Give Me Take You

I’ve written others here and there, but they are all gone.  This one I can remember.

Three Turkeys

Turkeys.
Three of them.
I saw them while my eyes were closed
and you glanced me lovingly on the foot.
There.

Pretty much, anyway.

Been spending a lot of time with these two tracks aloud on my iPhone before bed.

Ryuichi Sakamoto is going on tour with his piano music in the US.  Dates here.

He’s got a new double album called playing the piano & out of noise coming out on September 28 on Decca.

I’ve recently shown to myself some vague reformed interest in writing some reviews.  Until then, the usual:

ATLANTIC

COLEMAN, ORNETTE: Twins LP (SD 1588HLP) 14.00 180 gram vinyl, manufactured by Rhino. Recorded between 1959 and 1961, but originally released in 1971. Performers: Ornette Coleman (alto sax), Don Cherry (pocket trumpet), Scott LaFaro (bass), Billy Higgins (drums), Eric Dolphy (bass clarinet), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Charlie Haden (bass) and Ed Blackwell (drums). “Ornette Coleman’s music has always shown an expressive feel for the playful, the joyful, the whimsical side of human nature. And I’d say it’s often there, deep down, in things he plays or writes in quite different moods.” — Martin Williams

CENTAUR

VA: CDCM Computer Music Series Vol. 37 CD (CRC 2938CD) 17.00 …Music From The Timara Studios Oberlin Conservatory Of Music. Featured works: “Piano Piece For Prepared Piano And Stereo Tape” (1969) by Olly Wilson; “Jabber For Computer Recorded Sound” (2006) and “To The Edge, Algorithmic Compositions For Solo Marimba” by Gary Lee Nelson. “Zephyr’s Lesson For Flute, Violoncello, Percussion And Stereo Tape” (1984) by Conrad Cummings. “The Death of the Moth For Chamber Ensemble And Stereo Tape” (2003) by Tom Lopez. “Seven Sides Of A Crystal For Piano And Stereo Tape” (1984) by Edward J. Miller. “Samadhi For Stereo Tape” (1978) by Dary John Mizelle. Featured performers: Thomas Fosnocht, piano; Elise Roy, flute; Steuart Pincombe, cello; Jennifer Torrence, percussion; Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble/Tim Weiss; Peter Takacs, piano; Deborah Sunya Moore, marimba.

GALA DROP (NETHERLANDS)

GALA DROP: Gala Drop CD (GDR 001CD) 17.00 This is the debut full-length release by Gala Drop (Nelson Gomes, Tiago Miranda and Afonso Simões), comprised of three musicians and activists from Lisbon, Portugal who have been able to understand, revolutionize and mobilize towards the paths of the unknown, and then onto new avenues of artistic creation. Their self-titled record is a perfectly finished, well-conceived, mature work which unites aesthetic fields, rituals and practices that were previously distant from each other. Synthesizer orchestras, German Kraut and kosmische musik, the keyboard hell of French unit Heldon, psych/free percussive tribalism, a deep understanding of decades of dance music, Jamaica’s dub processing techniques, an extraordinary sensibility for sound resources and additional mixing, and finally, the mastering skills of Rafael Toral — all of these are ingredients that make Gala Drop completely unique. The metrics of the groove and backbeat in the drum work of Afonso Simões and Tiago Miranda’s percussion, and the ululating understanding of the synthesizer and keyboard phrases reveal a completely familiar yet alien alternate universe of space-y sound that is too good to be just druggy. This record is a document, a revelatory text where new trajectories are mapped and where the possibilities of stylistic exploration are endless. Utterly zoned-out keyboard and dub astral projection through new jungles of sound — you have been initiated.

MDG SCENE (GERMANY)

FELDMAN, MORTON: The Late Piano Works Vol. 2: For Bunita Marcus CD (MDG 6131522) 18.00 Performed by Steffen Schleiermacher (piano). “With volume two of Feldman’s late piano works, the recording is devoted to one piece dedicated to the former student and close colleague Bunita Marcus. Feldman’s music never is opulent but spare and sparse with few notes that sometimes are stretched over periods of silence. Pianist Steffen Schleiermacher is a specialist in modern music for piano both as a composer and performer. His MDG recordings have garnered an amazing amount of praise.”

PLAIN RECORDINGS

LEMONHEADS, THE: It’s A Shame About Ray LP (PLAIN 138LP) 17.00 180 gram vinyl. “After numerous line-up changes and independent releases, Boston’s Lemonheads signed to Atlantic Records for 1990′s Lovey. It was with that record that Evan Dando began to move from Replacements style punk-pop into more gentle and jangly territory, and it’s here, on It’s A Shame About Ray, that he perfects his vision and launches the Lemonheads into international stardom. Featuring Blake Babies member Juliana Hatfield, It’s A Shame About Ray is one of the hookiest and catchy records of the ‘alternative’ era and holds up now as a jangle-pop classic alongside anything from ‘Eight Miles High’ to R.E.M.’s Lifes Rich Pageant.”

AROMA

CONGREGACION: Viene… LP (AVR 141516LP) 26.00 “Reissue of classic Chilean ’70s album housed in gatefold sleeve, with insert and lyrics, story of the band in Spanish and English. Congregacion was one of the legendary bands from the Chilean musical scene of the early ’70s. In spite of not having been a popular band like Los Jaivas, Los Blops and Congreso, they deserve a position of privilege in the history of Chilean rock. The group was from Valparaso and led by musician and poet Antonio Smith. They wrote lyrics with a significant political, philosophical and religious content, they were a real ‘celebration of life’. Musically, they crafted ballads in an Andean style with ethnic atmospheres; we could say they made a kind of psychedelic folk with progressive leanings. They recorded just one LP and a single in 1972. In the last decades, the music of Congregacion has conquered new folk lovers around the world and the original LP is yet a very rare collector’s piece.”

ATAVISTIC

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN/ENORE ZAFFIRI: Through The Magnifying Glass Of Tomorrow CD/DVD (ALP 189CD) 15.00 “Clandestine auteurs the Opalio Brothers (aka My Cat Is An Alien) have deftly sprinkled our solar system with their beautifully fragile, arcane soundscape/tracks via their own Opax label, as well as multimedia collaborations with vanguards such as Sonic Youth, Christian Marclay, Keiji Haino, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Text Of Light, Jim O’Rourke, Mats Gustafsson, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Christina Carter Of Charalambides, Jackie- O Motherfucker & Black Magic Disco — and even have been commissioned to design a T-shirt for The Wire. Atavistic is most definitely thrilled to have the pleasure of releasing Through The Magnifying Glass Of Tomorrow, a freshly-minted collaboration with one of the pioneers of radical Italian electronic music, Enore Zaffiri. Mr. Zaffiri, composer and founder of the legendary Smet (Studio di Musica Elettronica di Torino) in 1964, is 80 years old and has been a ‘reclused’ artist for decades. After meeting Maurizio and Roberto, he decided to set up a collaborative project with them. Their recordings from the Western Alps of Bella Italia, Through The Magnifying Glass, a CD+DVD release running over two hours, is the haunting result from the gathering of these fellow musical cosmonauts.” DVD contents: Robert Opalio’s dual film “Light_Earth_Blue_Silver” (soundtrack by My Cat Is An Alien, 37 minutes, 4:3, color stereo) and Enore Zaffiri’s video painting “Trasparenze” (soundtrack by Enore Zaffiri, 48 minutes, 4:3, color, stereo).

BUREAU B (GERMANY)

ROEDELIUS: Jardin Au Fou LP (BB 023LP) 17.00 LP version; includes all the original album tracks. Composer/poet Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Kluster, Cluster, Harmonia) is one of the most prolific musicians of the German avant-garde and a key figure in the birth of Krautrock, synthesizer pop and ambient music. Jardin Au Fou is his second solo album, originally issued in 1979 on France’s Egg label, and produced by former Tangerine Dream member Peter Baumann. This record was all the more noteworthy as it bore no resemblance whatsoever to what was expected of avant-garde electronica and displayed none of the typical Krautrock characteristics. A rhythm machine, sequencer and abstract sounds are conspicuously absent, and listeners at the time were stunned by one of the most beautiful, charming, ethereal and peaceful albums in the history of German rock music. None other than Asmus Tietchens, friend and artistic companion to Roedelius, has written the following in the liner notes for the reissue: “Jardin Au Fou (Fool’s Garden) is a thoroughly romantic album, bursting with joie de vivre and unadulterated joy. With the greatest of pleasure, Roedelius cranks up a carousel of fairground organs, popping corks, waltzes and sweet melodies. Musical ideas come thick and fast. If you listen carefully and immerse yourself in Jardin Au Fou, you might hear traces of the baroque in this romantic music.” Roedelius concentrates here on keyboards, and, in particular, the acoustic grand piano. He played most of the tracks by hand, exploiting his virtuosity to the full. The sweet disposition of the album as a whole borders on the naive, bearing none of the Krautrock hallmarks one might expect. Sweetness and light it may be, yet the music of Roedelius is more complex than it first appears. It carries a certain gentle gravitas borne of maturity, reflecting the ongoing quest of a musician for new paths and forms. Jardin Au Fou confronts the listener with an unfiltered, open perspective — today, some 30 years after it was created, this music has lost none of its shine or charm.

CENTAUR
	VA: CDCM Computer Music Series Vol. I CD (CRC 2029CD) 17.00 First volume in this series, originally released in 1988. Featured works: “Sinfonia Concertante: A Mozartean Episode”, “Sonata Concertante” for piano and computer music on tape by Larry Austin; “Peninsula” for piano and computer music on tape by Thomas Clark; “Fluud for dual Synclaviers” by Jerry Hunt; “Dulcimer Dream” for amplified piano by Phil Winsor.
	VA: CDCM Computer Music Series Vol. 2 CD (CRC 2039CD) 17.00 Originally released in 1988. Featured works: “GOLEM I” for computer music performance system by Richard Teitelbaum; “Lady Neil’s Dumpe” for Yamaha TX816 MIDI rack and Macintosh Plus computer by Martin Bresnick; “What Is The Use?” for computer performance system by Neil B. Rolnick; “Kaleidocycles” by Rick Baitz; “Syntax for Synclavier” by Scott Lindroth.

