John B

I saw Brotz and Nasheet live a week ago in Vermont. It was one of the most powerful shows I have ever seen. To quote from my review elsewhere: "Last night Brotzmann was as fiery and ferocious as mentioned above, but he was also as lyrical as I have ever heard him. Nasheet was an excellent foil for him all night long. The duo was a lot tighter and more explosive than they were in the audience recording from 2004 that I've heard. All in all an excellent show. I really connected with Brotz' playing in a way that I haven't with his albums in quite a while....This is something I neglected to touch on: how emotional, personal and human I found Brotzmann's playing to be last night." Let us know what you think of the show!

I recently bought an excellent compilation called Midwest Funk, on Now-Again records. The track "Tell Her" by Fred Williams & The Jewels Band sounded really familiar, and I finally realized it closed out your bonus disc. I highly recommend grabbing a copy of this disc, as well as the also-excellent Texas Funk disc, for some really rare songs from obscure funk 45's. Mickey & the Soul Generation have one track ("Give Everybody Some") on the Texas disc.

You have got to be kidding. This has to be one of the most ignorant statements I have read on here in quite a while, and reminds me why I have stopped posting here. "hippy trippy?" I'm guessing most jazz musicians would love to have the level of cd sales that the Grateful Dead, Phish and the Black Crowes experience. That fact that you don't care for a genre of music has no bearing on the ability of artists to allow taping to a degree they are comfortable with as well as sell many copies of each album they record and release. Out of curiosity: do you own any "grey label" live Miles or Coltrane discs? Any "unofficial" studio or live recordings by any jazz musicians at all?

I'd guess that more people in the U.S. have heard of many bands on this list than have heard of Tina Brooks. So what? I skimmed through the list and saw many bands that are most likely local "unknowns," as you put it, but I also saw many, many bands that are signed to major label contracts.

noj, The bonus disc has not left our car since I first listened to it. It is a great mix and is still in heavy rotation here. Thanks again for compiling these discs!

The new FME (Vandermark, McBride, Nilssen-Love) cd Cuts has a track dedicated to Shellac.

I bought this set from Sean on tour (Sean Meehan with Tomas Korber, Barry Weisblat, Taku Unami, Toshimaru Nakamura and Greg Davis, in Burlington, VT of all places) last week. It is a beautiful object, in and of itself. The cds are sealed within the paper, and need to be extracted, either by cutting the paper or carefully wetting and seperating a section. The music is sparse, reflective and very powerful. Check out Bagatellen for an animated discussion of the release. I was able to talk with Sean for a while after the show and had a great time discussing the music and the tour.

Last night I saw Peter Brötzmann in concert with Nasheet Waits. Brötzmann was as fiery and ferocious as I had heard he was on this tour, but he was also as lyrical as I have ever heard him. I was amazed by how emotional, personal and human I found Brotzmann's playing to be last night. Nasheet was an excellent foil for him all night long. I'd seen Nasheet live once before, with Andrew Hill, and was much more impressed by what I heard last night. I need to catch him with Jason Moran one of these days. The duo was a lot tighter and more explosive than they were in the audience recording from 2004 that I've heard. All in all an excellent show. I really connected with Brötzmann's playing in a way that I haven't with his albums in quite a while. I picked up a copy of the tour-only cd, they are selling (recorded live at the Empty Bottle earlier this summer) which I look forward to hearing. Michael Ehlers seemed certain that a live disc from this tour would officially be released on Eremite at some point. For those of you open to eai, I highly recommend the new 2cd set on Erstwhile. Four Gentleman of the Guitar - Cloud. The group is composed of Keith Rowe, Oren Ambarchi, Toshimaru Nakamura and Fennesz. The music is beautiful and the second disc, recorded live in Victoriaville last year, is stunning.

No, not since the 18th. I haven't been in the mood for Jandek. The weather has been too nice, perhaps.

I hope you've all seen the Museum of Bad Art. I've been lucky enough to view the collection, in all of its splendor, in person, several years ago.

