Maja S. K. Ratkje and Joachim Montessuis

Listen to Maja S. K. Ratkje and Joachim Montessuis: "Janus" (Erratum 2013") (full album) here, and order the vinyl from Erratum.

What is it? Try "Experimental mouth music duet, free interlaced vocal noises, sonic poetry and free electronics". Sounds great!

Le renard ne s'apprivoise pas

LE RENARD NE S'APPRIVOISE PAS, captation, 45' - solo pour Nina Santes - Avignon, Les hivernales / CDC, juillet 2013 from Mylène Benoit on Vimeo.

The dance / performance "Le renard ne s'apprivoise pas" ("You can´t tame a fox") for you.
At around 16 minutes Nina Santes sings Ivor Cutler´s "I worn my elbows".

Info from Vimeo:
Design, choreography : Mylène Benoit
Interpretation : Nina Santes
Lighting designer : Annie Leuridan
Music : Wim mertens, Ivor Cutler, Guillaume Hairaud
Wardrobe : Florinda Donga, Léa Drouault
Administration : Valentine Lecomte
Touring : Magda Kachouche

Jazz and Fly Fishing

Jazz & Fly Fishing Season Two TRAILER from Jazz & Fly Fishing on Vimeo.

Jazz and Fly Fishing, what a combination!

The band is Håvard Stubø (g), Joona Toivanen (p), Tapani Toivanen (b) and Fredrik Hamrå (dr), and they play jazz and go on "rod trips".

"Season 2" is coming up, visit jazzandflyfishing.com for more info and videos.

Fred Frith and Nels Cline

I just want you to know that I finally got myself a mint copy of Fred Frith´s "Gravity" album (Ralph Records 1980), with cover art by Alfreda Benge. About time!

Let´s celebrate by watching this Fred Frith and Nels Cline video from the Alternative Guitar Festival at Subculture, New York (18 January 2014).



Added 27 January: Another Frith - Cline video here.

Supersilent with Stian Westerhus

Yesterday I was finally able to attend a concert again, after a (far too long) break! And what a show!

Supersilent (Arve Henriksen, Ståle Storløkken and Helge Sten) brought Stian Westerhus along to Bergen, to play at Action Jazz in the Bergen Kjøtt venue.
Rock, noise, ambient, electronica? All of it I guess, but The Supersilent way, and as usual with this group, Henriksen playing more drums and electronics than trumpet.

Great lights/visuals by Bergen´s Birk Nygård.

There have not been any Supersilent albums since 2010 (the vinyl only "11"), so it might be time for a new one?

Cameras were rolling during the concert, so hopefully we will see some of it in not too long. In the meantime, check out the video from their concert at Jazzhouse, Copenhagen in October 2013 here.

Unseen Recordings - A web channel for experimental music

I´m quite sure a lot of you might want to follow the new channel Unseen Recordings on YouTube!
"Unseen Recordings is a web channel for experimental music. Every recording is unique, unfiltered, live and done in one take. The music here is boundary pushing and genre challenging, it is adventurous to the bone. Unseen Recordings will present around 70 new recordings each year with Danish and international artists" (from YouTube).

Here you see and hear Jenny Hval, Fire! Orchestra and Bill Orcutt.

Gary Windo releases

Gonzo recently released three albums by Gary Windo: "Dog Face" (originally released in 1982), "Deep Water" (originally released in 1987) and "Steam Radio Tapes" (never released before).

I just ordered "Steam Radio Tapes", which has Robert Wyatt on it. A couple of tracks ("Is this the time?" and "Standfast") are probably the same as the ones you may find on the albums "His master´s bones" (Cuneiform 1996) and "Angloamerican" (Cuneiform 2004), but there might be more with Wyatt? Anyone?

Dans Dans - East-Timor

Dans Dans with another great version of Robert Wyatt´s "East Timor", this time live at De Brakke Grond Amsterdam - January 9, 2014.

Previous blog posts on Dans Dans´ cover here and here.

Mats Gustafsson

Mats Gustafsson - musikimprovisation from Artipelag on Vimeo.

