Good Gawd! It's Two Week's Worth of Superb Sh*te from those Crazies over at DMG! "Oh Lawdy, I cain't he'p myself - Im'a gonna Grab some Dynamite Discs from.."


John Zorn//Bill Frisell, Carol Emanuel, Kenny Wolleson! Aaron Novick/Fred Frith/Carla Kihlstedt/Ben Goldberg! Bang on a Can All-Stars! Shelley Hirsch & Simon Ho! Talibam & Sam Kulik! John Esposito/Jeff Marx/John Siegel! Anna Clyne! Thomas Helton DVD! Horace Tapscott - Flight 17 Remastered!

Tom Rainey/Ingrid Laubrock/Mary Halvorson! Ulrich Gumpert & Gunter Baby Sommer! Anders Nilsson Solo! Brett Sroka's Ergo! Forgas Band Phenomena! Garcia/Preminger/Tepfer/Hebert! Dan Blake Qt! Kjetil Moster!

Naked Truth: Cuong Vu/Pat Mastelotto! Bob Belden/Tim Hagan reimagine Bitches Brew.. plus Laswell et al remixes! Massimo Pupillo's Obake! Oscar Penas! Bernocchi/Budd/Guthrie! James Ilgenfritz' Trio Caveat! Merzbow!

Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi! Haino/O'Rourke/Ambarchi! Jonathan Kane's February & Transmission! Alex Weiss' Fighter Planes! Moebius & Renziehausen! Roedelius! Pat Murano's Decimus! Edzayawa! Elias Rahbani

LOTS of Makoto Kawabata & The Acid Mothers Temple discs from around the world!

and, LOTS OF '7 for 6' SALE ITEMS from Music & Arts, Enemy, NimbusWest, Windsong, New Rose, Danceteria Labels!




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The DMG Free Weekly In-Store Performance Series Continues with:


This Sunday, February 26th at 6pm:
CD Release Celebration for this All-Star Unit:
FRANCOIS GRILLOT/CATHERINE SIKORA/ROY CAMPBELL/STEVE SWELL/JAY ROSEN!


Sunday, March 4th - Double-Header:
6pm: NATURA MORTA Featuring: FRANTZ LORIOT - Prepared Viola/SEAN ALI - Prepared Bass /CARLO COSTA - Drums & Percussion!
7pm: SARAH BERNSTEIN - Violin & ELIE SORBSEL - Voice!


Sunday March 11th Double-Header:
6pm: JEREMIAH CYMERMAN -Solo Clarinet & Devices!
7pm: SYLVAIN LEROUX - French Flutist & CECILE BROCHE - Belgian Violist!


Sunday, March 18th Double-Header:
6pm: PASCAL NIGGENKEMPER Ensemble!
7pm: OMAR TAMEZ - Mexican Guitarist Tribute to Derek Bailey!

Sunday, March 25th at 6pm:
ROSS HAMMOND/VINNY GOLIA/ADAM LANE!
Great West Coast/East Coast Guitar/Reeds/Bass Trio!


Sunday, April 1st at Double-Header:
6pm: April Fool's Day Mystery Set!
7pm: HAN-EARL PARK - Solo Electric Guitar from the UK!


Sunday, April 8th at 6pm:
GL DIANA - Laptop/BEN GERSTEIN - Trombone/MIKE PRIDE - Drums!


Sunday, April 15th at 6pm:
LATHAN-FLIN-ALI Featuring: LATHAN HARDY - Alto Sax/SEAN ALI - Contrabass/FLIN VAN HEMMEN - Drums!


Sunday April 22nd at 6pm:
THE MUJO 4-TET featuring:
MICHAEL ATTIAS - Saxes/J.G.B. - Clarinet/PASCAL NIGGENKEMPER - Contrabass/CARLO COSTA - Drums!


Sunday April 29th at 6pm:
BIRDS IN THE MEADOW Featuring DARIUS JONES - Alto Sax & MARTY McCAVITT - Electronics!


Sunday, May 6th at 6pm:
The Return of BONNIE KANE on Sax & CHRIS WELCOME on Guitar!


Sunday, May 13th Double-Header:
6pm: SARAH BUECHI - Vocalist & CHRISTOPH KNOCHE - Bass Clarinet & Harmonica!
7pm: DANIEL LEVIN - Solo & Duo Cello(s)!


Sunday, May 20th - No In-Store During the Victo Festival!


Sunday, May 27th at 6pm:
JESSE DULMAN & JASON CANDLER - Great Tuba & Alto Sax Duo!


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INTAKT FESTIVAL AT THE STONE - March 1st - 15th!

The Swiss-based Intakt label has long been one of the most adventurous New Music labels in Europe, documenting a potent scene of Swiss, other European, Asian, African and American musicians. Intakt is a non profit association formed in 1986 by Patrik Landolt and Rosmarie A. Meier to serve the needs of a community of creative jazz artists in Zurich, Berlin, London, etc, committed to exploring the edge of improvisation, composition and innovation.

We at DMG urge you to take a break from your routine and come on down to The Stone, one of the last remaining performance spaces in Manhattan for adventurous music nightly! Starting next Thursday, March 1st more than a dozen of Switzerland's finest musicians will play at The Stone every night except Monday for two weeks in different combinations with a number of Downtown's best. This may be your only opportunity to see and hear the following cast of greats: Irene Schweizer, Lucas Niggli, Pierre Favre, Samuel Blaser, Sylvie Courvoisier, Jurg Wickihalder, Co Streif, Michael Grienair, Christian Weber, Gabriela Friedli, Dieter Ulrich and Philipp Schaufelberger. The great cast of non-Swiss musicians includes: Fred Frith, Ray Anderson, Oliver Lake, Andrew Cyrille, Tim Berne, Angelia Sanchez, Tony Malaby, Ellery Eskelin, Mary Halvorson, Tom Rainey, Ingrid Laubrock, Mark Feldman, Achille Succi and even more! - BLG


MARCH 1-15

INTAKT CURATED BY PATRIK LANDOLT

Here is the schedule for the first week:

3/1 Thursday
8 pm - Fred Frith (guitar, voice), Shahzad Ismaily (bass) & Matthias Bossi (drums)
10 pm - Fred Frith (guitar, voice) & Lucas Niggli (drums)


3/2 Friday
8 pm - Elliott Sharp (guitar) Melvin Gibbs (bass) & Lucas Niggli (drums)
10 pm - Fred Frith (guitar) & Co Streiff (saxophones)


3/3 Saturday
8 pm - Sylvie Courvoisier & Julian Sartorius
10 pm - Co Streiff, Russ Johnson Quartet - Co Streiff (saxophones) Russ Johnson (trumpet) Christian Weber (bass) Julian Sartorius (drums)


3/4 Sunday
8 pm - OBJETS TROUVEE - Gabriela Friedli (piano) Co Streiff (saxes) Jan Schlegel (e-bass) Dieter Ulrich (drums)
10 pm - Ellery Eskelin (sax), Christian Weber (bass) & Michael GrienAir (drums)


3/6 Tuesday
8 pm - Oliver Lake (alto sax), Christian Weber (bass) & Dieter Ulrich (drums)
10 pm - Tim Berne (sax) Lucas Niggli (drums) Angelica Sanchez (piano)


3/7 Wednesday
8 and 10 pm - INGRID LAUBROCK ORCHESTRA
Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone, composition) Mary Halvorson (guitar) Shane Endsley (trumpet) Kris Davis (piano) Ted Reichman (accordion) Chris Hoffman (cello) Drew Gress (bass) Tom Rainey (drums)


3/8 Thursday
8 pm - Gabriela Friedli (piano) Tony Malaby (sax) Michael GrienAir (drums)
10 pm - Mark Feldman and Pierre Favre Duo
Mark Feldman (violin) Pierre Favre (drums, percussion)


3/9 Friday
8 pm - Jurg Wickihalder European Quartet featuring Irene Schweizer
Jurg Wickihalder (saxes) Ir�ne Schweizer (piano) Fabian Gisler (bass) Michael GrienAir (percussion)
10 pm - Dieter Ulrich (drums), Jan Schlegel (bass) & Ray Anderson (trombone)

3/10 Saturday
8 pm - Irene Schweizer (piano) & Pierre Favre (drums)
10 pm - TOM RAINEY TRIO featuring: Tom Rainey (drums), Mary Halvorson (guitar) and Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone)


3/11 Sunday
8 pm - Oliver Lake (alto sax) & Andrew Cyrille (drums)
10 pm - Irene Schweizer (piano) Andrew Cyrille (drums)


THE STONE
..is located at the North-West Corner of Avenue C & East 2nd Street
Admission for each set is $10, unless otherwise indicated.
There are no advance tickets, first come, first served, Cash at the door.
There is no phone. There is no food or beverage served or allowed, just a serious listening environment.


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Four NEW CDs from Tzadik!

JOHN ZORN//BILL FRISELL/CAROL EMANUEL/KENNY WOLLESEN - The Gnostic Preludes (Tzadik 7395; USA) Get ready for some of the most beautiful music Zorn has ever made! The Gnostic Preludes is the latest volume in the mystical quest of In Search of the Miraculous, The Goddess and At the Gates of Paradise. Here Zorn turns to chamber music simplicity with an intimate ensemble of harp, vibraphone and guitar inspired by Early Music, Debussy, the minimalism of Reich, Riley and Glass and esoteric spiritual traditions from around the world. The music is lyrical and hypnotic, perfect for early morning meditation, a lonely afternoon, or midnight contemplation. Performed with great feeling by long time Zorn collaborators Bill Frisell, Carol Emanuel and Kenny Wollesen, who interact with sensitivity and grace, The Gnostic Preludes is one of Zorn's most tender and subtle creations. TZADIK ARCHIVAL SERIES
CD $14

AARON NOVICK With FRED FRITH/CARLA KIHLSTEDT/BEN GOLDBERG et al - Secret of Secrets (Tzadik 8168; USA) Aaron Novick is a remarkable clarinetist/composer/illustrator who is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His latest project features some of the greatest musicians out of the Bay Area music scene, including Fred Frith, Ben Goldberg and Carla Kihlstedt. Combining Jewish gematria with contemporary classical compositional techniques he has created a strikingly original reading of Kabbalah. Divided into six sections this suite of music contains elements of rock, classical, improvisation and world music, all masterfully blended into a new and personal musical universe. TZADIK RADICAL JEWISH CULTURE SERIES
CD $14

SHELLEY HIRSCH/SIMON HO - Where Were You Then? (Tzadik 7638; USA) The charismatic raconteur Shelley Hirsch returns in collaboration with talented Swiss composer Simon Ho to present her greatest extended work to date�an exhilarating collection of songs and stories about online dating, living in California, hitchhiking through Germany, 9/11 and more. Sensitive and creative arrangements perfectly compliment Shelley�s story telling in this delightful and colorful suite by a downtown legend. TZADIK KEY SERIES
CD $14

ANNA CLYNE - Blue Moth (Tzadik 8084; USA) Born in London, raised in the UK and currently composer-in-residence at the Chicago Symphony, Anna Clyne is a composer of acoustic and electro-acoustic music that blends ambient soundscapes with sonic gestures that morph and collide in ever changing fractal patterns. Her work includes collaborative projects with cutting-edge choreographers, filmmakers, visual artists and musicians and has been commissioned and performed worldwide. This exciting debut CD includes works for a variety of acoustic instruments and tape, and showcases her unique approach to sound, structure and time. TZADIK COMPOSER SERIES
CD $14


New on Intakt!

TOM RAINEY TRIO With MARY HALVORSON/INGRID LAUBROCK - Camino Ciele Echo (Intakt 199; Switzerland) Tom Rainey, informed by free improvisation and subtle compositional strategies, and by echoes of jazz eras and modes of conduct past and future, is one of the important persons of interest in the realm of creative musical action at this moment in history. While Rainey's evocative, time-morphing and occasionally implosive drumming plays a central role in the musical materiality here, his trio with Ingrid Laubrock and Mary Halvorson is very much an integrated ensemble. Laubrock is a saxophonist of unusual textural sensitivity and intellectual savvy, who can summon up proper deposits of abandon, knowing restraint and sly references to jazz' past in the midst of her purely improvisational explorations. Halvorson, one of the important "avant-jazz" guitarists of her generation, takes the abstracting and deconstructionist influence and has come up with her own way of melding that freestyling painterliness with shards of line and sonics. Together, they make a refreshing new and not-sentimental kind of beautiful music.
"This is the second disc from the Tom Rainey Trio: Tom Rainey on drums, Mary Halvorson on guitar and Ingrid Laubrock on tenor & soprano saxes. This is a trio of leaders, movers and shakers. Since moving to New York a few years ago (from Germany & the UK), Ms. Laubrock has become one of the most exciting saxists to watch and hear as she has evolved very quickly. The same can be said for the marvelous Mary Halvorson, quite possibly the most talked about guitarist to emerge from the Downtown scene in many years. It goes without saying that Tom Rainey is a master percussionist, certainly one of the most distinctive and sought after drummers in the NY area.
Each of the three musicians here contributed about a third of the compositions. This is quite a long disc (71 minutes) and it consists of thirteen pieces covering a wide range of explorations. Since this is a trio each member is integral to the balance of elements which make up the entire canvas. Starting with the calm opener, "Expectation of Expectation", things erupt quickly on "Mullet Toss" with both the tenor sax and guitar exploding together fueled by Rainey's powerful drums. Mary tosses off some punk/jazz shrapnel while Ingrid squeals and squawks on the tenor, eventually gliding back down to a more tranquil resolution. When Mary lays back, her playing is stunning with the tenor and drums floating around her. The structure or strategy of each piece somewhat different giving each member a challenge, blending genres or ideas. "Corporal Fusion" seems to mix free and bebop lines with some tight interplay. The trio turns up the heat and tempo on "Leapfrog" with Ingrid & Mary both spewing flurries of notes while Tom pushes things higher and higher. On the title Mary plays these slightly bent chords which are most distinctive and enchanting while Tom plays some sublime mallets and Ingrid simmers softly on tenor. This trio is impossible to peg down since they draw from so many different streams. This discs captures them in all of that collective glory just right. If you get a chance, check them out live.
Although the Tom Rainey Trio plays regularly (every few months) at the Cornelia Street Cafe, they will be playing on Saturday March 10th at 10pm as part of the two week Intakt Festival at The Stone in NYC. They are always amazing live!" - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $20

ULRICH GUMPERT/GUNTER 'BABY' SOMMER - La Paloma (Intakt 198; Switzerland) Featuring Ulrich Gumpert on piano and Gunter Baby Sommer on drums & percussion. These two elder statesmen of the German jazz scene have been playing together since the mid-seventies and can be found on nearly twenty discs together in duos, quartets and larger ensembles like Mr. Gumpert's Workshop Band. Both are longtime members of the Zentralquartett which was originally known as Synopsis. This is the duos' fifth disc together.
Although the Zentralquartett are for doing more traditional material and the occasional normal song, I was pretty surprised to hear this duo play so much low-key and melodic sounds & songs. Both musicians contributed pieces as well as a few traditional pieces although sometimes it is hard to tell the difference. There is an obvious connection between these two musicians as everything floes back and forth so organically. "Two for Funk" is sort of funky in an infectious, groovish way that made me smile instantly and forget who I was listening to. This music is often enchanting in its own way although it is also somewhat silly, fun and unlike anything I've reviewed in many years. On the traditional "Es Fiel Ein Reif", they start out with a cheesy melody and then turn it inside out. Then title track is one of the most popular songs of all time and once you hear it you will no doubt remember the melody. There is a hilarious story about playing this ditty in the liner notes and how the band almost caused a riot by playing a free jazz classic instead. It makes more sense to hear it at the end of this disc knowing how it calmed down some crazy Germans on New Years. Immensely charming throughout. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $20


ANDERS NILSSON - Night Guitar (Sound@One 107; USA) After a host of initial inspirations from John McLaughlin, Sonny Sharrock and [later] Raoul Bjorkenheim, Downtown guitar wunderkind Anders Nilsson finally decided he was ready to release a solo electric guitar effort. That he waited this long assures you a great deal of thought and inspiration went into preparing for this disc. There are a variety of layers (or overdubs) involved so that Anders was able to sculpt a rich palette of sounds from his lone Gibson Les Paul guitar. Each of the six pieces is filled with different parts, shades and colors. "Meet Me in the Back Alley" is first and simmers with suspense. Anders uses some sinister sustain for one of the lines while adding flourishes orchestral chords. The central melody that finally emerges sounds familiar like the voice of an old friend. Anders does a swell job of adding contrasting layers which work together warmly. Anders hits a strong yet evil-sounding groove on "Ax to Grind". While taking great metalish solo, he adds layers of background prog-rock licks underneath. For the epic length piece, "Nocturne", Anders plays a soft bluesy lead with calm, elegant chords underneath, occasionally seasoning his salad with some sharp electric spirals. He later inserts a series of scary power chords to give the piece a certain angular change in direction. The different levels of intensity are well-planned and tell a story which changes logically throughout. It almost sounds as if he is quoting "Summertime" before the piece glides to somber ending. "Breakfast Boogie/Nightmare Ballad" seems like an apt title since it has a somber, eerie vibe with ghost-like hushed bent notes swirling slowly together. I dig the way the two lines of "Nordic Blues" are laid out, one slow groove and the other somber and dreamy. A perfect stoner lament. Finally, "A Journey Beyond", balances two extremes very well with delicate, melodic threads interwoven with thoughtful sustained spirals preparing for a trip to another world. All in all an excellent display of electric guitars used in an orchestral way to evoke a series of evocative images. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $14


BANG ON A CAN ALL -STARS - Big Beautiful Dark And Scary [2 CD set] (Cantaloupe 21074; USA) The Bang on a Can All-Stars have recorded their first studio album in five years; the first to include the All-Stars' current line-up: Ashley Bathgate, cello; Robert Black, bass; Vicky Chow, piano; David Cossin, percussion; Mark Stewart, electric guitar; and Evan Ziporyn, clarinets.
With 'Big Beautiful Dark and Scary', the Bang on a Can All-Stars show off their blazing speed, polyrhythmic virtuosity and all-world versatility in a return to the core Bang on a Can sound - an uncategorizable supermix of classical and electric instruments that is part classical ensemble, part rock band, and part jazz sextet. The album is the first in a decade that features the All-Stars exclusively, rather than as part of a collaborative project. Each of the pieces on the double-CD calls upon a different kind of virtuosity, demonstrating the range of musical abilities and experiences arguably unique to this ensemble. Recorded in New York City, all of the music on Big Beautiful Dark and Scary (including the arrangements of the works by Conlon Nancarrow) were written for and premiered by the Bang on a Can All-Stars.
The album features "Four Player Piano Studies" by the legendary recluse Conlon Nancarrow, who lived most of his adult life in Mexico City. Without regular access to musicians, Nancarrow wrote much of his music for player piano, resulting in music that escapes the limitations of human performance and is nearly impossible for live performers. For the Bang on a Can All-Stars, the key word here is "nearly." In fact, the Bang on a Can All-Stars have been championing a number of these studies in breathtaking arrangements by Evan Ziporyn that bring out the music's extreme, machine-like, rapid fire rhythmic layering alongside Nancarrow's bluesy, boogie-woogie feel.
'Big Beautiful Dark' and Scary's title track was written by Julia Wolfe. Wolfe, who was a witness to the 9/11 tragedy, standing with her young children two blocks from Twin Towers when the planes hit, captures the feverish post- apocalyptic feeling of living in the wake of 9/11 with an ominous wall of sound that has the Bang on a Can All-Stars playing at full throttle. For the premiere in April 2002 Wolfe wrote, "This is how life feels right now." David Longstreth contributes three new works to this album: Instructional "Video, Matt Damon, and Breakfast at J&M". Longstreth, who, like Kate Moore, was a composition fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, captures the off-beat quirkiness that he has come to be known for as the mastermind of indie sensation Dirty Projectors. David Lang's "sunray" weaves interlocking melodies in and out of focus like a slow moving kaleidoscope. While staring at the abandoned SUN dry cleaners in North Adams, MA, Lang remembered a description of the Washington monument as an attempt to transform a shaft of sunlight into a solid object. sunray floats and wafts until, suddenly, it turns the corner with tribal urgency.
Delicately scored, moody and melodious, "Life" is a major new piece by this great Dutch composer Louis Andriessen. Life is, according to the composer, "a kind of contemporary Pictures at an Exhibition," and is accompanied by four short films by Dutch video artist Marijke van Warmerdam. Life combines the subtle beauty of French harmonies with the pulsating energy of American minimalism.
Michael Gordon's shimmering "For Madeline" follows the trajectory of a rising and falling melody. Pulsing vibraphone and piano chords glisten in the background as a slithering hypnotic tune spirals forever upwards. Contradictory musical ideas and rhythms are locked together in a way that feels always on the verge of coming completely together and at the same time on the edge of falling apart. The tension created is both mesmerizing and heartbreaking. Bang on a Can All-Stars' founding member Evan Ziporyn contributes "Music From Shadowbang", three selections from his theater piece Shadowbang, which fuses the All-Stars' 21st century sound and Ziporyn's decades-long love affair with traditional Balinese music and culture. The range of this piece - in orchestration, volume, and pacing - is vast, moving seamlessly from the delicate and intimate to the blunt and hard rocking.
Kate Moore's "Ridgeway" was inspired by the ancient path of the same name that runs through Southern England. For 5000 years this path was a religious and commercial superhighway, running through such sites as Stonehenge and Avebury. Moore's piece layers stuttered, propulsive rhythms on top of each other, creating an almost archeological density of musical layers and activity.
"There are a number of fine New Music ensembles in the New York area, but there is only one Bang on a Can All-Stars. As a longtime supporter and fan of this great ensemble, I was elated to receive this new double-disc set. Founding members/composers Julia Wolfe, David Lang and Michael Gordon each contributed extraordinary new works as well as clarinetist Evan Ziporyan, an original member of the BOACAS unit. The pieces by Conlon Nancarrow, Louis Andriessen, David Longstreth and Kate Moore are equally fascinating. One of this year's most engaging discs. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
2 CD set for $16


JEFF MARX/JOHN SIEGEL/JOHN ESPOSITO - Tahrir (Sunjump CD 13; USA) Featuring John Esposito on piano & most compositions, Jeff Marx on tenor sax and Jeff 'Seige' Seigel on drums. There are perhaps dozens (hundreds?) of fine jazz pianists in the New York area but I can think of two who rarely get the recognition they deserve and whose playing consistently knocks me out. They are David Arner and John Esposito. Mr. Esposito runs the Sunjump label and this is the second disc with this trio.
Esposito always picks sympathetic, creative and inspired musicians to collaborate with and this trio is a perfect example. 'Tahrir' is Arabic for Liberation and the name of the square in Cairo where important protests have occurred time & again over the past 35 years. The desire for liberation is a universal theme which unites the oppressed people around our troubled world. This music was inspired by that desire and what I hear is that magic life-force flowing through and helping to liberate us from the that which holds us all down. Considering that this is a trio (piano/sax/drums) without a bassist, their sound is always full and brimming with cascading spirits and immense power. On "Oumou", Esposito states the theme with his left hand while Mr. Marx's tenor rides the waves created by both hands with intense, propulsive drums pushing the trio higher and keeping the rhythm focused. The interplay between the piano and drums is extraordinary as Esposito keeps balances different currents with each hand. Mr. Marx has a strong Trane-like tone on his tenor and is perfect for his role as the central figure in this expansive trio. Each of the ten songs here is a winner, utilizing the talents of all three members incredibly well. A more perfect release, I can't quite imagine! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $14


New on Cuneiform!

ERGO [BRETT SROKA/SAM HARRIS/SHAWN BALTAZOR] + MARY HALVORSON/SEBASTIAN KRUGER - If Not Inertia (Cuneiform 339; USA) Ergo is a unique electro-acoustic jazz ensemble, who mine areas in sound that no one else in jazz approaches. For their third outing, leader Brett Sroka is once again on trombone and computer, Sam Harris [replacing Carl Maguire] on prepared piano and Fender Rhodes piano, and Shawn Baltazor returns on drums. Gusets this time are Mary Halvorson on electric guitar (3 tracks) and Sebastian Kruger on acoustic guitar (1 track).
In addition to the music, also included on the CD is a .mov file of a five minute, high quality promotional 'making of' film entitled The Making of If Not Inertia, which has some interview insights from the musicians, as well as some insight from the studio sessions on how this album was created.
"I've caught Ergo live on a couple of occasions (once here at DMG) and always dig what they do although they are difficult to pin down genre-wise. Jazz? Prog? Rock? Space music? Nope, none of those terms are quite accurate. "Sorrows of the Moon" features a hypnotic, repeating riff which is played by the trombone, piano or synth and Mary's nifty note-bending guitar with some strong brush work by their drummer. "Two for Joy" features delicate computer and prepared piano rattles which builds slowly and then adds a rich trombone riff and subtle cymbal embellishment. This music is cerebral and stretches out time with everything developing slowly and spaciously. The rich tone of Brett's trombone is the central sound like a whale calling out in the distance. The other consistently strong voice here is the superb drumming of Mr. Baltazor, anchoring and floating simultaneously. The piano is used most selectively just sprinkling the occasional drift of notes sometimes prepared, sometimes not, never really soloing. The only other group I can compare this to is the Necks who perform a similar dream transcendence. When Brett's trombone enters on "The Widening Gyre" it is a powerful, dramatic moment with Mary adding selective layers of her distinctive notes. This piece escalates like an oncoming storm with immense power and a feel of dread that things are night quite right. Which is indeed the case for any of us in the 99% anywhere in the civilized world. This music has a disorienting quality, sort of like standing in quicksand and slowly sinking. There is an ephemeral quality to this music which is not so easy to explain but can be felt. It makes sense that this disc has been released by Cuneiform since this used to be a progressive label which doesn't really rely of pigeonholing any more, just delivering great music which falls in between the cracks." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $15

FORGAS BAND PHENOMENA [PATRICK FORGAS et al] - Acte V [2 CD set] (Cuneiform 332/333; USA) "For those of you who grew up on the Return to Forever / Mahavishnu Orchestra / Weather Report strain of modern jazz, you will love this group. There's no mincing words about the Phenomena tag this band is proud to own - terrific music made by a wonderful band that cannot be a trade secret for too much longer. Viva Forgas !" - All-Music Guide
For over 35 years, composer/drummer/bandleader Patrick Forgas has been making progressive jazz/rock music in his native Paris. He has led various incarnations of his Forgas Band Phenomena for nearly 15 years and four previous and excellent albums, all of which have featured shifting personnel, but the group featured on Acte V, the group's fifth album, has been stable for five years and is the same group that performed on their last release. So, happily, the band still consists of Forgas, Sebastien Trognon on saxes and flute, Dimitri Alexaline on trumpet and flugelhorn, Benjamin Violet on guitar, Karolina Mlodecka on violin, Igor Brover on piano and keyboards, Kengo Mochizuki on bass. These musicians enliven his compositions with an energy and verve that gives his compositions the performances they deserve! Fusing new jazz directions with the electric crackle of rock with inspired solos, the music will appeal to fans of Frank Zappa's instrumental works, Jean-Luc Ponty, Morglbl, Return To Forever and Mats/Morgan Band. The quality of the music and performances is obvious from the first note and we're not the only ones who have noticed, as the group has been invited to play some very high profiles concerts: in 2008 they were invited to Seoul, South Korea to perform and - more relevant to this release - in June 2010, the group were invited to perform at penultimate edition of NEARFest, performing to a packed audience of over 1,000.
2 CD set for $21


FIGHTER PLANES & PRAYING MANTIS [ALEX WEISS/EYAL MAOZ/RICK PARKER/DMITRY ISHENKO/CHES SMITH/MARK HODOS] - Fighter Planes & Praying Mantis (Chahatatadra 01; USA) Alex Weiss on tenor & bari saxes, Eyal Maoz on electric guitar, Rick Parker on trombone, Mark Hodos on birimbau, Dmitry Ishenko on electric & acoustic basses and Ches Smith on drums. Over the past couple of years, I've caught John Tchicai's Ascension ensemble a handful of times live and they were wonderful each time. Fighter Planes & Praying Mantis includes three members of Ascension, Alex Weiss, Dmitry Ishenko & Ches Smith. While Ascension plays mostly original material, FP & PM do music by hardcore/punk bands Black Flag & Minor Threat as well as one by Hank Williams!?! I've reviewed couple of avant-jazz discs from other projects by Alex Weiss but this is something completely different. The other name here you should be aware of is guitarist Eyal Maoz who has a couple of discs out on Tzadik.
"Whale" opens with a powerful punk/jazz rocker which is not played too fast but still has that throbbing groove at center. As some of you may know, I went through a hardcore/punk loving phase in the mid-eighties and caught great bands like Dead Kennedys, Minutemen, Husker Du, Black Flag and DC's finest Minor Threat. I haven't listened that music in a while but I still appreciate its power and attitude. It seems odd at first but now makes some sense to hear some squealing sax & trombone blasting along to the melody of Black Flag's "You Last Affront". I dig the way Eyal's guitar playing bends notes in his own distinctive way giving this music some unexpected twists and turns. Alex Weiss composed about half of the songs here and blends strands of free jazz, punk and noise into a potent brew with occasional melodic riffs played by the trombone to help pull it all together. While the two horns play the warm melody to a standard called "Wonderful", Eyal turns the melody inside-out by playing a middle-eastern counter theme. I can't say that this disc sounds like anything else I've heard in along while, I will say that those with open minds should dig this unexpected breath of fresh air. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $10


TALIBAM! [MATT MOTTEL/KEVIN SHEA] + SAM KULIK - Discover AtlantASS (Belly Kids 2005; UK) Featuring Sam Kulik on trombone, guitar, banjo, effects & vocals, Matt Mottel on synths & vocals and Kevin Shea on drums, Roland SPDS & vocals. Talibam! is/are a local improv duo with a twisted sense of humor and reputation for the absurd. One never knows what will happen at one of their gigs and thus, they are often not taken very seriously. I've known Matt Mottel for more than twenty years when he was in high school and used to frequent the Knitting Factory. He is a talented keyboard player who has been in numerous bands and even designed hats for a period. No doubt you know drum wiz Kevin Shea from his work with Mostly Other People Do the Killing & People (that duo with Mary Halvorson). Their guest for this disc is none other than a fine trombonist named Sam Kulik who volunteers at The Stone and seems to keep beneath the radar.
'Discover AtlantASS' is concept record of sorts and sports one of the ridiculous covers I've seen recently with a trio of nude mermaids relaxing with the mebers of the band. This long disc is split into two acts and a story takes unfolds about a boy and his pillow. The story itself is hilarious and all three members switch off on the narration and create a variety of strange characters. What amazes me is how much work put into this endeavor. Each of the nineteen pieces flow fluidly into the next one so that the overall story does make some sense. Lifelong members of the Mothers of Invention fan club (a/k/a United Mutations) will no doubt love this disc. There are few musical interludes which have to heard to be believed from smokin' trombone to reggae grooves to Funkadelic-like silliness. I haven't laughed my butt off so much in years and that certainly felt good. Nice work lads! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $11


THOMAS HELTON & JONATHAN JINDRA - OVO, I [DVD] (FreeBass 01; USA) Last Sunday (2/19/12) William Parker and Thomas Helton played a superb bass duet here at DMG to a larger than usual crowd. Mr. Helton was on tour and has played at DMG before, once with experimental guitarist Philip Gayle. He left us with this DVD which is a collaboration with videographer Jonathan Jindra and Thomas on his contrabass. The images of buildings, trains, outdoor scenes and structures fits the sound on Shelton's bass immensely well. We also see glimpses of Shelton playing his contrabass interspersed with these images. Industrial scenes of old factories, cracked windows, spraying water from an outdoor faucet, a burning car, piles of garbage and abandoned automobiles all show how these images could be from any industrial society on our planet. The urban wasteland, a burned out forest match the cosmic drone of Thomas' bowed bass. An insect emerging from a cocoon seems miraculous as does the various other insects being focused upon. The shots of Thomas playing his bass in a factory are especially well done and captured from various viewpoints. One question remains: what is that tattoo on Thomas' right wrist? The solemn sound of Thomas' lone bass with the slow moving images is consistently fascinating to witness and hear. And at 30 minutes long, it is just the right length. Bravo to both artists involved. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
DVD $10



New and recent on RareNoise!

