The Unthanks videos

The Unthanks - 'Ship Building' from Mikey Levelle on Vimeo.

The Unthanks - 'Black Trade' from Mikey Levelle on Vimeo.

The Unthanks - 'Great Northern River' from Mikey Levelle on Vimeo.

Songs:
"Shipbuilding" (Elvis Costello & Clive Langer - and Robert Wyatt!)
"Black Trade" (Jez Lowe)
"Great Northern River" (Graeme Miles)

Videos: George Lucas

Heidi Mortenson

The Danish artist Heidi Mortenson is new to me, and it seems like she hasn´t released a lot lately, but is back on track with with the EP "Mørk" on the electronica label Rump.

The track "Dele af kroppen" is on Wire Tapper 31 (Wire 350, April 2013), and Rump uploaded the EP on SoundCloud.

Sounds quite nice I think.

And It´s Easter Time Too

Motif

Care to join me for a short Easter trip with Norwegian band Motif today?

This video was recorded at Bergen Jazzforum 15 March (2013), with Atle Nymo (sax), Eivind Lønning (tp), Ole Morten Vågan (b), Håkon Mjåset Johansen (dr), Håvard Wiik (p) and Michael Thieke (clar).

Kevin Ayers: Lady Rachel

Check out this "new" Kevin Ayers video on YouTube.

"Lady Rachel" live in Belgium in 1975, with Ollie Halsall and Zoot Money in the band.

I found this one over at Dangerous Minds.

Canterbury Sans Frontières

Matthew Watkins, the man who made Canterbury Soundwaves, mentioned regularly in this blog, just started a new podcast called "Canterbury Sans Frontières".

Expect new three hour long podcasts every month.

The first episode nods to Kevin Ayers.

Thore Hansen on the Cover

I have had a few posts on the Norwegian illustrator and author Thore Hansen, because I´m interested in making a list of all the records he has illustrated.

And he´s back, with paintings on the cover and booklet (and poster of course!) of Norwegian rockers El Cuero´s: "Victors Justice" (EMI 2013).

My Thore Hansen list so far (and please tell if you know others too):

Per Husby Septett: «Peacemaker» (1976)
Frode Thingnæs´ Quintet: "Samba karneval/Karneval i by'n" (7" 1983)
Various Artists: "Maiden Voyage" (Melodisc 2002)
Kiruna : "Irun" (Melodisc 2003)
Various Artists: "Aerien Voyage" (Melodisc 2004)
Various Artists: "Stellar Voyage"(Melodisc 2005).
Trygve Madsen: "Sketches from Norway" (Pro Musica 2005).
Various Artists: «Drunk In A Ditch - Tales From Rock Limbo 1969-1980» (Rhino/Warner) (2006).
Motorpsyho and Ståle Storløkken: "The Death Defying Unicorn" (Rune 2012) (på tekstheftet).
El Cuero: "Victors Justice" (EMI 2013).

And here is El Cuero with "My Dark America", from "Victors Justice":

Møster!

Hubro must be one of Norway´s best record companies!

This time it´s Møster!, and the album "Edvard Lygre Møster", named after Kjetil Møster´s little son.
Kjetil Møster has got a super team here, with himself on saxes and electronics, Ståle Storløkken (Fender Rhodes, Moog, electronics), Nikolai Eilertsen (el-bass, electronics) and Kenneth Kapstad (dr, and the only one not allowed to play with electronics!).

The music was recorded live at Victoria - National Jazz Scene (Oslo) in December 2011, and is really hot stuff! You may hear traces of Coltrane and electric Miles, and I guess echoes of Møster´s previous bands The Core and Ultralyd, but it´s not nostalgic at all.
Let´s call it modern jazz, and run on over to the record shops to get the album!

Cover design: Yokoland.

Duke Special sings Ivor Cutler

Duke Special is singing Ivor Cutler´s "I Worn My Elbows Down", for Bandwith Sessions.

