| Greetings,
Before we begin the Newsletter proper we
have to get some important business out of the way so please be patient
and read on. Our capitalist pig friends feel that we don't spend enough
time promoting the fact that we are first and foremost a store and not...
something else, so we are announcing our-
BIG-BIG-BIG-BIG-BIG SALE event in honor
of... Halloween, the Yankees, tattooed tourist women, an incredible month
of sales and ______________
The following cd's are on sale for $10.
each, most are out of print:
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1.Bill Laswell- Baselines (w/ Frith, D.Moss,
R.S.Jackson & George Lewis)
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2.Bill Laswell- Hear No Evil (w/ Shankar,
Skopelitis, D. Ponce, Z. Hussain & Aiyb Dieng)
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3.Golden Palominos-1st!! (w/ Zorn, Arto, Laswell,
Jamaaladeen, D. Moss & Anton Fier)
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4.Last Exit-Cassette Recordings (Sharrock,
P. Brotzmann, Laswell & R.S. Jackson)
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5.Last Exit-Iron Path (their only studio effort,
still smokin')
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6.Sonny Sharrock Band-Seize the Rainbow (burnin'
live in NYC)
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7.John Zorn/Derek Bailey/George Lewis-Yankees
(early studio improv)
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8.Peter Brotzmann/Bill Laswell-Lowlife (low
end improv torture)
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9.Samulnori-Into the Outlands (Korean unit
jams w/ Laswell, Shankar & R.S. Jackson)
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10.Deadline-Down by Law (Laswell funk from
'85 w/P.Wilson, B.Worrell, Jaco P., Olu Dara...)
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11.Material-7 Souls (amazing world/funk/prog
cd w/ William Burroughs recitation)
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12.Myra Melford Trio-Jump (1st effort by this
excellent pianist)
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13.Michael Brook-Live at the Aquarium (solo
Frippian guitars)
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14.Kevin Coyne-Peel Sessions (60 plus minutes
from various sessions, great stuff!)
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15.Blind Idiot God-1st (amazing prog/punk
instrumental power trio who also do dub!!)
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16.Rhys Chatham-Die Donnergarter (out-of-print
& hard to find)
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17.Machine Gun-1st, Open Fire & Pass the
Ammo (extreme improv w/ Thomas Chapin and...)
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18.Robert Musso-Absolute Music & Active
Resonance (great note bender & Laswell's main man)
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19.Pheeroan Ak Laff-Sonogram (excellent &
overlooked, featuring Sonny Sharrock)
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20.John King's Electric World-Life=Love (Hendrix
like guitar hero w/ Sharrock's rhythm team)
Also, we must apologize and correct 1 or 2
factual errors that made it past the editors/fact checkers here and made
it into DMGNL3- Andrea Parkins cleared up a little history for us. She
is not Zeena's sister, but is her first cousin. Sara (violin) & Margaret
(cello) Parkins are actually twins & are Zeena's sisters. Also, Zeena,
Sara & Margaret did play with Braxton's Tricentric Ensemble last year,
Andrea did not. Ted Reichmann was on accordian for that 3 day stay at the
Kitchen.
Now, welcome to our 4th ("whatever"-weekly)
newsletter.
I attend a ridiculous amount of gigs, sometimes
3 to 6 gigs a week. 45 days in a row is my record. Some weeks, it all clicks,
I'm still buzzing from last weeks gigs...Medeski, Martin & Wood record
release party on Monday at the Knit-a smokin' funky groove fest, 5 Mondays
with MMW, still packed with the post Deadhead crowd. Great cd! Tuesday
brought the Richard Thompson band to Irving Plaza-2 1/2 hours of dark powerful
electric & acoustic craftsmanship. Guitar solo on the venomous, "Put
It There, Pal" had us all creaming. On Wednsday, it was the return those
psych/prog superheroes--GONG, for their 2nd tour this year. Thee original
line-up, sans Hillage & Blake, 25 years after they first formed. Once
again, 2 1/2 hours of spaced out bliss. Both old & new material from
the upcoming US reissue of "Shapeshifter", out soon on Viceroy. On Thursday,
it was back to the Knit with Jessamine, an odd post prog unit from Chicago.
