Stopsmiling

Stopsmiling ("The magazine for the high-minded lowlifes"!) interviewed  Robert Wyatt  for their issue 26 (2006). I know I have read it before, but can't see that I have blogged it, so here it is - online for you all to read.

Let's just have a couple of examples here. Wyatt on drumming:
"I conquered my fear of what jazz fans would compare white drummers with by watching Keith Moon, who didn’t give a shit. He wasn’t sitting there thinking, “Am I reaching some standard set by somebody else?” Keith freed me from trying to think about standards set by someone else. Moon sustained a kind of momentum on the kit, plus a kind of human uncertainty about what was going to happen next. Which is what I wanted to do with my drumming. So, while I got my inspiration from black drummers, I got my confidence from Keith Moon".

And he is not one to brag about his own music:
"Alfie and I used to frequent Ronnie Scott’s a lot in the ’60s. It was a place you’d go to after you’d done a rock gig and wanted to hear some decent music after all the rubbish you’d been playing".

Good Vibrations

To organize outdoor concerts in a rainy town like Bergen, is a game only the tough ones may stand. The Bergen International Festival try, even if the end of May has been so cold this year, that people are wearing scarves and mittens. Saturday evening, electronica artists like Biosphere and Bjørn Torske had to run indoors for protection.

So what can you do? Hire honest working men of course!
Last year Staffan Mossenmark worked with shiny body builders, but this year he was smart, and used asphalt workers! Together with local rock heroes Kakkmaddafakka they made a hell of a noise, and some of the audience even laid down to feel the vibrations. Surf rock, Bergen style!

Spunk live in Bergen

I own all their albums, but finally I got to hear Spunk live too! Unfortunately Hild Sofie Tafjord was not playing this evening, but Kristin Andersen (tp, fl), Lene Grenager (cello), Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje (voice, electronics) played an intense, improvised and fine concert!
Just as important (?) as the music was videos (from cameras attached to the musicians) and live drawing by Asbjørn Flø and Andreas Paleologos. I really enjoy watching videos at concerts!
Perfect sound (but not on my videos I'm afraid) by John Hegre.

I'm really  looking forward to hear Spunk with Joëlle Léandre at Moldejazz this summer, and please note that Rune Grammofon just released the Spunk video "Light",  from a commissioned work for the Henie Onstad Museum (Oslo)  in 2008. I have just had quick view, but it's looking good!

Nattjazz (Bergen), Thursday 26 May

The Nattjazz festival is happening in Bergen right now, and what a Thursday evening it was yesterday!
My first concert this evening was with Sidsel Endresen (voc) and Stian Westerhus (guitar and pedals), who built fantastic (and a bit scary) soundscapes, and told wordless stories too. I have heard this duo several times now (and mentioned them in the blog of course) (Moldejazz, Punkt in Kristiansand), and a concert with these people will always be fascinating.
We got some improv, noise and rock, in a stuffed and very hot venue too, even if some of the festival audience disappeared after a while (Al  Di Meola was playing downstairs).

Endresen and Westerhus were among the artists who were to perform short commissioned works at the festival. The festival director has obviously heard the improvising duo play, because during his introduction he kindly asked Sidsel Endresen to please tell when the commisioned work was played! To no use!



Then I finally got to hear The Source. For some reason I don't think  have heard this band live?!  The musicians areTrygve Seim (sax), Øyvind Brekke (tb), Mats Eilertsen (b) and Per Oddvar Johanssen (dr). They started out in pretty free form, causing a bit of stir among some of the audience, who also left to see if Al Di Meola was still playing, but ended up playing hot swinging stuff too! Great band, great solos, three of them wearing suits, lots of hair and beards and a lot of fun! Now you beat that!

More unfocused photos from this year's Nattjazz, and previous festivals on Flickr.

Moe

It Pictures - MOE from conrad sound on Vimeo.

