Bis Aufs Messer weekly news 04 / Februar
Welcome to the last newsletter for February. A bunch of great records arrived like a lot of DEREK BAILEY restocks, the new killer ASHLEY PAUL - ray LP, BRIJ BHUSHAN KABRA, HALA STRANA - fielding DLP, OVERO restocks, NUNOFYRBEESWAX - Stratotoaster LP, JULIEN BAKER - Little Oblivions LP and more
Also lots of stuff is on its way like the PHIL ELVERUM BOOK (finally), HUM DLP restock, MOUNT EERIE restocks and much much more …
As you might saw we got a new webstore. Let us know how you like and if you have any recommandations. We still try to figure things out.
We also received the OSTSEETRAUM - s/t LP and shipped all pre orders … already running low on Fletcher Tucker on clear and the Ghost Bag LP on yellow.
Thank you for your support in those difficult times
Norman & Robert
www.adagio830-records.bandcamp.com
7“
OVERO / ASTHENIA - split 7“ (Emotive hardcore bands Overo (USA) and Asthenia (JPN) pair up to deliver four visceral, cathartic songs. Originally planned in conjunction with an Overo/Asthenia Japan tour set for November 2020, the split 7” showcases both bands’ ability to balance vulnerability and aggression, light and dark, whispers and gut-wrenching screams. As the pandemic raged across the world, eight record labels across six countries stepped up to support the release despite the cancellation of bands’ tour in support of it. The end result is a response to COVID-19 that’s sonic and substantial rather than literal.) 7.00
LP
ALESSANDRO ALESSANDRONI - Alessandro Alessandroni E Il Suo Complesso LP (Sonor Music Editions presents the reissue of another holy grail by Alessandro Alessandroni. The first Farfalla release, "Alessandro Alessandroni E Il Suo Complesso" originally released in a few hundred copies on the cult Sermi imprint in February 1968. The seminal debut album realized by the legendary Italian maestro, featuring bewitching scat vocals by his wife Giulia De Mutiis (aka Kema), that started the Italian Library production golden era that would culminate in mid ‘1980s. A true landmark of the genre and an Italian discography jewel that spaces among the best Jazz, Bossa Nova and Lounge music; undoubtedly a desirable item of world’s record collecting field. Obsessive Jazz suites, enchanting scats over mind-blowing Bossa tunes, bouncy break-beats drums, groovy Pop and refined loungy atmospheres over some soft Psichedelia arrangements. An essential Italian Library reissue.) 32.00
ASHLEY PAUL - ray LP (slip - Recorded remotely in lockdown, Ashley Paul’s latest full-length is a celebration of downbeat jazz moods, flirting with pop sentimentality but existing entirely in its own space. Unassumingly gorgeous and unashamedly unique from beginning to end, it’s by some distance the most approachable and memorable release in Paul’s enviable catalogue to date. Any music assembled in the last few months is bound to grapple with the stark reality of our amended global situation, whether that’s isolation, burnout, precariousness or uncertainty. For London-based American multi-instrumentalist Ashley Paul, music has been her way of coping with daily stress, “to cancel out the barrage of terrible news happening outside”. A remote collaboration with friends Yoni Silver (on bass clarinet) and Otto Willberg (on double bass), tracks were shuttled from Ashley to her collaborators as sketches, leaving room for improvisation. The trio is so tight, though, that it’s hard to tell the players weren’t in the same room together. The music they make is intimate but ambitious; somewhere between Klezmer standards, Tom Waits’ weirdo lullabies and a sort of brittle modernism we associate with Margaret Fiedler’s work with both Moonshake and Laika, or even the childlike sophistication of brum mainstays Pram, often building from whisper-so) 25.00
BRIJ BHUSHAN KABRA - Lure of the Desert LP (EMI - Lure of the Desert presents Brij Bhushan Kabra's exploration of the folk music of Rajasthan. Hypnotic rhythms and snaking guitar compositions with almost percolating percussion makes this LP one of his later masterpieces. Released in 1985 it is one of the peaks in a discography that is an embarrassment of riches. Newly remastered, limited edition pressing.) 26.00
