Arve Henriksen au Duc des Lombards

Arve Henriksen and Helge Sten live in Paris 22 November!

Procosmian Fannyfiddlers

This is a post for the ones among you who may be collecting all kinds of progrock. Procosmian Fannyfiddlers from Trondheim (Norway) have been playing since 1995, and have made 8 records on their own "Langt Lem Records" (*cough* describing the size of some men´s members, sorry about that). I have only heard "Requiem Fatigue", and even if the cover and the lyrics are putting me a bit off, the music is quite good! Progrock spiced with folk. Here are some song titles: "Crap in the ceiling", "Diaphragm of doom", "Carpe scrotum", "Dogging me, dogging you" and one with a message, "We are here to annoy you". Be warned.

According to their MySpace-site their previous albums are: GOLD (97) ... AND SILVERS QUALITY (98) FISTED LADY (99) THE ROLLING COURT MASSACRE (01) RETURN OF THE SWEATTY OWL (03) FATHER DOG (05) THE HORSE FROM HELL (08).

And here is "The horse from hell" (2008):

The Soft Machine (1969, Hör Zu SHZE908BL)

Saturday I ended up at a record fair again, and once more I brought home an old Soft Machine album. This time I got a German mixture of the two first Soft Machine albums from 1969 (?), and on the back of the cover we may read this on the fine gentlemen Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers: "Der harte Kern der Soft Machine: Michael, Robert, Kevon". (Click on the picture below if you want to read more).

The tracks:
- Hibou Anemone And Bear
- Dada Was Here
- Out Of Tunes
- As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still
- Dedicated To You But You Weren't
Listening
- Hope For Happines
- Joy Of A Toy
- Hope For Happines
- Plus Belle Qu'une Poubelle
- Why Are We Sleeping?
- Box 25/4 Lid

Film and book

On What´s Rattlin´ (check this forum!) I found info on the film "Separation" by Jack Bond, where you get a bonus movie by Mark Boyle and Joan Hills called "Beyond Image" (mentioned earlier in this blog, as it was shown in London), with music by Soft Machine (as on "Spaced").

Jean-Francois Drean and Philippe Thieyre have written a portrait of Robert Wyatt called (hold steady now) "Robert Wyatt" (Editions des Accords - ISBN 978-2-916944-02-9). It is not in stock at Amazon, but I think I´ll try the publisher!

Lean Left

Lean Left is Ken Vandermark, Terrie Ex, Andy Moor and Paal Nilssen-Love. Ken Vandermark usually offers a short comment after the shows on his Twitter when touring, and I believe this one is from Ljubljana.

Terje Rypdal: Odyssey

Today´s classic is Terje Rypdal´s "Odyssey" (ECM), a double LP from 1975. The band is Terje Rypdal (guitar, soprano saxophone and string ensemble (!)), Torbjørn Sunde (trombone), Brynjulf Blix (organ), Sveinung Hovensjø (bass) and Svein Christiansen (drums). Manfred Eicher and Jan Erik Kongshaug is involved, no surprises there, and the cover photo is by Giuseppe Pino.
I had listened to, and liked the sound of Rypdal before I bought this one ( with Jan Garbarek, in Dream and on the solo album "Bleak house"), but I immediately fell for this one, with Hovensjø´s rock steady bass and Sunde´s beautiful trombone. It´s almost a taste of Pink Floyd in here sometimes ("Atom Heart Mother" ?), but of course the main factor is the icy, clear sound of Rypdal´s guitar. Sorry, but I must have read too much about the Nordic wintery sound of the Norwegian ECM artists, and may almost see the glaciers move when I listen to this. Rypdal is not a hot blues guitarist, for sure!
This album has been out on CD, without the long track "Rolling Stone" (24 minutes), but I believe it is hard to get hold of these days. You may download "Odyssey" from iTunes and eMusic, but even they lack the missing track!

The Ex and Brass Unbound

The Ex is touring UK in January and February 2010 with Brass Unbound, who is Mats Gustafsson, Roy Paci, Ken Vandermark and Wolter Wierbos. Video credit: Emma Fischer.