INSTITUT DU MONDE ARABE (FRANCE)

BOUHASSOUN, WAED: A Voice For Love CD (IDMA 321071) 20.00 “‘A voice for love’ is how some have described Waed Bouhassoun, a talented Syrian musician who sings to her own accompaniment on the lute. The youthful Bouhassoun is undoubtedly the embodiment of love, as is borne out by the choice of poems and texts for this, her first recording. Sometimes with strength, sometimes with fragility, her voice intensifies emotion and meaning to the point of ecstasy in the poems of Ibn Zaydoun, Jalal-Eddine, Rumi, Wallada or even Tahar Abou Facha and Mahmoud Bayram al Tounissi, the famous lyricists to Oum Kalthoum. The purity and intimacy of this recording invite the listener to enter into a world alive with sensitivity and elegance.”

TAKOMA

KOTTKE, LEO: 6-And 12-String Guitar LP (TAKOMA C1024LP) 15.00 “With the 1969 release of 6-And 12 String Guitar, Leo Kottke established his pre-eminence as a guitar virtuoso and composer of quirky, pop-inflected pieces. Harmonically adventurous and technically dazzling, this album showcases Kottke`s penchant for infusing traditional elements of folk guitar with more modern, even impressionistic harmony and tonality. Kottke inspired a revolution in acoustic guitar playing, and this record provided the opening volley. ‘The Driving of the Year Nail’ starts things off with a relentless fingerpicked chug, featuring splashes of open harmonics executed with the delicacy of a ballerina. Kottke proceeds to combine the familiar with the strange — each of these brief pieces (around three minutes and under) has the effect of being simultaneously charming, and a little twisted. For example, ‘Vaseline Machine Gun’ starts with ‘Taps’ played with a bottleneck slide, then morphs into a thumb-and-slide frenzy. Bach`s ‘Jesu, Joy of Man`s Desiring’ is the exception, given a straight and loving reading on six-string guitar. This is pure steel-string joy, with liberal doses of irony and ecstasy.”

EM RECORDS (JAPAN)
	WADA, YOSHI: Earth Horns With Electronic Drone CD (EM 1081CD)20.00 Yoshi Wada and EM Records presents the first-ever, world-premiere release of Earth Horns With Electronic Drone, recorded live in 1974. Combining four of Wada’s self-made “pipehorns” (made from plumbing materials, over three meters in length), with an electronic drone tuned to the electrical current of the performance space, this is a lost masterpiece of early minimalism, placing Wada rightfully in the pantheon with La Monte Young, Phill Niblock, Maryanne Amacher and Alvin Lucier. Recorded live in Syracuse, New York, this recording captures the room-filling complex overtones generated by the ever-shifting interplay of the breathing horns and the constant electronic drone. This is a music of ritual hypnotic power, its heavy low-end mass and sense of change within constancy engendering a meditative transcendency. Earth Horns With Electronic Drone is the fourth and ultimate release in Em Records’ Yoshi Wada series, a must for all fans of minimalism, heavy drones, ritual, mystery and world-shaking transcendence. From an original performance of almost three hours, the CD features a 77-minute excerpt. The full performance is also available as a 3LP set (162 minutes). From Earth horns to beyond the firmament: prepare to be elevated! Pipehorns constructed by Yoshi Wada; electronic equipment designed by Liz Phillips and Yoshi Wada; Electronics: Liz Phillips; Pipehorn Players: Jim Burton, Garrett List, Barbara Stewart and Yoshi Wada. 96khz/24bit digitally remastered, including a booklet with text in Japanese & English, and a reproduction circa-1975 Fluxus poster by George Maciunas.
	WADA, YOSHI: Earth Horns With Electronic Drone 3LP (EM 1081LP)69.00 Triple LP version of the entire 162-minute performance — the vinyl version therefore contains approx 85 additional minutes of music!. Includes booklet with text in Japanese & English, and an original-size reproduction of the circa-1975 Fluxus poster by George Maciunas. Limited to just a few hundred copies worldwide.

STARKLAND

KLINE, PHIL: Around The World In A Daze 2DVD (S 2015DVD) 15.00 DVD-Audio release, total Content: 110 min. NTSC format, All Region. “Leading new-music composer Phil Kline debuts a major work on this new surround sound DVD. Heard here for the first time, this 65-minute studio composition was commissioned by Starkland to premiere on this high-resolution surround-sound DVD. Daze is Kline’s longest work and biggest commission to date. Daze is also likely the largest work so far commissioned for a high-resolution surround-sound recording. Performers include the uber-cool Ethel string quartet and violin virtuoso Todd Reynolds. Surround-sound tracks place listeners inside wondrous boombox choirs, an ethereal Ethel string quartet, a weird madrigal, hyper-dense bells (hundreds of thousands at one point), richly mournful multi-tracked vocals, soaring violinistics, and an immersive environment of 15,000 African gray parrots. The release also offers a second Extras DVD with a composer-produced music video and a 30-minute interview with Kline and John Schaefer. The custom 5″x10″ digipak includes a 24-page booklet. The two DVDs contain a total content of 110 minutes. This release follows Starkland’s groundbreaking surround-sound Immersion DVD, now recognized as the first commissioned high-resolution surround-sound recording. Immersion won praise from Sound & Vision, Stereophile, Billboard, etc. and was the #1 best-selling DVD-Audio at Amazon for nearly a year. The main disc offers Daze in several formats for various home playback setups: the standard Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, DTS 5.1, and high-resolution audiophile DVD-Audio, as well as a stereo version. Playback of the Daze music is accompanied by over 80 images shot by Kline.”

Portishead Third (Island)

This most closely qualifies as my very favorite album of the year for having the best packaging (2 x 45rpm LPs), best production quality, and some totally unexpectedly great material. Portishead has always been something in other people’s tastes that I would abide just fine, but never bothered to take for my own. It once was a group with a sophisticated brand of trip-hop, and well that’s not for everyone, especially not me. In this current incarnation, however, Portishead has been transformed into a leaner, more confrontational outfit. Krautrock elements, electronic industrial, and good olde fashion rock organ work of the purest variety (see the amazing, standout track “Small”) make up a surprising and welcome shift of focus for the band. Portishead is likable for how much integrity they exude as a group and yet the sound of the record is just plain cold and mean (and not at all stupid), which for a rock band is more or less what you want to hear exactly.

.

Sunset The Glowing City & Bright Blue Dream (Autobus)

Bill Baird’s Sunset released two albums in 2008 of fairly massive, genre-busting material. Bright Blue Dream has a more immediate draw to it with the on-repeat-inducing, emotionally charged four track suite that begins the album. It is an album for people who like both pure pop and pure ambience, as the record is most easily conceived as split into these two sides, but it’s probably even more for the people who like when these lines are blurred from every direction. Neither of these albums are slack on songwriting, either. Both contain some great, moving lyrics that would do well to stand on their own outside of any production. The Glowing City is the more song based, album, however, both for the fact that nearly all of its eighteen tracks have lyrics and that it’s got a definite lyrical arc. It’s that fact, actually, that might make people overlook the fact that it’s also the more musically diverse of the two. Nearly all the tracks could be seen individually as a different style, and yet all together they have a shared identity.

.

Beach House Devotion (Carpark)

Beach House did something amazing with this record, which is release a more subdued, single-free album than their first self-titled effort, revealing it not only as a success but as a potentially even-better album.  This ranks very high on my list for its endless listening pleasure.  This and Bright Blue Dream turned out to be the 2008 albums with the most back-to-back repeat listens.  Devotion‘s charms reveal themselves slowly.  Sometimes the most impressive thing about wanting to listen to an album is being more in touch with the impulse of wanting to listen to it than knowing why.  Like a good love affair, you discover and appreciate the details as time passes.

.

Dungen 4 (Kemado)

Dugen is a brave man for eschewing the path towards being the biggest pop rock star he can possibly be.  After the still-amazing Ta De Lungt the world was basically begging him to learn English and step forward as the savior of popular rock and roll. His production skills carry a distinctly 60s /70s edge, but the association’s ultimately just a trademark of their quality.  Dungen’s music still has the ability to sound completely contemporary and new, as Ta De Lungt demonstrated.  Yet, he hasn’t helped the vintage associations by sending his records further and further down the path that records from that era went.  4 is, down to its cover art even, essentially a pyschedelic, hi-fi-lounge rock record of the highest order.  That’s totally great, too.  I’m really pleased to have a new record that sounds this great and delivers on those specific promises. Yet, Dungen’s not going to win over new fans outside of the progressive set with this record, likely, as it’s a very, very good album but not exactly a breakout album for this particular type of record.

.

Department of Eagles In Ear Park (4AD)

While I was a little disappointed with this effort from Department of Eagles, it still delivered on quite a bit of the promise I’d come to expect from it. I read something before its release that Ear Park was a park than Daniel Rossen used to visit with his father. It’s a fitting title, then, as the songs on this album do seem to stem from formative memories. For me, it’s also the album’s weakness. Listening to the album I too often feel more pointed towards a nostalgic feeling than the music, and I had the unfortunate circumstance to not connect with those feelings when listening. Someone else may get a huge payoff, and potentially I will later. It’s definitely a record I will be curious to revisit down the line, and I still hold a candle for Daniel Rossen becoming a great second-generation pop-Jim O’Rourke figure. “No One Does It Like You” and “Teenagers” are clear standouts for embracing nostalgic goodness for all its worth and then some.

.

Robert Haigh Written on Water (Crouton)

This is a really stellar disc of ensemble minimalism that appeals to the heart-of-hearts of the genre, knowing all the right tricks to use and all those to leave behind. The production edge is almost too sweet at times, but never uncomfortably so. Robert Haigh took a long break from releasing this kind of music. His Robert Haigh and Silent Storm was a fine disc that hinted at a Written on Water type effort, but still carried with it a lot of other musical influences that made it ultimately a less satisfying album than this one. I don’t think we’ll be hearing of Haigh reconnecting with Downtown music scenes, but an album this excellent makes the case that he still could.

.

Hercules and Love Affair Hercules and Love Affair (DFA)

It took me seeing video of Hercules and Love Affair playing live as a band to appreciate that this was not just the showcasing of a producer but a genuine song-smith’s delight.  Disco is a very good thing when it’s this pop-bright and and bursting with good keyboard work.

.

