February 2004 - zorn-list - mailman.xmission.com

Story of Weird little boy
by igor balac 26 Feb '04

26 Feb '04

Hi all, just a little story related to "Weird...boy" and all that stuff! I used to date a sweet little girl who found her passion in some kind of experimental movie making. Honestly I never thought those films are something extraordinary or something special. Not absurd, not shocking, provoking, funny, smelly, bitter, sad or intelectual. Nothing at all. But, as I said, she was such a sweet little girl and for that, I wanted to support her arty-fart by helping her to find some adequate music witch should be able to cover the loss of talent. Somehow, she received all the best critics from her docents ( at that time she was studying art) and they definitely wanted to place some kind of showing of all her material. While I was busy calling all the musicians I knew in the country, tallking for hours on the phone with them, trying to explain what kind of sound or music I need and what kind of atmosphere we're trying to reach, and after all desperate trying to be original and authentic she came with another idea: "Why don't we just use some of this experimental music that you have on the cd's ?". O.K. My problem solved. Her too. I gave her all "that kind of music" I had including "Weird little boy", "Nani Nani", "IAO", "Hex Kitchen", "Absinthe","Music for Children", "Book of Heads", "Haras" and finally Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds "From Her To Eternity". Two weeks after she gave all the cd's back. All exept "Weird...boy" saying that everything is trash. Then she moved to Germany together with the Weird Little Boy and I never heard of them again. Not untill few months ago, when I saw some kind of reportage on local tv, about my sweet little ex girlfriend who recently won a second prize on some crappy kind of amateur film festival. I immediately recognized her images supported by beautiful sounds of Weird Little Boy. It turned out that those images are now making lot more sense to me. They were more colorful, more liquid more structural... Only, then, I could not see it and in that sense I understood the music of J.Z. much better... So much about Weird little boy. _________________________________________________________________ MSN Search, for accurate results! http://search.msn.nl

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MxBx & Fantomas
by OlBuzzo＠aol.com 26 Feb '04

26 Feb '04

40 watt Athens, Ga April 2. Go to 40 watt web site

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booka heads
by Kurt Gottschalk 26 Feb '04

26 Feb '04

John was wondering why there was never a recording made of Eugene Chadbourne performing the Etudes from the "Book of Heads" album. nothing officially released, and nothing recorded that i've ever heard. and any performances he did of it were, i'm pretty certain, scarce and few. kg _________________________________________________________________ Click, drag and drop. My MSN is the simple way to design your homepage. http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200364ave/direct/01/

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RE: Hemophiliac, etc.
by Tom Bowden 26 Feb '04

26 Feb '04

A couple of comments about the Hemophiliac CD: My understanding is that its high price owes to three things: it's a limited edition (2,500 copies), it's autographed by all three artists, and--the most important aspect of this project--it served as a fund-raiser for Tzadik. According to an interview with Zorn, accessible by a link at the bottom of Tzadik's homepage, Tzadik routinely loses $20,000 a year (if I remember correctly), a loss that is mostly made up by the willingness of some of Tzadik's artists to forego royalty payments. For those of you on this list whose appetite has been whetted to buy a copy of Hemophiliac, be forewarned that it now costs $60 (US). The Tzadik website no longer lists it. When I queried them about it, they told me they were out of stock. Mike Patton's website--the second of the three outlets that sold Hemophiliac--doesn't list it. That leaves the Downtown Music Gallery. Great service. Just remember to choke back the bile when ordering at the higher price! More generally speaking, I've read in the past few weeks some grumblings about the quality of Tzadik's releases, specifically about the lack of material that surprises and swathes out new musical ground. Well, that's as may be. I love the label because, of the purchases I've made, the music has been consistently good and interesting, which I think is more important than "newness." We've had people on this list praising the 40-CD set of Ellington material. The last time the Duke broke new ground was the day he was buried. And, as Ellington is supposed to have said, there's only two types of music: good and bad. (How those terms are defined is, of course, another (contentious!) matter.) I'm willing to take at face value the sincere interest of a particular performer or composer to play or write good music, be s/he playing free jazz or surf. What I try to evaluate as a listener, then, is not to wonder if a performer is trying to scam me with shit music s/he hopes I'm too stupid or gullible to see for the shit it is, but to figure out if a piece of music has succeeded in communicating at some level that has meaning for me. Just as there are few things easier in the world to do than to write a bad poem, so it goes with writing or performing a bad song. And few things harder to do than writing or performing *well.* All right. I'll dismount my soapbox for the day. --Tom

