★NATO
Deadly Weapons
Recent digipack CD reissue "This collective of jazz improv weirdoes banded together for a one-off in 1986 to riff on the deep vibe of all things French and cinematic. Backing vocalist Toni Marshall, Zorn, Beresford, and Toop created a virtual and highly experimental film noir soundtrack to a movie that perhaps existed in the mind of Jean-Luc Godard in the 1950s, but was never made. David Toop is clearly the sonic architect here, haunting the proceedings with his deep use of effects, subdued perc…
Hotel Hotel
idiosyncratic French musical provocateur's finest moments and laden with ace contributions from an international cast of oddballs including Pierre Bastien and Clive Bell, the provisional constructs Berrocal and co. jerry-rig around the free floating music signifiers that comprise Berrocal's aesthetic M.O. are slippery, beautiful things, riding across the seams of art song, meditative orientalia, drunken free jazz bleat, dark electropop, hazy jazz reverbed into Hassell-esque fourth-worldisms and …
Zombie Bloodbath on the Isle of Dogs
The Recedents (Lol Coxhill, Roger Turner, Mike Cooper) demonstrate that you can be avant-garde and have fun at the same time. This is the soundtrack for a "yet-to-be-made" film about a conflict between zombies and a new housing tract. The plot is summarized in the liner notes. Each piece makes reference to this film in some way. The music ranges from the reggae-like title track, to avant rock, to rockabilly, to electrified free-form improvisations. Do not buy if you think humour doesn't belon…
Tenga Nina
This album is somewhat a departure for French drummer Jacques Thollot. Gone are the uncompromising free jazz experiments of the 60s and 70s - but not forgotten. He is clearly able to channel them in order to profit a more structured environment which betrays a renewed interest for the melody. The set features a core quartet comprised of pianist Tony Hymas, guitarist Noël Akchoté, and bassist Claude Tchamitchian, with special guests trumpeter Henry Lowther on a couple of tracks, and Thollot's dau…