31 marzo 2015

Frugando negli archivi del programma radiofonico di Ben Watson The London Ear - in onda ogni giovedì, e in replica ogni domenica, su Resonance FM - ci si può imbattere in un'appassionata Share It (Hatfield and the North) eseguita dal vivo in studio dallo scrittore e cantautore americano Wesley Stace: una versione semplificata, per sola voce e chitarra acustica, offerta alla vigilia del debutto londinese del varietà musical-letterario Cabinet of Wonders, il 31 gennaio scorso alla Cecil Sharp House. Quella sera il brano non venne proposto al pubblico, preferendovi altri e più espliciti omaggi canterburyani: tra questi Nigel Blows a Tune, ovvero l'incipit di Nine Feet Underground (Caravan), richiamato all'attenzione da Stace, Theo Travis, gli High Llamas al completo e Jonathan Coe, assai a suo agio quest'ultimo nei panni di Dave Sinclair.

http://resonancefm.com
https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/150000-the-london-ear-320kbps-3
https://twitter.com/btfoshizzle
http://thecabinetofwonders.com
http://tinyurl.com/oumeobp

30 marzo 2015


Ritrattino di Mike Alway ('he invented a parallel England with perfect eccentricity') seguendo le scie luminose lasciate da Anthony Adverse e Bad Dream Fancy Dress negli anni ruggenti della él: "The label wasn’t so much a record company as a manifestation of Alway’s passion for hazy corners of Englishness. The corners, as Alway saw them, were inhabited by eligible rakes, sharp-witted debutantes and British cinema antiheroes such as Jack Carter, the gangster played by Michael Caine in Get Carter. Having worked in the A&R departments of the cornerstone indie label Cherry Red and then the major label-funded Blanco Y Negro, Alway knew what he didn’t want when he founded él. His dream was a company that valued intelligence and flair over profit – and, true to his word, Alway consistently took on projects that didn’t have a hope of hitting the charts."

http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/mar/10/cult-heroes-mike-alway-el-records-parallel-britain

29 marzo 2015


E qualche settimana fa è scomparso all'età di ottantadue anni Tod Dockstader, uno dei più importanti compositori statunitensi di musica concreta ed elettronica, in azione soprattutto negli anni sessanta ma attivo quasi fino all'ultimo a dispetto di età e malattia, con diversi lavori nuovi o rivisti pubblicati o ripubblicati in anni recenti da Starkland, ReR, Sub Rosa e Creel Pone. Un documentario sulla sua vita e le sue opere, Unlocking Dockstader, diretto da Justin H. Brierley e ricco di informazioni e materiali inediti, non ha ancora potuto vedere la luce; sul web sono invece da tempo disponibili alcune interviste con David Lee Myers, Ken Hollings, Chris Cutler - una apparsa su un Quarterly sul finire degli anni novanta - e vari interventi radiofonici.

http://dockstader.info
http://dockstader.info/discography.php
https://www.facebook.com/UnlockingDockstader/timeline
http://unlockingdockstader.com
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/861205874/unlocking-dockstader

27 marzo 2015

Un'intervista a Karen Street è apparsa qualche settimana fa in LondonJazz, preannunciando tra le altre cose l'uscita di un suo nuovo album, Unfurled, con il quartetto Streetworks: "At the suggestion of Mike Westbrook I brought out a solo album of original music, with contributions from Stan Sulzman and Fred Baker which was received really well. Two more cds followed and now I have just released a fourth, Unfurled. I think I have found in the players in Streetworks - Mike Outram on guitar, Will Harris on bass, Andy Tweed on saxophone, and myself on accordion - a great sound and good level of communication. Our new album Unfurled is a contemplative album and reflects my time of life. Youth and excitement is far away, there is a sense of loss with children moving away, parents dying or succumbing to dementia, a sadness which is very present at the moment but which will I hope take more of a back seat as time passes, indicated in the more optimistic tracks. My aim is to communicate with an audience on an emotional level rather than achieving any wow factor. I have realised that I have to be comfortable with the people I play with to perform at my best. I think jazz mirrors your personality - I can be very shy but with moments of recklessness, sounds like a title for the next album! I think I also have a lot of anger against the injustices of the world and I would dearly like to find a way of expressing this through my music."

http://www.londonjazznews.com/2015/03/interview-karen-street-reflections.html
http://www.karenstreet.bigshedmusic.co.uk
http://www.youtube.com/user/KarenStreetAccordion

26 marzo 2015


Il bel concerto offerto sabato scorso al club londinese Vout-O-Reenee's dal Westbrook Trio ha riservato, tra le tante delizie di un repertorio ricamato attorno al tema di un'attesa e ormai imminente primavera, la prima esecuzione in pubblico di Sonnet for Stephen, brano composto in ricordo dello scomparso Stephen J. Hewitt e da qualche giorno circolante tra amici e sostenitori in una versione per settetto ripresa ad Exeter a inizio anno.
Attende ora i Westbrook un'intensa stagione di concerti per big band con l'esilarante A Bigger Show, una ripresa corale di Glad Day e, sempre in tema di festeggiamenti per la centesima pubblicazione dello Smith's Academy Informer, la divulgazione di un'inedita registrazione integrale di After Smith's Hotel datata 1983.

