From Domino USA:
Steve Reid was a giant of a drummer, who began playing professionally at the age of 16. His first recorded work was with Martha And The Vandellas, working in the Apollo Theatre House band, under the direction of Quincy Jones. Over the years Steve recorded and played with artists such as Miles Davies, Fela Kuti, James Brown and Sun Ra, amongst other musical legends.
Moon June Records has submitted a number of their releases for Grammy Award consideration. Let’s wish them luck.
Craig Colorusso’s Sun Boxes installation will be at Maudslay State Park in Massachusetts on September 18, September 25, and October 2.
The San Diego Music and Technology Conference takes place in about a week and has some sessions on experimental instruments.
Han-earl Park (guitar) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophone) have released a live recording for free download.
The Spring Press is a new label featuring music by Carlos Giffoni, Richards Youngs, Lasse Margaug, and others.
From ALARM Press:
Long-time collaborators Rob Mazurek (Exploding Star Orchestra, Sao Paulo Underground, Mandarin Movie, and more) and Chad Taylor (Iron and Wine, Marc Ribot, and more) recently released their fifth album together as Chicago Underground Duo (Thrill Jockey). The album, entitled Boca Negra, is a combination of composed and improvised ambient grooves, highlighted by melodic bursts and the occasional understated ballad.
Chicago Underground Duo Tour:
9/8/10 - Brooklyn, NY @ Issue Project Room
9/9/10 - Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
9/10/10 – Toronto, ON @ The Music Gallery
9/11/10 - Guelph, ON @ Guelph Jazz Festival
9/14/10 – Ann Arbor, MI @ Keene Theater
9/15/10 - Chicago, IL @ Velvet Lounge
9/16/10 - Detroit, MI @ Cliff Bell’s
9/17/10 - Buffalo, NY @ Hall Walls Contemporary Art Center
9/18/10 - London, ON @ LOLA Festival
9/19/10 - Lakeside, MI @ Lillstreet Art Center at Lakeside Inn
While I wasn’t paying attention, DMG posted reviews of these two huge events.
Victo:
In advance there was a great deal of speculation and controversy as to whether this line-up would be successful or not. First consideration is that Victo took off a year in 2009 due to some family problems for Michel and the need for some time off to reorganize. The 2008 Victo Fest was, for many of my friends, the best one in several years with stunning performances from the Art Bears Songbook, Fred Frith‘s Cosa Brava, John Zorn‘s Dreamers & Jean Derome‘s Extended ensemble. It would be a hard edition to beat. Plus the ongoing worldwide recession has made things difficult for many of us who consider attending every year. Another difference this year was the shortening of the fest by one day & four concerts.
Vision:
The fifteenth annual Vision Festival began during a hot spell in NYC on June 20th and ran for some 11 days and took place at a half dozen different locations. 11 days seems to be a bit too long for some folks, so a number of my friends decided to pick only a few nights of this massive event. As the diehard avant/jazz music fanatic that I am, I tried to take in as much as I could. As I still had to work five days a week from noon till 6, there was still quite a bit to look forward to. I missed the opening day afternoon series of poetry, spoken word and music solos & duos on Sunday, June 20th as well as a couple of outdoor sets with the Little Huey Sextet and Roy Campbell Trio at Campos Playground on the same day.
From the ISSUE Project Room:
FRI 10.1 – Bonnie Jones and Andrea Neumann + Bob Bellerue
Bonnie Jones and Andrea Neumann will present an evening of electro-acoustic improvised music using hacked electronics and custom-made instruments. Jones makes music with the circuit boards of digital delay pedals, teasing out tones and crackles by short-circuiting the board. Neumann performs on the inside-piano, a custom made amplified and electronically processed abstraction of a piano sound board. Bob Bellerue is a composer, experimental musician, and creative technician based in Brooklyn, NY. Over the last 20 years, he has been exploring live music and sound art, working with homemade percussion ensembles, the Balinese gamelan, dance, performance scores, installation, and live noise. He is the Technical Director at The Kitchen and runs the Anarchymoon Recordings record label.
