June/July/August/September/October/November stuff

Bit of a hiatus over the last few months… oh jeez, where to start with the thumbnail reviews, could be a (relative) waste of an evening…. so in the interests of getting this over with and posted, some have ‘em, some don’t.

AMON TOBIN – Isam – gorgeously packaged book format, and an artist I’d forgotten about over the last few years – on the strength of this release though, I might have to backtrack.  No review, but a trailer vid for the live set-up accompanying the album should whet the appetite.

onwards…..

BIOSPHERE – N-plants – an unfortunately serendipitous release in that it takes  Japan’s nuclear power plants as its focus – though conceived and recorded before the tragic events earlier this year (an ongoing tragedy, though it’s largely vanished from western news-ken). It’s an altogether more sprightly and rhythm-focussed work than other recent releases – perhaps a poignant irony there.

TAMIKREST – Toumastin – I’m told this is their strongest set to date. Differently recorded perhaps, but the rhythms remain the same.

And this track (a single, I think) and its video are utterly gorgeous….

A bumper Cluster-related few months, with the following all released/rereleased…..

ROEDELIUS – Piano Piano  & Like The Whispering Of The Wind - two solo piano discs, one new, the other from 1986.

ROEDELIUS – Wasser Im Wind- classic early work, very much after the fashion of my favourite of his many albums, Wenn Der Sudwind Weht – so big thumbs up from this listener.

There’s also been a spate of new Roedelius material over the last few months in duet collaboration with ‘thrusting’ younger electronic players.

ROEDELIUS/SCHNEIDER – stunden

and

QLUSTER – Fragen & Rufen

At the same time, another member of Cluster, MOEBIUS, ploughs a familiarly idiosyncratic techno furrow with Ding.

ALVA NOTO/BLIXA BARGELD – Mimikry – took me a while to get around to buying this, despite my liking for both protagonists. The two talents don’t quite gell – but it’s promising, and it’s hard not to raise a smile to this track in particular…

STEVE MASON & DENNIS BOVELL – Ghosts Outside – part of a film festival goodie bag, so it almost got binned unlistened-to. Which would have been a shame – I understand that this is a dub reworking of a solo album from an ex-Beta Band member (just how out of touch am I getting?). It’s sporadically engaging – though not enough to have me seek out the source material.

ON/OFF – Mark Stewart, Pop Group To Maffia DVD

BRIAN ENO & RICK HOLLAND – Drums Between The Bells – hardback double edition. The spoken poetic word is the new nu-jazz in Eno-world, it appears. This, and its subsequent follow-up EP are a bit… (and I’m conscious of using this word too much at the moment) underwhelming.

MUSLIMGAUZE – In Search Of The Abraham Mosque – single track that weaves its way through low-key beats and ambience, pausing occasionally for respite. Just when you think there can’t possibly be any more decent material left in the archives, a gem slips out. For me, this is one of them, whereas another recent release – MUSLIMGAUZE/THE ROOTSMAN – On-Line Jihad – is entirely forgettable.

TUXEDOMOON – Unearthed – cd & dvd. The completist in me rears its head again – all of the music and video on this is already available with the Crammed 30th Anniversary box set released a couple of years back. The only difference is the cover.

MACHINEFABRIEK – Sol Sketches  & Diorama &  Vintermusik - you know what to expect – the pick of these three for me is the Bandcamp download of Vintermusik, one of his 3″cdep releases from 2007, around the time of the mighty Laween track that I still love so much.

CYCLOBE – Wounded Galaxies Tap At The Window – finally got hold of the cd version, having had this on vinyl for nigh on a year, unable to play it. Worth the wait though, their most accomplished set to date – the legacy of Coil seems in safe hands.

SUNS OF ARQA – Stranger Music – have I listened to this? I can’t remember. Which pretty much says it all really.

BEIRUT – The Rip Tide – back to familiar territory here, neither under or overwhelming.

ULRICH TROYER – Song For William -  a wee digi-dub gem from Austria of all places. Just when I thought I’d heard all the tricks this genre has to offer, Troyer adds a few unfamiliar ones. Deliciously wonky reggae.

THE RESIDENTS – Talking Light: Bimbo’s – not really been a fan of the Talking Light cycle/suite of albums/performances, bought primarily to keep my completist’s drouth at bay.

TARWATER – Inside The Ships – although there’s nothing really new here, this is their most mellifluous outing for a while.  Anyone reading this (hello???) know what the extra tracks are on the recent reissued cds?

