Cuneiform Records JANUARY 2020 Newsletter

*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*

view this email in your browser Cuneiform Records JANUARY 2020 Newsletter jump to New Year's Greetings Remembering Davey William 1952-2019  NEW / JANUARY 2020 RELEASES ON CUNEIFORM RECORDS Birdsongs of the Mesozoic – 2001 Live Birds Thinking Plague - Upon Both Your Houses FEBRUARY 2020 RELEASES ON CUNEIFORM RECORDS Cheer-Accident - Chicago XX CONCERTS: CUNEIFORM ARTISTS ON TOUR  2019 OVERVIEW: CUNEIFORM'S 2019 JAZZ, ROCK & BEYOND RELEASES Five Times Surprise / Ghost Rhythms / Richard Leo Johnson / Tomeka Reid Quartet / The Spellcasters / Upsilon Acrux SOCIAL: FOLLOW CUNEIFORM ONLINE Join our new Facebook Group: Fans of Cuneiform Records HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Cuneiform Records wishes all of you a very Happy New Year!  May your year be filled with good music and good people, good health and lots of love. 2020 has begun! 2020 marks Cuneiform Records' 36th anniversary. Since 1984, we've been releasing music by adventurous artists from around the world who ignore boundaries between jazz, rock, classical, and ambient musics, experimental and pop, defying musical genres and conventions. We hope this music has astounded and delighted you as much as it has us. Across the decades, we've continued to work with many artists from our earliest days, in addition to releasing music by new, young artists. Indeed, our January 2020 releases include a live, digital release by Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, who we first worked with in 1989. ~~~~ Davey Williams (1952-April 6, 2019)   In 2019, we lost one of the most remarkable artists from our label's early years. We were heart broken this past spring to hear of the death of Davey Williams, a brilliant avant grade musician based in Birmingham, Alabama and, for a time, Manhattan, and a long-time Cuneiform artist. Davey was a GREAT guitarist, an astounding improvisor (whom Guitar Player called one of the “three founding fathers of American free improvisational guitar” with Henry Kaiser and Eugene Chadbourne) and a writer (penning surrealist books on fried eggs & more, in addition to co-founding The Improvisor magazine). He was a member of Curlew, one of the first bands we signed, who released on Cuneiform eight studio albums and a live DVD filmed in NYC's Knitting Factory and DC's DC Space. Critics called them "the best and most obstinately committed band to emerge from NY's Knitting Factory based alternative music scene" (Option).         A band of superb avant grade musicians from the Deep South transplanted to NYC's lower East Side, Curlew was in the vanguard of hybrid music, mixing blues and rock, jazz and improv, and Davey was a key part, his seemingly magical, compact guitar astonishing all. Davey was on numerous Cuneiform discs: 1990's Live in Berlin, Cuneiform's first Curlew release, named "Jazz record of the Week" by the New York Times; on five other Curlew albums and on the DVD, called The Hardwood; and on The Memphis Years, an album by George Cartwright, Curlew's leader, saxophonist, and main composer. He also recorded numerous other projects for other labels. We saw Davey perform in numerous concerts with Curlew and other musicians, in DC, NYC, and in Montreal at New Music America. In those heady early years, Curlew's members stayed at our home for DC shows, and Davey stayed with us for DC gigs with Hans Reichel and other musicians. After one show, we kept two guitar picks he left behind at our house - tiny objects emanating the guitarist's power, like voodoo. This year, stunned to learn of Davey's death from cancer, we spent weeks listening to his recordings on Cuneiform and elsewhere.  We miss you greatly, Davey; thank you for sharing with Cuneiform your wonderland of guitar. Twenty years previous, in 1998, we'd lost one of your Curlew colleagues to cancer: the brilliant cellist Tom Cora (September 14, 1953 – April 9, 1998). We miss you both and we miss those days, pure fun; here's to you, to memories, and "To the Summer In Our Hearts".   