Sad news from Crouton Music:

After 10 years and over 40 releases, Crouton will be closing. There are many people who without their help, none of this would have been possible. Even those simply reading these messages took part in something that consumed a big part of my life, and for that, I thank you. Those that supported the label by buying releases, I can’t thank you enough, and hope you’ve enjoyed them as much as I have.

Coming up at Muse Creative Workspace:

Richmond, VA Saturday, December 6 2008 at 7pm at MUSE CREATIVE WORKSPACE—6N 19th Street.

Tzadik recording artist Christopher Adler and “Metasax” inventor Matthew Burtner meet together for the first time for an exclusive Richmond Muse Creative Workspace performance. The Adler/Burtner “Wired Encounter” will feature computer-mediated improvisations and composed sound art works for piano, saxophone and computers. A $10 donation at the door.

Award winning concert music composers, Adler and Burtner are also widely regarded as virtuosic performers. Among numerous collaborations and recording projects, they have appeared in concerts with improvisers such as Fred Frith, George Lewis, Anthony Davis, Mark Dresser, Vinny Golia, Gustavo Aguilar, Luke DuBois, and Brian Osborn.

Jamie Baum’s performance at Firehouse 12 is reviewed.

Flutist Jamie Baum returned to her home state Friday for an exultant performance at New Haven’s Firehouse 12. The Fairfield native led her septet on an alluring voyage through a musical landscape teeming with possibilities.

Baum’s compositions often draw upon modern classical music and advanced jazz concepts for inspiration. Despite their lofty origins, her pieces sounded playful and punchy, thanks to the admirable improvisatory skills of her band mates.

Abop TV offers a number of free music videos.

Tone Generation is an early electronic music podcast. Example programs below are available.

Programme 1: Great Britain
Music by: Desmond Briscoe, Daphne Oram, Desmond Leslie, Tristram Cary, Roberto Gerhard, Fred Judd and Malcolm Clarke.
Programme 2: France
Music by: Pierre Schaefer, Iannis Xenakis, Luc Ferrari, Pierre Henry with Michel Colombier and with Spooky Tooth, Ivo Malec and Bernard Parmegiani.
Programme 3: Germany
Music by: Walter Ruttman, Oskar Sala, Herbert Eimert, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Gyorgy Ligeti and Kraftwerk.
Programme 4: Italy
Music by: Luigi Russolo, Luciano Berio, Bruno Maderna, Luigi Nono, Vittorio Gelmetti and John Eaton.
Programme 5: Holland and Belgium
Music by: Henk Badings, Henri Pousseur, Ton Bruynel, Leo Kupper, Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltan.
Programme 6: Scandanavia
Music by: Rune Lindblad, Karl Birger Blomdahl, Ralph Lundsten, Else Marie Pade, Erkki Kurenniemi and Arne Nordheim.
Programme 7: Eastern Europe
Music by: Edward Artemiev with Yuri Bogdanov, Eugeniusz Rudnik, Bohdan Mazurek, Josef Malovec, Miloslav Istvan, and Ivan Patachich.
Programme 8: USA
Music by: Louis & Bebe Barron, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Milton Babbitt, Morton Subotnick, Haig Mardirosian, Raymond Scott and Gil Melle.
Programme 9: Canada
Music by: Hugh le Caine, Phillip Werren, Barry Truax, Norman McLaren and R. Murray Schafer.
Programme 10: Southern Hemisphere
Music by: Toru Takemitsu, Akira Miyoshi, Bruce Clarke, John Crocker, John Rimmer, Jose Vicente Asuar and Jorge Antunes.
Programme 11: Expo 58
Music by: Edgard Varese, Iannis Xenakis, Henk Badings, Herbert Eimert, Wlodzimierz Kotonski and Henry Jacobs.
Programme 12: The RCA Synthesizer
Music by: Otto Leuning, Vladimir Ussachevsky, Milton Babbitt and Charles Wuorinen.

