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Last week’s gLASSsHRIMP show is now online. Finally. It features an hour long special focusing on the output of New York’s Tompkins Square, covering classic American primitive, more modern and experimental folk, and the occasional drowning ballad. In fact there was no space for any James Blackshaw, pictured above. I’m not sure why I’m even using that photo. Because it is nice photo, probably. As well as being able to stream the entire show from the gLASSsHRIMP site, you can download the Tompkins Square feature here. The tracklisting of this section is below. I tell you what, when you’ve finished with all this, go and listen to some James Blackshaw here. Read the rest of this entry »
In lieu of an increasingly overdue London appearance by Supersilent, a performance featuring one of their (diminishing) number is clearly something to be snatched at. I got the impression that I was one of the few in this large crowd who had primarily come to see Supersilent keyboard player Ståle Storløkken’s 1970s jazz explosion, Elephant9. Most were here, no doubt, to see another Rune Grammofon band, and possibly the only one even more popular than Supersilent themselves: Deathprod’s old band, Motorpsycho. It felt like the entire Norwegian population of London was crammed into the subterranean Borderline. Read the rest of this entry »
Woah, a new solo album from the mighty Mats Gustafsson; surely this will be a loud exhibition of powerful saxophone, the sound of one man squawking his lungs up through his instrument, the sort of record to set alongside solo albums by the likes of his sometime collaborator Peter Brotzmann. Well, no. Not at all. This isn’t a solo record by the Mats Gustafsson who plays with Brotzmann or indeed in his usual band The Thing. So is it a solo record by the Mats Gustafsson who plays live electronics with Sonic Youth? Actually, it isn’t quite that either. Perhaps it is best to think of this, as in fact the label (the consistently excellent Dancing Wayang) does, as a “duo” album: an album by two duelling Gustafssons with the sound made by the saxophonist Mats being slashed at by the electronics of the other Mats until it is disfigured way beyond the point where it could be recognised by Adolphe Sax himself. Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t know who St Leonard was, but I can only imagine he was the patron saint of the bloody freezing cold. I’ve never seen a web page advertising a concert before which advises those attending to “bring blankets”. Heating was “limited” in St Leonard’s Church, it said, which was a huge understatement. London did its best to prove them right by dropping the temperature down to a few degrees celcius, and swirling a freezing mist through the Shoreditch streets, just in time for this evening of icy drone from Phil Niblock and Thomas Ankersmit. Hats, scarves and gloves, if not actually blankets, were donned in preparation. Read the rest of this entry »
On Thursday 25th November, myself, MandrewB, Mike Modular and the Radio Olio DJ will be filling Cafe Oto with a selection of dub, jazz, radiophonics, kosmische, drone, and general weirdness (yes, they are letting us do it again. Unbelievable, I know). We’re also delighted to have Morgen und Nite doing a guest DJ set of French synth prog, and live sets from Aqua Dentata and Konntinent. It will be quite a night. Do come. More info over at the Cafe Oto website.
Antony from Konntinent has been doing some synth improvisation to warm up for the event. Glad to see someone is taking this seriously…
The latest gLASSsHRIMP show is now available online, including my 35 minute feature on the wonderful Arbor record label from New York. You’ll find some gorgeous tracks from Pale Blue Sky, Acre, Outer Space (John Elliott from Emeralds), some classic Oneohtrix Point Never, as well as twelve minutes of sumptuous tamboura drone from Sun Circle. Enjoy. *UPDATE* You can now also download the Arbor feature here. Tracklisting below. Read the rest of this entry »
On paper there was just so much that could go wrong with this gig. The promoters in question, with their attendant air of mild chaos and risk of overrun. The number of bands on the bill, and their promised 50 minute sets, added to the possibility of us all missing our last trains home. It was at the still new CAMP Basement venue, one which possibly has yet to bed in both organisationally and acoustically. The wildly overoptimistic changeover times between bands which could either exacerbate the timing and/or sound problems. And, even worse, the venue was in Old Street. Hipster central. In “Movember” too. Just imagine the moustaches therein. Argh. Read the rest of this entry »
Has Brian Pyle, of Starving Weirdos fame, ever been busier? It feels like only a few months ago that I was writing about Ensemble Economique’s rather marvellous Standing Still, Facing Forward record, released on the Amish label, praising the way it blended “the kosmische with minimalist classical to create something powerful and cinematic”. With this pair of (even) new(er) albums Pyle has pushed even further out into the fields of drone and imaginary soundtracks. So intense, and so good, is this burst of activity that I’m beginning to wonder why the hell I’m still calling him “Brian Pyle, of Starving Weirdos fame”. Read the rest of this entry »
This performance at Cafe Oto had everything. And I mean everything. Solo sets. Duo sets. Trio sets. Songs. Instrumentals. Cover versions. Fanfares. Improvisation. Folk. Blues. Prog. Psych. Jazz. Drone. Throat singing. Guitar solos. Singing bowl solos. Bottle solos. Trouser zip solos. Miles Davis impersonations. Grown men wearing furniture on their heads. I swear I’m not making any of this up. This actually happened, at Cafe Oto. Most of all, however, this night had fun. Lots and lots of fun. Read the rest of this entry »
Another gLASSsHRIMP show is up for you to listen to, in case you missed it on Tuesday. I managed to miss taking part, in that I somehow stupidly managed to lock myself out of the house, and then trap myself in it (don’t ask) when I should have been in the Resonance studio. I thereby missed my chance to meet Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier playing tracks from her new solo album The Trip live in session. Having been a big fan of Stereolab when I was a bit younger, the 18 year-old-me has been giving myself a good kicking ever since. Still, if you listen closely you’ll hear her dedicate a song to me, which almost – almost – makes up for it.
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