Cakewalk

HUBROCD2514 Cakewalk: Wired - Glass by HUBRO

Cakewalk: "A mixture of the expressions "a piece of cake" and "a walk in the park". Used to describe a task that is extremely, ridiculously friggin easy". (Urban Dictionary).

The trio Cakewalk is here with their first album "Wired" (Hubro 2012). The music is improvised and pretty hard to classify, and the record company Hubro compares the music to "Krautrock, industrial electronic music, noise-rock rock and the Bowie/Eno “Berlin Trilogy". I don´t disagree with that, "industrial" was a word that came to my mind too, but it is not "ridiculously friggin easy" (there are other meanings of the word Cakewalk too, probably more fitting?).

Others have compared Cakewalk to the Norwegian band Puma, I throw in Ultralyd too, and you may feel free to add more! Cakewalk do their own stuff anyway, and they build pretty tough soundscapes and tunes. Check them out, and play as loud as you dare. 30 minutes is all you get!

Cakewalk is Øystein Skar (synth, and known from the bands Glow, Sacred Harp and Highasakite), Stephan Meidell (g, b, boxes, and also in Krachmacher, The Sweetest Thrill and Vanilla Riot) and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad (dr, also playing in Hedvig Mollestad Trio and the Hilde Marie Kjersem band).

Cover: Klara Sofie Ludvigsen and Yokoland (sorry I cut it a bit).

Diversions Vol. 2

In 2011 The Unthanks released ”The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons” (Rabble Rouser 2011), probably the start of a series of albums meant to run parallel to the band´s more official releases.
28 July "Diversions Vol. 2: The Unthanks With Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band" will be released at the Cambridge Folk Festival. The music is written by The Unthanks´ pianist and producer, Adrian McNally.

On the video you see The Unthanks with brass at the BBC Folk Awards in February (2012). Nice!

Matching Mole Remastered

Esoteric Recordings recently released remastered and expanded versions of both Matching Mole albums from 1972, "Matching Mole" and "Little Red Record"!

They are both double CDs and contain the original albums (of course!) with great sound, the single versions of "O Caroline"/"Signed Curtain", unreleased alternative recordings of several tunes (among others a 20 minutes long "Part of the dance jam"), BBC sessions that have been released on "Matching Mole on the Radio" (Hux 1996) and three new tracks.

In 2007 I had a post called "Robert Wyatt for beginners - Matching Mole", where I listed all known recorded tunes from this band. Now we have to add "Memories Membrane" and "Horse" from "Matching Mole", and "Mutter" from "Little Red Record" to the list. "Mutter" is not a song, to be honest, but a quite entertaining recording of a slogan workshop! "It´s a mole! Can you dig it?"

I have not had the albums in the house for more than a day, but they sound SO good, that the conclusion will be: You need them! No reason to wait.


Added 7 May 2012:

Well, you might rather want to listen to Michael King, who is disagreeing! Check out his "Thoughts On Matching Mole's Little Red Record ~ Remastered" over at "What´s Rattlin´".

Too much "stuff"?

Just a reminder for those of you who feel that there is too much "Stuff" and too little Robert Wyatt in Robert Wyatt And Stuff:
This is the link that you may prefer.

PNL Records

Paal Nilssen-Love, who must be Norway´s hardest working drummer, has got his own record company too, called PNL Records.
The latest from the company, to arrive in this house, is a duo with Nilssen-Love and and Terrie Ex (guitar), recorded in 2009. Four tracks, ten - fourteen minutes long, containing improv, noise jazz and rock in a fine mix.
Coverdesign as usual by Lasse Marhaug, and painting by Gebrekristos Solomon (Ethiopia).

Most releases on PNL are CDs, but they throw in some vinyl for change (pressed in limited quantities). A couple of the records have been released in cooperation with Pica Disk.
The closer you get to Paal Nilssen-Love, either on earth or in cyberspace, the easier to get the albums.

