Hallock Hill
14 February 2010
Hallock Hill, aka myself, performing an improvisational piece on treated acoustic guitar. Enjoy and comments welcome please.
Video posted at 19:45 (Open permalink in new window)
31 January 2010
David Sylvian, “Small Metal Gods,” Manafon (Samadhi Sound)
I’ve been struggling to say something erudite about this record, and cannot. Let’s let it speak for itself. Manafon was on numerous best of lists from last year (The Wire and Mapsadaisical to name a few), and deservedly so. The former Japan singer David Sylvian created a fantastically rich world, based around his voice and grounded by the superb improvisational artists playing with him (including Christian Fennesz and John Tillbury).
music: dafeldecker/fennesz/moser/stangl/sylvian
lyrics: sylvian
guitar: burkard stangl
acoustic bass: werner dafeldecker
cello: michael moser
laptop, guitar: christian fennesz
no-input mixer: toshimaru nakamura
turntables: otomo yoshihide
vocals: david sylvian
Audio posted at 06:51 (Open permalink in new window)
23 January 2010
Valérie Lagrange, “Si ma chanson pouvait,” The BYG Deal (Finders Keepers 25, 2009)
Finders Keepers’s comp collects some superb tracks from France’s legendary BYG label. Set up as a counter to the stagnant French music industry of the late 60s, BYG released experimental pop, free jazz, prog rock and “Total Space Music.” Valérie Lagrange was a singer an actress whose hippie tendencies culminated during the 1968 riots. This, her swan song, shows the influence of Dylan and Baez, but what stands out is the groove provided by her backing band (Hookfoot — who were backing Elton John at the time). She left the public eye for five years. As with all FK releases, the included liner notes are in-depth, well researched and edited.
Finders Keepers Records
Tracklist, with mp3 soundclips provided by FK.
- Alice - Que Pouvons-Nous Faire Ensemble?
- Francois Wertheimer - L Automne
mp3
- Brigitte Fontaine And Areski - Ca Va Faire Un Hit mp3
- Gong - Hip Hypnotise You
- Alan Jack - Ny Change Rien
- Couer Magique - Madmoiselle Marie mp3
- Valerie Lagrange - Si Ma Chanson Pouvait mp3
- Alpha Beta - Astral Abuse
- Jacques Barsamian - Rockers En Liberte
- Ame Son - Je Veux Justre Dire
- Art Ensemble Of Chicago - Rock Out
- Gong - Rational Anthem
- Freedom - Dirty Water
- Vangelis - Stuffed Tomato
- Ame Son - Eclosion (Marie Aux Quatre Vents)
- Paul Semama - Mon Petit Garcon
- Inter-Groupie Psychotherapeutic Elastic Band - Floating
- Banana Moon - All I Want Is Out Of Here
- Alice - Viens
- Couer Magique - Pacha
- Joachim And Rolf Kuhn - Bloody Rockers
- Gong - Mother Long Shanks (Oh Mother I Am Your Fantasy)
Audio posted at 07:27 (Open permalink in new window)
17 January 2010
Jozef Van Wissem on Dan Bodah’s Airborne Event
Bodah’s WFMU show this morning included a superb live performance by Dutch minimalist composer and lute player Jozef Van Wissem. Their talk at end is a fascinating exploration of the instrument, its history and Van Wissem’s approach. It wrapped up with a terrific discussion on the relationship between the composer’s music, religion and spirituality.
Find the archive of the show here.
Text posted at 17:00 (Open permalink in new window)
Cam Deas Winter Tour
It is not too late to catch Cam Deas, the superb Sheffield-based guitarist, on his winter tour.
Jan 13th - Oslo; Sound of Mu
Jan 14th - Gothenburg; Cafe Ana
Jan 15th - Copenhagen; Lygten Station
Jan 16th - Hamburg; TBC
Jan 17th - Prague; The Brick Bar
Jan 18th - Vienna; Celeste (Vienna Institute of Improvised Music)
Jan 19th - Stuttgart; FFUS
Jan 20th - Mainz; Walpodenakademie
Jan 21st - Krefeld; Unrock @ Kulturrampe (With Good For Cows)
Jan 22nd - Den Haag: The SCSI Cell (With Basshaters)
Jan 23rd - Tilburg; Vatican Analog
Jan 24th - Louvain La Neuve; Ferme De Biereau
Jan 25th - Gent; Villa Drashhoek
Jan 27th - Rennes; La Bascule
Jan 28th - Cherbourg; Studio Chaudelande
Deas wrote in an e-mail:
“There are also a bunch of new releases on their way! First up is a collaboration CD with Sheffield guitarist Adam Denton, a straight 1/2hr electric guitar improvisations due out Blackest Rainbow soon. Also a two volume LP and double CD of a four part acoustically tampered 12 string partly-improvised piece called Quadtych, first volume is due out over the next couple months, I just got the artwork in for it from Jake Blanchard which looks amazing! An LP of a free improvisation recorded just before christmas for which I’ve just had the master back and is sounding great is also on it’s way and finally an LP of two electronic works will hopefully be out around the summer! Busy few months eh…
“I still have some copies of my 7” out on The Great Pop Supplement, they are £5+P&P for those interested. I’ve also just made up a final batch of 100 copies of My Guitar Is Alive and I’m Singing CDr’s, in folded sleeves, numbered and with a design by Jake Blanchard, if you want one of those they are £6+P&P.”
