Julie Fowlis

Julie Fowlis and her band gave a great concert at the Bergenfest yesterday. She's from the Hebrides, and sings in gaelic, but who cares as long as she explains what she's singing about. We were lucky and got a song on the spreading of manure and a song on a man's three favorite areas of interest: potatoes, butter and women! The music was from Scotland and Ireland, but I didn't catch the names of all the musicians. What I know is that Eamon Doorley played bouzouki, Tony Byrne guitar and Martin O'Neill bodhran. You'll find the rest of the musicians among the names on Julie's MySpace page I guess. Martin O'Neill got a standing ovation after a bodhran solo! Great!

Museum Gong

The following letter was sent to members of "Planet Gong" on Facebook. In Bordeaux they are planning a Gong exhibition, and since Daevid Allen is on the road again (and visiting Bergen too 14 May) and I guess a lot of Gong memories have gone up in smoke (*cough*), we try to help!

"Call for early Gong objects and documents – Gong exhibition

Dear Gong fans:
An exhibition about Gong is currently being organised at CAPC Museum
of Contemporary Art in Bordeaux, France and will open the 27th of
November, 2008. It is organised by Yann Chateigné, head of programs of
the museum, along with a team of young curators.

The exhibition will show artworks, objects and documents related to
the history of Gong during its first period (1968-1975), as well as
artworks by contemporary artists showing the resurgences of
psychedelia in a wider sense. Moreover, the exhibition space will be
the framework for a music festival, which aims to blend concerts by
original Gong members and younger bands.

We, organizers, would like to dedicate a special part of the exhibition
to the various objects handmade by Gong fans.…
We are also seeking for early Gong photographs and films.

The following materials are particulary looked for :

Costumes
Accessories
Puppets, small objects (handicraft representing the famous Gong
iconography… or remains of Gong concerts)
Photographs of Gong
Films of Gong (concerts, documentaries, TV shows…)
Audio recordings
Press material
…

WE NEED YOUR HELP : if you ever own or know the existence of such
objects, please get in contact with us as soon as possible :

gongbordeaux@gmail.com


All the borrowings will follow the loan procedure of the museum and
will be covered by insurance. They could be also reproduced in a
catalogue.

Thank you in advance for your kind collaboration.
Hope to meet you in Bordeaux !

Axelle Blanc, curator
gongbordeaux@gmail.com"

Håkon Kornstad

Håkon Kornstad plays "Sweden". Please listen to this one, even if you think you don't like jazz. Fantastic, or what? You'll find it on the album "Single Engine" (2007). More on Håkon Kornstad here and here.

Sea Song

You may like music as files or not, but they at least enable you to shop single tunes from albums you don’t want or need (my God, I’m growing old, albums you "NEED”?). I ended up in the I-Tunes-Store again (!) some days ago, and went looking for cover versions of Robert Wyatt tunes. The most popular one seems to be “Sea Song”, and I’m not surprised, because it’s a beautiful song with nice lyrics.
These versions are on heavy rotation on my I-Pod:
Tears For Fears (“Saturnine, Marshal and Lunatic” -1996)
Dune (”Forever” – 1997)
Aldo Romano/ Remi Vignolo/Baptiste Trotignon (“Flower Power”- 2006)
Rachel Unthank and the Winterset (“The Bairns” – 2007)
Eyes Like Saucers (“Still living in the desert (and mostly inside my own head )”- 2008)
Here you have all kinds! The pop guys in Tears For Fears and even prettier Dune, the jazz people with Romano, the folk scene with Rachel Unthank and the low-fi-not-at-all- slick Eyes Like Saucers. Wow, what a song this is! The lyrics to "Sea Song" (and a lot of others) may be found at Calyx, but I've set it up like it is presented in the cover of "Rock Bottom". Makes it easier for you to sing!
Get an overview of Robert Wyatt covers here, and I’m sure you’ll be able to find my Tears For Fears 7” too. “Sea Song” is the b-side of “I Believe” (1985). I-Tunes sell “Rock Bottom” at this ridiculous price in Norway: 36 NOK (some more than 3 GBP, 7 USD).

SEA SONG
Words and Music by Robert Wyatt

You look different every time
you come from the foam-crested brine
It's your skin shining softly in the
moonlight
Partly fish, partly porpoise, partly
baby sperm whale
Am I yours? Are you mine
to play with?

