Cuneiform Records NOVEMBER 2020 Newsletter

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view this email  in your browser Cuneiform Records NOVEMBER 2020 Newsletter jump to ~~~~~~ COMING OUT THIS MONTH! NOVEMBER 2020 RELEASES ON CUNEIFORM jazz / rock / experimental / psychedelic / maximalist A LOVE SUPREME ELECTRIC – A Love Supreme Electric: A Love Supreme & Meditations experimental rock/ post-jazz / guitar / minimalist  SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER - 5 ~~~~~~ OUT NOW! /  CUNEIFORM RECORDS' FALL 2020 RELEASES: OCTOBER 2020: guitar/post-jazz/post-genre/soundscape ANTHONY PIROG – Pocket Poem SEPTEMBER 2020: RAY RUSSELL – Fluid Architecture I.P.A. - Bashing Mushrooms ~~~~~~ OUT NOW / SPRING & SUMMER 2020 RELEASES ON CUNEIFORM RECORDS jazz/improv/creative music THUMBSCREW [Tomas Fujiwara / Mary Halvorson / Michael Formanek]  –  The Anthony Braxton Project STIRRUP + 6 – The Avondale Addition TATSUYA NAKATANI & SHANE PARISH – Interactivity CHAD TAYLOR TRIO featuring BRIAN SETTLES & NEIL PODGURSKI – The Daily Biological ~~~~~~ CUNEIFORM ARTISTS ON TOUR: Live concerts resume in Europe ~~~~~~ ENJOY GREAT MUSIC AT HOME with CUNEIFORM RECORDS' ACTIVITIES ONLINE • Join us on SOCIAL MEDIA • Explore Cuneiform Records' BANDCAMP PAGE • Enjoy performances on Cuneiform Records' YouTube Channel • Discover WaysideMusic.com, our sister store, estab.1980 • and much more! ~~~~~~ A LOVE SUPREME ELECTRIC: VINNY GOLIA / JOHN HANRAHAN /  HENRY KAISER / WAYNE PEET / MIKE WATT A LOVE SUPREME ELECTRIC: A LOVE SUPREME & MEDITATIONS File under: JAZZ / ROCK/ EXPERIMENTAL/ PSYCHEDELIC/ MAXIMALIST Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS Format: CD, Digital  Download Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 470/471 UPC:  045775047027 Street date: November 13, 2020 download press release    Some records tell you what’s what. That’s not a bad thing: there’s a place in music for reportage, for commentary, for what’s going on. But A Love Supreme Electric, the collaborative project between Vinny Golia, John Hanrahan, Henry Kaiser, Wayne Peet, Mike Watt, and John Coltrane’s immortal spirit, starts from a different place. “What if?” it asks    In fact, A Love Supreme Electric asks “What if?” over and over again, joyously interrogating the twin templates of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and Meditations from a kaleidoscopic array of angles. All five performers weigh in with their solo perspective, but the magic is that the listener is invited to contribute, too. After hearing this music, you may never hear Coltrane in the same way again. Kaiser, the project’s de facto theorist, chose to start with “What if A Love Supreme and Meditations are two parts of one single expression of an ecstatic spiritual state?”   “I had known that Coltrane intended his Meditations suite to be a spiritual sequel to his A Love Supreme suite,” Kaiser writes in his liner notes for A Love Supreme Electric, notes that are as provocative as the music itself. “Thus it was natural to suggest that with our A Love Supreme Electric gigs, we often play Meditations as the second set. After having done this more than a few times, I would note that….the two suites really do fit together to actually be one 2-part suite, where all the individual sections inform, deepen, cross-reference, and expand on one another, in both the musical and spiritual domains.   “The 2-CD set that we present to you here,” he continues, “is this current crew’s fiery salvo of our testimony to this.”   The band’s recognition of the essential unity of Coltrane’s two masterpieces is profound, as is the ease with which saxophonist Golia, percussionist Hanrahan, guitarist Kaiser, keyboardist Peet, and bassist Watt answer another big “what if?”: “What if Coltrane had survived cancer—which took him at the untimely age of 40, in 1967—and joined his occasional colleague Miles Davis in pioneering electric jazz?”   There’s no way of knowing whether this is where the saxophonist would have gone, although his string of 1961 gigs with Wes Montgomery suggest that he was not immune to the sonic possibilities of the electric guitar. Viewed with an open mind, however, Coltrane would seem a likely candidate to go electric. His late-career interstellar explorations have, conceptually if not sonically, more to do with the psychedelic ethos than any of Davis’s acoustic recordings, and while there are persistent rumours of Davis and Jimi Hendrix wanting to record together, the saxophonist’s loquacious voice would have been as apt for that project than Davis’s terse trumpet.   listen/share:     In his notes, Kaiser speaks about discovering a surprising sonic kinship between Coltrane and Davis, a realization sparked by his earlier investigation of the latter’s late ’60s and early ’70s music in his band with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, Yo Miles!. “I was surprised to note that there were many below-the-surface features that were common with Coltrane’s meditations suite and the way that Miles’ electric music functioned,” he writes. “Independent systems happening simultaneously, tiny seeds growing into giant beanstalks of music growing beyond the sky, and a vision beyond where jazz had been before.”   