Un corposo volume con storie, commenti, annotazioni e immagini, un cd audio con la colonna sonora originale, un dvd con il film in doppia versione e una messe di contenuti extra: è la riedizione curata da Harte Recordings di Space is the Place nel quarantesimo anniversario di uno dei capolavori concettuali di Sun Ra.

Enacted last year, Harte Recordings raised funds for the reissue and expansion of the iconic ’70s Sun Ra film Space Is The Place and the importance of this endeavor is finally ready for the world to enjoy. Close to 12 months after the initial news and the label has the 40th anniversary Space Is The Place book, DVD and CD combo package in hand. Included is both the directors cut and original print of the film along with a hardcover book that details the film, includes rare pictures, new interviews and much more. A CD reissue of the original soundtrack is the icing on the cake, completing the aerial view of the project unlike any other release before. Space Is The Place showcased Ra in an entirely different medium then he had ever traveled, spreading the knowledge of the Arkestra through visuals that were connected to many different movements, most of which were his own. The popularity of the film has risen in current times with the reissue work that has been done and this looks like it will be the definitive version of all the releases so far.

http://soundcolourvibration.com/2015/03/12/space-is-the-place-40th-anniversary
http://beta.goodfellas.it/exclusive/9780986115400-space-is-the-place-book-cd-dvd.html

Da una residenza artistica di tre giorni di Evan Parker al Cafe Oto a Londra nel maggio 2013 provengono le registrazioni audio e video raccolte in documento di imminente uscita per l'etichetta Matchless. Al fianco del sassofonista c'erano in quell'occasione Eddie Prévost e John Edwards, con ospiti nelle diverse serate Alexander von Schlippenbach e Christof Thewes. Su Evan Parker poi è in lavorazione un altro documento video, annunciato per il 2016 e anticipato alle pagine web di None More Black Film.

Evan Parker is a giant of European free-jazz and improvisation, whose genius has long been acknowledged, yet a proper study of his work has remained elusive. This is not a biography but a portrait of an artist at work, a visual and aural expression of his music, ideas and obsessions, formed from nearly 50 years of playing and performing. Currently in production, with an anticipated release date of Spring 2016.

http://nonemoreblackfilm.com/films
http://nonemoreblackfilm.com/evan-parker

A pochi mesi dalle celebrazioni dell'ottantesimo compleanno di Shirley Collins esce un bell'omaggio prodotto da Earth Recordings, Shirley Inspired, un triplo album in speciale edizione a tiratura limitata con nuove interpretazioni di brani associati al lavoro sulle tradizioni folk britanniche compiuto per lunghi decenni dalla leggendaria ricercatrice e cantante. Vi partecipano tra gli altri Graham Coxon, Lee Ranaldo, Eric Chenaux, Josephine Foster, Johnny Flynn, Stuart Estell e Trembling Bells. C'è anche Stewart Lee, che fa un figurone con una sua versione del classico Polly On The Shore. Il tutto per preparare il terreno alla realizzazione del film biografico The Ballad of Shirley Collins, prodotto da Fifth Column.

Earth Recordings are extremely proud to announce the release of Shirley Inspired. July 2015 will see Shirley Collins celebrate her 80th year - an age that would seem frankly ridiculous for a woman as spritely as her, had it not been for all she's achieved. From her seminal field-recording trip to America to her lauded musical career; from her role as historian and protector of the folk tradition, to the very fact that this record can exist - more than half a century after her career began - all of these things are testament to the breadth of her influence. "I've been overwhelmed by the generosity of the singers and musicians who responded to the invitation to be part of the Shirley Inspired collection - the woman herself had to say - their choice of songs is fascinating, the interpretations of them fresh and various, beautiful and sometimes challenging! Listening to these recreations shows me again that English folk music has timeless power and significance."

http://www.shirleycollins.co.uk
http://www.shirleyinspired.com
http://www.shirleycollinsmovie.com
http://earthrecordings.tumblr.com
https://shirleycollinsinspired.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/earth-recordings/stewart-lee-and-stuart-estell

Un gruppo di appassionate band zappiane - tra cui Zappatistas, Muffin Men, Zappatika e Spanner Jazz Punks - ricostruiscono brano per brano Weasels Ripped My Flesh, uno degli album più epocali delle Mothers of Invention, uscito postumo nel 1970 a ridosso del loro scioglimento: Weasels Re-Ripped, nuovo atto di genio e volontà di casa Cordelia Records in combutta con Idiot Bastard (cioè Andrew Greenaway) dopo 20 Extraordinary Renditions, 21 Burnt Weeny Sandwiches, On Broadway-Covers Of Invention e Rare Episodes. "For those who care, the Idiot Bastard and all the artists involved do not make a penny from these albums. But Cordelia Records think that, after manufacturing costs and mechanical royalties, they might be able to break even. Within twenty or thirty years."

