Nell'encomiabile sforzo di Aufnahme + Wiedergabe di riportare alla luce, in una sua serie dal titolo Tapetopia, almeno una parte dell'immensa quantità di materiali circolati in forma clandestina - grazie quasi soltanto allo scambio di audiocassette autoprodotte, copiate e più volte ricopiate - in opposizione al regime culturale vigente nella Berlino Est degli anni del Muro e della Cortina di ferro, un particolare ritrovamento colpisce l'attenzione di chi a suo tempo accolse e rilanciò le raccomandazioni del Cutler di Points East. Si tratta di un nastro del 1988 del gruppo Der Expander des Fortschritts ora riproposto nel formato originale - cinquecento esemplari, andati subito esauriti - oltre che in vinile e in digitale: Urknall-Horde-Mensch.

The Tapetopia series, using the original layouts and track lists, publishes cassette editions from the GDR underground of the 1980s, especially from the “walled-in” scene in East Berlin. More than three decades after their initial “release”, most of these tapes have yet to be heard on either vinyl or CD, even though they made an audible mark in the canon of GDR subculture. Despite the tiny original editions of the time, many of the bands were considered cult in countercultural circles, which made them highly suspect in informed circles.

https://aufnahmeundwiedergabe.bandcamp.com/urknall-horde-mensch

 

Antologie tratte dalla smisurata/sregolata produzione di R. Stevie Moore non sono mai mancate, alcune di esse ufficiali e divenute nel tempo dei piccoli classici, molte altre circolate in via informale perlopiù tra i curiosi e gli appassionati. Una di queste, apparsa brevemente su eBay come doppio cdr e subito ritirata, ha spinto l'autore a rilasciarne una versione migliore e in proprio, via Bandcamp: The Unsignable R Stevie Moore 'Takes on Music'.

https://rsteviemoore.bandcamp.com/the-unsignable-r-stevie-moore

Altra antologia molto attesa, ancora per Cherry Red, è quella dedicata alla Ralph Records delle origini (epoca 1972-1982), contenente diversi materiali rari, alternativi o inediti di Snakefinger, MX-80 Sound, Schwump, Gary Panter e naturalmente dei principali protagonisti - abitanti per antonomasia - dell'etichetta.

Ralph Records was The Residents' original record label, the name coming from the somewhat colorful phrase "calling Ralph on the porcelain telephone". It was founded in 1972, shortly after the group had moved to San Francisco, when the band realized that they were the only people who'd be willing to publish their work. In 1976, the newly formed The Cryptic Corporation took over the label with visions of running it as a legit record company and not just a vehicle for Residents recordings. During the following years Ralph Records became the home of Snakefinger, Tuxedomoon, Fred Frith, Renaldo & the Loaf, MX-80 Sound, Yello, Art Bears, Rhythm & Noise, Hajime Tachibana, Nash the Slash, Clubfoot Orchestra and, of course, The Residents. 

In 1983, the label was restructured under the name "New Ralph" by Tom Timony in an effort to bring it out from under the debt brought on by the Mole Show tour. During this time, the label put much focus into releasing compilations and licensing overseas to minimize costs. Many of the acts were released from their contracts and moved on to other labels. In 1986, The Cryptic Corporation felt that Ralph was no longer working as a business model and that it was important to find better distribution for their star act, The Residents. The Ralph name was licensed to Timony, who eventually folded that operation into his own business. After the license expired in the mid-1990s, two new companies, independent of Cryptic Corp, were formed: "Ralph America" and "EuroRalph". These operated largely as mail order storefronts with occasional special releases. "EuroRalph" closed in 2005 and "Ralph America" closed five years later.

https://meettheresidents.fandom.com/wiki/Ralph_Records

E sempre per ottobre Cherry Red Records prepara un box antologico per le straordinarie Frank Chickens, recuperando gli album We Are Frank Chickens, Get Chickenized e Club Monkey e numerose registrazioni prodotte nel corso degli anni Ottanta per la BBC: Ninja Legends 1983-1989.

