Jean-Claude Vannier, L'enfant Assassin Des Mouches (1972)

Jean-Claude Vannier is best known in Europe (and all but unknown in the United States) as a celebrated composer of film scores, and as an arranger and producer of French pop music, he has worked with everyone from Brigitte Fontaine to Françoise Hardy to Johnny Hallyday. He is also known among music aficionados as the genius-arranger behind Serge Gainsbourg's classic concept LP Histoire de Melody Nelson. That recording, with its bizarre and otherworldly blend of musical and non-musical sources, which effortlessly wound rock, jazz, pop, found-object music, avant-garde, and even funk into a seamlessly, utterly disconcerting whole, has been sampled worldwide by hip-hop artists and DJs. L'Enfant Assasin des Mouches ("The Child Killer of the Flies") is Vannier's first solo recording, and an underground Francophone (and now worldwide) classic. Inspired by the work he did with Gainsbourg on Melody Nelson in 1972, he and his ensembles Insolitudes, set out to create his own concept work, blending everything he'd been working on and extending his range with total studio and aesthetic freedom. This suite, comprised of 11 parts (with truly weird and creepy track introductions by Gainsbourg), is a wonder, a truly strange bit of '70s musicalia. This set is the terrain where soundtrack music, classical music, gauche pop, hard rock, French café music, Middle Eastern modal music, vanguard musical iconoclasty, and sound effects collide, stroke, and ultimately come into union with one another -- often in a single cut. This music is alternately violent, garish, tender, elegant, silly, and gritty. Vannier plays piano, clavinette, and flutes, and directed the orchestra. The strings here are the result of a multi-tracked string quartet sounding like a 10001 string orchestra. He used three guitarists, electric bass, a single drummer and two percussionists, a reed and brass section, an accordionist, and a choir to achieve this. Its seamlessly beautiful yet hideous juxtapositions should never have worked, but they become the face of something so far beyond their individual parts that the end result is singular in both conception and execution. L'Enfant Assasin des Mouches is to music what surrealism was to literature: a bold new step that has been unmatched in vision and unequaled in performance since it was recorded. Highly recommended to anyone interested not only in soundtrack music, but in anything adventurous. This is a truly underground classic. [The CD version, released in 2005, contains a pair of bonus tracks taken from another Vannier LP entitled Point d' Interrogation.] (allmusic.com) 

1. L'enfant la mouche et les allumettes (4:22)
2. L'enfant au royaume des mouches (3:57)
3. Danse des mouches noires gardes du roi (3:20)
4. Danse de l'enfant et du roi des mouches (2:52)
5. Le roi des mouches et la confiture de rouse (6:28)
6. L'enfant assassin des mouches (1:52)
7. Les gardes volent au secours du roi (6:55)
8. Mort du roi des mouches (3:29)
9. Pattes de mouches (0:51)
10. Le papier tue-Enfant (2:44)
11. Petite agonie de l'enfant assassin (0:31) 

Claude Engel: guitar
Denys Lable: guitar
Raymond Gimenez: guitars
Tonio Rubio: guitar
Pierre-Alain Dahan: drums
Jean-Pierre Sabar: piano
Jean-Claude Vannier: piano, little piano, harpsichord, bombard, flute, recorder, bells
Marc Chantereau: percussion
Michel Zanlonghi: percussion
Jean-Louis Chautemps: soprano saxophone
Philipe Mathe: soprano saxophone
Marc Steckar: trombone, tuba
Marcel Azzola: accordion
Pierre Llinares: bugle
Jean and Ginette Gaunet, Pierre Llinares, and Hubert Varon: string quartet
Louis Martini: choir director of the Choir of Young Musicians of France
Jean Gaunet: rule strings (note: questionable translation to English)
M. Pailleux: tuner 

info | 

http://www.jeanclaudevannier.fr/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Vannier

http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=28895

http://www.allmusic.com/album/l-enfant-assassin-des-mouches-mw0000352791

http://www.discogs.com/Jean-Claude-Vannier-LEnfant-Assassin-Des-Mouches/release/2976871

Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, Abraxas: The Book of Angels Vol. 19 (2012)

Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz steps out on his own to make one of the most primal and tribal installments in the Book of Angels series. Drawing on his Sephardic roots, Shanir plays gimbri throughout, giving the music a primeval Moroccan edge. Featuring the intense guitar pyrotechnics of Eyal Maoz and Aram Bajakian (who recently has been tearing it up in Lou Reed’s new band) and the atavistic drumming of Kenny Grohowski, this is Ritualistic Jewish Rock for the 21st century by a brilliant young lion from the East Village via Brooklyn/Israel! (tzadik.com)

1. Domos
2. Tse'an
3. Nachmiel
4. Yaasriel
5. Muriel
6. Maspiel
7. Aupiel
8. Nahuriel
9. Biztha
10. Zaphiel

Aram Bajakian: Guitar
Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz: Gimbri
Eyal Maoz: Guitar
Keven Grohowski: Drums

info | 

http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=8302

Goliath, Goliath (1970)

Goliath were a short-lived but very promising UK band.Their eponymous album, released in 1970, has elements of rock, folk and blues, as well as an Eastern touch. Vigorously jagged, propulsive blues rock with shards of brass and metal, played with a contrapuntal intensity which alternately empowers and submits to the tough and salacious belting of Linda Rothwell, perhaps the most sexually aggressive (and demanding) British female singer of her generation. A band with fantastic potential, they faded into obscurity.