Mats Gustafsson plays Christian Marclay´s "Chalkboard" at Artipelag (Stockholm)!

Trombone player Mats Äleklint interprets the same piece here.

Desibel spirit

In 2008 we had a blog post called "Rediscover the future now!", about Norwegian author Øivind Hånes´ Robert Wyatt tribute in the magazine "Kreativt Forum".

In his first collection of poems, "Desibel spirit" (Gyldendal 2013), Hånes has a poem dedicated to Robert Wyatt, and if you don´t speak Norwegian (might be a couple!) try to Google translate it (to get the meaning of the words at least). The literature magazine Vinduet published it right here!

My description from the old blog post still apply: "--he describes Wyatt's voice with images like the wind blowing through a hollow dead trunk in an area where no other vegetation exists, and cats walking on broken eggs".

The Voices of Robert Wyatt

We had a post on the BBC portrait "The Voices of Robert Wyatt" back in October 2012.

It´s online, so you may listen over here.

Step It Out Lively, Boys

Kiev cuando nieva interpreta "Step It Out Lively, Boys" de Ivor Cutler. from sanctasanctorum on Vimeo.

Kiev cuando nieva cover "Step It Out Lively, Boys" by Ivor Cutler, in Spanish.

The song is from an album of covers, and Ivor Cutler´s original is from the album "Privilege" (Rough Trade 1983, Hoorgi House 2009) (with Linda Hirst).

Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Septet

Roulette TV: EVAN PARKER from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

Evan Parker interviewed by Roulette TV in September 2013.

The septet:

Evan Parker, saxophones
George Lewis, trombone and electronics
Ikue Mori, electronics
Ned Rothenberg, clarinets, shakuhachi
Peter Evans, trumpet
Okkyung Lee, cello
Sam Pluta, electronics

More info on Vimeo.

Fire! Orchestra at Jazzhouse, Copenhagen

What a bunch of great Swedes! Check out Fire! Orchestra live at Jazzhouse (Copenhagen) 15 January 2014!

Mariam Wallentin -- vocal
Sofia Jernberg -- vokal
Simon Ohlsson - vocal
Goran Kajfes - trumpet
Niklas Barnö -- trompet
Magnus Broo -- trumpet
Emil Strandberg - trumpet
Mats Äleklint -- trombone
Per Åke Holmlander -- tuba
Anna Högberg -- alt sax
Mats Gustafsson -- tenorsax, dirigent
Elin Larsson -- tenor sax
Fredrik Ljungkvist -- baryton sax, clarinet
Martin Küchen -- barytonsax
Christer Bothén -- bass clarinet, guimbri
Jonas Kullhammar -- bass sax
Andreas Söderström -- guitar, lap steel
Sören Runolf -- guitar
David Stackenäs -- guitar
Martin Hederos -- fender rhodes, orgel
Sten Sandell -- piano, elektronics, vocal
Joachim Nordwall -- elektronics
Johan Berthling -- bass
Joel Grip -- bass
Dan Berglund - bass
Andreas Werliin -- drums
Johan Holmegard -- drums
Raymond Strid -- drums

There is a new LP out on Rune too (that I haven´t heard yet). Fire! Orchestra: Second Exit (RLP 2153, 2014) is a live recording with a smaller version of the band.

500 copies made, only for sale from Rune, and at concerts.

Solo Soprano - a portrait of Lol Coxhill (extract)

Solo Soprano - a portrait of Lol Coxhill (extract) from Helen Petts on Vimeo.

© Helen Petts 2012. 30’ looped. Projected gallery installation with 5.1 sound.

"An exploration of the nature of creativity, artistic integrity, improvisation and time - through an intimate portrait of free improvising soprano saxophonist Lol Coxhill, who died in 2011."

Read more about it on Helen Petts´ site.

Videos from All Ears 2014

Oslo´s imrov and noise festival, All Ears 2014, is over.

The videos of Ken Vandermark and Kim Myhr & Axel Dörner are from the festival´s first day (January 9th), and you will find more on Håvard Skaset´s YouTube channel.

