Great New Music from..!

Spectrum Road: Jack Bruce/Vernon Reid/John Medeski/Cindy Blackman! Gustafsson's The Thing + Barry Guy! Ray Anderson/Lew Soloff/Matt Perrine/Bobby Previte! Herb Robertson/Jim DeSalvo! Tyson Naylor 3 + Francois Houle! Patrick Bebelaar/Joe Fonda/Herbert Joos!

The Cookers: Billy Harper/Eddie Henderson/Craig Handy/David Weiss/Cecil McBee/Bill Hart! Dom Minasi/Karl Berger! Rich Halley/Michael Vlatkovich! Evelyn Glennie! Chris Welcome! Andrew Lamb/Tom Abbs/Michael Wimberly/Guillermo E Brown!

Heberer/Badenhorst/Niggenkemper! Nate Wooley/Lytton/Weber! Hertenstein/Irabagon/Tang! Mike Noordzy/Shayna Dulberger/Jonathan Moritz! Achim Kaufmann/Valdi Kolli/Jim Black! Zombi Jazz! Burton Greene! Henry P Warner/Earl Freeman: Freestyle Band!

Get the Blessing & Robert Wyatt! Annea Lockwood! Henry Cowell! Keith Fullerton Whitman! Jean Piche! 3by3 Label! Sir Richard Bishop! Ramsey Lewis! Robbie Basho! Blue Effect czech-prog box set! Michael Chapman! Salah Ragab! Louis Armstrong All Stars '47-'67 8-Disc Box Set!

and that ain't all!




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The Vision Festival XVII starts this coming Monday!!


so, Please take notice, DMG customers & visitors:

For the duration of the festival - Monday, June 11th, through Sunday, June 17th - DMG will close at 6pm every night so that we can be in our seats every night, for every last minute - NO WAY we'd miss this!


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

Sunday, June 10th Double-Header Featuring:
6pm: RAS MOSHE / ANDERS NILSSON / KYOKO KITAMURA!
7pm: ALEX WEISS /AARON SCHRAGGE/DIMITRY ISHENKO! Sax/Dragon Trumpet/Bass!

Sunday, June 17th -Vision Fest - No In-Store Performance that night!

Sunday, June 24th Double-Header:
6pm: MATT LAVELLE - Trumpet & Bass Clarinet / CATHERINE SIKORA - Tenor Sax!
7pm: MOGAUWANE MAHLOELE - Percussion & African Strings!

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

Sunday, July 8th at 6pm:
Sohrab's SoSaLa Featuring: SOHRAB SAADAT LADJEVARDI - Sax & Vocal / BRIAN PRUNKA - Oud / DAMON BANKS - Bass!

Sunday, July 15th at 6pm:
JACK WRIGHT - Sax & JOHAN NYSTROM - Drums!

Sunday, July 22nd at 6pm:
YAD Featuring Jeffrey H. Shurdut / Gene Moore / Gene Janas / Todd Knapp/ Danny Moore / Scott May

Sunday, July 29th at Double-Header:
6pm: Tzadik Recording Artist: YOSHI FRUCHTER!
7pm: VINNY GOLIA - Multi- Reeds Wizard & Nine Winds Label Celebration!

Sunday, August 5th at 6pm:
GIACOMO MEREGA/NOAH KAPLAN/ANDY BIANCO/JOE MOFFETT!
Electric Bass/Saxes/Guitar/Trumpet - New Quartet!

Sunday, August 12th at 6pm:
SARAH BUECHI - Voice / ED ROSENBERG - Tenor Sax / JUSTIN CARROLL - Wurlitzer!


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Let's start off with a MONSTER BAND that is NOT HYPE!

SPECTRUM ROAD [JACK BRUCE/VERNON REID/JOHN MEDESKI/CINDY BLACKMAN-SANTANA] - Spectrum Road (Palmetto; USA) Spectrum Road is a ground-breaking collaboration between four giants of modern music: Jack Bruce, Vernon Reid, John Medeski and Cindy Blackman Santana. Born from a shared passion for the music of legendary drummer Tony Williams, the band will release their self-titled debut album on June 5 through Palmetto Records. Later that week, Spectrum Road celebrates its arrival with a highly anticipated performance at Bonnaroo on June 9, which also serves as the first show of a U.S. summer tour. Complete dates will be announced shortly.
"To be able to play and record in this band alongside three of the most creative and stellar musicians in the world is a longtime dream come true," states Vernon Reid. "The idea for Spectrum Road first came about in 2001 and it was the ongoing belief in the kind of record we knew we could make together that made it come to fruition."
Spectrum Road opens the ten-track effort with a blistering take on the jazz-rock barnburner "Vuelta Abajo." It's apparent from the get-go that this is no mere exercise in super-group frivolity, but a deeply attuned band speaking a rarefied improvisational language. As the recording unfolds, there's a primal urgency to the performances that ranges from the meditative beauty of "Where" to the searing intensity of "Allah B Praised." Each of these four iconoclasts play to the peak of their musical powers, yet ultimately achieve a whole greater than the sum of their individual parts. Jack Bruce's bass work anchors Spectrum Road, while he also adds vocals to three songs, including the album's centerpiece, a spellbinding version of the classic "There Comes A Time." Vernon Reid delivers one of the most inspired performances of his career. Particularly worth noting is his patient and slow-burning guitar work on "Blues For Tillman" and a spitfire six-string barrage on "Vashkar." John Medeski shifts tonal colors throughout the ten tracks with flourishes of organ and mellotron. He brings a hefty dose of retro funk to the soaring album closer "Wild Life." As Spectrum Road's cornerstone, drummer Blackman dictates the flow, working in free time, juxtaposing delicate cymbal work against monstrous beats and fearlessly steering the quartet through a deluge of razor sharp turns.
"The band takes the electrifying music of Tony Williams as its starting point and turns it into something totally its own", says Reid. "There's a vibe from end to end, a certain type of force and ambience that I've never experienced before as an artist." Spectrum Road is named for one of the incendiary tracks on the original Tony Williams Lifetime album, but as these four musicians demonstrate on their debut recording, this isn't a tribute band. After making rock history with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker in Cream, legendary British bassist Jack Bruce joined the Lifetime for two records thus serving as Spectrum Road's direct connection to their muse. The group is artfully rounded out with famed guitarist Vernon Reid, of Living Colour, and multi-keyboardist John Medeski, one-third of the juggernaut Medeski, Martin & Wood. Made famous by her ten plus years backing Lenny Kravitz, Cindy Blackman Santana has distinguished herself as an impressively versatile player who's as comfortable on post-bop sessions with Joe Henderson and Wallace Roney as she is touring with pop stars like Kravitz and husband Carlos Santana. The formidable lineup of Spectrum Road assures the legacy of Tony Williams lives on, and clearly qualifies as a major 2012 music event.
[in stock Tuesday]
CD $15


RAY ANDERSON POCKET BRASS BAND With LEW SOLOFF/MATT PERRINE/BOBBY PREVITE - Sweet Chicago Suite (Intuition 71306; Germany) Featuring Ray Anderson on trombone & compositions, Lew Soloff on trumpet, Matt Perrine on sousaphone and Bobby Previte on drums. When you listen to the eight tracks of the new album The Sweet Chicago Suite by Ray Anderson's Pocket Brass Band, you often feel breathless, because Ray Anderson, Lew Soloff, Matt Perrine and Bobby Previte play so impressively. With all the power displayed, you can quickly forget that the Pocket Brass Band is really only a quartet. Of course, a good share of the music's Roots is in the marching bands from New Orleans; Anderson feels a spiritual bond to this magical place and its music. However, you already notice due to the album name that it is not a Tribute to the "Big Easy", but instead to Ray's hometown Chicago.
Ray Anderson: "The Sweet Chicago Suite is both a musical description of Chicago in the 60's and a reflection on my coming of age. I was born in 1952 in Chicago and grew up in Hyde Park, the small, integrated community on the South Side where the University of Chicago holds sway. The piece meditates on the many powerful forces that buffeted and educated me: my family, the counter-culture of the time, pervasive racism and the civil rights movement, Chicago Police, Blackstone Rangers (a gang of youths, somewhere between a self-appointed militia for protecting residents and the mafia), Vietnam, High School, girls and, of course, music." The first six tracks are from the original version of Sweet Chicago Suite, which Anderson composed and performed for the order of Chamber Music America in 2001. The English word "brass" signifies not only wind instrument players in German, but also copper coins. In this context, the Pocket Brass Band would be a group whose pocket money is only composed of copper coins. Such a self-mocking pun is certainly something that Ray Anderson is more than capable of. After all, he likes to present his music with a wink of the eye, even if he adamantly rejects the insinuation that he would play merry music. This man means it seriously, in such a merry way that is transmitted directly to the listener.
CD $16


PATRICK BEBELAAR/JOE FONDA/HERBERT JOOS - Between Shadow And Light (Challenge 71108; EEC) Featuring Patrick Bebelaar on piano, Herbert Joos on trumpet & flugelhorn and Joe Fonda on bass. A few Piano chords by Patrick Bebelaar. Each one resounds in the room, with a healthy reverberation. Joe Fonda's rapidly plucked bass tones join them as if from nowhere and slowly develop into a small foundation. The Piano begets a romantic medley of tunes. Wonderfully peaceful and gently swinging at the same time. The final notes. The final notes? That's what you think! The piece is already past the halfway point when Herbert Joos' trumpet joins the two, breathy and scintillating. This is the impressive beginning of "Between Shadow And Light".
Presence through reduction - rather one sound less than one too many: that's the leitmotif. This area between shadow and light, between major and minor keys, between "black" and "white" jazz is the special feature of this recording, but which also completely fills the edges of this intermediate space. It could just as Well be titled "Shadow - Light - And In Between". The fact that Bebelaar has mastered playing intermediate tones on the Piano is something that he recently proved on "Dedications" (INT 34342), his duo album with Michel Godard. He is also presenting his very original ideal of sound here and found a kindred spirit in Herbert Joos. They advance in step grasping intermediate spaces in a profession that was called "European chamber jazz" in its beginnings. But this is a jazz of worlds, colorful jazz in black and white. The American Joe Fonda also ensures the black and white. Whoever is reading this has probably already heard him, because Fonda's bass playing has already refined more than one hundred albums. When you know that his previous co-musicians were big names such as Anthony Braxton, Barry Altschul, Archie Shepp, Herb Robertson and Billy Bang, then you listen to his bass on "Between Shadow And Light" with other ears, because he fits in the ambience so Well and so touchingly, not at all hectic or agitating. And Clifford", also provide shadow and light or black and white. "As a result, the impetus from American jazz is linked with European worlds of feeling," as Bert Noglik wrote in the liner notes.
CD $15