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/frank-chickens
https://www.kazukohohki.com/about-frank-chickens

 

Cherry Red Records promette per ottobre un corposo box antologico dedicato al Kevin Ayers del periodo tra il 1969 al 1973, partendo da quattro classici album di studio - da Joy of a Toy a Bananamour - e dal concerto integrale all'Hyde Park del luglio 1970, con la rivisitazione di molti altri materiali dal vivo in parte già pubblicati in precedenti raccolte, brani in versione di prova o alternativa, documenti audio e video inediti o comunque assai rari e un lussuoso album fotografico: All This Crazy Gift of Time.

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/kevin-ayers-all-this-crazy-gift-of-time

 

THE album.

Happy 50th birthday to one of the strangest, most personal, most beautiful British albums ever made.
(Jonathan Coe)

 

E John Butcher è tra i musicisti che partecipano da domani al festival Konfrontationen a Nickelsdorf (Austria), per un'edizione, la numero 44, che festeggia anche il settantesimo compleanno della sua infaticabile guida, Hans Falb. Ci sono tra gli altri Phil Minton, Carl Ludwig Hübsch, Martin Siewert, Tony Buck, Marta Warelis, Almut Schlichting, Chris Corsano, Akira Sakata, Martin Brandlmayr, Dieter Kern, la Red Desert Orchestra di Eve Risser, Georg Gräwe e Hamid Drake. Si potrà seguire l'intero programma anche on-line grazie a Radio Helsinki, nome 'storico' nel panorama delle radio libere austriache.

Seit 1980 veranstaltet Hans Falb jedes Jahr im Sommer in Nickelsdorf an der österreichisch-ungarischen Grenze das Festival Konfrontationen. 70 ist Falb in diesem Frühjahr geworden, doch von seiner Leidenschaft für die jazzmusikalische Avantgarde und die improvisierte Musik will der Burgenländer nicht lassen. Er selbst ist in den seit fast 50 Jahren (1976 begann er die ersten Konzerte zu veranstalten, die Vorläufer wurden für das spätere Festival) zum Fachmann für diese Nischenmusik geworden, im Kopf hat er so gut wie jeden Act, der irgendwann bei ihm auf dem Festival aufgetreten ist. Und fast alle waren irgendwann einmal bei den Konfrontationen live zu hören: Marshall Allen und Peter Brötzmann zum Beispiel, oder Max Roach, Joëlle Léandre, Irène Schweizer, Cecil Taylor, Joe McPhee, Henry Threadgill, Hannes Zerbe, Bill Dixon, Butch Morris, Ken Vandermark und Roscoe Mitchell.

https://www.konfrontationen.at
https://www.facebook.com/JazzgalerieNickelsdorf
https://helsinki.at/konfrontationen-2024

 

Dal nucleo di musicisti che oggi animano le attività collettive dell'Oxford Improvisers, tuttora forte dell'esempio dell'Improvisers’ Co-operative degli anni Ottanta, giunge l'album Chakrasana, realizzato in collaborazione con John Butcher. Lo pubblica su Bandcamp l'etichetta scatter.

John Butcher has been at the forefront of musical improvisation for the past 40 years, He is a saxophonist whose work ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multi-tracked pieces and explorations with feedback, unusual acoustics and non-typical concert locations. He has collaborated with many artists and is recognised internationally as something of a one-man revolution on the tenor and soprano saxophones. The Oxford Improvisers membership includes over 20 musicians, each of whom contribute uniquely, supporting a broad range of co-existent perspectives. Since 2001 Oxford Improvisers has staged and promoted over 200 events including four Cohesion Festivals and featuring hundreds of musicians, dancers and visual artists of every kind. 

https://scatterarchive.bandcamp.com/chakrasana

 

Fu nel cuore della bollente estate del 2008 che si costituì a Londra la pregiatissima London Improvisers Orchestra, e da allora ogni anno la ricorrenza viene sottolineata con qualcosa di speciale. Per questo luglio, ad esempio, doppio appuntamento dal vivo: uno per la tradizionale prima domenica del mese, presso la St Mary's Church in Stoke Newington - adottata ormai come propria sede di residenza - e poi martedì scorso al Cafe Oto, in formazione ancora più estesa rispetto alla partecipazione a inizio anno all'omaggio a Martin Davidson. Di entrambe le occasioni ha pubblicato ricordi e immagini Douglas Benford, coinvolto egli stesso nelle operazioni dell'ensemble. E tra pochi giorni è già tempo di tornare, al fresco, in Church Street.

