Anyone who orders 5, will get a free surprise disc of a similar nature
Anyone who orders 10 or more will get 2 surprise CD's
Big ReR Sale CD List:
ART BEARS [DAGMAR KRAUSE/FRED FRITH/CHRIS CUTLER] - Winter Songs (ReR AB2; UK) Second brilliant release by the blessed Art Bears. Digi-pack and remastered excellently by Bob Drake, this was the 2nd and best known album by the successor band to Henry Cow, as it was released in the States by The Residents' Ralph label, in the early 80's and at the peak of their market influence at that time. With Dagmar Krause-vocals, Chris Cutler-drums, electronics & Fred Frith-guitars, keyboards, violin, etc. all the rest of Henry Cow. Songs with powerful lyrics built upon experimental kernels. This is many folks' favorite of their three. "Wintersongs...offers an even stronger, clearer set of artistic visions. Here the trio of ART BEARS stand alone, and the stripped- down sense of instrumentation, which almost resembles a standard combo (guitar, bass, piano, drums and singing), makes a simpler (though more poignant) musical statement. Often Fred Frith's penchant for angular melodies is forestalled, and re- placed with single note, "non-melodies" in a sort of minimalist, rhythmic accordance to the text's settings. Experimental studio work and effects abound, yet the sound is more economical and hard-hitting than the band's earlier work." - Steve Feigenbaum, Cuneiform
CD $10
ART BEARS [DAGMAR KRAUSE/FRED FRITH/CHRIS CUTLER] - The World As It Is Today (ReR ReR AB3; UK) This was the 3rd and final album by the successor band to Henry Cow. I'm not really sure why (short playing length? the press had gone onto other things to champion? it wasn't released stateside, unlike the first two?) but this one slipped under the radar of a lot of folks, compared to their 1st two. It's a very bleak, but also a very solid work. And very clever and sly in its own way - who else would have the opening lyrics for "The Song Of Investment Capitol Overseas be: "Out of town; my work takes me out of town"! With Dagmar Krause-vocals, Chris Cutler-drums, electronics & Fred Frith-guitars, keyboards, violin, etc. all the rest of Henry Cow. Songs with powerful lyrics built upon experimental kernels. "A scathing, brutal and disturbingly honest venture into the horrors of contemporary inhumanity and political digression. Here Art Bears forage even more boldly into aspects of using the recording studio as a compositional instrument : A tape of a lawnmower is slowed down several steps to convincingly create the sounds of machine-gun fire and bombs. A Geiger counter is emulated by radically E.Q.ing drum sticks played on a tile flooring in the studio. No punches are pulled, and the band goes all-out on this, their final recording. The playing is aggressive and hefty, and the sound immaculate, intense and, at times, downright scary." - Steve Feigenbaum, Cuneiform
CD $10
BIOTA [MNEMONIST ORCHESTRA/MNEMONISTS: WILLIAM SHARP et al] SUSANNE LEWIS/CHRIS CUTLER et al - Object Holder (ReR B4; UK) Stunning thorough worked piece that breaks new ground altogether; an extraordinary achievement, 3 years in the making and rewriting a lot of rules. Text and singing (Susanne Lewis, inimitably) Also features Charles Vrtacek (Piano), Andy Kredt (Guitar) and Chris Cutler (percussion, electrics, texts). A Dense, profound field of sound, music, silence.
CD $10
BIOTA - Cape Flyaway (ReR B7; UK) Biota craft sonic worlds that relate to, but are not built like, the music with which we are familiar; for them time is a continuum rather than a sequence of events; a simultaneous present in which past and future possibilities exist conterminously.
CD $10
BIOTA / MNEMONIST ORCHESTRA: WILLIAM SHARP et al] - Musique Actuelle 1990 (Anomalous/ReR; UK) Biota was founded in 1979 in Fort Collins, Colorado, as the Mnemonist Orchestra. Over the years, the Mnemonist Orchestra developed into Biota (the musical contingent) and Mnemonists (the visual contingent). Both Biota and Mnemonists work as one on productions of musical and visual components. The group has released nine LPs, one EP, and four CDs on both their own Dys label and Recommended Records UK. Heard on this CD is the first adaption of their studio-based recording techniques since 1981, as presented at Montreal Musiques Actuelles -- New Music America 1990. For their live performance they composed a set of material specifically for the concert and virtually relocated their studio to the stage to properly recreate it. Nine musicians playing only acoustic instruments (aside from electric guitar) were heard natural and unamplified from the stage while extensive electronic processing, heard through the speakers, rendered radical tonal, timbral and temporal modification creating an incredibly unique and strange sound world. Added to this, the two-dimensional graphic work that Mnenomists have become so renowned for was transformed into stunning video projections - beautiful examples of which are now included in the full color booklet accompanying this CD. Yours truly was present at this truly historic event and was under the influence of some exotic psychedelic substance, making this experience even more mind-blowing and completely unforgettable.â€
CD $10
PETER BLEGVAD With CHRIS CUTLER/JOHN GREAVES JAKKO JAKSZYK et al - Just Woke Up (ReR PB2; UK) For my money, the best yet. Great songs performed by Peter, John Greaves, Chris Cutler and various guests including B.J. Cole, Kristoffer Blegvad and Jakko Jakszykx. Roll back the carpet, turn up the stereo. "Just Woke Up marked a kind of comeback to the music scene for Peter Blegvad, who had been enjoying a successful career as a cartoonist in the early '90s. It also announced a change in direction. On this and his subsequent release, Hangman's Hill, the former Slapp Happy singer stripped down his arty avant-garde suit to dive into rootsy folk songs. It resulted in a collection of beautiful pieces with blues and country flavors. Lyrics are still pure Blegvad. Irony is often at the center of his social commentaries and his voice can't help but conjure up the image of a British Bob Dylan. The title track could be the result of an acoustic cross-pollination between John Lennon and the Talking Heads. If the music is simpler and more straightforward, it still features great musicianship, thanks to sidemen John Greaves and Chris Cutler, a star drummer in free improvisation and experimental circles, heard here in one of the most unlikely contexts. The trio is augmented on a few tracks by guests like pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole and ex-Henry Cow Tim Hodgkinson. Fans of Slapp Happy's zaniness or Blegvad's more exploratory solo albums of the 1980s will be caught off-guard by Just Woke Up, but after a couple of listens the strength of these melodies and beauty of these lyrics will win over any fan of intelligent singer/songwriter music. Compared to its follow-up, Hangman's Hill, this one features more diversity in atmospheres and more inspiration overall -- too bad it didn't bring the mainstream break the artist deserved." Francois Couture, AMG
CD $!0
CMCD [CONTEMPORARY MUSIC: JOHN OSWALD/LUTZ GLANDIEN/STEVE MOORE/ et al] - Contemporary Music (ReR CMCD; UK)Six Classic Concrete Electroacoustic and electronic works, 1970-1990 by: John Oswald, George Katzer, Lutz Glandien, Jaroslav Krcek, Steve Moore, Richard Trythall. "Musique Concrete is created by recording various sounds on tape and modifying them in some way. The term was created by Pierre Schaeffer, an early pioneer of this style, to differentiate it from 'normally' composed music, Musique Abstraite. Concentrating on found sounds or natural occurrences, the results of such alterations and manipulations cause the original recordings to express themselves in new and unique ways. This CD collects some of the very best pieces ever constructed; Each piece is a classic, influential, indispensable work, including: John Oswald - 'Parade' (1986) : uses a cube factor increase in tape speed to plunderize several existing versions of Satie's classic, and then fragments and alters the result accordingly "The classic collection of Contemporary, Concrete, Tapeworked and Processed works - and an indispensible survey of a crucial field: Georg Katzer's 'Aide Memoire', John Oswald's 'Parade', Lutz Glandien's 'Es Lebe', Steve Moore's 'A Quiet Gathering', Jaroslav Krcek's Sonaty Slavickove and the classic 'Homaggio a Jerry Lee Lewis' by Richard Trythall. Generous book and pictures."-Chris Cutler. Now out of print
CD $10
