Cuneiform
Records (POB 8427, Silver Spring, MD 20907-8427; http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/
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Listen to or Buy at Amazon.com
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Far
Corner
Far Corner
Cuneiform
Records
Bass, piano, cello and percussion gives this agile ensemble
rock quartet a full bottom end. However, this group is more King Crimson than
it is Morphine. This basic instrumentation (it is varied and added to) grafts
a mystery and depth to the progressive rock band's music. This is a particularly
strong debut that bridges the post-classical and the prog worlds. In the jazz-like
tradition of shared roles, each member and thus instrument leads some pieces.
This adds variety and texture to the album's instrumental tracks. RIYL: King Crimson,
Univers Zero, Mick Karn. (5)
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Listen to or Buy at Amazon.com
Listen to or Buy at Amazon.com
Listen to or Buy at Amazon.com
Birdsongs
of the Mesozoic
The Iridium Controversy
Cuneiform
Records
Beautiful cover art by famed Roger Dean (Yes, Asia) ornaments
this CD. This is fitting to enclose the sophisticated art music inside. The quartet
is a progressive, art-jazz ensemble, light and limber as it deftly moves the themes
from Ken Field's saxophone to the keyboardists (Erik Lindgren, Rick Scott) as
Michael Bierylo nets it all together with the guitar. This chamber rock is too
hip to be merely intellectual but well smart enough to appeal to fans of jazz
and neo-classical music. All this is done with a smile, making the music, done
without bass guitar and only just so much percussion, light and cheery. (4.5)
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Krakatoa
We are the Rowboats
Cuneiform
Records
Cuneiform does a great service in bringing back into the
light forgotten and important and often insanely rare albums. We are the Rowboats
sounds as if it could be some krautrock-inspired prog rockers pushing their analog
equipment to the limits in the '70s onto a forgotten and lost vinyl master. But
indeed, this Brooklyn group is young and contemporary, although there influences
are not so contemporary. Drawing off of King Crimson, Mothers of Invention and
Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, Krakatoa produces wondrous and wildly divergent music
full of drama. Bold violin (Glendon Jones) recalls the music of Curved Air. The
dramatic element probably comes from the fact that musicians met as members of
The Lost Art of Puppet Orchestra where they put on shadow puppet theater with
live music. (4.5)
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Larval
Obedience
Cuneiform
Records
Bill Brovold's Larval continues to be the voice for intelligent
and challenging sounds with a hard rock basis out of Detroit. This CD sees Brovold
relying less on a wall-of-sound guitar dirge to offer more complex arrangements
featuring the strings and horns. This post-threnody Larval is menacing and ominous.
Dark clouds gather here on this most moody and reflective of the Larval albums.
(4.5)
Various
Artists
156 Strings
Cuneiform
Records
Henry Kaiser is our "curator" in this 19-track museum of
experimental guitar. The purpose of this CD is to exhibit the current state of
acoustic guitar innovation. Participants range from the versatile Richard Thompson
to avant-guitar stalwart Fred Frith. Frith is, of course, know more for his creations
on the electric guitar, as are other participants like Mike Keneally. Inspired
by the early Takoma samplers compiled by John Fahey as well as Frith's Guitar
Solos series, Kaiser's stated aim is to highlight the "many players today
who are operating at those elevated levels of acoustic eloquence." The artists
recorded each of the all-instrumental tracks exclusively for the project. This
is a natural extension of previous productions Kaiser brought to Cuneiform. Prior
to this, there was Friends & Enemies, a 2-CD compendium of Kaiser-Frith
improv. Before that Lemon Fish Tweezer compiled Kaiser's solo guitar improvisations
from two decades. (5)
Lutz
Glandien
The 5th Elephant
Cuneiform/ReR
MegaCorp
Lutz Glandien's music is ominous, truly fearsome electronic creations. A mesmerizing, plodding substrate of tempo-shifting beats conveys a discharging storm of psychopathic, fractured melodies and backwards voices. The genesis of this opus was studio improvisations with drummer Chris Cutler (Pere Ubu, Henry Cow) and tuba player Michael Vogt showing his avant-garde side away from the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. Glandien took this material and spent three years analyzing, processing and re-creating it with computer technology. The result is as disturbing as it is lucid. The 5th Elephant is shades of Nine Inch Nails in the spirit of Stockhausen. (5)
The
Muffins
Bandwidth
Cuneiform/Rune
