11 giugno 2026

Sarà disponibile in cd da agosto, ma in formato digitale lo si può già ascoltare tramite Bandcamp: è l'atteso album del sassofonista Marc Hadley - il primo realizzato a proprio nome come titolare - contenente tra mille riferimenti canterburyani anche le ultime registrazioni in studio del compianto Phil MillerHow To Cut Water

L'autore ne parla per esteso a Phil Howitt per Facelift: "​This record was inspired by my time playing with Phil Miller, who had a built-in preference for the road less-travelled, thus he might choose to write a 5/4 melody rather than a 4/4. My connection to Phil came via bassist Jack Monck; the first bassist in one of the Canterbury origin bands, Delivery. After decades of orbiting one another, Phil, Jack, the late Paul Dufour, and I finally formed a quartet, recording a studio demo in 2016. ​Following Phil’s death in 2017, I was left with a sense of unfinished business. We had a collection of tunes to which Phil had been a generous contributor, including the enigmatically challenging piece he called Thing in 5. To capture Phil’s lifetime of fluid, evolving influence felt like a creative and emotional attempt at “cutting water” - trying to impose shape on an element that inherently resists it. I’ve felt at times with my own writing that I’m actually fishing for something I didn’t conceive but already exists - it just doesn’t want to linger in one place and time very long."

https://marchadley.co.uk
https://marchadley.bandcamp.com/album/how-to-cut-water
https://canterburyscene.com/an-interview-with-marc-hadley

10 giugno 2026

Hugh Hopper e il suo distintivo utilizzo del fuzz-box sono in bella evidenza anche in Illusion, secondo capitolo degli Isotope che Esoteric e Cherry Red Records ripresentano in questi giorni nel box Upward Curve-The Recordings 1973-1976. Ci sono tutti gli album ufficiali del gruppo, più alcune sessioni registrate dal vivo per la BBC nel 1973 e 1974 e un pugno di brani ritoccati nel 2001; per una più completa conoscenza dell'impatto dal vivo della formazione guidata da Gary Boyle nel periodo clou del jazz-rock britannico rimangono però ineludibili i documenti pubblicati qualche anno fa da Hux (Live at the BBC, 2004) e Cuneiform (Golden Section, 2008).

Della sua breve permanenza nel gruppo disse Hopper: "We played a lot of gigs with Isotope, touring all the time in the UK and Europe and once in the States. The band had good sponsorship and backing, and jazz-rock was almost desirable for a few months in 1974-75! We were playing at least four or five times a week, all the time. Isotope certainly was good for me from the point of view of doing a lot of music. Since we were gigging so much, I was probably playing with more technical facility than when I was in Soft Machine."

09 giugno 2026

In un suo curioso post su FB Dave Newhouse celebra le glorie del fuzz-box - che leggenda vuole sia nato per un involontario incidente tecnico attribuibile a Glenn Snoddy durante una sessione di country & western a Nashville nei primissimi anni Sessanta - pubblicando la foto dello strumento usato dall'amico fraterno (e compagno di mille avventure) Billy Swann. E invita all'ascolto di tre illustri esempi: il brano Don't Worry di Marty Robbins contenente appunto l'esito di quella storica anomalia, Queenside (The Muffins, Open City) e As Long As He Lies Perfecty Still (Soft Machine, II).

https://www.facebook.com/david.newhouse.9699