MUSIC | Records – Jazz & World FIVE OF THE BEST GIGS OF 2013
SHANGAAN ELECTRO SWG3, Glasgow, Wed 17 Jul How many BPMS? One. Eight. Nine!’ An afternoon dance workshop preceeded this night of joyous hyperspeed South African electro, with excellent outfits and jaw-dropping feats of dancing.
TECTONICS FESTIVAL City Halls, Glasgow, Sat 11–Sun 12 May A triumph for curator Ilan Volkov, breathing new life into the orchestral scene with a mix of avant-classical, experimental rock and electronica, and performance art. Alvin Lucier’s amplified teapots, and Asparagus Piss Raindrop's strange improv display (above) were two particular highllights. Glasgow, with these amazing festivals you really are spoiling us.
KRAFTWERK T in the Park, Balado, Fri 12 Jul Auto!, Auto! Auto-f*ckingBahn! Two hours of pure audio and visual heaven from the German masters.
ARCADE FIRE AS THE REFLEKTORS The Barrowland, Glasgow, Fri 15 Nov Read our full five-star review on page 98.
GOLDEN TEACHER Grand Ole Opry, Glasgow, part of Music Language, Sun 8 Sep 2013 Another great ML festival, brought to an unforgettable close by the funkiest, most entertaining live band Glasgow has produced in some time. Their ‘Dante & Pilgrim’ is surely one of the songs of the year. ■ See list.co.uk for full live reviews.
98 THE LIST 12 Dec 2013–23 Jan 2014
JAZZ & WORLD JAZZ WILLIAM PARKER Wood Flute Songs: Raining On The Moon 2012 (Aum Fidelity) ●●●●●
If the monumental boxset of recent William Parker live recordings, Wood Flute Songs, seems too daunting a prospect, its eight discs are also available individually as paid downloads. They’re all wonderful, but this 2012 performance by the Raining On The Moon ensemble is perhaps the most accessible, being a song-based project featuring trumpeter Lewis Barnes, saxophonist Rob Brown, drummer Hamid Drake, pianist Eri
Yamamoto and singer Leena Conquest, whose magnificent alto is the conduit for Parker’s poetry. From the boppish swing of ‘3+3 = Jackie McLean’ to the stunning piano ballad ‘Sweet Breeze’, this is some of Parker’s most melodic and soulful music. The centrepiece is ‘For Abbey Lincoln’, a beautiful blues that pays moving tribute to the great jazz singer and civil rights activist. Conquest takes the role of Lincoln reflecting on her remarkable life, with Brown and Barnes trading gorgeous, lyrical solos. (Stewart Smith)
JAZZ GLASGOW IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA & GEORGE LEWIS Artificial Life 2007 (FMR) ●●●●●
This new version of George Lewis’s Artificial Life 2007 was recorded at Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra’s tenth- anniversary festival in 2012. The innovative US trombonist and composer’s score is a set of instructions, presented graphically on a grid, which the musicians respond to as they see fit. The result is an extremely detailed music, based on textural rather than harmonic or rhythmic development. ‘Part One’ begins with images of jelly being nailed to a wall, and with the rubbery burble of Lewis’s trombone slipping around a prepared-piano squeak. As that falls away, Neil Davidson’s submarine radar guitar ping picks up the susurrous murmurs of Maggie Nicols’ vocals, before impressionistic piano chords prompt Robert Henderson to dab a few smears of Sketches of Spain trumpet. Under Lewis’s generous stewardship, such fleeting moments coalesce into a fascinating, often affecting whole. (Stewart Smith)
WORLD PENNY PENNY Shaka Bundu (Awesome Tapes From Africa) ●●●●● Although many African reissue labels have focused on funky treasure from the 70s, Awesome Tapes From Africa are more tuned into electronic sounds from the 80s onwards. Those who have had minds blown and limbs liberated by the Shangaan electro of Nozinja, Tshetsha Boys et al may be intrigued by its less frenetically paced predecessor, Tsonga/Shangaan disco. Shaka Bundu is not just of historical interest, however. Music this joyful, melodic and danceable will always be relevant. Now an ANC politician, Penny Penny was a local superstar in the 90s, and this, his 1994 debut, sold over 250,000 copies. His gruff voice adds a pleasing grain to Joe Shirimani’s magical Chicago house-inspired productions, which deftly blend South African melodies and call-and-response vocals with the deep bass and strident piano of classic Larry Heard or Marshall Jefferson tracks. On an album of gems, ‘Shichangani’ and ‘Dance Khomela’ stand out. (Stewart Smith)
WORLD LOS SIQUICOS LITORALEÑOS Sonido Chipadelico (Sham Palace) ●●●●●
Riotously odd psychedelic gloop from Corrientes, Argentina. The instigators of Chipadelia, Los Siquicos Litoraleños (The Psychics of Litoral) have their collective third eye wide open. Drinking from the same demented currents as Os Mutantes, Faust and underground crackpots like Butthole Surfers and Sun City Girls, Los Siquicos offer an inspired mess of fuzz-damaged cumbia, lost-in-a-wormhole vocals, space noise and tangled tape. ‘Cinta Planeteria’ opens like the Tardis dematerialising in the Argentinian jungle. Out march our heroes, stomping around like a wobbly Jefferson Airplane. Burrowing into weirder subterranean strata, ‘Cachaka Espejo’ oozes with backward organ, while some Beefheartian madman rants down the corridor. ‘Chipá Chiriri’ is wonky chipmunk folk, while ‘Gran Carrancho Guazú’ is a cosmic reverie of droned-out vocal loops and Alice Coltrane harp. A trip. (Stewart Smith)