Mothballin'
Ah yes....things round here have slowed up. Did anyone notice? Anyways, I've decided to concentrate on brazenly showcasing my musical activities in a (slightly) more professional manner over at marshmusic.org, so please go there if you like for all the latest showbiz news...
Wyatt Riot
I've been listening to this excellent podcast from The Wire, where Robert Wyatt talks to Tony Herrington about...well, everything, really. There are few people on the planet who appear as sincere, honest, self deprecating and insightful as Mr Wyatt, and he's one of those musicians who inspires something approaching love in my withered old heart (not just because we're from the same neck of the woods). His music seems to have been with me for ever, which I suppose it has.
I was going to write a long rambling post about my favourite Wyatt moments etc but instead I'll just quote Andie, who said the other night that his voice reminded her of 'an Autumnal hug'. I think that just about sums it up. Gawd bless 'im.
I was going to write a long rambling post about my favourite Wyatt moments etc but instead I'll just quote Andie, who said the other night that his voice reminded her of 'an Autumnal hug'. I think that just about sums it up. Gawd bless 'im.
two recent things
a couple of weeks ago myself and Paul May were booked in to the excellent Onecat studio for a session with Wigdump, a new quartet put together by saxophonist Julie Kjaer with trombonist/euphonium player Ian McLachlan. I was quite excited about this as it's a corking little ensemble and one of my current faves, but sadly Ian was ill and couldn't make the session, leaving Paul and I with some studio time on our hands. Julie refused our offer of a trio for some reason, so we drafted in pianist Mark Ball who's a regular at our Stockwell jazz extravaganza. A set of rather peculiar unplanned improvs emerged, which I've been toying around with on one of those computer things.
The first thing happened while we waited for Mark to arrive, and we had no idea it was being recorded. It features my nice new Fender Precision, which I am starting to fall in love with a little bit. I added more stuff later.
The second thing was recorded about 7 seconds after Mark arrived and sounds like EST on some horse tranquilisers. The double bass was added later and replaced the Precision as it needed something slightly more vague sounding...
Apologies in advance but there may be more of this...
The first thing happened while we waited for Mark to arrive, and we had no idea it was being recorded. It features my nice new Fender Precision, which I am starting to fall in love with a little bit. I added more stuff later.
The second thing was recorded about 7 seconds after Mark arrived and sounds like EST on some horse tranquilisers. The double bass was added later and replaced the Precision as it needed something slightly more vague sounding...
Apologies in advance but there may be more of this...
Elvers at Club Integral, 5/4/12
Elvers play a rare gig at the always excellent Club Integral in a couple of weeks. We'll be joined by Chris Cornetto from Sound Of The Sun... Details
Found Drowned
just to say this trio now has a Bandcamp page here with a couple of live tracks for free download. the album we recorded last year will finally emerge here and not on Forwind, so keep em peeled.
Oramix
A few weeks back I came across The Science Museum's Oramix competition - the challenge was to create a new piece out of samples of Daphne Oram's work. Having nothing better to do I ended up constructing something out of a couple of short samples of what sounded like a zither which had been sped up massively and soaked with tape echo. It took me a few hours and I posted it on the relevant Soundcloud page and forgot all about it. I didn't think it was up to much really, but I never do.
Last week I got an email from the Science Museum and this is what it said.
Dear Peter,
The results are in and after adding up the scores it turned out we had a ‘photo finish’ on our hands. Unfortunately you didn’t win, but we would like to give Orbit a special mention, because it still had an impressive overall score and Brian Eno called it “very engaging, intricate and complex in mood. I wanted this to go on and on.” We think that’s still a pretty amazing result. Of course we understand that you wanted to win OraMIX, but the competition was incredibly tough. We want you to know that we think you submitted a great track.
Which is all very lovely. Now I looked up this Brian Eno chap on the internet and apparently he's very famous. I think he likes my track because it sounds like one of his. Ahem.
More here. The winning track is very lovely btw.
Last week I got an email from the Science Museum and this is what it said.
Dear Peter,
The results are in and after adding up the scores it turned out we had a ‘photo finish’ on our hands. Unfortunately you didn’t win, but we would like to give Orbit a special mention, because it still had an impressive overall score and Brian Eno called it “very engaging, intricate and complex in mood. I wanted this to go on and on.” We think that’s still a pretty amazing result. Of course we understand that you wanted to win OraMIX, but the competition was incredibly tough. We want you to know that we think you submitted a great track.
