Gabriel Saloman: Adhere

Thanks a lot for 2012 folks, and a happy 2013 to all of you!

Here in Robert Wyatt and Stuff there will be no fireworks tonight. Instead we would like to finish off 2012 with another dark pearl of a recording from Miasmah.

Enjoy Gabriel Saloman´s "Adhere" (Maismah 2012).

British Jazz, 1960-1975

Interested in British jazz? You better check out Duncan Heining´s "Trad Dads, Dirty Boppers and Free Fusioneers. British Jazz, 1960-1975" (Equinox 2012).

The book is a part of the series Popular Music History, but popular or not, I think you have to be more than just a bit interested to read all of it! You get close to 500 pages, packed with info on British artists, with a lot of interviews, and the music assessed against the economy, drugs, racism, women´s rights and so on, you know - society.

How packed is it? Don´t be surprised if the author mentions more than 25 albums and track titles, and 30 - 40 artists on one page. The index is quite good though (but missing Lol Coxhill and Alexis Korner there), so you might find back, but you better read it with a pencil in hand.

Let me just mention that after reading I know that Ronnie Scott played saxophone on Beatles´ "Lady Madonna" and the free jazz movement in USA was lead by saxophone players, while in Britain it was lead by drummers (no offense intended towards some great sax players here)! The things you learn while reading a book!

The author has listed 100 essential British jazz albums in an appendix.
Here in Robert Wyatt and Stuff we are happy to see Soft Machine 3 (1970) on the list (Soft Machine also get several pages in the book´s main part), and to see that Robert Wyatt is represented as a musician on Keith Tippett´s "Dedicated to you but you weren´t listening" (1971) and Centipede´s (listed as K. Tippett) "Septober energy" (1971).

I own some of the albums of course, but could only find a few of the 100 on Spotify. On YouTube I was quite surprised to find a lot of old videos, and I might come back with a collection, but why don´t you start on your own with Weather Report with John Surman, Alan Skidmore and Eje Thelin from 1971 (4 parts)!

The album I planned to listen to while I was reading, is still on it´s way (I hope!).

The Dope on Perelman

"The Dope on Perelman" from Peter Blegvad and Andy Partridge´s album "Gonwards" (Ape House 2012).

If you are a regular visitor here, you already know that Ape House are quite generous with their videos!

You´re Next

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Diamanda Galas at Ultima 2012

Diamanda Galas rehearsing at the Emanuel Vigeland Museum in Oslo, for the concert at the Ultima Festival.

More info on Vimeo.

Would you buy a refrigerator from The Residents?

THE ULTIMATE BOX SET INFOMERCIAL from The Cryptic Corp on Vimeo.

I went over to Hibou, Anemone & Bear (not possible to link to each blog post) and was reminded about the ultimate The Residents box

Only $100.000.

Now watch Randy Rose´s infomercial, and consider what you have to sell, to get it!

The boxes you got for Christmas were pretty small, were they not?

Merry Christmas, Folks!

The Guardian: Six alternative Christmas songs.

Mama, I´ll Be Long Gone

I´m not making a best of 2012 list this year (at least I haven´t made it yet!), so let me just recommend an album I have been listening to a lot this year; "Mama, I´ll Be Long Gone: The Complete Recordings Of Amédé Ardoin 1929-1934" (Tompkins Square 2011).

Christopher King is the one who has managed to collect all known records by the cajun accordionist and singer Amédé Ardoin, and transferred them to CD/mp3. Yes, it crackles, but it does not matter, because what you really will hear anyway, is Ardoin´s beautiful voice!
Almost all of his songs may be about the same girl, that is the one he loved and could not have.

Please read "Dragged through the forest: The long-gone sound of Amédé Ardoin" in Oxford American (Nov 2012), and watch "The death of Amédé Ardoin", narrated by Alan Lomax.
Strong tales from a hard life!

Terje Isungset live

Terje Isungset has been touring with his ice music lately. Here he is on video from England and Polen, recorded in December, with Maria Skranes singing.

Isungset will play both a solo concert, and concerts with Lena Nymark at the Ice Musicfestival Geilo in January 2013.

How about Daniel Herskedal playing the "tubice" - the ice tuba - at the same festival?! Good luck!

Ich Bin N!ntendo & Mats Gustafsson

We have already had a post on Ich Bin N!ntendo & Mats Gustafsson, and they are back!
This time with a great video!

Ich Bin N!ntendo & Mats Gustafsson´s album is released by Va Fongool, a Record Company you better watch closely.

Trondheim Jazz Orchestra & Marius Neset

Check out Trondheim Jazz Orchestra & Marius Neset with "Birds" at Moldejazz 2012!

