Torna a farsi sentire forte e chiara la cara voce di David Garland con il suo impareggiabile Spinning on Air, che dopo l'interruzione delle trasmissioni presso la newyorkese WNYC - ne era uno dei programmi veterani, e suo autentico fiore all'occhiello - è diventato un podcast casalingo autoprodotto in un piccolo cottage della Hudson Valley e diffuso in tutto il mondo grazie al web e ai social (e a qualche spontanea donazione degli ascoltatori). Il debutto in questa nuova forma è affidato a una serie di tre episodi (Vivid Voices) dedicati a canzone e cantanti, con protagonisti Jeri Southern, Julius Eastman e Diane Cluck: "The Spinning On Air podcast begins with a series of three episodes focusing on singers and song. Using the body and breath to bring ideas into the world is a basic, fundamental creative action. It can also be abstract and magical, with the power to touch us deeply. There is no more personal sound than our voices, and these interviews let you encounter three thoughtful singers from three different eras and styles, each of whom illuminates their work with insight and care."
Tra i materiali aggiuntivi e propedeutici della prima serie c'è un piccolo dossier (Honoring the Impulse for Song) valido anche a sé stante, con contributi di Dave Longstreth, Sufjan Stevens, Judy Collins, Andy Partridge, Laura Marling e Robert Wyatt.

Spinning On Air connects us to people who think creatively about what they do. Originals, whose ideas and perspectives can open us up to being more creatively aware in our own lives. Hosted and produced by David Garland, Spinning On Air began as radio broadcast on WNYC in New York City 30 years ago, and now originates independently from a little studio at the edge of the woods in the Hudson Valley of upstate New York. From this spot outside the mainstream, we get in touch with the new decentralized artistic imagination that’s bubbling up all around us.

http://davidgarland.com
https://www.facebook.com/david.garland.nyc
https://spinningonair.org
https://spinningonair.org/extra-honoring-impulse-song

Un paio di sciatte battute al divertito intervistatore (Götz Bühler) bastano a Fred Frith per dire l'ultima - o forse la penultima - sulla scelta a suo tempo del nome Henry Cow (per il gruppo) e del nomignolo Fred (per sé stesso): si rinvengono nell'ultima traccia del nuovo album Storytelling, registrato lo scorso marzo e prodotto dalla tedesca Intuition Records nella propria serie European Jazz Legends.

Alles was man über Fred Frith wissen muss, kann man auf dieser CD finden. Man hört es in der Musik, in jeder einzelnen improvisierten Note, die live im Theater Gütersloh am 18. März 2017 gespielt wurde, im Trio mit der dänischen Saxophonistin Lotte Anker und dem Schlagzeuger und Percussionisten Samuel Dühsler aus der Schweiz. Improvisation ist ein kompliziertes Unterfangen, das der 68-jährige Gitarrist und Komponist aus Yorkshire, der in Oakland/U.S.A. und in Basel/Schweiz lebt, geradezu verkörpert. "1981 hatte ich eine schwere Krise", sagte er in dem Interview für den Artikel der Reihe European Jazz Legends, das im Magazin Jazz thing erschien, "als ich auf Solo-Tour in Japan war. Ich war von der Idee besessen, dass ich mich als wahrer improvisierender Künstler niemals wiederholen dürfe. Wie dumm von mir! Ich war derart fixiert auf diese Idee, dass tatsächlich jede musikalische Betätigung zu einem Kampf wurde. (…) Eines Nachts kam ich mit blutenden Fingern von der Bühne. An beiden Händen! Da dachte ich: irgendwas läuft hier komplett falsch. Ich hatte mich offensichtlich fürchterlich verrannt. Aber ich glaube, es war eine gute Erfahrung, und es hat geholfen zu verstehen, dass das alles in Wirklichkeit völlig irrelevant ist. Ich habe ein Instrument, ich habe meine Fähigkeiten, alles was ich tun muss: leer sein. Wenn ich leer bin, habe ich keine Ahnung was passieren wird. Und genau da sollte man anfangen." Da Fred Frith – in vielen Beziehungen – ein Mann der Tat ist, schlenderte er in dieser Nacht mit seinen musikalischen Partnern Richtung Bühne, sang dabei etwas fast opernhaftes vor sich hin, und fing dann an zu spielen.