Nick Hennies (one of the drummers mentioned above) posts over at IHM. Meanwhile, more info from Seth Tissue's site: What happened: Austin The Austin show went off without a hitch. It lasted about 90 minutes without a break. There were no opening bands. The representative from Corwood Industries sang and played electric guitar. A light from the side of the stage cast his twenty foot tall shadow on the side wall, or rather on the objects covering the wall, objects that are never far from Jandek: curtains. He was backed by three young local musicians, Nick Hennies (drumkit), Chris Cogburn (drumkit), and Juan Garcia (electric bass). Hennies lives in Austin and is a member of the Weird Weeds and the Austin New Music Co-op. Cogburn is a Austin-based improvisor who has played with Dave Dove, Joe McPhee, and others. Garcia lives in Houston and plays improvised music. The show was videotaped by two camera operators. One camera was on a tripod in the balcony; the other was on the shoulder of a roving operator who sometimes got quite close to the singer. It seemed to be a “shoot”, not just bare documentation. The crowd was silent after the house lights dimmed, and kept silent as the band took the stage, but there was enthusiastic applause after each song, and a standing ovation at the end, although we didn’t all stand up until after Jandek himself had already left the room. Musically, the biggest development since previous shows was in the guitar. Jandek’s guitar playing was front and center at this show; he brought his live guitar style to a whole new level. He was playing more confidently, more variedly, and with a lot less reverb and effects, so everything he played stood out clearly. He was playing across a wider pitch range and playing a lot more “lead” guitar, not as much “rhythm” — to the extent that you can apply those terms to his unconventional playing. The backing band did a fine job. The two drumkits often blended together in my ears, but when the players were distinguishable, it was because Cogburn used a lot more unconventional playing techniques (rubbing cymbals with his drumsticks, and so forth) and unusual sounds drawn from the post-jazz improvised-music tradition, while Hennies kept it simpler and blended into the group sound more. While Garcia’s playing was never busy, he’s a more mercurial player than the serene and imperturbable Richard Youngs we heard on the U.K. shows and recordings. Garcia seemed to attract Jandek’s attention and the two of them got lot of good back-and-forth going between bass and guitar, particularly during some instrumental sections in the three or so louder, more aggressive songs, when the whole band was digging in, rocking out, kicking up a fierce, choppy racket, irregular but propulsive, The Rocks Crumble/Interstellar Discussion style. Jandek rarely played guitar and sang at the same time; his right hand would stop, or slow down and strum just lightly, leaving a lull to dramatically frame each line or two of lyrics. (You can hear this on the earlier live recordings as well.) He’d lean in close to the mike to deliver each line, always forming the words carefully so they were clearly audible. Apparently he didn’t want us to miss a word, having written them especially for the occasion. Yes, all the lyrics were new. He beat himself up pretty hard: he’s “an ugly man, not beautiful,” in fact “the sorriest human being ever,” his body is “decrepit,” his soul “anguished,” his mind “forever forgetting.” He’s “a failure,” “stricken, forsaken,” “six feet under.” The best he can say is “It gives me pleasure to be in pain” — every cloud has a silver lining? He claims in the first song that “I don’t care about girls/ I don’t care about boys,” but he’s just trying to convince himself; the “you” in many songs is a woman, although others might be addressed to his god instead, as when he’s “on my knees begging to you... I see you in all the glory you are.” The songs were abstract, interior or interpersonal, occasionally metaphysical, with few concrete images or objects. At the Gateshead show there were barstools, worms, guns, neckties, telephones, tattoos, feet, smoke, and snowmen; in Austin there was only a pillow, a few empty chairs, and the police. All the lyrics I jotted down are at http://mylist.net/archives/jandek/2005-August/001737.html. Here are some reviews of the show that have appeared online: Joe Gross: http://www.austin360.com/xl/content/arts/x...s_09-01-05.html (be sure to also follow the “See more Jandek photos” link) Secret Comics: http://secretcomics.typepad.com/secret_com...eet_under_.html Hayden: http://fater.blogspot.com/2005/08/jandek-a...-austin_29.html Brad Shoup: http://empireprimitive.blogspot.com/2005/0...-august-28.html Zach Vowell: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/features/live/j/jandek-05/