The A Love Supreme Electric quintet references those qualities to create a sound that is simultaneously of the present, of the past, and of the might-have-been. While sounding exactly like himself—that is, a highly individualistic musician whose stylistic touchstones include Eric Dolphy and Roscoe Mitchell as well as Coltrane—Golia’s big tenor sound provides a link to acoustic jazz even in the midst of the band’s most futuristic interplay. And, speaking of melding the past and the future, check out Kaiser’s squealing slide invocation of Sonny Sharrock early on in Meditations; that the pioneering noise guitarist and Coltrane never got to perform together is one of the many tragedies of the saxophonist’s untimely death—and another “what if?” to contemplate.   There are more of those questions here. What if Coltrane, who was known for his close study of North Indian music, extended his reach to encompass the shamanistic sounds of Korea? (And, for that matter, what if he had allowed his spiritual curiosity to veer more completely from ecstatic Christianity towards shamanic thinking?) What if psychedelic rock music hadn’t been dumbed down by corporate interests and self-indulgent performers, but had been allowed to flourish? What if, as Kaiser suggests, Meditations and A Love Supreme’s cyclical structures function as a kind of sonic Ouija board, allowing inductive trance technologies to unite seemingly disparate performers?   Close the door, unplug the phone, and press “play”. You’ve got an hour, 47 minutes, and 41 seconds to think.   A LOVE SUPREME ELECTRIC left to right: JOHN HANRAHAN-drums / WAYNE PEET-organ / VINNY GOLIA-saxophone /  MIKE WATT-bass / HENRY KAISER-guitar   BIOGRAPHIES OF THE INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS Vinny Golia  The oldest member of the A Love Supreme Electric band at 74, Vinny Golia remains a progressive force in the worlds of jazz, contemporary composition, and improvisation. In addition to being a consistently inventive performer on all of the reed instruments, he’s a pioneer of the artist-run-label movement, having started his influential Nine Winds Records in 1977.     John Hanrahan  John Hanrahan, who initiated the A Love Supreme Electric project in conjunction with Henry Kaiser, was introduced to improvised music through the jam-band scene, specifically the open-ended explorations of the Grateful Dead and other like-minded outfits. He’s gone on to become a powerful jazz drummer but also a deeply interactive performer, capable of both driving rhythms and subtle textural interplay.   Henry Kaiser  A Love Supreme Electric is guitarist Henry Kaiser’s 9th recording for Cuneiform Records; other outings include the solo album Lemon Fish Tweezer, two Yo Miles! sessions with trumpet master Wadada Leo Smith (Sky Garden and Upriver), and 2014’s The Celestial Squid, with pioneering jazz-rock guitarist Ray Russell.   Wayne Peet  A relatively unsung member of the Los Angeles improvising scene, and a long-time playing partner of both Henry Kaiser and Vinny Golia, Wayne Peet is responsible for much of the textural diversity found on A Love Supreme Electric—not only with his expressive solos on both piano and organ, but with ears well-trained by his parallel career as a recording engineer and studio owner.   Mike Watt  A bona fide Rock God for his work with the Minutemen, Firehose, and more recently Iggy Pop and the Stooges, bassist Mike Watt is primarily known for his relentless rhythmic drive. As the title of his 1995 solo album Ball-Hog or Tugboat? suggests, he’s more inclined to keep things moving than indulge in sonic grandstanding, and on A Love Supreme Electric he does just that while also displaying keen sensitivity to the needs of the music in the moment. return to top SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER 5 File under:  AVANT-ROCK / EXPERIMENTAL-AVANT-PSYCH-MINIMAL / POST-JAZZ / KRAUTROCK / IMPROV / MINIMALIST Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 482 UPC:   CD 045775048222 / LP: 045775048215 Format: CD  / LP / DIGITAL Street date:  November 13, 2020 Download press release-ENGLISH Download press release-GERMAN     “The precision with which bassist Andy Schnellmann, guitarist Manuel Troller and drummer David Meier interlock and animate their equally weighted instrumental voices generates an intensity that is consistently riveting and at times overwhelming. (...) Schnellmann, Troller and Meier manage to maintain a level of clarity in their execution that suggests telepathic magicc”   – The WIRE, Julian Cowley, April 2018   There are bands that play beautiful, engaging concerts, take a bow and go home – and then there are others that open up completely new perspectives, make time stop, and whose clear-cut approach burns itself into the audience's memory. Schnellertollermeier is such a band. Anyone who has seen them live will attest to the experience and, when trying to describe their music, will use words such as “stunning”, “minimalist”, “brutal”, “decisive”, “monumental”, “angry”, “controlled”, “captivating” or “radical”. Bassist Andi Schnellmann, guitarist Manuel Troller and percussionist David Meier consolidate these extremes, arranging them in a new, unsettled order.    