Van Der Graaf Generator, A Grounding In Numbers (2011)

Six years after their surprise reunion, it still seems unreal to be listening to a new Van der Graaf Generator record. That's strongly art rock oriented album without typical (of the band) dark atmosphere and brass section. With lots of Canterbury sound and space rock motifs and themes connected in faultless psychedelic way.

01. Your Time Starts Now

02. Mathematics

03. Highly Strung

04. Red Baron

05. Bunshō

06. Snake Oil

07. Splink

08. Embarrassing Kid

09. Medusa

10. Mr. Sands

11. Smoke

12. 5533

13. All Over The Place

Peter Hammill — vocals, pianos, guitars, bass

Hugh Banton — bass, 10-string bass, organs, piano, harpsichord, glockenspiel, guitar

Guy Evans — drums, percussion, guitar

Hiromi Uehara - Voice (2011)

Hiromi started learning classical piano at age 5. She was introduced to jazz by her piano teacher Noriko Hakita when she was 8. At age 14, she played with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. When she was 17, she met Chick Corea by chance in Tokyo, and was invited to play with him at his concert the next day. After being a jingle writer for a few years for Japanese companies such as Nissan, she enrolled to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. There, she was mentored by Ahmad Jamal and had already signed with jazz label Telarc before her graduation.

Since her debut in 2003, Hiromi has toured the world and appeared in numerous jazz festivals. She performed live at the Newport Jazz Festival on August 8, 2009, and at the Paris Olympia in Paris on April 13, 2010 and toured in the summer of 2010 with the Stanley Clarke Band.

1. Voice (9:13) 

2. Flashback (8:39) 

3. Now or Never (6:16) 

4. Temptation (7:54) 

5. Labyrinth (7:40) 

6. Desire (7:19) 

7. Haze (5:54) 

8. Delusion (7:47) 

9. Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8, Pathetique (5:13)

Hiromi Uehara: Piano

Anthony Jackson: Bass

Simon Phillips: Drums

Yuji Takahashi, Finger Light (1995)

Finger Light es uno de los primeros álbumes que John Zorn, como productor ejecutivo, lanzó al mercado en 1995. Formando así su propia discográfica a la que le puso el nombre de una letra del abecedario hebreo: Tzadik, "El justo sobre el cual el mundo se sostiene. Como está dicho: El tzadik es el fundamento del mundo" (http://www.dimensiones.org/canales/topicos/Letras%20Hebreas/18%20tzadik.htm).

Alumno de Xenakis entre 1963 y 1966, estudió música estocástica (http://www.quienesxenakis.com/?p=172) y ha interpretado piezas de importantes compositores de vanguardia, ha grabado interpretaciones de clásicos para Denon, así como ha colaborado con figuras importantes de la música contemporánea de vanguardia como Ned Rothenberg, Ryuichi Sakamoto o John Zorn.

Siendo el primer álbum de Takahashi editado en Estados Unidos (ya que en Japón ha editado más de 100) trae a nuestros oídos sonidos tradicionales de la música de Japón, usando instrumentos como el shamisen (instrumento musical de cuerda de origen chino llamado sanxian), doble shamisen y shô (órgano de boca japonés) aunque aplicando diferentes técnicas que difieren de las maneras tradicionales de tocar dichos instrumentos. Mezclando vanguardia y tradición, Takahashi nos introduce en un viaje sonoro que roza la música espiritual o ritualística pero que también atraviesa momentos de avant-garde, como cuando oímos la voz del poeta Vladimir Tonkha recitando un poema de Osip Mandelstam(*) en "Mimi No Ho", los duetos vocales en "Kagehime No Michiyuki" o con su "Yubi-Tômyô" una pieza para "solo piano" con una duración de algo más de veinte minutos, donde los diferentes patrones de movimiento se combinan y se transforman a lo largo de la pieza, que es interpretada por Takahashi en la última parte del viaje ofrecido en esta grabación realizada para Tzadik.

(*) Leído en ruso en la grabación

My ears extend the sensitive sails,

Widened eyes turn black,

And voyage silently

The voiceless chorus of the midnight birds.

I am poor as Nature

and simple as the sky

and imaginary is my freedom

as the voices osf the midnight birds.