Tickets: $10 ($9 Advance, $8 members)WED 10.06 – Barry Chabala Premieres the Work of Michael Pisaro
Barry Chabla, a NJ guitarist taking cues from wide ranging influences like John Cage, Morton Feldman and Taku Sugimoto, presents ‘An Evening of Pisaro,’ performing the American premiere of Ascending Series (6) and the New York premieres of appearance (2) and E lá fora. Joining him will be Travis Just (reeds) and Tucker Dulin (trombone). Guitarist/composer Michael Pisaro has composed over 80 works for a great variety of instrumental combinations. He is a member of the Wandelweiser Composers Ensemble and is on the composition faculty at the California Institute of the Arts.
Tickets: $10 ($9 Advance, $8 members)THU 10.07 – John Cage’s Song Books
ISSUE Project Room and Gisburg present a rare performance of John Cage’s extraordinary masterpiece for voice, Song Books (1970), and Cage’s Lecture on Nothing. Song Books is a treasury of superimposed vocal solos in a wide variety of styles ranging from Indian raga to Italian bel canto. Cage’s score envisions a kaleidoscopic performance layering the songs of Erik Satie with excerpts of 19th-century opera and electronic theater. Cage created an anthology of 90 solos for voice (and sometimes electronics) specified and arranged using chance procedures drawn from the I Ching, producing a “happening” that revels in Zen visions of anarchy, ecology and time. This event will feature performances by Dafna Naphtali, Gisburg, Jessica Feldman, John King, Travis Just, Nick Hallett, Fast Forward and more.
Tickets: $10 ($9 Advance, $8 members)FRI 10.08 – Swans + Baby Dee @ The Brooklyn Masonic Temple
ISSUE Project Room in collaboration with Haunting The Chapel and the Blackened Music Series is thrilled to present Swans’ first NYC show in more than a decade. Michael Gira has handpicked performance artist, harpist and accordionist Baby Dee to open the show, this time featuring keyboards accompanied by cello. Formed in 1982 and led by Gira, a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Swans instigated and heavily influenced New York’s No Wave scene. They are considered one of the most influential post-punk bands to date, often incorporating droning vocals, thunderous rhythms, and varied, complex instrumentation.
Tickets: $30 available through TicketWeb only:http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=2013375
SAT 10.09 – ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE: MV Carbon
ISSUE Project Room is pleased to present the third and final Artist-in-Residence performance by MV Carbon, a Brooklyn-based musician and artist. Her work frequently involves tape machines, voice, cello, analog synthesizers, and field recordings, along with hand-built electronics. She has recently been developing and performing new works that utilize physical computing and sensor controlled synthesis. Carbon is interested in spatial integration and site-specific consideration.
Tickets: FREEEstablished in 2006, ISSUE’s AIR program provides emerging artists with a 3-month residency including rehearsal space, production, curatorial, and pr/marketing support to create new works, reach the next stage in their artistic development, and gain exposure to a broad public audience. ISSUE’s Artist-in-Residence program is made possible, in part, through generous support from the Jerome Foundation and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York’s 62 counties.
TUE 10.12 – Martha Colburn with Thollem McDonas
Martha Colburn’s work utilizes the language and materials of filmmaking to comment on popular culture, consumerism, politics and sexuality. Through a collage of live action (paint-on-glass) animations, found footage, and documentary filmmaking techniques, she addresses contemporary topics to express her personal anxieties and passions. Composer/pianist Thollem McDonas is of Irish and Cherokee descent. He is a founding member of several innovative ensembles, including the Estamos Ensemble, and is the recipient of the 2009 US Artists International Award, as well as a 2010 CAP grant from the American Music Center.