A criminally uncelebrated American progressive rock band, The Muffins return to the scene with this, their first studio release since 1980. The Muffins draw from the post-psychedelic Canterbury scene (Soft Machine, National Health, etc.), Sun Ra and Henry Cow. (Henry Cow member Fred Frith later called the group "the finest progressive band America produced.") They combine matured post-psychedelic textures with the focused jazz energy of early- and middle-period Sun Ra on this jazzy, well-hone creation that was in production for more than two years. (4)
Soft
Machine
Backwards
Cuneiform
Backwards is entirely recordings previously unreleased from the innovative and challenging avant-garde group. In roughly reverse chronological order; these half-dozen tracks (one over 20 minutes in length) cover the period 1968-1970. The most visible representatives of the post-psychedelic Canterbury scene, Soft Machine progressed from accessible pop to more innovate jazz fusions. The initial three selections are studio tracks recorded after the quartet version (Dean/Ratledge/Hopper/Wyatt) finished Third. Following are two live recordings from November 1969 of the large septet version adding Dobson/Charig/Evans. Concluding the disc is Robert Wyatt's demo version of "Moon in June" recorded by the band in two parts months apart and spliced together. (4)
FRESH
FRITH
Britain's ReR MegaCorp,
distributed domestically on Cuneiform, reissues Fred Frith's Accidental: Music
for Dance, Vol. 3 and Gravity titles. From the avant-guitarist, these
are two varied discs. The title of each is a reverse barometer of the weather
system contained therein. Gravity is possessed of levity and a even a cartoonish
experimentalism. Accidental, however, is so purposeful as to border on
the aggressive in its repetitive purposefulness. Gravity is Frith's lighthearted
celebration of dance from all cultures. Perhaps it is the streak of dance-music
appreciation that caused him to later collaborate on the musical score to Sally
Potter's The Tango Lesson. Percussion here is light and largely marked
with handclaps. The guitars sound twang-y and bring folk-instrumentation to mind.
Indeed, much of Frith's source material for this album was scratched on napkins
while listening to Greek musicians while on holiday. Violins and horns add a jubilant
feel to the music. Many musicians help vary the sound of each tracks and some
of these guests are from Samla Mammas, Manna, The Muffins and Henry Cow. Gravity
is an entertaining and multi-cultural pocket folk festival. Certainly, Gravity,
of all the Frith releases is the most accessible, the easiest to enjoy. The disc
contains a rendition of "Dancing in the Street" and it is the only Frith album
where this does not seem out of place.
Accidental is Frith on
all voices and instruments. This instrumentation is mostly guitars, violin, junk
percussion, and radio found sounds. British choreographer Paul Selwyn Norton commissioned
this music for a dance piece made in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was recorded in 1995-1996
winter. This reaches back to harsh, angular art sounds that hearken back to Frith's
Henry Cow days. This is the sound he was freeing himself from on the more unfettered
Gravity. In a way, though, this is then a back-to-basics approach where
Frith returns to his roots but employs modern production techniques. As Gravity
benefits from the exuberance of Hellenic folk musicians Frith encountered, so
Accidental reflects the tension of an Israel shuddering from the assassination
of Yitzhak Rabin. It was shortly after this event that Frith was in Israel recording
the music in all-night sessions.
These reissues are co-releases with
Frith's own Fred Records. Along with the back catalog will appear new release.
Frith on the Web: http://www.fredfrith.com.
Listen to or Buy Accidental at Amazon
Listen to or Buy Gravity at Amazon
Roberto
Iolini
Iolini
ReR Megacorp/Cuneiform
Roberto Iolini, operating out of Sydney, Australia, presents strange computer
compositions on Iolini that occasionally break into crystalline Classical passages
reminiscent of the chamber pieces he composes. Clear joy combined with the sophisticated
rhythms of Twentieth Century Music can be heard in "Zimbabwe." Inspired by Zimbabwean
rhythms, this piece bears an affinity on that level to "Dumisana Maraire" on Kronos
Quartet's Pieces of Africa. From this ethnic celebration the spectrum here also
includes an except from Vanunu, the opera co-written by Iolini in homage Mordachai
Vanunu, the nuclear scientists that divulged Israeli nuclear secrets. The mix
of electro-acoustic experimentation and neo-classical sophistication makes for
not overly complex, but fascinating listening. This is a collection of compositions
from Iolini, mostly composed for reasons other than this album. (4)
Curlew
Meet the Curlews
Cuneiform
Records
Curlew is a long-lived electric experimental jazz band. Their
thick, art-jazz compositions earn kudos from avant-jazz fans as well as art-rock
fans. This, their eighth album, captures the bright scintillations of their musical
chain lightening and the dusk-gray aura of their more mysterious melodies. These
are clever compositions fusing classical jazz phrasing and woolly jazz-rock passages.