So far, I believe this is the complete PNL discography (please correct me, if I´m wrong):

Lasse Marhaug & Paal Nilssen-Love: Stalk (PNL 001, 2007)
Nils Henrik Aasheim & Paal Nilssen-Love: Late Play (PNL 002, 2007)
Magnus Broo & Paal Nilssen-Love: Game (PNL 003, 2008)
Sten Sandell Trio: Face of Tokyo (PNL 004, 2009)
Paal Nilssen-Love: 27 Years Later (PNL 005, 2010)
Paal Nilssen-Love & Anders Hana: AM/FM (PNL 006, 2010)
Paal Nilssen-Love: Miró (PNL 007, 2011)
Slugfield (Nilssen-Love, Marhaug, Ratkje): Slime Zone (PNL 008, 2012)
Lasse Marhaug & Paal Nilssen-Love: No Combo LP (PICA 028/PNL 009, 2011)
Anders Hana & Paal Nilssen-Love: Hosanna and Parallel Sevens 10" (PNL 010, 2011)
Fire Room (Nilssen-Love, Marhaug, Vandermark): Wels 2008/11/08 LP (Pica 030/PNL 011, 2011)
Terrie EX & Paal Nilssen-Love: Hurgu! (PNL 012, 2011)
Double Tandem (Nilssen-Love, Vandermark, Baars): Cement (PNL 013, 2012)

(The list was corrected 23 June 2012, and I hope it´s OK now!)

Added 25 July 2012:
Bradford, Gjerstad, Nilssen-Love: Dragon (PNL 014, 2012)
Frode Gjerstad Trio: Hide Out (PNL 015, 2012)

Quite close to Evan Parker

Portrait of Evan Parker (Silver Version) from neil henderson on Vimeo.

What a portrait of Evan Parker!
We can see the light entering his soprano saxophone as it is played.

Probably made by Neil Henderson, and taken from a full documentary? Anyone?


Hey - they seem to have removed the video just after I posted this!
OK - buy some Evan Parker albums while you wait, and we´ll see if they upload again!


21 April 2012: Try this link http://vimeo.com/91296461

Elton Dean´s Ninesense live 1979

Here is another great archival release from Reel Recordings. This time we get the live album Elton Dean´s Ninesense "The 100 Club Concert 1979" (Reel Recordings 2012).
The full concert from The 100 Club takes two CDs (one set on each). They play one Nick Evans composition ("First born"), the rest is composed by Elton Dean.

If you are a Hi-Fi freak, please note that the recording is described as "Sony TC-D5M Cassette, Stereophonic Ambient Recording", and was made by Dean fan Riccardo Bergerone. It may sound as Keith Tippett is pretty far away from the rest, but if you can accept a recording (and release) like this one (and Tippett obviously has!), you are in for a treat! And really, it doesn´t sound that bad? Anyone?

The Band is Elton Dean (alto saxophone, saxello), Alan Skidmore (tenor & soprano saxophones), Mark Charig (cornet & tenor horn), Harry Beckett (flugelhorn & trumpet), Nick Evans (trombone), Radu Malfatti (trombone), Keith Tippett (piano), Harry Miller (bass), Louis Moholo (drums). The American trumpet player Jim Dvorak joined the Brit-Jazz gang for the second set.

I don´t know if anybody has published a complete, and up to date, Elton Dean discography, but visit Calyx´s Canterbury discography (click on D!) and Hulloder, and take it from there.

Bømlo brenn om natta

Espen Sommer Eide just made a video for the hit "Bømlo brenn om natta", taken from Alog´s album "Unemployed" (Rune Grammofon 2011).
Jaap Blonk is singing Nicholas Møllerhaug´s Norwegian lyrics about his grandfather, who was a road worker. The title is something like "Bømlo is burning in the night" in English, perhaps an image describing working with hot asphalt?

Buy the CD version or the glorious 4 X LP box, that was recently reviewed in The Milk Factory.

To Be Continued

24 March is the World TB Day. No, tuberculosis is unfortunately not eradicated.
See the terrible statistics over at WHO.

On the World TB day we also get an online concert lasting 24 hours, To Be Continued.

