixth movement and dedicated the music 'in love and gratitude' to the deceased. By giving names both to the cycle as well as the individual movements, the composer brings into play an evocativeness on the level of the titles that reflects some of the stimuli and impulses for the creation of the work.
CD $20


HANS ERICH APOSTEL - Complete String Quartets [3 H-SACD set] (Cybele 002; Germany) Performed by Frank de Groot, 1st violin; Maartje Kraan, 2nd violin; Karin Dolman, viola; Hans Woudenberg, cello. "If the subject of Hans Erich Apostel comes up at all, he is known above all as a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg, and later of Alban Berg, as a member of the Schoenberg circle and perhaps as the most talented lyrical composer among Schoenberg's students, as someone who later developed a purely instrumental style. The present recording displays Apostel's complete output for string quartet (5 quartets, four are World Premiere Recordings), completed by archival recordings with the voice of Hans Erich Apostel, and a conversation of Mirjam Wiesemann and Apostel's pupil and friend Prof. Dr. Rainer Bischof (both in German language). Bischof remembers his admired and beloved teacher in a lively, precise and multifaceted way; Apostel taught Bischof about much more than being a composer and left a lasting impression on Bischof's views on composition and the world. Rainer Bischof recalls anecdotes that reveal Apostel the man, depicts the artistic and personal developments undergone by Apostel and sheds light on a few traits of his teacher's personality. Apostel was like the edelweiss in the Bergian tradition, a flower that Apostel kept on his writing desk, and like the skull in the Schoenbergian tradition, symbolizing the past. Bischof describes Apostel the man, caught between Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg, between charm and rudeness, between a fear of life outside his study and a musical micro-life with an unusual propensity for adventure (Dr. Harald Kaufmann). Apostel was a devoted humanist, musical architect and intellectual, a musician deep in thought, opposed to any form of emotional aesthetics (Rainer Bischof), but also prone to vitriolic outbursts and an intense fear of illness and madness." -- Mirjam Wiesemann. Stereo/multichannel hybrid SACDs that can be played on any CD player.
3 CD set for $42


PIERRE HENRY - Le Voile d'Orphee (Doxy 403; Italy) "Pierre Henry's 1953 'Veil of Orpheus' is the first example of symphonic musique concrete, the use of non-traditional sources and 'real' sounds like trains, dogs barking, footsteps, etc., in place of actual instruments and then electronically manipulating these sounds in new ways. It was originally composed for the opera Orpheus 53, which was written with movement founder Pierre Schaeffer for the Donauescliingen Festival. Despite the quantum leaps made in the field of electronics over the past 50 years, this initial experiment still manages to convey its original importance. The piece uses 'concrete sounds' much in the same way a traditional orchestra would use individual instruments. Besides two versions of 'Veil of Orpheus' (the original 27-minute version and the second 15-minute version used in the Maurice Bejart-Pierre Henry ballet Orpheus in 1958), there are two shorter pieces -- 'Entity' and 'Spiral' -- which evoke an unsettling search for meaning that is so often associated with Henry's work."
LP $22

PIERRE HENRY - Musique Sans Titre/Spatiodynamisme (Doxy 404; Italy) "Musique Sans Titre, composed in 1951 at the Studio d'essai of the RTF, was one of Henry's earliest attempts at musique concrete. Spatiodynamisme, on the other hand, was based on the 1954 recordings of a Nicolas Schoffer sound sculpture. Metallic parts, mirrors, lights and sounds emanating from a 50-meter building interacted with the environment and visitors. Henry recorded various grating and scraping sounds from the metallic sculpture and then manipulated them for this piece, which was influenced by Italian Futurist Luigi Russolo's L'Arte Dei Rumori."
LP $22

PIERRE HENRY - Haut-Voltage/Coexistence (Doxy 405; Italy) "The 22-minute 'Haut-Voltage' is a product of Henry's collaboration with French choreographer Maurice Bejart, recorded in 1956 for one of Bejart's stage productions, and featuring the vocals of Henry himself. By 1958, Henry had left Pierre Schaeffer's RTF and had begun working in his own private studio. 'Coexistence,' recorded in 1959, comes from this new period, when Henry had begun to realize that in order for musique concrete to evolve, it would have to begin to use electronics. 'Coexistence' is one of Henry's first attempts at bringing the two together."
LP $22


KOMEDA PROJECT [RUSS JOHNSON/KRZYSZTOF MEDYNA/ANDRZEJ WINNICKI/MICHAEL BATES/DAVID ANTHONY] - Crazy Girl (WM 358852-1; USA) Their musical roots in Poland, founders of Komeda Project - pianist Andrzej Winnicki and saxophonist Krzysztof Medyna toured Europe extensively during the 1980's with their original jazz group Breakwater. After moving to the U.S. in the '90s, they revived the group as Electric Breakwater. In 2006 they formed the Komeda Project with trumpeter Russ Johnson, bassist Michael Bates, and drummer David Anthony to clebrate and breathe life anew into the works of Krzysztof Komeda.
"An innovator with a complex of tradition, romanticist expressing himself in the contemporary idiom, poet of piano - this was Krzysztof Komeda, one of those musicians who have widened the essence of jazz. In his short life (until untimely death, after a tragic accident in Hollywood at the age of 38), Krzysztof Komeda (1931-1969) wrote music for more than 60 films, including classics of the Polish cinema by the Academy Award winners Roman Polanski and Andrzej Wajda. It was Polanski who gave Komeda his first commission in 1957, and used his music in almost all of his films over the next decade; inviting him to Hollywood in 1967 to score his American film debut, Rosemary's Baby. According to Polanski himself, the popular and critical success of Rosemary's Baby owed much to Komeda's empathy and creative imagination.
Even though Komeda's film scores quite often made use of Jazz and improvisation, it is the music he wrote to perform and record as a pianist with his own jazz groups, especially 1965 recording of Astigmatic, that helped to develop a uniquely European (in structure and lyrical content, especially) style in jazz composition. "
CD $14

KOMEDA PROJECT [RUSS JOHNSON/KRZYSZTOF MEDYNA/ANDRZEJ WINNICKI/SCOTT COLLEY/NASHEET WAITS] - Requiem (WM 358852-2; USA) Plenty has been written about European musicians approaching the American jazz tradition; it's far rarer to hear about American musicians bringing their heritage to distinctly European projects. Capitalizing on the critical acclaim for its debut "Crazy Girl", pianist/composer/arranger Andrzej Winnicki and saxophonist Krzysztof Medyna - the driving force behind Komeda Project - bring trumpeter Russ Johnson back for their new CD "Requiem". What makes Requiem different, however, and a significant evolution over Crazy Girl, is the enlistment of uber-bassist SCOTT COLLEY and the equally ubiquitous drummer NASHEET WAITS.
The Komeda Project's primary focus is to bring the music of the late, legendary Polish composer/pianist Krzysztof Komeda (Rosemary's Baby; Knife in the Water) into the new millennium with fresh arrangements, but this time the approach is far more open-ended. Sacrificing the "comfort zone" of a group familiar with the music, Winnicki and Medyna opted, instead, for the first encounter "sound of surprise" that comes from working with master musicians like Colley and Waits. "The profile of the repertoire on Crazy Girl, our previous CD, was different," says Medyna. "The songs were selected more for gigging, so they were more straight-ahead."
CD $14


HENRY JACOBS - Around The World With Henry Jacobs [2 CD Set] (Important 299; USA) "Absurd folklorist Henry Jacobs returns with a selection of rare interviews, odd loops, sales pitches, early synthesizer demos, an ether-infused evening, and more! Produced in San Francisco and New York City, Around The World With Henry Jacobs is a travelogue that continues the story begun with The Wide Weird World of Henry Jacobs, mixing archival material from the 1950s with recent improvisations by Jacobs. Guests include Stan Freberg and Dr. Irwin Corey, with Alan Watts returning for a visit, too. Also included is special bonus disc -- First Night, one of the true gems from the collection. Recorded in February 1957 by Henry Jacobs on the opening night of the Poetry/Jazz Series at The Cellar in San Francisco, this unique document captures the first time Kenneth Rexroth and Lawrence Ferlinghetti read their poetry to jazz in this very intimate setting. In contrast to Fantasy Records' Poetry Readings in the Cellar, you feel yourself a part of the audience here, moments punctuated with a register ringing, muted conversations, laughter, and clinking glasses. Includes Rexroth reading 'Between Myself And Death' and 'She Is Away', and Ferlinghetti reading 'The World is A Beautiful Place.'"
2 CD set for $16

HENRY JACOBS - The Wide Weird World Of Henry Jacobs [CD & DVD] (Important 54; USA) Repressed. "Henry Jacobs is a sound artist and improviser par excellence. His influential recordings as well as collaborative projects resonate with an irreverent sense of humor and a love for musics of the world. From the early 1950s into the 1970s, Jacobs experimented with tape music, staged the early surround sound and visual spectacle Vortex (with artist Jordan Belson), and developed an array of absurd characters that would pop up as crank callers, relaxation coaches, or upside-down smiling instructors. A contemporary of Ken Nordine and Lenny Bruce, Jacobs honed an individual style that was droll and laid-back but winked at you at the same time. On his recordings for Folkways, World Pacific, and Fantasy, as well as on his private label MEA, the world of Jacobs is an audio collage that embraces many cultures and sensibilities. This CD/DVD collection pays homage to Jacobs' creative play, presenting recovered and restored audio as well as rare animated films that will give you a taste of this man's special talents.
CD + DVD set for $16


WE ARE ALL ONE, IN THE SUN [V.A. Tribute to ROBBIE BASHO] - A Tribute To Robbie Basho (Important 295; USA) "In Robbie Basho's lifetime he set out to champion the steel string guitar as an expressive and dignified concert instrument. His guitar playing was first brought to light in 1965, when John Fahey released Basho's debut The Seal Of The Blue Lotus on Fahey's own Takoma Records
We Are All One, In The Sun: A Tribute To Robbie Basho, represents a humble tribute to this truly original and passionate American guitarist, musician and composer. This labor of love was curated and realized by musician, producer, and acoustic guitar maker Buck Curran (along with his wife Shanti performs as the duo Arborea), who after first hearing Basho, many moons ago, instantaneously felt Kindred Spirit to his music. This tribute (a collection of both original compositions and new interpretations of Basho songs) befittingly begins and ends with German guitarist and painter Steffen Basho Junghans, who has devoted almost 20 years to composing guitar music in the spirit of Robbie Basho, and whose own compositions reflect a spiraling poetic universe like Basho's, creations of majestic musical vistas. In addition to Junghans, there is a gorgeous composition by Glenn Jones, a friend of Basho's, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Jones is another musician who has dedicated his life to proliferated music composed on the Steel String guitar. There is also the young Irish guitarist Cian Nugent, Meg Baird, Arborea, Fern Knight, Rahim Alhaj, Helena Espvall. In Basho's own words 'Don't be afraid to feel anything' and his credo 'Soul first, technique later.' We arrive at simple Zen like mantras by which all of us can live."
CD $14


BOB DYLAN'S THEME TIME [V.A.] - Series 3 - Vol 1: Best of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour [2 CD set] (Chrome Dreams 5032; USA) "Following the huge success of Chrome Dreams' previous compilations featuring tracks played by Bob Dylan on the first and second series of his Theme Time Radio Hour, we now proudly present a further 50 tracks as played by Bob across the third series of the show. The selections are equally as eclectic, fascinating and enjoyable as those he played during the first and second series, and again each show was themed by subject matter. With extensive liner notes again provided by Dylan expert and editor-in-chief of Isis magazine ('the world's bestselling Dylan journal'), Derek Barker, this latest collection is certain to match the success of the previous volumes and once again is set to become a must-have-item for Dylan fans and of fans of American roots music alike." Zimmy plays songs by Amos Milburn, Billie Holiday, Bo Diddley, Carl Perkins, Clarence "Bon Ton" Garlow, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Clarence Ashley, Conway Twitty, Ella Fitzgerald, Elmore James, Floyd Dixon, Georgia Tom/Tampa Red, Hank William, Harry Belafonte, Harry McClintock, Hot Lips Page, Ike Turner, Jack Palance, Jackie Brenston, Janis Martin, Jimmy Ballard, Lazy Bill Lucas, Lazy Lester, Lefty Frizzell, Leon Chappel, Little Esther, Little Maxie Bailey, Lonzo & Oscar, Louis Jordan & His Tympany 5, Mac Curtis, Memphis Jug Band, Mose Allison, Muddy Waters, Pilgrim Travelers, Professor Longhair, Ray Charles, Redd Foxx, Sarah Vaughan, Smiley Lewis, Sonny Boy Williamson, T-Bone Walker, The Bailes Brothers, The Clovers, The Drifters, The Four Deuces, The Robins, Warren Smith, Willie Mabon, Woody Guthrie and Zuzu Bollin.
2 CD set for $18


FRANK ZAPPA - The Freak-Out List (Sexy Intellectual 555; USA) "Frank Zappa published a record of his most important influences on the inside cover of his debut album. This film explores the musical roots of Frank Zappa by putting The Freak-Out List under the microscope and tracing the lineage from the most pivotal names therein to the recordings and performances of the man himself. Featuring rare footage of Zappa and the Mothers plus archive film of Freak Out List artists, interviews with The Mothers Of Invention's Ian Underwood, Don Preston and George Duke, 1950s Doo Wop legends, The Cadillacs, contributions from Zappa biographers Ben Watson and Greg Russo, Edgar Varese biographer Alan Clayson and many others." NTSC format, all regions; 4:3 aspect ratio; stereo; running time: 60 minutes.
DVD $20


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Special ATAVISTIC Sale!!!


While they last - incredible releases from the Chicago 'Atavistic' label, which has done more than any American company to preserve and shed light on the classic rarities from the world of Free Musics of the late 20th century - Sun Ra, Brotzmann, Schlippenbach, et al - via their Unheard Music Series [UMS], while simultaneously releasing the best contemporary new music from true greats like Nels Cline, Ken Vandermark, Elliott Sharp, - and the classic '70s-'80s NO Wave scene - and so much more

UNfortunately, the last year has seen several of their releases go out-of-print, so now's the time to pick up on these amazing releases, and to help you do it..

PICK 5 OR MORE from the list below, AND GET 10% OFF!!!


SUN RA & His ARKESTRA - Music From Tomorrow's World: Chicago 1960 (UMS/Atavistic 237; USA) This 68+ minute album is comprised of two sets of recordings: cuts 1-7 are from the fabulously mythical last year of Sun Ra and his Arkestra's Residency at the Wonder Inn (a septet here including John Gilmore and Marshall Allen on rds, George Hudson tmpt, Ronnie Boykins, bass, Jon L Hardy dms, and Ricky Murray vcls). This is a 1960s (audience?) recording, but it's been brought up in quality to an amazing degree - nonetheless there are some 'out there' who will gripe - but no-one can argue with the degree of superb musicianship on display here. This outfit is at their height in the stylings of straight jazz/bop/Sun Ra 'cool'. (y'know, before he went much farther out in the '60s). Similar in quality in all respects are the next 9 cuts, the Majestic Hall (ostensibly studio) sessions (w/ Gilmore and Allen joined by reedmen Gene Easton and Ronald Wilson, Boykins, Phil Cohran on cornet, and Robert Barry on drums. The playing is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful; I really could listen to hours and hours of this period - if only there were more tapes of this era around. Forgive the slight occasional distortion at the high end, and you'll be in Sun Ra heaven!
CD $15

SUN RA & His ARKESTRA - Some Blues But Not The Kind That's Blue (UMS/Atavistic 265; USA) The third deluxe RA reissue in the new O-Card format from the UMS, released in conjunction with EL SATURN Records is here: A superb reissue of a delicious, seldom heard Saturn Records document from 1970- replete with two alternate takes of a previously unissued classic AND an "Untitled" piece from the original '77 sessions... all available for the first time on CD!
"Sun Ra's career-long committment to his Arkestra allowed the pianist and bandleader little time for the elaboration of less populous projects. There were brief, tantalising glimpses, however, into his small group concept-including a rash of recordings made in the mid 1970s. There are, for instance, two great double-LPs of quartet music, tenor saxophonist John Gilmore gloriously forward, made for the Italian Horo label in 1978. A year prior, a stripped-down group made a set of studio recordings focused on standard jazz songbook material, as well as some original music by Ra, that was issued on Saturn as SOME BLUES BUT NOT THE KIND THATS BLUE. As a special treat, to augment this extremely rare Saturn LP and show how Ra developed the idea for one of his arrangements, two alternative versions of the poignant "I'll Get By" are included- taken from a session slated May 3, 1973 by Gilmore. In the distance, the muffled remnant of a previous track appears, taped over on this home recording, the almost in-sync backwards drums providing a low-key element of surreality." - John Corbett / Chicago- October, 2007
CD $16