Tickets: $10 ($9 Advance, $8 members)WED 10.13 – The Thirteenth Assembly + Pierre-Yves Macé present Miniatures/Song Recycle
“Each of these musicians is a masterly soloist, and they all are creating music that is delicate, complex and eclectic.” – Wall Street Journal The Thirteenth Assembly features four distinguished musician/composers considered to be amongst the most exciting new jazz musicians: cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum, guitarist Mary Halvorson, violist Jessica Pavone, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara. Representing diverse backgrounds in genres ranging classical, folk, rock, jazz and the avant-garde, collectively they work together as equals to create distinctively eclectic, yet cohesive music. Pierre-Yves Macé (1980) is a French musician whose musical practice encompasses improvisation on machines, a background in piano and classical percussion, jazz-rock/prog-rock bands, dance accompaniments, and an interest in literature and musicology.
Tickets: $10 ($9 Advance, $8 members)THU 10.14 – ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE: Richard Garet
Richard Garet will mark his debut as ISSUE Project Room’s new Artist-in-Residence October through December 2010. Garet’s works interweave multiple media including moving image, sound, live performances, and photography. Even though Garet’s work suits the standard gallery setting, many of his other activities as an artist explore the various practices of experimental sound and video performance.For this performance Doron Sadja and Alfredo Marin will open the night doing a duo of electronic-experimental music. Richard Garet will be presenting the latest development of his Light Field video series. Garet will be performing a live electronic-experimental sound piece, to accompany moving image, with a sonic system that consists of utilizing a modular synthesizer, analog gadgets, electromagnetic gadgets, light to sound real-time translations, methods of sonification applied to the modulation of the moving image that is being projected, and laptop processing. Additional techniques utilized in various stages of the work are image scanning, analog and digital processes to treat light and image, rigorous and repetitive systems of digital corruption, degradation, and saturation of pixels.
Tickets: FREEEstablished in 2006, ISSUE’s AIR program provides emerging artists with a 3-month residency including rehearsal space, production, curatorial, and pr/marketing support to create new works, reach the next stage in their artistic development, and gain exposure to a broad public audience. ISSUE’s Artist-in-Residence program is made possible, in part, through generous support from the Jerome Foundation and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York’s 62 counties.
FRI 10.16 @ 2:00PM – Electric Temple Presents: Drone Marathon
Electric Temple will present a day-long musical event focusing on contemporary performers working with long sustained tones and sounds. The program will feature six musicians curating segments of the event. Audience members are welcome to come and go as they please. Stay tuned for full line up. Tickets: $10 ($9 Advance, $8 members)WED 10.20 – THEORETICAL: “Book Burning – In Honor of Tiqqun’s Introduction to Civil War” Hosted by Alex Galloway and Jason Smith
A Book Burning: Come celebrate the launch of the new book Introduction to Civil War by Tiqqun It will be an evening of fire and words hosted by translators Alexander Galloway and Jason Smith. Alexander R. Galloway is an associate professor at New York University, author, and programmer. He is a founding member of the software collective RSG and creator of the Carnivore and Kriegspiel projects. Jason Smith is a writer who lives in Los Angeles.
Tickets: FREEFRI 10.22 – Littoral: Brooklyn Rail Turns 10
The Brooklyn Rail turns 10 this year and that is certainly cause for celebration. Please join Rail Fiction/Intranslation editor Donald Breckenridge as he hosts an epic night of readings from some of the most innovative authors and translators brightening the literary landscape. “As a self-taught writer and ardent reader of formally experimental fiction, my goal over the last decade has been to highlight the talents of emerging writers, many of whom live in Brooklyn, as well as to showcase the current writing of established authors who have been marginalized by an increasingly risk-averse, profit-driven publishing industry.” – Donald Breckenridge
Tickets: $5Established in 2006, ISSUE’s Littoral program is a monthly series that pairs innovative contemporary writers with musicians, sound, and video artists. Littoral promotes critical dialogue that examines the intersection of these artistic disciplines, bringing together distinctive artists and uniting diverse audiences from NYC’s innovative creative community. ISSUE’s Littoral Series is made possible, in part, through generous support from The Casement Fund and the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York’s 62 counties.
