DMG Newsletter for Friday, March 20th, 2020

"Something Happened To Me Yesterday"
By the Rolling Stones from ‘Between the Buttons’
Released January (UK) and February (USA) in 1967

Something happened to me yesterday
Something, I can't speak of right away
Something happened to me, something, oh, so groovy
Something happened to me yesterday

He don't know if it's right or wrong
Maybe he should tell someone
He's not sure just what it was
Or if it's against the law, something

Something very strange I hear you say
You're talking in a most peculiar way
But something really threw me, something, oh, so groovy
Something happened to me yesterday (Yesterday)

He don't know just where it's gone
He don't really care at all
No one's sure just what it was
Or the meaning and the cause, something

What kinda joint is this?
Take your partners

He don't know if it's right or wrong
Maybe he should tell someone
He's not sure just what it was
Or if it's against the law, something

Someone says there's something more to pay
For sins that you committed yesterday
It's really rather drippy but something, oh, so trippy
Something happened to me yesterday

Right, he don't know just where it's gone
He don't really care at all
No one's sure just what it was
Or the meaning and the cause, something

Someone's singing loud across the bay
Sittin' on a mat about to pray
Isn't half as looney as something, oh, so groovy
Something happened to me yesterday

Right, he don't know if it's right or wrong
Maybe he should tell someone
He's not sure just what it was
Or if it's against the law, something

Well, thank you very much and now I think it's time for us all to go
So from all of us to all of you not forgetting the boys in the band
And our producer, Reg Thorpe, we'd like to say "God Bless"
So, if you're out tonight, don't forget, if you're on your bike, wear white
Amen

I recently purchased a book called ‘The Rolling Stones - All Their Songs’, which is rather large (700 pages) and has an article (1-4 pages) on each of the hundreds of songs that The Stones recorded between 1963 and until 2012. The Stones were my first favorite sixties rock band, from the time I purchased ‘High Tide & Green Grass’ in June of 1967 until ‘Exile on Main Street’ in 1972. Although, The Mothers of Invention, were more influential to my understanding of modern music, the Rolling Stones defined what rock music was about. I bought each & very single from “Paint it Black” onwards loved each one. ‘Aftermath’ from 1966 was the first album that the Stones (Jagger & Richards) wrote all of the songs for, ‘Between the Buttons’ was the first one that seems to flow together and show their unique diversity. As I read this book, I have been listening to each of their albums in order and reading about what is unique about each song: lyrically, production-wise and who played which instrument. The above song, “Something Happened to Me Yesterday” is allegedly about an acid trip and closes the album. Mick Jagger sings the verses and Keith Richards sings the chorus, something unique amongst the many Stones songs. I like the fact that words are open ended and ripe for different interpretation. When one took acid, our perceptions of people and things often change and we tend ask lots of questions about what we do or don’t believe. Time to reflect on life and the world around us.

This last week has been a difficult one for many of us here in the US and around the world. The stress level continues to grow as we are all worried about what will come next. In NYC, where DMG has resided for nearly 29 years, many businesses have closed this week. Restaurants, hotels, all performances places, this is bad news for all of us. Plus the stress of Fake News often makes things worse. No one knows how long this epidemic will last or how many folks will be affected and die. DMG is currently open just a few days a week and we are doing mostly mail-order since so few folks want to come visit anyway. Some of upcoming in-store have already been canceled and I am unsure about canceling the other shows for the near future. Many folks are actually hunkering down, staying indoors and hoarding supplies. We are all very worried. The bottom line is to take care of yourselves, your friends and family. I almost didn’t put the usual song lyric at the top of the newsletter like I often do, since I couldn’t find a song to express what many of us are feeling. I find that music, especially a certain song finds a way to inspire us, bring us together inside and evoke the human spirit that is within all of god’s children - Us! Peace & Love from Bruce Lee, Frank M, John M & Alec S.


************************

The Downtown Music Gallery 29th Anniversary Celebrations will begin in 2020 & Will Continue throughout the year! May 1st is our Actual Anniversary! Every In-store throughout the Year Helps Celebrate the Spirit of Creative Music Performed Live!

At this point we’ve has a number cancellations due to the pandemic. Some of our future triple bills are now single bills. Things may change as things evolve so we won’t know until we se what happens and musicians & listeners decide to not participate to attend. Stay tuned.

Sunday, March 22nd:
6pm: BIG PICTURE: MATT LAVELLE / EVAN CRANE / LEONID GALAGANOV!

Sunday, March 29th:
6pm: FRANCISCO MORA CATLETT / SAM NEWSOME / BOB STEWART!

Sunday, April 5th:
6pm: DAVID LEON - Solo Alto Sax!
7pm: SEAN ALI - ContraBass and JONAH ROSENBERG - Keyboards / Electronics!

Sunday, April 12th:
6pm: VIV CORRINGHAM / MIA ZABELKA / NH - Vocals / Violin / Guitar!
7pm; JESSE DULMAN and GUILLERMO GREGORIO - Tuba and Clarinet!

DMG is located at 13 Monroe St. (between Catherine & Market Sts) in a basement below a small gallery. Take the F train to East Broadway or the 6 train to  Canal or the B or D to Grand, or the M-15 bus to Madison & Catherine. Come on Down, the Sunday Music Series is Always Free & the Vibes are Always Cosy. You can check the weekly in-store sets through our Instagram feed. For the next month we have four triple bills in a row! More & more creative musicians want to play here at DMG and we are honored to have them. If you can, please do come down to capture the spirit of creative music live!

********

This Week’s Goodies Begin with This One:

BRIAN MARSELLA with CYRO BAPTISTA / MARK FELDMAN / JON IRABAGON / PABLO ASLAN / TIM KEIPER / JOHN LEE / ITAI KRISS / SOFIA REI - Gatos do Sul (Tzadik 4029; USA) "Brian Marsella is finally being recognized as one of the most talented and imaginative pianists of his generation. A veteran of countless bands including Banquet of the Spirits and many projects with John Zorn, his recent recordings have been some of the most exciting music coming out of the NYC jazz scene. Here he leads an octet to perform his scintillating compositions inspired by classical, jazz, and folkloric Brazilian music. Influenced by composers from Ernesto Nazareth, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Pixinguinha to Baden Powell and Egberto Gismonti, Marsella combines samba, bossa-nova, choro and more. The band is an all-star unit and the arrangements are red hot, filled with catchy dance grooves and plenty of soloistic fireworks. This is Marsella at his best. Essential!"
CD $14


Over the past few years, I’ve noticed a trend amongst some of the older creative musicians that have long been an integral part of CMN (Creative Music Network). What I noticed is that academics/teachers (like Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith, Joe Morris, George Lewis & Tyshawn Sorey) and musicians/composers/label folks (John Zorn, William Parker, Dave Douglas & Ken Vandermark) have been working with a number younger musicians and giving them an opportunity to collaborate with their mentors. We’ve already seen a number of great musicians who have studied and collaborated with Anthony Braxton and who have gone on to a wealth of well-deserved recognition.The last few times that Joe Morris did his residency at The Old & New Stones, he presented a number of new faces/folks who are destined to be the next generation of Creative Musicians to get the nod to doing great things in the near future.