SUN RA & His ASTRO-INFINITY ARKESTRA - Strange Strings (UMS/Atavistic 263; USA) A deluxe reissue in a new O-Card pack from the UNHEARD MUSIC SERIES- released in conjunction with EL SATURN Records.
"I'm painting pictures of things I know about, and things I've felt, that the world just hasn't had the chance to feel... I'm painting pictures of another plane of existence, you might say, of something that's so far away that it seems to be nonexistent. I'm painting pictures of that, but it is a world of happiness which people have been looking for or say they wanted, but they haven't been able to achieve it." - Sun Ra, interviewed by Henry Dumas in 1966
"...all this considered, Strange Strings, the culmination of all Sun Ra's string studies, is without doubt one of Sun Ra's master works. Strange Strings, standing squarely alongside Sun Ra's other epics of the mid 1960s, Atlantis and Magic City, absolutely shines as his most painterly of expositions in its surface richness and play with deep space and coloration. He has offered no world more strange than this in his entire output as a composer and orchestrator. These explorations are only hinted at in scattered moments on other recordings from this period. The full exercise of his very original and very imaginative powers as musical adventurer and visionary bursts forth in the masterful cosmic clattering of Strange Strings." - Hal Rammel, 2006
CD $16

SUN RA & His INTERGALACTIC ASTRO-SOLAR INFINITY ARKESTRA - The Night Of The Purple Moon (UMS/Atavistic 264; USA) The second deluxe RA reissue in the new O-Card format from the UMS- released in conjunction with EL SATURN Records: Sun Ra rocks out on his ultra-rare "Roksichord" record... a small group outing from 1970 with an alternate take plus three mind-bending, never issued Wurlitzer solos from '64. Long-awaited, available on CD for the first time! "The Night of the Purple Moon is Sun Ra's great "Roksichord record". It's also one of his most delightful- upbeat, and accessible outings, full of bluesy twists and turns, relatively short tracks, and the unforgettable nasal quack of his keyboard. Waxed in New York in 1970, just after the Rocksichord - that's how the company, RMI, spelled it, though Ra removed the "c" in typical, cryptic manner - had been introduced, Purple Moon is one of the classic (and relatively rare) small group Arkestra recordings.
The Night of the Purple Moon was issued on Saturn in 1972 (and, more or less at the same time, on Saturn's sister label, Thoth); augmenting the original LP is a familiar alternate take of the Arkestra chestnut "Love In Outer Space". To show something of the origins of Ra's keyboard playing in this period, we have added three incredible home recordings, made in 1964, on which Ra pummels a lightly amplified Wurlitzer electric piano, and on the first of them he adds the startling sound of Celeste." - John Corbett / Chicago, May, 2007
CD $16

SUN RA & His OUTER SPACE ORCHESTRA - Nuclear War (UMS/Atavistic 222; USA) Nuclear War stands as one of the great monuments- It's an album that by all rights should have been one Sun Ra's breakthroughs, featuring one of the tightest versions of the Philadelphia-era Arkestra in a program that includes an appealing mix of standards and Ra originals. He approached Columbia Records, certain that it was a winner, and when they didn't opt to issue it he reportedly became depressed and bitter. Eventually, Ra sold the music to an outfit called Y Records. Y was a very interesting British independent label whose catalogue included important post-punk LPs by the Pop Group and the Slits. Y Records producer Dick O'Dell first put out "Nuclear War" as a 12-inch single - the idea of Ra on an extended play disco plate was, in its own way, sheer brilliance! - b/w the glorious June Tyson vehicle "Sometimes I'm Happy," and two years later the full record was issued on Y Records - but only in Italy! And that LP never went into full distribution - as a result the few copies that trickled into circulation became one of the rarest entries in Ra's discography. After he sold Nuclear War to Y, Ra took the liberty of releasing some of the same tracks on two different LPs (A Fireside Chat With Lucifer and Celestial Love) on his own Philadelphia version of Saturn Records, Saturn Gemini. This meant that a few more lucky people who bought copies from them off the stage at concerts managed to hear some portion of this music; the wonderful Arkestra reading of Duke Ellington's "Drop Me Off In Harlem," however, did no appear on either Saturn Gemini record.
Thus the cruel irony is that one of Sun Ra's peak records, a slab of vinyl worthy of its legendary status, was heretofore heard only by a relatively small cache of his fans. Hopefully this CD release will correct that and make someone at Columbia Records wish they had done the right thing back in '82. - John Corbett, Chicago, May 2001
CD $15

SUN RA & HIS SOLAR ARKESTRA - Secrets Of The Sun (UMS/Atavistic 266; USA) The fourth deluxe RA reissue in the O-Card format from the UMS, released in conjunction with EL SATURN Records has arrived: A superb reissue of a mind-numbingly rare Saturn Records document from '62- with a previously unreleased 17 min. track... all available for the first time on CD!
"SECRETS OF THE SUN is one of the last great early 60s Saturn LPs to be reissued,and is one of his classic early New York releases. So rare that it is barely known even by hard-nosed Ra collectors, it contains music related in approach, acoustics, and arrangement to the more widely heard material on Out there a Minute (Blast First). From a fertile period in Ra's oeuvre, the "Solar" years, this group is more loose-limbed and ragged than the Chicago bands, and considerably more edgy.
To augment this reissue of SECRETS OF THE SUN, we have included a track that was originally designed to be the B-side of another Saturn record (catalog number 547, a great mystery among Ra-o-philes)- a production that was slated but never issued. Tracking in at the length of an LP side, "Flight To Mars" comes from the same period exactly, with an extremely unusual tape-collage introduction, spliced onto a tremendously swinging, aggressive feature for drums and extended solos all around. Needless to say, it's an honor and pleasure to finally issue this music after it had rested so long in the can. Perhaps you'll agree that it's only gotten better with age. A well-kept secret indeed. -John Corbett, Chicago/July, 2008
CD $16

SUN RA - Spaceship Lullaby (UMS/Atavistic 243; USA) Contains a proto-version of Interplanetary Music done in doo-wop fashion. Unbelievable! Ever-ready to delve into some serious sonic archeology, The Unheard Music Series is proud to bring to light a compelling and particularly obscure facet of Sun Ra's Chicago activities from the mid-1950's: a collection entitled 'Spaceship Lullaby', featuring Ra's work with several vocal ensembles from the period. Although similar musings had heretofore been heard only on the rare 7"s compiled on 'The Singles' double cd on Evidence, 'Spaceship Lullaby' presents a full CD's worth of unreleased material, including songs by Nu Sounds & The Cosmic Rays, plus a previously unknown doo-wop group known as The Lintels -- each singing popular tunes of the day. Strange, wonderful and even hilarious in places, this is pop music as only Ra could envision it, featuring him on piano along with the great Robert Barry on drums; on a few select tracks, the Arkestra is even backing The Cosmic Rays. Included here for your enjoyment and edification are two songs (the glorious title track & 'Chicago U.S.A.'), which were known to exist but thought to be lost forever -- as well as 35 (!) other tracks.
CD $15

SUN RA & His ARKESTRA/EDWARD O. BLAND, dir. - The Cry Of Jazz [DVD] (UMS/Atavistic DJ-865-2289; USA) Filmed in Chicago and finished in 1959, this is filmmaker/composer/arranger Edward O Bland's polemical essay on the politics of music and race, a forcast of what he called "the death of jazz."
A landmark moment in black film, forseeing the civil unrest of subsequent decades, it also features the only known footage of visionary pianist Sun Ra from his beloved Chicago period. Ample images of tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and the rest of Ra's Arkestra in Windy City nightclubs, all shot in glorious black & white. Rarely seen in cinemas, this is the first commercial release of the Cry of Jazz, transferred from a pristine print and featuring an otherwise unreleased Arkestral soundtrack. Special features include a photo gallery of stills from the film. Supposedly in 5.1 surround [says so on the case]; 35 glorious minutes!
DVD $20 (Out of print, but we have it!)

PHILL NIBLOCK'S Film of SUN RA And His ARKESTRA - The Magic Sun [DVD] (UMS/Atavistic 9861; USA) The classic 1966 film by PHILL NIBLOCK featuring SUN RA & HIS SOLAR ARKESTRA, PLUS rare & exclusive SUN RA footage, photos & audio "proclamations"!
Composer, photographer and filmmaker Phill Niblock's classic of experimental underground filmmaking with a sensational soundtrack by pianist Sun Ra and the members of his Solar Arkestra.
Shot in the mid '60s, when the Arkestra was based in New York, this film was produced using a unique negative process and ultra-tight close-ups on the moving hands and mouths of the musicians. The result is a virtually abstract music film, mastered from a new print in all its incredibly sharp black & white glory. The Magic Sun DVD also includes a luminous, largely unseen photo gallery accompanied by 14:00 of unheard, self-recorded Ra audio: a truly "inside" auto-bio interview; TRT approx 32:00.
DVD $15 (Out of print, but we have it!)

JOHN CORBETT Vs. JIM DEMPSEY [V.A. With PETER BROTZMANN/IKUE MORI/SUN RA et al] - Eye & Ear: Artist <-> Musician (Atavistic 176; USA) Corbett vs. Dempsey is a private art gallery specializing in mid-20th century American art, with an emphasis on Chicago painting and works on paper from 1940 to 1970.The musicians whose artwork was on display also supplied much of the music that was played at the opening of the exhibition. Starting with Toronto pianist & filmmaker, Michael Snow, playing jazz clarinet legend Pee Wee Russell from 1950, taken from a mildly scratchy record. Among the highlights: a nice duo recording of the great Peter Brotzmann & Han Bennink from 2004; and Sun Ra sings a quietly haunting version of "I Don't Believe in You" from 1956
CD $15

PETER BROTZMANN & PEETER UUSKYLA - Born Broke [2 CD set] (Atavistic 185; USA) Peter & Peeter have once again joined spirits and forces, picking up where their trio with Peter Friis-Nielsen (c.f. MEDICINA/ALP149CD) left off - this time as a reeds-n-drums, duo delivering a blowout double-cd - whose only remote competition in the field understandably comes from Messrs. Vandermark & Nilssen-Love's two-man implosion unit, DUAL PLEASURE. No amplification, not even monitorspeakers or headphones needed for this duo. The punch and the scream the foundation of NATURAL MUSICMAKING!"
2 CD set for $18

PETER BROTZMANN GROUP With FRANK WRIGHT/WILLEM BREUKER/TOSHINORI KONDO/ALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACH/HARRY MILLER/LOUIS MOHOLO et al - Alarm (FMP/UMS/Atavistic 257; USA) "The story is simple. We were touring with this band, and the reason I could put the band together in the first place was a radio gig in Hamburg. Michael Naura, chief of the jazz dept there, was setting up a series of on-air concerts in a 200-seat studio, so we performed the first piece, which I called "Alarm." I used the graphic instructions for a reaction to a nuclear emergency, a series of waves and straight tones, repeated in a certain way. - Peter Brotzmann, Chicago, October 2005
CD $15

PETER BROTZMANN GROUPS With DEREK BAILEY/EVAN PARKER/WILLEM BREUKER/FRED VAN HOVE/HAN BENNINK et al - Fuck De Boere [incl. Machine Gun] - Dedicated To Johnny Dyani: Live At Frankfurt Jazz Festival 1968/1970 (FMP/UMS/Atavistic 211; USA) Out-Jazz fans: maybe you'd better sit down before reading... Two concert recordings- never before released, mastered from original radio master tapes- by larger groups led by the German saxophone legend Peter Brotzmann. Both recorded by the esteemed Hessischer Rundfunk organization at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival, in 1968 and 1970. Two of the most explosive, riveting pieces of music ever to come out of the European vaults. Don't miss it!
CD $15

PETER BROTZMANN OCTET With EVAN PARKER/WILLEM BREUKER/FRED VAN HOVE/HAN BENNINK et al - Machine Gun [1968]: The Complete Recordings (FMP/UMS/Atavistic 262; USA) Arguably the single most important landmark in European free music: The original BRO Records LP restored to its 1968 format, with two alternate takes, new liner notes by Brotzmann and John Corbett, plus the only live version of MACHINE GUN ever recorded- in a deluxe UMS O-card package!
[If you already own the FMP CD of Machine Gun AND the Atavistic CD Fuck De Boere, you have all the material found here, albeit not in the same order]
CD $16

PETER BROTZMANN SEXTET/QUARTET With EVAN PARKER/DEREK BAILEY/FRED VAN HOVE/BUSCHI NIEBERGALL/HAN BENNINK - More Nipples (FMP/UMS/Atavistic 236; USA) This is another mind-blowing and essential cd of unreleased (three lost tracks from the NIPPLES sessions) material from 1969 featuring two of Europe's finest free/jazz tenor titans Brotzmann and Evan Parker with a stellar cast of Europe's finest free/music pioneers - Derek Bailey on guitar, Fred Van Hove on piano, Buschi Niebergall on bass and Han Bennink on drums. Too much brain-melting activity!
CD $15

PETER BROTZMANN SEXTET/QUARTET With EVAN PARKER/DEREK BAILEY/FRED VAN HOVE/BUSCHI NIEBERGALL/HAN BENNINK - Nipples (FMP/UMS/Atavistic 205; USA) Incendiary, legendary: Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Fred Van Hove, Han Bennink & Buschi Niebergal set the unmatched European free jazz standard (still in force since 1969!). Presented in a DELUXE 14-panel accordian booklet replicating the original LP art- not to be missed!
CD $15

PETER BROTZMANN With FRED VAN HOVE & HAN BENNINK - "FMP 130" (FMP/UMS/Atavistic 244; USA) This long out-of-print FMP reissue features Peter Brotzmann on clarinet & alto, tenor, bari & bass saxes; Fred Van Hove on piano & celesta and Han Bennink on drums, percussion, self-made instruments, junk, etc. There is a fine balance between alien sounds, playful shenanigans ...and explosive outbursts!
CD $15

PETER BROTZMANN & HAN BENNINK - Schwarzwaldfahrt ...Expanded [2 CD set] (FMP/UMS/Atavistic 254; USA) This is a reissue of FMP 0440, which has been out-of-print for many years. It was recorded over three days in May of 1977. Of especial further interest is that the entire second disc is taken from unreleased sections of these same sessions. The instruments used include e-flat, b-flat & bass clarinets, soprano & alto saxes, viola, banjo, cymbals, miscellaneous percussion, birdcalls, wood, trees, sand, land, water and the air. There is a delightful organic vibe here, a contemplative playfulness of wandering around the forest and improvising with nature. You can hear birds, the wind and other natural sounds, which gives this a fresh quality. I love the way you can hear both musicians as they move around the woods, switching positions and instruments gradually. There is a joyous bond of adventure that holds these two musicians and friends together. It becomes more apparent as you listen to each disc. - BLG
2 CD set for $20

PETER BROTZMANN/PETER KOWALD/SVEN-AKE JOHANSSON + FRED VAN HOVE - For Adolphe Sax (FMP/UMS/Atavistic 230; USA) At last, the reissue of German saxophonist Peter Brotzmann's long out-of-print first record, one of the most auspicious debuts of free music, and a trenchant tribute to the inventor of the saxophone. FOR ADOLPHE SAX is a roundhouse punch of European free jazz, delivered in 1967 by the saxophonist's first classic trio featuring drummer Sven-Ake Johansson and bassist Peter Kowald. The CD is augmented by a never-released nine-minute track, recorded in the studios of Radio Bremen, which adds Belgian pianist Fred van Hove to the trio; in a way, this group give a hint of the transition from Brotzmann's initial threesome with Johansson and Kowald to the next working trio with Van Hove and drummer Han Bennink.
CD $15

PETER BROTZMANN/ALBERT MANGELSDORFF/GUNTER 'BABY' SOMMER - Pica Pica (FMP/UMS/Atavistic 258; USA) Recorded 9/18/82, a reissue of FMP 1050. "A sweet and legendary period piece from the FMP Archive, featuring Brotz, Albert Mangelsdorff & Gunter 'Baby' Sommer!
CD $15

PETER BROTZMANN/FRED LONBERG-HOLM - The Brain Of The Dog In Section (Atavistic 186; USA) "Peaked-out duo recordings from one of the founders of the form and his ever adventurous, cello-torque-ing protege. Recorded live in November 2007 at Chicago's famed Hideout destination, Peter Brotzmann and Fred Lonberg-Holm combine for the first time ever in this penultimately intimate configuration. Although 'The Brain Of The Dog' was recorded in an ultra-industrial urban warehouse district, the resulting music is uber-organic, almost onomatopoeic at points. Certainly, fans of 'Schwarzwaldfahrt', Brotzmann and Han Bennink's now classic free-jazz camping trip deep into Germany's Black Forest, are strongly urged to check into this seminal blast!
CD $15

PETER BROTZMANN/PEETER UUSKYLA/PETER FRIIS NIELSEN - Medicina (Atavistic 149; USA) New trio recordings from free-jazz giant Peter Brotzmann (alto & tenor saxes, A-clarinet & taragato) with Scandinavian masters Peeter Usuklya on drums and Peter Friis Nielsen on electric bass. Adventurous music from true men of the world, presented in a handsome Brotzmann art-brute package. This music is a beautiful blast free-spirited, sonic frenzy. Turn it up and let it wash over you, forget about the depressing presidential race and let this music sweep you away to a better time and place.
CD $15

FULL BLAST [PETER BROTZMANN/MARINO PLIAKAS/MICHAEL WERTMULLER] - Black Hole (Atavistic 187; USA) Featuring Peter Brotzmann on b-flat clarinet, tarogato, alto & tenor sax, Marino Pliakas on electric bass and Michael Wertmueller on drums.
Shades of LAST EXIT (sans guitar)! FULL BLAST also frequently conjures the essence of Brotzmann's landmark early Free recording "MACHINE GUN" in it's visceral intensity. Hard to believe that it is only the end of January and already we have a contender for the best free/jazz disc of the year! - Bruce Lee Gallenter, DMG
CD $15

FULL BLAST [PETER BROTZMANN/MARINO PLIAKAS/MICHAEL WERTMULLER] - Black Hole [Ltd 2 CD edition with Live At Tampere] (Atavistic 187X; USA) OUT-OF-PRINT Deluxe Edition of above item. The [2nd] live disc is even more extreme and intense but no less tight and immense in sound. Brotzmann is back to his fire-breathing, riveting and explosive sax playing, for which there is no match, no contender.
2 sealed copies available
2 CD set for $18 (Out of print, but we have it!)