https://www.facebook.com/Intuition-Records-168561753262095

Un po' di cose che amabilmente si son dette nei mesi scorsi Okkyung Lee e Ikue Mori - a New York o a Stoccolma - è riportato da Bomb Magazine nella bella sezione Artists in Conversation oppure nei documenti di quest'anno dell'Edition Festival:
http://bombmagazine.org/article/1127628/okkyung-lee-and-ikue-mori
http://www.edition-festival.com/?page_id=233

Dice David Thomas a Ron Kretsch che per i nuovi Pere Ubu - quelli di 20 Years in a Montana Missile Silo - nove non è ancora il numero giusto, anche contro ogni evidenza pratica. Penserebbe piuttosto a quindici, e chissà che un giorno!: "Frankly we can’t take nine members out on the road. But it’s been my ambition for quite a while to move to the “Pere Ubu Orchestra”, where I hope to have 15 people. 15 is just a number, you know, I thought “YES! 15!” It’s a bad move in terms of how that’s a lot of people to put on the road, but we’re still working on what can be done about it."

http://www.ubuprojex.com/20y.html

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/monkey_bizness_music_from_pere_ubus_new_9_piece_lineup

Dice DeRiso che a salvare la carriera degli XTC trent'anni fa furono i Dukes of Stratosphear. Probabilmente c'è da credergli, se così già si espresse a suo tempo Lord Cornelius Plum in persona: "It's within the realms of possibility that XTC would not have survived beyond the 1980s without the cathartic effect this fun side-project engendered. That so many others found it amusing and entertaining simply adds to the joy we derived from its creation."

http://diffuser.fm/dukes-of-stratosphear-psonic-psunspot-album
http://www.howlinwuelf.com/html/dukesofstratosphear.html

Dice il bollettino che Bob Drake torna oggi a circolare in Regno Unito - con insistenza, da solo, ma in buona compagnia - almeno fino al prossimo 3 settembre. Le popolazioni di Salisbury, Preston, Birmingham, Brighton e Londra stiano all'erta!

http://bdblog.bdrak.com/summer-2017-uk-solo-shows

Colpi di sole arancione e oro per l'altrimenti nerissimo - e impareggiabile - secondo album degli Univers Zero, Heresie (1979): un'idea di Sub Rosa per depistare lo squartatore Jack...

This music on this LP might have little to do with rock, and might also be a massive downer, but the quality of the writing and playing is extremely high. Michel Berckmans' solo work on oboe and bassoon work is magnificent, and Patrick Hanappier's string playing (violin and viola) also demonstrates the precision of a trained classical musician, along with demonic avant-garde scraping and howling on Jack the Ripper. Best of all, Univers Zero never cheapens the effect of the music with any of the stock cartoon licks which are associated with the gothic genre today. Group members sound deadly serious about what they're doing, which might call their sanity into question, but which makes for an incredibly powerful listening experience. In fact, Heresie is a stunning one-of-a-kind item that has never been duplicated by anyone (including Univers Zero!).

https://www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/soundworks/univers-zero-heresie.html

Electronium, Circle Machine, Clavivox e Bandito the Bongo Artist: questi solo alcuni degli strumenti che si sentono all'opera nel nuovo splendido capitolo monografico dedicato da Basta Music al genio pionieristico di Raymond Scott (1908-1994), Three Willow Park: Electronic Music from Inner Space, 1961-1971. Ricco l'apparato informativo incluso (Notes and Documents) e ancor più ricco quello disponibile sul web (Artifacts from the Archives), esteso anche ai precedenti Manhattan Research Inc. e Soothing Sounds for Baby.