THOMAS HEBERER'S CLARINO With JOACHIM BADENHORST/PASCAL NIGGENKEMPER - Cookbook (Red Toucan 9345; Canada) 2nd album from Clarino, with Thomas Heberer on trumpet, 1/4-tone trumpet & compositions, Joachim Badenhorst on clarinet & bass clarinet and Pascal Niggenkemper on double bass. "Cookbook" is a new graphic notation code invented by Mr. Heberer and was introduced to the members of Clarino in 2009. Thomas has been refining the concept ever since their first recording 'Klippe' (on Clean Feed). Hence, 'Cookbook' is the culmination of of what the trio has learned and accomplished as of now (June of 2012). Joachim Badenhorst moved back to Amsterdam last year after being in NY for a while so we don't get to hear him live as much. His playing is always refreshing, so it is great to hear him hear in a most creative and highly focused session.
Clarino has a unique sound as if they are drawing from fragments of songs and then exploring different nuances, shades or colors. Thomas' hushed muted trumpet and Joachim's soft, playful clarinet weave short lines around one another while Pascal creates an elegant island underneath. This music reminds me of a dreamworld where spirits roam free yet they still pay close attention to each other as they move from scene to scene. As the tempo picks up so does the intensity and heated interplay. There are some great moments when the trumpet and clarinet play a series of tight lines together and then shadow each other as they swerve around one another. I get the feeling that the more time I spend with this disc, the more will be revealed as there are a number of somewhat buried gems (strategies or ideas) beneath the surface that will take some time to fully absorb. It is nice to hear some challenging music that is not too difficult to comprehend. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $15


JOE HERTENSTEIN With JON IRABAGON/ACHIM TANG - Future Drone (Jazzwerkstatt 126; Germany) Featuring Jon Irabagon on tenor sax, Achim Tang on upright bass and Joe Hertenstein on drums. This disc was recorded at the Loft in Cologne, Germany and it is dedicated to Paul Motian. Since moving to New York, Joe Hertenstein has been working with a handful of other transplated musicians like Thomas Heberer and Joachim Badenhorst. Hats off to saxist Jon Irabagon who plays with Mostly Other People Do the Killing, Mary Halvorson Quintet, the RIDD Qt and Talibam! He won the prestigious Monk award a couple of years back and has recorded several of his own discs. I recognize Achim Tang from his work with Max Nagl, Dave Tronzo and Guy Klucevsek.
This is a mostly improvised date with a couple of songs written by Mr. Hertenstein. The sprawling, intense and crafty drums of Joe Hertenstein are at the center of these pieces. Joe whips up a cascade of whirlwind drums while Mr. Irabagon screeches massive tenor blasts and Mr. Tang bows with centrifugal force."Panicballad" is an appropriate name for a piece in which the sax plays slowly while the bass and drums speed up, going in two directions at once yet remaining together. Although Hertenstein organized this session, all three members get a chance to stretch out, listen and interact on several levels. Each member also kicks off or leads the direction of several different pieces. It is interesting to hear Mr. Irabagon playing those bent, extended technique tenor sax sounds rather than blowing long and hard like he does for the entire trio session with Barry Altschul on the 'Doxy' CD released last year (2011) or his playing with MOPDTK. This is a most formidable, tight and spirited trio. They even do some sort of bent blues thing on "Rotten Strawberry" and that fits as well. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
[limited time price; normally $20]
CD $16



New and recent on NoBusiness!

THE THING [MATS GUSTAFSSON/INGEBRIGT HAKER FLATEN/PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE] + BARRY GUY - Metal! [2 LP set; Ltd Ed of 600] (NoBusiness LP 47/48; EEC) Recorded live at Saint Catherine's Church, Vilnius, Lithuania on 3rd April, 2011
The Thing with Mats Gustafsson is that not everybody in the free music community likes his approach. When Stef reviewed some of his new albums two months ago, one of the comments added that he is just playing 'loud and raucous'.
Whether you are a fan or rather reluctant - listen to his new The Thing album. As usual the band is Paal Nilssen-Love on drums, Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten on bass and Gustafsson on saxophones. For this record, which was recorded at St. Catherine's Church in Vilnius, they are backed up by bass legend Barry Guy who has also played with Gustafsson in the marvelous Tarfala Trio. All pieces on Metal, except the last one, are named after metallic chemical elements, the cover shows a saw blade in the middle of all kind metallic trash. If the more timid of you fear the worst, Lanthanum, the opening track of the album, might prove you right. From the very first second everything is displayed like in an exposition of a play: the main motives, the protagonists, Nilssen-Love's relentless drumming, the two basses struggling, intertwining, pouring fuel into the fire, the musicians cheering each other on and on top of all Gustafsson yelling and howling. Yes, there is sheer brutality - but there is also absolute beauty. The key track on the album is Europium where you can find everything the album is about in a nutshell. It begins with Gustafsson's baritone ticking like a clock, slightly losing its regular rhythm. It takes over a minute before the basses join in and only then the saxophone starts to cry out in an almost bluesy approach anticipating something dark deep down under the surface. Only then, after a short conversation of the two basses underlined by Gustafsson playing almost lyrical notes, Nilssen-Love starts off chasing the saxophone on a first wild ride. There is a break in the middle of the track where Nilssen-Love plays a duet only on the hi-hat with Haker-Flaten who tunes down his bass to infernal depths - it's the calm before the storm. And then all hell breaks loose, Gustafsson's baritone is yowling in long deep shivery cries like an animal in fear of dying just to switch to fury from one moment to another as if being ready for a final attack.
But in the end, it all calms down, the ride is over and there is nothing but sadness. At this moment Gustafsson plays a heartbreaking part accompanied by drone-like and scratching basses, here you can find consolation in beauty. The piece (and the whole album) wakes a hundred sleeping memories with free music and makes them ripe and vivid again, remembering especially Albert Ayler and Peter Broetzmann.
The album closes with a cover version of Lightning Bolt's Ride the Sky. It is shorter and less Punk/Metal than the original. But it is incredibly tense and organic due to the atmosphere the church provides. What a way to end an album.
The album is released on double vinyl only and strictly limited. Don't hesitate! - Martin Schray
2 LP set for $40

NATE WOOLEY/CHRISTIAN WEBER/PAUL LYTTON - Six Feet Under [Ltd Ed of 300] (NoBusiness LP 46; EEC) Recorded November 30, 2009 at Radio Studio Zurich, Switzerland. The most intense of the recent albums I've heard is without a doubt "Six Feet Under", already reviewed earlier on this blog by Daniel Sorrells. The power of this album is not only in the stellar interaction, but the creation of in-the-moment musical innovation is possibly even stronger. What you hear is at times pretty unique, as in the mesmerising ending of the first track, or in the granular juxtaposition of phrases on the second.
The long "La Grande Mort" is the centerpiece of the album, and is again a fascinating example of common creation. Weber's extended tone with his arco bowing and Wooley's circular breathing of a single note set the tone for the rest of the track : this is beyond what you've heard before, and not by using extended techniques, which is often the easy way out for the less talented, but by creating something new full-toned. It is the music itself that speaks, not the sounds.
Here it results in a dark suspense, in line with the album's theme of death. You know death is coming, you don't know in what shape or form, you know you fear it, yet you equally know it's inevitable ... that's the kind of thoughts and feelings that are conjured up by the piece, together with some infinite sadness combined with unpleasantness and dread, only to erupt suddenly in almost joyous tones of liberation, or maybe struggle, and ending in slow resignation.
The last piece is the most inaccessible, closed and hermetic, with distorted sounds and minute intimate in-the-moment playing, low-volume with little sounds clattering against each other, like the death-throes of a dying animal. An absolutely superb album by three magicians of their instruments. Highly recommended! -Stef Gijsels
LP $27

FREESTYLE BAND [HENRY P WARNER/EARL FREEMAN/PHILIP SPIGNER] - Freestyle Band: Expanded Edition [Ltd Ed of 500] (NoBusiness CD 41; EEC) The Freestyle Band never courted fame, but they never welcomed obscurity either. The choices they made to follow their individual muses and to independently document their efforts were conscious ones. The musicians made this music in the faith - perhaps certainty is a better word - that its power and integrity would ultimately triumph over shortsighted commercial pressures and America's racist attitudes toward black artists. Perhaps this reissue does a little bit to validate that faith. - Ed Hazell
All tracks recorded in 1984 at Sorcerer Sound, New York. Tracks 1, 2 and 4 were originally released only on LP as Freestyle Band by Adeyeme Productions Unlimited in 1984. Tracks 3 and 5 have never been issued before and they all now released in their original order. This release also contains an essay written by Ed Hazell, rare photos and flyers. "Freestyle Band put out an LP in 1984 in a limited edition. That album with the addition of two lengthy additional tracks is out again as the self-titled Freestyle Band (No Business NBCD 41). It's an unusual ensemble of Henry P. Warner on clarinet and alto clarinet, Earl Freeman on bass guitar and piano, and Philip Spigner on hand drums.
A wide open sound they get, with Spigner's hand drums laying down a kind of free-Afro-Cuban barrage, Earl Freeman playing melodic figures of note on the electric bass and what sounds like a phase shifter, and Henry Warner freely charging forth on his clarinets. The collective sound they get is not quite like any other, the closest being perhaps Chicago's Ethnic Heritage Ensembles in their classic phase.
Once you get on their wave length there is much to be appreciated. They explore the possibilities of sound and tone freely and imaginatively while each takes on a distinctive role. The music has some of the primal qualities of some of those early ESP disks, only it's most definitely their own thing that is happening. Kudos to the three! A treasure for the dedicated Afro-free-improv listener." - Grego Apllegate Edwards
CD $16

