The Stranglers Waltz (Vienna Noir Quartet)

The Strangler's Waltz

---

The trio open with spare, moody pastoral jazz, Formanek pulling the band into stalking King Crimson territory again before Halvorson hits her pedal for warpy, watery weirdness. Thumbprint, also by Halvorson, could be Gabor Szabo covering a Monk swing tune with an sardonically evil rhythm section: The first of two consecutive Fujiwara tunes, One Day gives Halvorson a misty backdrop for desolate, spacious phrasing but also some hilarious, thinly cached quotes, Formanek adding simmering and then punchy melody when not harmonizing uneasily with the guitar.

The second, Rising Snow wafts sparely and morosely toward waltz territory until Fujiwara hits some steady but impossible-to-figure syncopation — this also could be Big Lazy. The album concludes with two Formanek numbers. The first is titled Words That Rhyme With Spangle angle bangle dangle jangle mangel mangle strangle tangle wangle wrangle. It veers away from catchy, circular chromatic riffs as the rhythm falls away to a drifting wildfire, and then makes a slight return.

Watch this space for more about that one before the Vanguard stand starts. July 9, Posted by delarue jazz , Music , music, concert , review , Reviews , rock music album review , art-rock , big lazy , bigt lazy band , guitar jazz , jazz , King Crimson , Mary Halvorson , michael formanek , Music , music review , noir jazz , noir music , thumbscrew , thumbscrew band , thumbscrew ours , thumbscrew ours review , thumbscrew review , thumbscrew vanguard , tomas fujiwara Leave a comment. While most musicians use the early Soviet-era contraption for horror-movie shivers or comedic whistles, Stickney plays melodies on it.

At various points in her career, those have ranged from desolate deep-space tableaux to earthy symphonic extravaganzas. At her tantalizingly short set this past weekend at Barbes, she led her ironically titled Transcendental Dissonance Quartet through a similar, stylistically vast expanse of styles, from film noir themes to lowdown latin soul to elegant chamber jazz improvisation. Standing perfectly still, her right hand controlling the volume, she bends her left hand at the elbow, expanding her fingers outward to hit the notes.

This time, she opened with a low bass synth sound that George Clinton would undoubtedly love to have in his arsensal. They would stick with this eerie, surreal thousand-layer cake of textures throughout their roughly fifty minutes onstage while Stickney channeled the sound of massed voices, a cello which she also plays, among many other instruments , and various kinds of brass. Midway through the set, she moved to the piano for a slowly unfolding, hushed duet with Bernstein, who finallly got the chance to move through the magical microtones that have become her stock in trade over the last few years.

Then the whoe group reconfigured for a final nightscape. And for New Yorkers, Bernstein is playing the album release show for her most lyrically-driven album yet this May 30 at 9ish at Wonders of Nature. Afterward at a little after 8 another pianist, Richard Sussman leads his sweeping, enveloping allstar Sextet, which includes Tim Hagans on trumpet; Rich Perry on tenor sax and Zach Brock on violin. Stephenson is an artist who rightfully could headline a bill like this.

Her greatest achievement so far is probably her work with the Hieronymus Trio , whose album is a high-water mark in recent noir cinematic jazz.

Tes Yeux Noirs - Indochine - Génération Indochine (CD)

Song For My Piano is a wry, saloon blues-love ballad: If the Sun Made a Choice has a jaunty Dawn Oberg -like bounce and an imagistic lyric pondering the pitfalls of narrow, dualistic thinking. Rising out of purposeful chords and washes of cymbals, Love Is Patient is much more expansive, even rubato in places: Stephenson switches to Rhodes, then eventually moves back to the grand piano for Going In Circles.

Stephenson opens it spaciously and expands from there with her rippling water imagery: An endless flow of useless thoughts and consequent sensations Can govern every step we take filling us with trepidation But we are not the thoughts within nor just an empty vessel….

Lots to sink your ears into here from a fearlessly individualistic talent who defies easy categorization. April 27, Posted by delarue jazz , Music , music, concert , review , Reviews , rock music album review , art-rock , chamber pop , elecric light orchestra , elo , Emma Grace Stephenson , Emma Grace Stephenson brooklyn , Emma Grace Stephenson review , Emma Grace Stephenson shapeshifter , greta gertler gold , jazz , kristin berardi , Mara Rosenbloom , minnie riperton , msuic , Music , music review , parlor pop , pop music , rock music Leave a comment.

Amirtha Kidambi sings them with dynamics, drama and passion. The album title is ironic in the genuine sense of the word: March tempos are everywhere here: Halvorson and her quartet are playing the album release show tomorrow night, April 3 with sets at 7: The intro to the opening track, My Mind I Find in Time sounds like Bill Frisell playing calypso; then Halvorson shifts to a steady, pulsing drive with hints of Vegas noir.

