Fred Frith, Henry Cow and other Canterbury sorta bands

[A Lark Ascending]

Currently taking another trip through this wonderful box. Seems to be available on e-music now.

Also exploring more Fred Frith. Enjoyed 'Freedom in Fragments' yesterday (thanks for the recs above).

I'm especially keen on this recent one; gives a real sense of a complete record with songs and careful arrangements. Frith's records often sound more collage like.

They have a second disc coming out later this year.

http://www.fredfrith.com/

[Pete C]

A great NY band of the '80s that overlaps with Skeleton Crew was George Cartwright's Curlew, which seemed to take influences of the more jazz-oriented Canterbury bands, Prime Time, and No Wave.

I went to London in '09 for Ornette's Meltdown Festival, and besides getting to see Robert Wyatt sing a couple of songs with the Liberation Music Orchestra, I got to meet him in the Lobby of the theatre the night before, when Ornette performed with Frisell as a special guest. I told Wyatt that the chance to see him perform was one of the reasons I flew from NY.

It was a great week--the BFI had a program of films by and with the eccentric writer B.S. Johnson, and I saw Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Waiting for Godot.

Edited February 16, 2012 by Pete C

[rostasi]

I miss Maren...

®ø∂

---

Now playing: 5 Ounces of Soul - Love Got a Piece of Your Mind

[7/4]

I miss Maren...

®ø∂

---

Now playing: 5 Ounces of Soul - Love Got a Piece of Your Mind

That's exactly what I thought.

[StarThrower]

Some favorites

[7/4]

Fred Frith and Arte Quartett The Big Picture (Intakt)

+

Fred Frith and Arte Quartett: Still Urban (Intakt)

I'm a big fan of his saxophone quartets, so naturally I love these two albums of sax qt. The Big Picture has an expanded version of Freedom in Fragments.

[Pete C]

If I were starting a Canterbury band I'd call it Archbishop. Either that or Archie and the Bishops.

I had no idea Richard Thompson ever recorded with Kaiser & Frith. I'm not familiar with French. What does that animal sound like (the album, not French)?

[A Lark Ascending]

If I were starting a Canterbury band I'd call it Archbishop. Either that or Archie and the Bishops.

I had no idea Richard Thompson ever recorded with Kaiser & Frith. I'm not familiar with French. What does that animal sound like (the album, not French)?

There are two - oddball, to say the least, but very enjoyable. Some intriguing songs drawing off a range of cultures. I'm especially fond of the rocking version of 'Loch Lomond' and Thompson's eerie 'Killing Jar' off the second; and 'Bird In God's Garden' off the first.

[7/4]

John French "Drumbo"

[A Lark Ascending]

Little programme interviewing Robert Wyatt on BBC Radio 4 next Tuesday:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n11cz

Edited September 29, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[mjzee]

Just got this email regarding an upcoming Houston concert:

Konk Pack

Tuesday, October 15, 2013, 8pm

Studio 101 at Spring Street Studios

$13 general / $10 with student I.D. / Free 18 and under

The British/German trio Konk Pack handles a gritty, writhing mass of electroacoustic sound/noise with the rare finesse and skill, one would only expect from veterans of the European improv scene.

Puckish and virtuosic, Konk Pack has created a music that is as detailed as it is expansive. Their work possesses a potent mix of delicate textures interlaced with intermittent explosions of sound. The trio juxtaposes elements of weightlessness and heaviness, silence and clacking noise, to both seduce and terrify listeners.

Thomas Lehn manipulates his analogue synthesizer with an electrifying, kinetic physicality. His able pianism, most obvious during his live performances, transcends through the patchbay of his vintage synthesizer, where it warps into something both startling and alluring. Born in Cologne, Germany, he studied both jazz and classical piano, and although his interest in electronic music began early on.

Tim Hodgkinson is well-known amongst North American and European avant-garde audiences as a founding member of the legendary and radical art rock band Henry Cow, with whom he played for a decade. Tim Hodgkinson's musical output is marked by versatility, creativity, and an intense work ethic. His work encompasses improvisation, composition, activism, writing, lecturing, and ethnomusicology. To Konk Pack, he brings a sense of musical precision and instability, elements that have roots in his political and cultural view of music-making.

Both intense and nuanced in his approach, veteran drummer Roger Turner exemplifies the extremes of percussion in contemporary jazz and improvisation. A powerful presence behind the kit, Turner draws audience members in with intricate detail, and then drives them into a foot stomping beat or an irresistible swing groove. Turner’s connections to jazz were established amongst the UK’s 60s Canterbury scene. He later worked with the ensembles of Elton Dean and Alan Silva, to name a few. The physicality of Turner's performances is not easily forgotten. The strength of his personality projects a natural humor that is well-balanced by his focused intensity.

Ultimately, these three artists’ talents combine into a thrilling medley of pricks, thumps, and shrieking sound which possesses an unpredictable density and clarity.

Learn more about Konk Pack:

http://www.myspace.com/konkpack

http://thomaslehn.de/read/info_kp.html

http://www.thomaslehn.de

http://timhodgkinson.co.uk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Turner_%28musician%29

http://efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mturner.html

http://churchofgrob.com/Churchofgrob/CATALOG/Grob654/index.html

[7/4]

After The Deluge: Henry Cow's Unrest Revisited

Sean Kitching speaks to Chris Cutler for a very personal appreciation of

Henry Cow's Unrest album and has some recommendations to make for further listening

[A Lark Ascending]

Thanks for that, 7/4. Interesting reading.