Hobocombo with Robert Wyatt cover

Hobocombo is an Italian trio with Andrea Belfi (drums and vocals), Rocco Marchi (guitar, synth and vocals) and Francesca Baccolini (double bass and vocals), "devoted to and inspired by the music of Moondog".

On their second album "Moondog Mask" (2013) they also cover Robert Wyatt´s "East Timor" (from "Old Rottenhat" 1985).

Listen, buy and read som more over at Bandcamp.

Dave Allen meets Ivor Cutler (1974)

I´m A Believer

The February issue of Uncut (2014) has three pages on the making of Robert Wyatt´s version of the Neil Diamond penned song (and Monkees hit) "I´m a believer" (Virgin 1974).

Key players: Robert Wyatt (voc), Nick Mason (drums, production), Fred Frith (guitar, violin), Dave MacRae (piano) and Richard Sinclair (bass).

"It hit No 29, did it? I´m too posh to think about charts...It´s not the chart side of music that interests me, it´s the music itself and what it means to people" (Robert Wyatt).

Robert Wyatt on Top Of The Pops here (spot Andy Summers, he´s not on the record), The Monkees´ version here and Neil Diamond´s here.

C215

Street artist C215 has visited Bergen again.

Feel free to take a look at my C215 pictures from Bergen and Oslo on Flickr.

Friday!

Folks! It´s Friday, so let´s have some smiles and a bit of partying!

First out: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings with "Stranger To My Happiness" from the new album "Give The People What They Want" (Daptone 2014).

Second: Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures with "Orange Juice" (7" Fika 2014).

Blue "`68"

The blue LP! Robert Wyatt: "`68" (Cuneiform 2013).
Buy from Cuneiform´s Bandcamp.

Blog post on the CD and the white vinyl here.

Das 16-Seiten-Special

My self-imposed ban concerning eBay seem to be over. My first order arrived in the mail this morning, being German Rolling Stone, no 10, October 2007, with 16 pages on Robert Wyatt and Soft Machine.

Maik Brüggenmeyer writes "Sketches of Pain" on Wyatt and Rob Chapman (previously in the blog with his Syd Barrett biography) writes "Canterbury Tales" on Soft Machine. Both pieces seem quite nice, from what I managed to understand of the German language, after one reading. But hey, try "Sketches of Pain" yourselves! It´s over at "Une Discographie De Robert Wyatt".

Adrian Matejka: The Big Smoke

How about some poetry for once? Let me recommend Adrian Matejka´s "The Big Smoke" (Penguin 2013), a collection of poems about the boxer Jack Johnson (1878-1946), the first african american heavyweight champion (1908 - 1915)!

Matejka lets Johnson and some of his girlfriends/wives speak through the poems, describing Johnson´s life and boxing career, from fighting for pocket money as a young boy to championship and high life, with nice cars, champagne, operas and pretty white women. This happening in a racial segregated society, and bound to cause envy and riots.

I first heard of Jack Johnson as a young student in the seventies, when the film club in Bergen screened William Cayton´s "A tribute to Jack Johnson", with the fantastic Miles Davis soundtrack, and Miles´ "A tribute to Jack Johnson" is a perfect soundtrack while reading the book too!



The music on the video is not the original soundtrack released by Miles Davis. Read more on YouTube.

B/B/S/ live

B/B/S/ is Aidan Baker (g), Andrea Belfi (drums/electronics) and Erik Skodvin (guitar).

I heard them in Bergen in May 2013, but this video was recorded at l'Auréole Béthencourt - Tincques on Jan, 26 2013.

A fine trio!

Mats Äleklint

The great Swedish trombone player Mats Äleklint interprets Christian Marclay´s "Chalkboard" (Artipelag 28/12 2013).

Looking Ahead By Looking Back

Robert Wyatt on journalism and pop music in Morning Star (4 Jan 2014).

Russia Today (RT) and Al Jazeera: "The two channels I mention are not totally impartial either but their ways of looking at the world seem to me far more comprehensive and broad-minded than the mainstream news diet here, which is primarily based on the assumption that Euro-America and its armed wing Nato operate in good faith to help Johnny Foreigner find the righteous road to civilisation".