ANDREW LAMB/TOM ABBS/MICHAEL WIMBERLEY/GUILLERMO E BROWN - Rhapsody In Black [Ltd Ed of 500] (NoBusiness CD 40; EEC) Andrew Lamb a.k.a The Black Lamb - saxophone, flute, clarinet, conch shell; Tom Abbs - bass, tuba, didjeridoo; Michael Wimberly - drums and percussion; Guillermo E. Brown - drums and percussion. Recorded live at Roulette on 14th November, 2008
"In spite of a more than three decades on the New York City front line, saxophonist Andrew Lamb remains something of an unknown quantity. Over that time he has amassed only eight leadership dates, the majority on small independent labels. To that total can be added Rhapsody In Black, a live blowing session from 2008 which feels as if it could have been recorded any time since the late '70s. Indeed, Lamb imbues his sound with the spirituality of late period John Coltrane, smoldering with a slow burning passion, bordering on the ecstatic, recalling his early AACM mentor, reed man Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre. The dual percussion of downtown stalwart Michael Wimberly and Guillermo E Brown (best known from his stint with saxophonist David S. Ware) establishes an ethnic feel, an element of ritual, which together with the sporadic didgeridoo of enterprising bassist and tubaist Tom Abbs, create a seething rhythmic backdrop for Lamb's ruminations. Using simple phrases and restated motifs, the horn man creates a solid backbone from which the improvisations sally forth, begetting a satisfying sense of structure. Abbs shares not only a long tenure with the leader, but also that same ability to impart cohesion to spontaneous playing through judicious use of reiterated patterns and riffs, though in his case frequently disrupted by forays into freer territory.
Lamb's strongest statements come on tenor saxophone where his muscular burnished tone enthralls, sticking largely to an incantatory middle register, only sparingly overblowing hymn like cadences. But he also deploys throaty clarinet on the opening "Initiation," which like all the cuts, builds slowly from sparse beginnings to an impassioned crescendo, and blows airy flute with a haunted melodicism on "To Love In The Rain (Portrait Of A Virtuous Woman)" before conjuring more primeval textures by blowing conch shell later in the piece. Abbs combines deep powerful bass calisthenics with occasional simultaneous blurts on tuba which ratchet up the excitement levels. The twin drummers, well separated in the mix, though not identified by channel, don't overwhelm and leave space for both each other and the bass and horns, roiling in tandem only during the standout title track and the closing "Song Of The Miracle Lives. Though undoubtedly captivating in concert, the uncomplicated building blocks mean that the set fares slightly less well on repeated listens, but nonetheless represents a valuable addition to a slender discography." - John Sharpe, AAJ
CD $16

NARADA BURTON GREENE - Live at Kerrytown House [Ltd Ed of 500] (NoBusiness CD 39; EEC) Recorded live at Kerrytown House, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA on 17th October, 2010. Though modern, 'avant-garde' jazz is an ensemble music often based on collective improvisation, solo performance is its own extraordinarily fruitful sub-area of investigation for the creative improviser. Without a reactive, interpretive partner (or several), the solo recital blurs the lines between composition and improvisation as the performer enters a world of unfettered development. Greene has been performing and recording solo since the 1970s, and these settings have yielded some of the most powerful statements in his oeuvre. As diverse as Greene's palette is, his music is entirely about being grounded - and at home. - Clifford Allen
CD $16
also available as 2 LP set for $40

and, back in stock..

JULIUS HEMPHILL/PETER KOWALD - Live at Kassiopeia [Ltd Ed of 1000; 2 CD set] (NoBusiness CD 35/36; EEC) CD Edition has extra 7 minute Hemphill solo cut! A never earlier released duo recording that was played back in 1987 at Kassiopeia, Wuppertal brings these two great musicians and composers together for this unique and unforgettable session. "Earlier this month, Julius Hemphill's legendary early album, 'Dogon A.D.' was finally reissued legitimately by the International Phonograph label. "Hallelujah" is all us crazed Julius Hemphill fans could say! And now the Lithuanian NoBusiness label has unearthed yet another Hemphill rarity! This amazing 2-CD set features three sax solos from Julius Hemphill, one Peter Kowald bass solo and three Hemphill/Kowald duos. Will wonders never cease! These discs were recorded in January of 1987 in Wuppertal, Germany at Kassiopeia. Hearing Julius play solo alto & soprano sax is a rare treat. Bluesy, sassy, strictly from the heart, pure, unadorned, feisty, fresh, exciting, burning, sailing, soaring, weaving his way around a standard, beboppin' and just plain reaching for the stars. Peter Kowald's solo contrabass is also a masterful excursion of pure joy and righteous release. The three duos are also magnificent! It is a wonderful thing to hear two master improvisers from completely different backgrounds, play so well together. Like long lost brothers have a spirited and heated conversation which connects on so many different levels. Extraordinary and well worth the long wait!" - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
2 CD set for $26
aslo available as 2 LP set for $40


BLG discovers..
Inexpensive Great CD-R recordings from the fledgling Nacht Records label!

HERB ROBERTSON/JIM DeSALVO/ADAM NIEWOOD/CHRIS LOUGH/TOM SAYEK - Robertson-DeSalvo-Niewood-Lough-Sayek (Nacht; USA) Featuring Herb Robertson on trumpet, Adam Niewood on sax, Jim DeSalvo on piano, Chris Lough on bass and Tom Sayek on drums. Recorded at Jankland Studios 8/19/08.
Although I am not familiar with any of the players here except for Herb Robertson, the drummer Sayek does appear on at least one other disc by Herb. The playing here is free, focused and well-recorded. Pianist Jim DeSalvo sounds particularly accomplished and take an impressive unaccompanied solo in the first piece. I find it hard to believe how strong this disc is considering no one but Mr. Robertson is a known quantity. Outstanding! - BLG
CD $8

KARL BERGER/DOM MINASI - Synchronicity (Nacht; USA) Karl Berger - vibes, piano and Dom Minasi - guitar. Recorded November 2010. At Karl Berger's Creative Music Studio, Woodstock NY. 12 pieces for vibes or piano & guitar duo. Almost an hour long. Clean recording.Studio date? Most likely. Starting out sparse and tranquil and slowly becoming more dense as the pieces evolve. By midway the interplay becomes more frenzied and intense as they wind flurries of notes around one another. Both of these men are gifted improvisers who know how to provide layers of intricate interaction. - BLG
CD $8

MIKE NOORDZY QUINTET With JONATHAN MORITZ/SHAYNA DULBERGER/JON FRANCIS/CHRIS WELCOME - Dream-ee-chi-wah (Nacht; USA) spacious modern drone minimal chamber improvisation music, two different takes of the tonal cluster piece "dream-ee-chi-wah" and three improvs. Personnel: Mike Noordzy on contra-alto clarinet, Jonathan Moritz on tenor sax, Chris Welcome on guitar, Jon Francis on guitarviol and Shayna Dulberger on bass. Mike Noordzy, who plays electric bass with William Hooker & Weasel Walter switches to contralto clarinet for his own quintet disc with bandleader/guitarist Chris Welcome, his companion & ace bassist Shayna Dulberger plus tenorman Jonathan Moritz last seen sitting in with Mike Pride's Bacteria quartet. I can't say I've heard of Jon Francis or know what a guitarviol is? It turns out to be a hybrid of a guitar and violin combined, take a peek at google to see what it looks like.
The long title tracks opens with suspense-filled layers of drones from the reeds and bowed bass and/or guitarviol. The various layers of drones are especially hypnotic and woven closely together. With no drums to distract or push the music in a more rhythmic direction, there is more spaciousness involved so we can observe the textures more closely. A most potent brew of tasty alien tapestry. - BLG
CD $8

MIKE NOORDZY/ANTHONY WARE/WEASEL WALTER - Live At Goodbye Blue Monday (Nacht; USA) Featuring Anthony Ware on alto sax, Mike Noordzy on electric bass and Weasel Walter on drums. Recorded at Goodbye Blue Monday, Brooklyn NY 4/15/12.
"I don't know saxist Anthony Ware although we all know the great drummer Weasel Walter from the dozens of great discs he has on his own UgExplode label. I caught electric bassist Mike Noordzy playing with William Hooker last week (6/2/12) but hadn't heard of him before this. This is an intense, rambunctious trio of free/jazz insanity. Weasel Walter is in good form whipping up a storm of powerful free drumming. Noordzy is also non-stop wailing on that electric (fuzz) bass with some distortion and rarely letting up. This is tight, massive power trio. Sounds like Machine Gun without Bob Musso's stun guitar. 37 minutes long and just enough to hit you upside your head." - BLG
CD $8

IMAGINARY QUARTET [MIKE NOORDZY/DAVID FREEMAN] - Imaginary Quartet (Nacht; USA) An imaginary quartet of dreamy space jazz improv peppered with unusual spices not yet synthesized from all corners of this and several other planets, echoes of sun ra, peter brotzmann, william parker, and nine inch nails. with Mike Noordzy - acoustic bass, Bb and Contra Alto clarinets and David Freeman - Drumset, Balafon, Berimbau, Gongs, Shakers. Mixed and collaged by Mike Noordzy
"I recently caught Mike Noordzy playing funky electric bass with William Hooker. It turns out that Mr. Noordzy is a multi-instrumentalist who also plays various clarinets as well. I can't say that I am familiar with his partner here, Mr. Freeman. This is an organic sounding date of just bass, clarinets and ethnic percussion. Similar to the way Art Ensemble of Chicago sets flow with the bass at the center. Rather ritualistic. This music has a dark and occasionally ominous sound like a washing machine slowly grinding to a halt." - BLG
CD $8

CHRIS WELCOME - Electronic Music 2002-2011 (Nacht; USA) A collection of electronic works by guitarist and composer Chris Welcome. Tracks 1-15 recorded Winter of 2002 using samples, keyboards, voice, percussion, and electronics.... Tracks 16-19 recorded Summer of 2003 using turntable, microphone, percussion, drum machine, feedback, and electronics.... Tracks 20-24 recorded Summer of 2004 using feedback and electronics.... Tracks 25-27 recorded 2010-2011 using feedback, percussion, microphone, guitar, and electronics.
"I know guitarist Chris Welcome from his work with Bonnie Kane, Shayna Dulberger, Kirk Knuffke as well as his own ensemble discs. I didn't know that Chris has also been working on his own electronic music for nearly ten years and this is the results. Less imposing that Merzbow or Lasse Marhaug but not so different either. Quick moving layers of static, feedback or weird waves of some sort. I find this music not so easy to describe but certainly compelling nonetheless. Swirling sounds erupt and then evolve over time, pulsating, throbbing, consistently engaging." - BLG
CD $8