NAKED TRUTH [LORENZO FELICIATI/CUONG VU/ROY POWELL/PAT MASTELOTTO] - Shizaru (RareNoise 19; UK) Naked Truth is an instrumental quartet featuring Cuong Vu (Pat Metheny Group's trumpet player) on trumpet, Lorenzo Feliciati on electric bass/guitars (project leader), english pianist Roy Powell and King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto, dancing between jazz, progressive rock, dark ambient and metal landscapes. The polyrhythms of Mastelotto and Feliciati underpin the powerful ambient/metal electrified trumpet of Cuong Vu as they are held together by the Cecil Tayor-esque piano and Fender sounds created by Roy Powell.
CD $17

ANIMATION [BOB BELDEN/TIM HAGANS/SCOTT KINSEY/MATT GARRISON/GUY LICATA/DJ LOGIC] - Asiento: Bitches Brew Re-Imagined (RareNoise 17; UK) Upon first listen, you'll be struck by the startling freshness and flat-out nerve that have become hallmark sounds of Animation, the best rock & jazz melange you've never heard of. The journey continues with Asiento, the group's long-overdue album Spearheaded by music visionaries Bob Belden (producer/saxophone), Tim Hagans (trumpet) and keyboardist/synth Scott Kinsey (keyboard/synthesizer), as well as Matt Garrison (bass), Guy Licata (drums) and DJ Logic (turntables), Animation re-imagines the legendary 1969 Miles Davis release Bitches Brew.
In December 2006, as part of a series called "Reissue: Classic Recordings Live," they "re-imagined" Bitches Brew, and where the BBC, in tow, recorded the music for posterity. No, you won't find Bitches Brew played verbatim with this group. To contrary, Animation proves that a group of musicians can distil the essence of a classic album while creating a unique musical fingerprint to make it a "new original." Asiento showcases musicians taking liberties, reinventing a work of art from 40 years ago and reinterpreting and applying the original work to the parameters and context of the 21st century. 1. Pharaoh's Dance 2. Bitches Brew 3. John McLaughlin 4. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down 5. Spanish Key 6. Sanctuary
CD $17

ANIMATION [BOB BELDEN/TIM HAGANS/SCOTT KINSEY/MATT GARRISON/GUY LICATA/DJ LOGIC] - Agemo: Asiento Remixed by Bill Laswell, Joe Claussell, Fanu et al [2 CD set] (RareNoise 18; UK) Hot on the heels of this year's earlier and well-received release of Asiento (RareNoiseRecords RNR017) comes the new release by legendary jazz producer Bob Belden's band Animation, Agemo.
Asiento saw Animation, featuring Belden on sax, Tim Hagans on trumpet, Scott Kinsey on keyboards, Matt Garrison on bass, DJ Logic on turntables and Guy Licata on drums reinterpret one of Miles Davis' masterpieces, Bitches Brew, through the lenses of Weather Report and drum'n bass. To understand the purpose of Agemo, one should briefly focus on the title of this release: Agemo refers to a deity within the pantheon of gods of the West African spiritual practice Santeria (Vodun) which embodies the characteristic of 'Change' and 'Transformation' and is often represented as a Chameleon. Agemo is therefore a Hymn To Transformation, as seen through the lenses of technology and creativity.
Disc 1 of Agemo, focusing on the emotional impact of change through technology, is a 3D60 mix of the original Asiento. This exclusive and innovative mixing process (already witnessed on The Orb + David Gilmour's Metallic Spheres), devised and honed by Mike Brady, Ian Thompson and Youth (www.3d60.co.uk), focuses on both increasing the dynamic range (20db!) of the music and providing a 3-dimensional Headphone listening experience, the likes of which most users will never have had experience before.
Disc 2 of Agemo, focusing on the emotional impact of change through creativity is a Remix of the original Asiento. The original six tracks, Pharaoh's Dance, Bitches Brew, John McLaughlin, Miles Runs The Voodoo Down, Spanish Key and Sanctuary are taken on by absolute masters of their craft, in order: Bill Laswell, DJ Logic, Youth, Gaudi, Fanu and Joaquin 'Joe' Claussell, as they reconstruct and reinterpret the original material to extract the essence of what Bitches Brew means to them - spacing from Dub to Funk to Breakbeats to Dancefloor and r'n'b.
2 CD set for $20

OBAKE [MASSIMO PUPILLO/ERALDO BERNOCCHI/BALAZS PANDI/LORENZO ESPOSITO FORNASARI] - Obake (RareNoise 20; UK) Obake sees Massimo Pupillo (founder and bass player in Zu) join in with Eraldo Bernocchi on Guitars, Balazs Pandi (drummer of Merzbow, Otto V. Schirach) and Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari on voice (Transgender, Owls) to produce an incredible machine of Doom, Black Metal, Dark Dub and Ambient. For those of you who have liked the massive malevolence of Sunn(((o))), but wished it had a jazzier and more rhythmic soul. Unforgettable.
CD $17

ERALDO BERNOCCHI/HAROLD BUDD/ROBIN GUTHRIE - Winter Garden (RareNoise 21; UK) Winter Garden is the first 'simultaneous' collaboration between renowned Italian musician and producer Eraldo Bernocchi, ambient pianist and musical icon Harold Budd and producer/guitarist Robin Guthrie, founder of Cocteau Twins and Violet Indiana.
We say 'simultaneous', for Eraldo Bernocchi had previously produced, arranged and played on Fragments From The Inside (released by SubRosa) with Harold Budd, while the collaboration between Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie started in the 80s (Lovely Thunder, The Moon and The Melodies, The White Arcades) and became a quasi-partnership since 2005 (see for example the soundtrack for the film Mysterious Skin by Araki, the dyptich Before The Night Falls/After The Day Breaks and more recently Bordeaux, all released on Darla Records).
Recorded in Tuscany in 2010, produced in Tuscany and in the south of France in 2011, Winter Garden aligns itself with the aforementioned recent releases by Budd and Guthrie, awash with Budd's minimal piano and Guthrie's guitar drones, only to differentiate itself through a more marked used of electronics and being punctuated by a soft, minimal bass pulse. Winter Garden is an incredibly refined, stratified, and precisely chiseled recording - a snapshot of a collaboration which after two live audio-visual dates in Italy 2010 (Centrale Elettrica Taccani and Palazzo Lomellino in Genoa) will be taken on the road in 2012.
CD $17

BRAINKILLER [BRIAN ALLEN/JACOB KOLLER/HERNAN HECHT] - The Infiltration (RareNoise 10; UK) "Concepts like inspiration and creativity bleed through scenes and genres,"indie" or not, these guys are for real." - Pitchfork.
Classically-trained composers as well as hard rock fans, Brainkiller -Brian Allen, Jacob Koller and Hernan Hecht -the Tex- Mex/Argentinean trio screw with any traditional ideas of jazz you might have and deliver an astonishing mix of avant-garde twisted jazz, with a heavy leaning towards alt-rock. Having grown up with music in their lives since they were very young and performing and leading various jazz troupes and classical ensembles across the world - as a threesome, Brainkiller are fearsome - directing huge energy and passion into their debut UK album, and 2ndstudio release The Infiltration. Merging drums with heavy piano and trombone performances, the new album - recorded in just one studio take - is as experimental as it is easy to grasp. They are influenced by Led Zeppelin and Kurt Cobain as much as John Coltrane and Monk, Brainkiller break borders, not just geographically but sonically too.
Musicians: Brian Allen trombone, Jacob Koller electric keyboards, piano, Hernan Hecht - drums
For Fans of: Miles Davis, Anthony Braxton, Area (Demetrio Stratos), Ornette Coleman, Ioannis Xenakis.
CD $17

still available..

DEATH CUBE K [BUCKETHEAD/BILL LASWELL/SUBMERGED [KURT GLUCK]] - Torn From Black Space (RareNoise 05; UK) Latest release of the dark ambient project featuring Buckethead, Bill Laswell and DJ Submerged. The album is an instrumental dark and brooding ambient soundscape created by legendary guitarist Buckethead, bass player extraordinaire Bill Laswell and drum and bass producer Submerged. The band name is actually an anagram of Buckethead, also the science fiction writer William Gibson was inspired to name a bar Death Cube K in his book Idero. This album is the 7th release to be made available under this moniker and features strange turntable manipulations, eerie bass lines and twisted guitar parts creating an unnerving listening experience, similar to an imaginary horror / thriller film soundtrack. This studio album shouldn't be confused with DCK, which was a limited edition release.
CD $17

SOMMA 1 [SACRED ORDER of MAGIC MUSIC and ART: ERALDO BERNOCCHI/BILL LASWELL/NILS PETTER MOLVAER/HAMID DRAKE/RAIZ/TIBETAN MONKS] - 23 Wheels Of Dharma (RareNoise 04; UK) First Rare Noise release by the audiovisual band/project of Eraldo Bernocchi, featuring Bill Laswell, Hamid Drake, Nils Petter Molvaer, Faraualla, Raiz, Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, and 7 tibetan monks.
CD $17

METHOD OF DEFIANCE [BILL LASWELL/GUY LICATA/TOSHINORI KONDO/BERNIE WORRELL/DR ISRAEL] - Nihon [DVD + CD] (RareNoise 03; UK) This digipack release contains both a DVD, depicting two live sets played by the band in Japan in 2007, and the CD has the audio of the 2nd set.
This is the third disc from great, evolving Method of Defiance band/project. The DVD features two complete sets and it is done in glorious Black & White, to great effect! The well done multi-camera shoot captures the band in the way one would want. The first piece evokes the dark, riveting presence of an electric Miles gig. The band is burnin' right from the gitgo with Guy's slamming drums, Bill's fat & funky dub bass, massive electric trumpet blasts from Kondo, Bernie's eerie and consistently inventive keyboards and Dr. Israel's effective vocals & occasional electronics. Bill's demonic fuzz bass is often the eye of hurricane that this band whips up. I dig the way the band calms down to a slow, sly dub groove: Kondo taking a spacy trumpet solo while Dr. Israel & Dr. Woo both adds bits of audio spice. The stereo mix is excellent, with strong, focused sound. Given the two sets, each member of the band gets a chance to stretch out, take solos and provide direction each set. On both the CD and DVD the band do an instrumental version of Funkadelic's "Cosmic Slop", which sounds great. I caught the mighty Method of Defiance right here in NYC and they were pretty f**king great. If you weren't there then why not grab this great worthy artifact and get on down! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery Out-Of-Print ..just 3 last copies!
DVD + CD for $24


SO SA LA [SOHRAB SAADAT LADJEVARDI et al] - Nu World Trash (DooBeeDooBeeDoo 01; USA) Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi on tenor sax & vocals, Alejandro Castellano & Ladell McLin on guitars, Kurt Dahlke on electronics, Indofunk Satish on electric trumpet, Sylvain Leroux on fula flute & tambin, Mar Gueye on sabar, Derek Nievergelt & Damon Banks on basses, Piruz Parlow on electric tar, Massamba Diop on talking drum and Swiss Chris on drums. Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi is originally from Iran, has lived in Germany & Japan and is currently living here. He left us with this disc which includes only two musicians I knew of previously, French flutist Sylvain Leroux who played here at DMG a few weeks ago and drummer Swiss Chris who also plays with Burnt Sugar. "Ja-Jou-Ka" kicks off with a great swirling Moroccan groove with the tenor sax and electric trumpet circling around one another in a most hypnotic way. Sadaat mentions Bachir Attar from the Master Musicians of Jajouka as he shouts joyously emitting strong vibes. The music blends many elements from different cultures and time frames: funk, rock, jazz & ethnic sounds, electric & acoustic instruments, all swirling around one another in a most mesmerizing way. Sohraab does more spoken word than singing, spewing out his views to bring the world closer together. The festive spirit of the music is often infectious although I do get a bit weary of the shouted voice at times. I can agree with his view of our splintered world by trying to pull different threads together into a hopeful mosaic. Some of the melodies remind me of the Jewish prayers heard in my youth but perhaps these melodies are universal in nature and shared by numerous cultures. You can visit Saadat's website at www.sohrab.info and learn about the real Iran which you won't find out about in the controlled news of the world. A toast to a New Iran. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12


JONATHAN KANE'S FEBRUARY - Live At Issue Project Room (Issue Project Room 01; USA) February features Jonathan Kane on drums, Peg Simone, Jon Crider & David Bickell on guitars and Adam Wills on bass. Powerhouse drummer Jonathan Kane has played with the Swans, Rhys Chatham and Gary Lucas. A few years back Mr. Kane put together February, a band quite unlike any other. After three discs out on Table of the Elements, they cut this live session at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn, an important home to experimental music in the New York for the past decade. The Issue Project Room was founded by the feisty Suzanne Fiol who passed away in 2009. This disc is dedicated to her and her vision.
February play they own brand of power/blues/rock. Pounding and rocking hard. Three electric guitars, an electric bass and the massive drumming of Mr. Kane. Shades of swamp rock a la Creedence or Neil Young & Crazy Horse is about as close as I can get in describing what they do. Loud and proud! This is not about guitar solos but pounding out that great rockin' beat! Each guitarist has separate part, yet they all locked into the brutal groove. Its party time, so where's that joint?!? "Blissed Out Rag" gallops along quickly and sounds more like an uptempo western theme than a rag. "Smear It' has a simmering slowed down shuffle groove that feels just right. The sun is out today, it is cool and breezy and it sure feels good like the first day of Spring after a long, cold winter. It some ways this band is like the lost long brethren to the Band of Susans who had the same instrumentation and a similar powerful sound. Nothing better than music to make feel alive. No sh*t Sherlock!?! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $16

and last copies of this..

TRANSMISSION [JONATHAN KANE/DANIEL GALLIDUANI] - Transmission [CD Ep] (Table of Elements/Radium 804; USA) This is a real rarity, recorded 1981-1982 but never released, until about 10 years ago when Table Of The Elements released it on this CD-EP, which is now out-of-print!
Transmission were a duo featuring Jonathan Kane on drums and Daniel Galliduani on sax with Sal Palazzo on bass for 1 track. Jonathan Kane was the original powerhouse drummer for the Swans and this duo was formed before Mr. Kane was in the Swans and ran concurrently. This relatively short (22+ minutes) CD-EP is powerful and riveting. Kane's wonderful propulsive drumming and Galliduani's immense bari sax erupt together in tight volcanic action. This does not sound like free-jazz since it is so focused and the drums pound out hip-notic tribal beats. It sounds as if Daniel's sax is being played though an amp with some devices involved, rather guitar-like with its shredding, abrasive and throttling sound. The liner notes claim that bassist Palazzo is on only 1 track but it sounds as if he is bludgeoning his bass on all the tracks. There is something darkly alluring about the the tribal beat of Mr. Kane's drums that makes this so damn compelling. Fans of Borbetomagus should dig this cauldron of insanity. Even when they slow down the pace on a couple of tracks, the sax still still sounds pretty scary or evil. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $10 (Out of print, but we have it!)



New on BJU - The Brooklyn Jazz Underground label:

ROB GARCIA 4 With NOAH PREMINGER/DAN TEPFER/JOHN HEBERT - The Drop And The Ocean (BJU 28; USA) Featuring Noah Preminger on tenor sax, Dan Tepfer on piano, John Hebert on bass and Rob Garcia on drums & compositions. This is Brooklyn drummer Rob Garcia's second quartet disc for the BJU label. Mr. Garcia has played in the Brilliant Coroners (Monk tribute band) as well as with Joseph Jarman. The other members of this fine quartet each have impressive resumes as Mr. Preminger records for Palmetto, Mr. Tepfer has several discs on Sunnyside and ace bassist John Hebert has played with dozens of local greats (like Mary Halvorson, Gebhard Ullmann to Steve Lehman).
This is an amazing quartet and Mr. Garcia's music is consistently challenging and filled with surprising twists and turns. "Will" begins with a Morse code-like line which the tenor & piano play tightly together. Both the piano and tenor take short hot solos while the rest of the quartet plays these shrewd start & stop structures. I dig the way the drummer solo is an integrated part of the song. Mr. Garcia does a great job of having different parts of the quartet shifting simultaneously. One of the finest pianists to move to New York in years is Dan Tepfer who is often astonishing here. On "Boundaries" Dan has each hand playing different lines interweaving tightly at the same time, cascading in waves with his right hand and interspersing intricate punctuation with his left. There are three short pieces called "Flash # 1, 2 or 3", each of which is a fine drum solo bridging the gap between some of the other pieces. On "The Drop Part 2", there are series of quick, tight duos that starts with one line which is picked up and continued by another duo. Nice trick and not so easily accomplished. Even on the more somber "Humility", while the sax, bass and drums play the soft theme, the piano spins a quick web of lines underneath in a stark yet sympathetic contrast. What makes this quartet so special is the way the piano, bass & drums work so tightly together, speeding up and slowing down effortlessly while the sax plays focused, slow burning solos. Time to check out some more discs by the consistently spirited and inventive pianist Dan Tepfer. - Bruce Lee Gallanter Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12

DAN BLAKE With JASON PALMER/JORGE ROEDER/RICHIE BARSHAY - The Aquarian Suite (BJU 29; USA) Dan Blake sax & compositions, Jason Palmer on trumpet, Jorg Roeder on bass and Richie Barshay on drums. I can't say I know about any of the members of this quartet although reedsman Dan Blake did record with Richard Gallo for his Clean Feed CD from a few years ago and trumpeter Jason Palmer has a recent CD on Steeplechase which has been getting great reviews in Downbeat & the NYCJR. This disc is Dan Blake's second and it is a suite written exclusively by Mr. Blake. The two horn frontline here work together quite well bending their notes tightly like one horn with a similar swagger. Both the tenor and trumpet often exchange notes picking up where the other one left off and completing each other's lines. The rhythm team also has that loose yet tight thing down throughout anticipating each other's lines just right. There a couple of points where the horn solo together without any accompaniment which were extremely well. Since this is only my second time hearing this disc, I get the feeling it might take a bit to figure out how the suite works or fits together but all of the pieces do seem to have some sort of arc or thread that holds them together. This disc is still pretty impressive especially when the sparks start to fly. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12


OSCAR PENAS With DAN BLAKE/MOTO FUKUSHIMA/RICHIE BARSHAY/GIL GOLDSTEIN - From Now On (BJU 27; USA) The music on From Now On is modern jazz marinated in the seductive flavors of Spain and South America. Guitarist Oscar Penas' path lead him from Barcelona to Brooklyn, NY, and this geographic duality is ever-present in the intriguing blend of music that's presented on this, his debut for BJU records.
While Iberian-influenced guitar lines often set the stage and thread their way through the music, this record goes well-beyond any single style or influence. Penas' writing and playing, along with the versatility of the musicians on this date, has a lot to do with the broad geographical arc that the guitarist is able to traverse during this eight song program. The journey begins with "Continuum," which is characterized by a Mediterranean mood and dark hues, but the band is only there for a short stay before they depart for Brazil. Drummer Richie Barshay picks up a pandeiro - a more mature, Brazilian relative of the tambourine - for "Choro n.1 (Guinga)," and every band member gets some room to spread their wings before it's time to move on again. Gil Goldstein joins the band for a detour into Argentina, bringing his accordion into the mix on the title track, and the virtual globe-trotting continues.
While each band member has their passport stamped in each one of the stops along the way, they never completely assimilate to the way of life in these countries. Instead, they put their own Big Apple imprints on these destinations abroad. Saxophonist Dan Blake isn't afraid to deliver the occasional yelp or bellow during a heated musical moment ("Continuum"), but he can also work in tandem with Penas on the pure-bred Brazilian music ("Choro n.1 (Guinga)" and "Choro n.2 (Corpo)"). While Blake wields his tenor for the majority of the album, he proves to have a pleasing soprano sound that's personal, yet universally appealing ("Encuentro").
Virtuoso six-string electric bassist Moto Fukushima's playing is a study in contrasts. As a team player, Fukushima delivers sensitive lines that anchor the band and snake their way through the depths of these songs, but his solo work is something entirely different. When Fukushima is given room to roam, his chops come to the fore, and it's hard not to be impressed by his fluid lines. Barshay's playing, perhaps more than anybody else on the album, reflects the varied nature of this music. The drummer is capable of delivering hypersensitive cymbal and snare grooves that hide in the mist and shadows, but he moves from background to foreground when the music calls for a firmer presence.
It's difficult to separate Penas the performer from Penas the composer, due to the fact that his music lives and breathes through his entrancing guitar work, but they need not be graded on different scales. On both accounts, Oscar Penas' proves to be a master artist who paints with mood and melody in equal quantities. From Now On is a veritable feast of delicious, Spanish-tinged delicacies served by a guitarist and composer deserving greater attention. - Dan Bilawsky, AAJ
CD $12


JULIAN GOMEZ With RODRIGO DOMINGUEZ/JUAN FILIPELLI/LUCIANO RUGGIERI + ERNESTO DODDS - Impulso (Festina 007; South America) Julian Gomez on contrabass & compositions, with Rodrigo Dominguez on tenor sax, Juan Filipelli on guitar, and Luciano Ruggieri on drums; plus guest Ernesto Jodos on piano for two tracks. Every week at DMG we get another surprise of musicians from around the world leaving us with their discs to check out. Earlier this week (Feb of 2012), two young men from Colombia dropped by with a local friend. Neither man spoke much English so their friend translated for them and we were left with their disc. All of the pieces were written by their leader & bassist Julian Gomez except for one traditional song. Although Julian's bass sounds like the heart of these songs, his writing provides strong material for the guitar and tenor sax frontline. "Bati-Burrillo" opens and has a jubilant quality with laid back yet spirited solos from the tenor and guitar. For "Bailamos?", Julian wrote a long line for the guitar & tenor to play together before moving into a more dreamy terrain with a fine, most elegant solo from the guitar. Guest pianist Ernesto Jodos adds some marvelous flourishes to the title track while both the sax & guitar solo together intricately. On "Influencias", the quartet gets a chance to play outside and inside at the same time with the rhythm team playing the free thing and the sax & guitar playing the more structured part of the piece. Mr. Gomez' bass is featured on "Guarana" where he takes a strong cerebral solo as does the guest pianist. Both the sax and guitar are consistently shifting between more or less dense structures or streams, balancing between more aggressive and laid back sections. This seems to keep the entire quartet on their toes as they maneuver between either extreme. This is a particularly solid effort by musicians I was not familiar with previously. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
[limited time price; normally $13]
CD $10


HORACE TAPSCOTT & PAN-AFRIKAN PEOPLES ARKESTRA - Flight 17 (Remastered) (NimbusWest 135 B; USA) Newly remixed and remastered for 2012 - finally all the muddiness of the previous CD is out, and the stellar performances are sharp! "Horace Tapscott's classic large ensemble album from 1978! The collective personnel includes Mr. Tapscott on piano & conduction, Jesse Sharps, James Andrews & Herb Callies on reeds, Red Callender on tuba, plus two trombones, two basses, cello and two drummers. Horace Tapscott was the West Coast equivalent of Sun Ra. He was a great pianist & composer, multi-bandleader, community activist and philosopher. 'Flight 17' was a studio session first released in 1978 but the sound was never balanced right. Nimbus West founder & producer, Tom Albach, got back the master tapes and cleaned them up considerably. For fans of the Sun Ra Arkestra and/or any other adventurous big band ensembles, this is an essential reissue. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $13


KEIJI HAINO/JIM O'ROURKE/OREN AMBARCHI - Imikuzushi (Black Truffle 07; Australia) "The yearly summit of Keiji Haino, Jim O'Rourke and Oren Ambarchi continues with Imikuzushi, which finds the group extending the power-trio strategies of 2011's highly-praised In A Flash Everything Comes Together As One There Is No Need For A Subject (BT 005LP) and bringing to them a newly-sustained intensity. For this performance, Haino limits himself to electric guitar and vocals, forming complex networks of slashing rhythm work, noise squall and chromatic shredding, moving at times to near-silent passages of howled vocals and isolated, hanging guitar strums. The tendency towards driving free-rock which surfaced on moments of the trio's last release is cemented here, with O'Rourke's fuzzed-out, non-linear bass riffing moving the music into almost garage-rock areas, combining with Ambarchi's drums to form a bedrock of hypnotic, metronomic pounding which transforms itself effortlessly into passages of flowing free-time. Like all of Haino's best work, the trio transcends any 'rock' genre exercise to enter a non-idiomatic zone of ritual intensity, creating a music formed purely out of instrumental and group-mind possibility. Presented as four unedited excerpts salvaged from an epic show that lasted well over three hours, the sometimes raw nature of the recording only adds to its directness and harshly emotive quality." --Francis Plagne, Melbourne, November, 2011. Design by Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O)))) with high quality live shots by Ujin Matsuo and stunning images by Tokyo-based photographer and sound artist Shunichiro Okada.
CD $17
Also as 2 LP set for $28