BRIJ BHUSHAN KABRA - The Magic of Music / Guitar and Tabla LP ( emi - Guitar and Tabla was originally released in 1982. Another essential LP by Brij Bhushan Kabra featuring Zakir Hussain on Tabla. Newly remastered, limited edition pressing.) 26.00
CREATIVE ARTS ENSEMBLE - one step out DLP (outernational - Sounds from the Great House! Outernational Sounds proudly presents a Nimbus West spirit jazz essential: the Creative Arts Ensemble's classic debut One Step Out. Mastered at 45rpm on double vinyl for enhanced sound, this release features all tracks at full length for the first time on wax. One of the most sought after and highly regarded titles to have appeared on Tom Albach's celebrated Nimbus West imprint, the Creative Art Ensemble's One Step Out is a timeless work of spiritualised jazz. A true gem from the Los Angeles jazz underground, the album was pianist and composer Kaeef Ruzadun Ali's first recording as leader of the Creative Arts Ensemble, the only large ensemble group that emerged directly from Horace Tapscott's legendary Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra community jazz group. A Los Angeles native, Kaeef was introduced to the Tapscott circle in the late 1970s. His first experience of the Arkestra's ethos was through PAPA tenorist Michael Session, who took him to the famous 'Great House' at 2412 South Western Ave., LA - a large mansion house which members of the Arkestra had taken over as a space for communal living. Life in the Great House was a continuous stream of music, dance and community events. 'When I walked in there,' recalled Kaeef, 'it was like this whole rush came over me, just from going in the front door...It was like a very, very warm feeling of love. I went and I came out with 'Flashback of Time', and that was my first arrangement.’) 35.00
DEREK BAILEY & CYRO BAPTISTA - Cyro DLP (honest jones - Honest Jon's Records present a reissue of Derek Bailey and Cyro Baptista's Cyro, originally released on Incus in 1988. When Cyro Baptista moved to New York in 1980 from his home city of São Paulo, he brought with him an arsenal of percussion instruments, including the cuica (friction drum), surdo (the booming bass drum associated with samba), berimbau (single-string bow with resonating gourd), and cabasas galore, in the next few years deploying them most notably in numerous ensembles curated by John Zorn, who helped set up this studio session in 1982. As you might expect from someone whose infectious grooves have graced the work of Herbie Hancock, Astrud Gilberto, and Cassandra Wilson, Baptista expertly fires off cunning polyrhythms, even traces of thumping samba, with restless fluency. Bailey, the wily old fox, skirts and eschews the bait, which is quickly conjured away and newly fashioned. The guitarist homes in on the delicious squeaks of the cuica and the twanging drones of the berimbau with truly awesome tonal precision. You could sing along if you wanted, after a caipirinha or two. And he gets almost as many different sounds from his instrument as Baptista can from his kit -- check out the stratospheric plings and string-length fret-sweeps of "Tonto", which sound more like a prepared piano than an acoustic guitar. Wonders abound, from the berimbau/bent-string exchanges that open "Quanto Tempo" to the delightful collision of howling cuica and spiky bebop on "Polvo", and the spare, preposterous Webernian samba of "Improvisation 3". These days, "improvisation" often appears without its customary qualifier "free". If there were ever a case to be made for its reinstatement, this album is the best supporting evidence. Freedom means you're free to get into the groove, free not to, free to play with each other, free to play against each other. Sometimes frustrating, even scary, but more often than not in the hands of these two great masters it's hilarious, exhilarating and utterly irresistible.) 27.00