LAST EXIT [SONNY SHARROCK/PETER BROTZMANN/RONALD SHANNON JACKSON/BILL LASWELL] - Koln (1986) (UMS/Atavistic 252; USA) A veritable Murderer's Row of sonic stalwarts, each at full strength: Brotzmann on tenor; Sharrock on guitar; Laswell on 6-string bass; Jackson on drums. Simply put, this lineup speaks for itself. "You know, I really feel the Exit quartet is getting stronger all the time... we've been through our 'power playing' period. I don't want to be typecast as just a 'blaster'. Now the shit is really wide open- it can go anywhere. The interaction is getting to be very sensitive- though I'm sure there'll always be some good old passion and violence. But there's a lot of potential still to be explored, and i hope we get the chance to explore it." -Peter Brotzmann, 1990
CD $15

GLOBE UNITY ORCHESTRA [ALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACH/PETER BROTZMANN/EVAN PARKER/MANFRED SCHOOF/PETER KOWALD/HAN BENNINK/PAUL LOVENS et al] - Hamburg '74 (FMP/UMS/Atavistic 248; USA) The collective energies of the Globe Unity Orchestra were at a high-point in the mid 1970s, at which time the group was known both for its earth-shaking power and the deep thinking of its instigator, pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, who had studied contemporary orchestration and knew well how to arrange for an improvisors' big band. Remastered from the original tapes, Hamburg '74 is a lesser-known classic of European free music, available for the first time on CD, with the original packaging and previously unpublished photo.
CD $15

GLOBE UNITY ORCHESTRA [ALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACH/EVAN PARKER/MANFRED SCHOOF/PETER KOWALD/HAN BENNINK/PAUL LOVENS et al] - Globe Unity '67 & '70 (UMS/Atavistic 223; USA)
CD $15

ALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACH TRIO With EVAN PARKER/PAUL LOVENS - Pakistani Pomade (FMP/UMS/Atavistic 240; USA) Essential reissue of the debut from one of Europe's most intense free/music trios featuring Alex on piano, Evan Parker on tenor & soprano saxes and Paul Lovens on drums. This classic album was originally released on FMP in 1972 and is long out-of-print with another 20 minutes of unreleased music plus a bunch of rare photos now added. After short bit of suspense, the eruption of volcanic forces takes over, the trio explodes together, while the tenor sax and drums rip a tear in space right open, the piano provides an inner calm in the center of the storm.
CD $15

FRED VAN HOVE - The Complete Vogel Recordings [2 CD set] (UMS/Atavistic 229; USA) Complete collected works by this brilliant avant-pianist's recordings on the Vogel label, spanning three LP's and a single from 1972-74:In the early '70s, Belgian improviser Fred Van Hove released three LPs on the Vogel label. These recordings, issued in very small quantities, have become some of the most sought-after and difficult to find items in European improvised music. Even some of the hardest digging vinyl freaks haven't heard of these treasures, let alone owning them.
2 CD set for $20

JOHN TCHICAI/IRENE SCHWEIZER GROUP - Willi the Pig: LIVE AT THE WILLISAU JAZZ FESTIVAL (UMS/Atavistic 210; USA) A tremendous live quartet concert, recorded at the first Willisau Jazz Festival in Switzerland in 1975, Willi The Pig features a smoking lineup of Swiss master pianist Irene Schweizer (one of the foundering figures of free music in Europe), elemental Danish saxophonist John Tchicai (who co-led the New York Contemporary Five and recorded with Albert Ayler and John Coltrane), German bassist Buschi Niebergall (who appeared on Peter Brotzmann's NIPPLES), and South Africa
CD $14

GUILLERMO GREGORIO - Otra Musica: Tape Music, Fluxus & Free Improvisation in Buenos Aires 1963-70 (UMS/Atavistic 209; USA) The full title of this landmark collection, "Otra Musica: Tape Music, Fluxus & Free Improvisation in Buenos Aires 1963-70" says a tremendous amount about this overwhelming package. Argentinean clarinetist and alto saxophonist Guillermo Gregorio had a fascinating earlier artistic incarnation in Buenos Aires. Heretofore totally unknown, these recordings bring to light an incredibly sophisticated sound-world of proto-electronica, fluxus-oriented performance art and very early free improvised music, all from a virtually secret enclave of South American experimentalism. Sixteen tracks, none ever released before, with various groups including Movimiento Musica Mas, totally free duets with trumpeter Carlos Miralles from '64, and an astounding solo alto piece from the same year. Presented in a DELUXE 14-panel accordian booklet
CD $14

ROVA ORKESTROVA With FRED FRITH/NELS CLINE/CARLA KIHLSTEDT/IKUE MORI/OTOMO YOSHIHIDE et al - Electric Ascension 2003 (Atavistic 159; USA) Massive & intense interpretation of John Coltrane's masterwork, Ascension - as performed live at the 25th Anniversary Rova Concert by an all-star ensemble featuring Rova Quartet on saxes, Carla Kihlstedt & Jenny Scheinamn on violins, Nels Cline on guitar, Fred Frith on bass, Ikue Mori on drum machines, Otomo Yoshihide on turntables, Chris Brown on electronics, and Don Robinson on drums!
CD $16 (Out of print, but we have it!)

ROVA SAXOPHONE QUARTET [BRUCE ACKLEY/LARRY OCHS/JON RASKIN/ANDREW VOIGT] - As Was (UMS/Atavistic 216; USA) Simply put, As Was is a masterpiece of American creative music. These huge quartet recordings from the band's first incarnation with Andrew Voigt were first issued on Larry Ochs and Henry Kaiser's legendary Metalanguage label in '81, and have never been previously available on CD.
CD $14 (Out of print, but we have it!)

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/FRED LONBERG-HOLM/KENT KESSLER/TIM DAISY] - A Discontinuous Line (Atavistic 173; USA) The Vandermark 5 deliver on the epic promise of 2005's "The Color Of Memory", with what may well be their most ambitious compositional effort thus far. "A Discontinuous Line" presents a remarkable range of dynamic musical ideas and influences processed; Vandermark fully leverages the vast experience & deep well of talent in The V5's third lineup in their 10-year history.
Call it what you will... Post-Bop, Avant-Garde, Neu Chamber Music, Free Jazz- it just doesn't matter any more. What does matter is the monolithic edifice that has been so meticulously assembled by America's finest working jazz ensemble: an authenticity of materials, an integrity of concepts, the will to get "better"- and the courage to change. A piledriving decade of musical endeavor has resulted in perhaps The V5's most complex and engaging studio album yet.
CD $15

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/FRED LONBERG-HOLM/KENT KESSLER/TIM DAISY] - Beat Reader (Atavistic 184; USA) KV and Chicago's finest fivesome once again team up with Bob Weston to notch out BEAT READER - the quintet's 12th album for Atavistic over the course of the last decade-plus. Inasmuch as one may contemplate the recorded works of Sonic Youth as a genre unto itself, The V5 may now lay claim to such a distinction: existing simultaneously inside AND outside the realm of Jazz. Vandermark's compositions have recently become even more guided by his respect for (and sonic interpretations of) the traditional arts.
CD $15

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/JEB BISHOP/KENT KESSLER/TIM DAISY] - Airports For Light (Atavistic 140; USA) Airports for Light is not to be missed if you're remotely interested in the future of jazz. It seems clear now that with every record, this remarkable quintet is forging a signature musical vocabulary... crafting a spectacular body of work mindful of the jazz canon's towering antecedents, while enigmatically becoming theirs alone.
CD $15

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/JEB BISHOP/KENT KESSLER/TIM DAISY] - Elements Of Style, Exercises In Surprise (Atavistic 150; USA) Chicago's (and perhaps America's) most powerful new jazz quintet [reedist Ken Vandermark, who founded the group in 1996, now with saxophonist Dave Rempis, trombonist Jeb Bishop, bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Tim Daisy] have created an array of musical themes & structures destined to blow the roof off the/your house with a superb balance of post-bop & avant-garde material. Each piece is dedicated to someone that has inspired in, here dedications include John Gilmore, ZU, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Glenn Gould, Lars Gullin and Max Beckmann.
CD $15

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/JEB BISHOP/KENT KESSLER/TIM DAISY] - Single Piece Flow (Atavistic 47; USA) Their Atavistic debut: A blistering new standard in AVANT-JAZZ The Chicago-based avant-jazz unit Vandermark 5 is led by reedist Ken Vandermark, who founded the group in 1996 with saxophonist Mars Williams, trombonist Jeb Bishop, bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Tim Mulvenna.
CD $14

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/JEB BISHOP/KENT KESSLER/TIM DAISY] - The Color Of Memory [2 CD set] (Atavistic 166; USA) The longer these bandmembers play together, the closer to the bone Vandermark's writing gets for them, and the more they open the music from the inside out. The Color of Memory is the finest and most adventurous set yet from one of the finest bands to emerge from North America in the last 20 years. ~ Thom Jurek, AMG
2 CD set for $20

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/JEB BISHOP/KENT KESSLER/TIM MULVENNA] - Acoustic Machine (Atavistic 128; USA) The Tesla coil that the Vandermark 5 has become seems beyond built to last; the creative whole constantly outweighs the sum of the parts in this quintet. As the tradition goes, Ken has chosen to dedicate each tune on Acoustic Machine to a particularly influential artist in his own development; the "HBF Series"- the first short pieces ever released by the group- are an homage to visionary minimalist composer Morton Feldman; Archie Shepp, Elvin Jones, Julius Hemphill, Stan Getz & Lester Young also "get theirs".
CD $15

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/JEB BISHOP/KENT KESSLER/TIM MULVENNA] - Burn the Incline (Atavistic 121; USA) The Vandermark 5 has returned to deliver their "annual statement": the fourth, and undeniably best album yet. The Chicago-based avant-jazz unit Vandermark 5 is led by reedist Ken Vandermark, who founded the group in 1996, now with saxophonist Dave Rempis, trombonist Jeb Bishop, bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Tim Mulvenna. "Great soloing from all and an inner section where the horns & el. guitar erupt and burn it down!" - BLG
CD $14

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/JEB BISHOP/KENT KESSLER/TIM MULVENNA] - Free Jazz Classics Vols. 1 & 2 [2 CD Set] (Atavistic 137; USA) The first thousand copies of the two previous Vandermark 5 releases ('Burn the Incline' & 'Acoustic Machine') included a bonus second disc of what Ken called 'Free Jazz Classics' by numerous avant-jazz composers from the sixties and seventies, who were influential to Mr. Vandermark and anyone else who loves this era of modern jazz. The composers featured were Ornette Coleman, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Archie Shepp, Lester Bowie, Joe McPhee, Carla Bley, Jimmy Giuffre, Julius Hemphill and Don Cherry. Both of these fine double cds sold out within a few weeks, leaving a number of Vandermark's fans frustrated at not having an opportunity to get either or both of these classics. Our good buddy Kurt at Atavistic has decided to release both of these discs as a two-cds-for-the-price-of-one reissue, so here we are. These great sets, ed by reedist Ken Vandermark, who founded the group in 1996, now with saxophonist Dave Rempis, trombonist Jeb Bishop, bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Tim Mulvenna, were recorded live at The Empty Bottle in Chicago in Spring of 2000 and Spring of 2001.
2 CD set for $16

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/JEB BISHOP/KENT KESSLER/TIM DAISY] - Free Jazz Classics Vols. 3 & 4: Six For Rollins/Free Kings - The Music Of Roland Kirk [2 CD Set] (Atavistic 170; USA) After arranging two cds of material written by other composers for Free Jazz Classics Vols. 1 & 2, I was interested in trying to find another approach for Volume 3- which was originally a bonus disk included with the first edition of Acoustic Machine. I considered a number of ideas before deciding to focus on the work of one artist, and was directly inspired in this decision by Archie Shepp's album, Four For Trane. Hence, "Six For Rollins".
The fourth volume of Free Jazz Classics, "Free Kings - The Music Of Roland Kirk" [originally a bonus disk included with the first edition of "Elements Of Style"] will likely be the last. Maybe investigating the groundwork for the improvised music from the 1960's and 70's taught me that it was time to get off the shoulders of those artists, in order to look in another direction. Maybe the point has come when it's necessary to realize the only music worth playing is happening now. - Ken Vandermark, European trains and hotel rooms- November, 2005
2 CD set for $16

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/JEB BISHOP/KENT KESSLER/TIM MULVENNA] - Simpatico (Atavistic 107; USA) The V5 has returned with their 3rd & most challenging effort yet - Can you function without its desolate, film-noir essence? This is another ace from our fine friends in the wind city to blow us all away" - BLG
CD $14

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/JEB BISHOP/KENT KESSLER/TIM MULVENNA] - Target or Flag (Atavistic 106; USA) Sophomore effort by these titans unbelievably trumps their debut album...simply put they've raised the bar again! The Chicago-based avant-jazz unit Vandermark 5 is led by reedist Ken Vandermark, who founded the group in 1996 with saxophonist Mars Williams, trombonist Jeb Bishop, bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Tim Mulvenna.
CD $14

KEN VANDERMARK'S JOE HARRIOTT PROJECT - Straight Lines (Atavistic 115; USA) ..Another smart move is for Ken's Quartet to cover the music of legendary/little known British alto sax giant - Joe Harriott. Harriott was an incredible modern-jazz alto saxist, whose distinctive sound & frantic playing is sort of in between two other giants - Ornette Coleman & Eric Dolphy, but whose compositions and brilliant/fresh playing of his quintet were all his own. Word is that Harriott developed his own sound/thing without hearing these other giants we compare him to. At best, Ken's quartet does burn like Joe's quintet, when the piece calls for that intensity. Ken's fine bass clarinet also gets a chance to spin some great Dolphy-like solos - BLG
CD $14

BRIDGE 61 [KEN VANDERMARK/JASON STEIN/NATE McBRIDE/TIM DAISY] - Journal (Atavistic 172; USA) Given the logistical hiatus that Spaceways Inc. has found itself occupying, Ken Vandermark was seeking to create another mode of expression for those groove-centric hunks of sound. Ergo: the birth of Bridge 61, featuring KV, Spaceways Inc. bassist Nate McBride, V5/SIA trapman Tim Daisy, and newcomer Jason Stein on bass clarinet. Utilizing its existing histories as a source for new potential in musical exploration, the combination of instruments at Bridge 61's disposal allows them to utilize a startling range of sound and tactics with the material, easily moving from the character of an austere chamber ensemble to that of radical electric noise - or to a kinetic energy hymn in any given set during a performance. "How Ken Vandermark continually comes up with inspired and diverse discs, we will never really know, so let's just be thankful that he does." - BLG
CD $15

(((POWERHOUSE))) SOUND [KEN VANDERMARK/INGEBRIGT HAKER FLATEN/NATE McBRIDE/PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE et al] - Oslo/Chicago: (((Breaks))) [2 CD set] (Atavistic 177; USA) (((POWERHOUSE SOUND))) formed in the Summer of 2005, originally with KEN VANDERMARK on tenor sax, INGEBRIGT HAKER FLATEN & NATE McBRIDE on basses, LASSE MARHAUG on electronics and on drums.
Ken Vandermark composed tracks with the idea of building the music from the perspective of the bass instead of the more conventional approach of composition construction, "from the top down", as he puts it. "The three major influences I considered when putting the music together were the rhythmic ideas of James Brown, the dub ideas of Lee Perry and the collage ideas of Public Enemy."
2 CD set for $18

