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Fred Frith/Chris Cutler: Issue Two
by Marc Medwin
This addition to the Frith/Cutler catalogue was recorded during the Henry Cow reunion weekend at New York City's The Stone in December, 2006; for those familiar with the recent working methods of both musicians, the only surprise is how rich and full this document sounds. Consisting of one 50-minute track, the duo creates the illusion of a trio, quartet and sometimes an even larger aggregate. When legendary British genre-busters Henry Cow disbanded in 1978, it became clear ...
Continue ReadingFred Frith / Stevie Wishart / Carla Kihlstedt: The Compass, Log, and Lead
by Glenn Astarita
In the course of guitarist/composer and consummate improviser Fred Frith's extensive discography, many of us have grown accustomed to being sensitized for expecting the unforeseen. With this release, recorded at a studio in Oakland, California, the trio casts a homespun edge to avant-garde stylizations. Violinist Carla Kihlstedt also uses a Swedish folk instrument known as the nyckelharpa. Electronics artist Stevie Wishart boosts the session with a hurdy-gurdy, which is a string instrument that uses a rosined wheel in lieu of ...
Continue ReadingFred Frith: Eleventh Hour
by John Kelman
When he first emerged on the British scene in the seminal Canterbury group Henry Cow over thirty years ago, few could have envisaged that guitarist/multi-instrumentalist/composer Fred Frith would go on to a career marked by fearless pursuit, continuous parallel growth, and stylistic diversity. But if you go back to those early albums--in particular Unrest and In Praise of Learning--you can see that Frith's multitude of concerns were laid out from the beginning; he just got better at isolating them into ...
Continue ReadingFred Frith: Eleventh Hour
by Chris May
A really lovely and absorbing double CD set which documents Fred Frith's growing fascination with and mastery of composition for strings, from “Lelekovice" in '90 to “Allegory" and “Fell" in '01. It's not remotely jazz, but it is very fine music indeed, and anyone with an interest in new music should find much to enjoy and be stimulated by within it. It's neither self-consciously conservatoire nor difficult music--resonances you'll catch include Shostakovitch, Heiner Goebbels, and the Necks, tunesmiths to a ...
Continue ReadingFred Frith: Allies
by James Taylor
The story of Allies begins in 1989, when guitarist/composer Fred Frith was commissioned by choreographer Bebe Miller to compose a suite for the Brooklyn Academy of Music's “Next Wave'" series. Unhappy with the computerized beats he used on the original recording, Frith asked Naked City drummer Joey Baron to re-record the drum tracks on Allies in 1995, giving them new life. Switzerland's RecRec first released the album in 1996; the latest version of Allies features a final mastering of the ...
Continue ReadingFred Frith - Ensemble Modern: Traffic Continues
by Glenn Astarita
Traffic Continues represents the latest contemporary, neo-classical/improv disc from the estimable guitarist, composer and often-brilliant improviser, Fred Frith. Along with - new music - iconoclasts “Ensemble Modern”, Frith segments this offering into two primary themes consisting of various miniatures, aptly titled “Traffic Continues” and “Traffic Continues II: Gusto (for Tom Cora)”. Throughout, Frith serves as music director or perhaps – traffic director for the 21 musicians who comprise “Ensemble Modern” while Franck Ollu conducts the musical proceedings on “Traffic Continues” ...
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