DECIMUS [PAT MURANO] - Decimus 8 (Kelippah 04; EEC) Dedicated to Rabbi Hiya. Dark psychedelia formulated by Pat Murano (No Neck Blues Band, Malkuth, K-Salvatore & Key of Shame) designed to alternately disorient and elate by synthetic means. Fifth in a series of 12 LPs dedicated to the zodiac of Decimus Magnus Ausonious." Limited edition of 300 with hand painted jackets.
LP $20

DECIMUS [PAT MURANO] - Decimus 3 (Kelippah 03; EEC) "Dark psychedelia formulated by Pat Murano (No Neck Blues Band, Malkuth, K-Salvatore & Key of Shame) deigned to alternately disorient and elate by synthetic means. 4th in a series of 12 LPs dedicated to the zodiac of Decimus Magnus Ausonious. Limited to 300 copies all in hand painted jackets." "Multis terribilis timeto multos."
LP $20


KJETIL MOSTER - Blow Job (+ 3DB 14; EEC) Blow Job is an album stripped of glamour, fancy artistry or advanced studio techniques. This is one man, one saxophone and the musical intentions of a modern musician. Kjetil Moster's musical career is one of many contradictions. After studying accordion as a kid, his stage debut was as a thrash/hardcore bass player on the scenes of Bergen, Norway in 1990. His saxophone-playing made him discover John Coltrane a few years later, a revelation that brought him to jazz studies at the conservatory in Trondheim, focusing on modal and free jazz, and later free-improvised music. After having redefined tenor-playing on the Norwegian scene, mainly in bands like Ultralyd, Zanussi Five and The Core, Moster was awarded the "World's Jazz Talent of the Year 2006" by international jazz organizations IAJE and IJFO. However, Moster was seen escaping the jazz scene in the following years, spending more and more time with electro-rock band Datarock and the occasional detour with small underground units and the N Ensemble. Moster chose to focus on Datarock full-time in 2007. Blow Job is his big step back into the world of improvised music. Kjetil Moster has performed extensively in Europe, Asia, the U.S. and South America. He has been a key person in establishing the All Ears festival in Oslo as one of the most important events for improvised music. He has participated in a large number of ad hoc projects with such musicians as Jon Christensen, Paal Nilssen-Love, Hild Sofie Tafjord, Michael Duch, Maja Ratkje, Andrew D'Angelo, Jim Black and so on. Blow Job is the second album in +3DB's series Music For One, featuring different shades of solo improvised music.
CD $16


KINK GONG [LAURENT JEANNEAU] - Xinjiang [Ltd Ed of 300] (Discrepent 02; UK) "Special limited vinyl pressing of Kink Gong's Xinjiang soundscape. Sublime Frequencies contributor, Laurent Jeanneau, concocts a melting pot of ethnic weirdness packed with mind blowing virtuoso recordings. For fans of Angus McLise, Tony Conrad or William Burroughs' sound collages. Limited to 300 copies only! All tracks were recorded on location in the ILI prefecture, Xinjiang province, China by Laurent Jeanneau."
LP $24


KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN - Generators (Editions Mego 024; Austria) Over the course of a year, Keith Fullerton Whitman performed a piece of live electronic music a few dozen times entitled "Generator." The debut was given in San Francisco at Root Strata's On Land festival at Cafe Du Nord on September 19th, 2009 -- over the months that followed, stagings took place in venues ranging from flooded basements to festival stages in Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, Easthampton, Iowa City, Jamaica Plain, Northampton, Raleigh, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Somerville and Washington D.C. This LP covers the final two performances of the piece over two consecutive evenings; the opening solo set from the final night of the High Zero festival in Baltimore at the Theater Project, September 26th, 2010, then the performance during the "For Eliane" night of the Propensity Of Sound festival dedicated to Eliane Radigue's work at Issue Project Room, Brooklyn, September 27th, 2010. These recordings show the piece in two different iterations, taking two different trajectories entirely. They're considered the definitive versions of the piece. Composed for, and realized with a scalable selection of digital and analog modular synthesis equipment, "Generator" was an attempt to wrest a viable performance-based music out of what had until then been a solitary set of sound-design tools. The piece grew out of a frustration with the limitlessness of computer-based real-time synthesis and algorithmic/generative systems vs. their utter failure as performance solutions. It hinges heavily on the ideology of the "Playthroughs" system (in that the subtle tuning inconsistencies of a physical instrument -- the electric guitar -- could be amplified and multiplied) through the use of multiple layerings of different topologies of oscillator, yielding an unstable array of modal canons that drift in and out of "tune," causing all manner of inter-voice beating and assorted psycho-acoustic effects. Artwork by Graham Lambkin.
LP $22


New on Engine!

TRIO CAVEAT [JONATHAN MORITZ/JAMES ILGENFRITZ/JOHN McLELLAN]//JOSH SINTON - Introspective Athletics//Pine Barren (Engine 44; USA) "This is split disc featuring a fine Downtown trio with James Ilgenfritz on contrabass, Chris Welcome on guitar and Jonathan Moritz on tenor & soprano sax plus a solo reeds set from Josh Sinton. This is the third release from James Ilgenfritz's Trio Caveat whose earlier discs included John McLellan on drums, now replaced by Chris Welcome's guitar. Although I don't know their saxist very well, I have been checking Mr. Ilgenfritz in various situations through the years including the monthly improvs at The Stone run by John Zorn. Guitarist Chris Welcome also seems to keep pretty busy in various projects with Kirk Knuffke, Bonnie Kane and Shayna Dulberger.
The Trio Caveat section of this disc features some highly focused yet restrained improv. Once my pulse and level of anticipation mellows out, I start to hear this in a more relaxed way and the communication between all the members of the trio. Josh Sinton is one of the best and busiest baritone saxists to come to NY in recent years. He co-leads Ideal Bread (Steve Lacy tribute band), and has recorded with Harris Eisenstadt and Nate Wooley. Josh has been doing the occasional of solo set live and here plays bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet as well as his trusty bari sax. Solo sets by any of these reeds are pretty rare so this is special treat. 'Pine Barren' starts with a piece for solo baritone in which Josh twists every note selectively while adding some a vocal or throat harmonies underneath. Josh has a thoughtful, warm tone and plays with sublime fire making every note count. His bass clarinet playing is also strong yet restrained, sometimes using using his voice as punctuation between phrases. Sinton dedicates his session to his daughter, hence the overall quality or vibe has a certain poignancy that I find most soothing. This entire disc has a fine laid back vibe that should help us to unwind after a hard day at work." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $14

TRIPTET [MICHAEL MONHART/GREG CAMPBELL/TOM BAKER] - Imaginary Perspective (Engine 40; USA) There is jazz music outside of New York and Chicago, and it can be sophisticated and engaging. Such is the case with Imaginary Perspective by Triptet, hailing from the moist and wooded epicenter of grunge: Seattle. By discarding traditional ideas like songs and solos, Triptet takes the elevator down to the basement for a fundamental statement about sound, energy, motion, and the lack thereof.
"The acoustical rendition of a Jackson Pollack painting." - Mark Petersen, Twenty-First Century Music CD $14

and, last copies of..

PAUL STEINBECK With MALACHI THOMPSON/CHRIS WASHBURNE/WARREN SMITH - Sun Set: For Andrei Strobert and Malachi Thompson (Engine 22; USA) Featuring Malachi Thompson on trumpet & flugelhorn, Chris Washburne on trombone & didgeridoo, Paul Steinbeck on acoustic bass, percussion & all but one of the compositions and Warren Smith on drums, vibes & percussion. I hadn't heard of (currently) NY-based bassist & composer, Paul Steinbeck, before this, but I do know of the other members of his fine quartet. Chicago-based trumpet hero, Malachi Thompson, passed away in 2006 and had some ten discs out on Delmark and once played with the Sun Ra Arkestra. Chris Washburne has worked with Roswell Rudd, Anthony Braxton and Gunther Schuller & currently teaches at Columbia University. Warren Smith is still one of the most diverse and creative percussionists to emerge from NY in the past forty years.
"Fredology" opens this disc with a great funky groove and a slow, spacey mid-section. The title piece features Chris on didgeridoo and has a ritualistic vibe when it begins. "The Blue Devils & The Holy Ghost" has a fine, bluesy, laid-back groove and some righteous horns. This entire disc has an earthy, almost New Orleans-like vibe, with Paul's bass and tunes at the center of everything. Born horns play a variety of close-knit harmonies and uplifting arrangements that had me humming along consistently. There also pieces that consist of just Paul's bass playing with Warren's percussion just setting up a groove or creating a contemplative mood. There is great feeling to each of the 12 tracks here, a joyous, festive vibe that makes one want get up and dance at times. - BLG
CD $14 (Out of print, but we have it!)

PAUL STEINBECK With NIKO HIGGINS/ANDREW LAMB/WARREN SMITH/ANDREI STROBERT - Three Fifths (Engine 15; USA) Featuring Niko Higgins on alto & soprano saxes, Andrew Lamb on tenor sax, flute & mismaar, Paul Steinbeck on bass & bamboo flutes, Andrei Strobert on congas & percussion and Warren Smith on drums, mbira & percussion. This Mr. Steinbeck second disc for the Engine label (from 2005) and was recorded by percussionist Andrei Strobert who passed away in 2006. I am now familiar with all of the players here except for saxist Niko Higgins. Paul's strong bass and writing stands at the center of each piece here. The opening tune sets the mood with that righteous bass-led groove and both percussionists swirling around him accented by a whistle. I love the way Steinbeck writes these tunes with those great Afro-pop melodies/grooves. Oh yeah, get down make it funky! Each one has a most memorable groove giving each sax a chance to play their feisty solos. "I Am Your Host" begins with Warren Smith setting up the groove on an mbira (African thumb piano) as Niko plays some poignant alto sax, eventually joined by Andrew's equally righteous tenor. Although the percussion and bass are quite minimal, they establish a fine laid back groove throughout this entire long work. Every piece on this disc makes one feel good, helping us to sway to that infectious beat, as subtle as it may be. - BLG
CD $14 (Out of print, but we have it!)

THE MOVING FORM [ANDREW LAMB/WILL HALSEY/TOM ABBS/ANDREI STROBERT] - Year of the Endless Moment (Engine 10; USA) Featuring Andrew Lamb on tenor sax, flute, conch shell & mismaar, Will Halsey - poetry, Tom Abbs on bass & tuba and Andrei Strobert on drums & percussion.
CD $11 (Out of print, but we have it!)


LAST COPIES of..

LOUIE BELOGENIS/SHANIR EZRA BLUMENKRANZ/KENNY WOLLESEN - Unbroken (Tick Tock 01; USA) An outstanding and truly spirited trio effort from one of downtown's best new trios. Featuring Louie Belogenis on tenor sax, Shanir Blumenkranz on acoustic bass & bells and Kenny Wollesen on drums & bells. On this fantastic studio date, they have done a phenomenal job of capturing that cosmic spirit, that their elders (Trane & Ayler) unleashed on the world some forty years ago. Most of the nine pieces are dedicated to those who have inspired them like Sonny Rollins, John Zorn, Federico Garcia Lorca, Rashied Ali, Maria Callas, Shanir and Bokar Rinpoche. Right from the opening piece, "Transmission". we know we are in store for a treat, with Shanir's hypnotic repeating bass line, Kenny's superb waves of mallets and Louie's probing tenor playing and haunting tone. Robert Musso has done an equally impressive job of recording this trio with perfect balance and superior sound. That unique cry, the way that Louie bends and twists his notes will reach all who will listen closely. "Fat Tongue" (for Sonny Rollins) has one of those most memorable bass lines that you can't get out of your head, once you hear it, as well as splendid drum solo from Kenny. On "Bells Canto" (for Albert Ayler), Louie digs in deep and spews those sheets of notes over the ghost-like sounds of bells. "Rashied" (for Mr. Ali) does sound inspired by those 'Interstellar Space' sessions that Rashied Ali did with John Coltrane, then Shanir comes blazing in and kicks it up another notch. "Hymn for the Forgotten" is an aptly titled solemn prayer-like work with Shanir bowing his bass majestically as Louie simmers with that slow-burning fire on tenor ad Kenny playing dream-inducing percussion. "Oasis of Dreams" (for Mr. Zorn) is a colossal work, completely mesmerizing and it has some of that middle-eastern vibe that Masada does so well. Although Shanir's hypnotic bass playing is at the center of this piece, it is Kenny's magnificent drums that truly swirl in waves cryptic beauty, dancing around and supporting Louie as he reaches for the heavens and into outer space. All one can say is Omm-men. - BLG
CD $14

FRED ANDERSON TRIO With HARRISON BANKHEAD/DUSHUN MOSLEY - A Night At The Velvet Lounge: Made In Chicago 2007 Festival, Poland (Estrada Posnanska MIC 01; EEC) Featuring Fred Anderson on tenor saxophone, Harrison Bankhead on acoustic bass and Dushun Mosley on drums. Although this disc is called 'A Night at the Velvet Lounge, Made in Chicago', it is actually recorded in Poland at a festival called Made in Chicago. This is indeed a truly superb trio. Bassist Harrison Bankhead remains one of the best bassists I've ever heard and each time I catch him live, I am astonished by his sound, spirit and creativity. I wasn't familiar with drummer Dushin Mosley before this but he also sounds wonderful, subtle and supportive - a rare combination for a fine drummer. This long disc (76 minutes) sums up what I love about Fred Anderson: it is filled with that supreme slow burning fire that inspires us all to keep going no matter how old we are. Fred Anderson was 81 at the time of his passing. He was an inspiration to many of us and will be greatly missed. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $17

ORNETTE COLEMAN QUARTET With DON CHERRY/CHARLIE HADEN/BILLY HIGGINS - Reunion 1990: Live In Reggio Emilia, Italy [2 CD set] (DominoRec 891203; UK) April 24th, 1990 radio broadcast. This double disc set consists of a dozen songs from different eras of Ornette's long career and runs nearly 105 minutes. Early gems like "Lonely Woman" and "The Sphinx" (from Ornette's very first album) are included as well as later treasures like "Latin Genetics" and "Buckminster Fuller". There is such joy and spirit in this music that I couldn't help but smile and feel good. Unlike the sound quality on other related labels from Spain, the sound on this is pretty great as is the balance between all four musicians. I don't think I've heard any of these masters play any better than here. Higgin's mallet playing is jubilant and quite astonishing on "Him and Her", at times diplaying the feel I rather associated with Blackwell, and that comparison is not meant in any way as a slight against either of these great masters! Charlie Haden seems to be balancing so many different ideas and sounds, holding down the bottom while simultaneously connecting the drums and both horns in a perfect marriage. At times it is hard to tell Ornette and Don Cherry apart since both sound like they are playing or bending the same notes in a similar way at the very same time. Every solo no matter who is playing it, sparkles, soars and shines like a ray of sunshine through those dark clouds. There are number of duo sections that are also just extraordinary. Ornette and Higgins toss ideas back and forth tightly and quickly on "Buckminster Fuller", completing each other's sentences midstream and never losing their way or interrupting the flow that runs through this music. There are a few bass and drum solos that are also absolutely marvelous but then again this entire disc is just incredible from the beginning to the end. You best grab this treasure quick since it will most likely disappear into the ocean of questionable legit releases that come and go unpredictably like the weather. Without a doubt, this is thee historic modern jazz gem of the year! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
2 CD set for $22

AGUSTI FERNANDEZ - El Laberint De La Memoria (Mbari Musica 04; EEC) "Catalan pianist Agusti Fernandez put out his first solo back in 1987 but odds are pretty good that he didn't hit most listeners' radar until the release of recordings of his momentous meetings with Derek Bailey and Peter Kowald on the Hopscotch label and his trio with Barry Guy & Ramon Lopez on Maya. Those releases revealed a player informed by the dense, flurried clusters of free jazz and the sense of texture and structure of Iannis Xenakis who he studied with in the late '80s. Since then, Fernandez has been working with musicians like Evan Parker as part of his Electro-Acoustic Ensemble, Mats Gustafsson, John Edwards, Tom Chant, and Joe Morris (their duo is captured on a stellar recent release on Morris' Riti label.) Though the pianist has recorded 7 previous solos on small Spanish imprints, they're impossible to dig up. So this solo outing is particularly welcome. The back story here is an interesting one. In the summer of 2008, Mbari label-owner Joao Santos contacted Fernandez and asked him to record a solo piano release based on 20th century Spanish classical piano music. While the pianist was familiar with this work from his early student days, it didn't resonate with him right away. But Santos persevered, sending him a compilation of over 40 pieces, drawing on Spanish regional themes which Fernandez describes as 'brief and austere fragments, rather nostalgic and ascetic, in minor keys and slow rhythms'. Further correspondence revealed that Santos wasn't looking for traditional readings of the pieces, but rather for Fernandez' take on the compositional forms from the perspective of a free improviser.
The resulting recording is revelatory, starting out with the abstract impressionism of Joan I Joana, full of lush voicings and ruminative lyricism, with carefully placed notes and hanging resonance which progress with an open, unhurried sense of pacing. From there, the session proceeds with 13 compact pieces, clocking in at between 2 and 5 minutes each. But there is nothing rushed or clipped about the music as the pieces unfold in contrasting studies of densities and dynamic attack and sustain. These come across as intentfully-constructed sound drawings; each one delving in to a particular approach to the keyboard, from cascading rumbles to percussive preparations of the piano to plucked and scrubbed string and soundboard manipulations. One can hear elements of the regional Iberian themes come out, but they are used more as motivic underpinnings to the improvisations than as literal interpretations. There is also a flow to the recording. Listen to the way the hammered preparations of Pluja Sorda lead in to the rolling lyricism of Porta De Mar which then flows in to the pointillistic clusters of Flamarades followed by the roiling waves of Catedral makes it evident that the pianist thought a lot about how this all hangs together. The pianist talks of these pieces as 'fields of action, vibrating and open.' This is an auspicious example both of Fernandez's solo playing as well as his concept of solo piano music and is well worth grabbing. - Michael Rosenstein, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $14

JOHN HOLLENBECK With CLAUDIA QUINTET et al - Rainbow Jimmies (GPE 2543; USA) Featuring The Claudia Quintet, Todd Reynolds, Matt Moran, Mark Stewart & the Ethos Percussion Ensemble. 'Rainbow Jimmies' are those colorful sugar things that are sprinkled on ice cream cones as well as the title of this fascinating and diverse compilation of gems from the ever wonderful percussionist, composer and multi-bandleader John Hollenbeck. Mr. Hollenbeck leads various bands, smaller (Claudia Quintet & Quartet Lucy) to two different large ensembles. The Claudia Quintet are are perhaps, Hollenbeck's most popular band and their personnel features Chris Speed (reeds), Ted Reichman (accordion), Matt Moran (vibes), Drew Gress (bass) and John Hollenbeck (percussion & compositions).
The Claudia Quintet have only two pieces on this disc making for a quarter of the hour-long duration. The first third of this disc features "Gray Cottage Study #1-7" and it is performed by a duo (Todd Reynolds on violin & Matt Moran on vibes) with Mr. Hollenbeck added on drums and/or vibes on half of the tracks. The duo of Reynolds and Moran is consistently superb and occasionally sublime, the balance and blend of the violin and vibes is quite perfect. When John comes in on drums, he adds just more subtle colors to the warm sound. These pieces were written for a Guggenheim Fellowship and inspired by the great outdoors of Blue Mountain Center. There is a most organic and elegant vibe to this music which I find most soothing. One of the great things about this collection of studies is that Hollenbeck was composing and exploring to challenge the playing abilities of Todd Reynolds who rises to occasion time and again. "Ziggurat" (exterior & interior) were written for two different percussion ensembles and inspired by the architecture and building of skyscrapers. The "Exterior" version features the Youngstown Percussion Collective & Sax Quartet. I dig the way the interlocking rhythms of the sax quartet and percussion unit work together. Although the saxes and percussion have much different timbral qualities, they somehow work well due to Mr. Hollenbeck's vision and unique compositions. The "Interior" version is performed by the Ethos Percussion Group and again Hollenbeck's writing provides a unique challenge. The sounds are not you average percussion, instead using PVC tubes, wind-up toys, alarm clocks and assorted sounds that are recognizable but not so easy to describe. The final piece is the title work which features the Claudia Quintet with Mark Stewart (from Bang-On-A-Can All-Stars) on guitar. This piece deals with skewered repeating lines that intersect yet move around each other in unpredictable ways. This is piece is especially fascinating and no doubt a challenge for all of the members to play. I dig the way each instrument enters in different places so that varying lines are accentuated as the players build or lay out. Mr. Hollenbeck's music often has a calm center yet there are always varying surprises revealed as we peal the different layers involved. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12

HENRY KAISER - Everything Forever: 80 Minute Live Trance Guitar Solo (Kaiser; USA) Only guitarist extraordinare Henry Kaiser could pull off this 80 minute one piece solo electric guitar sonata (my word, not his) and make it work throughout its long duration. Mr. Kaiser has learned how to take his time and stretch beyond anyone's expectations. Many of us are impatient and want things (objects & ideas) right away. We have to learn to hold on and just let things occur at their own pace so we can truly absorb what is wonderful about certain experiences. So when you put this disc on, make sure you have no other pressing issues or commitments to deal with. Mr. Kaiser has basically two or three lines going on simultaneously: (a) a slow moving bass line that hums underneath the way a tamboura provides a drone below the action or story in a raga; (b) the line delicate line on top sounds semi-acoustic as Henry plucks or taps a soothing story above; and (c) the last line is the selective reverb which Henry uses as somber psychedelic spice to add that dreamy haze which is quietly mesmerizing. Some of the guitar sounds are rather harp-like which gives this an occasional transcendent vibe. Henry lists the type of guitar, equipment and processing information for those who need to know this. For me, what really matters is that I have spent some well-earned vacation time listening to this magic music, letting it unfold naturally and helping me to settle into a blissful state. Thanks Henry from all of us old hippies, music lovers and assorted fans of the electric guitar. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $10

J D PARRAN & MARK DEUTSCH With DAVID DARLING - Omegathorp: Living City (Y'All 06; USA) Featuring JD Parran on alto & contrabass clarinets, soprano sax & bamboo flute, Mark Deutsch on bazantar & sitar, David Darling on cello, electronics & electro-vocals, Joseph Kubera on piano, Kevin Norton on drums and Thomas Buckner voice. This most serious and extraordinary work was recorded live at Merkin Hall, exactly four years from the day we are transmitting this newsletter review to you out there, September 12th, 2002. The title track featured the poetry of Glenn Spearman, bay-area sax giant who has since passed into the next world. What is unique about this is that this sextet features the unique instrumentation of alto & contrabass clarinets (both rare clarinets for soloists), a bazantar (hybrid 5-string bass with 29 sympathetic strings & 4 drone strings) or sitar and cello with electronics, piano, voice and percussion. The title piece, "Omegathorp: Living City" features the haunting cello of David Darling, the exotic sitar and bazantar of Mark Deutsch, the superb alto clarinet of JD Parran, the exquisite piano of Joseph Kubera and the excellent percussion of Kevin Norton with Thomas Buckner's enchanting voice. The piece evolves through four sections and eventually explodes at during the final section. Mr. Deutsch's "Kwama Okura" features a sublime, mesmerizing blend of sitar, clarinet, cello and percussion. I am reminded of the stunning beauty of the Paul Winter Consort, who David Darling used to play with. The final piece is called "Improvisation" and it is a just that, an improv for the five fine instrumentalists. The funny thing is that this doesn't sound like an improv, it is so rich in detail and texture and warm in tones. Absolutely riveting! - BLG
CD $15

SONNY SIMMONS TRIO With JEAN-JACQUES AVENEL/GEORGE BROWN - Live In Paris [2 CD set] (Arhoolie 506; USA) Sonny Simmons (alto saxophone, English horn); Jacques Avenel (bass); George Brown (drums).Recorded live at The Club La Ville, Paris, France.
The story of the resurrection of saxophonist Sonny Simmons has been told and retold many times. Needless to say, his comeback recording Ancient Ritual in 1994 rekindled interest in his brand of Coltrane meets Ornette and Ayler music. Since then, he has recorded for the specialty jazz label CIMP and a series of Cosmosamatics releases with co-leader Michael Marcus. The urgency of his playing dates back to his ESP session in the 1960s and work with Eric Dolphy. Indeed Dolphy's spirit and that of Ornette Coleman is embodied in the great man's horn. He opens up his playing and the breadth of his solos on his own compositions.
This is Mr. Simmons in Paris, live in a recent concert from the 2000s. Simmons comes across with plenty of vigor here. He seems to be taking a retrospective glance at jazz and his career. He opts for bebop classics by Tadd Dameron, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Coltrane's most requested cover song My Favorite Things. With the assistance of the remarkable bassist Jacques Avenel, best known for his work with Steve Lacy, and drummer George Brown (Gene Ammons, Archie Shepp) Simmons tears into the music on the aptly entitled Ghost From The Golden Era.
Prissy audiophiles take note - the recording has a rough bootleg feel with the audience talking through some solos and the overall feel of a Dean Benedetti recording. But this only focuses the listener on the fantastic music!
2 CD set for $17



German classics from Bureau B!