from Pitchfork: Live: Jandek The Scottish Rite Theatre, Austin, TX: 28 August 2005 Story by Zach Vowell For the past month or so, ever since tickets for this show went on sale, I've been having dreams about Jandek. Usually they would take the form of those surreal scenarios during a nap, wherein Jandek would play a straight-ahead rock show, or maybe deliver the genuinely harrowing set he seems capable of, or even play solo acoustic guitar as accompaniment to a Q&A session where he reveals all the details of his mysterious past (musical and otherwise) while seated at the edge of the stage. After one particularly potent reverie, I woke up with the distinct sensation of a sticky, orange soda-like substance speckled permanently on my two front teeth. Much of that dream escapes me now, but one thing's for sure: Jandek painted my teeth. Such is the power of Jandek the myth, which incorporates so much extra-musical phenomena like allusive lyrics, the Corwood Industries catalogs, handwritten notes, one cryptic interview with Texas Monthly beside over 25 years of complete public silence, third-party documentation/speculation, and unnamed collaborators none of whom ever coalesces into a clearly defined identity. The mystery is tangible, and it won't leave you be. So, what would happen when Jandek is stripped to the music alone? To the Representative from Corwood's credit, the performance embraced this question and showcased nearly unqualified music. No words were spoken (save a brief introduction by miracle promoter Barry Esson) as the band stepped on the stage: electric bassist Juan Garcia, and drummers Nick Hennies and Chris Cogburn, all fellow Texan musicians. A few seconds passed, and Jandek entered stage right sporting his now familiar 21st century wardrobe of a black full-brimmed hat, a dark purple collar shirt, and black slacks, all clinging loosely about the aging artist's frame. He then deliberately strapped his black electric guitar over his shoulder beside a stand which held Lord knows what kind of sheet music. The once-chattering crowd (practically silent once the house lights went down) sat perfectly content as Jandek picked the first few out-of-tune notes. The two drummers eased into their fractured and assured percussion, sparking the open chord strumming of Jandek into action, with Garcia adding only spare and widely spaced punctuation with gong-like resonance. Jandek's hypnotic (some might say plodding) guitar work was made more so as I watched his right hand, hinged at his wrist, move the pick methodically over the strings, up and down, producing a constant stream of slightly distinct open chords thrown off-kilter by the one or two stray notes he would play with his left hand. When he stepped to the microphone in an antagonistic pose and began singing, with lyrics like, "I'm an ugly man, not beautiful like you," I realized what I had been wanting to see in action the most. Then I was distracted by something flitting along the tall theatre walls in my left periphery. A stage light positioned behind Jandek magnified the shadow of his slight figure along the length of the 20-foot plus wall. With that shade swaying above, the band played on. Hennies made robotic stabs at his drum kit, while Cogburn focused more on cymbals and other percussion with his grab bag of sticks, beads, mallets, and brushes. Several times, Cogburn pulled out a disembodied cymbal and scraped its edge along the snare drum's skin, making an almost violin-like screech. During one such scraping, Jandek groaned above his guitar, "The crank of gears in motion," and the screech released into a forward charging two-drummer attack. Make no mistake, there was no discernible rhythm most of the time, but dammit if Hennies and Cogburn didn't take you somewhere with their broken beat science. That the drummers' obvious technical and improvisational mastery contrasted with Jandek's patented primitive guitar was one of most interesting parts of the night. And not just on paper. The contrast worked well on stage too, providing a busy racket for Jandek to spar with ever so subtly. The seventh song (of twelve) provided a quicker tempo. There were about three of these faster jams, and they were the highlight of the set. This particular one built up slowly, but when it kicked in Garcia began playing many more notes in a rapid neck-scaling manner, and at one point it appeared that he and Jandek were riffing off of each other. Jandek's guitar charged like a chugging train, occasionally kicking loose screws off the track, sometimes completely derailing, but usually jumping back on course. Hennies and Cogburn frenetically assaulted their kits, using more snare than usual, causing Jandek to sway his head and body back and forth. Later on, Jandek played his version of a serenade. Long, pleading vocal notes moved in and out of trudging guitar sounds, his pick sometimes moving softly in a more horizontal direction. In an earlier song he menacingly confessed, "I'll pound the nail on your head/ Run away, run away, and don't like me." He tuned a guitar string to the same twisted logic of the musical notation on the stand. Not all of the slower songs came off with mythic success, meandering a bit and anchored by nothing. Sure, that's not a necessarily bad thing, but when it stretched out in seven minute intervals for an hour and a half, it tended to get a little monotonous. I craved more Jandek/Garcia interaction, but it came too infrequently. Despite these personal quibbles, this show was still a sight to see. Towards the end of the set, Jandek sang, "Alright then, I'll see you in awhile," and I genuinely hoped he would return. This performance (professionally videotaped in its entirety) rang the death knell to the notion that Jandek is nothing but a pretentious post-modern hoax. After the final song, Jandek silently unstrapped his guitar, put it away in its case, and exited as wordlessly as he had entered, all to enthusiastic applause. The music had stood on its own, effortlessly, as if he had been perfecting his wholly original, never static, but always recognizable style for the past 27 years. He summed it up in one of the later songs' lyrics: "I don't care about philosophy, even if it's right." He seemed so at ease in his dark, unsettling vision that he did something three times that I thought was damn near impossible. Jandek smiled.