Robert Wyatt portrait

Since we don´t have a lot of news on Robert Wyatt for the time being, we are happy to post a quite new photo! This one was taken by gallimaufries in September 2010, and recently posted on Flickr.

Gallimaufries writes: "He was a spectator at the 5000 Morris Dancers event at the South Bank, London". 5000 Morris Dancers? Oh my!

Blyant and Motland at PlayDate

We had two release concerts in one at the PlayDate concert series at the Landmark club in Bergen Tuesday evening.

Stine Janvin Motland (last picture) did a fantastic solo concert, to promote her new album, soon to be released on the Bergen record company +3dB.

We have mentioned Bly de Blyant´s album "ABC" (Hubro 2013) already, and Hilmar Jensson (g), Shahzad Ismaily (b, banjo) and Øyvind Skarbø (dr), were great live too. No tunes shorter than one minute here (even if they have them on the album!), and they ended the show with a wild version of Prince´s "Controversy". Great fun!

Live animation worked fine with Bly de Blyant, but I´m sorry to say I din´t get the name of the animator. I really like videos/animations behind bands playing. That usually adds value to the music, at least for me.

--------------

Via twitter I got the message that the animator was Marieke Verbiesen.

Michiyo Yagi: "River Man" (N. Drake)

Listen to Michiyo Yagi´s version of "River Man" (Nick Drake)! Played on 17-string bass koto.

I have only heard Yagi with Paal Nilssen-Love and Peter Brötzmann, and here is a grainy picture on Flickr taken at the Landmark club in Bergen in 2007.

See if you can find the album "Volda" (Idiolect ID-03, 2010) recorded during the same tour in Volda (Norway).

Jackie Oates sings lullabies

Jackie Oates released the album "Lullabies" (ECC Records) 18 March.

You may listen to three songs from the album on SoundCloud. On the videos she is singing "Poor Robin", "Hush-a-bye My Little Crumb" and "Sleepers Awake" (Mike Heron, Incredible String Band)! These songs are not on "Lullabies".

The walls and roofs of Bergen

Please join me for a short walk in the sunny, but oh so cold, Bergen spring weather today.

- RC is out with his/her rubber duck again. A bigger pasteup than usual from RC.

- Argus draws the lines back to Ovid and Nietsche. Check his blog if you don´t believe me.
"Nitimur in Vetitum (semper cupimusque negata)" or something like that. Who are these people?

- Some carpentry on the roof of the gallery Galleri Fisk (that´s Gallery Fish - used to be a fish store there). More pictures of wood in Bergen on Flickr.

Bly de Blyant: Rope

"Rope" by Bly de Blyant from Fredrik Rysjedal on Vimeo.

We recently had a blog post on Bly de Blyant´s album "ABC" (Hubro 2013), and here we go again with a video for the track "Rope".

Video: Fredrik Rysjedal.
Bly de Blyant: Hilmar Jensson, Shahzad Ismaily and Øyvind Skarbø.

Maja Ratkje and Kjetil Møster live in Bergen

Some glimpses from a great Saturday evening (16 March) at a newly renovated concert venue in Bergen (at USF Verftet).

- A great solo concert by Maja S.K. Ratkje. Both quiet and beautiful, and perfectly noisy. Proving that the new venue´s sound is close to perfect.

- BIT20 Ensemble: "Contr’addict – for improvising saxophonist, ensemble and pre-recorded modular synthesizer". Written by Kjetil Møster, going contemporary classical. Commissioned work. Møster delivering a hot solo in there too!

- Jørgen Træen and Frode Kvinge Flatland - Live electronics.

- Conductor Trond Madsen interviewed Maja Ratkje and Kjetil Møster during the break.

- And no photos from the BIT20 Ensemble playing Maja Ratkje´s "And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep" (using samples of her voice), and a sound installation by Luc Ferrari.

Moon Relay

Hubro will celebrate their new signing Moon Relay, with a limited release 12" on Record Store Day 20 April. 100 copies made. Album coming up.