01. Port And Lemon Lady – 4:03
02. Festival Of Light – 3:56
03. No More Trash – 2:43
04. Hunters Song – 9:45
05. Men – 3:43
06. I Heard About A Friend – 4:30
07. Prism – 6:05
08. Emerge, Breath, Sunshine, Dandelion – 3:32
09. Maajun (A Taste Of Tangier) – 4:35

Linda Rothwell: Vocals
Joseph Rosbotham: Flute, Saxophone
Malcolm Grundy: Guitar
John Williamson: Bass
Eric Eastman: Drums, Percussion, Vibes

info |

http://rock.co.za

http://rateyourmusic.com

http://prognotfrog.blogspot.com.es/2006/11/goliath-goliath-uk-1970-prog-rock-320.html

Ned Rothenberg, Power Lines (1995)

As these words are being written Ned Rothenberg is gearing up for a truncated tour of parts of the Mid West and East Coast with none other than Evan Parker. If his ability to keep confident company with the player regarded by many as the most technically proficient saxophonist of the post-Coltrane era doesn’t pique your interest in checking this disc out I know not what will. Though several years old this release is timely for several reasons. Most prominently perhaps is that the tentet assembled here is comprised of players who are now firmly entrenched in the vanguard of creative improvised music. Dave Douglas, Mark Feldman, Mark Dresser, Rothenberg himself- the roster reads like an All-Star free jazz band and from the music it’s easily apparent that it is.

Another reason for the disc’s inviting timeliness is Rothenberg’s inventive charts, which possess a startling equilibrium between intricate composition and spontaneous improvisation. The group works equally well as big band or in smaller ensemble combinations as the opening Latin-tinged noir of “Hidalgo” amply makes clear. An interlocking latticework of rhythmic meters via strings and percussion provides the base for the soloists including Feldman, Velez, Rothenberg and Dresser. “Strange Sarabande” is a loping, chamber piece with lilting arco figures and sporadic pizzicato punctuation. “Bellhop Vontz” denotes still another direction; this time piloted by a fractured bass-fueled groove. The horns and strings shuffle and shimmy in a disjointed dirge of dissenting voices until an eventual return to linear momentum. Rothenberg’s alto comes to the fore on “Crosshatch” for an extended solo doused in dour harmonics. Later sections of the piece follow an ebb and flow with the leader’s horn always maintaining a subterranean sense of direction. The final “In the Rotation” is the most orchestral sounding piece in the program and works out of a revolving merry-go-round of rhythms with cogent solo statements from nearly all of the members of the ensemble.

An added extra is John Corbett’s insightful and descriptive liner notes, which provide excellent commentary to the music. A clever, if somewhat annoying, impetus to read them is that they are the only place where personnel and the listings of their instruments can be located. Since this disc’s initial release Rothenberg has continued along a uniform path of excellence, but flashing back to his earlier efforts here is well worth the energy and expense involved. If you find yourself faced with the opportunity definitely catch him on tour. (By DEREK TAYLOR, allaboutjazz.com) 

01 Hidalgo

02 Strange Sarabande

03 Bellhop Vontz

04 Crosshatch

05 In the Rotation 

Ned Rothenberg: alto saxophone, bass clarinet

Kenny Berger: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet

Dave Douglas: trumpet

Josh Roseman: trombone

Mark Feldman: violin

Ruth Siegler: viola

Mark Dresser: bass

Erik Friedlander: cello

Michael Sarin: drums

Glen Velez: percussion

info |

http://www.nedrothenberg.com/

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=5186

http://www.discogs.com/Ned-Rothenberg-Power-Lines/release/1473693

Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention, The Ark (1968)

The Ark is a gem of a soundboard from the Boston-based venue on July 18, 1968. These are the infamous stolen tapes that "grew fins" and swam out of Zappa's studio. "Some Ballet Music" and arguably the most intense "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama" is out there and is heartbreakingly edited with over three minutes left. (Note: those looking (and you should) for the full performance, try to locate the Twenty Years Ago...Again disc on the Evil Records imprint). The requested "Uncle Meat/King Kong (Medley)" is likewise worth the price of admission. (allmusic.com)

01. Intro 0:56
02. Big Leg Emma 3:42
03. Some Ballet Music 7:16
04. Status Back Baby 5:48
05. Valarie 3:30
06. My Guitar 6:46
07. Uncle Meat/King Kong 23:49

FZ: lead guitar/vocal
Roy Estrada: bass/vocal
Don Preston: keyboards/electronics
Buzz Gardner: trumpet
Ian Underwood: alto sax, piano
Bunk Gardner: tenor sax
Motorhead Sherwood: baritone sax
Jimmy Carl Black: drums
Arthur Dyer Tripp III: drums

Recorded at The Ark, Boston

info |

http://www.allmusic.com/album/beat-the-boots!-mw0000263307
http://zappagrita.blogspot.com.es/2009/10/ark-1991.html

Frank Zappa, Feeding The Monkies At Ma Maison (2011)

Frank Zappa's pioneering work on the Synclavier gave him the freedom to hear works that he considered too challenging for live musicians to perform, though Ensemble Modern worked hard enough to be able to play several of his works for the instrument in concert before his death in 1993. Since the technology behind the Synclavier was evolving along with Zappa's music, approximately doubling its processing and memory capacity every two years, it gave the composer greater tools to work with to realize his compositions. Feeding the Monkies at Ma Maison was compiled for an LP by Zappa prior to his death, but never mastered and released, though some of the music on this CD was further edited and eventually issued in altered and brief form.

