Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all of you good folks.

I will have an Easter vacation now, and try to stay offline for more than a week, do some reading, skiing, eating and other things humans do when their not in cyberspace.

Don´t forget the Easter Special over at Hypergallery, where you may buy the same Alfreda Benge artwork that I was unpacking yesterday!

Stella Maris

Ave, maris stella,
Dei Mater alma,
atque semper Virgo,
felix cœli porta.

Relax, I haven´t turned to religion, and I´m not going to try to impress you with any knowledge of the Russian musician Boris Grebenshikov, but according to Wikipedia he is one of the most prominent members of the generation which is widely considered the "founding fathers" of Russian rock music.

But I do know something (*drums*): He is releasing a single called "Stella Maris" with our man Robert Wyatt on 13 April 2015!
It is to be released worldwide on iTunes, Amazon and Google Play.

It is a beautiful song based on (or partly being) a plainsong Vespers hymn to Mary called "Ave Maris Stella".

Robert Wyatt – voice, tenor horn, cornet
Boris Grebenshikov – voice, keyboards, mandoline, ocarina
Natalya Vergey – voice
Boris Rubekin – mellotron, flute, piano
Mitchell Froom – OP1, organ
Valeria Kurbatova - harp

String quartet :

Patrick Kiernan – violin
Bruce White – viola
Ian Burdge – cello
Oli Langford –viola

Arranged by David Arch

Choir: Edward Burnaby-Atkins, Augustus Howland, George Laing (Summerfields)
Shaunak Desai, Alessandro D’Orazio, Theo Nash, Nicolas Veal-Baschwitz (London Russian Music School)

Director – Pavel Timofejevsky

We´ll come back (or update this post) when we know the name of the record company, or hear that it is going to be released in any known physical format.

Førdefestivalen 2015

Going to the west coast of Norway this summer?
Førdefestivalen- Førde Traditional and World Music Festival - is happening 1 - 5 July!

Not that I know all the artists here, but it seems like a great program.
Check out the list of artists here, and they have an English page too.

I wouldn´t be surprised if the Russian band Otava You is able to cook up a party!

TOY: Free Will And Testament

Have a listen to TOY´s cover of Robert Wyatt and Mark Kramer´s ""Free will and testament" for "Attitude is Everything", and organization working to improve deaf and disabled people's access to live music.

TOY: Tom Dougall, Dominic O'Dair, Maxim "Panda" Barron, Charlie Salvidge and Alejandra Diez.

Read Lee Walker´s "Being deaf doesn't mean you don't care about music" in The Guardian (24 March 2015).

Epiphanies: Life-changing Encounters With Music

50 of the Wire´s Epiphanies essays have been collected in the anthology "Epiphanies: Life-changing Encounters With Music", edited by Tony Herrington (Strange Attractor, 2015).

Lots of interesting chapters, like:

"Clive Bell on Henry Cow’s chamber music"

"Cathal Coughlan on the war songs of Slapp Happy and Art Bears"

"Robert Wyatt on the genius of Ray Charles"

All of the chapters in The Wire Shop and in this piece in The Guardian.

Gong: Occupy

Check out this video by Cyriak for Gong´s latest album "I see You" (Madfish 2014).

Info from Cyriak on YouTube:

Daevid Allen: bi-focal local vocals n gliss
Orlando Allen: beat/crash/kick
Dave Sturt: bass & invisible operas
Kavus Torabi: crunchbox & scythe guitar
Fabio Golfetti: winged guitars/glissando
Ian East: sax

Produced by Orlando Allen with Daevid Allen and Dave Sturt
Composed by Daevid Allen, Dave Sturt and Ian East

Pretty nice way of using whatever loose change he happened to have in his pocket!

Alfie in Wonderland

There’s a new signed artist print from Alfreda Benge – a rare one that isn’t from a Robert Wyatt album – being published to celebrate the 150th anniversary of publication of Lewis Carroll´s "Alice in Wonderland".

It’s available for sale at Hypergallery, where Alfie’s prints of "Rock Bottom" (down to the last 20 of this edition now) and "Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard" are also still available.

This artwork was originally created for the cover of French group Klimperei’s "Alice Au Pays Des Merveilles" (In-Poly-Sons 2000).


Limited edition of 60

Image size: 17.00" x 17.00"

Paper size: 24.00" x 24.00"

Skydive Trio live in Bergen

We already mentioned Skydive´s fine new album on Hubro, and here they play the title track "Sun Moee" at Logen in Bergen (15 March 2015).

Skydive Trio: Mats Eilertsen (bass), Thomas T. Dahl (guitar) and Olavi Louhivuori (drums).

Bergen´s Borealis Festival

The 2015 version of Bergen´s Borealis festival for experimental music is over.

Check the programme and see if you find the selection of artists interesting!

When you hear that after months of heavy rain (no kidding!), the sun was in fine form during the whole festival, you might consider visiting the festival next time.

The pictures are from most of the concerts I attended. From top to bottom:

- The opening concert in Bergen´s old swimming pool, where the highlight for me was Oliver Coats playing cello and electronics from the top of the diving tower!

- Tomoko Sauvage´s beautiful installation and performance with melting ice at the Sound Gallery ("floe/flow", Lydgalleriet).