https://linktr.ee/londonimprovisersorchestra

 

E in circolazione tornerà presto anche Dancing the Line, uno degli album più amati di Steve Beresford, ispirato alle creazioni della stilista francese Anne Marie Beretta e pubblicato dalla nato nel 1985. L'iniziativa è oggi condivisa con la parigina Wewantsounds, che si incarica della versione in vinile. Scrisse all'epoca Beresford: "When Anne Marie Beretta talks about her designs, it's easy to start making connections with music. She mixes hard and soft textures, for instance, liking paradox. She talks of colour as a sort of visual music".

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the reissue of Steve Beresford's highly sought-after album "Dancing the Line", released in France in 1985 on the French label nato. The album, taking its inspiration from French designer Anne Marie Beretta's fashion, features his Alterations acolyte David Toop plus Alan Hacker and Kazuko Hohki (Frank Chickens) with lyrics by Andrew Brenner. The music mixes sophisticated ambient pop powered by a RX11 drum machine with elements synth funk and experimental music. "Tendance" and "Comfortable Gestures" have become underground classics over the years and this is the first time the album is reissued, in partnership with nato who will release the CD version later this year. The reissue includes audio newly remastered by Translab in Paris, original gatefold artwork and a 4-page insert with liner notes by nato's Jean Rochard.

https://wewantsounds.bandcamp.com/steve-beresford-dancing-the-lines

 

Torna in circolazione - debuttando in cd, con qualche variazione e un paio di piccole aggiunte rispetto all'originale - l'album del 1988 Louis Moholo-Moholo's Viva La Black: Sean Bergin, Steve Williamson, Claude Deppa, Roberto Bellatalla e Thebe Lipere sotto la guida del batterista ripresi in studio a Londra con brani di Honsinger, McGregor, Tippett, Miller, Feza e il quasi-manifesto Woza dello stesso Moholo. Lo pubblica, oggi come allora, la Ogun.

https://louismoholo-moholo.bandcamp.com/viva-la-black

 

A ripercorrere e analizzare le vicende artistiche e biografiche della compianta Irène Schweizer c'è l'ottimo volume Dieses unbändige Gefühl der Freiheit realizzato qualche tempo fa a Berlino da Christian Broecking (1957-2021), editore indipendente e massimo esperto in Germania di storia della musica e sociologia delle arti, con particolare interesse per la vicinanza/rilevanza di jazz, avanguardie, impegno politico, lotte di liberazione e di autoaffermazione. Indispensabile.

Irène Schweizer: jazz pianist, activist, icon. Left-winged, lesbian, autonomous. The path of a young woman from the northern Swiss province leads further and further into experimental music: from London's jazz club Ronnie Scott's and the Zurich Africana Club to the avantgarde-stages in Wuppertal, Berlin, Willisau, Chicago and New York, and from concerts with Don Cherry, Louis Moholo and George Lewis to solo appearances as the leading pianist of European jazz in the Swiss temples of high culture, the Lucerne Culture and Congress Center and the Tonhalle Zurich. An endless fight for artistic freedom and autonomy.

https://www.broeckingverlag.com
https://dieses-unbaendige-gefuehl-der-freiheit
https://this-uncontainable-feeling-of-freedom
https://hibou-anemone-bear.blogspot.com/christian-broecking

 

La discografia di Irène Schweizer è vasta e multiforme, costellata di importanti progetti individuali e collettivi realizzati nell'arco di decenni, e consente a curiosi e studiosi diversi itinerari di avvicinamento e di esplorazione. Un paio d'anni fa lei stessa ne ha voluto suggerire alcuni in forma di Catalogo, facendo riferimento a quanto disponibile su Intakt (ma naturalmente molto c'è anche su Fmp). 

