In
which Belgian guitar monster Michel Delville and the highly experienced
"tight but loose" jazz drummer Tony Bianco, both of jazz-space-prog maestros
douBt lose the keyboard player and gain Jordi Grognard, a reeds player
of some style, who also plays bansouri and electronic tempura, and
become the jazz-rock beast that is Machine Mass Trio.
Originally
conceived as a side project of douBt, MMT are no doubt (sorry) now a
force in their own right. Kicking off in a languorous lounge style with Cuckoo we are soon introduced to Jordi's accomplished playing, from where we venture into more rocky territory on Knowledge
with some tight ensemble playing as Jordi free-associates over Michel's
spiky guitar theme, Tony pummelling out the beat while also skittering
all over the shop. Fast'n'furious, this is a prime example of the
group's power.
The album is full of mood changes and Khajuaro,with its meditative Arabian-Indian flavours wherein Michel picks up his bouzouki, followed by the off-kilter funk of Hero
are fine examples being in complete contrast to one another. On the
latter Michel turns in a solo that sounds like the bastard offspring of
Zappa and Holdsworth, followed by Jordi's marvellous reed blowing. Nice!
After the Dave Brubeck from another galaxy of UFO-RA comes Falling Up,
the longest track on the album, which although described in somewhat
understated fashion on the CD sleeve as "...a joint improvisation by
Bianco and Delville" is an avant-fusion tour-de-force, Tony's
never-ending drum rolls overlaid with wildly oscillating and distorted
guitar and strange electronica, that after a time becomes quite hypnotic
as it flies off into the heavens.
We end with more exotic flavours as Palitana Mood, although possessing a title that sounds like a track from a Mantovani LP is actually a spacey flute-led piece of some elegance and beauty.
Recorded
entirely live with no overdubs, the unavoidable rough edges serve only
to give the album its powerful attitude. This band demand to be listened
to.
Sadly, Tony tells us "This record was recorded as my beloved wife,
Mary, was fighting for her life. She has thus passed away and my playing
is a tribute to her beautiful soul."
Tracklist:
01. Cuckoo (9:26)
02. Knowledge (6:11)
03. Let Go (4:56)
04. Khajuaro (5:23)
05. Hero (10:16)
06. UFO-RA (6:46)
07. Falling Up (18:03)
08. Palitana Mood (3:06)
Total running time 64:07
Line-up:
Tony Bianco – drums, loops, percussions
Michel Delville – electric guitar, bouzouki, electronics
Jordi Grognard – tenor sax, bass clarinet, flute, bansouri, electronic tempura
Breaking The Cycle was the second album released by Marbin, back in 2011. This fine band take their name from two young Israelis; guitarist Dani Rabin and saxophonist Danny Markovitch, ably assisted by Americans Paul Wertico (drums) and Steve Rodby (bass), both multiple Grammy Award winners with the Pat Metheny Group; not to mention a few distinguished guests (see line up list below).
Back in 2007 the duo famously interrupted a family dinner at Paul Wertico's home by turning up unexpectedly - but presumably not uninvited! The two Dans soon put down their musical roots in their adopted country, and in 2009 as well as releasing their self-titled debut album, Wertico gave them starring roles on his lauded improvised album Impressions Of A City. Since then a seemingly endless list of gigs has established the band as one of the hardest working outfits of any genre, and their road-honed experience shines through on this album. The fact that two veterans of the jazz-rock scene such as Wertico and
Rodby were more than willing to hook up with the young duo for this
album speaks volumes about the Israelis' musicianship, which, listening
to
this expansive album sounds like it's coming from players of twice their
short experience.
The advantage of being young is that you are not hidebound by expectations, and so the pair lead the band through many styles including the straight ahead but energetic fusion of opener Loopy, Paul's rolling drum rhythms pulling the thing along in a joyous fashion. The piece also features a soaring solo from Dani and a short and to-the-point solo from Paul. We also get Tom Waits 12-bar scuzz-jazz (the marvellous and suitably titled Bar Stomp featuring some great hip-grinding guitar from Dani), Euro-jazz waltzes, melancholic wordless lullabies, expansive big sky sax ballads, folk and world music influences, and ending with the cinematic campfire balladry of closer Winds Of Grace, which features the plaintive lyrics and singing of Daniel White, bookended with an achingly lovely solo from Danny.
Featuring throughout is well respected percussionist Jamey Haddad (a member of Paul Simon's band), and he is another indication of the pulling power of the duo's musicality. With its superb band interplay and the wide open vistas of the arrangements Breaking The Cycle goes way beyond fusion and is simply good music with a human heart. Lovely!
Tracklist:
01. Loopy (5:59)
02. A Serious Man (3:49)
03. Mom's Song (2:05)
04. Bar Stomp (3:04)
05. Outdoor Revolution (3:08)
06. Western Sky (2:12)
07. Burning Match (5:11)
08. Claire's Indigo (2:11)
09. Snufkin (2:48)
10. Old Silhouette (4:12)
11. Winds Of Grace (8:39)
Total running time 43:13
Line up:
Dani Rabin (guitar)
Danny Markovitch (saxophone)
Paul Wertico (drums, percussion on 1/8)
Steve Rodby (bass)
Special guests:
Jamey Haddad (percussion 2/4/6/8/9/10)
Matt Davidson (vocals 3/6)
Leslie Beukelman (vocals 3/6)
Makaya McCraven (drums 4)
Daniel White (lyrics and vocals 11)
Firstly, thanks to all of you for reading my typo-strewn and occasionally acerbic nonsense in 2012.
Another day, another CD, or so it seemed this year; as fast as I was putting CDs away they were arriving, the piles on my desk never getting smaller. Of course, I love it really, and 2012 was another year of great releases in ye olde progressive genres, rock or otherwise.
In very rough chronological order, here are the releases that impressed, linking to reviews. The cream of the crop are in bold, although everything here is top-notch.
Gavin Harrison & Ø5ric – The Man Who Sold Himself This shouldn't work but it does, very complex but highly enjoyable. My big regret of the year was that due to flu I had to miss the gig, which also included Tony Levin's Stick Men...damn!
no-man - Love and Endings
Live document of the headline act at Burning Shed's 10th anniversary bash, the best gig I attended in 2011.
Storm Corrosion - Storm Corrosion
The first (or possibly the second) of 312 projects involving The Hardest Working Man In Showbiz to see the light of day in 2012. A meeting of minds with Mikael Åkerfeldt.
3 Mice - Send Me A Postcard
For whom I invent a new genre - alt-café music, if you will. Quaint and lovely.
Ancestors - In Dreams And Time
Extreme heaviosity with no cookie monster in sight - result! About as different from the previous album in this list as can be.
Autumn Chorus - The Village To The Vale
Is it post-rock or pastoral prog? I've no idea and couldn't care less, but it is lovely in a quintessentially English way.
Ligro - Dictionary 2
Power trio swamp-jungle-fusion-rock from Moonjune's latest Indonesian discovery.
