Mutiny In Heaven is slated for a Toronto screening at the Paradise Cinema on October 5th. Check the preview clip below.
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Hailed as "a one band war" and "the most violent band in the world," The Birthday Party with Nick Cave was one of the definitive post-punk groups and goth rock pioneers, creative and destructive in equal measure. Their incendiary live performances were the stuff of violent, anarchic legend. Featuring a wealth of rare and unseen archives, original artwork, unreleased tracks, studio footage, animation, and told exclusively by the group's members, Ian White's new film MUTINY IN HEAVEN is the story of epic struggle, artistic genius and total chaos, bringing the band’s own account to the screen for the first time. Featuring Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard, Mick Harvey, Phill Calvert, and Tracy Pew. For more info and upcoming screening dates check the site right here. Watch the preview clip below.
Chad Stockfleth's look at the DIY origins of the Elephant 6 music collective comes to Toronto for a short run in August.
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The Elephant 6 Recording Co. shares the unique inside story of 1990s psychedelic rock bands Olivia Tremor Control, The Apples in Stereo and Neutral Milk Hotel.
Around 1985, a group of Ruston, Louisiana area high schoolers began experimenting with whatever random instruments and gear they could lay their hands on.
Moving to other small college towns including Denver, Colorado and Athens, Georgia, their musical coming-of-age coincides with the new consumer availability of 4-track and 8-track recording technology and cassette tapes.
Sharing like-minded sensibilities, influenced by past sounds and psychedelia, and with little to distract them, their efforts to create whole new musical worlds become the bands The Apples In Stereo, Olivia Tremor Control, The Minders, Beulah, The Music Tapes, Of Montreal, Marbles, The Essex Green, Elf Power, Sunshine Fix, Neutral Milk Hotel, Von Hemmling, Secret Squares, and many more. While the collective grew to a natural breaking point, its founding members overcame obstacles and remained closely bonded, reuniting for tours and still collaborating today.
Chad Stockfleth's feature-length documentary provides insight into this revolutionary era of popular independent music in America, the defiant DIY spirit in music making, and championing the integrity of an authentic quest for artistic expressiveness over the more mainstream image of being a "successful" musician in our fame-obsessed times.
The Elephant 6 Recording Co. screens at Bloor Hot Docs Cinema on Wednesday (August 30) at 4pm, Friday (September 1) at 9:30pm, Tuesday (September 5) at 6:30pm. Tickets: $15 (Members from $10). Get 'em here. Watch the trailer and a couple of interviews with the director, Chad Stockfleth.
Nancy Sinatra's Keep Walkin': Singles, Demos & Rarities is out October 20. Check out "Something Pretty" below.
Writes Nancy...
"I am thrilled to announce Light In The Attic's Nancy Sinatra Archival Series continues with Keep Walkin': Singles, Demos, & Rarities 1965-1978. You know the song about boots, now dig deeper! The first single, "Something Pretty," is now streaming on the platform of your choice.
"I'm also happy to announce the trade edition of Nancy Sinatra One For Your Dreams by David Wills & Amanda Erlinger is available for preorder. Orders place through Nancy's Bootique come w/ a limited ed. 7" single of Something Pretty b/w You Only Live Twice on white vinyl.
"Preorder vinyl, CD, books, exclusive merchandise and bundles, and signed items now using the link https://bootique.nancysinatra.com for an October 20th release date.
"A few years ago I thought no one knew who I was anymore. Thank you to my daughters, AJ Lambert and Amanda Erlinger, Light In The Attic, and to you most of all, friends, for proving me wrong!
"Whether you've been with me from the beginning or come on board at any point in the past 62 years (!!!) – I am so appreciative of the unending love and support you have given me through the years. I truly love you all from the bottom of my heart."
Listen to "Something Pretty" followed by Keep Walkin' release info and tracklisting below.
Light in the Attic continues to celebrate the influential career of singer, actress, activist, and icon Nancy Sinatra with a captivating new collection, Keep Walkin’: Singles, Demos & Rarities 1965-1978. Exploring the lesser-known gems from Sinatra’s rich catalog through 25 B-sides, rare singles, covers, demos, and previously-unreleased recordings, Keep Walkin’ was remastered by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin and available in a variety of formats, including vinyl, CD, 8-track, and digital.
The 2-LP set, pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), is presented in an expanded gatefold jacket and accompanied by a 24-page booklet (also included in the CD edition as a 40-page booklet), featuring an array of photos from the artist’s personal collection, as well as a new in-depth Q&A with Sinatra, conducted by the reissue’s GRAMMY®-nominated co-producer, Hunter Lea. The booklet also contains a fascinating interview with keyboardist Don Randi (The Wrecking Crew), who recently spoke to Lea about his hit-filled career and his 50 years of work with Nancy. In addition to the classic black vinyl pressing, a selection of colorful variants can be found exclusively at NancySinatra.com, LightInTheAttic.net, independent record stores, and select online retailers, while limited-edition merchandise, including apparel, accessories, and more are also available at Nancy’s Bootique at NancySinatra.com.