Here are two new discs from Joe Morris’ own new label:

JOE MORRIS INSTANTIATION with DAN O’BRIEN / ELINOR SPEIRS / BRAD BARRETT - Paradoxical (Glacial Erratic 17973; USA) Featuring Joe Morris on guitar, Dan O’Brien on clarinet & bass clarinet, Elinor Speirs on violin and Brad Barrett on acoustic bass. This is the first disc in a series called ‘Instantiation’, the personnel for each in the series is different. For the second disc in this series, Mr. Morris organized a quintet, none of the personnel I was previously familiar with. For this disc, Mr. Morris has a quartet and I am familiar with all their names. Bassist Brad Barrett appeared on a trio disc with Mr. Morris and Tyshawn Sorey last year on the Listen! Foundation label. Both violinist Elinor Speirs and clarinetist, Dan O’Brien, are members of the Leap of Faith collective, one of the Boston area’s most busy and prolific series of ensembles, all of whom record for the Evil Clown label. For this session, Mr. Morris blends a variety of disparate materials: some improvises, some composed, some melodic, some further out. The musicians can choose to use and alter these materials or not. This disc consists of three pieces, known as “Type 1, 2 & 3’. “Type 1” begins with Mr. Morris playing a quick, fractured opening theme, the rest of the quartet soon joining with some well-matched, tight, fragmented interplay. This is an all acoustic quartet and the sound is superb, warm and finely balanced. The way these four musicians work together is something special, different layers, different combinations of players, emerge and then submerge together and part but always as one connected force. Instead of a series of singular solos, the members of the quartet are in constant motion reaching up out of the quieter moments where any number of combinations can take place. Things do slow down for some sparse sections, forcing the members of the quartet to take their time to build and recombine their lines. What I find the most fascinating element going on here is the way this starts as a modest dialogue, with constantly shifting webs of ideas shared between the musicians and then transmitted to us, the serious, engaged listener. It is as if we are listening closely to a relationship or series of relationship which keep changing, growing, bringing the musicians and listeners closer together. This is the way a true democracy works. I started the day worried about what is going on, on the Planet Earth. I am starting to feel some Hope within the way we can still reach out to touch one another, not physically, but with our minds and feelings, across the Great Divide. Inspirational for some Difficult Times! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

JOE MORRIS INSTANTIATION with RAEF SENGUPTA / ALEX QUINN / MICHAEL SABIN / DANIEL KLINGSBERG - Versioning (Glacial Erratic 17974; USA) Featuring Joe Morris on guitar, Raef Sengupta on alto sax, Alex Quinn on trumpet, Michael Sabin on trombone and Daniel Klingsberg on double bass. This is the second disc in a series called ‘Instantiation’, the personnel for each in the series is different. For this session Joe Morris has organized a new quintet, none of the names are previously familiar to me. In the liner notes, Mr. Morris explains that he has prepared “rhythmically configured melodic fragments” which can be played as written or used as inspiration in improvisations. This disc consists of five different “Versions” of the piece, each around 10 minutes long. On “Version 1”, Mr. Morris plays the first phrase over and over while the other instruments soon enter, playing a similar phrase, repeating it while all of the musicians overlap, several cycles or circles spinning around one another. While the guitar and sometimes the bass speed up, the other instruments slow down, there seems to be a central pulse holding things together, not always heard but subliminally felt. Sometimes there are two or three musicians soloing or just playing simultaneously, if you listen closely you start to hear several layers the are interconnected, there is a web holding this together but it does take a bit of effort to hear it all. This heightened listening makes it easier for us the hear or see our present world in all of its glorious organic complexity (i.e. life itself). A different instrument starts off each of the five versions with different combinations of players weaving in and out, sometimes two or three lines running at the same time. One of the main highlights here is when one or two of the players take a melodic fragment and then alter it, playing it forwards and backwards, focusing on one fragment or so, while another players adds his own version of the fragment which has been transformed by addition, subtraction and changes in direction. It sounds like a game (piece) at times that we have to listen closely to, to hear in its entirety. Special thanks to Joe Morris for directing and inspiring these New Musicians to reach some new heights. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14


Three New Discs from The Relative Pitch label:

ALEX WARD ITEM 4 with CHARLOTTE KEEFFE / OTTO WILLBERG / ANDREW LISLE - Where We Were (Relative Pitch 1106; USA) Item 4 features Alex Ward on clarinet & electric guitar, Charlotte Keeffe on trumpet & flugelhorn, Otto Willberg on double bass and Andrew Lisle on drums. Although British clarinetist & guitarist, Alex Ward, is no longer so young, he continues to keep busy collaborating with dozens of other fine musicians, touring twice with This is Not This Heat and running his own Copepod label. Aside for more than dozen discs on Copepod, Mr. Ward Keeps busy working with a host of diverse musicians: Thurston Moore, Weasel Walter and Duck Baker. Item 4 is a quartet led by Mr. Ward with two musicians whose names are new to me: Charlotte Keeffe and Otto Willberg plus drummer Andrew Lisle who has worked with Mr. Ward previously and is in the Kodian Trio.
This disc was recorded live at two locations in London in September of 2018, one of which was at Cafe Oto. Each of the four pieces are relatively long, from 9 to 26 minutes at length. “Write Protect” has some tight clarinet & trumpet interplay with strong bass & drums support underneath. The rhythm team is in especially fine form, furiously soaring along with Mr. Wards sprawling, freewheeling clarinet. Although trumpeter, Ms. Keeffe, is a new name for me, she also sounds inspired sailing up and down, navigating the organic rapids of the tight rhythm team waves in both frantic and calm waters. During “Staunch”, the rhythm team slows down with eerie bowed bass and mallet work providing a cushion, the clarinet and trumpet swirling tightly together, the interaction tightly wound and often with that edge-of-your seat excitement. Mr. Ward switches to electric guitar for “Suffix”, frenetically erupting in cascading lines. For the fourth and longest piece, “Where We Were”, it starts off like a ballad with some mellow strummed guitar and soft trumpet. The quartet slowly build, trading lines from slow and careful, as the tempo and intensity evolve together. Mr. Ward eventually switches to clarinet with he and the trumpet playing their spiraling lines together: tight, quick and explosive at a somewhat restrained level. Overall this is a marvelous, diverse quartet there never stays in one place or direction for very long, always taking unexpected twists and turns. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