During his lifetime, Zappa often revised his compositions, especially his works for Synclavier, which grew in complexity as he utilized the instrument, incorporating nearly impossible percussion parts and abstract themes that suggested a blend of 20th century classical music and dark, eerie film music. "Buffalo Voice" was cut substantially in length prior to its appearance on Civilization Phaze III, this longer edit is just as valuable, where one can hear snippets of his orchestrations that sound as if they have roots in his writing for 200 Motels, while adding the effects of a violin played to sound like a buzzing fly and daughter Moon Unit Zappa's spoken voice. The eerie choir of speed-manipulated voices is central to "Secular Humanism," while "Worms from Hell" is an example of Zappa as the mad scientist in his studio lab, bringing to life a musical experiment that no one could have created. Both "Feeding the Monkies at Ma Maison" and "Samba Funk" are previously unissued in any form, the former a 20-minute masterpiece and the latter the most accessible of these sessions. While Frank Zappa's music for Synclavier may be too challenging for the casual fan of his music, serious listeners will find much to enjoy in this new treasury from his massive personal library of performances.

1. Feeding the Monkeys At Ma Maison (20:12)
2. Buffalo Voice (11:35)
3. Secular Humanism (6:37)
4. Worms From Hell (5:31)
5. Samba Frank (11:29)

Artwork [Lenticular Lascivity By]: Elite Packaging
Compiled By [Cd Compilation By]: Gail Zappa, Joe Travers
Executive-producer [Executricks Production], Art Direction, Text By: GZ*
Layout [Popsicle Staging, Special Effects]: Michael Mesker
Management [Production Management]: Melanie Starks
Producer, Composed By, Arranged By, Performer [All Compositions Executed On The Synclavier Dms By]: Frank Zappa
Research [Vaultmeisterment]: Joe Travers
Typography [Hand Lettering]: FZ*
Vocals [Composer's Featured Vocalist]: Moon Zappa

info | 

http://www.zappa.com

Bester Quartet, Metamorphoses (2012)

A mainstay of Radical Jewish Culture since 1997 and one of the most consistently rewarding groups out of the New Jewish Renaissance, Bester Quartet (formerly The Cracow Klezmer Band) has released six CDs of brilliant New Jewish music on Tzadik. Distinguished by a daring repertoire and a virtuosity that is always at the service of the music itself, their newest CD is one of their very best. Ten original compositions that combine a dramatic sound, classical precision and the excitement of improvisation with the Jewish tradition. (tzadik.com)

01. Hope
02. The Time of Freedom
03. The Magic Casket
04. The Life of a Man
05. Metamorphoses
06. The God Forsaken
07. The Fantasia
08. Prologue
09. Solitude
10. The Spectre

Jaroslaw Bester: Bayan
Oleg Dyyak: Bayan, Clarinet, Percussion, Duduk
Jaroslaw Tyrala: Violin
Mikolaj Pospieszalski: Double Bass
Tomasz Zietek: Trumpet

info |

http://www.besterquartet.com

Billy Martin & Will Blades, Shimmy (2012)

By all accounts from those who were there, the initial on-stage meeting between drummer Billy Martinand Hammond B-3 organist Wil Blades at the 2011 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was a barn burner of deep, in-the-pocket funk, spiraling soul-jazz, and kinetic grooves. Apparently, the two participants thought so, too; they arranged a late-year West Coast tour, and found time to cut Shimmy in Berkley in the middle of it. Shimmy is greasy; it's full of breakbeat funk, stellar jazz improvisation, and instinctive syncopation. Of these ten tunes -- which range from just over a minute to a tad over seven -- eight were either co-authored by the pair or were written by Blades. The two covers are a fat, nasty reading of Eddie Harris' "Mean Greens" and a straight-up, New Orleans-style take on "Down by the Riverside," with gorgeous, skittering, military-snare breaks from Martin. While there isn't a dud in the bunch, there are some standouts among the originals. "Deep in a Fried Pickle" begins slowly as a rolling, deep funk noir tune, with some great wah-wah effects on B-3 and Martin's backbeat-heavy approach to the vamp allows Blades to get his big batch of chord voicings out and put them on display. It's grimy as hell. "Les and Eddie" reflects -- even with two different instruments -- the true spirit of the collaborations between Les McCann and Eddie Harris. The whomping drum funk of "Toe Thumb," with Blades adding massive, wildly distorted chords to Martin's circular soloing, makes this the meanest tune on the set. The relaxed yet ambitious summertime strut of "Little Shimmy" features startling harmonic work by Blades asMartin urges him on with nearly non-stop fills and rolls while never losing the melodic thrust. Blades' playing style is firmly inside the historic B-3 tradition; he's a deeply melodic improviser, his rhythmic invention and his sonic palette set him apart. Shimmy is everything a drum and B-3 duo record should be: its tunes are high in the fingerpop quotient, it's greasy and danceable throughout, allowing soul-jazz, blues, and funk to get all over one another. Its sense of musical surprise and tight, inspired improvising make it essential for modern jazz and jam band fans. (allmusic.com)

1. Brother Bru

2. Deep In A Fried Pickle

3. Pick Pocket

4. Little Shimmy

5. Mean Greens

6. Les and Eddie

7. Give

8. Toe Thumb

9. Dehna Hunu

10. Down By the Riverside

Wil Blades: Clavinet, Composer, Organ, Primary Artist, Producer

Billy Martin: Composer, Drums, Primary Artist, Producer

info |

http://wilblades.com

http://billymartin.net

http://royalpotatofamily.com

http://www.allmusic.com/album/shimmy-mw0002351602

Luciano Berio, Laborintus II (1965)

The text, by Edoardo Sanguineti, develops certain themes from the Vita Nova, Convivio and Divina Commedia, combining them, mainly through formal and semantic analogies, with Biblical texts, Eliot and Sanguineti himself. The principal formal reference is the catalogue, which relates the two central Dantesque themes of memory and usury, or the reduction of all things to market value. Individual words and sentences are sometimes to be comprehended as such, sometimes to be heard as an extension of the sound structure as a whole.