CHRIS CUTLER - Twice Around The Earth: Vol 1 On Memory (An Experiment In Listening)(ReR CC2; UK) "An experiment in listening. These compositions are an offshoot of the daily sound-scape program I ran for Resonance FM radio between July 2001-2002, which consisted of commissioned real-time recordings made all around the world between 23.30 and midnight GMT (the time of the broadcast). This CD begins with material from these broadcasts confecting, as it were, two composites of the Earth and a few of its inhabitants, somewhat analogous to what an impossible satellite ear with pinpoint acuity might hear in transit - plus one ear-cleaning stretch between them, taken from a single hear-point. I have tried to make these pieces both open and to work on parallel levels: not only do they have their own narrative and aesthetic qualities, but I hope they also offer a meditation on listening and not listening, interpretation and structure, chance and microphonics. The list of ears around the world who supplied basic material is too long to print here, but it includes many names familiar from these catalogues, and many from the still young sound-scape and phonographic community. Full details of people and places are given in the booklet, along with artwork and thorough notes. You have to trust me on this, its a really engaging record..." - Chris Cutler A few of the artists involved include David Lee Myers, Otomo, Dave Kerman, Annie Gosfield, Bill Harkelroad, Peter Cusak, Jim Denley, Amy Denio, Wadi Gysi & Phil Zampino. There are 82 tracks here, most under a minute. The pieces are continuous and seamlessly woven into a fascinating fabric, an ongoing journey. Dozens of snippets of passing people, cars, wind, water, occasional dialogue, buzzing, scraping, radio, naked and amplified layers of voices in different languages, recordings, singing, motor cycles, electronic sounds, all kaleidoscopicly unfolding. Similar to Chris Brown's recent disc on Pogus, another under-recognized gem. - BLG
CD $10
CHRIS CUTLER - There and Back Again: Volume 2 On Memory (ReR CC3; UK) This disc was commissioned for German Radio as a companion to his previous disc, "Twice Around the World". 44 short (4 seconds to 2 minutes) extracts from Chris' daily radio program were selected from contributors from around the world who sent half-hour segments for Chris to air each night. Although the pieces were selected randomly, they were grouped into arbitrary categories. Each piece is listed with the person who recorded and where they were. Although the pieces overlap, we get a sense of a story unfolding as we move through different audio environments. What I find most interesting about this is that the sounds we hear all evoke different places, feelings, memories, ideas, images, questions, conversations... Allowing us to listen in another way than the way we usually listen to music. The sounds themselves are important as any other information that we take in and consider. - BLG
CD $10
CHRIS CUTLER & ZEENA PARKINS - Shark! (ReR CZ1; UK) Two extended live duos on drums/objects/electronics & harp/melodica/ electrification. From almost subliminal to searingly intense.
CD $19
FAUST - 71 Minutes Of (ReR; UK)Faust are a rightly legendary experimental German ensemble from the early 1970's. This is almost all of two posthumous [late '70s] albums collected on one CD. [ReR] Basically an expanded version of Munich and Elsewhere (which was itself a compilation of unreleased material), with the addition of the unreleased LP Faust Party Three (parts of which had previously appeared only as limited-edition EPs and singles), as well as two previously unreleased tracks.
CD $10
FRED FRITH With SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA [ZAMLA: LARS HOLLMER et al]/THE MUFFINS - Gravity (Fred FRO 01/ReR; UK) Gravity is one of Fred's most enduring & endearing works. It was his first post-Henry Cow solo album, and he recorded it with the backing of The Muffins on one side of the original album and Samla Mammas Manna on the other Marc Hollander. It's the closest thing to a progressive rock disc that Fred has ever released and it's a tuneful yet still avant progressive rock work. If you don't already own this, it is highly recommended! The only caveat is that this new reissue leaves off all the great bonus tracks that were contained on the original [ESD] issue of this title on CD.
CD $10
FRED FRITH With ETRON FOU LELOUBLAN/MASSACRE/GEORGE CARTWRIGHT - Speechless (Fred FRO 04/ReR; UK) ‘Gravity' is one of Fred's most enduring & endearing works. It was his second post-Henry Cow solo album, and he recorded it with the backing of Etron Fou Leloublanc on one side of the original album and Massacre on the other. The only caveat is that this new reissue leaves off all the great bonus tracks that were contained on the original issue of this title on CD.
CD $10
FRED FRITH With JOEY BARON / TOM CORA / GEORGE CARTWRIGHT - Allies: Music For Dance Vol 2 (Fred FRO 07/ReR; UK) Featuring beautifully understated performances from Joey Baron (drums), the late, great master cellist, Tom Cora, and the inimitable sax talents of George Cartwright, Allies is the second in the Music For Dance series, pioneered originally on Fred's Technology Of Tears. While some compositional similarities are reminiscent of that work, Allies employs a more organic approach, weaning mostly acoustic elements into Fred's penchant to explore the musical relationship between the mechanical and the natural elements of sound and modern music. Elegant and meticulously crafted surfaces are constantly under attack from unpredictable elements, creating a particular tension that is haunting and quite unlike any of the composer's other works. The six movements that comprise this amazing disk examine the ways Fred's angular, trademark melodies are constructed/de-constructed, particularly with regards to how multiple melodies can be extracted from a single melodic source. Single notes of different instruments are strung together to 'hocket' particularly gorgeous melodies that expound upon the composer's harmonic developments with mathematical references, much in the same way he is famously known for his work with complex time signatures
CD $10
FRED FRITH - Accidental: Music For Dance Vol 3 (Fred FRA 01/ReR; UK) Any new record from Fred Frith, one of the world's leading avant rock guitarists and composers, is a major event. 'Accidental' was commissioned by a British choreographer who lives in Amsterdam, Paul Selwyn Norton, for a dance piece made with the Batsheva Company in Tel Aviv. For Fred it's a return to basics, a series of deeply contrasting moods achieved with the simplest of means. Throughout the CD, noises of rusty metal, electronic detritus, bits of random radio, improvised cut-up vocals and messed up percussion, suggest an unpredictable and hostile landscape. Fred describes the motivations behind Accidental: "I'm fascinated by accidents. When I do solo improvisations I think of myself as being in continuous dialogue with the unexpected, and its always dynamic. Do I ignore this, do I embrace it, do I integrate it, do I keep my distance? When making this music I was constantly using random elements like radio tuning and trying to frame them in metric or harmonic structures." Fred Frith is the thinking person's guitar hero. Starting out with Henry Cow, in the early 70's, he later became a key component of the New York scene, playing with John Zorn's Naked City, Skeleton Crew, and Massacre (with Bill Laswell). Along the way he contributed to albums by Robert Wyatt and Brian Eno. He regularly tours the world as a solo guitar improviser, and in duos with the likes of ex Pere Ubu and Henry Cow drummer Chris Cutler. As a contemporary classical composer his works have been performed, amongst others, by the Ensemble Modern and the Arditti Quartet. Incredibly, given his history as an avant garde rock guitarist, he is now a professor of composition at the prestigious Mills College in Oakland, California.
CD $10
FRED FRITH/KEEP THE DOG With RENE LUSSIER / JEAM DEROME / BOB OSTERTAG / ZEENA PARKINS / CHARLES HAYWARD / et al - That House We Lived In (Fred FRA 03/ReR; UK) This was Fred's all-star, late 1980's/early 1990's touring band, which played all over Europe and beyond, but strangely never released anything until now! They played many songs that Fred had never done live or not in a long while. The band at the time of these recordings consisted of Jean Derome (saxes, flute, voice), Fred Frith (guitar, bass, violin, voice), Charles Hayward (drums, voice), Rene Lussier (guitar, bass), Bob Ostertag (sampler) and Zeena Parkins (accordion, electric harp, keyboards, voice). There are songs from 'Gravity', 'Speechless', 'Cheap at Half the Price', Massacre's 'Killing Time' and much more. "Every Keep the Dog concert was different. For these CDs I've tried to re-create the feeling of a typical two-set concert. More than anything, this music demonstrates the importance of the collective process...the musicians always had the freedom to twist and turn the music to fit any and every occasion."- Fred Frith.
