list.co.uk/music list.co.uk/music Records – Jazz & World | MUSIC
JAZZ GLASGOW IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA/BARRY GUY/ EDWIN MORGAN Schweben (Maya Recordings) ●●●●● With his brilliant Scots translations of the Russian Futurist poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, Edwin Morgan sought to bring the spirit of the pre-war avant- garde to 1960s Scotland. Barry Guy and GIO celebrate his radical vision, using Mayakovsky’s Futurist manifesto ‘Ay, But Can Ye?’ and Kandisky’s paintings as inspiration for a long piece showing the orchestra’s full range. Flautist Matthew Studdert-Kennedy delivers gasping, overblown reveilles, while squarblesome horns evoke the clank-hiss-boom of the new age of industry. Fragments of the poem are scattered throughout by vocal artists Aileen Campbell and Nicola MacDonald, their fervent declarations pushing the Orchestra to a clamorous peak. (Stewart Smith)
JAZZ LEAN Live at Cafe Oto (Unsounds) ●●●●● Pitting Terrie Hessels and Andy Moore – axe wielders for Dutch avant-punks The Ex – against free jazz heavyweights Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love, Lean Left are a rumble in a scrap heap, a joyride around Saturn’s rings. Guitar strings are scrubbed, mangled and rubbed into spiky abstractions, while Nilssen-Love hammers out furious polyrhythms and explodes time-signatures. Tenor saxophonist Vandermark strides in with commanding fanfares and lung- busting blats, his rich tone a sinewy contrast to the cheesewire spring and acid wash of the guitars. Unlike the dense skronk of sax-guitar units like Borbetomagus, Lean Left are prickly and spry, wielding post-punk jitters to Aylerised fire with a freewheeling bravado. (Stewart Smith)
WORLD VARIOUS Songs for the North Country (Sahel Sounds) ●●●●●
Earlier this year, the north of Mali was taken over by armed fundamentalists who imposed an extreme form of Sharia law that bans music. Proceeds from this download-only compilation go straight to the musicians, all directly affected, either as residents or refugees. Sahel Sounds is best known for the astonishing Music From Saharan Cellphones collections, but Songs focuses on acoustic sounds, with atmospheric field recordings of urban and desert life woven amongst the reflective melodies, deftly plucked guitars and tough yet nimble calabash rhythms. All this is bookended with two gorgeous ta-kha-nit flute pieces, evoking the brousse (or bush) that is home to the Tuareg nomads. (Stewart Smith)
WORLD AL DOUM & THE FARYDS Positive Force (Julia Dream) ●●●●● Set controls for the heart of Sun Ra! Saturn might be Italian cosmonauts Al Doum & the Faryds’ ultimate destination, but their meandering travels take in 1970s Germany and the wilder regions of Arabic psychedelia. ‘Ship of Joy’, with its hypnotic vocal refrain and smears of echoed sax and DIY electronics, recalls the cosmo-bliss of such Sun Ra sides as Strange Celestial Road and Lanquidity, but the tranced-out bassline is pure krautrock. ‘Sinai’ shows the band in a more driving mode, with insistent hand-percussion and Middle-Eastern surf’n’space guitars tuned to the key of Egyptian- Lebanese guitar legend Omar Khorshid. Artfully presented by new Glasgow label Julia Dream, Positive Force is a heady dose of fourth-world woah. (Stewart Smith)
BEST GIGS OF 2012 SINGLES & DOWNLOADS
WERE YOU THERE? Here are the 2012 gigs that stood out in the hive-brain memory of music writers at The List:
RM Hubbert album launch With Hanna Tuulikki, Aidan Moffat, Alasdair Roberts, Alex Kapranos and others. Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 27 Jan. Tim Hecker With Matthew Collings and Wounded Knee. Pilrig Church, Edinburgh, Sat 19 May.
Swans With Sir Richard Bishop The Arches, Glasgow, Fri 16 Nov.
Efterklang With the Northern Sin- fonia. Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Wed 24 Oct.
Music Language With Conquering Animal Sound, Mother Ganga, Silk Cut, Richard Youngs & Luke Fowler (pictured, above) and others. SWG3, various venues, Glasgow, Sat 1 & Sun 2 Sep.
Nothing says ‘Christmas night out’ quite like Pissed Jeans’ ‘Bathroom Laughter’ (Sub Pop, ●●●●●), wherein the noise insurgents spew forth amyl-wired scuzz that annihilates flashbacks to Mariah Carey’s wafting ballad ‘Christmas Time Is In the Air Again’ (●●●●●, Columbia) and the lumbering Santa-MOR of The Killers’ ‘I Feel It In My Bones’ (●●●●●●).
Eve Can Kill You’ (●●●●●, Domino), a reunion with ace vocal foil Dawn McCarthy.
Despite his previous charges, there’s nary a hint of murder balladry on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ beatific hymn, ‘We No Who U R’ (●●●●●, Bad Seeds Ltd), but Lil Daggers’ bring the death-force tools and downtime psychedelia on ‘Faces and Names’ (●●●●●, Song, by Toad).
Considerably more pleasing than ‘Mimi’ is Kid Canaveral’s alt-rock aria, ‘Low Winter
the astral electro of Dutch Uncles’ ‘Flexxin’ (●●●●●, Memphis Industries) and machine- pop’s charms prevail via Julia Holter’s incorporeal ‘Goddess Eyes II’ (●●●●●, Domino) and techno voyager Nathan Fake’s ‘Paean’ (●●●●●, Border Community). This month’s obligatory register of regal designates spans King Post Kitsch’s garage-rock lament ‘Repulsive Sunset’ (●●●●●, Song, By Toad) and Bonnie Prince Billy’s snow-capped admonition, ‘Christmas
Sun’ (●●●●●, Fence) is as glorious, bright and life-affirming as its subject-matter, and it’s backed by a swooning dawn-pop anthem in The Pictish Trail’s ‘The Handstand Crowd’, but they’re narrowly pipped to Single of the Month by a 21-strong female choir – ergo, Gaggle (pictured above), whose ‘The Power of Money’ (●●●●●, Transgressive), sounds like carol singers, Christmas discos, mistletoe deviance and tinsel – and all to a groovy anti- capitalist beat. Praise be! (Nicola Meighan)
13 Dec 2012–24 Jan 2013 THE LIST 111 13 Dec 2012–24 Jan 2013 THE LIST 3