Irène Schweizer writes jazz history, and this catalogue documents the musical work of the jazz pianist. Demonstrating a responsibility for the music, Intakt Records, in collaboration with the artist, has made a carefully curated selection of work accessible. Given the abundance of artistic production, this is a project that is still far from being completed. The compilation reveals the main focuses of Irène Schweizer’s music. The great solo recordings, which present the broad spectrum of the musician. The piano-drums works with the most important percussionists in jazz today. The feminist manifestos with musicians like Joëlle Léandre, Maggie Nicols, Marilyn Crispell and Co Streiff. The close connection to the tradition of black American jazz with Don Cherry, John Tchicai, Andrew Cyrille, Hamid Drake, Fred Anderson and George Lewis. The love for South African jazz with Louis Moholo. And Irène Schweizer, the European, in collaboration with Pierre Favre, Barry Guy, Han Bennink, Günter Baby Sommer, Jürg Wickihalder, Omri Ziegele. Capturing all of this creativity is an ongoing pursuit that will take many years. A long journey into the depth and breadth of Irène Schweizer’s improvisation which we endeavour to undertake for the benefit of the listener.

https://www.intaktrec.ch/schweizerdisco-a.htm
http://www.fmp-label.de/schweizer.html

 

Nobile
Irène Schweizer (1941-2024)

 

Con la guida di file audio e pdf si può ora tentare di cimentarsi personalmente con il sublime canzoniere affidato da Mike e Kate Westbrook alla Band of Bands. Alcuni brani, in una speciale versione per soli canto e pianoforte, sono già disponibili (Yellow Dog, My Lover’s Coat e My Pale Parasol), a breve lo saranno anche Doll's House, Gas Dust Stone e What I Like: Play & Sing The Band of Bands Songs.

The song writing partnership of composer Mike Westbrook and vocalist/librettist Kate Westbrook began in the 1970s with their award-winning jazz cabaret Mama Chicago. Band Of Bands is the latest in a long succession of song cycles, music/theatre shows, concert works and settings of European poetry, as in The Cortege and the Westbrook Blake. They have written for stage and television, for opera and dance. The Westbrook Song Book aims to publish on-line sheet music of songs selected from each of these projects.

Play & Sing The Band of Band Songs
https://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/bob-cd/index.shtml
https://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/bob-cd/lyrics.shtml

 

Non solo Radio Robert. Ora c'è anche Robert Jukebox.
Chantons!

 

Astuta mossa di Bing Selfish sulla scacchiera tridimensionale della diplomazia interplanetaria: la rivela il secondo episodio di Selfish in Space, in diretta su ResonanceFM oggi e poi in replica mercoledì prossimo.

How do you solve a problem like Winstanley? It’s bad enough being lost in space, but what do you do when you’re stuck with an overconfident Captain, a supercilious Number One, a traumatised AI-droid, an oblivious empath, a sarcastic Communications Officer and a gluttonous insubordinate engineer, to mention but a few? On top of that, imagine being faced with your most inept yet murderous opponent yet, the three dimensional chessboard of interplanetary diplomacy and a really angry Doctor. Strap in, tap out and get all your hyperducks in a row, it’s the Bing Selfish Radio Show.

https://www.resonancefm.com
https://www.mixcloud.com/discover/resonance-fm

 

Istantanea da un pomeriggio piovoso di luglio, al riparo in garage, con la chitarra in mano. E Sascha lì che gioca (e guarda). By Bob Drake.

https://bdstudio.bandcamp.com

 

Parole, opere e profezie di Sun Ra (1914-1993) sono invece affidate alla ricostruzione che proverà a farne il regista Drew DeNicola nel documentario 'immersivo' provvisoriamente intitolato Door Of the Cosmos, forte del fattivo contributo di testimoni e diretti protagonisti delle vicende dell'Arkestra - Marshall Allen in primis, con il figlio Ronnie Boyd - e di un accesso senza limiti agli archivi del Sun Ra Estate, da cui provengono concerti, interviste, fotografie e filmati, incluse molte scene rimaste escluse dalla realizzazione finale di Space Is The Place. La produzione è indipendente e i lavori sono in corso da più di sei anni: si può dar loro una spinta tramite Kickstarter.