Their concerts are energetic salvos that draw their dynamism from the tension between modern compositional techniques and free improvisation; the vistas they create open up new, uncharted landscapes influenced by minimal, avant-garde and electronic music, suffused with elements that reference krautrock and the directness of punk. Since their debut album Holz, released in 2008, they continue to surprise and captivate, leaving listeners riveted to their seats. Julian Cowley of British music magazine Wire suspects some form of telepathic wizardry at the root of Schnellertollermeier’s intuitive interplay. They follow no fixed concept, just the flow of pure music, which seems to have a mind of its own.    Schnellertollermeier seem unconcerned with managing their egos, perfectly marketing their music or pandering to the sensitivities of their listeners, but are much more interested in eradicating hierarchies. The traditional balance of power between the drums, bass and guitar is consistently subverted. Thus, here and there, the guitar assumes the role of the drums as the melodic, razor-edged heart of the rhythm section, while the drums seem to be following an entirely different agenda. The bass merges seamlessly with adjacent frequencies, or rises to the role of polyphonic protagonist - to the point where it’s hard to distinguish where one instrument ends and another begins. There are no solos, only closely knit, highly energetic arcs filled with joyful escalation. In their most ecstatic moments, the band sounds like one big drum machine made of individual human components, and accomplishes what computers cannot: taking risks, developing a rationale of its own, offering unexpected shifts.    The three musicians have followed this path on their four preceding albums. Their genre-defying compositions have put them on the map of renowned international festivals, such as the FIMAV festival for contemporary music in Victoriaville, the avant-garde club SuperDeluxe in Tokio and the Haldern Pop Festival in Germany. Wherever they are, Europe or Japan, England, China, Canada, the US, India or Russia, Schnellertollermeier are always looking for the utmost intensity.   listen/share:   Their new album takes their music even further – which at times unexpectedly leads to silence. On 5 there is more space, more intimacy, more time for dialogue between the music and listeners. The seven pieces, ranging from abstract dance music to electro-acoustic currents of sound, are gentler and more fragile than one would expect from Schnellertollermeier. However, the world has also changed since X and Rights, released in 2015 and 2017 respectively. By revisiting tried and tested formulas and questioning old habits, instead of running at them furiously, Schnellertollermeier offer a viable musical response to pressing issues of our time.    This is also due to the band’s implicit desire to never manipulate their listeners, despite their refined musical skills, nor to offer prefabricated feelings or definitive statements, but rather to engage in conversation. On 5 listeners become the fourth band member – here listening equals collaborating.    Greater intimacy was also aimed for during the recording process: guitars and basses were fed directly into the mixing desk, without the interference of amplifiers and microphones, in order to enable as little distance as possible between the band and listeners. As a result we find ourselves transported directly to the centre of this arrangement of concentrated moments, circular movements and cathartic flashes of liberation.    At times 5 sounds as if we’re listening to someone thinking. From the restrained, pulsating opener “209 Aphelion”, the delicately orchestrated twitchings in “Before and After”, the metaphysical shifting of  spheres in “Tectonics / A Sore Point” to the majestically pensive final piece “Made of Thin”: here is an arc replete with compositional cross-references, reflections and unplumbed depths. At times there are flashes of the menace encountered in previous albums, at once engaging and reflective, tender and powerful. Authoritative yet never manipulative. Schnellertollermeier pare everything down to the point where all is one.    ~ ~ ~     ANDI SCHNELLMAN – electric bass, electric guitar on Animate Become  MANUEL TROLLER – electric guitars DAVID MEIER – drums & percussion   “The young guitar-led Swiss power trio Schnellertollermeier struck [Kandace] Springs’ mellow afterglow like electrocution.  An airline cockup meant the loss of their hi-tech hardware, but despite this, they ripped into frenetically strummed avant-rock assaults, minimally pinging melodic loops over chattery rimshots, threateningly crackling electronics and even Stravinsky (in a piece quite properly named Massacre du Printemps) in a set of noisily virtuosic, spectacularly undaunted fury.” – The GUARDIAN (UK) May 2017, John Fordham, Cheltenham Jazz Festival review   “{...} here are a dozen albums released in 2015 that I savored repeatedly for their musicality, clarity of statement and courage. {...