30 giugno 2017


Immagini e note di commento ai concerti di Half the Sky al Cafe Oto e all'Avantgarde Festival filtrano dai post di Yumi Hara e ammiratori vari sui social:
https://twitter.com/YumiHaraMusic
https://www.facebook.com/yumi.cawkwell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpYHzIhfpT0&t=1s
https://misfitcity.org

29 giugno 2017


Presente invece nel reportage di El Arranzio dal Primavera Sound di Barcelona l'intero concerto di This Is Not This Heat, l'1 giugno 2017, in formazione a otto: con Hayward e Bullen erano sul palco Daniel O'Sullivan, James Sedwards, Alex Ward, Frank Byng, Alexis Taylor e Merlin Nova.

https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsNotThisHeat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8EfPAMIDjU&t=1498s

28 giugno 2017


Dopo la cancellazione dagli archivi non ufficiali del Primavera Sound di Barcelona curati da El Arranzio, qualche traccia audio e video dei recenti concerti di Annette Peacock in Francia e Portogallo ancora sopravvive su YT:
https://www.youtube.com/user/spacejoa/videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFqFtv-ZCWI

27 giugno 2017


E negli archivi video del club Le Triton c'è anche la presentazione integrale dell'album di debutto Nebula del progetto di Himiko Paganotti ed Emmanuel Borghi, denominato appunto Himiko e concepito proprio presso il club (quasi)parigino. Con i due la sera del concerto, lo scorso 9 giugno, c'erano Nguyen Lê, Bernard Paganotti (papà di Himiko) e Antoine Paganotti (fratello di Himiko), immersi scenograficamente in un'affascinante ambientazione multimediale.

Après le premier volet de leur résidence en duo, Himiko se présente ce soir en quintet, celui de l’album Nebula, le premier du groupe, dont ils nous livrent ce soir la présentation, en première mondiale. Cette formation, réunie pour la première fois sur la scène du Triton l’an dernier, nous a bouleversés et convaincus de la pertinence de recevoir Himiko en résidence de création au Triton. L’énergie instrumentale se teinte de la chaleur de la voix unique d’Himiko Paganotti au service d’une musique puissante et aboutie, directe, ciselée, envoutante...

http://www.himiko.eu/a-propos-dhimiko
http://www.letriton.com/tritonline/videos/himiko-nebula-563

26 giugno 2017


Nell'universo di sublime poesia e jazz da piano bar evocato dal Nostro nel segno di una dichiarata nostalgia han fatto capolino, a fianco di Wyatt e Brassens, cover inattese di Bowie, Dylan e Cohen. Chi non ne ha seguito la diffusione in streaming in tempo reale ne trova registrazione nel ricco archivio su YT: è il bel concerto confidenziale di venerdì scorso di John Greaves al club Le Triton di Les Lilas (Francia), parte della rassegna Les Tritonales 2017. Intimacy and Ecstasy...

"L’homme, le piano, la voix. Une vingtaine de chansons qui traversent cinquante ans de scène. Un périple du Pays de Galles à Liverpool, Londres, Cambridge, New York, Paris. Le voyage est dans la musique, l’histoire dans les paroles. De vielles chansons de jeunesse et des chansons mûries de la dernière pluie. Ici, dénudées et vulnérables. Confidentielles." (John Greaves)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oostzA3_M3w
http://www.letriton.com/tritonline/videos/john-greaves-solo-568
http://www.letriton.com/programmation/temps-forts/les-tritonales-2017-3091
http://www.letriton.com/programmation/temps-forts/date/john-greaves-solo-2090

25 giugno 2017


Nuova avvincente storia scritta per la radio (e a proposito anche della radio) da Peter Blegvad, qui assieme a Iain Chambers del Langham Research Centre: On Imaginary Media, una produzione per Radio 3 della BBC.