ZOMBI JAZZ [MICHAEL FOSTER/ALEX HOOD/ERIC SILBERBERG/DAN STERN] - Foreclosure (CMC [US]; USA) On Foreclosure, Zombi Jazz utilizes a wide spectrum of improvisatory and compositional techniques and textures featuring Michael Foster on sax, bass clarinet, and radio, Alex Hood on trumpet, trombone, and voice, Eric Silberberg on bass and violin, and Dan Stern on percussion. At times, the group bursts into what sounds like a free-form freakout (in the best sense of the phrase), when the quartet is more aggressive, the sounds produced are more staccato, jumpy, scattered, especially the sax and the drums. They are all able to go full throttle, yet they still remain controlled, together, and attentive, maintaining a constant cohesiveness as a group. Also, the group always builds to these moments, through solo, through melody, etc. Hood's vocals remind me of an album by Alan Watts called "This Is It". Really expressive, playful, syllabic/textural and a kind of haunted intensity. And when the group transitions into its 'softer' moments, the silence is really able to shine. Those are the moments that I really enjoyed listening to in this album. The longer-form, more languid, expansive journeys really feature each member of the group quite well. Legato trombone tones, harmonics on the strings, deep bass drones, high pitched sax sounds, and jangly, chime-like percussion. It's also nice that all the members at different times throughout the album are comfortable with dropping out while one, two, or three of the other members are playing. Overall, if you pay close attention and listen carefully, you'll hear a great exploration of sound and technique on this record, making for a very deep, dynamic listening experience.
CD $8


THE COOKERS [BILLY HARPER/EDDIE HENDERSON/DAVID WEISS/CRAIG HANDY/GEORGE CABLES/CECIL McBEE/BILLY HART] - Believe (Motema 92; USA) 3rd album from The Cookers! The founder of The Cookers is trumpet player David Weiss who does not hesitate in using their very valid sports analogy where teams have attempted to buy a title and have would up with precious little to show for their efforts. The musical resumes involved in this band include Billy Harper have worked as a member of groups led by Lee Morgan and Max Roach. Trumpet player Eddie Henderson and drummer Billy Hart have both worked with Herbie Hancock. Pianist George Cables worked with Dexter Gordon. Bassist Cecil McBee anchored Charles Lloyd's 1960 quartet which also included such luminaries as Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette. Above all else, this is a band. A true working ensemble in every sense of the word yet the vast and varied myriad of influences they draw from keep their music fresh, vibrant and with a direction sense of lyrical purpose. Believe consists of music written almost entirely by band members themselves. The Cookers decided to dig deep and the musical gems uncovered are priceless.
Opening with the edgy "Believe, For It Is True" from the 1980 Billy Harper release The Believer it is clear the band is in it to win as they say. One of the more engaging tunes is the more avant-garde "Tight Squeeze" from Cecil McBee's Unspoken. A tune that is rich in harmonic texture but oddly accessible every step of the way. George Cables helps dial the intensity back with the more tender "But He Knows." The incredible aspect to "Believe" is that both performance and compositional styles of each member work together in a type of harmonic cohesion rare in a small ensemble much less that of a septet. There is a wonderful ebb and flow with adventurous harmonic overtones of controlled sonic fury coupled with an introspection of years of dedication and believing in something that each member finds truly inspiring.
CD $15


TYSON NAYLOR TRIO With RUSSELL SHOLBERG/SKYE BROOKS + FRANCOIS HOULE - Kosmonauten (Songlines 1594; Canada) Tyson Naylor on piano, Melodica & compositions, Russell Sholberg on bass, Skye Brooks on drums plus Francois Houle on clarinet. Lyrical cohesion amidst ambiguous chaos while maintaining emotional dept. The debut release from Vancouver's Tyson Naylor's Trio runs far deeper than the typical piano trio. Joining the trio on two tunes is the Vancouver clarinetist Fracois Houle who adds an organic color that helps transform this all ready formidable trio with an added layer of texture pushing the boundaries of the typical piano trio. Naylor honed his skills for three years in Germany and fully immersing himself into Berlin culture. Upon returning Naylor assembled a trio that seemed to mesh from the very beginning. What is more commonly thought of when a piano trio is mentioned is an accomplished artist that does a riff on some standards that have been essentially played out. Not here.
' Kosmonauten' is a diverse soundscape that runs from a variety of styles from stompin' to free jazz which for many is an acquired taste. When Naylor and his trio decide to walk the free jazz tightrope there is a constant sense of urgency to their playing. Working without a harmonic net sounds natural and the listener will in all likelyhood never find themselves lost in a self indulgent sonic exploratory that leads nowhere. "Paolo Conte" is somewhat more free form with an emotional charged harmonic flow. Russell Sholberg's mysterious sounding bass solo adds to a delightful sonic depth of field while the nuances of drummer Skye Brooks act as the musical binder of this eclectic piece while Naylor works this tune and allows a natural development to occur within the work of each ensemble member. "Adrift" is the more creative free form but dialed down just a touch with the finesse of drummer Skye Brooks moving center stage. The odd metered and syncopated Naylor is still on the edge of the free jazz cliff without pushing the listener over the edge. The use of the melodica by Naylor is another captivating use of simple texture as Kosmonauten develops a unique sonic pulse. "Leaves" is an introspective ballad where Naylor sense of melody and lyrical soul shine brightest. Far from the typical piano trio, Kosmonauten embodies everything good about modern jazz piano and where the trio ensemble should be heading. Maturity, depth and texture have this release on point through every tune.
Having reviewed countless piano trios with most falling into the good yet tired category, the Tyson Naylor Trio is a dynamic young trio and Kosmonauten immediately goes in the memorable pile along with 5 huge stars! - @criticaljazz
CD $15


RICH HALLEY 4 With MICHAEL VLATKOVICH/CLYDE REED/CARSON HALLEY - Back From Beyond (Pine Eagle 04; USA) Rich Halley on tenor sax, Michael Vlatkovich on trombone, Clyde Reed on bass and Carson Halley on drums.
"There is a vibrancy of spirit to this recording. Halley and his highly formidable 4tet place themselves out front proudly wearing their musical hearts on their sleeves. Halley's musical voice on tenor comes from a deep and bold sonic color palette. While others that play a similar style are content to wail, Halley digs deep into the dark recesses of a lyrical soul giving his compositions a three dimensional sonic depth of field while remaining accessible... 5 Stars!" - Brent Black, Critical Jazz
CD $11


ARAM SHELTON QUARTET With KEEFE JACKSON/ANTON HATWICH/TIM DAISY - Everything For Somebody (Singlespeed 11; USA) For this 2nd album, Tim Daisy has been enlisted to fill the drummer's chair vacated by Marc Riordan. Daisy and Shelton have collaborated for more than a decade in the groups Dragons 1976 and Arrive.
The Aram Shelton Quartet plays creative jazz music inspired by the likes of Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. In this quartet, Shelton is joined by Chicagoans Keefe Jackson on tenor saxophone, Anton Hatwich on bass, and Tim Daisy on drums.
Shelton's compositions for the group feature strong melodies and inventive forms that place the players in familiar and challenging improvisational territory, while exploring the group's orchestration through solos, duos, trios and the full quartet. The space given to the four members allow each to display their individual talents and styles while making a collective music that is energetic, raw, focused, and joyful.
CD $15


ACHIM KAUFMANN With VALDI KOLLI/JIM BLACK - Verivyr (Pirouet 3057; Germany) Pianist Achim Kaufmann's music is nuanced, highly refined trio jazz. Now with the 2nd album for this trio lineup, this music gathers up much that comes out of the free jazz tradition. It is music that needs the listener's complete attention. The pieces on this CD are enigmatic and loaded with energy, wild and at the same time structured. The exciting streams of musical thought, the heat of creative moments, the intensity of musical movement - all are blended with the allure of discovering new musical possibilities.
[in stock next week]
CD $16


GET THE BLESSING + ROBERT WYATT - OCDC (Naim 170; UK) Featuring Jim Barr on bass guitar & baritone guitar, Pete Judge on trumpet, flugelhorn, melodica & flutes, Jake McMurchie on bari & other saxes, piano & vibes and Clive Deamer on drums plus special guest Robert Wyatt on voice. I heard about this disc a couple of months ago, since any appearance by Robert Wyatt is noteworthy to us Wyatt fanatics. When I finally received a copy, I realized that Mr. Wyatt was just on one track but the disc turned out to be pretty great nonetheless.
This is the third disc from Get The Blessing [originally called The Blessing], but the first one that I've heard. Get the Blessing are a great groove oriented electric jazz band that don't quite sound like anyone else I've heard. The title track kicks this disc off with a swell, infectious groove/riff which is led by a bari sax and muted trumpet. The sly, rubbery electric bass is at the center. Robert Wyatt sings on the chorus of "American Meccano", giving it an even more enchanting vibe. The great groove is laid back, somewhat funky and instantly memorable. I dig the earthy bari guitar and melodica that simmer throughout the song. Many of the melodies here remind me of that South African sort of down-home gospel/funk that I find most charming. There are just a few solos (mostly bari sax) here but this music is more about the enticing arrangements and swell melodies. The blurb I saw about this band mentioned that they were Canterbury-like, so I can attest to the fact they do have that Canterbury-esque whimsy. I haven't heard any music like this in quite a while where I felt like dancing or swaying and it did bring a much needed smile to my often more serious face. All eight songs feel and sound great! So why not Get the Blessing! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $16