FIREROOM [KEN VANDERMARK/LASSE MARHAUG/PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE] - Broken Music (Atavistic 183; USA) A tempest of jazz-noise erupts on the Atavistic debut from FIREROOM, a trio project between longtime collaborators KEN VANDERMARK, LASSE MARHAUG & PAAL-LOVE. As core members of the initial lineup for (((POWERHOUSE SOUND))), as well as numerous other adventurous small & large groups, these cats know each other well. The telepathic vibe necessary to make free music really work is tested & expanded upon throughout, given Marhaug's penchant for moodier, darker- yet still explosive forays on an array of vintage, contemporary & custom pieces of electronic gear. "Users" are currently invited to investigate the outer reaches of both the jazz & electronic frontiers simultaneously.
CD $15

NRG ENSEMBLE [KEN VANDERMARK/MARS WILLIAMS/KENT KESSLER/STEVE HUNT/BRIAN SANDSTORM] - Bejazzo Gets A Facelift (Atavistic 73; USA) Careening, dizzy Atavistic debut from Chicago's longest-running avant-institution. Featuring Mars Williams and Ken Vandermark, who has taken over the reins of this group from the late Hal Russell.
CD $14

SOUND IN ACTION [SIA: ROBERT BARRY/TIM DAISY/KEN VANDERMARK] - Gate (Atavistic 160; USA) Featuring Robert Barry (legendary core member of Sun Ra's ARKESTRA circa 1950s/60s) on drums, Ken Vandermark (Vandermark 5/ Spaceways Inc./B61) on tenor & bari saxes and Tim Daisy (V5/Rempis Percussion Trio/Triage) on drums, dig deep and find the spirit willing and no resistance while conjuring their second studio effort as Sound In Action. Superb homages and collages to and by Albert Ayler, John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Dotson/Ra, Ed Blackwell and Herbie Nichols' sublime "House Party Starting" complete & compliment five SIA originals on Gate.
CD $15

SPACEWAYS INCORPORATED [KEN VANDERMARK/HAMID DRAKE/NATE McBRIDE] - Thirteen Cosmic Standards By Sun Ra & Funkadelic (Atavistic 120; USA) Vandermark, Drake & McBride channel the finest moments ever waxed by intergalactic masters Sun Ra & Funkadelic. A versatile machine, dread threesome. How many different guises can the bass-drum-sax formation don? Essential lineup in jazz since Sonny Rollins went way out west, it's capable of shape-shifting into an effective instrumental soul vehicle, deep-dish dub operator, hard-as-nails funk outfit, West Coast jazz team. Spaceways Inc. shows just how many ways this mutable grouping can work!
CD $15

SPACEWAYS INCORPORATED [KEN VANDERMARK/HAMID DRAKE/NATE McBRIDE] - Version Soul (Atavistic 132; USA) On Version Soul the trio investigates middle ground, filling out the spectrum on originals by Vandermark and McBride that navigate various funks, souls, reggaes, dubs, jazzes, frees, and in-betweens, all treated with intelligence and passion. Here we find Vandermark's first recorded offerings on his new horn, baritone saxophone, which he has taken to like he was born for it. As on the debut, McBride continues to astound with his sensitivity on acoustic doublebass and his power on electric. For my money, he's the one to call on the latter; he's mastered it as a separate instrument, not as an amplified upright played horizontally. Hamid Drake is simply put: an Inspiration!
CD $14

STEAM [KEN VANDERMARK/JIM BAKER/KENT KESSLER/TIM MULVENA] - Real Time (Atavistic 118; USA) Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet); Jim Baker (piano); Kent Kessler (bass); Tim Mulvenna (drums).Recorded at Airwave Studios, Chicago, Illinois from April to June 1996. Includes liner notes by John Corbett.
CD $14

ZU [MASSIMO PUPILLO/LUCA T MAI/JACOPO BATTAGLIA] & SPACEWAYS INCORPORATED [KEN VANDERMARK/HAMID DRAKE/NATE McBRIDE] - Radiale (Atavistic 151; USA) Chicago stalwarts (featuring Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake & Nate McBride) meet Italian stallions Zu in a heavyweight jazz:funk:dub:skronk fight to the death... can you say 'bronto-bassism'? Radiale contains 4 originals by Zu, plus 4 stomp-yr-ass-til-4AM cover tunes by Funkadelic, Sun Ra & the Art Ensemble.
CD $15

ZU [MASSIMO PUPILLO/LUCA T MAI/JACOPO BATTAGLIA] & NOBUKAZU TAKEMURA - Identification With The Enemy: A Key To The Underworlds (Atavistic 178; USA) "Our latest selection for 'The Pantheon' - Zu have once again defied convention in their ongoing, internationally-based collaborative explorations, this time with Thrill Jockey artist DJ Nobukazu Takemura. Identification is a genre-splicing adventure, a skin bracing blast of velodromic rhythm, loopadelia, avant-rock & jazz that is sure to be on the tips of la tastemaker's 2007-vintage tongues."
CD $15

ZU [MASSIMO PUPILLO/LUCA T MAI/JACOPO BATTAGLIA]/MATS GUSTAFSSON - How To Raise An Ox (Atavistic 168; USA) It's surprising that it took this long for Zu to release an album with Mats Gustafsson! .. Despite its surface of aggression and Last Exit styled bravado, this music is not about simple visceral thrills, not even the ones Zu have often provided in the past; Zu and Gustafsson have discovered a profound realm of phrasal abstraction and timbral nuance by slowing the music down to an abject crawl where the ugliest sound can become an oasis of motion. Listen to this like a Scelsi album and not a free jazz album and you'll be deeply rewarded. - Michael Anton Parker
CD $14

GUSH [MATS GUSTAFSSON/STEN SANDELL/RAYMOND STRID] - Norrkoping (Atavistic 161; USA) Featuring Mats Gustafsson on soprano, tenor & bari sax and fluteophones, Sten Sandell on piano & voice and Raymond Strid on drums. Fourth disc from the great Gush trio, after three on Dragon. Good to hear from the under-recorded pianist Sten Sandell, who has some half dozen discs out on Nuscope, PSI, Alice and Sofa, as well as the great drummer Raymond Strid who can be heard with Barry Guy & Mats (on M&A & Maya) and with The Electrics (Ayler). Mats Gustafsson is on way too many fine discs to mention hear, but you got to admit that he can be found in a wide variety of projects to try and pigeonhole him with any one genre or style. 'Norkoping' consists of three long and impressive pieces, each moving through different organically connected sections. Highly focused and intensely exciting improvisations from a trio of Scandinavia's best monster musicians. - BLG
CD $14

MATS GUSTAFSSON & DAVID STACKENAS - Plays The Blues: Mountain Blues From Sweden (Atavistic 163; USA) Mats G. and David S. deliver a fir-soaked album of "Swedish Mountain Blues" just for you. From KEN VANDERMARK'S Liner Notes: "Listening to the music on this album by Mats and David, and considering its reference to the Blues (in title at least), I am left to ponder how strongly Black American Blues music is ingrained into the cultural DNA of even a middle-aged, white, middle-class citizen of the United States.. When I listen to this material it's colored by American ears, and no matter how much time I spend in Europe with European artists I know that I will always be the American in the band."
CD $14

JOHN CORBETT & HEAVY FRIENDS - I'm Sick About My Hat (Atavistic 116; USA) Producer/Journalist/Racounteur/Improvisor/Chicago Guy creates ultra-specific studio pieces with "heavy friends," including David Grubbs, Fred Lonberg-Holm Mats Gustaffson (AALY TRIO) Hamid Drake (DKV TRIO)....Weirdsmartfun and thought provoking.
CD $14

TERMINAL 4 [FRED LONBERG-HOLM/JEB BISHOP/BEN VIDA/JOSH ABRAMS] - When I'm Falling (Truckstop/Atavistic 326; USA) Terminal 4 performs the compositions of noted cellist, arranger and band member, Fred Lonberg-Holm, features cool, meditative, instrumental pop songs. Making it all happen, When I'm Falling also features Jeb Bishop (Vandermark 5) on Trombone, Town and Country bandleader, Ben Vida on Guitar and the smooth Jason Roebke on Upright Bass. The record, according to FL-H, seeks to expand the parameters of pop music- yet the exploration does not hide the beautiful melodic foundation that forms the canvas for Bishop's and Lonberg-Holm's subtle and cool musings. A beautifully constructed record for lazy nights and super subterranean activity.
CD $15

FRED LONBERG-HOLM TRIO With JASON ROEBKE/FRANK ROSALY - Other Valentines (Atavistic 165; USA) Each piece here has thoughtful, charming melody and does a fine job of touching out hearts. Bassist Jason Roebke takes a sublime solo on his own tune "I got nothing". The trio brings things to a righteous conclusion on Fred Katz's "to my buddy, buddy", another long, melancholy piece that is both is delicately sad and beautiful. - BLG
CD $14

FRED LONBERG-HOLM TRIO With JASON ROEBKE/FRANK ROSALY - Terminal Valentine (Atavistic 180; USA) "Chicago's Renaissance man Non-Pareil, Fred Lonberg-Holm and his Trio return with Terminal Valentine, their third proper studio album for Atavistic. With the sympathetically beatific rhythm section of Jason Roebke (bass) & Frank Rosaly (drums), FLH pushes the Trio into a more experimental direction - yet somehow their signature creation of warmth and intimacy still commands the proceedings. Trump l'oeil treats, an homage to Gainsbourg & props to the real old school complete the atmosphere. We may not have made the Valentine's Day release date, but a dose of Terminal Valentine is certainly good for the restless heart - any day of the year."
CD $14

FRED LONBERG-HOLM TRIO With JASON ROEBKE/GLENN KOTCHE - A Valentine For Fred Katz (Atavistic 139; USA) For a jazz cellist, there aren't so many possible heroes on the instrument. Fortunately, there's Fred Katz, worthy of accolades and acolytes. He studied with old master Pablo Casals and played piano behind various big-name crooners at the start of the fifties, but soon Katz made his decisive move into the Chico Hamilton Quintet, where he had a chance to work with multi-reed visionary Eric Dolphy and guitarist Jim Hall. Fellow cellist and fellow Frederick - currently Chicago-based Fred Lonberg-Holm set out a few years ago to pay homage to the gloriously cool Mr. Katz. Recruiting ultra-sensitive drummer Glenn Kotche and adaptable bassist Jason Roebke, Mr. Lonberg-Holm arranged a varied set of Katz's music, as well as some pieces familiar from his records. Often exquisite and completely delectable.
CD $14

PER HENRIK WALLIN/JOHNNY DYANI/ERIK DAHLBACK - Burning In Stockholm (UMS/Atavistic 249; USA) Previously unreleased smoking trio-based energy music from Scandinavian!
"I learned to listen to the music of the PHW Trio in the early eighties, live in my hometown of Umea at the Scharinska Villan, the local jazzclub. The magic shared between Per Henrik Wallin, Erik Dahlback and bassist Torbjorn Hultcrantz (of Albert Ayler and Bud Powell fame) was a revelation to me as a very hungry-for-action 15-year-old beginner in the mysteries of creative music. ...I couldn't believe it...telepathy was the only possible word of solution I could come up with...and maybe that is exactly what it was...and the music was BURNING!!!" - Mats Gustafsson
CD $14

KEES HAZEVOET [HAAZZ & COMPANY] With LOUIS MOHOLO/KRIS WANDERS/ARJEN GORTER - Pleasure (UMS/Atavistic 234; USA) Those in the know, are well aware of the legendary Dutch pianist Kees Hazevoet from the stories of his ferocious playing, allegedly destroying pianos with his powerful hands and especially from his other great release on this same Unheard Music Series label - Haazz & Company's 'Unlawful Noise'. This incredibly rare album was recorded in a museum in Amsterdam in September of 1970 and released in small batch of only 250 copies with hand silk-screened covers. Kees' quartet included bassist Arjen Gorter, whose name you should recall from his work with Willem Breuker, Gunter Hampel & others. Kees was searching for the right drummer for this group/session and was incredibly lucky to find South African expatriate drum wizard Louis Moholo in town for a short stay.. Kees switches between piano, trumpet and clarinet in a flurry intense interaction and hyper-activity. Quite a tour-de-force that builds organically in waves. Like wow! - Bruce Lee Gallanter
CD $14

KEES HAZEVOET/HAN BENNINK - Calling Down The Flevo Spirit (UMS/Atavistic 259; USA) "When we made Calling Down The Flevo Spirit in September 1978, Han and I had been playing together off and on in different groups and combinations since early 1967, when Han joined Willem Breuker's large orchestra (of which I had been a member for a year). Over the years, my idea of "music" had become more and more directed towards having it as natural and spontaneous as possible, without preconceived ideas about how "music" should sound or be organized.
Some listeners may perhaps not call this "music." So be it, call it whatever you want." Flevo Spirit" is the result of many long hours of concentrated playing and practicing and I admit to having been quite satisfied with the result." - Kees Hazevoet, 2009
CD $14

LEO CUYPERS' QUARTET With WILLEM BREUKER/HAN BENNINK/ARJEM GORTER - Heavy Days Are Here Again (UMS/Atavistic 207; USA) Featuring Han Bennink on drums, soprano sax & trombone, Willem Breuker on saxes & clarinet, Arjen Gorter on bass and Leo Cuypers on piano. Mr. Cuypers is a phenomenal Dutch avant/jazz pianist known for his residency in the Willem Breuker Kollektief.. The final piece is "Couperin" and is filled with more hijinks and is broken into wacky sections Han plays some wild trombone and the quartet once again explodes at tempos beyond belief!! Totally nuts!!! A winner! - BLG
CD $14

HAN BENNINK & TERRIE EX - The Laughing Owl (Atavistic 129; USA) THE LAUGHING OWL presents the proceedings of a heady musical summit: seventeen sublime, challenging duets from THE EX'S guitarist, TERRIE EX & Dutch free-jazz legend HAN BENNINK. These gents' resumes are the stuff musical dreams are made of.
CD $14

TERRIE EX & AB BAARS - Hef (Atavistic 130; USA) Terrie & fellow Dutch musical giant Ab Baars meet on a mountain of sound entitled Hef, which runs the gamut of intensely challenging to strangely elegant over the course of its 14 dramatic pieces. What's it take to make music like Hef ? A liter and a half of Dutch Courage."
CD $14

TRICOLOR [DAVID PATROVIC/JEFF PARKER/TATSU AOKI] - Mirth and Feckless (Atavistic 108; USA) David (Boxhead Ensemble, TOE 2000), Jeff (Tortoise, Isotope 217) and Tatsu (Fred Anderson Trio) offer up their wonderfully complex and spirited debut.
CD $14

TRICOLOR [DAVID PATROVIC/JEFF PARKER/TATSU AOKI] - Nonparticipant+Milk (Atavistic 131; USA) One of Chicago's great young jazz trios, Tricolor's music exists in a constant state of organic duality. Somehow simultaneously playful yet sophisticated, traditional but free, avant while poppy- Tricolor seem to spontaneously infuse all they do with an undeniable freshness & vigor.
Comprised of Tatsu Aoki (Fred Anderson Trio) on bass, Jeff Parker (Tortoise/Isotope/Boxhead) on guitar, and David Pavkovic (T.O.E./Boxhead) on drums, Tricolor has delivered a great second full-length album entitled Nonparticipant+Milk. Recorded live at Chicago's Hothouse, N+M finds them at their elemental best- the telekinetic vibes are flowing more freely than ever. Less composed and much more adventurous than their debut, Mirth+Feckless (which was recorded over a period of two years) , N+M superbly documents Tricolor's uncanny improvisational sense as well as their uniquely tuneful nature.
CD $14

BOXHEAD ENSEMBLE - Dutch Harbor: Where The Sea Breaks Its Back [sndtck] (Atavistic 85; USA) Orginal Film Soundtrack. Members of Tortoise, Gastr Del Sol, Palace, Vandermark 5, 11th Dream Day, NRG & Pinetop 7 improvise icy film score. The collection of musicians on this album is incredible: Jim O'Rourke, David Grubbs, Douglas McCombs, and many others. This album was recorded as the soundtrack to the movie Dutch Harbor, and consists of improvised pieces recorded in one day. The film is a documentary about the fishermen of Alaska, and some of the scenes are rather bleak and depressing, as is most of the music. This is not to slander gloomy music, but the compositions on this album are depressing from a thematic standpoint. The highlights of the album come with the more organic sounding "At Sea," "In Closing" and the Will Oldham composition, "Ebbs Folly."
CD $15