Lee Fletcher - Faith In Worthless Things
Studio whizz-kid emerges from behind the console to make a lovely album with a stellar cast. Pop for thinkers.
Janel & Anthony - Where Is Home
Who would have thought a cello and a guitar and effects could make such a charming soundscape? Pastoral loveliness.
Motorpsycho and Ståle Storløkken: The Death Defying Unicorn Many thanks to Jon Bradshaw for turning me on to this previously unexplored strangeitude! Scandi-psychedelia meets Led Zeppelin bang in the middle of a Wagnerian jazz symphony, all played out on on the high seas in unchartered waters. Epic!
Big Big Train - English Electric (Part One)
Once I got past the "Trick Of The Wuthering" on the first track, this album really surprised me with its high class songwriting. Very nice!
Tohpati Bertiga - Riot
More wonderful stuff from prolific Indonesian guitarist Tohpati Ario Hutomo, this time in power trio mode.
Cosa Brava - The Letter
Fred Frith's "prog-rock group", about as far removed from "rock" as you'd imagine. Infectious off-kilter tunes by the shedload.
Travis & Fripp - Follow
Steven Wilson gets to mess with Robert's soundscapes and some unexpected scorching guitar work from the archives, while Theo is his usual undemonstrative but wonderful self.
Mike Keneally - Wing Beat Fantastic
Although uncredited on the cover, this album's quirky pop inflections result from Mike's collaboration on most of the songs with the one and only Andy Partridge. A truly marvellous meeting of styles, bought on the strength of Mark Huges' review - no regrets. XTC lovers note that Steven Wilson will be remixing Nonsuch in 5:1 surround sound next year - can't wait!
Dissonati - Reductio Ad Absurdum
Part post-rock, part retro-prog with a big VDGG influence, but thoroughly modern all the same.
Aranis - Made In Belgium
Wonderful chamber-prog from Belgium - where else?
douBt - Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love
Fusion and improv from another galaxy. This is what "prog-rock" should be all about.
Thumpermonkey - Sleep Furiously
In-yer-face avant-prog, and Steve Davis' album of the year. Is it interesting? Yes, it is!
Yugen - Mirrors
Who would have thought that such mind-boggling complexity could be recreated live with such panache? Marvellous!
The ones that got away
There are more than a few albums I probably would have bought had I not been deluged by review CDs, two of which I've just ordered; Paul Buchanan's Mid Air being one, and from what I've heard on YouTube it promises to be a truly marvellous piece of intricate minimalism, that, in the absence of a new Mark Hollis album will more than do. The other is Can's The Lost Tapes, which if it lives up to the hype should be the definitive and probably final statement from the top dogs of Deutschrock. Also, thanks to Steven Wilson's Albums Of The Year list, sounding worthy of investigation are The Seer by Swans, Animal Joy by Sheerwater, and Desertshore / The Final Report by X-TG.
Reissues
Bleedin' hundreds of 'em, where to start, where to start? Well, there's the obvious; King Crimson's Larks' Tongues In Aspic, which should need no introduction, the budget Magma - Trilogy box, the fab Moe Tar - From These Small Seeds, and Gazpacho's Night, to name a few worthy of your time, but the reissue of the year in my 'umble opinings is the simply stunning Eros by Dün, an obscurity rescued by the very fine Soleil Zeuhl label.
Label of the year
As ever a close fought battle between AltrOck and Moonjune, with kscope making it a three-way battle, but sneaking up the inside on the home straight to take the crown is Alain Lebon's Soleil Zeuhl. A labour of love and a highly interesting roster. Read my interview with Alain here.
Archaeological find
...was a simply stunning unreleased version of Levitation's near-invisible second album Meanwhile Gardens, featuring the irreplacable Terry Bickers (one half of the driving force behind The House Of Love). Fools that they were, Levitation did actually replace him, re-recorded the album re-recording most of his vocal parts, and the result is ok if underwhelming. Probably wisely the thing was only released in Australia. If you have any affinity for what is sometimes dismissively labelled shoegaze, but in this instance infused with tabs of psychedelia and a more than a touch of prog, then you'll love Levitation. Here's a track from their one and only official album (not forgetting Coterie, a collection of EP tracks) with Sir Terrence of Bickers at the helm. Groovetastic!
Judging by all that little lot above, the old adage that there are not enough hours in the day rings truer than ever!
Gigs
A fairly sparse year on the gig front, but just about topping a rather short list is Gazpacho at The Garage, Highbury, London, back in March. If there was any justice, this band should be huge.
...and finally
A quick mention for my former editor at DPRP who took his foot off the gas for a well deserved break from the OCD demands of us scribblers. Have a good holiday, Bob!
Have a great Xmas and a Happy New Year, see you on the other side. XXX
As I used to read "proper literature" avidly and still occasionally sit down with a heavyweight tome, I have always thought it is the duty of anyone who has ever considered themselves even a semi-serious bibliophile to tackle that weighty volume of impenetrable verbosity, James Joyce's Ulysses. This I have attempted on at least three occasions, but I have never made it past about a hundred pages, such is its sheer intellectual mass. In conclusion, I ain't clever enough, and I'll leave it to Joyce and the likes of Will Self who may well be a modern Joycean equivalent to bamboozle me, and I've no doubt quite a few of those in possession of a higher IQ than mine.
Much the same can be said of the serious alternative music fan and the latter works of Mr Noel Scott Engel. Although a vein of wilful artistic intent can be traced right back to Scott's first solo album in 1967, the true seeds of the creeping vine of strangeness were sown with The Walker Brothers 1978 reunion album Nite Flights, progressing through 1984's Climate Of Hunter,taking a sharp turn left with 1995's Tilt and latterly with 2006's The Drift. With those last two albums, the artist known as Scott Walker had produced works of increasingly frightening complexity, full of literary obscurantism cast adrift on an obsidian ocean of furious pessimism. A bit wordy, that; maybe Scott's verbosity is rubbing off!
I was quite proud of myself as I coped quite well with Tilt, "coped" being the right word, for one cannot "like" this kind of thing, it is more an exercise in intellectual rigour than a pleasant listening experience. Tilt may as well have been The Walker Brothers' Greatest Hits in comparison to The Drift, whichwas Scott taking another step or three down the ladder to the rose garden of funeral sores. I think I've listened to The Drift all the way through no more than three or four times, and indicative of its sheer scariness is the fact that on Clara, a dark tale ostensibly about Mussolini's doomed lover, part of the rhythm track is actually a percussionist "meat punching." It may well be apocryphal but it has been said that the meat in question was a side of pork hung up in the studio, and given Scott's Jewish lineage and his highly idiosyncratic sense of humour, I'm inclined to believe the tale. Another story, this time from that fountain of almost-truths Wikipedia has it that Mikael Åkerfeldt wanted Opeth's Watershed to be a heavy metal version of this album, but "it proved to be impossible simply because his
[Scott's] head is sicker than mine and I also love melodies and
dynamics." Shame, that would have been some experience!
