A Wonderful Week's Worth of Great Discs from:


Dave Douglas with Jon Irabagon/Matt Mitchell/Linda Oh/Rudy Royston! Barry Guy New Orchestra Small Groups! Little Women: Darius Jones/Travis LaPlante/Andrew Smiley/Jason Nazary!

William Parker/Lois Eby/David Budbill DVD! Dave Rempis Engines & John Tchicai! Dissipated Face & Daniel Carter!

Sonic Liberation Front! Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic! Split Cycle! Bomb X! Haleoscene! Burr van Nostrand! Spaceship Faster!

Plus Historic Discs from Alexander Von Schlippenbach! Morton Feldman & Earle Brown! Ravi Shankar! Beatles Failed Audition Tapes! Steve Tilston & Scott Key! And Even more!




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


Sunday, April 7th:
6pm: DANIEL CARTER & DISSIPATED FACE [KURT HOLOGRAM/STEVE X DREAM & BEN FACE] - 20 Year Reunion & Record Release Set!

Sunday, April 14th:
6pm: PHILIP GREENLIEF & INGRID LAUBROCK - Two Great Saxists!

Sunday, April 21st Double-Header:
6pm: DAVE ROSS - Guitar!
7pm: ELLIOTT LEVIN & DENIS BEURET - Philly Reeds/Poet & Swiss Trombonist!

Sunday, April 28th Double-Header:
6pm: LEO CIESA - Solo Drums!
7pm: JESSE DULMAN & JASON CANDLER - Tuba & Alto Sax with Electronics!

Sunday, May 5th Double-Header:
6pm: MICHAEL LYTLE / ROBERT DICK / EYAL MAOZ - Clarinets/Flutes/Guitar !
7pm: DOMINIC FRAGMAN - Solo Drums!


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DAVE DOUGLAS QUINTET With JON IRABAGON/MATT MITCHELL/LINDA OH/RUDY ROYSTON - Time Travel (Greenleaf 1030; USA) Featuring Dave Douglas on trumpet & compositions, Jon Irabagon on tenor sax, Matt Mitchell on piano, Linda Oh on bass and Rudy Royston on drums. Master trumpeter, ambitious composer and label-head Dave Douglas has a knack for organizing all-star, cutting edge bands by selecting players who are top-notch musicians, solid bandleaders and crafty composers on their own. Each member of this colossal quintet is/are rising stars who have paid there dues and learned from other from other feisty, diverse projects. Take a quick look at these resume's: Jon Irabagon (MOPDTK, Barry Altschul Trio & Mary Halvorson), Matt Mitchell (Tim Berne, Darius Jones & Claudia Quintet), Linda Oh (superb CD on Greenleaf) and Rudy Royston (Bill Frisell, JD Allen & Ben Allison). Most impressive all the way around. This is the same quintet who recorded Mr. Douglas last disc, 'Be Still' from last year (2012). The mark of a great band is how well they play together as one force. Right from the opening track, "Bridge to Nowhere" this quintet is tight and swinging hard. The interplay between the trumpet, tenor sax & piano is consistently exuberant with some wonderfully buoyant rhythm team work supporting them. I dig the way the trumpet, sax and piano split the main theme for the title track amongst themselves, each completing each other's lines. Mr. Irabagon, who plays mainly alto sax in his regular band (MOPDTK), is equally strong on tenor and a perfect foil for the ever adventurous trumpet wiz, Mr. Douglas. You can a great deal of work went into the composing of each piece since each song is filled with different twists and turns and strategies. When the quintet lays back on "Law of Historical Memory", Dave has written some gorgeous harmonies for both horns and piano. In many ways, this is a perfect jazz disc, it works on all levels and it is still adventurous as well. If you think the Miles Davis Quintet of the second half of the sixties was the last great quintet in modern jazz, then I advise you give this, the new Dave Douglas Quintet a serious listen. Utterly astounding in more ways than one! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12


