Annemarieke Coenders & Wim Sebo

I already posted a live version of Robert Wyatt´s "Costa" (from "Dondestan") by Annemarieke Coenders and Wim Sebo, and here is another one, recorded 12 September 2010.
The pair just released the album "Go", and "Costa" is probably one of the tracks.
See if you are able to read the info on Coenders´  site , or check out the duo´s MySpace.

Twenty Centuries of Stony Sleep (Box Set)

Rune Grammofon´s release number 100 is on the market, and it comes in different formats. "Twenty Centuries Of Stony Sleep" is a collection of previously unreleased material from Rune artists. You may choose between a CD or a double LP with black vinyl. There is also a jubilee box, but only 100 copies made.
I´m one of the lucky hundred, who now own the mentioned CD, the mentioned double album (but on white vinyl), Supersilent 100 (a live recording on clear vinyl) and a 12" black vinyl with a locked groove, containing music by an unknown artist.

The package is discreet as usual from Rune Grammofon and Kim Hiorthöy. A cardboard box and the rest in white, black and clear, and very little information given.
I just might get back to the music later. You never know.

More over at Rune Grammofon.

Too much music, not enough time

A bunch of albums I´m listening to these days. Check them out.

- Joey Baron, Bruno Chevillon, Elliot Sharp, Franck Vigroux: "Venice, Dal Vivo" (D-Autres Cordes, 2010). Hot and noisy improvised music, recorded live in Italy. One track dedicated to Mitch Mitchell who died the day the recording was made. A rough and tough album!

- Jon Irabagon: Foxy (Hot Cup 2010). If you dig high energy jazz, this is one for you! This is running on full speed from the word go! Nice titles too, like  "Foxy", "Proxy", "Chicken Poxy", "Unorthodoxy", and the cover is a bit tacky, or what?  Find the Sonny Rollins album they are pointing towards (no prizes given).

- Lawnmower: "West" (Clean Feed 2010). Drums, two guitars and saxophone. Rock and jazz, or jazz and rock, and pretty nice tunes too!

- Urs Leimgruber/Evan Parker: "Twine"(Clean Feed 2010). Two saxophones plying and fighting on three long tracks. I can´t take all of it in one go, but still, a nice one!

- BJ Nilsen & Stillupsteypa: "Drykkjuvisur" (Helen Scarsdale 2006). A few years old this one, but I list it to remember to look for more albums by BJ Nilsen. This is dark and quite heavy stuff, even if "Drykkjuvisur" is "Drinking songs". Music for quite heavy drinking this, I´m afraid, and probably best enjoyed when you stay off the booze.

- Optical Substance: "Adaptation" (2010). Optical Substance is Kjetil Husebø´s project. Nice electronica/ambient in a landscape where you probably could meet Arve Henriksen and Nils Petter Molvær too.  

Crepuscular Hour

Oh, I wish I was at this concert! Maja Ratkje´s "Crepuscular Hour" was performed in Uranienborg church in Oslo during the Ultima 2010 festival . They used  three choirs, six noise musicians (Stian Westerhus included) and church organ! You might be able to take a listen on the Norwegian radio NRK P2, 29 September at 21:00.

I heard Sunn o))) in a church in Bergen during Borealis 2007, and hope someone will get the same idea about this work! Come on, anybody!?

One Armed Bandit

Jaga Jazzist with Stian Westerhus at the Fuji Rock Festival in July!

High Four!

Front Row

Robert Wyatt was recently interviewed on  BBC Radio 4´s  "Front Row". It is still out there, but I don´t know for how long.  Wyatt is on after about 20 minutes, talking about the new album, his stage fright (or some French version of it!) and more. 

"Alfie says I live in denial, well it works for me".

Atomic and Brötzmann - Nilssen-Love - Pupillo

 
Here you get Atomic at The Vortex in London 16 September (2010), from the tour they did with Vandermark 5 (still going on). Fredrik Ljungkvist, Håvard Wiik, Magnus Broo, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and  Paal Nilssen-Love. Say no more!

 
And since it is Saturday, let´s have another one too! Peter Brötzmann, Paal Nilssen-Love and Massimo Pupillo at the Eddie Lang Jazz Festival in Italy in August (2010).

Comments

I have disabled the possibility to comment anonymously for a while. The blog has been under some kind of spam attack from pushers of  some pharmaceutical product you have all heard of.
I have been removing the "comments" as soon as i saw them, but it takes some time, and it pisses me off, to tell you the truth.

Sorry about this. Will open again later.