Musically and lyrically ambiguous in extremis, what we can say with certainty about Scott is that he makes the music he wants to make, when he wants to make it, as is evidenced by the 11-year gap between his last two releases, and a further 6 to Bish Bosch. Popular culture isn't so much ignored, rather it is completely below the level of Scott's wayward and strange antennae. Amazingly The Drift reached the dizzy heights of No. 51 on the UK album chart, which given that it was at that point, and probably remains the oddest piece of what can only be very loosely described as "popular" music I have ever heard, and I've heard a fair few, is testament to the artist's reputation as had an unknown come up with something like that it would have sold about 27 copies.
To say I am looking forward to placing Bish Bosch in the CD player is another incorrect description; "nervously anticipating" is much nearer the mark. In fact, I'm actually writing this intro before I've even received the CD let alone heard it, the preview snippet above excepted, such is my need to mentally prepare myself for another blast of Scott's dystopian fearfest.
Three weeks later and the CD has arrived.
As I said earlier, anyone who professes to "like" this kind of thing is either lying to impress his (and it will nearly always be a "he", there is very little appealing to the feminine side about Scott's later work) peer group of oddballs, or, more worryingly, if he's actually telling the truth then he must be somewhat disturbed. You can admire or respect this work, but "like" is an adjective too far. One can only hope that for Scott's sake the process of extracting these tracts of disconsolate dyspepsia from the subterranean depths of his psyche is cathartic, or his analyst will be using him as a case study for years to come, particularly as he has repeatedly insisted that none of his writing is self-descriptive.
To start at the beginning, which in itself is probably far too linear a thought to work where this music is concerned; as it says on the album website:
The About Bish Bosch tab says all you need to know about how to approach this work, but to summarise, much like a Bosch painting, there is too much going on to absorb in one, two or three sittings, a bit of effort is needed. Scott states, enigmatically enough, in the third person “It’s moving on a bit each time we go. Hopefully it’s getting nearer and
nearer the kind of thing that’s in our heads. Little things are
improving, a bit more focused. The style is improving.” He states that his work is in no way autobiographical, and if we are to believe that, then what is "...in our (his) heads" is by definition entirely removed from ego, which necessitates that the listener takes a different approach in return. Is it even possible to listen in the third person?
Scott is possessed of a very dark and ironic humour, announced in the album title, as an album that takes a mere 3 years from commencement of writing to completion is "bish bosh"; well by his standards I suppose it is indeed lightning fast. Mind you, I know a few builders like that...
"Take that accidentally in the bollocks for a start"
As if to soften up his audience, the opening trackbatters us into near submission. Although only 4 minutes in length "See You Don't Bump His Head" is built around a
non-stop 160bpm (or thereabouts, my guess) bass drum sound high up in
the mix that repeatedly rabbit punches the synapses into jelly, while
Scott relates a tale that may be aimed at music critics, with the oft repeated phrase "While plucking feathers from a swan song" possibly pointing at the critic picking away at his possibly last album while the other lines seem to relate the never-ending process of "life must go on"? On the other hand I could be entirely wrong, such is the overwhelming feel of abstraction. The song takes its title from Montgomery Clift's cut line in From Here To Eternity cautioning his troops to be careful with Maggio's (Frank Sinatra) body when putting it in a truck.
"Cholestoroled mansions crowded with sulphured air"
The black humour rears its ugly head on several occasions, a slapstick focus on bodily functions playing a full part, serving to break the listener's high concentration levels with a wry smile. Corps de Blah is a 9 minute journey through bodily dysfunction replete with the sound of farts and piss-tinkling. On the other hand it could be about torture; charming whichever way you look at it! Musically spartan, silences cut through with swishing knives as percussion, and a shard of distorted guitar. Elsewhere we get a return to Scott's longtime interest in dictators, and suitably for an album released in December it ends with its very own Xmas song, jingle bells aplenty as The Day The "Conducator" Died imagines the detached state of mind of the soon to be executed Romanian dictator as "Nobody waited for fire", Ceaușescu and his wife being gunned down before the order was given.
"To play fugues on Jove's spam castanets"
The centrepiece of the album is the 23 minute SDSS1416+13B (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter) a song so obscure it gets its own essay of semi-explanation in the booklet. A tale of a deformed dwarf jester (Zercon) in the court of Attila The Hun; flagpole sitting, a craze in the early 20th century involving odd chaps who took to sitting on top of flagpoles for long periods of time, the record being 21 days; and finally the discovery of the Brown Dwarf given the index number of the title and the coldest body in the known universe. Unravel that lot if you can, but it seems that Zercon rises up past the sitting-poles and away into the far universe, morphing into the stellar object and along the way we have a very very odd tale indeed that will take several listens before I could even begin to give an explanation.
The music on this piece is the most complex and intricate of the album with all manner of instruments from orchestral arrangements, pedal steel guitars, electric baritone guitar, ukelele, tubax (a low bass saxophone), rams' horns and sundry other more "normal" instrumentation, and of course weird electronica. Oh, and the odd complete silence. If you are aware of the band Faust and their more obtuse works, then this is akin to the "grown up" version of that band's sometimes cacophonous soundscapes.
"If you're listening to this you must have survived"
Elsewhere Walker rails at Biblical certainties on Tar, punctuated by machetes being sharpened as percussion, and on Epizootics we havean apparent collision between street-hipster slang and disease infection rates punctuated by more blasts on the rams' horns. Dimple points to things evolving from a fixed point beyond recognition, and...Hell, these are only first impressions. I think you'd have to listen to this album for a year before coming to any even partly certain conclusions about any of the themes going down here.
"Where does this fit into the pantheon of popular music?", you may well ask, and I'm jiggered if I know, for this is way beyond any convenient pigeon-holing. I cannot begin to intellectualise this as some other reviewers with far better minds than I have attempted, but in order to comprehend all the references in the lyrics you'll probably need access to Wikipedia as your finger hovers over the pause button, or invite Stephens Fry and Hawking along for a listen. The former for the literary references and the latter for the astronomical tendencies that some of this tract seems to be exhibiting. Above all you need discipline, and a lot of it.
As I said ages ago, you cannot "like" this, and I would not recommend this to anyone of a nervous or anxious disposition. Handle with caution.
"Here's to a lousy life"
Scott Walker will be 70 years old in January. It amazes me that at that age he can still produce art that burns with such pin sharp intellectual passion, laced of course by his unique brand of fierce pessimism.
These are not so much songs, as psalms from an unsettling parallel universe. This music, like all music, was always out there, it just needed someone wilful and single-minded enough to pluck it out of the ether. Scott says he is not worried by having little appeal as he has a dedicated band of followers who buy enough of his CDs to pay the rent, and as for people who dismiss his work as pretentious, he says they should all "try harder". I couldn't agree more; art like this is worth putting in the effort for. Far too much music nowadays panders to the lowest possible denominator, and seeks to be no more than entertainment, and while that has its place, so does intellectual - not pretentious - music.
True art should take you to places you can only half imagine, and this piece of conceptual music does just that.