Laborintus II  is a theatre work which can be performed on television, in a conventional theatre, in the open air or any place else permitting the gathering of an audience. The particular space and medium selected condition the length and some of the structural aspects of the work, possible durations ranging between 30 and 50 minutes.

The principle of the “catalogue” is not limited to the text, but underlies the musical structure as well: Laborintus II is a catalogue of references (to Monteverdi, Stravinsky and myself), of actions and attitudes: 1) conventional instrumental or vocal characters or behaviours, 2) sound actions or behaviours external to or modifying the first category or imitating external models, 3) gestures and body movements associated with the first two categories, 4) gestures and body movements not associated with the first two categories.

Thus, Laborintus II is not an opera but a music theatre work – that is, a work which, to paraphrase the words of the philosopher Ernst Bloch, accepts theatre as a laboratory “reduced” to the dimensions of performance, where we test theories and practices which can be used as experimental models of real life. Luciano Berio

A. Laborintus II (Première Partie) 19:06
B.Laborintus II (Deuxième Partie) 13:56

Luciano Berio: Conductor, Composed By
Claudine Meunier:  Contralto Vocals
Ensemble Musique Vivante: Ensemble
Christiane Legrand, Janette Baucomont: Soprano Vocals
Edoardo Sanguineti: Vocals [Speaker]

-Work Details-
Year of composition: 1965
Scored for: for voices, instruments and tape
Composer: Luciano Berio
Librettist: Edoardo Sanguineti
Translator: Edoardo Sanguineti
Parts: 3 female voices
1 speaker Choir: SATB (8 Schauspieler)
Instrumentation: 1 0 3 0 - 0 3 3 0 - perc(2), hp(2), vc(2), cb(1)
Instrumentation details: flute; 1st clarinet in Bb; 2nd clarinet in Bb; 3rd clarinet in Bb (+bass cl(Bb)); 1st trumpet in C; 2nd trumpet in C; 3rd trumpet in C; 1st trombone; 2nd trombone; 3rd trombone; 1st percussion: traps drums, vibraphone, wood blocks, 2 tam-tams, springcoils, guiro, sleigh bells; 2nd percussion: traps drums, wood blocks, guiro, springcoils, maracas, claves, sleigh bells, tam-tam; 1st harp; 2nd harp; 1st violoncello; 2nd violoncello; contrabass
Scenery: 1
Remarks: "Laborintus II" may be presented as a theatrical event, a narrative, an allegory, a documentary, a pantomime etc. It may be performed in the theatre, in concert, on television, on the radio, in the open air etc.
Duration (min): 35
Dedication: to Susan and Marina



info |
http://www.discogs.com/Luciano-Berio-Laborintus-II/release/1719014
http://www.universaledition.com/composers-and-works/composer/54/work/3293

Spectrum Road, Spectrum Road (2012)

Spectrum Road is a groundbreaking collaboration between four giants of modern music: Jack Bruce, Vernon Reid, John Medeski and Cindy Blackman Santana. The collaboration was born from a shared passion for the music of legendary drummer Tony Williams.

“To be able to play and record in this band alongside three of the most creative and stellar musicians in the world is a longtime dream come true,” states Vernon Reid. “The idea for Spectrum Road first came about in 2001 and it was the ongoing belief in the kind of record we knew we could make together that made it come to fruition.”

Spectrum Road opens the ten-track effort with a blistering take on the jazz-rock barnburner "Vuelta Abajo." It's apparent from the get-go that this is no mere exercise in super-group frivolity, but a deeply attuned band speaking a rarefied improvisational language. As the recording unfolds, there's a primal urgency to the performances that ranges from the meditative beauty of "Where" to the searing intensity of "Allah B Praised." Each of these four iconoclasts play to the peak of their musical powers, yet ultimately achieve a whole greater than the sum of their individual parts. Jack Bruce's bass work anchors Spectrum Road, while he also adds vocals to three songs, including the album's centerpiece, a spellbinding version of the classic "There Comes A Time." Vernon Reid delivers one of the most inspired performances of his career. Particularly worth noting is his patient and slow-burning guitar work on "Blues For Tillmon" and a spitfire six-string barrage on "Vashkar." John Medeski shifts tonal colors throughout the ten tracks with flourishes of organ and mellotron. He brings a hefty dose of retro funk to the soaring album closer "Wild Life." As Spectrum Road's cornerstone, drummer Blackman dictates the flow, working in free time, juxtaposing delicate cymbal work against monstrous beats and fearlessly steering the quartet through a deluge of razor sharp turns.

"The band takes the electrifying music of Tony Williams as its starting point and turns it into something totally its own”, says Reid. “There's a vibe from end to end, a certain type of force and ambience that I’ve never experienced before as an artist."

Spectrum Road is named for one of the incendiary tracks on the original Tony Williams Lifetime album, but as these four musicians demonstrate on their debut recording, this isn’t a tribute band. After making rock history with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker in Cream, legendary British bassist Jack Bruce joined the Lifetime for two records thus serving as Spectrum Road's direct connection to their muse. The group is artfully rounded out with famed guitarist Vernon Reid, of Living Colour, and multi-keyboardist John Medeski, one-third of the juggernaut Medeski, Martin & Wood. Made famous by her ten plus years backing Lenny Kravitz, Cindy Blackman Santana has distinguished herself as an impressively versatile player who’s as comfortable on post-bop sessions with Joe Henderson and Wallace Roney as she is touring with pop stars like Kravitz and husband Carlos Santana. The formidable lineup of Spectrum Road assures the legacy of Tony Williams lives on, and clearly qualifies as a major 2012 music event. (palmetto-records.com)

1. Vuelta Abajo 5:25
2. There Comes A Time 4:17
3. Coming Back Home 4:36
4. Where 12:36
5. An T-Eilan Muileach 4:28
6. Vashkar 5:47
7. One Word 4:14
8. Blues For Tillmon 5:36
9. Allah Be Praised 4:07
10. Wild Life 4:47