Willow Park Center was an industrial rental complex of offices and warehouses in a Long Island suburb. Following his 1965 marital breakup, Scott set up shop at WPC. He operated a musical lab — researching, experimenting, testing, and measuring. He twirled knobs, flipped switches, and took notes. He installed equipment and machines, and used them to build new equipment and machines. This makeshift compound remained Scott’s workspace and bedroom until 1971, when he decamped for L.A. to work for Berry Gordy at Motown.
Scott was a highly qualified engineer who also happened to be a conservatory-trained (Juilliard) musician. He could compose, arrange, perform, improvise and edit, but given a shelf of hardware and a soldering iron, he could also rig an appliance to further his musical aims. Like many visionaries, Scott foreshadowed the future. He developed technological processes which were pivotal in the evolution of the fax machine. He composed a “silent” piece years before John Cage‘s 4′ 33″. He predicted (in 1944) that composers would someday reach audiences via thought transference. He applied for and was awarded numerous patents. Foremost, he developed electronic and automated sound-generating technology to craft the elements of pop music at a time when circuit-made sound was largely a novelty, used in “serious” works, or cranked-up for special effects in science fiction films.
In 1946, while still leading jazz bands, Scott established Manhattan Research, Inc., billed as “Designers and Manufacturers of Electronic Music and Musique Concrète Devices and Systems”. By the 1950s, he was using his inventions to produce commercials with electronic soundtracks, as well as developing automated sequencer technology. His friend and colleague Bob Moog said, “Scott was definitely in the forefront of developing electronic music technology and using it commercially as a musician”.

http://www.raymondscott.net/three-willow-park
http://www.raymondscott.net/artifacts
https://vimeo.com/223916050

Un'antologia di dialoghi chitarristici compilata da Henry Kaiser scegliendo inediti e rarità tra gli archivi di quarant'anni di incontri con fedeli amici e personali eroi, tra cui Derek Bailey, Fred Frith, Nels Cline, Jim O’Rourke, Elliott Sharp, Eugene Chadbourne, Davey Williams, Bill Frisell e John Russell: Friends & Heroes: Guitar Duets (Fractal Music, 2017). Spiega l'iniziativa Kaiser: "One of my most favorite recording and performing formats is the guitar duet. I have been fortunate to record with many heroes of mine, who became my friends; as well as with friends who have become heroes. That’s what’s being celebrated here. I have selected some unreleased tracks for this release, as well as out-of-print items from various ancient recording from my 40 years of album recordings."

http://www.henrykaiserguitar.com/friendsandheroes.html

Nouvelle Axe

Ana-Maria Avram (1961-2017)

Confessa apertamente Martin Davidson che tra i motivi che lo portarono a fondare l'etichetta Emanem, nel lontano 1974, c'era il desiderio di documentare - per quanto possano fare le registrazioni audio di concerti di musica improvvisata - le straordinarie gesta della scena londinese dell'epoca. E tra i suoi campioni c'era soprattutto Paul Rutherford, al quale negli anni avrebbe offerto più e più volte spazio con pubblicazioni di grande rilievo, a partire dall'indimenticabile The Gentle Harm Of The Bourgeoisie (1976). Oggi torna a rendere omaggio al compianto trombonista con un nuovo album che raccoglie estratti da vari concerti tra il 1979 e il 2007 in solo, in duo con Paul Rogers o in trio con Veryan Weston e Marcio Mattos: In Backward Times.

We founded Emanem in 1974, mainly because we kept going to improvisation gigs in London and hearing music that was superb, unique and original. And it was not being recorded for further dissemination – it was just there once for the few people who were the audience. Paul Rutherford solo performances were perhaps the most outstanding music that was just (to quote Eric Dolphy) 'gone in the air'. His excellent trio, Iskra 1903, with Derek Bailey and Barry Guy, had been documented on Incus (reissued as Chapter One on Emanem 5311), so I started recording his solo pieces and issued his selection of them as The Gentle Harm Of The Bourgeoisie (reissued on Emanem 4019). I felt at the time that he was the greatest trombonist in free improvisation, thanks to his strong, imaginative lines involving a considerable range of sounds, made with just the instrument enhanced with some use of his voice and mutes. His quiet but outrageous sense of humour and somewhat outlandish use of form also helped. After forty years of further listening to a wide range of improvisers, I still feel the same way. I consider that he was one of the best trombonists in any genre, as well as one of the finest improvisers on any instrument. Once issued, The Gentle Harm became very influential – not just with trombonists.
Going through my archives recently, I came across the four concert items that make up this cd, and they seemed to be crying out to be released as they are some of the best music I have heard in ages. So I make no apologies for issuing yet another collection of his music.

