A Short But Sweet Stack O' 24k Golden Audio Treasures!

Frank Wright/James Blood Ulmer/Rashied Ali! Evan Parker/Steve Beresford: Foxes Fox! Frank Lowe/Joseph Jarman/William Parker! Steve Swell's Nation Of We! Marzette Watts/Sonny Sharrock/Byard Lancaster/Clifford Thornton/Henry Grimes!

Fred Frith/Zeena Parkins/Carla Kihlstedt Cosa Brava! Diane Moser/Mark Dresser! Lucian Capece! Gjerstad/Nilssen-Love! Terrence McManus & Joe Battaglia! Lamb/Abbs/Smith! Katharina Weber/Barry Guy/Balts Nill! Delerium!

Black Saint-Soul Note Box Sets: Mal Waldron Quintets, World Saxophone Quartet, Don Pillen, Jimmy Giuffre!

Mother Don Preston Early Synth LP! Masaki Batoh! Dirty Three! Wolf Eyes & John Weisse! Volcano the Bear! Francis Bebey Electronic Music! Sophia Knapp! Akos Rozmann! Mike Shiflett! Dan Froberg!

Kevin Norton's Barking Hoop label! and even more..!




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ANNOUNCING..

DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY's 21st Anniversary Show!

with

NELS CLINE & JULIAN LAGE
First appearance as a duo!

and

KALABALIK with RAOUL BJORKENHEIM, ANDERS NILSSON & GERALD CLEAVER
CD Release Party for Kalabalik's debut CD on DMG/ARC Records!


Friday, May 25th, 7 - 10 PM
doors open at 6 PM

at Le Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker St, NYC
212-505-3474


Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 day of show
Students: $15 Day Of Show at ticket booth with valid school ID

Purchase tickets in advance here:
https://secure.gigmaven.com/events/8051/orders/new


Kalabalik is..
RAOUL BJORKENHEIM guitar, ANDERS NILSSON guitar, and GERALD CLEAVER drums. Originally united for a live recording at DMG's Chinatown store in 2011, this trio has formed a richly rewarding creative bond. This is their 2nd NYC performance.

The incendiary RAOUL BJORKENHEIM, leader of such units as Scorch Trio and Krakatau, has a three decade career of performance internationally, including with Edward Vesala, Bill Laswell, Paul Schutze, and UMO Jazz Orchestra, and over 50 recordings (on ECM, Rune Grammofon, Cuneiform, et al).

Master drummer GERALD CLEAVER, with over 100 releases under his belt, has performed and recorded with legends like Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill, and leads the groups Farmers By Nature, Uncle June, Detroit, and Veil Of Names with jazz luminaries Craig Taborn, Mat Maneri, Tony Malaby, Ben Monder, Andrew Bishop, et al.

ANDERS NILSSON, like Raoul also raised in Finland, is the leader of the Aorta Ensemble and Fulminate Trio, and a favorite collaborator of jazz vocalist Fay Victor. He is the youngest member of this outfit by a hair, but this has not impeded his collaboration with an astonishing number of international musicians, including Mats Gustafsson, Paquito D'Rivera, Michael Formanek, Hamid Drake, et al. His chameleonesque guitar prowess has appeared on over 30 recordings in the last 10 years.



Guitar master-explorer NELS CLINE should need no introduction, having held the guitar seat in WILCO for many years. His recording and performing career - spanning jazz, rock, punk, and experimental - is well into its fourth decade, with over 130 recordings, including at least 30 for which he is leader. Besides Wilco, he has played or performed with Tim Berne, Vinny Golia, Scott Amendola, Lydia Lunch, Thurston Moore.. the list is endless!

This is Cline's first duo performance with seasoned guitar great JULIAN LAGE [on the cover of Jazz Inside for April 2012], who has played with Gary Burton, Jim Hall, Fred Hersch, Scott Colley, Joey Baron, et al. This looks to be the beginning of a serious ongoing musical relationship.


Downtown Music Gallery (DMG) has been the retail 'rock' of creative, jazz and experimental music sales for over two decades in NYC, and by extension to the world through its international mail-order (downtownmusicgallery.com). DMG also produces and presents concerts every year - this time to celebrate both DMG's 21st year, and its sixth release - KALABALIK - on its own DMG/ARC label [available May 1st]!


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


Sunday, April 15th Double-Header:
6pm: LATHAN HARDY - Alto Sax / SEAN ALI - Contrabass / FLIN VAN HEMMEN - Drums!
7pm: DAVE GROLLMAN - Drums/LUCIO MENEGON & BRENDAN LANDIS - Guitars!


Sunday April 22nd Early Double-Header (Note 1st Set is at 5pm!):
5pm: FRANCESCO GUAIANA & His FITZCARRALDO FRIENDS from ITALY!
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 Double-Header:
6pm: The Return of BONNIE KANE on Sax & CHRIS WELCOME on Guitar!
7pm: JAMES ILGENFRITZ on Bass & MIKKO INNANEN on Alto Sax!


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 Double-Header:
6pm: JESSE DULMAN & JASON CANDLER - Great Tuba & Alto Sax Duo!
7pm: MARTIN PHILADELPHY'S PUZZLE WORKS - Solo Guitar!


Sunday June 3rd, 2012 at 6pm:
ZOMBI JAZZ from Florida!


Sunday, July 1st at 6pm:
THE BROOKLYNITA TRIO Featuring ERIKA DAGNINO (poetry), BLAISE SIWULA (reeds) & KEN FILIANO (bass)


Sunday, July 15th at 6pm:
JACK WRIGHT - International Improvising Saxophone Master is Back!


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It's been a long wait! NEW on ESP!

FRANK WRIGHT With JAMES BLOOD ULMER/BENNY WILSON/RASHIED ALI - Blues For Albert Ayler: Live 1974 (ESP Disk 4068; USA) PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED! "ESP-Disk is now releasing Frank Wright's tribute concert to tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler titled 'Blues For Albert Ayler' in a 6 part suite. This high energy performance was recorded live at Rashied Ali's club 'Ali's Alley' on July 17th, 1974. This is the Right Reverend Frank Wright, live and raw, in his element, with a most impressive band. Frank Wright plays tenor sax and bass clarinet, with electrifying performances from guitarist James 'Blood' Ulmer, bassist Benny Wilson and drummer Rashied Ali."
CD $12

FRANK LOWE With JOSEPH JARMAN/THE WIZARD [RAYMOND LEE CHENG]/WILLIAM PARKER/RASHIED SINAN - The Lowesky (ESP Disk 4066; USA) PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED! "This track is the unreleased beginning portion of this 1973 Frank Lowe concert that was released as bonus material on the recent edition of Black Beings (ESP-DISK 3013). This incredible performance is filled with the fire and drive Frank Lowe was projecting on his tenor sax in 1973. This extended track titled The Lowesky is set in a five part suite form. Each performer is allowed ample time to express his individual contributions to this phenomenal group." The Band: Frank Lowe - tenor sax, Joseph Jarman - soprano sax, Raymond Lee Cheng (The Wizard) - violin, William Parker - bass and drummer Rashid Sinan perform admirably on this 38 minute performance.
CD $12

MARZETTE WATTS & COMPANY With SONNY SHARROCK/BYARD LANCASTER/CLIFFORD THORNTON/HENRY GRIMES/KARL BERGER/JUNEY [JUNI, JOONEY] BOOTH/J C MOSES - Marzette Watts (ESP Disk 1044; USA) "Marzette Watts recorded this album for ESP-Disk' during December of 1966 with Sonny Sharrock (guitar), Henry Grimes (bass), Byard Lancaster (alto sax, flute and clarinet), Clifford Thornton (trombone and cornet), Karl Berger (vibes), Juney Booth (bass) and J.C. Moses (drums). The adventurous combo is jamming through three of Watts' originals and the performances really live up to their potential (especially the opening 18-minute 'Backdrop For Urban Revolution').
FINALLY! AN EXCELLENT, LISTENABLE, TRANSFER OF THIS AMAZING ALBUM! Only one of two albums painter Watts made!
CD $12.00


NEW on Evan Parker's PSI label!

FOXES FOX [EVAN PARKER/STEVE BERESFORD/JOHN EDWARDS/LOUIS MOHOLO-MOHOLO] + KENNY WHEELER - Live At The Vortex (2006) (Psi 12.01; UK) A concert recording at London's legendary Vortex by EVAN PARKER (tenor saxophone), STEVE BERESFORD (piano), JOHN EDWARDS (double bass) and LOUIS MOHOLO-MOHOLO (percussion) with special guest KENNY WHEELER (trumpet & flugelhorn) joining the band for the second set.
CD $18

TOM GOUBAND - Courants Des Vents (2006) (Psi 12.02; UK) A 2011 lithophone and percussion solo. An intense, meditative journey through the sound of stone. One continuous piece of more than three quarters of an hour during which the normal rules of time and flow are suspended by this master of lithophones.
CD $18


New on Intakt!