I see the dead moon

and the lifeless flaxen sky

Your ailing and strange world

I accept, in emptiness.

(Osip Mandelstam, 1910) 

Estas composiciones nos muestran una mirada única de un compositor de vanguardia y tradición como parece ser Takahashi, uno de los maestros del piano que el siglo veinte ha dado, y que hace ya más de 15 años grabó uno de los primeros álbumes en una de las discográficas más vanguardistas que existen hoy en día situada en el Downtown de Nueva York y dirigida por uno de los grandes maestros de la música: John Zorn.

                                                                          Bruno Praena (11 Marzo de 2011 | 02:50 a.m.)

Yuji Takahashi es uno de los principales pianistas del siglo veinte, y con su composición"Yubi - Tomyo" realiza un esperado regreso al piano. Finger Light mezcla composiciones de Takahashi para shamisen (instrumento musical de cuerda de origen chino llamado sanxian), doble shamisen y shô (órgano de boca japonés), aplicando técnicas alternativas a estos instrumentos tradicionales.

Takahashi se dio a conocer como compositor de avant-garde en los años sesenta con el grupo "New Directions" junto con Toshi Ichiyanagi y Kenji Kobayashi. Antes de que se editara el disco Herma de Xenakis, una obra para "solo piano" dedicada al propioTakahashi, había estudiado música estocástica (http://www.quienesxenakis.com/?p=172) como único alumno de Xenakis entre 1963 y 1966. Como compositor ha trabajado un amplio rango de formatos: orquesta, opera, improvisación, música con ordenador, instrumentos tradicionales e incluso música popular. En 1978 organizó una banda llamadaSuigyu para interpretar canciones protesta asiáticas. Como pianista, Takahashi ha grabado piezas de John Cage, Earle Brown, Roger Reynolds y Toru Takemitsu, así como su propia música, y en los años setenta hizo amplias grabaciones de Bach, Satie y otros paraDenon. Ha colaborado con artistas de avant-garde como Musica Elettronica Viva, Ned Rothenberg, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Carl Stone y John Zorn. Aunque Takahashi ha publicado más de 100 álbumes en Japón, Finger Light es el primero que se edito en un sello norte-americano. Tzadik.com (http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=7010)

01 Sugagaki Kuzishi

02 Mimi No Ho

03 Kagehime No Michiyuki

04 Yubi-Tômyô

Ishikawa Ko: Shô (mouth Organ) 

Ayumi Shimonoto: Shamisen, Vocal 

Kishiko Suzumi: Viola 

Kazuko Takada: Shamisen (hosozao), Vocal, Shamisen 

Yuji Takahashi: Piano 

Yumiko Tanaka: Bass Shamisen (hutozao) 

Vladimir Tonkha: Poetry Reading

Roy Campbell | Joe McPhee | William Parker | Warren Smith, Tribute to Albert Ayler: Live at the Dynamo (2009)

Recorded in France in late 2008, this quartet's (Roy Campbell on trumpet and winds, Joe McPhee on tenor sax and pocket trumpet, William Parker on bass, Warren Smith on drums and percussion — and all on yells) tribute is not just a loving homage to Albert Ayler but to iconic African American composers and otherwise important figures, from Grammy and Polar Music Prize winning singer and philanthropist Miriam Makeba (who died of a heart attack just days before this show) to Don Cherry to Ayler's trumpeter brother, Donald, to Barack Obama.

Moving beyond mere interpretation of these revered compositions, the group alternates between muffled anticipation and near bedlam (particularly on the Cherry-penned "DC" and Donald Ayler's "Prophet John") with a mixed survey of jazz standards, funeral marches, guttural primitivism, balladic lyricism and free-form atmospheres.