Iannis Xenakis Electronic Music 2 (Mode)

Jim O’Rourke Despite the Water Supply 7″ (Touch)

I’ll review the Xenakis and O”Rourke discs jointly. It’s not really fair to Xenakis to be grouped with O’Rourke, but to be fair to O’Rourke’s talent he does strike a similar nerve. The electronic pieces on Electronic Music 2 are nothing short of superhuman, which is perfectly fitting and exciting for electronic music to be. The musicality of the pieces is intensely contrived yet somehow extraordinarily direct. It’s closest comparison, and very likely its origin, might be a combination of beautifully proofed, relational mathematical formulas. While we don’t all speak the language of mathematics, the language of music is much easier for someone with tools as basic as ears and patience to interpret. O’Rourke strikes a similar nerve in that his electronic music is excellent at elegant relations of the form. The sound of the music is deeply and efficiently communicative of the medium, and, while the process seems based more in alchemical reduction than mathematical proofing, the effect on those of us with equipped with just eardrums and spare time are appreciably wondrous.

Worthy of note:  The DVD edition of Xenakis Electronic Music 2 is preferable not only for its better-quality sound but also for the inclusion of the truly inspired film “Vasarely,” which Xenakis scored.

Reissues:

Scott Walker ‘Til the Band Comes In (Water)

Perhaps my most favorite Scott Walker album, so no surprise it’s a favorite reissue of the past year. Previously Beat Goes On had put out a CD edition, but it demanded a minimum of 50 dollars if you could even find one. This album collects a lot of flack for its b-side, even from Water who reissued it and felt the need to kindly apologize for it in their press release. I see no need. Excellent from start to finish, its strengths do lie in original numbers like the opening trio “Prologue” > “Little Things (That Keep Us Together)” > “Joe”, there’s no reason to buy into the critic gang-bangs against this record’s merit.

.

Blue Gene Tyranny The Intermediary (Lovely)

This record puts to shame most electroacoustic improvisational records. Tyranny’s ear and chops are in prime form here and Joel Ryan’s processing is an inspired match. Give me this record over most any improvised duo recording. This record doesn’t officially hold that place amongst enthusiasts, unfortunately. Sometimes when you get it right you just really get it right and people have no reason to say anything contrary, or anything.

.

Emmanuel Parrenin Maison Rose (Lion)

With Joanna Newsom’s Ys, this is definitely far and away the best harp based folk album I know. The harp being such an exquisite instrument when used right, it naturally brings this record high upon the placement of folk records at large, for me. Lion Production’s job of reproducing this LP is absolutely magnificent, too, feeling genuinely as if it were spawned from the heyday of vinyl. Vintage heavyweight style sleeve, beautifully cut viny, bright and crisp labels, all around a delight. It’s in very limited quantities, 500 or less, so if you think you need it you most likely need it sooner rather than later.

.

Et Cetera Et Cetera (Long Hair)

I actually still need to get a hold of this disc, but being familiar with the album somewhat I know it belongs here, being its first time on CD. A legendary krautrock album that features not only Wolfgang Dauner, but also Eberhard Weber, Siegfried (Sigi) Schwab, and Fred Braceful, the players footing may be in jazz but they in no way hold it there. I suspect it will remain one of the more focused (can you say that about this kind of record?) exercises in fucking-up music (there you go…) from their generation of true players.

.

Arthur Russell Love Is Overtaking Me (Audika)

When this record was released I was not among those anxiously awaiting to hear Arthur Russell’s take on folk music. While Russell is an endearing and accomplished songwriter, he’s not exactly the best or even among my favorites in a purely lyrical sense. Russell’s words really only start to take on a beautiful life of their own when conjoined with their imaginatively produced musical counterparts. Stripping away production and miking Arthur on a plinking guitar or a rough sounding, all acoustic cello does not work miracles for the man. Also, the cover is atrociously unflattering in all regards and I suspect he would be embarrassed to see it were he alive.  The album is brimming with material, some very interesting, though it’s length and messy arrangement make for difficult listening to the already unenthused.  Still, I’ll return to it later I’m sure and find something worthwhile.

.

Plush Fed (Broken Horse)

After being overproduced to the confusing point where it could only be released in Japan, the initial release was something more like a small scale reissue than an album premier. Still, there’s no way to make up for lost time and I’m still going to file this as a reissue. This album’s not a total favorite on its own but it’s interesting enough to warrant inclusion. Liam Hayes does a good job of trying to blend together an absurd amount of musical influence and moments of the record are fairly stunning. The best composite of influences and soundalikes to compare this album’s pastiche too would be: Crazy-Horse era Neil Young, Harry Nilsson circa “Nilsson sings Newman” and “Harry,” John Barry soundtrack music, Laura Nyro’s more idiosyncratic recordings, and awkward enthusiast-blue-eyed-soul a la Jaime Lidell (or Todd Rundgren if you have to reach back in time for an influence, though Hayes doesn’t sound much like Rundren). With all this influence and more making its way into this Van Dyke Parks attention span style recording, its not surprising that the songs themselves have a difficult task of sticking out above the arrangements. I think the job is made all the harder by Hayes’ writing style. More often than not you get the feeling that Hayes is a addressing one very specific person in his songs. The experience is more like overhearing a sensitive conversation rather than participating in the grand shared experience. With such extroverted arrangements, it’s an interesting but not entirely successful juxtaposition to have borderline nonsensical lyrical turns abounding. Overall, Fed is a fine piece of work that ignores its limitations in favor of fully realizing its desired result. For that, it’s worth recognizing.

2008 year-end list in the works, until then another update of releases to buy or be curious about.  

MODE

CARDEW, CORNELIUS: Treatise (Prague Version, 1967) 2CD (MODE 205CD) 25.00 Featured work: “Treatise (Live Recording, Prague 1967).” Performed by: QUaX Ensemble (Petr Kotik, Director). “This performance of Cardew’s monumental 193-page graphic score ‘Treatise’ was recorded live in Prague in 1967 by the Czech QUaX Ensemble, directed by composer/flutist/conductor Petr Kotik. This historical recording offers a unique perspective to hear ‘Treatise’ as interpreted by Cardew’s contemporaries. Kotik met Cardew in Warsaw in 1962, and they began exchanging scores by mail, including ‘Treatise,’ which was a work in progress. Upon meeting again in London (1966), Cardew provided Kotik with additional portions of the score and insights. Fresh from this encounter, Kotik started the QUaX Ensemble upon his return to Prague in 1966. The first thing QUaX did was to rehearse ‘Treatise,’ working through the pages Kotik had: ‘The piece was very important for getting all of us together, musically speaking, besides having a lot of fun working out individual pages by having all the musicians contribute ideas and suggestions. We worked regularly over a long period of time, ending up with a 2-hour version of the piece — only performed once, at the concert on October 15, 1967 in Prague.’ It is presented here. Cardew said: ”Treatise’ is a continuous weaving and combining of a host of graphic elements (of which only a few are recognizably related to musical symbols) into a long visual composition, the meaning of which in terms of sound is not specified in any way. Any number of musicians using any media are free to participate in a ‘reading’ of this score, and each is free to interpret it in his own way.’ Liner notes by Petr Kotik and Cardew’s friend and colleague John Tilbury. Tilbury says of this performance: ‘There is much to admire in this 1967 version of ‘Treatise’ by the QUaX Ensemble from Prague: the feeling of spontaneity, its uninhibitedness, the rough-hewn sounds, the accidental, the half-intended, the blurred.’ High resolution 96khz, 24-bit remastering from the original analog tape.”

RCA

FRIENDSOUND: Joyride LP (LSP 4114LP) 11.00 Exact repro reissue; originally issued on RCA in 1969. This is a true classic curio in the RCD catalog, with a look signifying a shared attitude with early Jefferson Airplane — is an experimental free-jam LP with real musique concrete zonk… Officially the group was made up of ex-members of Paul Revere & The Raiders — Drake Levin, Phil Volk & Michael Smith — who had formed a group called Brotherhood who released two albums for RCA. In between those two releases, the trio teamed up with a few session musicians as Friendsound, releasing Joyride. This record isn’t as good as After Bathing at Baxter’s — because, frankly, nothing is. But it’s got the same spirit and a lot of the same effects — swiped a year and a half later. A tribute? Or just an annoyance to JA (who could never realistically follow up Baxter’s?? If you want acid rambling about rhubarb pie, this record delivers in spades. Why it exists, or why it has been reissued — the mystery continues.

COLD BLUE MUSIC
	LENTZ, DANIEL: Point Conception CD (CB 028CD) 13.00 Featured works: “Point Conception (for nine pianos);” “NightBreaker (for four pianos).” Performed by: Arlene Dunlap (piano), Bryan Pezzone (piano). “Point Conception is Lentz’s wild nine-piano tribute to the octave. It amasses and bubbles over with incessant streams of octaves (harmonic and melodic) that run the length of the keyboard. Through a ‘cascading echo system,’ long-time Lentz Ensemble pianist Arlene Dunlap performs all of its parts. Presented with ‘Point Conception’ is Lentz’s previously unrecorded ‘NightBreaker,’ a kaleidoscopic and explosive tour de force for four pianos. An exciting roller-coaster of a work, it ambles, jumps, careens, pauses, and flings itself forward. Through overdubbing, noted Los Angeles pianist Bryan Pezzone performs all of ‘NightBreaker”s parts. Both pieces revel in and comment on the conventions of late-19th-century harmony and harmonic motion.”
	SMITH, CHAS: Nakadai CD (CB 029CD) 13.00 “Nakadai, which KPFA Folio/Other Minds Radio called ‘one of the most explosive LPs of the ’80s,’ is a set of five works that offer a catalog of musical ‘waves’ — from ripples to tsunamis. It features Smith playing pedal steel guitar solo, overdubbed, and with a mallet percussion quartet made up of Bob Fernandez, John Fitzgerald, M.B. Gordy, and Theresa Knight. This first CD reissue of Nakadai allows today’s listeners to hear prototypical Smith — music composed when his present style was in its nascent state. In addition to the original Nakadai tracks, this release includes two ‘bonus’ tracks: 2008′s evocative ‘The Ghosts on the Windows’ and 1991′s ‘Joaquin Murphey,’ a tribute to the legendary pedal steel guitarist of the same name.”
	ROBERTS, CHRISTOPHER: Trios For Deep Voices CD (CB 030CD)13.00 Performed by Christopher Roberts (double bass), Mark Morton (double bass), James Bergman (double bass). “The five trios that comprise this work evoke — sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly — the composer’s experiences of the life and sounds he found in the mountain jungles of Papua, New Guinea. Some of this music came to Roberts in his dreams while living there. The third movement, ‘Kon Burunemo’ (‘trembling leaf’) was written in memory of the extraordinary bassist and teacher, David Walter. The composer writes about Trios For Deep Voices: ‘In 1981, I ran off to the jungles of Papua, New Guinea to study the natural prosody of music. I lived with the people of the Star Mountains and introduced them to my double bass, while they introduced me to their songs. I took part in drumbeat initiations and listened to the sound of hornbills in flight. I was overwhelmed. I had a dream in which I moved my bow across the strings of the bass in an entirely new way that recreated the drums, and the hornbills’ wings, and the voices of the people whose every song tells a story. The sounds in New Guinea and their constant shaping and recurrence hit me right away as a deep signature of a place, the way the water moved through its gorges, the tone of the insects, the way people there would sing, and the particular choruses of the birds. In fact, I cannot imagine the vocal music without the environment surrounding, as my house was as open as a woven basket, and the sounds of the rivers and insects followed the cycle of day and night, drought or deluge. To remember songs, I stand near streams. The Trios describe being in New Guinea, as the strings of a bass would tell it. Hearing the hornbills in a mist-shrouded forest moving across the unseen world just above you — the atmosphere of being outside at dusk with the insects screaming and the water rushing — initiation ceremony music, when men as “hornbills” beating only taro enter the ritual house to become “birds of paradise” and emerge beating actual drums. In the composition of music, I work with the medium of a written score, and the natural idiomatic way of a given instrument, following the technical inclinations of resonant strings . Over time, over years, the impressions, the motifs most resilient in improvisation and memory unfold their stories to me in a developing variation proportionately whorled like some sort of topography across the score paper. The first trio describes the initiation, and what it was like to be there in it. The harmonic lyric contours describe the echo of the initiates singing as they approached the ritual house at a dead run straight up the mountain. [In the booklet] my photos of the houses up in the Star Mountains evoke every sensation of being there, where you would be if you were singing in the way of the slow movements. Some trios begin as lone preambles, and all are gathered into contemporary chamber music forms that I could relate to my friends.’”

