Makaya McCraven with his band in sensational first concert in Athens.
Scenius Series are grateful!
Audio
Fred Frith’s Improvised Structures
Professor Fred Frith, a musician gifted with a unique guitar technique, can, at the interesting age of 76, be satisfied about his album “Guitar Solos”, a work that contributed significantly to redefining the possible guitar’s uses and abuses. What I am listening to, and which you see in the photos, is one of the reissues (Fred Records 2002) on CD of the vinyl originally released by Caroline Records in October 1974.
“Music is an act of transformation—air moves, waves travel, membranes vibrate, bodies are altered. When I use objects to produce sounds from a guitar, I’m also transforming them. The paintbrush, the clothes the doweling rod, the alligator clip, the ball of string, the bag of rice, chains, the tin can, these may all be familiar objects. When I use them as mediators, though, they can no longer be defined by their intended function. Instead they become magical objects with mysterious powers, and although at first you may laugh at the idea of someone playing the guitar with a paintbrush, eventually you won’t notice it any more. The brush has become, not invisible exactly, but altered beyond recognition.”
Fred Frith – On dirt, revelations, contradictions, and breathing through your elbows – Arcana V pag 131
https://neuguitars.substack.com/p/the-first-fifty-years-of-guitar-solos
INSPIRATION
The Necks Experiment with Long-Form Minimalism
Disquiet is a genuinely absorbing series of luxuriously paced improvisations from the Necks, who have been doing this kind of thing for decades.
Erdfisch = Soil Fish
On their self-titled epic, the duo, whose name neologizes the German words for “soil” and “fish”, gifts us with avant and convincingly blended 9 tracks that promise to attract music fans from Post-Kraut and Contemporary Jazz to Experimental Electronic and Sound Art alike.
MATMOS: Metallic Life Review
A “life review” is a phrase used to describe the psychological phenomena reported by people who have survived near death experiences: the sense captured in the phrase “my life flashed before my eyes.”
Ches Smith’s Clone Row
Clone Row is the long-form improvising ensemble led by drummer and composer Ches Smith, featuring Mary Halvorson and an exceptional quartet of New York-based improvisers.
Scientists of Groove, Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin
The series „Scientists of Groove“ offers a transformative cinematic experience, inviting viewers to immerse themselves in the spellbinding world of one of contemporary music’s most visionary talents, Nik Bärtsch.
Makaya McCraven’s four-EP project review by Quietus
The drummer-producer’s four-EP project blends live performance and post-production tricknology into a new kind of superstrong musical compound
Tortoise on the changing face of Chicago, Steve Albini and their new-gen fans
Informed by everything from jungle to Krautrock and musique concrète, Tortoise broke new ground 30 years ago. Returning after nine years away, ‘it’s a different world’, they say.
The Green Ball: Inside Gilles Peterson’s Three-Level Listening House
At the back of his North London garden stands a new structure – three levels of wood, glass and shelves of vinyl. This is Gilles Peterson’s Emerald Ballroom also known as The Green Ball.