One of the most interesting, accomplished & erudite machinators to exit the Industrial/Noise ambit, Chicago’s Illusion Of Safety have heaped on the heuristic unpredictable interpretations from the late 80’s onwards. An extensive lineage of releases & pioneering has waned only in it’s regularity over these decades, with the projects pilot Dan Burke continuing to spawn totally distinct & irregular uniqueness on a very consistent trajectory. Continue reading Illusion Of Safety – Bad Karma CD
It’s about time! Veteran drummer Tani Tabbal, most notable for his enduring interplay with Roscoe Mitchell & his Sound Ensemble (along with many other shared recordings) kicks out a six track CD as a band/project leader (preceded by last year’s Wizards by all but a whisker). A man of many deportments, who will leave separate impressions depending on what recording or live performance you have experienced of his, this album does quite a good job of capturing a decent range of his many faces. Continue reading Tani Tabbal – Mixed Motion CD
Less low for your res!!! It’s another thrilling sliver to topple your timbers from the top-notch-digital- botch Detroit champion record label. The performer plucked from the circuit-board this time is Meander who were totally unfamiliar to me until this confrontation. This gorgeous four track LP complicates the Breakcore saga with massively expansive & enigmatic expertise. Continue reading Meander – Dreaming In Reverse 12” LP
Here’s a sprawling tumbler of dense & profuse riotous improvisation cascading outta’ conscienceness in furious detail. Milford Graves is a maniac, spry & multi-limbed, sprinting all over the drums with superb disjointed dexterity, asymmetry & propulsion (even on the more tempo-relaxed numbers). Murray slathers this high-velocity motion with plenty of hyper effusive billowing in his own very individualized vocabulary as a saxophonist (he plays on both tenor sax & bass clarinet). Continue reading David Murray, Milford Graves – Real Deal CD:
Magic! Not tea-cosies & sweet old-ladies wi’ hot-cross buns mind you. I am talking about some serious thaumaturgical, divination, shamanic shit here…& it’s DEEP! Marion Brown was a very special character. You could take ten of the best & have them play the same basic note/lick & I bet Marion would make it animate in his own quintessentially Marion manner that you could pick out quite easily. He plays with a rare honesty/vulnerability, total emersion & lack of pretension that’s unique as far as I have heard. Continue reading Marion Brown – Geechee Recollections LP
Bit of a game changer this one. It’s a rare occasion that such a substantial blow is landed on a central pillar of tabloid tyranny (the most central in this case). It’s also an absurdly inspiring display of how just two deeply dedicated geezers (author & journalist Nick Davies & companion & former Guardian editor Allen Rusbridger) can make an unprecedented change to the unchallenged dominance of the corrupt status-quo, seriously contesting the invulnerability & unilateral hegemony of the corrupt giant & their squalid modus-operandi. Continue reading Hack Attack: How the truth caught up with Rupert Murdoch – Nick Davies
Oh my! This is about as power-punch as it’s going to get. The “current climate” is screaming for arbitrations of this kind of antidote to depurate the thoroughly soiled hoax that shambles into ever worsening positions of contortion & contempt that would probably be comical if it were not so catastrophic & cruel.
Just listen to this for god’s sakes…
Continue reading How Corrupt Is Britain? – Edited by David Whyte
Byard Lancaster was one bad-ass mothafucker!! An extremely flammable reedman that heaped masses of revolutionary zest, black radicalism & uncompromising spiritual/existential liberational topography into his music. Maybe that’s why we did not hear as much from him as we so obviously should have done? (a-la Clifford Thornton?) That’s another conversation. Here you have six tracks recorded between 1970 & 1973, three of which are live performances at Macalester college. Continue reading Byard Lancaster Unit – Live At Macalester College CD
Pure badass! This woman is hard-to-the-core in the best possible sense of the expression. Bereft of any academic dryness or pretention she cuts through like a mythical sabre wielded by a veteran warrior from some ancient fable. Honestly, the first chapter/47 pages of this book have more potency/restorative clarity truth & precision not to mention immaculate critique (the facts generally do that themselves) than half the shit on my shelf (that’s a HELL of a lot kid). Continue reading Capitalism: A Ghost Story – Arundhati Roy
Another supremely powerful modesty-obliterating epicurean fight to the death from some of the maddest amongst madmen – theYosuke Yamshita Trio. This one has actually only just been released on Jasrac but was captured live during Inspiration & Power Free Jazz Festival in Shinjuku, 1973. These monstrously formidable champions are on peak form & sear a cataclysmic five track set of astonishing intensity with very little refuge offered. Continue reading Yosuke Yamashita Trio – Live 1973 CD