DIETER MOEBIUS & KARL RENZIEHAUSEN - Ersatz (Bureau B 91; Germany) collaboration between Dieter Moebius and Karl Renziehausen, initially released on the Pinpoint label in 1990. Liner notes by Asmus Tietchens. "1990 sees Dieter Moebius enter new musical territory, cautiously reconnoitering the digital world. His companion on this excursion is Karl Renziehausen, a visual artist and constructor of sound sculptures. The two of them distance themselves sonically and musically from existing Moebius collaborations with Conny Plank and Gerd Beerbohm (almost all of which have been reissued on Bureau B); similarly, only sporadic echoes can be heard of Cluster and Harmonia, two projects whose style Moebius influenced significantly over a number of years. There is an exactness to the music of Moebius and Renziehausen, who allow nothing to stray from their chosen path. They stage seven little musical comedies with different plots, much as if they were writing for the theater. Common to each of the pieces is a prevailing mood of surrealism: Moebius appears to have an unlimited menagerie of imaginary sonic creatures at his disposal, introduced to the audience in a clearly discernible framework of dramaturgy. Their actions are utterly unpredictable, the 'plot' develops in the listener's head. Renziehausen constructs the space: moving scenery to accommodate wonderful transparency and depth, as warm, bright light affords a clear view of each and every delectable detail. Ersatz is music at its most pictorial, far removed from cheap, programmed music. Although Moebius and Renziehausen frequently cross the boundaries of tonality, they still remain firmly grounded. The connection to the real world is never completely severed. Which is what makes this music so puzzling to anyone willing to engage with it: the occasional fleeting sense of something familiar, yet no sooner than something appears which one might have heard before, it disappears again, replaced by something new and unrecognizable. Listeners can look forward to nine meticulously crafted soundscapes of uncharted, fantastic regions. Soundscapes, perhaps, of some imitation paradise? Rather than measure this album by a musical yardstick then, one ought to evaluate it as one of the great discoveries in its own right." --Asmus Tietchens
CD $17

DIETER MOEBIUS & KARL RENZIEHAUSEN - Ersatz II (Bureau B 92; Germany) second collaboration between Dieter Moebius and Karl Renziehausen, originally released in 1992 on the Spanish Nova Era label. Liner notes by Asmus Tietchens. "Two years after the release of Ersatz (1990), Moebius and Renziehausen issued Ersatz II as the culmination of their ongoing studio collaboration. It is as meticulously-crafted as Ersatz, dipped in the same luminance and confounds with a similar wealth of musical ideas. And yet Ersatz II does not simply carry on where Ersatz left off. Moebius and Renziehausen composed and improvised quite intuitively on Ersatz, emptying their music of messy ballast, yet adding decorous, delicate detail. This is even more true of Ersatz II, with the marked difference that the music has become even more transparent and the individual tracks shorter in length. The two sound artists reach an almost ascetic level with their unwavering concentration on musical substance and the deliberateness of their creative approach. 'Almost' is the word, for this is a pop album with all of the vibrancy associated with this world. It is neither minimalist in the academic sense nor suitable for any form of meditative exercise, the brevity of the tracks already enough to preclude this. The album also differs from Ersatz rhythmically: it is almost danceable. Again, only 'almost,' as Renziehausen and Moebius defy conventional rules of rhythm to such an extent that one might easily stumble. Harmonies and melodies, on the other hand, appear immediately familiar. Nevertheless, listeners will still have a sense of standing (or listening) on shaky ground. Ersatz II defines pop music in an idiosyncratic, rather odd manner, using the same pieces but coming up with whole new patterns. If there were such a thing as a kaleidoscope with asymmetrical pictures, then this would be something to which one could compare the music of Ersatz II. Colorful, shimmering and always a little off-kilter. When Ersatz II appeared almost 20 years ago, this form of electronic music had no place in the hype of the early '90s. Moebius and Renziehausen were not bothered in the slightest, instead working towards the goal of their own musical world, a place as vivid and imaginative as possible. Far removed from turgid abstraction, Ersatz II is particularly enjoyable as the two musicians can really be heard playing with one another, intelligently, spontaneously and more than adeptly." --Asmus Tietchens
CD $17

QLUSTER [HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS/ONNEN BOCK: aka CLUSTER] - Antworten (Bureau B 77; Germany) "Antworten (meaning: answer) is the third installment in a trilogy of Qluster music, following on from the Fragen (BB 076CD/LP) (meaning: question) and Rufen (BB 075CD/LP) (meaning: call) studio albums. The fact that the music on Antworten was created before Rufen and Fragen were recorded is less of a paradox than it might at first appear. For the expansive piano fantasies of their 2007 recordings had already provided a clear answer to the two musicians' question as to whether, and to what degree, they wished to collaborate in the future. Seldom has a musical duo been so united in heart and soul as Roedelius and Bock that January of evening in 2007. Their improvised nocturnes on two Steinways in the Berliner Philharmonie were delectable. Completely unplugged and utterly relaxed, Roedelius and Bock tossed musical ideas back and forth without pause, occasionally adding in the delicate tone of a distant singing bowl. Something rare, something wonderful happened in the course of this midnight session. Two perfectly inspired virtuosos coalescing into one person --Qluster-- speaking in one language to tell us of something which we no longer need to dream, as we can hear on Antworten. The notes flow incessantly, yet they also convey peace and quiet, a balancing act of which only the most mature personalities are capable. Roedelius and Bock pulled off the trick, this sleight of hand, with the greatest of ease. The antworten/answers are, in equal measure, lucid and lost in reverie. Lucid, because Qluster reveal the source of their art: inspiration and solid craftsmanship. Lost in reverie, because the music is far removed from daily monotony, from common cliche. Balsam for the ears, without any esoteric frippery or contrived secrecy. Nevertheless, the antworten/answers remain auratic. It can be explained with a single word: art. Antworten is an early Qluster statement, and thankfully Roedelius and Bock chose to continue and intensify their work together. The previously issued Fragen and Rufen albums offer convincing proof thereof. And Qluster senses a responsibility to long-term artistic development whose transitory power continues to look ahead, into the future." --Asmus Tietchens
CD $17

HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS - Plays Piano (Live In London 1985) (Bureau B 78; Germany) Breathtakingly beautiful piano fantasies from the year 1985 -- released for the very first time! In 1985, Hans-Joachim Roedelius was still perceived by the music community as an electronic artist. Yet ever since acquiring his Bosendorfer grand piano in 1983, his interest had grown in the most royal of instruments: the piano. While staying with Brian Eno in 1985 (they had collaborated earlier in the '70s), Roedelius composed a wealth of new material on his friend's two grand pianos (or, as Roedelius would say: the music flew to him). He organized a series of concerts to introduce his new musical direction, with the Bloomsbury Theatre in London amongst the venues. Guests included Brian Eno and The Edge, with Roedelius taking the belated opportunity to use the artwork to thank them accordingly for their support. For Roedelius, this London concert remains one of the highlights of his career: "At the Bloomsbury Theatre I encountered a Steinway grand piano of exceptional quality. I was thus given the perfect opportunity to put my ideas of simple piano rendition into practice. For me, the aural explorer, it was a gift from heaven," he describes of the instrument. The audience responded enthusiastically. "People were kneeling down before me in gratitude and happiness," Roedelius recalls. And anyone who listens to the recordings will understand why. Roedelius plays his way through 21 delicate, drifting piano fantasies, sometimes meandering dreamfully, often progressing towards gorgeous, deeply moving melodies. Asmus Tietchens musings on Roedelius' 1991 opus Piano Piano are just as valid here: "His music is quiet and focused, but to call it contemplative or even meditative would also be wide of the mark: not all music which draws us out of ourselves is accompanied by spiritual pomp." (Fortunately, there is no audible trace of the audience at any point of the recording.) Which leaves us with the question: why did we have to wait 25 years for this treasure to see the light of day? Roedelius explains: "I always knew that this concert would have to be made some day, I was just waiting for the right moment, for the right partners who would do it justice."
CD $17


Back in Stock!

SYLVAINE HELARY TRIO With ANTONIN RAYON/EMMANUEL SCARPA et al - Sylvaine Helary Trio (Opaque 04; EEC) Personnel: Sylvaine Helary on flutes, piccolo, poems & pedals, Antonin Rayon on organ, clavinet, electric piano & ring modulator, Emmanuel Scarpa on assorted percussion plus Julien Boudart on synth & electronics & guest vocalists. When French flutist Sylvaine Helary stopped in to drop off a couple of discs, little did I know what I was in store for. This was Sylvaine's second visit to DMG in the past few years so I knew she looked vaguely familiar. This, her new trio disc is one of the most impressive and eclectic debuts I've heard in quite a while and one of those rare offerings that three DMG (Chuck, Joe, and myself) staffers simultaneously dug when we first listened to it, earlier this week (late July, 2011). Since we all have such varied tastes, it is hard to please us simultaneously.
I had originally anticipated a simple flute-fronted trio but there is quite a bit more than that here. There are bits of texts used from time to time by different authors like Virginia Woolf and Gherasim Luca, both in French and in English. Each of the nine pieces employs different ideas, genres and/or strategies. "A Partir de la Nuit" features some quirky but charming 70's-like electric keyboards (recalling Caravan?!?) and two different voices, one female and the other male, sometimes singing, sometimes speaking and quite enchanting. On "Tournerie" Sylvaine layers a few flutes, adds bits of echo and is backed by what sounds like fuzz bass but it is probably some sort of Softs-like fuzz keyboards. When Sylvaine sings on a few of these songs, she reminds blends Robert Wyatt and Dagmar Krause in her own way even though she sings in French. When she gets angry, her voice is doubled and it sounds even better. Keyboardist Antonin Rayon uses a wide array of electric keyboards, most often sounding like they were recorded in the seventies. There is a song where someone is rapping in French and even that piece works just right and feels like an extension of what's come before and after. If I didn't know any better, I would thing that wonderful Canterbury spirit is still alive & well in an unknown treasure such as this. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $14


BROOKLYN SAX QUARTET [FRED HO [HOUN]/DAVID BINDMAN/SAM FURNACE or RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA/JOHN O'GALLAGHER] - Far Side Of Here (Omnitone 12206; USA) Featuring David Bindman on tenor sax, Fred Ho on bari sax, John O'Gallagher on soprano sax and the late Sam Furnace or Rudresh Mahathappa on alto sax. This is the second superb disc from the great Brooklyn Sax Quartet (BSQ), with four tunes written by Bindman, three by Ho plus unlikely covers of Dizzy's "A Night in Tunisia", Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" and traditional gospel pieces. "Tie Me Sufre" means "listen to my cry" in the Twi language of the Akan people of Ghana and is some funky funeral music which has been altered and has some rather robust bari sax playing from Fred Ho, as well as a spirited tenor or alto solo, hard to tell. Fred's "Fishing Song of the East China Sea" was inspired by a Chinese folk song and has some great far eastern harmonies at the center. David's "I Understand Now" features some fine serpent-like soprano sax from Mr. O'Gallagher, The classic bop gem, "A Night in Tunisia" is great choice and orchestrated nicely, slightly twisted and turned inside out a bit, with the soprano up front. Fred Ho's ambitious "The Black Nation Suite" is draws from traditional gospel, as well as some African sources. Very nice to hear their heartfelt version of "We Shall Overcome", which precedes a funky bari sax raver called "Free New Afrika! Boogaloo", an aptly titled foot-stompin' groove tune. "Song for a United Socialist Pan Africa" brings the suite to a fine close with some swell, enchanting harmonies for the four saxes. Billy Strayhorn's delectable "Lush Life" was arranged by and features the sublime baritone sax of Fred Ho with some elegant backing by the other three saxists. Ever so beautiful. David's "Spinning" features a bari and tenor dialogue that has the other saxists come in together to play the intricate charted sections. The finale is David's "Jajo", a reggae inspired tune that is earthy in part, but features a few spirit duo sections. What I dig the most about this quartet is that they have heart, that breathes life into whatever they do. Amen. - BLG
CD $15 (Out of print, but we have it!)

BROOKLYN SAX QUARTET [FRED HO [HOUN]/DAVID BINDMAN/SAM FURNACE/CHRIS JONAS] - The Way Of The Saxophone (Innova 549; USA) The Brooklyn Sax Quartet, co-founded by tenorist David Bindman and baritonist Fred Ho, and joined by Sam Furnace and Chris Jonas, is a boldly colorful, radical saxophone quartet, performing original works and arrangements which span the breadth of new music and harmonically rooted blues-based traditions. The music is funky, tough, raw, intelligent, cross-cultural, beautiful and passionate, a celebration of tradition, improvisation and innovation. Many of the ensemble's compositions are expansive narrative suites which bring out the very different voices of the improvising members. It is precisely these differences that create tension and balance; yet the ensemble members are able to become one, to stop on a dime, to find danceable grooves which metamorphose into entire movements. The sonic variety and extended techniques of the saxophone, including slap-tonguing and multiphonics, add to the colorfulness, while rich harmonies and layers of cross-rhythms cause the quartet to sound at times like an entire big band, and at others like a group of drummers. The rhythmic complexities both written into compositions and discovered spontaneously are the undercurrent and fabric for improvisations which go off in many directions, with each performance being a surprising and new creation. Brooklyn, with its teeming urban crossroads, is the musical, physical and spiritual home for the quartet's performer-composers.
CD $14


JOHN FAHEY - Your Past Comes Back To Haunt You: The Fonotone Years 1958-1965 [5 CD + Book Box Set] (Dust To Digital 021; USA) 2nd pressing. More than 10 years in the making, this box set features the earliest recordings and the first book ever written about one of the most influential guitarists from the 1960s and '70s, John Fahey. The five CDs feature 115 tracks, most of which are available on CD for the first time. The audio was remastered from Joe Bussard's reel-to-reel tapes to achieve pristine sound quality. As for the accompanying book, the list of scholars who contributed essays includes Eddie Dean, Claudio Guerrierri, Glenn Jones, Malcolm Kirton, Mike Stewart and John's childhood friend R. Anthony Lee. Byron Coley contributed a poem about John, and Douglas Blazek's 1967 interview with Fahey is published for the first time. Released 10 years after John Fahey's death, this set puts one of the final puzzle pieces of Fahey's career in place. Everyone can now hear where this guitar legend got his start -- a smoky basement in Frederick, Maryland. Co-produced by Dean Blackwood of Revenant, Glenn Jones, and Lance Ledbetter of Dust-to-Digital, this set is released with the support of Joe Bussard and the John Fahey Estate. The set is dedicated to John's mother, Jane C. Hayes and the late musician Jack Rose. Includes a 88-page hardcover book with 5 CDs in a separate gatefold portfolio -- all housed in a deluxe slipcase. Book measurements: 12 x 12 x 1.25 inches
5 CD + Book set for $80


ABNER JAY - Folk Song Stylist (Mississippi 68; USA) "Long awaited follow up to the True Story of Abner Jay LP. Abner Jay was a man who had a grand sweeping vision of what folk music was. In his lifetime his expression of what folk music could be encompassed some serious stylistic variations. Sometimes he was a one man band traveling troubadour playing an electric banjo, harmonica, & drums who tried to hoodwink audiences into believing that he was 150 years old & the standard bearer for authentic Americana. Sometimes he played in electric straight up R&B bands such as 'Koko Joe & the Jobhunters'. Sometimes he claimed to be the 'black Bob Dylan' strumming an acoustic guitar & singing socially conscious urban folk. On this LP we find Abner in all of these modes & more. (He also does a pop song about a submarine disaster & a beautiful gospel song).
Culled from a mix of Abners' 45's & LPs spanning the period 1964-1973, including Abner's first long lost LP, which we reproduced the cover image for this LP from. We hope that this release will help to further the current wave of understanding that Abner Jay is an important artist who deserves a wider audience than he ever received during his lifetime. Comes with a self promotional pamphlet penned by Abner & a color photo of Abner. Housed in an old school tip on sleeve. We are very proud to get this incredibly hard to find material out into the world."
LP $15

ABNER JAY - True Story Of Abner Jay (Mississippi 36; USA) "Compilation culled from Abners' self released LPs & 7"s featuring hits such as 'I'm So Depressed,' 'Cocaine', 'Vietnam,' & 'The Reason Young People Do Drugs.' Abner Jay was a one-man band singer/songwriter deserving of a wider listening audience than he received in his day. This is the first vinyl release of his material since the 1970s. Great soulful folk & R&B music. LPs include a press photo of Abner, transcriptions of his spoken word pieces, a reproduction of an informative pamphlet about Abner & a press statement penned by Abner himself. Tip-on jacket."
LP $18


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LOTS OF '7 FOR 6' SALE ITEMS BELOW!
where noted


Last Copies of Defunct [R.I.P. 1996] Enemy label CDs
..just two to five copies for most titles!

SONNY SHARROCK BAND With MELVIN GIBBS/ABE SPELLER/PHEEROAN AkLAFF/BILL LASWELL - Seize the Rainbow (Enemy 104; Germany) The follow-up to Sonny Sharrock's entirely solo comeback album, Guitar, Seize the Rainbow puts the guitarist at the helm of a rock-styled power trio featuring bassist Melvin Gibbs and Abe Speller and Pheeroan akLaff on drums (producer Bill Laswell also plays bass on one cut). The overall sound of the album is surprisingly straightforward, heavy metal-tinged jazz-rock, though the caliber and taste of the musicians makes it something far more than what rock guitar virtuosos of the period were recording. Still, there isn't too much way-out craziness, aside from some of Sharrock's trademark slide-guitar explorations on the spiritual title track and the riff-driven rockers "Dick Dogs" and "Sheraserhead's Hightop Sneakers." For the most part, Sharrock's playing on Seize the Rainbow is more concerned with melodic themes and traditional single-note solo lines than textural experiments. Fortunately, his tone is still gloriously skronky, and his playing is no less passionate. Bill Laswell's production is bright and immediate, and the rhythm section's agility breathes a spark into the straight-up rock rhythms they're often asked to play. Sonny Sharrock's 2nd-to-last great studio effort (check out the great 'Ask The Ages' recording with Pharoah Sanders from 1993, now sadly out-of-print as well) with Laswell helping him focus his best efforts in the studio.
[two copies left]
CD $25 (Out of print, but we have it!)

SONNY SHARROCK BAND With MELVIN GIBBS/ABE SPELLER/PHEEROAN AkLAFF et al - Live In New York (Enemy 108; Germany) Recorded live at the old Knitting Factory in New York City, this disc showcases the late Sonny Sharrock in his garage-y rock band incarnation, a different kettle of fish for those familiar with his early jazz roles or his later incendiary work with Last Exit. The results are better than his earlier, more obscure trio date on Marge largely due to the far superior rhythm section of bassist Melvin Gibbs and drummers Abe Speller and Pheeroan akLaff, but they're also marred by Dave Snyder's schlocky keyboards and Ron Cartel's pedestrian vocals on two of the pieces. Sharrock seemed to vacillate throughout his career between the ecstatic free jazz epiphanies he produced in the '60s with Pharoah Sanders (or in the '80s along with his partner Peter Brotzmann) and the simpler, bluesier feel of bands like this one. If what you're after is an above-average bar band with an at times amazing guitarist and a consistently solid rhythm section, Live in New York will do just fine. Listeners who came to expect something on a more inspired level will have to content themselves with nearly contemporary albums like his solo venture 'Guitar' or band effort 'Seize the Rainbow (both also on Enemy) or the stellar Ask the Ages. -- Brian Olewnick
CD $20 (Out of print, but we have it!)

SONNY SHARROCK BAND With DAVE SNIDER/CHARLES BALDWIN/LANCE CARTER/ABE SPELLER - Highlife (Enemy 119; Germany) Highlife was Sonny Sharrock's first studio album in three years, and it bore witness to several slight modifications in the guitarist's approach. Gone were bassist Melvin Gibbs and drummer Pheeroan akLaff, who had moved on to other projects; they were replaced by Charles Baldwin and Lance Carter, respectively, who joined additional drummer Abe Speller. Dave Snider's Korg synthesizer also makes its studio debut (he had appeared on the Live in New York set), which immediately makes the overall ensemble sound simultaneously brighter and tinnier. Even past the added timbre of the keyboards, Sharrock seems to be searching for ways to push his music forward, as he begins going farther afield for material and revisiting his past in the process. In addition to three full-fledged originals, he covers two traditional folk songs, the West African standard "Highlife" (learned in one of his earliest gigs with drummer Babatunde Olatunji) and the Harry Belafonte-associated "All My Trials"; he adapts several themes from Kate Bush's prog pop hit "Wuthering Heights" into "Kate"; and he returns to his legendary appearance on Pharoah Sanders' Tauhid album with a medley of two Sanders themes, "Venus/Upper Egypt." It's fascinatingly eclectic, but the results are undercut to a degree by all the keyboard polish, which tends to rob Sharrock's most furious licks of a certain element of danger (even if it does occasionally bring out his more playful and spiritual sides). In the end, Highlife is something of a transitional album, catching Sharrock in the midst of figuring out where to take his music next, yet that searching quality makes it a compelling listen for fans. ~ Steve Huey, AMG
CD $16 (Out of print, but we have it!)

ELLIOTT SHARP/CARBON With ZEENA PARKINS/DAVID WEINSTEIN et al - Tocsin (Enemy 134; Germany) "TOCSIN was mostly song-structures with very little formality - I had decided that CARBON should not hew to any specific agenda but should be the carrier of many mutant strains. Central to the bands sound was the use of extended timbres - sometimes to orchestrate a melodic or harmonic idea, sometime to function as the entire sonic hook. To today's ears, a pungent sound can function just as a catchy melody or lyric refrain once did." - E Sharp
Musicians: Electric harp: Zeena Parkins; Electric bass: Marc Sloan; Drums, percussion: Joseph Trump; Sampler: David Weinstein; Doubleneck guitarbass, sampler, lapsteel, soprano sax, ac guitar: E#
"Tocsin, like several albums he released around this period, showcases Elliott Sharp's more rock-oriented side, featuring fairly short tracks with strutting rhythms and (for him) catchy hooks. The opener, "Raptor," as well as "My Blood Is Boiling," sound like something smuggled in from a Blind Idiot God session (BIG member Ted Epstein is, in fact, thanked in the notes accompanying the disc) with their surging bassline and over-the-top guitar work. Other tracks vary somewhat from the dark, malevolent strain that normally is part and parcel of a Sharp album; "Sockets" even gets into some P-Funk style grooves (!). Much of the rest is the sort of roiling, aggressive music Sharp fans were accustomed to, if a bit slicker than the earlier incarnations of Carbon (like I/S/M) where roughness and lack of sharp edges were valued. The leader displays considerable chops, especially on pieces like "Big Lie," where he shows himself the equal of any number of more celebrated pickers, but perhaps takes too much of the spotlight; one wishes to have heard more up-front contributions from the fine harpist Zeena Parkins, for example. Still, Tocsin is probably one of Sharp's most accessible projects, quite handsomely recorded and one that most rock fans would have little trouble enjoying. Listeners hoping for something on the more visceral level of his Larynx, for example, would be better served looking elsewhere." - Brian Olewnick
CD $16 (Out of print, but we have it!)

FRICTION [RECK/HIGO HIROSHI/SATO MINORU/SERIGANO] + JOHN ZORN - Replicant Walk (Enemy 109; Germany) Originally released in 1988, Replicant Walk, the third studio album by Japanese punk/no wave pioneers Friction, finds the band during one of the more chaotic phases of its career, with bassist/vocalist Reck by this time the only remaining member of either the original lineup or the "classic" 1980 incarnation after the departure of founding member and fellow ex-Contortions bandmate Chico-Hige the previous year. Though lacking the scratchy, raw edge that made the band's earliest recordings so compelling, the songs themselves still retain the band's inherent harshness and brutality, with Reck barking and ranting out his lyrics rather than singing, and walking-pace mechanical rhythms and repetitive guitars dominating the sound (reflecting the album title's concept). Lacking Chico-Hige's occasional saxophone, experimental jazz legend and frequent patron of Japanese underground music John Zorn makes his presence felt in that role, contributing to a few tracks (most notably "Bad Luck") and helping to ensure that it has enough spark and imagination to show band still has some considerable life in it.
CD $20 (Out of print, but we have it!)

UNIVERSAL CONGRESS OF - The Sad And Tragic Demise Of Big Fine Hot Salty Black Wind (Enemy 117; Germany) Joe Baiza: guitar, vocals; Steve Moss: tenor, backing vocals on (1); Bob Fitzer: bass; Paul Lines: drums; Elliott Sharp (10,11): guitar on (10), lapsteel guitar on (11).
I think that after this record's hot opening track, "Freight Train," and anyone would want to hang around to hear more. Sad and Tragic Demise..., along with being one of the most cumbersome titles in rock history, is a winning mixture of funky backbeats, jazz dissonance, and twisting and turning rock & roll. Baiza spends more time than usual singing on this record, and that's not always a good thing -- his vocal range is limited as is his expressiveness -- but his quirky, understated guitar playing shows the influences of Blood Ulmer, Sonny Sharrock and James Brown's great guitarist Jimmy Nolen and is what makes up for his enthusiastic, but limited singing. Tracks like "Tight Heat," "Uh Huh," and "Small World" are little gems that bob and weave around grooves so tight you couldn't pry them apart with a crowbar. While this record may disappoint those hoping for more spacious, flexible, expansive "jams," for those who like the splank sound of a thumb popping a bass string, or the crisp bang of a snare drum, UCO delivers the goods, and then some. - John Dougan
CD $16 (Out of print, but we have it!)

also including these Enemy CDs on our

...'7 for 6' SALE LIST!

UNIVERSAL CONGRESS OF - The Eleventh Hour Shine On (Enemy 136; Germany) Eleventh-Hour Shine On represents Universal Congress Of's most serious jazz excursion; in fact, almost no traces of the group's garage origins remain. Despite the inclusion of material by Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, the music here is less free-form than on earlier Congress records; founders Joe Baiza and Steve Moss both opt for clean, focused sounds. Not gone, however, is the group's sense of humor, which keeps the album well outside of the traditional jazz realm. - Jason Ankeny
CD $12 7 for 6 SALE. (Out of print, but we have it!)

MANU DIBANGO - Afrijazzy + Makossa '87 (Big Blow) (Enemy 137; Germany) Amazingly good Dibango album from 1987 is coupled on this CD with his hit Bill Laswell 17-minute 12" production of "Makossa '87 (Big Blow)" w/Bootsy Collins, Nicky Skopelitis, Herbie Hancock, Sly & Robbie, Ayib Dieng & the Soul Makossa Gang!
CD $12 7 for 6 SALE. (Out of print, but we have it!)

DEFUNKT [JOE BOWIE/KIM CLARKE/BILL BICKFORD et al] With Guests VERNON REID/KELVYN BELL/RONNIE DRAYTON/MELVIN GIBBS - Live And Reunified: Knitting Factory 1991 (Enemy 145; Germany) Reunion of the original killer lineup [Bill Bickford/Kim Clarke/Kenny Martin] live from December 15th '91 with special guests as above!
CD $12 7 for 6 SALE. (Out of print, but we have it!)

DEFUNKT [JOE BOWIE] SPECIAL EDITION With JEAN-PAUL BOURELLY//MUDDY WATERS/JIMI HENDRIX - A Blues Tribute: Muddy Waters And Jimi Hendrix (Enemy 148; Germany) 1994 covers of six songs each from Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix with a lineup that includes Kelli Sae vocals, J-P Bourelly guitar, Ronnie Mac Jenkins bass, Alfredo Alias drums, and mainman funkmeister Joseph on trombone and vocals!!!
CD $12 7 for 6 SALE. (Out of print, but we have it!)

LIQUID HIPS [JOHN MULKERKIN/BILL BICKFORD et al] - Fool Injection (Enemy 138; Germany) John Mulkerin - vocals and trumpet; Bill Bickford - guitar; Jeff McErlain - guitar; Kip Reed - bass; Rob Reynolds - samples, percussion, backing vocals; Kenny Martin - drums. A side-project of Defunkt's Bill Bickford
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE. (Out of print, but we have it!)

LIQUID HIPS [JOHN MULKERKIN/BILL BICKFORD et al] - Rageaholic (Enemy 154; Germany) John Mulkerin - vocals and trumpet; Bill Bickford - guitar; Jeff McErlain - guitar; Kip Reed - bass; Rob Reynolds - samples, percussion, backing vocals; Kenny Martin - drums Heavy Metal grooves roll under popping basslines and funky rhymes. Strap on your Oakley sunglasses and rule the pit!
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE. (Out of print, but we have it!)

THE KILLER SHREWS [JOHN LANGFORD/GARY LUCAS/TONY MAIMONE] - The Killer Shrews (Enemy 141; Germany) The Killer Shrews were a short-lived trio with a remarkable avant-rock pedigree. Singer/guitarist Jon Langford led both the Mekons and the even scrappier Three Johns. Lead guitarist Gary Lucas had been both manager and bandleader for Captain Beefheart in the final years of the Magic Band, largely responsible for the musical direction of the Captain's classic last two albums, Doc at the Radar Station and Ice Cream for Crow. Bassist Tony Maimone was a founding member of Pere Ubu and his own experimental trio Drumhead, as well as an adjunct member of bands ranging from the Red Crayola to They Might Be Giants. (Langford's fellow Mekon Steve Goulding played the drums; Langford, Lucas, and Maimone shared songwriting duties.) On their sole album, recorded in a four-day session in August 1993 at Dave Trumfio's Kingsize Sound Laboratories in Chicago, the Killer Shrews mix up punky noise, country blues, avant-garde weirdness, and pure country in a way that recalls all three Shrews' other bands without one member's contributions overshadowing the others. ~ Stewart Mason, AMG
CD $12 7 for 6 SALE. (Out of print, but we have it!)

24-7 SPYZ - Temporarily Disconnected (Enemy 150; Germany) The 24-7 Spyz combination of soul, funk, jazz, and metal on display throughout 1995's Temporarily Disconnected is by no means a breakthrough for the group or its fans. After following Living Colour into the metal-as-practiced-by-black-musicians void, 24-7 Spyz tried mightily to not only avoid the predictable stereotypes, but also had to overcome comparisons to the one and only group that ever made a serious and successful effort at what they were also attempting. All preconceptions aside, if the particular brand of eclectic hard rock or metal that 24-7 Spyz practiced didn't sound like Living Colour -- soaring, soulful vocals laid over angular, jazz-inflected metal riffing with only occasional references to the Black Sabbath chordings from which so many Caucasian outfits draw their rhythmic influence -- then nothing did. There are some hard-driving metal standouts like "Fire and Water" and "Heart of Fire," but the almost wave-ish soft jazz of "Choose Me" -- while brilliantly executed -- would certainly confound even open-minded metal fans. The jagged musical gifts that this band possesses are on full display on this record,
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE. (Out of print, but we have it!)

ROYAL CRESCENT MOB - Good Lucky Killer: Live 1993 (Enemy 143; Germany) In early 1985, the Red Hot Chili Peppers took a swing through Ohio, and within a matter of mere months, the city of Columbus produced the Royal Crescent Mob. "The R.C. Mob," as they were affectionately known to fans, was an appropriate moniker in that they were to the Red Hot Chili Peppers what Royal Crown Cola once was to Coke; similar in taste but different, some preferred Royal Crown to Coke. The Mob, main members being singer David Ellison, guitarist B. Emch, and bassist Harold "Happy" Chichester, were a force to be reckoned with in the Midwestern American club scene of the late '80s, routinely packing houses beyond capacity and regaling enthusiastic crowds with a tightly played and highly appealing blend of punk and funk.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE. (Out of print, but we have it!)