ALEX WARD - Frames (Relative Pitch 1105; USA) Featuring Alex Ward on solo electric guitar. Although Alex Ward started off early, playing clarinet with Derek Bailey in the late 1980’s when he was still a teenager, he later (around 2000), added guitar to his arsenal. Now in his mid-forties, Mr. Ward keeps busy playing with a wide variety of musicians from the UK scene, as well as across the great pond. Mr. Ward has worked some influential leaders like Simon H Fell, Eugene Chadbourne and is in a current trio with Duck Baker. What’s interesting about Mr. Ward is that his clarinet playing and his guitar playing, seem to come from much different places, no doubt the history of each instrument lends to different genres. In recent years Mr. Ward has been touring with This is Not This Heat, playing both instruments. He also started his own label, Copepod, a few years ago, mainly to document his ever-evolving playing and composing for different ensembles. The great Relative Pitch label has also given him a chance to try out some different approaches.
‘Frames’ features Alex Ward on solo electric guitar, some thing he has done very rarely. The first track here, “Tight Ship” has that intoxicating, Beefheart-like bent note sound than many of us know and love. Mr. Ward plays a series of spiky chords, twisting those notes inside out, letting certain notes hang on the air, creating focused tension and release. For the title track, “Frames”, Ward slows things down so that each of his strummed chords has more weight, hanging in the air, filled with suspense and mystery, each note or chord rings true. The title “Alternate Flow” seems appropriate for a piece which jumps between different streams, speeding up, slowing down, criss-crossing different fractured lines, all connected somehow. On each piece, Mr. Ward juggles different lines or chords, sometimes things get darker or more murky, like on “Staunch/At the End”, yet Mr. Ward always finds a way to add some light or other surprising twists when you leaf expect them. At times, Mr. Ward tosses off some metalish/hard rock guitar crunch lines, but not for very long before he goes back to more restrained passages. Solo electric guitar albums are not so rare as they used to be, starting in the early seventies. Alex ward does a fine job of evoking a variety of fleeting moods and vibes on each piece, from introspective to explosive. This entire disc works as a strong solo recital, from the beginning to the end. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

JOANNA MATTREY - Veiled (Relative Pitch 1095; USA) Featuring Joanna Mattrey on solo strings. I’ve watched Ms. Mattrey evolve over the past few years, working with a variety of different Downtowners: Guillermo Gregorio, Michael Foster and an acoustic quartet from South America, all here at DMG at different times. On this disc, Ms. Mattrey plays solo strings, not sure which ones. Starting off with “Ferver”, there are several layers of mutant strings erupting together, some distorted, some stretched beyond recognizable string sounds and strange and somewhat disorienting. Wheezing, haunting, disturbing at times. “So Close to the Surface” sounds more like an erhu or Chinese violin, which has an odd, unique bent-note sound unlike any Western instruments, but enchanting/demanding at the same time. “A Stroh violin is a type of stringed musical instrument that is mechanically amplified by a metal resonator and horn attached to its body.” The third piece is called Strohl so perhaps that is what Ms. Mattrey is playing. Either way, she again plays, bends and twists notes and bangs on her instruments in compelling/disturbing ways. Each piece here finds a way to get to us, digging below the surface and into a darker world underneath the earth, tapping into those murky spirits within. On “Come to Bury to Exhume”, it sounds as if there are several layers of wheezing strings breathing in and out together uneasily, are we sinking in some sort of spiritual quicksand?!? Hmmmmmm. The black & white picture of Ms. Mattrey standing in the shadows. starring into the abyss, reminds me of a haunting scene from a film noir or science fiction film from the fifties. Most appropriate. The music has a way of getting under our skin and evoking the dread that we are all feeling currently with the threat of the Corona Virus breathing down our collective necks. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14


ASTROTURF NOISE with SAM DAY HARMET / SANA NAGANO / ZACH SWANSON plus BILLY MARTIN / SARAH BERNSTEIN - Astroturf Noise (577 Records 5839; USA) Astroturf Noise is Sam Day Harmet on mandolin & effects, Sana Nagano on violin & effects and Zach Swanson on bass with guests Billy Martin on drums and Sarah Bernstein on violin. From the late 70’s through the early 90’s, I went through a long period of developing an appreciation for mostly instrumental bluegrass music. It started with working for a music distributor who sold Rounder and Flying Fish Records and getting some 100 promo albums of this music. A scene was evolving around musicians: David Grisman, Andy Statman (yes, that klez clarinetist who doubled on mandolin), Peter Rowan and many others. I ended up attending a bluegrass fest up in NY State called Grey Fox in the late 80’s/early ’90’s, checking out the like of Allison Krauss & the Dry Branch Fire Squad. The mandolin was the king of bluegrass instruments, starting with Bill Monroe who played it and is said to have invented “bluegrass”. Hence, I have always had a fondness for the mandolin, especially in the hands of Peter Rowan, Andy Statman and Barry Mitterhoff. So, when Sam Harnet approached me at a gig at DMG last year and asked to play here with his trio, I was more than pleased.
So, Sam’s trio played here at DMG a few months ago and are now called AstroTurf Noise. The trio consists of Sam on mandolin & fx with Sana Nagano on violin & fx and Zach Swanson on contrabass. Ms. Nagano has played at DMG on several occasions, most recently with a duo called Tomato & Peach. Bassist Zach Swanson has also played here previously on several occasions with Guillermo Gregorio, Daniel Carter and ThomChess (last Sunday, 3/15/20). Things begin with, “Orange Blossom Bullet Train”, which also includes some swell skeletal drumming from Billy Martin. “Orange Blossom Special” is one of the most popular of bluegrass standards and we can here the way this trio uses the infectious spirit and takes off from there adding some well needed humor. While Mr. Swanson holds down the rhythmic pulse, the mandolin and violin, spin quick lines around one another. Ms. Nagano and guest Sarah Bernstein both play frenzied violins on “Black Berry”, adding some effects to make the strings expand into a thick buzz of activity while the mandolin and bass hold down the skeletal structure. Both Mr. Harmet and Ms. Nagano add a layer of strange effects to their instruments so that it is hard to tell what exactly is going on. Has anyone ever blended bluegrass and electronic music together? Probably not, so this is a first and yes, it does actually work. On “Metropolitan Special”, the acoustic trio play more normally while another layers of swirling electronics pushing thing further and further out. Very strange, yet somehow very cool. Although it is difficult to tell where these songs are coming from, that quirky sense of humor help to make this charming in an odd sort of way. Master drummer for Medeski, Martin & Wood, Billy Martin also sits in on “Blue Comet Bankruptcy”, yet plays just bits of sly rhythmic seasoning. At times, the effects used by the mandolin and/or the violin make it so that it is difficult to tell what is going or who is playing what. The trio takes things pretty far out on the closer, “Cluck”, with a dense wave of reverb on the mandolin and violin, the entire trio pulsating together. I find this disc to be an unexpected delight and certainly unlike like an acoustic trio that has bluegrass-like instrumentation. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14


