Funny Rat

[Matthew]

It is confusing. Just looking at the discography section of the booklet, it's obvious that they mix-and-matched various sessions from different releases for the box set cds.

[king ubu]

I best play the four discs I have first and then decide... although the ones with Lacy and Bailey I don't have and they look best to me...

[WD45]

Nothing to do with anything:

Just heard the Zorn/Graves duo CD the other day. Would not have expected it to be as good as it is!

There is a boot floating around of an even better performance out there with this duo as well. I listened to both of these, as sax/drum duos are a weak spot for me. Zorn occasionally gets on my nerves, but not so much on these sides. I even enjoy Graves' vocal contributions.

Makes me curious about those solo Graves discs on Tzadik...

[ep1str0phy]

Solo Graves is a good thing, what I've heard from the Tzadik sides included. That material is not quite so "wild" and "out" as a listener to Graves's 60's work might think, but it's very thoughtful, very deep (in its "beauty and complexity in simplicity" aesthetic I see some similarities to Gunter Sommer).

Have you guys heard the Graves/David Murray stuff? How is it?

[WD45]

Solo Graves is a good thing, what I've heard from the Tzadik sides included. That material is not quite so "wild" and "out" as a listener to Graves's 60's work might think, but it's very thoughtful, very deep (in its "beauty and complexity in simplicity" aesthetic I see some similarities to Gunter Sommer).

Have you guys heard the Graves/David Murray stuff? How is it?

I heard it several years ago, but was not yet in tune with Graves' thing. Can't remember much of it.

[clifford_thornton]

Graves is the shit.

I hear a lot of Graves' work in early Bennink and even some Tony Oxley (esp. on side two of How Many Clouds), not to mention Masahiko Togashi.

Graves' work really seemed to start getting into some other extra-musical plane of operation around Nommo, but who am I to say it wasn't there earlier? I dig the Kitty LP quite a bit too, especially the voice-and-piano bit on side two (think the tune is titled "Response").

Not a huge Zorn fan, obviously, but I think the duo with Graves is pretty fuckin' deep.

[ep1str0phy]

Haven't heard How Many Clouds, but it's obviously a hardcore band. I can definitely hear the Graves in Bennink and Oxley (a lot of the other Europeans, like sven-ake Johansson, too)--though I do get the feeling that a lot of the similarity might just be "cosmetic", if you catch my drift (in other words, it could very well be that Graves was just a freer evolution of the American thing, versus Messrs. Bennink, Oxley, etc. taking after Graves directly).

I'm going to see the ICP Orchestra in an hour and a half. I have a rehearsal or a talk or a gig or a music-related meeting basically every day these next two weeks, so it will be nice hearing someone else make sounds for a change...

[WD45]

I'm going to see the ICP Orchestra in an hour and a half. I have a rehearsal or a talk or a gig or a music-related meeting basically every day these next two weeks, so it will be nice hearing someone else make sounds for a change...

Lucky...

You must report back!

[clifford_thornton]

(a lot of the other Europeans, like sven-ake Johansson, too)

There ain't a lotta Milford in Schlingerland...

S-A has taken the pulsing sound-fields of Murray, and applied it more directly to the bass-drum and the toms, in my estimation. Therefore, he gets a more particular density (or expansion/contraction of such) than the (in some ways) lighter approach of Murray. It's pretty neat.

[ep1str0phy]

Doing some listening, CT, I think S-A is closer to Murray than Milford, though there's little doubt in my mind that Milford has a lot more in common with a lot of the European school than the American, post-Elvin crowd. Maybe the small-group Brotzmann stuff just drives the Murray/S-A thing home, but I think Murray is much, much more insistent in those clench, explosive spots (ala the Ayler Quartet on Vibrations). I wouldn't say that S-A doesn't have Murray's focus, but he certainly lacks Murray's obsessive psychology (that "nailing something to the wall" thing on the snare)--maybe that's why S-A is more "dense".