Joking apart
when you're drunk You're terrific
when you're drunk I like you mostly
late at night, you're quite all right
But I can't understand
the different you In the morning
when it's time to play at being
human for a while
Please smile!

You'll be different in the spring, I know
You're a seasonal beast
Like the starfish that drifted with the tide
So until your blood runs to meet
the next full moon
Your madness fits in nicely
with my own
Your lunacy fits neatly with my own
my very own
We're not alone.

Mop Meuchiine plays Robert Wyatt

Mop Meuchiine was filmed during a concert in February this year, playing Robert Wyatt tunes. First you get "Anachronist-A.W.O.L" (both from "Comicopera") and "British road" (from "Old Rottenhat"). Nice!

NPM Re-Vision

It seems like this is going to be a great Nils Petter Molvær year (1,2). He is now out with "Re-Vision", a collection of tunes based on soundtracks he has made (Hoppet, Edy and Frozen Heart). I'll make it short (as usual), and just say you have to get this one too. If I should at least pretend to be a tough critic, I'd wish some of the tracks were longer, and that it was possible to read what's written on the inner cover. Hey, we're getting older here!

Multicolour splatter vinyl

If you collect Motorpsycho, you'd better hurry up. Rune Grammofon has made a "multicolour splatter vinyl" edition of "Little Lucid Moments" (500 albums, and that's it). You may even buy it together with an even more limited edition T-shirt! Look here.
I've given "Little Lucid Moments" thumbs up earlier in this blog, and believe it's only getting better.

Carribean moon

Kitsch, camp or just sweet? Kevin Ayers issued the single "Carribean moon" just before "Bananamour" came (1973). It's not on the LP, but on a reissued CD.

Your favorite band sucks

My T-shirt for the festival season arrived today. Guess I'll make a lot of friends.

Scorch! Brolt!

Scorch Trio's new album "Brolt" is out. It's on Rune Grammofon both as CD and double vinyl album (with more than 30 minutes extra music compared to the CD). The trio is (as usual): Raol Björkenheim (g), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (b) and Paal Nilssen-Love (dr). While Kim Hiorthøy made a detailed (and very nice!) cover for "Luggumt", he keeps it minimalistic this time. The titles are local Norwegian dialect words, so don't worry, a lot of us are wondering too ("Basjen", "Hys", "Graps", "Rått og Råde" etc). And the music is energetic and noisy as usual! My guess is that I will seldom listen to all of it one go, but that's OK. My favourite so far is "Gaba", where Bjørkenheim is probably playing "Viola Da Gimbri", whatever that is. Hard working trio!

Metal for kids

The Norwegian "viking metal" band Helheim had a release concert in a kindergarten in Bergen! Read more at BA (Norwegian) and Blabbermouth, and listen on MySpace. Norwegians! Heh?
Old folks homes next?

Shining T

The New York designer Seldon Hunt made this beautiful T-Shirt for Shining. Buy it through Rune Grammofon. T-shirts are cool, and I wish they would sell some Robert Wyatt shirts too. But he might be too shy for it?

Sea Song, Monica and a scorpion

- Honduras Libregrupo made a nice Spanish version of "Sea Song". It's on their second album "La Unica Posicion es Oposicion". Listen here.
- Monica Vasconcelos on Robert Wyatt in The Guardian.
- Richard Thompson was bitten by a scorpion in Mexico, and had to postpone several concerts in USA. I hope his fine, and is looking forward to see him in Bergen 21 May!

Metal

A portrait of the blogger as a younger man, in standard scary Norwegian metal position. Please note the sword.

He's got bigger fruit knives.

Atomic

Atomic dished out two hours of hard swinging jazz yesterday, at The Bergen Jazzforum. Participants: Fredrik Ljungkvist (sax), Magnus Broo (tp), Havard Wiik (p), Ingebrigt Haaker Flaten (b) and Paal Nilssen-Love (dr). What a band this is. When Haaker Flaten and Nilssen-Love get going, it's really rockin'. A quite small audience of 100 (ore a few more) is surprisingly small, but still big enough to make mobile phones ring in the few quiet parts (but we were told it was worse in Finland!). A 3x-CD box is scheduled for release in June.

