what are you listening to? a second wave

[Richard Pinnell]

i didn't mean to be so harsh. it's easy to forget sometimes that a lot of the artists we talk about have an audience comprising IHM posters and... well, that's about it. and there aren't enough of us to make a hoax worthwhile..

Once again the hoax question... why is it that people feel so worried about being taken for a ride? Having swapped a good few emails with Naoshima I know he is serious, though humour certainly plays a part in some elements of the encadre releases.

Regarding this new release, I was very tired last night and should have waited until today to post about it as I sound above like I am mocking it, which I certainly shouldn't be. I also mistook the Objective 1/2 piece for the Objective 4/4 score, as Yi corrected me on earlier. Apologies for that.

As for the disc, well this is the most difficult to get anything from yet I think. So far I haven't found anything of worth to take from three of the pieces, but I am enjoying trying. The Objective 1/2 piece is by some way the best thing on the disc, patches of organ-like sound pulsing softly but full of tremors split apart by long silences in a very Malfattiesque way.

I think Jon's assessment of the Encadre guys as trying to find their voice right now is correct. I find what they are doing very interesting, if not musically enthralling. Naoshima has a virtually silent but very enjoyable duo recording with Jason Kahn due out some time in the future on the windsmeasure label that is more in line with his music with Totsuka on the first two Encadre discs. Regarding the two Septet recordings, yes the second disc has more ambient room sound, passing traffic etc, and a little more instrumental sound, but I personally prefer the studio disc for the reasons I wrote a year ago here: http://www.thewatchfulear.com/?p=96

[kcorcoran]

also talking to him, I got curious about the bonus disc for septet, which naoshima evidently wanted to be the actual release. it was recorded in a room with more ambient noise, whereas the released one is recorded in a studio. he's supposed to send me one, but anyone have these both and notice much difference between them?

the mitaka art center disc does contain a little more than septet, and the package of both environments for a similar performance is a nice touch, as it helps to consider the event/intention overall.
a bit of squeaking and rubbing here and there, and a single sine wave a little after the halfway point present more instrument sound than on septet. mainly the difference is the ambient noise mentioned, but this is mostly traffic outside the space so, those of you who hate hearing that acceleration/deceleration sound shouldn't go out of the way to obtain this one.

thanks for the review of encadre 2 here.. though i don't have any real dissent towards the first release, that 'four on the floor' track had me skeptical, and it seems like richard's words can validate my avoidance of it. ultimately still supporting these guys in their developing work.

i'd love to see english versions of those texts regarding otomo and other tokyo musics as well. i feel like every publication on new music or sound art in english just rehashes generalities on the invention of the phonograph and cagean silence with a dash of futurist input and an excess of dry academia, or is just an artist biography and cv.
the only ideas that come to mind are cathy fishman, who translates liner notes and handles non-japanese orders for IMJ, or caitlin stronell who did an excellent job with creating very well structured english translations of the WrK guys' essays in the 'site of sound' book, but i don't know her affiliation at all... might be two potential avenues with some persuasion?

[jon abbey]

well, there's also yuko, who works as a translator and whose combined understanding of japanese, english and the music is probably unparalleled. but we're talking about massive jobs here, book after book after magazine after blog as well as clearing it with the writers, not sure where someone would even start or how it would be funded.

[kcorcoran]

And of course, Yuko, yes... excellent photographs would make good accompaniment to translations on the matter, but right, where do we find that grant writer?

in the meantime, there is a pretty nice english offering of a conversation with Otomo in the current issue of ART iT - covers some thoughts on composition, improv, and installation.

[William Hutson]

Once again the hoax question... why is it that people feel so worried about being taken for a ride?

not a new instance of this anxiety-- only a reference to that earlier thread where others made the accusation.

i've got friends who are certain that i'm being grifted out of my money by pretentious confidence men every time i buy any of the music i like.

[skrobek]

on my quest for free-jazz guitar players (why isn't there more ? beats me... is it a question of dynamics?) I'm listening to the Ahmed Abdullah Sextet where an unknown (to me) guitar player called "Mashujaa" does the job... is there more ?

[bedouin]

on my quest for free-jazz guitar players (why isn't there more ? beats me... is it a question of dynamics?) I'm listening to the Ahmed Abdullah Sextet where an unknown (to me) guitar player called "Mashujaa" does the job... is there more ?

Two free-improv guitar/bass duos I bought last week, definitely worth investigating:


Barre Phillips, Kazuo Imai - Play'em as They Fall (Station Kids)
Kazuo Imai (free improv, contemporary classical), I believe he played with the Taj Mahal Travellers, but can't find much else by him?


Hans Tammen, Dominic Duval - The Road Bends Here (Leo Records)
thanks to Damon_Smith for the recommendation

[jon abbey]

Kazuo Imai (free improv, contemporary classical), I believe he played with the Taj Mahal Travellers, but can't find much else by him?

the only graduate of Takayanagi's school, he has at least one solo disc on PSF, and maybe two. he has a new trio CD/DVD release on doubtmusic in a few weeks, with Atsuhiro Ito on optron and someone I don't remember on electronics.