The Informer’s idiosyncratic name derives from musical discoveries made while the Westbrook Trio were on tour in 1983 and stayed at Smith's Hotel on Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street. Mike found a chord that opened up new ideas he then incorporated into After Smith's Hotel and subsequent compositions. The chord and its ramifications transmuted into Smith's Academy, ‘the travelling university of musical exploration’. The Informer has followed international tours, by a succession of bands, playing everything from the most prestigious festivals to the most obscure jazz clubs. Musically it has followed the evolution of the Westbrooks’ unparalleled catalogue, which ranges from from large-scale compositions, operas and jazz/classical collaborations to music theatre and jazz cabaret.
The 100th edition of the Informer may be viewed, and back issues from SAI 81 can be read on the WestbrookJazz website. Complete sets of the magazine are held at the National Jazz Archive and the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt.

http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk
http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/sai/index.shtml
http://vout-o-reenees.com/events/the-westbrook-trio

25 marzo 2015


Il White Cube di Bermondsey a Londra ha ospitato sabato scorso una rara performance di Nicolas Collins, negli ultimi anni sempre più impegnato sul fronte dell'insegnamento e della divulgazione del know-how elettronico applicato a strumenti usati o di basso costo. Un esercizio di equilibrio tra strumenti tattili, oscillatori, circuiti integrati e feedback giocato con l'impiego di bicchieri brocche e calici presi in prestito dalle installazioni della personale di Christian Marclay.

Born and raised in New York City, Nicolas Collins lived in Amsterdam and Berlin in the 1990s before joining the Department of Sound at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As well as being an early adopter of micro computers for live performance, Collins also uses electronic circuitry, conventional acoustic instruments and hybrid electro acoustic instruments. Collins is the editor in chief of the Leonardo Music Journal as well as the author of Handmade Electronic Music-The Art of Hardware Hacking, published by Routledge, which has influenced emerging electronic music worldwide.

http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/christian_marclay_bermondsey_2015
http://whitecube.com/events/nicolas_collins_performance_2015

24 marzo 2015


C'era in proiezione anche qualche spezzone del film Unpredictable che la regista Blanca Regina sta ultimando sulla vita e l'opera di Terry Day giovedì scorso al Cafe Oto londinese, nel cuore di una vivace serata di improvvisazione e arti varie cui hanno partecipato tra gli altri David Toop, John Butcher, Steve Beresford, Okkyung Lee, Pat Thomas, Hannah Marshall, Phil Minton, Max Eastley, Pete Cusack, George Khan e Gina Southgate. L'iniziativa è parte di una campagna di finanziamento in corso per sostenere i costi di produzione del film; vi confluisce anche il ricavato della vendita di vari manufatti artistici e poetici confezionati individualmente, o in pochissime copie, dal poliedrico batterista. Che ai presenti quella sera non ha voluto far mancare il dono di una breve, antinostalgica ricostituzione degli Alterations.
Qualche estratto è in http://youtu.be/dah0YObCH0s

Unpredictable is a feature film that evaluates the work of groundbreaking musician and artist Terry Day, bringing together some of the founding members of the UK free improvised music scene like Steve Beresford, Evan Parker, David Toop, Charlie Hart, George Khan and Mike Figgis. The film reflects on their lasting influence and uncovers previously unknown aspects of Terry Day´s artistic output.

Terry Day is an improviser, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist, songwriter, visual artist and poet: a first generation pioneer improviser from the 1960s. He formed a duo with Derek Bailey in the late '60s and was a regular member of The Continuous Music Ensemble, People Band and, later on, the group Alterations with David Toop, Steve Beresford and Pete Cusack. Since then he has collaborated with many musical luminaries, groups, dancers, painters and poets and has also performed in theatre.

http://www.terryday.co.uk
http://unpredictablesite.tumblr.com
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/unpredictable-a-film-about-terry-day
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Unpredictable-Series/255224461346410
http://youtu.be/dah0YObCH0s

23 marzo 2015

Due concerti di Louis Moholo-Moholo in onda a Radio3-Suite domani sera a partire dalle ore 20.30: prima con lo Special Unit for The Blue Notes registrato il 30 aprile 2014 a Torino al Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi e a seguire il duo con Livio Minafra registrato il 14 settembre 2014 a Ruvo di Puglia al Teatro Comunale.