Beginning the set with "Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe", Campbell replaces Mary Maria Parks' lilt on the 1969 classic with an assertive oration of Ayler's "Music is life, life is beautiful / Music is played, listened to, danced to; sometimes not understood, but felt / Oh let it come in / Be healed…be healed!" etc., setting an innocuous, rousing-yet-reverent mantra the quartet return to throughout the concert. Smith navigates through this mystic carol with drumstick wands, circumspectly adding accents of chimes and an echoing undulation of lower frequency rolls and ringing cymbals while McPhee calmly squelches and intones his own transposed version of the "melody". Warmed up, the group segues into a fifteen-minute take of Makeba's "Muntu", Smith gently tap ta-tapping a meager ostinato alongside Parker's fragmented arpeggiations. Soon sax and trumpet join in a duet, first retaining the subdued humility of the original before McPhee departs in pursuit of Ayler's ghost, spinning and blasting through a gallop of effects and non-tonal whisks. On "Obama Victory Shoutout" (sic), the four renew their focus with chills-inspiring chants of "change has come / have you heard? / and not a shot was fired!", garnering escalated shouts from the band and audience alike.

The treat of these works is, as mentioned, embedded in the cracks of deviations and "searching" moments (i.e. McPhee's groaning and forcing multiphonics over Campbell's bamboo flute and recorder at the climax of "Vibrations"; midway through "Prophet John", Parker grabs a bow and takes a solo flight, laying out a five minute solo to mentally cripple all bassists in the audience).

Regardless of the themes of this album, the accolades — and two-minute applause at the end — belong to these paramount performers and their celebration of terrific execution and singular ownership. ~Dave Madden, squidsear.com

1. Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe (Albert Ayler) [06:31]

2. Muntu (Miriam Makeba) [15:19]

3. Obama Victory Shoutout (R. Campbell, J. McPhee, W. Parker, W. Smith)

3. & Truth is Marching in (Albert Ayler) [13:50]

4. DC (Don Cherry) & Vibrations (Albert Ayler) [16:51]

5. Prophet John (Donald Ayler) [15:05]

6. Universal Indians (Albert Ayler) [06:40]

Joe McPhee: Tenor sax, pocket trumpet, voice

Roy Campbell: Trumpet, pocket trumpet, bamboo flute, recorder, voice

William Parker: Bass, voice

Warren Smith: Voice, percussion, drums

Recorded live in November 2008 at the "Dynamo" in Paris, France during the Banlieues Bleues Festival.

Joe McPhee | Roy Campbell

Trey Gunn | Marco Minnemann, Modulator (2010)

Modulator is Trey Gunn with uber-drummer Marco Minnemann; but with a gigantic twist. This entire recording was composed and produced over the top of a 51 minute, live drum solo by Marco.

For this project, alternatively known as "Normalizer Two", Marco has enlisted several different musicians to create a full cd, each, from the same drum solo. No editing of the drum performance was done. All the music had to fit with what Marco played and, ideally, make it seems like only this drum performance could go with this music.

"This was the hardest recording I have ever taken on," says Gunn. "The challenges of this process prove the old adage that 'with great restrictions come great creative leaps'."

http://www.treygunn.com/modulator/

1. Contact 

2. Flood 

3. Spray l 

4. Fall Time +/- 

5. Fall Time -/+ 

6. Lumen 

7. Switch 

8. Daughter 

9. Pole 

10. Scatter 

11. Up Spin 

12. Down Spin 

13. Spectra 

14. Superstish-a-tron 

15. Californ-a-tron 

16. Spray ll 

17. Mono-Punkte 

18. Coupling 

19. Incantation 

20. Slingcharm 

21. Twisted Pair 

22. Hymn

Trey Gunn: Guitars, fretless guitars, touch guitars, basses, keyboards, samples, arrangements 

Michael Connolly: Uilleann pipes, fiddle (track 13) 

Marco Minnemann: drum kit 

Faust, Something Dirty (2011)

Of all the Krautrock pioneers, Faust have made the most unpredictable, contrarian, and sometimes just confounding music. Their biography is pretty complicated too. Disbanded in 1975, they reunited in the 1990s, only to split into two groups-- both called Faust-- a decade later. One, a rotating collective lead by founder Hans Joachim Irmler, released an album last year called Faust Is Last that was thought to be a swan song but never officially confirmed as one. The other, centered on founders Jean Hervé Peron (bass) and Werner Diermaier (drums), has also shuffled members but since 2007 has been a quartet with guitarist James Johnston and singer/keyboardist Geraldine Swayne.