Which is all very lovely. Now I looked up this Brian Eno chap on the internet and apparently he's very famous. I think he likes my track because it sounds like one of his. Ahem.
More here. The winning track is very lovely btw.
Bass/Metals
Another podcast this time of stuff made primarily by the double bass, accompanied on occasion by percussion, metals, tape and prepared piano. Includes Dumitrescu's Cogito, which is as dark as proverbial pitch. A guaranteed floorfiller.
photo by Rosie McLaughlin
photo by Rosie McLaughlin
Bass/Metals by Astrogarage on Mixcloud
Obscurities
Obscure Records was set up in 1975 by Brian Eno. Effectively it was a subdivision of Island and later Polydor Records. It lasted three years and put out ten records, one of which was by Eno. Nine of them were produced by him (the other one had him down as 'executive producer'). Even given that this was the Seventies, Obscure was a brave venture. After all, Eno had only been in the public consciousness for three years or so, and that was mostly as a glam icon making funny noises on synth and churning out futurist avant pop gems.
Yet here he was, allowed to put out whatever he liked, on his own label. And the stuff he did put out sounded like it belonged on labels like Deutsche Grammofon or Incus or FMP or ESP or on Audio Arts cassettes. There wasn't much in the way of electronics or interesting haircuts or feather boas.
For the most part Obscure acted as a home to a hub of English 'experimental' composers. It was the first time the work of Gavin Bryars, Michael Nyman, David Toop and Christopher Hobbs could be heard outside of their usual small run cassettes or vinyl. This was a nod to some of Eno's immediate influences, many of whom he played with in the Scratch Orchestra.
The records were made quickly and cheaply and not all of those involved were happy with the results (Tom Phillips' Irma seems a case in point, and it is pretty awful), but at its best Obscure showcased a range of peculiarly English experimentalism that fed on Cage, free improvisation, 'world' music and jazz. With the exception of Eno's Discreet Music and the Penguin Cafe Orchestra album, most of the Obscure releases have been sporadically available, with many not making it to CD. This mix highlights a few of my favourite party starters from the label.
Yet here he was, allowed to put out whatever he liked, on his own label. And the stuff he did put out sounded like it belonged on labels like Deutsche Grammofon or Incus or FMP or ESP or on Audio Arts cassettes. There wasn't much in the way of electronics or interesting haircuts or feather boas.
For the most part Obscure acted as a home to a hub of English 'experimental' composers. It was the first time the work of Gavin Bryars, Michael Nyman, David Toop and Christopher Hobbs could be heard outside of their usual small run cassettes or vinyl. This was a nod to some of Eno's immediate influences, many of whom he played with in the Scratch Orchestra.
The records were made quickly and cheaply and not all of those involved were happy with the results (Tom Phillips' Irma seems a case in point, and it is pretty awful), but at its best Obscure showcased a range of peculiarly English experimentalism that fed on Cage, free improvisation, 'world' music and jazz. With the exception of Eno's Discreet Music and the Penguin Cafe Orchestra album, most of the Obscure releases have been sporadically available, with many not making it to CD. This mix highlights a few of my favourite party starters from the label.
Obscurities by Astrogarage on Mixcloud
2011
...an interesting year, and the last half has brought a lot of change for me personally. I'm about to take redundancy (what a beautiful word) and will probably spend the next year trying to make stuff happen and scratching around for a living from music. this is potentially madness, but it's also incredibly liberating. it's about time, even if it's the wrong time.
as far as playing goes, this year's been one of the best. my instrument continues to challenge me and some days i feel like dousing it with petrol and setting a match to it may be the best use for it. but at the same time, i'm learning shitloads and finally playing things i can be kind of happy with. fourth page continue to be a quiet revelation, sonnamble (with the addition of wei-ya and paul) have evolved into a really powerful wee unit, and there a number of other associations which look likely to yield fruit in the coming months. playing in vienna was wonderful, and with any luck there'll be a few jaunts around europe over the next year. forwind continues to evolve, and that will take up a fair amount of my time. there's a lot to do, and a lot to think about.
much of the music i've been listening to this year was made before 1950. i'm increasingly drawn to the raw, the unmediated, the unselfconscious, the unironic. i fucking hate irony. there isn't much that i like that was made this year (chris watson's el tren fantasma was an exception, as were a couple of others i can't be arsed to remember), increasingly i feel out of touch with what is being made and what's being written about in the wire or played at cafe oto or wherever. much of it seems shallow, faddish or revisionist to me these days. it's hard to tell whether this is due to my own weariness or truly indicative of the times we're in. it doesn't matter, i suppose, and i'm wary of my own dis-ease with what i hear or read; i don't particularly want to be statler or waldorf.