LITTLE WOMEN [TRAVIS LAPLANTE/DARIUS JONES/ANDREW SMILEY/JASON NAZARY] - Lung (AUM Fidelity 76; USA) Lung - the highly anticipated new album and composition from Brooklyn's genre-defying Little Women -- is an epic without precedent. Where their acclaimed 2010 suite Throat (AUM061) grabbed listeners by their necks from the first seconds, Lung arises slowly from silence to embrace and entrance. Tenor saxophonist Travis Laplante, alto saxophonist Darius Jones, guitarist Andrew Smiley, and drummer Jason Nazary collectively composed and refined this piece over more than a year. It is a collaborative work at the purest level, and is by far their most dynamic work to date. Tone poem evocation, pop group melodicism, all-four-vocal-chords-as-one intonation, and unparalleled shrapnel-sharp/laser-beam-focused shredding are some of the sonic vistas moved through during Lung.
"This is the third disc from this dynamite Downtown quartet and they have upped the ante even further and moved into yet another unexpected direction. For this disc they have composed a long (42+ minutes) single piece suite called "Lung" which was inspired by the four seasons of the year. The piece starts off slowly and develops in a somber, mellow way with a bit of ancient chanting added early on. What is unique about this disc is that it is in between established categories. It is not jazz or rock yet it is explosive at times with a bit of that punk/rock edge. Everything is tight and well-written yet you never know what direction it will take from section to section. It will take a few listens to see how it fits together since it sounds thematic yet not. Although there is and has never been a bass player in this quartet, they haven't really ever needed one. It is most effective when both saxists play those high, squealing notes tightly together midway, bending and twisting their as one scary eruption. There doesn't appear to be any or much improvising going on here as everything seems written or planned out. I dig the fractured guitar of Mr. Smiley who always fits just right adding sly, ornery spice to whatever the saxes do. Towards the end, both reed players play just their mouthpieces, quietly yet spookily. It seems like a good way to bring this disc to a close. Still trying to figure out the overall but still impressive nonetheless." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $14


WILLIAM PARKER/DAVID BUDBILL/LOIS EBY//JASON KAO HWANG/DANIEL CARTER et al - On Being Native [DVD] (private release; USA) [Ltd Ed DVD-R] Music composed by William Parker & performed by: Jason Kao Hwang: violin; Jean Cook: violin; Nicole Federici: viola; Alexander Waterman: cello; Daniel Carter: alto saxophone. Also William Parker: solo bass.Ink Drawings by Lois Eby; Poems by David Budbill.
A very special, unique, and lovely offering from these three artists. An original score composed by William Parker for string quartet & alto saxophone, created to accompany a moving series (and montage) of ink & wash drawings by Lois Eby, punctuated with five poems written and read by David Budbill. Inspired by, and drawn from, the landscape and people of Vermont (where Eby and Budbill have both long resided); ultimately, as the title states, this work is a meditation on being native, to a state, town, city, country, or other delineation of physical space.
DVD $15


SONIC LIBERATION FRONT - Jetway Confidential (High Two 030; USA) On Sonic Liberation Liberation Front's fourth album for High Two, Jetway Confidential, the band mightily wields their highly honed brand of Lukumi (Afro-Cuban) meets "post-avant-garde-and-everything-else" mojo. Featuring 23 musicians working under the leadership of drummer/percussionist Kevin Diehl, SLF has expanded its sound and concept even further here. Coming on the heels of 2011's well-received document, Sonic Liberation Front Meets Sunny Murray, this new album reveals influences as far afield as Sun Ra, Morton Feldman, Tata Guines, Lasaro Ros, Jackie McLean, Miles Davis, and the David Lean film Bridge Over the River Kwai. The title track is a large-ensemble piece originally commissioned by innovative Philadephia presenter, Ars Nova Workshop, for performance at the Institute of Contemporary Art to coincide with the 2009 exhibit, Pathways to Unknown Worlds: Sun Ra, El Saturn & Chicago's Afro-Futurist Underground. - High Two
CD $14


STIRRUP [FRED LONBERG-HOLM/NICK MACRI/CHARLES RUMBACK] - Sewn (482 Music 1084; USA) Stirrup is Fred Lonberg-Holm, Nick Macri, and Charles Rumback. They first played together as "the shimmering rhythm section of the Horse's Ha," (Time Out Chicago) and decided to form their own trio in 2009 to explore deep grooves, moody harmonies, and extended structures. A true collective, all three write and arrange for the band with influences as varied as the list of bands and musicians Stirrup's members have worked with including Ken Vandermark, Mark Eitzel, Wilco, Via Tania, Anthony Braxton, Nina Nastasia, Hector Zazou, Jeremy Enigk, L'Altra, Boxhead Ensemble, Peter Brotzmann, and Laetitia Sadier (of Stereolab). "To call this jazz is only partially accurate, and other poorly defined classifications (chamber jazz, post-rock) also miss the mark," says Chicagomusic.org. "It defies easy categorization not because it's innovative, but because it draws from several traditions without ever tipping its hat too conspicuously in any one direction or approaching pastiche. It's careful and deceptively adventurous, out music anyone can enjoy..."
CD $15


