United Mutations

Sunday, January 18, 2026

BOB WEIR & FRANK ZAPPA

Looking for a link between Bob Weir and Frank Zappa, Jan van Kemenade came up with the following:

On one of the Bobby & the Midnites albums, Essra Mohawk is credited as co-author.

Nice one.

Here's the track in question, 'Haze' :

DET SKANDALØSE ORKESTER NEWSFLASH

A promising newsflash from Det Skandaløse Orkester

2025 was the best concert year ever for us, and it all culminated with the finale at Kvarteret in Bergen. It must be the best concert we have ever delivered together with the audience, and it was unanimously awarded a 6 out of 6. We got some great audio and video recordings, and now we are planning to release a live album and concert film sometime this year.

Here's what they sounded like at Zappanale

NEKTAR - MISSION TO MARS

Here's the official video for Nektar's 'Mission To Mars', taken from the 2024 album with the same name.

The band started in the early 1970's and is, apparently, still going strong.

EIDON - EKIALDEA

Another interesting piece by Eidon:
'Ekialdea'

<a href="https://eidon.bandcamp.com/track/ekialdea">Ekialdea by Eidon</a>

PEDRITO MARTININEZ - ANTONIO SANCHEZ - MICHAEL LEAGUE

Elipsis unites three distinct musical voices, each rooted in tradition while pushing boldly into the future.

Master percussionist Pedrito Martínez weaves Afro-Cuban heritage with innovation; drummer and composer Antonio Sánchez brings boundary-breaking experience across jazz, film, and contemporary music; and Michael League, founder of Snarky Puppy and acclaimed producer, anchors the trio’s expansive vision. Together, they create future folklore — music that honors its roots while imagining what comes next.

Their eponymous album is out.

Here's a recording of the trio at the North Sea Jazz Festival, 7 years ago:

MERIDIAN ARTS ENSEMBLE - THE ZAPPA HOUSE CONCERT

Meridian Arts Ensemble: The Zappa House Concert
(2026, download / streaming, --, digital music platforms)

The unlikely story of the MAE and FZ can be found here:
https://www.meridianartsensemble.com/zappa-house-concert

And it all amounted to some of the best performances of Frank Zappa's music, spread across various Meridian Arts Ensemble albums.
And that was even before the MAE released "The Zappa House Concert".

Pieces by Scarlatti, King Crimson, by the MAE members, and, of course, a fine set of Frank Zappa compositions.
As the liner notes stated 'Frank’s longtime engineer Greg “Marqueson” Coy set up a single microphone in front of us and recorded the concert. That recording is what you hear on this disc.'

I guess this is one what could call an audience recording, but it sounds really good.
Beautiful.

It's being released through several digital music platforms, and I do hope that there will be a CD release as well.