The band: Daniel Meyer Grønvold (g), Håvard Volden (g), Ola Høyer (b) og Martin Larsen (dr).

Hubro´s description: "Moon Relay is combining influences from surf-,kosmische-,no-wave and electronic music in a lovely way" Way to go!

Joanna Newsom and Sandy Denny

Wren / FW13 / Joanna Newsom from CONNECT THE DOTS INC on Vimeo.

Joanna Newsom in 2013 and Sandy Denny in 1971, both of them doing Denny´s
"The North Star Grassman And The Ravens".

Robert Wyatt Video

There is a new blog out there, where they are collecting all Robert Wyatt videos.

Follow Robert Wyatt Video to make sure you don´t miss any.

Let´s welcome another Wyatt blog with the DVD (filmed by Tali Atzmon) accompanying some version(s) of the album "For The Ghosts Within".

Bly de Blyant: ABC (Hubro 2013)

Bly de Blyant may have released the most cocky album of 2013 so far with "ABC" (Hubro 2013). They try most known genres in a bit more than 30 minutes, and check out the cover bird (cover: Erik Olsson/Yokoland)!
I believe I hear (among other stuff) jazz, jazzrock, heavy monotonous rock, scandinavian mountain jazz and what else? Funk! Blues! They borrow music from Prince and Willie Dixon too.

Let me just point out that some tracks are a bit on the short side, and feel more like sketches. The shortest two are 15 and 34 seconds, but still I think this is quite good fun! A bit hard to relax while listening perhaps, so you might want to take that as a warning.

Listen to "Curtis" (Skarbø) below. It´s the longest track on the album (5:45).

The trio: Øyvind Skarbø (dr, org, Moog), Shahzad Ismaily (b, g, voice, dr, org) and Hilmar Jensson (g, org).

Bly de Blyant is Creme de la Creme.

Tape to Zero 2013

If you happen to be in Oslo 18 and 19 April, you should check out Kjetil Husebø´s two day festival Tape to Zero.

Most exciting perhaps, is Stian Westerhus´cooperation with the PUNKT comrades Jan Bang and Erik Honoré and the "doom piano trio" (don´t ask!) Splashgirl!

And don´t forget Splashgirl´s new album "Field Day Rituals" (Hubro 2013).

Just Not Cricket!

How about a 4xLP box with British improv, recorded at a festival in Berlin in 2011?
1000 copies for sale. Buy from here or here.

The artists:
Tom Arthurs - trumpet
Steve Beresford - piano, electronics
Tony Bevan - soprano & bass saxophones
Matthew Bourne - piano
Gail Brand - trombone
Lol Coxhill - soprano saxophone
Rhodri Davies - harp, electric harp
John Edwards - double bass
Shabaka Hutchings - clarinet, tenor saxophone
Dominic Lash - double bass
Phil Minton - voice
Eddie Prévost - drums, percussion
Orphy Robinson - vibraphone
Mark Sanders - drums
Alex Ward - clarinet, guitar
Trevor Watts - soprano & alto saxophones

Borealis 2013 - The End

Just a very short short round up of the Borealis festival in Bergen. It has been a great festival, and quite good attended, even if the festival theme was "The End".

- The Swedish guitarist David Stackenäs played a graphic score as part of the Festival´s notation project.
- Felix Kubin did the presentation "Kassettentäter", on the cassette culture of the German underground. Perfect in a club close to midnight on a Saturday? Yes!
- Dave Tompkins did the talk "The Beat Who Cheated Death: Endless Low in Miami". This man loves his bass! How about "Bass semantics"? "Oh my guts!"? We were all discretely headbanging while listening. A bit more here.

- I have to admit I am not an expert in contemporary classical, but realize that it was a really big thing to have Vinko Globokar at the festival.

- The final concert was organized in cooperation with Bergen Jazz Forum, and let me tell you that Colin Stetson impressed a packed house! One of the more quiet pieces may be heard in the video below. Stenton or Stetson, who cares!