ANDREW LILES – The Flesh Creeping Gonzoid & Other Imaginary Creatures: Volumes One to Six – A whopping great 6xcd box set as my introduction to the work of Andrew Liles, occasional NWW conspirator.

NATACHA ATLAS – Mounqaliba Rising – The Remixes – Ten years ago I’d probably have been all over this, and it’s a measure of how much my taste has moved on that I find most of the beats and treatments dated and pedestrian here. All this makes me want to do is bathe in the gorgeous accoustics and un-chopped/glitched voice of the album from which this lacklustre spin-off springs.

MAGAZINE – No Thyself – ‘return’ albums from reconstituted acts are most often pig-in-a-poke territory, you’re never sure what’ll be on offer – a leaden rehash of former glories or a brave strike into fresh territory.  Ultimately this is neither, but does enough to maintain hopes that, should they continue to work together, things will improve.

DAVE FORMULA/CHRISTINE HANSON – The Organ Of Corti – Serviceable kinda song-based jazz-lite, but a warning – the album’s final track is a throwaway embarrassment.

TOM WAITS – Bad As Me -  you know the guy, you know what to expect. And he doesn’t disappoint.

THE RESIDENTS – Coochie Brake/Lying Horse Rock – although hanging on to the Randy/Chuck/Bob conceit of the Talking Light series, this limited edition version of a work that’ll be given wider distribution early next year strikes out in new directions for the RZ – a new mythology to expand on, Spanish language used, a (mercifully to these ears)  retreat from recent song-based outings. First three tracks and Bitter Biter stick in the memory.

LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY – The Return Of Pipecock Jackxson – finally, a cd reissue for what I think has been a great lost (i.e. only available via eBay etc… in its originala vinyl edition) Perry work, cobbled together during his last few months in his soon-to-be-torched Black Ark Studio. It’s brief, six tracks, but worth every penny. Shame they didn’t keep the original cover art, shabby though it was.

THE ORB – C Batter C – lovely book release (which arrived personalised to me, a pleasant surprise) containing a cd of remixes and a film (not watched yet).

DAVID LYNCH – Crazy Clown Time – It’s David Lynch. It should be great. Its not quite.

LITTLE AXE – If You Want Loyalty, Buy A Dog – Skip McDonald’s recent solo shows have been a revelation, but here he’s surrounded by a band and produced by Adrian Sherwood, taking his contemporary blues schtick into reggae-lite territory. It’s a mixed bag, and I’d love to see him solo again at some point.

WIRE – The Black Session – live artefact punted on their recent tour, caught at the Liquid Rooms in Edinburgh mid-November. Filed.

ON-U SOUND – King Size Dub – a mid-price On-U sound compilation, you know the territory.

Finally, as a sign-off, here’s a ridiculous earworm from Japan, Trippple Nippple’s – LSD single. Bow Wow Wow on amphetamines, in a good way…

May 2011 stuff

CHRONOMAD – Chronomad cdep – can’t recall how I first came across Chronomad, but it was quite likely whilst delving into the Notwist’s label catalogue a few years back. Reviewers seem to think that these days they operate in areas also familiar to Muslimgauze, Shackleton and Demdike Stare (see below). For this, the first of their three releases, a middle-Eastern influenced Pole might be as good a comparison point as any.

BELL, IRMLER, LIEBEZEIT, LIPPOK – Spielwiese 2 – limited album/cd on Klangbad. A live collaboration, and pretty much what you’d expect from the four talents on display. Nicely packaged but inessential listening that at times isn’t a million miles away from Liebezeit and Friedman’s Secret Rhythm albums – albeit more varied and rewarding than that flagging series has become.

MACHINEFABRIEK & STEPHEN VITIELLO – Birds In A Box – limited edition of 200. Swapping boxes of stuff (we can only guess what they contained) to bang, scrape and otherwise sonically manhandle, this is an exercise in textural listening, although the occasional wonky half-rhythm peeks through. One of these days I might lose my appetite for Machinefabriek releases, but I can’t see it happening yet.

IN THE NURSERY – Blind Sound – all the trademark tropes in place (vaguely martial rhythms, strident horns etc..), and as with all their releases this couldn’t be the work of anyone else (except perhaps Laibach). Meh.