(4)
Raoul
Björkenheim
Apocalypso
Cuneiform Rune
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/
Raoul formed Krakatau in the late 80's after graduating from Berklee School of Music. Since, he has been an experimental rock mover and shaker, engaging in many projects. Raoul Björkenheim is an innovative sound sculptor creating instrumental masterpieces with foundations in rock and jazz. Over the years, Raoul has played with like-minded talents such as Henry Kaiser, Nicky Skopelitis and Mike Keneally. These artists are also excellent reference points for appreciating the sophisticated and oblique approach taken to guitar performance here. This piece was realized 1994-5 as a commission for the Helsinki Juhlaviikot Festival and originally intended for 100 guitarists. Björkenheim’s final piece is for 42 musicians: 30 guitarists, 8 bassists and 4 percussionists. This 2000 recording includes parts added since and features Raoul performing all parts in the studio as a virtual ensemble. (5)
Mother
Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co.
Like a Duck to Water
Cuneiform
The
works of Robert Ashley fueled the set lists of early Mother Mallard performances
in 1969. The group continued working with music composed for synthesizers, including
their own compositions. This disc is entirely the work of members David Borden
and Steve Drews. Founder Borden was involved with Moog synthesizers early on,
and these still form a foundation to their hallmark sound. Their pieces tend to
be gentle, swelling compositions that rise and fall like a great, aural tide.
This reissue is of material originally recorded 1974-1976, marking the introduction
of Judy Borsher on the electric piano (the only polyphonic keyboard in the arrangements)
after the departure of Linda Fisher. This ambient experimentalism, including a
piece based on ideas by John Cage, emerges from the early roots of American electronic
head music. Their fascinating, organic minimalism is an important archive and
effective music that combines the best of Terry Riley and early efforts from Phillip
Glass and Tangerine Dream. (4.5)
Kampec
Dolores
Sitting on the Buffalo
Cuneiform
Unexpected
jazz-rock techniques marry to traditional folk on this energetic album from Carpathian
group Kampec Dolores. Somewhat like an East European Pere Ubu, this group began
in 1984 and toured with that group. Vocalist Gabi Kenderesi does not let the accidents
of language intrude upon her bright, clarion style. Her own personal blend of
languages real and imagined results in her Oriental wordless syllables. It is
a fanciful mixture of Yiddish and Latin that gives the group a name that could
mean, "The End of Pain." Hungarian by birth but Asian in imagination, Sitting
on the Buffalo is a wondrous dance of sitar-like zithers and electronics,
soprano sax and violin. (4.5)
Miriodor
Mekano
Cuneiform
Miriodor creates hyper-sophisticated, post-jazz, post-classical music that requires multi-genre skill on its players. This is on the level of Zappa/Mothers of Invention for Dadaist art-rock with humor and innovation. This Canadian Rock in Opposition act offers a subtle French flavor in their creative romps through prog rock and the Third Stream. Fans of Henry Cow, The Residents and the “chamber rock” movement will appreciate their zany genius. (4.5)
Boud Deun
The
Stolen Bicycle
Rune/Cuneiform
Boud Deun is a quartet of violin, guitar, bass and drums that improvise exciting and dynamic instrumentals pregnant with the same high-energy charge that typifies early King Crimson. This tight, integrated unit deifies belief with degree to which much of their extemporaneous jaunts sound premeditated. Consider, for instance, the sudden change from punk assault to violin and guitar recital in "Burnsville." Also in "Burnsville" bassist Matt Eiland charges to the front for a spirited bass lead, one of the two few times that he does so. Three of the musicians will deftly swing behind guitarist Shawn Persinger or violinist Greg Hiser with barely a note's notice. The result is stunning and masterful. Influence of the Crimson ones is detectable throughout, as is the hyper-folk of Stravinsky ("Saints," especially the end) and traditional jazz in the guitar-led "Broken Spokes." Elsewhere, the lexicons of punk bombast, bluegrass lightning licks (together in "Ten Pence/Bridges") and more are referenced. Boud Deun's fiery charges into one territory and then another leaves no prisoners and asks no quarry in laying claim to fertile lands left fallow under the rule of orthodoxy. Boud Deun is Mahavishnu Orchestra on fire, The Dixie Dregs gone to town, a worthy new volume in the encyclopedia of progressive, limitless, surprising pantheon of instrumental groups. (4)
The Danubians
The
Blind Messenger
The
RER Quartlerly Vol. 4 No. 2
Cuneiform/ReR
MegaCorp