http://tinyurl.com/mlhcy49

22 marzo 2015

Sarà una festa in nome della vita l'ultimo saluto a Daevid Allen, sulla spiaggia a New Brighton (Australia) oggi alle 11.11 del mattino, ora locale. E ci saranno famigliari e amici, musica, meditazione e animo lieto ad accompagnare lo spargimento delle sue ceneri nell'oceano, in uno dei luoghi da lui più amati. Questo il messaggio di invito inviato da uno dei figli, Tobias J Cosmo Allen: "Hey yo all you gong freaks, fans and family! I'd formally like to extend the invitation to come and help celebrate the life of our father Daevid Allen aka Dada Ali Yon aka Dingo Virgin aka Bebert Camembert aka Sri Cappuccino Longfellow the Divided Alien. We'll be throwing a big ceremonious celebration in his hometown of New Brighton beach at 11:11am on Sunday 22nd of March. Please allow time to be there before the moment of 11:11am for we will be spreading his ashes at one of his favourite spots to meditate and be at peace with the world. If you could bring your kind self accompanied with the instrument of your choice and your high spirits, every soul is welcomed!"

https://www.facebook.com/tobler1one

21 marzo 2015

Per accompagnare la transizione temporale tra la morte fisica e la dispersione delle ceneri, Orlando Allen dedica a papà Daevid - e mamma Gilli - alcuni brani registrati in forma di meditazione solitaria, con ampio utilizzo di suoni ambientali, a partire da Moonchild (King Crimson).

R.I.P Dada Ali 13-03-15 13:08pm - Final release 22-03-15 11:11am --This song is dedicated and sung from my deepest of true hearts to my Father Daevid Allen also known as Dada Ali - The Dingo Virgin and Bert Camembert among many characters he lived in his 45 years in the music industry. He died a peaceful Death passing quietly in his sleep. This is the first of a series of 5 acoustic unplugged songs from Orlando Monday dedicated to his dad Daevid Allen and mom Gilli Smyth - this first song celebrates The Twilight Between Night and Day -Between Life and Death. Dada Ali the Global Family are with you as you wonder the twilight between the time of physical Death and final release of the spreading of your ashes on the ocean at your favorite spot New Brighton Beach at the rocks 11:11am Australian time - Sunday 22-03-15

Anche un altro figlio di Daevid, Tobias J Cosmo Allen, affida il suo commiato a un ricordo musicale: "My greatest and most bittersweet memory of my Father was him jamming along to the music I used to listen to at a tender age of 14, which was mostly Sepultura, Napalm Death, Slayer, Pantera and Method Of Destruction, which grated enormously with his new age psychedelic prowess. Not his bag at all, but not was his mine. But drawn in by the skitzophrenic sounds and bloodcurdling howls, no matter what, he wanted to be a part of it for me, to try bridge the divided alien gap between he and I. He would slam around in the most down-to-earth free spirited hippy way he could. Maybe this was his way of purifying the thrash metal sound in his own little way? He did it with Punk music in the late 70's when he got chased out of CBGB's, why couldn't he do it with me? When I used to listen to underground hip-hop, he fucking loved the 'lyricism' so much, he actually wrote a rap song, which was kinda adorable, albeit scatman like: https://youtu.be/Pw8ZESzpL3M
Above everything, It was the best way for a hard working absent musician to stay in tune with a yung hooligan hose beast with a penchant for an array of psychedelics and inflicting wild and various accidents on myself. But, you know what, looking back, it kinda worked! It's time to say goodbye old matey, you found the peace you were so desperately looking for and it was surrounded by your whole obscura of oddball family and friends. Now... You go find your flying teapot and pothead pixie clan and find a way to float around planet gong causing anarchy the best way you know how."

https://soundcloud.com/orlando-monday-allen/moonchild-daevidallentribute1
https://www.facebook.com/tobler1one

20 marzo 2015

Una speciale puntata del programma radiofonico The Interesting Alternative Show interamente dedicata a Daevid Allen è andata in onda lunedì scorso su Phoenix FM. La si può riascoltare tramite Mixcloud.

http://www.phoenixfm.com/category/the-interesting-alternative-show
https://www.mixcloud.com/interestingalternative/2015-03-16-daevid-allen-tribute

19 marzo 2015

Questo è il giorno della cremazione di Daevid Allen, e c'è un'indicazione ad hoc per chi voglia partecipare pure a distanza: "If you so wish to participate, you can light a candle at 11:11am today and make yourself a strong cup of earl grey tea with one sugar and 1/3 milk".

