ETHNIC HERITAGE ENSEMBLE Ka-Real (Silkheart) cd 15.98
The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble's jazz builds complexity from simplicity, diversifies through repetition, transcends time by emphasizing it. Their laser-like ability to set the rhythm button on infinite repeat creates a hypnosis similar to the mind-buzz of classical minimalists like Steve Reich and Terry Riley.

ETTRIC Feaders Of Ravens (Not Not Fun) lp 14.98

ETTRICK Infinite Horned Abomination (Heule) cd-r 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
On the same label as the more spaced out free-form black jazz ambience of Hodag (reviewed elsewhere on this list), Ettrick on the surface seems like they must be a way more metal proposition, the record's called Infinite Horned Abomination for chrissakes! And their logo is of the spiky illegible classic metal style, but in fact, this is way more of a sputtery skronky free jazz, with wild horns and chaotic bursts of sputtering drum splatter. Each half of this duo handles both sax and drums, each player safely ensconced in their own channel, sometimes it's two horns, sometimes it's horn and drums, sometimes all drums, a dizzying barrage coming scattershot from both the left and right channels, as if there were some sort of free jazz monkeys screaming and beating their chests wildly in each channel, pelting the listener with sonic stones and hurling great handfuls of free jazz dung! Intense and aggressive and furiously freaked out. You might think you're tough, jazz sissy, and we're happy to let you have a go, but this stuff is dangerous, and sharp, and sort of scary, so stand back and let the more highly decorated free jazz warriors step forward, unless you're feeling particularly brave today...
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!! Each disc packaged in a cool hand screened cardboard sleeve.
MPEG Stream: "Before The Semantic"
MPEG Stream: "Village Of Necromposition"

EVOLUTIONARY JASS BAND Change Of Scene (Community Library) cd 16.98
The strangely monickered Evolutionary Jass Band features two ex members of free noise abstract improvisors Jackie-O-Motherfucker, and while that pedigree definitely informs the sound of the EJB, their sound is much more aligned with traditional jazz, a mix of dark New Orleans funeral jazz and skittery post bop, but all sort of laid back and dreamy, dark and dolorous. Horns don't skronk so much as swoon and shimmer. Dark tones shift and slide, drifting thick and rich over dense tribal drumming, and simple slippery bass. There's even some sitar to add some droney buzz. The EJS are a pretty big ensemble, but it doesn't sound cluttery or crowded, each player contributes and deftly interacts with the rest of the group, but also knows when to let someone else step forward.
This will definitely hit the spot for modern jazz-heads, and might even appeal to the more traditionally inclined, but folks who dig the abstract clatter and free form drift of bands like JOMF, No Neck Blues Band, Sunburned Hand Of The Man and the like, might dig this too. It could be their gateway to a lifelong love of jazz, which is at least partially responsible for informing the new breed of improvised abstraction that is all the rage these days.
Great stuff.
MPEG Stream: "Aunt Dot"
MPEG Stream: "Change Of Scene"

EX, TERRIE, & AB BAARS Hef (Terp) cd 17.98
Guitarist Terrie Ex (of Dutch political avant rock band The Ex) follows up the collaboration with Han Bennink on "Laughing Owl", with another duo recording, this time making noise with saxophonist Ab Baars. Improv brutality, totally harsh and grating. Are you tough enough?

EXIAS-J Electric Conception "Balance of Chaos" (PSF) cd 22.00
PSF provides a second installment of freeform electric mayhem from Tokyo's six-member avant-jazz ensemble Exias-J, this time recorded live during a visit to New York in 2003. Still recommended for those into the extremes of noisy improvised music like Borebetomagus and the Blue Humans. But, as before, don't worry if you're not into saxophones -- there's none of 'em here, just guitars, synths, piano, electronics, contrabass, computers, and drums. Dynamic (quiet...and loud!) and droning and abstract and limitless. Exias-J could perhaps be considered the collective spiritual heirs to the the late great Japanese free improvising master Masayuki Takayanagi...
MPEG Stream: "Broadening Distribution: Invention"
MPEG Stream: "Palestine"

EXIAS-J Live Document 2003-2005 (PSF) dvd 27.00
It's usually the case that improvised music is best experienced live. It's usually made live after all. Seeing as well as hearing the interactions of the improvising musicians often adds a lot to the experience. A live cd or lp of an improv session can be great, but it's not the same as being there in the moment as the music was happening. Next best thing to being there? A live audio-visual document. Anyone into the extreme sounds of Japanese electronics and jazz improv outfit Exias-J is thus in for a treat with this release, a DVD on the PSF label presenting live footage from three shows, two in Tokyo and one at the Tonic (R.I.P.) in NYC.
Exias-J head honcho, guitarist Hideaki Kondo, explains that in addition to the usual free improv process, these performances find his group experimenting with more conceptual, structured forms and restrictions, minimalism, sonatas, compositional stuff like that. Whatever their methods, though, they kick up a heck of a ruckus, featuring guitars, computers, analog synth, piano, live electronics, cello, contrabass, drums and percussion.
142 minutes, region free, NTSC.