SAT 10.23 @ 7:00PM – A Sublime Frequencies film screening: This World is Unreal Like a Snake in a Rope
Robert Millis (My Friend Rain, Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan, Sublime Frequencies) will screen a work in progress. A trip through the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu featuring Hindu trance ceremonies, nagaswaram improvisations, impossibly loud cities, processions, devotion, blessings, color, abstractions, detail, music and more. Director Q & A to follow the screening.
Tickets: $5SAT 10.23 – SKLS + Climax Golden Twins
This marks the North American debut of S K L S – Joachim Nordwall (iDEAL label boss, Alvars Orkester, Oceans of Silver & Blood) and Henrik Rylander (ex-Union Carbide Productions) — the key members of Swedish drone rock band, The Skull Defekts. In this collaboration, Nordwall performs on analog synths and effects and Rylander on no-input mixing desk, creating a sound they characterize as “deep, dark electronic music entering your skull.” Climax Golden Twins is a Seattle, WA, based experimental collage outfit originally consisting of Rob Millis and Jeffery Taylor, and later Scott Colburn. They offer us a glimpse into their unique world of lo-fi collage — organic, acoustic instruments mixed with found sounds, electronics, and clips of sampled exotica. Tickets: $10 ($9 Advance, $8 members)TUE 10.26 – Littoral: Harry Matthews
Harry Matthews, from New York, is the author of various novels, poems, short fiction, and essays. When Mathews published his first poems in 1956, he was associated with the “New York School” of poets. With John Ashbery, Keneth Koch, and James Schuyler, he founded the review Locus Solus in 1961. His most recent publications are Sainte Catherine, a novella written in French (Éditions P.O.L, 2000), The Human Country: the Collected Short Stories (Dalkey Archive Press, 2002), The Case of the Persevering Maltese: Collected Essays (Dalkey Archive Press, 2003), Oulipo Compendium (co-edited with Alastair Brotchie; Atlas Press and Make Now Press, 2005), and My Life in CIA: A Chronicle of 1973 (Dalkey Archive Press, 2005).
Tickets: FREEWED 10.27 – Zach Layton, Alex Waterman, and Ryan Sawyer Trio + Michael Evans’ Swirling Lotus Blossom Bandits Band
Composer/video artist and curator Zach Layton is based in Brooklyn with an interest in biofeedback, generative algorithms, experimental music, Buddhism and indeterminacy. His work investigates complex relationships and topologies created through the interaction of simple core elements like sine waves, minimal surfaces and kinetic visual patterns. Cellist Alex Waterman is a founding member of the Plus Minus Ensemble, based in Brussels and London, specializing in avant-garde and experimental music. In New York he performs with the Either/Or Ensemble. Drummer Ryan Sawyer aka Lone Wolf is a regular fixture in the New York free jazz and noise scene. He’s interested in combining elements of improvisation, jazz, and aesthetics of the musical avant-garde. Michael Evans’ Swirling Lotus Blossom Bandits Band (a South-African tinged jazz-blues- improvisational band) celebrates the expatriates of South Africa (Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Louis Moholo and Johnny Dyani) that relocated to Great Britain in the early 1960’s. Featuring: Michael Attias : alto saxophone, Michael Evans: drums, Evan Gallagher: keyboard, Jeff Hudgins: alto saxophone and Adam Lane: upright bass, Peter Zummo: Trombone.
