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Showing posts sorted by date for query keith rowe. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Monday, 18 January 2021

Sonny Sharrock ‎– "Black Woman" (Vortex Records ‎– 2014) 1969



A rare breed in the sixties was the "Free Jazz Guitarist".Apart from Sharrock, Bailey, and maybe Keith Rowe, one would be struggling to name any. Nevertheless, Sonny boy was there more or less at the beginning as one of the bright sparks who thought that they could do an Ornette Coleman on the six strings that drew blood. If your fingers don't start bleeding upon hearing this ,like jazz stigmata,then the sound of his wailing missus will do the same to your delicates ,such as ears,wedding tackle and central nervous system. So beware yee uinitiated and start off with Django Rienhart before venturing further.
Not blessed with the same smouldering good looks as Derek Bailey, Sonny was evidently so delighted that he could pull a half-decent bird like Linda,that he put her in the band (normally a disastrous Idea). Husbands usually do this to keep an eye on the wife or girlfriend while they're on tour. Although, in the case of Paul McCartney, I can't believe that his Linda would have been shagging around behind his back somehow,but the demure ones usually turn out to be the most randy,so good oblique thinking there Paul,but not so great on the lack of any musical ability front;can't win 'em all I suppose?
Now, Sonny's Linda fancied herself as a wacky Free Jazz Vocalist,which ,along with standard Jazz Guitar,are the two most horrible sounds known to man; apart from the sound,and i'm probably risking my life by saying this, of Donald Trump having sex one may suggest somewhat warily?
You know that wailing bit in "Dark Side Of The Moon" ......yeah?......well she does that all the way through the album to the point where you just wanna scream SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!
Luckily, the smoulderingly good looking Sonny makes up for this with some inventive guitar abuse which distracts somewhat from reverb drenched Linda's vocal machinations.......ooooya buggar!
There are plenty of pictures of Sonny with a controlling arm around his wife,and putting her in the group gave him feelings of security which were in vain as she left him a few years later......Women huh?
Of course you know Sonny Sharrock was in Last Exit,so one can forgive him his human weaknesses;but he does wear his guitar far too high,like that slap bass fool in Level 42....a trait I cannot abide,no matter how easier it makes chord formation.......who needs chords anyway? Unless its a nice comfy corduroy jacket and matching pantalons.I was once the proud owner of a beige corduroy Levi's Safari suit in the nineties(with a handy boot flare).Very popular at disco's.That's the only chord I know of ,except the cord you plug into the amplifier of course.

Tracklist:

A1 Black Woman 5:11
A2 Peanut 9:14
B1 Bialero 4:49
B2 Blind Willy 3:18
B3 Portrait Of Linda In Three Colors, All Black 9:06


Monday, 3 February 2020

AMM ‎– "The Crypt - 12th June 1968" (Matchless Recordings ‎– MR5) 1968/1981


As ones first exposure to pure unadulterated Noise outside of the 'Rock' idiom,except mabe a couple of early come organisation platters, among which this mysterious box was hiding,This was the deep end.
AMM were likely the first precursors of the Harsh Noise fad that has swept the bedrooms and tabletops of the planet,and caused the sales of effects pedals to go through the roof.The difference is that when AMM began emptying rooms in 1966,there was nobody doing this kind of abrasive ear-bleeding cacophony. They even supported The Pink Floyd in the Floyds Free rock days at the famed UFO club one evening in '67.It would certainly have been interesting to see the faces of those tripping flower children when AMM started their set.Although I am assured that they built up from a quiet beginning before anything truly noisey entered those hippy shell-likes,so they probably didn't even notice. The prospect of a naked body-painted Hippy princess dancing to AMM on LSD is quite a tantilising thought?
 As these two discs cost me the best part of a tenner I had to persevere through the full 80 minutes of dense close miked scraping harsh electronics, shortwave radio interference,clattering percussion,and distorted free jazz elements. This made Throbbing Gristle sound like just a creepier version of Abba.
By the end of side three I was immersed, I now understood. It is for these moments that one searches for among the vast annals of unpopular music.Easy listening it ain't,which is,nearly always a sign of something rewarding waiting after enduring the transition period involved.One is never quite the same again afterwards.
Being a member of AMM is basically what Cornelius Cardew should be best remembered for,no mention of politics,no terrible poetry,and most importantly,no written directions.
Also involved was one of the worlds greatest guitarists Keith Rowe,who famously, has never tuned his guitar.
Nuff said.

Tracklist:

A 'The Crypt - 12th June 1968' 1:4 19:45
B 'The Crypt - 12th June 1968' 2:4 21:58
C 'The Crypt - 12th June 1968' 3:4 23:57
D 'The Crypt - 12th June 1968' 4:4 21:37


DOWNLOAD from the crypt HERE!

Wednesday, 28 May 2014

Keith Rowe ‎– "A Dimension Of Perfectly Ordinary Reality" (Matchless Recordings ‎– MR19) 1990

Prepared "Table top Guitar" specialist,Keith Rowe from AMM fame, freaks out with said guitar, torturing it with various tools and effects units. All this racket and plenty of random Radio dialling, add to a heady cocktail of something from 'out-there'. He also manages to fit in a Cornelius Cardew composition too (Ode Machine No. 2), which ain't no bad 'ting.
This was his first 'solo' album I think, sticking it up the proverbial arse of conventional musicality; and has been pretty prolific ever since. Still doing it well into his mid seventies........whoever said cutting edge music is a young man's game obviously hadn't noticed that, actually, shite music is the young man's game in these sad old post-music, post everything, days. Just connect their brains to a sony x-station and they'll be happy to slowly fade away, oblivious to the creeping Orwellian existence that is being stealthily inflicted on everyone. That's the ordinary reality that the late Cardew was talking about when he provided the title of this splendid LP; envisaging a kind of  'people's liberation music'.

Tracklist:

1 Untitled 24:03
2 Ode Machine No. 2 7:28
3 City Music 11:08
4 '73 17:37

DOWNLOAD some ordinary reality in perfect dimensions HERE!

Tuesday, 27 May 2014

AMM ‎– "Ammmusic" (Elektra ‎– EUK-256) 1967



The granddaddies of free improvisation bring us a scraping droning noise from 1967. What this bunch of uber intellectual free jazzers and composers were doing on the same label as The Doors I dunno? It may have had something to do with the fact that they supported The Pink Floyd (when they[the floyd] were basically a Free improvising unit as well) at the UFO club, and Jac Holzman thought they were the next psychedelic big thing? 
However, they were soon dropped when this sold approximately ten copies.
Undaunted, this radical free/spontaneous music ensemble carried on regardless in this unpopular direction, and are still going to this day.Releasing records on drummer Eddie Prévost's Matchless Recordings label.
Keith Rowe being a particularly influential member, refusing ever to tune his guitar, and performing 'Radio' , as well as table top guitar! Probably the ultimate in de-constructed guitar technique, just beating Derek Bailey, who allegedly 'tuned' his guitar quite regularly.

Tracklist:

A - Later During A Flaming Riviera Sunset  21:03

B - After Rapidly Circling The Plaza  20:31

DOWNLOAD "that music's lost its favour so try another flavour"(adam ant 1980)- ammmusic HERE!