BOXHEAD ENSEMBLE - The Last Place To Go...(Dutch Harbor European Film Tour) (Atavistic 96; USA) Live recordings from '97's Dutch Harbor European film screening tour, following the previous release of the studio version. The Boxhead Ensemble is a collective of ever-changing musicians that originally came together to provide the soundtrack for the film Dutch Harbor [their previous album]. Featured on this record are Will Oldham, of Palace fame, Edith Frost, Ken Vandermark and a host of others. Last Place to Go was recorded during the European tour of Dutch Harbor. The improvised music on this record is intelligent and subtle, providing a consistent listen. - Marc Gilman, AMG
CD $14

BOXHEAD ENSEMBLE - Nocturnes (Atavistic 174; USA) The Boxhead Ensemble returns with their 3rd proper studio album since the inception of the DUTCH HARBOR project in 1997. The collective's leader Michael Krassner (guitar, organ, manipulations) joins forces with Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello & harmonica), Frank Rosaly (drums) and Jacob Kolar (prepared piano). I get the feeling that this music is more about texture and evoking spirits and not about trying to figure out what is going on. Not to listen too close, but to use as thoughtful environmental sounds. This reminds me of Radian at times and other times like selective soundtrack music, evoking haunting spirits. Fred's fine cello stands out at times, never sounding any better of more lyrical than here. - BLG
CD $15

BOXHEAD ENSEMBLE - Quartets [sndtck s] (Atavistic 136; USA) America's only possible answer to God Speed You Black Emperor has delivered their fourth proper album and a billowing cloud of phantom sensations it is, indeed. On this voyage, the Ensemble consists of leader Michael Krassner (Lofty Pillars), Jessica Billey (SMOG), Michael Colligan (Pillow), Ryan Hembrey (Edith Frost, ex-Pinetop Seven), Glenn Kotche (Wilco, Jim O'Rourke, Loose Fur), Fred Lonberg-Holm (Terminal 4, Brotzmann Tentet), and Scott Tuma. An ethereal, drifting work in the spirit of the wonderful 'Dutch Harbor' soundtrack, 'The Last Place to Go' and 'Two Brothers', 'Quartets' also features music from the Ensemble's contributions to the HBO Film "The Smashing Machine". Superb, sublime and quite haunting, once again.
CD $15

BOXHEAD ENSEMBLE - Two Brothers (Atavistic 126; USA) The Boxhead Ensemble makes a glorious return after nearly a two-year hiatus, under the direction of Michael Krassner (Lofty Pillars); Two Brothers is their most distinctive & compelling album yet. Superbly recorded by Krassner & Joe Ferguson at Truckstop Chicago,Two Brothers is a modern day meditation on 19th century American musics, circa the Civil War era. Highly detailed acoustic instrumentation dominates the aural landscape, propelled by the bountiful talents of Mick Turner & Jim White (The Dirty Three), Ryan Hembrey (Pinetop Seven), Glenn Kotche (Pinetop Seven/Jim O'Rourke), Fred Lonberg-Holm (Terminal 4), Jeff Parker (Tortoise/Isotope/Tricolor), Scott Tuma (Souled American), Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) Jessica Billey (Smog/ Sally Timms/ Lofty Pillars) & Guillermo Gregorio (Unheard Music Series)
CD $15

WREKMEISTER HARMONIES [J R ROBINSON] - Recordings Made In Public Spaces: Volume One [CD + DVD] (Atavistic 188; USA) "Chicago-based sound artist J.R. Robinson has been creating live, ambient tonefields in museums around the US and Europe over the past two years -- including the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Pompidou Center in Paris and The Art Center Berlin. Robinson has injected these recordings into collaborations with some like-minded heavy hitters in the noise, post-rock and jazz worlds such as David Yow (Jesus Lizard/Scratch Acid), Mark Shippy & Pat Samson (US Maple), Azita Youssefi, John Herndon & Jeff Parker (Tortoise), Keefe Jackson, Fred Lonberg-Holm and Ken Vandermark. The end result (dubbed Wrekmeister Harmonies), is a distinctive hybrid of sound art and avant-garde musics, evoking the essences & influences of masterworks like Joe McPhee's Nation Time, Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music and the sound collages of Stockhausen. Recordings Made In Public Spaces Volume One is the debut collection of these recordings, and is presented as a CD+DVD double-disc release."
CD + DVD set for $16

FRED ANDERSON QUARTET - The Milwaukee Tapes Vol. 1 (UMS/Atavistic 204; USA) The "Lone Prophet of the Prairie", and co-founder of the AACM leads a young Hamid Drake, Billy Brimfield & Larry Hayrod in a stalwart, pioneering and previously unreleased session from '80... totally Olympian in nature.
CD $14

XMARSX [MARS WILLIAMS/WAYNE KRAMER/FRED LONBERG-HOLM/KENT KESSLER et al] - xmarsx (Atavistic 138; USA) Featuring Mars Williams on saxes, Greg Suran and (special guest Brother) Wayne Kramer on guitars, Fred Longberg-Holm on cello, Kent Kessler on bass and David Suycott on drums. This entire gem is a blast from beginning to the end, an immense ball of tight, funky, jazz/rock fun.
CD $14

JOE MANERI/PETER DOLGER - Peace Concert (1964) (UMS/Atavistic 267; USA) A long-lost '60s treasure from the east coast rescued and produced by Ken Vandermark's father, Stu! The "Peace Concert", as performed in 1964 by living legend Joe Maneri (alto) and Peter Dolger (drums) has finally been exhumed and properly buffed for public consumption. This never-before released recording has been mastered from the original tapes, and includes an in-depth interview with Boston's elder statesman of improv, conducted by Stu Vandermark. For those caught unawares, Mr. Maneri is the father of violinist Mat Maneri, and is highly regarded as one of the true pioneers of the "language" of the alto saxophone (in fact- Joe has also created a surreal, intense spoken dialect all his own as well that often accompanies his musical performances). Mr. Vandermark is a long-time co-conspirator, contributor and fixture on Boston's jazz & improvised music scene; he possesses a formidable "lifetime of listening" knowledge base on these matters. Check into this outer-orbiting destination in the Unheard Music Series galaxy (and find out why these two men's sons turned out so well)!
CD $15

JOE McPHEE - Nation Time: Live At Vassar College (UMS/Atavistic 201; USA) It's time to grab a copy of 1970's Nation Time...The dusty grooves of this funky, free jazz classic have imparted it's heady influence Ken Vandermark and Scores of Others...
CD $15

JOE McPHEE/JOHN SNYDER - Pieces Of Light (UMS/Atavistic 256; USA) "Simply put, if Joe McPhee was born in Japan, he'd be regarded as one the country's 'National Living Treasures'. As an American soul-jazz maverick and standard-bearer of the form since the mid-1960s, he's a brilliant improvising musician who plays many instruments, including saxophones, trumpets, valve trombone, clarinet, piano, and sometimes electronics. McPhee is held in the highest esteem as a musician internationally - and especially throughout Europe. The Unheard Music Series' Pieces Of Light (1974) reissue completes the CJRecords trilogy of Joe's earliest works - which includes the legendary Nationtime and Trinity."
CD $14

CLIFFORD THORNTON With JOE McPHEE/JIMMY GARRISON - Freedom & Unity (UMS/Atavistic 225; USA) Clifford Thornton should be one of the best-known figures of the free jazz era. That he has lapsed into relative obscurity stands as a testament to the way that the availability of recordings shapes our sense of history. "I remember the recording being a very pleasant experience," says Joe McPhee. "And I couldn't believe it was Jimmy Garrison on bass ? that was beyond the pale." Indeed, the proximity to Coltrane's funeral and the appearance of Garrison, who had not been part of the core ensemble, on the session, clearly gave the July 22 studio date an added dose of potency. That Coleman and Archie Shepp gave the record their blessings in the form of liner notes says all that needs to be said about the significance of the ensuing LP. It should rightly be considered a classic. Thornton spent most of the last couple of decades of his life in Europe. He died in Geneva, Switzerland, in the mid-80s, completely out of the spotlight and largely forgotten by the creative music community. But his inspiration and his recordings survive him. It is to the persistence of Clifford Thornton's memory that we dedicate this reissue. -JOHN CORBETT, Chicago, July 2001
CD $15

MARIO SCHIANO NONET - On The Waiting List (UMS/Atavistic 235; USA) Mario Schiano's 1973 nonet opus, originally released on King Records! Schiano is one of the founding figures of free music in Italy, an intense and often uproariously funny alto saxophonist, bandleader and high-conceptualist who has been spreading his own postmodern eclecticism since the early '60s. Later in that decade, Schiano co-founded Gruppo Romano Free Jazz, and he's been the Godfather of free music in Italy ever since.
This release has been compared to an Art Ensemble record and it does have that earthy, humorous and ancient-to-modern vibe the AeoC do specialize in. A completely groovy experience from some of Italy's finest players.
CD $14

LUTHER THOMAS/HUMAN ARTS ENSEMBLE With LESTER BOWIE/JOE BOWIE/J D PARRAN/CHARLES 'BOBO' SHAW et al- Funky Donkey Vols 1 & 2 (UMS/Atavistic 215; USA) Funky Donkey is an ultra-rare document from the Black Artists Group (BAG) archives, led by alto saxophonist Luther Thomas, with a full force free-funk ensemble. UMS Producer John Corbett & Mr. Thomas have also unearthed a second volume of unadulterated DONKEY FUNK (featuring a long piece written by saxophonist Oliver Lake), which was recorded at same performance, prepared for release but never issued. Finally, almost three decades later, it's available for the first time! These great recordings featuring the Bowie brothers: late-great Art Ensemble of Chicago trumpeter Lester Bowie, and Defunkt-founder/trombonist Joseph Bowie, as well as reed player J.D. Parran (fresh from recording with The Band!) and versatile drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw. Out of print for twenty years, Funky Donkey delivers massive mid-70s creative sounds; Great Black Music, St. Louis style! Clear your mind AND your heart with a blast of braying DONKEY FUNK today!
"This is completely cosmic energy music, but is still held down by a slamming rhythm team. This is the sh*t, and special thanks to John Corbett & Kurt from Atavistic for letting the genie out of the bottle! " - BLG
CD $14

LUTHER THOMAS/HUMAN ARTS ENSEMBLE With JAMES MARSHALL/CHARLES 'BOBO' SHAW et al - Banana: The Lost Sessions St. Louis 1973 (UMS/Atavistic 227; USA) Two master tapes from an unreleased session were discovered during the remastering of FUNKY DONKEY, the 1973 Human Arts Ensemble record reissued by Unheard Music Series (UMS/ALP215CD, 2001). These recordings had been mislabeled and looked almost identical to the FUNKY DONKEY tapes, but in fact they turned out to be a lost session from roughly the same time. The group's personnel was subsequently identified by Luther Thomas: Thomas- alto saxophone, piano, slide whistle, finger chimes; James Marshall- alto, tenor & soprano saxophones, flutes, small instruments; Abdullah Yakub- alto horn, small instruments; Carol Marshall- voice, accordion, small instruments; Charles Bobo Shaw- drums. Clearly intended for release as an LP, perhaps , the tapes included verbally slated track titles. The entire session is presented here, including an outtake of one track. Consequently, if you dug FUNKY DONKEY, you need BANANA.. Yes You DO!
CD $14

BINARY SYSTEM [ROGER MILLER/LARRY DERSCH] - Invention Box (Atavistic 127; USA) Our Dynamic Duo's second report from the frontlines... over a rock underpinning, they layer 20th Century compositional techniques and a free jazz slant, resulting in an ever-changing sonic panorama. On Invention Box, Roger plays electric guitar, cornet, toy piano and organ; Larry adds his handmade wind machine and junk metal; Binary also have expanded their duo lineup with guest musicians on stand-up bass, musical saw, shawm (medieval oboe)- and even vocals on their must-hear signature piece "The Sound of Music Today", a stunning post-mod sonic collage.
CD $14

WILLIAM HOOKER/ROGER MILLER/LEE RANALDO - Out Trios Vol 1: Monsoon (Atavistic 146; USA) William Hooker is that hard working wonder drummer and great bandleader who really knows how to direct the energy of the many different improv bands with revolving personnel that he organizes. The last couple of quintet sets that I caught of William's were some of the most impressive in recent memory. Lee Ranaldo, of course, has been one of the two (or 3) great guitarists from Sonic Youth, but also has become an excellent improv daredevil over the past decade and remains an ongoing part of numerous groups with William. Roger Miller was a founding member of Mission of Burma and Birdsongs of the Mesozoic way back when and also plays great keyboards, bass, guitars and loops in a variety of contexts. 'Monsoon' is a powerful and well recorded live document of a great night at the Knitting Factory from May of 2002.. Much more restrained than you might think, but still quite special. Who could imagine...?!?
CD $14

LARRY OCHS SAX & DRUMMING CORE With DON ROBINSON/SCOTT AMENDOLA - Out Trios Vol 5: Up From Under (Atavistic 182; USA) The fifth installment in Atavistic's Out Trios Series configures a triad of West Coast heavies on sax & double-drums: Larry Ochs (Rova, What We Live & Frith) on tenor & sopranino saxes, Scott Amendola (Nels Cline Singers & solo projects); and Don Robinson (Cecil Taylor, Wadada Leo Smith, George Lewis, Raphe Malik & Glenn Spearman) both on drums. With absolutely lovely cover art by Emilie Clark & photos by Scott Campbell, Out Trios Volume Five kicks hard, while maintaining an omniscient cool. A completely splendid and inspired project from the beginning to the end. Amen! - BLG
CD $15

GEOFF FARINA/LUTHER GRAY/NATE McBRIDE - Out Trios Vol 4: Almanac (Atavistic 171; USA) Featuring Geoff Farina on guitar, Nate McBride on acoustic bass and Luther Gray on drums. This fine rhythm team has worked with both Joe Morris and Ken Vandermark, in different combinations and perhaps never at the same time. A most interesting disc that is not quite like anything else I've heard. - BLG
CD $15

JEFF PARKER/KEVIN DRUMM/MICHAEL ZERANG - Out Trios Vol 2 (Atavistic 147; USA) Jeff Parker often plays jazz guitar (here doubling on synth) and is a member of the Chicago Underground, (the mysterious) Kevin Drumm often plays noise guitar & synth, while Michael Zerang plays drums, percussion & autoharp and is one of the most active members of the busy Chicago scene. This trio date was recorded live in the studio and is a pretty scary improv experience!
CD $14

NELS CLINE/ANDREA PARKINS/TOM RAINEY - Out Trios Vol 3: Ash And Tabula (Atavistic 148; USA) Featuring our main man Nels Cline on el. guitar & devices, Andrea Parkins on accordion, keyboard & sampler and Tom Rainey on drums. This is an improvised studio recording. There are actually a number of quieter and more suspense filled sections then one might imagine, but mainly, everything remains pretty mesmerizing throughout our journey.
CD $15

NELS CLINE - Destroy All Nels Cline (Atavistic 122; USA) As head of the NYC Nels Cline fan club, I am pleased to announce this new treasure from our favorite west coast guitar hero! Besides Nels, this release also features even more guitars from GE Stinson, Woodward Lee Aplanalp, Bob Mair & Carla Bozulich. Bob also plays bass, Alex Cline is on drums, with special guests Zeena Parkins on el. harp and Wayne Peet on clarinet. Guitar CD of the year for certain!
CD $14

NELS CLINE & GREGG BENDIAN - Interstellar Space Revisited: The Music Of John Coltrane (Atavistic 102; USA) L.A.'s premiere guitar killer Nels Cline and stalwart free-percussionist Gregg Bendian pull offer a stunning homage to the infinitely reverberating duets of John Coltrane & Rashied Ali, this re-imagining of John Coltrane's final album Interstellar Space. Wisely, Cline and Bendian don't try to replicate the original album, or to transcribe Coltrane and Rashied Ali's parts. Instead, they use the restless, exploratory spirit of the original as a jumping-off point, and use the structures of the tunes as the basis for their own ideas!
CD $15

GREGG BENDIAN'S INTERZONE With NELS & ALEX CLINE/JOEL HAMILTON - Requiem For Jack Kirby (Atavistic 125; USA) Interzone's third release offers up a musical tribute to one of the 20th Century's most important & influential visual artists: comic book legend Jack "The King" Kirby...in a DELUXE 14"x14" POSTER BOOKLET full of KIRBY ART not to be missed! Jack was a (or more accurately THE) comic book artist and writer active from the late '30s until early '90s- whose groundbreaking art & storytelling actively shaped nearly all future trends in the comic book industry's mainstream and alternative markets. The compositions for Requiem push Interzone's nucleus of Bendian and Nels & Alex Cline to new heights of spectacular wordless communication. They endeavor with vibraphone, guitar & percussion to reflect the dramatic, sumptuously colorful, archetypally violent, lyrically beautiful and always bizarre sci-fi world of Kirby's art. Requiem for Jack Kirby is ambitious, cinematic, orchestral, and almost operatic in scope... sonic "clobberin' time"is at hand. "Short and explosive - like wow! Incredible!" - BLG
CD $15