The Terror Of Cosmic Loneliness

First of all, a confession: I only know the Welsh musician Gruff Rhys from one concert (in Bergen a couple of years ago, nice one), his solo album "Candylion" (2007) (nice one too), and I know he is in Super Furry Animals. The Brazilian TV and VCR repair man (!) Tony Da Gatorra was new to me, until I got Tony Da Gatorra vs Gruff Rhys: "The terror of cosmic loneliness" (Turnstile Music 2010).

Now something that may be a recommendation: I´m not surprised at all that Da Gatorra is some kind of a repair man! He plays the "Gatorra", said to be part drum machine part guitar! The music is some kind of noisy psychedelic rock (according to the BBC it may be caused by intake of certain substances unknown to me), with song lyrics in Portugese (I guess) and English. You won´t be humming to this music, but I have to admit it´s quite fun, and on a good day you may get into some kind of trance and then wake up totally worn out.

If you want to check out this album now, I guess it´s not my fault, but anyway, check them out on YouTube too.

Garfunkel & Oates

The duo Garfunkel & Oates look quite innocent on pictures, but these girls tell it as it is! Try some folky indie, with songs about smug pregnant women ("Pregnant women are smug"),  one night stands and the irritating friend who is always there ("Me, you and Steve").

The album "Music Songs" was released in 2009, and their real names are  Riki Lindholme and Kate Micucci.

You may find lots of videos on their main site and on MySpace. Enjoy!

Laura

As mentioned several times already, Domino will release  Robert Wyatt, Gilad Atzmon and Ros Stephen's  "For the ghosts within" 11 October 2010.  You may listen to "Laura" over at  Domino.

Cover: Alfreda Benge

The Gift of Purpose

Good people have decided to release an album in support of the widow of Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper (1945 - 2009). Buy it from Cuneiform, and the money will end up where it is supposed to.

We steal some info from  Nick Didovsky over at Cuneiform: "...John Roulat, Steve Feigenbaum, and I decided to produce a limited edition benefit CD, 'The Gift Of Purpose'. The CD features a live concert by Bone (Didkovsky/Hopper/Roulat) that was beautifully recorded at Orion Sound in Baltimore. There is also a bonus track by myself, John, Colin Marston (Behold....the Arctopus, Dysrhythmia, Krallice), and Daevid Allen (Gong, Soft Machine, etc). Daevid contributed some very moving vocals which pay tribute to Hugh".

10 Songs for the new depression

Loudon Wainwright III is an old hero in my house, and I dig both his sarcastic songs and his sad ones.  He´s here again, with an album with songs on , yes, the new depression. He´s american of course, but the rest of the world recognize the problems too! 

Guitar, ukulele and voice, that´s enough for Loudon, but the album is a bit on the short side (30 minutes) even for me (who think a lot of albums are too long).  Check his site for short comments on the tracks (both his own and cover songs).

I wanted to compare these songs to the songs Woody Guthrie sang during another depression, but the BBC seems to disagree with me, so I´ll just shut my mouth. But I like it, oh yes!

"God Song" sent to Aliens!

And how about that! Alan Moore is sending Robert Wyatt´s "God Song" out into space!
Read all about it over at Geekosystem.
If you hurry up you might also be able to listen to the message, at BBC Radio 6 (1:48:00)

Lisa Dillan

I´m not making a list, but Norway must have it´s share of fantastic female vocalists? 

 Lisa Dillan  is on the list that I´m not making! On her album "Arousal" (AIM 2010) you will find some beautiful songs with or without words  ("Zen" and "When i close my eyes"), some French reading ("Trois Secondes"), cracking ("Knirk 2") and even a "Mouse Call".

The voice is in focus, with no instruments (if you don´t count floor, chairs and glasses) or electronics.

A beautiful, strange and funny album, recorded at the Emanuel Vigeland´s Museum in Oslo.

I bought a digital version of the album, and missed the DVD you will get, if you are smart enough to buy the CD.

Fire! + Jim O´Rourke

Fire! is Mats Gustafsson (sax), Johan Berthling (b) and Andreas Werlin (dr). Here they are live in Japan (12 September 2010), with Jim O´Rourke, and here is another video too.
Last year Fire! released "You liked me five minutes ago" on Rune Grammofon.

Botanical free jazz

Frode Gjerstad (altosax & clarinets), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello & electronics) and Michael Zerang (percussion) played at the Sugar Maple in Milwaukee last year, and recently FMR Records did release the album "Sugar Maple".