[sgcim]

I was in my fave used record store the other day, and they had Phil Miller's "Cuts Both Ways" with the omni-present Dave Stewart on keyboards.

They wanted a lot of bread for it. Is it a good record?

[A Lark Ascending]

I was in my fave used record store the other day, and they had Phil Miller's "Cuts Both Ways" with the omni-present Dave Stewart on keyboards.

They wanted a lot of bread for it. Is it a good record?

I wouldn't say it is worth paying a lot for.

Phil Miller's records post National Health have tended to be jamming type things. A throwaway head (sometimes sounding like a theme from the Canterbury era), then a funky or riff-based sequence of jamming. On this one from 1987 the synths are very heavily employed; and there's a lot of fretless bass which was common to a lot of British jazz-rock at that time.

There's none of the structured writing or songwriting you got on the Hatfield or National Health albums.

Enjoyable to play once in a while but a lost classic it is not.

[sgcim]

Thanks for the info, Mr. Ascending.

[A Lark Ascending]

legendary bands celebrate the life and work of lindsay cooper

Will try to get to this in November.

The concert will feature Henry Cow (1968 - 1978, who said they’d never re-form), Lindsay Cooper’s Music for Films (1982- 1986, which does what it says on the label), News From Babel (1984 - 1986, who never performed live), and Oh Moscow (1987 -1993, assembled to play the song-cycle of the same name).

The confirmed lineup will feature:

Alfred Harth
Anne-Marie Roelofs
Chris Cutler
Dagmar Krause
Fred Frith
John Greaves
Michel Berckmans
Phil Minton
Sally Potter
Tim Hodgkinson
Veryan Weston
Zeena Parkins

[A Lark Ascending]

That concert dedicated to Lindsay Cooper is also happening in London at The Barbican the night before (Nov 21).

http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=16696

I'm set up for Huddersfield. Will be very strange seeing these people for the first time since 1977!

Edited September 9, 2014 by A Lark Ascending

[A Lark Ascending]

Just back from the concert - marvellous evening. About 20 minutes of Henry Cow and then various permutations of Lindsay Cooper's songs, most of which I either didn't know or only knew in passing. Singing from Dagmar Krause, Sally Potter and Phil Minton (the latter especially thrilling) plus one by John Greaves.

Line-up was: Alfred Harth, Anne-Marie Roelofs, Chris Cutler, Dagmar Krause, Fred Frith, John Greaves, Michel Berckmans, Phil Minton, Sally Potter, Tim Hodgkinson, Veryan Weston, Zeena Parkins

Reminded me again of just how influential this band were on my listening - the voicings of three reeds and trombone I'm sure set me up for later classical listening (wind music especially).

Really odd to see them all so much older - especially Chris Cutler. I was watching a DVD of a 70s concert a few weeks back and was reminded of the strange, balletic way he played the drums; and here was this middle-aged chap doing exactly the same.

Good to see Veryan Weston too who I've only ever heard on record. Cornwall's contribution to free music!

[A Lark Ascending]

Apologies for resurrecting this thread again but those who are partial to these musicians might be as intrigued as I am by this forthcoming Intakt:

Some details here:

http://www.intaktrec.ch/236_237-a.htm

[7/4]

No problem, I didn't know about that one.

Thanks for the concert report.

[StarThrower]

Getting back into some of this stuff after a few years away. Ordered Fred Frith's Gravity, Speechless, and Cosa Brava-Ragged Atlas. Also picked up the first two albums by the French band Moving Gelatin Plates. And finally got Henry Cow's Legend after owning the others for several years. I may get those Matching Mole 2 CD re-issues as well.

Great set her by Cosa Brava.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohfrJTHC4m4

[ombudsman]

I'm a big fan of Kip Hanrahan's first album Coup de Tete. Fred Frith and Lisa Herman (who you may know from the Greaves/Blegvad album Kew Rhone) play on some tracks along with many other heavy hitters from the downtown NYC/uptown latin percussion/Jazz Composer's Orchestra/Prime Time/Laswell - Material circles. Some of Hanrahan's other albums IMO do not necessarily sound as interesting as you would hope from the usually impressive lineups, but this one does and then some. It's got excellent production and engineering too.

I think this record may have been the original template of genre hopping studio lineups for many, many other records that Laswell was involved with in the 80s, since he played on some tracks on this album before most of his production credits,  with this being the first studio date that I can find that has him working with Daniel Ponce and Arto Lindsay who would become frequent players on his sessions. In other words I think it's a seminal early 80s record that connects Tales of Captain Black and Escalator Over the Hill very clearly to Laswell, Curlew, and others who are thought of as characteristically 80s artists.
http://www.discogs.com/Kip-Hanrahan-Coup-De-Tête/release/1967707

[mjzee]

BBC Goes to Canterbury - Rare radio sessions 1977-83

 

[GA Russell]

28 minutes ago, mjzee said:

BBC Goes to Canterbury - Rare radio sessions 1977-83

 

Thanks, Michael!  I'll look forward to that.