From All About Jazz:

18-Nov-08 Arild Andersen
Live at Belleville (ECM Records)
Reviewed by John Kelman

18-Nov-08 Satoko Fujii / New York Big Band
Summer Suite (Libra Records)
Reviewed by Budd Kopman

17-Nov-08 Rob Mazurek
Rob Mazurek’s excellent adventures in Brazil and France
Reviewed by Mark Corroto

17-Nov-08 Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra
We Are MTO (MOWO! Inc.)
Reviewed by Mark Corroto

17-Nov-08 Kirk Knuffke Quartet
Bigwig (Clean Feed Records)
Reviewed by Martin Longley

16-Nov-08 Matthew Shipp
Matthew Shipp: Multiplication Table, Abbey Road Duos, Un Piano & Cosmic Suite
Reviewed by Kurt Gottschalk

16-Nov-08 Taylor Ho Bynum
Asphalt Flowers Forking Paths (Hatology)
Reviewed by Robert Iannapollo

16-Nov-08 Paolo Angeli / Evan Parker / Ned Rothenberg
Free Zone Appleby 2007 (Psi)
Reviewed by Martin Longley

From Portland’s Wayward Music:

THU. 11/20 - Duo Juum: Conjuration of the Memory (Hugo Solis, piano & electronics; Gabriella Villa, viola, voice, text)

FRI. 11/21 - Gust Burns, new compositions for large chamber ensemble

SAT. 11/22 - Steve Scribner, contempo classical

From Dusted:

Artist: J Spaceman and Matthew Shipp
Album: SpaceShipp
Label: Treader
Review date: Nov. 18, 2008

Artist: Richard Pinhas and Merzbow
Album: Keio Line
Label: Cuneiform
Review date: Nov. 14, 2008

Artist: Sun Ra
Album: Secrets of the Sun
Label: Atavistic
Review date: Nov. 10, 2008

Scheinman is profiled.

Petrolia, Calif., is the westernmost town in the continental U.S., and lies along the biggest stretch of undeveloped coastline in the Lower 48. An outpost of the notorious Humboldt County, Petrolia was once, as the name suggests, an oil town, as well as a settlement for miners, loggers and fishermen. But when those resources began to dry up, it became what Petrolia native Jenny Scheinman calls “a pot town,” with a population of some 300 “back-to-the-lander hippie people who moved there in the ‘70s.” Scheinman, who happened to grow up in the westernmost house in Petrolia, which for much of her childhood was without electricity, says her hometown is about an hour’s drive from the nearest town.

Related articles by Zemanta

• A Violinist With Stories to Share (and Sing)
• What’s going on Wednesday?
• Music Review: Jazz Violin, Given License to Operate
• tribute to The Band @ Living Room in NYC tonight

Lukas Ligeti is interviewed.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Music Review | Bang on a Can All-Stars: Strange Dreams, Channeled Into Music
• For Five Days, New York Will Be Science City

From Musique Machine:

Richard Chartier - Further Materials

Further Materials is a follow up to 2002’s Other Materials. Both are collections of non-album tracks which originally saw the light of day on compilations with like minded artists. Richard Chartier is a sound artist, installation curator, and sometime lecturer who needs no introduction to anyone mildly interested in electronic music. He is one of the originators of the “microsound” or “lower case” form of digital music, which is, as it sounds, minimal music, usually played at minimal volume. What’s intriguing about Chartier’s music is that if you listen carefully, and with the volume pegged to ten, there’s incredible depth to his music.

