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.

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

FUJI, 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."

GOLDBERG, BEN TRIO Here By Now (Music & Arts) cd 13.98
Ben Goldberg on clarinet / bass clarinet with Trevor Dunn on bass and Elliot Humberto Kavee on drums.

GOSFIELD, ANNIE Burnt Ivory and Loose Wires (Tzadik) cd 15.98
Sometimes aggressive, sometimes gentle, and as the title suggests, having to do with the destruction of a piano. Extended performance techniques reconfigured through a sampler. Features the Rova Sax Quartet. Quite nice.

GRAVES, MILFORD Meditation Among Us (Universal (Japan)) cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

GRAVES, MILFORD Percussion Ensemble (ESP-Disk / Calibre / Get Back) cd 14.98
Another batch of essential and long overdue ESP reissues. This one is ALL drums. And like I've been saying all along, guitars and bass and piano, are all very nice and everything, and sometimes they even sound good in a band, but all you ever really need is drums. So here it is. 1965. Two of the best: Milford Graves and Sunny Morgan, playing drums (and percussion, bells, gongs and shakers, which are technically still in the drum family).

GRAVES, MILFORD Percussion Ensemble (ESP-Disk / Calibre / Get Back) lp 11.98
Another batch of essential and long overdue ESP reissues. This one is ALL drums. And like I've been saying all along, guitars and bass and piano, are all very nice and everything, and sometimes they even sound good in a band, but all you ever really need is drums. So here it is. Two of the best: Milford Graves and Sunny Morgan, playing drums (and percussion, bells, gongs and shakers, which are technically still in the drum family).

GRAVES, MILFORD Stories (Tzadik) cd 16.98
Second solo percussion album by veteran '60s free jazzer Graves to be released on Tzadik, and this is similar to his first: energetic free drumming and some vocal outbursts as well. The obi text describes him "playing with his hands, feet, elbows and head..." which is apparently true, but the obi also says that this is "absolutely riveting". Depends on your defintion of riveting I suppose. Perhaps best seen rather than just heard, although fans may enjoy.

GREENE, BURTON Bloom In The Commune (ESP) cd 14.98

GREENE, BURTON QUARTET s/t (ESP Disk) cd 14.98

GREENE, THE BURTON TRIO On Tour (ESP) cd 16.98

GREENLIEF, PHILIP AND COVERED PAGES Russian Notebooks (Evander Music) cd 14.98
Local clarinet/flute/saxophone whiz Philip Greenlief presents "music for 2 guitars and 2 wind instruments". Vinnie Golia is the other reedsman, and the guitarists are G.E. Stinson and the AQ-beloved Nels Cline (all LA new music scene stalwarts). The pieces (thoughtful, sometimes doleful, sometimes pretty) are inspired by Greenlief's experiences living in Russia, where he spent a year in '98. Both Greenlief and Cline are credited with the use of "ray guns" in the liner notes, which kind of makes you wonder about what Russia's like these days...

GREENLIEF, PHILLIP / ADAM LEVY / DAN SEAMANS Who Ordered The Fish (Em Evander) cd 11.98

GREENLIEF, PHILLIP / SCOTT AMENDOLA Collect My Thoughts (9Winds) cd 11.98

GREENLIEF, PHILLIP / TREVOR DUNN (Evander Music) cd 11.98

GROUND ZERO Live 1992+ (Doubtmusic) cd 16.98
BACK IN STOCK! Wow! This is a blast from the past. And we do mean blast (just listen!). Ground Zero was the crazy sampling + free jazz + noise rock outfit led by Japanese turntablist/guitarist Otomo Yoshihide. Hopefully you know 'em, they were right in there with Boredoms and Ruins and Omoide Hatoba and Altered States etc. for noisy underground Japanese avant-rock insanity back in the early '90s. Their now out of print, self-titled debut album from 1992 sounded something like John Zorn's Naked City, all chaotic jump cuts and skronking sax, and in fact featured the inimitable screaming vocal stylings of Eye Yamataka of the Boredoms, who also guested with Naked City. Eventually they turned into a drone-jazz behemoth, and also did a fantastic album of "standards". Since the dissolution of Ground Zero, there's been plenty more cool Otomo projects, from the Eric Dolphy tribute of his New Jazz Orchestra to his minimalist "onkyo" experiments in Filament and ISO to a variety of other interesting soundtracks and solo recordings... but the Ground Zero discs will always be a crucial swath of his discography. And a favorite of ours!
So, it's pretty exciting to get to hear this long-lost live show, from a old tape that Otomo recently rummaged out of his closet. The liner notes include this from him: "All I remember for sure was that it was a really good gig... The recording quality is terrible, but the recording, including that quality, really captures the atmosphere of the time." He's right, the sound is raw, but it suits the music perfectly. This is INTENSE. The lineup consists of Otomo (guitar, turntables), Hirose Junji (sax), Kato Hideki (bass, voice), Uemura Masahiro (drums), and Eye Yamataka (vocals). All five of 'em make a LOT of noise. Imagine the Eye-fronted Naked City falling down the stairs, in the throes of a violent seizure. This performance dates from just prior to their first album's release and shares its punked-out energy, as well as a few of the same "songs". Two additional tracks at the end of the disc are studio recordings, previously unreleased material from the sessions for that debut album. As the Doubtmusic website says, "this is remembrance of fresh / poisonous earlier Ground Zero after 15 years."
This comes in typically fine Doubtmusic packaging, a handsome digipack design, and is basically essential for all hardcore Ground Zero and/or Eye Yamataka fans! And its value as an archival release is enhanced in light of the fact that you can't get their first album anymore anyway.
MPEG Stream: "Bottom Out-X"
MPEG Stream: "Pseudopodium"
MPEG Stream: "VT"

