Here’s the collection of favorites lists for ’06, so far. Some consensus coupled with lots of variety. If I’ve forgotten anyone or there are others to be added, just let me know.
Onward to ’07!
Gerardo Alejos
1.) nmperign / Jason Lescalleet - Love Me Two Times (Intrasitive)
2.) Keith Rowe / Toshimaru Nakamura - between (Erstwhile)
3.) Simon H. Fell - Composition No. 62: Compilation IV (Bruce’s Fingers)
4.) Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Quintet feat. Mats Gustafasson - ONJQ Live in Lisbon (Clean Feed)
5.) Exploding Customer Live at Tampere Jazz Happening (Ayler)
6.) Axel Dörner / Mattin - Berlin (Absurd/1000+1 Tilt)
7.) Evan Parker - Time Lapse (Tzadik)
8.) Ornette Coleman - Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar)
9.) Atomic - Happy New Ears! (Jazzland)
10.) Joanna Newsom - Ys (Drag City)
11.) Klaus Filip / Toshimaru Nakamura - Aluk
12.) Jason Lescallet - The Pikgrim
13.) Keith Rowe / Mark Wastell - Live Concert From the I-and-E Festival, Dublin
14.) Jason Lescalleet / Joe Colley - Annihilate This Week
15.) Joe Foster - Knock Nevis (for Wilson Zorn and J.P. Jenkins)
16.) Serge Baghdassarians / Boris Baltschun - 13.46-11.04-25.09
17.) Greg Davis / Jeph Jerman - Live @ Pere Tucker Regional Gallery, Australia 07-14-2006
Honorable mention: Los Dorados - Turbulencia
David Bauwens
1. Radu Malfatti & Mattin – Going fragile [Formed]
2. Scott Walker – The drift [4AD]
3. Current 93 – Black ships ate the sky [Durtro / Jnana]
4. Ami Yoshida & Christof Kurzmann – a s o [Erstwhile]
5. Joanna Newsom – Ys [Drag City]
6. Nmperign & Jason Lescalleet – Love me two times [2-CD] [Intransitive]
7. Keith Rowe & Toshimaru Nakamura – Between [Erstwhile]
8. Lionel Marchetti – Red dust [3x3”] [Crouton]
9. Drudkh – Blood in our wells [Supernal]
10. Destroyer – Destroyer’s rubies [Merge]
11. Klaus Filip & Toshimaru Nakamura – Aluk [IMJ]
12. Carla Bozulich – Evangelista [Constellation]
13. Kommando Raumschiff Zitrone – First time I ever saw your face [Quincunx]
14. Sanjah – Musen / is [PSF]
15. Dona Dumitru Siminică – Sounds from a bygone age vol. 3 [Asphalt Tango]
16. IST – Lodi [Confront]
17. Beirut – Gulag orkestar [Ba Da Bing!]
18. Olivia Block – Heave to [Sedimental]
19. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – The letting go [Drag City]
20. Keiji Haino & Tony Conrad – Live at Instal, Glasgow, 14 October 2006 [arika.org.uk]
21. Om – Conference of the birds [Holy Mountain]
22. Axel Dörner & Mattin – Berlin [Absurd]
23. The Czars – Sorry I made you cry [Bella Union]
24. Toru Takemitsu – Corona - Tokyo realization (Jim O'Rourke) [Columbia Japan]
25. Manfred Werder – 20061 [Skiti]
26. The Knife – Silent shout [Rabid]
27. Josephine Foster – A wolf in sheep’s clothing [Locust]
28. Jason Lescalleet – The pilgrim [LP+CD] [Glistening Examples]
29. A Hawk And A Hacksaw – The way the wind blows [Leaf]
30. Polwechsel – Archives of the North [HatHut]
31. Johnny Cash – American V: A hundred highways [American / Lost Highway]
32. The Drones – Gala mill [ATP]
33. Oren Ambarchi & Keith Rowe – Squire [For4Ears]
34. Entrance – Prayer of death [Entrance]
35. Kyle Bruckmann / Werner Dafeldecker / Boris Hauf – Wane [Formed]
36. (N:Q) – November Quebec [Esquilo]
37. Wooden Wand – From the road vol. 4: Goat general and other delusions [WWVV]
38. EKG & Giuseppe Ielasi – Group [Formed]
39. Katsura Yamauchi & Michel Doneda – La drache [IMJ]
40. Keiji Haino & Sitaar Tah! – Animamima [2-CD] [Archive]
41. Sibylle Baier – Colour green [Orange Twin]
42. Greg Davis & Jeph Jerman – Ku [Room40]
43. Joe Foster – Ethics [Copula]
44. Tom Waits – Orphans [3-CD] [Anti]
45. Peter Evans – More is more [Psi]
46. Philip Samartzis – Unheard spaces [Microphonics]
47. Masahiko Okura / Günter Müller / Ami Yoshida – Tanker [For4Ears]
48. Will Guthrie – Body and limbs still look to light [Cathnor]
49. David Lacey / Paul Vogel / Mark Wastell – Live concert from the I-And-E Festival 1 April 2006 [Confront]
50. The Contest Of Pleasures – Albi days [Potlatch]
Rob Cambre
-Masayuki Takayanagi - reissues of several rarities that popped up in '06, especially Action Direct, Mass Hysterism In Another Situation, and Eclipse.
-Evan Parker (with Derek Bailey and Han Bennink) - The Topography of the Lungs (reissue, Psi)
-Mission of Burma - The Obliterati (Matador)
-Mats Gustafsson & David Stackenas: Mountain Blues from Sweden (Atavistic)
-Various - Fonotone Records box set (Dust-to-Digital)
-Harry Miller's Isipingo - Which Way Now (Cuneiform)
-Flaming Lips - live performance at Voodoo Fest and At War with the Mystics (Warner Bros.)
-Tetuzi Akiyama - live performance at The Big Top and several CD's, especially Terrifying Street Trees, Route 13 To The Gates of Hell, and Vinegar & Rum.
-Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped (DGC/Geffen)
-Nels Cline - New Monastery (Cryptogramophone) and Cline/Shoup/Corsano - Immolation/Immersion (Strange Attractors Audio House).
Other Faves :
-Carla Bozulich - Evangelista (Constellation) and powerful live performance of same at The Big Top
-Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Brotherman in the Fatherland (Hyena)
-Frank Wright Quartet - Unity (ESP-Disk)
-Cat Power - The Greatest (Matador)
-Peter Brotzmann Group - ALARM (reissue, Atavistic)
-William Parker - Long Hidden, Olmec Series (Aum Fidelity)
-Nash Kontroll - Your Left Hand Just Exploded (Ideal)
-Sun Ra Space Arkestra - What Planet Is This? (Leo)
Other stuff:
-The amazing tenacity and growth of the scene for adventurous/improvised music in New Orleans in the face of overwhelming odds that would kill most towns. Somehow the first year post-Katrina was perhaps the most energized one for the scene in years. Elders Kidd Jordan and Alvin Fielder are still a strong presence, and now there's a growing crop of younger players.
-Playing-wise, a great year of first meetings with inspiring collaborators: Roger Turner, Dave Dove, Suzanne Thorpe, Annette Krebs, and Tetuzi Akiyama. How fortunate am I? And more hits with longtimers Donald Miller, Endre Landsnes, and Bill Hunsinger. Yet another fine bout with Tatsuya Nakatani.
-Personal introduction to the very fab improvising community in Austin/Houston (largely via the NoIdea Festival), espec. Dave Dove, Chris Cogburn, Sandy Ewen, Nick Hennies, PG Moreno, and Mari Akita. Lovely folks, all. Good to have some regional neighbors.
-My town surviving in spite of fuck-all in the way of help from the government.
-Goodbyes to too many too soon: Raphe M., Dewey R., JB, Malchi R., Will Westbrook, Arthur Lee, Syd...i'm sure i'm forgetting several others.
-Stephen Colbert, Keith Olberman, and others for fighting the good fight.