TONED with TOM WEEKS / NATHAN CORDER / LEO SUAREZ - The Private Sector (Shhpuma 058; Portugal) TONED may be an electroacoustic trio, but if the term “electroacoustic” suggests something tame from the stodgy contemporary music spectrum, be warned: “The Private Sector” is a deconstructed hellscape of what seems to be some kind of punk-jazz, with maniac “riffs” produced by digital electronics, a drumkit tirelessly assaulting your eardrums, and the cutting action of a schizophrenic alto saxophone. You can’t perceive where the established structures end and free-improvisation begins, because there’s a nonlinear and non-hierarchical organizational process at work, described as a «fractal chimera, generated by multiple layers of compositional feedback loops». Because everything is submitted to a meticulous mastication of materials, corresponding to Tom Weeks’, Nathan Corder’s and Leo Suarez’s «distrust in the canons of present-day art forms and commonly ingested sound principles», even what you vaguely identify as punk (the attitude) and as jazz (the sound) is devoured by the procedures, resulting in a musical praxis you have certainly never heard before..
CD $13


FOUR NEW DISCS FROM THE NEOS LABEL:

ERNST HELMUTH FLAMMER - Orchestral Works Vol. 2 (Neos 11909; Germany) This CD with orchestral works by Ernst Helmuth Flammer is the fifth edition with works by the composer at NEOS. The compositions presented here date from 1983-1999. They all deal with the phenomenon of time in different ways; whereby Flammer is concerned with the architectural/energetic organization of time within a composition, as well as the musical-historical point in time of their creation and thus a temporal classification in an aesthetic sense -- namely an "aesthetically rigorous approach" (Flammer). The piano concerto "Zeitzeichen - Zeitmaße" was recorded with Ortwin Stürmer and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Lothar Zagrosek. Also features: Radio-Sinfonieorchester Basel - Ulrich Backofen, conductor; Philharmonisches Orchester Freiburg - Hannu Koivula, conductor - Ortwin Stürmer, piano; BBC Symphony Orchestra - Lothar Zagrosek, conductor.
CD $16

VICTOR IBARRA - The Dimension of the Fragile Works for Ensemble (Neos 12002; Germany) Victor Ibarra's music, by producing cuts, cracks, outbreaks, and eruptions, erodes the conditions of common listening. It is characterized by sudden changes and contrasts, but is held together by a strong energy. Víctor Ibarra is professor of composition at the University of Guanajuato in his native country Mexico. His career has taken him to numerous European centers for New Music, where he has received several awards. With this recording of the Ensemble Vertixe Sonora under Nacho de Paz there is now a monographic CD of the remarkable Mexican composer.
CD $16

UMEDUO - Scrapes and Soundscapes: Works for Cello and Percussion (Neos 12002; Germany) Cello and percussion -- "my favorite instruments!" -- is how almost all composers respond, when UmeDuo from Sweden asks them to write for them. Since the duo has been founded in 2008, numerous compositions where created for the two sisters. Seven of them found their way on this CD. Seven personalities -- seven musical languages, from spiritual meditations to icy harmonies, from rough scrapes to delicate soundscapes. A view on UmeDuo's journey so far: musically, geographically, and aesthetically. UmeDuo is Karolina Öhman (cello) and Erika Öhman (percussion). Compositions by: André Chini, Jenny Hettne, Ricardo Eizirik, Esaias Järnegard, Leilei Tian, Ivo Nilsson, and Farangis Nurulla-Khoja.
CD $16

WERNER HEIDER - Piano - Chamber - Large Orchestra (Neos 12005; Germany) Werner Heider has left his mark on cultural life in Franconia for decades: as a composer, pianist, conductor and long-time director of the ars nova ensemble nürnberg. In January 2020, he celebrated his 90th birthday. Reason enough for a portrait of a special kind: In constant crescendo, this CD ranges from solo piano (Heider himself as the interpreter of his music) to chamber works and his large orchestral work Architektur, played by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Eötvös.”
CD $16

HACKEDEPICCIOTTO with ALEXANDER HAACKE / DANIELLE DE PICCIOTTO - The Current (Potomak 181362; Germany) “The Current is the fourth album Alexander Hacke and Danielle De Picciotto have recorded under their hackedepicciotto moniker recorded since becoming nomads in 2010. It is their most powerful album yet. After composing desert drones for their previous album Perseverantia (POTOMAK 125171, 2016) and dark foreboding melodies for Menetekel (POTOMAK 150841/150842), their new album moves forwards, gaining in speed and energy. Alexander Hacke's background with Einstürzende Neubauten can be felt in the many rhythmic tracks. "We had the urge to include more percussive elements and electronic sounds to create a powerful rhythmic feel. A wilder and more danceable element. Something to get all of us on our feet, and moving. Away from depression and hopelessness." The classic background of Danielle de Picciotto has become more prominent as well. Glorious choirs and violin harmonies flow throughout the album giving it an almost symphonic sound. The artist couple calls their music "cinematic-drone" and their album sounds like the film track to an apocalyptic feature-length film, hopefully with a happy end.”
CD $16


ROBERTO CECCHETTO with LIONEL LOUEKE - Humanity (Via Veneto Jazz 134; Italy) “Humanity is the newest album by Roberto Cecchetto, one the most original and eclectic guitarists on the European jazz scene, member of Enrico Rava's historic Electric Five band, renowned for his sonic experimentation and collaborations with the most important musicians in European jazz (Palle Danielsson, Richard Galliano, Paolo Fresu, Stefano Bollani, Paolino Dalla Porta, Lee Konitz, to name a few.) Cecchetto pairs with Lionel Loueke on guitar and Alessandro Paternesi on drums, weaving together rich and creative sonic textures into refined and genre-defying compositions. Soft melodic combinations and a rich harmonic palette are characteristic of Cecchetto's musical creations. An innovative guitar virtuoso and composer of West African origin, Loueke is member of the legendary Herbie Hancock touring band and has performed with leading figures of contemporary jazz. Loueke is one of the most in demand studio guitarists by world jazz gurus such as Wayne Shorter, Marcus Miller, Roy Hargrove, and Charlie Haden. Lionel Loueke and Roberto Cecchetto first met in New York City, an encounter which represented both an artistic and personal milestone. "After playing with Roberto in New York, I quickly realized that no musical territory was forbidden", says Loueke, "Our musical connection is evident and our styles are complementary, with a unique balance and interplay between our instruments. I can't wait to start our first tour together". Two well-matched and extraordinary guitarists with different experiences yet highly attuned to each other. United by a similar outlook, a strong passion, and curiosity for new horizons. Their first performance had been so mind-blowing that they resolved to take up this new duo project. Joining them is drummer Alessandro Paternesi who has been performing for over a decade and is one of the most highly sought-after Italian drummers. His intense concert activity has led him to perform together with internationally respected artists including Amil Stewart, Danilo Rea, Paolo Damiani, Gabriele Mirabassi, Javier Girotto, Fabio Zeppetella, Andrea Bocelli, Enzo Pietropaoli, Ada Montellanico, Franco Cerri.
CD $17