L'urgenza è dettata anche dal fatto di poter contare ancora sulla presenza di Allen, da poco centenario, qui coinvolto anche come co-produttore esecutivo: "Many dozens of musicians have passed through the Sun Ra Arkestra over the nearly 70-year span of the group. There are only a handful remaining who can tell the full story and sadly many have passed away over the course of the production of this film. Fortunately for this project, we have been granted the opportunity to showcase the miracle - that is Marshall Allen, who at 100 years old is still leading the band. He has been a veteran of the Arkestra since 1958, and is still playing live solo and in the studio with artists as diverse as Laurie Anderson, Meshell Ndegeocello, Kronos Quartet, Lonnie Holley and Wolf Eyes. Marshall continues to transmit the legacy and ethos of Sun Ra to the world and a new cohort of artists across genres and generations. From his Philadelphia home which has functioned as the Arkestra residence and rehearsal space since 1968, Marshall is the custodian of the last living archive of Sun Ra history. The timing of this piece is vital as we collaborate with Marshall and his son, Ronnie in their endeavor to archive and preserve the house and its contents for future generations."

https://www.kickstarter.com/sun-ra-door-of-the-cosmos

 

La vita e le opere del grande Cecil Taylor (1929-2018) sono affidate alle analisi e al racconto di Philip D. Freeman in un corposo volume biografico, il primo interamente dedicato al Nostro, ora pronto per la tedesca Wolke Verlag, In the Brewing Luminous: "The story of Cecil Taylor is one of resistance, of abandoning an easy path in favor of a more personally satisfying one. And it’s not over; as of this writing, his legacy is very much in flux. But when the dust settles, he will be remembered as one of America’s greatest artists."

https://www.wolke-verlag.de

E anche di Charlie Haden sentiamo tutti la mancanza.
Da dieci anni.

"I want to take people away from the ugliness and sadness around us every day
and bring beautiful, deep music to as many people as I can."

 

Lol Coxhill, tutti tutti ne sentiamo la mancanza.
Da dodici anni.

"After a certain age you become accustomed to the passing of legends, the chiming of a clock that fades into inaudibility, yet I felt bereft and tearful, not only because I counted Lol as a strange sort of friend and had played with him on and off since 1971, but because he was a person whose way of living, presence, being, conversation, wit and music enriched and challenged your own existence."
(David Toop)

 

Giulia Cianca, Marco Colonna e Fabrizio Spera si uniscono in Speaking in Tongues per rilanciare con My Kite You Made il messaggio di Refaat Alareer - poeta, traduttore, professore universitario e promotore di giovani scrittori in Palestina, attivista e cofondatore del progetto We Are Not Numbers, ucciso a inizio dicembre 2023 insieme ad altri sette membri della sua famiglia durante un raid israeliano - e in particolare la sua celebre poesia If I Must Die Let It Be A Tale: "L'uccisione di un poeta suona come l'ennesimo atto di distruzione verso un popolo, una tradizione ed una lingua. Un colpo mirato al cuore del sentimento di identità del popolo palestinese. Le sue parole sono un invito all'amore. Alla speranza. E tutti noi, ora e a lungo, vogliamo essere quell'aquilone bianco."

https://newethicsociety.bandcamp.com/my-kite-you-made

https://wearenotnumbers.org/tributes-to-refaat-alareer

https://orientxxi.info/magazine/se-io-dovessi-morire
https://youtu.be/BMpk2vynJiQ

 

C'è la Villa Aldini di Bologna - set principale del Salò pasoliniano - a fare da location al video di Sky Burial While Alive, tratto dall'album Kanda Teenage Honey, registrato e autoprodotto da Nick Hudson a Tbilisi (Georgia) con l'intervento di molti musicisti locali. E c'è la viva voce di Alfreda Benge ad elencare all'inizio del brano i nomi di oligarchi e dittatori - tra cui Ceauçescu, Mussolini, Nerone, Pinochet, Stalin, Assad, Pol Pot e Hirohito - associati in modo imperituro ai pianeti del sistema solare: "The souls of dictators when they die are appointed to planets, so impressed is the creator with their unbending will of granite".