This year´s program:

00.00 – 00.30 Antonio Della Marina, Topolò (I)
00.30 – 01.00 Julia Kent, New York City (USA)
01.00 – 01.30 Signe Lidén, Bergen (N)
01.30 – 02.00 Paulo Vivacqua, Rio de Janeiro (BR)
02.00 – 02.30 Radiador Colectivo, Mexico City (MEX)
02.30 – 03.00 Emiliano Hernandez, Santana Caracas (YV)
03.00 – 03.30 Concordia Laptop Orchestra, Montreal (CAN)
03.30 – 04.00 Amy Denio & Iesod, Seattle (USA)
04.00 – 04.30 Audrey Chen, Berlin (D)
04.30 – 05.00 Nicolas Carrasco Diaz, Santiago de Chile (RCH)
05.00 – 05.30 Luigi Turra, Schio (I)
05.30 – 05.45 Jin Hi Kim, Inchon (ROK)
05.45 – 06.05 Oliver Dombi, Sfantugheorghe (RO)
06.05 – 06.30 Chris Silver T, Filiatra Mesinias (GR)
06.30 – 07.00 Vincent Lê Quang, Dunkerque (F)
07.00 – 07.30 Alvari Lume, Eespo (FIN)
07.30 – 08.00 James Webb, Cape Town (ZA)
08.00 – 08.30 James Rushford, Melbourn (AUS)
08.30 – 09.00 Stefano Bechini, Pian Castagnaio (I)
09.00 – 09.30 Ben Pyne, Auckland (NZ)
09.30 – 10.00 Tony Pagliuca, Venezia (I)
10.00 – 10.30 Vadim Ganzha, Almaty (KZ)
10.30 – 11.00 Paolo Calzavara, Mirano (I)
11.00 – 11.30 Lado Jakša, Ljubljana (SLO)
11.30 – 12.00 Sirkku Mantere, Helsinki (FIN)
12.00 – 12.30 Woodpecker Wooliams, Brighton (ENG)
12.30 – 13.00 Etta Aman tribute, Cividale del Friuli (I)
13.00 – 13.30 Trioattraente, London (ENG)
13.30 – 14.00 Susanne Hafenscher, Vienna (A)
14.00 – 14.30 Jennifer Helia, Brno (CZ)
14.30 – 15.00 James Wyness, Jedburgh (SCO)
15.00 – 15.30 Bandista, Istanbul (TR)
15.30 – 16.00 Sharif Sehnaoui, Beirut (RL)
16.00 – 16.30 Edgars Rubenis, Riga (LV)
16.30 – 17.00 Karen Asatrian e Anna Hakobyan, Erevan (ARM)
17.00 – 17.30 Thierry Madiot, Reims (F)
17.30 – 18.00 Tautvydas Bajarkevičius aka audio_z, Vilnius (LT)
18.00 – 18.30 Unikum 4tet, Klagenfurt (A)
18.30 – 19.00 84th day of the year (Alen Sinkauz), Pula (HR)
19.00 – 19.30 Massimo Croce, San Pietro al Natisone (I)
19.30 – 20.00 Wojciech Kucharczyk, Bytom (PL)
20.00 – 20.30 Thollem Mc Donas, Detroit (USA)
20.30 – 21.00 Dmitriy Rodionov, Snezhinsk (RUS)
21.00 – 21.30 Lauri des Marais, Innsbrook (USA)
21.30 – 22.00 Rhys Chatham, Asheville (USA)
22.00 – 22.30 Abul Mogard, Beograd (SRB)
22.30 – 23.00 Modou (concerto stopTB Italia), Milano/Dakar (I/SN)
23.00 – 23.30 Miroslav Tòth and Ensemble, Praha (CZ)
23.30 – 24.00 Topolovska Minimalna Orkestra, Topolò (I)

Voices That Matter

Spring is on it´s way they say, and the festival season too.
If you are heading towards the west coast of Norway in May, you better check out the program for the Bergen International Festival.
Maja Ratkje is curating a concert series called "Voices That Matter".

