| Yep, here it is, you know the year is
over when you receive THE FINAL NEWSLETTER of 1997, #18.
Happy holidays to everyone who reads this newsletter. It has been a great year for us here at DMG, thanks to all of you who support us. I am currently working on my annual top 100 lists, the pop/vocal section just about done, just can't seem to hit the 100 mark. I will probably finish up the other lists by February & get them out soon thereafter. Nice to see & hear my old pal Eugene Chadbourne in town last week for three nights of groovy gigs, two at the Knit w/ Gary Lucas & a superb duo set w/ Ted Reichman at DMG. I would like to dedicate this year-end newsletter to one of my closest friends & favorite saxists-Thomas Chapin. Thomas is very ill with leukemia & has been through hell for the past 6 months. He has had all the chemo his body can take & is still fighting the disease. He is one of sweetest spirits I know, his playing constantly inspiring...let us all pray for him & hope he gets well soon. NEW RELEASES NEW RELEASES NEW RELEASES
2.NICK DIDKOVSKY-Binky Boy (Punos 0003) An amazing first effort by Nick-leader & lead guitarist for NYC prog gods-Dr. Nerve. It features only el. guitars, with help from all members of Frith's el. guitar qt.-Mark Howell, Mark Stewart, Rene Lussier & Frith as well. Wacky, wild, weird & infinitely cool. Nick continually pushes the envelope, proving how diverse his composing, improvising & playing stretches the barriers. Challenging. $12. 3.GAWK-Scratch (Offshore B) Third effort by Gawk, led by el. bass great-Marc Sloan from Carbon. An immense thick & throbbing power trio w/ Gregor Kitzis on violin (Orchestra Carbon) & Steve Moses on drums. Pounding, post industrial, dark, dense, rocking hard & tight! A must for Carbon fans. All 3=$10. each. 4.BOB OSTERTAG-Like a Melody, No bitterness (My Very Own 1) Former downtowner, who's been living in Frisco for over a decade. Solo sampler insanity, w/ some samples provided by old cohorts Frith & Zorn. Swirling, difficult, twisted, bizarre, layered, fractured & not for easy listening. This and almost all Ostertag cd's are now all $14. 5.LUKAS LIGETI & BETA FOLY-st (Intuition 3216) w/ Henry Kaiser. An excellent world music collaboration. Lukas is a great drummer/composer, son of the great classical composer, drummer for a few of Henry Kaiser's previous units and has recently moved to NYC. This cd is an incredible 75 minute excursion, a collaboration with a West African unit-Beta Foly, Lukas & German player-Kurt Dahlke. Lukas & Kurt push these musicians into more progressive areas, a challenge for all participants. Numerous freaky Kaiser solos and extensive liner notes explaining the construction of each piece. Superb! $14. 6.NEW WINDS-Potion (Victo 053) Fourth excellent release by New Winds, with new member & trumpet master Herb Robertson replacing JD Parran. Both Ned Rothenberg's reeds & Robert Dick's flutes constantly push Herb & each other to come up with new sounds, timbres, textures in modern jazz & classical idioms. Beautifully recorded, now that Victo has begun to do studio efforts. $15. 7.WAYNE HORVITZ-Monologue (Cavity Search 33) Twenty tracks of amazing solo keyboards from Naked City/President/Pigpen/Zony Mash synth/organ/piano wiz-Wayne. From the quieter side of the President to eerie Residents-like seqencer sounds to cosmic electronic soundscapes. Nice job, Wayne! $14. 8.MICHAEL WHITE & BILL FRISELL-motion pictures (Intuition 3212) Mr. White is a fine violinist who used to play with legendary el./avant unit-the Fourth Way & Pharoah Sanders. This is a lovely duo effort, covering only standards, like Monk's "Misterioso" & "My One & Only Love". Old Frisell fans will still complain. $14. 9.N.Y.JAZZ COLLECTIVE-I Don't Know this World Without Don Cherry (Naxos 86003) A great downtown all-star ensemble w/ Marty Ehrlich, Baikida Carroll, Frank Lacy, Mike Nock, Michael Formanek & Steve Johns or Pheeroan ak Laff. Led by Nock, pianist for the aforementioned Fourth Way, with strong composing by all but the drummers. Like one of those fine Blue Note classics from the 60's. Anyone out there have a clue who distributes this German label in the US? 10.PRAXIS-1984 (Sub. 7023) Be forewarned, this is an unauthorized 14 minute reissue of an old Bill Laswell solo EP, from the supposedly defunkt Subharmonic label. Sounds like backing tracks for the Herbie Hancock hit Bill produced. $10. 