as far as playing goes, this year's been one of the best. my instrument continues to challenge me and some days i feel like dousing it with petrol and setting a match to it may be the best use for it. but at the same time, i'm learning shitloads and finally playing things i can be kind of happy with. fourth page continue to be a quiet revelation, sonnamble (with the addition of wei-ya and paul) have evolved into a really powerful wee unit, and there a number of other associations which look likely to yield fruit in the coming months. playing in vienna was wonderful, and with any luck there'll be a few jaunts around europe over the next year. forwind continues to evolve, and that will take up a fair amount of my time. there's a lot to do, and a lot to think about.
much of the music i've been listening to this year was made before 1950. i'm increasingly drawn to the raw, the unmediated, the unselfconscious, the unironic. i fucking hate irony. there isn't much that i like that was made this year (chris watson's el tren fantasma was an exception, as were a couple of others i can't be arsed to remember), increasingly i feel out of touch with what is being made and what's being written about in the wire or played at cafe oto or wherever. much of it seems shallow, faddish or revisionist to me these days. it's hard to tell whether this is due to my own weariness or truly indicative of the times we're in. it doesn't matter, i suppose, and i'm wary of my own dis-ease with what i hear or read; i don't particularly want to be statler or waldorf.
three gigs
1. Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings - Brighton Dome
Two and a half hours of acoustic music from two guitars, voices and the occasional bit of banjo and thighslapping would not normally be high on my list of must-sees. But as any cursory glance over the music section of any broadsheet newspaper over the last couple of weeks will tell you, Welch and Rawlings are the dog's bollocks. And for once they're right. Despite the occasionally embarrassing audience shout-outs, this was one of the best gigs I've seen in a long time. It's rare to see such onstage chemistry between two people - their voices sound like they're coming from the same set of lungs and pipes; close, close harmonies (they like major seconds a lot). Rawlings' solos were quietly revelatory - it's not usual to get spontaneous outbursts of applause at the end of a solo at a not-jazz gig. But he earns them - there's nothing flash or superfluous in his playing, though the occasional quicksilver run might appear and take the breath away (as it did to the bloke sitting next to me at this gig, often alarmingly). Not to take anything away from his partner, of course.
2. Forwindings - Shoreditch Church
I can't be at all objective about this one, but despite a few technical issues and some notable last minute non-appearances, we seemed to pull it off and attracted enough people to make it worthwhile. More here. I really enjoyed the Elvers set - Ian was on great form, and the acoustic suited him down to the ground. The Sonnamble set was problematic for me, but not for anyone else, or so it seemed, and the audience seemed particularly into it. The Fourth Page set was probably our best yet in some ways - it felt really cohesive and focussed. Ed Devane's set was really lovely too. Next time may be less ambitious, but there'll definitely be one.
3. Dafeldecker/Budd, The Necks - Oxford Holywell Music Room
The Necks are less a band than they are some gateway to another universe. I've seen them probably half a dozen times and each time they leave me feeling slightly exhausted and disorientated. Maybe a bit like Yuri Gagarin felt on touchdown. I've tried writing about them before and failed miserably, so I won't attempt it again, other than to say they were fucking wonderful.
In support was the pairing of Harold Budd, whose work has ranged IMHO from the sublime to the insipid, and Werner Dafeldecker, whose double bass has graced some of my favourite records of the last few years. Dafeldecker is a rigorous sort and one of the 'third Viennese school' alongside people like Fennesz and Polwechsel/ It seemed like an odd pairing to me, but potentially fascinating. It wasn't. Harold did his usual thing (ie pretty, mournful long-spaced piano chords) while Werner treated his piano through tape delay and perhaps unintentional feedback, occasionally taking up the bass for some rattling, detuned dromes, thumps and squeaks. I was glad when they stopped. A solo set from each would have been far more rewarding, and I couldn't help wondering what was going through their heads. Certainly neither looked particularly at ease. Perhaps it was a bad night, but my guess it was more of a case of two diametrically opposed approaches not finding any common ground. I wonder whose idea that was....
