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The Happy End Problem (Music for Dance Volume 5)
Frith's Music for Dance Volume 5 - two works for small ensembles, which were performed for each of Amanda Miller's dances created for The Pretty Ugly Dance Company. The first is based on Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, and the other a deliberately Western look at Japanes culture.
According to Chris Cutler:
'Happy End' presents two, related, small-ensemble works for 6 and 7 musicians respectively - mostly strings of one sort or another, with percussion, flute, clarinet and electronics. Fred, v…
Impur
"In 1996, at the end of a two year residency, Fred organised an event at L'Ecole Nationale de Musique de Villeurbanne in France. He roped in as many of the students as he could, grouped according to their departments (early music, rock, African drumming, classical &c), and set them up in all the rooms in the building. The public wandered around creating their own mix, or sat in the courtyard listening to the sound drifting out through the open windows.
For their part, each group of musici…
Impur II
Essentially a pretty great concert by a large 19 strong ensemble with Fred conducting as well as playing. Lots of rhythm, harmony, rock noise, exotic instrumentation, power, complexity and melodic writing, with stretches of chaos, eccentricity and theatre. Totally different, then, from Impur Part I which was a deconstructed, spatialised simultaneity of musical events heard through open windows or by wandering through rooms; Impur Part II was an unannounced performance upon which audience …
Live In Japan
Concert recordings made at various venues in Japan in 1981 and released by Recommended Records Japan in 1982 in an edition of 1000. Out of print since, though highly sought after, it has now been transferred and remastered by Tom Dimuzio for this official reissue.
Fred was just starting out on his long career as a solo improviser when he made this double LP, and still using the now long retired Charles Fletcher custom double-neck guitar (one fretted, one fretless) and the Burns Black Biso…
Nowhere Sideshow Thin Air
This is Frith's sixth CD of music for dance, featuring three commissions by three different choreographers each sharing, as Fred says ' a certain obsession with melodic deconstruction.' Two of them feature - and were especially written for - the remarkable violinist Carla Kihlstedt.
Fred and Carla perform one of them (Fred playing a huge array of instruments here as on all pieces), are joined by Fred Guiliano, (samples) and Gail Brand (trombone) on another, while the third features Fred, …
Allies
For an artist known for incredible prolificacy and the seeming instantaneousness of his work, Fred Frith's ballet score Allies has managed to acquire a long and checkered history. Created in 1989 for the post-modernist Bebe Miller Dance Company, Allies appears near the start of a period where Frith began to separate his efforts in multi-movement works designed for dance, theater productions, and film from the short, improvised guitar pieces and work within rock styled ensembles that he had…
Guitar Solos
Although it was originally recorded in 1974, there are pieces on Fred Frith's landmark Guitar Solos album that are probably still making guitar players scratch their heads wondering "How did he do that?" Don't expect any kind of Yngwie Malmsteen-style wankage; Frith instead uses a volume pedal, tapping, and other extended techniques to produce everything from chiming, bell-like notes to unearthly howls. It almost never sounds like standard guitar-with-plectrum playing, but the pieces have a …
Cheap at Half the Price
Frith's last album for Ralph Records stepped back from the progressions of Speechless to a concoction of pop-like ditties and instrumentals recorded at home on a four track. And for the first time, Frith sings, in a strange high-pitched tone. A little more production and sound manipulation and this could almost be a Residents album, circa 1978. As a pop-song writer, Frith is okay; he shrouds socialist discussion in lyrics about dogs and insects while keeping the song structure simple and r…
Technology of Tears (And Other Music for Dance)
"Sadness, Its Bleached Bones Behind Us," and "You Are What You Eat" are unrelenting slices of hard-edged sounds over a pulse. "The Palace of Laughter, The Technology of Tears" is an imaginative, intense, varied suite comparing music which represents the past "frozen tears" of sadness -- displayed as images before us by the media, etc. -- with the "hot tears" of the moment that cannot be absorbed by technology. "Jigsaw" and "Jigsaw Coda" (1986) creates patterns with constantly shifting acc…
Teachings of Eastern Traditions
The alignment of two esoteric/ritual dark ambient minds. The woven threads of the lunar goddesses manifold thrice around the solar temples of Samadhi. The lodge of Shibalba and the circle of Phurpa have stepped beyond the crimson shores of Malkuth to unite the mysteries of Vama Marga with the unique tradition of Bon. Limited to 300 copies with download code.