You will of course find more info on the festival site, if you want to.
More unfocused photos will end up on Flickr in a short while.

Neneh Cherry & The Thing ''A Tribute to Don Cherry''

I have posted several clips from this one earlier in the blog, but here is the full "A Tribute to Don Cherry" concert with Neneh Cherry & The Thing, from Heineken Jazzaldia 2012!

Track list from YouTube:

1. Dream Baby Dream (A. Vega & M. Rev)
2. Golden Heart (D. Cherry)
3. Sudden Moment (M. Gustafsson)
4. Cashback (N. Cherry)
5. Dirt (J. Osterberg, R. Asheton, S. Asheton, D. Alexander)
6. Accordion (D. Dumile & O. Jackson)
7. Call the Police (S. McDee)
8. Wrap your Troubles in Dreams (H. Barris)

New stencils by Dolk

Here are a couple of commissioned works by DOLK, for the renovated concert venue USF Verftet (Bergen, Norway).

Women of the World

We´re a bit late in celebrating the International Women´s Day, but today you may at least listen to The Boy Least Likely´s version of Ivor Cutler and Linda Hurst´s "Women of the world".

Here is what they say:
"Women Of The World is only available to buy from our Bandcamp page for a limited time and all the proceeds go to The Fawcett Society and Chime For Change. As it's a charity single, we made a video for it. Except instead of a video of us singing in the studio holding our headphones, we've made a video of archive footage of the women's movement as well as a roll call of our own personal feminist heroines".

The original song was on the album "Privilege" (1983), and it was released on CD in 2009.

Borealis 2013 (From the chapel to the club)

Borealis are continuing their quest for the strange concert venue. Some of the previous festivals had concerts at the racetracks and in the living rooms of the good people of Bergen, and as you might have read yesterday, we were at a waste plant to listen to Lasse Marhaug and others.

On Thursday night the double bass ensemble Ludus Gravis, played at the Solheim chapel (8 basses at most), and we even heard a solo performance down under the chapel, in a crypt where they used to store urns. Intense!
Let me remind you that the theme of the festival this year is "The End".

Later we heard Langham Research Centre and Peter Blegvad perform the new piece "Eschatology" at the Landmark club. The text is written by Blegvad and read by him to soundscapes, partly made by sounds sampled in Bergen.
"Eschatology" explores different kinds of endings, and I had some kind of apocalyptic sci-fi feeling while listening. Bloody marvelous!
And with Peter Blegvad! I was a bit starstruck, but managed to take an undercover photo of him, while he was listening to the last act of the evening at Landmark:*AR.

* AR is Richard Skelton and Autumn Richardson. I have listened a bit to Skelton before this, and recognized the quiet and melancholic music made by samples, this time from the mountains of Northern England. They played in front of one of the slowest videos I have ever seen, showing the fog floating into the mountains. Absolutely beautiful!

Read and listen (to some of *AR´s last album) over at Corbel Stone.

Electric Eye: Tangerine

Here is a new record company from Bergen: Klangkollektivet.

Check out the video for the new krautpsychsingle "Tangerine" from Electric Eye, being Øystein Braut (Alexandria Quartet, Dig Deeper - and leader of the band), Njål Clementsen (Megaphonic Thrift, The Low Frequency in Stereo), Anders Bjelland (Hypertext) and Øyvind Hegg-Lunde (Building Instrument and lots of impro and jazz cooperations).

The album "Pick up, Lift off, Space, Time" is out 5 April. International distribution by Fuzz Club Records.

Borealis 2013

I´m a bit busy this week! The Borealis festival of Bergen is happening right now.

Wednesday I went to the grand festival opening with (among other concerts) Lasse Marhaug´s powerful commissioned work for Ny Musikk (New Music org); "Waste music (for two furnaces )" - giving us the sonic recycling of a waste plant. Both earplugs and helmets this time! Great day at the waste plant!