Louie Louie

Are there any rock bands that never had a go at "Louie Louie"? Richard Berry wrote the song, and recorded it with The Pharaohs i 1957. After that, it's been played constantly. Here is a video of The Kingsmen from 1965. My favorite version is on Cato Salsa Experience & The Thing With Joe McPhee: "Two Bands And A Legend". The ultimate rock song?

Moth´s wing

Ivor Cutler´s "Moth´s wing". Music by Kurt Coble, performed by B.art 42 "The Robot-like Violinist".

News for you

- I'm looking forward to hear Atomic at the Bergen Jazzforum this Friday. Be there or be square.
- Paul Bley is doing a church concert at the Oslo Jazzfestival 15 August.
- John Surman's (sax) new album is out on ECM This time he is working with Howard Moody (church organ). Just have to check that one.
- If you want to read the story about Robert Wyatt, Billy Bragg and the rhubarb in German, do it in Hamburger Morgenpost!
- A new Scorch Trio record (Brolt!) is on the way! A double LP with extra material is made in 500 copies. Read all about it at Rune Grammofon.

Sebastian Tellier

The French are not too happy with Sebastian Tellier's song for The Eurovision Song Contest (!), because it's sung in English. Oops. Tellier is playing The Bergenfest in a couple of weeks, and the organizers claim that he has been compared with Robert Wyatt and Syd Barret (only on the Norwegian site). Are there any good reasons for this?

Trinacria CD

It all depends on your taste, here is a recommendation or a warning: Trinacria´s CD "Travel now journey infinitely" is out! You get metal and noise in one package. I would have liked to hear more of Maja Ratkje and Hild Sofie Tafjord´s noise, rather than the metal that dominate the recording, but OK this is still good stuff. The title song may even end up as my new "Careful With That Axe Eugine". Play loud!
Trinacria is people from Fe-Mail, Enslaved and Emmerhof & The Melancholy Baby:
Ivar Bjørnson [Guitar]
Maja S. K. Ratkje [Voice and Electronics]
Arve "Ice Dale" Isdal [Guitar]
Iver Sandøy [Drums]
Hild S. Tafjord [Horn and Electronics]
Espen Lien [Bass]
Grutle Kjellson [Vocal]

Come Away

Robert Wyatt is guesting on the next album by Runningstill. They show a video from the recording session on their blog!

Charalambides

I was not familiar with the Texas-duo Charalambides until yesterday, when they gave a concert at The Landmark Club in Bergen. Charalambides are Tom Carter (g) and Christina Carter (g, voc). They played some kind of weird Americana, spiced with psychedelia and some noisy guitar. The small Sunday audience were sooo quiet and just listening. Nice evening! Some guy even put up a video on YouTube, where you get an impression on how it was, at least in the quiet parts (even if the quality of the recording is not too good).

Henry Cow photos

ReR are looking for photos of Henry Cow. You may help them here.

Wizards Of Twiddly

The Liverpool band Wizards of Twiddly travelled with Kevin Ayers, and list Robert Wyatt and the whole Canterbury scene as sources of inspiration. I just can't understand why I have not listened to these guys! After checking them out on MySpace and YouTube, I think I can hear some Gong and Soft Machine in there, and damn it, they seem to have some fun too! I might end up in Burning Shed!

The Great Mr. Robert Wyatt

Sometimes it all fits. The main magazine sellers i Norway (Narvesen) decide that they want to sell "Fantastic Man", the same week they have a 25% reduction in prices on foreign magazines (and they are expensive!) and Robert Wyatt is in the very issue (no 7). Some of you may ask what Robert Wyatt is doing in a fashion magazine aimed at the well dressed (and quite rich?) man, but I guess these people just understand how Wyatt fits in everywhere!
The piece is called "The Great Mr.Rober Wyatt and how he came to sing with such a tender voice", and you get a run through of his life and career, coupled with an interview. As always you get some words on alcohol and smoking, and even a 100% non-smoker like me have to smile at this:"I've managed to to give up a couple of times but I become all misanthropic and right-wing". Interviewer is Alex Needham, and Paul Weatherall is portrait photographer. Great pictures!!
Another main figure in this issue is fashion man Tom Ford. Damn, isn't he cool! In his collection he has velvet slippers, with the letters TF embroidered in gold. Are my Freudian slippers out of style then?