COSA BRAVA [FRED FRITH/ZEENA PARKINS/CARLA KIHLSTEDT/MATTHIAS BOSSI/SHAHZAD ISMAILY/THE NORMAN CONQUEST] - The Letter (Intakt 204; Switzerland) Featuring: Fred Frith: guitar, bass, voice; Carla Kihlstedt: violin, bass harmonica, voice; Zeena Parkins: accordion, keyboards, voice; Shahzad Ismaily: bass, voice; Matthias Bossi: drums, percussion, voice and The Norman Conquest: sound manipulation. This is the second disc from Fred Frith's awesome song-based band Cosa Brava. "Cosa Brava is about storytelling. I don't think about it too much. It just turned out that way. Some of the stories have words and some don't, but they share a sense of scenes glimpsed in passing. Torn photos, fragments of movies, distant shouts. One of my earliest memories is of a long drive north, as our family moved away from London to start a new life in the Yorkshire dales. I remember the smell of the car, and passing our broken down removals lorry in the middle of night. I was four years old, and sometimes it feels like I've been on the road ever since. I need to travel, and now my life depends on it, so there's never a shortage of stories. The musicians of Cosa Brava are fellow nomads and experienced collaborators, and some of the best storytellers around, so my stories also become their stories. It's been an exhilarating journey, and I still have no idea where we're going. In the end it doesn't seem very important." - Fred Frith
CD $20

KATHERINA WEBER/BARRY GUY/BALTS NILL - Games And Improvisations: Hommage A Gyorgy Kurtag (Intakt 203; Switzerland) Featuring Katharina Weber on piano, Barry Guy on contrabass and Balts Nill on drums. A new "piano icon" - this is how Fred Frith describes Katharina Weber. For almost thirty years now the classically trained pianist and composer moves within the world of New Music and Improvisation.
On her second CD for Intakt Records Katharina Weber finds a new path. She interprets eleven short piano pieces by Gyorgy Kurtag of his collection Jatekok. The trio Katharina Weber - Barry Guy - Balts Nils develops these short piano solo jewels with improvisations.
Kurtag says he wants to express the maximum with a minimum of notes. Katharina Weber: "The pieces contain a great mass of substance, so to speak. Like throwing a stone into the water, Kurtag's pieces extend in wide circles when they're thrown into the flow of improvising fantasy. Our improvisations are a kind of counter movement to the preceding concretion, an unfolding within the course of time, a further developing of threads collectively, resulting from the piece, often moving away from the piece, as well, in the same way as the waves ripple out from the point of the stone's impact, because free improvisation simply cannot be tied down."
CD $20


NEW! on Cadence & CIMP!

[reviews by BLG next week..]

STEVE SWELL'S NATION OF WE With SABIR MATEEN/DARIUS JONES/RAS MOSHE/LEWIS 'FLIP' BARNES/PETER ZUMMO/JASON KAO HWANG et al - The Business Of Here: Live @ Roulette, August 13th 2008 (Cadence 1238; USA)
CD $16

FRODE GJERSTAD & PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE - Side By Side (CIMP 388; USA)
CD $16

DIANE MOSER/MARK DRESSER - Duetto (CIMP 387; USA)
CD $16

ANDREW LAMB TRIO With TOM ABBS/WARREN SMITH - Honeymoon On Saturn (CIMP 389; USA)
CD $16

JIMMY HALPERIN/DOMINIC DUVAL - Changing Tranes (CIMP 390; USA)
CD $16

DAVID HANEY QUARTET With JORGE HERNAEZ/MAT MARUCCI/DOUG WEBB - Avenue Of The Americas (CIMP 386; USA)
CD $16

MAT MARUCCI/DOUG WEBB TRIO With ROB LEMAS - Why Not? (Cadence 1232; USA) Mat Marucci (d) - Doug Webb (ts)- Rob Lemas (bs).
CD $16

and copies found of this..

BILL DIXON - Collection [2 CD set] (Cadence 1024/25; USA) This reissues (sans the graphics and artist notes) the original limited boxed LP set. Less rare and elaborate than the vinyl, it's still the same great Bill Dixon music and at a special double CD price
2 CD set for $18


JOHN MAYER'S INDO-JAZZ FUSIONS With TONY COE/IAN HAMMER/CHRIS TAYLOR/PAT SMYTHE/COLERIDGE GOODE/JOHN MARSHALL et al - Etudes (1969)/Radha Krishna (1971) (First Hand 01; UK) two albums on 1 CD! Starting in 1966 with the Joe Harriott/John Mayer Double Quintet's 'Indo-Jazz Suite' album and continuing through 'Indo-Jazz Fusions I and II', a successful collaboration took place between two worlds or cultures: modern jazz and Indian classical music. Although free/jazz legend Joe Harriott was no longer involved, John Mayer's Double Quintet continued to explore similar frontiers for many years (and recordings) to come. This is an important reissue of two albums by John Mayer's Indo Jazz Fusions from 1969 and 1971. 'Etudes' from 1969 features many of the same musicians that were used on the previous sessions: Mayer on violin, Chris Taylor on flute, Ian Hammer on trumpets, Tony Coe on tenor sax & clarinet, Pat Smythe on piano, Coleridge Goode on bass, John Marshall on drums plus Diwan Motihar & Viram Jasani on sitars and Keshav Sathe on tabla. It should be noted that 1969 was a turning point of in jazz and rock worlds and a variety of collaborations were taking place. At the same time players like Tony Coe were doing session and soundtrack work while ace drummer John Marshall would soon be joining Nucleus and later Soft Machine. And of course both Pat Smythe and Coleridge Goode were longtime members of Joe Harriott's original quintet from the early sixties. Hence, John Mayer and his double quintet were ripe for new explorations.
'Etudes' is a five-part suite with which unfolds like a raga with a series of inspired solos from Tony Coe on tenor, Ian Hammer on trumpet, Diwan Motihar on sitar and Chris Taylor on flute. The ten piece ensemble swings effortlessly, sailing with grace and invention. What makes this so great is the way the double quintet flows together seamlessly with tight and consistently inspired interplay. Each part of the suite is moves at a different tempo so the all of the musicians get a chance to stretch out, try out different combinations and solo together and apart.
'Radha Krishna' was recorded two years later in 1971. Though not offically an 'Indo-Jazz Fusions' group release, the instrumentation has evolved with the addition of a string trio, Tony Coe also playing oboe, Neil Coton on sarod, Tristan Fry on percussion, a narrator and two vocalists. This piece sounds even more Indian with lush, exotic drones and the calm, sublime voice of Nicolette Bernard. After the meditative intro, the larger (14-piece) ensemble) takes off swirling and soaring together. There is a charming section midway with a slightly funky groove and an Indian percussive vocal. The piece is a "musical dramatization of a legendary love story" and it is most successful, like an adult fairy tale. In some ways, someone might find this a bit hokey, but I find it rather enchanting. I can only imagine what my neighbors must think of me... - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $17



NEW BLACK SAINT-SOUL NOTE BOX SETS - NOW IN STOCK

JIMMY GIUFFRE 4 With PETE LEVIN/BOB NIESKE/RANDY KAYE/ or With PAUL BLEY/STEVE SWALLOW - Complete Black Saint-Soul Note Recordings: Dragonfly/Quasar/Liquid Dancers/Conversations With A Goose [4 CD set] (BlackSaint/Cam BXS 1016; Italy) 2012 remasters; with original covers and credits
Discs 1 - 3 (Dragonfly, Quasar, and Liquid Dancers): Jimmy Giuffre 4 with Pete Levin, Bob NIeske, and Randy Kaye
Disc 4 (Conversations With A Goose): performed by the re-united trio of Giuffre, Paul Bley, and Steve Swallow
4 CD set for $35

DON PULLEN With SAM RIVERS/CHICO FREEMAN/OLU DARA/JOSEPH JARMAN/FRED HOPKINS/DON MOYE et al - Complete Black Saint-Soul Note Recordings: Capricorn Rising/Healing Force/Warriors/Milano Strut/The Magic Triangle/Evidence Of Things Unseen/The Sixth Sense [7 CD set] (BlackSaint/Cam BXS 1003; Italy) 2012 remasters; with original covers and credits
Disc 1: Capricorn Rising - Don Pullen Qt with Sam Rivers, Alex Blake, Bobby Battle
Disc 2: Healing Force - Pullen solo
Disc 3: Warriors - Pullen and Chico Freeman Qt with Fred Hopkins, Bobby Battle
Disc 4: Milano Strut - Pullen with Don Moye
Disc 5: The Magic Triangle - trio of Pullen, Joseph Jarman, and Don Moye
Disc 6: Evidence Of Things Unseen - Pullen solo
Disc 7: The Sixth Sense - Pullen Qnt with Olu Dara, Donald Harrison, Fred Hopkins, Bobby Battle
7 CD set for $40