EYE / ZORN DUO John Zorn 50th Birthday Celebration, Vol. 10 (Tzadik) cd 15.98

FLACK, ROBERTA First Take (Atlantic) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This is Roberta Flack's debut from 1969 and it's not only one of the best soul debuts of all time but one of our all-time favorite records. Many of us didn't even know there had been a cd version of this, but were excited to discover there was considering we've worn out our cherished lp versions, which we've cherished and always kept close to our turntable, even amongst the piles of our ever growing record collections.
But since there is indeed a cd version (not new or nothin') we had to take a moment to rave about it. First Take is an album brewing with such strong emotional weight, when Roberta sings it she means it, and while the word 'soul' has been reduced to a meaningless tag-name of a genre this reminds us what true soul is really all about. Elegant and moody string and horn arrangements by William Fischer, impeccable playing from a band that included the amazing Ron Carter on bass, and the stunning and often covered album opener "Compared To What" penned for Roberta by the enigmatic Gene (Eugene) McDaniels. First Take shares a special place next to records like Sam Cooke's Night Beat, Nina Simone's High Priestess Of Soul and Roy Orbison's In Dreams, another record that you can turn to time after time when you really need to check in with sounds that are filled with honesty and core conviction. There is no doubt that it's this record that has influenced everyone from Cat Power to Erykah Badu. First Take is as sexy as it is spiritual. Raw and unpolished yet so sensual and the closest thing you can get to trying to find any real peace of mind in this world. Absolutely recommended, a record that will always be close to our hearts!
MPEG Stream: "Compared To What"
MPEG Stream: "Tryin' Time"
MPEG Stream: "Angelitos Negros"

FLAHERTY, PAUL & CHRIS CORSANO The Beloved Music (Family Vineyard) cd 14.98
Not sure what it is, but a lot of the new wave of post-hardcore improvised jazz leaves us really cold. Naysayers and squares have always described free jazz as just a bunch of noise, a bunch of honking skronking non-music. And as much as we fancy ourselves lovers of free jazz AND diggers of all manner of noise, we have occasionally lamentedly found ourselves playing that role, you know, the grumpy and bitter old music man, reflecting on the glory of the good ol' days, admonishing the younguns "That's nothing but noise, give that dangnabbit rackit a rest!" Or something appropriately crotchety like that.
But every once in a while, for whatever reason, one of those records sneaks through and kicks our ass. This is one of those records.
It helps that Corsano and Flaherty have been honing their improvisational mind melds for years now. Their interplay is fluid and fierce, a free jazz freakout as sublime as it is pummeling. Corsano (who also does time in free folk weirdos Sunburned Hand Of The Man) and Flaherty (a legend amongst free jazz fiends) spar and weave, Flaherty's sax spewing thick gushes of corrosive sound, a downright Borbetomagusian cascade of shreiks and groans, sputters and wheezes, but it's Corsano who holds it all together, an incredible gush of dense and delirious drumming, from impossibly subtle shuffle and skitter to an avalanche of percussion pummel unrivalled. Holy shit! So massive and emotionally charged, freaked out and wild and free. But Corsano and Flaherty manage to imbue each white hot burst with strangely soothing atonal melodies and rhythms that manage to be downright catchy, so much so that on repeated listens we find ourselves almost humming along to Corsano's solo stretches. Amazing stuff!
MPEG Stream: "The Great Pine Tar Scandal"
MPEG Stream: "A Lean And Tortured Heart"

FLAHERTY, PAUL / CHRIS CORSANO / C. SPENCER YEH A Rock In The Snow (Important) cd 14.98

MPEG Stream: "We Have To Check Your Equipment For Bombs"
MPEG Stream: "Do You Have Any Prurient Releases?"