Watch Curlew guitarist Davey Williams, bass player Ann Rupel, saxophonist George Cartwright, cellist Tom Cora & drummer Pippin Barnett perform "St. Croix". From Curlew's The Hardwood: Live at the Knitting Factory (Cuneiform 1992 VHS), reissued on the CD+DVD/double-disc set (Cuneiform 2010), A Beautiful Western Saddle/The Hardwood/Live in Washington, D.C. Watch a documentary on blues guitarist Johnny Shines and guitarist Davey Williams: "Convulsive Blues: Johnny Shines and Davey Williams" return to top Cuneiform Records' New Releases: January 2020 Releases   BIRDSONGS OF THE MESOZOIC 2001 Live Birds Released January 31, 2020 in Digital-Only Formats (download & streaming) Genre: chamber-rock/ avant-progressive/ post-rock/ 21st century post-classical   On January 31st, Cuneiform Records re-issues Birdsongs of the Mesozoic's live album 2001 Live Birds in digital formats (downloads and streaming). A live recording of the band's 2001 performance at NEARfest, the premiere US festival of international progressive music, the album originally came out on CD on NEARfest Records(2004).  2001 Live Birds is the band's first live recording on Cuneiform Records, which, since 1989, has released eight studio recordings by the Boston-based chamber-rock co-founded by keyboardists Erik Lindgren and Roger Miller.   THINKING PLAGUE Upon Both Your Houses Released January 31, 2020 in Digital-Only Formats (download & streaming) Genre: avant-progressive/ post-rock/ 21st century post-classical   Digitally released in download and streaming formats, Upon Both Your Houses is a live recording by Denver-based Thinking Plague, one of the most compositionally-complex ensembles on the international avant-progressive/ Rock-in-Opposition-style/ post-rock/ chamber rock scene. Recorded in 2000 at NEARfest, mixed and mastered by Bob Drake, and originally released on CD by NEARfest, it not only provides an excellent cross-section of the group's repertoire but is also an extremely rare glimpse of the band performing its intricate music – all of it composed by composer/bandleader/guitarist Mike Johnson – live. Upon Both Your Houses is the first live Thinking Plague recording on Cuneiform, which previously released six studio recordings by the band.   Note to Press & Radio about Digital-Only Releases on Cuneiform: promos are streamlined (limited to music) and only available via Special Request. To request, contact promo@cuneiformrecords.com ~~~~~~~~~~   February 2020 Releases CHEER-ACCIDENT Chicago XX Released February 28, 2020 on CD and in Digital Formats (download & streaming) Genre: post-rock/ post-pop/ alternative experimental   “Cheer-Accident celebrate 20 albums as a beacon of prog-rock absurdity...With the new Chicago XX, their third full-length in three years, these indefatigable Chicago weirdos have hit a hot streak late in the fourth decade of their career...They’re a band for the long haul. Founded in 1981, this constantly mutating nexus of straight-faced but smart-assed prog rock and distressing multimedia weirdness ... have perfected an organic dadaism that makes them kin to the Residents, say, or Henry Cow, or Canada’s Nihilist Spasm Band. They’ve always brought heart to their playfulness, and their free-range eclecticism is warm and welcoming—they’re a highly intelligent band but never spill over into off-putting cerebral iciness. This might be because of their flair for hook and melody, or because of their fundamental puckishness, which is never mean-spirited—though it can certainly be confusing...” – Chicago Reader   Chicago XX is Cheer-Accident's 20th full-length album, and 4th studio album on Cuneiform Records.  Says bandleader Thymme Jones:  “We’ve made it to XX!! Maybe we shouldn’t still be rocking out this much at “our advanced age,” but... well, we are! Harmony and dissonance, love and hate, oboes and drums... they all help to form this delicious and strange bedfellowship.”  Note to Press & Radio about CD or LP Releases on Cuneiform: digital promos will be emailed to our rock contact list prior to release date (check Spam/Junk/Promo folders!). For interviews etc, contact promo@cuneiformrecords.com return to top ARTISTS ON TOUR Please visit the Tours Page Cuneiform Records for updates. BLUE CRANES "The first time I saw Portland's Blue Cranes live, I walked away trying to compare what I'd seen to anything I'd encountered before. I couldn't do it, and I still can't - the band is a force of nature.... Call it "creative music" or "post-jazz" or whatever you like, but the Blue Cranes sound is steeped in the ideas and concepts of jazz....a beautifully improvised sonic experience." - NPR/A Blog Supreme   February 22, 2010 - PDX Jazz Festrival - Newmark Theater - 1111 SW Broadway - Portland, OR [opening for Archie Shepp Quartet]     