new releases:
mats
/ morgan:
on air with guests (6)
(2002, cd, swe, ultimate audio entertainment uae disc 15)
- feat. mats öberg, morgan & jimmy ågren
just hearing the names of mats öberg
and morgan ågren should be enough to grasp your attention.
these guys have an incredible discography. not only as a duo, but
also as contributors to various other recordings.
their latest album is called "on air with guests". it
captures the performances of the mats / morgan band (including
guests) on swedish television during a series of drum clinics by morgan ågren.
you'd
better take a deep breath before you put this disc in your
cd-player. the album kicks off with an up-tempo, jazzy track
called "en schizofrens dagbok" en carries on in the same vein
for the first six numbers. highlights for me of this first series
of tracks is the first one and the fifth one, the latter being a superb
funky groove with jonas knutsson (saxophone) and mats öberg
(keys) showing their skills. hey, it even has a drum solo!
tracks seven and eight are something else. track seven guests
fredrik thordendal (read: meshuggah lead guitar player -
sort of dark & gothic) and track eight has spoonman and simon
steensland contributing (read: percussion special).
track 10, however carries on where track 7 left us: melodic, progressive
fusion at its best. my favourite songs of this last series are
jimmy ågren's 'she's louder than me, but i've got the
microphone' (great slide guitar work with a tight backing), and
'ta ned trasan' (which could have been subtitled 'shut up 'n' play yer
keyboard 'n' drumset').
this is essential listening. but you've been warned, you probably
won't stop listening to it until you can whistle it along...
napoleon
murphy brock: balls (1)
(2002, cd, usa, nmb 3118) - feat.chester thompson, mike
keneally, jerry outlaw
the one and only napoleon murphy brock
has a solo album out. napoleon (or 'napi') played with frank zappa
in the early seventies, making albums as "apostrophe",
"roxy & elsewhere" and "one size fits all" the
classic albums that they are.
june
2002, the ant-bee said: "Most recently, Napoleon unearthed some vintage
recordings he made right after he left Frank Zappa's group in 1975, and before
he joined George Duke's ensemble. ... These recordings are now being considered for release on CD this year."
well, and here they are. i don't know if these songs were recorded
somewhere around 1975, especially since it has some 'recent'
contributions by mike keneally and jerry outlaw, but i'll
let you know as soon as i find out.
i've heard and/or seen napi as a part of zappa's band, with
george duke and even more recently with project/object,
but i wasn't ready for "balls". "balls" is a
beautiful mixture of songs that show the different aspects of napoleon's
musical capabilities. make way for the superfunky 'steady freddy',
the jazzy 'tv theme' (mike keneally on guitar !!), a classical
'patience', or even a couple of raps. my god, this is such
a funky album. my favourite fragments are 'steady freddy' and the
swinging 'let me still be me', with fine backing vocals and some flashy
guitar interventions by jerry outlaw. "balls"
also features chester thompson on drums, another reason to give this
album a listen.
yes, you heard me right. this is a must have. give it to
yourself for x-mas.
* * *
somewhere early next year, a television documentary will focus on 'the song
poem story'. it will feature john trubee and his amazing
"blind man's penis" adventure.
"OFF THE CHARTS: THE SONG-POEM STORY, will air
nationally on the new PBS series
INDEPENDENT LENS on February 11th (2003) at 10PM.
Day of the Locust meets American Idol in Jamie
Meltzer's debut film, OFF THE CHARTS: THE SONG POEM STORY, a fascinating, at
times unsettling, documentary that exposes the strange underworld of the
song-poem industry. In this
little known subculture, "ordinary people" respond to come-on ads on
the back pages of magazines ("Send in Your Lyrics and Make $50,000 in
royalties!"), mailing in their heartfelt but often bizarre poems to
"music industry" companies that, for a fee, turn those poems into real
recordings.
Through interviews with several song-poem writers, the jaded producers and
musicians who set their words to music, and a few of the growing number of
zealous song-poem connoisseurs, OFF THE CHARTS explores a truly unique,
never-before-seen slice of Gothic Americana."
john
trubee added:
This film, to be aired on PBS in February, contains the hoary Blind
Man's Penis story. Jamie came up here and filmed for it--and even flew to
Nashville to 'ambush' Ramsey Kearney, the country music geezer who sang it.
I'll remind yuh when it get closer to airing...
* * *
afroskull will be doing
two shows with some funk legends:
2002/11/27 concert 'tobacco road', nyc, usa - appearing with the woo warriors featuring george clinton.
2002/12/06 concert 'tobacco road', nyc,
usa - appearing with melvin sparks
take a look at the 'agenda' section if you want to know more concert
dates.
* * *
bruno le tohic informed me about the zapping buzz band, a
band from la suisse that plays the music of frank zappa. they have two
albums out already - all zappa material - called "don't you want a
man" and "does sex belong in music". more info real soon.
http://www.zappingbuzzband.ch/
(thank you, bruno)
* * *
german zappa-a-cappella band die beistelltische is about
to give a couple of concerts in germany:
2002/11/22 concert 'vorderhaus', freiburg, germany
2002/11/23 concert 'vorderhaus', freiburg, germany
2002/12/07 concert 'sudhaus', tübingen, germany
2002/12/08 concert 'spectaculum mundi', münchen, germany
2002/12/21 concert 'kinosaal lumiere', göttingen, germany
2003/01/17 concert 'kfz', marburg, germany
* * *
about a year ago, ryko japan started the frank zappa paper
sleeve edition cd series. looking like mini-lp's, ryko japan is
re-issueing the biggest part of the zappa catalogue. well, one has to
admit that they don't really add anything new to one's collection, but they
sound really good and they look even better.