Described by its makers as 'an illustrated lecture, with songs', On Imaginary Media explores 'techno-mysticism', the irrational beliefs we project onto new technologies. It looks back to 19th century inventors like Edison and Tesla, to the hopes and fears their inventions raised of such things as a soul-catcher, a thought-projector, or of communication with the dead. And it looks forward into the future, imagining 'moodia' (mood altering media), and technologies designed to 'remove all obstacles to the immediate gratification of every whim.' The characters debate these innovations, imagining what the consequences might be of such god-like capabilities.
Absurdist humour permeates the piece, which is presented as a performance in rehearsal, with a small company of actors (played by John Ramm and Emma Powell) and an increasingly exasperated director (Peter Blegvad) working against a deadline and beset by other problems. Featuring sound design by Iain Chambers and songs by Peter Blegvad, On Imaginary Media demonstrates the evocative power of radio, once seen as the most mysterious medium of all, a technology which gave rise to no end of hopes and fears and is still capable of exercising our capacity for wonder.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08vy6j8

24 giugno 2017


Era uscita una decina d'anni fa in poche copie per Tonefloat Records una preparazione mista con i più gustosi assaggini di macedonia di flauto serviti da Theo Travis appena prima di Oily Way - come da menu Angel's Egg - nei concerti dei Gong di Zero to Infinity, tra il 2000 e il 2001. Oggi riappare tramite Bandcamp, in forma di salutare probiotico: Eleven Bowls of Acidophilus Flute Salad.

"The album comprises eleven solo flute improvisations played live on the Gong Zero to Infinity world tour of 2000/2001. Nearly every night of that tour Theo performed a "Flute Salad" about half way through the gigs as an introduction to a song called "Oily Way", and while Daevid Allen was doing one of his costume changes into the most outrageous white silk full body and pointed hat outfits. the improvisations were anything from two minutes to nearly seven minutes depending on how far away the dressing room was, how stuck Daevid got getting into his suit and how inspired he felt..."

https://theotravis.bandcamp.com/album/eleven-bowls-of-acidophilus-flute-salad
https://www.discogs.com/Theo-Travis-Eleven-Bowls-Of-Acidophilus-Flute-Salad/release/1069023

23 giugno 2017


Per la sua Reel Recordings l'indimenticato Michael King aveva recuperato diversi nastri inediti di Bob Downes - registrazioni del 1978/1979 in compagnia di Barry Guy, John Stevens e Brian Godding tra gli altri - allineandoli nel prezioso Crossing Borders (2009). Oggi anche Chris Cutler per ReR recupera materiali prodotti in varie epoche dal flautista e pluristrumentista e, d'accordo con il titolare, ne fa un ragionato catalogo alternativo alla discografia fin qui ufficiale: It’s a Mystery.

Spiega Cutler: "Bob Downes was a name you’d see everywhere in the late '60s/early '70s – always up to his neck in something interesting and experimental. Last year I tracked down a composition of his for Alphorns for the Probes series (it will be in No. 22) and a few months later he sent me an unreleased recording of his 1970 Dream Journey, a great dance composition that speaks volumes about the general musical climate of the time (it’s for 3 percussionists, two flautists, saxophone, trumpet and bass). I asked if there were more and we soon shuffled this compilation together, which covers a lot of ground: from solo to 65-piece wind band, recording experiments to library music and the years 1970 to 2004. And, of course, Alphorns. Several tracks feature the legendary John Stevens, classical percussionist Derek Hogg and bassist Daryl Runswick. It’s constantly engaging, inventive and a pleasure to listen to; and it’s also a fascinating window onto a (sadly) vanished aesthetic."

http://www.bobdownesmusic.de
http://tinyurl.com/y8mf9mf4
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/its-a-mystery-bob-downes-rer-megacorp-review-by-roger-farbey.php