This is free jazz for most of you I think, being pretty quiet for long periods, and with Lonberg-Holm spicing the mix with electronics. Not that I´m an expert, but this must be very well played too? Agree?

Me being an old botanist (hey, I´m not kidding), really like their use of the botanical kingdom in naming the tracks.  Acer Saccharum (latin for Sugar Maple) is the title track, and the tree even spread it´s seeds in "Double Samara". The first track is  a flower cluster "Corymbs" and in the end we meet the real flowering plants in "Angio Sperms".

I bet this was interesting for you all! My knowledge is more than a bit rusty (almost 30 years after my final exam), but I don´t think I can dish out an A here. Angiosperms in one word, and the species name starting with a small letter, please (Acer saccharum)!  OK then, a B, since the music is great!

(I´ll be expecting some teacher´s comment myself here, if I´m wrong!)

Twenty Centuries of Stony Sleep (Box Set)

Hurry up, if you have got any money left! Rune Grammofon will release a  jubilee box with their album number 100, and only 100 numbered copies.

Info from Rune:

"The 2LP edition (RLP3100) in it´s full gatefold sleeve, but on white vinyl as opposed to the black vinyl of the ordinary edition. Includes free mp3 download.

The ordinary CD edition (RCD2100) in it´s full digipack sleeve.

Supersilent 100, a 180g LP edition on transparent vinyl and with the usual Supersilent sleeve design. The music is prime Supersilent from the legendary
Batofar concert in Paris in 2000.

A ”locked groove” 12” from an unknown artist."

Spin Marvel

Spin Marvel is the band of drummer Martin France, and I gladly admit that both the drummer and the band are new to me. I followed a recommendation on Twitter,  and checked out their second album "Spin Marvel 2. The Reluctantly Politicised Mr. James" (Edition 2010). This is a fine mix of electronica, jazz and rock, and should be a treat to people who dislike genre borders. 

The other musicians are  Tim Harries (bass), John Parricelli (guitar) and two Norwegians (both of them last seen at the  Punkt 2010 festival) Terje Evensen (percussion, sound editor) and Nils Petter Molvær (trumpet).

The three tracks with Nils Petter Molvær stand out, and he fits in just perfect, both when he´s up front and when he´s just playing on top of an electronic avalanche. Damned good! 

"Black Dog Company" is dedicated to Hugh Hopper and Ian Howarth.

Read a better review over at "The Jazz Mann".

Robert Wyatt on the Jazza Festival 2010

 
Robert Wyatt talks to Gilad Atzmon on the Jazza Festival 2010.

Vandermark 5 in Bergen

I almost forgot to tell you about the  Vandermark 5 concert in Bergen on Friday!
The band is Tim Daisy (dr), Kent Kessler (b), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), Dave Rempis (sax) and Ken Vandermark (sax).

The audience at the Bergen Jazzforum went wild (OK, the Norwegian way at least) with the band´s  modern jazz,  with traces of contemporary classical, bop, free jazz, rock and even more I guess. I loved it when cello player  Lonberg-Holm really got going.

Vandermark 5 Special Edition, with Magnus Broo (tp) and Håvar Wiik (p) just released a double album named "The Horse Jumps and The Ship is Gone" on Not Two. It sounds great, so just get it!

The concert was a double bill with Atomic, who also did a strong set (as usual), but this night I think Vandermark 5 won the audience.

Punkt 2010 in AAJ

I had a couple of blog posts from the Punkt 2010 festival a week ago,  but must admit that John Kelman in All About Jazz beats me!  Check out his report from the festival over at AAJ.

Electric Eden

I am a slow book reader these days (blame the computer), but I have finally read Rob Young´s  600 pages of  "Electric Eden. Unearthing Britain´s visionary music" (Faber & Faber 2010).

Here most of you will get to know everything you ever wanted to know (and more) about the folk music of Britain, from the early 1900 and to this day.  

The book starts with a fine chapter on the 60s with Vashti Bunyan and Incredible String Band, before we jump back to the old song collectors and composers (you know, Cecil Sharp and Vaughn Williams, and those people), and then come the stories on the revolutionaries (Ewan McColl and comrades), tradition against electricity, the hippies, the festivals and modern rock and pop with traces of folk  (Van Morrison, David Sylvian, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Kate Bush).

Young covers several of this blog´s favorites (of course!) like Bert Jansch, Davy Graham, John Martyn, Waterson-Carthy, Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, Pentangle and Richard and Linda Thompson.