"Sky Burial While Alive takes its imagery from a scene in my novel Inheritance - whereby an oligarch, upon finding his power challenged and his assets diminished, retreats to a Swiss bank vault only to have seven griffon vultures perform a sky burial upon him, depositing his remains in Lake Geneva - it’s a commentary on the imbalance of power and the thin-skinned nature of those who fetishize and seek to consolidate it at any cost… I shot some of this at the Bologna villa used by Pier Paolo Pasolini in his film Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma - fittingly, given the song is about dictatorships and oligarchy. The prologue is recited by very special guest Alfreda Benge, collaborative partner and wife of Robert Wyatt."

E a proposito della sua amicizia con Wyatt, e della scelta di Alfie per il recitato, scrive ancora Hudson: "I first met Robert shortly after he’d recorded with Björk in 2004. We met in a record shop and I asked if the synth he’d used on Cuckooland was the Yamaha CS1X - it was - I recognized it as I owned one too - and so an hour and a small bottle of vodka later we’d conversed widely and enthusiastically about all manner of esoteric things. Spool forward 17 years and we reconnect in lockdown, with Robert saying lovely things about The Quiet Earth and offering insightful, encouraging critique on a script I’m yet to film. Alfie and I rave a lot on Twitter, sharing a similar political outlook. When I needed a voice to recite a certain monologue on the new record, for a song that narrates an oligarch’s suicide in Geneva, it was hers that sprang to mind: her delivery is brilliant and chilling. Two examples of humanity at its exceptional goodness."

https://www.theacademyofsun.com
https://nickhudsonindustries.bandcamp.com/kanda-teenage-honey
https://www.indiegogo.com/kanda-teenage-honey

 

Il festival Unlimited Music che si tiene ogni novembre a Wels (Austria) all'Alter Schlachtof è curato quest'anno da Ken Vandermark e ha un programma già ben definito. Fin dal titolo: The Future In Both Directions.

https://www.waschaecht.at/music-unlimited/de

 

A chiudere per ora la stagione di Dissonant Series promossa dall'attivissima In Situ Art Society a Bonn (Germania) giungono oggi Tatsuya Yoshida e Risa Takeda, attualmente in Europa per un lungo giro di concerti in duo. Come di consueto l'appuntamento si tiene negli spazi artistici e culturali della Kreuzung an St. Helena e viene trasmesso in diretta streaming su YT a partire dalle ore 20.00.

http://www.in-situ-art-society.de
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1b6mmtAmSw

 

Fosse da seguire il consiglio di una che quella sera c'era, Pamela Des Barres, bisognerebbe ascoltare tutto il contenuto di Whisky a Go Go, 1968 in un'unica sessione: “Listen to all of this album in its entirety and try to envision the Whisky a Go Go that long ago night. It happened in a space and time that will never come again, so buckle up, baby, close your eyes, let your imagination soar, and set your freak free.” Frank Zappa e The Mothers of Invention, dal vivo a Los Angeles il 23 luglio 1968 - a poche settimane dalla pubblicazione di We're Only In It For The Money e con già in testa Cruising With Ruben & The Jets - in uno dei luoghi a loro più cari, con amici, ospiti, celebrità tra il pubblico e file interminabili di gente fuori dal locale che preme per entrare ad assistere ad almeno uno dei tre set in programma. Qui documentati per intero.

“The purpose of this evening is supposedly to make some recordings of The Mothers live, in person”, Zappa told the eclectic gathering of freaks and hippie-cum-hipster music geeks alike. Zappa’s core intention of live invention that night was to capture an entire Mothers performance on multi-track tape. The only other time this had occurred was two months earlier at the Miami Pop Festival on May 18, 1968, when Eddie Kramer had documented The Mothers’ set on 1” 8-track tape. For the Whisky engagement, Zappa had hired the Wally Heider remote truck, which itself had been outfitted with a 1” 8-track recorder that would be helmed by recording engineer Dick Kunc. The choice of venue was no accident either. The Whisky had been very good to The Mothers over their formative years, and this showcase event was a way to give back to the place where manager Herb Cohen had persuaded producer Tom Wilson to witness Zappa and The Mothers perform in late 1965. That ultimately resulted in the band securing a record contract with MGM, not to mention planting the seeds of the fruitful relationship that developed between Zappa and Wilson. By the time The Mothers came back to the Whisky in July 1968, they had quite well established themselves as leaders of the underground.

