VANSINA, VERBRUGGEN & GUDMUNDSSON - IN ORBIT

• bruno vansina, teun verbruggen & gulli gudmundsson: in orbit
      (2005, 2cd, bel, rat records rat 001/002)

The Bruno Vansina (sax), Teun Verbruggen (drums) and Gillis Gudmundsson (bass) Trio released "In Orbit" in 2005.
This 2CD set was the second release on the Rat Records label. It presents studio recordings from Amsterdam on disc one and a live registration from Brussels on disc two.

Icing on the cake are special guests Magic Malik (on flute and vocals) and Jozef Dumoulin (on piano) who took part in the Brussels concert.
"The second CD is live, with pianist Jozef Dumoulin and flutist Magic Malik sitting in. Neither knew the music and hearing them learn it in real time is fascinating, as they don't hesitate to push the trio around a bit."

It's music, Jim, but not as we know it... Fascinating.

http://www.ratrecords.biz/

SIMAKDIALOG - LIVE AT ORION

• simakdialog: live at orion
      (2015, 2cd, usa, moonjune)

Recorded live at the 'Orion' in Baltimore, MD, on September 7, 2013, this 2CD set shows the incredible talent of SimakDialog.
Riza Arshad on Fender Rhodes (and compositions) and Tohpati on guitar are the perfect team.

Fans of contemporary progressive rock shouldn't hesitate. This is great.

from the MoonJune website
Composer and (Fender) Rhodes scholar, Riza Arshad, possesses one of the most capable sets of hands ever to grace a Fender Rhodes. His manipulation of this classic keyboard, whose warm and slightly rounded metallic voice has helped define modern jazz, brings out the very best it has to offer as he charts out new territories of sound. Arshad’s wonderfully sophisticated compositions form the perfect armature for the musicians to flesh out the sound in a very organic way that compels the listener to deeply take it all in.

Tohpati’s guitar work is the perfect dance partner to Arshad’s keys, as he alternately leads or follows, depending on the needs of each composition. His subtle atmospherics bring to mind David Torn, Terje Rypdal and Nels Cline, while his leadwork can possess both the fluidity of Holdsworth and the aggressiveness of Jeff Beck. Though there is no shortage of acrobatic axe-wielding on “Live at Orion”, Tohpati’s democratic interplay with Riza’s gorgeous Rhodes is the real star here – creating a powerful synergy that gives voice to the whole of the music over its parts.

http://www.moonjune.com/mjr_web_2013/catalog_mjr/068_simakDialog_Live-at-Orion_MJR068/

SUN RA AND HIS ARKESTRA - GREATEST HITS, EASY LISTENING FOR INTERGALACTIC TRAVEL

• sun ra: greatest hits: easy listening for intergalactic travel
      (2000, cd, usa, evidence ecd 22219-2) 

Adding data to the Sun Ra discography, it was time for the "Greatest Hits, Easy Listening For Intergalactic Travel" album.
Released on CD by the Evidence label in 2000.

-- info : André Oomen

ALLAN HOLDSWORTH'S TALES FROM THE VAULT

Allan Holdsworth announced a new album, "Tales From The Vault".

Available for pre-order (in numerous variations) here :

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/allanholdsworth

THE SHAOLIN AFRONAUTS

Today's discovery, the Shaolin Afronauts.

-- info: Danny Mathys

FRANK ZAPPA AND CAPTAIN BEEFHEART - PROVIDENCE COLLEGE, RHODE ISLAND, APRIL 26TH 1975

• frank zappa and captain beefheart: providence college, rhode island, april 26, 1975
      (2014, 2cd, uk, keyhole kh2cd9028)

Another dodgy release by the Keyhole record label.
From the 1975 "Bongo Fury" tour, featuring FZ, Captain Beefheart, Denny Walley, Tom Fowler, Napoleon Murphy Brock, George Duke, Bruce Fowler and Terry Bozzio.

Nothing new as the recording can be found on the Zappateers website.
But still a joy to listen to...

BART MARIS IN CONCERT AT DE CASINO

Next Friday, Bart Maris will be performing two concerts at De Casino in Sint Niklaas (B).

YAGULL - KAI

• yagull: kai
      (2015, cd, usa, moonjune records mjr067)

Yagull is Sasha Markovic's project.
Three years ago, the first Yagull album got released on ZoZe Records. It got distributed by the Moonjune label. The album was called "Films" and it presented contemporary chamber music.
Yagull's second album got released a couple of weeks ago. It's entitled "Kai" and it's a fine successor to "Films".

Sasha Markovic is joined by pianist Kana Kamitsubo, but there's also an impressive list of guest musicians : Marko Djordejevic, Dewa Budjana, Beledo,...

Worth checking out !

BRUNO VANSINA QUARTET FT. STEVE NELSON - STRATOCLUSTER

• bruno vansina quartet ft. steve nelson: stratocluster
      (2012, cd, bel, w.e.r.f. 105)

For those of you who want to check out the music of Bruno Vansina, "Stratocluster" is the perfect place to start.

Steve Nelson: vibraphone
Bruno Vansina: alto sax
Bert Cools: electric guitar and percussion
Jos Machtel: double bass
Teun Verbruggen: drums

Exciting and fun.
Recorded in Brooklyn, New York, in 2012, with special guest Steve Nelson.
Released on the Werf record label, co-produced by Rat Records.