Two and a half hours of acoustic music from two guitars, voices and the occasional bit of banjo and thighslapping would not normally be high on my list of must-sees. But as any cursory glance over the music section of any broadsheet newspaper over the last couple of weeks will tell you, Welch and Rawlings are the dog's bollocks. And for once they're right. Despite the occasionally embarrassing audience shout-outs, this was one of the best gigs I've seen in a long time. It's rare to see such onstage chemistry between two people - their voices sound like they're coming from the same set of lungs and pipes; close, close harmonies (they like major seconds a lot). Rawlings' solos were quietly revelatory - it's not usual to get spontaneous outbursts of applause at the end of a solo at a not-jazz gig. But he earns them - there's nothing flash or superfluous in his playing, though the occasional quicksilver run might appear and take the breath away (as it did to the bloke sitting next to me at this gig, often alarmingly). Not to take anything away from his partner, of course.
2. Forwindings - Shoreditch Church
I can't be at all objective about this one, but despite a few technical issues and some notable last minute non-appearances, we seemed to pull it off and attracted enough people to make it worthwhile. More here. I really enjoyed the Elvers set - Ian was on great form, and the acoustic suited him down to the ground. The Sonnamble set was problematic for me, but not for anyone else, or so it seemed, and the audience seemed particularly into it. The Fourth Page set was probably our best yet in some ways - it felt really cohesive and focussed. Ed Devane's set was really lovely too. Next time may be less ambitious, but there'll definitely be one.
3. Dafeldecker/Budd, The Necks - Oxford Holywell Music Room
The Necks are less a band than they are some gateway to another universe. I've seen them probably half a dozen times and each time they leave me feeling slightly exhausted and disorientated. Maybe a bit like Yuri Gagarin felt on touchdown. I've tried writing about them before and failed miserably, so I won't attempt it again, other than to say they were fucking wonderful.
In support was the pairing of Harold Budd, whose work has ranged IMHO from the sublime to the insipid, and Werner Dafeldecker, whose double bass has graced some of my favourite records of the last few years. Dafeldecker is a rigorous sort and one of the 'third Viennese school' alongside people like Fennesz and Polwechsel/ It seemed like an odd pairing to me, but potentially fascinating. It wasn't. Harold did his usual thing (ie pretty, mournful long-spaced piano chords) while Werner treated his piano through tape delay and perhaps unintentional feedback, occasionally taking up the bass for some rattling, detuned dromes, thumps and squeaks. I was glad when they stopped. A solo set from each would have been far more rewarding, and I couldn't help wondering what was going through their heads. Certainly neither looked particularly at ease. Perhaps it was a bad night, but my guess it was more of a case of two diametrically opposed approaches not finding any common ground. I wonder whose idea that was....
November
Shots taken during a walk along Cuckmere Haven and The Seven Sisters (not in Tottenham). Music by me. Thanks to Josie for transport, catering, moral support and executive prduction.
Fourth Page on the radio
Fiona Talkington (not pictured) will be airing a track from Blind Horizons on Radio 3's ever-excellent Late Junction this week. Our recent gig at the Vortex was also recorded by the BBC, though where, when or if it will be broadcast is all in the lap of the Gods (or more accurately, some radio producers) at the moment....
Also, here's the first review we've found of the album, direct from Krakow.
Sonnamble on the radio
RTE lyric fm have been showing us some love, bless 'em. Bernard Clarke showcases two tracks from Blindlight on the excellent Nova.http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/nova/1489151.html
and there's also an airing for the old Elvers radio fave, Cutthroat...good times guaranteed!
Sonnamble
A couple more rather positive reviews in for Blindlight...the band are just back from the Another Festival in Vienna, where we were joined by Paul May on percussion (yes, him again) and Wei-Ya Lin on viola. we were treated incredibly well and got to do a lot of playing in a beautiful space; recordings will probably emerge soon. Chris Jones took some nice pictures (like this one) and video too. again, more on that later...
Fourth Page at the Vortex
Fourth Page are on a wee mini-tour next week as a duo of Paul May and Carolyn Hume, joined for one date by Charlie Beresford and finally appearing as a quartet at the Vortex on Sat 29th October. Get the party started!
An Indian Music Infographic
utterly beautiful. and it tells you stuff. (see the hi res version here via the always wondrous WFMU)
Jazz at the Grosvenor
some recordings from Jazz at the Grosvenor, SW9. This has been my Monday night ritual for the last couple of months and has given me terrible blisters which i seem to have conquered at long last. yes, i suffer for my art. and now it can be your turn.Kornhauser/Spall/Marsh/May - Jazz at the Grosvenor 26/9/2011 by astrogarage
Somervell, Marsh, May Trio - live at the Grosvenor 19/09/11 by astrogarage