http://www.emanemdisc.com/E5045.html
http://www.emanemdisc.com/cd-rutherford.html

Si rinnova ogni anno ad agosto a Londra l'appuntamento con la Fête Quaqua promossa dall'associazione Mopomoso guidata da John Russell: tre giorni di incontri e concerti di musica improvvisata presso il Vortex, da tempo sede adottiva delle iniziative pubbliche dell'associazione, da oggi al 22 agosto, pomeriggio e sera. Assieme a Russell in quest'occasione intervengono tra gli altri Alice Eldridge, Satoko Fukuda, Matt Hutchinson, Ken Ikeda, Henry Lowther, Gina Southgate, Roger Turner, Jennifer Walsh e Alex Ward.

"August comes again, another Fête Quaqua is in the offing and, once more, it brings what looks like being another three days of getting down to, what for me, is the ‘real nitty gritty’. Playing music live in a concentrated listening environment. Think the intimacy of a small theatre or chamber hall with the focus on the performance and the performers. An audience engaging with the music in a direct way and sharing the musical discoveries with the musicians as they are made. No replays. Music making in real time. True performance not imitation. I believe that we begin forming our musical identities in the womb and everyone has a unique personal musicality that grows and is shaped by our experiences throughout our lives. A truly creative artist recognises this uniqueness and that coming with it is a responsibility to employ it in their work. The musicians in this year’s Fête Quaqua all share this quality and the wide background of experiences make for a fertile ground in which the music can flourish. In one sense we are not trying to make a music but to reveal a music and to share it in real time. The range skills and sounds available are not proscribed by pre performance compositional structures but come from the musical imperative at the time. With these musicians it is quite a range too!"

http://www.mopomoso.com

http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk/event/fete-qua-qua-2

http://www.john-russell.co.uk/2017/07/17/fete-quaqua-2017-and-other-things

Il forzato cambio di sede e il ripetuto taglio di fondi pubblici non sembrano per ora ostacolare più di tanto il cammino del Festival MIMI, giunto quest'anno alla sua trentaduesima edizione e pronto al via oggi con una decina di giorni di eventi e concerti presso la Cité des Arts de la Rue e in vari altri luoghi di Marsiglia.
Scrive Ferdinand Richard, direttore del festival: "Après seize années de symbiose quasi-parfaite entre le Festival MIMI, l’Hôpital Caroline, et les puffins cendrés, l’esquif d’amour vient presque de sombrer par le fond, suite à un mauvais coup de tabac. La DRAC et la Ville de Marseille réduisent chacune de 20 000 euros leur aide habituelle à l’association A.M.I., soit un petit moins quarante mille qui ne fait pas du tout rire notre commissaire aux comptes. Y’a plus d’argent… Déjà affecté par une baisse de 26 000 euros en 2016, l’insubmersible petit navire fait face à la lame de fond, mais réduit la voilure, met sous cape, et cherche un abri côtier plus favorable. Pas le choix… La confrérie des explorateurs de rue et de haute mer, bien connue pour sa grande solidarité, sa grande réactivité, sa chaleur humaine, nous accueille à la Cité des Arts de la Rue, une sorte d’île urbaine, elle aussi habitée par d’audacieux navigateurs, avec qui nous sommes fiers de partager la même facilité à faire perdre la boussole… MIMI prend ce coeur sur la main qui lui redonne courage, et ne lâche rien… On est à la maison. Certes, les palmes ne sont plus inscrites dans le dress-code (encore que… chacun s’habille comme il veut…) mais vous pouvez venir avec votre bouée si ça vous chante… Mêmes dates, même programme, même décoiffage, presque le même panorama, dans un lieu lui aussi incroyable… L’A.M.I. en ressortira renforcée. Trente deux années de militantisme artistique et culturel, ça résiste à tout, c’est comme au rugby, tout est dans le rebond. Gardez l’oeil sur le radar, Terre à l’horizon!"

