Some of my favorite people of all time! Part 2 after the jump.

Continue reading “the fugs on swedish tv 1968 (1+2)” →

Came across this again recently and thought I’d share it around. Performers are Lawrence, John Chantler, Heinz Reigler, Carina Thorén, and myself. – LWC is a reworking of Jim O’Rourke’s Eureka. This is the work’s premier.

Alvin Bryant was a founding member of Musica Elettronica Viva. This amazing recording of three guitars with electronics is his first solo gesture, proceeding his 1977 LP Space Guitars by a number of years. It was released with an issue of Source: Music Of The Avant-garde – one of the most important music periodicals of the 60’s and 70’s. Their 10″ releases are often regarded as high water marks in the avant-garde. Alvin Lucier’s I Am Sitting In A Room, Robert Ashley’s The Wolfman, David Behrman’s Wave Train and Alvin Curran’s Magic Carpet, all entered the world with issues of Source. Pitch Out features Barbara Bryant, Carol Plantamura, and Frederic Rzewski on guitars, and is absolutely stunning. Stop what you’re doing and give it the 18 minutes it deserves.

I took the long way around, but I’ve become a serious fan (and collector) of Rocksteady. I also love strange musical hybrids. Rocksteady itself is hybrid form of earlier Jamaican musics, with American R&B and Soul. Stephen Cheng’s Always Together is another thing. Made sometime in the mid to late 60’s for the Chinese immigrant population in Kingston, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Rocksteady with Chinese vocals and phrasing. It’s killer. The vocals were apparently drawn from the traditional Taiwanese folk song featured bellow.  The original is rare as hell, but it’s recently been reissued if you need it for yourself.

 

Continue reading “maybe the best thing ever (stephen cheng’s always together)” →