PAUL VAN KEMENADE With AKI TAKASE/HAN BENNINK/THREE HORNS AND BASS/CAPELLA PRATENSIS - Kaisei Nari (Kemo 11; EEC) Kaisei Nari' is a concept record that features Dutch saxist Paul Van Kemenade playing duos & trios with Aki Takase [piano] and Han Bennink on [drums]; plus Van Kemenade also playing with three horns and Renaissance vocal ensemble. After receiving a five star review in Downbeat last year for his disc 'Who's in Charge', I contacted Mr. Van Kemenade and began stocks his dozen or so discs on the Kemo label. The personnel and approach was different on each of these discs and the music was consistently of high quality. The same can be said for his new disc which is again filled with the odd surprise. The section is the longest (some 28 minutes) and the music is split between Ms. Takase and Mr. Van Kemenade himself. Ms. Takase is a talented pianist and composer who leads several of her own bands. The opening piece, "Cherry" is a lush duo for smokey sax and elegant piano, most sublime. The title track has that wonderful ICP-like quirkiness of being inside and outside simultaneously, recalling Fats Waller, a favorite of Ms. Takase. Throughout these duo or trio pieces Van Kemenade's tone on alto sax is superb, warm, relaxed and with a pinch of pepper to give it some spice. Ms. Takase also sounds like a wonderful jazz pianist who knows her history and Mr. Bennink on brushes also adds some sparkle and rhythmic effervescence. In the next section Mr. Van Kemenade plays some lovely, haunting sax based on some prayer-like music from the 1400's and backed by a fine Renaissance vocal choir. This is followed by two pieces for three horns (flugel, trombone & alto sax) and bass. Both pieces feature Paul's superb alto saling over the top of the rich harmonies below. For the final piece, Kemenade adds the choir, a Flamenco guitarist and a Senegalese percussionist to the three horns and bass. It is indeed an excellent combination of cultures and works perfectly to bring this enchanting disc to a great close. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $17


KENNY WHEELER BIG BAND With RAY WARLEIGH/STAN SULZMANN/JULIAN ARGUELLES/HENRY LOWTHER/JOHN PARRICELLI/JOHN TAYLOR/CHRIS LAURENCE et al - The Long Waiting (CAM 5044; USA) eaturing: Kenny Wheeler--flugelhorn; Pete Churchill--conductor; Diana Torto--vocals; Ray Warleigh--alto sax; Duncan Lamont--alto sax; Stan Sulzmann--tenor sax; Julian Siegel--tenor sax; Julian Arguelles--baritone sax; Henry Lowther, Derek Watkins, Tony Fisher, Nick Smart--trumpets; Dave Horler, Mark Nightingale, Barnaby Dickinson --trombones; Dave Stewart--bass trombone; John Taylor--piano; John Parricelli -- guitar; Chris Laurence--bass; Martin France--drums.
When listening to Kenny Wheeler's most recent opus for big band, "The Long Waiting," one is experiencing the compositional late period of one of the great jazz minds and players of the late twentieth century and, as it turns out, the early twenty-first. Born in Toronto in 1930 and immersed in the British jazz scene since moving to the UK in 1952 (he joined John Dankworth's Boporchestra in 1959), Wheeler has composed, arranged, and played with an astonishing array of musicians--many of them from the constellation of jazz figures of the 1970s, of whom many are also still with us. For example, it was as a sideman on Wheeler's sublime 1975 classic "Gnu High" that Keith Jarrett was soon launched as a major leader and soloist. On "Deer Wan," which followed in 1977, Wheeler was accompanied by such sensations of the period as saxophonist Jan Gabarek, guitarists John Abercrombie and Ralph Towner (a sometime collaborator with Wheeler's small group Azimuth), and, from "Gnu High," the bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette. That same year the flugelhorn player appeared with Soft Machine's Elton Dean and drummer Joe Gallivan on "The Cheque is in the Mail." Then, of course, there is Evan Parker, who supplied free improv on Wheeler's first ECM recording, 1973's "Song for Someone," a big-band project.
In his liner notes for "The Long Waiting," Parker gives an accounting of Wheeler's brilliance going back to the 1960s as well as asserting that J. S. Bach and Wheeler share "that ability to keep finding new variations while remaining true to their personal musical language." Parker also contributed soprano and tenor sax on the masterful (and self-explanatory) ECM record "Music for Large and Small Ensembles," from which, more than twenty years later, Wheeler brings back personnel for "The Long Waiting." Returning from "Large and Small Ensembles" are Stan Sulzmann on tenor sax, Ray Warleigh on alto, Duncan Lamont on alto, Dave Horler on trombone, and longtime associate John Taylor on piano. Appearing on Wheeler's "Kayak" (1992), and well known for his work with John Surman and Tony Oxley, Chris Laurence plays bass. Laurence's solo work on "Four, Five, Six" is a powerful and elegant distillation of the piece's core ideas. Wheeler's is the first solo on this track; he turns in inimitable solos on each of the album's eight compositions. The one on "Seven, Eight, Nine" features Kenny sounding much as he did almost forty years ago. As for the here and now, the other star, besides the master himself, in the firmament of "The Long Waiting" is vocalist Diana Torto. Her coloratura sparkles amid all those trumpets. Naturally to be compared with Norma Winstone, who has been Wheeler's vocalist of choice on many projects, Torto provides crystalline tone throughout this longish album as well as expert scatting on "Enowena." The spacious "Canter N. 1/Old Ballad," clocking in at just over fourteen minutes, affords room for graceful solo work from guitarist John Parricelli, tenor saxophonist Julian Siegel, and pianist John Taylor. The closing number, "Upwards," which features a beautiful digression from Taylor and forceful blowing from Wheeler, is rousing in its complexities. Kenny Wheeler, a musician with a storied past, possesses an equally remarkable present. --Bert Yaeger, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $15


EVELYN GLENNIE - Ecstatic Drumbeat: Works for Percussion and Chinese Orchestra [H-SACD] (BIS 1599; EEC) Performed by: Evelyn Glennie, percussion. Taipei Chinese Orchestra, En Shao and Yiu-Kwong Chung, conductors. Tzu-You Lin, suona. Tsung-Hsin Hsieh, percussion. "Appearing with leading orchestras and conductors around the world, Evelyn Glennie has also collaborated with musicians as diverse as Emmanuel Ax, the King's Singers and Bjork. Another unexpected partner is the Taipei Chinese Orchestra, with which she first performed at the 2009 Deaflympics. Returning to Taiwan a year later, she recorded the present disc of original compositions and arrangements for percussion and Chinese orchestra. The programme is wide-ranging in geographical terms, with works by composers from the Far East, as well as by German-based Nebojia Zivkovic, whose duo 'Born to Beat Wild' for bass drum and trumpet here is performed with a suona, 'Chinese oboe', replacing the trumpet. But the disc also spans a vast distance in time, in that the final work, 'Emperor Qin Crushing the Battle Formations', is a reworking by the composer Yiu-Kwong Chung of an ancient score first performed in the year 627 at the court of the second Tang Emperor. Ecstatic Drumbeat is the last of four discs that present collaborations between the Taipei Chinese Orchestra and soloists from a Western tradition, with Evelyn Glennie following in the footsteps of flutist Sharon Bezaly, saxophonist Claude Delangle and trombone player Christian Lindberg on her own oriental journey." Stereo/multichannel hybrid SACD that can be played on any CD player.
CD $20


ANNEA LOCKWOOD With DAVID BEHRMAN/JOHN KING/WILLIAM WINANT/THOMAS BUCKNER et al - In Our Name (New World 80729; USA) Annea Lockwood (b. 1939) distinguishes herself with works ingeniously combining recorded found and processed sounds, live-performance and visual components, and exhibiting her acute sense of timbre. While perhaps best known for her 1960s 'glass concerts' featuring manifold glass-based sounds and her notorious Piano Transplants - burning, burying, and drowning obsolete pianos - she was drawn to the complex beauty of sounds found in the natural environment, which she captured on tape. Lockwood was especially fascinated with the sonorities of moving water and water's calming and healing properties and thus started an archive of recorded river sounds. From the 1970s, she explored improvisation and alternative performance techniques and asked her performers to use natural sound sources and instruments including rocks, stones, and conch shells. Having long been an attentive listener to nature and having given fragile and volatile nature a voice in many of her works, Lockwood has also occasionally drawn attention to vulnerable humans, such as a dying friend and prisoners deprived of their rights, in works like Delta Run (1981) and In Our Name (2009-10). The current CD brings together three such works, Jitterbug (2007), In Our Name, and Thirst (2008), emphasizing non-human and human dignity and imaginatively merging musique concrete techniques with live performance. Personnel: David Behrman - zither, psalter, rattle, rainstick, processing; John King, electric guitar, viola & processing; William Winant - percussion & tape; plus guests: Thomas Buckner - baritone; Theodore Mook - cello & tape; Simone Fattal, narrator and Kristin Norderval - soprano & tape.
CD $15


OLIVER MESSIAEN - Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jesus [2 CD set] (Dux 849; EEC) Twenty Gazes Upon The Infant Jesus. Performed by Eugeniusz Knapik - piano. "The significance of Olivier Messiaen in the history of the 20th century music is exceptional. His willingness to face great, beyond-musical ideas and at the same time show incredible intensity and passion of expression -- these are, apart from purely technical virtues, the most distinguishing features and strengths of his music."
2 CD set for $38


HENRY COWELL//STACEY BARELOS - Piano Music (Centaur 3185; USA) Performed by Stacey Barelos. Featured works: Dynamic Motion and The Five Encores to Dynamic Motion; Sway Dance; Two Woofs; Hilarious Curtain-Opener; Caoine; Rhythmicana; Irishman Dances; Scherzo/It Isn't It; Sinister Resonance and Three Irish Legends.
CD $18


SALAH RAGAB - Unreleased Egyptian Jazz [2 7" singles] (Jazzman 088; UK) The name Salah Ragab was best known to jazz fans and record collectors by way of another LP that was recorded with Sun Ra in the early '70s. His album Prism Music Unit with the Cairo Jazz Band was released in Egypt with another by the Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble, but perhaps only Salah himself knew of the other songs he had recorded at the time that didn't make it onto these LPs. Entombed within a hand-printed, hand-made pyramid-shaped box, this is the first time in 40 years that these recordings have come to light.
2 x 7" set for $32


SUSANNA [SUSANNA KAROLINA WALLUMROD] - Wild Dog (Sonata 04; EEC) 180 gram vinyl version. Wild Dog is Susanna's eighth album, including three with Susanna And The Magical Orchestra, her "Norwegian" album Jeg Vil Hjem Til Menneskene (GRCD 4337CD) and the ECM album with Giovanna Pessi. That is effectively one album a year of quality releases since her debut in 2004, indeed, a very rare treat these days. Possibly best-known for her unique and striking interpretations of iconic songs like "Jolene," "Hallelujah" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart," she has also proven herself as an original songwriter with a strong signature. Bonnie "Prince" Billy has performed and recorded her songs and MOJO named her song "Believer" as "one of the greatest break-up songs ever." The ten originals on Wild Dog are darker, wilder and more intensely seductive than ever. Susanna has assembled some prominent guests on the album with Emmett Kelly from Bonnie "Prince" Billy's band and Jeremy Gara from Arcade Fire appearing on all ten tracks while Shahzad Ismaily is credited on seven tracks and Norwegian Jo Berger Myhre on two. Co-producer Helge Sten (Deathprod) is typically credited with "space and beyond" on one track while The Sheriffs Of Nothingness (Ole Henrik Moe and Kari Ronnekleiv) do their thing on another track. Recorded at legendary Atlantis Studio in Stockholm, Ocean Sound Recordings in Giske and Audio Virus Lab in Oslo, this is yet another superbly-recorded and produced album, all overseen by Helge Sten. First release on the new SusannaSonata label.
LP $23