http://www.festivalmimi.com

Doppio appuntamento con John Greaves in concerto in Italia nei prossimi giorni: a Bobbio (Pc) il 20 agosto, alle ore 18.00, per l'inaugurazione della mostra d'arte 'La natura e le sue forme' della moglie Laura Buxton, e a Vasto (Ch) il 22, alle 21.30, ai giardini di Palazzo d'Avalos.

http://www.johngreaves.org.uk

Allo spirito del '67 è interamente votato il nuovo frizzante capitolo di Bing Selfish, Selfish Sentiments, con una dozzina di brani vecchi e nuovi affidati ai fedelissimi The Windsors e una confezione simil-chadbourniana piena di provocazioni intellettuali e di quisquilie mondane: "Mental, let's go mental, 'cos I haven't got the time to be sentimental"...

Bing Selfish and The Windsors burst into your life on a flying ice cream cart throwing multicoloured tunes everywhere. The spirit of '67/'17. Bing and The Windsors have arrived from another planet and have news to spill. The psychedelic hopes of 1967 have come to fruition and the psychedelic tropes of 2017 have come to Wolverhampton. New Bing songs with all the urgency, wonder, bile and laughter you may expect, but still surprising. This is the place where Galileo meets Conan Doyle and Caravaggio mixes business and pleasure with your hedge fund manager. They’ve also raided the 'Bing Selfish Songbook' and brought back into circulation Bing solo hits like Financial Advisor, World Without Government, and the previously-thought-to-be-impossible-for-a-live-band-to-play Relativity! So watch the skies and Bing Selfish and The Windsors pilot their ice cream drone across the dimensions and into your heart! Looks like it’s gonna be a long weird summer.

http://www.bingselfish.com
http://mparmstrong8.wixsite.com/mysite
https://bingselfish.bandcamp.com/album/selfish-sentiments
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-mpYxmw8eM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xkuzs62xIs

Importante appuntamento domani all'Edinburgh International Festival per celebrare la musica dell'Incredible String Band con uno dei suoi protagonisti, Mike Heron, affiancato da Danny Thompson e da una miriade di ospiti e amici. Gran cerimoniere e ispiratore dell'iniziativa - intitolata molto appropriatamente Very Cellular Songs - è Joe Boyd: "Whimsical, surreal, truly inspirational: psychedelic pioneers The Incredible String Band entranced listeners in the late 1960s and early 1970s with their visionary, dream-like songs. They remain one of the most influential groups to have come out of Scotland. The music of The Incredible String Band always defied categorization. Was it psychedelic folk? World Music ahead of its time? The avant-garde end of the Sixties singer-songwriter movement? In truth, it was at heart an outgrowth of the fertile and strange world of early '60s Edinburgh, with its deft folk musicians, its world-travellers, its Bohemian fringe and its psychotropic explorers."

For this very special concert paying homage to the group, former Incredible String Band manager and producer Joe Boyd invites guests to perform songs alongside collaborators from the group’s original recordings – including founder member Mike Heron and legendary bassist Danny Thompson. Guests include Justin Adams, Barbara Dickson, Green Gartside, Robyn Hitchcock, Janis Kelly, Greg Lawson, Sam Lee, Neill MacColl, David McGuinness, Karine Polwart, Alasdair Roberts, Georgia Seddon and Withered Hand.

https://www.eif.co.uk/2017/incrediblestringband#.WZG33VVJbSc
https://www.eif.co.uk/blog/2017/get-know-musicians-joining-music-incredible-string-band-line#.WZG3tlVJbSc

Due collezioni di grande pregio festeggiano il cinquantesimo compleanno di Fairport Convention e Pentangle: rispettivamente Come All Ye-The First Ten Years (A&M/UMe) e The Albums 1968-1972 (Cherry Red).

https://mainlynorfolk.info/fairport
https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/records/pentangle.html

Due super-classici di trent'anni fa di R. Stevie Moore tornano attuali sotto l'ala protettrice di Cordelia Records: Glad Music (1986) e Teenage Spectacular (1987).