Cominciano intanto i preparativi per la cerimonia funebre di domenica. Li annuncia Jonny Greene di Planet Gong: "For years if you ever asked him what kind of funeral he would like Daevid always said he wanted an old fashioned fire engine to take the coffin to Bryon Bay's town square or High St. accompanied by a trad jazz band. There his body would be burned on a large funeral pyre outside the Town Hall. Then his ashes were to be placed on a little wooden boat and floated out to sea. Unlike some of Daevid's flights of fancy this one varied very little over time. In the end not too much of the above can be achieved, but I'm sure he was just fine with that. Daevid will be cremated late morning 17th March at Bryon Bay's local Crematorium, in fact as I type just before midnight in 16th here in the UK the family and close friends will have already have gathered for the ceremony to begin. We are all there in spirit. On Saturday all four of Daevid's sons will paddle out on surf boards to scatter his ashes in the sea."

http://www.planetgong.co.uk

18 marzo 2015


In un'intervista concessa l'anno scorso a Innerviews Terry Riley ricorda il contatto e l'amicizia con Daevid Allen a Parigi nei primissimi anni Sessanta, tra il 1962 e il 1963: "When I got to Paris, I hung out with the next-door neighbor from San Francisco, who was a friend of Daevid Allen’s. At that time in Paris, Daevid was delivering the Herald Tribune newspaper. He had a route that went through the Paris Opera and up through Pigalle. One night, Daevid flipped out and threw all the newspapers all over the street and was just done with it. I said “I could use that gig.” I thought it would be fun. So, I sold newspapers. I’d start out at the Paris Opera and I still remember being at the opera the night Marilyn Monroe died in August 1962. I immediately sold out of all my papers. I didn’t even have to go to Place Pigalle that night. Eventually, I got other jobs and got out of that newspaper gig. I started playing at Fred Payne’s Artists’ Bar, which used to be on my paper route. The bar had been there since the ‘30s. Fred was a very old, English expat who had this bar full of young French prostitutes for businessmen. So, I would go in and play piano for them as they had their fun. Sometimes, they would close the bar at night and I’d play piano all night while the guys were frolicking with the women. I liked playing at Fred’s, because it actually developed some of my improvisational skills. Nobody cared what I played. Sometimes I’d do a long, extended improv and Fred would say “That doesn’t sound like music.” But it was a place to freely experiment in front of an audience. Then out of that, I got another job playing floor shows in France. It launched me into making some money. I got some decent jobs out of it.
Daevid and I remained friends through that whole period in Paris. I got Daevid into tape loops. I played him this stuff I had done in San Francisco with Anna Halprin like Mescaline Mix and pieces like that. Daevid got really interested in that and started doing a lot of stuff with tape loops. We used to jam a lot together in Paris. I’d also hang out on his houseboat on the Seine. It was very funky. He probably got it for $50 or cheaper. It was tied up to a quai and was a very small, one-room space. He lived there the whole time I was in Paris. We had mutual friends down at The Beat Hotel in Paris. We’d go down there a lot. We’d meet people like Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs there. Our cultural life at the time involved going from the houseboat to The Beat Hotel. We ran into many interesting people.
Daevid was a much hipper guy than me. He was more into the Beat and pre-hippie scenes. I was a straight UC Berkeley graduate who experimented a lot with weird music, so we had that connection. I educated him about musical ideas and he showed me things about the free bohemian life you could lead in Paris. I really liked Daevid’s fantasy drawings, poems, and the funny Australian language elements he’d use. It was captivating for me. He was very influential on me. He showed me a new kind of life, even though his was chaos. It was pretty easy for Daevid to flip over into the other side, but he could always keep it together enough to keep going. This was all pre-Soft Machine and Gong. I remember Robert Wyatt came over to the houseboat one time and I got to jam with him. He was playing one of those Dizzy Gillespie-style trumpets with the bell going up. I thought he was a trumpet player when I met him, and he was, I guess, back then. Robert is so talented. He could do anything. I last saw Daevid when he came to visit me when I had a place in Richmond, California, five years ago. He stayed with us there twice. He’s an extraordinarily gifted guy. Gong is also one of my favorite bands. It was one of the places that rock ended up that was very vital."

17 marzo 2015


Poeta fino alla fine. L'ultima apparizione in pubblico di Daevid Allen si è tenuta l'1 marzo scorso a Byron Bay (Australia) nel corso di una serata letteraria dal titolo Writers at the Rails organizzata appunto presso il club The Rails. Così la annunciava lo scrittore David Hallett: "Hi all...first big poetry show at Byron Bay this year will be on this Sunday at the 'Writers at the Rails' with 2 iconic features: longtime host of Brisbane's Kurilpa Poets Reverend Hellfire along with globe-trotting Gong poet/muso Daevid Allen. Show starts at 2pm at Railway Friendly Bar with invited readings, and there will also be a Poetry Slam".

https://www.facebook.com/david.hallett.71
http://www.whatsonbyron.com/ai1ec_event/writers-at-the-rails-3
http://www.echo.net.au/2015/03/daevid-allen-founder-of-gong-and-soft-machine-dies

16 marzo 2015


Molti degli splendidi ritratti fotografici di Robert Wyatt realizzati da Jean-François Dréan e pubblicati in volume nel 2009 (Robert Wyatt, Editions en Accords) sono esposti alla Médiathéque di Rochefort (Francia) ancora per tutta questa settimana. A presentarli venerdì scorso c'era Philippe Thieyre, che di quel volume curò tutti i testi, incluse diverse interviste a Wyatt.