SIR RICHARD BISHOP - Intermezzo (Ideologic Organ 10; EEC) "I met Richard in 2004 on a crazy tour in Australia (Oren Ambarchi's last 'What Is Music?'). He was a founding member of The Sun City Girls but he came out to play solo. Instantly we were entranced by his playing, so many beautiful elements of why I love guitar come through in his music and presence, without floating around in genre space at all. Here on the road with Kevin Drumm, Dead C, Residents, Gang Gang Dance, Black Dice, etc., amongst this insane line-up, Richard ended up supporting Pan Sonic and really held it down, as a soloist. A few years later, Peter Rehberg and I (as KTL) were invited to join a tour Richard was doing with Earth. His incredible communication of atmosphere and texture was even more fluid than I remembered -- a real pleasure. If the reason to start a record label is to release the music you are truly enamored by, this is a true example of that philosophy." --Stephen O'Malley, Paris 2012; All songs composed & recorded by Sir Richard Bishop. Master & vinyl cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, April 2012.
LP $22

MATS LINDSTROM - MIG (Ideologic Organ 06; EEC) Produced by Pro Arte Foundation for JSC "Klimov" Aviation Engines Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia, September 2011. Recording assistant: Vladislav Petrov, producer: Ekaterina Puzankova. "IBM" tracks recorded at EMS Elektronmusikstudion, Stockholm, April 2012. "ONE" tracks premiered at San Servolo, Venezia, Italy, December 2008 together with Anna Koch's "Scratch Memory." "Give Us the Tools ...." was premiered at Theaterhaus Stuttgart, Germany, July 2006, dedicated to Hugh Davies. "Children Of Paradise" is a tape part remaining from the piece "Sormlandsk Tragedi" for children's string orchestra, premiered at Kulturhuset Stockholm and Sveriges Radio P2, February 2003. Mats Lindstrom works as a composer and a musician, often with strains of live electronics. He often works with intermedia, scenic elements and visual arts as a complement to the music, and has worked both with music for concerts, theater and dance as well as radio art and sound installations. Formerly an engineer in the electronics industry, Lindstrom has designed and constructed a number of unique electronic musical instruments and apparatuses. Ideologic Organ curation and art direction by Stephen O'Malley.
LP $22


LOUIS ARMSTRONG And HIS ALL STARS - The Armstrong Box: Louis Armstrong And His All Stars 1947-1967 [7 CD + DVD + Book Box Set] (Storyville 8609; EEC) This box set includes a DVD and 7 CDs. Sidemen include Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Jack Teagarden, Coleman Hawkins, Earl Hines, and Barney Bigard.
The Armstrong Box, the latest in Storyville Records' series that assembles eight-disc, budget-priced boxes drawn from label founder Karl Emil Knudsen's massive collection, features live Louis Armstrong dates tracked between 1947 and 1967 with various configurations of his All-Stars, along with a bonus DVD of Armstrong on video, making it a must-have for serious Armstrong collectors. ~ Steve Leggett
9 CD + DVD + BOOK Box Set for $70


RAMSEY LEWIS - Funky Serenity/Salongo [2 CD set] (R2 19; UK) "Digitally re-mastered from original 1/4 tape for unequalled sound quality Featuring some of the most sampled tracks in hip hop history by Fugees, ATCQ & Dilla to name a few. Two classic albums on one package with beautifully restored artwork on quality flat pack packaging." Less than two years after the Super Bird label combined Upendo Ni Pamoja (1972) and Sun Goddess (1974), the R2 label reissues two other Ramsey Lewis albums - both Top Ten Jazz Chart entries - originally released on Columbia: Funky Serenity (1973) and Salongo (1976). The former is primarily a trio date with bassist Cleveland Eaton and drummer Morris Jennings, featuring material that is both spaced-out (the ten-minute psychedelic trip "Dreams") and relatively organic (a version of the Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin," where Ed Green's violin provides the main melody line). On the latter, a collaboration with Earth, Wind & Fire's Maurice White and visionary Chicago soul architect Charles Stepney, Lewis mixes Latin and African flavors with some powerful, straight-ahead soul-jazz.
2 CD set for $20


CRYSTAL SYPHON - Family Evil (Roaratorio 25; USA) "Crystal Syphon, one of the greatest 'lost' groups of the West Coast psych scene, came together in Merced, California in 1965. Originally a Beatles / Byrds-influenced unit called the Morlochs, they soon shed their original moniker and moved in a more psychedelic direction, becoming a fixture on the ballroom circuit from 1966-1970. Although their music may nod in the direction of the New Tweedy Brothers and Quicksilver Messenger Service at times, it's imbued throughout with a distinctive sound that arose from practicing up to six nights a week. The band entertained offers from various labels during their existence, but as they insisted on complete artistic control and ownership of their music, no deals were struck. Now, some 44 years after its creation, Roaratorio is proud to make the music of Crystal Syphon available for the first time ever. Drawn from studio tracks, rehearsal tapes and a live recording from the Fillmore West, Family Evil is released in an edition of 500 copies, with cover art by Norman Orr and extensive historical liner notes on an old-style 'tip-on' jacket. Digital download included."
LP $20


KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN - Occlusions; Real-Time Music For Hybrid Digital-Analogue Modular Synthesizer (Editions Mego 026; Austria) "'Occlusion' is a loose framework for a multi-channel, freely-improvised piece of live electronic music, performed without the aid or consent of pre-recorded or even pre-arranged materials of any kind. A given realization will last between 10 and 30 minutes; time is elastic. Every effort has been made to avoid divisible rhythms (although mistakes are occasionally made). Still, I consider it a 'kind' of dance music. These two realizations, recorded a week apart at festivals in France and The Netherlands during February 2012, capture the piece (much like those on the Generators LP) in two entirely different iterations, in states of (A) a mildly inebriated bliss & (B) an arbitrarily triggered blind rage. Both recordings were made at 24-bit, 96khz through the absolute cheapest means available to the consumer to do so. They sound fantastic. Occlusions is a companion piece to Generators in that they share the same tool-set; however, it is the free jazz yang to Generator's minimalist yin. It is not recommended to those seeking meter, melody, cleanliness, or a clearly-outlined organizational sense."
LP $22


JEAN PICHE - Heliograms (Digitalis 040; USA) In 1982, a small Canadian record label specializing mostly in classical music released Heliograms. This was the first record by Canadian composer and video artist Jean Piche, and it was also one of the first albums to feature music produced almost entirely with digital synthesizers. But, due to an unfortunate turn of events, the label went bankrupt as soon as Heliograms was released, therefore relegating this essential piece of electronic music to obscurity. Jean Piche recorded Heliograms between the years 1977-1980 during his time at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC. The music on the LP consists of works for computer, digital synthesis and acoustic instruments, and most of it was composed using the POD Interactive Compositional System that Barry Truax had developed at SFU. The four compositions that make up Heliograms are often dense, harmonically-rich pieces that slowly evolve through time. There is a strong use of tonality throughout which characterizes Piche's work during this period. It echoes a fascination with the music of Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Lou Harrison, placing it firmly in a minimalist approach to electronic music, alongside the contemporary work of American composer Laurie Spiegel, then working at Bell Labs. The initial sounds that would end up constituting the bulk of "Ange," the first piece on the LP, were created on the Systems Concepts Digital Synthesizer, also known as the Samson Box, during a residency at Stanford University, California, in the CCRMA facilities. The Samson Box was a powerful machine and the first of its kind. It was designed to synthesize complex musical events in real time using FM synthesis. As soon as Piche returned to SFU, he mixed all the tracks in a traditional analog studio and then proceeded to record the voice of Joanna Anonychuk, as well as his own voice, carefully blending these with the sounds generated with the Samson Box. The result is a striking oceanic drone of microtonal frequency waves shifting in and out of focus. Remastered by James Plotkin from the original tapes and cut to vinyl by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin.
LP $20


GUY REIBEL - Granulations-Sillages/Franges Du Signe (Recollection GRM 02; EEC) Franges Du Signe, the third part of an electroacoustic triptych completed in 1973-1974, is the first major "purely acousmatic" work composed by Guy Reibel. Franges Du Signe explores the mathematical idea of the limit by translating it musically, searching for unstable states of equilibrium. Thus, several conflicting tendencies or logics act upon the sounds. They overlap and fight, each one seeking to assert its trace on the phenomenon in progress, generating de facto an ambiguity that is unique to all phenomena that obey the "logic of the living." Granulations-Sillages (1976) develops an idea glimpsed at in Franges Du Signe: the existence of extreme times at the edge of our faculties of perception, which only the electroacoustic music tools allow us to realize. Two natures of phenomena, opposed in all respects (the "Granulations-Trails" and the "Tutti"), alternate through seven movements that constitute the piece. The work is designed for six channels diffused in concert on a main stereo system facing the public and two auxiliary stereos (group of crossing speakers: front-back and left-right in the room). Featuring bi-lingual (French/English) texts, with translation by Valerie Vivancos. Cut by Rashad Becker at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin, March 2012. Layout: Stephen O'Malley. Executive Production: Peter Rehberg.
LP $24


BURIAL HEX - Book Of Delusions (Cold Spring 166; UK) During the period in which Clay Ruby (also known as Burial Hex) first began working on this piece of art, he had become so completely surrounded by evil and deception that he was forced to begin summoning a particularly extreme and ancient force of protection and vitality just to make it alive through the end of 2008. Aside from spiritually fortifying Ruby's life, the complexities of these new elemental entities brought with them circumstances causing a much more rich and intense recording experience than he could have ever composed on his own. Classic horror electronics and post-industrial apocalyptic soundscapes with unsettling notes, anguished cries and voices of the dead. His most ritualistic album yet. Reissue of the extremely limited LP with bonus tracks taken from the split LPs with Kinit Her and Zola Jesus, all available on CD for the first time! All tracks have been carefully remastered.
CD $17

SLEEP RESEARCH FACILITY - Stealth [2 CD set] (Cold Spring 159; UK) Sublime new album from the drone/dark ambient legend, Sleep Research Facility. As a project commissioned for Cold Spring, Stealth presents itself as an exploration of sounds neither here nor there, textures camouflaged against their own background noise, and the distant crackling telemetric code-speak of a vague humanity hidden behind a cloak of deadly high-technology. Comprised of five deeply-layered extended tracks, mixed and edited from re-sampled location recordings originally captured inside the hangar environs of a Northrop-Grumman B-2 Stealth Bomber, during a period of downtime maintenance at a U.S. Air Force base in Cambridgeshire, England. Original field recordings and texture preparations by FOURM/Si_Comm. First edition pressing of 1,000 copies includes a bonus disc comprised of this "pre-mix" material in its original, un-edited form, as a representation of the source audio from which Stealth was reconstituted. Deep listening inspired by one of the most mysterious aircraft of the 20th-century. Headphones recommended.
2 CD set for $20


New and recent on 3by3!