} "X" by Schnellertollermeier (Cuneiform) marries brutality to avant-garde rock and jazz. A classic power trio from Switzerland, the band plays with punk fury and dazzling technical dexterity to create booming, bone-rattling music that stalks, confronts and astonishes. On occasion, the trio steps back and offers wavy, vaguely threatening interludes, but soon the mighty force returns.” – The WALL STREET JOURNAL (USA) December 2015, Jim Fusilli, “X” review return to top !  OUT NOW ! Cuneiform Records' OCTOBER 2020 RELEASE POST-GENRE GUITAR / JAZZ / POST-JAZZ / POST-ROCK / AMBIENT ANTHONY PIROG POCKET POEM Genre: POST-GENRE GUITAR/ POST-JAZZ/ POST-ROCK/ AVANT GARDE / SOUNDSCAPE Format: CD, digital download Street date: October 16, 2020 download press release   After Releasing Two Records and Touring the World with post-Fugazi Power Trio Messthetics,  Guitarist/Composer ANTHONY PIROG  Reignites Creative Magic with Modern Jazz Greats Michael Formanek and Ches Smith  as Collaborators on his Sophomore Solo Album on Cuneiform Records  – POCKET POEM – A Masterwork of Guitar Synthesis Explorations   "Pirog can quickly move from a seductive and tranquil atmosphere of chime-like echoes to the sonic bombast of a finely tuned power trio, generating a multitude of contrasting soundscapes.” - All About Jazz “Anthony Pirog’s work is otherworldly – feverish in its delivery and interstellar in its complexity – but his feet have long been planted on the ground in Washington DC. When he was a kid he soaked up the city’s music, studying Danny Gatton and blues transplant Roy Buchanan…  But what’s the most DC thing a DC musician can do? Well, they could start a band with members of Fugazi. That would do it…” – Guitar.com   “Anthony Pirog… His own sound suggests a remarkable distillation of about 60 years of electric guitar history. On his debut solo album, “Palo Colorado Dream”...his nearest antecedent is Nels Cline — the downtown New York guitarist known for his palette of ghostly effects — but you’ll also quickly find the warble of Bill Frisell; Sonny Sharrock’s searing swarm; the noisy clatter of Glenn Branca." –  The New York Times   In music, the art of the trio involves a delicate balance and holds the potential for great power. On Anthony Pirog's Pocket Poem, his second solo album and fifth release on D.C. based Cuneiform Records, the Washington D.C. alt guitar hero and his rhythm section wring all the beauty, majesty, and mayhem possible from their triumvirate. Pirog is to guitar what Michael Jordan was to basketball — he's capable of anything he can conceive, and his conception covers quite a bit, from ambient atmospheres and mind-melting electronic subversions of sound to lyrical acoustic picking and fiery fusion.    One of Pirog's most recent projects before releasing Pocket Poem was a band that redefines the rock power trio (a concept that runs all the way back to the days of Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience). Pirog teamed with hometown legends Brendan Canty and Joe Lally of punk rock superband Fugazi to form The Messthetics, releasing two albums on Ian MacKaye’s iconic D.C. label Dischord and delivering their post-post-punk brain/brawn merger to tens of thousands at the 2019 Coachella festival.    But rock is not the only arena in which trios hold a powerful sway. From Oscar Peterson to Wes Montgomery, some of jazz’s greatest moments were also realized by trios. And from the time Pirog was studying music at Berklee College of Music, specializing in jazz guitar, and NYU, where he received a degree in jazz performance, progressive jazz was part of his artistic DNA.   Returning to D.C. after graduation, he and local cello star Janel Leppin blended improv, ambient, and electro-acoustic sounds as Janel and Anthony, which quickly became one of the Capital City’s most in-demand live acts and released several albums, including Where Is Home (Cuneiform 2012). D.C.’s diverse music scene thrived in the new millennium, and Pirog played with countless musicians in the city’s jazz, experimental, rock and modern classical scenes. He also began recording with nationally established, older musicians.  Pirog's blend of searching and searing guitar found its way into works by avant-jazz hero William Hooker, free improv guitar giant Henry Kaiser (on 2019 Cuneiform release Five Times Surprise), and more.  In The Spellcasters, which included late guitar-legend Danny Gatton’s rhythm section (John Previte, Barry Hart) and guitarists Joel Harrison and Dave Chappell, he recorded Music of the Anacostia Delta (Cuneiform 2016), which celebrated D.C.’s indigenous, hybrid guitar sound. But when Pirog partnered with acoustic bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Ches Smith for his first solo session, 2014's Palo Colorado Dream (also on Cuneiform) he happened upon a special kind of chemistry.   left to right:  MICHAEL FORMANEK - acoustic and electric bass / CHES SMITH - percussion and electronics / ANTHONY PIROG - guitar and electronics   Formanek is a jazz vet who's recorded with Dave Liebman, Fred Hersch, and the Mingus Big Band, as well as popping up on albums by Elvis Costello and the like. Smith is a fixture of the downtown NYC scene who's worked with other forward-thinking guitar conceptualists like Mary Halvorson, Marc Ribot, and Elliott Sharp, in addition to making records with Tim Berne, John Zorn, and countless others.   