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Monday, June 1, 2020

Cuneiform Records JUNE 2020 Newsletter

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Cuneiform Records
APRIL 2020 Newsletter

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JUNE 2020 in TRANSITIONAL TIMES:
Cuneiform Expands Its YouTube Video Content
~~~~~~
COMING OUT! / JULY 2020 RELEASES ON CUNEIFORM RECORDS
jazz/improv:
THUMBSCREW [Tomas Fujiwara / Mary Halvorson / Michael Formanek ]  – The Anthony Braxton Project
STIRRUP + 6 – The Avondale Addition
~~~~~~
OUT NOW! / SPRING 2020 RELEASES ON CUNEIFORM RECORDS
TATSUYA NAKATANI & SHANE PARISH – Interactivity
CHAD TAYLOR TRIO featuring BRIAN SETTLES & NEIL PODGURSKI – The Daily Biological
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RECENT/ WINTER 2020 RELEASES
CHEER-ACCIDENT - Chicago XX
Cuneiform Records: The Albums Of 2019
BIRDSONGS  OF THE MESOZOIC – 2001 Live Birds
THINKING PLAGUE - Upon Both Your Houses
~~~~~~
GET SOCIAL WITH CUNEIFORM ONLINE!
* Join us on SOCIAL MEDIA
• Explore Cuneiform Records' BANDCAMP PAGE
• Discover WaysideMusic.com, our sister store, estab.1980

• and much more!
JUNE 2020: TIME OF TRANSITIONS
 
As weather warms in the northern hemisphere, doors cautiously crack open. By June 1st, pandemic lockdowns will end here in the DMV: Washington DC, and neighboring Northern Virginia and Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, MD. Guided by the science thus far, openings will be in phases. Throughout, wherever globally you are, don't be selfish: WEAR YOUR MASK!!  

Transitional times are difficult ones, amplifying mankind's discomfort with change, and it's more essential now than ever to treat each other with kindness and respect. We're horrified by the rise of corrupt autocratic leaders worldwide, the senseless deaths of black men by law enforcement in the US,  the global number of Covid 19 deaths, and the destruction of business districts from both rioting and pandemic-caused financial collapse.  To get through these transitional times and create a New Normal that works for the good of ALL (or at least 99%) of mankind , we must get through them TOGETHER.  
 
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THE CUNEIFORM RECORDS YOUTUBE CHANNEL EXPANDS ITS VIDEO CONTENT! 


To provide respite during difficult times, we've begun adding exclusive new VIDEO CONTENT to our YOU TUBE Channel. If you've not previously explored the wondrous footage viewable for FREE on Cuneiform Records' YouTube Channel, now is the ideal time. Click the image above to open the door and explore. 
We launch our new video expansion with an extraordinary interview, nearly an hour long,  featuring two of the biggest names in American avant garde music: Terry Riley and Henry Kaiser.  In it, legendary minimalist composer and electronic music pioneer Terry Riley is interviewed by guitarist and improvisor extraordinaire Henry Kaiser. The two discuss an unreleased video recording that Riley made in 1969 in collaboration with minimalist sculptor Arlo Acton, called MUSIC WITH BALLS; a concert recording that Riley made in Stockholm, Sweden; such technical innovations as feedback delay that Riley employed in his music dating from the late '60s, including; and much more. Our gratitude to Henry for providing this exclusive content to us. 
Other new content will include performances by Cuneiform Records' artists. For instance, Henry Kaiser will post a new solo performance each week on our channel. Besides being a professional musician and producer, Henry is a professional scientific diver and underwater videographer; his video from May 28, 2020 features his music and some of his underwater videos. We hope that you enjoy the brilliant work created by Cuneiform's multi-talented artists, and we look forward to you subscribing to the Cuneiform Records YouTube Channel.

!  Coming Out July 17, 2020 !

Cuneiform Records'
SUMMER 2020 RELEASES


JAZZ & IMPROV
 
THUMBSCREW

The Anthony Braxton Project
 
Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS
Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 475
UPC:  045775047522
Format: CD, Digital Download
Genre:  JAZZ / IMPROVISATION
Street Date: July 17, 2020

Thumbscrew:
Tomas Fujiwara -
Drums & Vibraphone
Mary Halvorson - Guitar
Michael Formanek - Double Bass


All compositions by Anthony Braxton

scroll for more info

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STIRRUP + 6

The Avondale Addition
 

Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS
Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 473
UPC:  045775047324
Format: CD, Digital Download