SHAWN MAXWELL - Millstream (Jazzline 77077; Germany) “Back to jazz - a spirited free-thinker and committed nonconformist, saxophonist-composer Shawn Maxwell is clearly courting another kind of muse. "Jackie McLean and Cannonball Adderley are two of my heroes, and I guess you probably wouldn't even think of it listening to me play. But I've transcribed them and been influenced hugely by them. I love Cannonball. But I'm not gonna be Cannonball." By relying heavily on the sound of Fender Rhodes electric piano and his own penchant for mixing memorable melodies with angularity and odd meters, Maxwell has come up with something different indeed on Millstream, his ninth album as a leader. With that signature '70s sound of Rhodes underscoring the proceedings, Maxwell and his Chicago cohorts (keyboardist Collin Clauson, bassist Jeremiah Hunt, and drummer Phil Beale) deal in long forms that avoid tired head-solo-solo-head conventions. "I'll often write a line without following the rules of ii-v-i and the logic of 'this leads to that. When I'm composing I'll think, 'How can I make this work when maybe it shouldn't work that way?' I want it to stand out enough but not so it just sounds like someone's throwing a pile of forks at a wall or something like that." Personnel: Shawn Maxwell - alto & soprano saxophones; Collin Clauson - Rhodes, piano, Wurlitzer; Jeremiah Hunt - bass; Phil Beale - drums; Chad McCullough - flugelhorn, trumpet. Liner notes by Bill Milkowski, a regular contributor to Downbeat, Absolute Sound, and Jazziz. He is also the author of JACO: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius.”
CD $15


VELVET DESERT MUSIC - Vol. 2 / Various Artists (Kompakt 156; Germany) “With Velvet Desert Music Vol. 2, curator Jörg Burger has intensified his vision for this new series of compilations on Kompakt. The music he's collected here has a unique vibration, perhaps an audio equivalent to the legendary "acid Western" films of the 1960s and 1970s, when the wild frontier logic of the western met the consciousness-altering psychedelia of the counterculture. Velvet Desert Music is Burger exploring possibilities: what happens when you extract the essence from genres as diverse as spaghetti Western soundtracks, moody lamp-lit pop, downtempo, krautrock, minimalism, classic '60s psychedelia, and more, and let their scents intermingle, Des Esseintes-style? On Velvet Desert Music Vol. 2, Burger welcomes back old friends -- Fantastic Twins, Sascha Funke, Paulor, Rebolledo, Superpitcher, The Novotones -- and also introduces some exciting new names, such as Golden Bug and The Limiñanas, Mount Obsidian (aka César Urbina/Cubenx), and Lake Turner. Marcus Schmickler's Pluramon project appears, remixed by Burger, and Michael Mayer makes his first appearance with "Not So Far Away". The ultimate strength of Velvet Desert Music Vol. 2, though, is its seamlessness; you're encouraged to press play, sit back, and listen to the album unfurl as a whole. Much like one of Kompakt's other compilation series, the legendary yearly Pop Ambient collections edited by Wolfgang Voigt, Velvet Desert Music builds its own psychological environment to inhabit. And as you dig deeper into Velvet Desert Music Vol. 2, the music takes on synaesthetic turns, the textures all swirl together, igniting the senses. Each of the artists share with Burger himself a production style that echoes the cinèma pour l'oreille (cinema for the ear), with luscious sweeps of tone and melody opening out to reveal new vistas, new terrain for the attentive listener. When listening to Velvet Desert Music, think widescreen, think broad brushstrokes, think boldness but with sensual detail. It's the new frontier music. Also features The Velvet Circle, Charlotte Jestaedt, Daniel Maloso, Gen Pop, and Lake Turner/WEM/Hand.
CD $16


DUMAMA KECHOU - Buffering Juju (Mushroom Hour Half Hour M3H 006; South Africa) ”Buffering Juju, the title of Dumama Kechou's debut album, relates to the process of "excavating spiritually charged content from within." The duo's textural sound, driven by cyclical song structures and chant making, not only captures the angst of the modern world but mines this state of affairs for regenerative potential. Dumama (vocalist and uhadi player) Kechou (multi-instrumentalist with a focus on indigenous African instruments and handmade instruments) met in Cape Town in 2017. There was an instinctive pulse to the initial clutch of shows they played together, blowing open vast sonic and conceptual possibilities. "I guess we were in similar places with our music processes in trying to push healing music to the edges and be more experimental with it," says Dumama. The narrative of the album unravels as a piece of magical realism informed by South African folklore and reality, detailing a woman's liberation story where the characters shift shape and traverse multiple realms, deploying various iterations of their power or lack thereof. "It has an organic, natural, cyber and modern kind of energy -- all rooted in African aesthetics of sound and storytelling," says Kechou. All of this sits on a bed of the duo's unique musical language, one that, although applied electronically in the form of looping and soundscaping, is founded on approaches to string, vocal and percussion tones that reflect a merger between Northern and Southern African heritage. Recorded primarily in Cape Town and Johannesburg over the first quarter of 2019, Buffering Juju is a conduit to a past we were not necessarily present for, and a future where threatened indigenous technologies thrive in an increasingly digitized world. RIYL: Meshell Ndegeocello, Moses Boyd, Sudan Archives, Sampa the Great, Erykah Badu, FKA Twigs, Moses Sumney.
CD $15


DEPARTURE CHANDLIER - Antichrist Rise To Power (Hospital Productions Hosantigo 401; USA) “Departure Chandelier's music shimmers with the aesthetic ardor of apotheosis. It is a communion with the deceased, tracing the pathway of life transmuted into death over dishonor. Although comprised of members of Akitsa and Ash Pool, Departure Chandelier is wholly unique in style and substance and bears little overt resemblance to either of those projects. Recorded nearly a decade ago, Departure Chandelier's debut album, Antichrist Rise To Power, actually preceded the band's demo, The Black Crest of Death, The Gold Wreath of War (2011). Recorded in a basement at grave-level behind the New York City Marble Cemetery (the oldest cemetery in New York City), established as a repository for the dead in 1831, just a decade after Napoleon's death. Within the gates of the small graveyard (where photography for the album was taken during a rare snowstorm) each plot is commemorated with a marble tomb. Compositionally, one hears the heavy influence of Bathory and other seminal acts overwritten by the sound of classic French black metal. Keyboard stabs and swells outline the riffs, accentuating the guitar's stately thrust. Rising out of the music, the vocals seethe, the commingled expression of scorn for life and spiritual dissent. The recording manages to capture the best elements of raw black metal, leaving the guitars brittle and charged, while simultaneously supplying depth and balance. The juxtaposition between the lean, stripped-down essence of the recording with the ornate and complex melodies and florid compositional accents is a perfect complement to the album's boldly unique detail of the Napoleonic era. Co-release with the Nuclear War Now! label.”
CD $15