22 giugno 2017


Si tiene questa sera al Cafe Oto il sospirato debutto londinese di Half the Sky: Dagmar Krause, Chlöe Herington, Miwazow, Wataru Okhuma, Nasuno Mitsuru, Yumi Hara e Chris Cutler, con le musiche di Lindsay Cooper. Il successivo appuntamento è tra pochi giorni all'Avantgarde Festival a Schiphorst (Germania).
La genesi del progetto è nota, ma Yumi la riassume a beneficio di nuovi seguaci e sostenitori: "In 2013, soon after Lindsay Cooper passed away, Matthew Watkins made a call for arrangements of her mini-composition Slice for a special edition of his podcast Canterbury Sans Frontières. I made a transcription of the piece and recorded it for solo clavichord. Chris Cutler and I also played it in Japan and NY. A little later, inspired by the three memorial concerts Chris Cutler organised in 2014 with the original bands, I put Half the Sky together to play Lindsay’s music in Japan. The gender split follows Lindsay’s general practice and the example of the original bands - Henry Cow (50% female) and News from Babel (75% female). With the exception of Slice, it was only after - and because of - the 2014 concerts that any working scores for the Henry Cow pieces became available, having been painstakingly assembled from Lindsay’s notebooks, original band-members’ surviving parts and careful analysis of the recordings. A handful of the News from Babel songs – none of which had ever been performed live – had already been reconstructed for the memorial concerts by Zeena Parkins; the rest I had to work out from scratch – as well as rearranging everything for a mixture of occidental and oriental instruments. This programme is approached very much as a music of the present - and not as an academic reconstruction."

https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/half-the-sky
https://www.gofundme.com/half-the-sky-tours
https://www.facebook.com/avantgardefestival
http://www.avantgardefestival.de/Programm_AiH_2017.pdf

21 giugno 2017


Fa idealmente seguito al lodevole recupero qualche anno fa da parte dell'etichetta Dusk Fire di uno dei capolavori di Neil Ardley, A Symphony of Amaranths (Regal Zonophone, 1971) la pubblicazione di alcuni inediti, sempre di Ardley, trasmessi nel corso dei programmi Jazz Club e Jazz in Britain della BBC nel febbraio e nel settembre 1971: Neil Ardley & The New Jazz Orchestra, On The Radio-BBC Sessions 1971. Ci sono tra gli altri Harry Beckett, Ian Carr, Henry Lowther, Mike Gibbs, Don Rendell, Barbara Thompson, Brian Smith, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Dave Greenslade, Dave Clempson, Jeff Clyne, Jon Hiseman, Frank Ricotti, Barry Guy e Keith Winter.
Descrivendo la suite The Time Flowers, che da sola occupa il secondo set di cui si compone il cd, scrive Roger Farbey: "The music oscillates, sometimes wildly, from contemporary classical, often with a neo-romantic flavour, to out and out avant-garde married with bursts of electronica. Although it may not be Ardley's best or most memorable work, as an archival rarity it is undoubtedly an important testimony to the sounds that were emerging on the scene in the early 1970s, in the wake of psychedelic and progressive rock and nascent fusion. Also significantly, the BBC at that time was more enlightened in terms of the amount of airtime it was prepared to afford contemporary music."

http://marketsquaremusic.com/product/neil-ardley-the-new-jazz-orchestra-on-the-radio-bbc-sessions-1971
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/on-the-radio-bbc-sessions-1971-dusk-fire-review-by-roger-farbey.php

20 giugno 2017


Cronache dei concerti dei mesi scorsi e uno sguardo ai prossimi appuntamenti in calendario, oltre alle segnalazioni delle recenti pubblicazioni di materiali audio e video d'archivio: è pronto un nuovo numero dello Smith's Academy Informer, il 105, con tutto quanto fa Westbrook.

http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/sai/index.shtml

19 giugno 2017


Evan Crankshaw (alias Flash Strap) ha festeggiato giovedì scorso il successo di Jeremy Corbyn e dei laburisti alle elezioni generali in Regno Unito con una puntata speciale del suo programma settimanale Explorers Room presso Give the Drummer Radio di WFMU a Jersey City (Stati Uniti): Fringe, Romance, Contraband, Lend Me Your Era!, tre ore interamente in compagnia delle musiche di Robert Wyatt.