Given that confusing history, the most surprising thing about Something Dirty, this lineup's first studio album, is how solid it is. Not to say it's predictable-- looping jams shift into subdued mediations, thick noises fall to near-silence, and loose sprawl morphs into accessible tunes. But there's a distinct cohesion to these songs and the way they move together. Nothing feels wilfully obscure or defiantly abrupt; each pause or shift in momentum serves a purpose. Something Dirty plays like a well-paced movie, with tonal arcs that dissolve into each other, cut back and forth, and build repetition into crescendo. It's often the kind of abstract mood-soundtrack that comrades Popol Vuh once mastered for the films of Werner Herzog-- but with Faust's sound-stories, pictures aren't really necessary.

If Something Dirty has a weakness, it's that Faust set their own bar too high. The first three tracks-- a grimy rocker, a Pink Floyd-ish psych-out, and a soaring symphonic jam-- are so well-crafted and timed, it's hard to imagine the band holding to that standard for another 30 minutes. But it's fascinating to watch them try. They revisit peaks more than a few times, winding through Swayne-led torch songs, ambient noise-scapes, and a pair of stunning guitar destructions called "Dampfauslass 1" and "Dampfauslass 2". All those moves show up in closer "La Sole Dorée", which melts Swayne's echoes into crunchy feedback, ending with a hard-cut to silence. That sudden stop is the only moment on Something Dirty that could be called a gimmick, but it feels oddly right. A fade-out would be too easy-- better to bluntly suggest that there's more music beyond that final frame, and encourage the rumor that this version of Faust is far from finished.

— Marc Masters, February 28, 2011

 http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15150-something-dirty/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PitchforkAlbumReviews+%28Pitchfork%3A+Album+Reviews%29

1. Tell The Bitch To Go Home (5:53)

2. Herbststimmung (5:37)

3. Something Dirty (7:13)

4. Thoughts Of The Dead (2:10)

5. Lost The Signal (8:43)

6. Je Bouffe (1:27)

7. Whet (2:07)

8. Invisible Mending (2:16)

9. Dampfauslass 1 (3:21)

10. Dampfauslass 2 (2:34)

11. Pythagoras (2:11)

12. Save The Last One (0:19)

13. La Sole Dor?e (5:16)

- Geraldine Swayne / Piano, Electric Piano, Synthesizers, Percussion, Guitar, Organ, Vocals, Performer [Psalterion]

- James Johnston / Electric Guitar, Synthesizer, Electric Piano, Organ, Piano, Theremin

- Jean-Hervé Peron / Voice, Bass, Concert Guitar, Trumpet, Cavaquiño, Flame-thrower, Psalterion, Goatshooves, Toy-vibraphone, Marching Drums

- Zappi W. Diermaier / Drums

info | 

http://www.myspace.com/faustpages

The Dø, Both Ways Open Jaws (2011)

Pour beaucoup, The Do se limite au gentillet refrain de On My Shoulders, téléporté par la pub. Ceux qui ont vu le duo sur scène savent que ce filet pop cache un torrent. Pendant leur tournée marathon, Olivia et Dan ont appris à libérer leur musique et à sortir de l’écrin confiné de l’album. Personnellement, le souvenir de leur magistrale prestation au festival des vins de Colmar devant des fans de Charlie Winston tétanisés m’a poussé à me pencher plus sérieusement sur le cas de ce duo, trop facilement rangé à côté des autres groupes folk du moment. 

 

 «Ce qu’on aime, c’est que ça rebondisse tout le temps, qu’on ne s’ennuie jamais». Le leitmotiv du groupe n’a pas changé et ces treize nouveaux titres nous baladent à travers des univers kaléidoscopiques aussi haut en couleurs qu’en accords : Smash The All avec son thème cinématographique, Gonna Be Sick et ses ambiances tribales, l’orchestral Too insistent avec ses cordes enlevées, ses cuivres grandiloquents et sa chorale de cour d’école. Dan bricole ses machines et ses instruments; Olivia joue et abuse de son chant malléable capable d’être rapeux, sensuel, déchirant, irritant… La complémentarité instruments/chant reste la clé de voute de cette architecture ambitieuse au point que les parties épurées paraissent un peu fades comme sur le très vocal Léo Léo ou le lunaire Moon Mermaids.   

