Greetings & special thanks
to all of you for your congrats, mazel tovs and good cheer for my taking
over of this store, my birthday and a new era of challenge at DMG. I recently
quit drinking alcohol (meyers & oj), coffee and smoking herb for mental
and physical health reasons, it is not easy and I apologize to anyone I've
been kranky with. I am feeling much better, more clear minded. So glad
that Emp. Mike is back from his 8 day sojourn. The Texaco New York Knit
Jazz Fest is almost over, thank whomever! It's been too long at 14 days,
too many sets per night, too inconsistent, too cold in the main space &
alterknit, and too many new & inexperienced sound engineers messing
things up (sorry Jackie Mac). No doubt the fest really needed the 350 g's
that Texaco donated, but this is basically damage control for the reputed
racist hiring policies Texaco was accused of in the news in the past year.
This puts many musicians in a weird place of not being able to complain...don't
bite the hand that feeds you. Still, there have been a number of amazing
sets at the Knit, as well as Roulette, Biblio's, Gershwin Hotel and many
great free sets also. MASADA played two beautiful sets in Battery
Park on my birthday for over 1000 people, I was in heaven!! There were
incredible sets by Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, Mario Pavone, Mark
Dresser, a new Thomas Chapin unit, Gregg Bendian's Interzone, Vinny Golia-Paul
Smoker Qt., Rova & the mind-blowing Nels Cline Trio.
My earliest memories of E# go back to around 1980. I recall a gig at the Performing Garage, with Elliott blasting some free jazz tenor sax w/ Dennis Charles on drums. The beginning of the downtown scene took place at a mildewy, cricket infested basement space called Studio Henry at 1 Morton St., corner of Bleeker. Fred Frith had played his first barrier breaking solo guitar gig at the old Kitchen the previous year, Fred had been in my fave prog/avant/marxist/rock unit- Henry Cow, who had recently split up. Fred moved to NYC that year, his first regular gigs were at Studio Henry, Soundscape, Squat, Inroads...It was where I also met John Zorn, Eugene Chadbourne, Wayne & Bill Horvitz, Robin Holcomb, Henry Kaiser, Kondo, Polly Bradfield, Tom Cora, David Moss, Bob Ostertag, Ned Rothenberg, Derek Bailey, George Lewis, Charlie Noyes...All would improvise in various settings, groups & solos. It was incestuous, crazy & beautiful. E# could be found playing demented blues/rock guitar with the Hi Sheriffs of Blue, or even doing acoustic guitar duets with David Fulton. I asked Elliot if would like to jam with 2 buddies of mine some Sunday morning at Studio Henry-George Bishop, legendary tenor sax great from Philly, NY Gong & early Microscopics, and ex-Sun Ra wonder drummer Rickey Joyce. Elliott said of course, and played fretless bass-an hour of free jazz bliss! He was up for anything! Around 1982, E# put together an amazing, throttling, post-punk noise power unit called ISM. ISM had a thunderous 2 drummer & el. bass rhythm team, with Elliott playing mind-blowing lead guitar over the pounding din. Frith also had his post-punk power trio-MASSACRE w/ Bill Laswell & Fred Maher around the same time. ISM recorded 2 lp's, now collected on E#'s Arc 1 cd on Atavistic. MASSACRE recorded only one lp, called "Killing Time", currently on cd for $10. Elliott recorded a number of unique lp's on his own Zoar label throughout the 70's & 80's. ARC 2:The Seventies has just been released on Atavistic. It shows the breadth & futuristic scope of his musical conception starting from 1972. The sounds range from fuzzed-out hyper guitar choirs to extended overtones & percussive techniques on tenor sax to acoustic guitar, from microtonal elegies & proto-ambient soundscapes to machine rhythms & free improv. The seeds of Carbon were planted. In the mid 80's E# first produced the wacky folk/rock/avant/marxist/shambling unit MOFUNGO. He later joined them on lead guitar, they became much more focused, rocked out more and were tight as a result. In 1985, Elliott became a member of Wayne Horvitz's band-the President, Bill Frisell was their other guitarist, a much different player. On the President's 2nd release, Bring Yr Camera, Elliott plays some of his finest jazz/rock/fusion guitar solos ever. Wayne was and is a superb composer, so E#'s solos stand out! Newcomer & slide guitar wiz-Dave Tronzo is the other guitarist on this release. Elliott also put together an important compilation documenting the ever expanding downtown scene of 40 one minute pieces called "State of the Union". It was reissued just last year for the 2nd time, now as a double cd on Atavistic as well. It was also around this time that Elliott formed his ongoing band/project-CARBON! They have recorded about 8 releases over 10 years & are still going strong. Their sound is amazingly thick and often brutal, they were and are one of the finest noise rock bands to ever come out of NYC. I have never seen them play a less than throttling gig!! With monster musicians like Zeena Parkins on el. harp, David Weinstein on sampler, Marc Sloan on el. bass & Joe Trump on drums, they mean business on record. Elliott has been playing a custom made double neck guitar-bass with them for many years as well, tapping in his unique way, shoving weird metal objects between the strings...There is even an orchestral version of Carbon, whose Victo cd is a sound to behold. It is entitled "Abstract Repressionism". Check it out, if you are brave enough. In recent years, E# continues to challenge himself & his audience as well. He put out an outstanding all instrumental power blues trio cd on Homestead called "Terraplane" not to be missed, as well as a lovely acoustic blues duo cd on the same label just last year called "Hoosegow" with the sweet, soulful, resonant voice of Queen Esther, another winner! He has also put out a cd of scary, bizarre string music, performed by the Soldier String