2 CD Set $15
[HEINER] GOEBBELS and [ALFRED] HARTH - Hommage - Vier Fauste fur Hanns Eisler/Von Sprengen des Gartens (ReR FMP/SAJ GH1; UK) A long and extraordinarily fruitful partnership started here - continuing through the Sogennantes Linksradikales Blasorchester - where Alfred and Heiner picked up Christoph Anders, the three of whom then went on to co-found Cassiber, with Chris Cutler. A critical success in its own time, this duo recorded two more CDs before parting company, each more musically open than its predecessor. These first two sorties are a kind of jazz-inflected, punk-inflected, highly spirited and imaginative - series of adapted Hanns Eisler compositions - as well as some original pieces by the duo itself, who between them cover a lot of instruments, and combinations of instruments, and - ah youth - are never less than hurling themselves into their performances. Heiner went on, after Cassiber, to become one of Germany's leading music-theatre writer and directors, as well as composing for the ensemble modern, orchestras and opera companies (he had an orchestra premiere to mark the opening of the Festival Hall complex in London on July 12th) & has a number of great discs on ECM. Alfred went on to form several other bands, including Gestalt et Jive before relocating to Seoul in Korea, where he now lives and works. He is currently part of Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra. Both LPs [originally released on the FMP sister label SAJ] have been re-mastered for this release by Bob Drake.â€
2 CD Set $15
HENRY COW [FRED FRITH/TIM HODGKINSON/JOHN GREAVES/CHRIS CUTLER/LINDSAY COOPER/GEOFF LEIGH/DAGMAR KRAUSE With ROBERT WYATT] - Concerts (ReR HC5&6; UK) Incredible live recordings from several concerts during Henry Cow's only tour with Robert Wyatt and Dagmar Krause both singing!
2 CD Set $15
HENRY COW [FRED FRITH/TIM HODGKINSON/CHRIS CUTLER/LINDSAY COOPER/ANNEMARIE ROELOFS] - Western Culture (ReR HC4; UK) The group's fourth and final studio LP, Western Culture remained for a long time Henry Cow's hidden treasure. Two factors were instrumental to its occultation (and one more than the other): first, it was not released by Virgin like the other ones; second, it did not have the "sock" artwork common to its brothers. East Side Digital reissued it in the 1990s, giving the fans wider access to it, but they had to wait until January 2002 for a definitive CD reissue on ReR Megacorp, complete with extensive liner notes and three bonus tracks. Obscurity aside, Western Culture remains one of the group's strongest efforts in the lines of composition, especially since the unit was literally torn apart at the time. Side one of the original LP consists of a suite in three parts, "History & Prospects," written by Tim Hodgkinson. The opener, "Industry," stands as one of Henry Cow's finest achievements, the angular melody played on a cheap electric organ hitting you in the face so hard it makes an imprint in your brains. Side two features another suite, this one in four parts and by Lindsay Cooper. While Hodgkinson's music leans toward rock, energy, and deconstruction, her writing embraced more contemporary classical idioms. Filled with contrasting textures and delicate complicated melodies, these pieces showcased another aspect of the group's sound while foretelling her later works. Swiss pianist Irene Schweizer performed a cadenza of sorts in "Gretel's Tale." -- Francois Couture
CD $10
KAMPEC DELORES & ISTVAN GRENSCO - Koncert (ReR KC2; UK) Kampec Dolores are a long lived Hungarian band who operate in the art rock/art punk vein. This is their first ever live album, and features music from the 80's 'til now. "Singer Gabi has developed her own singing, using unknown languages and innovative vocal pyrotechnics. Meanwhile the guitar, sax, bass & drums thrash out haunting mutated melodies, which also draw on folk idioms..."
CD $10
NIKOLA KODJABASHIA - Explosion of a Memory/A Literary Canvas for Orchestra (ReR NK3; UK) Performed by the Macedonian Symphony Orchestra with Balkan electro legend Kiril Dzajkovski, Chris Cutler (percussion), Nikola Kodjbashia (prepared piano), Patric Driver and Valere Novarina (readers). Text fragments are by Heiner Muller and Valere Novarina. A four-dimensional explosion in which stretches of Baroque, folk themes and Byzantine liturgy exist contemporaneously with modern and post-modern materials - much as strata emerge where tectonic plates fold one time over another - settling eventually into long, beautiful, tonal stretches, lighter than air, that drift and attenuate to reveal, dreamily, the old simplicities. Immersive, timeless and unmistakably new, this music respects but definitively breaks with existing schools to explore instead its own geographically unique influences and contradictions. "'Explosion of a Memory' is a homage to my literary heroes: James Joyce, Heiner Muller, Valere Novarina, William Gibson, Euripides and Colin Teevan; it's also a deeply personal epic about the complex relationship between childhood myths, history and perpetual homecoming". - Nikola Kodjabashia
CD $10
CHRISTIAN MARCLAY - More Encores (ReR CM1; UK) More Encores was originally released as a 10" vinyl record in 1988, and is composed entirely of records from players or composers after whom each track is titled. Artists whose vinyl artifacts are subjected to Marclay's treatments include: John Zorn, John Cage, Louis Armstrong Fred Frith, Ferrante & Teicher, Maria Callas, Jimi Hendrix, Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin and Marclay himself! 'Christian Marclay was the first non-rap DJ to make an art form out of the turntable, treating the instrument as a means to rip songs apart, not bridge them together. A long-time associate of Downtown improv figures John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, and Butch Morris as well as the Kronos Quartet...he began using the turntable in ways hardly recommended by owners' manuals and began performing as early as 1979...' - All Music Guide "Here's a tip: For the track dedicated to Cage, he took six different Cage LPs, physically cut the vinyl for them all into one-sixth slices [like pizza slices], then glued one slice from each album to make a composite LP, which thus has a steady click as the needle skips sources every 3/10ths of a second = Cage with an underlying beat! And the turntable manipulation of Hendrix's live 'Machine Gun' cut must be heard to be believed - as really must all the cuts be!" - MannyLunch
CD $10
ELIO MARTUSCIELLO - Unoccupied Areas (ReR EM1; UK) "This is a quiet masterpiece. Five tightly focused electroacoustic compositions that are austere, rich, strange and brilliantly executed. Elio has an ear like a bat and a serious antipathy toward cliche, and he never relies on repetition for structure; these pieces seem rather to grow out of themselves in surprising but somehow logical ways like perfect exotic blooms. His is also a music of extremes, never theoretical but always grounded in the grain of the sounds themselves."