Keep Walkin’: Singles, Demos & Rarities 1965-1978 serves as a companion to the widely-acclaimed 2021 career-spanning retrospective, Start Walkin’ 1965-1976, and marks the latest release in LITA’s ongoing Nancy Sinatra Archival Series, a partnership with the legendary artist, which honors her musical legacy through lovingly curated reissues (including her 1966 debut, Boots and the 1968 classic, Nancy & Lee), limited-edition merch, and other special releases.
Check out the laidback but funky instro version of "Friends and Neighbors" off Live At Prince Street being reissued by Ace/BGP.
Here's the scoop from Ace Records HQ...
One of the most forward-thinking and radical musicians of his or any era, saxophone great Ornette Coleman revolutionized jazz with his early albums for Atlantic Records. In the late 60s he was signed to Impulse by Bob Thiele. When Bob left Impulse, Coleman donated a track to his Flying Dutchman album “Head Start”. Then, finding himself temporarily without a deal, he allowed Flying Dutchman to put out his latest album, a fascinating recording cut live at a loft space Coleman owned in downtown New York. Musicians on the recording include his long-time collaborators Ed Blackwell on drums and Charlie Haden on bass alongside fiery tenor player Dewey Redman. The music is a satisfying set that particularly shines on the title track and ‘Forgotten Song’. Out of print for nearly 40 years, “Friends And Neighbors” is one of the most overlooked albums in Coleman’s extensive discography. The first vinyl reissue of Ornette Live At Prince Street in nearly 20 years, Beat Goes Public's version (due September 1st) utilizes a fresh 24/96 transfer from the original production master.
Check out the instrumental version of "Friends and Neighbors" below. Pre-order a copy of the vinyl reissue via Amazon.ca right here.
The musicians behind Crown's Port of Suez album remain a mystery but the violinist and bongo basher have impressive chops.
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Released in 1958 by Crown Records – the budget subsidiary of Modern Records founded by the Bihari brothers – Jules, Lester, Saul and Joe Bihari in 1945 – Port of Suez: Exotic Music of the Middle East looks very like a cheap cash-in on the growing interest in belly dance exotica from the hi-fi enthusiast sector.
Chaino cover shot by Frank Bez
Other than the song titles, there's not much information to be gleaned from the cover. There are no musician, composer, producer or arranger credits, in fact the only person involved in the entire production who gets name-checked is the sleeve photographer Frank Bez who snapped the suitably tribal-looking portrait of Chaino (aka Philadelphia's Leon Johnson) for the cover of Jungle Mating Rhythms album released by Verve the same year. You can catch a glipse of Chaino in the 1961 Dennis Hopper flick "Night Tide" during Linda Lawson's dance scene on Venice Beach.
The conspicuous lack of session and song publishing info combined with the enticing cover art is often a sign of a shoddy production knocked out quickly to turn a fast buck on a passing fad. While that may have been the goal, the unnamed musicians in this instance – particularly the violinist and percussionist – reveal a skill level and feel for Middle Eastern ensemble play that's way above your average exotica dabbler-for-hire. And it certainly doesn't sound like an impromptu throwdown involving some slumming 'name' jazzers under contract elsewhere but eager to pick up a session fee whatever style of music happened to be the order of the day. Nope, these Port of Suez hombres clearly know what their doing – even if they've never been anywhere near Egypt – as you can hear from the song clips below.
Having sifted through a number of similar looking artifacts from the late 50s and early 60s, I can say that Port of Suez: Exotic Music of the Middle East is one of the better "belly dance" records you're likely to come across in a local thrift shop or record store dollar bin which makes the lack of artist info all the more frustrating. If the music jogs any memories or even second-hand stories regarding the true identities of the mysterious players responsible, feel free to leave a message in the comments section below.
Prior to assuming the Godley & Creme handle, Graham Gouldman & Eric Stewart were briefly called Frabjoy & Runcible Spoon.
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Spain's Guerssen Records has just released the first-ever vinyl version of the long rumoured 1969 studio album – plus related acetate and 45 only tracks – from pre-10cc duo GODLEY & CREME, during their days as Frabjoy And Runcible Spoon. Classic UK late 60s psychedelic/folk/pop sound recorded at Advision Studios with support from future 10cc colleagues Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart.