DEREK BAILEY & TONY COE - Time DLP (honest -jons - Honest Jon's Records present a reissue of Derek Bailey and Tony Coe's Time, originally released on Incus in 1979. Multi-reedist Tony Coe was born in 1934, four years after guitarist Derek Bailey. He cut his teeth as a career jazzman with Humphrey Lyttleton, before an extended stint with the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band. On this rare 1979 duo outing, he sticks to clarinet. And though that instrument has an illustrious jazz pedigree, Coe's playing here is something else. It's worth noting that the clarinetist has also played under the baton of arch-modernist Pierre Boulez, the kind of composer Derek Bailey enjoyed taking to task in his book Improvisation. You might think the Frenchman's uncompromising serialism and the free playing Bailey defended with such passion all his life would have little in common, yet both men were hugely influenced by Anton Webern. It's an influence you can hear right through Bailey's career in his obsessive exploration of tight parcels of registrally-fixed pitches, notably those trademark ringing harmonics. Meanwhile, Coe's meandering semitones and sinuous arabesques here recall both Boulez's clarinet writing in Domaines, and the harmonic world of Boulez's own teacher Olivier Messiaen. Still, no traditional classical musical notation could ever render the extraordinary rhythmic subtlety and timbral complexity of this music. It's at one and the same time dazzlingly virtuosic -- Coe and Bailey are on stellar form throughout, and have enough sense to, yes, accompany each other where needs be -- and supremely lyrical and spacious. An absolute delight.) 27.00
DEREK BAILEY & HAN BENNINK - s/t DLP (honest jones - Repressed. Honest Jon's Records present a reissue of Derek Bailey & Han Bennink, originally released in 1972. The third release in a series of collaborations between Honest Jon's Records and Incus: three double-LPs of the legendary free-improvising guitarist Derek Bailey, solo (HJR 200LP) and in duos with Anthony Braxton (HJR 201LP) and Han Bennink, augmenting the original releases with marvelous, previously unissued music. The tussling vegetables in Mal Dean's cover-sketch somehow befit perfectly this extraordinary duo of Bailey and the great Dutch drummer Han Bennink. Recorded in London in 1972, Incus 9 was their second record (after an Instant Composers Pool in 1969), becoming a blueprint and inspiration for generations of free-improvisers. It is paired here with a brilliant session from the following year, with the same power and friendly combativeness, and oodles of creativity, technique, and humor. It's obvious how much they loved playing together. Newly transferred from tape at Abbey Road, and remastered by Rashad Becker. The records are manufactured by Pallas.) 27.00
DRISSI EL-ABBASSI – Rai Sidi Bel Abbes LP (Hypnotic proto-Raï from 1979-1989 by Drissi El-Abbassi, a pioneer of the Algerian style who bridged its early, live band roots with the era of multi-track digital recording during the sound’s rapid evolution. ‘Rai Sidi Bel Abbes’ plays deeply into one of the core influences of borderless Algerian/Egyptian label Nashazphone, highlighting a figure relatively unsung beyond the North African Arabic diaspora and introducing his unusually balmy, soft-voiced take on a genre that came to be known for its harder edges. Set to a mix of microtonal Roland synthesiser leads and swaying drum machines, El-Abbassi’s vocals emote with particular clarity and sensuality, carrying the jazz and psych rock-inspired early sound into a prototype of its current form across eight songs that chart his transition from working with principal group Les Freres Zergui, to selections from recordings by his own band’s influential releases during the mid-late ‚80s.) 28.00
ERKIN KORAY - Halimem LP (Pharaway Sounds presents a compilation dedicated to Erkin Koray, the father of Anatolian rock/Turkish psych. Halimemincludes rare single and cassette-only tracks (mostly from 1970-72, plus three killer ones from 1987). Expect a fabulous mix of Turkish melodies/grooves with hard-rock and psych. Artwork by Sara Gossett.) 25.00
HALA STRANA - fielding DLP (worstwaard - Desastre and Worstward Recordings present the first vinyl issue of Hala Strana 's second full-length album "Fielding". Originally released in 2003 on the Jewelled Antler label, "Fielding" is the sprawling, epic leap forward from Hala Strana’s self-titled debut full-length—a psychedelic collage of traditional music, field recordings, and sonic landscapes. Started in 2002, Hala Strana was the summation of Steven R. Smith's interest in the traditional folk music of central and eastern Europe. By incorporating the melodies, scales, and instrumentation of the village music from areas such as Croatia, Hungary, Romania, and Albania, Steven pushed his music into yet another new territory. This marks the first vinyl issue of Fielding, re-mastered and presented as a 2-LP set housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve including all the original liner notes and images from the original 2xCD edition. Limited to 300 copies.) 28.00