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Famous Noise
by jerm zimmerman 26 Feb '04

26 Feb '04

To put aside our differences in taste for the moment, I'd like to address what I see to be the root of this discussion on ambient noise cd's. I think the real issue is that these albums would never have been produced or distributed had the people involved not only been famous, but owners of their own record labels. I agree that this is not the best noise ambient can be, but I fear most of the best noise music never makes it past the 4-track, or home computer. And I agree that the fact that (with the case of Weird Little Boy and Hemophiliac, specifically) these albums cost much more than they should. I can't even think of one ambient noise album that doesn't have members who've already produced something more listenable. Maybe I'm wrong. If anybody knows any record labels who distribute these kinds of things by unknowns, I'd like to know. I'm working on a noise project right now and have no hopes of ever getting it anywhere but to the few people involved. I think this is truly the problem with this music, not the fact that some like them and some don't. Jerm _________________________________________________________________ Click, drag and drop. My MSN is the simple way to design your homepage. http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200364ave/direct/01/

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amsterdam cobra/experimental shows
by dutch rage 25 Feb '04

25 Feb '04

greetings list, new here, and passing on info i've just recieved... joseph > > I invite you to 3 different performances in the > coming > days in Amsterdam. Raw info comes first below, > descriptions and such at the bottom. Hope to see > you... ~Nathan Fuhr > > --------------------------------- > > Friday 27 February, we 11:25pm, other acts from 9pm > > Collision Palace performs John Zorns Cobra > > Barbara Lueneburg - violin > Marko Ciciliani - no-input mixer > Shahzad Ismaily - percussion > Petre Radu Scafaru - tenor sax > Felicity Provan - trumpet > Stephie Buttrich - voice > Mark van Tongeren - overtone voice, objects, > kaosspad > Quentin Sirjacq - piano > Marcos Baggiani - drums > Valdi Kolli - double bass > Lucho Enriquez - electric guitar > Barb Hamilton - trombone (tbc) > Nathan Fuhr - prompter > > Bimhuis, Oude Schans 73-77 > price: 12-14 Euro, but FYI they often they stop > charging late in the evening, and a student card > will > help, not to mention a bit of cleverness > www.festivalintheshapeofanegg.nl, www.bimhuis.nl > > ------------------------------------------ > > Sunday 29 February, 7pm > > Pulsed Gesture Cycle > concept: Nathan Fuhr. movement performance: NF, > Helen > Pokrovskaia, Hillary Blake Firestone. Sound > performance: Shahzad Ismaily (bass guitar) > > Studio Amsterdans, Valkenburgerstraat 132 > price: 2.50 Euro > As part of the monthly Hi-Fi series of dance company > No Apology, with many other performers, see > www.noapology.org. > > ------------------------------------ > > Monday 1 March, 9:30pm > > Kraak Chamber Cobra Experiments > > Collision Palace: > Barbara Lueneburg violin > Felicity Provan trumpet > Stephie Buttrich voice > Mark van Tongeren overtone voice, kaosspad, > objects > Shahzad Ismaily electronics > Lauro Moro dancer > perhaps others > Nathan Fuhr minimal prompting > > also on the bill: > Joel Ryan, electronics > Petre Radu Scafaru, tenor sax > Shahzad Ismaily, instrument tba > > Kraakgeluiden at OT301 > Overtoom 301 > price: 3 Euro > www.kraakgeluiden.tk, squat.net/overtoom301 > > ----------------------------------- > > I wrote Cobra to make beautiful music. I quit doing > Cobra because it makes monsters out of people. -JZ > to > NF, March 2001 NYC > > The Amsterdam-based Collision Palace is a collective > of young professional musicians with a variety of > stylistic backgrounds specializing in the > exploration > of different improvisation languages, by composers > such as John Zorn, Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, > Kenneth Gaburo, Robert Ashley, Misha Mengelberg, and > Nathan Fuhr. The ensemble also includes in their > repertoire a limited number of notated compositions > that bear relevance to the aforementioned pursuits, > or > reside in a similar aesthetic sphere, by noted > experimental composers such as Frederic Rzewski, > John > Oswald, Alison Isadora, Lee Ranaldo, and Donnacha > Dennehy. Recent projects include a collaboration > with > avant guitar legend Fred Frith as part of the > Holland > Festival (June 2003), performing his photographic > improv-score collection Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, > Wire, and performances of the CP interpretation of > Frederic Rzewskis minimalist-cum-maximalist > anarchistic classic Coming Together on the Gaudeamus > Night of the Unexpected (Amsterdam, September 2003) > and the Steve Reich in The Hague Festival (December > 2003). The group is currently in preparation for > performances of John Zorns Cobra on the Festival in > the Shape of an Egg at the Bimhuis (Amsterdam, > February 2004), and Nathan Fuhr has recently begun a > dialogue with dancer/choreographer Laura Moro in > exploration of the integration of dancers into the > ensemble, whos role will be equal to that of the > musicians in their usage of the language(s). > > Pulsed Gesture Cycle is the working title of a > rhythmic, minimal physical theatre form in which the > structure and design are set, and the choreographic > material is composed in real-time. It is a > process-based work in which the articulation of a > time-cycle is gradually transformed from the spoken > voice to the silent physical action, and back again. > The construction and accumulation of the > choreographic > material, performer-by-performer can result in > surprising, poetic, and subtly playful relationships > between the performers and their material. The > number > of performers and time cycle is flexible, and for > this > rendering will be a trio in a time cycle of 15. > Pulsed > Gesture Cycle was first presented as a > work-in-progress in November 2003 in duo form with > Sara Wookey on the Maximum Clarity series of the > Barton Workshop, and remains in the experimental > stages. > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Get better spam protection with Yahoo! Mail. http://antispam.yahoo.com/tools