Genre:  JAZZ 
Street Date: July 17, 2020

Stirrup:
Fred Lonberg-Holm - lightbox operator
Nick Macri - bass
Charles Rumback - drums
+ 6:
Jen Clare Paulson - viola
Zoots Houston - electronics 
Keefe Jackson - reeds 
Russ Johnson - trumpet
Peter Maunu - guitar, violin 
Mars Williams - reeds

scroll for more info

THUMBSCREW

The Anthony Braxton Project


THUMBSCREW:
  TOMAS FUJIWARA : Drums and Vibraphone
MARY HALVORSON : Guitar
MICHAEL FORMANEK : Bass
 


 Celebrating Anthony Braxton on his 75th birthday, Thumbscrew digs into the Tricentric Archives, focusing on previously unrecorded pieces by the legendary composer, multi-wind master and bandleader. The all-star collective trio, featuring drummer/percussionist Tomas Fujiwara, guitarist Mary Halvorson and bassist Michael Formanek, releases its fifth album for Cuneiform Records,
The Anthony Braxton Project.
 
Over the course of six decades NEA Jazz Master Anthony Braxton has created a singularly vast and variegated body of music as a composer and recording artist, an oeuvre encompassing projects ranging in scope from his pioneering 1969 solo saxophone album For Alto to 2016’s epic opera Trillium J  (The Non-Unconfessionables). Musicians around the world have been coming together over the past year to celebrate his 75th birthday with an array of performances and recordings, but leave it to the all-star collective trio Thumbscrew to focus an utterly personal lens on previously unheard compositions with The Anthony Braxton Project. For fans familiar with Braxton’s music the project offers a whole new window into his genius for designing protean musical situations pregnant with possibilities. Those less acquainted with his work might find themselves enthralled and amazed by the sheer diversity of rhythmic and melodic material explored by Thumbscrew. The trio’s fifth album extends the group’s relationship with Cuneiform Records, which has released all of the band’s recordings.
 
Invited to explore the Tri-Centric Foundation’s voluminous Braxton archives in New Haven, Conn. as part of the Braxton75 celebration, drummer/percussionist Tomas Fujiwara, guitarist Mary Halvorson and bassist Michael Formanek spent a long afternoon looking for rarely played pieces that could fit their instrumental palette. “The idea was for us to choose compositions of Anthony’s, mostly early compositions, which hadn’t been previously recorded (or, in a couple cases, recorded only once or twice),” says Halvorson. “We chose pieces that captured our imagination and that we thought would work well for the instrumentation of guitar, bass, and drums or vibraphone. Our choices included graphic scores, complex notated pieces, and everything in between.”
 
Like with several previous Thumbscrew albums, the triumvirate used an extended, four-week residency at City of Asylum in Pittsburgh to prepare for the recording. Working on the music daily (while also honing a new book of original Thumbscrew compositions), they developed arrangements of varying detail based on the scores and the corresponding catalogue notes for each composition. While aiming to understand and execute Braxton’s intention with each piece, the nature of his music required them to shape the material anew. “We have a shared language in terms of how we improvise, but the composition very much guides and informs our improvisations, so having music from a new composer puts us in a different frame of mind and adds another layer to what we do as a trio,” Fujiwara says. “Looking through the Tri-Centric Archives, we were like kids in a candy store–a feeling that there were unlimited options that all would work for us and be a joy to explore–and we had a great guide in Tri-Centric’s Carl Testa. Mention a certain flavor and he’d show us all we could ever dream of."
 
Each piece shines a light on a different facet of Braxton’s musical universe. “no. 274” is the only entry from Braxton’s Ghost Trance work. Completely notated but requiring constant interpretation, it’s built on musical cells with constantly shifting tempos. The point isn’t to master the system. “It’s about how you deal with music that’s almost impossible to play and what happens when you do them with someone else, opening up possibilities you couldn’t plan,” Formanek says. The shadow of a march falls on “no. 61” a playfully stuttering and surging piece originally written for a saxophone/bass duo. The album closes with a blast of joy with Braxton’s homage to the Southwest territory bands of the 1930s. With an irresistible walking bass line and ringing unison notes on guitar and vibes, it’s a bright, sunny number “with very specific stylistic references,” Formanek says. “The composition notes mentioned playing the way Basie might have played some of this music, with that bounce and feel. The written music really fits in that style, but in a really Braxton way.”
 