Nate Dorward
The shortlist
1.) Simon Fell, Compilation IV, Bruce’s Fingers
2.) Trio BraamDeJoodeVatcher, Change This Song, BBB
3.) Bobby Zankel and the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, Ceremonies of Forgiveness, Dreambox Media
4.) Kent Carter String Trio, Intersections, Emanem
5.) Andrew Rathbun, George Colligan, Renderings: The Art of the Duo, Fresh Sound New Talent
6.) Misha Mengelberg, Afijn, ICP/Data Images (DVD)
7.) Nels Cline, New Monastery, Cryptogramophone
8.) Trio 3 (Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille), Time Being, Intakt
9.) Roy Nathanson, Sotto Voce, AUM Fidelity
10.) Buck Hill, Relax, Severn
11.) Fred Hess, How ’Bout Now, Tapestry
12.) Ran Blake, All That is Tied, Tompkins Square
13.) Paul Flaherty, Chris Corsano, The Beloved Music, Family Vineyard
14.) Simon Nabatov, A Few Incidences, Leo
15.) Andrew Hill, Time Lines, Blue Note
16.) Jesse Zubot, Dementia, Drip Audio
17.) Billy Stein, Hybrids, Barking Hoop
18.) Rudresh Mahanthappa, Codebook, Pi
19.) Trio Continuo, Authentic Basics, WLJWC
20.) Ab Baars, Kinda Dukish, Wig
21.) Evan Parker, Crossing the River, Psi
22.) Lee Konitz/Ohad Talmor String Project, Inventions, OmniTone
23.) ROVA, Totally Spinning, Black Saint
24.) John Butcher/Christof Kurzmann, The Big Misunderstanding Between Hertz and Megahertz, Potlatch
25.) Howard Riley, Two is One, Emanem
26.) Peter Evans, More is More, Psi
27.) Tony Bevan, John Edwards, Orphy Robinson, Mark Sanders, Ashley Wales, Derek Bailey, Bruise with Derek Bailey, Foghorn
28.) Alex Ward, Luke Barlow, Simon Fell, Steve Noble, Help Point, Copepod
29.) George Lewis, Sequel (For Lester Bowie), Intakt
30.) Conjure, Bad Mouth, American Clavé
31.) São Paulo Underground, Sauna: Um, Dos, Três, Aesthetics
32.) Fond of Tigers, A Thing to Live With, Drip Audio
33.) Jeff Kaiser, Andrew Pask, G.E. Stinson, Steuart Liebig, The Choir Boys with Strings, pfMentum
34.) Stefano Battaglia, Raccolto, ECM
35.) John Ettinger, Kissinger in Space, self-released
36.) Johnny Valentino, Stingy Brim, OmniTone
37.) Thom Gossage/Other Voices, 5, Effendi
38.) Achim Kaufman, Michael Moore, Dylan van der Schyff, Kamosc, Red Toucan
39.) Robert Marcel Lepage, Pee Wee et Moi, Ambiances Magnétiques
40.) Phil Nimmons/David Braid, Beginnings, self-released (NNB)
41.) Michiel Braam’s Wurli Trio, Hosting Changes, BBB
42.) Tony Wilson, Horse’s Dream, Drip Audio
43.) Temperamental Trio, Raw and the Cooked, Kadima Collective Recordings
44.) Dave Liebman/Bobby Avey, Vienna Dialogues, Zoho
45.) Jorrit Dijkstra/John Hollenbeck, Sequence, Trytone
46.) Reuben Radding, Fugitive Pieces, Pine Ear
47.) Billy Hart, Billy Hart Quartet, HighNote
48.) Jack DeJohnette/Bill Frisell, The Elephant Sleeps but Still Remembers, Golden Dreams
49.) Johnny la Marama, “…Fire!”, Traumton
50.) Jack Wright, Tom Djll, Bhob Rainey, Tim Feeney, Road Signs, Soul on Rice
51.) Jack Wright, As Is: Solos from Beirut & Barcelona, Spring Garden Music
52.) Badland (Simon Rose/Simon H Fell/Steve Noble), The Society of the Spectacle, Emanem
53.) Agusti Fernandez/Mats Gustafsson, Critical Mass, Psi
54.) Free Zone Appleby 2005, Psi
55.) Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell, Streaming, Pi
56.) Roscoe Mitchell, No Side Effects, RogueArt
57.) Mujician, There’s No Going Back Now, Cuneiform
58.) Ornette Coleman, Sound Grammar, Sound Grammar [Nice album, but, no, it’s not in my top ten, or top twenty. There are boots out there of this band which seem to me better…]
59.)Omer Avital, Asking No Permission, Smalls Records
60.) Polwechsel, Archives of the North, Hatology
61.) Miles Perkin, Common Thread, Ombu
62.) Lindsey Horner, Don’t Count on Glory, Cadence
63.) Matt Steckler, Persiflage, Innova
64.) Dave Burrell, Momentum, High Two
65.) Drumheller, Wives, Rat-Drifting
66.) Schlippenbach Trio, Winterreise, Psi
67.) The Reveries, Live in Bologna, Rat-Drifting
Reissues/Vault issues
“Vault issue” is the term for issues of previously unreleased older material. I’m defining “older” as “ten years or more” (hence the Chapin).
1.) Roswell Rudd, Blown Bone, Emanem
2.) John Butcher, Phil Durrant, Paul Lovens, Radu Malfatti, John Russell, News from the Shed, Emanem
3.) Barry Guy/London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Study II, Stringer, Intakt
4.) Thomas Chapin, Ride, Playscape
5.) Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, The Topography of the Lungs, Psi
6.) Warne Marsh, Ne Plus Ultra, Hatology
7.) Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Biosystem, Psi
8.) Iskra 1903 (Rutherford/Wachsmann/Guy), Chapter Two, Emanem
Fun in the Dark
Kazutoki Umezu: Show the Frog
J-Zone: To Love a Hooker
Sten Hanson: Autobiography
Dead C: Perform Max Harris
Dead C: live in San Fran '95 bootleg CD
Kuchiroro: Fanfare
Kuchiroro: 20th Century Abstracts
Kuchiroro: Light of Morning/ Cinderella Beach
Kuchiroro: (three squares)
Poets of Rhythm: Practice What You Preach
Sun City Girls: Piano Bar box
Glands of External Secretion: (the LP with the bright painting of the nun and the squirrel on the cover)
Robert j. Kirkpatrick
The following lists would be my favorite recordings of 2006 in several different categories. The first are my favorites of the year, the things that I thought were amazing music, that I listened to over and over again. In general these are all one hundred percent solid, albums that only have a couple of good tracks on them are usually not candidates for this. For me, and perhaps it is my classical background, but I think of albums as a piece and if they contain a bad track or two it just won’t become a favorite. However this year there were several albums that had pretty amazing tracks on them but were marred by one or two tracks. These I’ve collected into the Other Things I Liked section along with a couple of things just shy of the top twenty. Finally the “Essential Reissues” is certainly not comprehensive and is really just a couple of things that are pretty much top five material but I either already had in previous editions or were clear reissues of an existing album.