JK FLESH [JUSTIN K BROADRICK] - Posthuman (3BY3 09; UK) The best thing from Justin Broadrick since Godflesh. Posthuman certainly resembles the darker side of Broadrick's sound (circa Techno Animal, Godflesh and Greymachine) but simultaneously contextualizes this within the unfamiliar turf of the post-dubstep/industrial canon pushed by 3by3, finding a fitting home in the process. The result is an album of soul-crushingly dark beats and bass, layered with Broadrick's inimitable guitar and vocal fuzz, providing a stark contrast to 2010's Palesketcher output, that will resonate with fans of Godflesh and the post-dubstep landscape alike. Recorded in Broadrick's newly-built studio in the secluded countryside of Northern Wales, Posthuman's clear reference to his upbringing in the harsh industrial sprawl of Birmingham would at first seem ironic. However, given his recent collaborations with Techno Animal co-conspirator and long-time collaborator Kevin Martin (The Bug/King Midas Sound), it would seem Broadrick is once again happy to explore his more depraved sonic tendencies. Across nine monolithic slabs of pure carnage, JK Flesh is established as a project in its own right; showcasing a clear but dynamic sound that flows seamlessly from the pumping basslines of "Earthmover," through the cavernous drone of "Underfoot" to the melodic, live musicianship of "Walk Away," all via the balls-out distortion of "Punchdrunk." JK Flesh arrives in 2012 to show how proper dark side pressure is done -- with authenticity and regard.
CD $16

CLOAKS - Versus Grain (3BY3 02; UK) This is the debut full-length release by Cloaks. Following on from their highly-praised, much sought-after Hi Tek EP on Werk Discs, Versus Grain is a cold and challenging assault on the senses from these UK dubstep-destroyers. To say that Cloaks are swimming against the tide would be something of an understatement; as opposed to offering the listener a "breath of fresh air," they have created a sound so dense, it's closer to giving them a boot to the face. Stemming from initial ideas of experimentation with found sounds and primitive sound sources, the music of Cloaks suggests a kind of "use once and destroy" ethos. The tracks found on Versus Grain were pulled from the wreckage of hours of studio experiments -- articulate in design, yet captured with a sense of urgency. Housed within their structures is a destructive impulse that recalls the work of Einsturzende Neubauten as much as it does the dark hooks of Burial. This, as you may have gathered, is a confrontational sound. Emerging from the murk of low analog sludge, the opening track "#00148" sets the tone for the album; a rolling barrage of unrelenting bass-shake, a dark-stepping sound unlike anything else; it's as if every kick drum and hi-hat serves, for a split second, to hold back an endless tide of digital feedback. Versus Grain is 35 unrelenting minutes of battering beats; layer upon layer of sound, dense walls of screaming sonic dirge, decaying static and brutally metallic beats. Circuit-bending is a fundamental part of the process -- by shorting out parts of the circuitry in the equipment used, the sound sources become mutilated to extreme and devastating effect. The randomization of the outputted sound makes for a truly unique ear-fucking. Killer beats are matched to piercing tones and harsh waves of static, which gives Cloaks' aggressive style the potential to be played out in both dubstep and metal clubs alike. Their live performances to date have been scarce due to the fact that creating this music tends to leave a lot of equipment and eardrums irreparably damaged. Versus Grain is for fans of extreme music as much as it is for fans of heavy dub, but from the outset it is clear that Cloaks do not sit comfortably within either genre, or any other for that matter -- this is the new broken sound. Cloaks use noise as a weapon, and it really, really hurts.
CD $15

CLOAKS - Versions Grain (3BY3 08; UK) The 3by3 label returns to unveil its most anticipated release to date, Versions Grain -- remixes and versions of tracks from Cloaks' 2009 debut album Versus Grain (3BY3 002CD), where the label began. Nine heavyweight industrial workouts featuring contributions from guest remixers Ancient Methods and Legion Of Two, alongside the entire 3by3 roster -- JK Flesh (aka Justin Broadrick of Godflesh, Palesketcher and Jesu), Dead Fader, Devilman, Oyaarss and Volt Music. The inimitable Ancient Methods emerge for the first time on CD, providing a 9-minute slab of industrial techno bass weight to get folks dancing like they mean it. Planet Mu's Legion Of Two make their first appearance since their 2009 album Riffs, adding their distinctive sound of live drums and tough electronics. New 3by3 signing JK Flesh gets his first label outing. Yet another project from the insanely prolific Justin Broadrick, providing just a taste of what to expect from the forthcoming album. Dead Fader return to home listening format following their 2010 debut album Corrupt My Examiner and a succession of international live shows. Latvian producer Oyaarss puts his unique spin on "Sixmenace Two," promising a lot from his debut full-length. Also opening their 3by3 account is Devilman, featuring Shige Ishihara (DJ Scotch Egg/Seefeel) and Gorgonn (Dokkebi Q), finally making their release debut. Carl Cloaks' solo project Volt Music also gets a first airing and Cloaks offer up two alternative cuts that didn't make the album. A killer remix package in its own right, but also an excellent step forward for the 3by3 label, providing an indication of things to come from its roster over the next 18 months.
CD $15

DEAD FADER - Corrupt My Examiner (3BY3 05; UK) This is the debut full-length release by Dead Fader. If the sound-destroyin' processes of Cloaks aren't enough of that type o' violent (adopt Clay Davis tone) "shiieeeett" for your sick head, 3BY3 come correct again, and drop this unrelenting abomination of a record. On first impression, it's hardly a production sound you'd associate with the backdrop of Dead Fader's home base, Brighton. This sounds more like it was born out of some grim industrial slum on lockdown, all pent-up anger and a serious need to party hard; 2-step garage from a Hair Police state. Dead Fader's hybrid of distorto-death grooves, limited-to-hell wonky-not-wonky productions, sound like Distance playing though Slayer's back line -- bit-crushed by inhuman hands, 2-step gets rammed face-first through analog chains, that speakers (and ears) simply weren't designed to handle. Like Sunn O))) say, "Maximum volume yields maximum results" -- apply this to Dead Fader and you're likely to have your neighbors ASBOing your righteous ass all the way to the seaside. It's not all sour-faced noise ethics, either. There's enough playfulness in the low-end and cheeky industro-funk mischief going on throughout Corrupt My Examiner to keep it from becoming "metal kids discover 2-Pac and create Franken-Durst." Oh yeah, check out the rewind on "No Thief" for a serious bit of DJ tackle! An unrelenting sound, (over)loaded with hooks, Corrupt My Examiner is an example of new forms emerging in heavy, beat-driven music. The identifiable stems of Dead Fader's influences are pretty evident while at the same time totally obliterated by their fresh approach. It's a balance of production, chops and attitude that define the style. Dead Fader are that band you leave your kid alone with for five minutes, to discover the child has put the CD on, and for some reason decided to set fire to their bedroom.
CD $15


OPIKA PENDE [V.A.] - Africa At 78 RPM [4 CD + Book Set] (Dust To Digital 022; USA) 2012 repress. Opika Pende: Africa At 78 RPM is a 4CD collection featuring 100 tracks taken from rare 78rpm recordings of African music (1909 to mid-1960s), none of which have ever been issued on CD until now. Pan-African in scope and wildly diverse, Opika Pende is a testament to the deep riches found in early recorded music across the continent. 112-page softcover book with 4 CDs in a separate portfolio -- all housed in a deluxe cloth slipcase. Jonathan Ward is a Los Angeles-based collector, researcher, and writer. In 2007, he began the well-known web site Excavated Shellac, which features a wide range of scarce, international 78rpm records from across the globe with extensive commentary. In 2010, Jonathan released his first LP in a series for Dust-to-Digital's vinyl imprint Parlortone. Titled Excavated Shellac: Strings (PT 2001LP), it contains 14 exemplary performances on string instruments from across the globe, all from his collection of 78s.
4 CD + Book set for $54

STEVE RODEN - I Listen To The Wind That Obliterates My Traces [Book + 2 CD set] (Dust To Digital 020; USA) 2012 repress. I Listen To The Wind That Obliterates My Traces brings together a collection of early photographs related to music, a group of 78rpm recordings, and short excerpts from various literary sources that are contemporary with the sound and images. It is a somewhat intuitive gathering, culled from artist Steve Roden's collection of thousands of vernacular photographs related to music, sound, and listening. The subjects range from the PT Barnum-esque Professor McRea -- "Ontario's Musical Wonder" (pictured with his complex sculptural one-man band contraption) -- to anonymous African-American guitar players and images of early phonographs. The images range from professional portraits to ethereal, accidental, double exposures -- and include a range of photographic print processes, such as tintypes, ambrotypes, CDVS, cabinet cards, real photo postcards, albumen prints, and turn-of-the-century snapshots. The two CDs bring together a variety of recordings, including one-off amateur recordings, regular commercial releases, and early sound effects records. There is no narrative structure to the book, but the collision of literary quotes (Hamsun, Lagarkvist, Wordsworth, Nabokov, etc.). Recordings and images conspire towards a consistent mood that is anchored by the book's title, which binds such disparate things as an early recording of an American cowboy ballad, a poem by a Swedish Nobel Laureate, a recording of crickets created artificially, and an image of an itinerant anonymous woman sitting in a field, playing a guitar. The book also contains an essay by Roden. Hardback book, 8.5 x 6.5 inches, 184 pages, 150 photographs reproduced in full color and two audio CDs from the author's collection.
Book + 2 CD set for $46