Espen Sommer Eide has several performances in his exhibition "Dead Language Poetry" at the Bergen Kunsthall, Wednesday hi deid one together with Alexander Rishaug, Janne-Camilla Lyster, Signe Lidén, Tolga Balci and Trine H. Friis.

Trond Lossius is presenting his sound installation "Lontano" in the Haukeland Unversity Hospital´s anechoic chamber. The sounds of railway stations, parks, the birds at night and a even a full storm, is a strong and strange experience in a completely sound isolated room like this one.

Read more about all this over at Borealis, and feel free to check out more of my photos on Flickr.

Shipbuilding

BBC Radio 4 just broadcasted a 30 min program on Clive Langer and Elvis Costello´s song "Shipbuilding", written for Robert Wyatt.
Listen here (available on the BBC Radio 4 site for how long??).

Robert Wyatt is not interviewed, but we hear from (among others) the composers, politicians, The Unthanks, and the philosopher Richard Ashcroft, on who BBC Radio 4 writes:

"Richard Ashcroft is a philosopher who wants the song, which he describes as a kind of secular hymn, played at his funeral because it gives a perfect expression of how he believes we should think about life. Not being able to feel the emotion of the song would, he feels, would be like being morally tone-deaf. If you don't like this song, he'd find it hard to be your friend".

Videos: Robert Wyatt, Elvis Costello and The Unthanks.

Robert Wyatt pays tribute to Kevin Ayers

Robert Wyatt pays tribute to Kevin Ayers (who died 18 February) in Stuart Maconie´s Freak Zone (BBC Radio 6).

They cover the Wilde Flowers and early Soft Machine years, and Wyatt stresses how important Kevin Ayers was as a proper songwriter, and that the first Soft Machine albums probably didn´t really show them from their best side.
Robert Wyatt thinks it´s a pity that the bands of today seldom go through the phase of playing at dances, like they did with The Wilde Flowers!

Kevin Ayers is described as "bright", "funny" and "posh - but without education", and as a very pleasant person!
And how about Kevin Ayers voice resembling Rex Harrisons´? Wyatt himself admits that he tried to sing like both Van Morrison and Steve Marriot i those early days.

Maconie wants to know if we may expect some new music by Robert Wyatt soon, but Wyatt claims he is retired now!

Please note: You have got 6 days left to listen, so don´t wait!

Annie Whitehead Group: O Caroline

I don´t know if Annie Whitehead Group are touring with their Robert Wyatt tribute "Soupsongs", but they sure played at Teatro Bonci di Cesena (Italy) 2 March.

According to a nice mail from Aldo Saporetti, they played a lot from "Rock Bottom" and "Shleep", and treasures like "Left on man" and "Vandalusia".

Musicians:

Sarah-Jane Morris and Cristina Donà (voc)
Annie Whitehead (trombone)
Brian Hopper (sax)
Mark Lockheart (sax)
Jennifer Maidman (g, voc)
Janette Mason (keyb)
Tim Harries (el-bass)
Liam Genockey (dr)

Daniel Darc (1959 - 2013)

The French artist Daniel Darc passed away 28 February.

Robert Wyatt added voice and breathing (!) to the song "Ça Ne Sert A Rien" on Darc´s album "Amours Suprêmes" (2008), and Darc sung "O Caroline" on Orchestre National de Jazz: "Around Robert Wyatt" (2008).

Check out the video "Fuck Dance Let´s Art" (Gautier & Leduc) on the recording of "Amours Suprêmes", and Robert Wyatt is joining around 19 minutes into the video.

Arianna Blu

Today a dramatic short movie called "Arianna Blu", made by Nicola Piovesan during Mon Film Festival.

The music is made by Soft Machine Legacy, who also have a new album out on MoonJune called "Burden of Proof". Musicians: John Etheridge, Roy Babbington, John Marshall and Theo Travis.

More info on the movie and the music on YouTube.