http://www.cordeliarecords.co.uk
http://www.idiotbastard.com

Il numero 55 della rivista Prog, da pochi giorni in edicola, riserva uno spazio particolare alla cosiddetta scena di Canterbury raccogliendo interviste con alcuni dei suoi principali artefici e testimoni, tra cui Robert Waytt, Pye Hastings, Steve Hillage, David Stewart, Dave Sinclair, Phil Miller e Barbara Gaskin. E in omaggio a Daevid Allen c'è allegato uno speciale poster con gli indimenticabili disegnini di Camembert Electrique e gli interventi di amici e colleghi, tra cui Hillage, Wyatt, Mike Howlett e Yumi Hara Cawkwell.

https://www.facebook.com/prog
http://prog.teamrock.com/news/2015-04-22/new-issue-of-prog-is-on-sale-today-5

E' pronto e in distribuzione l'atteso terzo capitolo in dvd della serie Romantic Warriors prodotta e diretta da Adele Schmidt e Jose Zegarra Holder per Zeitgeist Media, stavolta dedicato ai campioni storici della cosiddetta 'scena di Canterbury', ai loro emuli e discendenti nel corso dei decenni: Canterbury Tales.

Così scrive Bruce Lee Gallanter, di Downtown Music Gallery, presente nel film tra gli esperti intervistati: "The Canterbury scene started in the mid-sixties with the Wilde Flowers, mostly school friends from the Canterbury area, who by 1967/1968 split into two bands: Soft Machine and Caravan, two odd/pop/psych bands who had a number of similarities at the beginning of their careers. The original Softs featured Daevid Allen, Kevin Ayers, Mike Ratledge and Robert Wyatt, four very different creative musicians with distinctive and different personalties. Soft Machine recorded eleven albums between 1968 and 1976, the personnel changed on every record, so their sound was always in flux. Since a handful of key members of the Canterbury scene have passed away over the past decade (Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper, Steve Miller, Kevin Ayers, Pip Pyle and very recently Daevid Allen), there are dozens of interviews with many of the survivors: Daevid Allen (ever-enchanting, longtime leader of Gong speaks the most), Brian Hopper, Richard Sinclair, Roy Babbington, David Sinclair, Bill McCormick, Didier Mahlherbe, Phil Miller, Mont Campbell, Robert Wyatt, Chris Cutler... A number of Canterbury-related bands are mentioned as well: Egg, Matching Mole, Hatfield & the North, National Health, In Cahoots, various versions of Gong, Soft Works and Soft Machine Legacy. There is a large amount of rare footage of different eras of Soft Machine and Gong, Caravan, Hatfield and Softs Legacy, making this a deep treasure chest unending gems. The complex histories of many of these bands are unraveled as best as could be done, making this consistently compelling.
About a third of this long film features interviews and live footage from the many bands worldwide who have been influenced by the Canterbury scene from the time it started until today: Supersister, Moving Gelatine Plates, Forgas Band, The Wrong Object, The Muffins, Glass, Planeta Imaginario and Sid Arthur. A trio of Canterbury experts also get to make a number of their own points throughout: Americ Leroy (Calyx website, historian & liner notes writer), Leonardo Petrovic (head of Moonjune label) and yours truly (DMG founder & 1/2 century Canterbury devotee).
There are a number of magical musicians here who give their own charming perspective and are quoted throughout: Daevid Allen, Didier Mahlherbe, Richard Sinclair, Phil Miller and David Sinclair, who closes this film with a poignant solo version of the Caravan classic Nine Feet Underground. Bravo here to both directors who have done a marvelous job of capturing the spirit of something most elusive yet still so important to many of us who are long nourished by it."

http://progdocs.zeitgeistmedia.tv/Progdocs.com/Home.html
https://twitter.com/progdocs
http://on.fb.me/131ltuf

Con un concerto dal vivo a Parigi allo Studio 105 della Maison de la Radio, trasmesso in diretta da Radio France domani pomeriggio alle ore 18.00 all'interno del programma Le Temps d'une chanson, John Greaves presenta il terzo e conclusivo capitolo del suo splendido trittico musicale e letterario dedicato a Paul Verlaine, Verlaine Gisant, cd in uscita per Harmonia Mundi. Con lui Elise Caron, Jeanne Added, Thomas de Pourquery, Guillaume Roy, Olivier Mellano, Eve Risser e Régis Boullard: John Greaves chante Verlaine.