We celebrate the surprise success of Corbyn in the UK – and the broader, hopefully hopeful implications that result has for left politics going forward – by spending an evening with the music of Robert Wyatt. I probably would have done this show regardless of the electoral outcome; it's a necessary tonic in victory or defeat. In 1972, Wyatt asked, "how long can I pretend that music's more relevant than fighting for a socialist world?" The music resulting from that conundrum gives us an invaluable vision of socialist-informed art: not only steadfastly political, unflinchingly critical, and committed to the cause of human emancipation, but also absurdist, experimental, endlessly playful, romantic, and deeply personal. Tonight we'll hear from a variety of Wyatt's solo and collaborative projects, both political and poetic (as if the two weren't one). Tune in and hear He of the Great Voice.

http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/73172
http://flashstrap.blogspot.com/2017/06/tonight-in-explorers-room-fringe.html

18 giugno 2017


La mostra di dipinti Within di Jayne Cooper - aperta da ieri a Louth (Regno Unito) fino al prossimo 14 luglio, qualche giorno oltre la durata del festival Zero Degrees che la ospita - ha una piccola sezione dedicata ai ritratti di Robert Wyatt che la pittrice ha realizzato negli ultimi tempi. Si intitola Great Wall of Wyatt, e ha ricevuto la visita di persona del suo illustrissimo ispiratore: http://tinyurl.com/RWvsGWOW

Louth based artist Jayne Cooper is exhibiting as part of Zero Degrees Festival this summer. Her exhibition 'Within' features paintings and drawings of Robert made over the last six months, as well as portraits of other characters from this unique Lincolnshire market town. Come see the GWOW (Great Wall of Wyatt) at Spout Yard Gallery, Ludgate, Louth. The exhibition runs until July 14th and is open to the public on weds, Fridays and Saturdays 1-4pm.

http://www.jaynecooperpaintings.com

17 giugno 2017


Dal suo blog Bob Drake ci aggiorna circa lo stato dei lavori attorno alla realizzazione del nuovo album di Peter Blegvad, atteso per l'inizio del nuovo anno assieme, forse, a un cofanetto antologico. Con Blegvad e Drake - lo si evince anche da qualche foto uscita dalle sessioni di registrazione a La Borde Basse - sono coinvolti John Greaves, Chris Cutler e occasionalmente Mark Lockett. C'è anche Karen Mantler, anche se in foto non appare. Pochi peraltro la riconoscerebbero nel suo nuovo nuovo look: http://tinyurl.com/y8raf86l

http://bdblog.bdrak.com/attics-pasta-blegvads-and-more

16 giugno 2017


Dopo le iniziative intraprese lo scorso anno nel periodo di più acuta crisi migratoria nel nord della Francia, Caroline Kraabel è tornata di recente nella zona di Calais e Dunkerque, dove nel frattempo la situazione per profughi e migranti è assai peggiorata, specie dopo la chiusura e la distruzione dei campi Jungle e La Linière. Ne ha scritto un dettagliato rapporto al suo blog, e nel contempo ha prodotto un interessante audio-documentario con interviste raccolte tra rifugiati e volontari, stralci di una sua coraggiosa passeggiata sassofonistica solitaria lungo il confine di un'area sorvegliata e vari contributi musicali di Beshwar Hassan. L'acquisto del podcast tramite Bandcamp vale quale contributo alle associazioni umanitarie Care4Calais, L'Auberge des Migrants e Utopia56.

https://carolinekraabel.bandcamp.com/track/news-from-calais-spring-2017
http://masskraabel.tumblr.com/post/160088839745/going-outside-calais-motorway-wall-25-april
http://care4calais.org
http://www.laubergedesmigrants.fr/en/home
http://www.utopia56.com/en

15 giugno 2017


Prende il via oggi presso il londinese Cafe Oto una bella rassegna curata da Blanca Regina e Steve Beresford, Art of Improvisers, mirata a (ri)affermare l'importanza delle donne in musica nei campi dell'improvvisazione, della performance creativa, dell'innovazione e della ricerca, nonché delle arti visive e altri media spesso associati alle pratiche musicali. Concerti, dibattiti, laboratori, installazioni e mostre di documenti audio e video sono in programma a ritmo serrato fino al 22 giugno, con protagonisti numerosi nomi della scena londinese storica o più attuale: oltre ai due inseparabili curatori della serie Unpredictable ci saranno tra gli altri Tania Chen, Gina Southgate, Sharon Gal, Helen Petts, Julie Pickard, Maggie Nicols, Helen Frosi, Mandhira de Saram, Terry Day, Julie Kjaer e David Toop.