In mid-1969, legendary British R&B/psychedelic entrepreneur Giorgio Gomelsky signed two Manchester-based art students, renaming them Frabjoy And Runcible Spoon. Seeing the talented pair as a British Simon And Garfunkel, Gomelsky recorded an LP with them for release on his Marmalade label. A pre-LP single appeared (listen below), but sadly the album’s release was aborted.
Then in 2022 – some 53 years later – Grapefruit Records released "Frabjous Days: The Secret World of Godley & Creme 1967-1969, a 19-track CD version of this missing piece of the pre-10cc jigsaw puzzle. Now Guerssen presents a vinyl version (with five fewer tracks than the CD), liner notes by David Wells along with rare photos and memorabilia.
Check out the original Marmalade single release of "I'm Beside Myself," "To Fly Away" (100 Proof Album Version) along with "Take Me Back" and "Today" following the tracklisting below.
Side A: A1. I'm Beside Myself - A2. Chaplin House - A3. Cowboys And Indians - A4. It's The Best Seaside In The World - A5. Fly Away (Frabjoy & Runcible Spoon Album version) - A6. Take Me Back - A7. Today
Side B: B1. Hot Sun - B2. Virgin Soldiers - B3. To Fly Away (100º Proof Album Version) - B4. Seeing Things Green - B5. Easy Life - B6. I'm Beside Myself (single version) - B7. Animal Song
Check out "Fluxus V5T 1S1" off the forthcoming album fLuXkit Vancouver from saxophonist Darius Jones out Sept. 29th
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A radiant manifesto of artistic freedom, fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s suite but sacred) brings together a composition in four movements written and performed by Jones on alto saxophone, long-time collaborator Gerald Cleaver on drums, and four Vancouver-based string musicians: violinists Jesse Zubot and Josh Zubot, cellist Peggy Lee and bassist James Meger; with original artwork by Stan Douglas and liner notes by poet Harmony Holiday.
Commissioned by Western Front, an artist-run center for multidisciplinary experimentation and the historic home of the avant-garde in Vancouver, Jones drew inspiration from Western Front’s art is life ethos and its legacy of exchange with creative musicians such as George Lewis and Ornette Coleman. Composed across a series of residencies beginning in 2019 and recorded in June 2022 at Western Front’s iconic Grand Luxe Hall, fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s suite but sacred) is the first collaborative release with Brooklyn-based Northern Spy and Helsinki-based We Jazz Records.
The album’s spirited first movement, Fluxus V5T 1S1, reveals a compositional universe as penetrating as it is expansive. For Fluxus artists, art can exist anywhere. This can take the physical form of a fluxkit, a collection of artworks and everyday objects placed in a small container or box. By challenging definitions and pushing artistic boundaries, anyone who opens a fluxkit can experience an art event. Jones presents us with a fluxkit that we want to reopen again and again.
The cover art for fLuXkit Vancouver was contributed by internationally acclaimed Vancouver-based artist Stan Douglas. Part of Douglas’ DCT series (2016 - ongoing), Occ6 is a brightly colored abstraction created through manipulating frequencies, amplitudes, and color values at the point in the digitization process where a photographic image is only represented by code. Occ6 mesmerizes and in turn offers a visual language that is untethered from conventional notions of the art form. “Stan found this world inside of a machine. Is this a photo?” Jones asks. “Is it a painting? What am I looking at? Maybe something that doesn’t exist anywhere else.”
The music of fLuXkit Vancouver also exists in between worlds: Is this a compositional suite? Is it sacred music? Or is it simply art? Jones’ score includes visual components — a 25 unique graphics key for extended technique on strings — alongside standard musical notation. “I wanted the musicians to respond in a way that was unique to them, to explore the relationship between what we hear and how we see, where sound becomes visual, emotional, and visceral.” That relationship is seen in the second movement Zubot, a bopping earthy elixir, and in the third movement Rainbow, an alluring and sultry ballad. “The music has a cinematic quality. Like Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite, I wanted to tell a story about a place,” Jones says.
The album’s fourth and final movement, Damon & Pythias, marks Jones’ chrysalis as a sonic painter. The 100-year-old building that houses Western Front was originally a fraternal lodge of the Knights of Pythias. When Jones arrived in 2019, he encountered a multidisciplinary space that had fully integrated art practice into daily life. Between composing, Jones spent time with Fluxus artist and Western Front founder Eric Metcalfe and explored their historical archive. “I was able to sit and converse frequently with Metcalfe about why he and other artists created Western Front and how they were influenced by a movement called Fluxus. Being there helped me remember the importance of art existing together, music alongside visual art, writing, and dance, as a way to influence one’s process and perspective.”
Check out the first movement "Fluxus V5T 1S1" below. Get a copy of the album fLuXkit Vancouver (i̶t̶s suite but sacred) via Bandcamp right here.