After all that coolness, it was Fri/Sat fest at the Knit that brought us
all to ecstacy!!
It was the very first performances of John
Zorn's Bar Kokhba Chamber Masada. Four 1 hour sets, all different, all
amazing, as good as it gets. Personnel included Zorn (playing & conducting),
Marc Ribot, Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander, Greg Cohen, Joey Baron &
Cyro Batista. Their recently released double cd on Tzadik is a masterpiece
of beauty, subtlety & spirituality. John has written over 160 pieces
for Masada, with only about 70 recorded so far. There were a dozen new
tunes throughout the sets. This music is so rich, it brought Ribot, Feldman
& Friedlander up higher to meet the challenge-they've never played
better. This version of Masada is on their way to Europe soon, do not miss
them!!!
Sorry to those of you anxiously awaiting
the arrival of Masada 7, promised a while back. Koch, who distribute Tzadik
in the US, are currently in negotiations with DIW over distributing Avant
in the US, Zorn's Japanese label. The deal is almost done, thus causing
the delay in our recieving 3 new Avant cd's-the Derek Bailey jungle collaboration,
Jim Plotkin's "Joy of Disease" & a Duck Baker release. Masada 7, which
is on DIW, shouldn't be affected by all this, but it has been delayed as
well...
In the meantime, there will be 7 more Tzadik
cd's released on Nov. 26th. These include Zorn's Filmworks V-Tears of Ecstasy
& Filmworks VI-1996. The personnel for VI is the same as listed above
for the Chamber Masada gig with Ikue Mori added. A new Film Music series
for Tzadik will include Steve Beresford's "Cue Sheets" (with members of
the Balanescu & Emperor String Quartets) & Peter Scherer's "Cronologia"
(with Zeena, Nana, Cyro & a sitarist). Tzadik's Radical Jewish Culture
series continues with the reissue of New Klezmer Trio's "Masks & Faces",
Kletka Red's "Hi-jacking" (punk covers of klezmer classics with guitarist
from the Ex & drummer from Ground Zero), and a cd by JON called "Smoke",
a Japanese Nico type of vocalist.
Finally released this week is AXIOM DUB-Mysteries
of Creation double cd. Inspired by by legendary dub producers-Lee "Scratch"
Perry, King Tubby, Augustus Pablo & LKJ. The artists featured include-Sly
& Robbie, Mad Professor, Dub Syndicate, the Orb, DJ's Spooky &
Olive, Word Sound & New Kingdom. Much of the usual Laswell crew as
well-Ninj, Skopelitis & Jah Wobble. I'll review this next time. Laswell's
Valis Two space/dub 2 cd set should also be out soon on Ion.
More new releases worth noting:
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1.Voices of Kwahn/Anna Homler-silver bowl
transmission ($16.)
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2.Evan Parker & Sainko Namtchylak-Mars
Song ($16.)
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3.Matthew Shipp Trio-Prism ($14.) with William
Parker & Whit Dickey.
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4.Rene Lussier-Trois Histoires ($16.) with
3 different units.
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5. " " -Fin du travail & Chants et danses
($16.) both 1st on cd.
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6.Peter Blegvad-Downtime ($14.) reissue of
excellent Cuneiform cd.
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7.Tom Cora's Roof-The Untraceable Cigar ($18.)w/Phil
Minton,Luc from Ex.
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8.Golden Palominos-dead inside ($14.) w/ Laswell,Knox
& Nicole Blackman.
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9.Eugene Chadbourne-Boogie with the Hook (?)
w/
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10.Bob Ostertag-Verbatim ($14.) on Rastascan.