The Brotzmann disc isn't bad. It reminds me of a somewhat less impressive Last Exit.

Maybe people shouldn't jump all over every person who tries to advertise or sell something on this board. (unless they post the same message in every forum) Maybe not every post on music some people don't know about or don't understand doesn't have to be posted in Funny Rat.

I'm looking forward to hearing this release. I saw elsewhere that ErstDist will be stocking this release soon, I'm not sure if the price will be any lower.

I would recommend contacting your local Red Cross office and ask both questions. They are collecting food locally here, they very well might be doing the same near you. contact info is here.

I just found out that my employer is donating $10,000 to the Red Cross and is also organizing an employee fund drive. The state of Vermont, working with the Red Cross, has set up ten collection points around the state where they will be accepting a specific list of non-perishable supplies. The state police will then escort a convoy of trucks to Gulfport, Mississippi tomorrow morning. I've been experiencing the opposite reaction from jazzypaul. Everyone I know is rushing to get to the supermarket to buy supplies in time to make the shipment that the state is coordinating. I think people really want to help, they just might have other avenues for giving already set up and can't give more than they already have.

November 21, 1926 - September 1, 2005 http://www.fatpossum.com/home.html Time to spin Burnside on Burnside and Too Bad Jim tonight.

For an interesting review and discussion on this disc head on over to Bagatellen.

Will they be musical clothes, at least?

Hope this isn't giving away too much, but there has actually been quite a bit of discussioin about the Track 7 group elsewhere on this board. This one comes from their earlier stuff, which IMO is absolutely critical 1990's music of any genre. Some people who only know them from the recent radio would probably be quite surprised and maybe impressed to hear that other stuff. I still have no clue who this is. Is the rest of the album as good as this track?

Both Points, Snags and Windings (meniscus) and Light's View (nuscope) are excellent. LV is the more mellow and accesible of the two. 15 duets wth pianist Georg Graewe. P,S and W features duets with percussionist Dylan van der Schyff, and is the more challenging of the two discs. On first listen I found this one to be the more interesting album. although both are fantastic. I believe Meniscus has gone out of business ( or is at least "inactive" currently), so, if you see a copy of Points I highly recommend grabbing it while still available.

My favorite track so far, by far. That is one smooth, yet whacked, delivery!

So far "The Dark Side" hasn't been as dark as I expected. The Ice Cube track finally got me on board with the Dark Side being dark. Another better than expected KRS-One track, as well as track seven, which made the ride into work a lot more fun that usual. "Her neck smelled sweet, like a plate of yams with extra syrup..."

I just picked up this one used, as well as the one Roi Ubu mentioned and three others (Music on Seven Occasions, London and Cologne and Points, Snags and Windings) Hopefully I can find time to listen to them soon and bring this thread back up to the top with some quick reviews.