If you are quite new to this area, my guess is that parts of the book will be a bit too detailed, but what the hell, you may read those parts in some years.  The book has good notes,  bibliography, index and a musical/discographic timeline. You know the angle is not narrow, when you find Aphex Twin and The Orb in the discography.

I have fetched (almost) forgotten vinyl in my basement, borrowed albums at the library and made a list of artists to check out. This must be an inspiring book then. Good job.

More over at electriceden.net.

Richard Thompson: "Dream Attic"

"Dream Attic" (Proper, 2010) is another solid Richard Thompson album. It´s recorded live, with lots of electric guitar, and dark, ironic lyrics! 

You get some really slow, sad songs  like "Among The Gorse, Among The Grey"and "Burning Man", but also folky, good rocking songs that would fit on some of the best Fairport Convention albums.  The song "Sidney Wells" is worth the price of the album all by itself. I´m almost dancing here, but then  I start to pay attention to the lyrics about the murderer who gets punished by his fellow prisoners. 

The band: Richard Thompson (g, voc), Pete Zorn (g, flute, reeds, mandolin, voc), Michael Jerome (dr, voc), Taras Prodaniuk (b, voc) og Joel Zifkin (violin, mandolin, voc).

Too much electric guitar for you? Make sure you get  the double, limited edition with acoustic versions too. The acoustic versions are nice, but this time I will choose the electric Thompson over the acoustic.

Head over to Beesweb to see a video of  "A Brother Slips Away". Sad and beautiful it is.

Knitting concert

Today I attended my first knitting concert ever! Composer Victoria Brännström hired 40 ladies with microphones attached to their knitting needles, to perform in Bergen´s Grieghallen. Ingrid Grønli Åm added electronics and Halldis Rønning conducted.
This was pretty enjoyable, but weird stuff, and I´ll guess they will be invited to play Knitting Factory? More on the project in this Norwegian blog, and here is another video.

Lol Coxhill

 
Check out several new Lol Coxhill videos on YouTube.
Info from YouTube on this one: "Lol Coxhill (soprano sax) and Alex Ward (clarinet) at Fete Quaqua festival of free improvisation at the Vortex Jazz Club, London. Filmed by Helen Petts on the 17th August 2010".

Sekstett

Oh no, another Norwegian improv band for you all! I heard Sekstett live in Bergen on Tuesday. They did some nice improv stuff in front of far too few people. The band was  Frode Gjerstad (clarinets), Håvard Skaset (guitar), Bjørnar Rabbestad (flute), Hild Sofie Tafjord (horn), Børre Mølstad (tuba) and and Guro Skumsnes Moe (bass). 
I suggest you check out their new album "Sekstett" on Conrad Sound (2010). Lene Grenager plays cello here (and Rabbestad is not a regular band member).
Listen to the bass player Guro Skumsnes Moe, she´s tough enough.
Some photos over at Flickr.


Cover design: Lasse Marhaug.

Maja Ratkje at PUNKT 2010

Some of the most exciting concerts at PUNKT 2010, happened at the live remixes. First we listened to the original concert in the concert hall at Agder theater, and then we ran down stairs, to get a seat at the club, where selected musicians had treated the original concert. Maja Ratkje's remix of the Estonian choir Segakoor Norus was one of my favorites at Punkt, and you may take a look at a video on YouTube yourselves. Yes, it's too dark, but take a look still, and blame Svennejanson.

Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt
Originally uploaded by snapster.

Today a short reading list, that might contain some Robert Wyatt info. The only reason for posting this, being that I wanted to use snapster's fine portrait.

- Paul Morley on music: the Mercury music prize (Guardian 3 September 2010).
- 3:AM Cult Hero: Ivor Cutler
- Klaxons: 'We’ve never been ashamed of the fact we are a pop band' (Metro 15 August 2010).
- The Lowland Hundred: Under Cambrian Sky (The Quietus July 26 2010).

Puma and Susanne Sundfør

Puma and Susanne Sundfør do the Alicia Keys song "Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart" for the Norwegian NRK radio program Lydverket (bigger format over there).

Please tell if this is not working outside Norway.

PUNKT 2010 - Day three

Saturday at Punkt was just as hectic and great as Friday, but I´ll try to make the blog post less detailed, just read the program!

Sidsel Endresen and Stian Westerhus did a well attended concert early in the evening (double bill with Norwegian guitar player Knut Reiersrud). Raw guitar and fantastic vocals, with Punkt´s super sound and lights, and you just have the perfect festival happening. In my opinion the concert was even better than the one the duo did at Moldejazz this summer.