"If shit were music, you'd be a brass band"
Tracklist:
"See You Don't Bump His Head"
Corps de Blah
Phrasing
SDSS1416+13B (Zercon, A Flagpole Sitter)
Epizootics
Dimple
Tar
Pilgrim
The Day The "Conducator" Died
Line up:
Hugh Burns - every type of guitar imaginable
Mark Warman - keyboards, programming
James Stevenson - more guitars
Peter Walsh - keyboards FX
Alasdair Malloy - percussion
Ian Thomas - drums
John Giblin - bass
Paul Willey - violin harmonics
Michael Laird - rams' horns
Pete Long - tubax, baritone sax
BJ Cole - hawaiian pedal steel
Guy Barker - trumpet
Tom Rees-Roberts - trumpet
Andrew McDonald - low rumbles & white noise
Scott Walker - voice (& keyboards on Pilgrim; percussion, electric guitar & keyboards on The Day The Conducator Died)
A chamber orchestra consisting of 1st & 2nd violins, celli & double basses features on Zercon, Dimple, & Corps de Blah.
Apropos of nothing at all, that title, but...please let me ramble on...and in the meantime, care for your ears with the song of the same name...
...and now for some general blather and nonsense... Back
in the early to mid-90s when computers in the workplace became
commonplace we were constantly being told what a boon to our
leisure-time they would be as you could get your work done in a fraction
of the time it used to take, thus freeing up swathes of our existence to
take up seal boxing or kangaroo stitching, or any other fun activity you could
possibly desire.
As
we all know only too well, it soon became apparent that all computers
did was enable us to produce more work in the same timespan as before,
and as the flow of information increased exponentially our free time in
fact became more restricted.
What’s
that got to do with the price of fish, or indeed music, you would be
justified in asking? Well, the all-pervading nature of that grey box on
the floor or that harmless-looking tablet of techiness sitting on your
lap has inevitably had a life-changing impact not just on our workplaces
but also on our leisure activities, the enjoyment of published music
being but one significant part. The good old interweb has done two
things to the music industry it may well never recover from. The first
is that dreaded word “download”, and the second is enablement.
We
all know the arguments for and against downloading, be it legal or
otherwise, and I won’t repeat them here. The other aspect of change has
enabled any Tom, Dick, or Rihanna the ability to create what they no doubt
see as the next genre-defining tranche of musical genius, and all from
the comfort of their bedroom. This has led to an oversaturation of the
marketplace with substandard nonsense that obscures and indeed, buries
true gems, some of which may well have been produced by the same DIY
methods. This is in fact, along with downloading, the logical outcome of
the punk revolution of 35 years ago, but I’m sure Malcolm McClaren
never envisaged anything along the lines of what we have today.
The
preponderance of gubbins is very much the case in the scene I’m familiar
with, good ol' prog rock. The sheer amount of music that I and my reviewing colleagues have
to wade through before hitting upon something that is actually not
ridden with cliché or that doesn’t have the imagination of a comatose
amoeba can be wearing, but Ihave now developed a high quality antenna that rarely fails, luckily enough. Some gubbins still gets through, as I have one particular album to review that has been sitting around for months as it is something of a turkey, and I can't bring myself to play more than the 10 minutes I endured when it arrived. And the bloody thing is a double CD, too! Maybe like the bird it takes its name from, I should execute it at Xmas.
Another
problem facing the truly innovative bands is the gig circuit. Again, sticking
to the scene I know about, prog rock is dominated by nostalgia, both in
terms of some bands' obsession with the past and the largely conservative audience that follow them. With CD sales in permanent and probable
terminal decline, the only way a band can make enough cash to survive is
by playing live, but unfortunately the new bands are lost in an
avalanche of pension-funding nostalgia tours that have grown more and more
frequent in recent years. Given that the average age of a first-wave prog rocker is now mid-sixties, that is only to be expected I suppose.
You
can’t blame the old bands for this, it’s the audience, and I’m as much
to blame as anyone. I already have tickets for 5 gigs next year, 3 of
which are nostalgia trips; Caravan with the 40th anniversary
performance of For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night,
the one-off Family reunion gig, and Steve Hackett’s
Genesis Revisited II. That’s around £80 in tickets that doesn’t get
spent supporting new music, something I’m always banging on about, and
to be frank, I do actually feel a tad guilty and hypocritical. In my defence can I say
that it is extremely unlikely that Family will ever play anywhere again(since I wrote that they've added a second night, so maybe it's now a "two-off"?),
FGWGPITN is
one of my all-time favourite albums, and I’ll probably never want to see
Caravan again, and the Genesis thing? No excuses there I’m afraid, it’s
simply a nostalgic wallow, with the quantum-small chance of one particular
“special guest” turning up. Of course, I will get my comeuppance if it
all turns out like bad cabaret. The two other gigs are Sigur Rós and
Steven Wilson, by the way.
My
good friend Raffaella makes this very point, bemoaning audiences’
innate conservatism, in her fine review of the SOAR gig in Baltimore
recently, an event that had it been in London I would almost certainly
have attended. We just don’t get that sort of thing over here, as UK prog festivals tend to be very mainstream in their outlook, and in
that respect the USA is better off than here. Also they do not seem to
have the preponderance of bands that we do that seem to be have been around forever, stuck in a
time warp, churning out endless versions of sub-sub-Genesis/Yes sounding
AOR. At least US acts that can be said to be truly progressive are at least visible, to whatever little extent, unlike here, which leads
neatly on to the next topic in this wandering missive.
A colleague accused me recently of not liking anything that was popular, and although that simply isn't true as I believe The Beatles had a fan or seven, it is certainly the case that most bands who get beyond a certain level of popularity have done so by giving their audience what they want rather than than producing the music they actually want to make. Nothing wrong with that, but it makes them entertainers rather than artists, and I know which category is usually the more fulfilling, for me at least. Despite
my selling out to the motability-muso generation in terms of my planned
gig going in the near future, my love of the wilfully obscure and
musically adventurous continues unabated. One of my discoveries of the
year was the minuscule and wonderful Soleil Zeuhl label from France, who
issue musical equivalents ofStealth Bombers, near invisible to radars. Their
reissue of the fabulous album Eros by Dün earlier this year being one of
quite a few 2012 musical high points for yours truly, a true nerd-fest end-of-year list of which is coming your way in the holidays, you lucky people.
Interviewing Soleil Zeuhl founder Alain Lebon for DPRP recently we touched upon
the growing conservative and safe nature of mainstream media and the
malleable audience who follow sheep-like in its wake. It’s a depressing
thought but back in the late 70s a band like Henry Cow, who I’ll admit
even I struggle with could probably draw crowds in the hundreds to watch
their deliberately difficult outpourings whereas now, a modern
equivalent, for example the utterly fab Thinking Plague (whose early
2012 CD Decline And Fall remains firmly lodged in my top 5 of the year) would be lucky
to get a crowd of one hundred max, in the UK at least.