MAL WALDRON QUINTETS With WOODY SHAW/CHARLIE ROUSE/SONNY FORTUNE/RICKY FORD/REGGIE WORKMAN/ED BLACKWELL/EDDIE MOORE - Complete Black Saint-Soul Note Recordings: The Git Go - Live At Village Vanguard/The Seagulls Of Kristiansund/Crowd Scene/Where Are You? [4 CD set] (BlackSaint/Cam BXS 1014; Italy) 2012 remasters; with original covers and credits
Discs 1 and 2 (The Git Go - Live At Village Vanguard, and The Seagulls Of Kristiansund): Waldron qnt with Woody Shaw, Charlie Rouse, Reggie Workman, Ed Blackwell
Discs 3 and 4 (Crowd Scene, and Where Are You?): Waldron qnt with Sonny Fortune, Ricky Ford, Workman, and Eddie Moore
4 CD set for $35


WORLD SAXOPHONE QUARTET [WSQ: DAVID MURRAY/JULIUS HEMPHILL/OLIVER LAKE/HAMIET BLUIETT et al] - Complete Black Saint-Soul Note Recordings: Steppin' With The World Saxophone Quartet/W.S.Q./Revue/Live In Zurich/Live at the Brooklyn Academy of Music/Moving Right Along [6 CD set] (BlackSaint/Cam BXS 1015; Italy) 2012 remasters; with original covers and credits Discs 1 - 5 (Steppin' With The World Saxophone Quartet, W.S.Q., Revue, Live In Zurich, Live at the Brooklyn Academy of Music) are by original lineup of Murray, Hemphill, Lake, and Bluiett
Disc 6 (Moving Right Along) recordings by Murray, Lake, and Bluiett with either James Spaulding or Eric Person as 4th member
6 CD set for $38



LUCIO CAPECE - Zero Plus Zero (Potlatch 112; EEC) Lucio Capece on soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, sruti box, double plugged equalizer, ring modulator and sine waves. Recorded at Berlin between 2009 and 2011. 'Zero Plus Zero' can be described as a suite consisting of six structured pieces, where Lucio Capece expresses his huge creativity by exploring the possibilities of his main instruments - soprano saxophone and bass clarinet with preparations - as some others such as struti box and various electronic devices. Lucio Capece keeps on working on his musical obsessions to unveil the richness of his sound material, highlighting what he calls "the hidden pitches in the noises and the noises hidden in the combination of pitched sounds" and the interconnection between the "inside and the outside of the music". After having moved from Argentina, his native country, to Europe in 2002, Lucio Capece established himself in Berlin in 2004. Since then he has been quite active in the improvised and experimental music scene sharing projects with Burkhard Beins, Rhodri Davies, Axel Dorner, Kevin Drumm, Robin Hayward, Mattin, Toshimaru Nakamura, Taku Sugimoto, SLW? He is also much appreciated as a contemporary music performer being familiar with works by Phill Niblock, Christian Wolff, Pauline Oliveros and Michael Pisaro. On his last recordings, he can be heard with Mika Vainio (Pansonic), Radu Malfatti, Lee Patterson, Birgit Uhler and Chris Abrahams from The Necks.
CD $16


TERRENCE McMANUS/JOE BATTAGLIA - Pastellic Reflections (Flattened Planet 01; USA) Joe Battaglia on acoustic guitar and Terrence McManus on classical guitar. This delightful duo disc was released in 2006 but we just copies in to sell this week. Although we know Terrence Mcmanus from his solo, duo and trio discs with Gerry Hemingway, I can't say that I was familiar with Mr. Battaglia before this. It turns out that Battaglia is a Hoboken-based guitarist who has worked with a number of Downtown's better players like Frank Kimbrough, Dave Ballou, Ed Schuller and many others.
This fine acoustic guitar duo sounds superb as they explore some fresh inside and outside terrain, often but not completely restrained. On the title track they use the space between the notes to explore by taking their time and cautiously applying a few fragments at a time. On "White Blood Cells", the duo push things further out or freer while remaining connected by balancing different densities. The duo continue to fracture their lines on "Industrial Evolution" by spinning their web more intensely. Even when the duo lays back, like they do on the closer, "Primaevus", they music still bristles with haunting abstractions and free floating ghosts. This is quite an extraordinary guitar duo so take some time and check it out. About forty minutes long. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $8


EIVIND OPSVIK With TONY MALABY/BRANDON SEABROOK/JACOB SACKS/KENNY WOLLESEN - Two from Overseas IV [7" single] (Loyal VL 11; USA) 7" Vinyl containing two songs from the full length album OVERSEAS IV
Comes with coupon for download of entire Overseas IV album
Beautifully designed by Yokoland, with photgraphy by Michelle Arcila, this white seven inch vinyl contains the songs; "They Will Hear the Drums - and They Will Answer" and "Youth Hopeth All Things, Believeth All Things"
CD $14

RUSK [V.A. With OKKYUNG LEE/EIVIND OPSVIK/KIM MYHR/NATE WOOLEY et al] - Rusk (Loyal 11/Fenetre 06; USA) great compilation of unreleased cuts by..
01. Le Havre - Clayton Thomas
02. Six Of One - Jon Irabagon
03. 4 - Kim Myhr & Sebastien Roux
04. Wet Color - Toby Driver
05. There's A Crack In Everything - Kammerflimmer Kollektief
06. Brushed Like A Dry - Svarte Greiner & Kjetil Moster
07. Unfolded Rings - Okkyung Lee
08. Winter Blues - Ben Gerstein
09. Sticks, Eyes, Feet And Brains - Eivind Opsvik
10. Quincy-Mayger - Nate Wooley
11. We Took Him Out To See The Sun - Splashgirl
CD $13

DELIRIUM [MIKKO INNANEN/KASPER TRANBERG/JONAS WESTERGAARD/STEFAN PASBORG] - Green Side Up (Ilk 172; EEC) Mikko Innanen, alto, soprano and baritone saxophones; Kasper Tranberg, cornet; Jonas Westergaard, bass; Stefan Pasborg, drums. Third release, and a follow-up to two critically acclaimed DELIRIUM CDs: Delirium (Fiasko, 2002) and Eclexistence (TUM, 2005). Listening to the music of DELIRIUM feels like an exciting journey, delving headlong into the multi-faceted jazz from the northern latitudes. The group, consisting of four leading figures of the European jazz and improvised music scene, three Danes and a Finn; four genuine musical trailblazers of their generation. This album was recorded in Copenhagen in the autumn of 2009 and features ten original compositions, bringing out a fresh, new perspective of group interplay. "This quartet displays strong unity with everyone contributing to the overwhelming spontaneity...air of flexibility, fun and togetherness probably made this album a joy to make, and it is certainly a joy to listen to. Delirium works like a late-night discussion between friends, where spirits are high and all ideas are encouraged and debated. We are privileged to have a chance to listen in." AAJ
CD $17



*****


CARLO ACTIS DATO played a STUPENDOUS set here at DMG this past Monday, masterfully soloing on baritone sax and bass clarinet [and parts of them!]. He left us with some of his CDs, some of which we've never seen before..


ACTIS FURIOSO 2 [CARLO ACTIS DATO et al] - World People (Leo 510; UK) Actis Furioso - 2 is the latest of the many wild and amazing adventures which have taken Carlo Actis Dato around the world, from Japan to New Zealand, from Finland to Australia, from Marocco to Indonesia. For this new project, Actis has brought in extra musicians of extraordinary vitality to expand his famous quartet into a nonet. The group pull elements from many different styles, cultures, rhythms, dances, epocs and more, much more, to offer their listeners an explosion of emotions, energy, songs, dances and fun from places far and wide. "Truly a galaxy-spanning voyage! All THUMBS UP!" - MannyLunch
CD $17

ACTIS BAND [CARLO ACTIS DATO et al] - Garibaldi (Leo 365; UK) A wild band. The Italian answer to the New York downtown scene. Actis Band, led by the saxophonist Carlo Actis Dato, combine avantgarde jazz solos and upbeat funky rock while covering a vast stylistic ground. Massimo Rossi (alto, soprano saxes), Antonio Fontana (guitar), Federico Marchesano (bass), Dario Bruno (drums) and Carlo Actis Dato (tenor & baritone saxes, and bass clarinet) manage to create a surprisingly tight patchwork of contrasting musical traditions.
CD $17

CARLO ACTIS DATO/KAZUTOKI UMEZU - Wake Up With The Birds (Leo 285; UK) Two complete masters of the saxophone, and highly original musicians toboot, recorded this CD live in Yokohama after a long tour of Japan in 1998. Actis Dato plays tenor & baritone saxophones and bass clarinet while Kazutoki Umezu blows soprano & alto saxophones and Bb & bass clarinets. The finding of common ground through a passionate encounter of different cultures and wit.
CD $17

TAO [CARLO ACTIS DATO/YASUHIKO TACHIBANA/KEISUKE OHTA] - tomorrow night gig (Leo 332; UK) With one ear tuned to the street and the other tipped toward his fanciful imagination, Carlo Actis Dato creates a musical universe of disjunctions and jump-cuts while recording live with two Japanese musicians he met in 1999 - the remarkable bassist Yasuhiko Tachibana and violinist and vocalist Keisuke Ohta. Given the empathy and response time between the three, it is only appropriate that the first letters of their last names spell TAO. This 70-minute long CD is suplemented by the notes of the Down Beat writer Paul de Barros.
CD $17

CARLO ACTIS DATO/BALDO MARTINEZ - Folklore Imaginario (Leo 437; UK) There is no limit to the imagination of Carlo Actis Dato, one of the best saxophonists in Europe, and just about the only European saxophonis featured in the American jazz critics polls. This time Carlo Actis Dato comes up with a new concept realized with his long time partner, a brilliant conceptualist, composer and bass player from Spain, Baldo Martinez. The title of the CD speaks for itself, the music being a hot mix of ethnic sounds presented in the context of jazz improvisation.
CD $17

CARLO ACTIS DATO - The Moonwalker: Solo (Leo 311; UK) The first solo CD by Carlo Actis Dato (Urartu, CD LR 220) released in 1995 was an instant success. However, since Carlo Actis Dato has never been marching time, it's time for a second solo CD on which Carlo plays baritone and tenor saxophones, and bass clarinet as well. There are 30 tracks on this CD, and some of them were recorded by Carlo on different locations. It's up to you to find out how they fit with the tracks recorded in the studio.
CD $17 (Out of print, but we have it!)