GREGG BENDIAN'S INTERZONE With NELS & ALEX CLINE/MARK DRESSER - Gregg Bendian's Interzone (Atavistic 156; USA) "Remastered reissue of Interzone's self-titled debut release, originally the third release on the Eremite label, is replete with over 12 minutes of previously unreleased bonus material in a new package with images by digital maven Bill Elsworth. Featuring uber-percussionist/ leader Gregg Bendian, The Brothers Cline (Nels & Alex, that is...) and doublebass supremo Mark Dresser - breakthrough prog-jazz never sounded better!
CD $14

GREGG BENDIAN'S INTERZONE With NELS & ALEX CLINE/STEUART LIEBIG - Myriad (Atavistic 119; USA) Featuring Nels Cline on guitars, Steuart Liebig on basses, Alex Cline on drums and Gregg on vibes.. The final piece is "Tactics" and it also comes from the land of Zappa with its complex vibes lead lines at the center of a tightly knitted quartet and yet more breath-taking solos from Gregg and Nels both! Another must have from the Interzone crew. - BLG
CD $14

ELLIOTT SHARP - ARC THREE: Cyperpunk and the Virtual Stance (Atavistic 95; USA) Nascent computer-based musical hybrids generated at Elliott's Zoar Studio, circa 1984-'88 ... the birthplace of techno? Perhaps.
CD $14

ELLIOTT SHARP - ARC TWO: The Seventies 1972-1979 (Atavistic 92; USA) 17 of multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp's earliest unreleased archival and out-of-print recordings, composed and performed during 1972-1979 (before he moved to NYC), mostly previously unreleased except for 4 cuts from his first solo album Resonance. Also notable for his first collaboration with the young Bobby Previte.
Wondering "what is composing?" "what is improvisation?" "where does one begin, one end?" "what is pop and why do I (love/hate) it so?" A sampling from activities from 1972-1979, recorded under varying conditions at Bard College, in Buffalo, and in Northampton, Massachusetts prior to my move to NYC in fall 1979. - Elliott Sharp
CD $14

ELLIOTT SHARP & I/S/M - ARC ONE: I/S/M [1980-83] (Atavistic 61; USA) 18 cuts: 14 from the ISM and I/S/M:R albums (competely here except for the cut "Nots"); 2 from the Moving Info cassette and 2 previously unreleased cuts: "MTL" and "Haka". Players include Bill Laswell, Olu Dara, Bobby Previte, Phillip Wilson, Mark E Miller, David Linton, Michael Brown, Art Baron, Al Diaz, Diana Meckley, Charles K Noyes
CD $14

ELLIOTT SHARP/CARBON - Amusia (Atavistic 29; USA) Sonic tidal wave emanating from NYC! Musicians: Electric harp: Zeena Parkins; Electric bass, prepared bass: Marc Sloan; Drums, percussion: Joseph Trump; Sampler: David Weinstein; Doubleneck guitarbass, sampler, lapsteel, computer processing, voice: E#
CD $14

ELLIOTT SHARP/CARBON - Interference (Atavistic 50; USA) Dense, hot, groove-centric Mass from '95 "Well I just got tired of rock in some ways. I got tired of the marketing of it. Still, I love playing rock music, there's a lot of it I love listening to, and it was a rock band. Still, live, these new pieces are rock in terms of sonic impact but I just wanted to open up the structures and I was tired of singing, I didn't have a song in my heart." Electric harp: Zeena Parkins; Bass: Marc Sloan; Drums: Joseph Trump; Sampler: David Weinstein; Doubleneck guitarbass, saxophones, samples, Buchla Thunder, computer processing: E#
CD $14

GLENN BRANCA - Indeterminate Activity Of Resultant Masses (Atavistic 46; USA) Long rumored, long awaited and essentially the first-time issue of this incendiary Branca masterwork, recored in 1981 at NYC's Radio City Studios- during the peaked out early era of Glenn's "Guitar Army" ensembles- and shortly after the release of THE ASCENSION EP on 99 Records.
Featuring contributions from soon-to-be Sonic Thurston Moore & Lee Ranaldo, as well as Branca mainstays Craig Bromberg, Barbara Ess, Jeffrey Glenn, Sue Hanel, David Rosenbloom and Ned Sublette, INDETERMINATE also contains two other pieces: John Cage's infamous anti-Branca interview with Wim Mertins, captured at Chicago's Navy Pier back in 1982; and a gorgeous, previously unreleased composition "Harmonic Series Chords", as performed by The New York Chamber Sinfonia in 1989. The missing link in Branca's discog has been delivered for public consumption!
CD $15

GLENN BRANCA - Selections from the Symphonies (Atavistic 35; USA) A BRANCA PRIMER FOR THE UNINITIATED & CURIOUS, 7 STUNNING TRACKS FROM SYMPHONIES 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10 IN A HANDSOME DIGI-PAK
CD $14

GLENN BRANCA - Symphony No. 5: Describing Planes of an Expanding Hypersphere (Atavistic 15; USA) Though he once again includes a subtitle that is imbued with matters arcane ("Describing Planes of an Expanding Hypersphere"), Symphony No. 5 actually harkens back more to Branca's earlier rock-based compositions than to more diffuse works like Symphony No. 3. But those movements offer more than enough pleasures to highly recommend the album both to Branca fans and to newcomers seeking to learn about his music. - Brian Olewnick, AMG
CD $15

GLENN BRANCA - Symphony No. 6: Devil Choirs At The Gates Of Heaven (Atavistic 10; USA) Massive guitar ensemble including Helmet's Page Hamilton. Debuted @ Expo '92 in Barcelona, Spain. Potent '89 recording produced by Wharton Tiers swarms your head like a hive of electrified bees.
CD $15

GLENN BRANCA - Symphony Nos. 8 & 10: The Mysteries (Atavistic 12; USA) Stunning, heavy requiem for ten electric guitars acclaimed by village voice, N.Y. Times, A/P, Chi. Tribune & many more; two symphonies on CD!
CD $15

GLENN BRANCA ENSEMBLE - Symphony Nos. 8 & 10 (The Mysteries): Live at The Kitchen [NTSC DVD] (Atavistic 4378; USA) This is a great thing to have. Although 1995 is a little late in the game for Branca's work, anyone who has had the great pleasure of seeing his ensemble live and loud will appreciate the fact that this exists! The Branca Ensemble, captured at their biggest and most brutal performing his powerful elegies live in 1995, at NYC's then institution-of-the-moment, The Kitchen. A gorgeous three camera live shoot, with excellent HEAVY sound courtesy Sir Wharton Tiers and a handsome package. Features include liner notes by Tim Holmes, a photo gallery and Branca catalog. About 70 minutes of immensely devastating sounds!
DVD $20

GLENN BRANCA - The World Upside Down (Atavistic 16; USA) A "ballet for orchestra in seven movements" performed by the New York Chamber Sinfonia, conducted by Glen Cortese. A truly magnificent experience in which the listener can willingly get lost. - Blue Gene Tyranny, AMG
CD $14

GLENN BRANCA Featuring Z'EV - Symphony No. 2: The Peak Of The Sacred (Atavistic 05; USA) The legendary live performance at St. Mary's Church on May 14, 1982. Scored for eight mallet guitars - guitarists including Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, taped harmonic guitars, bass drums, metal percussion and drums!
CD $15

GLENN BRANCA With STATIC [+ BARBARA ESS/CHRISTINE HAHN] & With THEORETICAL GIRLS [+ JEFF LOHN/MARGARET DeWYS/WHARTON TIERS] - Songs '77-'79 [CD ep] (Atavistic 43; USA) Most all the recorded output of Branca led No-Wave legends The Static & Theoretical Girls. Unearths Wild, Rare Home Cassette Solo Recordings!
CD $11

DIETER SCHERF TRIO - Inside-Outside Reflections (UMS/Atavistic 255; USA) Originally waxed in 1974, and released in a microscopic private pressing on the LST label, Inside-Out Reflections showcases Mr. Scherf on a variety of reeds & piano; Jacek Bednarek on bass; and a very young Paul Lovens on drums. This (then nascent) Euro Free Music sound carries the day, in a classic trio configuration.
CD $14

SIRONE [NORRIS JONES] - Sirone Live (UMS/Atavistic 253; USA) [Barely] released live, amazing taut trio action from 1991 featuring Sirone [of the uber-legendary Revoutionary Ensemble], Dennis Charles & Claude Lawrence!
CD $14

WHITE EARTH STREAK [GUNTER CHRISTMANN/TORSTEN MULLER/LaDONNA SMITH/DAVEY WILLIAMS] - White Earth Streak (UMS/Atavistic 228; USA) Davey Williams, LaDonna Smith, Gunter Christman & Torsten Muller's classic outsider piece, originally issued on Davey & LaDonna's seminal Transmuseq label in 1981- complete with a separately printed reproduction of Hal Rammel's comic book "Song of an Aeropteryx"!!!
CD $14

DAVEY WILLIAMS & JOHN CORBETT - Humdinger:14 improvisations and a monograph on failed wind instruments (Atavistic 124; USA) Humdinger: 14 improvisations and a monograph on failed wind instruments. Humdinger is a "lovely" collection of musical improvisations by extraordinary Alabaman avant-guitarist/co-founder of the Trans Museq label & The Improvisor magazine/omnivorous surrealist/primary theorist of the "OBJECT GUITAR TECHNIQUE"/hilarious elder statesman of improvisation Davey Williams [some of you may know him as the wildman guitarist from the classic line-up of Curlew], and Chicago's main man about town: charming gadfly/bon vivant historian/cagey raconteur/ venerated educator/matchless reissue producer, John Corbett-- featured here on a variety of non-farming implements such as acoustic guitar, turntable, synthesizer, radio & keymonica.
The beginning is indebted to the end, but the beginning is in turn indebted to the obviously flawed and undeveloped idea, absurd in conception, incredibly misconstrued, yet pursued with all the inspiration of an absent skill. Almost everything starts out as something stupid. No matter what it becomes."
CD $14

STEVE LACY QUINTET - Esteem: Live In Paris 1975 (UMS/Atavistic 260; USA) This rarity was recorded live in Paris in February of 1975 and features Steve Lacy on soprano sax & compositions, Steve Potts on alto & soprano saxes, Irene Aebi on cello & violin, Kent Carter on bass and Kenneth Tyler on drums. This band was in residence at La Cour des Miracles, a club in Paris throughout most of February and December of 1975. This amazing 78 minute disc features six mostly long pieces, some pieces heard on other discs in much different form and a few never heard anywhere else. "Too much! One of the most challenging Steve Lacy discs ever, are you ready for it?!?" - BLG
CD $16

CONTEMPORARY JAZZ QUINTET - Actions 1966 -'67 (UMS/Atavistic 250; USA) Thirty-three years after it was recorded, this document remains startling. For many, perhaps most, free music fans outside Denmark, this disc will be a revelation. But The Contemporary Jazz Quintet was an active part of the European free jazz movement, and trumpeter Hugh Steinmetz and alto saxophonist Franz Beckerlee were also visible in other parts of that international scene. The core of the ensemble, including bassist Steffen Andersen was formed as a quartet in '59, reportedly playing hard-bop in the Miles Davis/John Coltrane vein... The Contemporary Jazz Quintet- a wailing, sorrowful/joyous sound that echoes the saxophone and trumpet and leads them to squalls of energy and interaction otherwise unforseen - this is unprecedented music, totally fresh and pulsing, at
times frightening in its intensity. Music of its time. Music of our time. Startling music. Any time.
CD $14

GERD DUDEK/BUCSHI NIEBERGALL/EDWARD VESALA - Open (FMP/UMS/Atavistic 247; USA) In 1977, in Berlin, three masters of European free music convened for a triumvirate summit. Finnish drummer Edward Vesala, known in later years for his fiery big-band outings on ECM, was one of the pioneers of free jazz in Scandanavia, a tremendously sensitive percussionist and highly inventive kitsman who passed away 1999.
Buschi Niebergall also died much too young (in the '80s), but he was a key bassist in the emergent German free jazz scene, playing with Peter Brotzmann, Manfred Schoof, Alex Schlippenbach, and many others. His German colleague, Gerd Dudek (here playing not only tenor sax, but also flutes and soprano saxophone), is a quiet hero of German jazz, a transitional figure on the cusp of free music with the Manfred Schoof Quintet in the mid-60s. He's sometimes compared to Clifford Jordan, a reference that makes sense, but he's also as wide open as the title of this great record suggests.
This entry in the FMP Archive Edition, never before on CD, was remastered from the original tapes, with the original cover art. A little-known gem gets the polishing it deserves.
CD $14

CHRISTOPH GALLIO/URS VOERKEL/PETER K FREY - Tiegel (UMS/Atavistic 261; USA) Featuring Christoph Gallio on soprano sax, Urs Voerkel on piano & drums and Peter K. Frey on double bass & trombone. This fine improv session was recorded live in Zurich in June of 1981. This trio plays some strong and focused improvisations. All but one of these pieces is short, less than five minutes and each employs a different strategy or dynamics. While the opening piece erupts like a tidal wave, the next piece slows to a near standstill, filled with suspense and space. Whether they are swinging for short sections or playing quick or slow freer parts, they always remain well connected to each other. - BLG
CD $14

NORBERT MOSLANG/ANDI GUHL [aka VOICE CRACK] - Knack On (UMS/Atavistic 217; USA) (from JIM O'ROURKE'S liner notes...)" With the arrival of Knut Remond on 1990's "Earflash" they were Voice Crack. And any thought of them playing at Total Music Meeting is about as rational as a Lynyrd Skynyrd reunion. But on they roar, they're still rockin. For years are streamlining their sound, it's more seamless, hell they're even going into studios to record but there's something still rough, something still unsettling, something unnameable: zzzzmakrckkkpppchkachkapbtzzzzshhhkkktztztztztbbbbbbsheeeeeeeping!" (...ahem) For anyone interested in the secret history of industrial or the new wave in electronic music, this is a must! Voice Crack continues to rock the world with their steel-bending electro-warpage.
CD $14

NACHTLUFT [GUNTER MULLER/JACQUES WIDMER/ANDRES BOSSHARD] - Belle-View I-IV (UMS/Atavistic 208; USA) Nachtluft was a Zurich-based trio, consisting of Gunter Muller on electronic percussion, Jacques Widmer on acoustic percussion, and Andres Bosshard on a unique cassette machine setup (and speakers distributed around the room) and all three musicians on metal! Self-described as "project for two drummers and live-electronics in an all-over installation," they formed in '86.
CD $14

TOM PREHN QUARTET - Tom Prehn Kvartet (UMS/Atavistic 221; USA) Even for very informed fans of avant-garde jazz, Denmark is an awfully remote spot on the map. A basic cross-reference of "new thing" and "Danish" will yield two references. Firstly, of course, it brings to mind the great alto saxophonist John Tchicai, and second, the Danish metropole Copenhagen is significant as the site of Cafe Montmartre, the venue where Albert Ayler and Cecil Taylor made important early recordings. The quartet's members included Tom Prehn on piano, Fritz Krogh on tenor sax, Poul Ehlers on bass and Preben Vang on drums. The only known references one could recognize were Prehn's studies with modern classical composers - Earle Brown and Witold Lutoslawski and his meeting with the only famous Danish avant-jazz great - John Tchicai. Right from lift-off, this has that thoughtful, Euro-free yet focused, mysterious quality. Considering the free-jazz scene in the US had only been around for a few years when this came out [early 60s], this quartet does sound as if they knew exactly what they are doing!" - BLG
CD $14

BABY DODDS - Talking & Drum Solos (UMS/Atavistic 241; USA) This is a good record, but be aware that this is some serious OLD stuff, despite how they try and tie newly christened hipster Han onto it. If you are me, at this point in your listening life 'old good', but your mileage may vary... Also worth keeping in mind is the fact that this sounds like it was copied off of the record that Han has been playing daily since 1956... One of the most important pieces of vinyl ever waxed, 'Talking and Drum Solos' is the first recorded album of drum solos -- by one of the great pioneers of jazz percussion: Warren 'Baby' Dodds. Also assembled here for your infotainment and contextual purposes are twenty bonus tracks from Folkways Records' Country Brass Bands of The South, Volume One. - Atavistic press info.
CD $15

CHRISTIAN MARCLAY - Records '81-'89 (Atavistic 62; USA) Fantastically ahead-of-it's-time collection of vinyl destruction from NYC's legendary turntable wizard - pre sampledelia!
CD $15