CD $10
MNEMONIST ORCHESTRA [MNEMONISTS/BIOTA] - Horde (ReR B4; UK) The 3rd release by this acclaimed organized sound group from Colorado [that later became Biota], & their first true classic, which is a high-water mark of churning sonic storms. This is some of their finest works. [ReR] "Incredibly bizarre and important first cd reissue by this legendary avant ensemble from Colorado, who transmutated and became Biota! Totally unique at creating a sound world of their own, the Mnemonists were unlike anything else to come from the US or even the planet earth. A classic work of almost indescribable noise, twisted & mutant sounds, dense and changing alien environments. Microscopic beings slowly descending into other places, where things seem only vaguely familiar. What the hell is this stuff?!? Instrumentation includes crumhorns, soprano shawn, false crwth, recorder, clarinets, voice...but they have been manipulated beyond recognition. Also included is their intricate & equally strange artwork. I was lucky enough to have seen the one & only Biota gig of their entire career at New Music America in Montreal in 1990-I probably shouldn't have been tripping, it was weird enough on its own to put anyone in attendance into an altered state. Need I say more?" - BLG
CD $10
MNEMONISTS - Gyromancy ((ReR MN2; UK) "The Mnemonists were a legendary group of composers and artists from Fort Collins, Colorado, who went on to call themselves Biota, and released a series of five CD's on ReR (Tumble, Bellowing Room/Tinct, Almost Never, Object Holder, and Invisible Map). They created drifting hypnotic sound collages out of pre-industrial loops, processed ambient sound, rock 'n' roll guitar, and fragments of half forgotten memory. Their work was highly visual, and always accompanied by beautiful line drawings and painted art works; the total meaning is forged from the combination of sonic and visual information. Gyromancy stands as a classic early noise album, somewhere between the work of AMM, Faust and Brian Eno. What makes it stand out is the subtlety of the work: The process begins with the recording of played acoustic and electric instruments that are later re-processed and electrically altered, leading to a spiraling of replaying, re-composition and re-structuring. This aural world is as vast as space, and seemingly as limitless; The Mnemonists were the one group most apt to embrace the latest technology, and to put it to good use to create 'anti-music'. But the outcome is so beautifully flowing and amazingly profound that their radical methods create positive change in a sonically transparent way, rather than to bludgeon the listener into submission by means of shock tactics. The result then, is elucidating and exciting. This disk is presented in a visually stunning manner as well, including gorgeous reproductions of the group's paintings, bringing the Mnemonist's penchant for 'artisanship-as-a-whole' full circle."
CD $10
THE NECKS [CHRIS ABRAHAMS/LLOYD SWANTON/TONY BUCK] - Mosquito/See Through (ReR Necks 4/5; UK) Although Australian sensation, The Necks, look like a jazz piano trio from their outside appearance, we all know that looks are deceptive. Yes, as their instrumentation of mostly acoustic piano (Chris Abrahams), contrabass (Lloyd Swanton) and drums/percussion (Tony Buck), has remained the same for their decade or so career, their sound has slowly evolved and still remains (mysteriously) between the cracks of categories. What they do best is deal with mood and texture and appear to stretch out time and space. Their music moves in slow waves and feels like a dream or perhaps a dream sequence, hazy and filled with shadows or spirits. I find their music to be incredibly calming. Sometimes the shimmering piano sprinkles, minimal bass pulse and exquisite percussion seem to be foreshadowing an oncoming storm. 'see through' is an hour long epic that reminds me in part of Hugh Hopper's '1984', just not as dark. When we played this precious gem in the store yesterday at the beginning of our day, we sold three copies in a row to different folks from different backgrounds. They knew there was/is something very special about The Necks, something not that easy to explain, yet something that gradually pulls you in and washes over you like a refreshing rinse in the sea. - BLG
2 CD Set $14
THE NECKS [CHRIS ABRAHAMS/LLOYD SWANTON/TONY BUCK] - Silverwater (ReR Necks 9; UK)"Their first studio CD for three years - named after an industrial suburb in Sydney -- famous mainly for its correctional facility -- Silverwater ranges further and wider than the Necks' former releases, exploring a more sectional structure that counterposes extremes and contrasts, and possesses a greater sense of forward motion than we are accustomed to with this most economical of bands -- though it still retains the long, hypnotic single-track iterative form for which they have been praised. Layers and skeins of overdubs and shifting textures give way to almost empty stretches as the piece evolves, and there is much play with asynchronous time. Paradoxically, for a band renowned for its slow, cycling, repetitions, the Necks show again that they are a band who try constantly not to repeat themselves."
CD $10
THE NECKS [CHRIS ABRAHAMS/LLOYD SWANTON/TONY BUCK] - Chemist (ReR Necks 7; UK)
CD $10
THE NECKS [CHRIS ABRAHAMS/LLOYD SWANTON/TONY BUCK] - Drive By (ReR Necks 3; UK)Hypnotic, sensuous, dream-like, enveloping, funky, seductive, subtle, credible - Australian jazz trio The Necks have re-written all the rules. They are a (mostly) acoustic piano trio whose music sounds as much like ambient electronic dance music as it does like conventional jazz. With a healthy doses of influence from ambient-space music, Kraut rock, The Doors, ethnic musics, Miles Davis and John Coltrane also abound. The Necks are drummer Tony Buck, double bassist Lloyd Swanton and pianist Chris Abrahams. Their records and live concerts are all made using the same process; they start with an improvising idea, and then transform the material ever so slowly. It's a devastatingly simple but original approach, which calls for extreme concentration from the players, but for the listener the experience is as fluid and profound and as meditating on a sunset or watching the ebb and flow of the ocean.
CD $10
NEWS FROM BABEL [LINDSAY COOPER/CHRIS CUTLER/ZEENA PARKINS/DAGMAR KRAUSE With ROBERT WYATT/PHIL MINTON/SALLY POTTER] - Sirens and Silences / Work Resumed On The Tower (ReR NFB 1; UK) News from Babel was the song project inaugurated by Chris Cutler with fellow ex Henry Cow composer Lindsay Cooper. The pieces for this first LP were written for a band that also included Zeena Parkins (harp - her first recording with the instrument) and the incomparable Dagmar Krause (another ex-band member) singing. Using the studio as an instrument and experimenting with unusual instrumentation and techniques, these are songs stretched into a less than familiar shape. Phil Minton and Cow bassist Georgie Born also appear. Re-mastered and repackaged with full text and illustrations enclosed.
CD $10
NEWS FROM BABEL [LINDSAY COOPER/CHRIS CUTLER/ZEENA PARKINS/DAGMAR KRAUSE] - Letters from Home (ReR NFB 2; UK) “The second record by this group (Lindsay Cooper, Zeena Parkins and Chris Cutler) with invitees Robert Wyatt, Sally Potter, Phil Minton and Dagmar Krause who sing, and Bill Gilonis (of The Work) who plays occasional guitar and bass, and who also produced the recording. These are extended songs, unusually orchestrated and arranged and not much like anything else recorded before or since. Re-mastered and repackaged here, with full text and illustrations enclosed.â€
CD $10
RECOMMENDED RECORDS SAMPLER - 1982 (ReR 25 A/B; UK) With Faust, Art Bears, Stormy Six, Homosexuals, Joseph Racaillle, The Black Sheep, Univers Zero, Aksak Maboul, Henry Cow, Decibel, The Work, Art Zoyd, the Muffins, Heiner Goebbels, Conventum, This Heat, the Residents, Robert Wyatt…
2 CD Set $15
ReR QUARTERLY - Collection Volume 2 (ReR QCD 2; UK) Features over 70 minutes of music by Robert Wyatt, David Thomas, Henry Kaiser, John Oswald, Jean Derome, Jocelyn Robert, Iva Bittova/Pavel Fajt, When, Musci/Venosta, James Grigsby, Bill Gilonis, Joseph Racaille, & many more.
CD $10
THE SCIENCE GROUP [CHRIS CUTLER/BOB DRAKE/STEPHEN TICKMAYER] - Spoors (ReR Science 2; UK) Featuring legendary percussionist Chris Cutler, classical composer Steven Tickmayer and ex-Hail & Thinking Plague member Bob Drake on bass. This is the second splendid progressive feast from The Science Group. It deals with extremes and implosive compositional forms. Using song cycles as the musical schematic, 'Spoors' delves into the ambiguities of chaos theory, the mysteries of black holes and galaxy formation. The Science Group offers a richly textured primer on the exigencies of science and the fundamental laws of physics.