Ronny Farsund - trumpet
Eivind Lønning - trumpet
Erik Johannessen - trombone
Daniel Herskedal - tuba
Peter Fuglsang (DK)- alto saxophone
Marius Neset - tenor and soprano saxophone and compositions
Hanna Paulsberg - tenor saxophone
Eirik Hegdal - saxophones
Jovan Pavlovic - accordion
Espen Berg - piano
Petter Eldh (DK) - bass
Gard Nilssen - drums
David Solheim - sound design

Video by Svein Roger Ivarsen

The Unthanks: Songs from the Shipyards

The Unthanks recorded music by Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Jonsons, and worked with the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, for their Diversion series and are now back with some quite stripped down music on "Diversions Vol. 3: Songs from the Shipyards" (Rabble Rouser 2012).

I´m stealing like a thief from The Unthanks´ site:

"Diversions Vol. 3 contains the music created by The Unthanks for the Tyneside Cinema commissioned film of the same name, Songs from the Shipyards – a beautiful and moving film, tracing the story of shipbuilding.

Made by internationally acclaimed North-East filmmaker Richard Fenwick, Songs from the Shipyards is made from archive footage from the past 100 years, and illustrates in microcosm the highs and lows of Britain’s industrial journey. Fenwick and The Unthanks collaborated on the film from the start of the creative process, devising a strong political and human narrative to the story, and creating a unique, powerful, live audio-visual event, in which The Unthanks would perform a live soundtrack to the film.

Diversions Vol. 3 is a studio album that documents a non-sequential ‘best of’ the live soundtrack It is part of a series of side-project releases for The Unthanks, all three of which have been released inside a prolific 12 month period. Vol. 2, released this summer, charted their collaboration with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, while Vol. 1 featured an exploration of the music of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons. On that project, The Unthanks resisted the temptation to tackle Shipbuilding, which was written for Wyatt, knowing that the Shipyards project was just around the corner! The Elvis Costello/Clive Langer classic features on Vol. 3 and represents a rare lead vocal by Unthanks pianist and producer Adrian McNally, backed up by eerie vocals from the rest of The Unthanks".

Another great album by The Unthanks!

Epic Soundtracks

I just learnt that Troubador released "Wild Smile", a double CD collection of the songs of Epic Soundtracks, also known as Kevin Paul Godfrey (1959 - 1997).

He used to play in Swell Maps with his brother Nikki Sudden, but on "Wild Smile" his solo career is in focus.

To read about the album (I order my copy in a couple of minutes, and haven´t heard the album yet), head on over to Aquarium Drunkard or All Music.

Let´s steal this sentence from All Music: "The real treat is the second disc of rarities that gathers tracks going back to 1981 ("Jelly, Babies" from his 1981 EP on Rough Trade) all the way up to performances from his last show in 1997", and add that the one and only Robert Wyatt is guesting on "Jelly Babies".

No surprise I guess, that some crook uploaded "Jelly Babies" to YouTube, but if you promise to buy the album you may listen here. And not only that, an upload from a cassette where Epic Soundtracks is talking about the same track, may be found here.

Nils Petter Molvær Trio live in Frankfurt

Nils Petter Molvær Trio (Nils Petter Molvær, Stian Westerhus og Erland Dahlen) live at Frankfurt Jazz Festival - 27.10.2012.

Great! Or what?

Die, Allround Handwerker!

Friday night I attended the release concert for Øyvind Skarbøs drum album "Die, Allround Handwerker!" (+3dB SUB 2012) at Bergen Kjøtt.

Skarbø did a short, but elegant concert, surrounded by video projections, in what was a fantastic use of the industrial concert hall. Light man Birk in full control here.
The videos will be uploaded later, probably on Skarbø´s own site.

If you have seen Skarbø live with 1982, BMX or solo, then you know that "drumming" also means, blowing through your drum, creative use of corn and throwing and shaking tealight holders.

The new album will make an exciting soundtrack to around half an hour of your life, mostly solo Skarbø, but with Kresten Osgood joining on one track.
Only 100 CD-Rs made, all numbered by hand (I have got 1/100).

Cover design:Blankblank.

Øyvind Skarbø might want to think before he prints "blurbs" the next time (check out the critics on this one here).

Ivor Cutler x 2

ivorfan has made a couple of new Ivor Cutler videos, "High iz de wind" (aka "High is the wind") and "Big Jim".

Let´s play "Jammy Smears" (Virgin 1976).

December Pasteups

I went for an afternoon stroll in the cold wind today, and found some new pasteups.

- Zen has named his new piece "Evolution", and it is probably the next step after the snails we see here.

- I kind of liked that blue and yellow smiling face, close to Argus´ nod to Pussy Riot.

- And some guys are tougher than the rest of us. Bare-chested in this chilly wind, I hope is mother does not read the blog!