THE ENGINES [JEB BISHOP/DAVE REMPIS/JEB BISHOP/NATE McBRIDE/TIM DAISY] + JOHN TCHICAI - Other Violets (Not Two 895; Poland) Dedicated to the memory of John Tchicai. Featuring John Tchicai - tenor saxophone and flute with The Engines: Dave Rempis - alto and tenor saxophones, Jeb Bishop - trombone, Nate McBride - bass and Tim Daisy - drums. "It was with great sadness that I heard of John Tchicai's passing in October of 2012. I'd been familiar with his music since the early 1990's, when as a high school saxophonist I first heard him on recordings with John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Albert Ayler, and Don Cherry that truly changed my own life path. But it wasn't until the spring of 2008 that I actually heard him in person, and had the opportunity to get to know him more personally.
At that time, I had just left for my first tour of Europe leading one of my own bands, the Rempis Percussion Quartet, on a double bill tour with Mike Reed's band Loose Assembly. Our first concert was in Hasselt, Belgium at Kunstcentrum Belgie - one of my favorite venues in Europe. As I didn't have all of the details about the trip until we arrived, I didn't realize that evening's concert would be a triple bill with a band led by John until we walked into the soundcheck, and I heard that incredibly personal sound that I knew from so many different records. The experience was similar to seeing a famous painting or statue in person - some sense of disbelief that this presence could actually exist before you. Also at that time, Mike and I were helping to organize the Umbrella Music Festival in Chicago, and had been searching for someone special to feature that year. Having not heard John in recent years, I didn't know what to expect from the concert. The brief soundcheck was great, but maybe he wasn't playing as well as he used to - many musicians don't meet expectations after decades of work. As the concert began, Mike and I stood across the bar from each other. After twenty minutes our eyes met. Nothing needed to be said.
After the concert John and I talked a bit, particularly about the incredible record John made with Johnny Dyani's Witchdoctor's Son - one of my favorite recordings. (The front line of John and Dudu Pukwana on that record is one of the great alto pairings of all time) His calm and gentle presence, warm eyes, and deep laugh as he described how 'energetic' those particular South African musicians had been (perhaps an understatement based on other anecdotes about Pukwana.) made a perfect match for the gorgeously honest and understated saxophone sound I knew so well. So it was a huge pleasure when John accepted our invitation to come to Chicago that fall. That visit would be the first of two that John made to Chicago in his last few years - once for the festival, and once as a guest of this working quartet. Both times he made an impression on musicians and audiences here that still resonates.
As you can hear on this recording, the expressive strength of John's sound endures - the tender, searching, bittersweet, yet playful lilt of his phrasing; the tart crispness of his tone; the meandering yet purposeful sense of pitch. All of these were a part of the vision that enabled him to stand up to the sheer force of players like Coltrane, Ayler, and Shepp; not by out-muscling them, but by presenting a completely different idea of what was possible on the instrument. A conception unique enough that although it wasn't about force or power, it carved out a space in the music that was strong enough to create its own gravitational field.
This uncompromised sense of self in the presence of some of the most compelling artistic visions of the last century is what will keep John's own vision alive for many years to come. That vision stands unflinchingly, shoulder to shoulder amongst his peers, and his presence in the music, and among the musicians, will be greatly missed."
CD $20

BARRY GUY NEW JAZZ ORCHESTRA With EVAN PARKER/TREVOR WATTS/MATS GUSTAFSSON/AGUSTI FERNANDEZ et al - Mad Dogs: Small Formations [5 CD Ltd Ed Set] (Not Two 902; Poland) Recorded during the 5th Krakow Jazz Autumn Festival, Alchemia, Krakow, Poland, November 16-19, 2010. Rare splinter group performances by members of Barry Guy's NJO!
Personnel: Evan Parker - tenor & soprano saxes, Hans Koch - tenor & soprano saxes, clarinets, Mats Gustafsson - baritone & tenor saxes, fluteophone, Trevor Watts - alto sax, Johannes Bauer - trombone, Herb Robertson - trumpet, Per Ake Holmlander - tuba, Agusti Fernandez - piano, Barry Guy - bass, Maya Homburger - baroque violin, Raymond Strid and Paul Lytton - percussion. Album 1 - Recorded November 16, 2010 (Total time 53:20)
1. Agusti Fernandez
2. (Annalisa) Agusti Fernandez / Barry Guy
3. Mats Gustafsson
4. Johannes Bauer / Per Ake Holmlander / Hans Koch
Album 2 - Recorded November 16, 2010 - (Total time 38:21)
1-6. Evan Parker / Barry Guy / Paul Lytton
Album 3 - Recorded November 17, 2010 (tracks 1-4); on November 18, 2010
1. Trevor Watts / Johannes Bauer [06:14]
2-3 Hans Koch / Per Ake Holmlander / Raymond Strid / Paul Lytton
4. Trevor Watts / Barry Guy / Raymond Strid [04:50]
5. (Celebration) Maya Homburger / Paul Lytton [04:58]
6. Agusti Fernandez / Mats Gustafsson [24:15]
Album 4 - Recorded November 18, 2010 - (Total time 69:31)
1-3 Mats Gustafsson / Barry Guy / Raymond Strid - TARFALA Trio
4-5 Agusti Fernandez / Evan Parker / Barry Guy / Paul Lytton
Album 5 - Recorded November 19, 2010 - (Total time 55:50)
1. Evan Parker / Paul Lytton [17:33]
2. Trevor Watts / Herb Robertson / Hans Koch [13:02]
3-4. Agusti Fernandez / Johannes Bauer / Raymond Strid / Trevor Watts / Herb Robertson / Per Ake Holmlander / Mats Gustafsson / Paul Lytton
Ltd Ed 5 CD set for $100


PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE & TERRIE EX - Gored Gored (Terp IS 25; Belgium) "This CD is hard jazz free-style with a punk attitude, but with the complexity of the most experimental sides of avant-garde jazz. Terrie Ex (The Ex) creates raw, untreated guitar sounds in compassion with the hectic energetic drums of Paal Nilssen-Love. Exploring various sides of the electric guitar and so also with the drums, it is never predictable which turn the track will take. Recorded during the Sonic Protest Festival in Paris, April 2012."
CD $16



French double-bassist Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic played an excellent duo set here last Sunday (3/31/13) with Cheryl Pyle on flute. He left us with four different discs, each strong in different ways..

BOMB X [NICHOLAS LETMAN-BURTINOVIC/ART HIRAHARA/MASAHIRO YAMAMOTO/SAMUEL BLAIS/GEORG TAUSCH] - Bomb X (Seeds Of Sound; USA) From 2008 and featuring Art Hirahara on piano, Masahiro Yamamoto on soprano & alto sax, Samuel Blais on alto & bari sax, Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic on bass & compositions and Georg Tausch on drums. I must admit that I was not very familiar with any of the musicians on this disc except for pianist Art Hirahara who has worked with David Bindman & Royal Hartigan. Right from the opening, Mr. Letman has both saxes playing separate, intricate parts around one another tightly. The first solo by pianist Hirahara is most impressive, two-handed and pumping hard. I would say that Mr. Hirahara is the most impressive soloists here, every solo being pretty amazing! Nicolas writes pieces which move through various sections. On "Puppet Power", the piano gets several chances to stretch out and play unaccompanied with well-written sax parts interspersed throughout. Mr. Letman really knows how to use both saxes as he has them play lush harmonies as well as swirl tightly around one another time and again. I dig the way the bari and soprano saxes play together on "Gargamel", with righteous harmonies and intricate interplay. Although a few of these songs are more laid-back, the writing, arranging and playing is consistently well thought out and spirited with a number of unexpected twists and turns. Too bad I didn't get a chance to hear this when it was released in 2008, still it is well worth checking out today. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12

HALEOSCENE [MATT APPLEBAUM/NICHOLAS LETMAN-BURTINOVIC/HERBERT PIRKER/WOLFGANG SCHIFTNER/BERND SATZINGER/KYLE GORDON] - Haleoscene (Seeds Of Sound; USA) Haleoscene features Matt Applebaum on guitar, Wolfgang Schiftner on alto & tenor sax, Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic & Bernd Satzinger on basses and Herbert Pirker on drums. This disc is different from the other Burtinovic CDs I've reviewed today as this group has a guitarist and two bassists. It does include one of the two saxists (Schiftner) and the drummer from the other disc recorded in Vienna around the same time (2008). This band is intense and busy with both bassists wailing away. Both Applebaum and Burtinovic wrote all of the pieces on this disc. This disc has more of an edge with the guitar and sax pushing each other and playing tight lines around one another. This band and disc are/is quite a bit different from the other Burtinovic discs that I reviewed today since Nicolas only wrote half of the pieces here. Both the sax and guitar get their chance to stretch out, solo and interact at length here, although the bass(es) are often at the center of activities or structure. Unexpectedly co-leader Appelbaum pulls off a couple of heavy, crunching guitar solos which are short yet oddly placed nonetheless. A couple of pieces are also quite manic edging close to Naked City-like extremes. Although I like this disc overall, how it all fits together is beyond me at this point. Perhaps time will tell. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12