John Greaves, "le plus accessible des avant-gardistes", célèbre bassiste, pianiste, et chanteur gallois porte en lui les plus belles utopies. Mélodiste raffiné et habile négociateur de prises de risques musicales, il redécouvre Paul Verlaine: une musique, des textes qui irrésistiblement chantaient en lui.
Troisième volet d’un triptyque consacré à Verlaine, cet opus discographique aborde les derniers jours du poète sous une forme presque opératique, d’après «les derniers jours de Paul Verlaine» de Gustave Le Rouge. John Greaves, véritable électron libre de la création musicale, qui navigue avec aisance dans les eaux des esthétiques plurielles, expérimente, bouscule, réinvente, façonne un langage unique servi magistralement par une équipe d’orfèvres sonores: Elise Caron, Thomas de Pourquery, Jeanne Added, Régïs Boullard, Olivier Mellano, Eve Risser et Guillaume Roy.

http://johngreaves.org.uk
http://www.francemusique.fr/agenda/elise-caron-jeanne-added-john-greaves-chantent-verlaine-gisant
http://www.fresch-touch.com/#!john-greaves-verlaine-gisant-eng/c2fq

YouTube e SoundCloud documentano le prime mosse di un nuovo progetto aperto di musica scritta e improvvisata che vede Charles Hayward, Ralph Cumbers e Laura Cannell inseguire attraverso i secoli le illuminazioni di Hildegard Von Bingen: si chiama Oscilanz, con un termine preso dal suggestivo linguaggio ideato oltre ottocento anni fa dalla badessa del monastero di Rupertsberg, dottore della Chiesa cattolica e ora anche santa. Il trio sarà presto nuovamente in azione a Londra, al Cafe Oto, il mese prossimo.

Oscilanz is a new trio formed of Charles Hayward (This Heat, About Group), Ralph Cumbers (Bass Clef, Some Truths) & Laura Cannell (Horses Brawl, LCAB duo). Once these three found each other they had the wonderful intention of interpreting the music that Hildegard Von Bingen composed over 800 years ago into a new music for the here and now. A music of transportation, taking the listener though a beguiling maze of early music melodies, electronic / percussive echo caverns and waves of brass overtones.
Hildegard was a 12th century nun and mystic, herbalist and inventor of her own language, who was also a prolific composer of some very beautiful pieces of music, that have become a touchstone again recently. The Oscilanz players set off using very small fragments of her music as a basis to go far into new audio realms, bypassing all ideas of correct ways-to-perform and instead connecting with the spirit and magic of the music in a very subconscious and non-verbal way. Utilizing trombone, drums, violin, recorders, voices, samplers and electro-acoustic untis, the interplay between three such strong individual players really has a deep life of its own and Oscilanz bears the fruit that Hildegard sowed along time ago.
The word Oscilanz is taken from the Lingua Ignota, the language Hildegard invented. It means 'October'.

http://www.oscilanz.co.uk

Bob Drake e Chris Cutler intervengono via Skype, interagendo con conduttori e ascoltatori, alla puntata di oggi - in replica domani, e successivamente archiviata presso Mixcloud - del programma radiofonico Prog Rock Deep Cuts guidato da Ian Beabout e Mike Lieto per House of Prog.
Spiega Drake: "I was asked by Ian Beabout to be his guest on the April 22 edition of his Deep Cuts radio show, which will air from 11a.m.-1p.m. EST. I would join Ian on the airwaves via the magic of Skype, and play some songs which have inspired me over the decades, he’d play some selections from my solo work and various bands I’ve been involved in over the epochs, we’d chat about music, and generally attempt to amuse the listeners who will gather round their radio posts in their parlors to hear what we have in store. We set the date and that was that, until I remembered that Chris Cutler was going to be here at my place then (we’ll be working on more Probes episodes ) so I suggested that Chris and I both be the guests, playing and talking about some of our fave tunes, Ian and his co-host Mike Lieto will select tracks from both of our musical careers, we’ll talk about music and who knows what… so that’s what you’ll hear if you tune in on 22 April!"

http://tunein.com/radio/House-of-Prog-s232964
mixcloud.com/progrockdeepcuts
http://progrockdeepcuts.com

Tra le pubblicazioni esclusive del Record Store Day, iniziativa giunta sabato scorso al suo ottavo anno, c'era anche un ibrido Soft Machine dal titolo Wonderland, prodotto in mille copie da Secret Records: su un lato brani degli esordi (I'm So Low, Clarence In Wonderland, She's Gone, Save Yourself, We Know What You Mean) con Ratledge, Ayers, Wyatt e in alcuni casi Allen, sull'altro lato brani d'epoca leggermente successiva (As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still, Fire Engine Passing With Bells Clanging, Esther's Nose Job, Moon In June) con Ratledge, Hopper, Wyatt e Dean.