MECOLODIACS [JOE BAIZA/RAFA GORODETSKY/TONY CICERO] - Mecolodiacs (Enemy 147; Germany) The Mecolodiacs were a three-piece Jazz-Funk band, consisting of Joe Baiza (guitar), Rafa Gorodetsky (bass) and partly Tony Cicero [or Wayne Griffin on the 2nd album] on drums.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE. (Out of print, but we have it!)



Hard-To-Get Jazz CDs from Music & Arts!

ANTHONY BRAXTON/GINO ROBAIR - Duets (1987) (Music & Arts 1026; USA) recorded at Cal State Hayward. Anthony Braxton's collaboration with composer/percussionist Gino Robair, Duets 1987, features pieces written by both musicians, separately and collaboratively. Braxton's and Robair's intricate, layered approaches to playing complement each other on this collection of innovative avant-jazz works, such as "Improvisation and Prelude" and "Ballad for the Children." -- Heather Phares, AMG
CD $15 (Out of print, but we have it!)

ANTHONY BRAXTON PIANO QUARTET With MARTY EHRLICH/JOE FONDA/ARTHUR FULLER - Braxton Piano Quartet Plays Standard Jazz Classics [4 CD set] (Music & Arts 4 849; USA) Live from the fabled 1994 summer concerts at Yoshi's Nitespot in Oakland, California, the Anthony Braxton Piano Quartet plays 27 classics of post-war jazz by such giants as Coltrane, Gillespie, Monk, Brubeck, Mulligan, Miles Davis, Dolphy and others, interpreted by Marty Ehrlich, winds; Joe Fonda, bass; Arthur Fuller, percussion; and Anthony Braxton, piano.
4 CD set for $60 (Out of print, but we have it!)

JANE BUNNETT QUINTET With DON PULLEN/BILLY HART et al - Live At Sweet Basil (Music & Arts 4 828; USA) with Larry Kramer, Kieran Overs, Don Pullen, Billy Hart. Jane Bunnett's first live album finds the talented reedist (who doubles on soprano and flute) leading a quintet comprised of trumpeter Larry Cramer, pianist Don Pullen, bassist Kieran Overs and drummer Billy Hart. The group stretches out on three Bunnett compositions, one apiece by Cramer (a remake of "In Dew Time") and Pullen (a nearly 16-minute "Double Arc Jake") and the standard "You Don't Know What Love Is." The solos are consistently stimulating and the music (which ranges from advanced hard bop to free sections) always holds on to one's attention.
CD $13

JANE BUNNETT/DON PULLEN - New York Duets (Music & Arts 4 629; USA) This strong outing matches together Jane Bunnett on soprano and flute and the great pianist Don Pullen. The adventurous music holds on to the tradition of chordal improvisation yet is also quite free in spots. Pullen's rhythmic playing makes his solos seem more accessible and traditional than they really were and it is to Bunnett's great credit that she keeps up with him. In addition to six of their originals, the duo performs a pair of complex Thelonious Monk songs ("Bye-Ya" and "Little Rootie Tootie") and a Cuban theme "For Merceditas." Thought-provoking and unpredictable music. - Scott Yanow
CD $13

ANDREW CYRILLE & VLADIMIR TARASOV - Galaxies: Duets (Music & Arts 4 672; USA) With Jeanne Lee, vocal; Marilyn Crispell, piano; Michelle Navazio, guitar; Don Byron, clarinets; Gerry Hemingway, percussion; Reggie Workman, bass (recorded January and July 1989 at The Knitting Factory, New York City). - An amazing set!
CD $15 (Out of print, but we have it!)

DUKE ELLINGTON - Ontario 1954 [2 CD set] (Music & Arts 1051; USA)
2 CD set for $18

DUKE ELLINGTON With CLARK TERRY/JOHNNY HODGES et al - Live From The 1956 Stratford Festival (Music & Arts 4 616; USA) A never-before-released collection of Ellington recordings of: Hark the Duke's Trumpets! (Ellington), featuring Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Ray Nance and W. Cook, trumpets; Harlem Air Schaft (Ellington), featuring Clark Terry, trumpet; Clarinet Melodrama (J. Hamilton), featuring Jimmy Hamilton, clarinet & Jimmy Woode, bass; Theme Trambene (J. Hamilton), featuring Britt Woodman, trombone; Sophisticated Lady (Ellington), featuring Harry Carney, baritone saxophone; Take the 'A' Train (Billy Strayhorn), featuring Ray Nance, vocal & Paul Gonsalves, tenor saxophone; La Virgen De La Macarena (traditional bullfighter's song), featuring Cat Anderson, trumpet; Pretty and The Wolf (also known as Monologue) (Ellington), featuring Duke Ellington, narrator, with J. Hamilton, R. Procope & H. Carney, clarinets; I Got It Bad, and That Ain't Good (Ellington & Paul Webster), featuring Johnny Hodges, alto sax; Harlem Suite (Ellington). With Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Ray Nance and W. Cook, trumpets; Quentin Jackson, Britt Woodman & John Sanders, trombone; J. Hodges, R. Procope, J. Hamilton, P. Gonsalves and H. Carney, reeds; D. Ellington, piano; J. Woode, bass & Sam Woodyard, drums. [AAD] Total Time: 54:31.
CD $15 (Out of print, but we have it!)

DUKE ELLINGTON - Basin Street 1964: Complete Concert (Music & Arts 4 908; USA)
CD $15 (Out of print, but we have it!)

LISLE ELLIS BAND With JOE McPHEE/PETER APFELBAUM/MARCO ENEIDI/DANA REASON - Children in Peril (Music & Arts 1016; USA) Children in Peril Suite by L.S. (formerly Lisle) Ellis is a suite of tone poems in two parts, conceived as an offering for all children who have suffered. Performed by L.S. Ellis, bass, with Joe McPhee, Marco Eneidi, and Peter Apfelbaum, winds, and Dana Reason, piano
CD $13

BEN GOLDBERG/TREVOR DUNN/ELLIOT HUMBERTO KAVEE - Here By Now (Music & Arts 1004; USA)
CD $13

DENNIS GONZALEZ/DALLAS-LONDON SEXTET [ELTON DEAN/KEITH TIPPETT/LOUIS MOHOLO/ROB BLAKESLEE/KIM CORBET] - Catechism: The Names We Are Known By (Music & Arts 4 913; USA) ECM still hasn't issued the Elton Dean Quintet LP from their JAPO sub-label on CD, but Dennis Gonzalez brought them over almost intact to make this phenomenal recording: Dennis Gonzalez, trumpet; Keith Tippett, piano; Elton Dean, sax; Rob Blakeslee, trumpet; Marcio Mattos, bass; Louis Moholo, drums; and Kim Corbet, trombone. Six songs by Dennis Gonzalez and one by Gerard Bendiks - superb!
CD $15 (Out of print, but we have it!)

JOSEPH JARMAN/GLENN HORIUCHI/FRANCIS WONG - Pachinko Dream Track 10 (Music & Arts 1040; USA) w/ Glenn Horiuchi on piano & shimsen, Francis Wong on tenor, flute & erhu and Elliot Humberto Kavee on percussion, recorded live at the Annual Asian-American Jazz Festival in San Francisco. Both Glenn and Francis claimed to have been influenced immensely by the AACM & the Art Ensemble, both of which Joseph had once been a part of. Joseph had quit music for three years beginning in 1993 and had become a Buddhist, this concert was recorded just months after his return to music making with a completely new attitude towards playing. This release consists of four long pieces that all unfold slowly. All flows in a natural way, like fish swimming in a clean, clear river. Both reed players have a purity of tone, a relaxed quality often shines through. Elliot's frenzied section for gongs, never pushes things too far, keeping the balance from erupting too far. On the title track, we get a hilarious spoken vocal by Jarman about the winning of a pachinko (gambling) game in which the audience members are called down to pick up their prizes. The music finally soars as the horns, piano and percussion swirl like spirits being set free. - BLG
CD $13

STAN KENTON - Broadcast Transcriptions 1941-1945 (Music & Arts 4 883; USA) 30 of Stan Kenton's best World War II broadcast transcriptions, digitally refurbished by audio wizard Lowell Cross in the best possible sound. 78 minutes
CD $13

NEWBAND//DEAN DRUMMOND/ANNE LeBARON/ELIZABETH BROWN/HARRY PARTCH - Dance Of The Seven Veils (Music & Arts 4 931; USA) This collection of works by four American composers all centers around the inclusion of one of the principals' instruments and pitch system. Harry Partch, whose "Castor and Pollux" from 1952 opens this album, invented a 43 tone per octave tuning system, which is at the heart of every recording on this set, so gorgeously and bravely performed by the New Band and conductor/composer Dean Drummond. The other two composers featured, Anne LeBaron and Elizabeth Brown, have grafted Partch's system and fixtures onto the use of Western instruments in their tributes to the late maestro. The opening work by Partch employs his bell-like diamond marimba and the huge, deep, bass marimba, as well as his cloud temple bowls and various stringed kitharas. Unusual microtonal patterns emerge from "Castor and Pollux," offering a hyper-extended use of rhythm as melody, and the inverse setting of stringed instruments becoming accompaniment to percussion instruments. It's a hypnotic, haunting, repetitive work that foreshadows the current obsession (in the 21st century) with microtonalism. In Guggenheim Fellow LeBaron's "Southern Ephemera," she employs flute, alto flute, and cello with Partch's surrogate kithara and harmonic canon, and employs the 43 tone per octave scale to create fragmentary, interwoven passages of memory and song styles indigenous to the South, from gospel hymns to the music of Stephen Foster to deep Delta blues. As her music moves from one phase to the next, the familiar becomes something new, as that which is truly new becomes inextricably linked to the past. Brown's "Archipelago" uses the bell-like zoomoomaphone (two of them), the diamond marimba, and surrogate kithara with flutes, cello, and synthesizer to create a somber, ethereal swell of strings, percussion, and microtonal wind and bell sounds that sweeps past lonely vistas of sound and evokes large empty spaces. Finally, Drummond's own "Dance of the Seven Veils," which employs no less than 20 of Partch's instruments, along with a cello and a flute, creates a wild, ever-changing soundscape of tonal ambience and striking melodic suggestion that opens the door onto a hidden world of sound, texture, and color, evoking the suspension of time and space while inside his composition. The New Band finds all of the material compelling, and there isn't a staid performance in the bunch. This music, created and inspired by and in tribute to him, is still very much a part of the musical future, not only in America, but also throughout the world. Never has there been a musical document that so completely charts as well as reveals his influence. - Thom Jurek
CD $15 (Out of print, but we have it!)

KEVIN NORTON ENSEMBLE With DAVID BINDMAN/BOB DeBELLIS/TOMAS ULRICH/JOE FONDA - Knots (Music & Arts 1033; USA) Eleven compositions by Kevin Norton (Knots; Hammer or Anvil?; Three Movements for Solo and Ensemble: Three Lives; Strange Way to Say Goodbye; Camus' Question; Woods; Walking the Dogma; In Balance; Barking Hoop; Ringing Impulse; Asa Nisi Masa) and two by Thelonious Monk (Epistrophy and Brilliant Corners) performed by Kevin Norton, percussion; David Bindman, tenor sax and clarinet; Tomas Ulrich, cello; Bob DeBellis, alto sax and clarinet and bass clarinet; Joe Fonda, bass; David Krakauer, clarinet.
"A most impressive first effort for this quintet. Kevin Norton is one of our finest percussionists and composers, continually popping up in demanding situations, from Fred Frith's Keep the Dog to various recent Anthony Braxton projects. He has a fine trio cd on CIMP with Curlew's George Cartwright, but this his second date as a leader is superb for all of it's 72 minute journey. His ensemble features David Bindman (smoking trio cd w/ drummer Ehran Elisha on CIMP) and Bob DeBellis (various Phillip Johnston releases) on saxes & clarinets, Tomas Ulrich (Walter Thompson Big Band) on cello and the ever-solid & propulsive Joe Fonda (also various Braxton units) on acoustic bass. Kevin has done an outstanding job of arranging all and composing all but two of these pieces. The two non-originals are both Monk tunes-refreshingly different takes on "Epistrophy" and "Brilliant Corners"! This quintet often remind me of Eric Dolphy's 'Out to Lunch" unit masterwork-with Tony Williams & Richard Davis-like finesse. Both Kevin & Joe Fonda constantly spin tight webs around the robust harmonies of tenor & alto sax, clarinet & bass clarinet and cello. This music moves from suspenseful to quick-witted, somewhere between modern acoustic jazz and contemporary classical streams. One of the delights of this release is "Three Movements for Solo and Ensemble" which features guest clarinet hero-Dave Krakauer. As always, Krakauer wails throughout magnificently while both saxes play as one force due to Norton's fine composing. Excellent, well conceived & challenging!" - BLG
CD $13

ORBIT [ROB BROWN/HEINZ GEISSER/GUERINO MAZZOLA] - Orbit (Music & Arts 1015; USA) The seven fairly free compositions on this set (which are all credited to pianist Guerino Mazzola and percussionist Heinz Greisser) feature plenty of interplay between Mazzola, Greisser, and altoist-flutist Rob Brown. There are many introspective and spacy moments and only a few stretches where there is a lot of fire and chemistry generated. Depending on one's mood, these group improvisations are either fascinating or a bit dull, often alternating between the two extremes. This is a set that grows in interest with each listen.. - Scott Yanow
CD $13

IVO PERELMAN QUARTET With MARILYN CRISPELL/WILLIAM PARKER/GERRY HEMINGWAY - Sound Hierarchy (Music & Arts 4 997; USA) Four lengthy collective works by The Ivo Perelman Quartet: Frozen Tears, Sound Hierarchy, Datchki Dandara, and Fragments. The Quartet consists of Ivo Perelman, tenor sax and mouthpiece; Marilyn Crispell, piano; Gerry Hemingway, drums and voice; and William Parker, bass.
"If Sound Hiearchy leaves you feeling like you've just consumed ten cups of extra-strong coffee, it's because of the element of density. While Roscoe Mitchell and his many admirers in the AACM have made extensive use of space when exploring "the outside" (an approach that is equally interesting, but not as jolting), this outstanding CD is just the opposite. The Sao Paulo native thrives on density, and he uses it to such an extent on Sound Hiearchy that the listener doesn't get a chance to catch his/her breath. Perelman is joined by pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist William Parker and drummer Gerry Hemingway, and the quartet spares no passion whatsoever as it rips into such atonal pieces as "Frozen Tears," "Datchki Dandara" and "Fragments." Short of Charles Gayle, you won't find any 1990s avant-garde jazz that is more incendiary, ferocious and violent than Sound Hierarchy. Music this blistering obviously isn't for everyone, but for those who enjoy free jazz that takes not a single prisoner, this disc is highly recommended." - Alex Henderson
CD $15 (Out of print, but we have it!)

POSITIVE KNOWLEDGE [OLUYEMI THOMAS et al] - Invocation #9 (Music & Arts 4 909; USA) Five improvisational pieces performed by free jazz artists Oluyemi Thomas, winds, Ijeoma Thomas, vocals, and Spirit, percussion. Recorded live at Yoshi's Nitespot, Oakland, 30 June 1994.
CD $15 (Out of print, but we have it!)

JOE ROSENBERG'S AFFINITY - Plays Ornette Coleman's Little Symphony and Other Modern Jazz Classics: Braxton/Konitz/Dolphy/Monk/Fuller/Morgan (Music & Arts 4 834; USA) Afrique (Lee Morgan), Composition 40B (Anthony Braxton), Subconsciouslee (Lee Konitz), Three Blind Mice (Curtis Fuller), Little Symphony (Ornette Coleman), After (Ellis Marsalis), Miss Ann (Eric Dolphy), Evidence (Thelonious Monk) & Composition 58 (Anthony Braxton). Joe Rosenberg, soprano saxophone; Rob Sudduth, tenor saxophone; Richard Saunders, acoustic bass; Bobby Lurie, percussion. [DDD] Total time: 45:49.
CD $15 (Out of print, but we have it!)

STRING TRIO OF NEW YORK [JAMES EMERY/JOHN LINDBERG/REGINA DAVIS] With ANTHONY DAVIS - Anthony Davis' Happy Valley Blues + Ellington/Monk/Mingus (Music & Arts 4 994; USA)
CD $13

ART TATUM - The Standard Sessions: 1935-1943 Broadcast Transcriptions [2 CD set] (Music & Arts 4 919; USA) (Re-mastered & enlarged version of CD-673)
61 solo piano pieces recorded in New York City in 1935, 1938, 1939 and 1943 by Art Tatum for broadcast transcriptions. An outstanding collection of some of Tatum's best work, carefully re-mastered to provide the highest quality audio possible from these sources. Mastered from transcription discs which had crackle, clicks, pops and distortion. Disc-to-tape transfer by David Lennick. CEDAR-2 noise reduction by Doug Pomeroy.
2 CD set for $18 (Out of print, but we have it!)

ART TATUM - The Standard Sessions: 1935-1943 Transcription [2 CD set] (Music & Arts 4 673; USA)
2 CD set for $18

PAUL WHITEMAN//GEORGE GERSHWIN - Paul Whiteman Conducts George Gershwin: Live Performances 1934-1948 (Music & Arts 1042; USA) Live performances from New York and Los Angeles, covering the period 1934-1948; including 2 performances of Rhapsody in Blue (with Roy Bargy and Earl Wild, pianists); Dawn of a New Day; They Can't Take That Away From Me; Nice Work If You Can Get It; Love Walked In; Second Rhapsody (with Roy Bargy, piano); Clap Your Hands; Do It Again; I Got Rhythm; Somebody Loves Me: Mischa, Jascha, Toscha, Sascha; An American In Paris; Cuban Overture; and others. AAD. Total time: 79 minutes
CD $13

REGGIE WORKMAN ENSEMBLE With MARILYN CRISPELL/JEANNE LEE - Images (Music & Arts 4 634; USA) With Jeanne Lee, vocal; Marilyn Crispell, piano; Michelle Navazio, guitar; Don Byron, clarinets; Gerry Hemingway, percussion; Reggie Workman, bass (recorded January and July 1989 at The Knitting Factory, New York City). - An amazing set!
CD $15 (Out of print, but we have it!)


also including these M&A CDs on our

...'7 for 6' SALE LIST!

[Which can be also combined with other '7 for 6' listings in this newsletter!]

COUNT BASIE - Old Manuscripts: Broadcasts From April 1944-1945 (Music & Arts 4 884; USA)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

RAN BLAKE & CHRISTINE CORREA - Roundabout (Music & Arts 4 807; USA) Songs by Vernon Duke, Matt Dennis, Duke Ellington, Kurt Weill, Max Roach, Thelonious Monk, Sam Lewis, Julian Priester, Cole Porter, and others. [DDD]
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

ANTHONY BRAXTON With PETER NICKLAUS WILSON - Eight Duets Hamburg (1991) (Music & Arts 4 710; USA) Compositions Nos. 156, 157, 152, 153, 155, 154, 40A and 157 (take 2) performed by Anthony Braxton, sopranino and alto sax, flute and contrabass clarinet and Peter Nicklaus Wilson, double bass.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

ANTHONY BRAXTON With TED REICHMAN - Duo (1993) At The Leipzig Gewandhus (Music & Arts 4 848; USA) Five compositions by Anthony Braxton (Nos. 86, 101, 136, 167 and 168) performed by Anthony Braxton, winds, with Ted Reichman, accordion and piano. Recorded during a concert given at the Leipzig Gewandhaus on 8 December 1993.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

NAT KING COLE - WW II Transcriptions (Music & Arts 4 808; USA)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

DEBRIS [STEVE NORTON/ARTHUR WEINSTEIN/BOB ROSS/CURT NEWTON] - Rapture In The Church Of Disreputable Dreams (Music & Arts 4 927; USA) Eleven compositions by the performers (Steve Norton, saxophones; Arthor Weinstein, guitars; Bob Ross, basses; and Curt Newton, drums). Produced by the Splatter Trio's Myles Boisen. [DDD] Total Time: 60:38.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

SCOTT FIELDS - Disaster At Sea (Music & Arts 4 961; USA) Disaster at Sea, an Opera Seria for instrumental trio, composed by Scott Fields. With Scott Fields, electric guitar and dobro, Vincent Davis, drum kit and bongos, and Matt Turner, cello and mandocello.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

SCOTT FIELDS ENSEMBLE With MARILYN CRISPELL/LARRY OCHS/MATT TURNER - Stephen Dembski's Sonotropism (Music & Arts 1007; USA) "Sonotropism," a long composition by Stephen Dembski, and three brief collective works performed by Marilyn Crispell, piano; Scott Fields, electric guitar; Larry Ochs, sopranino and tenor saxophones; and Matt Turner, cello.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

VINNY GOLIA QUINTET With ROB BLAKESLEE/TAD WEED/MICHAEL BISIO/BILLY MINTZ - Dante No Longer Repents: In Seattle (Music & Arts 4 992; USA) Five Compositions by Vinny Golia. Performed by Vinny Golia, winds, Rob Blakeslee, trumpet, flugelhorn & cornet, Tad Weed, piano, Michael Bisio, bass, and Billy Mintz, drums & percussion.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

DENNIS GONZALEZ With ANDREW CYRILLE/NELS CLINE/MARK HEWINS/ALEX CLINE/KEN FILIANO - The Earth and the Heart (Music & Arts 4 960; USA) The Earth and the Heart Suite by Dennis Gonzalez; A Simple Melody by Andrew Cyrille; Mountain City Hidden by Clouds by Alex Cline; Two for Mr. Bradford by Nels Cline; Overturned! by Gonzalez, Alex Cline, Nels Cline and Ken Filiano; and Everybody Solo by Mark Hewins. With Dennis Gonzalez, trumpet, voice, piano, and fluegelhorn; Andrew Cyrille, drums; Alex Cline, drums, percussion, and synthesizer; Nels Cline and Mark Hewins, guitars; and Ken Filiano, acoustic bass. Total time: 62:38.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

GEORG GRAEWE [GRAWE] - Gedaechtnisspuren (Traces of Memory) - 7 Klavierstucke: San Francisco 1995 Concert (Music & Arts 4 968; USA) 7 Piano Pieces. One of Graewe's rare solo recitals, given 8 July 1995 in San Francisco.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

ART HODES With KENNY DAVERN/JIM GALLOWAY - The Final Sessions: Americana With Art Hodes (Music & Arts 4 782; USA) From the last live concert and studio sessions of Art Hodes, piano with Kenny Davern, clarinet, and Jim Galloway, soprano saxophone.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

ART HODES/JIM GALLOWAY - Live! From Toronto's Cafe Des Copains (Music & Arts 4 610; USA) Art Hodes piano, Jim Galloway saxophone
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

GLENN HORIUCHI ENSEMBLE - Hilltop View (Music & Arts 4 935; USA)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

GLENN HORIUCHI TRIO & QUARTET With JOSEPH JARMAN - Mercy (Music & Arts 4 962; USA) Includes seven compositions by Glenn Horiuchi, performed by the Glenn Horiuchi Trio: Glenn Horiuchi, piano/voice; Roberto Miranda, bass; Jeanette Wrate, drums; and an extended collective composition by the Jarman/Horiuchi/Wong Quartet, featuring Joseph Jarman, alto sax, Eb flute, shakuhachi, conch shell, hand percussion, and vocals; Glenn Horiuchi, piano, shamisen, hand percussion, and vocals; Francis Wong, tenor sax, flute, erhu, hand percussion, and vocals; and Elliot Humberto Kavee, trap drums, gongs, and cello.

CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

BILL HORVITZ BAND With STEVE ADAMS/JOSEPH SABELLA - Dust Devil (Music & Arts 4 993; USA) Six compositions by Bill Horvitz performed by Steve Adams, saxophones/bass flute; Joseph Sabella, drums; and Bill Horvitz, guitar.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

JOHN JENSEN - A Treasury Of Mainstream Jazz Piano: Ellington/Coltrane/Monk/Parker/Strayhorn/Coleman (Music & Arts 4 628; USA) solo piano
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

OLIVER LAKE & DONAL LEONELLIS FOX - Boston Duets (Music & Arts 4 732; USA) Oliver Lake, saxophones, and Donald Fox, piano. Nine new compositions by the performers and by Thelonious Monk, performed in a 1989 concert.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

ALLEN LOWE AND THE AMERICAN SONG PROJECT FEATURING ROSWELL RUDD - Dark Was The Night Cold Was The Ground (Music & Arts 4 811; USA) Twelve compositions by Blind Willie Johnson, Allen Lowe, Jack Purvis, Rodgers & Hart, Dizzy Gillespie, King Oliver and Skip James, performed by Allen Lowe, tenor saxophone & guitar, Roswell Rudd, trombone, Jeff Fuller, bass, Ray Kaczynski, drums & Stacy Phillips, national tricone guitar; with Paul Austerlitz, clarinet and bass clarinet and Robert Rumbolz, trumpet.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

PAUL PLIMLEY/LISLE ELLIS/DONALD ROBINSON TRIO - Density Of The Lovestruck Demons (Music & Arts 4 906; USA) Compositions and improvisations by Ornette Coleman and Paul Plimley, performed by Paul Plimley, piano; Lisle Ellis, acoustic bass; and Donald Robinson, trap drums
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

DAN PLONSEY//IVORY BILL - Music For Saxophones (Music & Arts 4 982; USA) Dan Plonsey, an outstanding member of the San Francisco Bay Area's improvisational jazz scene, writes in his liner notes: "Ivory Bill is the first of a planned three volumes of saxophone music. This first volume presents 22 relatively short pieces based upon at least 14 compositional and improvisational methods. The music of Ivory Bill could be taken a series of loosely-related short stories. The tightness of the focus within each individual composition and indeed the scope of the entire project owes much to the work of Anthony Braxton: his design of music based upon categorization of saxophone "languages" has led to an incredible array of diverse musical happenings."
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

ROOM [CHRIS BROWN/LARRY OCHS/WILLIAM WINANT/SCOTT GRESHAM-LANCASTER] - Hall Of Mirrors (Music & Arts 4 700; USA) Four exciting new compositions by this internationally acclaimed quartet, featuring Chris Brown, piano, keyboard, percussion and electronic design; Larry Ochs, sopranino and tenor saxophones; William Winant, vibraphone and percussion; Scot Gresham-Lancaster, live electronics and computer. [DDD]
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

JOE ROSENBERG'S AFFINITY - This Is Our Lunch (Music & Arts 4 940; USA) Six compositions by Joe Rosenberg performed by Rosenberg, soprano sax, Rob Sudduth, tenor sax, Michael Silverman, bass, and Bobby Lurie, drums.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

JOE ROSENBERG'S AFFINITY With BUDDY COLLETTE - Tribute To Eric Dolphy (Music & Arts 4 939; USA) Includes Bee Vamp by Booker Little, Booker's Waltz by Eric Dolphy, Ode To Charlie Parker by Jaki Byard, Fire Waltz by Mal Waldron, Mendacity by C. Bayen and Max Roach, and So Long Eric by Charles Mingus; with Buddy Collette, alto sax & flute, Joe Rosenberg, soprano sax, Rob Sudduth, tenor sax, Michael Silverman, bass, and Bobby Lurie, drums.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

JEFF SONG & LOWBROW With CUONG VU/DEAN LAABS et al - The Other Pocket (Music & Arts 4 975; USA) Nine improvisational pieces by Jeff Song and Lowbrow, performed by Song, bass guitars, Michel Gentile, flute, John Mettam, perscussion, Cuong Vu, trumpet, Matt Turner, cello and piano, and Dean Laabs, trumpet
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

TAMBASTICS [ROBERT DICK/MARK DRESSER/GERRY HEMINGWAY/DENMAN MARONEY] - Tambastics (Music & Arts 4 704; USA) Eight pieces composed and performed by Robert Dick on flutes, Mark Dresser on acoustic bass, Gerry Hemingway on percussion, and Denman Maroney on piano.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

ERIC WATSON/JOHN LINDBERG - Soundpost: Works For Piano And Double Bass (Music & Arts 4 920; USA) Two duets by Lindberg ("Soundpost" and "Pluckin' - A Tribute for Pops Foster") and one by Watson ("The Twisted Suite"), followed by a solo by Watson ("Saturations I") and one by Lindberg ("Fiddlesticks").
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

FRANCIS WONG QUARTET With GLENN HORIUCHI/ELLIOT HUMBERTO KAVEE/ROYAL HARTIGAN - Pilgrimage (Music & Arts 4 974; USA) Six compositions by Francis Wong (Pilgrimage, Quartet Pigeons, Taikoism, Bipolar Improvisation and Miniatures) performed by Francis Wong, leader, tenor saxophone, saxophone mouthpiece, shinobue, flute, violin; Glenn Horiuchi, piano, shamisen; Elliot Humberto Kavee, multiple percussion, cello; Royal Hartigan, multiple percussion.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.


also, '7 for 6' Sale items from NimbusWest!..