FLEURETY Department of Apocalyptic Affairs (Supernal Music) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've heard a lot of strange black metal related discs, but this is among the strangest...On this album, metal is only one (important but small) component of the whole, which also involves free jazz and trip hop...Released on the same label that brought us the infamous Benighted Leams, and you can see how this truly fucked-up "so bad it's weird and so weird it's bad and so weird and bad that it's kind of amazing" band would appeal to the same minds that thought the Leams were genius. Formerly a medieval 'forest-is-my-throne' epic black metal band a la Ulver (and we think still sharing some members with that Norwegian Ulver/Ved Buens Ende/Dodheimsgard axis), now these guys are wearing suits, carrying automatic weapons, and programming beats. But they've gone beyond the Mr. Bungle tendencies of say, an Arcturus (who seem "ordinary" in comparison!), and created something that even we at AQ can't quite understand, or judge. Every time we put this on, our reactions vary from being blown away at how bizarre and great it is to being appalled at the (same!) dismally bad and wrong moments. Great packaging, with the lyrics in the form of a miniature intelligence "dossier". Essential for those compelled to always increase the utter weirdness quotient of their cd collections, and very definitely for fans of Arcturus, Solefald, and recent Dodheimsgard.
RealAudio clip: "Fingerprint"

FLOWER-CORSANO DUO The Four Aims (VHF) cd 13.98
We were all ready to hate this, not cuz we don't dig the players, we love Michael Flower (Vibracathedral, Sunroof!) and Chris Corsano is a ruling drummer, it's just that for some reason we thought this was gonna be some of that new fangled indie free jazz, which always leaves us a bit cold. Not sure why, maybe it was the 'duo' thing. But then it's on VHF, home to much of our favorite dronemusic and outrock, and the instrumentation definitely looked like anything but free jazz: Japan banjo, tanpura, organ, melodica, cello and drums. So we figured, okay, what the heck, let's give it a try, and BAM, this totally knocked out socks off and our teeth in, at once exactly what we had hoped for, but something we never would have imagined, some impossible hybrid of frenetic chaotic drumming, and strange super distorted looped melodic mantras, like some impossible sonic hybrid of Mick Barr and Dan Higgs, or Orthrelm covering Zomes, tripped out and psychedelic, wild as fuck, but weirdly hypnotic and totally mesmerizing.
The opener is a mad blowout of wild melodies super distorted and all tangled up, like some strange sped up bagpipe, wound around Corsano's non stop drum workout, the banjo here ends up sounding like the guitars on Amps For Christ records, unfurling intense abstract runs of notes and fragmented melodies, sometimes locking into little trills, other times getting all wavery and woozy, the drums somehow remaining totally free but staying locked in with Flower's wild psych freakouts. It's so inherently chaotic and raw and primal and by all rights should be difficult to listen to, but after a few minutes, we find ourselves totally lost, and we never want it to end.
The follow up is more of a percussive free jam, reminding us of groups like Avarus and Anaksimandros and No Neck and Sunburned Hand, very free, but with the metallic shimmer spreading out over the warm low end whirs and the abstract gamelan like melodies. "The Drifter's Miracles" is the most obviously VHF of the batch, a long languorous slow burning ur-drone, all bowed stings and wheezing organ, very raga like, overtones shifting and beating against one another, bits or percussion clink and clank beneath the gloriously heaving sea of rich lustrous tones, this definitely could be a whole record, as it is, it's easily the most 'listenable' of the bunch.
"The Beginning Of The End" sounds like a field recording of some ritualistic musical performance, the sound muted and lo-fi, a sort of crazed dance, the drums a wild tribal patter, sometimes splatter, Flower again offering up dense tangles and billowing squiggles, there is definitely a free jazz element, but the duo manage to take the loose free drumming, and the manic looped sounding melodies and create a another, sort-of abstract, ultra free ur-drone, it's quite magical actually, the parts are so frenetic and tense and relentless, that it seems impossible that combining them would create something soothing and spiritual, but that's precisely what it does.
The closer, the nearly 18 minute "The Main Ingredient" is like a more jubilant, ebullient version of the record opener, the drums muted and minimal, still skittery and feral, but Flower's banjo weaving magical crystalline shapes in the air, melodies, notes, tones, harmonies, overtones, all shimmering and hovering and looping and stuttering and glistening, total Amps For Christ / Higgs / Orthrelm sun baked lysergic spiritual raga drone free jazz out-rock blowout. So completely heavy, and epic, and dreamlike, and tripped out, and intense and so so beautiful.
MPEG Stream: "I, Brute Force?"
MPEG Stream: "The Drifter's Miracles"
MPEG Stream: "The Main Ingredient"

FLYING LUTTENBACHERS Trauma (ugExplode) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Trauma finds long time no wave free jazz attackers the Flying Luttenbachers doing their usual brutal best to channel the spirits of Brotzmann and Ayler and Takayanagi and the like. It's primal stuff originally recorded in 2001, newly reissued on cd for those that missed it the first time, and want a taste of that intensely improv Luttenbachers phase (before their more recent forays into tech guitar mutant metal prog scifi spasms). On this disc, squealing saxophone and rumbling bass vie with the frenzied percussive pummel of bandleader Weasel Walter, the whole screaming machinegunning shebang never really letting up (the eleven tracks on this nearly 70 minute disc are aptly titled "Trauma 1" through "Trauma 11").
Go to YouTube to watch this (http://youtube.com/watch?v=PU4pVVM5wb4) brilliant video for a track from Trauma, depicting panic in the streets and the nightmarish effects of multiple nuclear blasts, for which the Luttenbacher's freeform blasting is the perfect soundtrack. The images, so scary in the '80s (they're all edited together from the TV movie The Day After, remember that?) hilariously, horrifically fit the music and vice versa. No more need be said by us, that should do the trick.
MPEG Stream: "Trauma 1"
MPEG Stream: "Trauma 2"