GROUND ZERO Plays Standards (DIW) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yay! After being out of print for the last couple of years, this fantastic album has finally been reissued! Unfortunately it's not a domestic reissue, so the price tag is still import-high. But it's well worth the $, being one of our very favorite discs by Otomo Yoshihide's amazing sampling/noise/jazz outfit Ground Zero. This one's all covers, Ground Zero interpretations of tunes as far ranging as Massacre's "Bones" to John Philip Sousa's "Washington Post March", Omoide Hatoba to Burt Bacharach... Includes liner notes in both English and Japanese explaining Otomo's reasons for doing each song. Great album, great band. If you missed it the first time, get it now!!
RealAudio clip: "A Better Tomorrow + I Say A Little Prayer "

GUEBROU, TSEGUE-MARYAM Ethiopiques Vol. 21 (Buda Musique) cd 15.98
Okay, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. The always amazing Ethiopiques series continues on past volume 20 with no end in sight. We were wrongly led to believe that volume 20 was to be the last in this, one of our all time favorite series, and we were heartbroken. On top of that, the final installment was quite surprisingly a live recording of modern day American musicians jamming with an Ethiopian band. It was still cool, but it was a bit tough to figure out why the curaters of this series would choose to go out on that kind of admittedly anticlimactic note, when there were certainly hundreds of buried treasures from the golden age of Ethiopian music that most definitely deserved to be unearthed. This newst volume quickly sets everything right, being entirely the solo piano of a woman named Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou. Her playing is devastatingly lovely and haunting. A curious hybrid of old time jazz and classical, but still truly Ethiopian. Dark and contemplative, moody but subtly playful as well. Culled mainly from recordings from the late 40's early 50's, a period during which Guebrou had recently left the convent due to illness, and then continued to compose and perform as a way of raising money for charity. And THAT's on the heels of having moved to Egypt and then returned to Ethiopia a figure of high society, her dream of playing piano dashed by the Emperor, which led her to sickness and then near death, she even received the last rites, survived and then joined the Imperial Guard, went back to school to study business finally fleeing to join a convent and become a nun. All the while continuing to play music, in fact she continues to perform to this day, in Ethiopia where she still lives, four of her most recent recordings (from 1996) are included here as well.
Her story is amazing, the liner notes go into great detail about her fantastic and adventurous life, but her music is equally as remarkable, the sound and feel is so dense with memory and imagery, musical but somehow quite visual, warm and woozy, a fuzzy, sepia toned old timey feel, due in no small part to the recording, which is quite reminiscent of old 78's, the soundtrack to movie Crumb, that sort of thing, dark rumbling low notes underpin sweet swirls and delicate flurries of minor key melody, sweet and lowdown for sure, warm evenings, back porches, big beautifully appointed parlors, huge empty fields, grass waving in the breeze, long late night wanders, moonlight strolls, so completely dreamy and lovely. Definitely one of out favorites so far in the series. We hope it never ends!
MPEG Stream: "The Homeless Wanderer"
MPEG Stream: "The Last Tears Of A Deceased"

GUSTAFSSON, MATS Windows: The Music of Steve Lacy (Blue Chopsticks) cd 14.98
Jazz head Mats Gustafsson plays the music of Steve Lacy on solo saxophone (tenor & baritone) and fluteophone, plus a piece by Cecil Taylor and a couple tracks of his own creation. As he puts it: "It's wonderful to hear somebody playing something I never heard before on the saxophone. Especially using some of my material as a jumping-off place. I appreciate many things here, but especially the surprise. As they say, Jazz is the sound of surprise."

GUSTAFSSON, MATS / PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE Splatter (Smalltown Superjazz) cd 14.98

HAAZZ & COMPANY Unlawful Noise (Atavistic / Unheard Music Series) cd 14.98
The Unheard Music series brings us another '70s free improv rarity. Dutch pianist Kees Hazevoet might not be a well-known name, but he was an early, integral player on the Amersterdam jazz scene back in the day, and on this 1976 album he is joined by what are certainly some big names: Peter Brotzmann, Han Bennink (and his brother Peter), Louis Moholo, and Johnny Dyani.

HAINO, KEIJI & TATSUYA YOSHIDA New Rap (Tzadik) cd 16.98
No, there's no rapping on here (or, if there is, it is indeed an extremely NEW style of "rap", consisting of intense screaming in what may or may not be Japanese -- yeah how's that for a "new rap dialect"?). So no, it's not Keiji gone MC. It's the Fushitsusha guitarist (and all around Tokyo psych shaman) Keiji teamed up again with Ruins drummer (and fellow Tokyo underground music titan) Tatsuya Yoshida for a disc of presumably improvised duets featuring Yoshida's amazing octopoidal drumming and Haino's shards of guitar and agonized throat-rasps.
Each track is named after a different New York City neighborhood, and based on Haino's vocals you might think that he'd had some traumatic experiences in these places, if a track like "Lower East Side" is somehow descriptive of its namesake. A violent mugging perhaps? Maybe the NYC theme suggests that New Rap is influenced by, or an homage to, Downtown New York jazz skronk a la John Zorn, who released this on his Tzadik label. But it's also unmistakably the sort of thing you'd expect to hear from Haino and Yoshida, and in fact have heard before from 'em on their previous duo disc from a few years back Until Water Grasps Flame, and to some extent their collaborations in Knead and Sanhedolin. This strikes a good balance between the controlled spazzcore of the Ruins and the primal emotions of Haino's many projects. Harsh energy indeed!!
MPEG Stream: "Lower East Side"
MPEG Stream: "Canal Street"

HANCOCK, HERBIE Fat Albert Rotunda (Rhino) lp 15.98