https://www.facebook.com/secretrecordsltd

A testimoniare l'ultima scorribanda italiana di Eugene Chadbourne - stavolta in coppia con il batterista di Friburgo Dieter Schroeder, su e giù da Savona alle spiagge di Ravenna, dall'entroterra barese a Salerno passando per Reggio Emilia - c'è su YouTube una ripresa pressoché integrale di uno dei concerti. E come souvenir, direttamente da uno dei banchetti di altro consumo, l'esordio di un'ennesima serie di cdr a tema: Music of My Youth, Volume One.

http://www.eugenechadbourne.com
https://www.drumbology.de

Guy Klucevsek è stato ospite qualche settimana fa del programma radiofonico di David Garland Spinning on Air, per la newyorkese WNYC, proponendo brani dal vivo eseguiti in studio assieme ad alcuni suoi collaboratori alla vigilia di un serrato ciclo di concerti presso il club The Stone. Immancabile una versione di Boeves Psalm, celebre brano del compianto amico e collega Lars Hollmer, qui per trio di fisarmoniche.

Accordionist/composer Guy Klucevsek has helped expand the possibilities of his instrument, taking it from polkas to experimentalism, and even writing and commissioning some experimental polkas along the way. David Garland welcomes him to the WNYC studio, where Klucevsek performs his virtuosic, joyful music with vocalists Peter Brown and Kamala Sankaram, pianist Jed Distler, and Klucevsek's trio All Accordions All the Time with young accordionists Art Bailey and Nathan Koci.

http://www.wnyc.org/story/guy-klucevsek-squeezing-most-out-accordion
https://www.youtube.com/user/SpinningOnAir/videos

Antiche gesta del Soprano Calvo a Londra: all'Incognito's Wine Bar nel 1984, al Tom Allen Centre nel 1990, nella cattedrale gotica di Southwark nel 1983 (forse). Da un'audiocassetta del 1990, Looking Back Forwards: Lol Coxhill.

http://inconstantsol.blogspot.com/2015/04/lol-coxhill-looking-back-forwards-wire.html

Gran festa Bonzo Dog per celebrare cinquant'anni sonanti e ancora folleggianti: con molti membri originali del gruppo in molte altre differenti formazioni ospiti - The Rutles, Three Bonzos and a Piano, The Whoopee Band, Mike Livesley, Keynsham Town Band, Desperate Men - questa sera al Koko di Camden High Street, a Londra. Tutto esaurito.

The Bonzo Dog Band are back, for one night only. Featuring original members Neil Innes, Rodney Slater, Vernon Dudley Bohay-Nowell, Sam Spoons and Bob Kerr with surprise guests appearing in honour of the late great Vivian Stanshall, the Bonzos will be performing all the hits including Jollity Farm, Urban Spaceman, Mr Slater's Parrot and many more. For this unique event the Bonzos will be joined on stage live by The Rutles performing their own pre-fab four masterpieces  including Ouch!, I Must Be In Love, Cheese and Onions, Piggy and more. Tea bags will be thrown during this spectacular night of British musical comedy mayhem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cZsWfzjfrQ
https://www.facebook.com/events/1548090115440696
http://www.koko.uk.com/listings/bonzo-dog-band-17-04-2015
http://www.threebonzosandapiano.co.uk/threebonzosandapiano.co.uk/Welcome.html

Titolo, grafica e formato possono indurre a confonderle, ma la precedente Live in 1970 e questa Live in the 70s sono due distinte antologie - entrambe di 4cd, per Voiceprint/Floating World - dei concerti dei Soft Machine dell'epoca indicata nei titoli: qui ci sono il concerto parigino del 2 maggio 1972 (Ratledge, Dean, Hopper, Marshall), quello londinese del 4 gennaio 1970 (Ratledge, Dean, Hopper, Wyatt e Dobson), un altro londinese non ben identificato (Ratledge, Dean, Hopper, Wyatt e Charig), ed estratti da vari concerti in Germania nell'autunno 1971 (Ratledge, Dean, Hopper, Howard). Presentati da Aymeric Leroy e Steve Lake, con il consenso di Christine Hopper e, per alcuni materiali, il prezioso lavoro preparatorio di Michael King.

http://www.floatingworldrecords.co.uk/albums/live-in-the-70s

In attesa del nuovo appuntamento a Milano il prossimo 25 giugno, Radio 3 trasmette questa sera il concerto dell'Artchipel Orchestra con ospiti Keith Tippett e Julie Tippetts tenuto a Fasano (Ba) il 7 giugno 2014. Musiche di Soft Machine, Keith Tippett’s Ark, Gilgamesh, Art Bears e Ferdinando Faraò. L'inizio è alle ore 20.30.