The ReR Quarterly began as an LP and magazine in 1984. The idea resurfaces in this CD and magazine package. Having not seen the publication, I can only comment on the recording. All tracks are exclusive to this issue which begins with Q.R. Ghazala 's short (2:22) radio collage "Sacrifice to Isis." Percussionist Paul Guerguerian and Mike Hovancsek cooperated by snail mail to construct the bright eclectic "Three Cold Floors" with percussion, keyboards and "modified electric guitar." East Coast environmental sounds create a soundscape backdrop for Tom DiMuzio 's "Inception." A minimum of appropriate studio effects is added. Marie Goyette updates one of the three B's in "Short-Cuts: Brahms." The result of the programmed samples is an intermittently moody and then powerful view of the composer, as if sent through a lattice. Ken Ando gives us a fun and uninterrupted guitar jaunt in "Danseuse." A modicum of effects is used on the four guitar parts that Ando performs. Robert Iolini continues the trend on this compilation towards obvious melody with "Congo." This klangfarben (tone-coloring) "deconstruction of a Congolese song" shows in its rearrangement a striking affinity with the bamboo saxophone of Sugar Belly. Also here is Iolini's "Zimbabwe." Much more chaotic than "Congo," Iolini here tries to equate the current pandemonium in the country by dicing up "a typical Zimbabwean rhythm." The harpsichord stands out Baroque and proud in front of the shadowy accompaniment of "electric guitar and digital machines" in Giovanni Venosta 's three-part from "Le Ombre di Otello" ( "Othello's Shadow" ). Wavelike shapes of ambient noise characterize the sea-motion composition "Feu Brilliant" by Keith Rowe and Alaid De Phillips. Dudley Saunders adds vibrato vocals to "Shenandoah/Innsbruck" as arranged by Brian Woodbury for his Variety Orchestra . Plenty of horns are teamed with pedal steel, accordion, banjo, percussion and more for a fairly traditional and smartly organized piece. Saunders gives us the lyrics and solos follow by sax, trumpet and pedal steel before Saunders returns. I do not know what the painting "by Chilean-born surrealist Roberto Matta" that inspired "Unthinkable" looks like, but I can say that the nearly six-and-a-half minutes of white noise, digital crescendo and decrescendos makes me think of a loose phone connection during a rainstorm. From a similar backdrop, Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer 's "Heterophony" grows to include what sounds like an orchestra warming up. Volapuk gives us the cello, bass clarinet, drums and tape composition "Des Objets de la Plus Grand Importance." The result is a tightly conceived piece of music that consists of short phrases, sudden shifts, sparse arrangement but remarkable cohesion. Playful and engaging. On Boris Kovacs ' "Interludium: Two Drums" the sonorous Gran Cassa drum creates enunciates a cavernous monologue punctuated by a snare drum. Philip Perkins takes us on a sound collage tour of Indonesia on "Virgo Ramayana." The disc concludes with Shelley Hirsch, John Rose and Chris Cutler on "After Hours/The Colour of Blood" taken from a live radio performance. The collage of conversation and instrumentation (keyboard, violin, low grade electronics and percussion) makes a very interesting listen along the lines of a bizarre radio play. (4)
Curlew
Fabulous Drop
Cuneiform
Fabulous Drop is the seventh album from this challenging and rewarding sax-led, two-guitar rock combo. They bubble prominently from the seething pot that is the Knitting Factory avant-jazz scene. Their jazz fusion is about a widened vocabulary and a more capable art, not flashy theatrics. Founder and sax-monster George Cartwright provides the appropriate sweet melody or screaming wail to answer the guitars and bass boiling behind him. Every cut is coherent and intelligently portrayed as a very rhythmic combination or a rock stratum holding up a free jazz sky. Coming from an inception in 1979, Cartwright provides us with another map in his vision feral sax, guitar or drum solo in a verdant setting of hip jazz-rock. The other curlew musicians do or have spent time in God Is My Co-Pilot, No Safety, John Zorn's Masada and more. This is among the best albums in the category of "avant-jazz" or "electric jazz" that I have heard in the last couple years. (4.5)
Pragma
Haco
Cuneiform/ReR
MegaCorp
Singular extemporaneous Japanese noise-pop. Haco is backed by the prepared tapes of musicians on cello and percussion. The studio band offers bass, Indian flute and guitar. Her vocals are in the Kate Bush vein with a spice of Bjork. The Japanese arrangements and language add an exotic air to the enticing arrangements. Haco is at her best when the compositions approach a minimal accompaniment to her voice. This record is organic and creative, personal and warm. (4)
C.W.
Vrtacek
Rune/Cuneiform Records (Rune 79)