ROBBIE BASHO - The Seal Of The Blue Lotus (4 Men With Beards 223; USA) "Originally released on John Fahey's Takoma Records in 1965, The Seal Of The Blue Lotus is the debut album from American guitar soli legend Robbie Basho. In college Basho immersed himself in the study of Asian art and culture, even changing his last name to that of the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, and his music shows a much greater Eastern influence than contemporaries like John Fahey and Peter Lang. Basho was particularly entranced by the raga form which is apparent in classics like 'Dravidian Sunday' from this album. A guitar solo masterwork." On 180 gram vinyl.
LP $21


MICHAEL CHAPMAN - Plaindealer (Mystra 09; USA) Reissue of one of Michael Chapman's self-released CDRs -- a studio album from '05. Hand-made sleeves with insert. "Long stretches of clawing, flipping digits from one burning line to the next, all the while kinda hooting vocally along with a snort and a smile...each jam more deadly then the next. Which TURNED ME THE F*CK ON as much as any holy shit..." -- thurston moore.
LP $18


BLUE EFFECT - Blue Effect: 1969-1989 [9 CD box set] (Supraphon 5990; EEC) 9CD collection of this Czech prog band, featuring Radim Hladik of The Matadors. "The Blue Effect continued in the spirit of The Matadors, playing superb r&b material with Radim Hladik's fuzz guitar in charge. In 1969 they recorded their first single 'Sluceny Hrob' and an untitled 4-track EP. Their album Meditace (1970) was great. 'Pamet Lasky' opened the album with threatening Gothic voices, narrative lead vocals and careful orchestration, much like a post Soviet invasion requiem. The other tracks ranged from Yardbirds-like sitar excursions and blues-rock highlighting the flute (similar to vintage Jethro Tull) to well-written pop-psychedelia in the typical late sixties tradition. It seems that Vladimir Misik left The Blue Effect after a dispute over lyrics. He wanted to sing English lyrics, which didn't exactly please the Czech authorities. Misik joined the second version of Flamengo, but still had to sing Czech lyrics on their 1972-album (it was banned anyway!). His place was soon occupied by Le?ek Semelka, a vocalist with a very unique style. Hladik, Cozel and Cech then embarked on the first of three experimental recordings, attempting to combine free jazz and beat with Jazz Q Praha featuring Jiri Stivin. The sound of Coniunctio will puzzle the ears of many listeners, as this is considerably different to early Western attempts to combine jazz and rock at the time. The New Synthesis albums are indeed even stranger, recorded with the Czechoslovak Radio Jazz Orchestra. Judging by their playing techniques, these professional musicians collectively seemed to ignore any new developments in jazz since 1960 (and rock was totally out of the question). The result was not a 'synthesis' but two different generations of musicians playing on top of (but not with) each other. A self-titled and largely instrumental progressive rock album was recorded in 1973, but not released until two years later. Two tracks were over 10 minutes long and ideal showcases for Hladik's intricate style (somewhere between Jan Akkcrman and the non-Latin jazz-rock style of Carlos Santana). His reputation as the best guitar player in Eastern Europe has a lot to do with this album. In 1975 Hladik reformed the group (now as M. Efekt) with Cech and two new members: Fedor Fre?o from Bratislava had been the bass player in Collegium Musicum (and he would later join Fermata) and Oldrich Vesely from Brno, the keyboard-player of Synkopy 61 (later relaunched as Synkopy). Their album Svitanie (1977) marked a turn towards a more lyrical and symphonic approach with a wide array of keyboards (ARP, siring ensemble, pianos and organ). Some aspects of this new sound resemble Yes circa 1972-73. Svet Hledacu (1979) was recorded after the departure of Freso. He was replaced by the returning Le?ek Semelka, who in the meantime had played in the group Bohemia. The album fulfilled the M. Efekt-concept of long, elaborate tracks. It's interesting to note that no bass player was employed. This was also the case on their final album, 33."
9 CD Box set for $72


STORMY SIX - Un Biglietto Del Tram (Vinyl Magic 96; Italy) This 1975 album is an excellent folk album with small progressive touches, but ultimately, this is not a rock album or a progressive/R.I.O. album; that came a bit later.
"A great Italian rock classic album is finally back, here officially reissued for the very first time as an 180 gram audiophile black vinyl, with a faithful reproduction of the original release artwork. Un biglietto del tram was a bolt from the blue, an LP full of pathos from the first to the last note, full of political and social lyricism. From folk and progressive/psychedelic rock, Stormy Six evolved to the powerful hymn of 'Stalingrado', the album opening track. Their career continued until the '80s, but Un Biglietto remains an unique episode in the band's discography, but also in the entire history of Italian rock music."
LP $36


[NEW] GOBLIN - Live In Roma 2010 [2 LP set] (AMS 50; Italy) Deluxe clear blue double vinyl edition, housed in a gatefold sleeve. "The first official live album for Goblin, here playing as 'New Goblin', led by the historical members Claudio Simonetti (keyboards), Massimo Morante (guitars) and Maurizio Guarini (keyboards), accompanied by Bruno Previtali (bass guitar) and Titta Tani (drums) from Daemonia. Live In Roma was recorded on February 18th 2010 at the Alpheus club, during a tour of 20 shows around Europe -- including the very first band's appearance in Milan in over 35 years-- and includes all the most popular Goblin's 'hits', taken from the albums Profondo Rosso, Roller, Il Fantastico Viaggio Del Bagarozzo Mark, Suspiria, Zombi, Tenebre, Phenomena and Non Ho Sonno, the last LP recorded by the original line-up."
2 LP set for $52


GROUP 1850 - Mother No-Head: Their 45s [2 LP set] (Pseudonym 99028; EEC) "Though they were a product of the beat group age, Group 1850 were the Netherlands' first progressive band - in every sense of that word. Constantly changing, constantly evolving, Group 1850 were musical extremists on a do-or-die mission to explode all expectations. Sparks flew, ideas flared, feedback swirled through misty nights, the dead walked, skeletons danced, flies buzzed, mountains fell, words rained fire from angry purple skies. Group 1850 raised all kinds of Hell. My god, were they good. Although the group made two deservedly revered albums, Agemos Trip to Mother Earth (1968) and Paradise Now (1969), some of their best work can be found on their singles, where their borderline insane hyper-creativity was focused into highly-concentrated, radically potent three-minute songs like 'Misty Night,' 'Mother No-Head,' 'Zero,' 'We Love Live (Like We Love You),' 'Don't Let It Be (We Have to Do It Now),' and the magnificent 'Have You Ever Heard.' The A- and B-sides of all their singles can be found on this 2-LP set in their original mono mixes, mastered from the original tapes. A number of previously unreleased demos are also included. Pressed on 180gm vinyl, Mother No-Head: Their 45s comes packaged in a breathtaking gatefold cover with rare archival photos and liner notes by Ugly Things Mike Stax. Remastered in the 24-bit domain from the original master tapes. 2LP black 180 gram vinyl, 350 grams carton gatefold sleeve packed in Japanese plastic bag."
2 LP set for $38


STRING DRIVEN THING - Live on the Foxtrot Tour (Ozit/Milksafe 9012; UK) "The classic early 70s String Driven Thing line up of Chris Adams guitar and vocals, Pauline Adams vocals and percussion, Colin Wilson bass, and Grahame Smith violin (Hamill/Van der Graaf) recorded on the Foxtrot Tour with Genesis. Frontman Chris Adams has suffered a spontaneous pneumothorax (collapsed lung) and is rushed to hospital, where doctors recommend that he take four weeks rest to let his lung reflate. But unwilling to drop out of the impending tour, Chris elects for the alternative treatment which, in his words involved 'watching a brace and bit being used to drill a hole through my chest.' 14 days later, and against doctors' advice, the band took to the Rainbow stage. In the following gigs, including Manchester Free Trade Hall where this recently unearthed recording was made, the band performed sets with such stunning energy that multiple encores became the norm. I think you'll agree with me that Ozit has rediscovered a lost masterpiece."
CD $20


ALPHA CENTAURI - Alpha Centauri (Acid Nightmare 02; USA) "Alpha Centauri was formed in Greeley, Colorado in 1971. The band performed its hard driving rock throughout the American Midwest for years opening for artists such as STYX and Uriah Heep. With a fairly strong US following, the band moved to Canada where they began to write original material. The result was 1977's long awaited eponymous debut on Salt Records. With the release of the album came more concerts as well as several radio and television appearances including the Canadian TV special Alpha Centauri In Concert from 1978. The band was then aiming for the UK, but management problems and road burnout led to the band returning to the USA, appearing on TV's Rock and Roll America. Alpha Centauri stayed on the road until 1983 when they finally broke up. In the '90s a resurgence of sorts occurred following a glowing review of their sole album in the International Encyclopedia Of Hard Rock And Heavy Metal stating them as the 'Worlds best undiscovered Pomp band'. '70s hard rock aficionados began scouring the globe for their only album. Nowadays a rare sought after gem in the collector's market, Acid Nightmare thought it would be the right time to reissue this hard prog pomp masterpiece on glorious vinyl. The record comes with insert and is limited to 400 copies."
LP $32

EARTH [BLACK SABBATH]//FLYING HAT BAND [GLENN TIPTON] - Coming Of The Heavy Lords (Acid Nightmare 01; USA) SPLIT LP. "Two demos of extreme importance for every collector of 70s heavy rock finally on vinyl! Earth are none other than the previous incarnation of Black Sabbath in 1969! The Flying Hat Band is the band Glenn Tipton had before joining Judas Priest in 1974. The Earth demo sessions are comprised of 3 heavy bluesy numbers and one cover of 'Blue Suede Shoes' already when they changed their name to Black Sabbath as a bonus number. The F.H.B. have a similar sound to Sabbath but also makes remember other bands of the time like Horse, Fuzzy Duck or even Hard Stuff. Four songs were recorded with good quality sound as a demo in 1973 featuring the heavy blues guitar wailing of this later-to-be Metal master. Another winner by the Acid Nightmare team!" First pressing sold out; to be repressed?
LP $32




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