Script for a Rehearsal

Lydgalleriet (The Sound Gallery) in Bergen has an exhibition of works by Brandon Labelle (4 April - 4 May). He has made (as far as I can understand this) models based on memories tied to sounds and songs. The installations also have manuscripts for the visitors to read out loud!
If you climb up some dark stairs, you'll find an installation of 26 speakers, representing 26 drummers. This work may be used to compose new marches for the famous boy drummers of Bergen (Buekorps).

Solar Flares Burn For You

Adelle Stripe reads her poem "Solar Flares Burn For You", dedicated to Robert Wyatt.

Malcolm Middleton

Let me just say that Malcolm Middleton is a guy who deserves some more record buyers than he got (OK I admit it, I don't know how many records he is selling). His new CD is called " Sleight of heart", and is quite good, but I prefer last year's "A brighter beat". The music is a bit sad, a bit cynical but you get a little smile here and there. I heard him last year at the Bergenfest in April, playing in front of a small but noisy audience, and thank God I bought the album to make up for some of the bad behavior in my town. Malcolm Middleton used to be in Arab Strap. The band is named after this.

Ben Watt and Robert Wyatt

In 1982 I bought a very nice 12" with Ben Watt and Robert Wyatt called "Summer into winter" (Cherry Red). It was issued on CD in 1993 (Cherry Red), and you'll find it on the reissue of Watt's "North marine drive" too.
I've never seen the Japanese LP "Old Playfellows" (1982) (with all of the songs from "Summer into winter") until it popped up on e-bay some weeks ago. More info on this one here, if you intend to go hunting for it. The tracklist:
1. Walter & John - Ben Watt & Robert Wyatt
2. Aquamarine - Ben Watt & Robert Wyatt
3. Slipping Slowly - Ben Watt & Robert Wyatt
4. Another Conversation With Myself - Ben Watt & Robert Wyatt
5. A Girl In Winter - Ben Watt & Robert Wyatt
6. Goodbye Joe - Tracey Thorn
7. On My Mind - Marine Girls
8. The Lure Of the Rockpools - Marine Girls
9. Cant - Ben Watt
10. Tower Of Silence - Ben Watt
11. Aubade - Ben Watt

Scorch Trio

Scorch Trio is on their way with a new album. "Brolt!" is on Rune Grammofon, and will be on sale 21 April, both on CD and double LP. The double vinyl is limited to 500 albums, and you get 4 tracks that are not on the CD. Scorch Trio is Paal Nilssen-Love (drums), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass) and Raoul Björkenheim (guitar).
Rune writes that this is the third album from the trio (after ”Scorch Trio” and ”Luggumt”), but they have a live CD too, called "Live in Finland" (SCD 001, 2007). This is a cool trio, and I prefer them when they really get going, full speed.

Uriel and Egg

John Kelman has written a Canterbury piece at AllAboutJazz called "Uriel and Egg: The Road to Hatfield and Beyond". Enjoy.

Yagi, Brötzmann, Nilssen-Love

Michiyo Yagi (Koto), Peter Brötzmann (saxes) and Paal Nilssen-Love(drums) gave a great performance at the Landmark club in Bregen sunday evening. It's so fascinating to see and hear good musicians throw themselves into free improvisation, and come down on both feet. The show was well attended too, but it's a small club, and it wouldn't hurt if the media focused a little bit more on music of this kind. It will never be big, but a piece on this trio in the newspaper could help a bit? See new article on Brötzmann at AllAboutJazz.
They have a new CD out too: "Head On" (Idiolect ID-02, 2008). I couldn't find anyone selling it on the net, so I guess you just have to go to a concert.

Runningstill

The Brooklyn, N.Y. band Runningstill seem to be the next artists to cooperate with Robert Wyatt. On their blog you will find links to official site, their MySpace and Facebook.

Quiz!

Robert Wyatt and Stuff's first quiz ever:

Where is Robert Wyatt singing this, and who wrote it:
"nightby silent sailing night isobel wildwood's eyes and primarose hair, quietly, all the woods so wild, in mauves of moss and daphnedews, how all so still she lay, neath of the whitethorn ..."?

m-city

m-city is in town. A huge stencil may be the first sign of spring in Bergen.

Good ones from 1974

I was asked to make a list of good ones from 1974, and couldn't resist the opportunity to make a list! I bet some good ones are missing here, and offer you the possibility to vote one in as number 25 on the list!

