A source for news on music that is challenging, interesting, different, progressive, introspective, or just plain weird
Source: The Quietus.
Jaki Liebezeit: Life, Theory and Practice of a Master Drummer is the new book edited by Jono Podmore dedicated to the German drummer who went from a sideman to free jazz pioneer Manfred Schoof to become a key member of seminal psychedelic group Can. In later life, Liebezeit collaborated with the likes of Brian Eno, Jah Wobble, Philip Jeck, and Burnt Friedman. He sadly passed away in January 2017.
Source: Echoes.
In the Echoes Podcast we take a deep dive into the world of Steve Roach. The prolific electronic artist has been part of Echoes for all of its 30 years and more. We’ve chronicled his electronic evolution more than just about anyone. Steve released several albums in 2019 including Bloom Ascension and Trance Archeology. After several years of modular synth strategies, Ambient-Tribal music returns. We talk about them and new directions with Steve Roach.
Welcome to AMN Celebrates Braxton 75, a multipart series focused on the work of American composer and multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton. Braxton, who in 2020 will be celebrating his seventy-fifth birthday, is one of the most important and influential creative minds of the past fifty years. Each week this series will feature three to four links of live performances, interviews, and articles found on the web that should be of interest to both the curious and the longtime explorers of Braxton’s music.
The Sounds of Now, Part Three: Anthony Braxton and the Ethics of Improvisation by Chadwick Jenkins from 2007 is a very insightful essay that digs into Braxton’s musical philosophy. Jenkins very clearly explains his interpretation of some of the ideas found in Braxton’s Tri-Axium Writings. It is very well written and should be read carefully, and maybe more than once in order to digest Jenkin’s interpretation of Braxton’s writings.
This is a recent performance of Braxton’s Composition No. 1 (1968) for solo piano performed by Brett Carson.
A short interview from 2008 where Anthony Braxton discusses chess, math & music.
A set of the Anthony Braxton Quartet performing in East Berlin in 1985. The group for this concert is Anthony Braxton, Marilyn Crispell – piano, Gerry Hemingway – drums and Jens Saleh – bass. You can hear the magic that Hemingway, Crispell, and Braxton have together.
Join us again next week for another post as AMN Celebrates Braxton 75
Chris De Chiara
Source: The Quietus.
Iannis Xenakis has long been seen as a titan of modern composition, written about in awed tones, the subject of innumerable retrospectives. Yet why, asks Dan Siepmann, has his work for so long overshadowed non-male artists like Pauline Oliveros?
Welcome to AMN Celebrates Braxton 75, a multipart series focused on the work of American composer and multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton. Braxton, who in 2020 will be celebrating his seventy-fifth birthday, is one of the most important and influential creative minds of the past fifty years. Each week this series will feature three to four links of live performances, interviews, and articles found on the web that should be of interest to both the curious and the longtime explorers of Braxton’s music.
In 1973 Bill Smith interviewed Anthony Braxton for Coda Magazine. Smith removed the questions from the interview so that it reads like an essay. The interview offers some insight into Braxton’s development as a musician and his determination to be true to himself and his vision, despite the potential consequences. “Anthony Braxton Interview 1973” by Bill Smith.
This is a very good recording of the first set at The Kitchen in 1977 of three of the AACM’s titans – Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, and Joseph Jarman. There is no video but the performance is astounding! The second set is also floating around and worth checking out.
The Instant Composers Pool (ICP) is an independent Dutch jazz and improvised music label and orchestra founded in 1967. In this short excerpt of a 2005 performance at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam, they are joined by Anthony Braxton.
Join us again next week for another post as AMN Celebrates Braxton 75
Chris De Chiara
Source: The Vinyl Factory.
From downtown NYC to working with Herbie Hancock, Fela Kuti, and Iggy Pop, tackling early hip hop, ambient, drum & bass and dub with a daring free jazz spirit along the way, Bill Laswell is a polymath of the alternative underground. You could be digging around in any number of niches of alternative music and come across the name Bill Laswell. Since he first hit his stride in the late ’70s and early ’80s, the New York-based producer has infected a dizzying amount of different music with his unique touch, both as an artist in his own right and working the faders for scores of others.
Source: Echoes.
We take a deep dive into the world of Steve Roach. The prolific electronic artist has been part of Echoes for all of its 30 years and more. We’ve chronicled his electronic evolution more than anyone. Steve released several albums in 2019 including Bloom Ascension and Trance Archeology. After several years of modular synth strategies, Ambient-Tribal music returns.