I steal her own words from the festival web site (read more over there!):

"Without breath we cease to exist. Without voices that matter, we are also poorly equipped for survival. The English improvisation artist Phil Minton says that anyone with breath can join his Feral Choir. Everyone is equal, regardless of background, class or musical skills. Who will take part in Bergen is a surprise. Experience a concert with the Feral Choir in Logen on 1 June, and you will carry a smile around with you for a long time afterwards. In the same concert, which has been titled New Concept of Choirs, the vocal artist Stine Janvin Motland will premiere a new work by Øyvind Torvund, commissioned for the occasion, and the Norwegian Girls’ Choir will perform my stage work Ro–Uro ('Calmness-Agitation'), inspired by folk music and the history of despots.

One of the greatest voices of our era is David Moss. It is a great honour to present the American during the Bergen International Festival – don’t miss him in Logen on 31 May. There will be more powerful solos on 2 June, also in Logen, with the controversial unbridled noise artist Dave Phillips, the virtuoso of voice and theremin Koichi Makigami (known for collaborating with John Zorn and Otomo Yoshihide amongst others) and Tone Åse, who will perform a 'sound novel' in Bergen dialect!

The English viol consort Fretwork draws a connection between times ancient and modern in works by composers ranging from Purcell and Gesualdo to Tan Dun and Ratkje. The Norwegian author Karin Sveen, known for her incisive political contributions to left-wing newspapers, will also be presented reading her own poem ET OS, which was a direct source of inspiration for my work River Mouth Echoes.

I have invited the artist HC Gilje to join me to create a special room of sound and light for the first concert of the series in Johanneskirken (St John’s Church) on 25 May, my only contribution to the series as a musician".

And suddenly I start wondering: Are there any improv vocalists of the male gender in Norway? I don´t think so, but I hope I´m wrong again.

Star Wars Saxophone - CUCKOO remix

André Roligheten from Albatrosh in Star Wars!

Video made by cuckoomusic, polycarbonate saxophone made by Vibrato.

Space is the place!

Bertrand Burgalat

Bertrand Burgalat has got a new single and a new video, and probably a new album too, scheduled for release on his own company Tricatel.
Check out "Bardot´s Dance". I really don´t know why I like this so much, but I´m probably biased since he has worked with both Robert Wyatt and Alfreda Benge (Alfie)!

We need springtime here, in the northern parts of Europe now, and we long for summer. Let´s shorten the wait with "Spring isn´t fair" (lyrics by Alfreda Benge) and "This Summer Night" (vocals by Robert Wyatt).

Oslo Jazz Festival 2012

Stian Westerhus & Trondheim Jazz Orchestra from Vj Grappa on Vimeo.

Oslo Jazz Festival is happening 13 - 18 August this year. The organizers have just started to leak some of the artists, and Stian Westerhus and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra are ready! They will perform their commissioned work for the Molde International Jazz Festival in 2011.
I heard them in Molde, and the the concert was more than fantastic!

I don´t know if Westerhus will have the same musicians in Oslo, but check out this video from Moldejazz!

These fine people play:
Maja Ratkje - vocal/electronics
Mats Gustafsson -- sax
Kjetil Møster -- sax
Hild Sofie Tafjord - horn/electronics
Erik Johannesen -- trombone
Bjørnar Habbestad - flute/electronics
Ola Kvernberg - violin/viola
Bergmund Waal Skaslien -- viola
Michael Duch -- bass
Øystein Moen -- keyb
Kenneth Kapstad -- drums
Stian Westerhus -- guitar
Kyrre Heldal Karlsen -- lights
Tor Breivik -- sound
Producer: Eirik Hegdal

Lol Coxhill Benefit Concert

Video made by Helen Petts in 2009.

Look out for the Lol Coxhill benefit concert 18 march, if you are not too far from Birmingham!
I can not find a lot of info on this, but it seems like Coxhill is hospitalized, and in need of some financial support to get the best treatment.

Over at Hibou, Anemone & Bear they seem to know that Paul Dunmall, Mark Sanders, Mike Hurley, Bruce Coates, Walt Shaw, Mike Fletcher, Nick Jurd, Chris Mapp, Lawrence Hunt, Brian Duffy and Darren Joyce are playing.