About time you got some Norwegian avantpunk power-trio style? No? Anyway here comes Moe, with bass player and singer Guro Skumsnes Moe (Art Directors, Sekstett), Håvard Skaset (guitar) and Sveinar Hoff (drums). Their album "It pictures" is ready, and they are joined by Okkyung Lee (cello), Lasse Marhaug (cover design) and  Kjetil Møster (saxophone).

The press material cite an anonymous source who seem to have described Moe as "2010 avant garde version of Henry Cow", and that might be a fitting description in 2011 as well?

Moe play atLast Train in Oslo 31 may and on Bergen's  Nattjazz festival 3 June.

MOE - It Pictures by hvards

MOE - I go down I go bright by hvards

Tricatel and Chris Cutler

Here are some articles that may be of interest:

- "How Not To Run A Record Label: Bertrand Burgalat On 15 Years Of Tricatel" - published in The Quietus May 20th.

- "Collateral damage" - Chris Cutler on the cost of free music - published in The Wire issue #328.

Bob Dylan 70!

Of course we want to celebrate Bob Dylan on his 70th  birthday!
The soundtrack on the first video is "Thunder on the mountain" from the great album  "Modern times" (2006).

This is not the blog to discuss good and not so good Dylan albums, but let me mention one good one, where he is really seeking out his roots, namely "World gone wrong" from 1993. I think this is the only record I have seen being reviewed by Robert Wyatt! Wyatt´s "Hear this man do it, and take courage" was published in Mojo in December 1993 (p 104-105).
Wyatt finishes is review like this: "World Gone Wrong finds Dylan strumming again through songs from what he sees as his tradition. It is still totally a Bob Dylan record. Hear this man do it, and take courage. How great it could if everybody struggling to find their own voice were able to just stop struggling and ... well, use their own voice. We all got one, unique as a fingerprint".


And here is Robert Wyatt´s own "Bob Dylan song" "Blues in Bob minor" from "Shleep" (1998). I usually don´t post sound files like this (not uploaded by the artist) but you have already bought this one I hope? If not, do it!

 Don't Think Twice, It's All Right by susannawallumroed

And finally a cover. Susanna and the Magical Orchestra did "Don´t think twice" on "Melody Mountain" (2006).

Jæ live in Paris

Here you have Jessica Sligter and Viljam Nybacka live on the streets of Paris!
Let me also remind you of  Jæ´s great album "Balls and kittens, draught and strangling rain" (Hubro 2010)!

And  here is another one, indoors in Paris!

Art in Bergen right now

On Saturdays I usually walk around in Bergen for some hours, visiting galleries. My favorites are the small galleries like Entrée, Knipsu, Galleri Fisk and S12, where you may even get a chance to meet the artists. Here are some images for you, if you care at all!

- On top we see Etan Hayes-Chute´s cottage, raised inside Entrée, looking like it´s been there since the 1950s. Ecological retro art perhaps? If you visit Bergen before 31 July, you may see it.

- At Knipsu the bachelor students in photography at Kunsthøgskolen i Bergen show their work. I fell for Ellen Henriette Suhrke´s "On How to Attract the Hare", and bought the book on how to go hare hunting in Helsinki! I relly needed that one!

- Italian-chilean Carla Garlaschi designed a "Pleasure Island" at Galleri Fisk. She used "painting , video, stickers things bought, borrowed, owned and some other toys". "Love Bombing" was painted by streetpainters in some big city, from a collage made by Garlaschi.

- The Mexican brothers Einar and Jamex de la Torre have been staying at  S12 for a while, and have made all the glass art exhibited in "Fallen Angels" here. Glass art is something I can like, but this is not the very thin elegant works of art that you may often see! These guys are pretty wild, and their pieces made me smile from the moment I entered the gallery! I´m really sorry I couldn´t see them work here. Visit before 3 July.

More pictures in my arts set on Flickr.