FLYING LUTTENBACHERS, THE ...The Truth Is A Fucking Lie... (Skin Graft) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The notorious Weasel Walter and co. return with their seventh album of Chicago death-jazz spazz. This album features two almost diameterically opposed covers: "De Futura" by French prog giants Magma and "Black Perversion" by sub-cult black metal band Havohej, both fitting in nicely along with the Flying Luttenbachers' usual skree. Instrumentation on this disc includes mellotron, cello (played by Fred Lonberg-Holm) and 'abyssic guitar', in addition to the more ordindary drums, bass, saxophone, etc.

FONATINE, BRIGITTE L'Indendie (Actuel) lp 14.98

FONTAINE, BRIGITTE WITH ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO Comme à la Radio (Saravah) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
I somehow missed out on the first round of this reissue a little bit ago, but luckily for all of us, it's popped up again! This is an amazing collaboration between two totally incredible musical explorers, french chanteuse Brigitte Fontaine (with percussionist partner Areski) and avant-jazz greats Art Ensemble of Chicago, recorded during the Art Ensemble's stay in Paris in 1969. Though coming from very different backgrounds, each artist's idiosyncratic approach, commitment to experimentation, disregard for genre boundaries, and keen sense for improvisation and working collaboratively yields an album that pushes each performer to new heights. The blend of Fontaine's vocals, Areski's understated percussion, and the Art Ensemble's horns is really seamless, evoking the mysterious, intriguing sounds of lounge jazz in a dada cafe, or, well, an intellectual french chanteuse melding avant-folk with free jazz, which is exactly what it is. Brigitte Fontaine is becoming more and more cemented as one of my absolute favorite artists ever whith each reissue I get my hands on. So great, so recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Comme Á La Radio"

FOOD Last Supper (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
4th album from Norweigan avant-fusioneers, 2nd for Rune G.

FOOD Molecular Gastronomy (Rune Grammofon) cd 17.98
We liked the other Food discs, but this one's just a bit to wanky fusiony whatever for us, sorry.

FOOD Veggie (Rune Grammofon) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Norway's Rune Grammofon label has become one of those imprints whose releases we ALWAYS have to pay attention to -- and not just 'cause of the lovely packaging courtesy artist/designer Kim Hiorthoy in which they are invariably resplendent, but because they are often quite excellent. As is this one, Food's "Veggie" (housed in, of course, a handsome Hiorthoy digipack). Apparently it's the third album from this experimental jazz group. The other two, unheard by us, were live recordings, but with "Veggie" Food move into the studio, and not just any: the "Audio Virus Lab" of Norwegian sound artist Deathprod. In the context of Helge "Deathprod" Sten's electronics-infused production, this becomes something rather other than normal "jazz". It's experimental indeed. Led by British saxophonist Iain Ballamy, the Food quartet also features Supersilent's Arve Henriksen on trumpet, Mats Eilertsen on acoustic and electric basses, and Thomas Stronen on drums (and most of 'em are also credited with "sampler", so it's not just Deathprod doing the electronicky stuff).
If you count Mr. Deathprod, who is also a Supersilent member (and who actually gets a whole track here, "Nofood", all to himself), this band is 2/5ths Supersilent, and boy, do we love Supersilent -- they're our favorite Norwegian "death-jazz" improv n' electronics group. So already we were anticipating good things from "Veggie", and you don't have to listen for very long to encounter echoes of Arve Henriksen's breathy solo album "Sakuteiki", the glacial drones of Supersilent's "5", and the electronic chaos of Supersilent's "1-3" as well. Bubbling underneath with electro-acoustic beats and drones, this is spacey, lyrical, melodic, 21st century jazz, establishing a range of moods from a mellow Miles Davis trumpet at sunset looking over a North Sea fjord kind of thing to more abrasive, paranoid glitching and shrieking experience... Really nice. Good, and good for you.
RealAudio clip: "Tofu"
RealAudio clip: "Veg"
RealAudio clip: "Chickpea"