BARRY ADAMSON – Therapist – DVD film & CD – Adamson has been peerless as a composer of soundtracks to imaginary films. Now he’s produced, written, directed, edited and composed the soundtrack for his own – the resultant short film certainly giving the lie to the auteur theory to which Adamson somewhat foolishly subscribes (going by the interview extra on the dvd). Very few are able to effectively deliver in all of these roles let alone adopt them simultaneously, and the developmental value of perspective and critical input is obvious. I’d like to be encouraging, but the result is a mess of diabolical scripting, meaninglessly stylised shots and fashionably eyewatering over-editing that might most charitably be described as an impoverished iteration of the cinema du look. Most aspirant filmmakers end up burying their first fumbled efforts deep in a storage box (I know I did) if they hang on to them at all.  There’s a huge and potentially valuable learning curve for Adamson here, no doubt, but why inflict the (embarrassing) results on the paying public? On the other hand, the soundtrack……

MERCURY REV – Deserter’s Songs Instrumental – bought as a ‘tour-only’ exclusive at their recent rockin’ Queen’s Hall show, only to discover that it’s on general release soon anyway.  Ach weel – not listened to this yet, assuming it to be -erm- the album without vocals.

LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY – The Return Of Sound System Scratch   &  Rise Again – the former a companion volume to last year’s selection of disco plates, the latter his most recent US market aimed outing. Some longtime Perry afficionados don’t seem to have time for much of Perry’s recent output (Sherwood-produced efforts aside), but there’re always at least three or four pop reggae gems on each release, and this is no exception. Still can’t get enough of the old groaner in this house.

ROEDELIUS – Momenti Felici – missed this the first time round, another Bureau B rerelease. It’s a cracker too, one of his ‘grand piano’albums, this with ethereal vocal and woodwind accompaniment. Roedelius’ back catalogue = the gift that keeps on giving. Stunning.

13 & GOD – Own Your Ghost – been waiting a while for this second collaboration between members of Anticon and the Notwist, with only a recent download of a two-year-old Japanese live cd to stave off my pangs. Top stuff.

DEMDIKE STARE – Symbiosis +  Tryptych - bought after hearing a track on a compilation someone sent me that sounded not unakin to a looser, jazzy Rhythm & Sound track. Apparently they’re an influence, but these albums reveal an altogether darker and more varied palette.

MUSLIMGAUZE – Beirut Transister – caught up with a good few older releases over the past year or two and along the way acquired the habit of picking up new additions – but the barrel is well and truly being scraped here. Enthusiasm exhausted.

JOHANN JOHANNSSON – The Miner’s Hymns – when I heard that Johannsson was collaborating with a miners’ brass band to perform at Durham Cathedral last summer, I damn near drove down to witness the performances, such was the strength of the spell that Virðulegu Forsetar (also a work for brass and organ, recorded in a cathedral in Reykjavik) weaved over me.  I’m almost sorry, listening to this, that I made the penny-pinching decision to stay away. Where Virðulegu Forsetar’s four rumbling, slowly developing suites vibrated ornaments off the mantelpiece whilst providing an encompassing Sunday-morning wake-up listen chez ayeball, there’re different dynamics on display here, a powerfully cavernous sadness to this music that precludes any such casual listening.

April stuff

Antye Greie/AGF/Craig Armstrong – Orlando - really enjoyed seeing Orlando in performance at the Traverse Theatre in September last year, and Antye’s earlier performance in a small room at the university a few months before that, so was looking forward to this soundtrack making its way onto CD. Given the Orlando show’s stunning visuals it’s a shame there’s not an accompanying DVD, but this’ll do nicely.

BURNT FRIEDMAN & JAKI LIEBEZEIT – Secret Rhythms 4 – OK, I’m tiring of the relative lack of variety across this occasional series now, this is probably the last I’ll buy.

TIED & TICKLED TRIO/BILLY HART – La Place Demon – too JAZZ for me I’m afraid. An almost immediate sell-on.

BRIAN ENO 1971-1977 The Man Who Fell To Earth DVD – Almost three hours of hagiographic (deservedly imho) documentary following Eno’s extraordinarily fertile period from Roxy Music to Before And After Science. Predominantly talking-head material, a broad and knowledgeable range of interviewees have been assembled, including bassists Percy Jones and Brian Turrington (of The Winkies, oddly a tad reminiscent of John Lydon in vocal inflections and mannerisms).