Dans le cadre de 'Rendez vous musicaux', trimestriels organisés par l'équipe de La Poudriere & la Médiathèque de Rochefort, Philippe Thieyre évoquera Robert Wyatt au cours d'une conférence-déambulatoire... Robert Wyatt est un personnage unique & singulier. Son influence est considérable depuis ses débits avec Soft Machine. Retracer son histoire c'est cheminer à travers les mouvements les plus innovants du rock anglais et européen des cinquante dernières années... La conférence-déambulatoire sera suivie d'un grignotage et d'une séance de dédicaces du livre Robert Wyatt aux Editions en Accords.
Expositions de portraits par Jean-François Dréan du 13 au 22 Mars 2015.

https://www.facebook.com/events/657846460991593
http://www.disco-robertwyatt.com/images/Robert/editions_accords/index.htm

15 marzo 2015

Tornano in circolazione i documenti audio e video relativi ai famigerati concerti reunion di Hatfield and The North e Caravan - manca all'appello per ora quello dei Gong - prodotti nel 1990 dalla serie televisiva Bedrock per la britannica Central TV a Nottingham. Li ripropone la londinese Demon nella propria linea economica di cd e dvd Access All Areas. All'epoca ne scrisse su Facelift Phil Howitt, testimone diretto dell'esibizione dei Caravan: il file è negli archivi on-line della sua storica fanzine in http://homepages.3-c.coop/facelift/facelift/issue%204.html

Access All Areas is Demon Music Group’s superb new mid-price range featuring a wide array of the world’s biggest and most influential recording artists delivering full length, hit packed live sets from their prime 70s, 80s & 90s eras. The concerts were originally recorded for broadcast on ITV and released here for the first time, a catalogue housing the most superb live recordings in the artists’ history. The high quality recordings have been remastered and are featured both on a DVD and audio CD in each package, alongside extended notes & interviews.

https://www.burningshed.com/store/canterburyscene/product/104/6507
https://www.burningshed.com/store/canterburyscene/product/104/6227

14 marzo 2015

Sono pronte per Charly Records, sull'onda lunga dei festeggiamenti dei propri quarant'anni di attività, le strepitose riedizioni in cd e vinile di Camembert Electrique, tratte dai nastri audio originali ritrovati e restaurati. Miglior tempismo non poteva esserci. You can kill my body baby, but ya can't kill me...

Absurd, anarchic and powerfully psychedelic, Camembert Electrique is the first proper Gong album. Originally released in France on BYG Actuel (a Charly label) in 1971, then licensed to a young Richard Branson for his fledgling Virgin label in the UK in 1974, this iconic and influential album is still devastatingly fresh-sounding in the 21st century. Weirdness, wisdom, outré rock of the 'highest' order - as you'd expect from the founding-father of acid-rock Daevid Allen.
Camembert Electrique is released worldwide by Charly Records as a strictly limited edition audiophile LP. For the first time ever, the album has been remastered from the recently discovered original BYG master tape and pressed on 180-gram heavyweight vinyl. The LP is packaged in a lavish replica of the original gatefold sleeve, complete with all inserts. To the delight of Gong fans everywhere, the album’s original track listing, correct song titles and timings have been fully restored.

http://charly.co.uk/albums/camembert-electrique-definitive-remastered-cd-edition
http://charly.co.uk/albums/camembert-electrique-remastered-180g-audiophile-vinyl-lp

13 marzo 2015


Ciao Daevid!




12 marzo 2015

Nella tappa londinese del tour che ne segna il ritorno alle attività dal vivo dopo un paio d'anni di interruzione The Unthanks hanno offerto un concerto davvero splendido al pubblico della Roundhouse sabato scorso. Con qualche classico e qualche cover di lusso (Robert Wyatt, Antony & The Johnsons, King Crimson) in scaletta c'era pressoché intero il nuovo album Mount the Air: Hawthorn, l'affascinante title-track, Madam, Last Lullaby, Felton Lonnin, Died for Love, Flutter, For Dad, Magpie, Out of the Blue, Spiralling, Lucky Gilchrist, Starless, e come bis Caught in a Storm, una ripresa di Mount the Air in versione 'clog dance' e Last. Una 'standing ovation' - peraltro inevitabile, non essendo previste sedie al primo livello del leggendario teatro - ha accolto anche il promettente trio di apertura, The Young'uns, per l'occasione in assetto quasi esclusivamente vocale.

http://www.the-unthanks.com
http://www.theyounguns.co.uk
https://www.youtube.com/user/photocronista/videos