LP SECTION:

WILLIAM PARKER'S INSIDE SONGS OF CURTIS MAYFIELD With LEWIS 'FLIP' BARNES/DARRYL FOSTER/SABIR MATEEN/DAVE BURRELL/LAFAYETTE GILCHRIST/HAMID DRAKE/GUILLERMO E BROWN/LEENA CONQUEST/AMIRI BARAKA - I Plan To Stay A Believer: The Inside Songs Of Curtis Mayfield (Aum Fidelity 062/063; USA) "I Plan To Stay A Believer is the definitive document of William Parker's The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield project, featuring fully charged extensions & expansions -- both music & text -- of selections from the soul music legend's immortal songbook by an equally mighty & masterful 8-piece band featuring Parker himself in supreme rhythm section communion with drummer Hamid Drake and pianist Dave Burrell. Vocals by the exquisitely gifted Leena Conquest & additional voice/poetry/powerful singing as well by legendary scribe/force Amiri Baraka in one of his greatest/last appearances on record. The horn section takes it to next level, too. Parker brought this ensemble to festival stages in Europe (and Chicago & New York) during the first decade of this new millennium; many of these sets were recorded and this presents the distilled concentrate thereof anew. Gospel-tinged uplift, luminous swing, tight soul grooves, and wholly lit free jazz are rousingly delivered with clear-eyed joy and righteous purpose. This work brings Mayfield's and Parker's positive messages of hope and fortitude in the face of seemingly endless tribulation firmly into the present moment, exultantly so and with total commitment. This first time on vinyl limited edition features all new cover art & insert with Parker's liner notes a previously unreleased, exclusive to vinyl version of 'People Get Ready/The Inside Song' a download card for full-resolution download of 7 additional tracks/80 minutes of this profound music. 'It's hard to imagine Curtis Mayfield being anything but flattered by the immense thought and planning that clearly went into these arrangements. To pull and stretch these songs so much and still preserve their essential identity is a true feat of art.' --Pitchfork" Housed in a gatefold sleeve; includes full-res download with 7 additional tracks.
2 LP Set $36 [LTD Edition of 500]

ZEENA PARKINS / BRIAN CHASE - Live at San Damiano Mission (Chaikin Records CSR 003/CKR 005; USA) This unique album features Zeena Parkins playing acoustic harp & electronics on one side and Brian Chase playing snare drum & cymbal on the other side. Both of these Downtown musicians come from different eras of the Downtown Scene, which now stretches back forty plus years. Ms. Parkins came to town in the early 1980’s, playing acoustic harp and later a manmade electric harp with Fred Frith, John Zorn, ending up in Skeleton Crew, Carbon & No Safety. From the late eighties onwards, Ms. Parkins has put out a series of diverse solo efforts, as well as collaborating assorted musicians from around the globe. Complete solo efforts by Zeena alone are pretty rare. Considering that Ms. Parkins has been playing the harp for four decades, she is a sorceress of her own sounds. This album side was recorded live at San Damiano Mission in Brooklyn in August of 2018. Although Ms. Parkins plays acoustic harp, she has long experimented with the way she plays it: plucking the strings in odd ways, pulling strings through the harp strings like a bow and adding some electronic seasoning. When I think of the acoustic harp, I think of the angels in the heavens plucking their strings as we soar above. This is one of the many sounds that Zeena evokes from her harp which soon is manipulated in all sorts of odd ways. Zeena’s solo harp sets are pretty rare so it is indeed a great thing to have one captured here in all of grand glory.
Although drummer, Brian Chase, is more often known for his world with the popular rock band, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, he has come a long way as one of the better Downtown drummers, working a variety of solo and group projects and improving with dozens of Downtown’s finest. Mr. Chase released a well-regarded solo project in 2018 called ‘Drums & Drones’ (2 CD Set). On each of the four solo pieces here, Mr. Chase, works with one aspect of playing the snare or cymbal, concentrating on specific textures or areas. The sounds here are carefully recorded so that we hear the nuance and reverb vibration of each note or beat. Often, when we hear someone playing a drummer, we just think about the rhythmic beat itself. If you slow down the pattern and listen closely, we hear much more. Although things seems more modest here, there is much more going on than the surface sound. I often think that there is some sort of spirit-being in any object that is struck. We often don’t notice this when someone plays too fast for long periods. When slow things down, it become possible to actually hear that spirit-being within the beats and ringing notes. Mr. Chase does a marvelous job digging deeper and revealing the spirits within. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
LP $22 [LTD Edition of 100, numbered with download card]

DAVID TOOP / PAUL BURWELL - Wounds (Song Cycle 980; UK) “Song Cycle present the first reissue of Wounds by David Toop and Paul Burwell. Originally released in 1980 on Toop's Quartz! label, the album is representative of a seminal moment within the British music scene evolved around the London Musicians Collective in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Founded in 1976 by a group of improvising musicians and sound artists including Evan Parker, Peter Cusack, Lol Coxhill, Sylvia Hallet, Max Eastley, the LMC contributed to shape a new generation of free improvisers with broader interests ranging from the music of John Stevens, Evan Parker, and Cornelius Cardew, to non-western music experiences. David Toop and Paul Burwell came to know each other precisely in these crucial moments, to start a long-lasting collaboration on two separate but intertwined projects a trio with the artist and poet Bob Cobbing, and an improvisation duo. As result of the latter, the nine tracks included in Wounds are edited from a single performance at the LMC, date 30.6.1979. Recorded by Max Eastley and Russ Wood, these shows saw the employment of different musical instruments as well an odd number of found objects placed in front of the artists, on the floor, ready to be picked up and played. Electric guitar, flute, cassette, water, rubbish, explosives, six strings harp, bamboo fiddle, whistle were only a few of the wider arrange of instruments at the disposal of the two. The result is an ambivalent album, suspended between the unfolding of the time of performance, and the circularity of the ritual. And if the collage of texts appearing on the artwork demonstrates a certain disapproval and skepticism toward the progress of society, Wounds seems also suggesting a possible cure. The improvised music, the use of non-canonical instruments, the presence of pre-recorded sounds coming, seems indeed to be an open invitation to the listeners to abandon the old conventions and to search for a new system of relationships.
LP $28

