Chris Abrahams, Play Scar (Room40)

The last album by The Necks, the excellent Silverwater, wasn’t at all what the casual observer would have expected from The Necks. In terms of its structure, and more so in terms of the choice of instrumentation, it was an unusual record, and not what one would have expected from the famously slow-building piano/bass/drums trio of Chris Abrahams, Lloyd Swanton and Tony Buck. There was an organ. A guitar. Some subtle electronics. In the light of this, I wasn’t expecting a solo album by their pianist Chris Abrahams, his second for the Room40 label, to be an album of solo piano. But I certainly wasn’t expecting this.

The Necks at the Barbican Theatre, 26/06/10

There is an expectant hush as I approach my keyboard. I remove my ring, place it to one side. I sit, head bowed, waiting. Waiting. Waiting for inspiration. Waiting for an idea, a theme, some sort of motif around which the review can be built. Waiting. Waiting. Finally, it comes. Slowly I tap out the opening paragraph, carefully sculpting each word, returning again and again to the word “waiting”. Waiting. Waiting. The same word, different emphasis this time. Feels good. Something to work with. Let’s see where that takes us.

Brittle Stars mix

Regular visitors to this site will no doubt approve of this downloadable mix put together by my dear friend @MandrewB, a brilliant collection of zither, dubstep, and clangy minimalism.

Dear Old Stockholm

As is so often the case, updates have been rather infrequent round this way of late. I’m sorry. No I’m not, I don’t owe you anything. Anyway, one of the reasons for this relative inactivity was that I was in Stockholm for 4 days. Amongst trips to the zoo, and to the Big Fucking Boat Museum (this translation may be slightly inaccurate, my Swedish isn’t great to be honest) I managed to squeeze in a visit to the amazing Andra Jazz, Mats Gustafsson’s favourite record shop, where I salivated over lots of super rare original vinyl, and just about managed not to bankrupt myself. I also took in a gig in a tiny jazz venue/restaurant (great steak frites) called the Glenn Miller Cafe, where I saw a young seven piece band called Paavo.

Room40 label – radio feature

From the Glass Shrimp show broadcast on Resonance FM on 5th May this year, a thirty minute special feature on the Room40 record label, featuring loads of new and (then) exclusive material. I’ve uploaded the whole thing, fuck ups and all (oh yes, watch out for me saying I’m going to play Marina Rosenfeld then accidentally playing the Chris Abrahams track first). Enjoy.

The Skaters and Tqqundo Frrrrr at Cafe Oto, 17/06/10

A couple of days before this gig took place, the lineup changed from one showcasing the solo projects of James Ferraro and Spencer Clark to one which paired them both in their hypnagogically venerated partnership The Skaters. Was this a good thing? Although London performances by The Skaters are pretty rare (their last scheduled appearance, at The Wire’s Into The Vortex events last year, was cancelled at the last minute) the quality of some of their recent solo work – particularly that of Ferraro – has arguably been higher than their joint efforts. For this last date of their UK tour they were joined by the worryingly-named Tqqundo Frrrrr.

Pan Sonic, Gravitoni (Blast First Petite)

And then, after some of the most difficult sounds to stomach, there came the most unbearable of silences. The booklet which accompanies the Gravitoni CD contains photographs of places Pan Sonic have played. You know, the usual sort of venues. Like Tijuana. And Easter Island. It is a reminder that, despite being a pair of grumpy looking blokes standing behind some electronic equipment (often in the dark) Pan Sonic were a band for whom live performance was an extremely important part of their arsenal. And that Pan Sonic were, well, a bit different from other bands. The recent announcement of their split means that sadly there will be no more chances to catch Mika Vainio and Ilpa Väisänen and their unique and uncompromising approach to shows – perhaps we should be grateful that they never inflicted on us the 10 hours of 125 decibel 13 Hz hum they once famously turned upon themselves. However if, as it seems, Gravitoni is to be the last sonic emission from Pan Sonic, it is at least a very memorable one.

Stian Westerhus, Pitch Black Star Spangled; Puma, Half Nelson Courtship (both Rune Grammofon)

Stian Westerhus has been a bit busy recently. The Norwegian guitarist plays in Monolithic (with Motorpsycho’s Kenneth Kapstad), in the Nils Petter Molvaer Group, in a duo with Terje Isungset, in Bladed (with the improvising vocalist Anita Kaasbøll), with songwriter Eldbjørg Raknes, in Crimetime Orchestra (which features the likes of Hild Sofie Tafjord, Bugge Wesseltoft and Paal Nilssen-Love), and with Lasse Marhaug. In fact he is probably jamming with you RIGHT NOW, him on guitar, and you on improvised “album review reading”. He features on two new releases on the Norwegian Rune Grammofon label – a solo record, and one as part of the group called Puma.

Singing Knives label – radio feature

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been doing a record label feature on the Glass Shrimp radio show on Resonance FM (Wednesday nights, 9.30-11pm, only two more shows to go until the end of the series). On 28th April, I did a 30 minute feature on the Singing Knives label. Here it is, silly Scottish accent and everything:

Oneohtrix Point Never, Returnal (Editions Mego)

Last year’s retro-retrospective Rifts collection on Carlos Giffoni’s No Fun label was a worthy attempt to make sense of the discography of synth explorer Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never), but the source material was ultimately a bit disjointed for it to work as an album in its own right. The tracks on it were drawn from such a variety of releases, on a variety of formats, that that would be too much to hope for. However, the strength of the individual pieces did raise awareness of his considerable talent amongst those denied the opportunity to purchase one of those limited run LP releases, and has created a serious appetite for the follow-up. Oh, and it saved me ripping the vinyl. A series of gigs at the start of the year, including the now-legendary “MORE SEAGULLS” event at the Grosvenor in South London, built anticipation further. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long. Like his friends Emeralds, Lopatin has chosen the Austrian home of experimental electronica, Editions Mego, through which to make his latest eagerly awaited statement.