All the best to Lol Coxhill!

Lol Coxhill Benefit Concert.
Sunday 18th March. 3 - 6pm at The Lamp Tavern,
Barford St, B5 6AH.
Entry by contribution.

John Cage: 4´33´

The Norwegian brass and percussion band Eikanger Bjørsvik Musikklag performed John Cage´s famous piece 4´33´´ at the Borealis festival in Bergen yesterday. The piece should last 4 minutes and 33 seconds, but Eikanger Bjørsvik clocked in at 5 minutes and 20 seconds. I don´t know how Cage fans will react to that, but some improvisation must be OK, or?

I have to say that it sounded best when they did not mute the horns.
And of course somebody uploaded the concert on YouTube. Not great filming, but quite good sound quality. Should be played loud!

You will find my pictures from Borealis 2012 on Flickr.

Five years of bad English!

Never mind the language today please! Let´s celebrate Robert Wyatt and Stuff´s 5th birthday!

In August 2011 we had a great party in Wyatting, so to top that one, what better way to celebrate than to have a singalong?
Now all of you, pick up your ukuleles, and head on over here, for Karen Mantler´s "THE OFFICIAL ROBERT WYATT FAN CLUB SONG".

Ready?

The English Malady?

Schizophrenia, mental problems, low self esteem, alcohol, LSD and other drugs, and lots of fantastic (and not so fantastic!) rock music!
Now is there a connection here, and is it something about England?
Clinton Heylin is at least trying to describe the mental problems - music connection in his book "All the Madmen: Barrett, Bowie, Drake, the Floyd, The Kinks, The Who and the Journey to the Dark Side of English Rock" (Constable 2012).

There are some sidetracks in this story (a.o. Peter Green), but the soundtrack may look like this:
Nick Drake: "Pink Moon"
Syd Barrett: "The Madcap Laughs"
Kinks: "Muswell Hillbillies"
David Bowie: "Ziggy Stardust"
Pink Floyd: "Dark Side of the Moon"
The Who: "Quadrophenia"

We get to hear about Soft Machine, who spent some days in the studio to record for "The Madcap Laughs" (not much left on the album though).
And Heylin is not afraid to put it bluntly, he says that David Gilmour and Roger Waters hijacked Syd Barrett´s album, making the final result too much their own. Right or wrong?

Probably a better read for the ones who really know these artists and their recordings (yes of course, all of you do, but I mean the other ones), since it is pretty detailed. Me, I realized that I did not know my Kinks and Who as well as I thought (not too late is it?).

To rub it in, Heylin´s appendix is called: "A fast rewind through 400 years of the English malady".

Come On Let´s Go!

Robert Wyatts "Free Will and testament" is on Paul Weller´s sampler, made for the April issue of Mojo (no 221, 2012).
How can you make a better choice than this song (although Weller admits he´s a bit biased, playing on that tune himself!)? New readers please take notes: The song was first released on Hugh Hopper & Kramer´s album "A Remark Hugh Made" (1995)(great version too!) and then on Wyatt´s fantastic album "Shleep" (1997).

Weller on "Free Will and Testament": "So, yes, it´s sort of bleak but, like a lot of music, when you listen to it, it actually pulls you out of depression"

Paul Weller´s cover of Nick Drake´s "River Man" is on the album too. This song was recorded for the 50th anniversary CD to celebrate the company Island, called "Island Life" (2009).

Ross Hammond Quartet

These days I seem to listen to few artists/bands in the jazz and improv area, who focus on electric guitars. What´s happening? OK, I play my Scorch Trio and Bushman´s Revenge albums, and of course the Norwegian guitar master Stian Westerhus, but he treats his guitar like it´s from another world.
So I needed another dose, and then comes Ross Hammond Quartet with "Adored" (Prescott Recordings 2012), all the way from California.