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN/ENORE ZAFFIRI - Through The Magnifying Glass Of Tomorrow [CD + DVD] (Atavistic 189; USA) "Clandestine auteurs the Opalio Brothers (aka My Cat Is An Alien) have deftly sprinkled our solar system with their beautifully fragile, arcane soundscape/tracks via their own Opax label, as well as multimedia collaborations with vanguards such as Sonic Youth, Christian Marclay, Keiji Haino, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Text Of Light, Jim O'Rourke, Mats Gustafsson, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Christina Carter Of Charalambides, Jackie- O Motherfucker & Black Magic Disco --- and even have been commissioned to design a T-shirt for The Wire. Atavistic is most definitely thrilled to have the pleasure of releasing Through The Magnifying Glass Of Tomorrow, a freshly-minted collaboration with one of the pioneers of radical Italian electronic music, Enore Zaffiri. Mr. Zaffiri, composer and founder of the legendary Smet (Studio di Musica Elettronica di Torino) in 1964, is 80 years old and has been a 'reclused' artist for decades. After meeting Maurizio and Roberto, he decided to set up a collaborative project with them. Their recordings from the Western Alps of Bella Italia, Through The Magnifying Glass, a CD+DVD release running over two hours, is the haunting result from the gathering of these fellow musical cosmonauts." DVD contents: Robert Opalio's dual film "Light_Earth_Blue_Silver" (soundtrack by My Cat Is An Alien, 37 minutes, 4:3, color stereo) and Enore Zaffiri's video painting "Trasparenze" (soundtrack by Enore Zaffiri, 48 minutes, 4:3, color, stereo).
CD $16

LEE RANALDO - East Jesus (Atavistic 36; USA) Definitive collection of solo recordings from '81-'91
CD $14

CASPAR BROTZMANN & PAGE HAMILTON - Zulutime (Atavistic 83; USA) Kraut-Yank Summit, Destroys Guitars, Buildings and Ears [originally released on Sub Rosa Subsonic series]
CD $14

FAUZ'T [HANS JOACHIM IRMLER/Z'EV] - From The Frozen South (Atavistic 192; USA) "Faust were certainly among the leaders of Germany's Krautrock movement back in the early '70s. Ensconced in 'The Pantheon' forever as truly visionary artists, their early records still sound light-years ahead of their time 30+ years later. From The Frozen South features original Faust mainman Hans Joachim Irmler joining forces with the iconic 'scape artist/percussionist Z'EV at Faust Studios. The topologically-charged results range from spacious and soothing, through full-on digital brutality; each piece is subtly tinged with both artist's distinct and respective take on the out-rock they helped create. Frozen South offers a glacial essence of the sounds these two legends have created and incorporated over the last 30 years, plus new ideas and experiments -- each distilled through a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration. An incredible sonic journey made by two of the genre's pioneers to be sure; a monument to the avant garde, perhaps... but steadfastly, as always: of and for the People!"
CD $15

BINARY SYSTEM [ROGER MILLER/LARRY DERSCH] - From The Epicenter (Atavistic 117; USA) Mission of Burma legend Roger Miller's Avant-Duo: Prepared Piano and Otherworldly Percussion. Loud, heady and cinematic
CD $14

FOETUS INC: IN EXCELSIS CORRUPTUS DELUXE [J G THIRLWELL aka JIM FOETUS aka CLINT RUIN aka...] - Male! [DVD] (Atavistic 2736; USA) Now you can experience a NYC-style FOETUS INC. All Star BIG band pummelling on DVD!!! Recorded over several shows at legendary venues such as New York's CBGB & Chicago's Cabaret Metro in late 1990s, the "Male" DVD shows Foetus ripping through songs old and new, plus a few fun surprises along the way. This recording packs all the brutal, unrelenting punch and atmosphere of Foetus' studio work, while the band itself avoids slouching at any and all points. 75 minutes of CD quality live Foetus magic including "Free James Brown", "Fin", "Your Salvation", "I'll Meet You in Poland", "Butterfly Potion", and "Faith Healer" and more. The Foetus all-star big band includes members of Swans, Prong & Cop Shoot Cop.
DVD $18

SWANS [MICHAEL GIRA/JARBOE et al] - Feel Good Now: Europe 1987 (Atavistic 135; USA) Feel Good Now, the long-out-of print double-LP document of Swans triumphant 1987 European tour- in support of their most critically acclaimed album, Children Of God- is finally available again on Atavistic.
Featuring the mesmerizing, powerful lineup of Michael Gira, Jarboe, Norman Westberg, Algis Kyzis & Ted Parsons, Feel Good Now captures Swans live at one of the highest pinnacles of achievement in their storied career- somehow deploying music simultaneously heavy, yet delicate and fragile.
CD $14

SWANS [MICHAEL GIRA/JARBOE et al] - Kill The Child: Live 1985/1986/1987 (Atavistic 57; USA)
CD $14

JARBOE With SWANS & WORLD OF SKIN - Mystery Of Faith [2 CD set] (Atavistic 155; USA) A double-CD- packed with previously unreleased material from Swans and World Of Skin- with Jarboe on lead vocals. Edited & remastered by Chris Griffin (who also recorded & mastered "Soundtracks For The Blind" & many other Swans/Gira projects), Mystery of Faith offers over 140 minutes of prime material from 1986-1997- and features humorous, obscure- and sometimes revealing- personal recordings of Swans performances rehearsals, sound checks & more. A completely distinctive take on one of the great avant-garde rock bands of all time- and a must-have historical document for all Swans fans.
DISC ONE: Song For Dead Time (mix) Beauty's Punishment Everything For Maria Blackmail (live) Still A Child (live) The Man I Love (version) Come Out (mix) Dream Dream (original demo) Dream Dream Seque (version) I Put A Spell On You (live) She Cries (for Spider) A Mystery Of Faith Wayfaring Stranger (rehearsal) Wayfaring Stranger (live) Can't Find My Way Back Home (live)
DISC TWO: Incidentals Mother Father (segments) Mother Father (live) My Buried Child (live) Black Eyed Dog (live) Love Will Tear Us Apart (live) Mother's Milk (live) Hypo (rehearsal) HypoGirl (live) The Man I Love (live) Come Out (mix) Song For A Buried Child (mix) Mother's Milk (mix) I Crawled (live)
2 CD set for $22

JARBOE - Anhedoniac: Expanded Edition (Atavistic 154; USA) Third Installment of four in Atavistic's series of remastered & re-packaged reissues (plus previously unreleased recordings!) for the avant-auteur/ex-Swans/chanteuse, presented in a gorgeous oversized 6-color booklet replete with exclusive photos by Richard Kern.
CD $16

JARBOE & LARRY SEVEN - Beautiful People Ltd: Expanded Edition (Atavistic 153; USA) Second Installment of four in Atavistic's series of remastered & re-packaged reissues (plus previously unreleased recordings!) for Jarboe. Super Deluxe 16-page 6-color booklet too! Jarboe's solo work lays bare her desire to be a diva. If Thirteen Masks was a nice artistic step forward, Beautiful People Ltd.- Jarboe's duo with multi-instrumentalist Lary Seven is a further stride. Jarboe is at her freest, trilling though a collection of shimmery, off-kilter pop songs. Even the most Skin-like sounding tracks, such as "Liquid Bebe Psychedelia," receive gentle, lighter treatments. Don't miss the live cover of West Side Story's "I Feel Pretty".
CD $16

JARBOE - The Conduit [Ltd Ed Tour CD] (Atavistic 175; USA) A stealthy, haunting follow-up to Jarboe's Men Album masterwork: a full-length, limited tour album co-written & performed by Jarboe & guitarist Nic Le Ban. Also featured are the names & words submitted to Jarboe's Living Rumor subscription list- a latter day email-art piece consisting of contributions by hundreds of folks from her far-reaching international fanbase.
Hypno-Immersion via masterful soundscapes: Lightning, piano, guitars & vocals conjure atmospheres of isolating darkness, glowing incandescence & sublime seduction. Don't miss out... when they're gone, they're gone.
CD $15

JARBOE - The Men Album [2 CD set] (Atavistic 167; USA) Six years in the making, Jarboe's THE MEN ALBUM project is finally revealed via a twenty track double-CD, showcasing the impressive range of her interests & artistry. THE MEN ALBUM brings together an eclectic global roster of artists from diverse musical backgrounds- whose only commonality, for the most part, is Jarboe herself. Beyond the music, THE MEN ALBUM examines the dreams of a woman- and the exploration therein of her identity as seen through the 'masculine gaze'. Featured artists include veteran performers: Blixa Bargeld (Einsterzende Neubauten, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds), Alan Sparhawk (LOW), Iva Davies (Icehouse, Master & Commander soundtrack), Jim Thirlwell (Foetus), Edward Kaspel (Legendary Pink Dots), Paz Lenchantin (Zwan, RTX), David Torn (David Bowie, David Sylvian), Chris Connelly (Revolting Cocks, Ministry, Pigface), David J (Bauhaus, Love & Rockets, The Jazz Butcher), Percy Howard (Bill Laswell, Meridiem), Steve Von Till (Neurosis), Joseph Budenholzer (Current 93, Lydia Lunch), Mika Vainio (PanSonic, Bjork), and many more collaborators.
2 CD set for $20

JARBOE - Thirteen Masks: Expanded Edition (Atavistic 152; USA) Sumptous reissue of former SWANS mainstay JARBOE's seminal debut '91 solo release- replete with 6 bonus tracks, presented in an oversized 16-page booklet, and featuring performances by Michael Gira, Roli Mossiman & Norman Westberg (SWANS), 'J.G. Foetus' Thirlwell & Larry Seven. The first in a series of four deluxe reissues for Jarboe on Atavistic. THIRTEEN MASKS soars through a number of styles from nightclub jazz, hypno trance & IDM- while simultaneously evoking the dark essence with which she imbues to her all art & music.
CD $16

WHARTON TIERS - Brighter Than Life (Atavistic 60; USA) Mega-gtr instrumentals from the collaborator/producer of The Swans...Heavy Avant Surf
CD $14

WHARTON TIERS ENSEMBLE - Twilight Of The Computer Age (Atavistic 86; USA) The long-awaited follow-up to his Brighter Than Life debut. More all-out Film-Noir Sax/Guitar blowouts - but with New Cryptic textures. Microtonal surf rock anyone?
CD $14

GERRY MILES [ALAN LICHT/LUCY HAMILTON aka CONNIE 'CHINA' BURG/MELISSA WEAVER/HAINO KEIJI] - Gerry Miles (Atavistic 71; USA) Gerry Miles is a project of New York avant-garde guitarist Alan Licht, formerly of the Blue Humans and Run On, who, throughout the '90s, produced music as diverse as indie guitar pop, minimalism, free improvisation, and noise, and worked with any number of Downtown N.Y.C. luminaries, from Rudolph Grey through to Loren Mazzacane, as well as being widely known as a music critic. Here he assembled a combo of Lucy Hamilton (ex-of Mars) on clarinet, Melissa Weaver on piano, and Keiji Haino on vocals -- all underpinned by fierce drones from the St. Peters church organ, played by Alan Licht. This improvisation was then edited into this stunning album of avant-garde ambience. The one and only Keiji Haino is an incredibly diverse performer, known for his multiple projects as noise-guitar leader, percussionist and Hurdy Gurdy Man. On few occasions, his vocals strive to emulate the feedback coils of his axe, and the acoustic setting the ensemble sound simply enormous in the reverberating space of the cathedral. The result is that Gerry Miles sounds like one-off avant-garde projects should sound -- absolutely enlightened, fresh, and courageous.
CD $14

MARS [SUMMER CRANE/CONNIE 'CHINA' BURG aka LUCY HAMILTON/MARK CUNNINGHAM/NANCY ARLEN] - '78 +: Studio And Live Recordings 1977-1978 New York City (Atavistic 48; USA) Legendary "No New Yorkers" Complete Hair-Raising Output
CD $15

JOHN GAVANTI [MARS: SUMNER CRANE/CONNIE 'CHINA' BURG aka LUCY HAMILTON/MARK CUNNINGHAM + ARTO LINDSAY] - John Gavanti (Atavistic 91; USA) The world's first (and last?) No-Wave Opera, an offshoot project of the group Mars, has been digitized for your listening enjoyment. Hear the sound of the Big Apple's final art world - avant music heyday, circa '80 ... Featuring Sumner Crane, Connie Burg, Mark Cunningham and Arto Lindsay!
CD $14

DON KING [MARS: MARK CUNNINGHAM/LUCY HAMILTON aka CONNIE 'CHINA' BURG + ARTO LINDSAY/TONY MAIMONE et al] - Don King: One-Two Punch (Knockout) (Atavistic 49; USA) Reissue with members of Mars, DNA and Pere Ubu
CD $14

LYDIA LUNCH With NELS CLINE/CARLA BOZULICH/VINNY GOLIA et al - Smoke In The Shadows (Atavistic 157; USA) New Studio recordings from the Queen of Siam, most decidedly flavored in her own hard-boiled, post-mod Raymond Chandler style- with assistance channelling beats, cabaret noir and beyond from the Anubian Lights production team. Serious "Night Music", featuring performances & contributions by Nels & Alex Cline, Carla Bozulich, Vinny Golia, Terry Edwards & Adele Bertei. Presented in a deluxe 4-color 24-page booklet. Utterly perfect for the 3AM social extension of your choice- or perhaps a soundtrack for the skeletons in your own closet.
CD $15

LYDIA LUNCH/8-EYED SPY [EIGHT EYED SPY] - 8-Eyed Spy Collection (Atavistic 75; USA) '80 followup project to Teenage Jesus!
CD $14

LYDIA LUNCH - Crimes Against Nature: Oral Fixation/Conspiracy Of Women/Plus! [3 CD set] (Atavistic 114; USA) Summer 1993 witnessed the release of the triple CD boxed set, Crimes Against Nature, that includes her earlier spoken word recordings Oral Fixation and Conspiracy of Women, as well as new material
3 CD set for $26 (Out of print, but we have it!)

LYDIA LUNCH - Queen of Siam: Deluxe Edition (Atavistic 501; USA) Lunchs masterpiece returns to CD in a deluxe edition with the original LP 'breasts of nails' cover pic for the first time on CD. Enhanced features on the disc include a live video performance of 'Knives in the Drain', recorded live in London at the Bloomsbury Theatre, April 29th, 2004. Also included is the rare video for 'Gloomy Sunday', directed by Linda Di Franco in 1980; finally, the photography of George Dubose features additional snaps of Lydia from the Queen of Siam photo session, never before publicly seen.
On it's initial release, QUEEN OF SIAM caused a furor amongst critics who were grappling at how to properly place and digest an album so ultimately different than what they were expecting. Dirty, sophisticated, literary and raw, the album is today seen as the jewel in the crown of the 'no wave' underground movement. Lunch's complete unwillingness to copy or affect the style of others created a sensual and hard-hitting musical landscape- derived of asphalt and stiletto heels, wanton desires or sickly obsessions, revealed poetically and with a finesse that startled even the most hardened of writers.
CD $15

LYDIA LUNCH: TEENAGE JESUS AND THE JERKS/BEIRUT SLUMP - Shut Up & Bleed: Teenage Jesus And The Jerks/Beirut Slump (Atavistic 500; USA) A fully-realized, thoroughly saturated archival reissue compiled by Lydia and longtime confidante/agent provocateur Tom Garretson, collecting rare, live and unreleased material from el No Wave flagship band.
This seminal combo was lead by primal screamer and guitarist Lydia Lunch, an individual who has fought her artistic way through the decades- always true to her own vision, and always brutally honest. In early 1978, artist and producer Brian Eno attended a series of shows put on to benefit the Artist's Space in Soho, and influenced Island Records to finance a compilation LP featuring four bands- Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, The Contortions, Mars and DNA. The resulting recording, entitled NO NEW YORK remains one of the most impressive and extraordinarily bold debuts of the time. Parallel to Teenage Jesus, Lunch formed Beirut Slump, a short-lived unit that released one single and recorded an album's worth of material, which are also included* on this remarkable collection. SHUT UP AND BLEED remains incredibly fresh and totally brash- even 30 years after the original recordings were made.
CD $15

LYDIA LUNCH With TEENAGE JESUS AND THE JERKS/8 EYED SPY et al - Video Hysterie: 1978-2006 [DVD] (Atavistic 4378; USA) This superb & comprehensive visual retrospective of Lydia Lunch's musical collaborations from 1978-2006 is an incredible representation of her approach to art.
Hailed by the Boston Phoenix as "one of the 10 most influential performers of the 90's", no other artist of the 20th century has fought, forged, punched, and sculpted their own artistic vision in such a unique and original way.
Defying categorization, Lunch actively has conquered new territories, and has gained international recognition for the innovative quality of her work. Robert Palmer from THE NEW YORK TIMES writes "Miss Lunch was always an effective vocal performer.
But rock has grown complacent again -- even the underground rock that has borrowed so much from Miss Lunch's various bands over the years. Perhaps it's time for her to administer it a few more rude shocks. Featuring footage from TEENAGE JESUS & 8-EYED SPY, VH is an indispensible compendium & cornerstone; approx 70 minutes, Dolby 5.1, photo gallery feature, PLUS complete disc/film/bibliographies.
DVD $20

