• Music

    Jeff Gburek and A.J. Kaufmann – Jazzisthmus

    November 10, 2023 - By 

    Had I not known the previous (impressive) works of both Jeff Gburek and A.J. Kaufmann, I would have happily believed that this was a lost psychedelic music gem long forgotten about in a basement studio recorded during Soviet times.  While the tones are dulcet, you never really get a chance to get into a groove.  The music shapes and shifts, making you ever aware of its presence and demanding that you pay attention (particularly hard to do as I’m grading papers at the moment).  The introduction to the album at Ramble Records’ Bandcamp site is one of the most elegant…

  • Music

    Samo Salamon, Emanuele Parrini & Vasco Trilla – Eating Poetry

    July 19, 2023 - By 

    Another dear friend of the blog, Samo Salamon from Slovenia, brings along a few friends for a well-done, gorgeously recorded improvisational album.  Joining Salamon on this disc are Emanuele Parrini on violin and Vasco Trilla on drums and percussion.  From Samo’s Bandcamp site: “A great improvising trio session of three fantastic improvisers from three different European countries. Samo Salamon (Slovenia) has this time played exclusively acoustic guitars – 6 and 12-string string. Especially the 12-string guitar is a hugely underrated instrument in the improvising context. Naturally, names such as Ralph Towner or Marc Ducret come to mind, but still Salamon…

  • Music

    Pray For Your Prey – Pray For Your Prey

    July 2, 2023 - By 

    At least as I understand it, there is a magnificent label out of Greece, Defkaz,  releasing some really fine free jazz and world music.  This particular album features one name whose work I’m very familiar with – the Hungarian drummer Balázs Pándi, who is magnificent.  After hearing him work with the trio of Giovanni di Domenico (fender rhodes), Gonçalo Almeida (bass) and Giotis Damianidis (guitar), you have the makings of a young European supergroup.  Free, cinematic, and a joy to hear. Check out their website, and if you’re interested in hearing these gems, contact koufaelas [at] defkaz.com.  He’ll get those…

  • Music

    Ayako Shinozaki – Music Now For Harp

    June 13, 2023 - By 

    Great news, yet again, has been provided to us by our dear friends at Wewantsounds!  From their Bandcamp site: “Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the first international reissue of Ayako Shinozaki’s hard to find LP “Music Now For Harp” released in 1974 by Nippon Columbia. The LP was released on the label’s cult “Master Sonic” series and features Shinozaki’s harp soundscape on works by renowned composer Toru Takemitsu and Katsuhiro Tsubono. The highlight of the album is the spaced-out, ethereal 25-min ambient epic ‘Heterodyne’ featuring cult musician Takehisa Kosugi (Taj Mahal Travellers, Group Ongaku) on electric violin and sound waves.…

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek – The Art of Prepared Guitar Volume One

    May 27, 2023 - By 

    Jeff Gburek’s recent instrumental guitar album is a a wonderfully disjointed trip around his sonic weapon of choice.  It’s a truly wild work, but Jeff weaves his vast musical influences together with hints of a broken kind of blues, free jazz, improvisational skronk and psychedelic rock. In Jeff’s words, which you can read in full at Ramble Records‘ Bandcamp site: “In attempting to move into the future of the guitar or the post-guitar (as in the case of Kevin Drumm or Annette Krebs where the guitar became deconstructed and/or displaced into other electro-acoustic processes, if you will), I also discovered aspects…

  • Music

    Peter Brötzmann / Keiji Haino Duo – The Intellect Given Birth To Here (Eternity) Is Too Young

    November 3, 2022 - By 

    Two of the greatest legends in free jazz and psychedelic rock, Keiji Haino and Peter Brötzmann, join forces after a long while in this four-album noise-fest.  My understanding that the vinyl pressing on Black Editions, which includes a 3-inch CD, is long sold out, which is unfortunate, but a standard edition is available for $100, a bit high, but for these two, and for a four-LP set, it just might be worth the price.

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek – Pharoah’s Tarot

    October 10, 2022 - By 

    Pharoah Sanders left this mortal coil on September 24, 2022, after leaving a stellar body of work and his influence on countless musicians including Jeff Gburek.  The influence was profound, and you can hear it on this album, where the guitar glides into something free, not as in noisy free-jazz, but something free-floating, gentle, relaxing, almost heavenly.  It certainly bears the stamp of his own work, and that of Sanders, but I hear also a touch of Sonny Sharrock in this mix as well. This is experimental music that is gentle on the ear and on the mind.