FORBIDDEN PLANET s/t (self-released) cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Bay Area improv dude and Rastascan label owner Gino Robair (drums, "materials") teams up with AQ-fave Bjoern Eichstaedt (keys, voice) and fellow Germans Pit Schmidt (sax, tapes) and Thomas Maos (guitar, "mts modulation" whatever that is) for this live session, recorded April 15th 2000 at Club Voltaire, Tuebingen Germany. If you read our lists closely, you'll know Eichstaedt as a very creative and eclectic musician, responsible for solo electronic recordings, the Bunglized jazz/rock of Bretzel Killing Machine, AND the utter black metal weirdness that is Caacrinolas! Eichstaedt's new Forbidden Planet project incorporates his pal Robair's improv jazz sensibilities into a crazy half-hour-plus stew of everything from mellow noir-jazz to full-on Hendrix-style distorted guitar skree to sizzling electronic scrape-scapes to Patton-esque abstract vocal blurt. Quite a trip. Must have been a great show, although of course this was edited down from the raw recordings. It's a cd-r, numbered and limited to 100, packaged in an ever-popular *sandpaper* cover!
RealAudio clip: "Track 2"

FREE MUSIC QUINTET One And Two (ESP-Disk/Calibre) cd 14.98
Reissue of this 1968 blast of noisy free jazz from this Dutch ensemble. The Free Music Quintet was: Pierre Courbois, Peter Van de Locht, Boy Raaymakers, Ferdy Rikkers and Erwin Somer.

FREEDOM RHYTHM & SOUND Revolutionary Jazz Original Cover Art 1965-83 (Soul Jazz) book 39.95
You think Soul Jazz are good and funk, jazz and soul reissues, you should see how good they are at making books! Holy crap this thing is amazing, just based on the incredible and expansive booklets that come with all the Soul Jazz releases, it should come as no surprise that these guys can put together a pretty amazing book. Then again, how can you go wrong working with some of the coolest, most striking, and arguably most important jazz album covers EVER (well, okay 1965-1983).
We can't think of a single music obsessive we know that wouldn't flip for this book. It's huge, perfect for displaying record covers almost full size, and the covers, WOW, so creative, the design so fantastic, some just great looking, many super political, all of them AWESOME. Covers of albums by folks like Sun Ra, John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Rashied Ali, Steve Reid and more more more!!
The only thing more fun than listening to these classic free jazz records, is looking at the covers, and since most of these you'll probably only ever get to see on cd, it's nice to have the covers big and bold to enjoy.
There's also a companion double cd, with some of the best revolutionary jazz jams ever, ones with their covers represented inside, we'll list it on the next list, but if you want one, just ask, or it should be in the In Stock, Not Yet Reviewed section at the end of this week's list.

FRIEDLANDER'S, ERIK (CHIMERA) The Watchman (Tzadik) cd 15.98
New installment in Tazdik's "Radical Jewish Culture" series. Cellist Erik Friedlander, along with two clarinetists and a bassist, creates some very beautiful klezmer-influenced chamber jazz. Friedlander plays on the Masada Chamber Ensemble double-cd and if you liked that, you'll want this, it's similarly gorgeous and moving.

FRIEDLANDER, ERIK Grains of Paradise (Tzadik) cd 15.98

FRISELL, BILL Ghost Town (Nonesuch) cd 16.98
A truly solo album from stellar guitarist Frisell (he plays electric & acoustic guitars as well as as banjo, loops and bass). The material here ranges from Frisell's own compositions to pieces by John McLaughlin, Hank Williams, and the Gershwins. Very pretty, liquid, and appropriately-lonely sounding stuff.

FRITH, FRED Clearing (Tzadik) cd 16.98
Member of such classic "experimental" outfits as Henry Cow, Art Bears and Massacre, and frequent downtown (Zorn, Laswell) collaborator, Frith has enjoyed increasingly iconic status for the last quarter century (novices, check out 1980's Gravity). Clearing is the avant guitar-hero's first solo guitar record since 1974's seminal Guitar Solos. Very pretty, evocative (and dynamic) improv pieces.
RealAudio clip: "White"
RealAudio clip: "This Earth Is A Flower"

FRITH, FRED Freedom In Fragments (Tzadik) cd 16.98

FRITH, FRED Step Across the Border (Winter & Winter) dvd 27.00

FUJII, SATOKO & TATSUYA YOSHIDA Toh-Kichi (Victo) cd 15.98
Talk about a dynamic duo. Drummer Tatsuya Yoshida, the madman responsible for Japanese prog-core band Ruins' insane music, teams up here with pianist Satoko Fuji, a lady who seems equally excitable. In addition to their prowess on their respective instruments, both provide bizarre and even beautiful vocals. Recorded live at the 2002 Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, Quebec, this performance veers from precisely composed, hyper high-speed workouts to sheer improv weirdness (quite melodic much of it though). Piano music genres like boogie woogie and tango are bent into the Ruins realm. With its insistent repetitive rhythmic attacks and Morse code piano parts a la Yoshida's classic solo album "Magaibutsu", this is gonna satisfy fans of Yoshida's brand of musical mayhem for sure. Amazing. And nuts! I think Yoshida is playing a contact mic'd zipper in one song...
RealAudio clip: "Omjhonz"
RealAudio clip: "Kiretsu"

