head of wantastiquet

 head of wantastiquet ~ dead seas (conspiracy 2010)

"Head Of Wantastiquet is the alter ego of Paul Labrecque, an American musician, songwriter now residing in Belgium. He has recorded with Chris Corsano and Valerie Webb, and he plays and records with the bohemian group Sunburned Hand Of the Man. Historically, aesthetically and sonically his new work bears genuinely comparison with merican primitivism', a mix of psychedelic banjo hymns, apocalyptic space folk and incredible drugged out soul-whispers. It layers banjos, guitars and smoke as though they were shimmering veins of black pearls, pulsing against the scarlet dawn." conspiracy

"...we need to learn how to fly. The birds know it. The albatross, as if painting a flawless hyper-realistic seascape, crosses the ocean without rippling the water. Slow-motion. With a wingspan of 340 cm, wider than any other bird in the world, he can float almost without flapping his wings. It is easy to imagine him dying of old age while flying and after some period of decay still having it's skeleton carried along by rising air-streams. Somewhere, over the ocean, there must be a sort of air- suspended bird sanctuary where all the albatrosses gather to die when they know their time has come; a flock of soaring skeletons.."

foto: hanna liden

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michael flower

michael flower • returning to knowing nothing [qbico 2007]

foto: coquinete

cold bleak heat

cold bleak heat - simitu (family vineyard, 2007)

Cold Bleak Heat is the dream-team, east-coast avant jazz line-up of alto/tenor saxophonist Paul Flaherty (Dream/Aktion Unit), drummer Chris Corsano (Sunburned Hand of the Man, Vampire Belt), trumpeter Greg Kelley (nmperign, Heathen Shame), and acoustic bassist Matt Heyner (No Neck Blues Band, Test, Eye Contact).
While explosive as their 2005 debut, Simitu brings a melancholic, even sensitive feel to these improvisations. Yet, no need to worry about these four wipin' tears on their sleeves. CBH wages between the melodic centers/ghostly solos of Flaherty/Kelley and loose, downhill, free blow outs you'd expect, all while mainting the grand swell of a hardcore jazz symphony. Even as complex and multi-paced beats sink into bowed-drones and vocal hollers, focused lyricism remains the returning leader. Features liner notes and drawings by Christina Carter (Charalambides).

el gran Flaherty es un hiperactivo personaje interesado en cualquier manifestación artística que contenga la palabra jazz en su vertiente más enloquecida y rupturista, es la visión punkie del freejazz, es alguien que sopla su saxo, una y otra vez, como si le fuera la vida en ello. como decía Charlie Wilmoth, las diferencias entre sus últimos discos tienen que ver con quienes tocan con él más que con lo que él mismo toca, y en ese sentido Simitu tampoco es una excepción. el segundo disco de Cold Bleak Heat discurre con la naturalidad y la calidez de una charla entre amigos de la talla de Chris Corsano, Matt Heyner y Greg Kelley, con la serenidad y el aplomo que sólo otorga la experiencia. muchos minutos de belleza culminados por esos insistentes y pasionales solos de saxo, trompeta y batería en la elocuente 'La Voz de la Gente es la Voz de Dios'. sin olvidar la elegancia a lo Sonny Rollins que recubre la desnuda 'Mugged by a Glacier', ni el modo en que la batería, enérgica y veloz, de 'Pound Cake' recuerda como si nada a aquella barbaridad llamada 'At Basin' Street' de Max Roach y Clifford Brown. tampoco la jungla de ritmos que conectan visceralmente con el legado de Albert Ayler y Don Cherry en 'A White Bandaged Head In The Shad' o los zumbidos nerviosos de bajo y trompeta en 'Should we destroy the Hubble?', imaginaria banda sonora para una segunda parte de La Semilla del Diablo. si sentiste un vuelco en el estómago con Eye Contact, Dream/Aktion Unit y Odd Clouds...

en la página de myspace de Family Vineyard podéis escuchar Pound Cake

dream/aktion unit

dream/aktion unit - blood shadow rampage (volcanic tongue, 2006)

"Volcanic Tongue is proud to present the first ever release by the Dream/Aktion Unit, a free-thinking avant garage Ur-kestra based around the central kernel of guitarist Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), saxophonist Paul Flaherty and drummer Chris Corsano (Six Organs Of Admittance, Sunburned Hand Of The Man et al) and featuring Heather Leigh Murray (Taurpis Tula/Jandek/Charalambides) on pedal steel and vocals and Matt Heyner (No-Neck Blues Band/Test/Angelblood) on upright bass.