To illustrate--I was listening It Is In the Brewing Luminous on headphones sometime last week--in the dark, so the focus was dead-set (maybe I've just picked up a habit of listening to music right before bedtime). That one has both Jerome Cooper and Murray on percussion, and if you listen really close--I mean, just hone in on the drummers--you could swear Murray's almost fucking with Cooper. The divide between the two is extreme--Cooper is percussion as "color waves", playing all over the kit in slight, but seldom sparse, bursts... Murray spends entire durations of the improvisation on single parts of his kit (like, ten minutes on just the snare, ten minutes on just the cymbals)--that's not quite the Murray of the Ayler quartet, but it's surely the model for the more mature musician who ranks among his primary concerns acoustic theory and kit economy. I won't call it crazy, but there are few guys who would dive into a Cecil Taylor unit like that.

On ICP--it was great fun--celebratory (40th Anniversary of the ensemble), and there's a certain sense that the group has really come out of the patricidal, very dramatic "Emancipation" years with a total, focused vision...I guess refined would be the word, but only to the extent that the group is and has been very much what it is for decades now. This felt like a celebration of that. There's nothing formulaic, just a lot of focus...

Two things really stick in my mind about this incarnation of the group--(1) it's all-star (the website lists the personnel--which is baaaad, so don't miss it if it comes by your area), (2) the repertoire for this one felt a lot more recognizable than w/some of the other versions of the orchestra--there's still a lot of "generic" (if you can use that term) theatricalism, but some of it is surprisingly straightforward (I recognized some stuff off of Who's Bridge and a series of Ellington tunes, for two).

Finally, for those among us who think that Bennink has gotten too farcical--when was the last time y'all saw him play with just a kit (i.e., no blocks of cheese...). A lot of drummers can do one thing well, but--even taken as a jazz drummer (and he's easily much more)--Bennink can and does do everything well. I don't think I've ever seen another drummer with such an adaptable musical personality.

Also--Wolter Wierbos continues to kick ass.

[Alexander Hawkins]

Also--Wolter Wierbos continues to kick ass.

Indeed!

[clifford_thornton]

I see what you're saying, EP.

I haven't heard that Taylor rec in YEARS, probably sold it with a bunch of other Hat LPs about five years ago. Wish I'd kept more of them!

I am a "big fan" of Jerome Cooper, but was never sure he worked with Cecil that well. But again, it's been a while.

[Chalupa]

FYI - Black Ark has been re-issued.

[WD45]

I just got an email that informs me of Jandek's Boston concert featuring Greg Kelley!

I would pay to see that.

Boston ICA and the critique of pure reason present

JANDEK

with:

Jorrit Dijkstra (alto sax, lyricon)

Greg Kelley (trumpet)

Eli Keszler (percussion)

The representative from Corwood Industries will play bass guitar for this performance.

Friday, June 8, 2007. 7pm.

Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater, Boston ICA

Tickets on sale to ICA members on 4/17. Tickets on sale to general public on 4/30. Price: $22 (ICA members/students/seniors), $27 (general public). Tickets will be available at icaboston.org, by phone at (617) 478-3103 or at the box office during museum hours. Membership information is available online or by calling 617-478-3102.

All ages. General admission. At the request of the artist, no audio or video recording, and no photography.

The Institute of Contemporary Art, located at 100 Northern Avenue, is open Tuesday and Wednesday, 10 am - 5 pm; Thursday and Friday, 10 am -

9 pm; and Saturday and Sunday, 10 am - 5 pm. Admission is $12, or $10 for students and seniors; FREE members and children 17 and under, after 5 pm on Target Free Thursday Nights, and for families (adults accompanied by children 12 and under) on the last Saturday of each month. For more information, call 617-478-3100 or visit icaboston.org.

For more information on the critique of pure reason, visit http://www.thecritique.org.

[ep1str0phy]

FYI - Black Ark has been re-issued.

Is the listing up anywhere?

[Chalupa]

FYI - Black Ark has been re-issued.

Is the listing up anywhere?

http://www.boweavilrecordings.com/Weavil_24.html

Apparently the PayPal link is not working at the moment. I wrote to them and I got a reply saying that if you can send payment via PayPal using "orders@boweavilrecordings.com" (minus the quotes). One small correction. They are taking pre-orders right now. The CDs/LPs should ship in early May.