ATIPICO TRIO [CARLO ACTIS DATO/DAVIDE TILOTTA/BEPPE DI FILIPPO] - Eqqueqqua'!! (Leo 584; UK) This is the fourteenth CD by Carlo Actis Dato on Leo Records but only the second one by Atipico trio. Davide Telotta, Beppe Di Filippo and Carlo Actis Dato cover almost entire range of saxophones from bass clarinet to soprano with baritone, alto sax and clarinet in between. Fourteen compositions written by three members of the trio and spread over one hour cover a huge range of emotions that only Italians are capable of. From time to time saxophones are helped by helarious singing adding wit and fun to the whole procedure.
CD $17 (Out of print, but we have it!)


*****



DIRTY THREE - Toward The Low Sun (Drag City 511; USA) Jesus --it's been seven years since the last Dirty Three album. It's like, to paraphrase one of their new songs, sometimes we forgot they were gone. And not just because they were never really gone, if you were a card-carrying underground-rock type of the gay '90s, you know it's because the Dirty Three are always inside us...eeyuuucchhh. Bad image, sorry. We mean that the tones and tunes of these guys are always floating around in our head and our soul: Warren's always sawing away at something that kind of tightens our chest and gives us that ol' thousand-yard stare; Mick wanders hollow-bodied from abstract and dreamy to punishing hard chord rock in the space of a breath, never sacrificing a sense of the awesome along the path; Jim--don't get us started! There's drummers and time, and then there's Jim White. He's doing something that no one else does back there. Plus, he's drumming! Returning to the basic formula for the band, the labor and decision-making is divided evenly and democratically as they improvise themselves into the heart of the moment. The sounds of traditional music are glimpsed in Warren's violin while Mick and Jim blow clouds that envelop the picture. Each takes the lead as the untidy trio trip lightly and jazzily from etude to still life to exploding the air into flames around us with just a violin, electric guitar and trap kit. Don't shade your eyes! Look Toward the Low Sun and you will know once again the burn of the Dirty Three.
CD $14

MASAKI BATOH - Brain Pulse Music (Drag City 471; USA) "Brain Pulse Music is the result of years of research into the bioelectric functions of the human brain combined with the traumatic aftermath of Japan's Great East Earthquake. All seven Brain Pulse Music tracks are a prayer/requiem. They are a 'tamashizume' (a requiescat) and 'tamafuri' (reinvigoration of the withered soul) to the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Two pieces are composed of BPM machine recordings; the remaining five are rhythms and melodies commonly heard in religious rituals and provincial festivals using traditional Japanese instruments. This seems to have been a natural reaction for Batoh, considering these rituals were quite often carried out to appease gods thought to cause epidemics and disasters--for instance, the famous Gion and Aoi festivals held in Kyoto both originated as a purification ritual addressing the gods that bring about calamity upon the people. The BPM recordings are the furthest incursion Batoh has made into the deep space and mystery of the human condition. The acoustic recordings are the purest expressions of his traditional folk influence that he has released in over twenty years of music-making, a deep and soulful expression intended to calm and aid in the healing of all around him. And so from the rubble of Japan's damaged bodies and minds, the power of Brain Pulse Music has emerged."
CD $14

HELENA ESPVALL & MASAKI BATOH - Overloaded Ark (Drag City 388; USA) Further along the path of musical friendship that Helena Espvall and Masaki Batoh have discovered for themselves, we find Overloaded Ark ready to sail. And indeed, a new and better society might be provided for with all that they've packed on board. These are end times, we are told. Often, though, the craft of Espvall & Batoh drifts through placid waters. In the distance, thunderheads raise up and lightning flashes. When the storms finally come raging, they blow through -- and, singular in purpose under skies of shifting color, the intrepid ark sails onward. Espvall & Batoh have come prepared for anything, armed with acoustic and electric guitars, cello, renaissance harp, organ, sho, banjo, electronics, recorders, piano, hurdy gurdy, frame drums and several more obscure instruments such as auschpfeife, crumhorn, cornamuse, darbuka, and rig. Listen for them! But look them up first, so you know what you're listening for. There are vocals as well, sung mostly by Helena but also with Batoh's empathetic support. They are backed by two of Batoh's Ghost-mates, Kazuo Ogino and Junzo Tateiwa, and joined by ancient music specialist Haruo Kondo. As on the first Espvall & Batoh album, Overloaded Ark features a trove of traditional and ancient music alongside self-composed explorations. Songs from many cultures and ages are in evidence, from Scandinavian folk to German madrigal to French and Italian medieval court dances and even a good old Latin hymn! Nearer our present day, 'Sueno Con Serpientes' is a cautionary tale from the legendary Cuban protest singer Silvio Rodriguez, and 'Sham No Umi' is a Batoh solo piece from the mid-'90s. Espvall & Batoh endeavor to combine sounds from different times in history with an eye towards the creation of a peaceful new global village in the world of today. And indeed, Overloaded Ark is a gentle and expansive trip, fusing the sounds of east and west, new world and old into a new epic for all nations. Charted with grace and skill, Overloaded Ark is a human record, its passions focused under a stoic, enduring exterior."
CD $14

SOPHIA KNAPP - Into The Waves (Drag City 484; USA) "Sophia Knapp's Into the Waves is unlike any record you have heard in the past or will hear in the future. Upon listening, much like Alice in Wonderland, you are transported to a new sonic realm--dazzling and uniquely pop but with its own set of rules. Some elements of the landscape are warmly familiar: Sophia's voice appears first and foremost--sensual, emotive, relaxed, and loaded with personality. Baroquely fingerpicked guitar, smooth piano, crystalline synths, and a down and dirty rhythm section complete the picture. Aspects of this place bring to mind melodic psych pop of the '60s, Tropicalia ballads, chilly New York dance records of the '80s, the seduction of Stevie Nicks or Francoise Hardy--but make no mistake, Into the Waves is a pop vocal record of our time."
CD $14


FRANCE JOBIN - Valence (LINE 54; USA) "LINE is proud to present a new work by Montreal sound artist France Jobin. Having released under her moniker i8u, Valence is her first release under her own name. Created entirely from transformed field recordings, this collection of three compositions has an elegant flowing simplicity. Slow harmonic modulations of a similar essence to the works of Eliane Radigue and Celer."
CD $13

STEPHAN MATHIEU & CARO MIKALEF - Radioland (Panoramica) (LINE 55; USA) "After 2011's quickly sold-out edition Remain (LINE 047CD), Stephan Mathieu returns to LINE with a majestic new collaborative live work with Argentine artist Caro Mikalef. Radioland (Panoramica) is originally audiovisual piece commissioned by Wili Peloche and Martin Borini for Panoramica, performed live on March 11, 2011 at Espacio Fundacion Telefonica Buenos Aires with a setup comprising two Fender Twin amps, an Ampeg SVT-810 and a 21x4m video projection."
CD $13


DON PRESTON - Filters, Oscillators & Envelopes 1967-75 (Sub Rosa 334; Belgium) LP version. Previously-unreleased electronic music from original The Mothers Of Invention keyboardist, Don Preston. "We're coming to the beginning of a new era wherein the development of the inner-self is the most important thing. We have to train ourselves so that we can improvise on anything: a bird, a sock, a fuming beaker. This, too, can be music. Anything can be music." --Don Preston, extracts from Uncle Meat, 1969, The Mothers Of Invention
One could hardly not see in Don Preston a key musician within Frank Zappa's oeuvre. He is not only that, but his presence has marked The Mothers' major records from 1966 to 1974. His touch was already there before the arrival of Ian Underwood, and it continued after Ian left. You all remember "King Kong" (its magnificence as interpreted by Dom DeWild) from the second Uncle Meat suite. A certain form of jubilation emanates from this track, thanks to Preston's fluid style and lightly astringent tone on the Moog synthesizer -- that instrument never sounded quite like that before or after. This might have to do with his double training, his twin interests, since he had been simultaneously working with Gil Evans and listening intensely to Luciano Berio, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Tod Dockstader. Immersed in jazz music, he was imagining secret ties with the nascent electronic music. In the mid-'60s, Preston started developing an electronic instrument, using a home-made synthesizer and a series of oscillators and filters. Out of this instrument came "Electronic Music" (1967), his first piece. Two years later, he became a close friend of Robert Moog, and their discussions gave birth to a number of applications in relation with the flexibility of the instrument. Nowadays, you can't mention the Mini-Moog without thinking of Preston. Bob Moog himself said about his solo in "Waka/Jawaka": "That's impossible. You can't do that on a Moog." Filters, Oscillators & Envelopes features the other side, the hidden side of Don Preston: the composer of purely electronic music.
LP $17