Crow Tongue - Ghost:Eye:Seeker
tiMOTHy is the artist behind Crow Tongue, a solo project which takes a slightly different path from acid-folk/psych ensemble Stone Breath, with whom he takes part. Crow Tongue does include some acidic touches to be sure, and some folky elements as well, but it follows a dronier, doomy path. Ghost:Eye:Seeker is one strange album, and I mean that in the positive sense of the word. The first couple of listens may leave you scratching your head though. It’s hard to say whether tiMOTHy is totally serious or whether there’s a deadpan, dour sense of humor beneath it all. You could compare some of this music to the droney side of the Current 93 catalog, especially since the subject matter is said to be linked to Christianity. You’d have to be either psychic or observant on some level beyond ordinary to be able to pick up on the religious aspect, as the lyrics are obtuse, to say the least.

God Of Shamisen - Dragon String Attack
‘Shamisen metal’… liek wtf? As one would type out loud on the internet. The Japanese instrument with the weird, huge plectrum seems as distant from metal as noodles to French fries. But it’s a small world after all and these guys, in one form or another connected to Estradasphere prove it.

At The Head of The Woods - Secrets Beyond Time & Space
Secrets Beyond Time & Space is the debut solo release from guitarist and instrumental mood maker James Woodhead who is best know as been one half of the Pagan, psychedelic and folk project The Elemental Chrysalis, which he does with Chet W. Scott(Ruhr Hunter, Blood of the Black Owl & Glass Throat Records owner).

Anakrid - Banishment Rituals of The Disenlightened
Anakrid make dense, darkly psychedelic and often intense and surreal electro soundscapes and dark electroinca. You can hear traces of more beat bound Coil or Cyclobe at their more filmatic, doom horror organ soundtracking, ambient industrial tone and slight noise tendencies and even slight traces of more demented Resident like cinematic and surrealism stirred into the dense mix.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Frozen Sound Art Exhibition
• So Paul McCartney wants to release a wanky … [Paul McCartney]
• Kraftwerk: Elektro Kardiogramm
• Interactive Music Format Pregnant With Possibility

In a “holy crap” moment, I found out about the Black Saint catalogue now available for download on eMusic.com. Lots of classic AACM, ROVA, Sun Ra, and more.

From Seventh Records:

30 janvier 2009 - TOULOUSE (31) - Le Bikini
12 > 14 février 2009 - PARIS (75) - Le Casino de Paris
21 février 2009 - JOUE-LES-TOURS (37) - Espace Malraux
28 février 2009 - NANCY (54) - L’Autre Canal
6 mars 2009 - CAEN (14) - Le Cargo
7 mars 2009 - RENNES (35) - Option
9 mars 2009 - BRUXELLES (Belgique) - Cirque Royal
10 mars 2009 - LILLE (59) - Sébastopol
21 mars 2009 - BREST (29)
27 mars 2009 - EYSINES (33) - Salle Le Vigan
28 mars 2009 - FOIX (09) - Scène Nationale
2 avril 2009 - REIMS (51) - La Cartonnerie
3 avril 2009 - GAUCHY (02) - Maison de la Culture et des Loisirs
4 avril 2009 - CORBIE (80) - Centre d’Accueil et d’Animation
17 avril 2009 - LE CREUSOT (71) - Les Giboulées (option)
18 avril 2009 - ISTRES (13) - L’Usine (option)
28 avril 2009 - COLMAR (68) - Théâtre (option)
29 avril 2009 - LYON (69) - Transbo
30 avril 2009 - CLERMONT-FERRAND (63) - La Coopérative de Mai
1 mai 2009 - BOURG-LES-VALENCE (26) - Théâtre
7 mai 2009 - LA VERRIERE (78) - Le Scarabée
19 > 23 mai 2009 - Tournée ALLEMAGNE - Option
25 > 31 mai 2009 - Tournée JAPON
12 juin 2009 - BESANCON (25) - Les Passagers du Zinc (option)
18 juin 2009 - BLOIS (41) - Jazz à Cheverny (option)
19 juin 2009 - MORSANG SUR ORGE (91) - Fête de la Ville (option)
5 juillet 2009 - DOMONT (95) - Centre Georges Brassens (option)
17 juillet 2009 - FRANCFORT (Allemagne) - Burg Herzberg Festival (option)
25 juillet 2009 - NICE (06) - Nice Jazz Festival (option)
28 > 30 août 2009 - NANTES (44) - Les rendez-vous de l’Erdre
19 septembre 2009 - ALBI (31) - CARMAUX - Festival RIO (option)
6 > 10 octobre 2009 - PARIS - L’Alhambra (option)
10 octobre 2009 - SAINT-ETIENNE DU ROUVRAY (76) - Le Rive Gauche (option)
15 octobre 2009 - STRASBOURG (67) - Festival Les Nuits Européennes (option)
17 octobre 2009 - CHANGE-LES-LAVAL (53) - Les Ondines (option)