With
the limitless choice and endless distractions of the modern
entertainment marketplace this is hardly surprising, but it is Alain's and my fear
that with each passing generation there is a rapidly diminishing percentage of an available
audience who will go on a voyage of musical discovery and venture beyond the latest Muse or Coldplay or force-fed autotuned bollocks;
or, to bring it closer to home, beyond the likes of Genesis Revisited
II or the current flavour-of-the-month in the Genesis/Yes clone business. This is where the title of this piece
comes in, for it is my current sad thought that when my generation and
those ten or so years younger (I’m in my early 50s) dies out, truly
innovative, adventurous, and yes, dangerous music will die out with it.
Also, the way that the younger generation listen to music has changed from our listening youth beyond recognition. The kids have missed out on the album experience, be it on
vinyl or CD, preferring compressed sounds on a hard drive or from the
cloud, and dip into and out of albums without listening to the things
properly. Long gone are the days when you'd rush home with the latest waxing by Van der Graaf Generator, put the record on the hi-fi and sit down and LISTEN to it while admiring the aesthetically wonderful cover art, and perusing the lyric sheet as Peter Hammill expounds on an everyday tale of existentialist dichotomy. A musician I knowrecently had an ongoing Farcebook stream in which he insisted that digital music reproduction is better than ye olde vinyl, and surprisingly so, as he's no young un' himself.Maybe on a purely technical level he's right, however I'm sorry but vinyl has more "soul" in its grooves than a CD, or gawd forbid, a FLAC or mp3 file could ever hope to achieve. I cannot define what this "soul" is, it's just there.
If I may be pretentious enough to quote one of my own reviews, "it seems odd that despite the ever advancing technologies involved in audio
reproduction, yer average consumer is actually regressing back to a time
of transistor radios under the bedcovers, metaphorically at least". In fact, such are the demands of modern life and the endless streams of information we are all fed, that even those of us who do still actually want to sit down for an hour or however long an album is to listen to the damn thing, rarely get the chance. I purposefully try to set aside an hour or so of a weekend day when I will sit in what I like to euphemistically refer to as the music rooom and play an album end to end, but it happens increasingly rarely.
A bit of a digression there, I know, but it highlights shortening attention spans and it all points to why radical music of whatever genre will slowly but surely wither on the vine. There will always be musicians willing to push the envelope, I'm just worried that their only audience will be other like-minded musos, thereby the scene that even now feeds upon itself - just look at the average number of bands a modern alt-progger is in just to survive - will wither and die due to lack of support. I'm just glad that I won't be around to see it.
Blimey, that went on a bit, did it not?...now, to cheer me up I'll get back to playing that rather fab new Diagonal album.
It's fanboy time! But this time with a sigh, as right now Octane Twisted seems to be a logical conclusion to the career of Steven Wilson's long running mainstream prog rock band. You get the feeling that the music he's creating now is what he really wants to do, and continuing Porcupine Tree now that they have found a higher level of success could only result in artistic compromise, as the newer fans demand Fear Of A Blank Planet Part 2 (gawd forbid) or Another Incident (preferable, but it ain't Signify or The Sky Moves Sideways, is it?). There, told you it was fanboy time.
Back in October 2010 as we sat in the wonderful venue that is London's Royal Albert Hall, it seemed only natural that the pinnacle gig of Porcupine Tree's lengthy existence should have been recorded, and now, two years later we are treated to but three songs from that special performance on this album. According to Steven he felt that the performance back at the RAH was not that good, and so is only releasing what he feels were the best bits. You see, that's what makes Steven Wilson an artist and not an entertainer. Bands that release everything they do, especially live albums, take note; although to be fair I suppose you'd have to be in a financially secure position to take such a praiseworthy but lofty decision.
The main bulk of the 2 CDs is a gig recorded in Chicago's The Riviera on 30th April 2010 on The Incident tour, and so we get a full rendering of that album plus a few corking highlights from years gone by. Some accuse Steven of a "cold" production, and that this album is too quiet, but they forget that he eschews the awful modern technique of recording everything louder than everything else, resulting in audible digital distortion, that is if you play your music on what is now becoming an increasingly unfashionable "proper hi-fi" rather than an iPod or worse, a mobile phone (Why???). It's odd that despite the ever advancing technologies involved in audio reproduction, yer average consumer is actually regressing back to a time of transistor radios under the bedcovers, metaphorically at least.
The best things about The Incident are THAT recurrent riff and Time Flies, probably the best song Pink Floyd never wrote. The stylistic homage is deliberate by the way, and very much a one-off, so the regressive rock element is thankfully kept to a minimum, and as a single song it works very well indeed. The performance is top notch, and the crowd obviously love it, and now with the hindsight of Steven's current activities and his less than enthusiastic pronouncements on the future of the band, The Incident could well be the last Porcupine Tree album. It is difficult to imagine where the band can go from here, and if we've had our lot, then so be it. Onwards and upwards as they say, and thanks for the music.
The three tracks from the RAH on Octane Twisted that end the second CD are Even Less, a rare outing for the long version, which opened the main set back then. A slightly nervous performance, understandably perhaps, but epic nonetheless. Better is the following Dislocated Day from my favourite album by the Porkie's, 1995's The Sky Moves Sideways, with its Eastern-tinged motif, and some splendid guitar work from Steven over Gavin's faultless timekeeping. Nice! Ending proceedings is an equally fab Arriving Somewhere But Not Here, from what for me was their last truly great album, 2005's Deadwing. A slight return to the space-rock vibe of old, this is a lovely atmospheric rendering of a great song that soars away into the stratosphere, and who knows, perhaps much like the band, never to return?
Tracklist:
CD1
The Incident:
1. Occam's Razor
2. The Blind House
3. Great Expectations
4. Kneel And Disconnect
5. Drawing The Line
6. The Incident
7. Your Unpleasant Family
8. The Yellow Windows Of The Evening Train
9. Time Flies
10. Degree Zero Of Liberty
11. Octane Twisted
12. The Seance
13. Circle Of Manias
14. I Drive The Hearse
CD2
1. Hatesong (9.57)
2. Russia On Ice / The Pills I'm Taking (15.02)
3. Stars Die (5.57)
4. Bonnie The Cat (6.11)
5. Even Less (14.28)
6. Dislocated Day (7.05)
7. Arriving Somewhere But Not Here (12:59)
DVD
As CD1
Line up:
- Steven Wilson / vocals, guitar, piano
- Richard Barbieri / keyboards, synthesizer
- Colin Edwin / bass guitar
- Gavin Harrison / drums
Neo-prog is a sub-genre that I have little time for, let alone understand why it even exists, so when I volunteered to be part of DPRP's "Round Table Review" for Galahad's latest waxing Beyond The Realms Of Euphoria I thought here's a chance to deliver some home truths. Then came the debacle in the aftermath of my good mate Baz's righteous shredding (pun intended) of prosaic prog-metal band Threshold's offering for the same site. As we all know the internet is full of needy fat (in mind if not in body) nerds who seem to have nothing better to do than force their rancid opinions down the virtual gullet of anyone daft enough to engage them in conversation. One of the species, albeit a fairly mild example, took umbrage to Baz's ultimately bang-on review, and to cut a long story short, firstly I decided that my Galahad review, which would almost certainly have resulted in a similar feast of frenzy, was simply not worth the trouble; at the end of the day I do this reviewing lark for fun and I do not need the grief. Secondly, approaching a review from a starting point of disliking a band or a genre is probably not the best approach, as some kind of "professional" objectivity is always my aim when scribbling these meandering missives, although I've no idea why, it's not like I'm getting paid for it after all. You might be wondering what all the fuss is, or would have been about, well, here it is in all its glory:
Galahad - Beyond The Realms Of Euphoria
Galahad is filed
under that dreadful category “neo-prog” on PA, a category that by definition
should not be there at all. Surely something is or is not “prog”, whatever your
particular definition? The label does have its uses though, in that the
majority of what is classed “neo-prog”, is, in my ‘umble opinion about as far
removed from being progressive music as a certain Chelsea FC captain is from
being a decent human being, and therefore is to be avoided at all costs.