[Chalupa]

Ok... Help me make up my mind. There are two shows happening tonight that I really want to see. Should I go to this one???...

april 14th (sat)

VOLTAGE SPOOKS (keith rowe / rick reed / michael haleta)

+ a panel discussion with Rowe, Jon Abbey (Erstwhile Records) and Brian

Olewnick (current Rowe biographer)

@ Slought Foundation

<http://slought.org> website

4017 Walnut Street

Philadelphia, PA

<http://www.google.com/maps?q=4017+Walnut+St,+Philadelphia,+PA+19104&i...

&z=15&om=1&iwloc=addr> directions

discussion 7:00 pm

concert 8:00 pm

$10

VOLTAGE SPOOKS

keith rowe electronics

rick reed electronics

michael haleta electronics

The Voltage Spooks is a newly formed, all-star trio of improv luminary,

Keith Rowe, Texas-based sound artist, Rick Reed, and electro acoustic

composer, Michael Haleta.

Keith Rowe (born March 16, 1940 in Plymouth, England) is an English free

improvisation guitarist. Rowe is a founding member of AMM in the mid-1960s

(a group from which he quit in 2004) and a founding member of M.I.M.E.O.

After years of obscurity, Rowe has achieved a level of relative notoriety,

and since the late 1990s has kept up a busy recording and touring schedule.

He is seen as a godfather of electroacoustic improvisation, and many of his

recent recordings have been released by Erstwhile Records. Rowe began his

career playing jazz in the early 1960's--notably with Mike Westbrook. His

early influences were guitarists like Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian and

Barney Kessel. Eventually, however, Rowe grew tired of what he considered

the form's limitations, and gradually expanded into free jazz and free

improvisation, eventually abandoning conventional guitar technique. "How

could I abandon the technique? Lay the guitar flat!" Rowe thus developed

various prepared guitar techniques: placing the guitar flat on a table and

manipulating the strings, body and pickups in unorthodox ways enabled him to

produce sounds that have been described as dark, brooding, compelling,

expansive and alien. He has been known to employ objects such as a library

card, rubber eraser, springs, hand-held electric fans, alligator clips, and

common office supplies in playing the guitar. A January, 1997 feature in

Guitar Player magazine described a Rowe performance as "resemble a surgeon

operating on a patient." Rowe sometimes incorporates live radio broadcasts

into his performances, including shortwave radio and number stations (the

guitar's pickups will also pick up radio signals, and broadcast them through

the amplifier) AMM percussionist Eddie Prévost reports that Rowe has "an

uncanny touch on the wireless switch", able to find radio broadcasts which

seem to blend ideally with, or offer startling commentary on, the music. On

AMMMusic, towards the end of the cacophonous "Ailantus Glandolusa," a

speaker announces via radio that "We cannot preserve the normal music."

Rick Reed (b. 1957) is an entirely self-taught composer/visual artist who

has been working in the Austin music underground for the past 25 years.

Using old battered electronic devices like sine wave generators, short wave

radios and a vintage EMS analogue synthesizer, Reed has performed solo and

with various electronic/noise groups including Frequency Curtain, Abrasion

Ensemble, FTC and many others. The Spring 2006 issue of Signal To Noise

Magazine said of his most recent CD release, Dark Skies at Noon, that "(Reed

works) a complex weave of sounds plucked from the dawn of electronic

music-or maybe stolen from some future fading memory of it's passing". Since

the early 90s, Reed has released several LPs and CDs on labels such as

Ecstatic Peace, Beta-Lactam Ring, Pale Disc Japan and Elevator Bath. Among

other projects, he's been the host of Commercial Suicide, a long running

'other worldly' music radio program heard on a local station, KOOP FM . He

is also the musical director of an experimental music concert series called

Toneburst, which is dedicated to promoting unheard,or underexposed musicians

from the Austin new music community. Since 2004, he has worked closely with

New York filmmaker Ken Jacobs on three soundtracks for his Nervous Magic

Lantern displays, one of which, entitled "Capitalism:Child Labor", had it's

world premiere at this year's Rotterdam Film Festival. Reed has 3 new

releases due out later this year, a new CD on Spectral House, a Ken Jacobs

DVD project and a picture disc LP on Elevator Bath.

Michael Haleta (b. 1978) is a multidisciplinary artist based in New Jersey.

A classically trained cellist turn electro acoustic composer interested in

individual sounds and bits rather than complete things. (BG) Has released

audio for: Alienation, Raw Special Effects (RSE), Carpark and Hoss records.

Michael and his wife Dawn run the small edition label/shop, Raw Special

Effects (RSE) which is scheduled to release material by EVOL, Peter Rehberg

and others within the upcoming year.

Or this show????

Saturday, April 14 | 8pm

Brötzmann-Pliakas-Wertmüller

with

Peter Brötzmann, saxophones et clarinettes

Marino Pliakas, guitare basse

Michael Wertmüller, batterie

Community Education Center

3500 Lancaster Avenue

$10 General Admission

Event Description:

"Pliakas and Wertmuller were equally assertive at filling every last bit of space in the thick canvas of sound and matched Brötzmann’s fire with accompaniment worthy of an Ozzfest booking." -JazzTimes

Peter Brötzmann (tenor saxophone, tarogato, a-clarinet) studied at the Art Academy of Wuppertal before beginning his music career in German swing and be-bop bands. Subsequent pivatol associations in the early 1960s with the Fluxus movement (including Nam June Paik), bassist Peter Kowald, and Americans-in-Paris Don Cherry and Steve Lacy encouraged Brötzmann's (b.1941) unorthodox approach, often described as "sonic terror." A founder of European Free Jazz movement, his work includes collaborations and recordings with Last Exit (with Bill Laswell, Sonny Sharrock and Ronald Shannon Jackson), Evan Parker, Misha Mengelberg, and Borah Bergman. Recent projects include Die Like a Dog (with William Parker, Hamid Drake and Toshinori Kondo), his homage to Albert Ayler, and a Chicago-based Octet/Tentet featuring Ken Vandermark.

Wertmueller and Broetzmann toured for years as a duo and in various contexts, such as Broetzmann's Chicago Tentett. Together they have recorded with bassist William Parker. Wertmueller and Pliakas perform together on various occasions with Caspar Broetzmann, Stephan Wittwer, John Cale, Jaki Liebezeit, Holger Csukay, K.K. Null, Olaf Rupp, Marian Gold and others; and in cooperation with Pliakas' avant trio STEAMBOAT.

One more thing to consider - I've seen Brotzmann before and I've never seen Rowe.

[WD45]

I would go se Rowe if you haven't seen him before, especially in that lineup. I think the discussion before would be illuminating, too.

[Chalupa]

Yeah, I'm leaning towards that for the same reasons. I just found out about the Rowe show this morning and I had been getting pumped up to see Brotzmann.

If I could just split myself in two.....

[WD45]

Any comments on the new Okka release of Brotzmann/Sharrock duos? It is LP only, recorded in 1989. I like those two together in Last Exit. Seemed to bring out a blues-ish side to Brotzmann's playing.

[Nate Dorward]

Thought people might find this worthwhile:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=m8PIuKXCz88

The opening voice is Pauline Oliveros; background music by Jim McAuley; after that sequence there's an unedited solo bass performance by Okkyung Lee, who's a pretty fine exponent of the scorched-earth school of bass improv. This is material from a forthcoming documentary on free improvisation by Steve Elkins.

Edited May 3, 2007 by Nate Dorward

[jon abbey]

hey, just saw this...

Yeah, I'm leaning towards that for the same reasons. I just found out about the Rowe show this morning and I had been getting pumped up to see Brotzmann.

If I could just split myself in two.....

what did you decide on? I was part of that pre-show discussion, I thought it went OK considering.

and Nate, that's Okkyung Lee, not Okkung.

[Nate Dorward]

Ah yes--typed in a hurry. Just fixed a few other typos too.

[jon abbey]

Ah yes--typed in a hurry. Just fixed a few other typos too.

she's usually a cellist, definitely bass there?

[Guest Chaney]

Hi Tim (Perkis),

Can you share any information on Noisy People? Soon to be available on DVD?

Thank you.

Tony

Yes, soon to be available, although I can give you no date! -- This is an

unfunded labor of love, fit in among all the other requirements of my life,

and as a consequence, taking a while.

I'll let you know when it's available, and thanks for your interest --

best

Tim

NOISY PEOPLE is out now and it's wonderful.