11 marzo 2015

Prosegue fino al 12 aprile prossimo al White Cube di Bermondsey a Londra la personale di Christian Marclay incentrata su aspetti e proprietà acustiche di acqua, liquidi e colori gocciolanti, un'esposizione resa ancor più vivace nei fine settimana da concerti e interventi sonori coerenti con il tema, con attenzioni estese spesso a bicchieri, bottiglie, brocche, vasi, vasetti, bocce e recipienti di varia foggia e misura. Sabato scorso è stata la volta di Steve Beresford, chiamato a governare un indaffarato ensemble alle prese con vetri, metalli, schegge, frammenti, oggettini quotidiani e percussioni più o meno proprie. Qualche minuto della performance è catturato in un video su YouTube.

In this latest London exhibition at White Cube, Christian Marclay explores relationships between sound, music and language. During the exhibition he is staging a series of live performances which are recorded and then sold as vinyl records in designed covers. The session on March 7 was Steve Beresford conducting a glass and percussion ensemble featuring Jon Clark, David Stockard, Beibei Wang, Tom Skinner, Ansuman Biswas, Andie Brown, Terry Day, Adam Bohman and Mark Sanders.

http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/christian_marclay_bermondsey_2015
http://whitecube.com/events/steve_beresford_performance_2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCAbiz-Rz3s

10 marzo 2015


Il Westbrook Trio torna in scena a Londra la prossima settimana per celebrare l'arrivo della primavera - e il compleanno di Mike - con un concerto dal programmatico titolo You Must Believe in Spring presso il delizioso club artistico Vout-O-Reenee's. Un anticipo di stagione che vedrà concentrarsi in poche settimane molte iniziative - i festeggiamenti per il centesimo numero dello Smith's Academy Informer, un nuovo cd composto in memoria del caro amico Stephen Hewitt, una ripresa di Glad Day/The Westbrook Blake - prima dell'atteso esordio a maggio dell'impegnativo A Bigger Show per grande ensemble orchestrale.

On March 21st Kate Westbrook, Chris Biscoe and Mike Westbrook return, by popular demand, to the scene of their triumphant debut last November, at Sophie Parkin’s fantastic new Arts Club, Vout‐O‐Reenee's. The club with its louche, backstage atmosphere, its cozy bar its “Stash” Art gallery and its seasoned upright piano, is rapidly becoming a favourite watering hole for the more lively spirits on the London Art Scene. The Westbrook Trio has found a new home, a stone’s throw from the Tower of London. The title of the gig: “You must believe in Spring!”

09 marzo 2015


Ciao Michael!





08 marzo 2015


L'inglese Routledge comunica che tra i suoi testi accademici più letti nel 2014 nel campo delle scienze umanistiche e degli studi d'arte c'è una ricerca di Georgina Born pubblicata in Journal of the Royal Musical Association (Volume 135, Issue 2, 2010) dal titolo For a Relational Musicology: Music and Interdisciplinarity, Beyond the Practice Turn.
Il testo si può leggere e scaricare gratuitamente ancora per qualche giorno presso il sito dell'editrice: http://tandf.msgfocus.com/p/12L7u

What would contemporary music scholarship look like if it was no longer imprinted with the disciplinary assumptions, boundaries and divisions inherited from the last century? This article proposes that a generative model for future music studies would take the form of a relational musicology. The model is drawn from the author's work; but signs of an incipient relational musicology are found scattered across recent research in musicology, ethnomusicology, and jazz and popular music studies. In support of such a development, the article calls for a reconfiguration of the boundaries between the subdisciplines of music study – notably musicology, ethnomusicology, music sociology and popular music studies – so as to render problematic the music/social opposition and achieve a new interdisciplinary settlement, one that launches the study of music onto new epistemological and ontological terrain. In proposing this direction, the article points to the limits of the vision of interdisciplinarity in music research that is more often articulated, one that – in the guise of a turn to practice or performance – sutures together the historically inclined, humanities model of musicology with the micro-social, musicologically inclined aspects of ethnomusicology. The article suggests, moreover, that this vision obscures other sources of renewal in music scholarship: those deriving from anthropology, social theory and history, and how they infuse the recent work gathered under the rubric of a relational musicology. As an alternative to the practice turn, a future direction is proposed that entails an expanded analytics of the social, cultural, material and temporal in music. The last part of the article takes the comparativist dimension of a relational musicology to four topics: questions of the social, technology, temporality and ontology.