There are only a couple of brief snippets of the man himself in interview (probably not commissioned for this project), and sadly nothing at all from Bowie, Fripp, Ferry, Cale, Nico, Manzanera, Bryars etc.. or even anyone from Island Records. Was the documentarian being kept at arms length, I wonder? A shame if so. Plus points for persuading Roedelius to shed some light on the Harmonia/Cluster collaborations, though there’s little those already familiar with the circumstances surrounding these works won’t already know.

So, no great visual shakes, but there is sympathetic use of (unrelated) archive material to accompany the brief representative snippets of tracks being discussed.

Overall it’s a decent job and certainly worth a look, even for already committed and knowledgeable fans. Be warned though – the box misleadingly claims that the disc ‘contains many extra features’ – but there’s only one sliver of video of marginal interest (imho) in which Lloyd Watson discusses the shortlived 801 project, and text biographies of the contributors. Boo!

SEUN KUTI & EGYPT 80 – From Africa With Fury: Rise – Afrobeat set with a more spacious sound than his previous album – but it’s mostly too rhythmically fast for me, preferring the groove prowl of his dad. Enjoyable live show at the Usher Hall early in the month though, and I was amused to discover that I’d been bopping away oblivious to being a few feet away from the album’s producer, Brian Eno.

Hmmm  – bit of an Eno-dominated month this month.  I also bought the second edition of the 77 Million Paintings software. I haven’t figured it out yet, but surely there’s a way to set this up as a screensaver rather than a piece of software that has to be fired up and quit. Anyone?

Related, I chanced on the Lumen London website here, with some beautiful – and uncomfortably expensive – limited screenprints of grabs from Eno’s 77 million paintings work. Still plenty left, but the prices will have to drop a couple of hundred quid before I’d be tempted.

March listening

A relatively quiet month, but some lovely things…

MORITZ VON OSWALD TRIO – Horizontal Structures – never been a jazz fan, but when musicians I’ve loved for prior work turn in this direction (Rhythm & Sound, Tied & Tickled Trio), I can’t help but be curious. The last MVOT disc concluded with one cracking dub-oriented track (Pattern 4), and with the thought that last tracks on albums sometimes point in the direction of  next albums, I had high hopes for this. Horizontal Structures meanders along perfectly pleasantly, but oh how I wish….

KREIDLER – Tank – a continuation of the Afro-oriented  rhythmic electronica of their last release, Mosaik 2014, there’s even a track here (Saal) that, in parts, wouldn’t sound out of place on Talking Heads ‘Remain In Light’ masterpiece. As the days draw out and I’m out and about more often, this is a constant on the nano – brisk walking pace music.

NICOLAS JAAR – Space Is Only Noise – labouring under ‘promising first album’ critiques, including one that perplexingly locates it as a ‘slow house’ album, this is beautifully produced minimalist songsmithery with adventurous electro-accoustic instrumentation. Ideal late-night listening.

ERGO PHIZMIZ – Things To Do And Make -  a relatively recent CD release, but confusingly identically titled to a 2009 Mp3 release that features some of the same tracks. I can’t find any reference to this online (even the discography on his blog doesn’t mention the original release), and haven’t had time to do a direct version comparison – and wouldn’t bother even if I had. There’s always room for a bit more Phizmiz in this house.

There’s also always space for more from Machinefabriek, so here’re two collaborative newies from Mr. Z, the latter housed in a lovely thick card/book sleeve.  PETER BRODERICK & MACHINEFABRIEK – Mort Aux Vaches and GARETH DAVIS & MACHINEFABRIEK – Grower. You pretty much know what you’re going to get with Machinefabriek releases, but there are always little surprises in store.  Thumbs up for both of these.

STRANGE ATTRACTOR – 3 x free mp3s – sampler for their new album, downloadable here and includes a beautifully melancholy track ‘Ray Potato’ with Blaine Reininger on vocals and violin.

DRUMS OFF CHAOS & JENS-UWE BEYER – Drums Off Chaos – Jaki Liebezeit’s live percussion group, oft heard of but not previously heard (by these ears).

AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE – Voodoo Of The Godsent – plenty of good things in store during this 30th anniversary year of On-U Sound, and here’s the first – a new AHC album. And it doesn’t disappoint, although I’m still of a mind that it’ll be hard to top Visions of a Psychedelic Africa.  Can’t get enough of that ping-pong percussion though. Next up, the Tackhead/Mark Stewart & The Maffia/Adrian Sherwood/On-U Sound System show at Cabaret Voltaire mid-April. It’s been a long time since I experienced On-U in full effect – I plan to dance myself to exhaustion.