11.GEORGE CARTWRIGHT & MICHAEL LYTLE- (Cadence Jazz 1070) Brave & fascinating saxes/clarinets duo from old members of the downtown scene. George is saxist/leader of Curlew & member of the Kevin Norton trio. Michael is bass clarinetist & longtime member of Dr. Nerve. They once had a trio lp w/ David Moss. This was recorded live in Dec. '93 in the Knot Room of the old Knit. $14. 12.KALLE LAAR & TAKASHI KAZAMAKI-"Moving" (Konnex 5073) With Samm Bennett & Kazutoki Umezu. Third release by this German/Jap improvising duo of guitar & percussion, each previous effort used members of the downtown scene. 64 minutes of wacky improv by this mostly unknown duo. Diverse & cool. $14. 13.EHRAN ELISHA ENSEMBLE-Shoresh ( ) A long journey, w/ drums as the main character provided by this Israeli born percussionist who studied w/ Milford Graves & Ed Blackwell. A slowly unfolding skeletal epic that often erupts w/ the strong playing of David Bindman & Paul Austerlitz on reeds, Stephen Haynes on trumpet (another unknown great), Bill Lowe on bass trombone & Mark Helias on double bass. The ancient sounds of the mysterious desert. $14. 14.TOM VARNER-Martian Heartache (Soul Note 121286) Outstanding composing and playing by the amazing quintet-soaring french horn by Varner, distinguished sax work by Ellery Eskelin & Ed Jackson, that perfect downtown rhythm team of Drew Gress & Tom Rainey. Strong & solid Mingus like writing keeps everyone on their toes. Nice to hear new guitar great Pete McCann (from Bobby Previte's The Horse) lend a hand. $14. 15.SUN RA & ARKESTRA-Cosmo Sun Connection (ReR SR1) Reissue of rare Recommended lp from 1985. A live recording from an unknown source w/ only an eight piece arkestra!? Essential, if you wish to travel the spaceways. Amazing solos by John Gilmore & Sun Ra! $14. 16.MARK STEVEN BROOKS-Writhing To The Occasion (Elaterium 6) Solo synth & theremin pieces from this new palomine & fellow psychedelic music researcher. Carefully crafted electronic sounds creating new environments to behold. $10. 17.RICHARD HOROWITZ & SUSSAN DEYHIM-Majoun (Sony 62721) Brilliant! Ten years after their first superb offering on Crammed, they do it to us again. Majoun is a "love potion" to haze our minds & that's what this exotic mix of sly, sexy, mesmerizing vocals, Moroccan instrumentation & selective sampling will do. W/ Steve Shehan, Hassan Hakmoun, Doug Wimbish & Skip McDonald. $14. 18.METROPOLITAN KLEZMER-yiddish for travelers (MK No#) Great klez quintet that have truly studied the depths of klezmer from many areas & eras. Each of these 24 cuts is an historic gem of klezmer's rich heritage. W/ Steve Elson (Big Joe) & Dave Hofstra (Microscopics...) A 1000 year history in 60 minutes! $14. 19.5UU's-crisis in clay (ReR 5uu2) Long awaited 3rd cd by this extraordinary prog unit from California, now down to a trio w/ only two original members & fronted by Bob Drake (Thinking Plaque, Hail, EC Nudes, solo) with his Jon Anderson like vocals. This is classic sounding prog/rock-Gentle Giant-like everchanging intricate parts & Magma-like occasional heaviness. Well worth the wait! $14. 20.TIPOGRAPHICA-Floating Opera (sistema 1) Fourth & final release from this incredible Japanese instrumental prog unit. Intricate, complex, tight, astounding Zappa-like changes. A prog masterwork & a nice way to exit...$26. for Jap.import 21.TONY GEBALLE-Native of the Rain (Discipline 9703) Beautiful solo 12-string acoustic guitar from former League of Crafty Guitarists & current member of Trey Gunn's band. Refreshingly melodic & calming, a fine guitarist. $14. 22.MISSING BRAZILIANS-Warzone (On U #34) Finally! Some deep dub gems from the elusive On U back catalogue. Restless had some of these titles, but now Caroline is beginning to get them out. With all the mediocre dub that we're bombarded with, it is good to hear this experimental dub, again. A 1984 reissue, of mostly instrumental -throbbing thick echoland from Adrian Sherwood, eerie farfisa a la Miles, bent drum machines pushed past usual distortion levels. $14.