Jack Bruce: Bass & vocals
John Medeski: Organ, mellotron
Vernon Reid: Guitar
Cindy Blackman Santana: Drums & vocal



info |
http://www.palmetto-records.com/album.php?album=184
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=42270

John Zorn, The Hermetic Organ (2012)

This is the first volume documenting Zorn's breathtaking solo organ improvisations. Although organ was Zorn's first instrument (he often credits Lon Chaney in the silent classic Phantom of the Opera as a primal influence), in 2011 Zorn surprised even his hardcore fans by initiating a new series of solo organ concerts in churches around the world. Premiering at the historic Christ Church in Philadelphia, the word on these concerts spread like wildfire and further events were set up in Belgium, France and of course in New York. Often late night affairs free to the public, the music is breathtakingly beautiful, and distinguished by a spiritual mood that only a huge pipe organ can create. A perfect outlet for Zorn's dramatic sense of color and contrast, we hear the composer’s mind at work in all its bizarre permutations—huge blocks of sound, chords, clusters, counterpoint, drones, ostinatos, lyrical melodies and more—often all at the same time! This CD presents the climax event of Zorn’s acclaimed Composer Portrait in December 2012 at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre—a thrilling solo organ concert unlike anything you’ve ever heard.(tzadik.com)

Office Nr 4
1. Introit
2. Benediction
3. Offertory
4. Elevation
5. Communion
6. Descent

John Zorn: Organ

info|
http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=7399

Zoo, Trilogi Peradaban (2009)

This terrific debut from Indonesia shows how passion, rage and sorrow translate into any language. It's a concept album reflecting cultural destruction and persistence; echoing Melt Banana, Naked City, and zeuhl before devolving into folk laments with added flute.

Trilogi Peradaban consists of 22 pieces taken from three recording sessions circa 2007-2008. On the album they are divided into three distinct sections named Neolithikum, Mesolithikum, and Palaeolithikum, or New Stone Age, Middle Stone Age, and Old Stone Age. This all lasts about 40 minutes during which Zoo range from cathartic bass and drum blasts, fierce howling and jabbering, to heavy riffing, deep but abrasive melodies, pseudo-operatic bombast and peaceful acoustic ballads.

The album title means Civilization Trilogy and while this is not a blow by blow account of Indonesian history there is an underlying complexity here that had me researching. Not least, the language and the origin of certain important words. The song "Merdeka" for example is clearly a battle-cry for independence. The word itself is from Sanskrit and has come to mean "freed slave" since Portuguese and Dutch domination of the region. "Merdeka" is among the first 16 tracks which combine a punk aesthetic with the avant-rock genre "zeuhl" as pioneered by Magma. Starting out with "Manekin Bermesin" which probably means something akin to "Puppet Machine" these short, sharp, blasts of aggression use bass guitar and drumming to ignite a musical firestorm. Simple folk sounds and pacing are gradually introduced in the Middle Stone Age section; the contrast is excellent.

Christian Zander of Magma, of course invented his own language -Kobaian- whereas Zoo appear to use Javanese with snippets of Sanskrit, poetry, Islamic references and punk politics. They incorporate a traditional Aceh poem on "Kelak" which doubtless refers to the recent quest for independence in that region. I had rather hoped it was a mention of the Cardassian Damar-class destroyer starship of the Cardassian Union's Central Command in active service around the year 2376 (as per Star Trek). Oh well, we can't have everything.

"Kelak" is part of the last section of Trilogi Peradaban wherein the group exhibit signs of having been possessed by ancient ghosts who shun aggression and modern electric instruments for a mode of expression which favors acoustic sound. Here Zoo slows rhythms and supplements its spirited wailing with mournful harmony and suling (a traditional flute). Throughout the album, lead singer Rully Shabara Herman whacks the jembe (hand drum) and his distinctive voice revels in both the grinding fury of much of the record and the minimal primitivism of the Old Stone Age section.
As aforementioned, this isn't a complete map or history of Indonesia. Indeed, it could be impossible to trace a path from what scientists believe is"Java Man," through Hindu and Islamic dynasties, into European (spice-trade motivated) co-option, independence, new orders, modern democracy, and East Timor, and somehow make coherent artistic sense of Indonesia (and its 17,508 islands). The territory is now home to the world's largest concentration of Muslims. Previously it was home to the world's largest concentration of communists outside of an actual Communist regime. That was until 1965 when (with a list of names from the always helpful CIA) the military and (in the words of Tariq Ali) "Islamist vigilantes" wiped out at least a million communists and their "sympathizers." One of Zoo's songs, "Perang, Saudara," quotes the word "Babat" from Pramoedya Anata Toer, a writer from that era. I'm not sure what the word means but he apparently said as much to Dutch colonists. He was imprisoned (probably for being a leftist) but survived until his death in Jakarta on April 30, 2006.

Zoo use the word "perang" (war) quite often and their music seems to contain both cathartic anger and an accompanying desire for peaceful humanity. I suspect this is a normal reaction to hearing about times such as those when scores of genitals of murdered male communists were hung outside brothels as a warning, but it might just be a healthy rejection of MTV Asia. (brainwashed.com)

Part 1 - Neolithikum



01 Manekin Bermesin 0:44
02 Halilintar 0:38
03 Menyudahi Gelap 0:55
04 Misantrophe 1:28
05 Kupu-Kupu 1:10
06 Berkibarlah Benderaku 1:12
07 Lalat-Lalat 2:11
08 Takluk 3:54

Part 2 - Mesolithikum



09 Di Masa Depan 1:02
10 Merdeka 1:58
11 Buldoser 1:02
12 Kelana 3:48
13 Perang, Saudara 2:21
14 Manusia Manusia Kecil 3:02
15 Para Raksasa 1:36
16 Eskalator 4:38

Part 3 - Palaeolithikum



17 Gisa-Gisa (Tarian Pengampunan) 0:27
18 Doa Pengampunan 1:13
19 Luluh Lantak 1:05
20 Kelak 0:50
21 Ke Medan Perang 1:44
22 Epilog: Yang Berpulang 1:53



info |
http://www.myspace.com/zooindonesia
http://yesnowave.com/yesno032/
http://dualplover.com/zoo.php
http://progmundo.blogspot.com.es/2012/06/zoo-trilogi-peradaban.html

free donwload |
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Zoo/Trilogi_Peradaban_1091/

Ravi Coltrane, Spirit Fiction (2012)

It’s risky, to say the least, for John Coltrane’s son to take up the tenor and soprano saxophones as a profession, yet that’s what Ravi Coltrane has been doing for 25 years, 15 of them as a leader, and his latest album, Spirit Fiction (his first on the Blue Note label), is his triumph.

He’s plowing mainly in the modal fields of his father’s legacy, music untethered from chord changes, doubly dangerous territory, not just because he’s begging comparisons but because most horn players who go that route get stuck running up and down scales for lack of anything to say or any harmonic weather vanes to follow.

Yet Ravi Coltrane, who’s 46 (he wasn’t quite 2 when John died at the age of 40), wastes no notes, and he seems to have a built-in radar that hones in on the structural shape of the music, however elusive. There’s a free spirit in his playing but it’s never random. Nor is it at all formulaic; it teems with a quiet, persistent passion. And his tone is surefooted, full-bodied, and clean. He doesn’t imitate his father, not at all, though his style has some of its roots in Wayne Shorter, in some ways his father’s most prominent acolyte; and the feel of the music and the ensemble is reminiscent of Miles Davis’ mid-’60s quintet, in which Shorter played a major role.

About a year ago, I saw Coltrane sitting in with Charlie Haden’s Quartet West at Birdland in New York City (subbing for Haden’s usual tenorman Ernie Watts). Toward the end of the set, they played Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman” (on which Haden had played in Ornette’s original 1959 recording). In the middle of the song, there’s a bridge that Ornette takes in a completely different direction. In ever other cover of the tune that I’ve ever heard, the soloist either tries to copy Ornette, note for note, or drifts into chaos. Ravi played a real bridge that followed the spirit of the original but carried his own distinctive stamp. I asked him about it afterward. He said that, growing up in California, he took lessons from Haden, in which they went over that song in great detail, transcribing each part and parsing its structure. His solo grew out of this deep familiarity with the song’s form, and the same can be said for every song (most of them originals) on Spirit Fiction.

The album consists of takes from three sessions. Five of the 11 tracks, recorded by Chris Allen at Sear Sound, feature Ravi’s quintet: Geri Allen, piano; Ralph Alessi, trumpet; James Genus, bass; Eric Harland, drums (with Joe Lovano sitting in on tenor sax on two of the tracks). Another five, recorded by Dave Kowalski, at Bennett’s, feature his quartet: Luis Perdomo, piano; Drew Gress, bass; E.J. Strickland, drums. One, recorded by Joe Marciano at Systems Two, is a sax-drums duet with Strickland. (All the tracks were mastered by Allan Tucker, at Foothill Digital.) The quartet sessions are a bit more adventurous and, sonically, more pumped-up; the quintets are more melodic and sound more stripped-down realistic. But the album as a whole is no mishmash; its various angles come off more like a prism, refracting the same rays of light. And it sounds very good. (stereophile.com)

1. Roads Cross
2. Klepto
3. Spirit Fiction
4. The Change, My Girl
5. Who Wants Ice Cream
6. Spring & Hudson
7. Cross Roads
8. Yellow Cat
9. Check Out Time
10. Fantasm
11. Marilyn & Tammy



info |
http://ravicoltrane.com/
http://www.stereophile.com/content/ravi-coltrane%E2%80%99s-ispirit-fictioni

Alamaailman Vasarat, Valta (2012)

News from the Finnish underworld, the thunder hammers again. "Valtra" is the new work, in German "power" or "power", and is of course again on behalf of the gripping sound of this bizarre band from Helsinki. The most important change: A new man at the drums hammer and a new master of ceremonies, responsible for the sheet metal department. What has changed? The nine new compositions may have become more accessible, but this by no means synonymous with means "diluted". It could perhaps be expressed thus: the energetics of the enormous volume was steered into smaller, more focused tracks, which is for the listener a better overall sound output. It is limited to no longer give priority to go to a full broadside at high speed beats (which make up course, still the icing on the cake), but they have put some more emphasis on sophisticated fine-tuning. And that includes to switch back a few times to switch gears and baladeske climes, where grapples saxophonist and clarinetist, Jarno "Stakula" Sarkula with lyrical, oriental feel melancholy or carrying funeral march music. This gives the repertoire of a high-contrast variation, which we know to appreciate. Seen in the tentative realignment has certainly paid off. Also fits well with the 15-year service anniversary. Congratulations on this and hammer at a good new album.