Listen to & buy: Swim CHEER ACCIDENT ""Tons of weird rock records have streamed out of Chicago over the past two decades, but none have blended pop smarts and avant-garde impulses as skillfully as this marvelous brainteaser..." – Time Out New York "Cheer-Accident are the quintessential Chicago post-rock band... They've been exploring head-scratching, creatively fucked-up time signatures and sideways guitar shenanigans for 20 years now, leaving a pronounced influence on the Windy City's art-rock scene. Their playful musical approach is a ripe aesthetic of absurdist humor." – Pitchfork There are bands with pretty melodies, bands that rock, bands that dazzle with exalted technique, bands that make you laugh, and bands aiming to perplex even the most intrepid listener. Cheer-Accident is all those things and more, truly a band for the 21st century. January 3, 2020 - Schlafly Tap - 2100 Locust St - St. Louis, MO [9:00 pm] January 4, 2020 - Subteranean [as part of Ian's Party Festival 2020] - 2011 W North Ave - Chicago, IL 60647 Stay tuned for a NEW CHEER-ACCIDENT ALBUM coming out on Cuneiform in 2020!!!!!   Listen to & buy: Connection, No Ifs, Ands or Dogs; Fear Drives Misfortune      CHROME HOOF "...has the subtlety of Can, the pomp of Pentagram and Sabbath, faithfully reproducing the looping musical themes of Magma and Goblin..." – Don’t Panic Chrome Hoof is an evolving organism whose music spans progressive rock, electronic dance music (especially electro), metal, funk, classical music, and more.They serve up their sonic gumbo with theatrical flair, evoking the spectacles of Devo, Gong, Parliament/Funkadelic, Hawkwind, and Sun Ra, transporting audiences on a Trip Into the Beyond. The result: a one-of-a-kind, hugely entertaining, nitro-pop, electro-metal, synth-pop, sci-fi, space-disco, psyche-Dalek spectacle!   May 22 -24 - RAW POWER 2020 - The Dome - London, UK     Listen to & buy: Chrome Black Gold EMPIRICAL London's Empirical are expanding jazz's reach with their music (embracing the future while respecting the past) and via innovative means ("pop-up jazz lounges" in Tube stations) to introduce jazz to the mainstream public. Named as the 2020 Nimmo Artists in Residence at the renowned Wiltshire Music Center, Empirical's 2020 calendar will include a new music commission, "pop-up jazz lounge", workshops & concerts with special guests.   December 12 - Bonington Theatre - Nottingham, UK February 8, 2020 - Wiltshire Music Centre - Ashley Road - Bradford on Avon, BA15 1DZ, UK [ a special one-off concert with previous Nimmo Artist in Residence, Gwilym Simcock, featuring original music from both our and Gwilym’s back catalogues] March 5, 2020 - Attenborough Arts Centre - Leicester, UK March 15, 2020 - Wiltshire Music Centre - Ashley Road - Bradford on Avon, BA15 1DZ, UK [we will join the young talents of the Wiltshire Youth Jazz Orchestra (WYJO) for a performance showcasing jazz standards and some of our music adapted for big band] April 5, 2020 - Kings Place - London, UK [recording a new live album!] April 15-20, 2020 - Bath Festival - Pop Up Jazz Lounge - Bath UK May 20, 2020 - Old Theatre Royal - Bath, UK October 18, 2020 - Colchester Arts Centre - Church St - Colchester, Essex, UK     Listen to & buy: Connection GHOST RHYTHMS A remarkable, eclectic and electric "Jazz and beyond" large ensemble, Ghost Rhythms perform across France in 2020, celebrating Live in Yoshiwara, their fourth release and their first on Cuneiform.   February 15 - 59 Rivoli - Paris, France February 21 - La Maison Pour Tous - 23 rue de Béarn - 94550 Chevilly-Larue, France April 3 - Péniche Antipode - Face au 55 quai de Seine - 75019 Paris, France June 13 - Pan Piper - 2-4, impasse Lamier –­ 75011 - Paris, France [with Magic Malik's Fanfare XP!]   Listen to & buy: Live at Yoshiwara         THE GREAT HARRY HILLMAN   The exuberant Swiss jazz/ pop/ beyond group - named after the American triple-Gold Medal winner at the 1904 Summer Olympics - continues to tour the European festival and club circuit,  polishing their skills as top-notch live performers while celebrating their Cuneiform release Tilt. January 23, 2020 - Tangobrücke - Einbeck, Germany January 24, 2020 - Jazzstudio - Nürnberg, Germany January 25, 2020 - Jan Lokerse Jazzklub - Lokeren, Belgium January 26, 2020 - Jan Roskam - Brussels, Belgium January 28, 2020 - Jan Hot Club de Gand - Gent, Belgium January 29, 2020 - Jan Stadtgarten - Köln, Gertmany