All three of the musicians of Thumbscrew have had significant performing and / or study opportunities with Braxton, so they all can approach this music as ‘insiders’.  Formanek’s relationship with Braxton’s music dates back to buying a compilation of his Arista Freedom recordings in the mid-1970s. Immediately struck by the music, he tried to decipher the symbols and diagrams that Braxton used as titles. He followed his output over the decades “amazed at the range of music and how much he pushed himself to be creative and indulge all of his curiosities, the way he used the musicians to help realize the vision,” Formanek says. But it wasn’t until the late 1990s that he had a chance perform with Braxton, joining a multimedia production at the Knitting Factory as the second bassist.
 
Wesleyan is where Halvorson came into Braxton’s orbit during her undergrad years from 1998-2002, a creative relationship that launched her as one of the most celebrated improvisers to emerge in the 21st century. “I consider him one of the main catalysts for me deciding to become a musician,” she says. “Studying with Anthony, learning his musical systems and playing music with him remains one of the most important and inspiring musical experiences of my life.”

Fujiwara met Braxton through Taylor Ho Bynum when the trumpeter was attending Wesleyan, which led to several opportunities to perform with Braxton in different settings, including a trio with drummer Tom Rainey documented on the 2014 album Trio (New Haven) 2013 (New Braxton House). “Having time to talk and hang out with Anthony, his energy and his whole presence has been very inspiring,” Fujiwara says. “Both as a person and a musician he gives this real jolt of energy and creativity and positivity to try things and explore things and push myself.”
  
In much the same way the album’s compositions are indelibly Braxton, the interpretations are pure Thumbscrew. Part of what makes the ensemble so extraordinary is the sheer density of the musical connections running between the musicians. Beyond their work as a trio, they’re the foundation for Formanek’s Ensemble Kolossus, the hair-raising and ridiculously talent-laden large ensemble that released its 2016 debut, The Distance on ECM . Formanek joined Halvorson on Tomas Fujiwara and The Hook Up’s third release, the critically hailed 2015 album After All Is Said (482 Music). And Halvorson featured her Thumbscrew bandmates on 2018’s lavishly praised release Code Girl (Firehouse 12), a song-based project with vocalist Amirtha Kidambi, and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire. For Halvorson, Thumbscrew has become an invaluable creative foundation. “It’s one of my favorite rhythm sections to be a part of, the power and energy and everything we create together,” she says. “At this point, all of us have used this rhythm section as leaders.” 

 
STIRRUP + 6

The Avondale Addition

STIRRUP:
FRED LONBERG-HOLM : Lightbox operator
NICK MACRI : Bass
CHARLES RUMBACK : Drums
 
+6: 
JEN CLARE PAULSON : Viola
ZOOTS HOUSTON : Electronics
KEEFE JACKSON : Reeds
RUSS JOHNSON : Trumpet
PETER MAUNU : Guitar, Violin
MARS WILLIAMS : Reeds

 
The genre-defying trio Stirrup grow their ranks threefold on The Avondale Addition with the inclusion of six satellite musicians from across the jazz, experimental, and improvising spectrum to fill out, color in, scratch, and smear Stirrup's arrangements on the fly as conducted by Lonberg-Holm and his Lightbox. 
 
Stirrup is Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello, tenor guitar), Nick Macri (bass), and Charles Rumback (drums). Formed in Chicago in 2009 to explore their mutual interests in deep grooves, moody harmonies, and extended structures, the genre-defiant trio continue to do so to this day.  A true collective, all three write and arrange for the band.

The Avondale Addition is an amalgam of two of Fred Lonberg-Holm’s long-running projects: Stirrup and his “Lightbox Orchestra”, a revolving-door project that began over 20 years ago as a way to organize large, ad-hoc improvising ensembles using a light-based cueing system and cue cards. Typically, a Lightbox concert has no pre-composed materials, but for this performance recorded live at Elastic Arts in Chicago, compositions by members of Stirrup comprised a “book” from which the guest musicians (the “+6”) draw on in addition to freely improvising when called on to do so.  In effect, Charles and Nick continue to do things they might normally do on a Stirrup gig, but instead of Fred playing cello, he acts as a kind of improvising arranger stationed behind his Lightbox cueing station, with the invited guests taking on the melodic and soloist roles he might normally perform.
 