2006 Favorites
Keith Rowe/Toshimaru Nakamura between (Erstwhile)
Ann Heymann Cruit go nÓr • Harp of Gold (self released)
Filament Dark Room Filled with Light (Uplink)
David Tudor/Gordon Mumma (New World)
(N:Q) November Quebec (Esquilo)
Toshimaru Nakamura/Klaus Filip aluk (IMJ)
Anthony Burr/Charlies Curtis Alvin Lucier (Antioptic)
Mark Wastell/David Lacey/Paul Vogel Live at the i+e festival (Confront)
Traw with Rhodri Davies Cwymp Y Dwr Ar Ganol Dydd (Confront)
Taku Sugimoto/Taku Unami Tengu Et Kitsune (Slub)
Eddie Prevost Entelechy (Matchless)
J.S. Bach Goldberg Variations, 14 Canons (Richard Egarr Harpsichord) (Harmonia Mundi)
Keith Rowe/Tomas Korber/Günter Müller fibre (For4Ears)
Manfred Werder 20061 (Skiti)
Burkhard Stangl / Taku Unami I was (Hibari)
Fergus Kelly/David Lacey Bevel (Room Temperature)
Nmperign/Jason Lescalleet Love Me Two Times (Intransitive)
Jeph Jerman/Albert Casais/Greg Davis - 6×20 (Winds Measure)
Joe Foster Knock Nevis (For Wilson Zorn and J.P. Jenkins) (homophoni)
Ami Yoshida/Christof Kurzmann a s o (Erstwhile)
Essential Reissues:
John Cage Sonata’s and Interludes for Prepared Piano (John Tilbury, Piano) (Explore)
Earl Brown Selected Works 1952-1965 (New World)
Morton Feldman The Viola in My Life (New World)
Other Things I liked:
GOD Each One Confinement Force (self released)
Joe Panzner Polished Rocks (gmby)
Masahiko Okura/Ami Yoshida/Günter Müller tanker (For4Ears)
Will Guthrie Body and Limbs Still Look to Light (Cathnor)
Morton Feldman Complete Violin/Viola and Piano Works (OgreOgress)
Joe Foster Ethics (Self Released)
Brian Olewnick
10 Favorites of 2006, in rough order of preference:
1) Keith Rowe/Toshimaru Nakamura - between (Erstwhile)
2) Jason Lescalleet - The Pilgrim (Glistening Examples)
3) Ferran Fages/Will Guthrie - cinabri (Absurd)
4) Olivia Block - Heave To (Sedimental)
5) Filament - Dark Room filled with Light (Uplink)
6) Keith Rowe/Mark Wastell - s/t (Confront)
7) Looper - Squarehorse (Absurd)
8) David Lacey/Paul Vogel/Mark Wastell - s/t (Confront)
9) Mattin/Radu Malfatti - Going Fragile (Formed)
10) [N:Q] - November Quebec (Esquilo)
Runners-up:
11) Alfredo Costa Monteiro - Stylt (Absurd)
12) Jeph Jerman - Lithiary (Fargone)
13) Mark Wastell - Amoungst English Men (absinth)
14) Gabriel Paiuk - Res Extensa (Sedimental)
15) Serge Baghdassarians/Boris Baltschun/Burkhard Beins - Zur Stabilen Stutzung... (absinth)
16) Joel Stern/Anthony Guerra - Outdoor Bowers (twothousandand)
17) (various) - For Feldman (OgreOgress)
18) Morton Feldman - Complete Violin/Viola and Piano Works (OgreOgress)
19) Didac Lagarriga - The Reversed Supermarket Trolley.... (Lalia)
20) Kai Fagaschinski/Bernhard Gal - Going Around in Serpentines (Charizma)
10 Things Containing Music from Years Past that I Loved:
1) Morton Feldman - The Viola in My Life (New World)
2) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - En Concert a Paris (Ocora)
3) Pura Paku Alaran - Java: Court Gamelan, Vol. 1 (Nonesuch)
4) Ornette Coleman - Paris Concert (Trio)
5) Robert Ashley - Dust (Lovely Music)
6) Keith Rowe/Oren Ambarchi - Squire (For4Ears)
7) David Tudor/Gordon Mumma - s/t (New World)
8) Loren Connors - Night Through (Family Vineyard)
9) Nguyen Vinh Bao - Nguyen Vinh Bao Ensemble (Ocora)
10) Luc Ferrari - Son Memorise (Sub Rosa)
Other recordings I enjoyed a bunch (thanks, everyone!)
Philip Samartzis - Unheard Spaces (Microphonics)
Ami Yoshida/Christof Kurzmann - aso (Erstwhile)
Giuseppe Ielasi/Howie Steltzer - Night Life (Bronbron)
Jon Mueller/Jason Kahn - Supershells (Formed)
Tomas Korber/Keith Rowe/Gunter Muller - Fibre (For4Ears)
Rick Reed - Dark Skies at Noon (Elevator Bath)
Richard Chartier - Current (Room40)
Mattin/Jean-Luc Guionnet/Bertrand Denzler/Taku Unami - -/:. (Fargone)
Ingar Zach - In (Kning)
Asher - Three Untitled Compositions (CDR)
Mersault - Mersault (Quakebasket)
EKG/Giuseppe Ielasi - Group (Formed)
Nmperign/Jason Lescalleet - Love Me Two Times (Intransitive)
Mike Cooper - Giacinto (Hipshot)
Greg Davis/Jeph Jerman - Ku (Room40)
Philip Samartzis/Lawrence English - One Plus One (Room40)
Seth Nihil/John Grzinich - Gyre (Cut)
AS11 - Monotheism (antifrost)
Michael Renkel - Errorkoerpor III (absinth)
Ingar Zach - Percussion Music (Sofa)
Traw/Rhodri Davies - Cwymp y Dwr ar Ganol Dydd (Confront)
Sei Miguel - The Tone Gardens (Creative Sources)
Loren Chasse/Phil Mouldycliff/Chris Potter/Keith Rowe - Debris Field (ICR)
Eliane Radigue - Elemental II (Records of Sleaze Art)
Annette Krebs - Untitled (CDR)
Asher - And, Invariably, the Blue (CDR)
Michael Renkel/Sonia Bender - 7ft_KONKA (absinth)
Philip Samartzis/Kozo Inada - h[ ] (Room40)
Mike Shiflet - Ichinomiya 5.3.6 (Little Enjoyer)
Adam Sonderberg/Paul Bradley - Anoxia (Longbox)
Greg Davis/Steven Hess - Decisions (Longbox)
Asher - Graceful Degradation (con-v)
Daniel Menche - Creatures of Cadence (Longbox)
Mattin/Axel Dorner - Berlin (absurd)
John Butcher/Christof Kurzmann - The Big Misunderstanding... (Potlatch)
Jason Kahn/Tomas Korber/Christian Weber - Zurchen Aufnahmen (Longbox)
Will Guthrie - Building Blocks (Antboy)
Sunshine Has Blown - s/t (mymwly)
Michel Doneda - Solo las Planques (Sillon)
Eddie Prevost - Entelechy (Matchless)
Kommando Raumschiff Zitrone - First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Quincunx)
Arek Gulbenkoglu - s/t (Antboy)
Polwechsel - Archives of the North (hatOLOGY)
If, Bwana - Gruntle (absurd)
Janek Schaefer - In the Last Hour (Room40)
RM74/RLW - Pirouetten (Crouton)
Momeht Ybaxehnr - Five Moments of Silence for the Dead of Chernobyl (Fargone)
Minamo - A Herdsman's Life (Esquilo)
Will Montgomery - Water Blinks (Selvageflame)
Scott Walker - The Drift (Drag City)
HZL - Ayes (White Flag)
VHF - Statics (l'Innomable)
Joe Colley/Jason Lescalleet - Annihilate the Week (Korm)
Bruce Russell - 21st Century Field Hollers and Prison Songs (wmo/r)
Will Guthrie - Body and Linbs Still Look to Light (Cathnor)
Sabine Ercklentz - Steinschlag (l'Innomable)
Loy Fankbonner - El Pabellon (Azul Discografica)
Grundik Kasynasky - Light and Roundchair (Creative Sources)
Richard Pinnell
A Top 20 then, selected from 350 or so acquisitions in 2006 and obviously excluding any Cathnor releases...