Cortex: Gøteborg (Gigafon 2012)

I´m sure you want to check out Cortex! A real hard swinging, groovy jazz band with Thomas Johansson (trumpet), Kristoffer Berre Alberts (saxophone), Ola Høyer (bass) and Gard Nilssen (drums).

Reviewers seem to agree that they are inspired by bands like Atomic and Ornette Coleman Quartet with Don Cherry, and that´s probably right. Anyway, they are here now with their new album "Gøteborg" (Gigafon 2012), as files, CD and everybody´s favorite - vinyl (but unfortunately without download codes).

Melodic, tough music that just might be played at parties too (not that I visit such happenings). I don´t know how much these guys love their tobacco, but "Nicotine" has got a hit potential, and I just might have missed something, being a non smoker?

"Cerebrum" is of course a fitting title for a band called Cortex (anatomy lesson here), and draw lines back to their previous album "Resection" (Bolage 2011), having track names like "Grey Matter", "Neocortex" and "Frontal Lobe". A great album that one too!

Stian Westerhus on sound

KLANG: Stian Westerhus, Vigelands mausoleum og god lyd from ENO Magasin on Vimeo.

The Norwegian music magazine ENO has so far hardly had a web page, but are starting an interview series on sound.

The first video is with Stian Westerhus, recorded at the Emanuel Vigeland Museum in Oslo.

And a minor detail - he speaks Norwegian, but I think you still should give it a try, for the beautiful filming and the sounds this fantastic guitar player makes.

The All Ears Festival (Oslo) 10 - 13 January 2013

If you happen to be in Oslo in January, check out the All Ears festival!

Here is the program, and please note that Fred Frith is performing on three occasions:

Thursday 10 JANUARY >>> Ny Musikk >>> Kl. 20:00

Sheriffs of Nothingness (Kari Rønnekleiv / Ole Henrik Moe)

Joke Lanz / Shelly Hirsch

FRIDAY 11 JANUARY >>> Ny Musikk >>> Kl. 12:00

Fred Frith (Live Jukebox + konsert)

FRIDAY 11 JANUARY >>> Fabrikken >>> Kl. 20:00

Sidsel Endresen

Steve Noble / Peter Brötzmann / John Edwards

Joke Lanz / Shelly Hirsch / Lasse Marhaug / Stine Janvin Motland

Ab Baars / Wilbert deJoode / Tollef Østvang / John Dikeman

Robert Piotrovicz

SATURDAY 12 JANUARY >>> Ny Musikk >>> Kl. 15:00

Joke Lanz/ Shelly Hirsch (Concert for children)

SATURDAY 12 JANUARY >>> Fabrikken >>> Kl. 20:00

Mikolaij Traszkja / Mike Maijkovski / Onno Goevart

Heat Death

Mike Maijkovski / Inga Margrethe Aas / Christian Meaas Johanesen / Wibert deJoode

Lasse Marhaug / Helge Sten

Fred Frith

SUNDAY 13 JANUARY >>> Henie Onstad Kunstsenter >>> Kl. 14:00

Lotte Anker / Fred Frith / Hild Sofie Tafjord

GUSH (SE) Mats Gustafsson / Raymond Strid / Sten Sandell

Keep Yourself Alive

Robert Wyatt fans and collectors better watch out for the book "Keep Yourself Alive. Den galna jakten på 70-tallets rockjältar" by Petter Karlsson and Sören "Sulo" Karlsson (Lind & Co 2012). All in Swedish!

Robert Wyatt and the following "legends" are interviewed: Billy Bremner, Wilko Johnson, Tom Robinson, Mick Geggus, Paul Carrack, Steve Hackett, Dave Higgs, Spike Gray, Justin Sullivan, Dave Tregunna, Dennis Stratton and Terry Chimes.

Make a quiz for Christmas: Who were they, what bands did they play in etc.
You may also start a discussion on rock and gender of course, but let me just point out that the authors had an agreement with the one and only Suzi Quatro, but she hurt her knee (quite bad I´m afraid) and had to say no thanks.

While some of the legends are still active (Steve Hackett (soon visiting Bergen) and Robert Wyatt), others are out of the game, but with wild stories to tell.

The Robert Wyatt interview is quite nice, with Robert not wanting to make too much fuzz about his own person, modest as usual. Instead he honor other rock stars, jazz drummers and the ordinary workers who pay their taxes!

The authors are on pretty thin ice some places here. They let one of the interviewed artists (i won´t blow his cover) tell us that Robert Fripp played in Henry Cow, a sight I´m not sure I´d like to see!

On Robert Wyatt they claim he is mixing his records in the studio of the Doors´ keyboard man Ray Manzarek!! They might mean Roxy Music´s Phil Manzanera!?