Tes Yeux Noirs - Indochine - Génération Indochine (CD)

The epic Storm Cloud begins as a spare, ominously tremoloing Lynchian set piece, then the whole band march it into moody pastoral terrain. The clearing of the storm Finds extra ordinary lives Pulsing behind the blood. Halvorson and Akinmusire work coy counterpoint over a steady backbeat in Pretty Mountain. Moving between staggered jangle and another march groove, Off the Record has unexpectedly tropical flavor. Formanek artfully hands off the broodingly terse melody to Halvorson as In the Second Before gets underway,Akinmusire and Fujiwara shifting gears from droll to stern.

Halvorson builds a roaring crescendo from there, part doom metal, part frantic squall: Visually, you might see the post-punk stylings — industrial-grade factory work-shirts and half-mast trousers — and expect them to sound more like Joy Division. That eye contact is integral between all three, guitarist Jim Cubitt — part-Ralf little, part-Kevin Rowland — with pupils fixed on co-vocalist Linger, while his co-songwriter threaded right back on to his fellow front-man.

Play That Barber Shop Chord - The Frank Barber Shop Quartet - Barber Shop Ballads (Vinyl, LP)

Promoter Marcus Parnell of The Common Cold and Dandelion Adventure indie fame , asked us to come on in, get in their faces, feel the heat. But they were already one step ahead, getting in ours instead. You were never more than a heartbeat from being taken out by a headstock.

But they were totally in control, their intuitive choreography more than a match for the pumped-up energy. I seem to recall all three were briefly on the low stage. Not for long though, soon carrying their mic. John, Robert and Jack send smoke signals Copyright: Soon enough, fellow three-piece Erskine Brown had the unenviable task of following that, and it was always going to be a near-impossible task. Yet this self-styled psychedelic industrial synth-punk combo gave it a good go in a commendable stage-turn. Gremlins in the works made it that much harder, yet the debut live shift from Jack Harkins vocals, bass, also with The Common Cold , Johnny Ligament guitar, synths, sounds and Robert Dunne drums ensured they played their part on an entertaining night.

There was a nod to Public Service Broadcasting with the nicely-spliced film clips on the big screen behind and who could fail to be warmed by seeing footage of Bamber Bridge FC running out against the Czech Republic in ? As it turned out, they were soon forced to give up the ghost, the gods seemingly against them on this occasion.

Knees Up; Girls in Synthesis nail the choreography Photo copyright: And for th elatest from Erskine Brown head to https: And that takes some doing when sections of the audience are wont to talk through the quieter moments. For a moment it was as if Springsteen and the E-Street Band had ridden into town. And on the evidence of this outing, hopefully there will be several more nights to remember in their company. Colin already knew Tarkio fan and fellow guitarist Chris Funk by then, and he added pedal steel on the first two Decemberists releases before officially joining in , the current line-up together since John Moen became their third drummer in Something The Decemberists have become experts at.

Colin was at home in Portland when we spoke, looking ahead to a tour opener at Vicar Street, Dublin, on November 4th, with six UK dates following, then two in the Netherlands before a Berlin finale at Astra Kulturhaus on November 16th. Does the travel get a little wearing these days? In my mind, the song is a meditation, a plea to the cosmos that I imagine everyone, at some point or another, has made. We asked our old friend and collaborator Autumn to pitch an idea and she came to us with a simple but powerful story: And across this album we get to hear many sides of The Decemberists, perhaps more so than before.

We ended up talking a lot about Roxy Music, early Brian Eno, things like that. Sometimes I feel it would be blessed to be one of those people who only listened to one thing and then started a band. Were you listening to a lot of the music you now love from an early age? I know there are many miles involved between these places, but I guess there was a sense of pride that quality bands like R. We were more isolated, and it was so much harder finding those records.

Whatever money I would save was all spent on records, if there was a trip to Seattle or Portland involved. And then eight verses later, it was finished. Well, put it like that, arguably it owes as much to The Beatles and the Abbey Road way of linking parts of songs. Those two are often linked. Someone like Gretchen Peters springs to mind. We have little room to speak over here, judging by the last couple of years for the UK. While Rough Trade handle your affairs on this side of the water, having started out with Olympia, Washington and Portland-based indie label Kill Rock Stars, this is your fifth album in 12 years with Capitol.

I think it is kind of a rarity in this day and age. Any historical reenactments lined up for this UK visit? The Decemberists arrive in Boulder, Colorado Photo: You seem to be keeping your feet on the ground. She kind of started that off for the two of us. Some of the American bands of that ilk have nodded towards us, and even the likes of Mumford and Sons and people like Frank Turner.

Ayon Audio | Audio Reference Co.

Having overseen Thatcher, apartheid and all that, we have the neo-right call them what you like — fascists will do making strong ground again, the rich getting richer while the world obsesses on immigration and border controls. In fact, they were initially together in South coast punk outfit Catch Were they cruelly robbed of fame in their own right?

TBTCI Records

Yeah, we were talking about wanting to be in a band in Paul said he could play guitar and I said I could sing, and both of us were lying. Anyone can pretend they can sing, but guitar? You have to brush up very quickly and learn three chords.