1. Keith Rowe / Toshimaru Nakamura – between (Erstwhile)
2. Taku Sugimoto / Taku Unami – Tengu et Kitsune (Slub)
3. Klaus Filip / Toshimaru Nakamura – Aluk (IMJ)
4. [N:Q] – November Quebec (Esquilo)
5. Mark Wastell – Amoungst English Men (Absinth)
6. Jakob Ullmann – A Catalogue of Sounds (Edition RZ)
7. Nmperign / Jason Lescalleet – Love me two times (Intransitive)
8. Mattin / Radu Malfatti – Going Fragile (Formed)
9. David Lacey / Paul Vogel / Mark Wastell – Live Dublin (Confront)
10. Manfred Werder – 20061 (Skiti)
11. Keith Rowe, Tomas Korber, Gunter Müller – Fibre (For 4 Ears)
12. Will Guthrie / Ferran Fages – Cinabri (Absurd)
13. Anthony Burr, Charles Curtis – Alvin Lucier (Antiopic/Sigma)
14. Burkhard Stangl / Taku Unami – i was (Hibari)
15. Arek Gulbenkoglu – Untitled (Document)
16. Tim Parkinson – Cello Piece (Wandelweiser)
17. Jason Lescalleet – The Pilgrim (Glistening Examples)
18. Kai Fagaschinski / Christof Kurzmann – First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Quincunx)
19. Christof Kurzmann / Ami Yoshida – a s o (Erstwhile)
20. Taku Sugimoto – Live in Kansai (Slub)
Tom Sekowski
SOME FAVOURITE RECORDS IN 2006
MIKE SAMMES & THE MIKE SAMMES SINGERS - Music for Biscuits [Trunk Records]
PHILL NIBLOCK - Touch Three [Touch]
PETER WRIGHT - Pariahs Sing Om [Last Visible Dog Records]
JANEK SCHAEFFER - IN THE LAST HOUR [Room40]
JOHN CALE - New York in the 1960s [Table of the Elements]
TAYLOR DEUPREE - Northern [12K]
VOLCANO THE BEAR - Egg and Two Books [Vivo Records]
HISATO HIGUCHI - Dialogue [Family Vineyard]
SENOR COCONUT AND HIS ORCHESTRA - Yellow Fever! [Essay Recordings]
GEORG GRAEWE / ERNST REIJSEGER / GERRY HEMINGWAY Continuum [Winter & Winter]
DEREK BAILEY - To Play [Samadhi Sound]
SECRET MOMMY - Plays [Ache Records]
FOVEA HEX - Neither Speak Nor Remain Silent: Two – Huge [Die Stadt/Janet Records]
PAULINE OLIVEROS - The Roots of the Moment [hathut]
RAY WARLEIGH - Ray Warleigh's First Album [Sunbeam Records]
LIBRARY TAPES - Feelings for Something Lost [Resonant]
SCOTT WALKER – The Drift [4AD]
ERIC LA CASA - Air.Ratio [SIRR]
sunnO))) & BORIS - Altar [Southern Lord]
TETUZI AKIYAMA / OREN AMBARCHI / ALAN LICHT - Willow Weep and Moan For Me
[Antiopic]
FAVOURITE COMPILATIONS OF 2006 – Tom Sekowski
VARIOUS ARTISTS - From the Closet to the Charts: Queer Noises 1961 – 1978 [Trikont]
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Radio Algeria [Sublime Frequencies]
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Jamaica to Toronto: Soul, Funk & Reggae 1967 – 1974 [Light in the Attic]
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Musics in the Margin [Sub Rosa]
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Brazilian Beat Brooklyn [Mr. Bongo]
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Sunday Afternoon at Dingwalls [Ether Records]
RICHARD GARET / DALE LLOYD / JOS SMOLDERS / UBEBOET - Territorium [Non Visual Objects]
DVD RELEASE TO DIE FOR - 2006
BAD BRAINS - Live at CBGB 1982 [MVD Video]
Gary Sisco
Jazz
Ornette Coleman - Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar)
Ab Baars Quartet - Kinda Dukish (Wig)
Exploded Customer - Live at Tampere Jazz Happening (Ayler)
Assif Tsahar, Cooper-Moore, Hamid Drake - Lost Brother (Hopscotch)
Fred Anderson – Timeless (Delmark)
Georg Graewe/ Ernst Reijseger/ Gerry Hemingway – Continuum (Winter & Winter)
Dennis Gonzalez's Boston Project -- No Photograph Available (Clean Feed)
Ellery Eskelin -- Quiet Music (Prime Source)
Trio Braam/DeJoode/Vatcher - Change This Song (BBB)
Joe Morris -- Beautiful Existence (Clean Feed)
Other Music
Keith Rowe / Toshimaru Nakamura - between (Erstwhile)
Polwechsel - Archives of the North (Hat)
v/a -- The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of (Yazoo)
v/a -- American Primitive, V2 (Revenant)
The Places -- Songs For Creeps (High Plains Sigh)
The Necks -- Chemist (ReR)
BJ Nilsen & Silluppsteypa -- Drykkjuvisur Ohliodanna (HMS008)
GOD -- Each on Confinement Force (Rasbliutto)
Jeffrey Frederick -- Clamtones BC (Frederick Productions)
N:Q --November Quebec (Esquilo)
Damon Smith
Stand out cds of 2006:
Birgit Ulher - Scatter (Creative Sources)
Roscoe Mitchell - No Side Effects (RogueArt)
Kidd Jordan - Palm of Soul (AUM Fidelity)
Roscoe Mitchell / George Lewis/ Muhal RichardAbrams - Streaming (Pi)
Joëlle Léandre - Concerto Grosso (Jazz’Halo)
Michael Maierhof - collection_1
Evan Paker / Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton - Zafiro (Maya)
What We Live - Sound Catcher (Fire Museum)
Polwechsel - Archives of the north (hatOLOGY)
Schilippenbach - 12 Tone Tales, Vols. 1 & 2 (Intakt)
Wolfgang Fuchs / Fred Van Hove - Facetten (a/l/l
Mersault
Keith Rowe / Toshi Nakamura - between (Erstwhile)
Peter K Frey / Urs Voerkel / Christoph Gallio - TIEGEL (Atavistic)
Peter K Frey / Daniel Studer - Kontrabass duo Zweierlei
Mujician - Theres's No Going Back Now (Cuneiform)
Mark Dresser / Roswell Rudd - Air Walkers (Clean Feed)
Iskra 1903 - Chapter Two: 1981-3 (Emanem)
Other stuff:
* Ubu.com
* Seeing a double exhibition at Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin: Rebecca Horn Downstairs/Herman Nitsch Upstairs
* Seeing a ton of live gigs By Joëlle Léandre and her kicking ass on every one of them.