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The Book of Heads
by j4.porter＠student.qut.edu.au 25 Feb '04

25 Feb '04

Hey I was wondering why there was never a recording made of Eugene Chadbourne performing the Etudes from the "Book of Heads" album. Cheers John

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Noise
by jerm zimmerman 25 Feb '04

25 Feb '04

Okay, I've been a silent observer of the list for a while, but I've got to defend some of these albums you're bashing, not for the people who've heard them and dislike them (because I can understand why) but for those who haven't heard them and might miss out. Some of my favorite albums of the Ambient Noise genre include Weird Little Boy & Pranzo Oltranzista. These albums aren't self-indulgent, atleast not in the way you'd think. They are an entirely different level of creative sound creation. These musicians are vacationing from the constrictions of melody and structure and expressing musical inspiration in a rudimentary and fundamental way. Creating 'sound' instead of music, which I think is highly underrated in today's music. This is the kind of music that doesn't just pull you along with catchy riffs or by manipulating your emotions, it works by painting images that stir the curiosity and confuse your eardrums. If you are one of the ones who like either of these albums I also recommend the albums by Death Ambient (on Tzadik) Naked City's Absinthe and the albums of Tribes Of Neurot. Okay. Jerm _________________________________________________________________ Store more e-mails with MSN Hotmail Extra Storage 4 plans to choose from! http://click.atdmt.com/AVE/go/onm00200362ave/direct/01/

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RE: Hemophilliac/Noise/Collections
by alastair＠pretentious.co.uk 25 Feb '04

25 Feb '04

Pretentious, I'll admit to. Pompous...that's another story. -----Original Message----- >From : Zachary Steiner <zsteiner(a)butler.edu> To : alastair(a)pretentious.co.uk Date : 25 February 2004 23:40:53 Subject : RE: Hemophilliac/Noise/Collections The domain of your email address is pretty pretentious ;) > >-----Original Message----- >From: zorn-list-bounces+zsteiner=butler.edu(a)mailman.xmission.com >[mailto:zorn-list-bounces+zsteiner=butler.edu@mailman.xmission.com] On >Behalf Of alastair(a)pretentious.co.uk >Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 6:36 PM >To: jay7(a)bushinternet.com; zorn-list(a)mailman.xmission.com >Subject: Re: Hemophilliac/Noise/Collections > > >jay 7 wrote: > >>What narks me is the pompous remarks made by those who scoff and think >their taste more >refined. >> Jay >> Errrr.....Alistair, I want your Hemophilliac cd. >> > >Calling me pompous and misspelling my name doesn't put you top of thie list >;) > >Alastair > > >-- >Personalised email by http://another.com > > > -- Personalised email by http://another.com

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Re: Hemophilliac/Noise/Collections
by alastair＠pretentious.co.uk 25 Feb '04

25 Feb '04

jay 7 wrote: >What narks me is the pompous remarks made by those who scoff and think their taste more >refined. > Jay > Errrr.....Alistair, I want your Hemophilliac cd. > Calling me pompous and misspelling my name doesn't put you top of thie list ;) Alastair -- Personalised email by http://another.com

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