The avant-garde music scene lost an incredible talent in the form of Jaimie Branch, who passed away on August 22nd at the age of 39. The blog’s friend, Noël Akchoté offers a lovely tribute album by transcribing the trumpeter’s work into works for solo acoustic guitar. It’s a raw album even by improv standards.
Our friends at Fancy Music are releasing consistently good music in the contemporary classical, jazz and progressive rock fields. Ivan Grebenschikov composes music which manages to combine all three genres effortlessly, and adds in free jazz, rock and Latin American music into a fine stew.
Russian violinist Valentina Goncharova is having something of a renaissance these days. She had an album come out earlier in the year which were unpublished (you can find Volume 1 here and Volume 2 here). Now, we have a full album of recordings last heard on Leo Records many years ago as part of a box set called Document – New Music From Russia – The 80’s, a pinnacle of Russian avant-garde music. The recordings have been lovingly remastered, and the drony sound is magnificent.
First, a disclaimer: I am posting this review with the understanding that Leo Records has licensed this astounding collection covering the career of the late enfant terrible of Russia’s then-thriving avant-garde music community, Sergey Kuryokhin, to Old Heaven Books Records in Shenzhen, China. If this is so, it’s wonderful to know that Sergey’s reach will continue to grow almost three decades after his passing. Collaborators on this box set include Igor Butman, Sergei Belichenko, Valentina Ponomareva and Boris Grebenshchikov among others. I’m excited to see Old Heaven Books continue to branch out.
As I’ve been stewing over this release for well over a month now, it’s exciting to finally announce that today, this scorching compilation is finally available on vinyl and download from our friends at WeWantSounds. In fact, the only depressing thing about this gem is that I can’t hear it on vinyl yet as I’m currently in Belgrade, Serbia, waiting to see where I move to next before settling down back in the Czech Republic. Normally, I’ll either place my own personal thoughts about a music, or use clippings from a press release, but the Saravah story needs a bit…
Kosta Trokai is a Russian violinist whose work I’ve followed for several years now. He has a massive catalog behind him and it straddles comfortably between classical music and free improvisation.
Bassist GS was once a member of the legendary rock-in-opposition band Univers Zéro, and he has continued on his incredible music journey with a new project, the Eclectic Maybe Band. From the Discus Records Bandcamp site: “Again Alors? is the third release by the band, which brings together detailed studio work with the creativity of real time improvisation. Using different groupings from within a large ensemble cast, which includes many well-known names, Guy has created an album where half the tracks are drawn from live improvisation in the studio and half are created from the ground up with players adding their composed…
Australian jazz continues to impress! To my ears, Delay 45 combine a tinge of Chet Baker and early trumpet-laden Durutti Column with the improvising abilities of fellow Aussies The Necks, and the results make for a free fluid, and even somewhat sensual experience. This will be seen as a classic in the genre in the next few years.
Quite an impressive band out of the Philippines, courtesy of Mahorka Records out of Bulgaria. Some info from their Bandcamp site: Luneta Freedom Jazz Collective is an experimental jazz group from Manila, Philippines. Their first studio album “Ethos”, was recorded and released in April 2015. The group would go on to be featured at 2015’s To Be Continued on Stazione di Topolò/Global Health Incubator. Their second album, “Inland Empire” was released in 2017. In 2021 their third album, “Slaves and Masters”, comes out on Mahorka, the dialectic as a narrative that examines the exploitation of labour and social stratification, with…
The Internet, for all the garbage one finds on it, amazes me some days. This album, a collaboration of a friend of the blog, George Christian (out of Brazil), collaborates with Kawol Samarqandi (based in Japan) and release this collection on a Spanish record label, Bestiar and an Australian label, Ramble Records. The world becomes smaller everyday. The is a pure guitar album. George performs on acoustic-electric flat-top guitar, electric guitar, while Kawol performs on electric oil can guitar. The plucks and twangs blend into each other seamlessly, and the music suits the day rather well, as it is rainy in Brno…