CURTIS CLARK - Reach, Believe It & Play: Solo Piano (NimbusWest 3924; USA) This American-born, Amsterdam-based pianist, Curtis Clark's 7th disc for the Nimbus West label. After working with David Murray, Billy Bang and Charles Tyler over here, Mr. Clark moved to Amsterdam and has been working with mostly Dutch musicians ever since. Curtis has recorded duo, trio and quintet discs for Nimbus, this being his first solo piano effort. All of the songs are originals by Mr. Clark and show a wealth of ideas and influences. "Boogie Stomp" is dedicated to "Amos & Andy," an early American TV show that had an exaggerated view of black life in the US and was withdrawn due to the racial stereotypes. This piece has warm vibe and covers an early history of jazz and blues-oriented piano styles, with an eye to the future of freer styles. "Monk Me" does have a fine, slightly bent Monkisk style and I dig the way Curtis runs a couple of lines at the same time and then smashes a few more violent chords at certain points. "Renuphee" is an epic-length work that evolves through different sections from the melancholy yet majestic opening to the more silent movie/cinematic mid-section. This piece develops like a story unfolding and sets up a few different scenes as it flows. "Everlasting Love" has an elegant, sublime and haunting vibe and feels romantic in a more subdued way. The last three pieces are connected and sound as if they are part of a suite called, "Reach, Believe It and Play." "Reach" is quietly turbulent and leans towards a dramatic, melodic contour. "Believe It" has a more stark and slightly dark vibe and is enchanting in a way that is difficult to explain. "Play" brings thing to a close with a rich, older, bluesy style that sounds righteous and is a perfect way to bring this rich and historical sounding disc to a fine conclusion. - BLG
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

CURTIS CLARK QUINTET - Live at the Bimhuis (NimbusWest 505; USA) w/ Louis Moholo, Ernst Reijseger, Andy Sheppard & Ernst Glerum! Excellent pianist w/ ICP all-stars!
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

CURTIS CLARK QUINTET With JOHN TCHICAI/ERNST REIJSEGER/ERNST GLERUM/LOUIS MOHOLO - Letter to South Africa (NimbusWest 501; USA) w/ John Tchicai, Ernst Reijseger, Ernst Glerum & Louis Moholo! Very like Brotherhood of Breath!
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

CURTIS CLARK With SEAN BERGIN/LOUIS MOHOLO/TRISTAN HONSINGER etal - Dreams Deferred (NimbusWest 3813; USA) This little gem features two different line-ups, each with Blue Notes/Brotherhood of Breath's drum wizard, Louis Moholo. The trio consists of Curtis Clark on piano, Wayne Dockery on bass and Moholo on drums. They do five tunes by Thelonius Monk, recorded at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam from 1993. The septet is also from 1993, but is a studio recording and features the same trio plus a fine ICP all-star cast with Sean Bergin & Tobias Delius on saxes, Felicity Provan on trumpet and Tristan Honsinger on cello. Curtis Clark is a great American jazz pianist who has lived in Amsterdam for quite a while and recorded with a number of the better Dutch players there. He can be heard on records with David Murray, Charles Tyler and Richard Davis. The trio does a fine job of covering Monk's "Light Blue", "Worry Later/San Francisco Holiday", "Well You Needn't", "Monk's Mood" and "Misterioso". The trio often approaches these tunes with a certain surreal restraint, sometimes slowing them down to a dream-like ambiance. Bassist Dockery is featured in a few sections and adds a lovely melodic undertow, the entire trio has this haunting elegance. The septet do all originals by Mr. Clark, except for one cover of "All the Things You Are". Clark's writing pretty adventurous and this marvelous septet rise to the challenge. "Two Shadows in the Mist" is an apt title as the horns plays these swirling parts tightly together as the trio scurry around them, layers of interconnected parts emerging and submerging. "Scratched" is much straighter and swings deliciously with some inspired (Archie Shepp-like) solos from the saxes. "Sean" is a great blues song that might've been done by the Jazz Messengers back in their heyday with both saxes playing together and soloing superbly. Yeah! "Diaphane" is an enchanting, solemn piece and features some lovely bowed bass from Dockery. Curtis Clark plays superbly throughout, he is most gifted pianist. When Sean Bergin takes a marvelous soprano solo on "Nelson", Clark dances around him sublimely as Moholo also weaves intricately around both. Two very different sessions, both well recorded, which do fit together in an inexplicable sort of way. - BLG
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.




Out-of-Print BBC Broadcast CDs on Windsong!


THE BOTHY BAND - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 60; UK) The Bothies were possibly the greatest of new Irish traditional groups that arose in the seventies. Their fire and brilliance has long outlasted their three year history and the four albums they produced are prized possesions of many celtic music lovers. This recoding is from Paris Theatre, 15 July 1976
CD $16

THE FALL - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 38; UK) These seven tracks are taken from the middle of a decent set by the then five-piece band and were aired as a BBC live broadcast in May 1987 that was recorded at The Rock City in Nottingham. Beginning with the seven-and-a-half minute future B-side "Australians in Europe," the disc then settles into a selection of the Fall's sharpest mid-'80s moments: "Shoulder Pads," "Ghost in My House," "Hey! Luciani," and "Lucifer Over Lancs" are all prime performances with the band at its tightest. There's even a trip back to the past for a jived-up "Fiery Jack."
CD $16

BERT JANSCH CONUNDRUM - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert: '80 & '82, Paris Theatre, London (Windsong 39; UK) Bert Jansch formed the Bert Jansch Conundrum in the late 1970s as a touring unit for his solo performances following the breakup of the original Pentangle. Thirteen Down, recorded in 1979, was the only studio album by this aggregation. Joining Jansch here for the 1980 live show are multi-instrumentalists Martin Jenkins and Nigel Portman-Smith, along with drummer Luce Langridge. Martin Jenkins is replaced by Albert Lee [!] for the 1982 live cuts.
CD $16

IAN PAICE, TONY ASHTON & JON LORD - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 25; UK) Recorded 10th March 1977 at the Golders Green Hippodrome, London
CD $16

THE SKIDS - BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert (Windsong 08; UK) Recorded 10 March 1979 at the Paris Theatre, London
CD $16

STACKRIDGE - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 19; UK) Recorded 21st July 1972 (tracks 2, 3, 5 to 7), 15th January 1973 (tracks 4, 8) or 7th January 1975 (tracks 1, 9 to 13) at The Paris Theatre, London for the BBC
CD $16

STIFF LITTLE FINGERS - BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert (Windsong 37; UK) intense reunion recorded 8th April, 1981 at the Paris Theatre, London. - 33 minutes & pretty hot!
CD $16.00

THE STRAWBS - BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert (Windsong 69; UK) 1973 concert, plus cuts from '74 show not performed in 1973
CD $16

XTC - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 26; UK) Recorded 22nd December 1980 at the Hammersmith Palais, London
CD $16.00




MORE '7 for 6' SALE LIST!


more Windsong..

THE ALBION BAND - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 41; UK) Recorded September 15, 1977 for BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert; broadcast September 24, 1977.
John Tams, lead vocals, melodeon; Ashley Hutchings, backing vocals, bass guitar, tambourine; Graeme Taylor, backing vocals, electric guitar; Phil Pickett, woodwinds; Pete Bullock, keyboards, baritone saxophone; Ric Sanders, electric fiddle; Michael Gregory, drums, shakers; Dave Mattacks, drums
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

CLINT EASTWOOD & GENERAL SAINT - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 46; UK) Recorded at the Paris Theatre, London. 1982/1983.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

ICICLE WORKS - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 53; UK) 1987
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

LONE STAR - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 59; UK) 1977
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

Q-TIPS - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 10; UK) Tracks 1 to 5 recorded 10th September 1980, Paris Theatre; Tracks 6 to 13 recorded 1st July 1981, Paris Theatre
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

RACING CARS - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 15; UK) Originally recorded for the BBC at the Paris Theatre 26th April and 13th October 1977
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

RUTS//PENETRATION - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 09; UK) Originally recorded for the BBC 7th July 1979 at the Paris Theatre and broadcast the same month
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

SPEAR OF DESTINY - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 55; UK) Recorded at the National Club, Kilburn, London on 29.4.87.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

RUBY TURNER - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 57; UK) Glastonbury Festival, 1986
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

TYRANNOSAURUS REX [MARC BOLAN] - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 32; UK) On Jan. 4, 1970, Marc Bolan, along with new partner Mickey Finn, performed a live show in the studio for the BBC. The concert was actually recorded for the first installment of John Peel's "Sunday Show," a forerunner to the "Live in Concert" series. Broadcast three days later, this 30-minute gig showcases Bolan's acoustic guitar work and delicate vocals (as in the love song "Dove") and Finn's flair with the bongos ("The Wizard"). A large part of the show covers A Beard of Stars, but also includes material from the earlier My People Were Fair and Prophet Seers and Sages, as well as the later T. Rex. A spare performance, Bolan stirs it up with two electric guitar pieces originally found on the superb A Beard of Stars: the excessive "Elemental Child," spotlighting Bolan's raw soloing, and a slightly altered version of "By the Light of a Magical Moon," Bolan's signature piece and the highlight of the show. The duo's energetic, spirited performance of "Debora" is an acoustic standout....Listen for Marc's mystical musings on God between two of the songs. -- David Ross Smith
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

JUDIE TZUKE - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 77; UK) Recorded live by the BBC at The Paris Theatre in Regent St, London on 10/10/81.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

GAY & TERRY WOODS - BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert (Windsong 71; UK) The husband-and-wife duo of Gay and Terry Woods got their beginning in 1969, when Terry Woods was still a member of Sweeney's Men. At that point, negotiations were underway for Sweeney's Men plus Gay Woods to join Fairport Convention bassist Ashley Hutchings in a new band, to be called Steeleye Span. When Sweeney's Men members Irvine and Moynihan decided it wasn't what they wanted, another duo, England's Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, went in with Woods and Hutchings. The Woods lasted for just one album before striking out on their own as the Woods Band, releasing an eponymous debut in 1971, where they mixed traditional and original material. After touring extensively throughout Europe, the band fell apart and Gay and Terry returned to Ireland. Settled again, they signed with Polydor, for whom they recorded the studio album Backwoods in 1975. Composed mostly of original material just as their subsequent releases would be, they became more experimental on their two 1976 records, The Time Is Right and Renowned. This CD is recorded live in concert at The Paris Theatre, London, September 11, 1976
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.


from Danceteria

8-EYED SPY [LYDIA LUNCH et al] - Live (Danceteria 101; EEC) An '80s no-wave noise band from New York led by Lydia Lunch. Frightening, corrosive live gig; with Pat Irwin, George Scott, Jim Sclavunos. Good and scary!
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

BIG YOUTH - Jammin' In The House Of Dread (Danceteria 198; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

JAMES CHANCE [JAMES WHITE] & THE CONTORTIONS With BERN NIX/JOE BOWIE et al - Live In New York (Danceteria 100; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

PRINCE CHARLES & CBB - Dead In The Projects (Danceteria 996; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

CHICKEN CHEST - Action Packed (Danceteria 174; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

DUB OR DIE [V.A.] - Vol. 1 (Danceteria 999; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

DUB OR DIE [V.A.] - Vol. 2 (Danceteria 998; EEC) Excellently chosen DUB material from Prince Far I, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Dub Syndicate, Gregory Isaacs, Ruts DC/Mad Professor, Gato Negro, et al; 13 cuts
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

THE END OF MUSIC (AS WE KNOW IT) [V.A.] - ROIR Sessions (Danceteria 156; EEC) Great '80s post-punk [from bands that included members of Live Skull, Shockabilly, Pussy Galore, Dead Kennedys, and the Swans]; tracks found here are from Krackhouse, Prong, Jad Fair, Phantom Tollbooth, Needlenose, Royal Trux, [the American] Honeymoon Killers, Thurston Moore, and Of Cabbages And Kings.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

FLIPPER - Blow'n Chunks (Danceteria 126; EEC) If not quite as rarity-collecting as the brilliant Sex Bomb Baby overview, Blow'n Chunks is still actually a great place for a Flipper newcomer to begin. Taking from a show at CBGB's in late 1983, Blow'n finds the band smashing and crashing through a combination of older and newer numbers both, including some that had yet to be officially recorded. The sound quality is good without being too pristine -- something about Flipper, at least back then, seems to resist a clean recording as being disruptive of the thick flow of sludge created. What's especially interesting in the light of history is that no matter how many bands from Seattle in particular claim Flipper as an influence, the quartet themselves never sounds like slow, dire grunge. Tracks like "Way of the World," "In Life My Friend," and "Shed No Tears" keep all the strong, lumbering energy familiar from the studio versions, sounding practically quick and speedy, even while the feedback walls and bass trudges set the way. Those numbers that are actually slow, like "The Lights, the Sound, the Rhythm, the Noise" and "Life Is Cheap" definitely betray the Black Sabbath influence long credited to the band, but with an economy that group seemed to lose somewhere along the way (if it ever had it). Both Lose and Shatter bark and scream out their vocals, and for all the implicit drama they never sound like they're putting on an act -- it's all natural, fitting right in with the powerful music. Fun examples of humor: quick snippets that appeared at the ends of the separate sides on the original tape release, with dogs barking and the band urging the listener to either "turn the tape over!" or to realize "it's finished!" Bio notes from the band and critic Michael Goldberg make for good liner info as well. ~ Ned Raggett, AMG
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

NEW YORK DOLLS - Lipstick Killers: Mercer Street Sessions (Danceteria 104; EEC) Originally released on cassette only in 1981 and updated for the digital age nearly 20 years later, this nine-track set of the Dolls' 1972 Mercer Street sessions was recorded before either of their studio albums -- and the rawness shows. The thin, bootleg-quality sound doesn't help matters, but the band was still working around its sound and each other at the time of these recordings. Still, it does provide an early glimpse into the band, as well as skeletal, unpolished versions of several songs (including "Bad Girl" and "Frankenstein") that would appear on their self-titled debut album a year later. ~ Michael Gallucci, AMG
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

NICO - Do Or Die (Danceteria 117; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

NINEY THE OBSERVER - Space Flight Dub (Danceteria 176; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

NY THRASH [V.A.] - NY Thrash (Danceteria 113; EEC) w/ AOD, Kraut, Heart Attack, Bad Brains, Undead, The Mad, Beastie Boys, Even Worse, Fiends & Nihilistics!! Shredding hardcore /thrash collection!
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

[QUESTION MARK] ? AND THE MYSTERIANS - 96 Tears: Dallas (Danceteria 137; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

REGGAE REVELATION [V.A.] - Vol. 1 (Danceteria 997; EEC) Great '80s cuts from Yellowman, Chicken Chest, Cedella Marley Brooker, Prince Far I, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Dub Sybdicate, Gregory Isaacs, et al; 13 cuts!
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

UK SUBS - Left For Dead (Danceteria 142; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.


from New Rose

G G ALLIN - Aloha From Dallas (New Rose 4069; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

DEE CLARK - The Dee Clark Show (New Rose 5108; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

EDDIE CLEARWATER - 2 x 9 (New Rose 5096; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

EDDIE CLEARWATER - Kingston Mines: Chicago 1978 (New Rose 5411; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

BO DIDDLEY & COMPANY - Live 1975 (New Rose 5009; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

CLARENCE EDWARDS - Swampin' (New Rose 5079; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

FLAMIN' GROOVIES - Live 68/70 (New Rose 4017; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

LOWELL FULSON - Swingin' Party (New Rose 5090; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS - Shake That Thing (New Rose 5089; EEC) he legendary singer/songwriter/guitar player is featured on 15 songs, including "Have You Ever Loved a Woman?," "Just Pickin', " "Glory Be, " "Shine on Moon, " and the title track.
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

J B HUTTO - High And Lonesome (New Rose 5417; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

THE IDOLS With SID VICIOUS - With Sid Vicious (New Rose 4429; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

LUTHER 'SNAKE BOY' JOHNSON - Nitty Gritty (New Rose 5088; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

LUTHER 'SNAKE BOY' JOHNSON - They Call Me Snake Boy (New Rose 5114; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

ARTHUR LEE And LOVE - Arthur Lee And Love: 1992 (New Rose 288; EEC) Great 1992 group recording; Lee proves he can't be kept down!
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

PROFESSOR LONGHAIR - Live In Germany (New Rose 5097; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

MISSISSIPPI FRED McDOWELL - The Train I Ride (New Rose 5436; EEC) classic album with "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning" is expanded to 10 cuts on this edition with "What's The Matter With Papa's Little Angel Child?" and "You Ain't Gonna Worry My Life No More".
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

THE NUT MEGS - Cambridge Armory 1973 (New Rose 5410; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

PIANO 'C' RED - Piano C Red (New Rose 5105; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

CLIFFORD SCOTT - Mr. Honky Tonk Is Back (New Rose 5286; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

CLIFFORD SCOTT - Texas Tenor (New Rose 5424; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

JOE TEX - Show Me (New Rose 5104; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

TEXAS MAVERICKS - Doug Sahm Presents Texas Mavericks (New Rose 4112; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

MUDDY WATERS - Goin' Home: Live Paris 1970 (New Rose 5099; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.

BUKKA WHITE - Shake 'Em On Down (New Rose 5435; EEC)
CD $10 7 for 6 SALE.


..and this, that should be in every library!

SCOTT JOPLIN//ANN CHARTERS - The Genius Of Scott Joplin: The First Recordings including the Tremonisha Opera [2 CD set] (Gazell 6002/03 US; USA) Musician and author Ann Charters [she wrote the first biography of Jack Kerouac with his cooperation, among dozens of other books on many subjects] was the first pianist to record the classic ragtime of Scott Joplin in the style indicated by his printed scores, and in the years of research it took to gather and prepare the music for recording there was a determined effort to gather as much ragtime as possible.. "Ann Charters recorded, beginning in 1958, what are the first recordings of Scott Joplin rags played in the style and tempo the composer intended, making Charters (for lack of a better description) the John Eliot Gardiner of ragtime piano. Her interpretations are the real deal, they breathe and swing and you hear the heart inside the playing. These recordings are spectacular in a very straightforward and quiet way. Ann brings to her interpretations the same authority she brings to her writing. This is wonderful, definitive playing. Get it, put it on you will seduce many ears, and including your own!" - Keith McCarthy
2 CD set for $10.00 7 for 6 SALE.




[BLUES] CREATION [KAZUO TAKEDA et al] - Creation (Klimt 320; EEC) "Originally released in 1975, this album was the culmination of Japanese axe-hero Kazuo 'Flash' Takeda's post-London musical efforts. Takeda spent the early 1960s soaking in the sounds of American blues, psych and British invasion rock bands, eventually forming his own band--the aptly named Blues Creation--in 1969. The band released three albums, including their now legendary Demon & Eleven Children; before Takeda took off for London in 1972. During this time he played on a number of sessions and made friends with many musicians, particularly the American hard rockers Mountain. When he finally returned to Japan the following year, he was ready to start a new band with himself on lead guitar and vocals. Now simply called Creation, the band released its self-titled LP in 1975, produced by the Flower Travellin' Band producer Yuya Utchida and featuring a cover photo of a group of naked boys peeing. Creation's next album would be recorded in the US with Felix Pappalardi. Takeda went on to release over 20 albums and now lives in L.A. as a session guitarist."
LP $23


USTAD ABDUL KARIM KHAN - 1934-1935 (Important 345; USA) "More than seventy years since his death in 1937, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan retains his reputation as one of the greatest singers India ever produced. Possessed of an elastic, honed voice that poured out like mercury, he influenced generations of singers including Mohammed Rafi, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, and Pandit Pran Nath. Born at the end of the 19th century to a family of musicians that extended back in time for centuries, his art was formed in the culture of the courts of the maharajas under British colonialism but was changed by his genius and imagination and a life marked by sacrifices for love, unsatisfied ambition, abandonment and heartbreak. These performances were culled from sessions made during his peak final years 1934-1935, newly transferred and restored and with extensive notes by Ian Nagoski."
CD $14


RAVI SHANKAR & ALI AKBAR KHAN - The Master Musicians Of India (Doxy 418; Italy) "Seminal recording by the two men most responsible for opening the West to Indian music. Master of the sitar, Ravi Shankar is, of course, famous for his legendary influence on the Beatles, but this recording was made for the American jazz label Prestige prior to their meeting. Perhaps lesser intertwined with the pop music world, Ali Akbar-Khan is nonetheless one of India's greatest musicians, and the world's best sarod player. Shankar and Khan play together on both ragas, backed by a tabla player and a tamboura player. The tamboura player is Nodu C. Mullick on side A, a highly respected instrument maker who made Shankar's sitar).
LP $25


EDZAYAWA - Projection One (Soundway 35; UK) LP version. Digging deeper into the 1970s Nigerian rock scene, Soundway are excited to announce the release of Edzayawa's first and only LP Projection One. Originally released in 1973 by EMI Nigeria, Projection One came out at a time when Osibisa and Fela's influence was being felt across West Africa, and was the young Ghanaians' band attempt at creating something unique and distinctly African. Re-issued here on LP for the first time outside of Nigeria, the album sounds as exciting and unrivaled today as it did 35 years ago. Writing songs with a heavy rock influence but also a distinctly African feel, Edzayawa wrote dark and deeply philosophical tracks with strong traditional themes far removed from the sweet love songs many of their contemporaries were writing. The majority of their songs were based around a 6/8 rhythm, influenced by the Ewe people originating in the South East of Ghana. With their new repertoire, they headed off to Lagos, Nigeria with hardly any money in their pockets and no instruments. They headed straight to Tommy Benson's club, son of the legendary Nigerian entertainer and musician Bobby Benson, and got a gig playing at The Caban Bamboo in return for one hotel room between the four of them. Constantly searching for an adventure, they headed to Fela Kuti's Kalakuta Republic. After waiting two hours for an audience with Fela, they were led through to meet him. There they had a long talk with Fela and eventually got asked to play at The Shrine. At the time Joni Haastrup's MonoMono were playing at The Shrine, too, coming on after Edzayawa and before Fela's Africa 70. It was during this time the band recorded Projection One in EMI Studio Lagos. Recorded over two days, the album was to be their only release. Projection One never got a release in their home country of Ghana -- the only copies that made it into the country were the few that the band took back themselves. Soundway release Projection One here in its full original format on gatefold vinyl: remastered and accompanied by liner notes that contain the reminiscences of band leader Nana Danso (who subsequently founded and now runs the Accra-based Pan African Orchestra). On 180 gram vinyl with free download coupon.
LP $17


ELIAS RAHBANI - Mosaic Of The Orient (ArabesqueRec 1001; EEC) "The Rahbani Brothers are acclaimed composers, producers and arrangers, and also responsible for bringing western sounds into Lebanon (at that time the music and artistic capital of the Arab world) and the whole Middle East. Elias, the youngest brother, who at this time was recording music for films, is regarded as the godfather of modern Lebanese music, as he wrote music for virtually all Lebanese bands/artists singing in English or French in the 1960s. As the original liner notes for Mosaic of the Orient read, 'Elias has brought together instruments of East and West to give an exotic eastern flavor against a background of westernized rhythm.' Mosaic of the Orient was originally released in the mid '70s in two volumes (first one in 1974); here we bring you the best of both albums in one single release. The music is a mix of eastern sounds and western rhythms, with haunting melodies, nice drum breaks and using instruments like the nai (a type of Arabic flute), bouzouki, flute, guitar, double flute, kanoun, tabla, drums, tambourine, electric organ and an oriental rhythm section. Limited to 500 copies."
LP $30


COLOMBIA! [V.A.] - The Golden Years of Discos Fuentes: The Powerhouse of Columbian Music 1960-76 (Soundway 08; UK) Soundway Records presents the tropical sound of Colombia. From the salsas and descargas of Cali, Medellin and Bogota to the Afro sounds and raw cumbias of Cartagena and Barranquilla, this is the sound of Colombian dancehalls and clubs in the '60s and '70s, when the legendary Discos Fuentes record label led the way. The sounds emanating from the barrios and beaches of Colombia are a unique mixture of Latin sounds and Afro rhythms, drawing influences from the New York and Puerto Rican Latin scenes, the highlife and rumba of West Africa and the calypso of the Caribbean, as well as the tropical rhythms of the Colombian cumbia, gaita, fandango and porro. Driving percussion, swinging horns, hot pianos and jumping bass lines -- this music was made for dancing!
CD $16


DERDIYOKLAR IKILISI - Disko Folk (Guerssen 36; EEC) Anadolu pop doesn't get weirder than this! Back in 1979, two Turkish guys armed with electro-saz, guitar, drums and synthesizers were hitting the Turkish market in Germany where they lived, playing their sets of traditional-flavored electro-folk in weddings and circumcision feasts for Turkish emigrants in Germany. That's their crazy story, and that's their crazy sound. This is their third album, in a limited edition of 500 copies only. Comes with a booklet including liner notes.
CD $17

AHMAD ZAHIR - Volume 2: Afghan 70s Psychedelic Folk-Pop [2 LP set] (Guerssen 93; EEC) Following the success of Guerssen's first Ahmad Zahir release, here's a stronger second chapter: a full double LP set. A new, exciting selection from this Afghani legend's proud discography, with his very own sound blending folk with pop and hits of psychedelia, the Afghan way. This second volume features a surprising marriage of Western music with Afghan melodies, and at the center, the crooning voice of a one-of-a-kind artist that happened to shake his country's musical and cultural foundations forever.
2 LP set for $34

AHMAD ZAHIR - Hip 70's Afghan Beats! (Guerssen 34; EEC) A major star in Afghanistan in the '70s until his death in 1979, and a legend today, Ahmad Zahir has something impressive to offer to all Western ears open to exotic rock and pop sounds. Compiled from his vast 1970s discography, here's a selection with some of his best tracks, an astounding set showing his unique, distinct psychedelic sound. Centered around his deep voice, and with the use of electric guitar (including some wah-wah), stunning, reverb-heavy drums, some sitar and tabla, organ, flutes and bass, these are incredible folk-pop tunes from another world. Remastered from the original master tapes and including extensive liner notes. LP $26
also on CD for $17


QAT, COFFEE & QAMBUS[V.A.] - Raw 45s From Yemen (Parlortone 2003; UK) Qat, Coffee & Qambus: Raw 45s From Yemen is a compilation of rare Yemeni vinyl singles, showcasing the little-documented, evolving local music styles in the 1960s and 1970s. Vintage oud and vocal music inspired by the qat-chewing, coffee-sipping, qambus-playing culture of Yemen. Although part of the classical Arabic musical tradition, the music of Yemen takes its rhythmic lead as much from the East African coast (a mere 20 miles across the Red Sea) as the surrounding Arab Peninsula. Little has been written about the music and culture of one of the world's oldest civilizations, and each 45rpm disc gives a small glimpse of the poetic tradition, the unique local oud styles as well as an insight into people's day to day lives, or the highs and lows of human relationships. Overall, the compilation gives a flavor of the sights and sounds of Yemen, with detailed notes that tell the story of the hunt for music that has mostly lain forgotten in the antique markets of the capital, until now. Pressed on high quality vinyl with a full-color cover featuring 78rpm record sleeve graphics, and an insert of extensive liner notes and photos.
LP $21


NA HAWA DOUMBIA - La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 3 (Awesome Tapes From Africa 01; USA) "First release for new label Awesome Tapes From Africa, a blog and DJ project known worldwide for shedding light on obscure and wonderful musical treasures from the African continent. This early recording--made in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in 1982--captures the dualities inherent in Doumbia's music early on: from a stripped-down, raw backdrop arise warm sonics; expressions of feminism and social issues imparted through spare refrains. Doumbia's urgent, distinctive vocals and hypnotic didadi rhythm from her native Bougouni have made her a respected voice in Mali for more than three decades."
CD $15
also available on LP for $18




First time Vivo listing for..