http://tinyurl.com/qdqeg2d
https://www.facebook.com/ArtchipelOrchestra

Keith Tippett in concerto da solo, al Bloomsbury Theatre di Londra il 27 marzo 1992, a ora di pranzo. Lo si ascolta grazie a un post di Inconstant Sol.

http://inconstantsol.blogspot.com/2015/04/keith-tippett-solo-london-1992.html

Ringraziando la buona stella che gli ha propiziato cifre tali da ripagare impegni e sforzi di un'intera carriera, Phil Manzanera insegna bonariamente al mondo intero che il riff che gli ha cambiato la vita - un'idea minore del 1978 per K-Scope, di recente campionata dai rapper Jay-Z e Kanye West per No Church in the Wild e da lì diffusa ovunque al cinema e in tv - è uno scherzo da ragazzi, se suonato in La come inteso in origine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aAMDGyeIMI

Il brano è reinterpretato con punta di autoironico orgoglio nel nuovo album The Sound of Blue, e sarà tra i piatti forti serviti in Salento alla Notte della Taranta, di cui il chitarrista sarà maestro concertatore il prossimo agosto.

http://manzanera.com/new/phil-featured-in-the-independent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aAMDGyeIMI
http://manzanera.com/new/no-church-in-the-wild

Ad allietare il Lunedì dell'Angelo degli ascoltatori, a conclusione di un'estesa programmazione dedicata al periodo pasquale dal titolo Easter Folk, Radio 6 Music della BBC ha invitato The Unthanks - in particolare Rachel, Becky e Adrian McNally - per oltre cinque ore di ascolti, personali preferenze, commenti e riflessioni in tema, pescando tra discografie ufficiali e documenti rari, e recuperando dagli archivi della radio materiali di grande interesse: un capitolo della serie The Ocean di Richard Hawley, uno speciale di Jez Lowe sulle tradizioni della canzone popolare e d'autore nel nord d'Inghilterra, sessioni inedite di Antony and the Johnsons, Portishead, Robert Wyatt e Watersons, una propria sessione radiofonica con la prima presentazione in pubblico del nuovo album, Mount the Air. C'è anche per intero Soup Songs: The Music of Robert Wyatt, una conversazione di Phil Manzanera con Wyatt datata 2005. Si riascolta il tutto, a spezzoni e ancora per qualche giorno, a partire da http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05pl83x

Where better to spend Easter Monday, polishing off your artisan chocolate eggs than with BBC 6 Music and sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank of the folk sensation that is The Unthanks? Making it a true family affair, the sisters - along with Rachel’s husband Adrian McNally - will be presenting a two-hour, Easter-themed special on Monday 6 April from 7pm. With music picked from their personal record collection, expect to hear the sounds of PJ Harvey, Ben Folds, Eliza Carthy and Louis Armstrong. And as if that wasn’t enough; the trio have selected three hours of BBC archive documentaries and live music, plus their live music session recorded in February, promising to be a fitting end to 6 Music’s Easter Folk musical odyssey.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05pl83x
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05pl8l0
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007klyt

"To receive the NEA Jazz Masters award is a great and unexpected honor. I can think of many musicians who deserve this award, and won't be getting it. Luckily, I'm not one of them." Questo il commento di Carla Bley nell'apprendere del prestigioso riconoscimento ottenuto pochi giorni fa dal National Endowment for the Arts: si tratta della massima onorificenza istituzionale riservata agli artisti jazz negli Stati Uniti, assegnata per il 2015 a lei, a George Coleman, a Charles Lloyd e a Joe Segal. Uno speciale concerto con tutti loro, trasmesso anche sul web, si terrà in occasione della cerimonia di premiazione a New York il prossimo 20 aprile. Nel frattempo, felicitazioni e complimenti sono arrivati direttamente dal presidente Barack Obama.

On Monday, April 20, 2015 at 7:30pm, the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center, will webcast the 2015 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony & Concert in Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City. The event will celebrate the lifetime achievements of the 2015 NEA Jazz Masters Carla Bley, George Coleman, Charles Lloyd, and Joe Segal. Held during Jazz Appreciation Month and hosted by jazz musician and bassist, composer, and educator Christian McBride, the evening will include brief tribute videos, remarks by the awardees about their careers and influences, and performances by current and previously named NEA Jazz Masters along with guest musicians.

http://arts.gov/honors/jazz/carla-bley
http://arts.gov/honors/jazz/2015-nea-jazz-masters-awards-ceremony-and-concert-webcast
http://tinyurl.com/obama-bley

E un affettuoso omaggio a Daevid Allen sarà quello di stasera all'Inspiral di Camden High Street a Londra, con la partecipazione di Steve Hillage, Miquette Giraudy, Dave Sturt, Ian East, Kavus Torabi, Mark Robson e Graham Clark. Un appuntamento fissato già da tempo, e che doveva essere occasione tra l'altro per raccogliere risorse ed energie per accompagnare Allen nella sua ultima sfida alla malattia, ma che dopo il precipitare degli eventi si è ridefinito come momento di festa in suo ricordo e di raccolta di fondi a scopo benefico.