January 30, 2020 - Jan Krämer - Meiningen, Germany  February 1, 2020 - WZK - Huttwil, Switzerland   Listen to & buy: Tilt THE ED PALERMO BIG BAND An astounding 18 piece jazz ensemble of five woodwind players, four trumpeters, three trombonists, two keyboardists, guitar, violin, bass and drums, led by arranger, composer & saxophonist Ed Palermo, one of America's most singular arrangers who draws on jazz, pop and rock tunes for his top-notch band. There are a number of ensembles performing the music of Frank Zappa, who, 20 years after his death, is now recognized as one of the greatest American composers of the 20th century, but no one does it with the ease, skill and originality that Ed and his band do! ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––   January 20 - Iridium - 1650 Broadway - NYC, NY 10019 February 10 - Iridium - 1650 Broadway - NYC, NY 10019 February 15 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542 March 23 - Iridium - 1650 Broadway - NYC, NY 10019 April 18 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542 April 20 - Iridium - 1650 Broadway - NYC, NY 10019 May 18 - Iridium - 1650 Broadway - NYC, NY 10019 June 13 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542 June 22 - Iridium - 1650 Broadway - NYC, NY 10019 August 22 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542 October 17 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542 December 19 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542 December 31 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542   Listen to & buy: Ed Palermo Big Band albums on Cuneiform: The Adventures of Zoyd Zundgren; The Great Un-American Songbook Vols. 1&2; One Child Left Behind; Oh No! Not Jazz!!; Eddy Loves Frank; Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance          SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER The brutal-jazz power trio Schnellertollermeier doesn't screw around. Their uncompromising attitude is even apparent before you hear a note of their music -- it's right there in that deliberate tongue-twister of a name. Their fresh and uncompromising mix of jazz, punk, rock, sound and free improvised music, combined with great musicianship, interplay and a lot of energy, immediately hits the bullseye!   April 20 - Theaterhaus Jazztage - Stuttgart, Germany   Listen to & buy: Rights, X        RICHARD PINHAS One of France's major experimental musicians and a key figure in the development of electronic rock, guitarist and electronic musician Richard Pinhas will perform globally in 2020 and beyond in various groupings, including a tour in North America.   January 31 - La Gaité Lyrique - Paris, France [opening for SUNN O)))] 2020/2021 NORTH AMERICA TOUR [dates coming soon]     Listen to & buy releases by Richard Pinhas & friends on Cuneiform: Process and Reality, Desolation Row, Metatron, Metal/Crystal, Tranzition, Event & Repetitions                 Richard Pinhas & Barry Cleveland: Mu  Richard Pinhas & Oren Ambarchi: Tikkun    Richard Pinhas & Merzbow:  Keio Line, Rhizome, Paris 2008            Richard Pinhas & Yoshida Tatsuya: Welcome in the Void    Schizotrope (Richard Pinhas & Maurice Dantec):  The Life & Death of Marie Zorn     SOFT MACHINE UK'S legendary Soft Machine [John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Roy Babbington, John Marshall] continue to bring their music to audiences world wide, as the band's 21st century global tour rolls on!    2020 SOUTH AMERICA TOUR June 6 - Teatro Caupolicán - Santiago, Chile [more South American dates soon]   Listen to & buy   SOFT MACHINE ALBUMS+DVDS on CUNEIFORM RECORDS: NDR Jazz Workshop / Middle Earth Masters / Switzerland 1974 /   Virtually / Spaced / Backwards /  Grides /  Live in Paris /  Noisette                               THUMBSCREW Thumbscrew is the all-star collaborative trio of Mary Halvorson (guitar), Tomas Fujiwara (drums), and Michael Formanek (acoustic bass). Their two new albums on Cuneiform – Ours and Theirs – placed on numerous Best Albums of 2018 lists worldwide, including the 2018 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll, Popmatters' Best Jazz of 2018, Bandcamp's Best Jazz Albums of 2018 and many more. Brilliant live performers, they've performed at festivals and served numerous residencies at art centers and prominent venues in the US and abroad.   