the latest 5 titles look like this:
* * *
and (almost) last but not least, there are some new newspaper clippings to mention (thank you, johan):
2002/06/03 "gary lucas over chinese pop" by jacob haagsma, nrc handelsblad, the netherlands
2002/06/06 "zappa en mahler in docuzone", rotterdams dagblad, the netherlands
2002/06/20 "frank zappa wist wat hij deed" by bas van putten, algemeen dagblad, the netherlands
2002/09/-- "zoon zappa veilt gitaar hendrix", gazet van antwerpen, belgium
* * *
new entries:
added setlists for day bay the river
in the "links" page: les fils d'invention
* * *
john trubee's quote for the day:
"Someone observing a tradition for
the sake of tradition
is not unlike a 30 year old clinging onto a teddy bear
for a feeling of comfort and security.
Fuck tradition.
Fuck convention.
Fuck social propriety.
Fuck the rules
and those who torture you with them."
--John Trubee
*
* *
in a message to 'nederzappa', a dutch zappa newsgroup, marco kalnenek wrote:
Captain Beefheart's legendary Magic Band
reunites after 20 years!
The Magic Band is slated to record in Winter 2002 and perform at two upcoming
All Tomorrow's Parties festivals and at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London.
After over 20 years dormant, Captain Beefheart's
legendary group, the Magic Band is slated to reunite this year. The news comes
after the members' decision to accept a request to perform at the upcoming All
Tomorrow's Parties festival in the UK, which will be curated by notable
experimental/electronic group Autechre April 6th, at London's Shepherds Bush
Empire on 7th April and yet another All Tomorrow's Parties festival, this time
in Los Angeles. The L.A. show, which will be curated this year by visionary
animator/producer Matt Groening and was curated last year by Sonic Youth, will
take place on the campus of UCLA but also at other selected venues in downtown
Los Angeles. For Beefheart/Magic Band fans these are momentous occasions. For
those unexposed to their genius, the shows will be a rare chance to experience
the wildly influential and seminal group first hand.
Tickets for ATP LA are likely to go on sale before the end of the year. Go to www.alltomorrowsparties.co.uk
for the details. The first order of biz will see the Magic Band (sans
much-celebrated leader Captain Beefheart, aka Don Van Vliet who retired from
music altogether over twenty years ago) re-enter the recording studio. The
unexpected "next" record will essentially be a recorded rehearsal with
the band playing numbers live-to-tape from heralded records like Trout Mask
Replica, Safe As Milk and Lick My Decals Off, Baby at a secret studio location.
The new record will be available for
purchase, among other points, at the UK All Tomorrow's Parties festival in the
spring and will be widely available in early summer.
*
* *
if you want to take a look at a picture taken at a magic band reunion last year,
go to the magic band.
*
* *
and here's another john trubee quote:
"This ephemeral phantasm
'society' is merely
majority opinion, and we well know how that
opinion can be a manifestation of mass hysteria,
mass delusion, mass ignorance, and mass
stupidity.
Do you base your life actions
on the opinions of idiots
all around you?
What is of greater value:
your life
or the opinions of idiots?"
--John Trubee
*
* *
project/object has a new album
out. i think it's called "dream of the dawn" or something like
that. and it looks like the rumours of their first cd were right as
well. i never saw a copy, but dr.greenaway talked about it in his
zappanale review, so it must be true. let's hope they distribute these
little succers to yurrip as well...
*
* *
dweezil zappa, vinnie
colaiuta and aynsley dunbar
contributed to a pink floyd tribute album. the full title goes
something like"an all star line-up performing the songs of pink floyd"
*
* *
"freak show deluxe", the latest residents
title should be shipped any day now. if you don't know what i'm talking
about, check out ralphamerica or euroralph. the new dvd title, "on
the outskirts" (only sold at concerts - and they're only touring the u.s.)
has also found its way to euroralph. if you want this one, you'd better
hurry up. it's my guess that these could go really fast.
*
* *
dEUS, or at least tom barman, is playing with
a symphony orchestra in brugge, belgium, tonight 20021117. didn't know
about it. sure hope they'll broadcast it on tv.
*
* *
zappanoia, a band that plays the
music of frank zappa (and they're from lisbon, portugal) are looking for
a record label. if anyone has any ideas, let me know. i heard an mp3
of zappanoia playing a sensual & laid-back version of 'i have been
you' and have to admit that i want to hear more !
*
* *
the flat earth society, and please, don't say 'who?', has an official
website: www.fes.be
there's
not much too see yet, but that should change soon.
*
* *
hot rats, the norwegian band that
plays the music of frank zappa, has added two extra mp3s to their site.
visit http://on.to/hotrats
* * *
reinier parengkuan mailed that the muffin men
& jimmy carl black are
touring again. the next couple of days they'll do some concerts in the
netherlands, and cuccurullo
brillo brullo will open for them.
2002/11/22 concert 'de tavenu', waalwijk, the netherlands www.tavenu.nl
2002/11/23 concert 'witte theater', ijmuiden, the netherlands www.wittetheater.nl
check the muffin men site for more info on other concerts.
*
* *
reinier also told me about the latest jimmy carl black & roy estrada
collaboration. after zappanale, roy estrade went with jimmy carl black
to jimmie's house in southern germany and together with mike peany, they
recorded a complete album. it's called "hamburger midnight".
danny mathys has already heard it and he says it's great. thanx for the
info, guys.
more info about this album real soon.
* * *
that's all for now, talk again to you soon,
peter van laarhoven