DRAG CITY
	ROYAL TRUX: Twin Infinitives 2LP (DC 003LP) 20.00 First vinyl pressing of Twin Infinitives since the original LP issue in December 1990. Gatefold sleeve. “Neil Hagerty: We wanted to let things happen. I took all the tapes I had: rehearsals, studio stuff that survived, other random shit like shortwave recording etc and cut that together in a long collage. Then I broke that into short segments arbitrarily, about the length of a good rock song. We dumped those segments onto multitrack, called them songs, and just started putting little patchwork bits here and there for the next year and a half or whatever it was.”
	ROYAL TRUX: Royal Trux LP (DC 005LP) 16.00 “First vinyl pressing since the original 1988 Royal Records LP issue. First time on Drag City.”

DUSTY GROOVE

MCNEIR, RONNIE: Ronnie McNeir CD (DGA 3020CD) 12.00 “The first album from Detroit soul genius Ronnie McNeir — a ’70s mellow masterpiece all the way through! The record’s an incredible blend of electric piano, soulful vocals, and flowing rhythms — an amazing accomplishment for the young Ronnie, and a record that we’d rank right up there with ’70s classics by Stevie Wonder, Leroy Hutson, and Donny Hathaway. Bits of dialogue are interspersed with some of the tracks, making the set a really unified full-length effort — not just a batch of groovers and ballads, but a well-conceived album that’s quite unique. McNeir’s vocals are wonderful — powerful, yet very personal, too — and his keyboard work really supports the album’s righteous vibe. Hardly a hit in 1972, the record’s ripe for rediscovery these many decades later — years ahead of its time, and finally getting its due! First time on CD — and never reissued on vinyl.”

EREBUS RECORDS (UK)
	GEDO: Gedo CD (EREBUS 002CD) 19.00 “Superb limited edition card digipak containing 4-page booklet with band info and photos. Gedo’s first and self-titled album from 1974 was recorded live and is mostly hard rock with some psychedelic touches. A good mix of old-style rock’n'roll and heavier high-energy guitar rock with the occasional lighter, almost morose moment. A furious ‘Born To Be Wild’ rush of proto-Ramones. Gedo is a trio led by the charismatically androgynous guitarist/vocalist Hideto Kanoh, ex-The M, Masayuki Aoki ex-Too Much (bass) and Ryoichi Nakano (drums). Gedo had a big biker following and were a very popular act at the festivals that were a major feature of 1970s Japan rock culture. This album features at number 30 in Julian Cope’s Japrocksampler Top 50.”
	KAWACHI & FRIENDS, KUNI: Kirikyogen CD (EREBUS 021CD) 17.00 “After the release of the Challenge album in 1969 by the proto Flower Travellin’ Band, Yuya Uchida brought in Kuni Kawachi, organist and leader of The Happenings Four. They spent the early part of 1970 putting together a series of recordings which were very melodic, but psychedelic and strung-out. This project surfaced as Kirikyogen by Kuni Kawachi & Friends, after the demise of The Flower Travellin’ Band. Julian Cope rates Kirikyogen at number 25 in his top 50 Jap rock albums of all time: ‘An entire album of classic songs, featuring the aforementioned Flower Gods in pole positions throughout. (Akira ‘Joe’ Yamanaka on lead vocal and Hideki Ishima on guitar). Moreover an early version of Flower’s non-LP single ‘Map’ lurks within, hiding behind the title ‘Music Composed Mainly By Humans.’ While dry, spaced-out and highly original hard rocking ballads occupy side one, side two is possessed of a hitherto unseen acoustic side of Hideki Ishima’s playing in the highly catchy ‘Graveyard Of Love,’ ‘Classroom For Women’ and the late Velvets-styled ‘Scientific Investigation.’ And while Joe’s tonsils never get the same rigorous overhauling that his Flower cohorts demand, even his most gentle contributions herein showcase ‘that’ voice to perfection.’”
	YONIN BAYASHI: Ishoku-Sokuhatsu CD (EREBUS 025CD) 17.00 “Yonin Bayashi made its studio album debut with Ishoku-Sokuhatsu in 1974, when all of the members were 20. Their virtuoso performances and experimentation in the studio were exceptional and impressive at the dawn of the Japanese rock business. The sound was a mixture of Pink Floyd, Yes, Deep Purple or Frank Zappa with Hendrix-esque guitar and Procol Harum-like drumming. Yonin Bayashi broke up in 1979. Julian Cope rated Ishoku-Sokuhatsu at number 49 in his top 50 Jap rock albums of all time: ‘From mock Italian harmonies and bossanova rhythms, they’ll thrust straight into pure Van der Graaf Generator as played by the first Alice Cooper band, then off into some American guitar epic treks, perhaps with a 13/8 moment thrown in for good measure. This album is progressive pop music in a similar manner to that of solo Todd Rundgren or even the Zombies’ experimental LP Odyssey & Oracle.’”
	HAPPY END: Happy End CD (EREBUS 027CD) 17.00 “Presented here is Happy End’s eponymous first album that was originally released in 1970 on URC. Happy End was a Japanese folk rock band which existed between 1970 and 1973. The band’s pioneering avant-garde sound is highly revered, and they are considered to be one of the most influential bands in Japanese music. In fact, Happy End is listed at number 4 in HMV Japan’s list of the top 100 Japanese popular artists of all time! Happy End was formed by ex-Apryl Fool’s Haruomi Hosono and Takashi Matsumoto and after its demise, Hosono went on to form the Yellow Magic Orchestra. Unlike most contemporary Japanese bands of the time, Happy End also refused to sweeten their albums with scatterings of Western rock covers, even presenting their songs in the Japanese language. Happy End’s music is most reminiscent of soft rock such as Wheatfield Soul-period Guess Who, a slightly heavier CSN&Y and Badfinger.”
	KAPLAN BROTHERS, THE: Nightbird CD (EREBUS 041CD) 17.00 “The ultimate lounge-rock extravaganza. A self-proclaimed ‘electric symphony’ that mixes Ennio Morricone with King Crimson as recorded by a Holiday Inn/bar mitzvah band from outer space. Crooner vocals soar on top of overly-elaborate keyboard arrangements as the music abruptly throws you from one intense mood into another in true psychedelic fashion. No ideas are discarded as the meaning of life unfolds in glitzy Z-grade fashion — if there’s a bad, cheesy move to be made, they’ll go for it. These guys probably thought they’d made the greatest LP of all time, and in a way, I guess it is — even regular folks with no interest in this scene are blown away by the Kaplans’ unsurpassed pretense and lack of reality-checks. Must be heard to be believed, preferably on acid.” –Acid Archives

EM RECORDS (JAPAN)

WICKED WITCH: Chaos: 1978-86 CD (EM 1080CD) 18.00 First-time ever reissue of rare evil psycho machine-funk from ’80s Washington, D.C., including previously-unreleased mixes. Now is not the time to doubt your senses — the Wicked Witch does exist. Born and raised in the musical magical cauldron of Washington D.C., Wicked Witch combines elements from alchemical mentors Parliament Funkadelic, Sun Ra, ESG, Run DMC, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix to cast a crazed spell on the innocent listener. An evil mass of machine-funk with lashings of rhythm and blues and fusion delivered direct from the heart of the Witch, a misunderstood psycho-genius weaving his solo web deep within the dark studio walls. Trained by masters at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Wicked Witch is in full control; he plays all, knows all, tells all. His message will not be denied. Believe your ears, believe your eyes: the Wicked Witch does indeed exist. First-time ever re-issue, remastered from the original master tapes, including rare photos.