Cam Deas previously on Hallock Hill
Text posted at 08:35 (Open permalink in new window)
15 January 2010
Espers, “The Road of Golden Dust,” Espers III (Drag City, 2009)
The third long-player from Philadelphia’s Espers tightens many of their ideas, and captures the band’s sound the best. Greg Weeks’s production is as fine as ever, crisper here than in the past, with superb definition giving the multitude of voices in the band room to spread out. (Week’s production of bandmate Meg Baird’s 2007 solo album, Dear Companion, was similarly crystalline.) Baird’s voice on Espers III is at once fragile and majestic, with “The Pearl” standing out as a particularly delicate use of her instrument. The fuzz guitar tones are excellent, at once vintage and modern, like so much of what they do. Many critics seem to spend most of their time fretting over the proper labels to apply to Espers, and finding the appropriate obscure antecedent to their sound. Let’s not be so perverse. Listen to what they can do.
Audio posted at 09:21 (Open permalink in new window)
9 January 2010
Animal Collective, “Brother Sport,” Merriweather Post Pavillion (Domino 2009)
Animal Collective is the “family values” band of the moment. “My Girls,” arguably the best song of the last few years, celebrates family and love in a way that few songs ever have, revolving around the core idea of “care.” Their’s is a philosophical bent, not political, at heart, and it isn’t hippie idealism either, but an acceptance of the reality of the present world and one’s need to carve out private space within it. Jack Kubizne’s video for “Brother Sport” outdoes Spike Jonzes’s “Where the Wild Things Are” by a clear mile in a mere fraction of the time. Celebrating childhood without veering into muddy, saccharine mush is not easy. And a blind canvas of pure psychedelia only makes a different kind of mud. Being “cool” for cool’s sake always loses points. Kubzine takes Animal Collective’s glorious song and energizes it with visions of the imaginative cycles of childhood, those that spill from the present to past, “real” to “unreal” (such as in the animated worlds that inspired us and made us laugh), from “poor” to “rich.” Which really translates in this world to “enriched” — the fuller state of being. Animal Collective take a relatively simple, finite amount of electronic gear and connect their inputs to the infinite soundscapes of the world. Sometimes only a snippet gets through. Sometimes a longer passage. But whatever gets in passes through their singular filter, and celebrates possibility, which at its best is what care is really all about.
Video posted at 07:42 (Open permalink in new window)
1 January 2010
Sarolta Zalatnay, “Hadd Mondjam El,” Well Hung (Finders Keepers, 2008)
A happy New Year, and new decade to us all. I thought I’d turn back, rather than look forward, to a track from Finders Keepers’ exceptional compilation of Hungarian rarities from the 70s. The opening drum beat is worth the price of admission alone. Originally a contestant on one of Hungarian television’s singing shows in the 60s, Zalatnay blossomed in the burgeoning 70s rock scene, recording a number of singles, most of which had become the stuff of legend for crate diggers. Finders Keepers has also reissued her self-titled album of 1973 that includes this track. More from this great comp soon, but for now, there is enough here to keep you busy.
Audio posted at 06:43 (Open permalink in new window)
27 December 2009
» TITLE MAGAZINE -- Interview with Richard Skelton
The current issue of Title Magazine, viewable on-line, contains a superb interview with Richard Skelton. Discussing his methods, philosophy and future, Skelton is as captivating in print as he is in his recordings.
Link posted at 07:09 (Open permalink in new window)
24 December 2009
St. Vincent, “Marrow,” Actor (4AD, 2009)
St. Vincent has made a distinct mark on the year. These comments from her interview in the New Yorker show how many a modern musician works.
St. Vincent - Marrow
“I have a precise memory of sitting in a hotel room in December of 2007 at Charles De Gaulle, absentmindedly drawing notes in on GarageBand via my laptop. No external mouse. Just me drawing notes, one by one, until they sounded how they should sound. Like a facsimile of a facsimile of music. That song became “Marrow.”
Because I was not tied to my human, physical, muscular limitations (hands like to go here, ears like to hear this) I was able to make music that was smarter than I am. I sent my friend Mike Atkinson the MIDI scores and he did some cleaning up and printed them out. All new. In musical notation. A whole new language that other players could understand! A revelation! Then I learned how to play what I had written, dreamt. My hands learned the language.”
- St. Vincent (Annie Clark) to Sasha Frere-Jones about her process writing Actor. Part of a good little piece from the New Yorker
Audio posted at 06:40 (Open permalink in new window)
» "In the Flowers" -- Animal Collective video
So this popped up on Facebook yesterday and please follow the link to see this brilliant video. In the same way that AC works memory and its fragmentary nature into its music, this video creates a magical world of dreams and our relation to them. Don’t know any other way to see this video, or embed, so you’ll have to try going the Facebook route to watch. Enjoy.
Link posted at 06:34 (Open permalink in new window)
22 December 2009
Greek Theatre, “Hold On” unreleased
Sweden’s brilliant Greek Theatre have announced that they are recording their first album. Fans of the full-length, bearers of the tradition of album-length composition, Greek Theatre embraces this rarity in our MP3 culture. “Hold On,” their gorgeous track of sublime harmony and melody, is to be scheduled for inclusion. The version hosted here was previously recorded, and the band says it will be re-recording all of their old songs for the album. Sven Fröberg and Fredrik Persson, who comprise Greek Theatre, also care about craft and precision of sound. So, the album will be speaker friendly and will undoubtedly be one of the best releases to come, whenever it gets to us. We’ll be anxiously waiting for it, but patient. Read the band’s MySpace blog for more information.
Audio posted at 19:09 (Open permalink in new window)
20 December 2009
Tara Jane O’Neil, “Din In,” A Ways Away (K Records, 2009)
Portland, Oregon’s Tara Jane O’Neil weaves a minimalist emotional web. “Dig In” features some gorgeous guitar and her stunning vocal. She’s worth visiting.
K Records
Photo by Megan Holmes.
Audio posted at 06:39 (Open permalink in new window)