CD $10
SKELETON CREW [FRED FRITH/TOM CORA/ZEENA PARKINS/DAVE NEWHOUSE] - Learn To Talk/The Country Of Blinds...Plus (Fred FRO 08-09/ReR; UK) All of the 'Learn To Talk' [Frith & Cora] and 'the Country Of Blinds' album [Frith/Cora/Parkins] plus 10 tracks of previously unreleased material! A timely reissue of two timeless classics. On the first CD it's just Fred Frith and Tom Cora, the legendary two man crew who somehow - in real time, not with endless overdubs! - managed to play all their own instruments (cello, bass, electric guitar, violin, casio) and sing - as well as, between them, constructing the drum parts - dislocated into elements with each of them having bits of the kit. This made for some fantastic - and normally unplayable parts - most drummers having only one brain. No one sounded like Skeleton Crew, ever. Devious, complicated, brutally simple, always unexpected, turning on a dime, this was not just a pop band but a tocsin, a call to arms - and in a short recorded life it produced a catalogue of invention that is still breathtaking today. On the second album, the inspired addition of Zeena Parkins (keyboards, accordion, more drums, more vocals) led to some of the best music of the decade. The recording was rawer, more urgent, the songs standing out in sharp relief; every part essential. And yet - it's a puzzle almost impossible to unravel: how on earth did they ever evolve those dislocated parts and still make them fit so perfectly together? Did I mention the texts? So much to the point, so good. And where are the Skeleton Crews today when we really need them? Both CDs are here, in full, re-mastered by Fred and with 10 extra tracks - each as good as anything on the official albums. Skeleton Crew broke up in 1986. Fred and Zeena have continued to collaborate in a number of different contexts, Tom went on to stardom with The Ex and his own band Roof, before tragically falling to cancer in 1998. He is sorely missed. - BLG
2 CD set $15
SLAPP HAPPY [DAGMAR KRAUSE/PETER BLEGVAD/ANTHONY MOORE] FAUST - Acnalbasac Noom (ReR ; UK) Rmstr by Bob Drake! The 1st [initially unreleased] version of their 2nd album Casablanca Moon with Faust backing them on the rejected-by-Virgin first recording of their 2nd album. An odd, classic Masterpiece!
CD $10
SLAPP HAPPY With HENRY COW [DAGMAR KRAUSE/PETER BLEGVAD/ANTHONY MOORE With FRED FRITH/TIM HODGKINSON/JOHN GREAVES/CHRIS CUTLER/LINDSAY COOPER] - Desperate Straights (ReR HCSH 1; UK) The 3rd ['74] Slapp Happy album, Desperate Straights was recorded by the union of Slapp Happy with Henry Cow (Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson, Lindsay Cooper) as was most of what became the Cow's 4th album, In Praise Of Learning (if you count this as the 3rd). Essential marriage of the two originators of all RIO bands to follow!
CD $10
SUN RA QUARTET With JOHN GILMORE/MICHAEL RAY/LUQMAN ALI - Media Dreams - Expanded Edition (Art Yard CD 02; UK) More than twice as much material as the LP edition - the recordings on Disc Two have never been released before -ever! Extremely rare and legendary Sun Ra small group session featuring Mr. Ra on organ, John Gilmore on tenor sax, Michael Ray on trumpet and "Crumar Mainman" [a keyboard, usually played and programmed by Sun Ra; It's what is doing the "drum box" sound], Luqman Ali on drums & drum box. Recorded in Italy in 1978, about the same time this quartet did two phenomenal double albums for the Italian HORO label, New Steps and Other Voices Other Blues
2 CD Set $15
SUN RA & His ARKESTRA - On Jupiter [a/k/a Seductive Fantasy)(Art Yard CD 04; ReR; UK) On Jupiter is near ideal as an introduction to the musical worlds of Sun Ra. It has a magical mix of colours from Sun Ra's varied palette. Beneath its compelling surface lie many layers of musical detail, and numerous hints as to where Sun Ra was coming from and where he was heading. It combines real depth with beauty and hits you the first time you hear it. On Jupiter represents Sun Ra's closest encounter with the world of disco. In the late 1970s he made other albums which also gesture in this direction -- Lanquidity has a jazz-rock feel while remaining firmly part of the Ra omniverse, this is true too of Disco 3000 despite its title. On Jupiter really has only one track which fits the 'disco' tag -- 'UFO' -- but this piece is such a strong statement that it becomes the centre of gravity of the album. The title track, 'On Jupiter,' features Marshall Allen's oboe and Sun Ra's piano, along with guitars and bass and multi-layered percussion. This is the first appearance on record of this piece, afterwards to remain a frequently performed item in the Arkestra's book. Sun Ra would reportedly rehearse his band to the point of exhaustion, but in the studio his was usually a one-take approach, close to a concert performance. This did not necessarily mean that every album appeared in the form it was recorded. On Jupiter, like Lanquidity (but unlike Disco 3000, essentially a live recording) owes a lot of its final sound to post-production. The album was mixed by Michael Ray, who layered in prerecorded material with that produced in the studio -- Sun Ra sent Ray back to the Arkestra base during the mixing session, and Ray returned with 'a handful of tapes.' Close listening would suggest that some of the guitar and percussion and possibly some vocals were added in this way." -- Chris Trent. "A big band studio recording made a month before Sleeping Beauty and released by Saturn in 1979 consisting of three quite different pieces: On Jupiter, which is a vocalized, relaxed, swing trance piece, UFO - Sun Ra's unashamed approach to disco, layering big band events over a funky beat and chunky chants -, and Seductive Fantasy, which lurches along in classic Ra fashion, very easygoing and with a good high-definition recording quality. It's nice to hear the oboe and bassoon, often lost in live recordings, so prominent, Again, the mixing is unusually sophisticated. As an ex-LP, it's LP length."- Chris Cutler
CD $12
SUN RA & His INTERGALACTIC MYTH SCIENCE SOLAR ARKESTRA - Nidhamu Dark Myth Equation Visitation: Live in Cairo, Egypt 12/12,16,17/71 (Art Yard CD 09; UK) In 1971, in Denmark, at the end of a tour, Sun Ra suddenly decided to take his whole band to Egypt. They had no concerts and no contacts there but Ra sold some recording rights to Black Lion to pay for the tickets and they flew out. They were stopped at customs and their instruments were temporarily impounded but they were let through as tourists. Then they booked into a hotel facing the pyramid at Giza. Word got to Hartmut Geerken, then working at the Goethe institute, and he quickly threw a concert together at his house in Heliopolis, for which Brigadier Salah Ragab borrowed army instruments for the Arkestra to play (he was later disciplined for it). Ra's Moog had made it through customs and a Tiger Organ was hired. One of the audience (of 25) booked the band in for a Cairo TV session the following day. Then Ragab persuaded the Ministry of Culture to book a concert at the Balloon Theatre (for another tiny audience: only the first 4 rows were occupied). Two more concerts followed - at the American University (for the cab fare) and the Versailles Club. They stayed for more than a fortnight, making a film while they were there and finally, by band-members selling various personal items, raised the money to fly home. These 2 CDs [Horizons and Nidhamu/Dark Myth Equation] contain all the released material from that visit (3 LPs) as well as unreleased material from these same sessions. Nidhamu & Dark Myth Visitation Equation complete the Egypt trilogy. Most remarkable is Nidhamu (the second release of the series, half recorded at the Balloon Theatre, the other half at Hartmut Geerken's house in Heliopolis) - a remarkable document: austere and very out there. Electric keyboards and an eerie Discipline No.11 set the scene, and after some solo Moog there's a spooky miniature Discipline No.15 introducing another long Moog and keyboards solo: 35 pretty abstract minutes that just slip by. Dark Myth Visitation Equation follows (this was the first LP release, and has also been known as Sun Ra in Egypt Vol 1 and Nature's God). The first tracks are from the Cairo TV broadcast and the whole collection features more familiar groove-based pieces characteristic of the period, interspersed with Moog and electric keyboard solos. June Tyson reappears for To Nature's God and the highly eccentric Why go to the Moon?