RANDLE, DOUG: Songs For The New Industrial State CD (LITA 034CD) 16.00 “‘A stunning collection of new songs for and about the time we live in,’ billed the text on the backside of composer Doug Randle’s 1971 release, Songs For The New Industrial State. In 2009, the same holds true. Doug was, and still is, a writer, arranger, musician, and conductor with roots deep in the Canadian jazz scene of the 1950s. After a lengthy spell working in England during the first half of the 1960s, he returned to Toronto and took up an in-house position at the government-sanctioned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), where in 1970 he recorded his very own ‘What’s Going On.’ Commercially released by the short-lived Kanata Records label, Songs was an introspective look at ever-dominant corporations, the cutthroat advertising world, our consumer society, decaying environment, and his own personal condition. The results crossed the epic studio creations of David Axelrod’s Capitol output (or Spanish folk-rock fuelled Pride LP) with Free Design vocal harmonies from notable vocalists Tommy Ambrose and Laurie Bower (Billy Van Singers, Mutual Understanding, Laurie Bower Singers). Randle himself describes his long-forgotten efforts as, ‘my bitter and twisted Simon & Garfunkel songs,’ and though the lyrical content is indeed weighty, Songs’ backing tracks successfully merge swinging sunshine pop and atmospheric orchestrations with a groovy backbeat performed by the cream of Toronto’s heralded studio scene (Moe Koffman, Peter Appleyard, Rob McConnell, and Guido Basso, to name a few). It’s an album like you’ve never heard, and one under the radar of even the most dedicated crate-diggers. Songs For The New Industrial State’s much-needed re-release was spearheaded by Canadian music historian and Jamaica-Toronto series producer Kevin Howes (aka Sipreano) and comes replete with OG liner notes from legendary jazz scribe, one-time Downbeat editor, singer, and songwriter Gene Lees, archival images courtesy of Randle, audio taken from the original CBC master tapes, complete lyrics, and stellar art direction courtesy of Vincent Cook (2Step Tokyo, Jamaica-Toronto) that remains faithful to the period issue. In spite of the reductive pop sensibilities and fashion-conscious trends that dominate our modern marketplace, we are ecstatic to reintroduce Songs’ insubordinate cry to a global audience. Let’s all ensure Randle’s lost letter gets read nice and loud on this go-’round.”

NEW WORLD RECORDS

POLANSKY, LARRY: The Theory Of Impossible Melody CD (NW 80684CD) 15.00 Performed by Jody Diamond, Chris Mann (voice); Phil Burk and Larry Polansky (live computers, fretless electric guitars); Robin Hayward (tubas). “Among the lineages of knowledge that Larry Polansky (b. 1954) has woven together in his creative work, as both a composer and theorist, have been mathematics, intonation theory, cybernetics, systems theory, artificial intelligence, musicology (both Western and non-Western), American Sign Language, and Jewish mysticism. He has combined these and many other fields of study together into some of the most important music written by anyone of his generation while retaining status as the composer who is most worthy of being called a true theorist. In many ways, his compositions are themselves injunctive demonstrations of his theoretical insights that stand as critiques of the theoreticism that is now endemic to the art world. This intellectual integrity and facility has also been responsible for one of the most interesting characteristics of Polansky’s compositional output. His music is one of the most successful, and rare, examples of a confluence between two, generally conflicting, 20th century musical streams. Like his mentor, James Tenney — and many other late 20th century experimental masters who were inspired by the aesthetic innovations of Cage — Polansky creates musical expositions of phenomenal reality. Sometimes these are based in psychoacoustic science, and sometimes they are grounded in mathematical formalisms. Sometimes they explore both at once. What he also manages to do — and this is where he succeeds at the above-mentioned confluence — is so often reveal these concepts within an expressive musical frame that is strongly linked to more traditional musical values.”

YAZOO
	VA: The Secret Museum Of Mankind Vol. 1 CD (YAZ 7004CD) 16.00 …Ethnic Music Classics: 1925-48. This series of archival 78 transfers originally came out in 1995. “Compiled here are many of the greatest performances of world and ethnic music ever recorded. This volume represents a trip around the world, stopping at each port to sample one of that country’s finest recordings of its indigenous music. Each of these recordings was captured at a period during the golden age of recording when traditional styles were at their peak of power and emotion. Included inside are extensive notes and beautiful period photographs that work together with the music to communicate an exciting sense of discovery.” “One of the most consistently rewarding world music compilations in years, the cuts range from Macedonian fiddle jaunts to Puerto Rican Christmas tunes, from Abyssinian religious chants to ominous Japanese court music. The instruments include Ukrainian sleigh bells, Sardinian triple pipes, Vietnamese moon lutes and Ethiopian one-string violins…a profound artistry lurks beneath the alien vernaculars.” — Village Voice; Vol. 1 contains music from Nigeria, Sardinia, Russia, Ceylon, Rajahstan, Cuba, Rumania, Vietnam, Macedonia, Morocco, and more. Includes a 15-page booklet with liner notes on each track and photos.
	VA: The Secret Museum Of Mankind Vol. 2 CD (YAZ 7005CD) 16.00 …Ethnic Music Classics: 1925-48. 1995 release. Early 20th century recordings from Bulgaria, Puerto Rico, India, Mozambique, Ukraine, Trinidad, Kazakhstan, Ceylon, Tibet and elsewhere, compiled by archivist Pat Conte. “Contains some of the most simply beautiful performances you’ll ever hear … the material here is almost entirely unself-conscious, culturally uncompromised and solely concerned with being the best version of itself that it can be … this album is designed to dazzle and delight.” –Vibes; Includes a 15-page booklet with liner notes on each track and photos.
	VA: The Secret Museum Of Mankind Vol. 3 CD (YAZ 7006CD) 16.00 …Ethnic Music Classics: 1925-48. 1996 release. “No world music fan should be without these packages which are full of unadulterated, pre-Westernized exotic delights.” –Jazz Times; “A punch-drunk medley of everything from Chinese zither to Spanish bagpipes to Indian seven-string violin to Laotian mouth organ.” –Commercial Appeal. Includes a 15-page booklet with liner notes on each track and photos.
	VA: The Secret Museum Of Mankind Vol. 4 CD (YAZ 7010CD) 16.00 …Ethnic Music Classics: 1925-48. 1997 release. Music from Sweden, Bolivia, Crete, Italy, Madagascar, Pakistan, Kuwait, Albania, Serbia, Hungary and more. “Some of the most intense musical experiences available come from outside the Western musical sphere, and from a time of our ancestors … one of the most fascinating world music series … something akin to a revelation.” –Jazz Times; Includes a 15-page booklet with liner notes on each track and photos.
	VA: The Secret Museum Of Mankind Vol. 5 CD (YAZ 7014CD) 16.00 …Ethnic Music Classics: 1925-48. 1998 release. Music from Peru, Rhodesia, Martinique, Sardinia, Armenia, Syria, Finland, Mississippi and more. “The most captivating repository of exotica … this compilation is a window into a distant past, resuscitating vintage forgotten recordings… like an overwhelming musical atlas.” –Toronto Now; Includes a 15-page booklet with notes on each track and photos.

ALGA MARGHEN (ITALY)

GOLDSTEIN, MALCOLM: Early Electronic/Tape Collage Music LP (MARGHEN 025LP) 27.00 “Alga Marghen proudly presents an LP edition including some of the seminal electronic/tape collage pieces by Malcolm Goldstein, created in close connection to the sulphuric New York pre-Fluxus environment of the early 1960s. The 1960s downtown New York City, rich with activities, doors opening upon a world fertile with possibilities: the delightful unknown. Malcolm Goldstein first worked at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, then joined the Judson Dance Theater with dancers, musicians, poets, and visual artists all interacting in the common ground of improvisation/exploration. Most of the music on this recording was created for the Judson Dance Theater, ‘Sheep Meadow’ (1966), a collage of two musics, folk & court music, was realized on a very cheap single tape recorder that offered its own electronic distortion embellishments. It was created for an anti-war demonstration to be held in that meadow of Central Park, with a dancer on top of a flat-bed truck and with loudspeakers. ‘Images Of Cheng Hsieh’ (1967) was for a dance by Carol Marcy at Judson Church, simultaneously with an instrumental ensemble performing from the calligraphic graphic score, with the name of Cheng Hsieh. ‘It Seemed To Me’ (1963) was composed for a dance by Arlene Rothlein; a collage of traditional musics chosen by her to be incorporated with electronic sounds. ‘Judson #6 Piece’ (1963) was for Ruth Emerson, using only electronic sounds. Finally ‘Illuminations From Fantastic Gardens’ (1964), the only composition for a vocal ensemble on this recording, was composed for Elaine Summers’ ‘An Evening of Fantastic Gardens,’ a multi-media event of dance, music, film and visual projections, as part of the Judson Dance Theater concerts. It is the first music notated by Malcolm Goldstein with graphic renditions of the words of Rimbaud and without traditional music notation. Two performers were trained singers, while the others were a visual artist and an actor; two women & two men, all in the spirit of the times, sources coming together, as art & life blended in an overflowing of exploration. Edition limited to 350 copies, also including a 12-page large booklet with the reproduction of the complete ‘Illuminations From Fantastic Gardens’ graphic score.”

DUST-TO-DIGITAL

VA: Art Of Field Recording Volume II 4CD BOX (DTD 012CD) 60.00 Subtitled: Fifty Years of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum. This is volume 2 of Dust-to-Digital’s robust and highly-acclaimed Art of Field Recording series, assembled by esteemed archivist Art Rosenbaum. This impressive 4CD set includes ballads, blues, spirituals, work songs and slave songs, religious singing and other traditional folk music from Georgia, Arkansas, Texas, Florida and elsewhere. Housed in a 10″x10″x10″ color cardboard box containing a 96-page perfect-bound book with over 100 illustrations and photographs, and four CDs with a total of 107 tracks. Founded by Lance Ledbetter in 1999, Dust-to-Digital’s mission is to produce high quality cultural artifacts which combine rare, essential recordings with historic images and detailed texts describing the artists and their works. Art is a painter, a muralist, and an illustrator, as well as a collector and performer of traditional American folk music. He has been collecting and studying traditional American music for over 50 years. His focus covers Appalachian banjo tunes and ballads, Southern and Midwestern fiddle tunes, blues and spirituals. Rosenbaum began seeking out traditional performers while in his teens, rediscovering and recording the great blues guitarist Scrapper Blackwell and fiddler John W. Summers, both in his then-home state of Indiana. His fieldwork has produced archival material in the Indiana University Folklore Archives, the University of Georgia Libraries and the Archives of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. His Art of Field Recording Vol. I was nominated for an Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research from the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. “Rosenbaum is a folk revivalist of the old school. He believes that traditional ballads, blues, spirituals, and fiddle tunes are among the glories of American culture, and he wanted to help preserve and disseminate them. Ledbetter, forty years younger, was less interested in preservation than in inspiration — the best he could do for folk music, Ledbetter seemed to feel, was to research, remaster, and repackage it as beautifully as possible to make the old songs seem new again.” –The New Yorker, “The Last Verse: Is there any folk music still out there?”