The Dream/Aktion Unit were originally birthed as a side-project to allow Thurston Moore and Jim O’Rourke to fully explore the kind of ecstatic power blues that their work in Sonic Youth repeatedly implied. The addition of legendary New England saxophonist Paul Flaherty and powerhouse drummer Chris Corsano provided them with an umbilical connection straight to the source of modern musical freedom, while working to liberate them from previously articulated modes of known rock-speak. As a quartet, the group tore through a bunch of the USA’s most winning festival spaces - their ground-levelling F/X pedal assault at the De Stijl/Freedom FromParticular mention must be made of the classic horror artwork, courtesy of Karen Constance (Blood Stereo). An Edgar Allan Poe short story come to life, the images and the gore-filled track titles (my particular favourite being “Here Come the Fucking Dead”) compliment the unearthly sonics contained on disc. “Blood Shadow Rampage” is a prime example of what the commercial music industry is lacking: exquisite packaging, originality, and good fucking music! 9/10 bash in Minneapolis in 2003 being a particular landmark - with both guitarists drawing creative sustenance from the kind of ego-obliterating drums/horn interaction previously articulated by players like The Reverend Frank Wright, Glenn Spearman, Denis Charles and Albert Ayler..." volcanic tongue

"Particular mention must be made of the classic horror artwork, courtesy of Karen Constance (Blood Stereo). An Edgar Allan Poe short story come to life, the images and the gore-filled track titles (my particular favourite being “Here Come the Fucking Dead”) compliment the unearthly sonics contained on disc. “Blood Shadow Rampage” is a prime example of what the commercial music industry is lacking: exquisite packaging, originality, and good fucking music! 9/10" foxy digitalis

"...grabado en vivo en escocia durante el 2005, "blood shadow rampage" es un esfuerzo forjado a punta de destrucción de acordes de guitarra, pérfidas líneas de saxo y baterías a destiempo. existe una suerte de naturaleza destructiva que lo hace un disco lleno de agudismos y chillidos que simulan una mente rabiosa en plena explosión delirante. muy en los momentos explosivos y desbordados de henry cow o glenn branca. todo coronado con nombres como 'el nacimiento del enjendro', 'aquí viene la maldita/puta muerte', 'enterrado vivo y disfrutándolo', etc. no es difícil imaginarse a donde va todo. riéndose de la muerte a través de la experimentación y enseñándole a toda una legión de metaleros que se puede hacer música brutal, sin utilizar si quiera un mísero riff de guitarra. sin embargo, la cacofonía es solo la forma superficial de un núcleo de improvisación bastante consistente. la soltura con que interactúan los instrumentos siempre fluye creando un sostenido diálogo que hace que el disco ya termine cuando recién quedaba mucho por disfrutarlo. destaca ciertamente el trabajo de flaherty en los vientos, que de cierta forma, es el protagonista conductor de estas siete piezas abrasivas, chillonas y fantasmagóricas al cohesionar todo el ritual drónico-apocalíptico que envuelve y caracteriza al disco..." no-wave!

thurston moore guitar

paul flaherty alto saxophone

chris corsano drums

count heinowski contrabass

heather leigh murray pedal steel guitar

chris corsano & ben chasny / paul metzger

chris corsano & ben chasny /paul metzger - split (roaratorio lp 2006)

"Chris Corsano (sparring partner of Paul Flaherty, Joe McPhee, Nels Cline, et al) and Ben Chasny (aka Six Organs Of Admittance) had previously paired up for the School Of The Flower LP on Drag City. As wide a stylistic swath as that record cut, it was far from an exhaustive map of their topography. Here, Corsano's drums and Chasny's guitar chatter & clatter with jittery hyper-articulation, worrying the meat off the bone in short sharp strokes. A "Worm Confesses" over the course of one side of this split record & is given an impassioned absolution.

For over two decades, Paul Metzger -- guitarist for the on-again/off-again punkjazz trio TVBC -- was one of the Twin Cities' overly well-kept secrets. His recent emergence as a solo artist, via a pair of glowingly-received releases on the Chairkickers & Mutant Music labels (quoth WFMU: "the best banjo playing ever"), has started to raise his profile to a level commensurate with his devil's-crossroads-deal talent. On a guitar modified with music box innards & an accompanying tambura, Metzger dives deep into the raga heart of a moonlit day & returns with the jewels of "August. Released in an edition of 766 copies, with silkscreened poplar wood covers"

free jazz y drone folk. Jack Rose, Pelt, James Blackshaw, Greg Malcolm, Matt Valentine... aquí y aquí tenéis más información y samples

Worm Confesses

August