CD $12
SUN RA & His ARKESTRA - Cosmo Sun Connection (ReR SR1; UK) Recorded live in 1984 at one of Sun Ra's many US concerts, this captures the Arkhestra in full big band mode, blowing up a storm that could probably be heard on Venus.' This is a good, solid, representative mid 80's show with very good sonics (by Ra standards) by the Arkestra.
CD $12
STEVAN KOVACS TICKMAYER FORMATIO - Wilhelm Dances MCMXCII (ReR TF 1; UK) The 2nd solo album from the mid 80's by the musical chief behind The Science Group, this is a seven piece band led by Yugoslavian composer Stevan Tickmayer, it features the instrumentation of flute, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, cello & keyboards. This has a Euro-chamber music feel with distinctly rock elements as well, as Tickmayer nicely mixes up the moods and influences.
CD $10
THE WORK [TIM HODGKINSON/BILL GILONIS/AMOS/CHRIS CUTLER] - Live in Japan (Ad Noc 13; USA) "By 1982 drummer Rick Wilson had left The Work to study Katakali in India and bassist Mick Hobbs followed shortly afterwards over disagreements about what the group should be playing. The remainder of the band then asked Amos (bass) and Chris Cutler (drums) to join them for a tour of Japan that had already been scheduled before the breakup. Together with sound engineer Chris Gray, the group flew there in June to play three concerts in Tokyo and one in Osaka. The recording that became 'Live in Japan' was taken at the Osaka concert, the only one on the tour that was recorded. A Japan-only release followed (on Recommended Records Japan), which has been out of print for over 20 years and is virtually impossible to find anywhere. This disc re-issues the concert for the first time, adding the extremely rare, red flexi-disc, live version of 'I Hate America', as a bonus track. This is a different and extremely in-your-face version of The Work, made more so by the original processing of the (cassette) recording, which brought everything to the front of the mix, accentuating every hit and roar. Tim is in screaming form and the band take extreme liberties with the material, somehow staying inside the songs while systematically splitting them open and spitting them out in ruins. There's an awful lot going on here, and yet it somehow remains uncluttered. Best listened to loud, as intended; although this disk sounds loud, even when quiet. The original source tapes were recorded onto cassette, and mastered by the band one evening in an Osaka bedroom. Udi Koomran's remastering has not sanitized or modernised the sound - which was essential to the spirit of the music - but has cleaned it up and made it even more what it is." This is a really great album and Udi made what I always thought of a not very good live recording sound really great in a utterly loud, raw way; I hope that a billion of you buy this so Ad Hoc will do their long awaited (by me) The Work gigantic reissue series."
CD $10
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ART BEARS [DAGMAR KRAUSE/FRED FRITH/CHRIS CUTLER] - Winter Songs (ReR AB2; UK) Second brilliant release by the blessed Art Bears. Digi-pack and remastered excellently by Bob Drake, this was the 2nd and best known album by the successor band to Henry Cow, as it was released in the States by The Residents' Ralph label, in the early 80's and at the peak of their market influence at that time. With Dagmar Krause-vocals, Chris Cutler-drums, electronics & Fred Frith-guitars, keyboards, violin, etc. all the rest of Henry Cow. Songs with powerful lyrics built upon experimental kernels. This is many folks' favorite of their three. "Wintersongs...offers an even stronger, clearer set of artistic visions. Here the trio of ART BEARS stand alone, and the stripped- down sense of instrumentation, which almost resembles a standard combo (guitar, bass, piano, drums and singing), makes a simpler (though more poignant) musical statement. Often Fred Frith's penchant for angular melodies is forestalled, and re- placed with single note, "non-melodies" in a sort of minimalist, rhythmic accordance to the text's settings. Experimental studio work and effects abound, yet the sound is more economical and hard-hitting than the band's earlier work." - Steve Feigenbaum, Cuneiform
CD $10
ART BEARS [DAGMAR KRAUSE/FRED FRITH/CHRIS CUTLER] - The World As It Is Today (ReR ReR AB3; UK) Digi-pack and remastered excellently by Bob Drake, this was the 3rd and final album by the successor band to Henry Cow. I'm not really sure why (short playing length? the press had gone onto other things to champion? it wasn't released stateside, unlike the first two?) but this one slipped under the radar of a lot of folks, compared to their 1st two. It's a very bleak, but also a very solid work. And very clever and sly in its own way - who else would have the opening lyrics for "The Song Of Investment Capitol Overseas be: "Out of town; my work takes me out of town"! With Dagmar Krause-vocals, Chris Cutler-drums, electronics & Fred Frith-guitars, keyboards, violin, etc. all the rest of Henry Cow. Songs with powerful lyrics built upon experimental kernels. "A scathing, brutal and disturbingly honest venture into the horrors of contemporary inhumanity and political digression. Here Art Bears forage even more boldly into aspects of using the recording studio as a compositional instrument : A tape of a lawnmower is slowed down several steps to convincingly create the sounds of machine-gun fire and bombs. A Geiger counter is emulated by radically E.Q.ing drum sticks played on a tile flooring in the studio. No punches are pulled, and the band goes all-out on this, their final recording. The playing is aggressive and hefty, and the sound immaculate, intense and, at times, downright scary." - Steve Feigenbaum, Cuneiform
CD $10
BIOTA [MNEMONIST ORCHESTRA/MNEMONISTS: WILLIAM SHARP et al] SUSANNE LEWIS/CHRIS CUTLER et al - Object Holder (ReR B4; UK)Stunning thorough worked piece that breaks new ground altogether; an extraordinary achievement, 3 years in the making and rewriting a lot of rules. Text and singing (Susanne Lewis, inimitably) Also features Charles Vrtacek (Piano), Andy Kredt (Guitar) and Chris Cutler (percussion, electrics, texts). A Dense, profound field of sound, music, silence.
CD $10
BIOTA - Cape Flyaway (ReR B7; UK) "After 5 years of extensive and careful work, the new and much anticipated CD by this extraordinary collective, who have no parallels, no rivals and no peers, is at last complete. It's a dense and indescribable orchestration of electric and acoustic guitars, clavioline, trumpet, Hammond organ, micromoog, biolmellodrone, electric and acoustic violins, bass, mandolin, accordion, piano, rubab, kit percussion and sometimes voice, layered and radically processed in the unique Biota manner. There is a leitmotif of folk elements in this piece that emerge from the roiling, swirling quicksand of sound we now expect from Biota, with texts by WB Yeats and snatches, arrangements and influences floating by way of Christy Moore, June Tabor, Judy Collins, Sandy Denny, Bert Jansch, the Bothy Band and older traditional sources. Biota craft sonic worlds that relate to, but are not built like, the music with which we are familiar; for them time is a continuum rather than a sequence of events; a simultaneous present in which past and future possibilities exist conterminously. With a 24 page full colour art portfolio from the Biota collective."
CD $10
BIOTA / MNEMONIST ORCHESTRA: WILLIAM SHARP et al] - Musique Actuelle 1990 (Anomalous/ReR; UK) Biota was founded in 1979 in Fort Collins, Colorado, as the Mnemonist Orchestra. Over the years, the Mnemonist Orchestra developed into Biota (the musical contingent) and Mnemonists (the visual contingent). Both Biota and Mnemonists work as one on productions of musical and visual components. The group has released nine LPs, one EP, and four CDs on both their own Dys label and Recommended Records UK. Heard on this CD is the first adaption of their studio-based recording techniques since 1981, as presented at Montreal Musiques Actuelles -- New Music America 1990. For their live performance they composed a set of material specifically for the concert and virtually relocated their studio to the stage to properly recreate it. Nine musicians playing only acoustic instruments (aside from electric guitar) were heard natural and unamplified from the stage while extensive electronic processing, heard through the speakers, rendered radical tonal, timbral and temporal modification creating an incredibly unique and strange sound world. Added to this, the two-dimensional graphic work that Mnenomists have become so renowned for was transformed into stunning video projections - beautiful examples of which are now included in the full color booklet accompanying this CD. Yours truly was present at this truly historic event and was under the influence of some exotic psychedelic substance, making this experience even more mind-blowing and completely unforgettable.