ELICA (ITALY)

FERRARI, LUC: Presque Rien Avec Luc Ferrari DVD (ELICA 4290DVD) 19.00 “The first DVD release on Elica is a beautiful 50-minute portrait of composer Luc Ferrari made by his friend Jacqueline Caux with Olivier Pascal, which is fully informative and acutely representative of Ferrari’s spirit. Featuring Elise Caron, as Luc Ferrari and herself, and Luc Ferrari, as himself only, going through archive documentation, intriguing dialogues, invented autobiographies, music performances, evocative installations, sidewalk accidents, encounters with sound-sculptor Christof Schläger and electro musician eRikm, etc. Documenting the work of one of the most groundbreaking and seductive composers of the 20th century, this film also shows Luc Ferrari’s ‘extremely libertarian personality: his spontaneity, his inclination towards hedonism and sensuality, his curious and open character, his rejection of all kind of power and of all stable position within institutions, his pronounced taste for games, his sense of self-derision and his ferocious refusal of all dogmatism.’ Jacqueline Caux is a writer, film-maker and organizer of live events, who is the author of the essential interview book with Luc Ferrari (same title as the film) as well as books on Anne Halprin and Louise Bourgeois, and is the author of several experimental films and remarkable documentaries, which include the highly-acclaimed Detroit: The Cycle of The Mental Machine on Detroit techno and a brand new film on the performance of Ferrari’s ‘Symphonie Dechirée.’ Olivier Pascal has collaborated, among others, with film-director Claude Duty. Original French version with English subtitles; NTSC region-free DVD in large format digipak cover with notes in French and English by Jacqueline Caux.”

ROBOT

FERRARI, LUC: Archives Génétiquement Modifiées/Société II CD (ROBOT 039CD) 16.00 “Robot Records is honored and pleased to present two historic compositions for the first time on CD by the late, great Luc Ferrari. The programme opens with ‘Archives Génétiquement Modifiées’ (Genetically Modified Archives), a work for ‘memorized sounds’ from 2000. This composition (subtitled: ‘Exploitation des Concepts No. 3′) was the third in a series of later pieces in which Mr. Ferrari revisited aspects of his early concepts and compositional strategies to create wholly new works. The result here is a very bizarre, sensual, and beautifully-paced electroacoustic work of aural memories and (re)collections created by Mr. Ferrari utilizing sounds from his vast archive of musical activities. After a short intermission, the program continues with a true highlight of Mr. Ferrari’s early instrumental work entitled ‘Société II’ from 1967. Subtitled: ‘Et Si Le Piano Était Un Corps De Femme’/'And If The Piano Were The Body Of A Woman’ (for 4 soloists and 16 instruments), this composition appeared opposite ‘Presque Rien’ on the legendary Deutsche Grammophon LP. ‘Société II’ may be viewed as an erotically-charged piece of musical theater where the soloists ‘compete’ for the attention of a woman (the piano). This concerto, with its gestures and a fantastic kaleidoscope of styles and color, shows the extravagant qualities of the piano in its ‘harmony, imagination, and brutality.’ Packaged in a full-color digipak with a 20-page bilingual (French/English) booklet featuring Mr. Ferrari’s early artwork, notations, and program notes, along with an extensive commentary by Jim O’Rourke and Jay Sanders. Remastered sound with audio restoration by fellow INA GRM alumnus, Jean Schwarz. A wonderful glimpse into the world of one of the most legendary, unique, and inspiring musical figures of the 20th century.”

CHANGE RECORDS

PRAN NATH, PANDIT: Earth Groove: The Voice Of Cosmic India LP (CHANGE 033LP) 14.00 Gray-area reissue of the first Western LP release from Indian vocalist Pandit Pran Nath. Originally issued on the Douglas label in the U.S., in 1968. “Classic, late ’60s performance by the master of Indian vocal music. Two sidelong pieces grace this record. A morning raga and an evening raga. Vocals with sitar and tabla accompaniment. Not easy listening by any means, but rewarding in the end.”

ACME (UK)
	HOWELL & JOHN FERDINANDO, PETER: Alice Through The Looking Glass LP (H&F 001LP) 26.00 “For the first time ever, here’s a vinyl reissue of the mega-rare and legendary UK acid-folk private pressing from 1969. At the time, only a handful of copies were pressed, and so, as an original, this is a £1500-plus top of the league rarity! This official reissue has come from the original masters and directly transferred by Peter Howell himself from the original machine that recorded the album and comes with an exact reproduction of the original album sleeve for the very first time since 1969! A strictly limited edition of 500 copies only on deluxe DMM vinyl, shrinkwrapped and stickered.”
	TOMORROW COME SOMEDAY: Original Soundtrack LP (SNP 097LP)26.00 “For the first time ever, here’s an official reissue of Peter Howell/John Ferdinando’s soundtrack of the film Tomorrow Come Someday from 1970. Like Alice, only a handful of copies were made back then, and this is now a £1000-plus mega bucks item. From the musicians who made the legendary Agincourt and Ithaca albums, here is the second album that this duo made. The short film was given a limited release at the time, and the folk flavor throughout the soundtrack feature male and female vocals. This superb reissue has come from the original master tapes, directly transferred by Peter Howell himself from the original machine that recorded the album! A strictly limited edition of 500 copies only on deluxe DMM vinyl, shrinkwrapped and stickered.”

SWEET DANDELION (UK)
	SOM IMAGINARIO: Som Imaginario LP (SWDDL 713LP) 29.00 “Som Imaginário’s 1970 debut is one of the most acclaimed albums from that era in Brazil, for those who know it. Even upon its release, it drew the attention of international stars such as Herbie Hancock. As Tropicalist as Os Mutantes, and as psychedelic as Modulo 1000, this will be one of your favorites from the moment you listen to it. The album is full of psychedelic effects and pounding beats, all blended with traditional Brazilian styles like samba and bossanova, and with that special magic that music out of this country has. Finally reissued in vinyl, this is the key to completing your Brazilian psych collection. Limited to 500 copies, with remastered sound and preserving the original artwork.”
	THEM: Them LP (SWDDL 714LP) 29.00 “After the departure of Van Morrison, the legendary Them reformed in the U.S. where they released a couple of albums for Tower as well as a bunch of singles. In 1970, with only bassist Jerry Cole left from the original formation, they recorded this rare album for the money-laundering label Happy Tiger. Allegedly counting on contributions by guitarist Ry Cooder and well-known composer/producer Jack Nitzsche (whose worked with the Rolling Stones, Phil Spector, Neil Young and many others), this album is, in our opinion, the best of Them’s American output. With a much rawer sound than their psych-pop Tower efforts, here you’ll find snotty garage-punk, waves of fuzz, strong vocals and pounding drum breaks (just listen to the opening track!), with a style ranging from garage punk to trippy psychedelia, a spoonful of Eastern music and a brief hint of country (‘Take A Little Time’). Limited to 500 copies, with remastered sound and preserving the original artwork.”
	ZOMBIES, THE: Begin Here LP (SWDDL 715LP) 29.00 “No need to introduce them — nobody will disagree that The Zombies are one of the seminal bands from the ’60s. Before their pop-psych masterpiece Odyssey & Oracle, containing ‘Time of the Season,’ a worldwide hit still known to younger audiences today through numerous TV spots, in 1964, they released their debut album Begin Here as a follow-up to their hit single She’s Not There. The record is a perfect showcase of the Zombies’ unique early style combining R&B, beat and even a hint of jazz. Every track here is a winner. 14 perfectly-executed compositions by 5 dedicated musicians. It’s really hard to describe such one-of-a-kind music, but let’s just say, if we had to burn all our records and save only five of them, this would stay on the shelf. Now reissued on vinyl after many years of being unavailable. Get it now, before you need to wait another decade! Limited to 500 copies, with remastered sound and preserving the original artwork.”

HARMONIA MUNDI (FRANCE)

LIGETI/HEPPENER: Lux Aeterna CD (HMC 901985) 20.00 “Both György Ligeti and Dutch composer Robert Heppener belong to the generation born in the 1920s that formed the basis for the post-war avant-garde. The 1966 premiere of Ligeti’s Lux Aeterna (now best known from its use by Stanley Kubrick in his film 2001: A Space Odyssey) marked nothing short of the birth of a new musical language. His later ‘Sonata For Solo Viola’ simultaneously evokes the polyphony of the 14th century and certain varieties of ethnic music. Written in the 1990s, it continues to emphasize complex mechanical rhythms, but in a less densely chromatic idiom. Heppener’s ‘Im Gestein,’ a cycle of lieder to poems by Paul Celan that won Heppener the Matthijs Vermeulen Prize in 1993, is here recorded for the first time.”

