Support Yr Idols

Please tune in to Just Music on Sunday night as Jeff and Casey help
commemorate the 45th anniversary of ESP-Disk'; NYC's historic home for
the avant garde.


"The artists alone decide what you hear on the ESP Disk"



ESP-Disk' was formed in NYC and helped to document the thriving avant
garde jazz scene and the fringe rock and folk acts that toiled in the
clubs and coffeehouses of a now-extinct city. Boasting a one of a kind
roster, ESP-Disk' is responsible for the dissemination of some major
works by many of music's great iconoclasts such as Albert Ayler, Sun
Ra, Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, The Godz,The Holy Modal Rounders and
a myriad of other acts who sought to expand sonic horizons. ESP-Disk's
discography has become synonymous with forward thinking music,
covering such seemingly disparate genres as psychedelic rock, modern
composition, electronic music, folk and soul as well as their
unequalled stable of free jazz giants.



Sadly, not every musician gets his or her fair due in terms of
monetary compensation. Jazz musicians are disproportionately affected
by the fickle nature of the recording industry and are often
marginalized to the point of utter destitution. The Jazz Foundation of
America's goal is to ensure that those who trade in America's
idiosyncratic art form are able to survive in a musical climate that
honors commerce above artistry. The Jazz Foundation of America has
been fighting to keep jazz and blues musicians from going hungry for
20 years with the help of donations from music lovers around the
world. This weekend the JFA teams up with the newly resurrected
ESP-Disk' Records at the Bowery Poetry Club to celebrate the 45th
Anniversary of the label's formation with all the door proceeds going
to help keep a roof over the head's of America's forgotten artists.


http://espdisk.com/official/
http://www.jazzfoundation.org/
http://www.bowerypoetry.com/







If yr in the NYC area come out and have yr synapses fried. I'll be in the house spinning jams between bands. Oh, and it's totally free.

Radiant Husk- Beyond An Endless Swale CS (Bezoar Formations,2009)

Radiant Husk is the work of Matthew Erickson. As one half of the Bay Area duo Sudden Oak, Erickson summons sheets of fire through his saxophone creating an interesting bridge between noise and free jazz. This particular release finds Erickson accompanying himself on keyboards, drums, and electronics. Less claustrophobic than the Sudden Oak releases I've heard, the jams on Beyond An Endless Swale play as some sort of urban meditation ritual. Building on skeletal drones, Erickson's saxophone alternates between soulful cries of beauty and frenzied,dissonant shrieks. One can hear the influence of Brontzman and other European Free Improvisers combined with a love of the deep space created by the first wave of German electronic exploration. Highly recommended.

This is released by Sudden Oak's own Bezoar Formations label and may still be available for purchase here.


Lard Free

Help On The Way

Sorry for the lack of action around here.I could easily throw a few links up and be done with it but I feel that shortchanges both artist and audience. I would like to remind you that I work extremely hard on my 2 radio shows and would greatly appreciate if you took some time to check them out.(Just Music and Bring Out Your Dead...links on the right)

Also, if yr a label or musician looking for exposure, I welcome all submissions. I can't guarantee I will write about everything I receive but I promise I will listen to all the jams.

Peter Michael Hamel - Nada (Celestial Harmonies, 1980)

Peter Michael Hamel is probably best known for his totally righteous Voice of Silence release and his involvement in Between, a progressive unit that issued a couple of interesting records in the early 70's. As a composer and keyboard player, Hamel tapped into the cosmos and became a de-facto leader for the burgeoning New Age genre. A student of Indian raga and the avant garde , Hamel's work is not just pretty electronic music as Nada's second track "Silence", a piece for prepared piano can attest. Nada's highlight is the sidelong "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" : featuring four synthesizers and an electric organ that come together to create deep harmonic space complete with a dizzying bass gurgle and shot through with melodic rays. Highly recommended for fans of Emeralds and the Arbor label.