Fred Lonberg-Holm is a composer, cellist, and improviser currently based in Kingston, NY. A student of Anthony Braxton, Bunita Marcus, Morton Feldman, Pauline Oliveros, and Noah Creshevsky, he received a BS in composition from Brooklyn College and an MA in composition from Mills College. During the 1980s and early 1990s, he was active in the downtown New York improvised music scene.

Fred moved to Chicago in 1995, where he became active in the Chicago improvised music scene. In addition to developing his own groups—Seval, The Valentine Trio, Pillow, Terminal 4, and In Zenith—he participated in numerous projects including the Peter Brötzmann Tentet,  XMarsX (with Mars Williams), ADA Trio (with Peter Brötzmann and Paal Nilssen-Love), and the Vandermark 5. Currently, he is a member of Joe McPhee’s Survival Unit III (with Michael Zerang), NRG Ensemble and Witches and Devils (with Mars Williams), Party Knüllers (with Ståle Solberg), Boxhead Ensemble, The Chicago Plan (with Steve Swell and Gebhard Ullmann), eponymous duos with Frode Gjerstad and Simon Camatta, and Ballister (with Paal Nilssen-Love and Dave Rempis) as well as many ‘one off’ projects.  He also leads a number of ensembles, including Stirrup and the Lightbox Orchestra, a non-gestural conduction system that he developed in the mid-90’s for a large, ad-hoc ensemble of approximately 10 musicians. Since moving to Kingston, he has developed and co-curates a monthly improvised music series with bassist Michael Bisio. His extensive discography includes improvised and free jazz recordings as well as new music, pop, rock and noise.

Bassist Nick Macri has been exploring Chicago’s slipstream of creative music for decades from collaborative, creative groups and ad hoc improvised pairings, to notable sideman gigs, and the rare solo excursion. He is a founding member of the collective trio Stirrup with Fred Lonberg-Holm and Charles Rumback and is/was a contributing member to many, varied groups including Ken Vandermark’s Audio One, Momentum 3, and Momentum 5 groups, instrumental explorers Euphone and Heroic Doses, art-pop quartet The Zincs, and the pastoral, psych-folk of The Horse's Ha (with Janet Bean and James Elkington). He has performed and toured as a sideman and recorded sessions with an eclectic list of artists including Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab, The Sea and Cake, Daughter of Swords, Nina Nastasia, Azita, James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg, Wanees Zarour, Hector Zazou, and visual artist Bruce Licher of Savage Republic. Additionally, he has improvised in duo or group settings with many musicians. He has performed across Europe, Asia, South America, and North America including concerts at Saalfelden Jazz Festival (Austria), Festival de Musique Actuelle Victoriaville (Canada), Reading Festival and Leeds Festival (U.K.), World Music Festival Chicago, All Tomorrow's Parties (U.K.), the London Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Logan Center, and the Pritzker Pavilion (Chicago).

Drummer Charles Rumback is a figure of the rich and varied Chicago music scene. Born and raised in Kansas, he moved to Chicago to study at the Chicago College of Performing Arts where he received a degree in Jazz Composition. Having co-led groups such as Leaves and Colorlist, he has recorded and toured regularly with projects such as Azita, the Horse's Ha, L'altra and Via Tania. 

Having released his first album as a leader on Clean Feed Records in 2009, his current projects include Colorlist, Leaf Bird and Stirrup. Charles' playing deals closely with the jazz tradition, yet he has worked closely with artists from a wide variety of backgrounds such as; Jason Ajemian, Asuna, Caroline Davis, Josh Eustis, John Hughes, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Matt Lux, Bill Mackay, Nick Macri, The Medium Necks, Ron Miles, Jeff Parker, Liz Payne, Jason Stein, John Tate and Greg Ward.
~~~
     “…hypnotic...pretty melodies unfold, roil, and mutate over churning ostinatos and shuffling, shape-shifting beats…extended, lyrical solos hit with the power of psych-rock…and tickle the ear with microtonal glissandos a la Arabic or Indian music..swing patterns, explosive rolls, and skittery flourishes…”
– Peter Margasak (The Chicago Reader)
 