ROBERTO MUSCI / GIOVANNI VENOSTA / MASSIMO MARIANI - Losing The Orthodox Path (Soave 025; Italy) Soave present a reissue of Roberto Musci, Giovanni Venosta, and Massimo Mariani's Losing The Orthodox Path, originally released in 1997. Color vinyl; edition of 300.
"How does one describe such a supremely crafted tapestry of sound and composition when there is such a rich canvas of details to appreciate it? As a homage to ancient music, Musci, Venosta and Mariani blend a powerful undercurrent of otherwordly intrigue and mysticism throughout their structures, resulting in an emotionally engaging experience unlike any other CD recording I've encountered. Most of the real-time playing is placed alongside and distinctly from the computer world, creating both a stimulating, dynamic and crossover references. There is much originality to reward both close and repeat listens. This isn't jazz, nor improvised; in their words, Losing The Orthodox Path is an homage to ancient music, but through an electro-acoustic approach. Our jazz and/or rock souls do the rest." - Michael King
Personnel: Roberto Musci - sampler, prepared electric guitar, tapes, CD player, treatments, synthesizer, rain-stick; Giovanni Venosta - prepared piano, organ, spinet, voice, ocarina, mouth, percussion, Jew's harp, sampler, synthesizer, tubes, digital percussion, pandaa (zither from Burkina Faso); Massimo Mariani - digital treatments & FX, voix, electronics, electric guitar, detuned acoustic guitar, harmonica, mouth, tapes, digital glockenspiel, mandolin, double bass, sampler, valiha (zither from Madagascar); Sandro Cerino - baritone, soprano and alto saxophones, contrabass clarinet; Moni Ovadia - Greek chant; Silvia Mandolini - violin; Roberto Zanisi - darbukas; Ciaccio De Rossi - violin; Cesare Picco - fake muted trumpet sound produced using mouth; Liliana Bancolini - voice; Laura Pone - voice; Amelie Gerson - voice and flute; Didier Aschour - voice.
LP $35

LES RALLIZES DENUDES BE - There's No Heaven Like Hell (Alternative FOX 003; UK) “One of the strangest and most enigmatic groups in the history of rock n' roll, Les Rallizes Denudes, also known as Hadaka no Rallizes or Hadaka no Rarizu, were a Japanese experimental rock band that is often cited as a pioneering force of the noise rock movement. The story of the band is as strange and difficult as the music they made and although much of the tale is shrouded in mystery, everything apparently begins around Kyoto's radical anti-establishment communes of the late 1960s, where androgynous frontman Takashi Mizutani formed the group in November 1967 while attending Kyoto University. Hard facts are in thin supply and the band's name employs complex punning that essentially equates to "Fucked Up and Naked" in Japanese, a slang reference to being high on drugs. Inspired by the Velvet Underground and other groups employing prominent, overamplified guitar, the band's music was typically based on repetitive rhythmic patterns bolstered by Mizutani's heavily distorted lead guitar, though the poor sound quality of early demos apparently turned Mizutani away from studio recordings, rendering much of their output in the form of live bootlegs, supplanted by the occasional leaked studio demo. Early performances were given as accompaniment to avant-garde theater groups, though the group was soon deemed too loud to be a mere accompaniment, and membership fluctuated frequently, with Mizutani being the only constant, though he retreated from public view following the 1970 Red Army hijacking of Japan Airlines flight 351, with the assistance of original Rallizes bass player, Moriaki Wakabayashi, who subsequently fled to North Korea; the band continued to sporadically record and perform under various guises until 1997. The two versions of There's No Heaven Like Hell, presented here, was recorded on April 1, 1975 at Rallizes House in Fussa, a small town to the west of Tokyo, joining Mizutani with keyboardist/guitarist Taisuke Morishita's experimental group Be, originally known as Yellow. The first version takes the form of an epic slow drone, featuring Mizutani on acid guitar, backed only by Morishita's pulsating synthesizer lines; the second version is in full marathon mode, an hour-long dirge that sees the spacey duo joined by drummer Shunichiro Shoda and a plodding bassist in the latter portion.
2 LP Set $24

EVRITIKI ZYGIA - Ormenion (Teranga Beat TBLP 024; Senegal) Gatefold cover; printed insert and download code. Teranga Beat presents Ormenion, a record by the group Evritiki Zygia. Ormenion is a historical region that dates back to the Byzantine Empire. It is the northernmost inhabited region of Greece, where the last railway station of the country is located. During the 1920s, it was inhabited by refugees coming from the North and Eastern Thrace. Immigration is central to the history of the region of Thrace, where many songs refer to refugees and moving populations. The name of this particular place was selected as the album title due to its delicate cultural and geographic status: Ormenion coincides with the borders of three different countries (Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey) and its history counts several waves of immigration that gave way to cultural and even linguistic exchange -- elements that obviously left their mark on the group. The group Evritiki Zygia was founded in 2007 by five musicians who played mostly in local festivals, their main concern being the preservation and evolution of the Thracian musical tradition. The collaboration with Teranga Beat helped this project evolve even further. Forms of arrangement different than the ones used in local feasts and festivals, were introduced giving more space to the dynamics of the instruments and allowing musicians to show both their improvisational and compositional skills. The distinctively psychedelic element of Thracian music was enhanced with the introduction of the CRB-Diamond 800 organ and the Moog, giving the whole project a hybrid sound with a unique identity. The album contains both covers of traditional songs and original compositions. The band's highest point was their appearance at the Womex Festival in 2018, where their music was presented for the first time in front of an international audience. Ormenion was recorded on an analog 24-track tape Otari MX 80 in two sessions that took place on May 18 and 19 2019. It is a live recording that captures the energy of the group's live performances. CD version comes in digipak with slipcase, and includes a booklet with photos and liner notes outlining the story of the band.
LP $24

IDJAH HADIDJAH & JUGALA JAIPONGAN - Jaipongan Music of West Java Reworks (Hive Mind HMRLP 009; UK) “Indonesian music has enraptured ears across the globe for many years, and few styles hold such a colorful history and place in the hearts of the people of West Java as Jaipongan. Hive Mind Records announce a collaboration with Kai Riedl of Javasounds to bring you these superb recordings of one of Java, Indonesia's most famed music styles of the '70s and '80s, Jaipongan. The album, recorded at the famed Jugala Studios in Bandung, Java in 2007, features the incredible vocals of Idjah Hadidjah, the country's most iconic singer of the genre, backed by members of the Jugala Studios house band. The album comes with a second disc of reworks of the original tracks by boundary pushing electronic musicians from around the world. Known for its rapid gamelan (gongs and metallophones) playing, angular and dynamic drumming, and erotically charged dancing, Jaipongan was invented by composer and choreographer Gugum Gumbira (1945-2020) in reaction to the Indonesian government's ban on rock and roll. As a form of rebellion, Gumbira took the core elements of a local, erotically charged harvesting ritual music and contemporized the sound by adding the gamelan instruments, dynamic drumming, the speed and urbanized subject matter of rock 'n' roll, and sensual dance moves. Idjah Hadidjah, a professional singer with Sundanese Shadow Puppet Theatres was approached by Gugum Gumbira in the early '80s and asked to sing with his Jugala Orchestra. Their collaboration was to last through the decade as she quickly became one of the country's most beloved Jaipongan singers. The Javasounds recordings saw her reunited with both Bandung's famous Jugala studio, and members of its famed house orchestra for the first time in a number of years.
The Remix Project: For the past few years Kai Riedl was executive producer and curator of Moogfest, the annual celebration of experimental electronic music and of the work of Bob Moog. As a musician himself, Riedl wanted to connect the musicians in Java with others around the world, and he was keen to make multitrack recordings in Java so that other musicians could have access to high quality recordings of individual instruments to work with. For Reworks, he gave a number of artists from around the world access to the original multitrack recordings with the understanding they had free reign to work with them in an intuitive and open-ended way. Features Bana Haffar, Bergsonist, Lightbath, Sarah Belle Reid, Signals Under Tests, Fahmi Mursyid, Kai Riedl & Suny Lyons, and Ultrabillions.
2 LP Set $38

