rostasi

From Peter Margasak's newsletter: FMP Records Rises Again No record label is more closely associated with the European free jazz movement than Germany’s FMP Records, which launched in 1967 and released some of the most important and enduring work from a wide array of figures including Peter Brötzmann, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Peter Kowald, Hans Reichel, Irène Schweizer, Sven-Åke Johansson, and countless others. For most of its history the label was overseen by Jost Gebers, who died in 2023. By that point FMP (or Free Music Productions) had stopped releasing new albums, instead licensing its catalog to newer imprints like Trost’s Cien Fuegos or Corbett vs. Dempsey. A year before his passing art curator and writer Markus Müller published his monumental book Free Music Production FMP – The Living Music, a photo-packed coffee table edition that brought the label’s tumultuous history back to life. The project cemented a bond between Gebers and Müller, and the latter has not only taken over the label’s operations, but he’s been revitalizing its legacy with an eye toward the future. Since 2014 a huge trove of FMP releases have been available digitally through the Destination Out Bandcamp page, established through an agreement with Gebers. Under Müller a mounting number of those classics have been painstakingly remastered by Berlin guitarist and FMP alum Olaf Rupp, and while reissues continue apace—including two great albums by American saxophonist Noah Howard originally issued on the FMP subsidiary SAJ in the late 1970s, released early this year by Trost—Müller has big plans for new albums, whether unreleased material from the vast FMP archives and new recordings that extend the label’s aesthetic into the present. This weekend, April 25-27, Müller celebrates the opening of a new Berlin office for the label with three days of live music and discussions at several spaces in the building housing the office, which just so happens to be emblazoned with FMP on the side of the edifice—it’s address is Franz-Mehring-Platz 1—so the location seems preordained. Sharing the office space will be Wolke Verlag, a German publishing house that’s issued loads of excellent music books, including Müller’s FMP work. The imprint’s founder Peter Mischung is retiring, handing the reins of the operation to Patrick Becker and Bastian Zimmermann, the latter of which edits the German language new music journal Positionen, which helped program this weekend’s events: plenty of new music content is included over the weekend. The whole shebang is crazy, but Saturday’s lineup is especially germane to the FMP revival, with performances from Schlippenbach, Aki Takase, Johansson, Georg Gräwe, Burkhard Beins, Andrea Neumann, and Erhard Hirt, among others. Check out echtzeitmusik for complete schedule.

In June of '91, I was manager of a local record store. One day, a rep for Polygram Records came in as she would normally do on occasion. I was walking from the back of the room up to the front counter, and she said, "Maybe you might be interested?" In short, she couldn't find anyone at any of the stores that she visited who were interested in having dinner with David Thomas. I said, "Really? You couldn't find anyone?" "Nope. They just give me a blank stare when I ask." "Hell, yes, I'll do it." I'd been a Pere Ubu fan for something like a dozen years. First time seeing them at Gaspar's in Chicago in '78. This Dallas show would be the "Worlds In Collision" tour. Anyway, we sat for a couple of hours in a Thai restaurant ("Toy's Cafe") and had quirky convos about music and art. That memory will always be with me. Sorry that he was unwell for so long and it resulted in this. NME

Pope Francis, the music nerd: a playlist

Random Radio 250423 (460) Kraftwerk - Prologue/Tour de France Étape 1, 2 & 3/Chrono R. Crumb And His Cheap Suit Serenaders - Pedal Your Blues Away John Renbourn - The Bicycle Tune Tomorrow - My White Bicycle The Jazz Crusaders - The Young Rabbits Binder & Krieglstein - Stadtrad The Beach Boys - Do You Like Worms: Bicycle Rider Overdubs (Heroes and Villains Part 2) 1/5/67 Jeremy Young - The Duchamp Bicycle Wheel Resonator (With Vito Ricci) Frank Zappa - Teaches Steve Allen to Play the Bicycle (1963) Hawkwind - Silver Machine Free Nelson Mandoomjazz - Bicycle Day Bottegasonora - Leavin' the Car, Takin' a Bicycle Splodgenessabounds - Bicycle Seat Richard Lerman - Promenade Version (Boston, Mass., July 2, 1979) Boud Deun - Ralis Queen - Bicycle Race Katie Melua - Nine Million Bicycles Max Miller - Let's Have a Ride On Your Bicycle Vivian Stanshall - Terry Keeps His Clips On Pink Floyd - Bike Madness - Riding On My Bike The Orange Bicycle - Last Cloud Home Kraftwerk - Elektro Kardiogramm Splodgenessabounds - Bicycle Seat (Dub)

They're definitely vibing in a parallel dimension. Jazz rendered in collage - or sumthin...

Those Kenneth Noland works would show up as covers every once in a while.

I guess you'd have to be at a New York library - especially the "Lincoln Center" branch - to find that disc in such a place. Surprised that Nate doesn't mention the Avant label one ... but, it was my first full introduction to his work (the CRI and Opus One ones were partial intros). Anyway, you'll get a good overview above, but if you've already got full access online, then there you go...

Yeah, I've been on the floor searching for a 50 year old magazine while helping someone create a promo for this Wednesday's show ... and I came across this little gem from 2019. If you like what you read above, you can still get copies thru Bandcamp for $15.

Yes, it's typed - probably using a daisy wheel or high-end word processing printer.

I'd be surprised if that were a standard typewriter due to its autospacing.

Probably much better than my Lennie Toronto Quintet - "Live In Trieste" album.

Bororo Vive: Funerary Field Recordings from Mato Grosso, Brazil, 1985-86

You can still get some of those "American Composer Series" boxsets for real cheap! I bought the 4-LP Ives Piano one in the NTSU bookstore back in the day.