Robert Wyatt: Rock Bottom
Brian Eno: Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy
John Cale: Fear
Brian Eno: Here Come The Warm Jets (on sale January 1974)
Richard & Linda Thompson: I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight

Kevin Ayers: June 1, 1974
Bert Jansch: L.A. Troubadour
Ivor Cutler: Dandruff
Nico: The End
King Crimson: Red

King Crimson: Starless And Bible Black
Weather Report: Mysterious Traveller
Little Feat: Feats Don't Fail Me
Keith Jarrett & Jan Garbarek: Belonging
Frank Zappa: Apostrophe

Carla Bley: Tropic Appetites
Terje Rypdal: Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away
Ralph Towner: Solstice
Sonny Rollins: The Cutting Edge
Planxty: Cold Blow And The Rainy Night

Grateful Dead: From The Mars Hotel
Bob Dylan: Planet Waves
Henry Cow: Unrest
Slapp Happy: Slapp Happy (Casablanca Moon recorded once more)
??????? Your choice ???????????

The British Road

The Austrian trio Market Rasen is doing some serious improvising around and over Robert Wyatt's "The British Road" (originally on "Old Rottenhat" from 1985).
Market Rasen is Max Nagl (sax), Herbert Pirker (dr) and Clemens Wenger (keyb).

Motorpsychologic

Motorpsycho’s latest album, ”Little Lucid Moments”, is out now on Rune Grammofon (RCD 2073, or double LP RLP 3073). Hans Magnus Ryan, Bent Sæther and Kenneth Kapstad cook up some mean powerpsychoprogmetal. The reviewers in the Norwegian media disagree on how good this album is, but for me it works just fine. I think I can hear some great (?) prog bands here (one song out of four is a suite in four parts, no less!) mixed with some Metallica and a touch of Grateful Dead , but it still is pure Motorpsycho. If they are going to stretch out any of this material live, we will get two numbers during a concert, that is before the set of encores. Tour info from Rune:

18.04 Steinkjer (Studenten), Norway
25.04 Oslo (Rockefeller), Norway
26.04 Stavanger (Folken), Norway
28.04 Bergen (Røkeriet), Norway
29.04 Kristiansand (Kick), Norway
17.05 Berlin (Postbahnhof), Germany
18.05 Cologne (Live Music Hall), Germany
20.05 München (Backstage Werk), Germany
22.05 Firenze (Viper), Italy
23.05 Roma (Alpheus), Italy
24.05 Rimini (Velvet), Italy
25.05 Milano (Alcatraz), Italy
28.05 Eindhoven (Effenaar), The Netherlands
29.05 Utrecht (Tivoli), The Netherlands
30.05 Bremen (Schlachthof), Germany
31.05 Hamburg (Fabrik), Germany
01.06 Copenhagen (Lille Vega), Denmark
19-22.06 Louisville (Terrastock 7), USA
19.07 Burg Herzberg, Germany

Will we ever see RW live?

The big question among fans of Robert Wyatt is of course:"Will we ever see him live?". I'm not going to ask him to perform, the only guy who seems to be able to do that is David Gilmour! If we are unbelievably lucky we will be at a concert where Robert just can't keep off stage, like (we've mentioned earlier) at a Dylan Howe concert in September 2007 (see picture far down on D. Howe's MySpace site).
On YouTube we find two videos of David Gilmour and Robert Wyatt. Robert is sitting below stage singing "Comfortably Numb" on "In Concert" (2002), and plays cornet (5 minutes into) "Then I close my eyes" on "Remember That Night. Live At The Royal Albert Hall" (2006).

Fred Frith to play at Moldejazz

Im really looking forward to the summer festival season now! The programme for The Molde International Jazzfestival is almost ready (?), and yesterday we got some nice news. "Robert Wyatt and Stuff" will fight for tickets to see several of these artists:
Food (Iain Ballamy and Thomas Strønen + Christian Fennez)
Frode Gjerstad and Circulatione Totale Orchestra
Paal Nilssen-Love and Townhouse Orchestra with Evan Parker
Fred Frith and Lucia Recio.
See if you are able to find some more among all that Norwegian writing on the festival site.

Disco Lies

How about a scary "Disco Lies" video from Moby's new album "Last Night"? I have to admit that we have had some fun with chicken during Easter time in my Norwegian blog (1,2), and I want to make it clear that this blogger never eat birds or mammals. When chicken are used in "Wyatting" or "Robert Wyatt and Stuff" we follow the strictest regulations considering animal welfare.