Rock Bottom

Since I link to almost all things Robert Wyatt in this here blog, I might as well give you this one too. The Bergen Public Library invite musicians, and other folks lurking in the musical environment of Bergen, to recommend their favorite album. They even invited yours truly, and my choice was "Rock Bottom". Surprise?

It´s in Norwegian of course, but you all know the essence of this piece on "Rock Bottom", since you have read it already, on the record sleeves and in the magazines where I stole my info.
A Google Translate might give you a laugh though, and even make you realize that my English is not THAT bad!

Mølstad and Holmlander

Børre Mølstad and Per-Åke Holmlander improvising at Blow Out in Oslo earlier this August.
Both of them have visited my blogs several times already, Mølstad with No, Gutvik, Sekstett and Circulasione Totale Orchestra, and Holmlander with Resonance Ensemble and Chicago Tentet.

The video is made by Helen Petts, and make sure you visit her YouTube channel for more videos!

Cosa Brava live

Cosa Brava live in August 2011. Don't forget the album "Ragged Atlas" (Intakt 2010)!

The musicians (copied from michaelzvid) :
Fred Frith -- electric guitar, vocals
Carla Kihlstedt -- violin, vocals
Zeena Parkins -- keyboard, melodica, vocals
Matthias Bossi -- drums, vocals
Shahzad Ismaily -- electric bass
The Norman Conquest -- sound manipulation

Slagr

Slagr is a Norwegian trio with Anne Hytta (hardanger fiddle), Sigrun Eng (cello) and Amund Sjølie Sveen (vibraphone).
They play modern folk music, and released the album "Straum, stille" (Ozella Music 2011) this spring. The album title (Straum = flow, stream, stille= still, quiet, tranquil) and track titles like "First frost", "Quiet rain" and "Drifting out of sleep", describe the music very well. We hear slow flowing and dream like soundscapes, and it is oh, so beautiful!
Anne Hytta composed most of the music, but there are probably room for improvisations here too.

Put it on your record shelf next to albums by Sigbjørn Apeland, Nils Økland and 1982. Nils Økland produced "Straum, stille". You may shop over at Ozella, but I still can not find it at eMusic or iTunes.
I will make place on my shelf for their first album ("Solaris", NorCD 2007) too.

Cover: Arvid Sveen/Amund Sjølie Sveen.

Soft Machine live and on TV 1967

Soft Machine - Live On Palais Des Sports - 1967... by Tushratta

Soft Machine on the French Bouton Rouge in 1967. Robert Wyatt, Mike Ratledge and Kevin Ayers.

Splashgirl: Pressure

Splashgirl is Andreas Stensland Løwe (piano, electronics), Jo Berger Myhre (bass) and Andreas Lønmo Knudsrød (trommer). Just order their new album "Pressure" (2011) right away! This is their second album on Hubro, and it´s melodious, varied and parts of the album are extremely beautiful (but still not too sweet!). According to their home page Splashgirl play "their own music inspired by any number of musical genres".
Guest musicians on the album are Juhani Silvola (g), Erik Johannesen (tb), Martin Taxt (tuba), Lasse Passage Nøsted (tape feedback, field recordings) and Mari Kvien Brunvoll (voc). Guitarist Silvola is nodding towards Earth more than once, and the Earth and Sun O))) producer Randal Dunn has been mixing too.

You might want to read some real reviews, like the ones over at AAJ and The Jazz Mann, but it´s really a waste of time

As if this is not enough, Hubro also released a split LP with Splashgirl and Huntsville. Only 250 copies made, and you have to fly over to Hubro to shop.

Documentary on Brian Eno

"Brian Eno 1971 - 1977. The man who fell to earth" (2011) is said to be the first ever documentary on Eno!? Well, here it is, more than two hours long, and focusing on the years 1971 - 1977.
A fascinating picture is drawn of the "non musician", who entered the rock scene with Roxy Music, stealing too much of the attention from lead singer and song writer Brian Ferry, was later connected to the minimalist and ambient scene, work with among others Robert Fripp, Cluster and David Bowie, and started the label Obscure, presenting ten albums with artists like Gavin Bryars, Harold Budd and David Toop.

Much time is spent on Eno´s fantastic "pop" albums from this period, "Here come the warm jets" (1973), "Taking Tiger Mountain" (1974), "Another green world" (1975) and "Before and after science" (1977). "Another green world" is being hailed as the master piece by lots of people, but I think it´s really hard to choose! I want them all on my best of lists.

Music journalists, biographers and some musicians are talking heads in the film (and they talk a lot!), but I´m sad to say that a well spoken man like Eno is only heard talking for about eight second.
No, he did not cooperate on this project!

I would have liked to hear more music and less talking, but still this is well worth a watch!