February 8, 2020 - Walker Arts Center - McGuire Theatre - 725 Vineland Place - Minneapolis, MN [with Code Girl] October 13 - 18, 2020 - The Village Vanguard - NYC, NY   Listen to & buy:  Ours, Theirs,  Convallaria, Thumbscrew           TOMEKA REID QUARTET   Cellist Tomeka Reid's all-star Quartet  (Jason Roebke-bass,Tomas Fujiwara-drums, 2019 MacArthur Award recipient Mary Halvorson-guitar, Reid-cello) celebrates Old New, its second release and first on Cuneiform Records. Both accessible and adventurous, Old New has become a critically acclaimed 2019 jazz favorite, reviewed in numerous publications and featured on Best of 2019 lists worldwide! May 1-3 - Bang On A Can's Long Play Festival - Brooklyn, NY   Listen to & buy: Old New To set up press and radio interviews with Cuneiform Artists while on tour, please contact: promo@cuneiformrecords.com return to top THE YEAR IN REVIEW: CUNEIFORM RECORDS' 2019 RELEASES Our 2019 releases included something for every adventurous taste: great jazz, jazz-rock, progressive rock & beyond!   Our THANKS to all of you who placed them on your "Best of 2019" lists!   FIVE TIMES SURPRISE  - Five Times Surprise  [electric jazz/ avant rock] Released 5/10/2019: CD & digital release (Henry Kaiser & Anthony Pirog–six-string guitar; Tracy Silverman–six-string electric violin; Jeff Sipe-drums; Andy West–six-string bass)         ~ ~ ~ ~   GHOST RYTHMS - Live at Yoshiwara [French avant/art rock; jazz-rock ] October 4, 2019: CD & digital release (Xavier Gélard–drums, compositions; Camille Petit–piano, compositions; Guillaume Aventurin–guitar; Alexis Collin–accordion; Gregory Kosovski–bass; Morgan Lowenstein–percussion; Nadia Mejri-Chapelle–cello; Tom Namias–electric guitar; David Rousselet–sax; Maxime Thiébaut–saxes)    ~ ~ ~ ~   RICHARD LEO JOHNSON [visionary acoustic guitar] November 2019: digital reissues Glidepath  (Richard Leo Johnson–6&12 string guitar; Jud Martindale–percussion; Steve Patrick–piano; Ed Nicholson–electric guitar)            The Sleeping Porch  (Richard Leo Johnson - 6&12 string solo guitar)             ~ ~ ~ ~   TOMEKA REID QUARTET - Old New [new/avant jazz that embraces the past] October 4, 2019: CD & digital release (Tomeka Reid–cello; Jason Roebke–bass;  Tomas Fujiwara–drums;  Mary Halvorson–guitar)  ~ ~ ~ ~   THE SPELLCASTERS - Music from the Anacostia Delta [hybrid jazz/ rockabilly/ R&B/ country/ rock’n’roll music native to Anacostia Delta/Washington DC; Danny Gatton / Roy Buchanan tribute band]   Released 5/10/2019: CD & digital release (Anthony Pirog, Joel Harrison &  Dave Chappell–telecaster guitars; Danny Gatton's rhythm section: John Previti–bass, Barry Hart–drums) ~ ~ ~ ~   LE REX - Escape of the Fire Ants [Swiss jazz & beyond brass band] Released 4/5/2019: CD & digital release (Andreas Tschopp –trombone; Marc Unternahrer tuba; Benedikt Reising & Marc Stucki–saxes; Rico Baumann–drums) ~ ~ ~ ~   UPSILON ACRUX  [brutal prog from Los Angeles] November 2019: digital reissues Volucris Avis Dirae​-​Arum   (Jesse Appelhans –drums; Derek Burns–drums; Eric Kiernowski– bass; Nick Lejejs–Moogs; Paul Lai–guitar) Last Train Out      (Jesse Klecker–drums; Paul Lai–guitar; Cameron Presley–guitar; Eric Kiernowski– bass; Muir Tennerstet–bass)              The Last Pirates Of Upsilon    (Jesse Klecker–drums; Josh Quon–bass, piano, viola, drums, sax;  Cameron Presley–guitar, bass, Moog;  Paul Lai–guitar, piano, Moog, sax;  Mark Cisneros–sax; Christiaan Cruz–sax; Mike Flowers–cornet; Rob Pash–trumpet; Don Munoz–pocket trumpet; Devin Sarno–ambient-destructo bass; Bobb Bruno–crate 'glass-on-glass' guitar)   In The Acrux Of The Upsilon King  (Jesse Klecker–drums, percussion, bow; Paul Lai–guitar, Moog, reeds; Muir Tennerstet –bass, Moog; Cameron Presley–guitar, Moog, reeds; & Glen Galloway; Steve Blake and Josh Quon)                To set up press and radio interviews with Cuneiform Artists,  please contact: promo@cuneiformrecords.com return to top CUNEIFORM RECORDS visit us on the web, at: Official Website Twitter SoundCloud YouTube Bandcamp Instagram Facebook GROUP: FANS of Cuneiform Records Official Facebook Page: Cuneiform Records return to top Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* Cuneiform Records, All rights reserved. Silver Spring, MD / Washington, DC Our mailing address is: Cuneiform Records P.O. Box 8427 Silver Spring, MD 20907 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. Was this email forwarded to you from a friend? Subscribe to the Cuneiform Records Newsletter. Read this email online   return to top