I might know the brother of one of the musicians, but once more, here is another bunch of great musicians I have probably never heard before:
Ross Hammond (g), Alex Cline (dr), Vinny Golia (sax) and Steuart Liebig (b).
There are good melodies, pretty rocked out stuff and into the free form wilderness they go too, happily during the same tune (like "Hands Up"), and there are quiet, beautiful moments like on "She´s my little girl". A very fine mix indeed.

On YouTube they play a live version of "Sesquipedalian", for your pleasure, and the album may be downloaded from both eMusic and iTunes.

Live in the living room

Bobby Bradford (cornet), Glenn Ferris (trombone) and Mark Dresser (double bass), live (no audience present) in Bruce Fowler´s living room, back in 2009, now released as "Live in LA" by Clean Feed (2012).

Bobby Bradford has played with Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy to name a few, but he has visited this blog a few times with Frode Gjerstad and Circulasione Totale Orchestra.
Some pictures from Molde and Bergen on Flickr, if you are interested.
Mark Dresser has played with Anthony Braxton and John Zorn, and Glenn Ferris with Don Ellis and Billy Cobham, among others.

The musicians sound so happy and relaxed here, and the music on "Live in LA" is just incredibly nice! I find no better words to describe it.

Download, and read some more over at eMusic.

Soft Machine live in Paris 1970

The whole Soft Machine live in Paris 1970 DVD is now on YouTube.
Follow the link if you want to see it, no embedding allowed.
The DVD was released by Voiceprint in 2008, but it seems like it´s not in stock anymore, and probably just fine somebody uploaded it?

I had a post on the DVD in 2008.

The band:
Lyn Dobson: soprano sax, flute, voice, harmonica;
Elton Dean: alto sax, saxello;
Mike Ratledge: organ, pianet;
Hugh Hopper: bass;
Robert Wyatt: drums, vocals.

They play:
Facelift,
Esther's Nose Job,
Eamonn Andrews/Backwards/Mousetrap,
Out-Bloody-Rageous.

John Cale 70!

Congrats to John Cale, celebrating his 70th birthday today! Let me just remind you about his previous EP "Extra Playful" (2011)! I have already posted the videos for two of the best songs on the EP, but feel free to watch "Catastrofuk" and "Whaddyamean by that" once more, right now!

I did not realize it was Cale´s birthday until I read a feature in Norwegian vinduet.no (told you it was Norwegian!), where they recommend a brand new sampler of artists produced by John Cale: "Conflict & Catalysis: productions & arrangements 1966 - 2006" (Big Beat 2012). Seems interesting!

And, yes, I think I will play "Paris 1919" (1973) once more before midnight! Good music guaranteed!

Susanna: "Freeze"

SUSANNA - FREEZE from TRÆR on Vimeo.

Susanna´s new album "Wild Dog" will be released by Rune Grammofon 16 mars.

While you are waiting, enjoy the beautiful song and the video "Freeze", recoreded at Café Mono in Oslo, with Jenny Hval and Hilde Marie Kjersem.

Essential Blues Masters

Robert Wyatt collectors better check out the Don "Sugarcane" Harris sampler "Essential Blues Masters" (Master Classics Records 2011).
It looks like it has all of the tracks from the live album "Got the blues" on it, and Robert Wyatt is drumming.

You will find the album at eMusic and Amazon UK.
But is it available in any known physical format? Anyone?

Women Of The World

Women of the World by dollboy

Since it´s the International Women´s Day today, let´s have parade, and wave Ivor Cutler og Linda Hirst´s "Women of the world" high above our heads.
In the parade: Jim O´Rourke (available on "Eureka"), Ivor Cutler and Linda Hirst (available on "Privilege"), Yacht and Dollboy.

I stole the idea from one of the tweets of the good people of the music library of Trondheim.
They tweet in Norwegian right here.

Alan Lomax - Global Jukebox

As you all know, Alan Lomax (1915 - 2002) travelled around, making field recordings of all kinds of folk music.
Now his archives are online, for all of us to enjoy, thanks to Global Jukebox/ Association for Cultural Equity (an no offense meant if I have misunderstood something here). Albums will be released in different formats too.