NICHOLAS LETMAN-BURTINOVIC/HERBERT PIRKER/WOLFGANG SCHIFTNER/CHRISTOPH PEPE AUER/GEORG VOGEL - The Vienna Suite (SessionWork; USA) Featuring Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic on bass & compositions, Wolfgang Schiftner on alto & tenor saxes, Christoph Pepe Auer on alto sax & bass clarinet, Georg Vogel on piano and Herbert Pirker on drums. This disc was recorded in Vienna in March of 2009, a year after the Bomb X CD that I also reviewed today. The instrumentation on both of these discs is pretty similar: 2 saxes, piano, bass & drums. Whereas the Bomb X disc featured an American cast of players, this one features a quintet from the Vienna area. The only musician with whom I was previously familiar is drummer Herbert Pirker who has worked with Austrian saxist Max Nagl.
Although Mr. Letman-Burtinovic wrote all of the pieces here, he depends on the pianist Georg Vogel to help provide the structural center for these pieces. The interplay between the piano, bass and drums is consistently strong making it easier for the two saxes to swirl intricately. "The Vienna Suite" makes up some 2/3's of this disc and is most impressive. The suite starts off slowly with some sly, old-style tenor sax playing the first solo, the tempo and feisty (Archie Shepp-like) tenor both building from there until the piano takes a fine slow-burning solo near the end of the first section. For "On and Off" first the tenor solos and then is joined by the alto as they soar tightly together. Nicolas' bass is often the central figure, leading the rest of the band, especially when the piano drops out on "Pepe's Ugly Flat Paintings". The last piece, "Global Warming" erupts intensely with both saxes wailing together as the quintet plays with awesome power and invention. This is an incredible conclusion for yet another gem from Mr. Letman-Burtinovic. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12

SPLIT CYCLE [NICHOLAS LETMAN-BURTINOVIC/SAMUEL BLAIS et al] - Split Cycle (Seeds Of Sound; USA) Since the personnel is not listed on this disc, we can only guess. The songwriting credits list three names: Samuel Blais (saxist from Montreal), Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic (acoustic bassist & often bandleader) and Aki Ishiguro (guitarist currently living in NY). I can also hear a drummer so perhaps this is a quartet. This disc is the most current (2012) of the four discs from Mr. Burtinovic that I've reviewed today. This is a tight, feisty quartet with all four members integral to the great group sound. Live, Split Cycle, who are playing this week at Cornelia St. Cafe, are using Jeff Davis on drums. If this is Jeff on drums here, that makes sense since he is one of Downtown's finest and sounds perfect here. Samuel, Nicolas & Aki all contribute songs and each one is great. Guitarist Ishiguro sounds like John Abercrombie at times and is impressive throughout whether soloing or just interacting with the other members of the quartet. Both saxist Blais and guitarist Ishiguro play many inspired solos as well as trading licks here and there. Sometimes the quartet lay back and play more mellow tunes while they also play some M-Base like complex /intense pieces as well. Either this disc is impressive throughout. There will be a CD release set at Cornelia St. Cafe, this Tues, April 9th at 8:30. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12


DISSIPATED FACE [BEN FACE/STEVE X DREAM] + DANIEL CARTER - Live at CBGB 1986 [7" EP] (Roaratorio 30; USA) Dissipated Face were and are old friends of mine that I met when they were still in high school in the early eighties. Dissipated Face featured Kurt Hologram on lead guitar, Ben Face on bass & vocals and Steve X Dream on drums & vocals. They were the most ambitious young band I knew and they blended just about everything into their unique sound: punk/prog/jazz/noise/psych/rock/dub/metal. They were part of scene with friends of mine from New Jersey that would jam whenever and wherever they could. I was glad to help them to get gigs and they never ceased to amaze audiences whenever they played live. They jammed with many members of the early Downtown scene like Steve Buchanan and Daniel Carter. Recently discovered was a set they did at CBGBs in 1986 with the amazing Daniel Carter sitting in. Four fantastic songs from that set are soon coming out as a 7" EP on the Roaratorio label. The cover art was done by the great Raymond Pettibon and the liner notes were written by Bill Milkowski and yours truly, Bruce Lee Gallanter. To make this occasion even better, Dissipated Face with Daniel Carter will play a rare reunion set here at DMG this Sunday, April 7th at 6pm! So PLEASE come on down and check it out! Sadly, their 7" EP has been delayed for a few weeks due to Record Store Day BS. You can still pre-order it now from us. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
"Not since the early days of MC5 at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit, circa 1968, had there been such an organic melding of sheer metalesque maelstrom and free jazz. These archival recordings from the legendary punk club CBGB capture a moment in time when open-minded musicians from the 'downtown scene' were exploring the possibility of bringing Lou Reed's feedback-infested Metal Machine Music together with Albert Ayler's Love Cry. Dissipated Face guitarist Kurt "Hologram" Ralske and special guest saxophonist Daniel Carter provided that implausible link between punk rock and avant garde jazz on these 1986 live recordings. Fueled by the throbbing rhythms of Steve "X Dream" Popkin and Ben "Face" Munves, who alternated on bass and drums, Ralske's twisted, thrashing power chords and shrieking licks blend with Carter's cathartic alto sax wailing to make the perfect union of disparate worlds.
Ralske would go on to attain a certain level of indie rock fame with Ultra Vivid Scene and subsequently make an impact as a London-based producer- conceptualist- avant-popmeister and visual artist. Carter would become one of the most ubiquitous figures on New York's free jazz scene, recording with William Parker, David S. Ware, Billy Bang, Alan Silva and Matthew Shipp and the cooperative bands Test and Other Dimensions in Music. But for this one moment back in 1986, their paths crossed with bandmates Popkin and Munves, and the results were frighteningly intense." - Bill Milkowski.
7" EP fpr $8