February stuff

MACHINEFABRIEK – Apollo CDr & Vloed – the very limited Apollo CDr consists of ‘found’ space program voices, pulses and washes – even the occasional rhythm. Reminiscent in some ways of a live set he performed in Edinburgh a couple of years back (would love to hear that again, but it hasn’t been released). Vloed is an album-length expanded reissue of pieces from around 2007/8, and has a Frippertronicky feel to it, not dissimilar to stuff on Weleer or Dauw – long, looping pieces gradually building towards a climax – although falling short of Lawine noisebath proportions. Both are excellent releases that’ll stay close to the top of the Machinefabriek pile.

UNICAZURN – Temporal Bends – bought for the Stephen Thrower of Cyclobe/Coil connection. Haunting, slow low growers, and a production that makes the cat’s ears twitch wildly. Not sure if she likes it or not. Not sure that I do either.

ROEDELIUS – Gift Of The Moment - yet another Bureau B rerelease. Seems to be a game of two halves, with what was probably the first side of the lp consisting of less treated piano works.

THE RESIDENTS – Talking Light Presents: Chuck’s Ghost Music – paid download from RSD. In last month’s update I bemoaned the decreasing effectiveness of The Residents ‘storyteller’ albums over the years, mentioning that they occasionally obscured stunning instrumental work. Seems that The Residents themselves are aware that at least some of their fans might feel the same, and so here’s a download-only album containing the instrumental backdrops to the Chuck’s Ghost Stories DVD.  Whilst the DVD is probably going to end up fairly close to the back of my Rez collection, shorn of its fripperies the music has an swooping, throbbing, swirling, meandering quality awash with forgotten memories that sets it up there with their better recent work.

 

Also picked up a couple more ‘vintage’ Muslimgauze releases, but I really should stop delving now – additional acquisitions aren’t delivering any variant of the Muslimgauze oeuvre that I’ve not encountered before, and I’ve no desire to become a completist. 30 is enough.

January stuff

WIRE – Red Barked Tree & Strays EP – Wire seem to be revisiting and reinventing their past with current releases. If their energetic last album called to mind a hi-tech Pink Flag, this set favours the songcraft of Chairs Missing. Here’s hoping that their next release borrows its chops from the majestic 154.

COH – Iiron – wasn’t expecting this pre-order until mid-Feb, so it’s a month early. Added to the pulses, throbs and clicks that form Pavlov’s usual audio palette are deftly recorded electric guitar riffs for this, his second ‘heavy metal’ album – mercifully avoiding the appalling fretwankery of the genre to produce yet another masterwork. For my money, this, together with his work on Soisong with the late Peter Christopherson, make him one of the most interesting avant electricians today.

CYCLOBE – Wounded Galaxies Tap At The Window - 12″vinyl release, which seems a questionable buy as I still don’t have a working deck, or space to reincorporate one into my set-up. Might be several months before I’m able to listen to this unless I track down a Rapidshare file somewhere (and why didn’t I just do this in the first place?) or also buy into the CD release, whenever that happens. I wish more artists would offer digital files with vinyl releases, though I appreciate why they might be releasing on vinyl only in the first place.

LUKID – Chord – triple vinyl. Loved the clips I heard of this and thought I’d get it before it disappears. Note to self – must find someone willing to burn all these vinyl releases to disc for me.

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Tradi-Mods vs Rockers – a variety of Crammed Discs associates take on Konono No.1 material, and for the most part produce a draw. Some editing might have benefited this double set, although undoubtedly some noses might have been left out of joint.

CONSOLE – Herself – there’s a Notwist connection here, though you’d never know it. Seen a couple of undesererved critical savagings of this electronic ambient pop. It’s an undemanding listen right enough.

MUSLIMGAUZE – Camel Through A Needles Eye – although decently packaged, the bottom of the Muslimgauze barrel must surely be approaching fast.

THE RESIDENTS – Not Available – an extra six minutes over the original release – and seemingly audio-tweaked too. What’s not to love – this remains the very finest of Residents releases imho.

MICHAEL RANTA/MIKE LEWIS/CONNY PLANK – Mu – gorgeously packaged double disc and booklet, limited to 500. Allegedly seminal improv, played on and mixed by Conny Plank.