1. Riistomaasiirtäjä
2. Henkipatto
3. Hajakas
4. Norsuvaljakko
5. Haudankantaja
6. Luu Messingillä
7. Väärä Käärme
8. Uurnilla
9. Hirmuhallinto

Jarno Sarkula: Saxophones, clarinets and tuba
Erno Haukkala: Trombone, brass
Miikka Huttunen: Pump organ, grand piano
Tuukka Helminen: Cello
Marko Manninen: Cello, theremin
Santeri Saksala: Drums, percussion



info |
http://vasarat.com/

Neneh Cherry & The Thing, The Cherry Thing (2012)

2012 collaboration. The Thing took their name from a piece by Don Cherry: when they first got together it was to play his music. So it does make sense that they should eventually team up with Don Cherry's daughter, Neneh. Meeting in London in the fall of 2010 to record, it clicked right away as they all shared an open, free approach to the music. The high energy of The Thing's playing found a fitting counterpart in Neneh's intense style. Includes covers of songs from Suicide, The Stooges, Ornette Coleman, MF Doom, Martina Topley-Bird and, of course, Don Cherry.

1. Cashback (05:58)
2. Dream Baby Dream (08:24)
3. Too Tough to Die (05:13)
4. Sudden Moment (08:26)
5. Accordion (06:10)
6. Golden Heart (04:43)
7. Dirt (06:47)
8. What Reason Could I Give (05:18)

Neneh Cherry: Vocals
Mats Gustafsson: Tenor, baritone saxophones
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten: Bass
Paal Nilssen-Love: Drums



info |
www.smalltownsupersound.com

John Zorn, Templars - In Sacred Blood (2012)

Over a year in the making, the 6th CD in the Moonchild legacy is a testament-tribute to the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, the legendary crusading Warrior-Monks whose 200-year rise to power ended abruptly in 1307 under accusations of heresy. With lyrics opening a new world of possibilities, the music exudes a powerful emotional intensity. Patton's versatility is at its peak, and he sings everything from Gregorian Chants and atonal melodies to hardcore screams and passionate whispers. The evocative organ of John Medeski adds a deeply religious tone to the drama, and the Dunn-Baron rhythm section is at its raging best! (tzadik.com)

1. Templi Secretum
2. Evocation of Baphomet
3. Murder of the Magicians
4. Prophetic Souls
5. Libera Me
6. A Second Sanctuary
7. Recordatio
8. Secret Ceremony

Joey Baron: Drums
Trevor Dunn: Bass
John Medeski: Organ
Mike Patton: Voice



info |
http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=7398

Wadada Leo Smith, Ten Freedom Summers (2012)

"Ten Freedom Summers is one of my life's defining works." – Wadada Leo Smith

"I’ve been blown over by the epic scope. This is an African-American Ring Cycle." – Jeff von der Schmidt, conductor


"Wadada is one of the most imaginative and explorative composers in creative music. His vision is uncompromising, his methods holistic and mystical. His playing is consistently brilliant and his sound is personal, with a clarity of tone recognizable after one note. His compositions have a special focus combining improvisation with written passages of extreme sensitivity and beauty... He is a National Treasure." – John Zorn

Trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith’s Ten Freedom Summers is the work of a lifetime by one of jazz’s true visionaries, a kaleidoscopic, spiritually charged opus inspired by the struggle for African-American freedom and equality before the law. Triumphant and mournful, visceral and philosophical, searching, scathing and relentlessly humane, Smith’s music embraces the turbulent era’s milestones while celebrating the civil rights movement’s heroes and martyrs. This four-disc set documents a stunning, career-capping accomplishment by a jazz giant in the midst of an astonishing creative surge.

An orchestral collaboration with the acclaimed eight-piece ensemble Southwest Chamber Music (harp, clarinet, 2 violins, cello, flute, viola, bass, percussion) conducted by Grammy Award-winner Jeff von der Schmidt, Ten Freedom Summers is built upon Smith’s celebrated Golden Quartet featuring pianist Anthony Davis, bassist John Lindberg, drummer Susie Ibarra and/or drummer Pheeroan akLaaf (who often expands the ensemble to a quintet). As a child of the Deep South who was raised in the red-hot crucible of the civil rights movement, Smith traces the project’s origins back to 1977, when he wrote “Medgar Evers,” an expansive evocation of the NAACP activist gunned down in Mississippi 14 years earlier.

Working in fits and starts, Smith completed the 19-piece project 34 years later in October of 2011 with a portentous, elegiac piece for Southwest Chamber Music. In designing the huge, multi-movement work, he focused on the transformative decade framed by the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

"I was born in 1941 and grew up in segregated Mississippi and experienced the conditions which made it imperative for an activist movement for equality,” says Smith says, who marked his 70th birthday with a presentation of this, perhaps his most ambitious undertaking. “I saw that stuff happening. Those are the moments that triggered this. It was in that same environment that I had my first dreams of becoming a composer and performer.”

After decades of being revered by his peers and colleagues, Smith is attaining his rightful place at the forefront of American music. Ten Freedom Summers is an important work that combines unique, fully scored rigorous passages and great improvisational skills into one huge and cohesive work. It is a thrilling, emotionally charged and satisfying work from a master. (cuneiformrecords.com)

CD1
1 Dred Scott: 1857 11:11
2 Malik Al Shabazz and the People of the Shahada 5:15
3 Emmett Till: Defiant, Fearless 18:02
4 Thurgood Marshall and Brown vs. Board of Education: A Dream of Equal Education, 1954 16:06
5 John F. Kennedy's New Frontier and the Space Age, 1960 22:12

CD2
1 Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 381 Days 12:43
2 Black Church 16:34
3 Freedom Summer: Voter Registration, Acts of Compassion and Empowerment, 1964 12:32
4 Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 24:12

CD3
1 The Freedom Riders Ride 16:42
2 Medgar Evers: A Love-Voice of a Thousand Years Journey For Liberty and Justice 10:23
3 The D.C. Wall: A War Memorial For All Times 12:18
4 Buzzsaw: The Myth of a Free Press 15:02
5 The Little Rock Nine: A Force For Desegregation In Education, 1957 13:50