But that was a really great time, and we supported The Clash in Bournemouth, doing two dates on the 16 Tons tour. I went up and said hello, a little bit anxious, and he was so friendly and remembered those gigs. And I was struck by how decent he was. Of course, there never was another one. And when he sent me some pictures to go with this feature, Swill told me more about that night. I had to pass it around to whoever had the most important guitar part on each song.

And we certainly sounded like a garage band that night!

A fairly shambolic affair? But that one must have been. The band as they were on the back of the Night of a Thousand Candles album in , Swill sporting his Heinz Burt bleached look. Are they worth a bit now? So what came first, the band or track name? The track itself was just a bit of fun really. I was trying to imagine a story behind it. And the name sums up an image really, so I had this side of romanticising that image really. You say that, but you got around that nicely, coming up with that distinctive band logo pretty early on. I was working in Wandsworth as a paste-up artist.

I cut up these letters, long before any kind of digital wizardry, just sort of stuck them all together on a piece of paper, photographed that, wanting to have the look of a something of a wanted poster thing. But I can only say that it was deliberate! Those posters were made out of woodcut in those days. There was that strong identity from the start with The Pogues, not least with Phil Chevron producing a lot of the early tracks. But your name and that of the other main band on at that first gig in Camden also involving the Shillelagh Sisters and Hackney Five-0 , The Boothill Foot Tappers, saw you categorised as part of some kind of skiffle-punk scene, if I remember right.

What was the term the music press used? You almost had like two camps — with us and The Pogues more influenced by traditional music, while the Boothills and some of the others took more of a country inspiration. But carry on, Swill …. I was still 16, and 17 by the time it reached No. It struck a real nerve with me, and that must have been a proud moment for the band. He did us a world of good and I think we did three Peel sessions in the end.

We never met him then, as they were recorded at Maida Vale, but we met on other occasions — gigs and so on. And all those sessions are fondly recalled by this here scribe. Anyway, keep going, Swill …. Then, a few years later, we did that, then did it again and again. And as many bands do, we owe an eternal debt of gratitude to John. But it became an indie hit. Good advice, although perhaps unlikely, and the album, Night of a Thousand Candles also proved a hit, and was certainly an important album for me.

So, after the first album came that switch to MCA, your biggest label really, I guess. Did that mean a bit of money was suddenly coming your way he asks, knowingly? It just meant a much bigger budget for recording. It never dawned on us either! But what it did do was elevate us from busking and signing on to be able to become full-time musicians. A few of us have still got some catching up to do though. Cock-a-Hoop is your 10 th studio album, alongside all the compilations and live recordings out there, as well as the side-projects yourself, Paul and Cush have also been involved in.

So where should those who have missed out start — buy the new album and work backwards, or start at the beginning? Actually, I had an email from a guy today who signed up to my Pledge project, who said he lost all his belongings in a fire. Also, over that period the nature of the music industry has changed immeasurably, heading back towards that old punk DIY approach to putting records out there.

And you seem to have mastered that method over the years. Admittedly, I lost touch for a while, perhaps after the Domino Club album in , when I was off on my world travels. How was that experience? We used to hang out there and knew each other, and then David Bowie rolled in one night. I remember him dancing with Cait and being very chatty and friendly. He arrived in a helicopter that landed in a nearby field, and was then taken by limo to a backstage area, almost like a small town really, that had to be evacuated so he could come in on his own, and nobody could look at him or talk to him, apart from my sister-in-law — Jon having just become a Dad — who was breast-feeding at the time and refused to leave.

His crew were not impressed with us, but the audience loved it, and we had a lot of people who followed us from there. Hindemith, Paul, 81, , , —8, , , , , , , , , , —8, , —6, , , , , , —6, , , Hollywood, 44, 95, —8, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Brave New World , , , , , , , , , —4, African, , , —12; Japanese, 8, ; South American, , —6, Korngold, Erich Wolfgang, 13, 44, 84, , , , , , , , , , , , , Krenek, Ernst, , , , , , —5, , , , , , , , , , , , , Mahler, Gustav, 45, 51, 56, 60, 76, 83, 93, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Messiaen, Olivier, 8, 51, , , —90, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , —4, Quatuor pour la fin du temps Quartet for the End of Time , , Europeans emigrating to America, 98, , , , , , , , , , Milhaud, Darius, 5, , , , , , , —6, , , , , , , , , National Socialism, 5, 61, 62, , , , , , , , —6, , —5, , , , , Nono, Luigi, , —2, , —4, , , , , , , , , —18, , Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 60—1, 62—3, 64—5.

• Alias: The Hangman From Hell
• Malévolo Karma (Spanish Edition)
• Bonita (Images of America)
• Hells Gate: A Steampunk Lovecraft Adventure (Gears of a Mad God Book 3)
• The Dog Poet: How one dog learned to speak his mind. (A Collection of Poems for Every Dog Lover and Dog Owner Book 1)