Jazz Articles

Camberwell Now: All's Well

by Brad Glanden
May 8, 2007

Following the dissolution of This Heat in the early 1980s, drummer Charles Hayward and bassist Trefor Goronwy recruited the group's sound technician, Stephan Rickard, for a new, more song-oriented band. Camberwell Now subverted the standard rock trio format by delegating the role of electric guitar to Rickard's “tape switchboard," lending the band's music textural depth and spatial complexity.

Starting off with the Syd Barrett-esque “Cutty Sark," the four songs from 1984's Meridian EP lack the unstoppable drive that would mark ...

Avi Belleli: Strawberry Cream And Gunpowder

by Glenn Astarita
March 21, 2007

Israeli composer, bassist and vocalist Avi Belleli is a well-known entity in his native land, namely with the commercially viable rock band Tractors Revenge. Here, the artist's compositions are performed live in Jerusalem with the assistance of dance choreographer Yasmeen Godder and her “Bloody Bench Players.

There are no listings that denote the instruments used for this rather haunting yet sometimes frolicsome set, influenced by recent events in the Middle East. With reverberating guitar lines and electronics-based ...

Janet Feder & Fred Frith: Ironic Universe

by Nic Jones
February 26, 2007

On the basis of this evidence, Janet Feder is as concerned with the intrinsic qualities of the acoustic guitar as an instrument as she is with technique, correct or otherwise--and this is borne out by the fact that she chose to perform duets with Fred Frith, whose journey of sonic exploration has been going on for decades now. Both players seem to opt for an accomodationist strategy, and the resulting music is amongst other things the product of a healthy ...

The Blitzoids: Stealing From Helpless Children / Look Up

by Brad Glanden
February 15, 2007

Who were the Blitzoids? The few available resources on the band make one thing perfectly clear: they sound a lot like seminal no-wave band the Residents. It's true: the early work of the Residents--before they started wearing giant eyeball masks, employing narrative structures, and presenting themselves as “pioneering" technophiles--looms large over the Blitzoids' two LPs, reissued as a two-CD set by Ad Hoc Records.

However, if one listens to the Blitzoids under the myopic pretense that they were little more ...

Janet Feder + Fred Frith: Ironic Universe

by Glenn Astarita
January 26, 2007

Janet Feder and eminent guitarist/improviser Fred Frith perform twelve duet pieces on audio disc one of Ironic Universe as vacillating undercurrents, utilizing atypical tonal contrasts and implementations such as tapping sounds. With folk-ish overtones and similarities to the late John Fahey's complex chord phrasings, the duo also intertwines avant frameworks into this congenial set. At times it seems that the artists are using some sort of mic-generated processing techniques to produce reverberant effects and chord-based strings swashes. Nonetheless, there are ...

Bob Drake: What Day Is It?

by Glenn Astarita
March 24, 2006

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and noted producer Bob Drake transmits the vibe of a mad scientist at work. As a member or producer of numerous cutting edge progressive rock bands, as well as throughout his lengthy solo career, Drake has generally found ways to mingle various forms of Americana with abstract motifs.

This reissue of his first solo album, recorded during 1992-93, features drummer Dave Kerman (of 5UU's and Thinking Plague) on selected tracks. Drake's outlandish lyricism might suggest that he's communicating ...