Quartet, "Cryptid Fragments" (Extreme), and has 2 duo cd 's out on Victo with Zeena Parkins, both strong efforts, with some inventive drum machine action. Not to forget his two solo guitar releases- "Westwerk" on Irrational and the recent "Sferics" on Atonal. "Sferics" uses only el. fretless guitar & a full arsenal of radical extended techniques, with no overdubs. Elliott has also moved into the are of industrial/funk in recent years, with 2 cd's of Tectonics, the 2nd of which has just been put out. Called 'Field & Stream", it incorporates drum n'bass grooves, computer processing,with extended guitar sounds. Watch out and listen up dance floor mutants. Which brings us to "Spring & Neap". Recorded live at the 1996 Merge Music Festival in Tokyo, Elliott conducts this 13 piece Japanese orchestra of shamisens, koto, piano, strings, percussion & Zeena on acoustic harp. From subtle ambience to raging torrents! The cd is a limited edition of 300, all signed & numbered by the composer, hand packaged in lavender rice paper. This is a new area for Elliott, DMG is proud to help him distribute this fine work. That's about it for now from Bruce G. Coming very soon will be DMG's sale vinyl & cd supplement catalogue. All cd's listed will be $9.-$10. Many rare lp's have been coming our way in recent months, so be on the look out, only a couple of pages to start. Take care, Bruce Lee Gallanter. Hey, you, get outta my SPACE (apologies to Mick Jagger). Actually, stick around and read, give me a reason to keep writing this piece. This edition of MIKESSPACE is once again dedicated to Bruce Gallanter, a great guy, a good boss and now the proud and sole owner of Downtown Music Gallery. Congratulations and best of luck. It's also dedicated to Amtrak who's screw-up and commitment to customer service has earned some serious free travel. Up first is DI__________. This edition's reader submission is from Steve Holtje. Here it is, verbatim- Off the top of my head, here's a Desert
Island list, though I'd like to have 10 albums each for Classical, Jazz,
Mainstream Rock, Country, Punk, Funk, Elliott Sharp (a category unto himself),
etc. Since those ain't the rules except for the Emperor, I'm going for
quantity and quality in one fat package here. In chronological order, because
they're all tied for #1 in quality.
freelance writer check out my e-zine JazzZine at http://members.aol.com/jazzzine/index.html Thanks Steve, please keep 'em coming folks,
if I get enough submissions all at once I'll do a DI_________ edition of
MS and you won't have to deal with my crap at all. Since this hasn't happened
yet here's my DI_________. Desert Island Customers.
Due to it's utterly sexist nature, the HOT BABES LIST will no longer be a feature in MS. I'm taking suggestions for replacements. It's gone because I got one (1) Email complaint regarding it, thank you Sunny for speaking up. Now, who says Emperor Mike isn't a man of the people? This edition's replacement piece will be APOLOGIES. This is where I, Emperor Mike (Future Leader of America), humble myself and offer apologies for CDs that I might have raved about in my reviews that, in the end, did not stand the test of time. Chimera- Earth Loop (issue 1) final impression is that I've heard it all before. Murphy's Law- Dedicated (issue 2) lack of progression killed this for me. Mazzy Star- Among My Swan (issue 3) 3 albums that sound exactly the same, I thought only Enya did that. Love Spirals Downward- Ever (issue 3) the honeymoon faded rather quickly while their first disc still gets weekly rotation 3 years later. Nefilim- Zoon (issue 5) good but not great, generic. Virus 23- Masquerade (issue 8) a really impressive opening track and then it loses it's way for the rest of the disc. Fueled- In The House Of The Enemy (issue 9) Prong wannabes and bad ones, at that. Sorry. This issue's reviews will vary, according
to my whims, between HAIKU REVIEW and CRITIQUE POETIQUE.
(RIYL: the Re-Constriction Records sound) These boys love Al you can clearly tell/their cyber-metal tales offer glimpses of Hell nothing original yet they do it just fine/rivalling Ministry's Psalm 69 Decree- Wake Of Devastation (Decibel)
Power filled noises that grind, tear and scrape/meet industrial-dance grooves that give it a shape that in all of my years as a noise connoiseur/I can say with assurance I've never heard before kHz- Cryogenic Sleep- (Cutting Recs.)
sensual but weird beats with lust and hate and death Projekt meets Instinct
(RIYL: later Sepultura, Neurosis, Fear Factory) These guys love Machine Head is what the clues tell me/that's all right with me, you don't have to sell me but flattery is one thing... this band's absurd/is this their first album or Machine Head's third ? Banco De Gaia- Big Men Cry- (Mammoth/Planet
Dog)
Toby Marks sleepwalked
My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult- (Red
Ant)
Ten year's ago this band was so hallowed/so sad to see them washed up in the shallows incredibly, once they wrote "Kooler Than Jesus"/were they really great or did they just tease us? Lost Boyz- Love, Peace & Nappiness-
(Universal Recs.)
a great rap album
(RIYL: Logical Progression 1 & 2, Future Sound Of Jazz 1 & 2) A great Drum & Bass compilation. Various Artists- Drug Test 2- (invisible)
Industrial rock bands with a sense of humor and a second disc of some good remixes. Exodus- Another Lesson In Violence,
Geezer- Black Science, Limp Bizkit- $3 Bill, Y'all- (Century Media, TVT,
Flip/Interscope)
Exodus regroups with almost the original line-up and plays most of their first album live. No more need be s aid you either want it or you don't. Geezer returns with a pretty good follow up but for me the lack of Burt Bell's vocals kills it. Limp Bizkit is harder than most of the genre's entries and fairly catchy. A moderate commercial success I'm sure.
Party on (responsibly) and vote for Mike (responsibly?). |
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