Not that the damage is going to be any better or worse, but Wyatt is in a wheelchair because he fell from Lady June´s apartment in 1973 I think, not Gili "Gong" Smyth´s (as they write).

With the book you get a CD where Sulo play old hits with several of the artists interviewed. Robert Wyatt instead asked Sulo to write som lyrics to the title "Enjoy the risk", and he plays piano to Sulo´s vocals and Magic Gunnarson´s saxophone.
A nice, little (less than 2 min.) tune.

The track list:

1: 2-4-6-8 Motorway (Tom Robinson)
2: Hot swagger in the big smoke (Billy Bremner)
3: Borstal breakout (Dave Tregunna)
4: Green and grey (Justin Sullivan)
5: Roxette (Wilko Johnson)
6: How long (Paul Carrack)
7: Enjoy the risk (Robert Wyatt)
8: Teenage depression (Dave Higgs)
9: Poor, poor heart (Billy Bremner)
10: Roses and rings (Spike Gray)
11: The power and the glory (Mick Geggus)
12: 100 degrees in the shade (Terry Chimes & Anita Chellamah)
13: I saw her standing there (Dennis Stratton & Dave Edwards)
14: Keep yourself alive (Sulo & Idde Schultz)

Sacred Objects

Ape House has made a new video for Peter Blegvad and Andy Partridge´s album "Gonwards"!

This time another version of "Sacred Objects". I posted the previous one here.

Sound Art

This year´s issue of the Norwegian art journal Kunstjournalen B-post "introduces audio art, sonic art, sound art – art that makes use of sound in one form or another".
You may read it (in English!) and listen over here.

Table of contents:

Editorial

Jørgen Larsson: Sound art in 2012
Karen Skog: En samling materialer
Brandon LaBelle: On listening
Sissel Lillebostad: In conversation with Nicholas Møllerhaug and Espen Sommer Eide
Mahlet Ogbe Habte: Funeral songs
Carl Michael von Hausswolff: freq_out 8 – 4 250 cubic metres and 48 hours of sound
Finnbogi Petursson: 2hz Surface Drawing 2012
Carsten Seiffarth: About Sound Installation Art
Anne Marthe Dyvi: Qualia
Sissel Lillebostad: The Sound of a Tower
Roar Sletteland: In conversation with Anne Hilde Neset 29.8.2012
Jana Winderen: Backswimmers
Maria Andueza Olmedo: The collective sign of auditory visual imagery
Trond Lossius: Generative strategies in sound installations

In Memoriam: Trevor Watts & Veryan Weston Remember The Late Lol Coxhill

Listen to the interview with Trevor Watts and Veryan Weston, and then check out LOL! Coxhill and Hugh Metcalfe Kings Cross @ The KLINKER!

Peter Blegvad:Too Much

Listen too the fine new Peter Blegvad single from Radio Free Song Club.

They have started a YouTube channel, but all the singles are over here.

Sidsel Endresen 60 - Tribute Concert

Video streaming by Ustream
Sidsel Endresen turned 60 this summer, and a celebration party was held at Norway´s National Jazz Scene Victoria (Oslo), November 8-9, 2012.

Gubemusic uploaded a video of the second concert, a tribute concert hosted by Fiona Talkington, with Eldbjørg Raknes, Django Bates, Håkon Kornstad, Nils Petter Molvær, Stian Westerhus, Solveig Slettahjell, Bugge Wesseltoft, Live Maria Roggen, Emilie Christensen, Audun Kleive and Jan Bang (at least!).

You might also want to read John Kelman´s piece on Sidsel Endresen and the celebration in All About Jazz.

Pixel: Call Me

Norwegian jazz/rock/indie band Pixel is Ellen Andrea Wang, Harald Lassen, Jonas Kilmork Vemøy and Jon Audun Baar.

If you can take some hardcore camping life, please check out their new video for "Call me", a track on their Cuneiform album "Reminder" (2012).

Tuesday evening they are playing at PlayDate (Chagall) in Bergen.

December in Bergen

Just a short report from an old meat factory in Bergen ("Bergen Kjøtt"), that has been turned into one of the coolest (and coldest!) concert venues in town.

On Saturday 1 December, Ny Musikk Bergen (New Music Bergen) and sax man Kjetil Møster´s concert series Action Jazz, invited to a great happening.

We had minimalist, but intense Alog (Espen Sommer Eide and Dag-Are Haugan) with Bergen artist Signe Lidén, a fantastic solo set from violin/fiddle player Nils Økland, fascinating electro-pop by Japanese Hako and a quite exciting new duo with Nils Økland and Helge "Deathprod" Sten! I bet that quite few of you have seen that duo coming along.

Perhaps a bit too much in one evening for an old guy like me, but (being one who loves to pick blueberries) I have to say I´m quite happy to see the berry picker used even when it´s snowing outside!