MERZBOW [MASAMI AKITA] - Higanbana (Vivo 2007032; EEC) An hour with king of noise!
CD $17

and last copies of other Vivo releases

MERZBOW [MASAMI AKITA] - Arijigoku (Vivo 2008037 ; EEC) This is Masami Akita as you like him, tumbling through barbwire, screaming ecstasy with electronics alongside the ever present pulse. The pulse is produced mainly by his original instrument, the drums. He starts off as expected, jumping headfirst into the tornado of sound. Yet the surprise comes around the twelve minute mark in the first track where a high pitch monotone feedback hushes the mood, focuses your ears, then you are blitzed again with the organized chaos. Overall this release seems to have been recorded during the same time frame as the thirteen part bird series released on the Important label. This release consist of four tracks dedicated to an ant pit, which leads me to imagine ants slam dancing. Why not? They never stop working and neither does Merzbow! Come on and give it up for my vegan brother! RECOMMENDED! - Chuck Bettis/DMG
CD $17

MERZBOW [MASAMI AKITA] - Bloody Sea (Vivo 2006022; EEC) Protest-Noise music by Masami Akita. Dedicated to anti-whaling activity. 50m. 27s. "In November, 2006 , the Japanese whaling fleet will set sail for the icy waters of Antarctica. Their target - 50 Humpback Whales, 50 Fin Whales and almost 1000 Minke Whales." (...) STOP WHALING!
CD $17

SATANICPORNOCULTSHOP - Orochi Under the Straight Edge Leaves (Vivo 2005017; EEC) 7th full length CD album from Osaka/Japan based Satanicpornocultshop. Orochi under the Straight Edge Leaves presents unusual mixture of grotesque noisepop, abstract hip hop and cinematic experimental sounds. Beautiful, breathtaking and.. insane.
CD $17 (Out of print, but we have it!)

VOLCANO THE BEAR - Egg And Two Books (Vivo 2006026; EEC) n't sit still and continue to add further additions to their fast growing library of works. Recorded at Eggstock in Leicester in June of last year, "Egg and Two Books" is a live document that perfectly translates the most bizarre aspects of the band from live on stage to your CD player. Currently composed of Aaron Moore on drums, trumpet and vocals, saxophonist/guitarist/vocalist Nick Mott, electronics master Clarence Manuelo and Daniel Padden on keyboards, guitar, clarinet and vocals, the quartet continue their mission to add a greater depth into the world of dada. Describing their music is like trying to paint a picture for a person who has been blind all their life. You can mention the shades of green, but what the hell does a colour look like anyhow? You can talk about moments of sounds that appear to be composed but what does composition have to do with a live Volcano The Bear performance? I can mention an odd, twisted keyboard on "Amidst the Noise and Twings" that churn themselves against a grain of percussion that keeps pace with the electronically induced whirl, which is then massaged by weirdly obtuse vocals, but would any of this make any sense? Can words do this quartet any justice or will they work against them? Can you hurt a group by groping their music and mining words that come out of a rock, when the rock is stubborn and won't crack? Suffice it to say, the live recording provides enough tribal moments - mysterious drools of awe on saxophones and skewed guitar analogies - along with vocalizations from outer space to keep the most starved of alien listeners completely satiated. May the force of the Bear be with you! - Tom Sekowski
CD $17

RUINZHATOVA [RUINS + OMOIDE-HATOBA: TATSUYA YOSHIDA/ATSUSHI TSUYAMA/YAMAMOTO SEIICHI et al] - Liveinsomewhere (Vivo 2006021/Magaibutsu 28; EEC) Well known for fans of Japanese experimental music virtuosos: Yamamoto Seiichi (Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba, Rovo), Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, Korekyojin, Zubi Zuva, AMT) and Tsuyama Atsushi (Akaten, Haco, Omoide Hatoba, AMT) have joined forces to present live their visions of jazz-infuenced progressive free-rock. Classic !
CD $17

DAMO SUZUKI With HOPPY KOMIYAMA/TATSUYA YOSHIDA et al - The Fire Of Heaven At The End Of The Universe: Live At UFO Club (Vivo 2007030; EEC) This is a new record featuring Damo Suzuki, second lead singer for the legendary krautrock band Can with an all-star cast of Japan's best players: Hoppy Kamiyama (keyboards), Yuji Katsui (violin), Kenji Sato (bass) and Tatsuya Yoshida (drums). It was recorded live at UFO Club / Tokyo, 5th March 2006. Damo Suzuki has been on a never-ending tour for the past decade playing around the world and jamming with different musicians in each city. His upcoming tour will take him to Japan, Greece, Italy, Germany, UK and soon across the USA. There are some half dozen different difficult to find live discs that he has done while on his ongoing tour. No doubt you know Hoppy Kamiyama, keyboard ace, great producer and head of the amazing God Mountain label. Master drummer and leader of Ruins, Tatsuya Yoshida, records with just about everyone from Acid Mother Temple to Gong to Von Samla to Satoko Fujii. Violinist Yuji Katsui has played with Bondage Fruit and Rovo, while Kenji Sato has played with Uchihashi Kazuhisa.
'The Fire of Heaven at the End of the Universe' is, without a doubt, one of the best krauk/rock/prog jam discs we've heard in a long while. Four of the five pieces are pretty long and develop like cosmic space/rock could and should. "The Crystal Desert" bubbles with eerie synth sounds, soaring violin and powerful rhythm team escalation. Damo sings/speaks in what seems to be English as the bands burns around him, building and rocking hard as they slowly soar. It is difficult to make out what Damo is singing about, but he sounds impassioned throughout, occasionally sounding like David Bowie. While the bands plays a sort-of funky beat on "Moonlight Warrior", Damo almost sounds as if he rapping along to Tatsuya's powerful drumming. Hoppy and Yuji does an impressive job of adding layers of electric keyboards and violin, soloing and blending their lines together, jamming on a groove as expand and ascend. On "Dress Your Girl", the bass plays a fine, hypnotic, repeating line as Damo also repeats and alters his words as things unfold. Damo speaks softly as the waves of sound get more mellow and spacey. There is something about the overall vibe and groove that keep this pretty mesmerizing throughout the long journey to the stars. - BLG
CD $17


**************************




KAWABATA MAKOTO & ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE!

After performing with such bands as Toho Sara, Ohkami No Jikan, Musica Transonic, and Mainliner, Japanese extreme-hard-psych guitarist Makoto Kawabata decided to continue his musical explorations by bringing together like-minded individuals to create trippy psychedelic freak-outs inspired by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Krautrock, and '70s progressive hard rock. Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (Underground Freak Out) were founded in 1996 as a "soul collective." It's not a commune in the full sense since the members don't all live together, but it is based on communal values and has even been mistaken by some people for a religious cult.

Kawabata started the collective because he wanted to give unknown musicians a chance to record and release albums that would reach a wider audience; his original intent was not to create an ongoing touring and recording band. Indeed, the group's self-titled debut album, which was released on Japan's PSF Records in November 1997, was essentially a Kawabata solo project. He performed jam sessions with several other musicians, then edited and overdubbed the tapes to create something akin to musique concrete. Kawabata must have been pleased with the results, because he assembled a group of musicians to tour overseas as Acid Mothers Temple in 1998. In 2005 5, Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno started up with a revised lineup...


NEW TO DMG - First Time listing for this superior CD edition!


ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Live In Occident [Ltd Ed of 500] (Essence 16; Brazil) When we first approached the band about this classic album, our first question was: why does the recording is so flat on the vinyl? Kawabata promptly explained: "I remember we were very disappointed when we first listened to this double LP back then. The American mastering engineer, who works for many famous companies in LA said that it was impossible to master it for the vinyl format because the sounds were too heavy.. When I and Tsuyama listened to our master last night (for the first time in nearly 10 years!) we were blown away and totally surprised! The music is really good, much better than we remembered and imagined.".
We couldn't agree more. The original master sounds like a completely different recording and perfectly captured the cosmic and incredibly powerful sounds emanated by the band at the time. Listening to a classic early version of Pink Lady Lemonade, weird free jazz jams like Rising From the Cool Fool Inferno or the obscure super heavy, doomy and haunting sounds of Blue Velvet Blues is something that we thought should be fully experienced and appreciated the way it was meant to be.
Recorded during many live dates in 1999, Live In Occident is the first AMT live album and features the classic freak out emsemble with Kawabata Makoto, Cotton Casino, Higashi Hiroshi, Tsuyama Atsushi and Koizumi Hajime crossing the US, France and the UK.
"The highlight is the sublime and beautiful Astrological Overdrive. Cotton's vocals may be the most missed aspect of modern AMT and this performance gives a solid reason why. Her vocals mix perfectly with Tsuyama's, especially when he gets demonic and she remains angelic. It is one of the great lost Acid Mothers songs, appearing no where else to the best of my knowledge, but it is 18 minutes of swirling but simple psych, foreshadowing jams like La Novia and Soleil de Cristal et Lune d'Argent and even Cometary Orbital Drive. Another mandatory jam on this one is another kinda lost song, Blue Velvet Blues. This one didn't survive the AMT set list much after the first two tours it seems, but such a great song, again, another showcase for Cotton's vocals. While the ultimate version of the song is on the 2LP reissue of Pataphisical Freak Out Mu!!, this version is heavy and deep, featuring a weird clapping jam with the audience not to far into the song. Hazy and totally strange, almost like the Chanting on this Dead show. The super pretty main riff is colored by very light guitar playing and then crushing synth noise blasts. Totally incredible." (Nice Pooper Zine) Limited to 500 copies and housed in our deluxe, custom miniature LP gatefold packaging.
CD $16


People say that Kawabata/Acid Mothers release too many recordings, but they don't consider that (A) virtually every single one is an EXCEPTIONAL rip-the-top-of-your-head off foray into neo-psychedelic-art-rock and (B) virtually all of them are limited editions of 200, 500, and at most 1000 copies - so at this point less than a fourth of those releases are still available.

The list below includes many that we have last copies of and cannot be re-ordered:


from their own label:

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Acid Mothership Live [Ltd Ed of 1000] (AMT 019 B; Japan) "Includes 'Dark Stars In The Dazzling Sky' (aka 'Dark Star Blues'), 'Pink Lady Lemonade,' 'La Le Lo' and an improv track. This is the tour CD of their U.S. & Canadian tour 2008. Limited to 1000 copies only."
CD $17

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Power House of Holy [Ltd Ed of 1000] (AMT 019 A; Japan) "Limited edition 2006 US Tour CD featuring recordings from 2004. 'Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky' (aka Dark Star Blues) was recorded at Spaceland on June 6, 2004 -- a great show I was there for. And the other track is 'Pink Lady Lemonade' recorded in Gloucester on October 30, 2004 -- another killer version of this song. For these recordings, AMT was: Tsuyama Atsushi (monster bass, vocal, cosmic joker), Higashi Hiroshi (synthesizer, guitar, chorus, dancin' king), Koizume Hajime (drums, sleeping monk), and Kawabata Makoto (guitar, chorus, speed guru)." Edition of 1000 copies.
CD $17

GODMAN [KAWABATA MAKOTO/MYASHITA KEIICHI/JIGASHI HIROSHI et al] - GOD>>< CD $19

ACID MOTHERS AFRIRAMPO [ONI/PIKA/KAWABATA MAKOTO/ATSUSHI TSUYAMA/HIGASHI HIROSHI et al] - We Are Acid Mothers Afrirampo [Ltd Ed of 1000] (AMT 017; Japan) Acid Mothers Afrirampo are: Oni: voice, electric guitar, digital guitar, soprano recorder, drums; Pika: voice, drums, percussion, toys, balloon; Tsuyama Atsushi: voice, bass, drums, digital guitar, acoustic guitar, soprano recorder, kantele; Higashi Hiroshi: electronics; Kawabata Makoto: electric guitar, violin, hurdygurdy, glockenspiel, percussion, electronics, voice.
CD $19

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Live In Japan [Ltd Ed of 2000] (AMT 006; Japan) "Live recording made in Japan from December 2001 using digital 16 channel recording (so the sounds will be not like last 2 live LPs -- more like studio recording quality). This live performance was twin drummers style (only these 2 concerts in Japan) featuring Ichiraku Yoshimitsu (ex.AMT / Nishinihon / ISO) and Koizumi Hajime (AMT original drummer also original Mainliner drummer who played on 'Mellow Out') and this concert was Ichiraku's last performance in AMT. Of course the AMT line-up was Cotton, Tsuyama, Higashi, Kawabata and these 2 drummers. The sounds is like 'Megaton rhythm section + killer fuzz guitar + space sounds!'"
CD $20

ZOFFY [KAWABATA MAKOTO/TSUYAMA ATSUSHI] - Zoffy Live! (AMT OM 01; Japan) "Live recordings spanning from May 1999 - May 2003 from Acid Mothers Temple members Tsuyama Atsushi (vocal, bouzouki, acoustic & electric guitar, alpine trumpet, bass harmonica, bamboo reed, soprano recorder, drums) and Kawabata Makoto (oud, bouzouki, violin, yoruk, algoza, electric guitar, bowed peacock harp, electric organ, electronics, theremin, 6 string bass, chorus). Originally released a limited edition CD-R (100 copies) on the Acid Mothers Temple label in 2000, this CD version includes three bonus tracks."
CD $19


from Prophase:

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Are We Experimental? (Prophase 03; USA) "Japan's Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO return from the cosmos with this brand new album, Are We Experimental? The world's premier psychedelic warriors have blasted out an album that distills their weird world into 11 tracks of sonic mayhem. Hawkwind style guitar overload meets ethnic folk music from around the globe as a UFO crashes in the midst of it all. Are We Experimental? (a la Jimi Hendrix) is one of the easiest AMT albums for a new fan to digest. All of the songs clock in under 8 minutes (this, from a band known for 30+ minute jams!) and feature all of the realms of sound AMT utilize regularly as well as new influences and techniques for the old heads. Prog rock meets Sun Ra style freedom mixed in with space noises and absolutely leveling guitar riffs. Plus a whole bunch of submerged weirdness and 'acid folk' that can only come from Acid Mothers Temple. God and Hair, indeed."
[limited time price; normally $16]
CD $12


from Important:

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - 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 $14.00

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Dark Side Of The Black Moon: What Planet Are We On? (Important 253; USA) "Dark Side Of The Black Moon is the Acid Mothers Temple's follow up to the much loved Recurring Dream And Apocalypse Of Darkness. Focused riffing, super fidelity recording & proggy psych sounds mixing Pink Floyd, fuzzed out wah guitars and sounds from the cosmos."
CD $14

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Glorify Astrological Martyrdom (Important 226; USA) "Acid Mother's Temple's Glorify Astrological Martyrdom is sure to appeal to the myriad AMT fans who have made Crystal Rainbow Pyramid a new fan favorite. Professionally recorded mega-riffage for a super defined clean sound. Kawabata and company deliver this focused rock explosion full of hyper repetitive heavy hooks and freaked-out, pitched-up vocals. Cover art by Seldon Hunt."
CD $14

KAWABATA MAKOTO - We Don't Know Where We Came From (Important 204; USA) "Limited edition of 500 copies in a letterpress jacket by 43rd Parallel Press. We Don't Know Where We Came From features Acid Mothers Temple leader Kawabata Makoto on both electric and acoustic guitars. Recorded at Kaccho-Buu Matsuzaka by Takayama Manabu. Live recordings."
LP $22

KAWABATA MAKOTO & MICHISHITA SHINSUKE - Basement Echo (Important 196; USA) "Basement Echo is the historical meeting point of two generations of the Japanese underground. Kawabata Makoto, leader of The Acid Mothers Temple, and Michishita Shinsuke, leader of LSD March, are together here for the first time in a guitar duo. Though Kawabata and Michishita are from the same scene, the fact that they are from different generations means that they bring different energy to the collaborations. This fact is extremely exciting for Kawabata, who refers to Michishita as 'one of the most promising musicians in the Japanese Underground.' Both artists agree that Basement Echo was a step into the unknown with neither really knowing what the resulting sounds would be. For Michishita, the collaborations have been a dream come true. He describes Kawabata as having a 'soul of rock that never burns out.' After the recordings were complete, the two friends sat down and raised a triumphant toast. Recorded at Snowflake Sound in Sapporo in October of 2007. Totally improvised with no editing/overdubbing. Designed by Darryl Norsen."
CD $14

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Recurring Dream and Apocalypse Of Darkness (Important 188; USA) "Recurring Dream And Apocalypse Of Darkness is by far the heaviest Acid Mothers Temple record yet. So heavy, in fact, that Kawabata Makoto jokingly said 'the album is really heavy, maybe a bit like Sunn O))). hahahaha.' Both the CD & LP feature remarkable art work by Seldon Hunt."
CD $14

ACIDMOTHERSGURUGURU [ACID MOTHERS GURU GURU: MANI NEUMEIER/KAWABATA MAKOTO/ATSUSHI TSUYAMA] - Psychedelic Navigator (Important 160; USA) "Acid Mothers Guru Guru features Mani Neumeier from the legendary and influential German Krautrock group Guru Guru as well as Kawabata Makoto and Atsushi Tsuyama from Japan's holy Acid Mothers Temple. The result is a fiery fantasy filled, loud/soft, colorful trans-generational psychedelic collaboration. The Acid Mothers Guru Guru started in a spontaneous session in March of 2006 in Nagoya, Japan. When the improvisation commenced, the passionate excitement was clear to all in the room and it was then that this special psychedelic trio began. A Japanese tour was planned, an album was recorded and this recording is the fruits of this mutual musical admiration. While all involved will admit that this is a dream collaboration, it was the Acid Mothers Temple guys who were worshipping Guru Guru in their teens. The Acid Mothers Guru Guru is two generations of psychedelic rock joining forces for the 21st century." This music often has a primal, rockin' throb at its center and would probably sound even better if was stoned out. One toke over the line, sweet Jesus! - BLG
CD $14

KAWABATA MAKOTO - Hosanna Mantra (Important 152; USA) "Inspired by Popol Vuh and originally released in a tiny pressing of 550 on vinyl from the inimitable Acid Mothers Temple front man. Guitarist, violinist, performer on numerous traditional instruments, composer, leader of the Acid Mothers Temple, Kawabata Makoto expresses in this solo performance all his mantric cosmical vocations and spins them into space sonorities! He took inspiration from the Popol Vuh album of the '70s Hosianna Mantra, during his visit to A Silent Place headquarters in late winter 2006. In a sunny Sunday noon spent in the country-side, eating and drinking Apulian specialities and listening to some great experimental records, Makoto and his Italian friends Pierpaolo and Pasquale, took the decision to start this cooperation. A few days later, back in Japan, Makoto recorded the Hosanna Mantra album at the Acid Mothers Temple between March 12th and 13th, using electric guitar, bouzouki and sitar. The result is this new fantastic sound coming from the cosmos. A simple gem of crystalline beauty."
CD $14

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Crystal Rainbow Pyramid Under the Stars (Important 146; USA) "Brand new full length album from the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO featuring their recent addition, female vocalist Kitagawa Hao. Recorded over a period of four months at The Acid Mothers Temple this is a very clean sounding and polished AMT. Frontman Kawabata Makoto admitted, only half joking, that this has the 'cleanest sound in AMT history!' More controlled than many of their speaker destroying fuzz blasted speed guru jams, Crystal Rainbow Pyramid is focused on mystic ambient passages leading into Kawabata's head-heavy echo-riffs. Crystal Rainbow Pyramid is clearly one of the new classic AMT recordings. Prepare to have your mind blown slowly with evolving heavyweight jams and climactic peaks of exquisite ecstasy."
CD $14

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Just Another Band from the Cosmic Inferno (Important 58; USA) Just Another Band From The Cosmic Inferno is the debut album from the brand new configuration of the Acid Mothers Temple. Drained creatively like 'dinosaurs on the brink of extinction,' Kawabata Makoto decided to disband the highly successful Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO lineup and replace it with something far heavier and much more powerful. Replacing the original lineup are deep-psych heavyweights including members and ex-members of The Boredoms, Ghost, Mainliner and Zeni Geva. With these ultra-heavy epic jams Kawabata Makoto has marked a new direction for his celebrated psychedelic collective."
CD $14 (Out of print, but we have it!)

KAWABATA MAKOTO - O Si Amos A Sighire A Essere Duas Umbras? (Important 37; USA) In tribute to Sardegna where Kawabata's creative life recently achieved a highly influential spiritual climax. According to Kawabata, these recordings represent one of the most important moments in his life. While in Sardegna he found his 'cosmos.' At some point on his trip, a new cosmos opened for him and he received 'many wonderful vibrations' from these cosmos. These are the very first of his works created after this transcendental experience. Hearing and feeling these tracks it is apparent that Kawabata has been deeply spiritually affected since his last solo outing. 'O Si Amos A Essere Duas Umbras?' is comprised of two epic, deeply meditative, spiritual and transcendental compositions.
CD $14

SPACE MACHINE [YAMAZAKI 'MASONNA' MASO With KAWABATA MAKOTO/KOUICHI NAKAYA] - 3: Studio Sessions + Live (Important 26; USA) Space Machine is the Masonna's solo "synth-psych" side project. You may know Yamazaki Maso aka Masonna from his days as of one of the more well-documented Japanese extreme noise musicians, but this release takes a step into a different dimension he is known for. The chaotic vocal & electronics are replaced by spacey synth driven studio recordings on the first half of this disc, which leans more towards a more menacing version of Conrad Snitzler's "Rot" or Gil Melle's soundtrack to "Andromeda Strain" than a Merzbow or C.C.C.C. sonic assualt. Your mind will melt as your ears follow the twisting of knobs and suck you into the ether with the tasteful use of delay. The second half of this disc presents a trio of Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple) on guitar and Kouichi Nakaya on various synths and echo unit recorded live at Big Cat in Osaka, Japan. The only audio clue we get that the trio has arrived in a live atmosphere is the random crowd sounds at the beginning of the 7th track, otherwise the sound quality is pretty top notch. Gear nerds take notice of the ample photos of the vintage synths used for this recording. Why do drugs when we have so much transcendental music? This recording will make you, as the hippies used to say, "trip balls". Highly recommended! -Chuck Bettis/dmg
CD $14

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Magical Power From Mars, Pts 1, 2, 3, 4 (Important 17; USA) [New 2nd pressing, now remeastered & featuring expanded artwork] Just when you thought it was safe to go out, those Acid Mother lunatics have decided to release the complete 'Magical Power From Mars' [previously issued as 3 separate EPs, now all out of print] in its entirety with the addition of the fourth and final track "Aladdin Kane." The new full length 'Magical Power From Mars' comes housed with completely new front and back art and no expense was spared on more 3D lenticular covers for the front. This is the complete album available for the first time in its entirety. 'Magical Power From Mars' is an album full of epic statements from the Acid Mothers. Each track has an average length of 17:27 and each track has it's own unique musical ideals and arrangements which stand out in the Acid Mothers diverse catalog. Makoto Kawabata and crew successfully set out to create an album unique in its look and sound and were extremely successful in the execution of that goal."
CD $14


from PSF:

KAWABATA MAKOTO & JEAN-FRANCOIS PAUVROS - Venus (PSF 151; Japan) "Second duo outing (following Extreme-Onction on Fractal) for a sympathetically resonating pair of cross-culturally twinned Franco-Japanese souls. Makoto Kawabata is of course the hair-flailing, chain-smoking motorpsycho guitarist who first appeared on the radar in Musica Transonic and Mainliner, but is of late known to space-rock junkies the world over through the endlessly touring, cosmic freak-power bandwagon that is Acid Mothers Temple. Jean-Francois Pauvros is still a far lesser known name to those outside France, but he has a solid-gold history in European free-rock shenanigans stretching all the way back to the late seventies, when he played alongside Jac Berrocal in Catalogue. Recent years have seen many collaborations with dancers, poets, and Japanese musicians such as Makoto Sato, Setsuko Chiba, and Keiji Haino. Caught together two years ago in Paris, it is clear that Kawabata and Pauvros breathe very much the same air. An air dense with tobacco smoke, red wine fumes, and the alluring perfume of beautiful women. Bowed guitars, communal psychedelic geography, heavily quivering clouds of harmonics, deep drones, and that unmistakable miasma of unwashed rock spirit in telepathically free motion..." -- Alan Cummings.
CD $20

DARE DEVIL BAND [SHOJI HANO/ATSUSHI TSUYAMA/KAWABATA MAKOTO] - Inomusha (PSF 148; Japan) Featuring Shoji Hano on drums, Atsushi Tsuyama on electric bass & vocals and Kawabata Makoto on electric guitar. The Dare Devil Band moniker first showed up in the early nineties on a duo album by German sax titan Peter Brotzmann and master drummer Shoji Hano. Hano obviously has a soft spot for the name, as he has resurrected it for this new project -- a hardcore improvised rock trio, consisting of Hano with Makoto Kawabata and Atsushi Tsuyama from acid-freak commune Acid Mothers Temple. Hano made his name as an intensely physical free drummer who draws upon a multitude of esoteric physical practices to energize his playing. He's recorded with Peter Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, Werner Ludi, William Parker, Keiji Haino and a host of other leading free improvisers as well as proving his rock credentials on two albums with the legendary High Rise. 'Inomusha' was recorded live earlier this year in Osaka and Kyoto, with the trio locking down into some seriously wired and sprawling rock craziness. Comes in a gorgeous mini-LP style gatefold jacket with English liner notes by Hano.
CD $20

MAINLINER [NANJO ASAHITO/KAWABATA MAKOTO/YOSHIDA TATSUYA] - Imaginative Plain (PSF 125; Japan) "Fourth 'real' album (after two on Charnel Music, and the anomalous Psychedelic Polyhedron on Fractal, and discounting a ton of self-released cassettes and CD-Rs on the existentially dubious La Musica label) from Tokyo underground freaks Mainliner. The group's leader, legendary Tokyo speed freak Asahito Nanjo is best known as the bass-playing, shades-wearing polymath behind High Rise and Musica Transonic. Stylistically, this is just where you would want it to be -- exactly half-way between the acceleration-obsessed garage psych of High Rise, and the more spastic time shifts of Musica Transonic. There is a seriously sticky gloopiness to the Mainliner psych-as-group-mind universe, which even the hydrochloric guitar of Acid Mother Kawabata only momentarily manages to extricate itself from. The rest is cemented down by the straight pounding of new member Koji Shimura (ex-White Heaven) on drums, and Nanjo's usual sterling bass work. The five tracks of super-heavy, super-dense rock-psych improv are all liberally smothered in the trademark Nanjo pile-driving needles-in-the-red production aesthetic. In terms of rock, this is the most truly satisfying album that this group has made since Mellow Out. Heavier than anything else you're likely to listen to this week." -- Alan Cummings
CD $20

MUSICA TRANSONIC [ASAHITO NANJO/TATSUYA YOSHIDA/HAJIME KAWABATA MAKOTO]] - Swing Strong Mod (PSF 108; Japan) The trio of : Asahito Nanjo (bass), Makoto Kawabata (guitar) & Tatsuya Yoshida (drums). "Latest two blasts from the hyper-productive Asahito Nanjo camp. Fifth album overall from the speed-fuck volume terrorists, following up their last PSF release (PSF 098) which saw Keiji Haino cranking up his amp alongside the band. For this release, Nanjo has been strongarmed into tuning down his usual all-in-the-red speaker-destruction mix -- and as a result, the full range of amazing punk interplay and crazed rhythmic invention is a hell of a lot easier to appreciate. Kawabata's soloing is a real standout this time around, hitting an eye-glazing fractured jazz style at times. No one's going to mistake him for Pat Metheny though. . ." -- Alan Cummings
CD $20

MUSICA TRANSONIC [ASAHITO NANJO/TATSUYA YOSHIDA/HAJIME KAWABATA MAKOTO] - Orthodox Jazz [aka Third Album aka The World Of Musica Transonica] (PSF 91; Japan) "Third PSF album. If you haven't heard Musica Transonic before, where have you been? They describe themselves as a 'Contemporary Improvised Psychedelelic Group', and the music itself is the most hyper over-the-top rock mayhem imaginable. If anything, this set tops their amazing previous record in pure sonic collision, ludicrously over-amped guitar solos, spastic time-changes. In other works, the usual staggering sonic alchemy take to unforseen heights of majestic stupidity."
CD $20