NEW WORLD RECORDS
	JOSEL, SETH: The Stroke That Kills CD (NW 80661CD) 15.00 Performed by Seth Josel on electric guitar, electric bass. Works by Eve Beglarian, Alvin Curran, David Dramm, Michael Fiday, Tom Johnson, and Gustavo Matamoros. “Over the past twenty-plus years, Seth Josel has established himself as a leader in helping to shape the electric guitar’s burgeoning future as a ‘classical’ instrument. This album is a statement not only of his artistry as a performer, but also as a curator of new music for the guitar. The six pieces on this recording demonstrate a variety of means and approaches spanning the reified electric flamenco of David Dramm to the sound-art abstractions of Gustavo Matamoros. David Dramm’s (b. 1961) ‘The Stroke That Kills’ (1993) is rooted in the fierce rhythmic strumming of the flamenco style, but its translation to the electric guitar propels the music to a harder, more vicious place. Michael Fiday’s (b. 1961) ‘Slapback’ (1997) is inspired by a live recording of The Who in which the guitarist Pete Townsend plays a duet with himself as his sound echoes off the arena wall. In ‘Slapback,’ the guitar performance –heard in the right stereo channel — is repeated, by means of an electronic delay unit, one eighth-note later in the left stereo channel. Like ‘Slapback,’ Eve Beglarian’s (b. 1958) ‘Until It Blazes’ (2001) utilizes an electronic delay to augment the guitarist’s performance, but unlike in the Fiday, Beglarian’s use of echo does not create a separate contrapuntal line. Rather, it helps create a soundspace in which the delay effect promotes a sense of ambient depth and a more subtle sense of syncopation. Tom Johnson’s (b. 1939) ‘Canon For Six Guitars’ (1998) is a process piece where rigorous adherence to its initial conditions of pitch and rhythm ultimately produces something of a commentary on itself. The idea of building a composition around a formalized exploration of the guitar as a harmonic medium is also taken up by Alvin Curran (b. 1938) in ‘Strum City’ (1999). The first movement is relatively straightforward and presents a long series of chords, not unlike a chorale, through the aural gauze of the strum. While ‘Strum City”s first movement is uncritically and unabashedly strum-centric, the second and third movements break apart the strum’s dual temporal nature, each focusing on one of the strum’s dual aspects. Gustavo Matamoros’s (b. 1957) ‘Stoned Guitar’ (2005) comprises two separate sub-pieces: ‘Stoned Guitar’ and ‘TIG Welder.’ ‘TIG Welder’ is a recording of the eponymous device that is played simultaneously with the performance of the ‘Stoned Guitar’ score. The balance between guitar and recording is determined by means of external electronics as stipulated by the composer.”
	MUSICA ELETTRONICA VIVA: MEV 40 (1967-2007) 4CD (NW 80675CD) 60.00 A fourty-year overview on 4 sprawling CDs. MEV were and still are: Alvin Curran, Frederic Rzewski, Richard Teitelbaum, Karl Berger, Allan Bryant, Steve Lacy, George Lewis, Garrett List, Carol Plantamura, Gregory Reeve, Ivan Vandor. “Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV) was begun one evening in the spring of 1966 by Allan Bryant, Alvin Curran, Jon Phetteplace, Carol Plantamura, Frederic Rzweski, Richard Teitelbaum and Ivan Vandor in a room in Rome overlooking the Pantheon. MEV’s music right from the start was also totally open, allowing all and everything to come in and seeking in every way to get out beyond the heartless conventions of contemporary music. Taking its cue from Tudor and Cage, MEV began sticking contact mics to anything that sounded and amplified their raw sounds: bed springs, sheets of glass, tin cans, rubber bands, toy pianos, sex vibrators, and assorted metal junk; a crushed old trumpet, cello and tenor sax kept us within musical credibility, while a home-made synthesizer of some 48 oscillators along with the first Moog synthesizer in Europe gave our otherwise neo-primitive sound an inimitable edge. In the name of the collectivity, the group abandoned both written scores and leadership and replaced them with improvisation and critical listening. Rehearsals and concerts were begun at the appropriate time by a kind of spontaneous combustion and continued until total exhaustion set in. It mattered little who played what when or how, but the fragile bond of human trust that linked us all in every moment remained unbroken. The music could go anywhere, gliding into self-regenerating unity or lurching into irrevocable chaos — both were valuable goals. In the general euphoria of the times, MEV thought it had re-invented music; in any case it had certainly rediscovered it.” –Alvin Curran. “This 4CD set, covering the years 1967-2007, comprises the best surviving recorded documents from four decades of performances, personally curated by its three core members — Alvin Curran, Frederic Rzewski, and Richard Teitelbaum. As such, it is an invaluable historical anthology of one of the pioneering and truly legendary exponents of live-electronic music.” Features: “SpaceCraft” (1967), “Stop The War” (1972), “Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Pts. 1 & 2″ (1982), “Kunstmuseum, Bern” (1990), “New Music America Festival” (1989), “Ferrara, Italy” (2002), “Mass. Pike” (2007).

BASTA (NETHERLANDS)
	VA: Anthology Of Dutch Electronic Tape Music, Volume 1 1955-1966 2CD (BASTA 9182) 22.00 “The two-volume Anthology of Dutch Electronic Tape Music was originally released in the late 1970s on limited edition vinyl by the Donemus Composers’ Voice label. Compiled by electronica pioneer Dick Raaijmakers, the series offered an authoritative survey of electronic tape music composed in the Netherlands from 1955 to 1977. Those LPs are long out of print and highly sought by collectors. Basta has now reissued this historic series on CD. In 2004, Basta collaborated with NEAR (the Nederlands Elektro-Akoestisch Repertoirecentrum) and Donemus on Popular Electronics: Early Dutch Electronic Music from Philips Research Laboratories. This 4CD boxed set with seven booklets presented vintage tape music recorded from 1956 to 1963 by Dutch composers Dick Raaijmakers (aka Kid Baltan), Tom Dissevelt, and Henk Badings. In Holland, as in other countries, electronic music produced up to 1966 was often prepared for concerts. After 1966, electronic music expanded as advanced computer technology was developed, live electronic music received more attention, electronic music was accorded a place in conservatory and university curricula, and private studios were set up by and for groups of improvising musicians. Therefore 1966-1967, a pivotal period in the history of Dutch electronic music, marks the dividing line of these collections. Volume 1 includes tape music from 1955 to 1966, and Volume 2 documents tape music from the ‘open studios’ from 1966 to 1977. The new Anthology reissues were compiled from the original source tape recordings, which have been well-preserved and meticulously remastered. The packages (each contains two CDs) include the original liner notes from the Composers’ Voice releases, including an extensive historical overview by Raaijmakers. These releases launch a series of new anthologies spotlighting electro-acoustic music composed and recorded in the Netherlands during this seminal era. Electronic musicians have been intensely active in the Netherlands since 1955, and the variety of this activity is reflected in the large number of studios devoted to electronic music. Anthology Vol. 1 illustrates both the work of legendary studios and of individual composers — the latter represented by their earliest and most characteristic pieces. The majority of the works are exercises and étude-style compositions.” Artists include Hans Kox, Ton de Leeuw, Jan Boerman, Jaap Spek, Rudolf Escher, Henk Badings, Dick Raaijmakers, Ton de Leeuw, Frits Weiland, Tom Dissevelt, Axel Meijer, Robbert Jan de Neeve, Peter Schat, Ton Bruynèl, Bilthoven, Will Eisma, Klaus Gorter, Luctor Ponse and Berend Giltay.
	VA: Anthology of Dutch Electronic Tape Music, Volume 2 1966-1977 2CD (BASTA 9183) 22.00 “This second volume of the Anthology of Electronic Tape Music contains works composed after 1966, when electronic music broadened its horizons and established links with other disciplines, as studios opened their portals to influences and involvement from outside. Although electronic music after 1966 became very fragmented and took many new forms in Holland, Volume 2 of the Anthology aims to provide an overall survey of pure tape music. Other movements, such as computer music, and their links with each other are discussed in the liner notes. We have attempted to offer groundbreaking and influential works as well as first electronic works by pioneering composers. Volume 2 presents composers not represented on Volume 1.” Jacob Cats, Tera de Marez Oyens, Jos Kunst, Gilius van Bergeijk, Frans van Doorn, Thomas Arras, Simeon ten Holt, Victor Wentink, Louis Andriessen, Peter Smith and Tony van Campen.

ANALOG AFRICA (GERMANY)
	VA: African Scream Contest: Raw & Psychedelic Afro Sounds… CD (AACD 063CD) 22.00 …From Benin & Togo 70s. Early 2008 release, now fully available; including a 44-page booklet and slipcase packaging. The mission of Analog Africa is clear: searching in dusty warehouses for forgotten music to keep it alive. All tracks have been officially licensed, usually from the artists who label-head Samy Ben Redjeb also met with for detailed research. He conducted 16 interviews in various cities in Benin and Togo with artists, producers and sound engineers to reconstruct the history of the ’70s music scene for the booklet which also includes many rare photographs directly received from the artists. Like most modern music in French-speaking West African countries, the music of Benin and Togo was influenced by a few main musical currents: Cuban, Congolese and local traditional music, as well as Chanson Française. Additionally, the geographical location of Benin and Togo — sandwiched between Ghana and Nigeria — exposed Beninese and Togolese musicians to highlife music. The cultural and spiritual riches of traditional Beninese music had an immense impact on the sound of Benin’s modern music. Benin is the birth place of Vodun (or, as it is known in the West, Voodoo), and some of the rhythms used during traditional rituals — sakpata, sato, agbadja, tchenkoumé and many others — were fused to soul and Latin music as early as the mid-’60s and later to funk. That fusion is the essence of this compilation. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, rock and soul music started creeping into the region. In particular, the music of James Brown and Johnny Halladay became immensely popular with university students. It was then that the music scene in Benin really started to take off. What made this musical revolution even more interesting is that most of the musicians could not read music. Often the music they made sounded one semi-tone away from being out of tune, but somehow they always managed to bring all the elements together into something new and exciting. One of the greatest bands of their era, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, who are featured on this compilation, took the Afro sound to another level by showing their musical versatility in many forms. Although they were consciously copying Western artists, they would always inject a dose of psychedelic Afro grooves that would make their music unmistakably Beninese. Their biggest song, “Gbeti Madjro” is believed to have revolutionized the music industry in Benin in the ’70s when the country went through a period of political turmoil. The song is full of raw breaks and hypnotic rhythms, as well as screams à la James Brown. After this song, many bands in Benin started screaming on their recordings, hence the title of this compilation. Latin-influenced sounds are present on this compilation, too. Ouidah, a city on the Atlantic coast of Benin, is home to a large Brazilian community, or, as they are called in Benin, “Agoudas.” Members of that community are descendents of slaves who returned from Brazil at the end of the 19th century. Their dances and songs are still being performed and fused into the traditional Beninese rituals. That, too, can be heard in modern Beninese music. The proximity of the giant neighbor Nigeria can be heard on the track “Djanfa Magni” which features the amazing trumpeter/ saxophonist Tidjani Koné fronting the Orchestre Poly-Rythmo. Koné, whose career started in Mali as the founder and band leader of the Rail Band de Bamako, had played with Fela Kuti for a short while, hence the strong Afrobeat influence. There are countless stories to be discovered in the extremely well-researched booklet and the music is truly mind-blowing. So delve into the forgotten raw and psychedelic Afro sounds from ’70s Benin and Togo and experience the African Scream Contest.
	ORCHESTRE POLY-RYTHMO DE COTONOU: Volume One — The Vodoun Effect CD (AACD 064CD) 22.00 …Funk & Sato From Benin’s Obscure Labels 1972-1975. Following the highly-acclaimed African Scream Contest: Raw & Psychedelic Afro Sounds from Benin & Togo ’70s — which featured several tracks by Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou, including the ground-breaking “Gbeti Madjro” — this new Analog Africa collection now focuses entirely on Orchestre Poly-Rythmo. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou is arguably West Africa’s best-kept secret. Their output, both in quantity and quality, was astonishing. During several trips to Benin, label-head Samy Ben Redjeb managed to collect roughly 500 songs which Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou had recorded between 1970 and 1983. With so much material to choose from, he decided to split it into Volume 1 and 2. While Volume 2 will be material the band recorded under an exclusive contract with the label Albarika Store, the band also “secretly” recorded with an array of smaller labels based around Cotonou, Benin’s largest city, and the capital city of Porto Novo. It is those tracks (all officially licensed) that are presented here on Volume One. The producers of those labels were genuine music enthusiasts, some of them ran these labels as a part-time occupation, with very limited budgets. They couldn’t afford high-quality recordings — all they had to work with was a Nagra (a Swiss made reel-to-reel recorder) and a sound engineer — courtesy of the national radio station. These sessions were recorded in private homes using just one or two microphones. The cultural and spiritual riches of traditional Beninese music had an immense impact on the sound of Benin’s modern music. Benin is the birthplace of Vodun (also Vodoun, or, as it is known in the West, Voodoo), a religion which involves the worship of some 250 sacred divinities. The rituals used to pay tributes to those divinities are always backed by music. The majority of the complex poly-rhythms of the Vodun are still more or less secret and difficult to decipher, even for an accomplished musician. Two Vodun rhythms dominate the music of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo: Sato, an amazing, energetic rhythm performed using an immense vertical drum, and Sakpata, a rhythm dedicated to the divinity who protects people from smallpox. Both rhythms are represented here mixed in with funk, soul, crazy organ sounds and psychedelic guitar riffs. In the 44-page booklet, full of rare photographs and record covers, Analog Africa introduces three important producers who were collectively responsible for some of the most amazing music released in Benin: Gratien K. Aissy, of the Echos Sonores du Dahomey label, Bernard Dohounzo, of Disques Tropiques, Lawani Affissoulayi, of Aux Ecoutes, the label behind El Rego & Ses Commandos’ fame, as well as an encounter in Niamey with Honliasso Barnabé, Poly-Rythmo’s producer in Niger. Samy Ben Redjeb also interviewed Vincent Ahehehinnou, the man responsible for composing some of the funkiest stuff ever to come out of Benin, and Kineffo Michel, the sound engineer of Poly-Rythmo’s legendary Nagra “home” recordings. None of these tracks (except one — track 14) have been distributed outside Benin before. Because of financial considerations, most, if not all, of these recordings had very limited pressings that rarely exceeded 1000 copies total and many labels rarely produced more than 500 copies of any given record. The music on this compilation is not only rare, but illustrates how Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, with the support of a number of local record labels, thrived by mixing the coolest parts of funk, soul, Latin and vodun rhythms into a new sound that not only reflected the musical culture and heritage of Benin, but also transformed it and turned the small country into such an incredible musical melting pot. Packaged in a super deluxe slipcase, with a large 44-page illustrated booklet.