Why don´t you check out the recordings of the great Mississippi Fred McDowell for a starter?
And there are videos on YouTube too, of course!

The beauty of the internet demonstrated? I think so!

Mikhael Paskalev - "I spy"

Mikhael Paskalev - I spy from André Chocron on Vimeo.

Ah! Sweet pop music!
Check out my friend André Chocron´s new video for Norwegian Mikhael Paskalev´s song "I spy".

Volcano The Bear

Volcano The Bear is Clarence Manuelo, Aaron Moore and Daniel Padden. I have never heard about the band or the musicians, until now, but according to a very short Wikipedia article they were formed in Leicester, and have played since 1995 (not with the same musicians all the time though).
Rune Grammofon just released the album "Golden Rhythm/Ink Music". It contains both new stuff and recordings from 2006 and 2008, without ruining the feeling of a solid album.

I was not sure about this one, but Rune´s description convinced me: "A calculated hysterical melting pot of This Heat, Robert Wyatt, Faust and The Residents, of musique concrète and ethno-folk, all seen through a prism of theatrical improvisations and unhinged set pieces".
And the description is not bad at all! What you get is a great mix of music that probably does not fit into any known genre. My favorites are the long, and quite slow pieces "The great reimbursing" and "Fireman show". Well worth your money and time, this one.

Cover by Kim Hiorthøy and vinyl edition with free mp3 download. Way to go!

Get The Blessing: "OCDC"

Today Get The Blessing released their new album "OCDC" on Naim Jazz Records.

Get The Blessing is Clive Deamer (dr), Jake McMurchie (sax), Jim Barr (b) and Pete Judge (tp).
On this album they are joined by Adrian Utley from Portishead on guitar (Deamer and Barr tour with Portishead regularly, not that I knew before reading it today, I have to tell you), and on the beautiful tune "Americano Meccano" Robert Wyatt is singing (no words this time, but there are birds too in there!).

Ogdens´ Nut Gone Flake

Today I went down into the basement again, to look for a classic record.
Small Faces: "Ogdens´ Nut Gone Flake" (Immediate 1968) must have been one of the first LPs I bought, and I´m sorry I have to confess to you that my name is written in pretty large letters on the backside of one of the pages, that I tore from each other to pin to my wall! Those were the days!

Some days ago I got a newsletter (and I can´t find it now!?) stating that there soon would be a limited edition vinyl release of this album, with the original round cover, as made by Mick Swan. I suppose it is happening in connection with the DeLuxe edition release in May.

This is great psychedelia, one part being in the form of a fairytale (told by Stanley Unwin) and original tunes like "Lazy Sunday". You don´t buy this one ONLY for the cover!

Small Faces: Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenny Jones and Ian McLagan.

Springtime in Bergen?

It´s still early March (in Norway too, yes!), but the temperatures are rising and some birds seem to have arrived already, after their long flights from their winter holidays further south!

Even More Rock Family Trees

Music journalist Peter Frame has been drawing and telling the history of rock, using"family trees" since the late 70s.
I don´t know how many hours I have been smiling, reading the first two volumes, published in 1979 and 1983 (unfortunately I have missed a couple of books too), and now he´s at it again with "Even More Rock Family Trees" (Omnibus 2011).

I don´t care if this is perfect history telling or not, or if some details are missing or wrong, because this is great fun. It´s almost as you may watch the history of rock from a bird´s view, with lots of good stories, an all of them hand written!

In this volume Frame also includes some trees made by Paul Barber, the only other tree worker he admires. Barber made the "Miles Davis Live Bands 1955-75" tree. This is not a jazz book of course, but I was a bit surprised to find Elton Dean and Mark Charig in "Elton John´s Extended Family Tree", in the band Bluesology with Long John Baldry.
Other artists/topics/fields regularly mentioned in this blog, may be found in Martin Carthy´s and Fairport Convention´s trees.

The other rock family tree volumes are :
Rock Family Trees (1979)
Rock Family Trees Volume 2 (1983)
The Beatles & Some Other Guys (1997)
More Rock Family Trees (1998)