When the three first came together, their ability to egg each other on to fresh territory led to some lightning-in-a-bottle moments. So it isn't hard to see why Pirog would summon Formanek and Smith back to the studio for his second solo project. After reaching new heights with Messthetics, he returned to the trio that first showed the world the range and reach of his guitar gifts.    For Pocket Poem, Pirog decided to expand the trio's palette by mixing modern technology with vintage guitar synthesizers. "The use of guitar synths by John Abercrombie and Allan Holdsworth is very interesting to me," he says, "and I wanted to explore the timbral possibilities available using these instruments in the recording process."   Envision Adrian Belew, Tortoise, Bill Frisell, Bert Jansch, and Brian Eno squeezing into a particle accelerator. The end result after flipping the switch might sound something like Pocket Poem. The album touches on every aspect of Pirog's musical personality — rock, jazz, avant garde, electronic, even folk — and with his cohorts' contributions, it all arrives at a place that's progressive in the most literal sense. At once exploratory and reflective, subtle and storm-brewing, organic and high-tech, Pocket Poem establishes Pirog's place not just as a major guitar threat but as a gifted composer.   The album opens on a gently ominous note with "Dog Daze," as Pirog lays down a sprinkling of subtly disquieting textures befitting a film noir soundtrack, before things erupt halfway through into crashing power chords, martial rhythms, and grandly gliding, Robert Fripp-like lead lines, for a King Crimson murder mystery vibe.   Electronics drift gracefully into the mix with the pretty pointillism of "Dawn Cloud," as they waltz with watercolor guitar melodies and Smith's impressionistic brushwork. Meanwhile, Pirog's acoustic side slips into the spotlight with the downright folky fingerpicking of "Sitting Under Stars," evoking a place somewhere between John Fahey's "American primitive" style and '60s Britfolk.   "The Severing" keeps the gentle arpeggios going, but with an aqueous, electric tone complemented by ambient swells, for a feel not a million miles from some of Terje Rypdal's legendary ECM sessions.    The trio's interdependence really comes into focus on "Adonna the Painter," as Formanek's sustained notes and Smith's whispering cymbals become one with Pirog's plangent splashes of color. After Pirog unfurls some delicate melodic daubs, Formanek's tumbling bass solo carries the conversation forward, with Smith's toms providing the perfect punctuation.   At the album's midpoint, the title track provides a kind of palate cleanser/dividing line, making the most of wide open spaces and deftly applied dissonances. Simple lines hang suspended in mid air, saying more than a million frenetic flurries of notes could, as minimalism commands the moment.    On Pocket Poem's second half, it sometimes seems like a mischievous gremlin has crept into the inner workings of the Pirog/Formanek/Smith machine and begun engaging in subversive hijinks. On "Mori Point" crazed electronics crash against Smith's volcanic drumming for the distinct impression of clock springs dramatically coming unwound.   Even the seeming calm of "Beecher" is deceptive — amid a sea of reverb and delay, Formanek' alternately bowed and plucked bass and Pirog's trumpet-like guitar synth suggest something mysterious stirring beneath the water. But there's no gray area involved in "Spinal Fusion," where frantic electronic beats and rapid-fire guitar bursts let you know what it would feel like to be trapped inside a video game gone insane.    About a minute into "Untitled Atlas," the machinery-gone-wild vibe is amplified as we're thrust inside the fraying neural networks of a crashing computer. Smith's clattering percussion, Pirog's mad-scientist electronics, and Formanek's insistent thrumming provide a guided tour to a complex mechanism's internal destruction. Call it high-tech free improv.    Pocket Poem makes concision a virtue. Tracks exceeding two minutes are in the minority, as the trio makes its points and moves along. It's no accident. "This collection of pieces is focused on shorter statements that don’t rely on extended 'blowing sections,'" Pirog explains. "My aim was to explore succinct harmonic and melodic movements that would collectively weave a narrative and arc together." For all the album's stylistic shifts, the trio weaves that arc expertly, and Pocket Poem provides a wake-up call to those who've been sleeping on Pirog's status as one of America's most promising guitar stylists. listen/share:   ~ ~ ~ Pocket Poem cover art:  weaving / fabric art by Janel Leppin, cellist /vocalist /electronic musician/ composer/ improviser/ weaver - fabric sculptor / Anthony Pirog's wife  ~~~     “So this is what all the fuss is about…[regarding] Anthony Pirog's status as a Washington, D.C. area guitar god…the fiery and noisy tunes are still balanced with calming ones -- everything sympathetically captured by engineer, mixer, and co-producer Mike Reina, Pirog's former bandmate in Skysaw -- and for all his technical prowess, Pirog possesses a skilled composer's knack for memorable themes and melodies. …Palo Colorado Dream is an Anthony Pirog session all the way, and an ear-opening display of his stunningly wide range of talents. 