IMPOSITION MAN - Resilience LP (Driven. Rebellious. Self-consuming. The Imposition Man debut LP wallows in outrage, slams the door behind him, and painfully realizes that from now on he is alone. Spiraling into the harsh and cold unknown. Struggling and pounding. Indeed, you are your own ultimate foe, my friend. Liberate yourself, Imposition Man!Imposition Man is a postpunk band from Berlin.) 14.00
JULIEN BAKER - Little Oblivions LP (matador - "'Little Oblivions' is the third studio album by Julien Baker. Recorded in Memphis, TN, the record weaves together unflinching autobiography with assimilated experience and hard-won observations from the past few years, taking Baker’s capacity for storytelling to new heights. It also marks a sonic shift, with the songwriter's intimate piano and guitar arrangements newly enriched by bass, drums, keyboards, banjo, and mandolin with nearly all of the instruments performed by Baker.“) 22.00
NUNOFYRBEESWAX - Stratotoaster LP ("It was when I got to mix one of their shows in Bei Ruth (RIP) back in 2014/5 ? and finally got exposed to this very honest and sympathetic punk rock manifestation - Nunofyrbeeswax (and be sure you see this name around A LOT around Berlin), made up of 2 very rumbling combo of Spanish - Angela and Italian - Davide (by now already enough to fall in love with), not sparing a drop of sweat or drip of energy they got left up their sleeves just to produce their finest raw and energised rocknroll that one like me got nothing but love to. Faster then you know - we became brothers and sisters from other mothers and misters (Must be that 'way too close to Equator' vibe our origins have in common), shared the stage several times with Tanning Bats and always shared the common devotion to 'kill from the heart' ) 14.00
NURSE WITH WOUND - Merzbild Schwet LP (Long awaited vinyl reissue of NWWs classic 3rd album. This blue vinyl version is exclusive to Cargo. Packaged in an outer sleeve that replicates the original United Dairies issue and has a brand-new Steven Stapleton designed full colour insert. Following disagreements amongst the founding NWW trio over To the Quiet Men from a Tiny Girl, Steven Stapleton returned to the studio without Heman Pathak or John Fothergill to create something that more closely fulfilled his vision of what Nurse With Wound should be. The results are often cited as the first great NWW album, with Rolf Semprebon at Allmusic stating that it constitutes "the first fully realized NWW record....a far more mature effort than its predecessors, much more focused and sounding less like some stoned guys goofing off in the studio". There is a more extensive use of tape editing and audio collage on Merzbild Schwet than was found on the preceding releases, a strategy that would become Stapleton's signature sound on the albums that followed. There is also the overt use of humour; the sound of a repeated loud vinyl pop being included at the beginning of "Futurismo", initially creating the impression that the record is in some way damaged, accelerates to such a speed that it becomes obvious that it is part of the composition (the impact of this device losing relevance on subsequent cassette and CD editions).) 26.00
NURSE WITH WOUND - To The Quiet Men From A Tiny Girl LP (To the Quiet Men from a Tiny Girl is the second album by Nurse With Wound and the last to be made by the founding trio of Steven Stapleton, John Fothergill, and Heman Pathak. The album also features contributions from French avant-garde musician Jacques Berrocal. It was recorded by The Bombay Ducks, an alias for Nicky Rogers and Vic Ball, the former of whom had facilitated the recording of the group's first album, Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella (and, therefore, unintentionally, the group's formation - see article for details). The album's title comes from Tolerance's album Anonym link