* Touring Israel again with Ariel Shibolet
* Getting a lot of releases out of the can
* Playing a ton of gigs with a really wide range with Weasel Walter
* Meeting and playing with Joe Morris
* Hanging out with Fuchs in Berlin and Birgit Ulher in Hamburg
Derek Taylor
50+5 in 2006 (no particular order as that would take the better part of a fortnight to finish)
Joe Morris – BEAUTIFUL EXISTENCE (Clean Feed)
Alexander von Schlippenbach – TWELVE TONE TALES, VOLS. 1 & 2 (Intakt)
Kent Carter – INTERSECTIONS (Emanem)
Thomas Chapin – RIDE (Playscape)
Trio 3 – TIME OF BEING (Intakt)
Kidd Jordan – PALM OF SOUL (AUM Fidelity)
Ellery Eskelin – QUIET MUSIC (Prime Source)
Assif Tsahar/ Cooper-Moore/ Chad Taylor – DIGITAL PRIMITIVES (Hopscotch)
Stephen Gauci – WE’RE COMING JUST ONE TIME (Cadence Jazz)
Bill Barron – LIVE AT COBI’S, VOL. 2 (Steeplechase)
Andy Biskin – TRIO TRAGICO (StrudelMedia)
Dave Burrell – MOMENTUM (High Two)
Carl Maguire – FLORICULTURE (Between the Lines)
Various – FREE ZONE APPLEBY 2005 (Psi)
Roscoe Mitchell – NO SIDE EFFECTS (RogueArt)
Harry Miller’s Isipingo – WHICH WAY NOW (Cuneiform)
Benny Maupin – PENUMBRA (Cryptogramaphone)
Otomo Yoshihide’s New Jazz Quintet – LIVE IN LISBON (Clean Feed)
Agusti Fernandez/ Barry Guy/ Ramon Lopez – AURORA (Maya)
Fred Hess – HOW ‘BOUT NOW (Capri)
Rich Perry – AT THE KITANO (Steeplechase)
Odean Pope Saxophone Choir – LOCKED AND LOADED (High Note)
Rashaan Roland Kirk – BROTHERMAN IN THE FATHERLAND (Hyena)
Frank Wright – UNITY (ESP)
Steve Lantner – PARADISE ROAD (Skycap)
Peter Brötzmann & Michael Zerang – LIVE IN BEIRUT 2005 (Almaslakh)
Evan Parker/ Barry Guy/ Paul Lytton – ZAFIRO (Maya)
Roy Nathanson – SOTTO VOCE (AUM Fidelity)
Stephen Gauci/ Reuben Radding/ Todd Capp – THE FIRST THIRD (577)
Buck Hill – RELAX (Severn)
Free Music Ensemble – MONTAGE (Okkadisk)
Evan Parker – CROSSING THE RIVER (Psi)
Adam Lane’s Full Throttle Orchestra – NEW MAGICAL KINGDOM (Clean Feed)
Seith Meicht – ILLUMINE (CIMP)
David S. Ware – BALLADWARE (Thirsty Ear)
John McNeil – EAST COAST COOL (Omnitone)
Trio Beyond – SAUDADES (ECM)
John Tchicai/ Charlie Kohlhase/ Garrison Fewell – GOOD NIGHT SONGS (Boxholder)
Microscopic Sextet – HISTORY OF THE MICROS, 1 & 2 (Cuneiform)
Iskra 1903 – CHAPTER TWO: 1981-3 (Emanem)
Peter Brötzmann – PICA PICA (Atavistic)
Evan Parker – TOPOGRAPHY OF THE LUNGS (Psi)
Steve Lacy – ESTEEM (Atavistic)
Jim Hall – THE COMPLETE JAZZ GUITAR (Gambit)
Sonny Rollins – LIVE IN LONDON, VOL. 3 (Harkit)
Gerry Mulligan – THE ORIGINAL SEXTET COMPLETE STUDIO MASTER TAKES (Lonehill)
Gil Evans – COMPLETE PACIFIC JAZZ RECORDINGS (Blue Note)
Roswell Rudd – BLOWN BONE (Emanem)
Lee Konitz – VERY COOL/TRANQUILITY (Gambit)
Loren Conners – NIGHT THROUGH (Family Vineyard)
Joe McPhee & Clifford Thornton – AT WBAI’s FREE MUSIC STORE 1971 (hatOLOGY)
Lou Blackburn – COMPLETE IMPERIAL RECORDINGS (Blue Note)
Serge Chaloff – BOSTON BLOW-UP! (Capitol)
Spontaneous Music Ensemble – BIOSYSTEM (Emanem)
John Coltrane – FEARLESS LEADER (Prestige)
Alastair Wilson
Mark Wastell - Amo(u)ngst English Men (Absinth)
Sunshine Has Blown - Sunshine Has Blown (MYMWLY)
Stangl/Unami - I Was (Hibari)
Lasse Marhaug - Spaghetti Western Rainbow (Utech)
Nakamura/Filip - Aluk (IMJ)
Eric La Casa - Secousses Panoramiques (Hibari)
The Necks - Chemist (Fish of Milk/ReR)
The Year Of - Slow Days (Morr Music)
Greg Malcolm - Hung (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon)
The International Nothing - Mainstream (Ftarri)
Sergio Zamora
Ami Yoshida / Christoph Kurzmann - a s o (Erstwhile)
[N:Q] - November Quebec (Esquilo)
Muhal Richard Abrams / George Lewis / Roscoe Mitchell – Streaming (Pi)
Ornette Coleman - Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar)
Keith Rowe / Toshimaru Nakamura – between (Erstwhile)
nmperign / Jason Lescalleet - Love Me Two Times (Intransitive)
Ali Farka Toure – Savane (World Circuit)
Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza – Azioni (Die Schachtel)
Roscoe Mitchell Trio - No Side Effects (RogueArt)
V/A - The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of (Yazoo)
Filament et al - Dark Room Filled with Light
Kommando Raumschiff Zitrone - First Time I Ever Saw Your Face (Quincunx)
Tom Ze - Estudando o Pagode (Luaka Bop)
Ghostface Killah – Fishscale (Def Jam)
AVVA - Gdansk Queen (Erstwhile)
Tsahar / Cooper-Moore - Lost Brother (Hopscotch)
Dennis Gonzalez - Idle Wild (Clean Feed)
George Lewis - Sequel (For Lester Bowie) (Intakt)
Ellery Eskelin - Quiet Music (Prime Source)
Will Guthrie - Body and Limbs Still Look To Light (Cathnor)
TV Pow – presents (Southport)
Lacey / Vogel / Wastell - Confront Performance Series 1
Ernest Dawkins New Horizon Ensemble - The Messenger: Live at the Velvet Lounge (Delmark)
Mattin / Malfatti - Going Fragile (Formed)
Oren Ambarchi / Keith Rowe – Squire (For4Ears)
Joelle Leandre - At the Le Mans Jazz Festival (Leo)
EKG / Ielasi – Group (Formed)
John Butcher / Christoph Kurzmann - The Big Misunderstanding Between Hertz and Megahertz (Potlach)
Frequency - s/t (Thrill Jockey)
The Electrics - Live at the Glenn Miller Café (Ayler)
Ben Goldberg - The Door the Hat the Chair the Fact (Cryptogramaphone)
Yells at Eels – Geografia (Inner Realms Outer Realms)
Boghossian / Tilbury / Wastell - Archi.Texture Vol 1 (Cathnor)
Paul Flaherty / Chris Corsano - The Beloved Music (Family Vineyard)
Kent Carter String Trio – Intersections (Emanem)
Polwechsel - Archives of the North (hatOLOGY)
Ferran Fages / Will Guthrie – Cinabri (Absurd)
The Coup - Pick A Bigger Weapon (Epitaph)
Although it'll push my list to the bottom (a recurring theme for me and my fellow alphabetically-challenged comrades), Derek feel free to put my last name on my list - Wilson.
Posted by: Alastair at January 7, 2007 2:51 PMYou forgot to include Phil Freeman's Wire list (can't remember which thread it was on). I was going to add mine but I seem to have deleted the file and can't remember what the ten were, not that it's all that important. Nice to see Alastair chose the Stangl Hibari I Was - I enjoyed that a lot too, and still feel bad about not writing anything on it. Can't share your enthusiasm for Going Fragile and N:Q though, I'm afraid (Brian and others).
Posted by: Dan Warburton at January 7, 2007 10:30 PMMy addiction to downloading live recordings and the like has cut down on my record purchases this past year, so I hesitated to even list anything. However, I thought I'd weigh in with a couple records I thought to be exceptional.
Frequency - FREQUENCY (Thrill Jockey) - After playing together for many years, this all-star quartet (Niki Mitchell, Harrison Bankhead, Avreeayl Ra & Ed Wilkerson) finally released a record. To my ears, this is the most exciting and fresh group playing in Chicago.
Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - ETHIOPIA SONG (Buda Musique) - Installment twenty-one in the Ethiopiques series. This is haunting and beautiful solo piano music unlike anything else I've heard.
Posted by: Joel Wanek at January 8, 2007 12:52 AMHow about peoples' top jazz/improv related films/dvds ??