We celebrate the life of Daevid Allen, with a unique line up of musicians from the extended family of Gong. Gong members Dave Sturt, Ian East, Kavus Torabi perform as 'Inspiral' Gong to celebrate Daevid Allen. mark Robson and Graham Clark, Daevid Allen's two musical siblings from the Magick Brothers, both have long musical associations with Daevid, going back over 25 years. Maestro violinist Graham has a long career playing acid rock, trip hop, salsa, jazz and improv as well as being in Gong Maison Mother Gong and Magick Brothers. Singer, keyboardist/didgeridoo and whistle player Mark has long tread the boards of psychedelia and folk with Kangaroo Moon and, more recently, with Here and Now. The night begins with a rare ambient/techno DJ set from Miquette Giraudy, who need no introduction as long standing Gong synth player and half of System 7. Closing the night with a DJ set is none other than the other half of System 7 and legendary Gong guitarist, Steve Hillage, with a sensitive and eclectic selection of ethereal dance music. All profits will be donated to a good cause that Daevid would have approved of.

http://www.accessallareas.org
https://www.facebook.com/events/1598889080344674

Nell'anno del suo ottantesimo compleanno - il gran giorno sarà il 24 giugno prossimo - Terry Riley ha già ricevuto un importante omaggio, uno speciale programma dal titolo A Piano Party for Terry Riley at 80 presentato da Sara Cahill lo scorso gennaio a San Francisco all'edizione 2015 del New Music Gathering. Lavori di Pauline Oliveros, Christine Southworth, Gyan Riley, Samuel Carl Adams, Dylan Mattingly, Danny Clay e ovviamente dello stesso Terry Riley: il concerto è per intero su YouTube.

2015 is the eightieth birthday year of composer-pianist Terry Riley, who has had a profound influence on generations of composers and musicians. A Piano Party for Terry Riley at 80 pays tribute to Riley’s enduring impact with the premieres of new solo piano pieces written in honor of his eightieth birthday by Samuel Carl Adams, Pauline Oliveros, Gyan Riley, Christine Southworth, Dylan Mattingly, and Danny Clay, combined with some of Riley’s own dazzling piano compositions. Sarah Cahill has worked closely with Terry Riley since 1997, when she commissioned his four-hand piece Cinco de Mayo for an all-piano festival at Cal Performances celebrating Henry Cowell’s hundredth birthday. She commissioned four more four-hand pieces from Riley, toured with him in Edinburgh and Glasgow, performed in his 70th birthday concert at Royce Hall at UCLA, and commissioned a solo piece, Be Kind to One Another, which NPR listed on its 100 Best Songs of 2013, and MSNBC included on its Top Ten Political Songs of 2013.

http://sarahcahill.com
www.newmusicgathering.org
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9LnqagVmZk

Da un concerto del febbraio 2010 a Oslo proviene Perfect Strangers, un Super Audio CD con traccia multicanale ad alta risoluzione che per suoi pregi tecnici ha attirato attenzioni anche tra gli audiofili. Il programma dispone alcune celebri partiture di Frank Zappa e la Suite for Sampler and Orchestra (da Surrogate Cities) di Heiner Gobbels nelle mani della Norwegian Radio Orchestra e del direttore Thomas Søndergård, un po' in affanno a rincorrere i sublimi precedenti dell'Ensemble Modern.

http://shop.klicktrack.com/lawoclassics/1001263
http://audiophile.no/music/record-reviews/item/1084-record-review-perfect-strangers-zappa-in-norwegian

Dopo la proiezione in prima mondiale alla kermesse di South by Southwest ad Austin (Texas) il 20 marzo scorso, accompagnata dal concerto conclusivo della serie Shadowland, il film sui Residents, Theory of Obscurity, è pronto a circolare presso i festival di cinema indipendente di mezzo mondo. In Europa sarà per ora solo all'IndieLisboa portoghese, a partire dal 23 aprile. Un trailer del film, finora visibile assieme ad altri materiali preparatori solo ai sottoscrittori della campagna di finanziamento del progetto, è su YouTube.