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

Chi li vide in azione in Italia nei primissimi anni Novanta a promuovere i materiali di All My Screws Fell Out e Who Eats? forse ricorderà che nel variopinto mercatino del dopo-concerto gli Honkies avevano ancora qualche copia in vinile - ciascun esemplare diversamente decorato a mano - del loro album di esordio, How Do We Prevent the Advance of the Desert? Oggi quell'album torna disponibile più sobriamente in cd, per meritoria iniziativa della barese Music à la Coque: Caroline Kraabel, Kathy Hulme, Andy Diagram e Richard Harrison.

https://musicalacoque.bandcamp.com/album/how-do-we-prevent-the-advance-of-the-desert-cd

Dave Sturt, bassista nei Gong, raggiunge Kavus Torabi e Steve Davis nella sede di Phoenix FM per un episodio speciale di The Interesting Alternative Show. Tra i brani da lui proposti c'è qualche estratto dall'album del debutto solistico, Dreams & Absurdities (Esoteric Antenna, 2015), cui hanno contribuito molti gongster attuali o storici come Steve Hillage, Daevid Allen, lo stesso Torabi, Fabio Golfetti e Theo Travis. La puntata è quella del 24 luglio, e si riascolta via Mixcloud: http://www.phoenixfm.com/2017/07/26/playlist-mixcloud-stream-2017-07-24-dave-sturt-special

http://www.phoenixfm.com
https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/dreams-absurdities

Tra le letture estive avevi il volume di Carlo Pasceri Soft Machine 1968-1981 e ti è andato perso in spiaggia? Beh dai, poco male...

http://www.carlopasceri.it/blog/e-uscito-il-libro-soft-machine-1968-1981

Se all'ora dell'aperitivo a bordo piscina ascolti una musicassetta - una c-68, precisamente - dal tuo walkman vintage e attorno a te non si parla che svedese ("det är du du du i denna kyss det är nu nu nu i detta nyss") ho ragione di supporre cos'hai in cuffia: Testbild!

https://zeonlight.bandcamp.com/album/ett-blandband-fr-n-zeon-light-kassett-2017-c-68

E per combattere l'ardore dell'estate con un Lol Coxhill, cosa consigli: Don Alfonso o Disco Dementia? Frog Dance o Shenandoah? Sott'acqua col sassofono? O un'ipotesi di sogno?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmFEl7D9dv0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg5s_P7qrxo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TshfQfKbdS8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrlZjIAYnsU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq3V-kciCWg
https://kinseylloyd.bandcamp.com/album/coxhills-dream

Dopo Beyond Jazz Trevor Barre prosegue il suo avvincente e dettagliato racconto della scena del jazz d'avanguardia e delle musiche di improvvisazione in Inghilterra con il volume Convergences, Divergences & Affinities, dedicato all'emergere di una seconda generazione di musicisti - dopo i pionieri Parker, Bailey, Guy, Rutherford, AMM, SME - nel cuore degli anni Settanta, con particolare attenzione a Beresford, Coxhill e Day e alla nascita della rivista portabandiera Musics. Il prossimo capitolo, il terzo, si occuperà in gran parte delle vicende del London Musicians' Collective.

The much anticipated follow-up to Beyond Jazz, Convergences, Divergences & Affinities continues the story of early English free improvisation, tracing the path of the music from 1973 to 1979. It follows the progress of the early pioneers and the formation of the ‘second generation’ of improvisers, examining how they continued to develop the sound through such outlets as the London Musicians Collective, Company and Musics magazine. Particular attention is given to the regional scene and to the formation of various collectives across the country. Trevor Barre’s new book is another very readable history of the initial period of one of the most radical and misunderstood musical genres of the 1960s and 70s.