Posted by: Joel Wanek at January 8, 2007 12:56 AMi didn't really go too crazy for much of anything released in 2006, but then again, i'm really weird and aberrant according to a lot of people.
there were some things i played more than a few times - takayanagi's "axis" reissues, a lot of great brutal death metal records that sounded pretty much exactly the same, ocrilim's "annoint" - but i wasn't really head over heels in love with anything that came out this year.
i would be lying if i didn't say that i feel that several of my own albums had to be in my top 10 for 2006. play for play, i definitely listened to my own music more than i listened to anything else:
- The Flying Luttenbachers - Cataclysm
- Weasel Walter Quartet - Revolt Music
I also spent a lot of time this year recording drums over various vintage free jazz records for fun and general practice purposes. since december 2005 i've done 57 of these things and most of them can be found on soulseek very easily.
top 8 things i listened to this year that weren't released in 2006:
- The Sweet - various live 1976 bootlegs
- The Frogs - various live bootlegs from 1986-2003
- lots of individual tracks by early '70s pre/proto-punk/glam/prog/whatever bands
- Lair of the Minotaur because i had to learn their songs for tour
- Electric Light Orchestra - various songs from all their albums up to "Out of the Blue"
- lots of obscure '70s free jazz albums
- 16/17 double CD set because i remastered it
- lots of excuses and abuse from a former record label about why he persisted in ripping me and my band off for money he owed me - this matter soaked up way too much time and energy. i look forward to the closure of this matter due early this year . . .
that's quite enough.
Derek -- Please include the following "other music" list with my 2006 jazz list. Thanks. Gary Sisco
Keith Rowe / Toshimaru Nakamura - between (Erstwhile)
Polwechsel - Archives of the North (Hat)
v/a -- The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of (Yazoo)
v/a -- American Primitive, V2 (Revenant)
The Places -- Songs For Creeps (High Plains Sigh)
The Necks -- Chemist (ReR)
BJ Nilsen & Silluppsteypa -- Drykkjuvisur Ohliodanna (HMS008)
GOD -- Each on Confinement Force (Rasbliutto)
Jeffrey Frederick -- Clamtones BC (Frederick Productions)
N:Q --November Quebec (Esquilo)
Hi Derek, thanks for compiling these lists.
And just as Gary, I'd ask you to please include these in my final list (melting my jazz list and the eai list I sent to Audition):
11.) Klaus Filip / Toshimaru Nakamura - Aluk
12.) Jason Lescalleet - The Pikgrim
13.) Keith Rowe / Mark Wastell - Live Concert From the I-and-E Festival, Dublin
14.) Jason Lescalleet / Joe Colley - Annihilate This Week
15.) Joe Foster - Knock Nevis (for Wilson Zorn and J.P. Jenkins)
16.) Serge Baghdassarians / Boris Baltschun - 13.46-11.04-25.09
17.) Greg Davis / Jeph Jerman - Live @ Pere Tucker Regional Gallery, Australia 07-14-2006
Posted by: Gerardo Alejos at January 9, 2007 11:46 AMAlso feel free to correct the typo in Jason Lescallet's "The Pilgrim", thanks. :-)
Posted by: Gerardo Alejos at January 9, 2007 11:49 AMI find it surprising that the same albums end up on so many people's lists. Makes me think less that the particular albums are great, more that listeners are sheep.
Posted by: that reflection at January 9, 2007 1:46 PMBaaaaaaaaa.
Posted by: walt at January 9, 2007 2:03 PM..humbug!
Posted by: Dan Warburton at January 9, 2007 9:49 PMI seem to recall somebody here (not sure if it wasn't Jon Abbey) complaining about the laughable Londoncentricity of the Wire Year End lists, and the fact that every recording made by Derek Bailey was invariably chosen regardless of how good it was. Substitute Rowe for Bailey and it seems Bagatellen isn't all that different.
Posted by: Dan Warburton at January 9, 2007 10:36 PMdude, who is keith rowe? was he in the yardbirds?
ww
Posted by: weasel walter at January 10, 2007 12:28 AMI don't see anyone listing his Bags piece... :)
more seriously, I said that specifically about one year-end Wire list (2004? 2005?), in which I think 8 out of 10 records had at least one musician from London. there's not a single list above so geographically biased/narrow.
Posted by: jon abbey at January 10, 2007 12:57 AMReminds me of the two decades from roughly 1965 onwards, when European free improvisation was in its creative heyday. Virtually no American then had even heard, let alone owned, an FMP, an Incus, an Emanem or an ICP.
Their media were still emptily shouting, "New York is the musical capital of the world".
Best releases in 2006 (some of them came out at the end of 2005, but ....):
1. Nmperign/Lescalleet-Love me two times
2. Okura/Müller/Yoshida-Tanker
3. Mersault-Mersault
4. Rowe/Nakamura-between
5. Susan Alcorn-Concentration
6. Polwechsel-Archives of the north
7. ONJO-Out to lunch
8. Burr/Curtis-Alvin Lucier
9. Yoshihide/Saga-See you in a dream
10. Lou Gare-No strings attached
11. Michiyo Yagi-Seventeen
12. Schmickler/Tilbury-Variety
13. Ornette Coleman-Sound grammar
14. Korber/Rowe/Müller-Fibre
15. 3/4HadBeenEliminated-A year of the aural gauge operation
between is a nice cd, but it should have been launched as two separate cds: the Vienna session in one cd, the Lausanne track in another cd ... and 13630 khz as free download from Erswhile website.
"between is a nice cd, but it should have been launched as two separate cds: the Vienna session in one cd, the Lausanne track in another cd ... and 13630 khz as free download from Erswhile website. "
heh, that's a novel and less then compelling idea. along similar lines, your highly ranked 'Tanker' would be a much better disc if it was just the first long track. nice to see someone mention that Otomo pop record, that's a good one.
Posted by: jon abbey at January 10, 2007 6:36 AMNo Rowe on my list, but wthdik?
Posted by: derek at January 10, 2007 6:53 AMdid you hear any of his releases this year?
Posted by: jon abbey at January 10, 2007 7:38 AMbesides the Bags snippet, I mean...
Posted by: jon abbey at January 10, 2007 7:41 AMIf he didn't hear Between you'd better send him a copy posthaste, Jon!
Posted by: Dan Warburton at January 10, 2007 7:55 AMI listened to an mp3 copy of between via a Pando file sent by Dusted, realizing that that format isn’t very suitable for the music. Predictably enough, it didn’t really grab me. Scanning above, I notice that there’s no Rowe on lists from Alastair, Rob, Tom, Nate or “Fun in the Dark” either. Not to knock him or the disc in the least, but neither strikes me as a primary common denominator.
Incidentally, how many things did Rowe release this year & what were they? [I’m partly curious how he stacks up against Ken V. in terms of output in ‘06]
On another note: If folks posting their lists in the comment section here would like them added to the lead post above, just let me know.
Posted by: derek at January 10, 2007 9:08 AMyeah, I'd guess that if you were going to connect to any EAI, Derek, it would be Vienna-related before something like between.
"how many things did Rowe release this year & what were they? [I’m partly curious how he stacks up against Ken V. in terms of output in ‘06]"
he was on 4 or 5 2006 releases, but most of them were pushed forward for release by the other musicians in the project, not by Keith.
Posted by: jon abbey at January 10, 2007 9:33 AMWhat I don't get is why "Between" stirs up so much contorversy.
I think some of the weaker EAI musicians use the slow development to conceal a lack of material which is not at all the case with Rowe and Nakamura. 3 or 4 cds would have been fine for these two.
In the end it is just two great musicians who fit together well and understand each other making sound for a couple hours.
I had a great listening experience with the last track two nights ago, It was actually on mp3, but I had headphones on.
I have it on again, that first track has an incredible start.
Another great cd for 2006 is "Cette Opacité" by Jean-Marc Foltz & Bruno Chevillon
It made me realize I need to pay more attention to Chevillon.
It is great to hear him in a duo like this. Emusic has it and it is worth it.
heh, that's a novel and less then compelling idea. along similar lines, your highly ranked 'Tanker' would be a much better disc if it was just the first long track. nice to see someone mention that Otomo pop record, that's a good one.
Jon, tanker first track is outstanding. The other three tracks are not as good, but it's an overall fantastic release. As it is between. I'm only saying that I find really different the Vienna session to the Lausanne track. Lausanne is one of my favourite erstwhile tracks for a long while.
The Otomo/Saga CD, well, "It's only pop, but I like it"
Well I am probably Keith Rowe's second biggest admirer likely to post here, and I enjoy annoying Dan by reminding everyone that, ;) but only three of his albums made my Top20, and one outside of the Top10.