THE RESIDENTS – Randy’s Ghost Stories DVD – typically (and almost endearingly) lo-fi video effects coupled with dark ambient soundtracking – and on top of these, some ghostly stories. I’m disappointed by The Residents’ ‘storytelling’ releases (with the notable exception of God In Three Persons) – the texts of recent years simply don’t bear repeated examination, and in the case of  Voice Of Midnight, serve to bury otherwise excellent instrumental tracks. Mercifully the musical backing for this release is now available via RSD, and will likely make a much better bet.

December 2010 stuff

December is ‘traditionally’ my DVD watching month, so I’ve had less attention to pay to my ears – though I did pick up a few things…..

COH – 3 Girls Mixed Up - special very limited edition double CD, with the second disc apparently a live reworking of the album from its launch event in Tokyo, though you’d never know, the production is so good.

ROEDELIUS – Selbsportrait 1 ; Selbsportrait 2 ; Ex Animo - two Bureau B reissues, and one new release from the man. Gorgeous stuff, as expected.

SAROOS – See Me Not – associations with The Notwist and Lali Puna led me to this, and I’d enjoyed their first effort – but this seems less varied fare and lacking in ideas by comparison.

MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO – Answers Come In Dreams - the law of diminishing returns applies here, for me at any rate. Was a huge fan of MBM and continue to buy, but with every release there’s less of interest. It’s not until the last track of the set, a slinky and increasingly fractured dub, ‘Chimie Du Son’, that my ears pricked up. More of this next time out please.

STEREOLAB – Not Music – diminishing return expectations apply here too.

LEE ‘SCRATCH’ PERRY – Dub Treasures From The Black Ark -  a forgettable compilation.

SHRIEKBACK – Life In The Loading Bay – haven’t been near them for a long while but a chum told me that this was a return to form – i.e. ploughing similar territory to their first three albums. Not quite true, but although the lyrics occasionally grate and the production sounds fairly flat and uninspired to these ears, this is a decent listen.

MINOX w/STEVEN BROWN – Live in San Giovanni Valdorno K7 – love the Minox/Steven Brown album and had no idea that they’d ever played live together, so when this appeared on eBay I couldn’t resist. But I should have, the sound quality isn’t as advertised, and there’s nothing here that isn’t better iterated on the album. A disappointment.

VARIOUS ARTISTS – After Twilight – a selection of Les Disques Du Crepuscule artists revisit former glories and offer up pointers as to where, musically speaking, they are now. Mostly, a Gallic shrug seems an appropriate response.

ERGO PHIZMIZ – Handmade In The Monasteries Of Nepal/Eloise My Dolly – actually a 2008 release, but vinyl only and it’s taken me this long to track down a cd promo of it. Worth waiting for, its shorter ‘pop’ pieces coming as something of a relief after the marathon Faustus work (even if this was made before/during the latter).

November stuff

NURSE WITH WOUND/LARSEN – Erroneous, a Selection of Errors – not often I rave about things these days, but this is an incredible psychedelic odyssey, wonderful stuff.  No idea what Larsen sound like on their own, and don’t necessarily want/need to find out. My most listened to CD over the last couple of months by a long way.

MUSLIMGAUZE – Zul’m – from the early 90s, and by some measure the most tuneful/approachable of the Muslimgauze material I’ve been amassing of late. Thumbs up.

FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI – The Complete Works – monster 27-disc boxed set (46 albums on 26 cds, plus a DVD and four short booklets). I have most of these discs as single CDs already, but at the price, worth having for the seven or eight discs I lacked.  It’s not ‘complete’ either – Wikipedia points to several other (possibly unrecorded in a studio) tracks, and a mammoth and very limited Nigerian boxed set apparently contained several tracks missed here. But hey ho, this is as good as it gets.

FEMI KUTI – Africa For Africa – kinda pales into insignificance next to the motherlode above, but Femi’s faster, shorter, punchier approach to his father’s Afrobeat legacy is pretty appealing nonetheless. I don’t see any big moves between this and his previous releases – but that’s not really the point. Looking forward to seeing him live in Edinburgh at the beginning of December.

BRIAN ENO – Small Craft On A Milk Sea – ‘Humourless’, said one reviewer, which is seems to me to be kinda missing the point for this record.   Came with a limited edition unique screenprint from the 77 Million Paintings work.

OK GO – Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky – extra nice edition. Vaguely Prince-like stylings on a US indie/geek band. Decent pop for the car, if it ever gets dug out of the snow.