MODE

CAGE, JOHN: 49 Waltzes For The Five Boroughs DVD (MODE 204DVD) 27.00 “A complete video realization by Don Gillespie, Roberta Friedman, and Gene Caprioglio. Cage’s 49 Waltzes For The Five Boroughs gives its executants no clues about how they might perform it. Originally created as an invitation by Rolling Stone magazine in 1977, as part of a gala issue celebrating the magazine’s recent move from San Francisco to New York, which featured literary and art contributions honoring its new home. Cage constructed his ‘waltzes’ as a series of 49 multi-colored triangles superimposed on the Hagstrom map of New York City, each point derived by the use of chance operations. The finished composition is a design of singular beauty. Cage was an inveterate New Yorker, and even after his death in 1992 his most unequivocal composition about the city, the 49 Waltzes remained totally neglected. Wanting to celebrate Cage’s memory, Don Gillespie (who worked with Cage at his publisher, C.F. Peters) decided to collect the sights and sounds from all the locations specified in 49 Waltzes. This ambitious project of filming Cage’s 147 specific locations in New York’s five boroughs took a year to complete (1994-1995). It is a film whose subject is the unintentional music made by people, birds, planes, automobiles, police and fire sirens, and countless other debris of sounds. Tidbits of hectic Manhattan contrast with glimpses of quiet outer borough streets, parks and cemeteries. Deciding that two hours was an optimal length, composer Andrew Culver was asked to determine the durations of the 147 locations. Using Cage’s computerized I Ching software, Culver arrived at a string of durations ranging from 16 seconds to 3:44. The results proved tantalizing and also somewhat frustrating, since some of the most interesting locations were very brief and some of the more prosaic were lengthy, forcing one to accept their ordinariness. The film is also an amazing video time capsule document of a New York that has long changed, disappeared and evolved. The video and the audio has been restored for the DVD release, and this is the first time that all of the waltzes are shown in their full duration with previously-cut footage (due to time constraints) restored. Additional features: Actual waltz location viewing, a 16-page booklet with an essay by Don Gillespie and a complete list of each Waltz location; bonus audio realization of ‘Waltz #9,’ recorded by Gillespie in March of 1979. Region 0, NTSC format DVD. Total running time: 2 hr, 7 mins (Feature: 122 minutes, Waltz #9: 6 minutes); Production year: 1994. Aspect ratio: 4:3. 2.0 Dolby stereo. Liner notes: English, German, French.”

SUB ROSA (BELGIUM)

OLIVEROS, PAULINE: Four Electronic Pieces 1959-1966 CD (SR 185CD) 15.50 Sub Rosa presents Pauline Oliveros’ early and definitive tape and electronic music of the late fifties and sixties — all released for the first time ever! Born in Texas in 1932, Pauline Oliveros is more than ever an important American composer. Her accomplishments speak to an array of disciplines: her pieces for accordion; the creation of the Deep Listening Institute, a center dedicated to fostering artistic creativity through workshops, performances, and new technologies; her approach to improvisation in relation to meditation; and her numerous and varied collaborations with, among others, John Cage, Morton Subotnick, Terry Riley, Sonic Youth, Erold and Andrew Deutsch. Each piece on this release exemplifies her systematic exploration of electronic sounds, which was fundamental to this period. “Mnemonics” prefigures her meditative and breathing pieces. “V of IV” structures sound as noise. “Time Perspectives” is among her first variations on silence. Finally, “Once Again” develops a wild energy that out-strips itself, a frenzy the likes of which is hard to find even to this day. As Oliveros explains, the detailed methodology behind her work offers a unique inquiry into the process of artistic invention itself. “My work with electronic music began in 1959. My first tape piece was an ambitious four channel work called ‘Time Perspectives.’ The piece was made by recording small sounds from objects resonated on a wooden wall and changing the tape speed. I used cardboard tubes as filters by inserting the mic into the tube and recording sources through the tubes. I used my bath tub as a reverberation chamber. Sections of the piece were improvised and then subjected to speed changes. When the San Francisco Tape Music Center was established together with Ramon Sender and Morton Subotnik there was a pool of equipment to use and I began to work with electronic sound. Rather than cut and splice small pieces of tape together to make a composition I chose to work in real time. I used two tape machines with the tape running across both machines to make a delay system. I used two or more oscillators at high frequencies to produce different tones. These tones would also interact with the bias frequencies of the tape recorders. I would play the oscillators into the tape recorders improvising my way through the piece. My system of composing in this manner was my own invention.” –Pauline Oliveros

SYNTAX
	CALE, JOHN: Suicide Theme From Process OST 10″ (SYNTAX 35163EP) 14.50 Limited three track 22+ minute 10″ taken from the Process original soundtrack recording by John Cale for avant-garde filmmaker CS Leigh. Haunting solo piano pieces, limited to 500 copies. Originally released in 2005.

MODE

XENAKIS, IANNIS: Electronic Music 2 DVD-AUDIO (MODE 203DVD)27.00 “Mode continues its Xenakis Edition with the second volume dedicated to his electronic works, again restored from the best quality source materials. Both works are commercially released in Surround Sound for the first time. New high-resolution transfers were made of ‘Polytope de Cluny’ (1972-74) from the original analog master tapes. ‘Hibiki Hana Ma’ has been restored from the existing digital masters. ‘Hibiki Hana Ma’ was created for the Expo 1970 World’s Fair in Osaka, Japan, where it was experienced by thousands. It was designed to be played on a tape loop in a hall which boasted state-of-the-art acoustic equipment, with some 700 speakers scattered under the floor, plus 128 surface and suspended speakers symmetrically distributed throughout the pavilion’s amphitheater. Both works have been remixed for Surround DVD by Gerard Pape who worked closely with the composer as the former director of Xenakis’ CCMIX studio in Paris. Dedicated stereo 96khz/24-bit high resolution mix included. Also available on CD (MODE 203CD). Special DVD features: The first commercial release of the experimental film Vasarely, directed by Jacques Brissot and Nicolas Schoeffer, from 1957. The music to this film, focusing on the work of Op-Art artist Victor Vasarely, was scored by Xenakis. This score for ensemble by Xenakis is unique to the film and has never been published elsewhere. The film has been restored and the audio remastered from a 16mm film print for this release. Run time: 51 minutes. Region 0, NTSC. 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital, and DTS. Aspect ration: 4:3, color and b&w. Essays by Sharon Kanach and Makis Solomos.”

$14.99 CD

LOREN CONNORS & JIM O’ROURKE Two Nice Catholic Boys  (Family Vinyeard)  ”Maybe Paris”   ”Most Definitely Not Koln”  Two Nice Catholic Boys is the striking culmination of a collaboration between two of the avant-garde’s most well-loved sons. Loren Connors is an artist who has spent most of his life being largely unknown and Jim O’Rourke probably wishes sometimes that he was largely unknown; but nobody can deny their resounding influence on modern music. Over the years O’Rourke has spread his work across a plethora of genres, from classic rock to uncompromising experimentalism, and he has served to amaze in much of what he has turned his hand to. Connors, on the other hand, has spent years honing and perfecting a sound that is undeniably his own. There is a tone and a spirit that can only belong to Loren Connors, and his well-received anthologies have proved this point beautifully. This album then was difficult to predict — how would two very distinctive sounds work when pitted against each other? Well, Connors allows himself to explore the noisier end of his oeuvre, with the record moving into far more psychedelic territory than one might think from a usually very measured, softly picked player. The two sound at times like they are battling through a dense cloud of distortion that slowly splits to reveal passages of immense beauty and restraint. The loud-quiet-loud technique is effective, giving balance to a distinctly unwieldy bashing of talent and allows both artists to shine in their respective singular styles. Two Nice Catholic Boys is a thunderous yet melancholy experience and a testament to the skill and dedication of two lynchpins of modern guitar music. Need I say more? [JT]