Galahad is also one of the stalwarts of the second wave of UK prog, and the
band celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Along
with the likes of Marillion, IQ, Pendragon, Pallas, etc, these are all bands
that largely passed me by at the time as their style was and is not at all near
anything that I was into then, or now.
However, the fact they are still going attests to the loyalty of their
audience, and good luck to them. Tragically, the band suffered the passing of
bass player Neil Pepper who sadly went the way of cancer soon after the
recording of this album was completed. We all know someone who has died from
that dreadful disease before their time, and my condolences go to his family
and friends. Should that sad fact temper any criticism of the album he and his
mates left behind? Personally I don’t think so, so if you’re expecting a
tribute to Mr Pepper, look away now.
The first song surprises me as it comes over all Klaus Schulze; space-rock
sequencers bubbling under a disembodied voice, followed by an almost Euro-pop
melody; not groundbreaking but entirely different to what I was expecting, even
allowing for the hint of AOR riffage in the background. Salvation II continues
the theme and for nearly half of its 6 minutes turns into a pop confection that
is not a million miles away from Duran Duran with balls. OK, maybe not my usual
fare but not as stale as my care worn lugoles were expecting, by any stretch of the
imagination. Unfortunately just as I think my admittedly negative
preconceptions are about to be kicked into touch along comes the rest of the
song which is full of the kind of clichéd prog-metal riffing that could have
come from any album made in the last 20 years in that dull genre, where an
initially quite good idea was flogged to death until it became the turgid
lumpen dreck that it is today. “If it moves, riff it to death, if it’s not
moving riff it ‘til it does” seems to be the motto, and a more painful
replacement for imagination is hard to fathom.
From here on in the riffing is only used sparingly, thank gawd, but the songs sound tired
and weary. The over-long Guardian Angel is driven...actually “prodded”
is probably a better word...by a lethargic beat over which the singer sounds
uninspired as does the guitarist, whose melody and chord progressions you can
predict well before they happen. Although
it livens up towards the end, it’s one of those “long because the fans expect
it” songs as far as I can see. Looking at the track listing, there’s a reprise
to look forward to later, all 6 bleedin’ minutes of it. I wouldn’t bother
trying to resuscitate it lads, it’s pointless. Secret Kingdoms... starts
with the kind of prole-riffage that I crossed the street to avoid a quarter of
a century ago. Fast Eddie Clark this guy isn’t. It’s another tired song that
meanders along in a tame and predictable fashion until it eventually runs into ...And
Secret Worlds which starts with an ersatz classical piano sequence that
makes a nice change from what has gone before, even though it may well be the
kind of thing that Muse do far better. Bloody hell, I just praised Muse,
whatever next?
It’s fairly obvious
to me that the keyboard player is a cut above the rest of the band and, for
once, as usually keyboard dominated neo-prog has "terrible" as a benchmark, had he been allowed
his head more often the whole thing might have been a bit more palatable. Although the latter half of ...And Secret Worlds
nearly keels over under the weight of its own bombast, it is actually quite
fun, histrionic plank spanking adding an extra layer of chuckle, although I
sadly suspect it’s all meant to be taken seriously.
Apparently the band has revived old songs to end recent albums, and this one
ends with Richelieu's Prayer 2012 but
as I have not heard the original and have no intention of torturing myself,
I’ll take it on its own merits. Actually, it’s not that bad and displays a
deftness of touch largely absent from what has gone before. Again it won’t win
any awards for originality, but it is a decent “lighters aloft” song; blimey,
there’s even harmonies on it!
All joking aside, this is Galahad’s
second studio album this year, and it would appear that they have stretched
themselves way too thin on this one. For all of you no doubt by now apoplectic
fans of the band, firstly I did warn you to look away, and secondly may I point
out that 2012’s earlier release Battle Scarsgot
glowing reviews here on DPRP, and if everyone thought the same way the world
would be a very boring place indeed.
Normally I would not
quote another reviewer, but the little gem that follows was simply too incredulous
to resist. I find it hard to believe that anyone in their right mind could
describe this as “...one of the finest prog albums that you will ever hear”,
as this other reviewer puts it, unless they are either related to a band member
or are one those poor unfortunates who reckon that “prog” is a style and not an
attitude, or, heaven forfend, an abbreviation of the word progressive. Even
that scribbler cannot surely believe he or she will be playing this patchy and
plodding effort as often as Close To The Edge, or whatever his or her classic
prog album of choice is in 10 years time, ridden as is it is with more cliché
than you would find in a cliché pie covered in cliché sauce? The similarly
hackneyed cover at least describes the contents, the only surprise being that
the stylised young lady it features is not flashing some flesh, as was the case
with the previous album.
Unfortunately this
is a bland and unadventurous album and for the most part curiously flat and
joyless, apart from Secret Worlds and
to a lesser extent the last track, these being the only moments on the thing
where the whole band appear to be having fun. Of course, the workman-like
prog-by-numbers atmosphere of the rest was probably down to the rest of the
band’s increasing awareness of the deteriorating health of their bass player,
but, if that was the case, why release the album at all? For that reason and
out of respect, I will not give a mark out of 10 to this album, as is the
tradition on these pages.
I will now don a tin hat and go into hiding.
Conclusion - Unrated
All quite reasonable if you ask me, and yes Baz, I am a cowardly lion! A friend came up with a great description I'm determined will end up in a review one day, but even this nonsense did not deserve the description "AOR bukkake"!!
Pokerface is multi-talented Swede Stefan Heidevik and a plethora of session musicians and guests who have created a mind-melting mix of ultra-modern electronica and progressive musics that while at times redolent of the Pat Mastelotto/Trey Gunn project TU, has dug out its own deeply-ploughed furrow of synapse-stretching weirdness. That's a compliment, by the way!
You can listen to it here, while reading on...
A mix of studio and live tracks, the latter sound more organic, more human, as indeed it should be. It seems a real drummer is used on Quicksand/Concrete in addition to electronic percussion and some really nice jazz trumpet.