CD $10
PETER BLEGVAD With CHRIS CUTLER/JOHN GREAVES JAKKO JAKSZYK et al - Just Woke Up (ReR PB2; UK) For my money, the best yet. Great songs performed by Peter, John Greaves, Chris Cutler and various guests including B.J. Cole, Kristoffer Blegvad and Jakko Jakszykx. Roll back the carpet, turn up the stereo. "Just Woke Up marked a kind of comeback to the music scene for Peter Blegvad, who had been enjoying a successful career as a cartoonist in the early '90s. It also announced a change in direction. On this and his subsequent release, Hangman's Hill, the former Slapp Happy singer stripped down his arty avant-garde suit to dive into rootsy folk songs. It resulted in a collection of beautiful pieces with blues and country flavors. Lyrics are still pure Blegvad. Irony is often at the center of his social commentaries and his voice can't help but conjure up the image of a British Bob Dylan. The title track could be the result of an acoustic cross-pollination between John Lennon and the Talking Heads. If the music is simpler and more straightforward, it still features great musicianship, thanks to sidemen John Greaves and Chris Cutler, a star drummer in free improvisation and experimental circles, heard here in one of the most unlikely contexts. The trio is augmented on a few tracks by guests like pedal steel guitarist B.J. Cole and ex-Henry Cow Tim Hodgkinson. Fans of Slapp Happy's zaniness or Blegvad's more exploratory solo albums of the 1980s will be caught off-guard by Just Woke Up, but after a couple of listens the strength of these melodies and beauty of these lyrics will win over any fan of intelligent singer/songwriter music. Compared to its follow-up, Hangman's Hill, this one features more diversity in atmospheres and more inspiration overall -- too bad it didn't bring the mainstream break the artist deserved." Francois Couture, AMG
CD !0
CAMBERWELL NOW - All's Well 1982-1986: Meridian/The Ghost Trade/Greenfingers (ReRDUP 22; UK) 2006 remaster by Charles Hayward! Out of print for many, many years, it gives us great pleasure to be able to offer this out again. Excellent reissue collecting all material (two EPs and one full-length, plus one extra track culled from an old Touch cassette) by Charles Hayward's post-This Heat project, Camberwell Now. An often overlooked chapter in the career of drummer/vocalist/keyboardist/improvisor Charles Hayward, Camberwell Now continues the relentless experimentalism he championed in This Heat, though with less of an abrasive sound than he made in This Heat. This music has more of a Canturbury feel, particularly in Hayward's Wyatt-like, off-kilter vocals, and sits nicely beside Wyatt's "Old Rottenhat" - both records seamlessly blend the personal and the political with a hearty dose of resignment and melancholy. Sonically, the songs collected here fuse layers of dizzying drum work, tense guitar figures, swirling washes of ambience from cymbals, melodicas, and keyboards, and inventive tape manipulation. Long overshadowed by the band that came before it, this material is WAY overdue for reappraisal and the recognition that it so rightly deserves. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!! - Mikey "IQ" Jones @ DMG.
CD $10
CMCD [CONTEMPORARY MUSIC: JOHN OSWALD/LUTZ GLANDIEN/STEVE MOORE/ et al] - Contemporary Music (ReR CMCD; UK) Six Classic Concrete Electroacoustic and electronic works, 1970-1990 by: John Oswald, George Katzer, Lutz Glandien, Jaroslav Krcek, Steve Moore, Richard Trythall. "Musique Concrete is created by recording various sounds on tape and modifying them in some way. The term was created by Pierre Schaeffer, an early pioneer of this style, to differentiate it from 'normally' composed music, Musique Abstraite. Concentrating on found sounds or natural occurrences, the results of such alterations and manipulations cause the original recordings to express themselves in new and unique ways. This CD collects some of the very best pieces ever constructed; Each piece is a classic, influential, indispensable work, including: John Oswald - 'Parade' (1986) : uses a cube factor increase in tape speed to plunderize several existing versions of Satie's classic, and then fragments and alters the result accordingly "The classic collection of Contemporary, Concrete, Tapeworked and Processed works - and an indispensible survey of a crucial field: Georg Katzer's 'Aide Memoire', John Oswald's 'Parade', Lutz Glandien's 'Es Lebe', Steve Moore's 'A Quiet Gathering', Jaroslav Krcek's Sonaty Slavickove and the classic 'Homaggio a Jerry Lee Lewis' by Richard Trythall. Generous book and pictures."-Chris Cutler. Now out of print, we have just a few here
CD $10
CHRIS CUTLER - Twice Around The Earth: Vol 1 On Memory (An Experiment In Listening)(ReR CC2; UK)"An experiment in listening. These compositions are an offshoot of the daily sound-scape program I ran for Resonance FM radio between July 2001-2002, which consisted of commissioned real-time recordings made all around the world between 23.30 and midnight GMT (the time of the broadcast). This CD begins with material from these broadcasts confecting, as it were, two composites of the Earth and a few of its inhabitants, somewhat analogous to what an impossible satellite ear with pinpoint acuity might hear in transit - plus one ear-cleaning stretch between them, taken from a single hear-point. I have tried to make these pieces both open and to work on parallel levels: not only do they have their own narrative and aesthetic qualities, but I hope they also offer a meditation on listening and not listening, interpretation and structure, chance and microphonics. The list of ears around the world who supplied basic material is too long to print here, but it includes many names familiar from these catalogues, and many from the still young sound-scape and phonographic community. Full details of people and places are given in the booklet, along with artwork and thorough notes. You have to trust me on this, its a really engaging record..." - Chris Cutler A few of the artists involved include David Lee Myers, Otomo, Dave Kerman, Annie Gosfield, Bill Harkelroad, Peter Cusak, Jim Denley, Amy Denio, Wadi Gysi & Phil Zampino. There are 82 tracks here, most under a minute. The pieces are continuous and seamlessly woven into a fascinating fabric, an ongoing journey. Dozens of snippets of passing people, cars, wind, water, occasional dialogue, buzzing, scraping, radio, naked and amplified layers of voices in different languages, recordings, singing, motor cycles, electronic sounds, all kaleidoscopicly unfolding. Similar to Chris Brown's recent disc on Pogus, another under-recognized gem. - BLG
CD $10
CHRIS CUTLER & FRED FRITH - Live Vol. 1: Live in Moscow, Prague etc. (ReR CCFF; UK)'Digital recordings from the Nordlydd Contemporary Music Festival and Berlin's Tacheles from 1991. Plus the historic prescient noise-music 1978 analogue recording from Limoges as a bonus. All singing, all dancing, all hell let loose. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee...'' [ReR]
CD $12
CHRIS CUTLER & FRED FRITH - Live Vol. 3: 2 Gentlemen In Verona (ReR CCFF3; UK) ''An almost complete concert from Verona, 1999, slightly edited for listening logic. Impeccably clear; transparent sound. Very different from (previous releases), this documents a more upfront, intense performance, full of history, rock, post rock, tunes, rhythms, even melodies - all transformed into a contemporary and compressed musical language. Surprising encore!'' [ReR] "It has been exactly 20 years since these gentlemen first played a short US tour in 1979, the gig in NY was at the Squat Theatre and it was a complete revelation watching these two alchemists at work. Their former band - Henry Cow - has just broken up and the Art Bears were forming, Fred was just about to move to NY for more than a decade and become an integral member of the early downtown scene. Henry Cow was for many of us the greatest of all progressive bands, for many reasons. On one hand, their music was a mixture of many streams - rock/out jazz/modern classical/electronics/studio manipulation with heavy Zappa/Soft Machine influence, always stretching the boundaries. Since then, their composing and improvising (instant composing) talents have continued to mature/evolve/flourishthrough hundreds of recordings and concerts. What made this first concert so special was being able to see how Fred manipulated his guitar on table with many objects and how also Chris played the drums/percussion in his utterly distinctive way. This duo gig & recording from that time show Fred & Chris