AKOS ROZMANN - 12 Stationer VI (Ideologic Organ 07; EEC) "Akos Rozmann (1939-2005) studied at the Bartok conservatory in Budapest and took diplomas in both composition and organ playing at the Liszt Academy. In 1971, he was given a scholarship to study electronic music in Stockholm. His encounter with the electronic tools was a revolutionary experience for him and was to give a whole new direction to his work. Soon he abandoned composition for acoustic instruments and was later to claim that instrumental music 'had no future.' For several years, he earned his living as an organist at St. Eric's Catholic Cathedral in Stockholm, often using recordings of organ sounds made in the dead of the night as a source for his electronic works. Rozmann often preferred monumental forms and several of his most prominent works, such as '12 Stationer' (trans. '12 Stations') and 'Massa' (trans. 'Mass'), grew side-by-side over a long period of time. With a few rare exceptions, the conflict between good and evil was the basic theme in his works. The fight went on continuously in arenas and within power relations that would suddenly change. In Rozmann's imagined world, no room was given to chance. Big powers, luminous or dark, would lie behind the most trivial everyday events. A large portion of Tibetan Buddhism gradually infiltrated his Catholic Weltanschauung, and '12 Stationer,' composed between 1978 and 2001, is a musical interpretation of the Tibetan Wheel of Life. The last part of the 12 stations, 'old age and death,' is called 'the celebrators' in Rozmann's version (completed in 2001). When asked what sort of celebration he meant he replied: 'the merriment you hear is false, it is not genuine, it is empty.' 'Dorr Med Tarar' (trans. 'Door With Tears') from 1988-1989 is unmistakeably an homage to Pierre Henry and the title alludes to 'Variations For A Door And A Sigh.' During one of my last encounters with Rozmann, he told me in depth about how Henry's influence was significant in leading him to choose electronic music. He regarded 'Le Voyage' from the Tibetan Book of the Dead to be the most important pioneering piece in the history of electronic music. Akos Rozmann showed particular devotion to his work during more than thirty active years. During his lifetime he never sought, nor did he win any mentionable recognition. As a true modernist, he didn't compose with an audience or the critics in mind. His mission was to compose for the future. It was his conviction that the mystical energy for compositional work should derive straight from God. It is a truly great thing to witness the publication of this album." --Mats Lindstrom, Stockholm, February 2012; lona Maros (soprano), Miklos Maros, Viveca Servatius (voices), Akos Rozmann (piano and voice). Composed at EMS elektronmusikstudion, Stockholm, by Akos Rozmann. Vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin May 2011. Ideologic Organ curation and art direction by Stephen O'Malley.
LP $32


AKOS ROZMANN - Implusioni, De Tva - Med Tre Instrument (Fylkingen 1013; EEC) "Impulsioni is the collective title of three works which comprise the beginning of Rozmann's work within the field of electroacoustic music. Seen as compositions, Rozmann himself sees Impulsioni I-III as the earliest, almost primitively simple results of a line of composition which nonetheless has kept its importance for him. 'Impulsioni I' is a true start from scratch for him, with the low first tone followed by soft, silvery sounds. The second piece utilized a pulse generator, and the third a machine available at the Royal Conservatory called a 'synthi.' During this period, the composer used only synthetic sounds. It was not until later that he turned to concrete sound samples, such as organ tones, voice and other material. Despite the simple background of Impulsioni I-III, it was here that Rozmann became convinced that electroacoustic music is the greatest expressive device of all time, an opinion which he has steadfastly held throughout the years. Rozmann's art moves between many forms of society and civilization. Gregorian chant is placed next to songs by Buddhist monks, children's voices next to the laugh of someone who is probably the Devil himself." --Hans Gunnar Peterson
CD $17

LARS-GUNNAR BODIN - Clouds (Fylkingen 1023; EEC) 2005 CD release, reissuing the previous LP from 1977, with bonus tracks. "Lars-Gunnar Bodin, Swedish composer and graphic artist, was one of those who during the first half of the '60s tried to integrate elements of different fields of art in his works: instrumental music, tapes, texts, actions, projections etc. In Clouds (1972-76) he developed an advanced form of musical drama involving electronic music in 8 channels, singers, dancers and slide and film projections on five screens. The music on this record is a shortened version of Clouds, especially created for this medium. This CD re-issue also includes Lars-Gunnar Bodin's both pieces 'For Jon II' and 'Syner (Visions).'"
CD $17

MATTIAS PETERSSON - Mimer (Fylkingen 1021; EEC) "This release is the debut album of the 31 year-old composer and sound artist, Mattias Petersson, based in Stockholm, Sweden. He works mostly in the area of experimental electronic music, but he has also been involved in more pop-like projects as arranger, composer, producer and musician. The music on this CD is based on field recordings made inside the defunct iron mine Mimer, in Norberg, Sweden, during the summer of 2001. Mimer consists of seventeen tracks that cross reference each other in various ways. Each track is based on one of the nine loops that were selected from these original recordings and then treated with different processing techniques. One basic idea was to recreate some of the original sound environment from the days when the mine was running, and also to capture the decay and corrosion of the once very powerful, but now silent and abandoned, machines, containers and silos in the closed mine."
CD $17

DAN FROBERG - 15 Songs (Down at Jinxey's) (Fylkingen 1026; EEC) "A lone thumb piano, a singing woman, children at play, howling and crackling electricity, chirping birds, tones from a toy organ, sounds of traffic -- Dan Froberg's remarkable compositions are intersections of shapes, environments, times, places and wildly disparate contexts. As a listener you may recognize individual sonic fragments and create pictures and scenarios through private associations -- like an inner movie running parallel to the works -- but still the sound environments appear so curious and raise so many questions in our minds. What are these shapes, milieus and tales that Dan Froberg illustrates for us, and what do they want to convey? Travelling Dan Froberg's soundscapes renders you the feeling of a cloud passing freely between various geographical, temporal and cultural settings and contexts. Occasionally a dream appears. A folk music ensemble commences to play nearby, some giggling children run by, an orchestra of traffic looms large, and rustling leaves fall. The cloud hovers on, through walls, mountains and a brook, suddenly appearing in another time, in another place, where other figures tell their stories. In the world of Dan Froberg everything is inspired: people, animals, places, sound, shadows, memories. Even though the sounds appear crystal clear in their purity, they convey many remarkable stories, while simultaneously leaving the field open for the listener's fantasy. Dan Froberg's compositions and sound recordings are as clean as can be. No post-production processing of the sounds has been applied. Dan Froberg works with a kind of sound magic. Nothing is left to arbitrary randomness. Each sound is chosen with care. When Dan Froberg composes his pieces, each small detail of the soundscape is rendered vitality and with significance. The significations are gradually transformed and new tales emerge as the different sound worlds are confronted with each other. As a listener you are transferred somewhere else just as your questions have began to formulate themselves -- into a new world, quite familiar, albeit with something completely new and alien to tell. The properties of time and space are always shifting in these pieces where figures, occurrences and reflections approach, materialize, convey something only to drift by or dissolve -- as something novel appears, something else through the journey. Dan Froberg prefers to brand his acoustic works folk music, rather than musique concrete, field recordings, sound art or something else that would be convenient. The compositions on this CD, or the journeys, if you like, take shape through 15 songs, wherein the shapes, environments and events constitute the voices that sing and establish this folk music that sounds like nothing else, in the borderland between here and now."
CD $17


FRANCIS BEBEY - African Electronic Music 1975-1982 [2 LP set] (Born Bad 39; EEC) LP edition. Cameroonian musician Francis Bebey is truly one of a kind. He entered the music scene with his African compositions for classical guitar. He gave recitals while pursuing a career in journalism and then as an international civil servant. The same creative impulse also led him to write pop songs, some of which (based on novels he had written) became big hits in Africa and in the French-speaking world. But few people know that in the '70s, Francis Bebey delved into electronic music. The first electronic keyboards, organs and drum machines offered him new possibilities of totally controlling his compositions. He embraced the technique of "sound on sound" recording (recording several tracks, sequentially juxtaposed on the same tape). This new stage in his musical career included the production of several records (Savannah Georgia, New Track, Haiti), rarities both for their creative explorations as well as their manifestations on vinyl. This was a particularly rich period for him, as he tested the limitless possibilities of the medium, and made use of surprising and novel instruments. Incredible sounds -- in the literal sense of the word -- would soon appear on the planet Bebey. Full-color printed inner-sleeves with notes in English and French.
2 LP set for $27