Tickets: $10 ($9 Advance, $8 members)THU 10.28 – Joshua Abrahms + C. Spencer Yeh and Brian Chase
Bassist & composer Joshua Abrams has been in the thick of Chicago’s vibrant music scene for fifteen years, playing & recording as a leader & as a sideman in projects across the genres. He has released four records under his own name as well as two under the moniker Reminder that navigate the realms of jazz and improvisation, electro-acoustic composition, beatmaking, minimalism and field recordings (Eremite/Delmark/Eastern Developments/Lucky Kitchen). At the music’s heart is the guimbri, a 3 stringed lute traditionally used by the Gnawa of Morocco in trance ceremonies. He will be performing with Chicago drummer Michael Avery. Violinist C. Spencer Yeh works as a solo artist and improviser, most notably with his project, Burning Star Core.His video and sound works have been showcased internationally. Drummer/composer Brian Chase is probably best known as a member of the rock group Yeah Yeah Yeahs, a band that has toured extensively throughout the world and has been nominated for three Grammys. Brian is also interested in the Just Intonation tuning theory and, heavily influenced by the work of La Monte Young introduced to him by guitarist Jon Catler, has begun an ongoing recording and performance project in which the principles of Just Intonation are applied to drums and percussion.
Tickets: $10 ($9 Advance, $8 members)FRI 10.29 – Minor Musics: Tomutonttu + Kiila
A night of Finnish avant-garde artists featuring visual artist Tomutonttu (the alias of Jan Anderzén) and the band Kiila. Tomutonttu is the leader of an avant-garde sound group entitled Kemialliset Ystävät. His lonely music is crafted from the colorful sounds of toy reeds, mutilated vocals, and groovy loops of animal noises that come together to create a whirling, whimsical mess. Kiila is an eight-member ensemble founded in 1993 by Niko-Matti Ahti and Sami Sänpäkkilä in Ulvila, Finland. Kiila’s latest album, Tuota tuota, was released in June 2009.
Tickets: $10 ($9 Advance, $8 members)
From the Chicago Reader:
Jazz bassists rarely attract the spotlight, since they traditionally function as rhythmic and harmonic anchors. Even when a bassist plays in a relatively unstructured setting, the instrument’s usual register tends to keep it out of the foreground, so that it gets short shrift from the average listener. Chicago bassist Jason Roebke is probably used to this, but in groups like Mike Reed’s People, Places & Things, the Jeb Bishop Trio, Jason Stein’s Locksmith Isidore, and the Keefe Jackson Quartet, he’s crucial in enabling the compositions of the various leaders to thrive both as pieces of arranged music and vehicles for inspired improvisation.
From Baltimore’s An die Musik LIVE:
Friday, September 10, 8 & 9:30 pm
DAN WEISS TRIO
Jacob Sacks – piano
Michael Formanek – bass
Dan Weiss – drumsDan Weiss is a drummer, tabla player, and composer.
Hometown bassist Michael Formanek’s singular approach to the acoustic bass has led to an impressive range of musical associations during his thirty-plus year career.
Jacob Sacks is one of the most creative pianists on the NYC jazz scene today.http://www.andiemusiklive.com/EvntDtl1.cfm?&E1CNTR=4351&YR=2010&MN=9&DY=10&T=113200
Saturday, September 11, 1-3 pm
MASTERCLASS WITH DAN WEISS
Indian Classical Music and Tablashttp://www.andiemusiklive.com/EvntDtl1.cfm?&E1CNTR=4354&YR=2010&MN=9&DY=11&T=113231
24, Friday, 8 & 9:30 pm
MARC RIBOT, SOLO GUITARCelebrating the release of Silent Moves, which finds Marc taking another surprising step in a career filled with unexpected turns; performances of gorgeous contemplation that linger on the mind long after they are over.
http://www.andiemusiklive.com/EvntDtl1.cfm?&E1CNTR=4361&YR=2010&MN=9&DY=24&T=113255
30, Thursday, 8 pm Tickets: $10
YUKO FUJIYAMA, PIANO & LISA SOKOLOV, VOCALSYuko Fujiyama moved to the U.S. from Japan In 1993 and started performing her original improvisational music in concerts, clubs and festivals in and around New York City and overseas. “She’s created her own pass” – Village Voice
Lisa Sokolov is a frontline New York jazz vocalist, improviser and composer. Inspired, her work embraces the best of new music, free and straight ahead jazz.http://www.andiemusiklive.com/EvntDtl1.cfm?&E1CNTR=4317&YR=2010&MN=9&DY=30&T=113323