4/5 stars.” - Dave Lynch,  AllMusic   “Joe Lally and Brendan Canty hadn’t performed together in 15 years — the exact amount of time they’d spent...in Fugazi, one of punk rock’s most influential bands of the 1980s and ’90s — when they played their first gig as the Messthetics…       What pulled them back together was Anthony Pirog, a young electric guitarist from the Washington area, who had been listening to Fugazi since childhood. In the past few years he has accrued a mystique in various pockets of the city’s music world — jazz, indie rock, the media-mixing avant-garde— but remains little-known outside Washington. Maybe the Messthetics’ new album [on Dischord] is the sound of that changing. …       His own sound suggests a remarkable distillation of about 60 years of electric guitar history. On his debut solo album, “Palo Colorado Dream,” released in 2014, his nearest antecedent is Nels Cline — the downtown New York guitarist known for his palette of ghostly effects — but you’ll also quickly find the warble of Bill Frisell; Sonny Sharrock’s searing swarm; the noisy clatter of Glenn Branca." - G. Russonello,“ To Make the Messthetics, Mix a Reunion With One Virtuosic Newcomer,” The New York Times  “Palo Colorado Dream…marks Pirog’s debut as a solo artist. It also marks his entry into the growing pantheon of modern guitar heroes.” – Michael Ross, “Spotlight: Anthony Pirog,” Guitar Moderne return to top Cuneiform Records' SEPTEMBER 2020 RELEASES GUITAR /  JAZZ / ELECTRIC JAZZ / IMPROV /CREATIVE MUSIC RAY RUSSELL Fluid Architecture Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 483 Format: CD, Digital Download Genre:  GUITAR / JAZZ /  ELECTRIC JAZZ / SOUNDSCAPE Street Date: September 18, 2020 read the press release online RAY RUSSELL: guitars with Eric Baldwin: found sounds, sequential creativity  George Baldwin: bass, Chapman Stick Chris Biscoe: tenor clarinet & soprano saxophone  Mo Foster: bass  Nic France: drums Simon Phillips: drums  Ralph Salmins: drums  Jim Watson: keyboards   "Like contemporaries Sonny Sharrock and Terje Rypdal, Russell makes it sound as if the guitar is not enough, as if he's reaching for something wilder, something that can't be contained within the 6-string cage." – Jim O'Rourke "I believe in the sonic signature.   Gil Evans used to say, 'Everyone has a cry. Without it, only notes come out of the instrument.'" – Ray Russell Frank Zappa famously characterized music as sculpted air, a notion Ray Russell parlays into another dimension entirely on Fluid Architecture.  Russell's new collection of unique sonic structures – his first solo album since 2013's  Now, More Than Ever – reflects the composer and longtime Fender Strat experimentalist's sonic signature – one distinguished by diversity and combining luscious lyricism, screaming expressionism, and an alien vocabulary of textures and colors – often within the same track. Russell's guitar can be as comforting as man's best friend or as threatening as colors out of space. Listen/share: As part of an exploratory group of British ‘jazz and beyond’ musicians in the late 1960’s, Ray Russell released a number of acclaimed and ultimately  influential experimental albums;  Dragon Hill, Rites & Rituals, Live At The I.C.A. and Secret Asylum. Based on the dates of these releases, he can claim to be, along with Sonny Sharrock, one of the earliest ‘free’ guitarists and his early work has been cited by today’s noted experimentalists like Thurston Moore and Jim O’Rourke. Since then, Russell has enjoyed a freelance career composing award-winning TV soundtracks and working with artists ranging from Phil Collins to Gil Evans to Tina Turner to Andrew Lloyd Webber, but he remains a dedicated sonic explorer as well. “Russell isn’t merely a fine jazz player, but a truly original music thinker and an improvisational force to be reckoned with.” – Thom Jurek, All Music Guide “...guitarists in particular should analyze carefully...excellent fretwork in the middle of a triangle whose corners are occupied by Jeff Beck, Phil Miller and Yo’ Miles!” – Touching Extremes "Russell's technical and creative facility is nothing short of jaw-dropping... He twists notes up, down, and sideways, executes flawless, intricate runs, and displays an excruciatingly pure electric guitar tone that pierces the heart.  ...please, somebody get Russell in the studio again (and again) so that he can share more of his singular talents with the world." – Bill Tilland, All Music Guide I.P.A. Bashing Mushrooms Label: CUNEIFORM RECORDS Catalog #: Cuneiform Rune 472 Format: CD / Vinyl / Download Genre:  JAZZ / IMPROV / AVANT GARDE / CREATIVE MUSIC Street Date: September 18, 2020 read the press release online I.P.A. is: Atle Nymo:  tenor saxophone Magnus Broo:  trumpet Mattias Ståhl:  vibraphone Ingebrigt Håker Flaten:  bass Håkon Mjåset Johansen:  drums   After a dozen years as one of Europe’s most acclaimed jazz ensembles, I.P.A. is still discovering mesmerizing new sonic territory. Originally born out of a deep dive into the music of pioneering trumpeter/ composer Don Cherry, the group has firmly established its own sound and identity, and Bashing Mushrooms