MIKE SHIFLET - Merciless (Type 98; UK) Type follow up Mike Shiflet's Sufferers with a further exposition of his individual and far-reaching sound palette. A member of C Spencer Yeh's revolving Burning Star Core unit, and a prolific collaborator with the likes of Daniel Menche, Chris Corsano, Pete Swanson and many others, Shiflet has honed an intensely visceral feel for tone and texture which makes his records so intriguing to lovers of experimental composition and music-making. With some production/audio mastering assists from fellow Columbus, Ohio-based musician Joe Panzner, on Merciless Shiflet engages with corrosive textures from the off, enticing us in with fractured small sounds on "Feeble Breaths" before weaving a lattice of quick-drying fiberglass strands over your cochlea, which become infested with scuttling, insipid rhythms and abstract noise abrasions designed by Panzner on the lloopp software for max/msp. This induction, by contrast, makes the second half piece of evolving horror drones in "Exodus And Exile" that much more affective, while the second side plays through as one longer, queasy composition veering from cacophonous noise to wheezing drone and chilly isolation with the contribution of cassette manipulation by Jason Zeh, cello by Marina Peterson and violin from C Spencer Yeh. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Limited vinyl pressing of 500 copies only.
LP $20

MIKE SHIFLET - Sufferers (Type 97; UK) Ohio-based noise upsetter Mike Shiflet has amassed an enviable amount of releases in the last decade. Tapes, vinyl, CD-Rs -- you name it, he's done it, but it's taken until now for Shiflet to weld together what he regards as his defining work. The first in a series of two "proper" albums, Sufferers takes the listener to the very heart of Shiflet's sound -- through the abrasive noise heard on his early releases all the way to the shimmering ambience that made up his breakthrough album Llanos. A deeply patient and rewarding record, Shiflet uses his long-practiced skills to lay waste to a gaseous collection of source recordings, bringing a chattering, disturbing resonance to what sounds like whirring hospital equipment. It is always difficult to reframe U.S. noise music without the punk, tape-destroyed aesthetic -- but like Kevin Drumm before him, Shiflet manages to push his sound into high fidelity effortlessly. Each frequency is picked meticulously for maximum effect, and if you listen on headphones, you are treated to an entirely different experience. Whether reducing the listener to an opium-fuelled coma on the shimmering "Axle Grease," or treating us to the kind of intensity Fennesz last exhibited on Endless Summer with "Blessed And Oppressed," there is a sense that Shiflet has an ineffable control over his plethora of techniques and ideas. A rare gem in a mire of half-hearted records, Sufferers grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go until the final creak. And this is only the beginning. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Limited vinyl pressing of 500 copies only.
LP $20


VOLCANO THE BEAR - Golden Rhythm/Ink Music (Rune Grammofon 3127; EEC) LP version. Rune Grammofon presents the brand-new studio album from Volcano The Bear, a calculated, hysterical melting-pot of This Heat, Robert Wyatt, Faust and The Residents, of musique concrete and ethno-folk, all seen through a prism of theatrical improvisations and unhinged set pieces. Formed in 1995, and after several self-released tapes and CD-Rs, VTB so excited Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton, that he brought his United Dairies label out of cold storage to release their first album proper, The Inhazer Decline, in 2000. Since then they've released music on such labels as Misra, Beta Lactam Ring, Textile, Digitalis, Pickled Egg, Alt Vinyl as well as their own imprints Volucan and Volfurten with the exceptional Classic Erasmus Fusion from 2006 being a possible highlight. On record, VTB offer stark and stunning absurdities in the most bizarrely beautiful way. Recycling and re-contextualizing their material is an innate habit, and the variety of recording options they might choose (be it a highly-equipped professional studio or a second-hand dictaphone) allows their craft to be formed in a myriad of different ways. VTB have toured extensively throughout Europe and North America and in concert they are the duo of Daniel Padden and Aaron Moore. Absurd humor and eclectic ways of producing sounds are characteristic of their live performances and their extensive knowledge of the traditions of experimental and folk music makes the band difficult to categorize. The band record everything they play and will often use these recordings as raw material for their albums. VTB have released a number of records since the start, often mixing studio, live and home recordings. Golden Rhythm/Ink Music is their first more or less "proper" studio album since Amidst The Noise And Twigs back in 2007. Largely based on the sonic fault-line between Aaron Moore and Daniel Padden, it's also the most focused and driven of VTB's prolific output so far, showcasing the duo's unique musicality and interplay, while retaining their trademark eccentricity and humor throughout. It presents "rock music" as seen through VTB's skewed eye, featuring more of Padden and Moore's drum/guitar combination than on previous albums. Taking the bizarre energy of their live duo performances into a studio environment, and combining it with VTB's eclectic instrumentation and Clarence Manuelo's singular audio-work, GR/IM shows VTB making their most vital work to date. Includes mp3 download code.
LP $24


JACK OF HEART - In Yer Mouth (Born Bad 40; EEC) LP edition. Influenced by Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett, the heritage of The Velvet Underground and the songwriting of Lee Hazlewood, Jack Of Heart transcends these influences into twisted and perverse psychedelic garage-punk pieces. For fans of Black Lips, Magnetix, BBQ and King Khan & His Shrines. A handful of 45s on labels such as Rob's House and Slovenly Recording as well as extensive world touring has ensured that France's Jack Of Heart is one of those groups ensconced in the true ghetto of rock'n'roll. "Jack of Heart have Serge Gainsbourg in their bloodline. French or non, there are few musical acts that choose to reimagine 60's psych and soul, much less with the sonic studio experimentation found on In Yer Mouth." --Get Bent
LP $22

WIZZZ! [V.A.] - French Psychedelic 1966-1969 Volume 1 (Born Bad 37; EEC) Best-ever French '60s compilation, originally released in 2001 and finally reissued. All the tracks here have become classic. This compilation LP deals with the groovy side of French pop from the mid-'60s to the early '70s. Crazy lyrics about sex, drugs and other typical topics. Sung and performed by obscure artists such as Charlotte Leslie, Christie Laume, Les Fleurs De Pavot, Danyel Gerard, Richard De Bordeaux, Christine Pilzer, William Sheller, Les Papyvores, L'oeil and others.
LP $22


DON DIETRICH/BEN HALL - Spitfire (What The..? 11; USA) A cinderblock-sculpting freakout session from Don Dietrich (Borbetomagus/The New Monuments) and Ben Hall (The New Monuments). Highly-touted by Aaron Dilloway, deep sea creatures, and your local tire dealership.
LP $19

JUSTIN LIEBERMAN & C SPENCER YEH - Object Lessons [Picture Disc LP] (What The..? 08; USA) "Object Lessons and what of this ten-song collaboration between artist Lieberman and Yeh? Perhaps the influenced musically discussed is somewhere starting between mutual love of various artistic and musical genres certainly -- sound poetry, psychedelic rock, Japanese scum noise, Japanese psychedelic rock, listy lists, but certainly embodies more the present-time sensibilities and whims of both between the two artists to combine for something perhaps neither strictly adhering to any imitation. Perhaps to this record appropriately let's step back to New York artist Justin Lieberman's 2009 sculptural and multimedia work The Corrector's Custom Pre-Fab House -- a description from the debuting gallery follows -- 'The Corrector's Custom Pre-Fab House is inspired by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott-Brown's 1972 book, Learning From Las Vegas, which provides an in depth examination of what they call 'the decorated shed,' a simple structure with elaborate signage. Using the urban sprawl of Las Vegas as an example, they posit this architectural style as a means to enrich the symbolic content of post-modern architecture. The Corrector's Custom Pre-Fab House is a steel dwelling covered with a multitude of objects including a 1970s snowmobile, a life sized Jolly Green Giant, foam filled inflatable toys, an illuminated Fedex sign, and a 7 foot shark. Accompanying the house is a sculpture of the 'Corrector,' a character inspired by the fictional figure, Nobusuke Tagomi, from Philip K Dick's novel, The Man in the High Castle. The novel follows Tagomi in a fictional future fifty years after Germany and Japan defeat the Allied forces in World War II. Lieberman's interpretation of Taogmi is that of an avid collector of all things pop culture, whose collecting habits extend to the exterior of his home. Within the house, there is a computer equipped with a program that enables the 'Corrector' to archive each object with an informational text about the object's history, which is then projected onto the adjacent wall of the gallery. Created in the style of a Katamari video game, the program features texts on each object taking various forms such as objective accounts, plagiarized product descriptions, aesthetic meditations, poetry, short fiction, satire, and prose. These texts were then transformed into the record, Object Lessons, a musical collaboration between Justin Lieberman and C Spencer Yeh. The record is a spoken rendition of select object descriptions that were reworked into an ... musical format.' Full-color gatefold jacket, depicting abovementioned objects piled up in a grassy field, and the empty dome waiting for occupancy, and inside special illustrations for both ten tracks -- with full color picture disc LP showing the Corrector statue's head in both sketch and final form. Manufacture stopped around 250 copies."
LP $30