MUSICA TRANSONIC [ASAHITO NANJO/TATSUYA YOSHIDA/HAJIME KAWABATA MAKOTO] - A Pilgrim's Solace [aka Second Album aka A Pilgrim's Repose] (PSF 76; Japan) 2nd album by the trio of Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins), Asahito Nanjo (High Rise) & Hajime Kawabata 'Makoto (Toho Sara). "Improvised heavy psychedelia from the Magnificent Three. If you've heard the staggering first album by this PSF supergroup then you'll know what to expect. Basically, more of the same. Totally over the top, utterly stupid, hugely inventive, loud and obnoxious -- in other words, just what you need. the sound has been slightly cleaned up this time, so you can hear a bit more of what is going on."
CD $20

MUSICA TRANSONIC [ASAHITO NANJO/TATSUYA YOSHIDA/HAJIME KAWABATA MAKOTO] - Introducing.. Musica Transonic! (PSF 61; Japan) Debut CD by a Tokyo supergroup featuring Asahito Nanjo (High Rise) on bass, Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins) on drums, and Hajime Kawabata [Makoto] (Toho Sara) on guitar. Totally distorted monster heaviness in an early High Rise meets Ruins mode. Essential.
CD $20

TOHO SARA [KAWABATA MAKOTO/ASAHITO NANJO/MINEKO MIDO] - Eastern Most 1-7 (PSF 58; Japan) Described as a Japanese Underground shamanistic avant garde music outfit, Toho Sara is a new trio featuring Nanjo (High Rise), playing an assortment of instruments like cello, flute, bass recorder, china gong, tabla, bass, piri, oboe, harmonium, vibes, kei, biwa, shakujo, viola, violin, hansho, etc. "A mystery group ala Third Ear Band. Mystic music with ancient instruments."
CD $20

TOHO SARA [KAWABATA MAKOTO/ASAHITO NANJO/MINEKO MIDO] - Mei Jou Tan Sho (PSF 109; Japan) "The second album from one of Nanjo's most mysterious units, who attempt an unearthly fusion of ethnic droning and rock methodology, electric and acoustic vibrations. Edgy and unsettling heretical donescapes that unconsciously silence the impulsive reconnaissance of pre-determined formats. It is thought that the members this time around are the duo of Nanjo and Makoto Kawabata (of Musica Transonic, Acid Mothers Temple et al)." -- Alan Cummings. Kawabata (Dholak, Hojok, Zurna, Algoza, Yoruk, Kemenje, Mey, Sarangi, violin, viola, Blockflote, harmonium, ching), Nanjo (cello, bassrecorder, China gong, Hansho, bass, Eastern String, electronics, Sitar, Saz) & Mido Mineko (organ).
CD $20

HAINO KEIJI/KAWABATA MAKOTO/TATSUYA YOSHIDA - Ichi To Ichi To Ichi Ga Kasanatte Shimaumade [DVD] (PSF DV 1003; Japan) Live At Mission's, December 19th 2008. "Second release by a new super-group featuring Keiji Haino, Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple), and Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins). Recorded live in Tokyo in December 2008. An hour's worth of sharply photographed alternately dense, brutal, coruscating and beautiful interplay from three of the hardest hitters in the Japanese underground, with the interplay between Haino's scalding, molten darkness and Kawabata's crunch and ripple particularly invigorating. For those confused by the title, the trio's previous release on Magaibutsu was entitled Ichi to ichi ga kasanatte shimaumade ('Until one and one come to overlap'). This one is Ichi to ichi to ichi ga kasanatte shimaumade ('Until one and one and one come to overlap'). Just so you know. Fifty-nine minutes. Region-free NTSC DVD." -- Alan Cummings
DVD $24


from Vivo:

SEKKUTSU JEAN [TATSUYA YOSHIDA/SATO KENJI] & KAWABATA MAKOTO - Sekkutsu Jean & Kawabata Makoto (Vivo 2008034; EEC) Recorded live at EARTHDOM (Tokyo 23rd October 2007), HELLUVA LOUNGE (Kobe 5th October 2007).This three way collaboration is a real manic attack on the sensors, yet it also has great moments of alien beauty too. The album mixers deranged guitar runs, seemingly impossible and space funked bass patterns, complex and battering percussion, and the odd shot of demented vocal attacks too.
The 11 tracks with-in bring together one part Acid Mothers Temple with Kawabata Makoto on guitar and the duo of Sekkutsu Jean which consists of Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins,PainKiller,ect) handling drums/vocals and Kenji Sato on bass and vocals. And I guess the best way to try and describe it is a collision between funk rock, avant rock, jazz and rock elements but all forced at you in a manic and deranged manner. But there are also moments of great atmosphere and strange beauty appearing here and there through out the album too; take the emotional bass runs meets spacey guitar uttering with strange nonsense operatic alien vocal batter of track six Vokkoshmmra.
All parties concerned play with great passion, flare and musically precision with Kawabata's guitar work been fiery yet focused, Yoshida drumming been manic & complex, but for me the star of the show is Kenji Sato who performs mind bending feats with his bass going from; derange and virtuoso, to harmonic and atmospheric, to funky and brain bending.A great on the edge of your seat ride through out with these three showing playfulness, sonic overload & atmosphere. Really Breathtaking and invigorating stuff. - Roger Barry
CD $17

TSURUBAMI [KAWABATA MAKOTO/EMI NOBUKO/HIGASHI HIROSHI of ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE] - Tenrin (Vivo 2007033; EEC) Tsurubami is the latest Acid Mothers Temple off-shoot project. Featuring guitarist Makoto Kawabata, percussionist Nobuka Emi and bassist Hiroshi Higashi, it becomes apparent early on in their "Tenrin" recording that what the trio is going after is complete and total annihilation. The first 18 minute track "Kakaru Henge No Yukusue Wa" features sharp pricks of Kawabata's guitar, which are repeated ad infinatum. Add to this a few raging solos and a rhythm section with a drummer who pounds the hell out of his skins, and you've got yourself a mean, hellish way to kill some time. The nearly 40 minute long second piece "Ten Nozomite Tsuki Idezu" takes a lot longer to arrive at its climax. Through a long, psychedelic section - full of whacked out guitars and primal drums, the piece arrives at a blues-soaked guitar solo, which then leads to the trio doing some metal-hammer, feedback laced mayhem section. An aural orgasm like you've rarely heard it before! - Tom Sekowsk
CD $17

MUSICA TRANSONIC [ASAHITO NANJO/TATSUYA YOSHIDA/HAJIME KAWABATA MAKOTO] - XYOSFBIGKOU (Vivo 2006023; EEC) Wild & furious psychedelic madness by NANJO ASAHITO (High Rise/Mainliner) on bass, KAWABATA MAKOTO (Acid Mothers Temple) on guitar and YOSHIDA TATSUYA (Ruins) on drums. Ten new compositions from the exceptional trio. Extremely heavy psychedelia at its best!
CD $17

SEIKAZOKU [TATSUYA YOSHIDA/KAWABATA MAKOTO/ATSUSHI TSUYAMA] - Live in Japan (Vivo 2006019; EEC) A wonderful mixture of progressive psychedelic rock, improvised structures of jazz and extraordinary world music inspirations! Yoshida Tatsuya ( head of Magaibutsu Records, Ruins, PainKiller, Korekyojin, Zubi Zuva, just the name of few!), Tsuyama Atsushi (Akaten, Haco, Omoide Hatoba, Acid Mothers Temple), Kawabata Makoto (Acid Mothers Temple, Zoffy, Godman, Akaten, Gong, Mainliner, Musica Transonic, countless other projects). Featuring 13 tracks recorded during shows in Tokyo and Nagoya in 2005. Must-have for all fans of new sound of Japan!
CD $17

KAWABATA MAKOTO - Your Voice From the Moon (Vivo 2005018; EEC) If a bearded, tie-dyed guy fiddling with the knobs and wires of some vintage synth is your idea of a good time, you're in luck. Here's another three (quite long, of course) tracks of space-out fantasia from the prolific Kawabata Makoto, leader of everyone's favorite band of hippie throwbacks, Acid Mothers Temple. Kawabata's music is just about Japan's number one export these days, isn't it?? Well c'mon, he's got rent to pay (or effects boxes to buy, or something). And as always, we're not complaining... ol' Kawabata can indulge his love for krauty cosmic electronics, as he does here, all the live long day and we'll forever be willing to lend an ear. At 21, 19, and 34 minutes, roughly, these tracks have plenty of space to develop, and feature quietly creepy stretches of looping seagull static as well as utter sci-fi, videogame zappery, pretty much along the same lines as Space Machine, Masonna's similarly inspired analog synth side project. Good music to veg out to while starring at any remotely abstract pattern, with the last and longest (title) track being the most meditative, basically a central drone-tone and heartbeat-like pulse.
CD $17


from Alien8:

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Lord Of The Underground: Vishnu And The Magic Elixir (Alien8 84; Canada) "Acid Mothers Temple returns with a new release, their fourth for the label. The album is made up entirely of new studio recordings that have captured the band in fantastic form. The band is captured flying at full speed dishing out three slabs of Turkish psych meets Krautrock, served up Acid Mothers Temple style. The opening cut, 'Eleking The Clay' is a smoker that bears some resemblance to their well known 'hit,' 'La Novia.' The speed guru, a.k.a. Kawabata Makoto, is on fire and mesmerizes us with his speed and furry on this track. His guitar playing is so quick it becomes difficult to differentiate the actual notes being played as you are overtaken by the speed and repetitious nature of the track. In this respect it also brings to mind their fantastic rendition of the Terry Riley's minimalist anthem 'In C.' The same notes repeating over and over until they start to coalesce and take new shape. Next up is a short piece written by bass player and multi-instrumentalist Atsushi Tsuyama who is credited with playing monster bass, voice, acoustic guitar, alto recorder, flute, toy trumpet and kazoo. If you have ever witnessed the band live, you are aware of what a huge presence bassist Atsushi Tsuyama is within a live context and it is equally the case on Lord Of The Underground. This track, entitled 'Sorcerer's Stone Of The Magi,' serves as an intermission if you will; it is a nice gentle piece of outsider folk that allows you brace yourself for the epic closing track 'Vishnu And The Magic Elixir.' The final cut takes it's time to deliver its message and sees the band in familiar territory. Here they play with some of their more playful influences, such as Frank Zappa and Incredible String Band, and blend them with their patented spaced out electronics that have graced many of their records."
CD $15

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Starless and Bible Black Sabbath (Alien8 62; Canada) 2011 repress. "While this album is certainly a tribute record it doesn't consist of straight-up Sabbath worship in the simple sense of covers. The band sounds as if they are simultaneously paying respect to other Sabbath-influenced projects such as Melvins or Zeni Geva, the later being the former home of Tabata, one of the Temple's latest recruits. Starless and Bible Black Sabbath consists of two tracks, the first being an epic thirty four minute blowout titled 'Lady from Hell.' The opening cut begins in a similar fashion to Black Sabbath's eponymous open albeit much less dramatic. The second track relates more to the band's obsession with Kraut rock, sounding like the more pop-oriented period of Hawkwind."
CD $15


from Ace Fu:

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Have You Seen the Other Side of the Sky? (Ace Fu 41; USA) "You know Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. freak out as the dynastic rulers of Japanoise. They freak out improvisationally, entwining psychedelia with prog, hard rock, krautrock, avant-rock in the spirit of diverse greats as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Shaeffer, Amon Duul, Deep Purple, or Genesis. Acid Mothers Temple makes their music epic, frenzied, expertly lunatic, meticulously composed, and astonishingly affecting in its sprawling, vigorous, unrelenting splendor. This album is the latest installment in Acid Mothers Temple's expansive 25+-releases-since-1998 catalog."
CD $12

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Iao Chant from The Cosmic Inferno (Ace Fu 34; USA) One 52 minute track. "Recommended if you like: Boredoms, Can, Gong, Faust, United States of America, Ultimate Spinach, Tangerine Dream."
CD $16


from Riot Season:

PIKACYU/KAWABATA MAKOTO - Om Sweet Home: We Are Shining Stars From Darkside (Riot Season 27; UK) This is the eagerly-awaited debut album from Japanese underground legends Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple/Mainliner) and Pikacyu (Afrirampo). Combining their trademark master musicianship, out-there sonic attack and off-the-wall weirdness, OM Sweet Home: We Are Shining Stars From Darkside is the exciting sound of another legend in the making. Equal parts psychedelia, warped pop, full-on Japnoise and avant-garde passages, it's sure to appeal to their many followers worldwide. Special first edition of 1,000 copies only (for the world) shrink-wrapped CD packaged inside a 350 gram gatefold card sleeve with reverse board printing. Subsequent represses will be in standard packaging. Pikacyu*Makoto is an alliance between two figureheads of underground Japanese psych/pop. No strangers to one another, the pair have not only gigged together with their respective bands but also recorded together, when these two outfits temporarily fused in 2005 to become Acid Mothers Afrirampo (releasing an album of the same name). Now they have distilled their collaboration, all other players being stripped away to leave the core of Pikacyu's manic drums and vocals, and Makoto's schizoid guitar conjurings. OM Sweet Home: We Are Shining Stars From Darkside is unlike anything either culprit has produced before, both structured and freeform, tuneless and beautiful. Pikacyu's drums pummel, jitter, crash and stumble, but steadfastly refuse to groove. She layers her voice several times, competing with maniacally pitch-shifted versions of herself to bring you what is, in their words, "a story about the cosmic shaman Pikacyu vs. the master of the darkness Makoto... including the full love from the universe!!" Makoto attacks his guitar, cloaking himself in reverb to produce a wall of sound, alternating between melody and noise. "OM Marijana FU" resembles field recordings of a gang of lady monks doing chants in the monastery, played back on dying tape Walkmans. Then you're thrown straight into the deep-end of one of the album's epics -- "Birth Star."
"Pikacyu was the drummer and vocalist from the highly energetic band known as Afrirampo (who's live performances are hard to recall without a joyful wave of emotions washing over me). She has already cemented inspiration in the minds of those who have been lucky enough to have experienced her rituals; now she continues her journey with fellow cosmic explorer Makoto. Yes, Makoto as in Makoto Kawabata, the same axe grinder from psychedelic warlords Acid Mothers Temple has joined Pikacyu in this mighty duo of maniacs and have traversing the planet with their high energy space rock presented with a punk rock vigor.
Both have previously collaborated with their respective groups (see Acid Mothers Afrirampo "We Are Acid Mothers Afrirampo" as well as Pikacyu touring as Acid Mothers drummer for awhile). As a duo they give us a heaping spoonful of their morphing musical adventures under the very lose banner of rock with healthy dose of live vocal effect processing. To be completely honest, DMG got these in when Pika (aka Pikacyu) & Makoto were touring the states. The reason we didn't mention them then was that as soon as I brought them in the shop the first time, the minuscule copies I've salvaged from their touring remains blew out the door with eager ears and even faster hands (one of the benefits of physically being in the store). Now that this release has proper distro in the U.S., we can officially offer it to all of you, which I highly advise getting. If you are the sort who likes to be blasted out to the next realm while cradled by the gelatinous cloud carrying you through to the scarier but more fun darkside (of the moon), then this is for you. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!" - Chuck Bettis/DMG
CD $16

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Pink Lady Lemonade (You're From Outer Space) (Riot Season 19; UK) [Not to be confused with 'Pink Lady Lemonade (You're From Inner Space)' by AMT & Melting Paraiso release on Alien8 label - a different recording!]
"This really could be AMT's first 'summer album.' Unlike previous Cosmic Inferno albums this one doesn't reach in the red status often -- it's more out there, like they've gone back to their mountain retreat and taken too much mushroom tea perhaps. But when it does finally soar, Kawabata's guitar has never sounded so alive. The first AMT&TCI studio recordings since the addition of Pikachu, drummer and vocalist with Osaka grenade-girl duo Afrirampo. The popular AMT standard 'Pink Lady Lemonade' showcases a 21st century acid rock update on the '60s San Francisco psychedelic sound. On 'Pink Lady Lemonade - You're From Space,' the Cosmic Inferno crew give PLL a new lease of life and reinvent it as a trippy/chilled out monster. As it rolls on, they sing, adding new riffs and taking it to the stars and back. It's like hearing it for the first time all over again."
CD $16

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Acid Motherly Love (Riot Season 16; UK) "Returning to their Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO moniker, Kawabata Makoto and his fellow psych jam explorers have let loose one of their most varied, extensive discs to date. Acid Motherly Love is a prog rock banquet, which maintains its fuzzy psych credentials without losing a sense of narrative. Take the twenty-one minute three-parter 'Douchebag': it all starts off as a tranquil spoken word piece set against a backdrop of organ and acoustic guitar, only to switch to full-blown hard rocking sonic blitzkrieg, eventually winding down into a lengthy passage of feedback and oscillator tones. It's like the Grateful Dead tackling Rush's 'A Farewell To Kings.' Probably. After all that, there's a bit of a comedown in the shape of 'Traitors With Beautiful Hearts', a sprawling four minutes of disconnected sound elements, and palate-cleansing loopiness that piles into 'Astro Elvis ESP', an all-out fuzz fest and ring modulator workout. Weirdest of all is set closer 'Johnny Johnny Jerusalem', a nutty a cappella piece featuring the kind of sound poem silliness you might hear from a jetlagged Jaap Blonk." --Boomkat
CD $16


from Swordfish:

FATHER MOO & THE BLACK SHEEP [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Father Moo & The Black Sheep (Swordfish SFAM 01; UK) Repressed! A UK-only issue of what was previously available as a non-distributed CDR release on the Acid Mothers Temple CDR label (later reissued as a very limited LP on Swordfish). Jewel case packaging, with a completely unbelievable Yod-tribute sleeve. The music is in the realm of tranquil drone-intensive freak outs (electronics, moaning vocal sounds, processed murk), not at all in the rocking style of Kawabata's well known Acid Mother's Temple ensemble. A sensational artifact, presented to perfection.
CD $18

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Never Ending Space Ritual: History of Acid Mothers Temple [2 DVD Set] (Swordfish DVD01; UK) Disc 1 tracks the band through the first decade from 1998 to 2007 through rare footage featuring guest appearances from members of Guru Guru, Afrirampo, Ruins and others. Disc 2 features a historic performance of La Novia featuring Occitan Queen of Songrosina De Peira, many takes of other AMT classics, and an in depth interview with Kawabata Makoto. Other AMT offshoots - Acid Mothers Gong, AMTSWR and AMTGuru Guru are also featured." Booklet includes photographs and documentary material. NTSC Region
2 DVD set $38


from Homeopathic:

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al]/STEARICA - Stearica Invade Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso.. (Homeopathic 07; EEC) "The long-anticipated collaboration between Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. & Stearica. In November 2008 AMT and Stearica toured extensively around Europe. Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. is a legendary Japanese psychedelic band founded in 1995 by members of the Acid Mothers Temple soul-collective and have a reputation for phenomenal live shows and releasing frequent albums on a number of international record labels. Stearica lives a rare story for an Italian band, made of international collaborations with artists like Dalek (Ipecac), Amy Denio (Fred Frith, Derek Bailey), Jessica Lurie (Bill Frisell, Nels Cline), Nick Storring (Damo Suzuki network, Picastro). This record is a picture which was shot on the 32th day of AMT and Stearica European tour 2008."
CD $19


from Static Caravan:

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Absolutely Freak Out (Zap Your Mind!): Expanded Edition [2 CD set] (Static Caravan 004; UK) Double CD reissue of the deleted 2002 LP (originally released 2/01), with 3 bonus tracks (approx 44 extra minutes). "Who are Acid Mothers Temple? A freak-out group for the 21st century, founded in 1996 by members of the Acid Mothers Temple soul-collective. Led by Kawabata Makoto (Musica Transonic. Toho Sara, etc.) a 100% genuine cult band that are on a mission to give you massive frontal lobe damage. Imagine spending an acid tinged weekend up a Japanese mountain with only a battered tape player for company. The sounds emanate as and when they wish, it might be a snatch of ear shredding guitar noise, an ambient electronic pulse, traditional folk or the sweet sound of a handmaiden warbling ..whatever you hear it's never boring and you never guess what's coming next. Take two labels: Resonant (Do Make Say Think, Tarentel, Jessica Bailiff, Kepler) and Static Caravan (E-Vax, Isan, Magnetophone, Sonna, Tarentel, Sybarite), a love of Japanese underground music, and what do you get? A brand new 124 minute trip through the coolest weird and wonderful sounds from the AMT mothership."
2 CD set $18


from Very Friendly:

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE COSMIC INFERNO [KAWABATA MAKOTO et al] - Journey Into The Cosmic Inferno (Very Friendly 46; USA) The "Cosmic Inferno" manifestation of Acid Mothers Temple was initially formed in 2005, in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the planetary sonic event that is Acid Mothers Temple. As leader Kawabata Makoto explains: "Though we shall henceforth be Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno, the new group will also be known in short as Acid Mothers Temple and this will no doubt sow confusion in the minds of many. But the true manifestations of Acid Mothers Temple are many -- Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O., Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno, Acid Mothers Temple SWR. The future may see yet other groups bearing similar names. But each and all of them will be true manifestations of Acid Mothers Temple." This is the first studio recording since the addition of Pikachu, drummer and vocalist with Osaka grenade-girl duo, Afrirampo. A churning psychedelic mandala driven by Pikachu and Koji Shimura's (ex-Mainliner, ex-High Rise, ex-Nagisa Ni Te) explosive twin drum assault. The original super-heavy AMT & TCI groove is blended with Pikachu's wild and spontaneous power. Against a background of ultra-loud fuzz-wah guitar and swooping space sounds, Pikachu and Tabata's (Zeni Geva, ex-Boredoms) twin vocals beckon you on an endless journey through the cosmic inferno!
CD $16


from VHF

KAWABATA MAKOTO/RICHARD YOUNGS - Kawabata Makoto & Richard Youngs (VHF 64; USA) "This untitled CD of duets by Kawabata Makoto, the leader of Acid Mothers Temple, and the slightly less available Glasgow librarian Richard Youngs shows the pair in a relaxed yet psychedelic mood where it is immediately apparent that the two are really listening to one another instead of merely adding to their already vast discographies. Throughout the five untitled tracks, simple modal melodies are performed on acoustic guitar, autoharp, organ, voice and other instruments rubbing against the swirling production and layers of shifting haze. Young's identifiable voice, guitar and autoharp greet Kawabata's echo treatments on the first track, while track three reverses the process with Young's minor key picking cutting against Kawabata's thick, visceral drones. Tracks two, four and five all use a base of beautiful fingerpicked guitar melodies, layering organ, synth, tape effects and echo until a mellow cosmic vibe is achieved."
CD $15


from Qbico:

KAWABATA MAKOTO - Under Your Moonshine/Electric Guitar: Tro Glosound Art (QBICO 96; Italy) Makoto Kawabata -- electric guitar (with no overdubbing) recorded around 2003/4. The last Makoto Kawabata release for Qbico! And strange enough, Makoto told me that this was his last solo guitar recording with no overdubs. He gave to me this special solo a while ago, maybe 2003/4. I waited for the right moment to release it, just before the closure of Qbico, it all started with him.
LP $24


from Bureau B:

MANI NEUMEIER & KAWABATA MAKOTO - Samurai Blues (Bureau B 71; Germany) A damn good one-million-euro question: Who was the first German musician to have his likeness displayed at the Tokyo Wax Museum? Answer: Mani Neumeier, founder and drummer of the legendary Krautrock band Guru Guru. And how come? Simple: The Japanese simply have fine taste in music. Not only are they the most enthusiastic classical music listeners, they're also wild about Teutonic avant-garde rock (aka Krautrock) -- which is no better embodied by anyone than by Mani Neumeier.The affinity, by the way, is based on reciprocity. Ever since 1996, the same year his wax figure was inaugurated, when he toured through the country for the first time with Guru Guru, Neumeier has been so enthusiastic about Japan that he journeys there at least once a year. The following year, he performed there with the Damo Suzuki Network. Later he was usually traveling solo, seeking out the best improvisational musicians that Japan had to offer to take part in his concerts. Some of these musicians told him of a completely freaked-out guitarist. He was the wildest of them all -- in other words, exactly the right thing for Mani Neumeier. Kawabata Makoto was his name, and he was/is the head of the band Acid Mothers Temple. Neumeier had already played together with their bassist, Tsuyama Atsushi, and to satisfy Neumeier's curiosity, Tsuyama arranged a concert. That was in 2006. The three harmonized perfectly: The chemistry was right and they brewed up a massive storm. They sensed that they had created a mighty psychedelic monster and called it Acid Mothers Guru Guru. A year later, they completed a 10-day whirlwind tour of the United States, where they were met with wild applause. During each of the four tours of Japan that have followed so far, they have also been celebrated in packed concert halls every time. But Mani Neumeier also very much enjoys playing as a duo, so he organized numerous concerts just for himself and Kawabata. The desire soon emerged to record a CD in the studio with just the two of them. The result is Samurai Blues: high-grade psychedelic improvisations by two absolutely unrestricted professionals. With their tempestuous guitars and thundering drums, Neumeier and Kawabata demonstrate just what is possible in acid rock in 2011.
CD $17


from Last Visible Dog:

TSURUBAMI [KAWABATA MAKOTO/EMI NOBUKO/HIGASHI HIROSHI of ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE] - Kaina (Last Visible Dog 23; USA) "Yet another entry into the exponentially increasing catalogue from Kawabata Makoto comes outside of the realms of The Acid Mother's Temple. Fellow Acid Mother's Templar Higashi Hiroshi brings his bass to Kawabata's guitar, alongside the newcomer Emi Nobuko on drums. The album opens in similar fashion to Kawabata's Father Moo & The Black Sheep album, with a synthetic wash of pitch-shifting / multiverb guitar tones. Slowly these ambient tonalities develop into shimmering fragments of melody half appearing, then dissolving into kosmische haziness." -- Aquarius. This CD reissue comes with an exclusive bonus track, pushing the album length up to just shy of an hour.
CD $14


from Voiceprint:

ACID MOTHERS GONG [ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE/KAWABATA MAKOTO With DAEVID ALLEN/GILLI SMYTH et al] - Live @ Uncon 06 [DVD] (Voiceprint DVD46 VPT; UK) "When the Acid Mothers Gong band manifested in 2003, it was yet another story in the evolving history of Gong, which started in 1968 in Paris. Daevid Allen had returned there after being refused entry to the UK for visa reasons when on the way to the Edinburgh Festival with Soft Machine, so he put his energy into Gong, which quickly came to the forefront of the avant garde. Paris was heating up for the revolution of workers and students against the government, and Daevid, with Gilli Smyth, had to flee as revolutionaries. They were in danger of being arrested for playing music to the students. After a disastrous trip to Morocco, they returned to Paris in 1969 to play at the Amougies Festival. They made several albums, and lived communally, which was an inspiration to that generation, and in 1971 Actuel magazine voted them the best alternative band in France. By l975, the band had moved to the UK and both Gilli Smyth and Daevid Allen had left to pursue solo careers with their own bands such as Mother Gong, New York Gong, Gong Maison, Planet Gong and eventually Acid Mothers Gong. As Steve Hillage said 'nobody ever left,' and the history of Gong has been ever-changing, like a river. Acid Mothers are a collection of improvising musicians with formidable technical skills and a philosophical stance that has placed them at the tip of the Japanese underground iceberg. With more than 100 CDs to their name, they have a massive cult following internationally and are well known for never having played the same song the same way twice! They were the perfect choice, allowing Gilli and Daevid to go where few have ventured. Daevid and Gilli recorded an album in Australia with Acid Mothers in 2003, toured Japan with them a couple of times, and played the set (which is now this DVD) at the 'Unconventional Gong Gathering' in Amsterdam in November 2006. The recordings from that event were mixed and mastered by Harry Williamson at Spring Studios in Melbourne, with assistance from Daevid Allen, and Harry also did the psychedelic video edit, and created special effects which complement the music perfectly. This DVD is of a magical combination of musicians coming together to push the boundaries of improvised music -- the line up is Daevid Allen, Kawabata Makoto, Gilli Smyth, Higashi Hiroshi, Yoshida Tatsuya and Atsushi Tsuyama with special guest Josh Pollock from the University of Errors."
DVD $20




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