Uno dei momenti più memorabili del film, dal punto di vista del regista Don Hardy, è stata l'installazione del famigerato Ultimate Box Set - un frigorifero contenente esemplari di tutte le produzioni ufficiali del gruppo - presso il MoMA a New York: "The most special day was sort of near the end of the film where the Ultimate Box Set, The Residents refrigerator full of all their official releases, was taken into the Museum of Modern Art in New York. For that shoot, it was just myself and Homer Flynn from the Cryptic Corporation. I was documenting it and Homer was helping to set up the refrigerator at the museum. And you know, this is one of the most prestigious museums in the world. I was traveling with a lot of gear because I truly didn’t know where they were gonna have us with this crazy refrigerator. Were they gonna put us out on the loading dock? Or in some back hallway? When we showed up we were taken up to the restoration room, and it’s right in the middle of the entire museum and you walk into this room and it’s totally high tech. It’s perfectly silent. You walk in and you see a 6ft Picasso, you see some work from Jasper Johns and you see these amazing works of art. And then right there is The Residents refrigerator and their eyeball and everything that really adds up to a 40+ year career. And I could see the look on Homer’s face. That feeling of pride that he was feeling and that was just really special. Also, to see how much care the people from the Museum of Modern Art were taking with all of these items, it really put a smile on my face, and I’m glad we can show a little bit of that in the film."

http://residentsmovie.com
https://www.facebook.com/ResidentsMovie
https://twitter.com/residentsmovie

Come una piacevole sorpresa di Pasquetta giunge notizia del recupero di uno dei documenti più effimeri e clandestini usciti dalla scena squat-alternativa londinese dei primi anni ottanta, l'audiocassetta Psst! Wanna Buy a Tape? assurta a manifesto assieme alla fanzine El Frenzy - edita da Bing Selfish - di una piccola ma vivacissima comunità di artisti e musicanti fai-da-te dispersa allora, e maggiormente in seguito, tra Ideals, Amos and Sara, The Homosexuals, Orchestre Murphy, It's War Boys, Milk From Cheltenham e Die Trip Computer Die. Esce per Rough Trade con titolo ritoccato in Psst! Wanna Buy a Record? in un'edizione in vinile a tiratura limitata con allegato un prezioso libretto storico e retrospettivo.

Racconti, retroscena, informazioni, attualità e iniziative promozionali sono composti e rilanciati dal sito https://psstwannabuyarecord.wordpress.com

Vinyl redux of 1986 experimental DIY cassette compilation 'Psst! Wanna Buy a Tape?'. Containing brittle sounds honed in the housing co-ops, squats and 8-track dens of radical London, the cassette was released as an annexe to underground comic El Frenzy, edited by crown prince of avant-pop Bing Selfish. Many of the contributors (to both cassette and comic) will be familiar to those who follow the "post- Homosexuals / This Heat / Rock in Opposition squats - in exile...." ((C) Hyped To Death) scene. The LP is accompanied by a 24 page booklet with Bing Selfish and Knutsford Hanoi (the insiders) scrambling through a kitchen table interview. A commentator's perspective was required, so fellow squat-land traveller (and musical collaborator) Richard Dudanski (101'ers / PiL / The Raincoats) provided the outsider view. The cover is cynically collaged from adverts for the cassette in EL Frenzy. El Frenzy editor Xanfise Koke (aka Bing Selfish) compiled PSST, playing on most of the tracks. The rest sketching out sensitive performance patterns include Amos (aka L.Voag / Xentos of It's War Boys / Die Trip Computer Die / Amos and Sara, The Homosexuals et al.), Robert Storey (dark heart of The Murphy Federation since ...), Lepke B. (Milk From Cheltenham, Die Trip Computer Die et al.), Chris Gray (The Homosexuals producer / engineer, Amos and Sara et al.).

https://psstwannabuyarecord.wordpress.com

http://www.roughtrade.com/albums/92000

https://www.facebook.com/events/1605178126377895
https://www.facebook.com/events/596866617115060

Ricompare in vinile Slow Crimes, storico primo album del quartetto The Work - Tim Hodgkinson, Bill Gilonis, Mick Hobbs e Rick Wilson - uscito nel 1982 qualche mese dopo il fulminante esordio di I Hate America. Si incarica della riedizione l'americana Knock 'Em Dead, che per l'occasione allega all'album originale Anxious (About Meaning) e One Swallow in forma di singolo. La tiratura è limitata a 100 copie.