Veering from future projected madly clattering Aphex Twin percussion to implied jazz and eerie soundscapes on Beginnings and Endings, this one track sums up the unusual auditory experience that awaits the listener on Transeo. This album is at once unsettling, edgy, discordant, but for all that strangely compelling.
The frenzied percussion can get a bit overpowering, as it seems that every available space is taken up by something being hit, or a sample of some other things being hit, but I suppose as Pokerface evolved from a hip-hop outfit this only to be expected. The downside of the claustrophobic feel of the music is leaving the listener with no air to breathe. Even on a slower track like Miss You, the "drum kit" is still falling down the stairs, albeit in slow motion.
For once, the beat keeps relatively simple on Real Real Reality and a spoken-word oratory of dark menace that actually does have room to manoeuvre shows what can be done with a bit of "less is more" in the percussion department. Things become even more spaced out on For Those Who Have Fallen which meanders through slabs of heavy chords marching to militaristic beats and all sorts of odd electronica with neo-operatic vocals; zeuhl-hop anyone?
Next, we're back to the robots-on-powders jigging excesses, although Spider could
well be Kraftwerk dragged into the 21st century, before Bryan Baker
contributes a fast dissonant and angular guitar run that flies in and out a
jazz-fusion tangent. Because of the guitar (I'm an old-fashioned guy), this is my
favourite track on the album, as it has a different colour to anything
else here.
The following and last six tracks on Transeo are tagged "bonus tracks" but are really part of the whole as I doubt you could get hold of this without them. Mattis Karlsson contributes a Terje Rypdal influenced and almost ambient layer to the hymnal Ending, and things get real strung out on the scratchy Stagger, random trumpet and guitar jitterbugging all over the shop; very odd indeed.
It has to be said that the end half of this album is more fulfilling than the beginning for this listener at least. For some reason Red Room First takes me back to Peter Hammill's Gog/Magog from In Camera, a similar dystopian fearfest looming over the listener like a toxic cloud. Dark dark ambience and modernistic dislocation have replaced the percussive fury of the early part of the album and although this is a thousand miles and more from easy listening, it's a preferred jerky version of the nightmare in this house. The groovily titled Born To Murder The World sounds like Leftfield on baaad drugs having a dance with IEM, and Morning Storm belies description...ok...if Faust were a jungle band they would not sound anything like this oddity...how's that?
Transeo is not for the faint-hearted, but get it on Bandcamp for as little as you want to contribute - what have you got to lose?
Stefan is, according to his Bandcamp page, "Currently working on a new album, featuring contributions by Morgan
Ågren (Mats/Morgan Band, Trey Gunn, Devin Townsend) and Bryan Baker
(Steps Ahead, Yellowjackets, Till Brönner)." Should be interesting!
Track listing:
1. Hypocrites (5:06)
2. Krtek Ve Snu (5:02)
3. Buildings - featuring Mike Lloyd (6:30)
4. Beginnings And Endings (7:18)
5. Quicksand / Concrete - Live (4:17)
6. Like Love - Live (4:36)
7. Miss You - Live (4:14)
8. Really Real Reality - featuring Michael Horvath - Live (3:37)
9. For Those Who Have Fallen - Live (3:56)
10. Spider - featuring Bryan Baker (6:26)
Bonus Tracks
11. Ending - featuring Mikael Karlsson (5:52)
12. Stagger - featuring Bryan Baker (3:16)
13. Red Room First (7:20)
14. Born To Murder The World - featuring Michael Horvath (2:15)
15. Morning Storm (7:16)
16. Nana-Dudeh (Remix) (3:19)
Total running time: 80:29
Line up:
- Stefan Heidevik / synthesizer, programming, glockenspiel, percussion, voices
- Michael Horvath / voices
- Olle Prim / drums
- Mattis Karlsson / guitar
- Per Eriksson / saxophone, clarinet
- Bryan Baker / guitar
- Anna Sahlin / cello
- Karin Svensson Nordberg / violin
- Mike Lloyd / trumpet
...and now, following from The Interview, here's The Discography, in his own words, in chronological order, earliest first. Take it away, Dennis!
Earthstar: Salterbarty Tales(Moontower Records 1978)
My first
appearance on record, as a guest contributor to my hometown friend Craig
Wuest's electroacoustic project Earthstar. Craig soon relocated to
Germany, where I later joined him for additional sessions. Earthstar had
the distinction of being the only American group to participate in the
German kosmische musik scene while it was still at its height.
Earthstar: French Skyline (Sky Records 1979)
The second Earthstar LP, recorded in Germany with electronic music
legend Klaus Schulze producing and a cast of international musicians. I
appear on a remix of a track that first appeared on Salterbarty Tales. (Titbit: This session was recorded on a recycled Popol Vuh master tape.)
Earthstar: Atomkraft? Nein, Danke! (Sky Records 1981)
The third Earthstar LP, also recorded in Germany and a bit of a
departure from the long-form pieces that characterized the previous LPs.
I appear on two tracks.
Savant: The Neo-Realist (At Risk) (Palace Of Lights 1983)
The only full-length LP from K. Leimer's early '80s Seattle-based
collective Savant, which combined physical instruments with tape
manipulation in the pre-sampling era. I was a key contributor to three
pieces, one of which ("Shadow in Deceit") is constructed almost entirely
of percussive multitracked guitar and bass parts.
Earthstar, various: Schwingungen Vol. II (Sky Records 1985)
A Sky Records sampler that includes a track by Earthstar, this
collection is notable for also featuring tracks by Cluster & Eno,
Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Dieter Moebius, and others. Erroneously
subtitled "New Age Music" to cash in on the '80s craze.
Color Anxiety, various: Secretions (C/Z Records 1988)
A sampler LP documenting the state of the pre-Grunge mid-'80s Seattle
rock scene, including such notables as Amy Denio, Tad, and
Soundgarden/Pearl Jam's Matt Cameron. I appear on a track by the
dual-guitar avant-funk outfit Color Anxiety, a sort of mutant hybrid of
'80s Crimson and Fishbone.
The Shredders: Shredder Orpheus soundtrack (1990)
Throughout the soundtrack to this campy feature film I was the sonic
alter ego of the lead character Orpheus, a guitarist who acquires a
stringed instrument called the Lyrax that imparts supernatural powers.
Music composed by Roland Barker and performed by myself, Amy Denio, and
Bill Rieflin (Ministry, REM, Robert Fripp). Probably the 'heaviest'
guitar playing I've committed to tape. Plans are afoot to issue the
soundtrack on CD soon.
Dennis Rea: Shadow in Dreams (China Record Company 1990)
One of the first recordings of adventurous music released by a
foreign musician in communist China, to my everalsting astonishment Shadow in Dreams sold an estimated 40,000 copies and was listed among the year's 10 best recordings by China Youth Daily.
The record was made under less than ideal conditions, so I prefer to
keep it under wraps ;) A second album was recorded for CRC by my
Taiwan-based fusion group Identity Crisis, but its release was held up
by authorities in Beijing who were steamed over the producer's failure
to obtain permission to record a suspect foreign act.