- Local pianist Else Olsen S. and veteran composer Christian Wolff: "Konsertsirkus" (Concert Circus). Three hours of open form for the whole family with Christian Wolff (composer and piano), Else Olsen S. (composer and prepared piano), Guro Moe (double bass), Lisa Dillan (voice, measuring cup and glasses), Maja Ratkje (voice and electronics), Mia Göran (flute), Michael Duch (double bass), Sigyn Fossnes (violin) and Øyvind Skarbø (drums).

- Guro Moe, Maja Ratkje and audience at "Konsertsirkus".

Daevid Allen (13 January 1938 – 13 March 2015)

R.I.P. Daevid Allen and thanks a lot!

The Guardian, Pitchfork and UDiscover on the news of his death.

Wyatt Super-Gig

I probably bought this paper back in 1974, and threw it in the waste bin after reading, but thanks to eBay I got it again, more than 40 years later!

New Musical Express August 24 1974 had Robert Wyatt and friends on the front cover, some weeks before his "super-gig" at Theatre Royal Drury Lane 8 September.

On the cover of NME: Robert Wyatt, Mike Oldfield, Julie Tippets, Mongezi Feza, Gary Windo, Laurie Allan, Dave Stewart and a Nick Mason stand in.

Not on the cover, but playing the show: Fred Frith, Hugh Hopper and Ivor Cutler, with John Peel introducing.

According to Michael King´s Robert Wyatt book "Wrong Movements" Dave Stewart says that Richard Branson called all the musicians telling them that Robert wanted them to play this concert without telling him, and then called Wyatt telling him that all the musicians were really keen to play with him!

We may all enjoy the show now on the live album on Domino.

The Whole Mess...Almost

John Greaves performing beat poet Gregory Corso´s "The Whole Mess .. Almost" at Orléans´ Jazz Festival (June 2013), with Jeanne Added (b), Thomas de Poirquery (voc) and Olivier Mellan (g).

Terry Pratchett (1948 - 2015)

Thanks for all the smiles, laughs and wonderful stories!

Terry Pratchett R.I.P.

Here are some words from The Guardian and BBC (for a starter).

It seems like one of my favorite Discworld characters, Death, hacked The Terry Pratchett twitter account today, tweeting this message: "AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER", but as the library man I am, my last word will be Ook.

PNL Large Unit - Erta Ale (2014)

What a package PNL Large Unit´s "Erta Ale" (PNL 2014) is!

I really had decided not to buy this, but then I saw it in a local store, and suddenly it was mine.
Tote bag, four LPs with different covers made by Terry Nilssen-Love (Paal´s father), a bonus CD called "Live at Moers" and a flexi disc titled "Middag!" (Norwegian for "Dinner!").

The music on the LPs was recorded live in concert at Victoria, Nasjonal Jazzscene, Oslo; Verftet, Bergen Jazzforum; Dokkhuset, Trondheim and studio on location at Dokkhuset, Trondheim in January and February 2014.

Great stuff!

You will find more info on PNL Records´ Bandcamp site, where you also may buy digital versions of most of the music (The CD and flexi disx excluded).

Michael King R.I.P.

So sad to hear about the death of Michael King.

He was the author of one of my most read books, "Wrong Movements. A Robert Wyatt history" (S.A.F. 1994), and founder of Reel Recordings where he released archival material by Canterbury, prog and jazz artists (Soft Machine, Kevin Ayers, Lol Coxhill, Elton Dean and so on).

Read more over on "Sid Smith´s Postcards From The Yellow Room" and I guess there will be more reactions on "What´s Rattlin´?" too.

New Grasscut single

Check out this nice pair of songs from Grasscut, the duo of Andrew Phillips and Marcus O’Dair, "Curlews/September Night’s Sky". It is the first single from the album "Everyone Was A Bird", to be released by Lo Recordings in May 2015.

Daevid Allen - Pizza Paradiso - Feb 2015

Daevid Allen reads from Khalil Gibran´s "The Prohet" at a "Poetry tribute to Daevid Allen and Gilly Smith" in February 2015.

Hilde Holsen

Oh my, listen to this! Hilde Holsen playing trumpet and electronics in "Lament".

I can´t find much info on her (she is (probably) a student at Norges Musikkhøgskole (The Norwegian Academy Of Music)), and no recordings either? Strange!

This is from her profile on SoundCloud:

"I explore the interaction between trumpet and live electronics. All the electronic sounds are being made of live processed trumpet sounds".

Edge of Wrong

A documentary about the festival "Edge of Wrong" is in the making

"The EDGE OF WRONG Music Festival started in 2006 and has been running for nine years. EOW aims to create a framework for exploratory music and art that prioritises collaboration between different cultural groupings, most notably South Africans and Norwegians. We believe that the arts provide invaluable and necessary means to bridge cultural differences and expand knowledge systems, and that collaborative artistic projects bring individuals together, facilitating lasting connections between communities".

Morthen Minothi Kristiansen is the (or one of the) driving force(s) behind the festival and Gøthe Lasse Ellevsøy is making the film.

And this project is crowdfunded through Indiegogo. You may contribute whatever amount you want of course, and even buy your way into the film (will cost you 103 USD)!

"Edge of Wrong - where mistakes are glorified"!

The Necks live in Copenhagen

A beatiful video today, recorded at Australian trio The Necks´ concert at Jazzhouse (Copenhagen) in October 2014.

The Necks are: Chris Abrahams (piano), Tony Buck (drums) and Lloyd Swanton (bass).

They will tour Europe in April, and for tour dates and interview visit The Quietus.