DISSIPATED FACE with DANIEL CARTER REUNION SET Here at DMG This Sunday, April 7th at 6pm!


ALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACH With PETER BROTZMANN/MANFRED SCHOOF/PAUL RUTHERFORD/HAN BENNINK et al - The Living Music (FMP 100/Cien Fuegos 07; Austria) 180 gram vinyl reissue of German free improvisation pianist and composer Alexander von Schlippenbach's The Living Music, originally released on his own Quasar label in 1969. Recorded by Conny Plank, it features Peter Brotzmann (tenor & baritone saxophone), Manfred Schoof (cornet, flugelhorn), Michael Pilz (bass clarinet, baritone saxophone), Paul Rutherford (trombone), Buschi Niebergall (double bass, bass trombone) and Han Bennink (drums, percussion). The Living Music remains one of the paramount avant/free jazz records.
LP $32


SPACESHIP FASTER [WENDY ULTAN/STEPHEN RETTNER] - Ship (private release; USA) Spaceship Faster is Wendy Ultan on violin & viola and Stephen Rettner on keyboards. I can't tell you anything about this duo except that Mr. Rettner dropped off this disc earlier this week. It sounds as if Mr. Rettner is playing a synth or sampler when the disc begins. Percussive samples or possibly drums with layers of violin and/or viola floating in the mix. The sound is mysterious and disorienting. Ms. Ultan sounds like a strong string player, bending and twisted notes mostly acoustically with some extended technique sonic spice added. There are a few layers of string parts, some with echo added and some in the distance. Although the violin or viola is often the main instrument, Mr. Rettner does a good job of adding horns or percussion samples which enhance whatever the strings are doing. It is difficult to tell if any of the string parts were written in advance, but all of the sounds seem to fit within a larger context. The sonic seasoning utilized often adds a mesmerizing haze to the all of the music here with bits of electronic sounds selectively placed here and there. If Mr. Rettner produced this entire work, he has done an impressive job since every sound is well placed and well-recorded. I am not sure exactly what to call this endeavor as it falls in between modern classical and electronic music without any of that dehumanizing aspect that much electronic music has nowadays. An impressive debut and certainly not like anything I've heard recently. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12


WOLF EYES - No Answer : Lower Floors (De Stijl 164; USA) "No Answer : Lower Floors is the record of 2013 you need to be most worried about. No Answer : Lower Floors is further flesh to the shadowy silhouette cast by this Michigan art abstraction unit, perenially poised on the cusp of a precipice. Wolf Eyes will carry on forever but always remain mysteriously unfinished. The No Answer : Lower Floors material covers all bases: tough to toughest to tangled, all done in the Wolves' least convoluted smooth style. The vocals, delays, primitive electronics, woodwinds and raw guitar of newest member Jamas Baljo create a new destroyed space to crawl through. No Answer : Lower Floors was recorded and mixed at the Michigan Underground Group's gambling/clubhouse/art space, with the usually 2D-flat quality of the drums and electronics given creeping new brightness-life within the hollow echo acoustics of the sacred space's cinder prisons. No Answer : Lower Floors shares a natural feel with previous Wolf Eyes efforts but goes much further in detailing their underworld of odd melodies and mangled harmonics. Within their system-based economic compositions, there remains zero room for wasted space. Wolf Eyes return to longtime friendbase and Interzone of outsider art De Stijl Records, with whom the band worked on No Face Lives, their collaboration with Smegma, and the loner blues cerebration unit Stare Case's Lose Today. No Answer : Lower Floors features former members Aaron Dilloway and Mike Connelly, and thus is a family homecoming of sorts. More important, it's the dawn of a new Wolf Eyes era."
CD $13