CD4
1 America, Parts 1, 2 & 3 14:14
2 September 11th, 2001: A Memorial 9:30
3 Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, 1964 9:06
4 Democracy 14:30
5 Martin Luther King, Jr.: Memphis, the Prophecy 20:34

Golden Quartet / Quintet
Anthony Davis: Piano
Susie Ibarra: Drums
Pheeroan akLaff: Drums
John Lindberg: Bass
Wadada Leo Smith: Trumpet

Southwest Chamber Music
Alison Bjorkedal: Harp
Jim Foschia: Clarinet
Lorenz Gamma: Violin
Peter Jacobson: Cello
Larry Kaplan: Flute
Jan Karlin: Viola
Tom Peters: Bass
Lynn Vartan: Percussion
Shalini Vijayan: Violin

Jeff von der Schmidt: Conductor



info |
http://www.wadadaleosmith.com
http://cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/smith.html

Aaron Novik, Secret of Secrets (2012)

Aaron Novik is a remarkable clarinetist/composer/illustrator who is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His latest project features some of the greatest musicians out of the Bay Area music scene, including Fred Frith, Ben Goldberg and Carla Kihlstedt. Combining Jewish gematria with contemporary classical compositional techniques he has created a strikingly original reading of Kabbalah. Divided into five sections this suite of music contains elements of rock, classical, improvisation and world music, all masterfully blended into a new and personal musical universe. (tzadik.com)

1. Secrets of Creation (khoisdl)
2. Secrets of the Divine World (terkish)
3. Secrets of the Divine Chariot (hora)
4. Secrets of the Holy Name (doina)
5. Secrets of Formation (bulgar)

Fred Frith: Guitar
Ben Goldberg: Contra-alto Clarinet, Clarinet
Carla Kihlstedt: Electric Violin
Cornelius Boots: Robot Bass Clarinet
Matthias Bossi: Batterie
Jamie Dubberly: Bass Trombone
Henry Hung: Flugelhorn, Trumpet, Marching French Horn
Jessica Ivry: Cello
Aaron Kierbel: Dumbek
Dina Maccabee: Viola
Lisa Mezzacappa: Bass
Doug Morton: Tuba
Aaron Novik: Electric Clarinet, Percussion, Programming
Alisa Rose: Violin
Irene Sazer: Violin
Adam Theis: Trombone
Willie Winant: Tympani, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, Gong, Tubular Bells



info |
http://www.aaronnovik.com/
http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=8168

Many Arms, Many Arms (2012)

A wild instrumental power trio from Philly, these three manic music masters have released 2 albums to date and this, their third is their undisputed masterwork. Three long suites, one by each member of the trio showcases the wide range of their music interests, from Ornette Coleman to Black Flag and Steve Reich. Beautifully recorded this is a powerful new music with an attitude. Intense and hard edged, this is not music for the faint of heart. A powerful new addition to Tzadik’s new SPOTLIGHT series! (tzadik.com)

1. Beyond Territories
2. In Dealing with the Laws of Physics on Planet Earth
3. Rising Artifacts in a Five-Point Field

Johnny DeBlase: Bass
Ricardo Lagomasino: Drums
Nick Millevoi: Guitar



info |
http://manyarms.bandcamp.com/
http://www.myspace.com/manyarms
http://manyarmsband.blogspot.com.es/
http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=7805

John Zorn, Nosferatu (2012)

Created for a modern Polish stage production of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire tale, Zorn has created a music filled with nostalgia, tenderness, violent power and a great sense of mystery. Featuring the dark ambient bass tones of Bill Laswell, the sensitive keyboards of Rob Burger, Kevin Norton on drums, vibes and percussion and Zorn on sax, this is a moody and menacing program of music for late night listening. Romantic ballads, ambient soundscapes and hardcore intensity! RELEASED ON THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF BRAM STOKER’S DEATH—APRIL 20, 1912. (tzadik.com)

1. Desolate Landscape
2. Mina
3. The Battle of Good and Evil
4. Sinistera
5. Van Helsing
6. Fatal Sunrise
7. Hypnosis
8. Lucy
9. Nosferatu
10. The Stalking
11. The Undead
12. Death Ship
13. Jonathan Harker
14. Vampires at Large
15. Renfield
16. Stalker Dub

Rob Burger: Piano, Organ
Bill Laswell: Bass
Kevin Norton: Vibraphone, Drums, Orchestral Bells, Tibetan Prayer Bowls
John Zohn: Piano, Alto Sax, Fender Rhodes, Electronics, Breath



info |
http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=7397

Fly Trio, Year Of The Snake (2012)

On its second ECM CD, recorded in New York last year, Fly continues to overturn the conventions of the sax/bass/drums trio. Mark Turner, Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard share freedom and responsibilities in a democratically-constituted band of equals, which is never about soloist-and-accompaniment. More often coolheaded and thoughtful than incantatory, the trio’s music subtly interweaves improvisation and composition; there are some deep conversations, and reflections on jazz history, taking place inside it. All three members contribute tunes to the programme of “Year of the Snake”, which builds on the achievements of the earlier “Sky and Country” (“Clever, expert, 100% engaged, and very musical” – The Guardian).

01 The Western Lands I
02 Festival Tune
03 The Western Lands II
04 Brothersister
05 Diorite
06 Kingston
07 Salt and Pepper
08 The Western Lands III
09 Benj
10 Year Of The Snake
11 The Western Lands IV
12 The Western Lands V

Mark Turner: Tenor saxophone
Larry Grenadier: Double-bass
Jeff Ballard: Drums



info |
http://www.flytrio.com/
http://player.ecmrecords.com/fly-trio
http://www.ecmrecords.com/Catalogue/ECM/2200/2235.php?cat=%2FLabels%2FECM&we_start=0&lvredir=712