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11.Tony Oxley Orchestra-The Enchanted Messenger
($15.) w/ Bill Dixon.
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12.Elysian Fields-bleed your cedar ($14.)
sexy, sly, minimal, cool.
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13.If, Bwana-Breathing ($10.)
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14.Marlui Miranda-Todos Os Sons ($14.) brilliant/weird
vocal/spirits from Brazil with homemade experimental unit-Uakti.
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15.Escapade-Searching for the Elusive Rainbow
($10) excellent el. improv unit from NY, prod. & feat. Hadley Kahn,
master drummer from Drunken Boat.
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16.Sylvie Chenard-Les Projets de la Baleine
($14.) great bizarre solo el. guitars & voice-inspired by her heroes-Frith,
Frisell & Ribot...
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17.Elma Mayer-s/t ($12.) great odd quirky
pop, Rebecca Moore like voice, more innocent, less dark. Sure to be a hit
on WFMU!
Just last year, I was complaining about the
lack of magazines covering experimental/avant/prog/downtown musics in the
US. Since EAR is no longer & Option covers so little creative music,
there is only WIRE from the UK & much of what they review is so hard
to find in the US, but we are working on just that. Since then Option has
gotten worse, so we stopped carrying the rag. We have discovered a half
dozen other fine mags, which we now carry. They are:
A)HALANA-excellent & serious. Incredibly
in depth interviews-10 pages with LaMonte Young & Marian Zazeela, ultimate
interview with Loren Mazzacane, Matt Shipp & instrument inventor-Harry
Bertoia, plus great article on minimalism by Alan Licht. Also includes
7" by Mazzacane, Shipp & Bertoia. All this for $5., can't wait for
next issue.
B)TONE CLUSTERS-put out by an old prog
buddy of mine-Ken Egbert, also a serious effort, with a much needed sense
of humor thrown in to keep balance. This old issue (Aug.'95), featured
articles on Phil Miller, King Crimson and Djam Karet. Plus a lengthy article
on the state of modern jazz with reviews of Roy Campbell, Luther Thomas,
Mark Whitecage & Zusaan Kali Fasteau- all musicians very worthy of
more recogntion. Forty pages of down-to-earth music journalism from the
heart, for one measly dollar!!
C)FACELIFT-the ultimate Canterbury (my
favorite music/scene of all time) zine. A small mag, only 14 issues so
far, but the bible for those of us who love Soft Machine, Caravan, Robert
Wyatt, Gong, Kevin Ayers, Henry Cow, Hatfield & the North...Long, in
depth, historical, complete disc- ographies & reviews of each &
every Canterbury release & reissue. Cost is $6.00 and we're still waiting
on issue #16.
D)EXPOSE'-Extremely well done prog zine
from Cal. Lengthy GONG article- history, interviews & excellent discography!
Also fine articles on Ash Ra Temple, The Enid & Kit Watkins. Also much
needed reviews of two recent prog fests in Baltimore & Osaka, Japan.
Half of the current issue (summer '96) is filled with long reviews of dozens
of prog releases/reissues. 72 pages of prog/electronic/fusion bliss for
only $4.50.
E)AUDION-Yet another serious prog zine,
this time from England. This zine specializes in Euro prog-the issue I
have here features-Agitation Free, Hoelderlin, Gruppo di Improvvisazione,
etc. They also cover the UK electronic scene, as well as extreme Jap noise-Fushitsusha.
Also dozens of useful reviews of new stuff, reissues & lost gems. The
7 page article on the amazing but often neglected krautrock unit Agitation
Free is a nice find. Issues cost $6.00.
Bruce G.
A poem:
Nothing great to sustain my existence
Wondering if I can go the distance
No new discs worthy of Haiku
Lack of Babes for my list, too
Summer's over and surfings gone
My life's too boring to muse upon
Nothing great or unusual to report
This pathetic poem, my last resort
I thus hang my head so low with disgrace
That's all I have, stay tuned to Mike's
Space
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