JACK O' THE CLOCK [DAMON WAITKUS et al] - All My Friends (JOTC 03; USA) the third disc from the Bay Area-based quintet Jack O' the Clock. The personnel features Damon Waitkus (voice, flute, banjo, piano, dulcimer, guzheng, guitar), Emily Packard (viola, violin, psaltery & melodica), Kate McLoughlin (bassoon, flute & voice), Jason Hoopes (basses) and Jordan Glenn (vibes, accordion & drums). I just discovered this band last year after they sent a couple of promos and I noticed that Fred Frith had written the notes for one of them. I've been anticipating their third disc ever since.
Jack O' the Clock have been working on this disc for four years, since 2009 and hence it is long and involved. Damon Waitkus wrote all and sings most of the songs here. He has a quirky yet charming voice that doesn't quite sound like anyone else's. The music is a fine blend of art-rock and folk-rock sensibilities. I dig the way there are soft layers of taped voices or sampled sounds which are woven at selective parts of certain songs. The use of the bassoon on a few of these pieces recalls Henry Cow although the quaint sounds of dulcimer, psaltery, strings and glockenspiel come from a more British folk/art/rock tradition. Each piece employs varied odd instrumentation from many regular acoustic instruments to plastic tubes to chains to harp and horns, yet everything is blended just right. There a few pieces where they rock a bit yet you never know where they will end up next. At 53+ minutes, it will take a while to fully absorb the entirety of what this disc so enchanting but with each listen another fine facet is revealed. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $12

BASSOON [SEAN MORAN/JOHN METTAM/STUART POPEJOY] - Bassoon (Phase Frame 02; USA) Bassoon features Sean Moran on guitar, Stuart Popejoy on electric bass & keyboards and John Mettam on drums plus guest Sara Schoenbeck on bassoon. Considering that I haven't really checked out much metal except for bands like Sunn O))) or Earth, I am still open to hearing heavy music if it is done well and doesn't have any siÀlly vocals. Bassist Stuart Popejoy, who works with violinist Sarah Bernstein, left me with this disc to check out, so I was intrigued. Bassoon are indeed heavy, throbbing and rocking slow and hard. For me, all metal began with Black Sabbath, who I did see at the Fillmore on their first tour in 1970 and have always disliked (sorry). Mr. Popejoy plays thick, intense fuzzbass which fits perfectly with those pounding drums and evil sounding guitar. Some of this is closer to hardcore/punk but without any vocals or highspeed tempos. This music is well=played and more diverse that I would've expected. Yes, there are some occasional sludge-like tempos but there a few surprises as well. I really dig the glockenspiel on "Rope" as well as the ubiquitous double bass drums here and elsewhere. A few of these songs remind me of when I used to go slamming at punk rock shows in the mid-eighties. Perhaps a guilty pleasure?!? Mr. Popejoy also plays some frenetic electric piano on a track or two here which also fits just right. The only thing missing from this is those cookie-monster vocals that often ruin most metal discs. That alone makes this disc even better. Too bad CBGB's wasn't still around, Bassoon would sound great playing on that sound system. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $10


RAVI SHANKAR With KANAI DUTTA + BUD SHANK/GARY PEACOCK/LOUIS HAYES et al - Improvisations & Theme From Pather Panchali (Doxy 423; Italy) "Some of the first eastern-jazz fusion ever recorded, finally reissued on LP. Originally recorded in 1962 for World Pacific and featuring jazz musicians Gary Peacock on bass and Bud Shank on flute, the album opens with improvisations on the theme that Shankar wrote for the 1955 Indian neorealist film Pather Panchali, by legendary Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray. 'Fire Night' was another jazz-fusion piece, recorded to commemorate the fires that were burning all around LA when this session was recorded. The remaining two tracks, however, are traditional Indian pieces and serve to juxtapose the two major styles in Indian classical music. The first piece, 'Karnataki,' is in the Carnatic (southern Indian) style, while the second, 'Raga Rageshri,' is in the (northern) Hindustani style (which, of course, Shankar's himself was a master of). Includes original liner notes. Comes on 180 gram vinyl."
LP $25

MORTON FELDMAN/EARLE BROWN//DAVID TUDOR et al - Durations//Music For Violin, Cello And Piano et al (Doxy 421; Italy) "Finally back in print. This rare Morton Feldman/Earle Brown split LP was originally released in 1962 on the small NY-based Time Records and features Feldman's 'Durations I-IV' on side A and Brown's 'Hodograph I,' 'Music for Violin, Cello and Piano' and 'Music for Cello and Piano' on side B. David Tudor is featured on piano throughout. Feldman and Brown, who were both interested in non-traditional systems of notation and improvisation, were very closely aligned with the New York School, a group of avant-garde composers in the 1950s and '60s that included John Cage, David Tudor, and Christian Wolff. These composers applied to music many of the same ideas and experiments that visual artists, like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Robert Rauschenberg, were applying to painting." On 180 gram vinyl.
LP $25