Peter Michael Hamel - Nada (Celestial Harmonies,1980)

1.Nada
2.Silence
3.Slow Motion
4.Beyond The Wall Of Sleep

Heal

Source of Yellow

When you live in an area with a high concentration of art school graduates, trust funders and other assorted blights on society, everyone you know is in a band. On any given night a friend of a friend of someone's aunt or coke dealer has a gig happening and "you should totally come out." Needless to say, the majority of music being made here in the quaint borough of Brooklyn that manages to gain any exposure west of the river is generally either cleverly disguised pop garbage or the tepid work of post-punk grave robbers. Thankfully, among the desecrated ruins of a once thriving artisitic community,there remains bands of sonic warriors who toil in the terrible shadows of the blue blooded condominiums and under the radar of an increasingly homogenized rock club scene.

Source of Yellow; a Brooklyn trio consisting of bass, drums, sax, and a pletheora of electronics and assorted sound generators are a true beacon of light in the seemingly eternal talentless night that has fallen on the NYC music scene. Combining metronomically precise krautboogie ur-rhythms with walls of textured electronics and sparse inventive sax playing Source of Yellow play music that would have been right at home on both the Brain and ESP-Disk record labels. They are indebted to the great innovators of free music's past without cannibalizing them, blazing a new direction away from the necrophillic tendencies of modern music. They are finishing up an incredible full-length and have given me their blessing to share with you their entire performance at Matchless Bar in Greenpoint from 2009-08-17.

Source of Yellow live at Matchless 2009-08-17

Ajilvsga - Behind the Masked Spirit (jktapes, 2008)

I've recently begun poking around, looking for good black metal. Though there have been a few things that I was into, I quickly realized that the darkness I've been seeking could be found more easily in noise and without the terribly slick production or the operatic stylings of some make-up clad clown from suburbia. I've often used noise as a dulling agent, a curtain to block the light and to keep the ghosts of all pasts at bay. Noise music, at its best, simply won't allow for the attachment of nostalgia or anecdotal recall. Noise exists solely in the province of the moment. Brad Rose and Nathaniel Young's Ajilvsga project has, over the course of numerous tapes and cdrs, created some of the most compelling black hole music ever. Ajilvsga's emissions adhere to the basic tenets of the low-end drone with plenty of mid and upper register synth/guitar action that resonate like some unholy clarion call through the cosmos. Unlike so much dreck being produced in the noise/drone axis these days, Ajilvsga produce dramatic music that never feels contrived or unnatural. This is space music, complete with the sounds of exploding suns, planetary decay and universes colliding.

Ajilvsga - Behind the Masked Spirit CS40 (jktapes, 2008)

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Supernova

Puffy Areolas - Final High (? CS20,2009?)

These dudes rolled through town a few months back and I had the good fortune of seeing them play Cake Shop the evening of Plastic Crimewave's Guitarkestra project(which ruled). Psyched about their majestic moniker and thirsting for some new sound I checked out their myspace page a few days before the show and was treated to some blown out brown-acid type freakouts which provided ample excuse for making it to the gig on time. My memory fails as to whether they were a four or five piece that night, but they definitely had one guitar, a bass, drums, and a singer. For some reason when I see a band with a "lead" singer(not playing any instrument) my palms get sweaty and my mind flashes on terrible Aerosmith-ish flights of cockrock. Of course there are exceptions to the lead singer cringe rule with Rob Tyner and Iggy being the most fitting examples. Well, basically the line-up looked a little thin to create the kind of warped psych dirges that were represented on their myspace page. And true enough, the ensuing set consisted of short blasts of psych-punk fury that can only be brewed in the basement cauldrons of the mid-west. A solid rhythm section kept a feverish pulse while the guitarist alternated between scorched earth riffing and paint peeling leads. The vocals are of the loud unintelligible variety that add a nice layer of texture to the proceedings. I gripped a few tapes at the show(this, and a double on Pizza Night) and the jams are righteous. Final High;5 songs clocking in at 20 minutes, is a rave up of classic garage with just enough fraying at the edges to keep it interesting. The important thing is; beneath the scuzz,there are simple and well written songs. And I love saying their fucking name.

I can't find the tape art online, and I'm too lazy to try and scan it somewhere so this picture of a tree-hugger who tried to sell me mushrooms will have to suffice. Also, there is no info on the tape about who put it out or song titles so if you know something leave a comment.

Puffy Areolas - Final High CS20

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Safe as Milk