If you count a CDR that wasn't really distributed and a compilation album that might have been 2005 but I'm not certain, then there are nine releases featuring Keith in 2006, so only one in three made my chart, and I obviously limit my listening to a very narrow area of music. However, I guess you can twist figures to say whatever you want them to say. The truth is, the man makes great music and despite the stick he seems to get in many quarters he's likely to get mentioned in end of year lists.
That said, the Rowe/Potter/Mouldycliffe/Chasse disc "Debris Fields Ambient Wash" is one of the worst things I've heard all year. :)
Posted by: Richard Pinnell at January 10, 2007 11:10 AMI hope you're ranking Brian first and me third, I'm definitely more critical of his work than you guys.
FWIW, I wasn't impressed with any releases Mr. Rowe was on this year besides between (which I produced and released) and the N:Q (which was dedicated to my wife and I). the rest of them I don't think really add anything to his body of work of the past decade or so.
a lot of the projects he has in the works now are exciting on paper (MIMEO for Cathnor, his solo The Room for Erst, new N:Q for Little Enjoyer), so we'll probably be having this same discussion next year...
Posted by: jon abbey at January 10, 2007 11:26 AMEr..umm...the Rowe portion of the Perlonex set strikes me as just OK...
Posted by: Brian Olewnick at January 10, 2007 1:41 PMMmmmmm, interesting. Personally, I had begun to feel that Rowe today simply has too many disciples, and not enough co-musicians to challenge him radically.
Posted by: Graham L. Rogers at January 10, 2007 2:50 PM"Personally, I had begun to feel that Rowe today simply has too many disciples, and not enough co-musicians to challenge him radically."
dunno, Toshi challenges him as much as anyone ever has, to start.
past that, I tend to agree (although I think 'disciples' is the wrong word for most of them) and was stuck for a while to come up with a next collaborative record idea for him, but recently I thought of a few I'm really excited about, the first will be a duo with Will Guthrie.
Posted by: jon abbey at January 10, 2007 2:57 PMIt was good to see "Palm of Soul" in Mr Taylor's list. What about another Katrina-based album - "New Orleans Suite" by Andrew Lamb/Tom Abbs/Warren Smith (Engine Studios)? It must be one of the best releases of last year.
Posted by: Gary Robinson at January 10, 2007 4:21 PMjon, curious about what you consider so lacking in the listen piece from Keith. You've mentioned it's length on several occasions but that's all I recall from you.
Posted by: al at January 10, 2007 6:10 PMit's fine, nothing wrong with it, but nothing that especially grabs me and makes me want to keep playing it either. the short length doesn't allow him to set up much of an underlying structure, and I don't really hear the focus and purpose of my favorite work of his (which could be my own issue, I've only heard it 4-5 times).
Graham Greene used to divide his own fiction into thrillers and literary works, this would go into the former category for Keith, I'd say. I get a lot more out of 13630 kHz, which is a similar length and style (rough, visceral, abrupt).
Posted by: jon abbey at January 10, 2007 10:11 PMJon, I'm not at liberty to share it, but you should ask Keith to hear the Day/Night masters (over 50 minutes of this approach with the radios). I would agree with your feelings about 13630 kHz, though I'm more used to that piece in context with the other tracks, so it's difficult to compare.
Posted by: al at January 10, 2007 10:34 PMHave I missed anything Richard, or is the "Reviews" page at the Cathnor website still empty? And you can't say you haven't had any!
FWIW, though I enjoyed Fibre and Squire a lot, Between towers above everything else he released last year. I wasn't convinced by N:Q and believe nobody would have mentioned it at all if it didn't have Rowe on it.
cool, maybe I will at some point, Al, thanks for the tip. Keith's about to start with recordings for The Room though, so I'll probably be immersed in those for the next few months, pretty excited about that.
Posted by: jon abbey at January 11, 2007 12:38 AMActually, Jon, Greene referred to his less literary works as 'entertainments', not 'thrillers'. Your point still stands though.
Posted by: Brian Marley at January 11, 2007 4:37 AMWow, I'm on 3 of those lists, and on one of them twice, and I only put out 2 things in 2006, one of which was on an internet label and the other I made myself and was on no label.
Kowtow before me, my slathering disciples, as I drape your adoring but unworthy visages with the mercifully opaque cowl of my new radical orthodoxy.
Posted by: Jonathan Livingston Foster at January 11, 2007 6:04 AMKowtow before me, my slathering disciples, as I drape your adoring but unworthy visages with the mercifully opaque cowl of my new radical orthodoxy.
Wow! That's so verbose I could've written it. :)
Posted by: derek at January 11, 2007 7:03 AM"he was on 4 or 5 2006 releases, but most of them were pushed forward for release by the other musicians in the project, not by Keith."
jon, i heard you mention this a couple of times, over at IHM, too, but it's something i don't quite get. as far as i know many of the projects keith has released for erstwhile were your idea (correct me if i'm wrong) and i don't see a difference, i.e. i don't see why it should be any better if you push forward one of his projects than if someone else does.
Posted by: tomas at January 11, 2007 1:46 PM"and i don't see a difference, i.e. i don't see why it should be any better if you push forward one of his projects than if someone else does."
--> this is of course just my interpretation of your words (and other similar statement). maybe you didn't imply this and i got it all wrong?
Posted by: tomas at January 11, 2007 1:50 PM"Kowtow before me, my slathering disciples, as I drape your adoring but unworthy visages with the mercifully opaque cowl of my new radical orthodoxy".
Give the man a job ... at the Wire.
Where else?
tomas, I don't want to go into the details here anymore, I obviously have a very specific perspective and I shouldn't really speak for keith on this.
"i don't see why it should be any better if you push forward one of his projects than if someone else does."
dunno, I'll leave that for other people to decide, but I believe the results generally speak for themselves.
Posted by: jon abbey at January 11, 2007 2:21 PMAH-WOO-GAH! AH-WOO-GAH! Ego Alert activated at full blast.
Posted by: Narew Ramsh at January 11, 2007 3:16 PMi forgot anthony pateras and robin fox' masterpiece 'flux compendium'
it's just impossible to know what the most important or listened-to recordings of the year would be unless i had everything i listened to all year in a pile in front of me.
"AH-WOO-GAH! AH-WOO-GAH! Ego Alert activated at full blast."
see, it's an impossible question to answer without getting this kind of crap in response. you should have seen the ones I deleted, Narew Kcumhs.
Posted by: jon abbey at January 11, 2007 5:10 PMMy only comment would be that Abbey's art is figuring out these projects and seeing them through, for artistic reasons (while I am sure Estwhile does better than most other labels, I have heard Jon mention a day gig).
Where the benefits of getting out a release with Rowe for a less established musician are obvious.
So anyway, it makes sense to me that he would be critical of that end.
"he was on 4 or 5 2006 releases, but most of them were pushed forward for release by the other musicians in the project, not by Keith."
Aww, c'mon, you're trying to tell us that Keith Rowe would allow something to be released that he might himself not be entirely satisfied with and otherwise wouldn't release just as a favour to the "less established musicians" he happens to be playing with? Pull the other one Jon, it's got bells on it.
There are more than enough records out there as it is, and I think it's fair to assume that no musician worth their salt will agree to releasing material they doesn't approve of just for the sake of getting an album out. I sure as hell wouldn't. Why don't you just say openly what we all know you think (and what many people posting here seem to agree with), that Between is the most important - go on, say it, BEST - Keith Rowe release of 2006? Because it is.
Dan, I'm not getting into specifics, but if you don't think that kind of thing happens constantly, you're seriously deluded (and I don't just mean with Keith).
Posted by: jon abbey at January 11, 2007 10:04 PMI've made it my business to be seriously deluded since about the age of 12, actually. I happen to believe musicians are serious about what they do. Though of course I may be wrong, and there probably exist examples of what you mention. But I hope there aren't many!
Posted by: Dan Warburton at January 11, 2007 10:17 PMYep, when hundreds of people worldwide start liking a guy's records, it's time to move on, already.