From ScottAmendola.com:

November 19, 2008
Cafe Du Nord
San Francisco, CA Nels Cline Singers

November 20, 2008
Freight & Salvage
Berkeley, CA The Rova/Nels Cline Celestial Septet

January 11, 2009
house concert
details to be announced soon Amendola vs. Blades

February 5, 2009
Kuumbwa Jazz Center
Santa Cruz, CA Go Home: Ben Goldberg, Charlie Hunter, Ron Miles, Scott Amendola

February 6, 2009
Scott Amendola’s 40th Birthday Bash Cafe Du Nord
San Francisco, CA Scott Amendola w/ Charlie Hunter, Ron Miles, Ben Goldberg, Devin Hoff, John Shifflett and more…
- tickets available now -

February 7, 2009
Freight & Salvage
Berkeley, CA Go Home: Ben Goldberg, Charlie Hunter, Ron Miles, Scott Amendola

February 8, 2009
Throckmorton Theater
Mill Valley, CA Go Home: Ben Goldberg, Charlie Hunter, Ron Miles, Scott Amendola

February 9, 2009
sponsored by
The Redwood Jazz Alliance
Arcata, CA Go Home: Ben Goldberg, Charlie Hunter, Ron Miles, Scott Amendola

February 10, 2009
Workshop
Arcata, CA Go Home: Ben Goldberg, Charlie Hunter, Ron Miles, Scott Amendola

February 17, 2009
Yoshi’s
Oakland, CA Marco Benevento w/ Scott Amendola and guest

Chadbourne submits to an interview.

Most fields of work require a form of safety code, rules to be followed for protection, fire drills to practice, and so forth. Music is not one of these fields. Or at least, it shouldn’t be, according to the philosophy of Dr. Eugene Chadbourne.

“I have always desired moving beyond this feeling of safety in music where the person listening can always predict what is going to happen,” the guitarist/ banjo player and singer wrote to the DI by e-mail. “Where the music is going in terms of harmony and rhythm, no note is out of place and everything is perfect … It makes my hair stand on end. Have you seen my hair? It is not a pretty sight.”

Chadbourne has been an active musician and, thus, an active participant in his philosophy of pushing boundaries since the 1970s, when he began playing in New York City with avant-garde saxophonist and fellow composer John Zorn.

An upcoming event at Oakland’s Mills College:

MILLS IMPROVISATION ENSEMBLE
Performing music by ANTHONY BRAXTON
w/guest director GINO ROBAIR

FREE!!!
8pm

Tuesday December 2, 2008
Mills College
Lisser Auditorium
5000 MacArthur Blvd.
Oakland, CA
94613

From Sonomu:

Sleep Research Facility, Deep Frieze (Cold Spring)
This is the ambient music that ambient music puts on the stereo when it wants to unwind and get reaquainted with its roots. Toronto´s Sleep Research Facility perversely approach the “comfort of encroaching hypothermia” with this sweeping, textbook example of true soundscaping craftsmanship. The… [read]
Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 08:20, 17 Nov 2008

Jeremy Bible & Jason Henry, Vryashn (CDR Gears of Sand)
The present reviewer must confess to having no idea of this duo´s track record, but artistically at least it looks like a case of the old ketchup-effect: nothing, nothing for a long time and then suddenly, splat! Five releases on three different labels, including their own, in a matter of a few… [read]
Posted by Stephen Fruitman at 06:45, 05 Nov 2008

My friend and colleague Steve Courtright reviews the show.

