Category Archives for Uncategorized

"Alan Lomax in HAITI": a new box set of his 1936 recordings, journal, more

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This extraordinarily appointed (and very reasonably priced) boxset was released by Harte Recordings of San Francisco late last year, but just came on my radar last night. Here’s the lowdown from the label:

“Alan Lomax in Haiti: A unique boxed set containing 10 CDs and two books, chronicling Alan Lomax’s 1936 Haitian recording expedition for the Library of Congress. Each volume showcases a specific style of music that Lomax encountered, each thoroughly discussed in the accompanying books: Gage Averill’s meticulously researched liner notes, and Lomax’s own field journal…

“The Alan Lomax Estate and Harte Recordings are dedicated to supporting earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. To aid in that effort, the price of the Alan Lomax in Haiti boxset will be reduced for a limited time to $115, with $15 going directly to local disaster relief organizations in Haiti. Topspin, Harte’s partner in the online selling world, has agreed to donate a portion of its net profit from box set sales as well.”

More info, including interviews, news, songs from the boxset, and direct order info at the HAITI BOX BLOG: http://thehaitibox.blogspot.com/

Forthcoming from Starfire: two previously unpublished grimoires by Austin Osman Spare

Wikipedia: Austin Osman Spare

Just spotted this announcement in the “Forthcoming” section in the Autumn/Winter 2009 catalog from Starfire Publishing (available as a PDF from here):

Two Grimoires by Austin Osman Spare — set for publication in Spring/Summer 2010

The early years of the 20th Century were a time of great creative ferment for Spare, and amongst the items which survive from these early years are two intriguing and sumptuous grimoires, each of which is a notebook consisting of fine pen and ink and watercolour drawings. These notebooks were unfortunately not completed by
Spare. There are a number of full-page and half-page paintings and drawings; other pages have embellishments, with spaces for text which clearly was to have been inserted later. From the addition of his bookplate, it is clear that both notebooks were at one time the property of Spare’s patron Pickford Waller.

AmenAOS

The first of these grimoires, entitled The Focus of Life & The Papyrus of Amen-AOS, is dated 1905-6. Much of the lettering remains in pencil, some of it giving clues to the underlying meaning of the imagery. An important element of this grimoire is that it features an early form of the ‘exteriorisation of sensation’ which Spare subsequently developed into the Sacred Alphabet which is a feature of The Book of Pleasure.

AOSRampant

The second, slightly later notebook is The Arcana of AOS & the Consciousness of Kia-Ra, dated 1906. This is in some ways the more finished of the two notebooks, and picks up some of the imagery from the earlier notebook as well as integrating some new elements.

These two grimoires by Spare are at once enigmatic and full of haunting beauty. The paintings and drawings from each notebook are here reproduced in full colour. With analytical essays by Michael Staley, Stephen Pochin and William Wallace, and an introduction by Robert Ansell, this publication adds to our understanding of Spare’s early years as an artist, mystic and philosopher, and sheds light on the early development of his sigilisation techniques.

"Golden Apples of the Sun" compilation by Devendra Banhart, available direct from Arthur

“THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN”
curated and designed by DEVENDRA BANHART
(Arthur 0004)

Available direct from Arthur: the acclaimed 2004 compilation of current underground folk music, as selected by Devendra Banhart.

This is more than a compilation–it’s expertly sequenced and paced, like one long, slow flow of a particularly rich vibe. Liner notes are by the artists themselves, paying tribute to each other, all handlettered by Devendra, who also provides artwork on cover, back cover, sleeve, tray and the disk itself.

“Essential.” — Mojo, September 2004

“Sparkling.” — The Wire, July 2004

“8.6 (out of 10): [Its] sprawling landscape presents a persuasive case for the depth of a scene that seemingly sprung up (like mushrooms) overnight.” — Pitchfork, July 8, 2004

Track listing:

1. Vetiver (with Hope Sandoval) – “Angel’s Share” (from the “Vetiver” LP)
2. Joanna Newsom – “Bridges and Balloons” (from “The Milk-Eyed Mender” LP)
3. Six Organs of Admittance – “Hazy SF” (previously unreleased)
4. Viking Moses – “Crosses” (from “Crosses”)
5. Josephine Foster – “Little Life” (prev. unreleased home recording)
6. Espers – “Byss & Abyss” (from “Espers” LP)
7. Vashti Bunyan & Devendra Banhart – “Rejoicing in the Hands” (from the “Rejoicing in the Hands of the Golden Empress” LP)
8. Jana Hunter – “Farm, CA” (prev. unreleased)
9. Currituck Co. – “The Tropics of Cancer” (from “Ghost Man on First”)
10. White Magic – “Don’t Need” (from the Drag City EP)
11. Iron and Wine – “Fever Dream” (from “Our Endless Numbered Days” LP)
12. Diane Cluck – ” Heat From Every Corner” (from “Macy’s Day Bird” LP)
13. Matt Valentine – “Mountains of Yaffa” (previously unreleased)
14. Entrance – “You Must Turn” (prev. unreleased home recording)
15. Jack Rose – “White Mule” (from “Red Horse, White Mule”)
16. Little Wings – “Look at What the Light Did Now” (from “Light Green Leaves”)
17. Scout Niblett – “Wet Road” (from “Sweet Heart Fever”)
18. Troll – “Mexicana” (from “Pathless Lord”)
19. CocoRosie – “Good Friday” (from “La Maison de Mon Reve”)
20. Antony – “The Lake” (from “Live at Saint Olaye’s With Current 93”)