Art of Improvisers (15th to 22nd June 2017) presents a festival curated by Blanca Regina and Steve Beresford and affirms the importance of women in free improvisation and arts. It presents, in a variety of ways, both the back history and the current state of women in free improvisation. It also looks at free improvisation’s strong, but rarely noted, connection to visual work. This show draws on a number of female artists who are part of the newer generation of free improvisers and also artists in different media. The exhibition will draw on an extensive body of previously unseen artwork, documentation and rich archive material. Exhibiting artists include Andie Brown, Tania Chen, Poulomi Desai, Helen Frosi, Sharon Gal, Rie Nakajima, Helen Petts, Julie Pickard and Blanca Regina. The programme presents workshops with Maggie Nicols, Sharon Gal and Helen Frosi and a talk closing the show. It brings together some of the founding members of the UK free improvisation music scene, plus new generations of musicians and artists, unveiling previously unknown aspects of their art. Joining the evening performances at Cafe Oto will be Steve Beresford, Mandhira de Saram, Terry Day, Julie Kjaer, Maggie Nicols and David Toop.

http://www.unpredictable.info/artofimprovisers
https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/art-of-improvisers
https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/clear-spot-art-of-improvisers-extended-17th-may-2017

14 giugno 2017

13 giugno 2017


Un altro che ci prova tenacemente con Art Bears e News from Babel è Jason T Ingram, che all'interno del suo spazio FB annota i personali progressi nel trascrivere e interpretare alcune trame di quei racconti (The Summer Wheel, Anno Mirabilis). Certamente da incoraggiare: ad oggi rimane insuperato il suo simil-karaoke di Bad Alchemy alla guida del furgoncino...

https://www.facebook.com/jasontingram
https://www.facebook.com/SundayDriverProductions
http://www.hibou-anemone-bear.com/jti

12 giugno 2017


"Reprendre des éléments de la thématique d’un groupe mythique de progressive rock des seventies, Henry Cow - e Art Bears, vien da aggiungere - et les traiter dans notre propre esthétique." Questo il progetto Echos d'Henry Cow del flautista francese Michel Edelin per il suo attuale quintetto, comprendente Sylvain Kassap (clarinetti), Sophia Domancich (piano), Stéphane Kérecki (basso) e Simon Goubert (batteria). Tra gli esiti si possono sentire per ora Half the Sky (Cooper/Hodgkinson, da Western Culture), The Hermit e The Bath of Stars (Frith/Cutler, da Winter Songs): http://tinyurl.com/edelinHC

http://micheledelin.nuxit.net

11 giugno 2017


Con la vittoria, seppur di misura, di Rosie Duffield sul veterano avversario Julian Brazier finalmente Canterbury manda a Londra - per la prima volta dal 1918 - un proprio parlamentare non conservatore. Stenta quasi a crederci Robert Wyatt: "Canterbury gone Labour for the first time ever, I think - am I dreamin'? Then I don't want to wake up!". E Matthew Watkins ci vede un motivo in più per celebrare il plenilunio di questo giugno: Canterbury Sans Tory MP!!

Robert Wyatt live on BBC TV in 1983, Caravan and Hatfield both live in '74, a standout track from a lesser Gong album, something newish from North Sea Radio Orchestra, something oldish from Penguin Cafe Orchestra, a classic slab of Hendrix, something from Soft Machine around the time they were touring with him, Alice Coltrane, an extraordinary tribute to her by Seattle's Sun O))), almost-forgotten Anglo-French Henry Cow-influenced band Officer!, a couple of new things from Bristol's Bloom collective (Evil Usses, Spindle Ensemble) and a tribute to BBC Radiophonic Workshop's star employee Delia Derbyshire. The middle hour is dedicated to the pioneering studio work of Osbourne Ruddock, a.k.a. King Tubby, in the form of a mix of some of his finest 70s dub tracks.