Hello all and welcome to the final outing of MIKESSPACE for 1997. To all of you out there I say Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and Happy Kwanzaa, my brothas. My ACTUALLY SEEN for this issue- I went to the post office and even though the line was to the door, it only took me 20 minutes or so to get through. Can you believe that!?! My Desert Island _________ for this edition
is Desert Island Christmas wishes.
(RIYL: The Orb, Woob, Robert Rich, Steve Roach) Remember the first time you heard FSOL's "Lifeforms"? prepare to feel that way again... Dark, gorgeous, nighttime cloud-music or ice-blue arctic scenetracks that you might catch on the Discovery Channel. Gentle turbulence sometimes interrupts the dark reverie and the occasional disembodied voice reminds you that this is the work of human hands and not some intelligent machine that's really tuned into nature. Yes, it's been done before and the influences are readily apparent but I can't remember the last time I popped in a disc and hit "repeat" and just lost track of the time. Darren Price- Under The Flight Path
[NovaMute]
A great trip back to 1993 when we Americans were first introduced to that cream-of-the-crop dance label Warp! UK. Fat, hard-driven, synth sounds that do not embrace Drum & Bass, BigBeat, Tech-Step, Trip-hop or any of the current marketable trends. Instead he offers a refreshing, retro journey back to when intelligence met techno and no one really knew who or what a Juno Reactor was yet. The sounds were undefined, free to be what they were and not yet touched by greedy, corporate hands. Various Artists- Big Rockin' Beats [Wax
Trax!]
Damn! What a phat little slab of acrylic and aluminum substrate we have here, from newcomers Fatboy Slim to veterans Meat Beat Manifesto, all boxing your ears with what is probably the hottest trend in Electronica (wow, a trend within a trend)- Big Beat. This is a serious collection of tracks, 90% of which are winners but watch out for track 3 especially, because if you're anything like me you'll find yourself caught between the urge to break something or shake your butt uncontrollably. Terry Lee Brown Jr.- Chocolate Chords
[Plastic City]
I've always disliked House music because;
This piece is somewhat of a surprise... sort of ambient house or trance-lite. I'm sure this stuff exists and has for quite a while but this is the first time i've heard an artist this consistent with it. Gorgeous reverbs bathe JUST the right amount of bleeps and blips, mechanical basslines touched by JUST the right amount of melody. For me, those elements make this house piece JUST so damn good. Labradford- M Naranja [Kranky]
This is their 4th album and, like the others, it's quite the winner. Eno-ish, Evening Star-ish, Bark Psychosis-like, other than that, words do fail me.
Meshuggah- The True Human Design. A brass knuckled sucker-punch to all of your notions of groove, power, noise, timing and vocalized anguish, this release is, hands-down, the finest piece of heavy whatever to grace these ears in '97. Honorable mention: Theory In Practice- Third Eye Function, Machine Head- The More Things Change, Today Is The Day- Temple Of The Morning Star. Black Metal:
Death Metal: (Tie)
Honorable Mention: Broken Hope- Loathing, Dismember- Death Metal, Sinister- Bastard Saints Hardcore:
Honorable Mention: ACME, Earth Crisis- Gommorah's Season Ends Industrial Noise:
Honorable Mention: Deutsch Nepal- Time Stop Industrial/Dance: (tie)
Honorable Mention: Noise Unit- Drill Goth:
Honorable Mention: Arcana- Cantar De Procella Electronica Compilation: This category
will exclude Ambient music.
Honorable Mention: Feed Your Head Vol. 3 Electronica Artist:
Ambient:
Honorable Mention: Steve Roach- On This Planet Rap:
Soundtrack:
Pop:
EM2K |
|
|