https://www.zappa.com

 

Gli storici album che nella seconda metà degli anni Settanta la condussero - a suo parere, e per suo volere - dall'hit department all'art department, dallo splendido Hejira a Shadows and Light, sono ora raccolti nell'atteso nuovo box antologico della Rhino The Asylum Albums (1976-1980), rimasterizzati da Bernie Grundman e accompagnati da nuove opere grafiche e pittoriche. Ne è giustamente orgogliosa lei, Joni Mitchell, così come una sua celebre fan, Meryl Streep: “It’s not just the artifact – music and lyrics – that Joni gives us. Her artistry leaves us, ourselves, changed. She has shifted things around inside us. And that’s how artists change the world.”

After The Hissing Of Summer Lawns tour, Joni retreated to Neil Young’s beach house to recover. Eager to travel but undecided about a destination, Mitchell was unexpectedly invited on a cross-country road trip with friends. It was one of three road trips she took between 1975 and 1976 and the beginning of a period defined by wanderlust, both in her physical travels and musical exploration. This transformative phase is the focal point of The Asylum Albums (1976-1980), the next release in the Joni Mitchell Archives series. The new collection showcases Mitchell at her most daring across Hejira (1976), Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter (1977), Mingus (1979), and the live album Shadows and Light (1980). Renowned audio engineer Bernie Grundman remastered all four releases included in this boxed set from the original flat analog master tapes.

https://jonimitchell.com

 

Anche l'etichetta In Poly Sons si mobilita in vista dell'anniversario di Rock Bottom e segnala la disponibilità - in digitale tramite Bandcamp, oppure in cd nel formato originale del 2001 - dell'album MW pour Robert Wyatt con le tracce audio che accompagnarono i volumi 2 e 3 della serie MW prodotta con il contributo artistico di Jean Michel Marchetti e contenente sue traduzioni in francese di testi e poesie di Wyatt e di Alfreda Benge. La pubblicò integralmente - e mirabilmente - l'illustre tipografia d'arte Æncrages & Co di Baume-les-Dames (Francia) tra il 1997 e il 2008, riproponendola poi nel 2009 in forma di antologia. Ne è riassunta la storia - che ebbe anche episodi drammatici - al sito di Jean-Paul Marillier, Une discographie de Robert Wyatt.

https://inpolysons.bandcamp.com/mw-pour-robert-wyatt
https://www.aencrages.com
http://www.disco-robertwyatt.com/mw/index.htm
https://hibou-anemone-bear.blogspot.com/aencrages

 

Eitan Shavit - che molti, per passione o per lavoro, conoscono anche come Strong Comet - cambia indirizzo al suo sito wyattiano Different Every Time, riorganizzando leggermente i contenuti, apportando alcune modifiche estetiche e funzionali e aprendo uno speciale spazio dedicato all'album Rock Bottom in vista dell'imminente ricorrenza del cinquantesimo anniversario. E già che c'è invita ad ascoltarlo in un'inedita versione, realizzata anche ricorrendo all'intelligenza artificiale, priva del cantato.

https://differenteverytime.com
https://rockbottom.differenteverytime.com

 

Richard Williams racconta da par suo - ma in tono ancor più amorevole del consueto, e rincuorante - del suo incontro con Robert Wyatt a Louth pochi giorni fa: On visiting a friend.

"It has been a joy to find that Robert is still entirely himself, one of the most original and loved figures of his generation, still living his “improvised life”, not making music any more but continuing to incarnate his socialist principles and thereby justifying his friend Brian Eno’s description of him (in Marcus O’Dair’s excellent authorised biography) as living without 'any glaring inconsistencies between what he claims to believe in and what he does as a person and as an artist.'"

https://thebluemoment.com/2024/07/01/on-visiting-a-friend