Georgina Born is Professor of Music and Anthropology at Oxford University and a Professorial Fellow of Mansfield College. Previously she was Professor of Sociology, Anthropology and Music at Cambridge University and a Professorial Fellow of Girton College Cambridge. Earlier in her life she worked as a musician on cello and bass guitar, performing with the group Henry Cow, as well as with the Art Bears, the Mike Westbrook Orckestra, the Michael Nyman Band and other ensembles, as well as playing improvised music in various combinations as a member of the London Musicians’ Collective. She studied Anthropology at University College London at BSc and PhD levels, being awarded her PhD in 1989 for an ethnography of IRCAM, the computer music institute in Paris, a study that became her first book.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02690403.2010.506265

07 marzo 2015


Certe musiche sono con noi da sempre. Da quarant'anni, per esser precisi.
"Hey there Rotters' Club - Explain the meaning of this song and share it"...



06 marzo 2015


Sempre via Bandcamp sono rintracciabili alcuni luminosi oggetti della peculiare galassia Murphy - con le denominazioni Up Murphy Street, Murphy Working Stiffs, Hot Club Murphy, Orchestre Murphy ovviamente, The Murphy Love Experience e Murphy No Geisha - perlopiù in formato digitale, qualcuno anche su supporto fisico: Kamura Obscura, Dip Your Toe In e Cup of Tea tra i titoli più recenti, e sotto spoglie più o meno mentite. Al fianco di Robert Storey - tutt'oggi responsabile di occasionali incursioni nelle iniziative itineranti del londinese Club Integral, e di più regolari trasmissioni presso Resonance FM - non passa inosservato il contributo qui e là di Sylvia Hallett, Chris Cornetto, Dean Brodrick, Richard Harrison, Kathy Hulme e Kazuko Hohki tra gli altri.

http://divinerecords.bandcamp.com/music
https://clubintegral.wordpress.com

05 marzo 2015


Non c'è solo l'ultimo e recentissimo Un-Original Inhabitants nello spazio Bandcamp dedicato ai Kalahari Surfers e alle varie iniziative di Warrick 'Sony' Swinney: ci sono album e raccolte con inediti e rarità del passato (prossimo e remoto), singoli, video, brani in versione estesa, collaborazioni, reperti da audiocassette appena ritrovate, registrazioni clandestine di inizio anni ottanta, titoli censurati, rinominati, a suo tempo respinti o tuttora banditi in Sudafrica. Molto materiale è in offerta, o a prezzo del tutto simbolico; per qualche esemplare in cd o vinile è possibile rivolgersi anche a ReR.

http://kalaharisurfer.bandcamp.com
http://www.rermegacorp.com

04 marzo 2015


Si intitola One Night Stand lo storico documento sonoro che ritrae l'unica volta insieme di Robert Wyatt, Dave McRae, Gary Windo e Richard Sinclair, all'Upstairs Room di Ronnie Scott a Londra, la sera del 14 aprile 1973. E' anche l'ultima registrazione che riprende Wyatt alla batteria, prima della sua fatale caduta di lì a poche settimane, la sera dell'1 giugno. Philippe Renaud ne ha prodotto trecento copie in vinile per Improjazz, anticipando la versione in cd di cui si farà carico Gonzo Multimedia. Alla sua realizzazione ha lavorato strenuamente Michael King, recuperando al meglio la registrazione del concerto, effettuata con un registratore a cassetta monofonico portato casualmente da Sinclair - che quella sera sostituiva al basso Ron Mathewson - e appoggiato al banco del tecnico del suono in fondo alla sala. Del concerto, e del ritrovamento di quella audiocassetta, King scrive la storia nelle note dell'album. E c'è l'apporto anche di Pamela Windo, che ha scelto titolo, font, colori e immagine di copertina.

Denis Desassis scrive per Maître Chronique: "Comme le souligne bien Michael King dans les notes de pochette, l’archive présente d’autant plus de valeur qu’elle constitue une des rares occasions d’entendre Gary Windo (décédé en 1992) dans le cadre d’une petite formation, et qui est ici à son meilleur, rageur et brûlant au saxophone ténor. Surtout, les quelque 45 minutes d’enregistrement montrent à quel point les quatre musiciens, qui évoluent dans un état de liberté propice à un épanouissement spontané de leur créativité que le disque restitue avec bonheur 42 ans plus tard, semblaient jouir de la faculté de former, distordre et reformer à leur guise, avec une infinie souplesse, la matière sonore par leurs échanges et leur écoute respective. Wyatt, pas plus que MacRae, Windo ou Sinclair, ne paraît vouloir tirer la couverture à lui et le free jazz - terme commode qui veut dire ici que la musique jouée n’est pas écrite - que les quatre inventent résonne des échos de leur passé récent: Soft Machine (période 4) ou Matching Mole (la paire Wyatt-MacRae brille, comme on s’en doute), quand il ne prend pas ça et là par le jeu de basse les couleurs du Caravan que Sinclair a quitté l’année précédente (celui de Waterloo Lily), ou ne glisse pas vers des climats caribéens presque inattendus et fonctionnant à la façon d’une respiration joyeuse (sur la face B). One Night Stand est l’expression d’un mouvement fusionnel, d’un acte collectif dont la forme est par essence unique parce qu’éphémère."