GALLHAMMER The Dawn Of Gallhammer (Peaceville) cd + dvd 16.98
In the voice of Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons: "Best band EVER."
No, we're not actually implying an endorsement of Gallhammer by Comic Book Guy. But, IF Comic Book Guy was into old school death/black/doom metal and crusty punk (which, we'd imagine he probably isn't) -and- was really into cute Japanese girls (which, chances are, he is), then, well, Gallhammer would be one of his favorite bands. We can't help but like 'em lot ourselves. We reviewed their debut cd Gloomy Lights back on list 235, and pointed out then that while a trio of cute, Japanese girls with raccoon eyes playing in the style of '80s doom pioneers Hellhammer was an obvious high-concept selling point, from -listening- to it you sure couldn't tell they were cute or even female. But you could tell that their music was utterly grim and wretched and heavy as hell, which for us was enough to recommend it. Glacial riffs, pounding drums, atmospheric breaks, deathly croaks... raw and primitive and very effective!
We also reported that they'd gotten signed to Peaceville, who have cleverly determined that the best way to introduce Gallhammer to the masses isn't with a new album (still upcoming) but with this, a collection of demos and rehearsal tracks. Oh, and with a DVD disc of live performances. That's the clever part. Once you see vocalist/bassist Vivian Slaughter in her Celtic Frost t-shirt, staring blankly into space and grunting inhumanly into the microphone, you'll be smitten. Or watch drummer Risa Reaper thrash her kit, providing back-up screams too. Or witness guitarist Mika Penetrator (Amebix t-shirt for her) crank out the riffage whilst contributing blood-curdling vokills as well... it's all over. Is there a fan club? Where do we sign up? Seriously, though, the live footage is convincing. They're a killer band. And have a great sense of theatrics, looking so much like those spooky girls you always see in Japanese horror films with their long black hair and hollow eyes.
The DVD features 24 songs from six shows filmed at various venues in Japan between 2005 and 2006. Some are pro shot (the show at Okayama Pepper Land which is presented in its entirety) and others are more bootleggy lookin' but still perfectly acceptable. And there's also a photo gallery of stills to stimulate more fanboy drool.
Meanwhile, on the audio disc, you get twelve tracks including two exclusive demos of (brutal) brand new songs, along with rarities going back to before the Gloomy Lights album. If you've heard Gallhammer before, you know this is gonna be crushing. Far from cartoonish. If you haven't heard 'em, this a good place to enter their haunted world of misanthropic moody metal. Imagine if Unsane, Corrupted and Zeni Geva got together in a cave to make the soundtrack to some freaky J-horror flick, after listening to nothing but Tom G. Warrior's earliest output and the occasional Velvet Underground album for inspiration. Cool, eh?
MPEG Stream: "At The Onset Of The Age Of Despair"
MPEG Stream: "Beyond The Hate Red"

GAPING MAW Two Improvisations (aRCHIVE) cd 9.98

MPEG Stream: "Nervous Center"

GARRICK, MICHAEL TRIO Moonscape (Trunk) cd 16.98
British pianist and bandleader Michael Garrick is probably not too well known in these parts, but his 1964 debut, Moonscape is still something of a legend in England. Released as a 10" record in a run of 100 copies, it's probably one of the most collectable British Jazz records ever made and for good reason. Sprightly and pastoral, yet tightly wound and at times completely unhinged, the piano melodies, reminiscent of the best Vince Guaraldi albums, wrap swimmingly around your head while the drums and bass propel your body with mad-dog intensity. Perplexing titles like, "Music for Shattering Supermarkets" and "Man, Have You Ever Heard" coupled with the enigmatic titular cover art lend an intriguing figure to the sounds inside. Not quite cosmic, yet anything but pedestrian. Since this was originally a 10" record, this is rather a short set, clocking in about 22 minutes. We suggest you put your player on repeat, because it's worth hearing all day.
MPEG Stream: "Music For Shattering Supermarkets"
MPEG Stream: "Sketches of Israel"