Posted by: Gary Sisco at January 12, 2007 7:29 AM... after we've listened, I assume you meant, Gary.
Posted by: Graham L. Rogers at January 12, 2007 11:57 AM"i don't see why it should be any better if you push forward one of his projects than if someone else does."
dunno, I'll leave that for other people to decide, but I believe the results generally speak for themselves.
erstwhile has released a lot of great records by great musicians, but there are certainly duds in the catalog that don't stand up well with the artists-in question other work.
the muller/ otomo "time travel" cd for example.
it's one of the more flavorless recordings by either of those guys, and previous and subsequent collaborations (the shit with filament is a total explosion of goodness) fare much better.
and the mimeo/ tilbury thing doesn't stand up to either mimeo's or tilbury's other work. Sure, it looks great on paper and i jizzed myself when i read about it, but there's only about 5 min. of music on there that i go go back for.
it's very subjective and jon certainly has an aesthetic he is trying to foster the development of, but there are some times when that fostering falters
you are right Sam in that some of the Erst catalog hasn't held up (or more accurately was never that great) but man you made two pretty poor examples there IMO. Hands of Caravaggio is still a top 10 Erst in my judgment and even barring personal taste to say that it doesn't hold up compared to the rest of the MIMEO releases is just laughable. Only Lifting Concrete Lightly has any moments achieving the transcendence of Hands and it certainly doesn't over its entire duration. As for Time Travel, it isn't one of the strongest releases but certainly is in the upper half of the catalog.
You're certainly welcome to your own opinion, but in this case it certainly will be just your own.
Posted by: Robert at January 12, 2007 6:28 PMI have issues with 'Time Travel' also, it was their first time ever playing as a duo, and I think it ended up serving more as a warmup for the great festival set they did two days later (on the AMPLIFY box). they're not all timeless classics, if I'm fully happy with half of them, I figure I'm doing well.
but I was talking specifically about Keith's Erstwhile projects (even there I used the qualifier "generally"), not all Erstwhile releases. I'll leave the MIMEO comments to others.
Posted by: jon abbey at January 12, 2007 6:43 PMit's one of the more flavorless recordings by either of those guys
Oh, man, have I got a much less flavorful Muller disc for you.
Posted by: walto at January 12, 2007 8:25 PMThis drawing reminds me of... JACQUES CHIRAC... really
con-textual somehow from here.... and in HERE
Good morning,
Alexandre
Well, a list:
- ROSS BOLLETER : SECRETS SANDHILLS AND SATELLITES (EMANEM)
- KEN CARTER STRING TRIO : INTERSECTION (EMANEM)
- ORNETTE COLEMAN : SOUND GRAMMAR (SOUND GRAMMAR)
- JACQUES FOSCHIA/ MIKE GOYVAERTS/ CHRISTOPHE IRMER/ GEORG WISSEL : CANARIES ON THE POLE (FREE ELEPHANT)
-FRODE GJERSTAD TRIO : MOTHERS & FATHERS (CIRCULASIONE TOTALE)
- MALCOM GOLDSTEIN & MASASHI HARADA : SOIL (EMANEM)
- FRANK GRATKOWSKI/ THOMAS LEHN/ MELVYN POORE : TRISKAIDEKAPHONIA (LEO RECORDS)
- ICP ORCHESTRA (BY MISHA MENGELBERG) : BOSPAADJE KONIJNEHOL (ICP/BVHAAST)
- ROLAND RAMANAN : CAESURA (EMANEM)
- MASADA : SANHEDRIN (UNREALEASED STUDIO RECORDINGS/ 1994-1997) (TZADIK)
- SCHLIPPENBACH TRIO : WINTERREISE (PSI)
- AKI TAKASE PIANO QUINTET : TARANTELLA (PSI)
- THE KRIS WANDERS/ ANDY SUGG UNIT : LIVE @ RADIO 3PBS FM (SOUND VAULT RECORDS)
- TRZASKA/FRIIS/UUSKYLA : UNFORGIVEN NORTH (KILOGRAM RECORDS)
- ALAN WILKINSON/ EDDIE PREVOST/ JOE WILLIAMSON : ALONG CAME JOE (MATCHLESS)
JOE McPHEE & SURVIVAL UNIT II (WITH CLIFFORD THORNTORN) : AT WBAI’S FREE MUSIC STORE, 1971 (hatOLOGY)
DAVID MURRAY : 3D FAMILY (hatOLOGY)
EVAN PARKER : THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE LUNGS (PSI)
ROSWELL RUDD : BLOWN BONE (EMANEM)
CECIL TAYLOR UNIT : THE EIGHT (hatOLOGY)
LeMo, I agree on Trzaska - an excellent disc, but is definitely not from 2006 (I am sure I bought it in 2005 myself); from 2004 perhaps.
I have not heard too many 2006 releases yet (53, according to my databsse - and half of them are reissues), but of what I got, I particualrly enjoyed:
1. Jesse Zubot - Dementia (Drip Audio)
2. Irène Schweizer - First Choice. Piano Solo KKL Luzern (INTAKT)
3. Michel Doneda / Katsura Yamauchi - La Drache (Improvised Music from Japan)
4. Carlos Zingaro / Fred Lonberg-Holm - Flying Aspidistra # 2 (Lonberg-Holm's self-released CD-R)
5. Aaron Bennett / Jerome Bryerton / John Butcher / Danielle DeGruttola / Henry Kaiser / Damon Smith / Kurt Newman - Sextessense. A Tribute to John Stevens and the SME (balancepointacoustics)
2004,2005 aniway, the disc got distributed outside of Poland (through IMPROJAZZ) only in 2006.
So, it's good enough for me who didn't hear it before the last summer.
But you can consider it at some kind of "reedition" if you like.
Here are my 10 faves of 2006 (in no particular order).
Walker, Drift
Stern, Sunshine is Blown
ZFP Quartet (Zingaro, Mattos, Fell, Sanders), Music for Strings Percussion & Electronics
Feldman, assorted chamber works (Fong, etc.) [Ogreogress DVD]
Williamson, Iron Stone
Z Parkins, Necklace
Earle Brown Folio compilation on Tzadik
Lewis/Mitchell/Abrams, Streaming
Wastell, Amoungst Englishmen
Posted by: william alston at March 17, 2007 10:01 AMWeird. That last entry wasn't posted by "William Alston" (who, btw, is an American analytic epistemologist and philosopher of religion). It was posted by me, Walto.
How the hell does the site do that, Derek?
Posted by: walto at March 17, 2007 10:04 AMAha, so it's DEREK who's been dressing up as Jon Hassell, Helmut Lachenmann, Trevor Watts and Albert Ayler, is it? I think we should be told!
Posted by: Dan Warburton at March 17, 2007 10:10 AMPolls still open? On 18th March? Heck, there's only been 496,328 CD's issue since 1 Jan 07. And you guys are still mulling over last year?
Posted by: Graham L. Rogers at March 17, 2007 2:41 PMI used up all the make-up & wig-ware in my Lon Chaney "Master of a Thousand Faces" Disguise kit years ago. As far as the site opting to assign Walt Alston's identity, I can only claim the "Ghost in the Machine" defense.
'06 was a great year, so I think it's worth mulling. I've been curious about that Williamson disc since I've enjoyed his past ECM outings. How does it compare?
Posted by: derek at March 18, 2007 3:41 PMBetter than the last one...even without Dunmall.
Posted by: walto at March 18, 2007 6:39 PMMore please...
Posted by: derek at March 18, 2007 6:50 PMThe songs are mysterious, mythical, magical. I'm still not sure the late Johnny Cunningham wouldn't have been a better match for Williamson than Mat Maneri, but he works better here than one might expect. Best Williamson release since Myrrh, IMO, but with much more improv and strangeness. RW's Celtic harp playing is wonderful.
Posted by: walto at March 19, 2007 4:27 AMThanks, Walt. My paltry ploy to prod you out review retirement was peculiarly propitious. :) I'm putting the Williamson on my list.
Posted by: derek at March 19, 2007 5:13 AM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................