https://sites.google.com/site/improjazzmag/home
http://maitrechronique.hautetfort.com/tag/wmws

03 marzo 2015


Daevid Allen è intervenuto di persona alla festa organizzata in omaggio suo e di Gilli Smyth poche sere fa al Pizza Paradiso di Byron Bay (Australia) per affermare lo spazio di libertà e di espressione offerto dalla poesia e per leggere una celebre riflessione di Khalil Gibran sul tema della morte: "...Perché cos'è morire, se non esser nudi nel vento e fondersi nel sole? E che altro è non più respirare, se non liberare il respiro delle sue insonni maree, perché possa levarsi ed espandersi e cercar Dio senza ingombri? Solo quando berrete al fiume del silenzio canterete davvero. E quando avrete raggiunto la sommità del monte, comincerete a salire. E quando la terra esigerà le vostre membra, solo allora danzerete veramente..."

www.daevidallen.net
www.gillismyth.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpySrjS5RCI
https://www.facebook.com/events/610290035737861

02 marzo 2015


Alla festa per il lancio del nuovo atteso album Belka & Strelka del gruppo svedese Testbild! alla Galleri Krets di Malmö, oltre alla rara occasione di incontrare il gruppo dal vivo, c'è stato modo di vedere il film realizzato per questo progetto da Sebastian Rozenberg. Lo ospita ora, anche in alta definizione, Vimeo.

Jag var nere i Malmö en sväng. En kväll gick jag förbi galleri Krets på Kristianstadsgatan där det var release för Testbild!s nya skiva Belka & Strelka. Det visades en video som inramade skivan och därefter spelade bandet några låtar. Filmen var härligt futuristisk och visade olika sorters hundar från här och där. När bandet började spela var lokalen nästan knökfull av vad jag tänkte mig var prominenta profiler från Malmös kulturliv. Efter att Testbild! spelat spelade ett till band. Magnus Haglund och Isak Eldhs projekt Marble Fauns, men det är en annan historia...
Belka & Strelka är ingen besvikelse för den luttrade Testbild!-lyssnaren. Nej, tvärtom, här serveras den numera väletablerade testbildiska ljudbilden plus extra allt. Den här gången rör musiken sig långt upp i det blå, ja, verkligen det blå, den där delen av rymden som är koboltblå, som i gamla sovjetiska barnprogram eller var det nu är. Bandet lotsar lyssnaren igenom spejsade ouvertyrer, rymdfolkvisor och kosmiska chansoner som jag inte visste att jag hade längtat efter. Samtidigt berättas historien om de sovjetiska rymdhundarna Belka och Strelka - eller ska jag säga sagan? Som alltid när musiken är signerad glider verklighet och fantasi ihop, och det mesta flyter bort i ett slags flöde av dröm, lek, allvar och mystik. Liksom förra skivan är vissa låtar lite för flytande och således knepiga att hålla fast grepp om, vilket ju är nödvändigt när man är ute och på resa i himlavalvet.
Provlyssna på skivan här, där du även kan navigera vidare till Kalligrammofons andra öronvänliga titlar.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Testbild/94350211151
https://vimeo.com/rozenberg
https://vimeo.com/120345594
https://vimeo.com/118606210
http://krets.info/en/news/2015-news/releasekalas-testbilds-nya-album-belka-strelka-samarbete-med-kalligrammofon

01 marzo 2015


Compie vent'anni di attività l'etichetta autogestita Discus di Martin Archer, e li festeggia con la pubblicazione simultanea di ben tre doppi album - portando il catalogo a quota cinquanta titoli - offerti anche a prezzo speciale in caso di acquisti cumulativi effettuati presso il sito del musicista: Martin Archer & Engine Room Favourites, Bad Tidings From Slackwater Drag; Inclusion Principle, Third Opening; Julie Tippetts & Martin Archer, Vestigium.

Quasi incontenibile l'entusiasmo dello stesso Archer per il lavoro con Julie Tippetts, il loro quarto di titolarità condivisa dopo Ghosts of Gold, Tales of FiNiN e Serpentine: "We'd like the listener to think of this work as being part of a lineage which builds not just on all the music we've both made over the last decades, but which might also include major statements such as Centipede's Septober Energy, Soft Machine's Third, or Carla Bley's Escalator Over The Hill. That's the scope of expression we're chasing. And the really exciting thing is that we sense the beginning of a return to those days in some parts of the current wave of creative British jazz musicians." E in particolare, a proposito del brano Stalking The Vision: “I’ve made around 50 commercial releases to date, hundreds of tracks, hours of music - Julie’s lyric and vocal arrangement on this track are incredible and as a consequence I really do believe this song is the finest piece of music I’ve been a part of in my career so far.”

http://discus-music.co.uk
http://discus-music.co.uk/dis48cd.htm