Slow Crimes is a little-known treasure of transformative magnitude. The Work were formed in 1979 by saxophonist Tim Hodgkinson (following the dissolution of Henry Cow), guitarist Bill Gilonis, bassist Mick Hobbs, and drummer Rick Wilson, although Slow Crimes showcases each member on a variety of instruments. Also featured is Catherine Jauniaux on guest vocals throughout the album. The Work's inaugural LP release, Slow Crimes is so rabidly articulate that it presides over and resides in a world very much unto itself. While falling within the loosest guidelines of "post-punk", the term is a misnomer, for the textural intricacies and distinct deliberacy throughout Slow Crimes bespeak both an utterly unique collective identity and a startling fluency with its own language. It takes the vibrant urgency of punk rock and catalyzes it into a continually fascinating mosaic. This reissue includes a bonus 7" with concurrent compilation tracks Anxious (About Meaning) and One Swallow.

http://tinyurl.com/mbfjzpx

Il concerto di debutto di Uneven Eleven - Charles Hayward, Kawabata Makoto e Guy Segers - tenuto al Cafe Oto londinese la sera del 24 maggio 2013 è ora un album pubblicato da Sub Rosa in versione breve (LP) ed estesa (2cd): http://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/uneven-eleven.html

Supergroup power trio made up of drummer Charles Hayward, guitarist Kawabata Makoto, and bassist Guy Segers deliver a live recording of their live performance at Cafe OTO, London, on May 24, 2013. It’s as wild and as freeform as you might expect. Shuffling drum patterns giving way to piercing feedback, sporadic vocal chants littered across the noise and a real sense of live-jamming which only comes around when heavyweights like this are in their own zone.

http://www.subrosa.net
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqPoqRdqTQ8

Ultimissimi giorni per poter vedere da vicino i lavori di Alfreda Benge esposti a Londra presso The Triangle, uno degli spazi galleristici di Space (129-131 Mare Street, Hackney). Il titolo della mostra, aperta lo scorso 8 febbraio, è quello di un brano di Old Rottenhat, P.L.A. (Poor Little Alfie). Oltre a molte opere realizzate per gli album di Robert Wyatt - da Rock Bottom a Comicopera - ci sono illustrazioni per libri di Ivor Cutler e di Bob Dixon, per album di Klimperei e di Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, qualche opera giovanile, tracce e ritagli di lavori in progress, ritratti e autoritratti (anche fotografici), la ristampa del libretto di Schleep, un'intervista con Sharon Gal e Edwin Savage Pencil per Resonance FM, la raccolta MBW realizzata con Jean-Michel Marchetti (Æncrages & Co, 2008), una colonna sonora composta esclusivamente di brani dei cui testi è autrice Alfie, interpretati da Monica Vasconcelos, The Unthanks, Bertrand Burgalat, l'Orchestre National de Jazz e naturalmente da Wyatt.

http://www.spacestudios.org.uk/exhibition-programme/alfreda-benge-p-l-a/
https://youtu.be/ccBOzl6ZkIc

In assetto quasi immutato rispetto a Play High Mountain Top (Leo Records, 2013) si è nuovamente riunito attorno allo scrittore e cantante Steve Day il collettivo Blazing Flame, con Keith Tippett, Julie Tippetts, Peter Evans, Fiona Harvey, Anton Henley e Aaron Standon. Li ha filmati in studio a Bristol qualche settimana fa il team di Calling the Shots.

Steve Day is a writer, poet and percussionist and among the very few independent British jazz writers to be quoted in the definitive 'Penguin Guide to Jazz' (Cook/Morton). He is currently contributing monthly reviews and other material to the online What's New magazine. Steve Day is also working in the medium of the 'short story', a collection of which is being prepared for publication. As a member of the collaborative ensemble, Blazing Flame, he is responsible for all their songs which are performed within the context of improvisation. Five films for 2015 are now available of the band.

http://www.stevedaywordsandmusic.co.uk/page3.htm
http://callingtheshots.co.uk
https://www.youtube.com/user/shotsboy/videos

Caballero Reynaldo - cioè il valenciano Luis González - colpisce ancora. Stavolta senza mire zappiane. In the Lounge of the Naldo King. Uno scherzo, ma non troppo: "Para escuchar al sol de la primavera con un buen vermut. O un buen botijo."

Caballero Reynaldo es el pseudónimo de Luis González (Cuenca, 1962), multiinstrumentista. Veterano de la escena valenciana, a finales de los 80 participò en el grupo de Corcobado “Mar Otra Vez” y fuè miembro fundador de Amor Sucio. Entre 1993 y 1996 fuè componente del Malcolm Scarpa Trio y en 1995 publica su primer CD en solitario, “Clàsico con Twist”. Seis años después de la aventura zappa-country con la que Caballero Reynaldo & The Grand Kazoo pasearon por Europa su desvergonzada visión del cancionero bigotudo, Luis G. monta un The Petit Kazoo con el que homenajear (con respeto, admiración y retranca a partes iguales) el cancionero del grupo prog por excelencia: King Crimson.

http://caballeroreynaldo.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-lounge-of-the-naldo-king
halloffame.es/tienda/caballero-reynaldo/lounge-naldo-king