creating a dense world of often loud, chaotic, weird, noisy music that is intense & challenging to come to turns with. How have things changed, you may ask? Chris Cutler recently came to town, played two gigs, stopped by DMG to talk for a bit. He played a marvelous, rather subdued trio gig at Tonic with Kato Hideki on acoustic bass & Zeena Parkins on el. harp. Although he had a (borrowed) drums kit, he played more from his large table of inexpensive electronics, percussive objects & cds. When we got to talking in the store, he mentioned that Tim Hodgkinson's new improv trio (up at Victo in May) was a constant barrage of loud extremes and that Chris desires more space and silence in his improv situations nowadays. '2 Gentlemen in Verona' was recorded live in Italy last year and came as a surprise for Chris from the fan who recorded it off the board. The title comes from Shakespeare and Chris also indexed the continuous concert into sections named after scene from his plays. Suspense and wonder abound from layers of percussive, electronic and guitar manipulated sounds/noises. Chris plays an almost marching beat on his snare while Fred lets out some howling vocals, snippets of guitar feedback pepper the proceedings while the beat gets more frantic and bent, before quieting down once more. Chris (?) sounds as if he is cleaning teeth with a dentist drill while Fred hums softly, Chris files objects while Fred plays melodic fragments on his guitar. The rhythmic scheme gets freer and textures build & mutate, almost get funky. The scenery continues to change as the duo shuffle & select sounds and assemble something new & unexpected. Chris goes back to that marching beat as Fred plays a quaint music-box-like melody with a Casio tone. The encore is sort of odd blues thing with Fred playing some slide guitar as a radio signal chatters in the distance. A somber conclusion to fine concert filled with surprises" - BLG
CD $10
IANCU DUMITRESCU With TIM HODGKINSON / CHRIS CUTLER / HYPERION ENSEMBLE / et la - Music Action 98 (ReR Dach1; UK) Musique Action 98 album for sale by Iancu Dumitrescu was released Apr 22, 2003 on the ReR USA label. Musique Action 98 showcases the various experimental approaches one finds at the edgiest festivals of the '90s. Musique Action 98 buy CD music In fact, the album title is the name of the French music festival that these recordings are drawn from. Musique Action 98 songs The four compositions result from very different approaches and techniques. The durations of the sections in "Life on Earth" were determined by the length of burning candles. Musique Action 98 CD music contains a single disc with 4 songs.
CD $10
FRED FRITH With JOEY BARON / TOM CORA / GEORGE CARTWRIGHT - Allies: Music For Dance Vol 2 (Fred FRO 07/ReR; UK) Featuring beautifully understated performances from Joey Baron (drums), the late, great master cellist, Tom Cora, and the inimitable sax talents of George Cartwright, Allies is the second in the Music For Dance series, pioneered originally on Fred's Technology Of Tears. While some compositional similarities are reminiscent of that work, Allies employs a more organic approach, weaning mostly acoustic elements into Fred's penchant to explore the musical relationship between the mechanical and the natural elements of sound and modern music. Elegant and meticulously crafted surfaces are constantly under attack from unpredictable elements, creating a particular tension that is haunting and quite unlike any of the composer's other works. The six movements that comprise this amazing disk examine the ways Fred's angular, trademark melodies are constructed/de-constructed, particularly with regards to how multiple melodies can be extracted from a single melodic source. Single notes of different instruments are strung together to 'hocket' particularly gorgeous melodies that expound upon the composer's harmonic developments with mathematical references, much in the same way he is famously known for his work with complex time signatures
CD $10
FRED FRITH - Accidental: Music For Dance Vol 3 (Fred FRA 01/ReR; UK) Any new record from Fred Frith, one of the world's leading avant rock guitarists and composers, is a major event. 'Accidental' was commissioned by a British choreographer who lives in Amsterdam, Paul Selwyn Norton, for a dance piece made with the Batsheva Company in Tel Aviv. For Fred it's a return to basics, a series of deeply contrasting moods achieved with the simplest of means. Throughout the CD, noises of rusty metal, electronic detritus, bits of random radio, improvised cut-up vocals and messed up percussion, suggest an unpredictable and hostile landscape. Fred describes the motivations behind Accidental: "I'm fascinated by accidents. When I do solo improvisations I think of myself as being in continuous dialogue with the unexpected, and its always dynamic. Do I ignore this, do I embrace it, do I integrate it, do I keep my distance? When making this music I was constantly using random elements like radio tuning and trying to frame them in metric or harmonic structures." Fred Frith is the thinking person's guitar hero. Starting out with Henry Cow, in the early 70's, he later became a key component of the New York scene, playing with John Zorn's Naked City, Skeleton Crew, and Massacre (with Bill Laswell). Along the way he contributed to albums by Robert Wyatt and Brian Eno. He regularly tours the world as a solo guitar improviser, and in duos with the likes of ex Pere Ubu and Henry Cow drummer Chris Cutler. As a contemporary classical composer his works have been performed, amongst others, by the Ensemble Modern and the Arditti Quartet. Incredibly, given his history as an avant garde rock guitarist, he is now a professor of composition at the prestigious Mills College in Oakland, California.
CD $10
THE NECKS [CHRIS ABRAHAMS/LLOYD SWANTON/TONY BUCK] - Chemist (ReR Necks 7; UK) Featuring Chris Abrahams on piano & keyboards, Lloyd Swanton on bass and Tony Buck on guitar & drums. "This is the 13th release from Australian maverick trio The Necks, now approaching their 20th Anniversary and still occupying a genre-group of one. Their slow, gripping, development of a single idea over the length of a whole CD, while somehow obvious, has proved to be completely unique, mostly because it so much depends on the unique musical personalities and extreme virtuosity of these three, profoundly different, musicians. Having established their theme, The Necks, with 'Chemist', break the habit of a lifetime and juxtapose three 20-minute tracks. Bassist Lloyd Swanton, pre-empting his critics, wrote: "We just wanted to see what we could do by contrasting different aesthetics on a single CD. These pieces are calculatedly different, and the contrast is important. Perhaps they were hoping with this minor scandal to draw attention away from the guitar, played by drummer Tony Buck, which features on all three tracks. Another major break with tradition?" " Like a breath of fresh cool air on one of these stifling August dog days, The Necks continue to bring us respite from heat, humidity and anxiety of modern life. Their music slows down the pulse/pace of life and helps us to calm down. What makes this Necks disc different is the presence of the electric guitar, as well as the melodic and cerebral groove they unleash and wash over us with. On "Fatal", they add layers of shimmering sounds, a few at a time. Sprinkles of acoustic piano, organ, bowed bass, perhaps electric bass, electric guitar, drums and eerie samples, all blend together in a mesmerizing display of hypnotic/trance slow motion sway or dance-like groovy-ness. I can almost hear the voice of Robert Wyatt in the distance (of my mind) singing over the top of these magical melodies. On "Buoyant", they begin with a solemn simmer, just a few repeating bass notes, a couple of notes on the piano, a minimal high-hat groove and some electronic crickets. Slowly building and adding a few more notes at a time, a short tale unfolds as the melody is stretched out. The pace and use of space allows one to concentrate on each note and where it is placed in the silence around it. When the drums finally enter, it takes on an "In a Silent Way" type of sound/vibe. "Abillera" begins with solo acoustic bass, plucked and mysterious and then comes layers of shimmering organ and guitar, before the drums kick in once more. Mikey says that this is similar to "shoe-gazing" rock, a psych/rock sound popular in the late-80's and 90's. Once again that lovely, dreamy haze feels so soothing as it washes over us in sublime, cosmic waves." - BLG
CD $10