GARRICK, MICHAEL TRIO Moonscape (Trunk) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Also available on vinyl!
British pianist and bandleader Michael Garrick is probably not too well known in these parts, but his 1964 debut, Moonscape is still something of a legend in England. Released as a 10" record in a run of 100 copies, it's probably one of the most collectable British Jazz records ever made and for good reason. Sprightly and pastoral, yet tightly wound and at times completely unhinged, the piano melodies, reminiscent of the best Vince Guaraldi albums, wrap swimmingly around your head while the drums and bass propel your body with mad-dog intensity. Perplexing titles like, "Music for Shattering Supermarkets" and "Man, Have You Ever Heard" coupled with the enigmatic titular cover art lend an intriguing figure to the sounds inside. Not quite cosmic, yet anything but pedestrian. Since this was originally a 10" record (and we're perplexed why the LP wasn't reissued as a 10" as well), this is rather a short set, clocking in about 22 minutes. We suggest you put your player on repeat, because it's worth hearing all day.
MPEG Stream: "Music For Shattering Supermarkets"
MPEG Stream: "Sketches of Israel"

GAYLE, CHARLES Ancient Of Days (Knitting Factory Works) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NYC free-jazz saxophonist Charles Gayle's latest. As always, intense, spiritual stuff.

GAYLE, CHARLES Jazz Solo Piano (Knitting Factory) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As you may have already guessed, this is a disc of solo jazz piano by Charles Gayle, a NYC free jazz musician much better known for his saxophone playing. And, perhaps surprising given his propensity for way-out sax squalls, his piano playing is remarkably melodic, although quiet kinetic and restless. It sounds like someone tickling the ivories at a cheesy jazz piano bar getting bored with the same old standards and starting to go a bit nutty.

GAYLE, CHARLES More Live At The Knitting Factory: February, 1993 (Knitting Factory Works) 2cd 27.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

GAYLE, CHARLES Testaments (Knitting Factory Works) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

GAYLE, CHARLES / WILLIAM PARKER / RASHIED ALI Touchin' On Trane (FMP) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

GAYLE, CHARLES, QUARTET Delivered (2.13.61) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Free jazz spirituals from this heir to Coltrane and Ayler.

GELB, PHILIP Between / Waves (Sparkling Beatnik) cd 14.98

GETZ, STAN / JOAO GILBERTO Getz / Gilberto (Verve) cd 16.98

GILBERTO, ASTRUD September 17, 1969 (Rev-Ola) cd 15.98
Rev-Ola brings us the sweet summer breeze early this year by reissuing this pop-jazz gem from Astrud Gilberto. Famous for her refreshingly lackadaisical vocal debut on Stan Getz's "The Girl from Ipanema", September 17, 1969 marks her last recording date with the Verve label (released in America as "Let Go", with a different song order), as the Bossa Nova craze that had invaded America since the mid-sixties was waning. Filled with more contemporary covers than Brazilian standards, including songs by the Bee Gees, The Beatles, The Doors and Harry Nilsson, the album's standout track is the eight minute opener, a cover of Chicago's "Beginnings", a beat-heavy groover that fans of Wax Poetics will drool over. But the Brazilian cuts are still strong with "Let Go (Canto de Ossanha)" popularized by Elis Regina, being a return to the soft samba vibe that made Gilberto famous. It'll be easy to cringe at some of the more obvious pop interpretations like "Light My Fire", but most of the time her choices work. It's better to think of it like this: without Astrud Gilberto, there would be no Nouvelle Vague!
MPEG Stream: "Beginnings"
MPEG Stream: "Let Go (Canto de Ossanha)"
MPEG Stream: "Summer Sweet"

GILBERTO, ASTRUD Talkin' Verve (Verve) cd 12.98
Verve sessions, many never before on cd, from the Brazillian jazz vocalist ("the dreamy she-voice of bossa nova" it says here) famous for "The Girl From Ipanema." Includes covers of songs by Chicago and the Bee-Gees, along with sambas in Portuguese, etc. Much fun.

GILBERTO, ASTRUD Verve Jazz Masters 9 (Verve) cd 12.98

GLASS CAGE s/t (Paratactile) cd 16.98
Fuzzed, flanged fusion fireballs, blowing shit up! Mentioned last list in our review of Gary Smith and Aufgehoben No Process's distorted death match "Magnetic Mountain", here's the Glass Cage cd: the instrumental improv trio of guitarist Smith, former Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper, and famed Japanese free jazz/rock percussionist Shoji Hano (you might know from collaborations with Keiji Haino, or his stint drumming with Nanjo Asahito's High Rise). The family tree that brought these three together must have some tangled roots indeed, but we're glad they found each other (actually, Smith and Hano have played together before, in a trio with Nanjo in fact, and presumably Hopper and Smith know each other from the UK avant-garde scene). The music they play is chaotic, but beautiful; noodly, but heavy (Hopper's thick fuzz bass sounds like that of the Ruins circa "Stonehenge"). Smith's "stereo" guitar veers wildly though the flak thrown about by the Hopper-Hano rhythm section. "Out" rock enthusiasts, like Nels Cline or even Lightning Bolt fans for instance, ought to investigate. Earplugs required.
RealAudio clip: "Crash 2"
RealAudio clip: "Text"
RealAudio clip: "Crash 3"