 

Composé, comme son prédécesseur, à quatre mains expertes et deux têtes bien pensantes, "Both Ways Open Jaws" transpire l’éclectisme et la liberté de penser du duo qui n’a pas lésiné ici sur le multi-piste. Le groupe a d’ailleurs fait appel à quatre musiciens pour les accompagner en tournée et donner suffisamment de relief à ces titres. (http://www.indiepoprock.net/review.php?id=3550)

01- Dust it off

02- Gonna be sick !

03- The wicked and the blind

04- Too insistent

05- Bohemian Dances

06- Smash them all

07- Leo leo

08- BWOJ

09- Slippy Slope

10- The calendar

11- Was it a dream ?

12- Quake, moutain, quake

13- Moon Mermaids

info | 

http://www.thedo.info/

Milt Jackson, In A New Setting (1964)

Milt Jackson made a number of solo albums during his long tenure with the Modern Jazz Quartet, but this long unavailable release, finally reissued on CD, is one of his best as a leader. With young pianist McCoy Tyner and tenor saxophonist Jimmy Heath, Jackson puts together a great session, kicking off with his hard driving "Sonny's Blues." The leader's percussive but swinging style, plus the potent solos by Tyner and Heath, are all appealing. The only reservation about this CD is the deteriorated condition of the master tape from which it was made; it is rather noticeable on several tracks, though finding a mint copy of the original record is not a viable option for most collectors. Pick this one up in a heartbeat. 

01. Sonny’s Blues

02. I’m Gonna Laugh You Of My Life

03. Spanish Fly

04. No Moon At All

05. Slow Death

06. Clay’s Blues

07. Lazy Melody

08. Project S

09. Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye

10. That’s In

11. Ineffable

12. The Other Half Of Me (bonus track)

Milt Jackson (vibraphone)

Jimmy Heath (tenor saxophone, flute)

McCoy Tyner (piano)

Bob Cranshaw (bass)

Connie Kay (drums)

Concert: Dizzy Gillespie Septet Festival d'Echternach Kirchberg Luxembourg 09.07.1981

Colin Stetson, New History Warfare Vol.2: Judges (2011)

When first listening to Colin Stetson, all you can think is “Wow!” He is a musical pioneer with an unfathomable arsenal. His intricate percussive valve-work and reed vocalizations elevate him high above any other horn player. The mind simply cannot absorb it.

Stetson uses a technique known as circular breathing, the same kind of breathing that put Kenny G in the Guiness Book of World Records for the longest note (45 minutes and 47 seconds). Now let us try a little experiment. Sing one note for as long as you can and try and breath in through your nose while you are still singing. Nearly impossible right? Did you notice how long that was? Probably nowhere close to a typical five minute Stetson song. If it was, the Smurf look is good on you.

His second album, New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges, was recorded live in single takes — with no overdubs or looping — using 24 different mic positions. Most of the album has earthy and gritty sounds unlike typical wood wind playing. When he plays his raw, flashing saxophone or clarinet he is magnificent. A few of the songs include vocals by Laurie Anderson and Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond). He brilliantly plays assorted saxophones and clarinets, cornet, french horn, and flute. His resume includes opening for Arcade Fire and The National, as well as playing playing with Tom Waits, Laurie Anderson, TV on the Radio, and Bon Iver. He also plays in the bands, Belle Orchestre and Sway Machinery. Stetson is now touring as the opening act for fellow Constellation Records band, Godspeed You!

1. Awake On Foreign Shores

2. Judges

3. The Stars In His Head (Dark Lights Remix)

4. All The Days I've Missed You (ILAIJ I)

5. From No Part Of Me Could I Summon A Voice

6. A Dream Of Water

7. Home

8. Lord I Just Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes

9. Clothed In The Skin Of The Dead

10. All The Colors Bleached To White (ILAIJ II)

11. Red Horse (Judges ll)

12. The Righteous Wrath Of An Honorable Man

13. Fear Of The Unknown And The Blazing Sun

14. In Love And In Justice

Personnel: 

Colin Stetson: alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, bass saxophones; french horn (4)

Laurie Anderson: vocals (2, 6, 10, 13)

Shara Worden: vocals (8, 13)