reveals a striking new side of the quintet. A sumptuous aural feast marked by extended, circuitous melodies and spacious, finely etched textures, it is the group’s fifth album. While the title might suggest psychedelic journeys, Bashing Mushrooms is a work of riveting clarity, with all of the thoughtful interaction and knife-edge balance between improvisation and composition that has long distinguished the group. Featuring Oslo’s Atle Nymo on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Norwegian-born, Austin, Texas-based bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Trondheim drummer Håkon Mjåset Johansen, Swedish trumpet player Magnus Broo and Stockholm vibraphonist Mattias Ståhl, I.P.A. has never sounded so poised and self-possessed. While the title might suggest psychedelic journeys, Bashing Mushrooms is a work of riveting clarity, with all of the thoughtful interaction and knife-edge balance between improvisation and composition that has long distinguished the group.    “The melodies are quite clear,” Nymo says. “We feel we’re a jazz band now. Maybe we spent some time trying to figure out what direction to go, with more improvisational or freer material. On this session the tunes might be loose is some areas, but are mostly quite structured. We started as a Don Cherry project and our sound still traces back to that, but we’ve developed and changed, and there are a lot of different inputs coming through as well.”   Listen: "With a beautiful blend of melodicism, gentleness, angularity, and spiritual communion, this Norwegian-based jazz supergroup makes a powerful statement on their fifth album overall, their second on Cuneiform, following 2016’s I Just Did Say Something... This latest recording offers a tasty immersion into spacious melodies and lively rhythms with hints of classic bop amid their own textural fluidity. ...Throughout..there is a strong organic feeling that informs every measure with spirited emotion." – Expose, 2020 “... the album is essentially an explosive, spellbinding, and well-rounded musical event, where many of the hard-edged works encompass eloquent plot developments and tuneful theme-building maneuvers." – All About Jazz, 2016   return to top Cuneiform Records SPRING / SUMMER 2020 RELEASES JAZZ & IMPROV CHAD TAYLOR TRIO featuring BRIAN SETTLES & NEIL PODGURSKI The Daily Biological STIRRUP + 6 The Avondale Addition 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 THUMBSCREW Tomas Fujiwara-Drums & Vibraphone / Mary Halvorson- Guitar /  Michael Formanek - Double Bass The Anthony Braxton Project All compositions by Anthony Braxton TATSUYA YAKATANI & SHANE PARISH Interactivity return to top CUNEIFORM ARTISTS ON TOUR After months of social isolation and pandemic quarantine, we're thrilled to announce live shows. HOWEVER, in an evolving COVID-19 world, these dates are ALL tentative. Please check with venues, close to the concert date, to confirm. We remain hopeful and want to help our musicians to perform again AS SOON as it is safe to do so.  Thank you.  See also the Tours Page at Cuneiform Records. RAOUL BJÖRKENHEIM / eCsTaSy Raoul Bjorkenheim is one of contemporary music's most extraordinary guitarists/ composers/ improvisors. Since working in the '80s with Edward Vesala's band, he's played in and/or led such legendary groups as Scorch Trio, Blixt, and Karakatau, recording on ECM, Cuneiform and elsewhere. His longstanding Finnish group Ecsasy has several Cuneiform releases. _____________________________ November 6 - Voodoo Club Hard Rock House - Roihuvuorentie 1 - 00820 Helsinki, Finland November 7 - Jokioisten Tietotalo - Hmppilantie 9 - Jokionen 31600, Finland   Listen to & buy: Doors of Perception, Out Of The Blue, eCsTaSY           GHOST RYTHMS One of the great, boundary-blurring large ensembles on today's global scene, France's Ghost Rhythms is led by two composers, drummer Xavier Gélard and pianist Camille Petit.  Inspired by avant-progressive and chamber rock, classical music, electric jazz, and more, its music appeals to wide audiences. The band is celebrating its 2019 Cuneiform release with performances at jazz, avant-music, and progressive music festivals.  November 14 - Pan Piper - 2-4 Impasse Lamier - Paris 75011,  France [with Magic Malik] 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 - are one of the most active groups on the European festival and club circuit, top-notch live performers ceaselessly honing their skills. December 3 - BeJazz - Bern, Switzerland December 4 - Bau 4 - Altbüron, Switzerland December 10 - Hombis Salon - Zürich, Switzerland 2021 May 14 - Konservi - Seon, Switzerland Listen to & buy: Tilt THE ED PALERMO BIG BAND "Twenty-first century big-band music doesn’t get more exciting and impressive than this." – Jazz Times 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, 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! –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– November - 14 - The Falcon - 1348 Route 9W - Marlboro, NY 12542 [Due to Covid concerns/ restrictions, Ed is performing this show with an octet & not the 16 piece band]   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            RICHARD PINHAS _______________________________ One of France's major