If Beyond Jazz suggests a Golden Age, then Convergences can be said to cover a 7-year Silver Age, when free improv developed and changed, whilst remaining challenging and provocative, England's very own avant-garde, which paralleled and interacted with more popular strains like punk and post-punk. A fair amount of recorded evidence exists and is discussed in the book, and we are lucky that it is complemented by the contemporary magazine Musics, which is also studied in some detail as the house organ of the 'movement.' The emergence of a 'second generation' is studied, and the continuing work of the first, and the formation of several musical collectives/cooperatives across the country gets the attention is finally deserves. The figures of Steve Beresford, Lol Coxhill and Terry Day are identified as key mischief-making talents that represent the serious fun that the music provided, and get their own dedicated sections in the book.

improvmusic.co.uk

Anche il doppio sito web di Mike e Kate Westbrook è attualmente in fase di rinnovamento e riorganizzazione, per paziente opera di Chris Topley. Tra le notizie che riguardano i più imminenti impegni spicca la ripresa di A Bigger Show da parte della Uncommon Orchestra, con due concerti a Londra e Bury St. Edmunds a fine mese prossimo. La sezione degli archivi storici, oltre che dare accesso alle ultime nove annate dello Smith's Academy Informer, segnala i filmati ritrovati di The Original Peter (1970) e The Cortège (1982), così come le recenti ristampe discografiche di Cherry Red Records (Marching Song) e Hux Records (Live 1972). In evidenza tra le ultime aggiunte anche una pagina commemorativa dello speciale Mike Westbrook Music Festival tenuto a Catania nel 1992, dal 24 al 26 luglio, giusto venticinque anni fa. Dal programma dell'ultima serata proviene un estratto dell'elegante View From The Drawbridge, con il sassofono di Alan Barnes in primo piano. Oltre a Mike e Kate e Barnes, l'Orchestra si componeva quella sera di Graham Russell, Dave Plews, Noel Langley, James McMillan, Paul Nieman, Adrian Lane, Tracy Holloway, Andy Grappy, Frank Schaeffer, Chris Biscoe, Alan Wakeman, Peter Whyman, Chris Caldwell, Steve Berry, Peter Fairclough, Anthony Kerr, Karen Street, Phil Minton, Danilo Terenzi, Dominique Pifarely e Pete Saberton.

http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk
http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/photoalbum/catania.shtml

Il nome non è cambiato, House of Chadula, ma il sito web è nuovo di zecca - sempre a cura di Ben Raskin - e nuova è anche l'organizzazione dell'immenso catalogo di registrazioni e documenti lì messo a disposizione da Eugene Chadbourne. Ci sono inediti e rarità inimmaginabili di ogni epoca e provenienza, diversi album dell'ultimissima ora, e anche la promessa di una quindicina di giorni da spendere in Italia per concerti (e altro) il prossimo ottobre: http://eugenechadbourne.com

RockBeat Records pubblica in doppio cd un concerto di Phil Ochs ben noto ai fan ma finora ufficialmente inedito, registrato - anche dall'FBI, si disse - il 22 ottobre 1966 a Montreal: Live in Montreal, 10/22/1966. "It's not enough to know the world is absurd and restrict yourself to pointing out the fact. Still I am forced to go on because I don't want the world to be left in the hands of the Hitlers, This one thing I feel is a driving force: that I get repelled by certain things - or they strike me as funny, or weird or strange, or ridiculous - and my response comes out in the form of a song." (Phil Ochs)

Scrive Michael Simmons nelle note di copertina: "Repelled. Funny. Weird. Strange. Ridiculous. Hitlers. These words resonate 50 years later, especially under the current political circumstance, a sad indication of how little has changed. Few songwriters mirror the moment they lived in as definitively as Phil Ochs. He was considered a folksinger and yet he didn't rewrite Child Ballads or resurrect Delta blues. For most of his career he accompanied himself with a sole acoustic guitar, but by 1966 his lyrics became more complex, more artful and his melodies and arrangements more baroque. He'd have as much in common with Brecht and Weill as he would with Pete Seeger. The Montreal gig was smack dab between his final Elektra album and his first release for A&M Records in November '67. On the former he's still the lone troubadour, armed only with a guitar that kills fascists (to paraphrase Woody Guthrie), while on the latter he utilizes ornate orchestration and piano accompaniment ranging from classical to ragtime. In many of the renditions heard on this live set, one can hear Ochs toying with the arrangements, adjusting the tempo mid-song and applying dissonance for effect. In some instances, his ideas outrun his technical capabilities. And his voice, an instrument that could register as thin but here is full-bodied and blessed with one of the best vibratos in show biz."