WOLF EYES With JOHN WIESE - Collection (Hanson 155; USA) "This CD is a collection of the Wolf Eyes w/ John Wiese 7" and two CD-Rs originally released in very limited editions on American Tapes in 2003-04. Digitally re-mastered by Wiese this year, and finally available all together."
CD $13


HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER [M C TAYLOR] - Poor Moon (Tompkins Square 2660; USA) "Hiss Golden Messenger is Durham, North Carolina-based songwriter M.C. Taylor, in partnership with multi-instrumentalist and recordist Scott Hirsch, who lives in Brooklyn, New York. The pair have been playing music together for nearly two decades. Poor Moon, featuring members of Black Twig Pickers, D. Charles Speer & Helix, and Brightblack Morning Light, is the fourth proper Hiss Golden Messenger release, and serves as the best summation thus far of Taylor's lone journeys through the dark of the soul."
CD $15


Back in stock

MATT LAVELLE & DANIEL CARTER - Matt Lavelle/Daniel Carter (self released; USA) Limited edition cdr in a thin plastic cover, with no info on the cover, just the cd itself. Matt plays trumpet, flugelhorn & bass clarinet and Daniel plays trumpet, tenor & alto saxes, clarinet and flute. This inspired duo offering has been around for a few years and Matt has only a handful left of this new limited repressing
CD $12



LAST COPIES - Kevin Norton's Barking Hoop label!

INSTINCTUAL EYE [KEVIN NORTON/FRODE GJERSTAD/NICK STEPHENS] - Born In Brooklyn: Live At Barbes (Barking Hoop 010; USA) Frode Gjerstad (alto sax, clarinet) and Nick Stephens (bass) impart an improvisational Euro-jazz vista on this trio date, which was recorded in Brooklyn, New York. But the always multitasking percussionist/vibraphonist Kevin Norton balances out the vast temporal planes, while serving as a colorist and accelerator. Throughout the two lengthy works, the artists communicate a mood-evoking jamboree of emotive aspects through the power of intuition and razor-sharp execution. With an interleaving group-based mode of attack, the trio darts, scurries and jabs through moments of angst, whimsy and old-fashioned chutzpah. On the 42-minute first piece, "Fitzcarraldo's Beautiful Nonsequitur, the musicians gradually raise the pitch, and Gjerstad seems comfortable improvising within the upper register of his sax. They frequently oscillate pitch and flows via intense dialogues and multi-timbral explorations.
Norton switch-hits from vibes to percussion during the entire session. He often counterbalances Stephens' creaky, bowed bass lines and Gjerstad's soaring choruses with softly generated vibes or accenting cymbal swashes. The trio plies an angular approach, yet occasionally veers off into hustling and bustling free-bop grooves.
In sum, this endeavor captures jazz-rooted improv within its purest component; a given storyline provides the initial forum for expansion. So, where others are apt to fail, this unit exceeds in rather glistening fashion. - Glenn Astarita
CD $14

KEVIN NORTON & HAEWON MIN//ANTHONY BRAXTON - Play the music of Anthony Braxton: Live At Roulette 2001 (Barking Hoop 006; USA) Kevin Norton, marimba, vibraphone, percussion; Haewon Min, piano. Recorded on 22 March 2001 at Roulette, NYC. "Considering Anthony Braxton's prodigious output as a composer, it may seem curious that relatively few of his compositions have been recorded by others. This is partially due to their complexity and also, no doubt, to the difficulty in interpreting Braxton's non-traditional notation, something that the composer and those under his tutelage do best. As one of Braxton's prized disciples, Kevin Norton has spent years, mostly as a percussionist, familiarizing himself with Braxton's unique style. Here he expands his palette for Norton's most fully realized contribution on the vibraphone, an instrument on which Norton has shown, and displays here, serious creative skills. With partner Haewon Min, Norton attacks four compositions by Braxton with the unusual combination of vibes and piano, a deadly mixture that is surprisingly suited for these pieces. By altering velocity and dynamics, the duo virtually makes each song its own, sometimes smoothing the rough edges (a natural consequence of the vibes) and at others simply infusing a piece with different textures. At times, such as on "Composition 6n," Norton razzle-dazzles with his virtuosity. Min, while technically excellent and clearly with roots in classical music, seems occasionally oddly disconnected, sometimes over-romanticizing the music, while at others (as on "Composition No. 62") confronting its abstractions head-on. The recording time is short for a CD, and liner notes are sorely missed. Nonetheless, Norton and Min make an argument case for new and alternative versions of some of Anthony Braxton's work, particularly as is the case here, when they are performed sympathetically and knowledgably." - Steve Loewy
CD $14

KEVIN NORTON ENSEMBLE With ANTHONY BRAXTON - For Guy Debord (in nine events) (Barking Hoop 001; USA) w/ Anthony Braxton, Bob DeBellis & David Bindman on reeds, Tomas Ulrich on cello, Joe Fonda on bass and Kevin on drums & as composer. This release is Kevin's third as a leader & his first on his new label - Barking Hoop. This set was recorded live at Braxton's important Tri-Centric Fest in September of '98 at the Greenwich House in west Village. The piece is dedicated to French anarchist/filmmaker - Guy DeBord, the cover shows the aftermath of a violent confrontation between police & students in Paris in 1968. DeBord was involved with "The Theory of the Drift" - a transient mode of drifting through buildings in mid-demolition. The piece itself is continuous, flowing from one event to another. The ensemble of three reeds, cello, contrabass & percussion, draws from a rich pallette of ideas/colors/sounds and combinations of instruments. Kevin plays mostly vibes for the early part, with the persistent cosmic squawking of three saxes which later calm down & turn into flutes. Anthony soon whips out a scary solo on one of them odd horns, like some alien animal speaking in tongues of other worlds (was that too Sun Ra like?). Textures, times & the overall vibe changes in the mid- section - with a pumping rhythm thing of David Bindman on congas, Joe Fonda on bass & Kevin on drums and intensely chattering horns. Kevin takes a rambunctious drum solo as the events continue. The final section winds down to a relaxed, near calm slow motion sax drone and finally a 'ghost trance' like repeating line ending with Braxton's distinctive squall. You need this! - BLG
CD $14

KEVIN NORTON QUINTET With STEVE LEHMAN/DAVE BALLOU/RACHEL TELESMANICK/MARK DRESSER - Change Dance: Troubled Energy (Barking Hoop 005; USA) Kevin Norton, drums, glockenspiel, percussion; Mark Dresser, bass; Dave Ballou, trumpet, cornet; Steve Lehman, alto and sopranino saxophones; Rachel Telesmanick, alto and baritone saxophones.
"Kevin Norton has a good ear for talent and a strong sense of space and harmony. His recordings each tend to be different, although the common thread is a refusal to follow established patterns. This short suite is divided into sections featuring one or more players. Melody is important, though the primary focus is free improvisation, in which settings are established over which individuals or groups of two or more fly. Consummate musicianship abounds, with the three horns featured heavily. Trumpeter Dave Ballou is perhaps less identified with freestyle improvisation than the others, but he has no trouble fitting in -- perhaps not too surprising considering both his previous work with Norton on Knots and his own adventurous album, On This Day. The saxes offer contrasting visions -- Steve Lehman the more exuberant and Rachel Telesmanick more cerebral, although that may be too easy a generalization. Both are sophisticated performers, sculptors of sound who carve carefully along the edges. As to be expected, Norton plays center stage, both as a composer, a talent at which he seems to get better and better, and as an important soloist. Ultimately, it is the compositions and arrangements that shape the proceedings, including the disturbing finale, "Coda," with, as Bill Shoemaker writes in the liners, "a motif that melds European ambulance siren and ice cream truck jingle." The journey is a convoluted one, an intense and sometimes exhausting trip, even at times exhilarating." - Steve Loewy, AMG
CD $14

KEVIN NORTON With DAVID BINDMAN/BOB DeBELLIS - In Context/Out Of Context (Barking Hoop 002; USA) This features David Bindman & Bob DeBellis on soprano & tenor saxes & flutes and Kevin Norton on drums, vibes, percussion & compositions. Kevin mentioned in the liner notes to be specifically inspired by Charlie Parker solos and by Cecil Taylor in his 'Unit Structures' period (mid-sixties) - pretty diverse historical references, some twenty years apart. This cd was also recorded in Context Studios which is now closed. We enter Kevin's world with "Tabula Rasa" for solo percussion, which is well balanced, intensely focused and certainly more like a composition than an improvisation. Kevin does a most impressive job throughout this cd with structuring and holding together this often double-sax trio. His drums are usually at the center of each piece, the saxes playing twisted harmonies well written and continually challenging to all. On "Variations in Bflat" Kevin swings profusely while both saxes begin spinning faster and faster, bebop licks explode into free-jazz intensity. Things quiet down and both soprano saxes play tightly structured parts on "Invision, Facing Up" but soon one soprano begins to squeal as Kevin adds suspense with his vibes in his solo piece "Tinkle Sport" with a hypnotic droning effect. This turns into "Meditations in Fall" for two flutes and vibes which is delicate and playful and rarely moves above a whisper. This eventually turns back into "Variations in Bflat" which has those two tenors burning down the house once more, but breaks down into fragments by the tune's end. The finale is "Where?" which features more crisp and dynamic drums and dark shades on the tenors. A fascinating blend of in & out. Recorded on 1 October 1999 at Context - BLG
CD $14