http://canterburywithoutborders.blogspot.com/2017/06/episode-47.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-40212652

10 giugno 2017


Ricorre oggi il trentacinquesimo anniversario della scomparsa dell'amatissimo Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945-1982). Per ricordarlo, oltre che immergersi in qualcuno dei tanti capolavori della sua immensa filmografia, ci si può rivolgere alla biografia completa scritta da Jürgen Trimborn (Ein Tag ist ein Jahr ist ein Leben, 2012). Oppure avvicinarvisi attraverso la frammentaria rievocazione personale suggerita da Alessandra Novaga, in concerto e su disco: Fassbinder Wunderkammer (Setola di Maiale, 2017).

https://www.alessandranovaga.com
http://www.ilsaggiatore.com/argomenti/cinema/9788842819639/un-giorno-e-un-anno-e-una-vita

09 giugno 2017


L'album di debutto di Roberto Musci del 1984, The Loa of Music, era già riapparso una decina d'anni fa in versione arricchita in cd per iniziativa dell'olandese Lowlands con il titolo Debris of a Loa. Oggi fa il suo ritorno per Soave Records, un doppio vinile con la serie completa e in gran parte inedita delle sessioni di registrazione originali: The Loa of Music (The Complete Sessions).

The Loa of Music is the first recording project of Milanese composer and musician Roberto Musci inspired by Voodoo Religion; Vever (the magical voodoo paintings) and Loas, the dark and magic spirits. The deep charm of non-Western music has led him to travel for many years across Africa, India and Asia, studying rhythms, scales, performance and interpretation of the most varied traditional and indigenous music, as well he make many field recordings and collected ethnic instruments that would then be combined with synthesizers and electronics in The Loa of Music. Recorded in 1983 originally had 80 minutes of music but only half was released on original LP. Soave pressed for the first time the Complete Recording Session from original tapes of this masterpiece that combines in a natural, spontaneous and unforced manner the sounds of distant and historic cultures, loopped, cut and effected, with avantgarde and mystical approach creating a very personal and inspired innovative musical language.

https://soave.bandcamp.com/album/roberto-musci-the-loa-of-music-the-complete-sessions
https://www.facebook.com/SOAVE-Records-211060232700996

08 giugno 2017


Si prende nuovamente l'onore e l'onere di restaurare e rimettere in circolazione un antico album di R. Stevie Moore la sempreverde Cordelia Records: stavolta tocca a Glad Music, sesto album del tuttofare 'grandfather of DIY' all'epoca della prima pubblicazione nel 1986, e primo a esser da lui realizzato in un vero e proprio studio di registrazione anziché autoprodotto nel salotto di casa. E i risultati un po' lo premiarono: "R. Stevie Moore is a genius of a rare order - si scrisse in quell'occasione sul NME - with the ability to marshall a bewildering diversity of styles and influences and mould them into something quite peculiarly his own. He's one of the few practitioners of post-modernist cross-pollination with the wit and sheer taste to produce a worthy hybrid".

http://www.cordeliarecords.co.uk
http://www.rsteviemoore.com/cd/gladmusic.html

07 giugno 2017


La dedica è per Allan Holdsworth, Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper, Riza Arshad e Dave Carpenter: It Must Be Jazz, nuova antologia a tema che MoonJune Records offre tramite Bandcamp scegliendo 25 brani da 25 diversi album prodotti per l'etichetta dal 2011 a oggi.

https://moonjunerecords.bandcamp.com/album/it-must-be-jazz

06 giugno 2017


Il catalogo digitale del londinese Cafe Oto si arricchisce di una nuova preziosa pagina: 17.1.17, documentazione del concerto dello scorso 17 gennaio di Mark Wastell con Julie Tippetts. Al brano è assegnato il suggestivo titolo Unraveling the Waterfall.

https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/shop/mark-wastell-julie-tippetts-17117

05 giugno 2017


Robert Wyatt raccontato da Silvio Perrella per Wikiradio: ascolti da Rock Bottom e Nothing Can Stop Us, accenni a Un certo discorso e un assaggio di Venceremos. Più un frammento di Hazard Profile che non c'entra niente. La puntata è quella del 1 giugno 2017, ora disponibile in podcast negli archivi Rai: http://tinyurl.com/y7yeyahd.