PHANTOM HORSE - Als Ob (Umor Rex UR 105; Mexico) “Music for post-apocalyptic deserts. Experimental synth-sounds with hypnotic percussions -- imagine Moondog performing with John Carpenter and Cabaret Voltaire. Relating to their live appearances, Phantom Horse might be named a lazy combo since they are not to be found on stage all too often. Yet their withdrawn approach fits this album very well; Als Ob is once more a journey through inwardness, a contemplative excursion to the electronic outback, still friendly asking for your attention. There's plenty of things to discover if you listen mindfully; the Phantom Horse rides out where you as a listener like to be lonely. Those ancient synths are still around, playing their melodies as if* there were no time thieves waiting around the corner (*That is what "Als Ob" means). Altogether, the sound has become more electric yet not eclectic, the duo has de-krauted, describing their sound as "more ritual", but of course avoiding any kind of mysticism and fairy-tale dullness. Since 2015's Different Forces (also on Umor Rex), Phantom Horse have fleshed out their friendly stoicism that hauls their experimental synth sounds into the area of songs -- maybe even pop songs that aren't tangible at least. Welcome to the insular state of Phantom Horse.”
LP $21

BLANK FORMS - Vol. 5: Aspirations of Madness (Blank Forms 005BK; USA) ‘Aspirations of Madness’, Blank Forms' fifth collection of archival, unpublished, or newly translated texts, takes its title from a series of interviews with Japanese free jazz pioneer Masayuki Takayangi that were published in Japanese in 1975-76 and are published here in English for the first time. The interviews provide a rare look at Takayanagi's eccentric practice and personality, both long under-recognized by audiences outside (and often, inside) of Japan. The postwar Japanese history that Takayanagi describes also surfaces in this publication's opening piece, a poetic tribute by the writer and artist Louise Landes Levi to one of Takayanagi's contemporaries, the poet Kazuko Shiraishi. Aspirations of Madness includes a second Levi poem as well, "A Deep River", written while at La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela's Dream House in 2003, while Charles Curtis was rehearsing "Just Charles and Cello in the Romantic Chord", a composition by Young that Blank Forms plans to present in Spring 2020. Complementing this tradition of Japanese free improvisation and poetry is the republication of a 1977 interview with Joseph Jarman, the great composer, poet, and multi-instrumentalist. The interview took place a few months after the publication of Jarman's book Black Case Volume I & II: Return from Exile, a collection of writings from 1960 to 1977 (Blank Forms, Fall 2019). The volume also feature Charles Stein's introduction to Being = Space x Action. In its specificity and rarity of focus, Stein's text offers valuable information on a vibrant artistic network of the recent past, as well as an extended look at the evolution of Catherine Christer Hennix's complex practice. Further along, Aspirations of Madness features an excerpt from The Tree of Music, a cross-cultural treatise by the Russian musicologist Genrich "Henry" Orlov, the English translation of which has never been published before. The Tree of Music is a sweeping philosophical study of global music and cultures with universalist and spiritualist ambitions, excerpts of which are here selected and introduced by the composer and pianist Leo Svirsky. Aspirations of Madness closes with one of Maryanne Amacher's final pieces of writing, The Agreement, from 2009. The text takes the form of a letter between Amacher and the Open Ended Group, with whom she had planned to collaborate on her final, unfinished project, Lagrange: A Four Part Mini Series. Aspirations of Madness features additional contributions by Alan Cummings, Bill Dietz, Peter Kastakis, Art Lange, Leo Svirsky, Satoru Obara, and Tomoyuki Chida, and is edited by Lawrence Kumpf with Joe Bucciero. 242 pages; 6x8 inches.
Book $22


**********

Bruce Lee Gallanter’s Recommended Gig List for March, 2020

THE NEW STONE
Is Located at the New School’s Glass Box Theatre
55 West 13th street - just east of 6th ave

THE STONE IS NOW CLOSED UNTIL APRIL 12th, due to the Corona Virus Pandemic.

THE (NEW) STONE is located in The New School’s Glass Box Theatre  
All Sets at The New Stone start at 8:30pm Tickets: $20
There are no refreshments or merchandise at The Stone. 
Only music. All ages are welcome. Cash Only at the door. 
A serious listening environment.
The Stone is booked purely on a curatorial basis

The Stone Series at HappyLucky No. 1:

The Stone Series: CANCELLED FOR NOW!

HappyLucky No. 1 is located at
734 Nostrand Ave, near Sterling
easy access from the A/C/2/3/4 trains

**********

The Weekly Bushwick Improvised Music Series:

* Monday March 16th

7pm Blaise Siwula – woodwinds, 
Leco Reis – bass & 
Jon Panikkar – drums

8pm Stephen Gauci – tenor saxophone, 
Sandy Ewen – guitar, 
Adam Lane – bass & 
Kevin Shea – drums

9pm Noa Fort – vocals
, Kenneth Jimenez – bass & 
Satoshi Takeishi – drums

9:45pm Drew Wesely – guitar
, Gabby Fluke-Mogel – violin
 & Kevin Murray – drums

10:45pm Lim Yang – bass
, Santiago Leibson – keyboard
 & Vinnie Sperrazza – drums

11:30pm Juan Carlos Polo – drums
Dan Blake – saxophones
Sandra Kluge – tap dancing

* Most gigs now & in the near future have recently been canceled.
No word from Mr. Gauci whether this is is cancelled or not.

Downstairs @ Bushwick Public House
https://bushwickpublichouse.com/ gaucimusic.com
1288 Myrtle Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn
Across the street from M train Central Ave stop

***********

CELEBRATING WOMEN COMPOSERS!
Friday, March 20, 2020 - 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
CANCELED!