TABU LEY ROCHEREAU – The Voice Of Lightness Vol. 2 – Sweet voice and guitar stylings, rhumba at a pace that’s for slinky dancing rather than bopping.

October stuff

A quiet month, with work kicking in again and less time for listening……

DUBBLESTANDART – Marijuana Dreams - had a lot of time for their Return From Planet Dub double set from last year, so was curious about this new effort, promising as it does contributions from Lee Scratch Perry, David Lynch and William S. Burroughs – the latter presumably resurrected for the occasion. It’s a pleasant listen, no more.

THE RESIDENTS – Brava – although the quality of the disc label and packaging is much better than I’d anticipated from a produced-to-order cdr, the sound quality certainly isn’t. Poorly mixed and flat as a pancake. Listened to once, and filed right at the back of my Residents collection, probably never to see the light of day again.

DAVID THOMAS AND TWO PALE BOYS – I Remember Mars – a download from Hearpen.com. You can never have too much DT&2PB (imho).  This live set’s not too dissimilar to Meadville (recorded one or two years later).

EL GABINETE – Pasando Aceite – recent solo album from Nine Rain’s Daniel Aspuru. Sure the sax playing isn’t Steven Brown? I’m not.

THE ORB with DAVID GILMOUR – Metallic Spheres – double cd edition.  I think someone reviewed this on Amazon as being the perfect disc for a beach holiday. Might well be, but it falls flat around these parts.

LE WEEKEND – All Things Must Pass

So, after 13 years, it’s over.

Yup, after this evening (Sunday 17th October), Stirling’s annual new music shindig, LE WEEKEND, will cease to be – although I do hope that some kind of variant events emerge in its place.

Although in later years my attendance waned as my tastes and those of the organisers diverged, and I became less and less tolerant of the anti-Nirvana default setting (quiet/loud/quiet) of honkclacksquartwiddlefring improv that began to dominate, I never lost my enthusiasm for the event and looked forward to checking the programme each year.

After all, it’s where I took my now wife of ten years to see Hoahio on the very day that I first met her in Edinburgh. A magic day indeed.

Quite a few acts have entertained over the years, but here are those that will remain in memory as moments of absolute transportation, shows from which I emerged feeling as though I were grinning from ear to ear with sheer joy.

Otomo Yoshihide (1998)

Haco (1999)

Hoahio (2000)

David Thomas & The Pale Orchestra (2001)

Acid Mothers Temple (2001)

Haco & Hiromichi Sakamoto (2004)

and now…

Tarwater (2010)

On the ‘minus’ side, I also recall being desperately disappointed by a no-show from Deathprod in 2005.

Anyway, Saturday night I met my chum Jo for a decent home-cooking French dinner in a new restaurant in the centre of Stirling before climbing the hill to the Tolbooth. First thing we caught was a dread improv session – technically impressive perhaps, but beyond that…. let’s just say that my tolerance levels remain low.

A break in the bar and then into another session, where I was absolutely scunnered by an improv twelve-string plucker and repaired outside the venue for a whiff of cold autumn air (and a cigarette or two).

Who should be standing out there engaged in similar activity but Ronald Lippok and Bernd Jestram of Tarwater – one of the delights of Le Weekend has always been that its size means there’s always the possibility of bumping into the artists in the bar/on the roof terrace etc… Difficult for me not to appear to be a bit of a fanboy (hey-ho), but had a lovely conversation with them, discovering along the way a mutual love for Tuxedomoon. Very interesting to discover that a German label (I think) is shortly to release a compilation loosely focussing on the works of Baudelaire, and featuring contributions from both bands (TM and TW). Eyes and ears peeled for that early next year.

Tarwater’s performance was absolutely sublime, all the better for being in a comfy seated venue (showing my age here). Not sure what any improv heads still in attendance might have made of it, but don’t really give a damn either. Great to be able to leave the event on a high point!

I would have been happy to commemorate the event passing with the purchase of one of the natty ‘All Things Must Pass’ t-shirts on offer, but until organisers of such events get it onto their heads that some folk like to wear their t-shirts baggy (ie XXL, XXXL etc…), nope.

And so, a fond farewell to Le Weekend…. perhaps fittingly, the last act of the last festival is Faust, a collective who’ve spanned both popular and avant works in their time. Shame I couldn’t manage to be there two nights in a row.