04 giugno 2017


La serie di presentazioni pubbliche - il mese scorso negli Stati Uniti e attualmente in Europa - del suo ultimo libro Being in Time (Skyscraper Publications, 2017), già costellata di contestazioni, ripensamenti da parte degli organizzatori, cancellazioni e repentini cambi di sede, ha esposto Gilad Atzmon addirittura ad un'aggressione fisica. Dell'episodio, avvenuto martedì scorso a Edimburgo, e di quello precedente a Newcastle, parla e dà testimonianza diretta il giornalista David Scott; ne parla anche lo stesso Atzmon in un video su YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcxdxtvkf4Y

In the post-political neighbourhood in which we live, much of humanity has been reduced to serving the interests of big money, mammon and oligarchy, with Left and Right, those two familiar poles of politics as we have always understood them to be, now indistinguishable and irrelevant. The freedom to think openly and speak clearly are but nostalgic concepts. Our Western Liberal Utopia has turned into an Orwellian dystopia (Gilad Atzmon).

http://lighthousebookshop.com/blog_posts/encouraging-debate-vs-promoting-hate-speech-cancelling-gilad-atzmon
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/2017/6/1/gilad-atzmon-physically-attacked-by-antifa
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/2017/6/2/david-scott-on-anti-fascist-fascists-uk-column

The events of 2016 – the UK vote to leave the EU, and the US Presidential Election – broke the mold which shaped ideas of democracy, politics and social identity. In this book, Gilad Atzmon argues that Left and Right have become indistinguishable and meaningless in the post-political universe in which we now live, and much of humanity has been reduced to serving the interests of big money and oligarchies. The freedom to think openly is now just a distant memory. Our Western liberal “utopia” has turned into an Orwellian catastrophe, and the people are left bewildered and impoverished, and out in the cold. Being in Time is a courageous attempt to grasp the intellectual developments that led towards the current dystopia. The book delves into the bankruptcy of the ideological grand narratives. It explores the colossal failure of the media, academia and politics to detect and address the events that led us towards destitution. It identifies the ideologies that have planted Identitarian politics and the tyranny of political correctness in our midst. We, the people, have been demoted into mere audience in a Greek tragedy that happens to be the story of our own destruction. The time is ripe to understand it all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YH_lx-05is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDBir720kAY

03 giugno 2017


Partenza con il botto per la rinata Turtle Records, fragile e gloriosa creatura di Peter Eden nell'età aurea del jazz britannico a cavallo tra anni Sessanta e Settanta, ora sotto l'egida di Cherry Red: un mini-cofanetto contenente entrambi i volumi di Marching Song, capolavoro del 1969 della Mike Westbrook Concert Band, un terzo cd aggiuntivo (When Young) pieno di inediti e rarità d'epoca Deram a nome del quartetto e sestetto di Westbrook e della Concert Band con ospite Norma Winstone, più un ricco apparato critico e iconografico curato da Duncan Heining e Colin Harper e uno scritto dello stesso Mike Westbrook. Wow.

Marching Song began as a one-off nine minute composition for a shelved album, recorded by Mike with a Sextet in 1966, previously unissued, it is included here as a bonus track on Disc 3. An expanded 15 piece Concert Band performance of the composition, by then developed into a 2 hour anti-war epic, first took place in 1967 at Plymouth’s Athenaeum. The full piece was finally recorded in early 1969 and released by Decca Records in the UK on their Deram imprint on two separate single LP volumes. In 1970 the LPs were combined for a 2LP release in the US. The recordings were produced by Peter Eden, then in the prime of his modern jazz producing tenure with Deram, capturing the cream of the British Jazz scene which had steadily risen from the mid 1960’s onwards.
This box set also features on Disc 3 both sides of a single produced by Peter of Mike’s Concert Band with Norma Winstone for a one-off single in 1970, never before reissued. Two further bonus tracks are on disc 3, a 16 minute piece entitled ‘When Young’ and a ten minute piece called ‘But It Must Get Better’, both recorded as the Mike Westbrook Quartet in 1970, and previously unreleased.
This box set of the two remastered Marching Song volumes, plus the bonus material mastered from the analogue tapes in Mike’s archive, are packaged with a booklet containing rare photographs from the 60’s live performances plus a major essay on Mike, and these compositions, by noted jazz critic and writer Duncan Heining.