KEVIN NORTON'S BAUHAUS QUARTET With DAVE BALLOU/JOHN LINDBERG/TONY MALABY - Time-Space Modulator (Barking Hoop 008; USA) Recorded live at Tonic in April of 2004 & August of 2003 and featuring a fine cast with Tony Malaby on tenor & soprano saxes, Dave Ballou on trumpet & cornet, John Lindberg on acoustic bass and Kevin Norton on vibes, percussion, drums and compositions. Kevin always finds the right musicians to play his ever-evolving and challenging music. Master bassist John Lindberg is an appropriate choice, since both he and Kevin have worked with Anthony Braxton in the past and seem to work perfectly together shifting through the rhythmic and dynamic layers of Kevin's pieces. I dig the way Kevin also pushes both Tony's saxes and Dave's trumpets into rich new territories, sounding much different than they sound in other contexts. As the bass and drums swerve and expand together, both horns also move together in harmonious flux. The one piece ("Seoul Soul"), which is a quartet improv, doesn't really sound completely improvised as the quartet floats together with shimmering, suspense-filled sounds. This Mr. Norton's twelve superb release in the past decade as a leader or co-leader and again, he never ceases to amaze us with the immense care, craft, playing and composing of each disc he is involved with. - BLG
CD $14

KEVIN NORTON/JOELLE LEANDRE/TOMAS ULRICH - Ocean of Earth (Barking Hoop 007; USA) Extraordinary world-class trio/duo/solo improvisations from three giants playing together for the first time. Featuring Kevin Norton on drums, vibes, marimba & assorted percussion; Joelle Leandre on contrabass & voice and Tomas Ulrich on cello, voice & whistle. A superbly produced and perfectly recorded studio effort with twenty mostly short pieces which weave their acoustic only sounds with exquisite taste and deeply creative spirits throughout. Each piece appears to capture those fleeting ghost-like free-spirits as they ascend, erupt and disappear into radiant nothingness. Both string players often bow their swirling tapestry of sounds together, as Kevin also creates drones by bowing his vibes with equally mysterious results. A fine blend of some more restrained, melancholy moments with some more quick and quirky abstractions. The occasional voices also add an endearing human quality to the overall vibe. An entirely superb dreamscape. - BLG
CD $14

KEVIN O'NEIL With STEVE LEHMAN/JACKSON MOORE/KEVIN NORTON - Sous Rature (Barking Hoop 003; USA) Recorded on 25 August 1999 in New York City. Modern jazz guitarist Kevin O'Neil wowed all of us who attended Anthony Braxton's 'Ghost Trance' festival at the Knit a few years back. He played Braxton's challenging, repeating note music with deep concentration and inventive soloing - no small feat! He can be heard on adding his special spirit to five of Braxton's releases so far and on Braxton's CIMP debut out shortly. Kevin's quartet consists of Braxton associates Steve Lehman & Jackson Moore on alto saxes, Barking Hoop label head Kevin Norton on drums and Mr. O'Neil on guitar and compositions. The cd title comes from Jacques Derrida's method of placing a word "under erasure" to highlight its opposite meanings - that gray area which is so well illuminated by master composer/improvisers like Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Coltrane and Braxton. The one thing I dig most about Kevin is that he uses little or no devices to alter his guitar tone, which is a very dry jazz guitar sound, so it is only the notes & placement which shines through. This cd consists of only one 47 minute work, with no indexing -so one must jump in head first and go with the flow! Although this music sounds free, it also sounds completely focused - amazingly fast lines are shared between the two saxists and the guitar and drums, with no bassist in sight. Kevin's guitar does sound a bit like early John McLaughlin, but even more free-flowing and just as alert and riveting! Often the level of intensity is just too much, it is difficult to hold on without drowning. The drums and guitar are especially hooked up, spinning out lines ultra-quick and impossible to fathom. It takes about 15 minutes before things finally slow down to a more spacious section which feels just right - the saxes lay out while the drums play quietly as Kevin's guitar begins building lines faster and faster, yet with immense restraint - the drums & guitar duo locking their quick lines as one stream of notes together. Once again the quartet builds to a frenzied conclusion - wow, erupting and really taking of for the stratosphere. Too much! Are you ready to take off?!? Not for the timid. - BLG
CD $14

BILLY STEIN TRIO With REUBEN RADDING/RASHID BAKR [CHARLES DOWNS] - Hybrids (Barking Hoop 011; USA) Featuring Billy Stein on guitar & compositions, Reuben Radding on acoustic bass and Rashid Bakr on drums. I can't say that I was familiar with Billy Stein before this disc, but it turns out that he had attended Milt Hinton's Jazz Workshop at Hunter College in the mid seventies along with Sam Furnace and Kevin Norton who runs the Barking Hoop label. Both rhythm section players get around quite a bit. Reuben Radding has appeared on a half dozen discs (w/ Daniel Carter, Jack Wright, Brian Allen, Ursel Schlicht & Jeff Arnal) in the last few years alone since moving back to NYC from the Pacific Northwest. Rashid Bakr played with Cecil Taylor, continues to play with Other Dimensions in Music and has his own group that includes Billy Stein. Somewhere in between Dom Minasi and Joe Morris are those fleet, flowing, quick, cerebral, streams of notes of Billy Stein. Both Reuben and Rashid are in fine form, blending their notes together in to quick-spinning force. Reuben seems to approach each project differently and here he swings his as off, both he and Rashid sailing together, the stream underneath the central stream. It sounds as if Billy has overdubbed himself on some of this, playing luxurious chords behind his furious, yet relaxed stream of notes. There are often a few different lines moving simultaneously as the dialogue between the bass and drums moves together the guitar floats above in slower spirals. I dig "Purple Nova", where Rashid and Billy play one line together as Reuben solos from somewhere else, yet it all feels connected. The roles are often switched on each piece as different connections take place while someone balances between two points, soloing most creatively. This is demanding music for both the listener and the player, both must work hard to hear the thread and ride the waves as they continually move and evolve. One of most fascinating jazz guitar discs to appear in quite a long while. - BLG
CD $14

STRING TRIO OF NEW YORK [JAMES EMERY/JOHN LINDBERG/ROB THOMAS] With OLIVER LAKE - Frozen Ropes (Barking Hoop 009; USA) This features Oliver Lake on alto sax, Rob Thomas on violin, James Emery on acoustic & soprano guitars and John Lindberg on double bass. This fine sessions consists of two pieces by Mr. Lake, one by Lindberg, one by Emery and a cover of Trane's "Lonnie's Lament". The String Trio of New York has been together since 1979 and has always included Mr. Emery & Mr. Lindberg, with some half dozen violinists. This is their 16th recording as a trio, but their first (?) with a special guest. Quite a unique acoustic quartet it is indeed. Oliver Lake's lengthy "Shiffs" shifts between solos, duos, trios and the quartet. Sometimes sparse, at times fragmented, yet always a central thread holding it together. Each member takes a long, inspired solo with an explosive duo on alto sax and guitar near the end. Jindberg's "Frozen Ropes" features some fine, ecstatic bowing by both strings in the first part and some difficult written passages in the middle of this piece. A challenge for all four players, no doubt. Mr. Lake's "Reminds Me" has a fine, memorable bluesy melody and some sublime playing from Oliver's tasty alto sax. James' "Texas Koto Blues" is the real thing with some fine slide acoustic guitar (what a f**king solo!) from Emery and superb blues-drenched sax and violin as well. Coltrane's classic gem "Lonnie Lament" seems like a perfect way to bring this fine disc to a auspicious end, with a touching solos from Emery and Lake. A beautiful disc from a unique acoustic quartet. - BLG
CD $14


BOLA - Bola Vol 7 (Awesome Tapes From Africa 02; USA) "Bola's music aggressively melds sheer force of spirit with a sound not often heard by ears outside the remote Upper East Region of Ghana. His bold fury stems from the kologo--a two-stringed lute with a calabash gourd resonator--and Frafra-language vocals, emitted in raspy bursts. This is some of the most distinct and dynamic music to come out of Ghana since the emergence of hiplife music in the mid-90s. Volume 7, which came out in 2008, is just one entry in a brilliant series of recordings Bola has released on CD and cassette. Although he employs a traditional instrument and the age-old mode of griot story-telling, Bola embraces elements of modern mainstream Ghanaian music--drum machines, synths, bone-shaking bass. Inspired by pioneering kologo greats like King Ayisoba, Bola has taken a dynamic instrument used by traditional healers and herbalists to sing to god in search of advice and taken it to futuristic heights."
CD $15
also available as 2 LP set for $22




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