THE BEATLES [JOHN LENNON/PAUL McCARTNEY/GEORGE HARRISON/PETE BEST] - The Decca Tapes [LP + CD] (Doxy 326; Italy) "'Guitar groups are on their way out,' was what the biggest fool record company exec in rock and roll history wrote to Brian Epstein when he REJECTED the Beatles after listening to this audition tape recorded at Decca Studios on New Year's Day, 1962. Although the boys (with Pete Best on drums, whom EMI would later ask to be removed in favor of a 'professional' level drummer, Ringo Starr) were admittedly still finding their footing here, and the three Lennon-McCartney originals may be no match for 'Love Me Do' (recorded just 10 months later), these 15 songs still have all the makings of a band whose stardom would soon obscure the sun." On 180 gram vinyl with a bonus CD of the entire album.
"If you ever wondered what Punk - or the Sex Pistols - would've sounded like in 1961 instead of 1976 [what? you didn't?], look no further. Especially Lennon's take on Money - it would be comfortable as a track on Never Mind The Bollocks!" - MannyLunch
LP + CD for $28


SCOTT KEY - This Forest and the Sea (Lion Prod. 657; Canada) "Excellent 1976 private press acoustic album, self-recorded at various places in Colorado, and filled with beautiful fingerstyle acoustic guitar, plus some atonal bottleneck slide, string scrapes and drones (at times, very Ry Cooder/Paris, Texas about six years before that soundtrack existed). Although almost completely instrumental, what lyrics there are tend towards the dark and the satiric. The obvious points of comparison are John Fahey and Leo Kottke, although Scott Key certainly has his own presence and style, differences in tone and color and attack, which he attributes to his background in rock bands. Overall, there is a brooding, loner folk/psych feel, most evident on the phenomenal, effects-heavy, almost 11-minute long title track, 'This Forest and the Sea.' 'I was coming to terms with what it mean to exist... and saw the world in pure black and white -- there was no room for grey,' Key said. 'I saw an American culture devoid of any understanding of its place in the universe, how we learn nothing save what we see on television, how our existence is tainted by intellectual laziness, and how our gift of life is defiled by the taking of it.' This deluxe tip-on mini-LP jacket edition of This Forest and the Sea includes five bonus tracks from Key's second private press album (Unlock Your Feelin's); the twenty-page booklet sports engaging, funny, and insightful notes by Key, photos, plus the text to poem that inspired the title track; as a nod to the forest, the booklet is printed on FSC recycled, chlorine-free, 100% post-consumer fiber paper manufactured using biogas energy. A very rare album that seems to have flown under almost everyone's radar -- although thankfully not Doug McGowan's (Yoga Records), who sent this our way. One record collector said to us, and we now say to you: 'Have a listen because this rates up there with classics by Bob Desper, Perry Leopold, Robbie Basho, and Phil Yost, with dark moods similar to John Fahey and Nick Drake.'"
CD $16

STEVE TILSTON - An Acoustic Confusion (Lion Prod. 662; Canada) "An instantly captivating, all-original acoustic album of great depth and incredible maturity, the debut album (1971) by acoustic guitarist and songwriter, Steve Tilston. As for the making of the album: 'It was Ralph McTell who very kindly contacted Ian Anderson of Village Thing on my behalf,' Tilston explained. 'I followed it up and secured a meeting with Ian and a gig at the Troubadour Folk Club. I'd met Ralph through Wizz Jones at Les Cousins in Soho, and he'd been very complimentary about my playing and writing.' One hears echoes of Tilston's mentors and contemporaries in England's vibrant folk scene of the time: Bert Jansch (the fifth track, 'Train Time,' sounds to these ears eerily like early Jansch), John Renbourn, Ralph McTell, Wizz Jones, Davey Graham, and Nick Drake. Solo guitar and vocals, all recorded without over-dubbing, plus group performances with Village Thing label-mates Dave Evans, John Turner (Hunt & Turner), and others. The end result was an important piece of Britain's folk tapestry, which launched Tilston into the limelight, and onto Transatlantic Records, just in time for their implosion. This deluxe edition of An Acoustic Confusion includes five bonus tracks, including three not included on any previous editions, in-depth notes by Tilston himself, lyrics, excerpts from Mark Jones' fascinating Bristol Folk book, plus a mini-history of Village Thing by label co-founder Gef Lucena; there's also a Village Thing discography to round out the twenty-eight pages of information."
CD $16




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