GLOBE UNITY ORCHESTRA Globe Unity 67 & 70 (Atavistic / Unheard Music Series) cd 14.98
Alexander von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity Orchestra was a free jazz big band featuring what seems like a who's who of late '60s European improv -- Willem Breuker, Peter Brotzmann, Albert Mangelsdorf, Peter Kowald, Sven-Ake Johnasson, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Paul Lovens, Jaki Liebezeit (of Can), Mani Neumeier (of Guru Guru), and Schlippenbach himself, among many others. Not all these folks are in both the 1967 and 1970 incarnations of the Orchestra, but both have impressive lineups. These are previously unreleased live recordings for German radio. Nicely packaged with black and white photos and reproductions of Schlippenbach's graphic scores for these pieces, which as you might imagine are massive, powerful freeform blowouts. I mean, they'll knock you on your ass. Apocalyptic stuff.
Fans of this era/style of out-jazz, you know what to do: grab your beards and hold on! And thank Atavistic's Unheard Music Series for a continued reason to live. Go, UMS, go!
RealAudio clip: "Globe Unity 67"

GLOBE UNITY ORCHESTRA Improvisations (Universal (Japan)) cd 26.00

GLUTTONY Collapse Of The Roman Republic (Liber Primus) (Hekaloth / Cyclops) cd 15.98
Fans of the damaged and deranged, the truly warped and mindbending, the freaky, fucked up and plain baffling, by now should be well acquainted with the mysterious master of the guitar synth, and his bevy of bewildering outfits, two of which we've reviewed on past AQ lists, this being the third, in what we can only imagine is some sort of insane trilogy. Xynfonica came first. A "classical" record, completely composed and performed on the guitar synthesizer. A tripped out, outsider slab of post Peter And The Wolf classical deconstructed, atonal and so so so difficult, oh and did we mention that the other part of the equation was seemingly incongruous raspy evil metal vocals? A totally not-right combination, but for those of us who dig that sort of stuff, it was pretty unbeatable. Then there was the HUGE booklet of lyrics, complete with FOOTNOTES!!!
Then came Shevalreq, part two in the "trilogy", his 'world music' record, where the same atonal angular tones and notes, the howled raspy vocals, were this time wrapped around faux tablas and various other ethnic percussion instruments. If anything, it was even more fucked and amazing. Not to mention the over the top cover art, with miniature jousting knights on horseback ON TOP OF various dat machines and other studio gear. WTF?
So while we anxiously awaited part three, we were fairly sure nothing could top Shevalreq. But oh were we wrong.
The new one is called Gluttony, the name of the record: Collapse Of The Roman Republic, another epic tale of war and death and love and betrayal, this one being his quote unquote jazz record, and fuck if it's not the most amazingly fucked up record EVER. Now in addition to the metallic rasp, the stumbling angular melodies, are lots of synthesized horn stabs, crooning synthesizers, faux vibes and marimbas, synth oboes, synth bassoons, all peppered with some serious twisted tangles of Greg Ginn-esque guitar squall, usually draped over some woozy, smoky dive bar synthjazz. It still sort of sounds like Peter And The Wolf, but it also sounds like the score for some mystery noir z-movie thriller, ripe for some sort of Sam Spade voice over, but instead you get a voice over from some growling bile spewing demon, and the tracks lope on endlessly, the melodies, maniacally off kilter, the whole thing so brilliantly baffling it's almost impossible to listen to the whole thing, but we've come close. Very very close.
Absolutely recommended, but ONLY for those who can handle stuff like this. You know who you are.
MPEG Stream: "Marius Engages The Teutons"
MPEG Stream: "Teutonic Invasion"
MPEG Stream: "Marius Engages The Cimbri"
MPEG Stream: "The Rise Of Sulla"

GOLDBERG, BEN / JOHN SCHOTT / MIKE SARIN What Comes Before (Tzadik) cd 15.98
From the obi: "Two of the most creative composer/performers on the West Coast, Ben Goldberg (New Klezmer Trio) and John Schott (TJ Kirk) are joined by verstaile Brooklyn-based drummer Mike Sarin (Dave Douglas, Myra Medford) to create a delicate musical universe balancing space and movement with thoughts unimagined, feelings unfelt. These introspective pieces for guitar, clarinet and percussion touch upon Jewish life and philosophy in a manner both subtle and cruel."