“…sketches, swathes of brittle and brooding melody that turn caustic and crepuscular with the addition of acrid electricity...sawing ribbons of downcast, driving sound...vessel of both controlled and chaotically cathartic noise.”
– Bill Meyer (Dusted Magazine)
 
Cuneiform Records'
SPRING 2020 Releases

JAZZ & IMPROV
CHAD TAYLOR TRIO
featuring BRIAN SETTLES &
NEIL PODGURSKI

The Daily Biological
 

Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS
Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 467
UPC:  045775046723
Genre:  JAZZ 
Street Date: April 24, 2020
 
As the debut recording of an ensemble rooted in deep and abiding friendships The Daily Biological is a creatively roiling conversation. The unusual trio of drums (Chad Taylor), saxophone (Brian Settles) and piano (Neil Podgurski) creates tough and engaging music that unfurls in kinetic conversational bursts.
 
 

 It’s hardly news that Taylor is one of jazz’s most dependably inspired drummers.  The Daily Biological should turn many more ears onto his vivid imagination as a bandleader and composer, opening a new window into his expansive musical vision.
 

 
"The album..is startling, music that verges on "free" yet there are times when the beat is so powerful it feels as if the drums could knock you off your feet. ...
"The Daily Biological", if you listen deeply, will change your idea of "power trios."  No over-amped guitars, fuzzy bass lines, no ponderous drums; instead, this is music teeming with ideas, interactions, inventive solos, intelligent writing, and more.  ...an auspicious recorded debut for the Chad Taylor Trio..."  
–Richard Kamins,  StepTempest

TATSUYA NAKATANI
&
SHANE PARISH
Interactivity
 
Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS
Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 469
UPC:  045775046921
Genre:  JAZZ / IMPROVISATION
Street Date: April 24, 2020
 
Interactivity is the second album by the duo of  Shane Parish and Tatsuya Nakatani.  The master percussionist and guitarist have been collaborating for nearly a decade, performing improvised duets in Parish’s hometown of Asheville,  whenever Nakatani’s annual world tour brought him through the Appalachian Mountain town.
 
 
 
Interactivity was recorded in performance at Static Age in late spring, 2018 and finds both players at the top of their game in a live setting, featuring telepathic communication, deep listening, texture, and explosive energy.
 
 
 
"In short, if you are attuned to free improv, guitar, and percussion, Interactivity is a must-have. There just isn’t much precedent for this recording as Nakatani and Parish stretch their respective instruments to the breaking point and beyond." – Mike Borella,  AvantMusicNews
Cuneiform Records'

WINTER 2020 Releases

POST ROCK / AVANT PROGRESSIVE / AVANT JAZZ/ AMBIENT & BEYOND
CHEER-ACCIDENT
Chicago XX
Released February 28, 2020
CD & Digital Formats
Genre: post-rock / post-pop / alternative experimental

__________________________
CUNEIFORM RECORDS: THE ALBUMS OF 2019
Annual Sampler Featureing Tracks from 11 Albums Released in 2019
Released February 2020 in Digital format
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
[click image for sound sample]

_______________________________________
THINKING PLAGUE
Upon Both Your Houses
Released January 31, 2020
Digital Format
Genre: chamber-rock/ avant-progressive/ post-rock/ 21st century post-classical
[click image for sound sample]
BE SOCIAL WITH CUNEIFORM RECORDS!

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