From AFP:

For the first time in its history, the Louvre museum Thursday opens its doors to a musician, France’s renowned contemporary composer and conductor, Pierre Boulez, giving the classical arthouse a modern touch.

To the French, the 83-year-old supremo of serial, experimental and electronic music born in the central Loire valley is what the Japanese call “a living national treasure”, celebrated for his unique contribution to music and to intellectual life since the 1950s.

From DOWNTOWNMUSIC.NET:

November 09, 2008
All By Myshelf, Kornspeicher, Wels
Alan Purves
Brotzmann-Yagi-Nilssen-Love, Schl8hof, Wels
Peter Brotzmann, Paal Nilssen-Love, Michiyo Yagi
Mary Oliver & Rozemarie Heggen, Schl8hof, Wels
Rozemarie Heggen, Mary Oliver
Sol6, Schl8hof, Wels
Tony Buck, Mandy Drummond, Luc Ex, Ingrid Laubrock, Hannah Marshall, Veryan Weston
Tommy Meier Root Down, Schl8hof, Wels
Trixa Arnold, Fredi Flukiger, Chris Jager, Marco Kappeli, Herbert Kramis, Peter Landis, Andi Marti, Tommy Meier, Marco von Orelli, Hans-Peter Pfammatter, Peter Scharli, Jan Schlegel, Irene Schweitzer, Co Streiff, Stephan Thelen
Wilbert de Joode & Christine Sehnaoui & Le Quan Ninh, Stadtgalerie, Wels
Wilbert de Joode, Le Quan Ninh, Christine Sehnaoui

November 08, 2008
Susanna Gartmayer & Christine Sehnaoui, Im Pavillon, Wels
Susanna Gartmayer, Christine Sehnaoui
Fire Room, Schl8hof, Wels
Lasse Marhaug, Paal Nilssen-Love, Ken Vandermark
Getatchew Mekuria & The Ex & Guests, Schl8hof, Wels
Melaku Belay, Joost Buis, Xavier Charles, Andy Ex, Jos Ex, Katherina Ex, Terrie Ex, Colin Maclean, Getatchew Mekuria, Brodie West
Gross-Charles-Hautzinger-Marchetti, Schl8hof, Wels
Xavier Charles, Jean-Philippe Gross, Franz Hautzinger, Lionel Marchetti
High Birds, Schl8hof, Wels
Paul Dunmall, Rozemarie Heggen, Hilary Jeffery, Alan Purves
Kackala, Schl8hof, Wels
Hilary Binder, Eva Kubesova, Katerina Kubesova, Stacey Rubin, Lexa Walsh
Volcanic Arcs, Stadtgaler, Wels
Lasse Marhaug

November 07, 2008
El Infierno Infernal, Schl8hof, Wels
Martin Brandlmayr, Christof Kurzmann, Eva Reiter, Clayton Thomas, Ken Vandermark
Etenesh Wassie & Le Tigre De Platanes, Schl8hof, Wels
Marc Demereau, Fabien Duscombs, Piero Pepin, Mathieu Sourisseau, Etenesh Wassie
Subshrubs, Schl8hof, Wels
Angelica Castello, Katharina Klement, Maja Osojnik, Billy Roisz
Tribute To Albert Ayler, Schl8hof, Wels
Roy Campbell, Joe McPhee, William Parker, Warren Smith

Related articles by Zemanta

• Jazz: Was and Is
• Scandi-Nordic Jazz Covers Of ’00s Indie? Yeah Yeah Yeah [Videodrone]
• No Fun Fest 2008 @ Knitting Factory in NYC, full lineup
• The Thing Friday at Ruby’s BBQ