LYDIA LUNCH/WILLING VICTIM With NELS CLINE/NORMAN WESTBERG/ALGIS KYZIS/VINNIE SIGNORELLI - Willing Victim: The Audience As Whipping Boy [DVD] (MVD/Atavistic 4436; USA) "No other artist of the 20th century has fought, forged, punched, and sculpted her own artistic vision in such a uniquely original way. Defying categorization, Lydia Lunch actively has conquered new territories, and has gained international recognition for the innovative quality of her work. She returns on this DVD with her band - an all-star five piece that includes members of Wilco, Swans, Godflesh, Foetus and Unsane. Together they produce an ambient mood piece that over five movements devolves into a chaotic free jazz apocalypse Willing Victim is a document of a 2003 concert in Graz, Austria, in which the audience plays the whipping boy to Lunch's scathing catharsis, including reworked renditions of Lunch favorites stretching back to the Teenage Jesus years."
DVD $16

THE SCISSOR GIRLS [AZ aka AZITA YOUSEFFI et al] - Here is the IS-NOT (Atavistic 88; USA) Scissor Girls were part of the forefront of the second wave of "no wave". They existed between 1991-1996 and went through various guitar players, but always pushing the boundaries of the punk rock idiom in which they worked. Their discordant rhythms, choppy abrasive melodies, and staccato vocals help define a new breed of musicians (popular bands like Erase Errata took a lot of their inspiration from SG, but don't let that dissuade you from Scissor Girls music). "Here Is The Here-Not" is a 15 track retrospective containing a collection of their 7" singles (originally packaged in ziplock bags with xeroxed insert), the Staticland 10" (produced by Jim O'Rourke) and an ultra rare track ("Do The Dishman") from their flexi for the magazine Roktober! For fans of such bands as Dog Faced Hermans, DNA, or The Fall. Highly recommended! - Chuck Bettis, DMG
CD $14

THE SCISSOR GIRLS [AZ aka AZITA YOUSEFFI et al] - We People Space With Phantoms (Atavistic 63; USA) In the 90's Chicago had it's own arts resurgence that breathed life into their growing music community, many whom which took similar paths as many early downtown NY musicians. Scissor Girls (Azita Youseffi, SueAnne Zollinger, Heather Melowic) helped spearhead such movement. Amoebic in nature, the music created took in anything and everything for its inspiration. These ladies created an arsenal of tones of their instruments. Feedback, toys being played through pick ups, hiccuping drumming, chunky bass, sirens, trumpets, it's all there. A music that blends urgency with confusion and delight. This is the Scissor Girls second full length release, but this is definitely no sophomore slump. SG bring it with herky-jerky rhythms that permeate this 10 track manifesto for the new face of music, keeping things fresh and exciting. Plus beautiful artwork by Azita Youseffi, the bands front woman. For fans of Ornette's "Body Meta" record, The Ex's "Blueprint For A Blackout" , or the early NY downtown music scene. Highly recommended! - Chuck Bettis, DMG
CD $14

AZ aka AZITA YOUSEFFI [THE SCISSOR GIRLS] - Music For Scattered Brains (Atavistic 81; USA) Azita Youssefi aka AZ, bass player/vocalist from Scissor Girls, composed and self-produced a surreal cut up record way before the rapper of the same name came into the limelight. The original release of this recording comes with the usual story of limited copies with hand made covers, released on the artist's own label (SG research), but luckily Atavistic has decided to reissue this gem. Don't let the title deceive you, the music on this disc is quite focused and intricate. "Music For Scattered Brains" is packed with unusual eerie synth stylings, with bits of accordion cloud clusters, and scattered small instruments that have been manipulated by tape play. Her use of hyper-active modulating synths, swelling leads, chord clusters, and speed up tapes creates an captivating landscape of otherworldly beauty. If Carl Stalling did a synth record it might sound like this or perhaps a modern day take on Raymond Scott's diabolical "Soothing Sounds For Baby". A perfect soundtrack to any Brothers Grimm film. Artwork down by Youssefi, which is also amazing. Azita currently performs under her own name, but nothing she has done outside of Scissor Girls since the AZ record has been quite as good. Highly recommended!!! - Chuck Bettis, DMG
CD $14

BRIDE OF NO NO [AZ aka AZITA YOUSEFFI/J GRAF/M V CARBON/J KIENZLER] - B.O.N.N. Apetit (Atavistic 89; USA) Azita has finally returned from the seclusion of her own self-imposed exile... and from the molten ashes of the Scissor Girls, she and new bandmates J Graff, MV Carbon & J Kienzler have emerged from the lab as a lovely, 4-headed apparition: Bride of No No.
CD $14

BRIDE OF NO NO [AZ aka AZITA YOUSEFFI/J GRAF/M V CARBON/J KIENZLER] - Bride Of No No [aka II] (Atavistic 141; USA) Azita's Bride Of No No have delivered their magnum opus to date with this, their untitled second album. Their deconstructive sonic stance now collides head-on with their newly discovered (and surprisingly overt) desire to atonally hook you into senseless submission.
CD $15

MAGICAL POWER MAKO - Blue Dot (Atavistic 98; USA)
CD $14

MAGICAL POWER MAKO - Lo Pop Diamonds (Atavistic 101; USA)
CD $14

MAGICAL POWER MAKO - Trance Resonance (Atavistic 99; USA)
CD $14

GOD IS MY CO-PILOT [SHARON TOPPER/CRAIG FLANAGIN et al] - Best Of... (Atavistic 82; USA)
CD $14

GOD IS MY CO-PILOT [SHARON TOPPER/CRAIG FLANAGIN et al] - Get Busy (Atavistic 87; USA)
CD $14

BLAG DAHLIA - Venus With Arms [CD ep] (Atavistic 19; USA)
CD $11

BLASTULA - Blastula [CD ep] (Atavistic 40; USA)
CD $11

CHRIS BROKAW - I Was Born, But... [sndtck] (Atavistic 158; USA) Soundtrack from the Roddy Bogawa film, as performed the inimitable cb. guitar bliss out, c.f. red cities and beyond
CD $14

CHRIS BROKAW - Red Cities (Atavistic 134; USA) When your resume' includes heady projects & respected bands like Come (with Thalia Zedek; stellar catalog on Matador), Pullman (with Tortoise's Doug McCombs & Bundy Brown- 2 longplayers on Thrill Jockey), The New Year (ex-Bedheaders now thoughtfully rocking on Touch & Go), Codeine (slow rock brilliance on vintage Sub Pop) & Steve Wynn; the quality of one's work amounts to more than a known quantity: it's simply implicit, and expectations must necessarily be high.
Which brings us to Red Cities, Chris' solo debut. It's both organic & deliberate, epic & detailed, part spaghetti western & part road flick- all masterfully delivered to your auditory canals by a truly gifted multi-instrumentalist. Kindred spirits and reference points include Calexico (sans South of the Border vibe), Pinetop Seven & Giant Sand (sans vocals), and even late-period Savage Republic. The mammoth sheets of guitar texture, powerful drumming & intricate elements that provide the foundation for Red Cities are simply a pleasure to hear; these are big, bad-assed desperado noir numbers DONE RIGHT...
CD $14

CHROME CRANKS - Diabolical Boogie: Singles, Demos, & Rarities [2 CD set] (Atavistic 79; USA) Super-swank enhanced double-cd collection of "singles, demos & rarities" -plus 3 music videos- from NYC's prime dirt-blues movers, culled from their golden 1992-98 era.
2 CD set for $18

CHROME CRANKS - Oily Cranks: Early Raw Rare Material (Atavistic 11; USA) Their earliest, rawest and rarest dirt-blues collected. Just for you!
CD $14

CRESCENT - Electronic Sound Constructions (Atavistic 78; USA) Vintage gear driven, analogue-based instrumentals from Matt Jones & Co...Hauntingly Golden!
CD $14

CRESCENT - Now (Atavistic 80; USA) Crescent's Full-length'95 debut...Psych-stumbling roar
CD $14

EXPERIMENTAL AUDIO RESEARCH - Millennium Music (Atavistic 72; USA) Exclusive hypnotic new album & home video from Spaceman 3's visionary leader...Cortex melting "head music" on 3 formats
CD $14

DREAM SYNDICATE - 3 & 1/2: The Lost Tapes (Atavistic 65; USA)
CD $14

ELEVENTH DAY DREAM - Ursa Major (Atavistic 13; USA)
CD $14

THE FLESH EATERS - Ashes Of Time (Atavistic 162; USA)
CD $14

THE FLESH EATERS - Hard Road To Follow (Atavistic 144; USA)
CD $15

THE FLESH EATERS - Miss Muerte (Atavistic 142; USA)
CD $14

THE FLESH EATERS - No Questions Asked (Atavistic 143; USA)
CD $15

THE FLESH EATERS/CHRIS D - Time Stands Still (Atavistic 145; USA)
CD $15

TRUE WEST - Hollywood Holiday Revisited (Atavistic 179; USA)
CD $15

BRIAN HARNETTY With BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY [WILL OLDHAM] - Silent City (Atavistic 190; USA) "Brian Harnetty is an Ohio-based musician, educator and artist, whose work involves typically overlooked elements of sound. Many of his pieces transform found materials -- including field recordings, transcriptions, and historic recordings into personal and often socio-cultural worlds. His music and installations have been performed and exhibited in the U.S. and Europe. Silent City is the follow-up to his incredible '07 work American Winter (ALP 180CD), which is rooted in recordings and transcriptions made available to Brian through a residency with the Appalachian Folk Archive (Berea, KY). The result often feels like a gently compelling collision of pure, real-deal 'Holler Music' and the deftness of Morton Feldman. Very much in a kindred-spirit, Silent City features Will Oldham (Palace Brothers, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Boxhead Ensemble) on vocals, and is a fascinating, compelling collaboration that mixes the last three centuries into one beautifully haunting, cryptic flow of idea-sound."
CD $15

BRIAN HARNETTY - American Winter (Atavistic 181; USA) american winter = holler musics woven with archival field/radio recordings, meeting the 21st century.
Brian Harnetty was among the first Appalachian Music Fellows. initially overwhelmed by the collection's richness, he quickly immersed himself in field recordings, radio programs, and oral history interviews. We conversed daily about what he'd heard, the concept of tradition, and collections as a type of composition. The resulting pieces take the known, unknown, and forgotten, reworking them into new cloth and exposing new layers of humanity. -John H. Bondurant, Sound Preservation Archivist, Berea College
CD $15

OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS [V.A. With TEENAGE JESUS/GLENN BRANCA/MARS/VANDERMARK FIVE et al] - MK2 [2 CD set] (Atavistic 38; USA) Compilation of tracks from the Atavistic label including Teenage Jesus, Glenn Branca, Mars, Lee Ranaldo, Carbon et al, and unreleased cuts from Vandermark Five, Gerry Miles & Alan Licht, E.A.R., Wovlerton Bros, Scissor Girls ...
2 CD set for $14

POEM ROCKET [MICHAEL PETERS/SANDRA GARDNER] - Invasion! [2 CD set] (Atavistic 133; USA) Poem Rocket principals Michael Peters & Sandra Gardner have returned after a multi-year hiatus since the release of their critically-acclaimed Atavistic debut, Psychogeography (alp123cd)- emerging to offer the world a glimpse of their own INVASION!.. INVASION! is truly distinctive, completely realized ALBUM... a musical statement thoughtful & powerful enough to increase one's existential comfort zone needs to find it's way to those who can actually hear it "out there".
2 CD set for $18

POEM ROCKET [MICHAEL PETERS/SANDRA GARDNER/PETER GORDON] - Psychogeography (Atavistic 123; USA) Michael Peters (vocals, guitar); Sandra Gardner (vocals, piano, bass); Peter Gordon (piano, drums, loops). Poem Rocket hail from NYC- and for some time has resided there as an elusive, integral clutch of shadowy progeny within the hallowed lineage of the Apple's great noise-rock bands... possibly the missing aesthetic link between Live Skull & Sonic Youth, yet with a far-reaching span of influences shared with absolutely NONE of these aforementioned giants. CD $14


Rare ATAVISTIC Special Editions:

PETER BROTZMANN - The Inexplicable Flyswatter [Book & CD] (UMS/Atavistic 242; USA) A very special, full-color 48-page perfectbound Gallery Edition Book+CD: "FLYSWATTER", commemorating Peter Brotzmann's first-ever exhibition of visual art, featuring his works on paper from 1959-1964 at the Art Institute of Chicago this coming March 7-23, 2003. Includes essays, interviews, unseen photos, and Enhanced-CD includes 2 tracks of music (1965, quartet), an interview (1965) and three films (1963/4). Everything is previously unpublished/unavailable.
Peter Brotzmann is best know as one of the founders of European improvised music and one of the most powerful and original jazz saxophonists of the post-60's era, but in fact began his creative life as a painter and even established ties with members of the Fluxus movement, primarily Nam June Paik.
With a burgeoning career in music, Brotzmann's artwork has been kept a private activity over the years, with infrequent exhibitions and graphic design work done for album covers and posters. In late 2002, the first major retrospective of Brotzmann's visual art was finally mounted at Ystads Konstmuseum in Sweden.
Curated by John Corbett, in collaboration with the artist, the first North American exhibition of Brotzmann's visual art, THE INEXPLICABLE FLYSWATTER, follows up on the Swedish retrospective, focusing on a set of pieces that were left out of that show. The primary subject of the exhibition is a set of over 50 works on paper (paintings, collages, lithographs) created over a four year period, more than half of which focus on a common, peculiar image: the flyswatter.
This 48-page four-color catalog contains nearly 50 reproductions of Brotzmann's work, including most of the pieces in the exhibition, as well as a dozen previously unseen photographs from the period, which include images of Brotzmann demonstrating some of Paik's installation pieces in 1963. An in-depth essay by Corbett sets the context for Brotzmann's work and explores the transitional period of the early '60s, when Brotzmann shitfted his focus from being a visual artist to being a musician. Two interviews with Brotzmann are included, one from 2002 (concerning the relationship between his art and his music) and an incredibly rare archival interview from 1965 (concerning his music).
An audio version of the early interview is included in the catalog, along with two previously unknown quartet musical recordings (also featuring bassist Peter Kowald in his earliest recording yet released), predating the earliest Brotzmann music yet publicly available by two years. The percolating rhythm section brings out a heretofore unheard postbop aspect of young Brotzmann.
The package's enhanced CD features three films, as well, all from the early '60s, shot and edited by early Brotzmann colleague Manfred Montwe. Two of these short silent films feature Brotzmann's trio in '64, with beautiful hand coloring and distortion of the film by Montwe, while the other film is an incredibly important, previously unknown document of a major Fluxus festival in Amsterdam in 1963, which features Brotzmann alongside Fluxus founder George Maciunas, Emmett Williams, Tomas Schmit and others.
BOOK + CD $40 (Out of print, but we have it - for the original retail price!)

VANDERMARK 5 [KEN VANDERMARK/DAVE REMPIS/JEB BISHOP/KENT KESSLER/TIM DAISY] Vs. ATOMIC - Flammable Material [Extremely Ltd. Ed. - 60 sets - with 20 Posters & CD-R] (Atavistic 2011; USA) The VANDERMARK 5: FLAMMABLE MATERIAL poster boxset is issued in an Edition of 60, with these contents:
*20 different signed & numbered 16"x 20" silk-screened posters from 20 reknown poster artists (such as Nick Butcher, Miss Amy Jo, The Buchanans, Bird Machine, Screwball Press, Flattum & Burns, Seripop & more!), each of which has been created for a different North American tour date on The V5's ELEMENTS Tour.
*An otherwise unavailable, unreleased full-length V5 Vs. ATOMIC CD-R: "Live from the Green Mill" June 11th and 12th 2004 - which is encased in a superb hand printed, hand cut matchbook cover by Dan Grzeca. Vandermark Five performs "That Was Now" and "Pieces Of The Past"; Atomic performs "Feet From Above" and Kerosene"; the vatrious mixtures of both groups perform Ornette's "Happy House" and Booker Little's "Agression"
*All of this absolute joy is contained in a 20"X16"X1.5"corrugated box [OOOOH! WATTA SHIPPIN' HASSLE!] with a silk-screened cover, also by Grzeca.
Those out there who have to have this, y'know who ye are!!!!
POSTER SET + CD for $300 (Out of print, but we have it - for the original retail price!)


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