Live In Wiesbaden 1972/73
In 1972 Guru Guru played the Wiesbaden Concert Hall where Neumeier, guitarist Ax Genrich and bassist Bruno Schaab (who had recently replaced Uli Trepte) let loose on one of their most classic tracks, the a 37-minute freakout “Ooga Booga”. In 1973 the discerning folks of Wiesbaden again invited Guru Guru to play, and this time the band—now featuring the formidable Hans Hartmann (arguably Guru Guru’s best in a long line of bass players)—regaled fans with tracks from their recently released …
L'umanoide
For the 1979 cult sci-fi movie L'umanoide (The Humanoid), directed by Aldo Lado (credited as George B. Lewis), the legendary Ennio Morricone composed a score of catchy, futuristic, synthesizer-based arrangements with great electro-orchestral disco grooves and dissonant atmospheric soundscapes, marking quite a departure from his usual style. This is the first release of the complete soundtrack on vinyl. Limited edition of 1000 transparent blue LPs.
"A weird later Ennio Morricone soundtrack – and …
Speechless
This is one of the most important experimental guitar-based titles from avant guitarist and founding Henry Cow member Fred Frith. Frith's second solo album, Speechless, includes appearances by Etron Fou Leloublan, Massacre, and Bill Laswell.
This is a studio Frankenstein of live clips and found sounds. While Frith attests to the occurrence of many "happy accidents," the album comes across confidently and more often more coherent than merely challenging. This is often cited as Frith's best sol…
Prints - Snapshots, Postcards, Messages And Miniatures 1987-2001
The short story: Prints is Fred Frith's first album of songs in 20 years. The long story: it is actually a collection of compilation tracks and unreleased studio sessions recorded between 1987 and 2001. No matter if you already own a few of these, a pop album by this man is a rarity -- and that is truly a shame. Of course, as a respected improviser, serious composer, and educator, anything lighter from this pillar of modern music will meet with severe criticism from people who take themse…
Step Across The Border
Although this is technically the soundtrack to a film of the same name by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel, Step Across the Border actually serves as an excellent overview of Fred Frith\'s groundbreaking work as a soloist, bandleader, and collaborator. There\'s an example of his \"guitars on the table\" approach (\"Romanisches Cafe\"), and a couple of excellent duos with tape manipulation whiz Bob Ostertag (\"Voice of America, Pt. 3,\" from the lost and lamented Voice of America album they m…
Watertube / Ringspiel
Remastered version of the ADN Tape of 1985, Limited Numbered Edition of 50. "Exquisite ambient synthesizer electroacoustic music, published 1985, using soothing sounds a la Musci & Venosta or Brian Eno’s Thursday Afternoon. Riccardo Sinigaglia was born 1953. His discography include: 1985 ‘Riflessi Sensibili’ and 1989 ‘Correnti Magnetiche’, both on ADN. Correnti Magnetiche (1985-1996) was also the name of a studio and band he founded in Milan with Mario Canali in 1985, and including people like F…
The Cloud Doctrine
Restocked: Sub Rosa presents a real sensation: 159 minutes of minimal electronic music, readings, and soundtracks from the archives of composer, poet, occultist, calligrapher, and original Velvet Underground drummer Angus Maclise from 1963-1976, featuring Tony Conrad, John Cale, Piero Heliczer, Beverly Grant Conrad and Hetty Maclise. This deluxe 2CD set features rare music, performances, soundtracks, and spoken word by this seminal poet and musician who was active in the New York avant-gar…
Affenstunde
Every once in a while I like to post something that doesn't fit the theme of this page and give ya'all a glimpse at some of my all time favorites. The spread the gambit. From punk to... early Krautrock. Popol Vuh was the creation of Florian Fricke. Intially a themed project - Popol Vuh means "Council Book" or "Book of the Community" and is a book containing mythological narratives and a genealogy of the rulers of the Post-Classic Quiché Maya kingdom of highland Guatemala. Musician extraordinare …
This Heat
Repressed, second edition. A True Milestone, the near-mythical This Heat's debut album has been finally brought out of cold storage and made available again on deluxe remastered vinyl!!! "First official vinyl re-issue in collaboration with original band members Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward. 24 bit/96 kHz re-master from original analog tapes. 180 gram wax housed in an expanded gatefold tip-on jacket. Includes booklet with track notes and archival photos. Isn't it so often the case tha…
Deceit
Repressed, second edition. Another essential reissue, This Heat’s classic Deceit completes an official trilogy of vinyl reissues from their seminal and hugely influential run of late ‘70s/early ‘80s recordings which set the template for so, so much avant-rock, noise and experimental music ever since. With their debut album and follow-up maxi single Health and Efficiency, This Heat sowed the seeds of post-punk, avant rock, noise rock and post-rock, placing the trio -- Charles Bullen, Charles…