New music: "MLK" by The Entrance Band

livegreen

Stream: [audio:http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Entrance-Band-MLK.mp3%5D

Download: “MLK” —The Entrance Band (mp3)

“There’s a reason I sing/Because I want to hear freedom ring”

Dig it: essential message groove music from The Entrance Band‘s latest, available on 2xLP and cd through the good folks of Ecstatic Peace.

Jan 22 and 23, SF (Dogpatch): ECOTONES at lowerdeck

ecotones

lowerdeck Gallery features Ecotones – A Painted Windows Event

Where: 2295 3rd Street, San Francisco CA 94107 (Dogpatch)

When: January 22nd and 23rd (Friday and Saturday) two performances

Time: Festivities start at 8pm and go until they end

Painted Windows presents Ecotones, a curatorial collaboration between painters, filmmakers, writers and musicians revolving around the fleeting, ever-changing notion of home. An all-immersive environment sprung from a collage of individual takes, the exhibition will approach the idea of natural habitat through sculpture, painting, interactive installations, live music, language, diverse performances, and unique beverages. From Christy Chan’s films of insurgent wild life reclaiming Marin’s defunct military bases to Sonya Genel’s multi-layered paintings to a bathroom full of stuffed animals to a “shitty house,” Ecotones will present a latticework of fantastical wilderness and urban mythology.

Also:
-Experience an interactive ritual
-Sip some yerba mate cocktails
-Watch two films simultaneously
-Hear a concert by NewVillager who will debut songs from their upcoming self-titled album.
-Listen to the absurd language of an “absurd MC”
-Read a wall
-Draw on a wall

"The record age was just a blip": Brian Eno on the end of records

From a new interview published in The Guardian:

“I think records were just a little bubble through time and those who made a living from them for a while were lucky. There is no reason why anyone should have made so much money from selling records except that everything was right for this period of time. I always knew it would run out sooner or later. It couldn’t last, and now it’s running out. I don’t particularly care that it is and like the way things are going. The record age was just a blip. It was a bit like if you had a source of whale blubber in the 1840s and it could be used as fuel. Before gas came along, if you traded in whale blubber, you were the richest man on Earth. Then gas came along and you’d be stuck with your whale blubber. Sorry mate – history’s moving along. Recorded music equals whale blubber. Eventually, something else will replace it.”

JAY REATARD, 1980-2010

jayreatard

Above: Jay Reatard, gone far too soon

“Memphis musician Jay Reatard runs ‘out of time’; dies at 29” — news article at Memphis Commercial Appeal

October 2005 interview with Jay from the LARecord:

Jay Reatard was about 15 when he started the Reatards, who were the brightest young scum in the Memphis rock ‘n’ roll scene. After several frightening albums recorded on his famous broken four-track, he purchased some old keyboards and started a new band called the Lost Sounds, but they finally broke up and now Jay is back as a Reatard and playing some of the first songs he ever wrote. He speaks now while recovering from a 33-hour Greyhound ride to the West Coast to start the first tour…. Read on at LARecord

More from Lanier: " There are only a tiny handful of writers or musicians who actually make a living in the new utopia"

From “World Wide Mush” by Jaron Lanier in the Wall Street Journal:

…The “open” paradigm rests on the assumption that the way to get ahead is to give away your brain’s work—your music, writing, computer code and so on—and earn kudos instead of money. You are then supposedly compensated because your occasional dollop of online recognition will help you get some kind of less cerebral work that can earn money. For instance, maybe you can sell custom branded T-shirts.

We’re well over a decade into this utopia of demonetized sharing and almost everyone who does the kind of work that has been collectivized online is getting poorer. There are only a tiny handful of writers or musicians who actually make a living in the new utopia, for instance. Almost everyone else is becoming more like a peasant every day.

And it’s going to get worse. Before too long—in 10 years, I’d guess—cheap home robots will be able to make custom T-shirts from free designs off the Internet. When that day comes, then a T-shirt’s design will be no more valuable than recorded music is today.

…The owners of big computer resources on the Internet, like Google, will be able to make money from the open approach for a long time, of course, by routing advertisements, but middle-class people will be increasingly asked to accept a diet of mere kudos. No one should feel insulated from this trend. Poverty has a way of trickling up. Once everyone is aggregated, what will be left to be advertised?

…I don’t want our young people aggregated, even by a benevolent social-networking site. I want them to develop as fierce individuals, and to earn their living doing exactly that. When they work together, I hope they’ll do so in competitive, genuinely distinct teams so that they can get honest feedback and create big-time innovations that earn royalties, instead of spending all their time on crowd-pleasing gambits to seek kudos. This is not just so that they and their children will thrive, but so that they won’t become a mob, which, as history has shown us again and again, is a vulnerability of human nature.