Wyatt recommends (among others) John Newman´s "Love me again" (another video for the same song here). That one was new to me. Wonderful!

Marcus O´Dair: Different Every Time

And we are still waiting for the release of Marcus O´Dair´s Robert Wyatt biography "Different Every Time" (Serpent´s Tail 2014).

New publication date: 6 November 2014.

While you are waiting, listen to both Robert Wyatt and Marcus O´Dair on Grasscut´s "Richardson Road", from the album "Unearth" (2012).

Checking Amazon for the biography, I noticed a book I have missed this year, and just have to order too: Dave Thompson - "June 1st 1974: Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Nico, Eno, Mike Oldfield and Robert Wyatt: The Greatest Supergroup of the Seventies" (Create Space Independent Publishing Platform 2013).

Any views on that one out there?

Eugene Chadbourne

It´s about time we have some Eugene Chadbourne again in this blog!

In the video he is with Mr. King's Delite doing "Gone till November", and if you want party music, please check out Bryan and the Haggards featuring Dr. Eugene Chadbourne: "Merles Just Wanna Have Fun" (Northern Spy 2013). That is if you can take some country-jazz!

The album is a tribute to Merle Haggard, and these fine musicians play: Eugene Chadbourne – vocals, banjo, dobro, Bryan Murray – tenor, soprano, balto! saxophones, talzmer¡, nose whistle, recorder, ocarina, vocals, Jon Irabagon - C melody, soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, penny whistle, Jon Lundbom – guitar, banjo, vocals, Moppa Elliott – bass, vocals and Danny Fischer – drums, vocals.

Post Image with John Greaves cover Nick Drake

Enjoy a video with Post Image and John Greaves covering Nick Drake´s "Things Beyond The Sun", from the album "In an English garden".

Musicians: John Greaves (voc), Dany Marcombe (bs), Freddy Buzon (tpt), Patricio Lameira (gt), Jean-Christophe Jacques (sax), Eric Perez (ds), Frédéric Feugas (kb), special guest : Alain Debiossat (flute).

Stian Westerhus & Pale Horses

Rune Grammofon will release an album by Stian Westerhus & Pale Horses (Erland Dahlen and Øystein Moen) in March 2014.

Soon touring:

28.1 Club Bastion, Kirchheim unter Teck, D
29.1 Stadtgarten, Köln, D
30.1 Domicil, Dortmund, D
31.1 Zeche Karl, Essen, D
01.02 Linse, Ravensburg, D
02.02 B-Flat, Berne, CH
07.02 Cemal Resit Rey, Istanbul, TUR (supporting Jaga Jazzist)
08.02 TRAFO, Budapest, HUN
09.02 Porgy & Bess, Vienna AT

My photos of the band at Molde International Jazz Festival 2013.

Sailing to Byzantium

In December Rune Grammofon released another beautiful collection, the 4 X 10" box "Sailing to Byzantium", a "strictly one-off edition of only 500 copies".

You get a nice selection of Rune tracks, perfectly "themed" on the different records, a fold out poster and a Rob Young interview with label boss Rune Kristoffersen and designer Kim Hiorthøy.
Arve Henriksen´s "Silver Box" is an exclusive.

Blue:
Hedvig Mollestad Trio – Sing, Goddess
Bushman´s Revenge – As We Used To Sing (Live)
Scorch Trio – Kjøle Høle

Green:
Motorpsycho – Year Zero (A Damage Report)
FIRE! – Your Silhouette On Each (Without Noticing)
Elephant9 – Hardcore Orientale

White:
Phaedra – Honeydewed Autumn
Jenny Hval – Blood Flight
The Last Hurrah!! – The Lonely Whistle Call
Hilde Marie Kjersem – That Day In The Shower
Tove Nilsen – Jordan

Red:
Sidsel Endresen & Stian Westerhus - Drawing An Arc
Maja Ratkje - Intro
Alog – Baklandet
Espen Eriksen Trio – In The Woods
Nils Økland – Blond Blå
Arve Henriksen – Silver Box


Look for the previous samplers from Rune Grammofon here.