River Man

We have had some posts on Nick Drake covers in the blog already (look here), and now it´s time for a Norwegian duo to try (and succeed!).
Listen to Ola Kvernberg and Kirsti Huke do "River Man" at Credo in Trondheim,  November 2010.

They also do Tom Waits´ "Lonely".

12 FREE Robert Wyatt´s and 9 cats

12 FREE Robert Wyatt's and 9 cats
Originally uploaded by STEWY'S STENCILS

Damn you lucky people. If I read this correctly, STEWY placed 12 Robert Wyatt stencils and 9 cat stencils (on cardboard) in London (Redchurch, St. Brick Lane) today. Any of you found one?

Cats and Robert Wyatt! I like that!

STEWY has visited Robert Wyatt and Stuff earlier too.

Koboku Senju and Lisa Dillan

Another fine concert evening in Bergen yesterday, this time at the art gallery 3,14.
Koboku Senjû were first, delivering a quiet, but still a bit disturbing set of improv, resembling the album "Selektiv Hogst". The mixture of horns, "no-input mixing board" and acoustic guitar makes a beautiful soundscape! Koboku Senjû is Martin Taxt (tuba), Tetuzi Akiyama (guitar), Eivind Lønning (trumpet), Espen Reinertsen (saxophone) and Toshimaru Nakamura (no-input mixing board).


Next one out was the great vocal artist Lisa Dillan. With a fantastic voice control, use of oranges and upper body as a rhytmic instrument, playing around with kitchen utensils on the floor and singing the standard "Autumn Leaves" after eating a banana very fast, she sure makes a show! And don't you forget the album  "Arousal" from 2010!

Evenings like this, make Bergen a good place to live in. Why only 15 people show up makes me wonder.

Dominoradio and Bill McCormick

Look out for the Dominoradio, starting 6 June and running for a week non-stop!
Quite interesting info to be found on their site: "Presented by Domino's international roster of artists, along with friends and neighbours from the worldwide independent music community, Domino Radio will host a dynamic schedule loaded with individuality, free expression and all manner of sounds from around the world. Featuring shows by Animal Collective, Hot Chip, The Kills, Franz Ferdinand, No Pain In Pop, Bobby Gillespie, Optimo, Dirty Projectors, Frieze Arts, Robert Wyatt and many others"!

Read an interview with Matching Mole/Canterbury bass man Bill MacCormick over at  "It's Psychedelic Baby".

Comicoperando: "Soup Song" live 2011

I already mentioned this concert, but here we have a video too, from  "Comicoperando - The music of Robert Wyatt" - live in London 12 May 2011. This is the encore, "Soup Song", and the musicians are  Chris Cutler, Annie Whitehead, Dagmar Krause, Karen Mantler, Michel Delville and John Edwards.

Food live in Oslo

Since today (17th May) is The National Day of Norway, I want to quiet things down a bit with this beautiful tune by Food. The video was recorded live at Victoria in Oslo in March (2011).
The band is Thomas Strønen, Iain Bellamy and Christian Fennesz.

Let me suggest that you check out Food´s albums. See this old blog post on Wyatt and Stuff for a start.

Snappy house for sale

This must be the first time I have seen Robert Wyatt´s name mentioned in connection with  a pretty large house for sale!
If you can´t afford the house, how about  this book instead? At least it´s about some interesting people in Deià, Mallorca, where this house is built.

Comicoperando live in London

Comicoperando taking a bow 
Originally uploaded by ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪
Comicoperando played their versions of  Robert Wyatt's music in London 12 May. Great concert, but poorly attended, or what? I wouldn't mind seeing this gang!
Gary Franklin took the picture (more on his Flickr) of Chris Cutler, Annie Whitehead, Dagmar Krause, Karen Mantler and Michel Delville or John Edwards (please tell me which one, if you know).

It is John Edwards! Thanks

And a review over at Blogdegezou!

Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy  just released a new album called "Neptune" (Hem Hem, 2011).
Check out this live version of "Britain is a car park" from the album.

Summer playing list?

Since it´s time to start making your summer playing lists, let me suggest some Robert Wyatt pearls on other peoples albums. I bet you can find them on some streaming service or digital shop of some kind:

Bertrand Burgalat: "This summer night" (Cheri BB, Tricatel 2007)

Hot Chip: "Made in the dark" (Hot Chip with Robert Wyatt and Geese") (EMI 2008)

Monica Vasconcelos: "Out of the doldrums", "Still in the dark" ("hih", Movas 2008)

Barbara Morgenstern: "Camouflage" ("Bm", Minika Enterprise 2008)

Jeanette Lindström: "River" (and others) ("Attitude & Orbit Control", Diesel 2009)

Sophia Domancich: "Wilderness" ("Snakes and Ladders", Cristal 2010)

Coxhill, Frith, Parker, 99 Minutes

- The Lol Coxhill Trio at The Playhouse during City of Derry Jazz & Big Band Festival 2011.  Lol Coxhill (sax),  Alan Niblock (bass) and Steve Noble (trommer).
Almost 50 minutes long!

- Fred Frith and Evan Parker at Cafe Oto (April 2011).


  99 Minutes Program 12 110510 Jazz by MIC Norway

- MIC Norway´s web cast series "99 Minutes" #12, by Guttorm Andreasen. Jazz festival edition, with among others Håkon Kornstad. The previous web casts here.

More artists to Molde

I guess the program for  Molde International Jazz Festival is almost complete now, and I will probably not bother you any more with this until July (no, I won´t promise anything).
Today the festival announced several of this blog´s (more or less) regular visitors too: Kjetil Møster, Michael Duch, Karl Seglem, Eirik Hegdal and Spunk (Maja Ratkje, Hild Sofie Tafjord, Lene Grenager, Kristin Andersen) with Jöelle Léandre (announced by Wyatt and Stuff already in January).
This may be a nice festival once more,  so let´s just celebrate with Jöelle Léandre and Carlos Zingaro.

Throw Open The Church´s Doors!

This might be only for the hardcore collectors of Norwegian music, but here we go anyway.
Plastic Strip  and  Lars Mørch Finborud, who gave us the great Compendium sampler in 2010, recently released a sampler with Norwegian Christian bands that I have never heard about in my life.
The title of this blog post is the English translation of the first part of the full album title "Lukk opp kirkens dører. A selection of Norwegian Christian jazz, psych, funk & folk 1970 - 1980".

The music is more than OK, and  yes, it is jazz, psych, funk and folk. Some quite well known musicians from outside the Christian music field is here too, like Fred Nøddelund, Ditlef Eckhoff and Knut Risnæs (Good News), Torbjørn Sunde (Presens) and Trond Villa, Pete Knudsen and Terje Venaas (Kari Hansa & Gregers Hes).

I don´t want to be rude, but the lyrics are best forgotten, so if you don´t understand Norwegian, this album may sound even better!

Cunclusion: An interesting album for friends of Norwegian rock and jazz, and a great work by Lars Mørch Finborud. The booklet is fine too, and written in English all the way!

Catalytic-Sound

Check out the shop Catalytic-Sound! The new primary source to get music made by the four fine gentlemen Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love, Ken Vandermark and Peter Brötzmann.

I kind of like the message below the empty cart: Empty! Blasphemy.

Noise festival in Oslo

Just a short message today, and far too late to. If you are in Oslo Saturday 7 May, look for the noise festival Støyfest (Norwegian link)! Bring earplugs to the Podium in Hausmannsgate (street address).

The noisy ones are Testicle Hazard (Lasse Marhaug and Tommi Keräenen), Umpio, Ambolthue and The Toft, Vanhala and Maranata with Maja Ratkje.

Lasse Marhaug says he hopes they will be able to avoid all kinds of rhythms and melodies this year (Ballade 5. mai 2011 Norwegian link). 

Lemon Flower

How about Sheer Weight of Traffic´s cover of Ivor Cutler´s "Lemon Flower"?
I like it, and the video too!
The original song is on "Jammy Smears" released in 1976.

Comicoperando 12 May

If you happen to be in London next week, please note the following (stolen from Jazzwise): "Next week on Thursday 12 May at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London there is a special concert by Comicoperando based on the music of Robert Wyatt".

Comicoperando is Dagmar Krause, Annie Whitehead, Karen Mantler, Michel Delville, John Edwards and Chris Cutler.

Nattjazz 2011

If you happen to be anywhere near Bergen (Norway) 24 May - 4 June you should visit our jazz festival Nattjazz.

Any visit is your own responsibility, but here are my suggestions (based on knowledge and guessing):
Scorch Trio and Mats Eilertsen Trio with Harmen Fraanje (25 May), Sidsel Endresen & Stian Westerhus Duo and Building Instrument (26 May), Cakewalk and Koenigsberg (27 Amy), Arve Henriksen Trio and Die Enttäuschung (28 May), Atomic (31 May), Magnus Broo (1 June), Team Hegdal and Ultralyd (2 June), Moe (3 June) and Salif Keita and Wunderkammer (4 June). Oh, and Tortoise are here too!

You may even bring kids to the Bajazz festival for children, and make sure you hear  Crab is Crap feat. Håkon Kornstad (29 - 30 May).

Nattjazz is a jazz festival, but the festival use genre descriptions such as these, to describe the bands: noise groove, progressive guitar jazz rock, gypsy surf, ethiogroove, futuristic drone metall, desert-balkan-bollywood, free jazz blues funk, ethnosentric acid polka and avant-punkblues. So be warned!

Hommage à Syd Barrett

We have had some blog posts on jazz and hiphop versions of Nick Drake songs (here is one), and since I love cover songs, I noticed that All About Jazz reviewed I.Overdrive Trio´s "Hommage à Syd Barrett" (Cristal 2008) yesterday. Or don´t we call jazz versions covers?
I have never heard this band, and not their album yet (AAJ were pretty late too!), but I have checked out some videos, and they sound OK! How about "Dominoes" from "The Madcap Laughs" (1970), to pick one?

Feel free to comment if you know, love or hate (oh - please, be nice!) this trio.

I.Overdrive Trio is  Philippe Gordiani (guitar), Bruno Tocanne (drums) and Remi Gaudillat (trumpet).

First of May with Poing and Maja Ratkje

I already warned the ruling classes about the CD "Wach Auf!", and now it´s here! Maja S. K. Ratkje and Poing have been on a short tour to promote the album, and they ended in Bergen on the 1st of May.

The venue was almost packed with young revolutionaries and an old guy (no names), all of us enjoying the music from Frode Haltli (accordion), Rolf Erik Nystrøm (saxophone), Håkon Thelin (bass) and Maja Ratkje (vocal, flute (?), harmonica). They played most of the songs on the album, and some more. The record is fine, but the concert was really wild. The excellent band did their national anthems, worker´s songs, punk songs and folk tunes with energy and a tiny bit of irony. One of the best moments of the show was without irony tough, when Ratkje and  Thelin did the traditional song "Mining for gold". Beautiful!
The encore was "25 minutes to go", better known by Johnny Cash.

(Sorry about the sound and lights on the video, not top quality, I know).

Shipbuilding

BBC Radio 4 seem to have a program called "Music Group". In one of their broadcasts,  comedian  Stewart Lee, voiceover artist Julie Berry  and author of the novel "One Day", David Nicholls, met to discuss three pieces of music.

"Shipbuilding" sung by Robert Wyatt is one of their choices, and they have got a lot of nice things to say about our man! 

I don´t know for how long, but you may  listen here. 

One of the characters in  David Nicholls´  book even makes a mix tape with both Robert Wyatt´s "Shipbuilding" and "I´m a believer" among the songs. I guess I have to read the book then. The least I could do!

Check out the  the artists on the mix tape here.