http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/mikewestbrook/marchingcd.shtml
https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/marching-song-vol-1-vol-2-plus-bonus-3cd-box-set
https://www.discogs.com/The-Mike-Westbrook-Concert-Band-Marching-Song-Vol-1-2-Plus-Bonus/release/10364575
https://thebluemoment.com/2015/11/23/turning-turtle

02 giugno 2017


Per iniziativa della Hux Records, con il pieno appoggio di Mike Westbrook e l'immancabile sostegno di Jon Hiseman, rivede la luce lo storico album Live del quintetto elettrico westbrookiano con George Khan, Gary Boyle, Butch Potter e Alan Jackson, ripreso nel gennaio-febbraio 1972 alla vigilia delle registrazioni di studio - con formazione nel frattempo cambiata - del primo Solid Gold Cadillac. Rispetto all'originale, un Cadillac del 1973 divenuto presto rarissimo, ci sono qui due sostanziose aggiunte (Marching Song e Spaces, circa venti minuti nell'insieme) e la rititolazione, oltre che di Live in Live 1972, di Hyde Park Song in Metropolis IX. C'è anche la dedica, già presente nell'edizione cd prodotta dalla nipponica BirdSong nel 2007, al bassista Roger 'Butch' Potter, scomparso nel 2003. E ci sono le note di copertina di Mike: "This band only existed for a few weeks, mostly for a south-west tour at the beginning of 1972. After Metropolis I was due to make another album for RCA. I offered them this 'live' recording. They turned it down. If RCA had released it, the group would probably have continued in that form for a while longer. As it was, by the time we made the studio album, Solid Gold Cadillac, things had changed. Some of the original band had gone on to other things, new people were involved and it became another story. We felt that the 'live' recording was important, so John Jack and I released it on Cadillac. Live remains the only document of a moment in the creative lives of five particular musicians. I was fortunate to be one of them."

http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/mikewestbrook/livecd.shtml
http://www.huxrecords.com/cdsales151.htm
https://www.discogs.com/Mike-Westbrook-Live/master/426124

01 giugno 2017


Rimane aperta fino al prossimo 20 agosto la mostra allestita presso l'Haus der Kunst a Monaco (Germania) dedicata alla mirabil storia dell'etichetta Free Music Production (FMP), curata da Markus Müller sull'esempio di quella di cinque anni fa sull'ECM. A punteggiarne l'esperienza poche settimane fa, a quasi metà percorso, vi si sono tenuti due concerti d'eccezione, convocati da Peter Brötzmann: con lui c'erano Toshinori Kondo, Joe McPhee, Heather Leigh, Marino Pliakas, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Michael Wertmüller e Han Bennink. Dopo Monaco la mostra, dal titolo Free Music Production / FMP: The Living Music, riaprirà al pubblico a Berlino nel marzo 2018.

Haus der Kunst devotes an exhibition and concert series to the work of the pioneering Berlin avant-garde recording label and collective Free Music Production / FMP. Nearly 50 years after its founding, the work of this innovative experimental label and collective demands a new critical analysis with respect to its contributions to music. The exhibition and its accompanying program and publication follows on the curatorial context established with the landmark 2012 exhibition and concert series: "ECM: A Cultural Archaeology", which was devoted to the influential work of ECM and Manfred Eicher in 2012.

http://www.fmp-label.de
https://www.hausderkunst.de/en/eintauchen/free-music-production

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