LAND: LAND(Extreme 1995),Archipelago (Periplum 1997), andRoad Movies (First World Music 2001)
Celebrated electronic musician Jeff Greinke's collaborative project
LAND proferred an unusual blend of jazz, rock, and electronic
music marked by ethnic overtones and expansive improvisation. I was a
charter member (along with trumpet player Lesli Dalaba) and remained
with the group through several lineup changes. The final version of the
band, with bassist Fred Chalenor (Tone Dogs, Hughscore, Curlew) and
drummer Bill Rieflin, tilted more toward avant-rock. LAND toured China,
Hong Kong, and Macau in 1996.
Jeff Greinke: Big Weather (Linden Music 1994)and Swimming (Prudence Cosmopolitan Music 1998)
I contributed guitar to a track or two on each of these solo releases
by my longtime collaborator and bandmate in LAND. Pre-electronica-era
ambient music.
Eric Apoe: Songs of Love and Doom,Dream Asylum, Radioation, Book of Puzzles, and The Man in the Sun (All Soundtrack Boulevard Music 1996, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008) For
ten years I played guitar in the bands of Eric Apoe, one of the Pacific
Northwest's finest singer-songwriters, whose vast repertoire spans
rock, jazz, blues, Americana, and Old World influences. Eric is as
original and prolific as Tom Waits and richly deserves commensurate
recognition. Playing such a varied songbook was an invaluable learning
experience for me as a guitarist.
Craig Flory & Doug Haire: Wigwam Bendix (Franchise Records 1998)
Saxophonist extraordinaire Flory and sound engineer supreme Doug
Haire's wacky improvised music project involving a who's who of the
1990s Seattle creative music scene, many of whom went on to earn
international acclaim (e.g., Michael Bisio, Eyvind Kang, Skerik, Timothy
Young). I performed on a rather cacophonous track together with Flory,
three guitarists, a cellist, and two drummers.
Rik Wright: Bleeding Laughter (HipSync Records 2000)
Jazz Guitarist Rik Wright's improvised meetings with myself (one
track), guitarist Ed Petry, saxophonist Wally Shoup, and drummers Toshi
Makihara and Jeph Jerman. Rik and I currently co-present Zero-G
Concerts, a creative music series that takes place regularly in various
Seattle venues.
Infrasound Collective (various): Owasso Night Atlas (Infrasound 2000)
I appear on two tracks of this wide-ranging compilation: a studio
improvisation with the Edge Trio (with saxophonists Paul Chuey and
Michael Monhart) and an excerpt from a large-group improvisation hosted
by The Tentacle journal of Pacific Northwest creative music (of
which I was co-publisher at the time) in an abandoned Seattle steel
mill, involving instruments and (sometimes huge) found objects.
Stackpole: Stackpole (First World Music 2001)
Described by one listener as "Seattle's Last Exit," Stackpole was a
free-jazz juggernaut featuring veteran Seattle improvisers Wally Shoup
(alto saxophone), Geoff Harper (bassist), and drum legend Gregg
Keplinger. It was also the first record for which I assumed production
duties.
Hector Zazou: Strong Currents (Materiali Sonori (Italy) & Taktic Music (France) - both 2003)
Acclaimed French composer Zazou’s Strong Currents is a
collection of songs composed for a top-flight cast of female singers
including Laurie Anderson, Jane Birkin, and Melanie Gabriel (daughter of
Peter). My guitar serves as the backbone for the track “In the Middle
of the Night,” sung by Lori Carson (Golden Palominos). Other musicians
on the album include Ryuichi Sakamoto, Stefano Bollani, and Bill
Rieflin. Definitely the highest-profile release I've ever appeared on.
Released in both Italian and French editions, with different covers.
Wang Yong / Han Bennink / Andreas Schreiber / Dennis Rea / Steffen Schorn / Claudio Puntin / Lesli Dalaba: Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in Touch (Noise Asia 2004)
A two-CD set documenting two evenings of free improvisations by an
international cast of musicians who were in town to play the Beijing
International Jazz Festival, hosted by guzheng (Chinese horizontal zither) virtuoso Wang Yong. I was especially thrilled to play with the legendary drummer Han Bennink.
Chekov: Born to be Quiet (Self released 2008)
I play an ebow-plus-ring-modulator solo on one track ("For Absent
Friends") of this release by my longtime collaborator Andreas Vath's
(AKA Atze Ton) groove-based electro-jazz group, recorded in Munich in
2007.
Ting Bu Dong: Ting Bu Dong (Self released 2008)
A CD EP featuring five of my compositions in a classic jazz-rock
fusion mode, from sessions recorded in Munich in 2007 with
bassist/engineer Andreas Vath, keyboardist Volker Wiedersheim, and
drummer Olli Klomp. Chinese for "I hear, but I don't undrestand," Ting
Bu Dong toured major Taiwanese cities in 2008.
Moraine: manifest deNsity (MoonJune 2009)
The first Moraine release, recorded on a tiny budget and featuring
the 'string quartet plus drums' version of the band with Ruth Davidson
on cello and our original drummer Jay Jaskot.
Iron Kim Style: Iron Kim Style (MoonJune 2010)
Paeans of praise for the Dear Leader in an exploded jazz-rock
modality, improvised live in the studio at the instigation of bassist
Ryan Berg.
Dennis Rea: Views from Chicheng Precipice (MoonJune 2010)
In formulating these arrangements of some of my favorite Chinese,
Taiwanese, and East Asian ethnic minority pieces, I sometimes chose to
honor traditional formal constraints, e.g., limiting improvisers to a
particular set of scale tones, or eschewing the use of Western-style
functional harmony. In other cases I threw custom to the
winds—harmonizing passages, employing atypical instrumentation, and
incorporating noise, chromaticism, free improvisation, and
amplification—while striving to remain faithful to the spirit of my
models.
Moraine: Metamorphic Rock: Live at NEARfest (MoonJune 2011)
Moraine Mark II (with woodwind player James DeJoie and drummer
Stephen Cavit) in full flight at the world's preeminent progressive rock
festival, performing new compositions plus reworked versions of tunes
from manifest deNsity and Views from Chicheng Precipice. Remixed and coproduced by legendary Pacific Northwest producer Steve Fisk.
Dennis Rea, Wally Shoup & Tom Zgonc: Subduction Zone (Nunatak 2012)
A set of uninhibited improvisations from Seattle improvisers Rea,
Shoup (alto saxophone), and Zgonc (drums), ranging from hyperkinetic
fusion to noir jazz to eldritch experimentalia. Some of my wildest
guitar on record.
Tempered Steel: Tempered Steel (Nunatak 2012)
A set of amplified, electronically processed thumb piano
improvisations with collaborators Ffej and Frank Junk. Recommended for
partisans of Harry Partch, John Cage's prepared piano music, and Konono
No. 1.
As well as the currently available MoonJune & Nunatak releases, Dennis tells me that all three LAND CDs are still available through Amazon, as are these:
