DOLK and Wyatt

Street artist DOLK has not made a Wyatt yet, but there's still hope (I guess). Today we present some links related to these guys:
All things Dolk on the wiki GiantOrg.
MyViews a blog with lots of street art.
The Human Equation, a blog with lots on Robert Wyatt.
Totally Fuzzy, a blog where you may find MP3-files and concert videos (John Cale, Maria McGee, Van Der Graaf Generator).
A smart guy at The Guardian is already listening to a promo copy of the next CD from Robert Wyatt.

Exhibition, Bergen, Norway

Today I went for a walk in Bergen, looking for Street Art. You may find some more on Flickr, also collected in my set "Arty". Che and the man hiding the red heart are made by DOLK. The other two are signed by "Thing", and maybe "STAG" is a signature?

Safe As Milk, 2007

The 9th "Safe As Milk"-festival in Haugesund, Norway, ends this afternoon. I attended saturday, and got the specialities, a solid mix of everything from electronics, improvisations, rock, jazz and you name it.

First man on stage, Rafael Toral, did some electronic improvisation. It was pretty abstract stuff, but quite nice. Using a pink feather to make sound from metal, adds a nice visual touch.

Kjetil Møster + Hild Sofie Tafjord improvised with sax, clarinet, horn and electronics. If this sounds boring, wish you were there. They were fantastic, and I'll hear them again anytime.

Six Organs of Admittance did a rough set, not always in tune, but quite nice anyway (in between, at least). This night they played as a duo with Ben Chasney and Elisa Ambrogio. I bought the record "The sun awakens" (before the concert!), and it sounds really good.

Last artist on stage was Charles Hayward. Man, he looked fired up even while rigging the drums. He even carried away empty beer glasses with a smile. He drums, sings, and produces some pre-recorded stuff, and is a like prog-band on his own (not sure he likes that description?). Thank God, a rock drummer ended the evening, because the heavy drinkers started to make noise, even on a festival like this. Hayward won the hearts of the audience anyway. No match at all! Nice fellow.
You may see more lousy pictures in my live-set on Flickr (i try not to use flash, and i don't crawl on to the stage, like some of the photographers with the biggest cameras seem to prefer these days).
Nice festival, number 10 up and coming next year.

It’s a bummer every summer

I'm off for some holiday in the sun (probably not). I'll visit the Safe As Milk festival, but will miss Truls and the Trees on friday. The video is not very relaxing, but it's a good song. Expect reports from the festival's day 2 later.
The summer streets are filled up with street singers. Few of them are as good as these people.

Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci

The Welsh band with the catchy name (not!), has put out som really nice music. Unfortunately the band no longer exicsts, but discographies and more here. They have covered a couple of Robert Wyatt/Soft Machine tunes too (no drawback in this blog).
”O Caroline” is on ”Tatay” (1994, remastered 2007).
”Why are we sleeping” is on several records:
”Llanfwrog” (yes, they're from Wales) EP (1995)
"Introducing Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci" (1996)
”Bwyd Time” (remastered 2007, not on original 2001 ?)
”20-The singles collection” (2003)
They even have a song called "Kevin Ayers" (on "Tatay").

Soft Machine quintet, France 1970

New stuff on YouTube: Soft Machine on tour in France (spring 1970). Lyn Dobson and Elton Dean up front, and Wyatt with hair in front of his face, on his last tour with the band. The same line-up is documented on the album "Noisette" (2000). An even better recording is here (can not be embedded in the blog). Look at Robert Wyatt "whacking skins" on this one!

Richard Thompson cover songs

Richard Thompson is himself a great performer of cover songs, doing Buck Owens ("Together again"), The Who ("Substitute") and Britney Spears ("Oops!"), and a whole lot of people cover his songs. On BeesWeb you find severeal pages of them. Three whole albums (or are there more?) are dedicated to songs by Mr. Thompson:
Dave Burland: "His masters voice" (1992)
(Richard Thompson plays).
"The world is a wonderful place" (Hokey Pokey, 1993)
(a.o. Ivor Cutler, Peter Blegvad and Victoria Williams).
"Beat the retreat" (1994)
(a.o. David Byrne, Bob Mould, L. Wainwright, Graham Parker).

Norway,Pakistan,Iran

Tonight I heard a recording from The Førde Folk Music Festival, where they presented the procject called "Dialogue" with Javid Bashir (Pakistan), Javid Afsari Rahd (Iran) and Sondre Bratland (Norway).
Both muslim and christian texts where sung, the vocalists taking turns, and it sounded just great! Music speaks louder than words, and perhaps louder than belief?

Nico

Let's not forget Nico. Photo model (see Bill Evans cover), vocalist with Velvet Underground and dramatic (and hard living) rocker on her own. Read James Young's biography "Nico. Songs they never play on the radio". Some of the dark stuff she made with John Cale close by, "Desert Shore" and "The Marble Index" is in the shops as double CD with extra material.
Just like Ivor Cutler she prefered the instrument harmonium.

The nipple sleeps

We just have to visit Peter Blegvad again (no heavy burden), and this time (perhaps) in an unexpected environment. In the book "The Phantom Museum and Henry Wellcome's Collection of Medical Curiosities" (Eds. Hildi Hawkins and Danielle Olsen, Profile Books, 2003) Blegvad has written a chapter on milk(!), presenting some of the enormous collection of curiosities ("Milk a matter of life and death", pp 105-141). To describe a nipple shield Peter Blegvad wrote this card:

"Nipples are incredible
Babies think they're edible.
Tender after being chewed,
After being drained of food,
The throbbing buds cannot abide
Abrasion, so the have to hide,
Withdrawn, if only for a spell,
Like whelk into its shell.
The nipple sleeps, its eyes are sealed,
Protected by a nipple-shield."

That's the way to inform in a museum!
In this book Hari Kunzru also tells the story of some of the people who were so unlucky that they became collector´s items, like shrunken heads and human skin with tatoos. Stronger stuff than milk this.
Do you want to know some more about Henry Wellcome and his collections, check here, and click on library, collections or images. If you want more information on Peter Blegvad, visit this blog, and look through older posts too. Please take a look at Leviathan.

Bonzo

Some of you may think this is far off focus for this blog, but I just love this band. The five Bonzo Dog Band albums have been reissued, with extra material. If you are new to this gang, I suggest you start buying from the top of the list, or go for a sampler:
Gorilla (1967) (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band)
The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse (1968)
Tadpoles (1969)
Keynsham (1969)
Let's Make Up And Be Friendly (1972).

I just got the 2xDVD "Do Not Adjust Your Set". I remember seeing this on Norwegian television ages ago, and laughed my head off by these crazy pre-Python people. It may be a bit dated now, but in between sketches, lots of Bonzo Dog Band! More humour in rock now!

Lol Coxhill

Saxman and improartist Lol Coxhill has issued a new album called "More Together Than Alone" on the Emanem label, and is treated well in Uncut. Uncut says ".. Lol Coxhill has spent the four last decades finding new ways to blow". Way to blow!
Check the Coxhill-discography on the European Free Improvisation Pages.
We just have to make a Wyatt connection, and list albums where both Lol Coxhill and Robert Wyatt appear (not always on the same tracks though):
Kevin Ayers: Shooting at the moon
Kevin Ayers: Odd ditties
Kevin Ayers: The Kevin Ayers Collection (?)
Kevin Ayers: Banana productions. The very best of K. A. (?)
Lol Coxhill: Ear of the beholder
Coxhill/Miller: The story so far...Oh really!
Gary Windo: His Master's Bones

Numusic

Early september might be a good time to visit the Norwegian city of Stavanger. The numusic festival is arranged sept. 5-8. A lot of unknown artists for me, but I think I would visit Arve Henriksen from Norway and Cluster from Germany (for starters!).

Unfairground

A new Kevin Ayers album will be released in the beginning of september. According to Uncut, he has been working with (or rather people from?) Teenage Fanclub, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Trash Can Sinatras, Neutral Milk Hotel, Candie Payne and Architecture in Helsinki. This might be a hell of an album, or some mess! Looking forward to this one.

Robert Burås

I'm sad to say that Robert Burås, guitarist in Madrugada and guitarist and singer in My Midnight Creeps died yesterday.

Banksy and Hitler

A newspaper in Bergen,Norway, has been focusing on street art in the city. Some people believe this little picture of Hitler ("The beast of Berlin") is made by BANKSY. Anybody out there who knows for sure?

Emily Haines

Check out the new record from Emily Haines, "Knives Don't Have Your Back".Who, if not Robert Wyatt, wrote cover notes for her album? "Haines doesn't take a predictable route to the inside of your head. No grandstanding. She's a true daughter of the revolution, and has inherited wisdom beyond her years. So how does she reach us? By quietly closing the stage door behind her, dodging the limelight glare for now. She slips around the edge of the stage, almost disappears, keeps to the shadows like her parents taught her, then is suddenly positioned right beside your ear. She's speaking your language but don't be so sure you know what she's thinking - this might be all in code. She's drawn in breath and drawn you in, too. You're hooked but it's not her fault; maybe she was just saying "Hello". (RW)
Emily Haines is Paul Haines' daughter, and the cover of her album looks like a nod to "Escalator Over The Hill". True?

Robert Wyatt interview

In may, Robert Wyatt was interviewed by Simon Reynolds at the Hay Festival in Wales. You may buy the interview at "The Guardian Hay festival Archive". Pay at least 5 credit points (total £5), and download this interview for £1. You get 57 minutes with Robert Wyatt in good shape, talking about jazz, anti-rock, communism, Alfie, and some of the records. He claims his falsetto is inherited from Dionne Warwick, and namedrops several other female jazz vocalists too.
When Virgin wanted him to record a pop song, he'd rather have chosen Roxy Music's "Do the strand", than Neil Diamond's "I'm a believer". My God, world history would have looked totally different!
He mentions Billy Bragg, and claims he is a brave man, since he wants to change peoples minds. "I wouldn't dare to try to change people's minds, I just want to feel less lonely" (as I seem to remember it said).
Wyatt remembers lost friends John Peel and Ivor Cutler, and seems happy to be disturbed by a crying baby in the audience! Nice one.

CD

Music on file is great, but I like CDs and hope they last. A lot of CDs are far too long, but do any of you remember the small CD-singles? Charming small discs, with a tendency to get lost in the shelves? Here represented by The Beatles, but I got Squeeze too, and even a postcard-CD by Marvin Gaye.

Soup Song

Soupsong (from “Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard”):

There's a mushroom on my eyelid,
There's a carrot down my back,
I can see in the distance a vast quantity of beans.
To you I'm just a flavour to make your soup taste nice.
Oh my God! Here come the onions and, I don't believe it,
at least a pound of rice.

There was a time when bacon sandwiches
were everyone's favourite snack.
I'm delicious when I'm crunchy, even when I'm almost black.
So why you make a soup with me,
I just can't understand.
It seems so bloody tasteless,
not to mention underhand

Now there's no hope of getting out of here,
I can feel I'm going soft.
Dirty waters soak my fibres,
the whole saucepan's getting hot
So I may as well resign myself,
make friends with a few peas,
but I just, I can't help hoping
that a tummy ache will bring you to your knees.

Bring you to your knees....

I have tried to find a recipe to make this soup, but have not been able to find one that's 100% correct. How about this "soupsong" page? If this is not the top of soup craziness, I don't want to know. Personally I will stop long before Ronald Reagans Hamburger Soup.

Edward Gorey

The horror poet Edward Gorey is well worth visiting. He wrote a whole bunch of books, where both children and grown ups got what they deserved (?), and illustrated the books in a powerfull way.

E. Gorey in music:
Michael Mantler: The Hapless Child (1976) (w.Robert Wyatt)
The Tiger Lillies & Kronos Quartet: The Gorey End (2003)
Max Nagl: The Evil Garden (year?) (w. Lol Coxhill).
The last one is probably not in stock anywhere. Has anybody heard that one, or do you know more traces of Gorey in music? Please feel free to comment.

In "The Insect God" little Millicent Frastley gets the treatment. In the YouTube video it is sung by The Blindfaith Theatre (?), and it is also on "The Hapless Child".

Noxagt

I finished reading "Classic Rock Presents Prog Rock" yesterday, and managed to find two Norwegian bands too. Both of them classified as "Ultra Extreme Prog". The black metal boys in Enslaved was put in there together with Noxagt, a favorite of this blog. The magazine writes this about Noxagt: "People que to leave their gigs but for the broad-minded listener they are unexcelled". Indeed. Just remember earplugs.

Wyatt and friends

When you have bought all records by Robert Wyatt (in his own name, or with his bands), I'm sure you want to get some of the albums he is a guest on (do you ever say "no", man?). Here are some suggestions from wyattandstuff, to help you get stuff where Wyatt really is a part of the project. Later we will perhaps make a list of records and tapes where he talks about child work, makes insect sounds and so on.
You pop- and rock people start buying from the top of the list. All you intelectuals, who think art music is a lot of fun, start buying from the bottom.

Phil Manzanera: Vozero (1999)
Ultramarine: United Kingdoms (1995)
John Greaves: Songs (1995)
John Greaves and Élise Caron: Chansons (2004)
Michael Mantler: Hide and Seek (Text: Paul Auster)(2001)
Michael Mantler: Silence (Text: Harold Pinter) (1976)

Prog

OK, I don't really care much if it really was (is) a Canterbury-scene or not, but in the magazine Classic Rock Presents Prog Rock it is 5 pages on the stuff! The usual suspects, like Wilde Flowers, Soft Machine, Gong and Hatfield and The North, are presented. For you unethical people, who want to pretend you have read the article, it is on the pages 50-54.
The magazine also lists the 30 best prog albums, and the 5 best are:
Genesis: Selling England by the pound
Pink Floyd: Wish you were here
King Crimson: In the court of the Crimson king
Yes: Close to the edge
Emerson Lake and Palmer: Brain salad surgery
I notice some of my old favorites Gentle Giant and Can among the nominees, and they have Caravan's "In the Land of Grey and Pink" on number 21, illustrated with a picture of Kevin Ayers (who was a pretty boy for sure, but never played in the band).
The magazine has a chapter on what they call "prog-folk" with artists like Pentangle, The Strawbs, Incredible String Band, Roy Harper, John Martyn, Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, Tim Buckley (also known as Jeff's dad), Steeleye Span and Donovan (!). And why are they prog? "The progressive folkies were totally unafraid to experiment".
The "free" DVD has interviews with members of Yes (the purchase set me back almost 18 GBPs, but that's Norway for you). And then, let's see Spinal Tap again.

Ivor Cutler other places

Wikipedia has a good discography and bibliography on Ivor Cutler, but what has he done in collaboration with other people? I found this site, and checked my own records to make this list:
1972 : "The Dong With The Luminous Nose" on Neil Ardley's "A Symphony of Amaranths"
1972 : "Little Red Robin Hood Hits The Road" and "Little Red Riding Hood Hits The Road" on Robert Wyatt's "Rock Bottom"
1974/5: "Grass" on the Virgin Sampler "V"
1980 : "Arsloch" on 7” by Vogel (picture) (Recommended Records)
1992 : "I'm Busy" on Ponk Records collection "Passed Normal Volume 5"
199? : "A New Consciousness" with Pete Namlook and Charles Uzzell-Edwar (????)
1993 : "Wheely Down" with Ian Kearey on the Richard Thompson tribute "The World Is A Wonderful Place"
1980 : "Brooch Boat" on "Miniatures: A sequence of fifty-one tiny masterpieces". Edited by Morgan Fisher.
Cover versions: Robert Wyatt sings "Grass" on a Rough Trade 7” (RT081, 1981), and it is also included on "Nothing Can Stop Us" (Rough35).
If you know any more, please make comments to this post.

Uniton Records

Here is the discography of the Norwegian record company Uniton. I stole a lot of information on the blog "Muzakk Labeler". You may find a lot of details in Norwegian there (sorry). More covers on Flickr.
U 001 Mark Shreeve - Thoughts Of War (lp 81).
U 002 Conrad Schnitzler - Conal (lp 81)
U 003 Fra Lippo Lippi - In Silence (lp 81)
U 004 Eyeless In Gaza - Pale Hands (lp 81)
U 005 Fra Lippo Lippi - Now And Forever (7" 81).
U 006 3rd Man - Oral Pleasure (7" )
U 007 Holy Toy - Perfect Day (12")
U 008 Rolf Trostel - Der prophet (lp 82)
U 009 Tim Story - In Another Country (lp 82)
U 010 Holy Toy - Warszawa (lp 82)
U 011 Dome - Will You Speak This Word: Dome IV (lp 83)
Holy T1 Holy Toy - Soldier Toy (12" 82)
U 013 De press - On The Other Side (lp 83)
U 014 Fra Lippo Lippi - In Treasure (12" 83)
U 015 Popul Vuh - Agape agape (lp 83)
U 016 Svart Klovn - Knust knekt (7" poster cover 83).
U 017 Fra Lippo Lippi - Small Mercies (lp/mc 83)
U 018 The Bearburger - The Bearburger (mc 83)
U 019 Blue Mathue - Perfect Pictures (12" 84)
U 020 Various Artists - Burning The Midnight Sun (lp/mc 84).
U 021 Mark Shreeve - Assassin (lp 84)
U 022 Holy Toy - Meeting II (12" 84).
U 023 Fra lippo lippi - Say Something (12" 84)
U 024 Tim Story – Tim Story (lp/mc 84).
U 025 Kjetil Bjørnstad - Preludes vol. 1 (lp 84)
U 026 Babij Jar - The Night Before (lp 85)
U 027 Tim Story - Three Feet From The Moon (lp 85)
U 028 Various Artists - Sense Of Beauty Vol. 1 (lp/mc 85)
U 029 Viva! - Dreams Be Quiet (lp 85)
U 030 Kjetil Bjørnstad - Preludes vol. 2 (lp 85)
U 031 Harold Budd - Abandoned Cities (lp 86)
U 032 Kjell Bækkelund - A la carte (lp (86 ?))
U 033 Babij Jar - Stalingrad (lp 86)
U 034 Haakon Graf - Grafitti (lp 87)
LTD US-01 Babij Jar - Gazing At Asia/Axetime, Swordtime (7" 86)

Hot on the Pod in June

These albums were played regularly in June:
Ai Phoenix: The light shines almost all the way
Feist: The reminder
Candi Staton: Candi Staton (check this one out if you like soul!)
Richard Thompson: Sweet warrior (sweet, acidic and bitter)
Herman Dune: Giant
Peter Blegvad: Hangman's hill
David Sylvian: Brilliant trees (it's so good it hurts)
Soft Machine: Grides (with Wyatt)
Count Basie Orchestra: April in Paris
Jenny Lewis and The Watson twins: Rabbit fur coat
Malcolm Middleton: A brighter beat
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: The ultimate (Vol 1)
Pentangle: The time has come
Holy Toy: Warszawa (one of Norway's best albums, ever!)
Louis Armstrong: Hot fives and sevens (Louis the king!)
Ultralyd: Conditions for a piece of music
John Greaves: Songs (with Wyatt)
John Greaves and Élise Caron: Chansons (with Wyatt)
Phil Manzanera: Vozero (with Wyatt)
Michael Mantler: Hide and seek (with Wyatt)
Ultramarine: United Kingdoms (with Wyatt)
The Who: Live at Leeds
Warren Zevon: Genius - The best of Warren Zevon
The Core: The Indian Core
Various: Songs the Bonzo Dog Band taught us