The sessions were characterised by tension amongst the trio with Pathak leaving the group almost immediately after the album was completed - Fothergill told author David Keenan that Pathak's contribution to this record was minimal. Stapleton and Fothergill disagreed over the production of She Alone Hole And Open (named after a line from "Pini Pini" by Arto/Neto) and Stapleton has expressed regret at allowing the track to be compromised by Fothergill's intervention. Before long, Fothergill would also leave the group as he and Stapleton began to clash over the releases on the group's United Dairies label, which was now issuing music by other artists such as Whitehouse and The Lemon Kittens.) 26.00
RAT COLUMNS - Pacific Kiss LP (tough love - ‘Pacific Kiss’ is the fourth album from Australian musician David West’s underground pop band, Rat Columns. It was engineered by Griffin Harrison and DW in New York City and Perth, and mixed by Mikey Young in Victoria. ‘Pacific Kiss’ sees Rat Columns plunging headfirst into an azure sea of power pop, rock’n’roll and indie. The tones are bright and optimistic, though fans of confusion and gloom will still find solace in the album’s darker moments, of which there are a few. Rat Columns emerged from San Francisco via Perth, Western Australia in the late 2000’s with the mope ’n’ jangle of their first self-titled cassette release, from which several tracks were drawn for their first vinyl release, a four-song 7” on the San Francisco based indie label, Smartguy Records. From that moment, DW and a constantly evolving troupe of friends and co-conspirators have forged a persistent trail of albums and EP’s on a number of interesting small labels such as RIP Society, Upset The Rhythm, Blackest Ever Black, Syncro-System, Adagio 830 and now the London-based Tough Love Records, who have also released many of David’s eponymous pop records. DW has also found time to play in a number of other interesting outfits, such as Rank/Xerox, Lace Curtain, Liberation, Scythe, Total Control and Burning Sensation over the years. ) 25.00
STEFFEN BASHO JUNGHANS - IS LP (The German born guitar player has been forging unprecedented ground within the solo guitar world over the last few decades where his out-put has covered everything from John Fahey style finger-picking, epic pieces influenced by Indian ragas to minimalist micro-trance adventures capable of taking your consciousness beyond the limitations of time. ‘IS’ comfortably straddles Steffen’s two mainstays: transcendental landscape ragas and experimental excursions that take the steel-string guitar to places that it has never been before. For example the finishing track on the album ‘…and like Wind we go’, is a scratchy textural piece, that while devoid of any obvious melody has a striking atmosphere that will get the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end. "This might be a career best from German Takoma-ite Steffen Basho-Junghans. This new album plays like a showreel of the guitarist's talent... highly recommended" - Boomkat) 26.00
CD
JULIUS EASTMAN - Femenine CD ("The end sounds like the angels opening up heaven... Should we say euphoria?" This is Julius Eastman himself, speaking about Femenine, a piece that remains as a big and slow breathing, with something informal driving the listener to a near-hypnosis state. An experiment. J. E. (1940-1990) There was some for John Cage, then came Christian Wolff, and finally Morton Feldman, from this school in New York. Only Julius Eastman remained outside the game, the last figure, the most solitary and enigmatic - undoubtedly also one of the most powerful. And it is this power that is revealed through these recordings. In the 1970s and 1980s, Eastman was one of the very few African-Americans to gain recognition in the New York avant-garde music scene. He was politically committed, a figure of queer culture and a solar and solitary poet whose melancholy influenced his genius as well as his tragic destiny : suffering from various addictions, declared missing, actually homeless. During Winter of 1981-82, he got deported from his apartment by the police, who destroyed most of what he owned - including scores and recordings. He was found dead in 1990, on the streets of Buffalo, after years of vagrancy.) 15.00