http://www.rockbeatrecords.com
https://www.discogs.com/Phil-Ochs-Live-In-Montreal-10221966/release/10261263
http://www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/2017/06/graded-on-a-curve-phil-ochs-live-in-montreal-10221966
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/1966-phil-ochs-concert-resurfaces-phil-are-we-glad_us_590ca3c2e4b046ea176aea83

Gilad Atzmon parla con Adam Garrie (The Duran) del conflitto israeliano-palestinese, del ruolo della politica in musica, dell'opposizione tra dogmatismo e libertà di pensiero - 'Gerusalemme' e 'Atene' nel suo libro Being in Time - e anche delle prese di posizione sue, di Robert Wyatt e di Roger Waters in difesa dei diritti dei palestinesi, delle conseguenti azioni di boicottaggio promosse da attivisti israeliani e della realizzazione di un film esplicitamente diretto a Waters fin dal titolo, Wish You Weren't Here. Della propria recente esperienza in fatto di pressioni e minacce dice Atzmon: "Assaults against my artistic activity occur daily. Promoters and presenters of my work are subject to a constant barrage of pressure and even threats. Very rarely they succeed in having a gig of mine cancelled. However, this is crucial. In Europe there are broad hate speech prohibitions. Despite the endless attempts to silence me, not once have I been questioned by a law enforcement body anywhere around the world about anything I said or wrote."

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/2017/7/14/thedurancom-gilad-atzmon-on-politics-in-music-roger-waters-palestine-and-humanitarianism
http://theduran.com/exclusive-gilad-atzmon-on-politics-in-music-roger-waters-palestine-and-humanitarianism

E' pronto anche in forma di newsletter l'aggiornamento #44 al magnifico sito web Une discographie de Robert Wyatt amorevolmente curato da quasi quattordici anni da Jean-Paul Marillier. E non sono poche le aggiunte degli ultimi mesi, distribuite nelle diverse sezioni dedicate a discografia, rassegna stampa, recensioni e archivi storici. Tra le segnalazioni di cose wyattiane più recenti c'è in particolare il libro di Philippe Gonin su Rock Bottom, con l'esplicito invito a riascoltarsi l'album. Bien sûr!

Scrive Marillier ai lettori: "Mon ami Antoine me fait remarquer qu'il y a bien longtemps qu'il n'a pas reçu la newsletter "disco-robertwyatt.com". Je lui rétorque tout de go qu'il peut tout aussi bien se rendre régulièrement sur le site pour découvrir les ajouts et les mises à jour successives. Mais ce n'est pas pareil, j'en conviens. La newsletter c'est comme un flash qui donne subitement envie de réécouter tous ces morceaux qui peuplent depuis tant d'années nos vies éclatées. Et depuis quelques mois, un album semble concentrer toutes les attentions: Rock Bottom avec des reprises passionnantes et un bouquin qui cherche à percer les recettes du chef d'oeuvre. Bon courage... Bonne (ré)écoute!"

http://www.disco-robertwyatt.com/images/newsletter/44/index_site.htm
http://www.disco-robertwyatt.com/images/Robert/rock_bottom/index.htm

Dagmar... Dagmaar... Dagmaaar... Avete visto Dagmar?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhcJfCGzlRw

Dal bollettino The Wire di agosto Clive Bell invita a immergersi nelle gioie (e rivoluzioni) delle musiche del ventesimo secolo tuffandosi dai trampolini di Probes sotto lo sguardo vigile ed esperto di Chris Cutler nello splendido scenario di Ràdio Web MACBA. Splasssh!...

http://rwm.macba.cat
http://rwm.macba.cat/en/probes_tag
http://www.hibou-anemone-bear.com/search?q=Radio+Web+Macba
http://www.perfomap.de/map3/kapitel4/ramos
http://www.perfomap.de/map3/kapitel4/ramos/pdf-download
https://www.thewire.co.uk/issues/402