experimental musicians and a key figure in the development of electronic rock via his group Heldon and solo projects, guitarist and electronic musician Richard Pinhas performs with various groupings in Europe in 2020. Future plans include tours in Asia, North America and beyond. __________________________ 2021 January 31 -  La Gaîté Lyrique - 3bis rue Papin - Paris, France - opening for Sunn O))) Listen to & buy releases by Richard Pinhas & friends on Cuneiform: Richard Pinhas: 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 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 became a critically acclaimed 2019 jazz favorite, reviewed in numerous publications both in the US and internationally. The disc placed in numerous Best Albums of 2019 lists worldwide, including being voted the #3 album of the year in the 2019 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll! ________________________________ November 7 - JazzFest Berlin - Berlin, Germany [this is a live-streamed event. Watch live in the Festival Stream or as an archived event at JazzFest Berlin -On Demand ] Listen to & buy:  Old New           SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER "Schnellertollermeier marries brutality to avant-garde rock and jazz. A classic power trio from Switzerland, the band plays with punk fury and dazzling technical dexterity to create booming, bone-rattling music that stalks, confronts and astonishes." – The Wall Street Journal Brutal-jazz power trio Schnellertollermeier doesn't compromise. Their fresh and uncompromising mix of jazz, punk, rock, sound and free improvised music, combined with great musicianship, interplay and intense energy, has awed audiences at festivals of jazz, rock, pop and experimental music worldwide. In celebration of their new release on Cuneiform, the album 5, they tour Northern Europe this winter. _____________________________ November 5 - Südpol - Luzern, Switzerland November 7 - Gaswerk - Winterthur, Switzerland December 6 - Le Singe - Biel, Switzerland December 9 - Dexter - Odense, Denmark December 10 - Stengade - Copenhagen, Denmark December 12 - Guten-Morgen-Eberswalde - Eberswalde, Germany December 18 - Rotondes - Luxembourg, Luxembourg December 19 - LOCH - Wüppertal, Germany December 20 - Bad Bonn - Düdingen, Germany Listen to & buy: 5, Rights & X      To set up press and radio interviews with Cuneiform Artists while on tour, please contact: promo@cuneiformrecords.com return to top CUNEIFORM RECORDS invites you to Enjoy Adventurous Music at Home this November   Music can make a positive difference in our lives, and help us survive tumultuous times.  And although it may not be possible for you to hear music live, you can enjoy the recorded music that Cuneiform releases in a choice of audio formats, and also watch concert recordings that we post online.  Cuneiform Records has a treasure chest of interesting music to serve as soundtrack, inspiration and solace during these challenging times. We have a mammoth catalogue of releases by some of avant music's most esteemed icons as well as young rising stars, available for purchase at the Cuneiform Records Bandcamp store and at one of our sister companies, Wayside Music. Your purchases support indie musicians and indie labels.  • Discover new music on Cuneiform Records' BANDCAMP PAGE: support our artists & our indie label by purchasing music.   • Visit our internet store, WaysideMusic.com (established 1980!), to purchase  music from ALL your favorite labels!  We also have a ton of FREE entertainment for your enjoyment on several online platforms:   • Enjoy hours on Cuneiform Records' YouTube CHANNEL:  free music videos, videos of live shows, & samples from 400+ adventurous releases!   And we've expanded our video content during the pandemic: every Thursday, guitarist Henry Kaiser continues to post a new 'live' concert on Cuneiform Records' YouTube Channel!  Read how Henry creates these "live" concerts –which are taped beforehand and not streamed - in a Guitar Moderne interview, "The New "Live". • Enjoy and share samples of music by releases of countless Cuneiform artists on the Cuneiform Records' SoundCloud Site. • Visit & Like & Follow our Facebook PAGE for Cuneiform Records. • Join our Facebook GROUP: Fans of Cuneiform Records. • Follow @CuneiformRecord onTwitter • Visit the CuneiformRecords.com official WEBSITEfor extensive information on the artists and recordings on our label,  upcoming concerts & much more. • Media professionals: find music to LICENSE from Cuneiform for movies, ads etc via our sister site TheMusicOutpost.com. • Were you forwarded this email from a friend?  If so, make sure you sign up for the Cuneiform NEWSLETTER to  get this monthly newsletter in your email box, in addition to receiving notices for Cuneiform's weekly "$5 Friday" offers – Cuneiform selects a special album from its archive each weekend,  to be sold in download format via Bandcamp, that weekend only,  for $5.   WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR COMPANY THIS AUTUMN, ONLINE!   Cuneiform YouTube Cuneiform Website Facebook FanGroup Facebook Page Cuneiform Twitter Cuneiform SoundCloud Cuneiform Bandcamp Instagram Email Cuneiform 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