Now how about John Paul Jones opening up for Supersilent with a bass solo piece? And how about him not leaving the stage at all, but playing with Supersilent! Well, things like that happen at Punkt! Great fun!

The festival organizers really want unexpected meetings to happen, and that´s at least one of the reasons for having a couple of live remix sessions billed as tba until the last moment.
Saturday Dino J.A. Deane and Nils Petter Molvær remixed Westerhus/Endresen and Knut Reiersrud, while the Supersilent concert was remixed by no others than Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Skuli Sverrisson and John Hassell!

If we are lucky, at least a couple of focused pictures will soon be in the Punkt Flickr set. To be an amateur photographer at dark festivals (add some dry ice too) is some task, but I´m quite happy with the picture of Sidsel Endresen from Friday´s seminar!

At Punkt the official language seems to be English, and even the Norwegian artists speak English at concerts (far better than me, I´m glad to say). The main concerts were presented by Fiona Talkington, prooving that the organizers want quality in all parts of the festival.

PUNKT 2010 - Day two

Punkt (Kristiansand, Norway) is a killer festival, but the schedule is so tight you hardly have the time to eat. Here is a short (but messy) summary of Friday´s happenings.

You even go to seminars at this festival, and first out was Dino J. A. Deane, who told stories about being in the studio with Ike Turner and old ways of sampling (and more of course). Very entertaining.
Sidsel Endresen demonstrated her thoughts on improvisation by making the audience sing for her. Quite impressive, really. She confessed she sometimes could get "Lost in improvisation".
Supersilent played a great concert first, and afterwards Arve Henriksen, Ståle Storløkken and Helge Sten answered questions from the audience. They have hundreds of hours of recordings, so be warned, you might want to prepare for a jubilee and "Supersilent 50" in a couple of years.

Håkon Kornstad did a beautiful solo concert at the opening of the exhibition "Herbarium", by artists Kjell Nupen and Nils Chr. Moe-Repstad. Totally packed house? That´s an understatement.

In the Agder Teater I attended concerts with the Estonian choir Segakoor Noruus, Jan Bang´s "...And Poppies From Kandahar" (picture) (with Jan Bang, Arve Henriksen, John Hassell, Sidsel Endresen, Lars Danielsson and Erik Honoré) and Iceland´s Skuli Sverrisson.
The concerts were fine, but I´m more than impressed by the live remixes, that happen just after the shows. Sidsel Endresen, Jan Bang and Erik Honoré  remixed Skuli Sverrisson´s peaceful music, while  Dino Deane, Håkon Kornstad, Anders Engen and David Wallumrød treated "...And Poppies From Kandahar", with John Hassell listening.
Both remixes had sounds and melodies from the original concerts up front, and the same happened with Maja Ratkje´s magic remix of the choir concert. Her voice and electronics a perfect match to the choir sound.

PUNKT 2010 - Day one

The PUNKT 2010 festival started in Kristiansand Thursday, with concerts and live remixes, and later we may even attend seminars (this is serious stuff).
I attended my first concert ever with Frøy Aagre (sax),  and Andreas Ulvo (p) and Freddy Wike (dr), who did a great concert (jazz with melodies folks, I needed that!), later remixed by Splashgirl (picture). And note to myself: check out Frøy Aagre´s album too.

Rockettothesky did music from an album soon to come, but also some tunes fro the beautiful "Medea" album (2008). Jenny Hval has a fantastic voice, and things are not getting worse at all by having Susanna Wallumrød on stage too. The boys in the band were Håvard Volden (g) and Kyrre Laastad (dr). This concert was remixed by Terje Evensen.

Doing live remixing is a great idea (even if you have to run up and down stairs all evening to catch it), but I wonder why I could not recognize more of the material remixed? My ears, or is that the point? And damn it, PUNKT did spend lots of money on dry ice!

Not too good pictures (I´m afraid) will end up in a set on Flickr.

Nuart Stavanger

It´s soon time for the street art festival Nuart in Stavanger, Norway. Blu and Ericailcane already started.

London, Wednesday 8th December 2010

London might be the city to visit, at least on 8th of December. The Unthanks explore and perform the music of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons ! As all regular readers of this blog know, The Unthanks and Rachel Unthank & The Winterset, have covered Wyatt´s "Sea Song" on "The Bairns" and live too (thanks to YouTube).

Now they are going to pick more songs from the Wyatt catalogue, and even add a folk touch to Antony´s music.

Will somebody please, record this concert?!