[Salty Swift]

Scanner / Dessy - Play Along

[skrobek]

yeah Kazuo Imai... I was interested in the Takayanagi filiation so I got his solo on PSF (How Will We Change) I haven't listened to it in a while but I remember not really getting into it at the time...

anyway, it's not really the same thing is it ?

I mean, there's lots of free-mprov guitar, but how come there were so few guitar players during the free-jazz explosion ?

I can only think of Sharrock and Ulmer, to some extent... and more live, not even on records!

I've heard of Bern Nix who played with Julius Hemphill and one Michael Jackson who played with Oliver Lake... They have tracks on the Wildflower comp. but really nothing much...

This remains a mystery for me... I had a conversation about this the other day with a musician friend and he told me the same thing happened to the trumpet: it went from jazz to free-improv and skipped the free-jazz phase...

anyway, now playing...

radu malfatti - Düsseldorf vielfaches (B-Boim)

yes I know... I'll let you know when I put something else on he he

[William Hutson]

ray russell?


np: sparks "no.1 in heaven"

[bedouin]

I can only think of Sharrock and Ulmer, to some extent... and more live, not even on records!

two classics that instantly come to mind:
- john mclaughlin - extrapolation
- jan garbarek (with terje rypdal) - affric pepperbird

i would bet there is a thread that covers free improv guitar here.

[skrobek]

Ray Russell ?

You mean that one:


I confess my ignorance...

but surely not the tracks on his Myspace ? http://www.myspace.com/rayrussell

maybe some earlier stuff?

[skrobek]

i would bet there is a thread that covers free improv guitar here.

it depends where do you draw the line between free jazz and free improv (if you do) ?

I mean, I get the impression there's very few guitars on free jazz records from the 60's onwards, whereas it's much more present in EFI, as if players hadn't find the trick to take their instrument there...

[dave quam]

[William Hutson]

Ray Russell ?

You mean that one:

no idea. i have a burned copy of this somewhere:

Ray Russell: Live at the I.C.A./Retrospective

it's definitely free jazz. reissued on jim o'rourke's moikai label. here's the press release:

The English free jazz improvisation scene of the late 60s and early 70s was an incestuous breeding ground. Robert Fripp was producing albums by Keith Tippet, Brian Eno was using Derek Bailey and Evan Parker on albums of odd Russian electronic music on Island, and labels like EMI and RCA were actually taking a stab at selling this music to a large market. Amidst all this was Ray Russell, a popular session guitarist, also playing in John Barry's group, also reputed to be the first guitarist in England to have a pedal setup, and also the man responsible for the guitar freak-out on the Dr. No soundtrack album. CBS and RCA started releasing records of his free jazz groups. They started innocently enough, but eventually Russell started to break free. At a time when hollow body guitars and a clean sound were the norm, he had his Fender guitar in one hand and a fuzz box in the other. For a period in the early 70s he made records of unknown hybridibastardization of the rock sound and free jazz energy. He was Caspar Brotzmann when Caspar's dad was still writing blueprints for the continental Europe free jazz sound. Then he moved on, as people do, and the records became impossible to get. His efforts dropped off the face of the free map. The sound is recognizably jazz -- rhythm section, horn, playing heads; group improvisation. But even after all these years it's still a shock when Russell comes up to bat. His lines are not so much melodic variation, or even Coltrane-like walls of sound. Instead it is what, 20 years later, was termed 'skree'; sharp, angular bursts, like a Pollock painting mounted with guitar pickups, the sound of explosions. Like contemporaries Sonny Sharrock and Terje Rypdal, Russell makes it sound as if the guitar is not enough, as if he's reaching for something wilder, something that can't be contained within the 6 string cage.

[William Hutson]

... since we've been talking about these guys. i'm actually finding this a lot more enjoyable than i did before, especially when turned down quiet, so that the noise floor disappears into the listening environment of my room. i wish there weren't a minute of digital silence between the two tracks, though. it doesn't really work for me.

[7/4]

earlier:

"Low Budget Orchestra" - Omaggio a Frank Zappa
Prato, Teatro Metastasio
2008-09-25

all songs arranged by Alessandro Fabbri and Fabrizio Melis

Blessed Rellief
Waka Jawaka
Duke of Prunes
America Drinks and Goes Home
Idiot Bastard Son
Little Umbrellas
Dog Breath
Blessed Relief (encore)

and now a bit of Burnt Weeny Sandwich.

[simon reynell]

Axel Dorner / Toshimaru Nakamura - vorhernach [ftarri]
impressive stuff, but can't actually like this one.

before that: Matt Davis / Joel Stern - small industry [l'innomable]
same basic instrumentation as 'vorhernach', but this one I can't help loving. Beautiful playing by Davis (as ever), but Stern is also great on this IMO

[Dan Warburton]

Interesting - why would you say that is, Simon?