"HET SERPENT" WITH BRUNO VANSINA, PIERRE VERVLOESEM AND FRANK VAN EYCKEN

Tomorrow, Feb 25, 2015, at the W.O.L.K.E. in Brussels,
at 21:30 h
Bruno Vansina will be presenting "Het Serpent", a shadowplay / phantasmagoria that combines images, dance and live music.
Based on the exotic sounds of Martin Denny;
music performed by Bruno Vansina, Pierre Vervloesem and Frank Van Eycken;
with actors Katrien Vandergooten and Isabelle De Keyser;
curated by Teun Verbruggen.

http://www.kultuurkaffee.be/nl/kalender/dimitri-verhulst-teun-verbruggen-nicolas-rombouts-het-serpent-w-o-l-k-e

For the early birds, at 20:30 h :
spoken word and improvised music with :
Dimitri Verhulst, Teun Verbruggen and Nicolas Rombouts.

TESLA MANAF - TESLA MANAF

• tesla manaf: s/t
      (2015, cd, usa, moonjune records mjr069)

There are certainties.
One of these certainties is that the Moonjune Record label keeps releasing beautiful music by fascinating artists.
A couple of weeks ago, Moonjune released Tesla Manaf's international debut album.
As the brilliant album cover shows you, Tesla Manaf is a guitar player. After a first listening session, I'm delighted to tell you that Tesla Manaf is indeed a fine guitar player and an excellent composer as well.
This eponymous debut on Moonjune presents two albums that Tesla Manaf previously released in Indonesia: "A Man's Relationship With His Fragile Area" and "It's All Yours".
Fascinating.
Recommended listening.

TOM ZÉ

THE RESIDENTS - I CAN'T GET NO SATISFACTION !

• the residents: satisfaction
      (2015, 7", usa, superior viaduct)

The Superior Viaduct record label is re-releasing what they call 'classic punk singles' from the seventies and eighties. One of these will be 'Satisfaction' by The Residents.
The re-release will be a limited edition, on purple vinyl.

Originally released in 1978:

And where would we all be without Devo's version :

VANSINA, VERBRUGGEN, GUDMUNDSSON TRIO - TOKIO QUANTIZE

• vansina, verbruggen, gudmundsson trio: tokio quantize
      (2008, cd, bel, rat records rat 007)

March 2007, the Bruno Vansina - Teun Verbruggen - Gulli Gudmundsson Trio with special guests Magic Malik and Jozef Dumoulin, played an intriguing concert at Het Zuiderpershuis in Antwerp, Belgium.
The recording got remixed and remastered and was released in 2008 on the Rat Records label.
Data has been added to the United Mutations Archives.

http://www.ratrecords.biz/

Here's 'Tokio Quantize', performed with a different line-up:

MARK WINGFIELD - PROOF OF LIGHT

• mark wingfield: proof of light
      (2015, cd, usa, moonjune records mjr071)

Moonjune Records recently released Mark Wingfield's latest album, "Proof Of Light". Despite the fact that this is Mark Wingfield's sixth solo album, I have to admit that, until recently, I wasn't familiar with his music. It only made listening to "Proof Of Light" a bigger surprise.

Beautiful melodies and an incredible guitar tone.

In the liner notes, Mark Wingfield explains that he approaches the guitar like a horn player or like a singer. He adds: "When I play melodies, each note is articulated in such a way that it potentially sounds different - the pitch is fluid, the tone varies, and the attack, sustain and vibrato are all used to express nances the melody suggests to me."

Fellow companions on this musical journey are Yaron Stavi on upright bass and Asaf Sirkis on drums. The both of them stay very close to the melody lines, making the result sound very intense.

Highly recommended !!

http://www.moonjune.com/mjr_web_2013/catalog_mjr/071_MARK-WINGFIELD_Proof-of-Light_MJR071/

FRANK ZAPPA - HALLOWEEN IN THE BIG APPLE

Live FM broadcast from The Palladium NYC 31/10/1977.
To be released on CD on April 13th.

HENRY KAISER'S "HERE'S TO YOU ZOOGZ!"

Here's a message from my pal Danny about Henry Kaiser's "Here's To You Zoogz!", a tribute that Henry Kaiser released in 1999 on CDR in a limited edition of 100 copies.

My Henry Kaiser's CDR "Here's to you Zoogz !" has gone defective. In fact Henry's, Scott Colby's and John Oswald's copy too. Anyone with a working copy willing to share ?

Anyone's got a copy that's still working? Or a back-up version?
I have / had one of these CDR's as well, but my copy is defective too...

DWALMACAT 597

This week on your weekly Dwalmacat radio show :

https://www.mixcloud.com/Dwalmacat/dwalmacat-597/

THE SOFT MACHINE – Joy of a toy
EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN – Schwarz
LAIBACH – Vojna poema / Ti, Ki Izziwas
MINIMAL MAN – Say
LES GEORGES LENINGRAD – Missing Gary
IZUMI KOBAYASHI – Kicking in the wind
LACH’N JONSSON – Livskänslan
BIG BUTTER – Imagine transformation
SPOEDBULT – De maan
HANS TEEUWEN & PIETER BOUWMAN – Frisdrank
SHOCKING VENUS – Love buzz
KRAFTWERK – Computer world
NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS – Metal frames
THE CHROMATICS – In the city
ART AND LANGUAGE & THE RED CRAYOLA – History

MORE BEARDFISH

Beardfish is / will be touring as support band for the NEAL MORSE BAND.

Among other places, they'll also be playing at

Spirit of 66 - Verviers (B) , March 8, at 18:30u !

NEAL MORSE BAND
Neal Morse : vocals, Guitar + keyboards
Mike Portnoy : Drums
randy George : Bass
Eric Gilette : guitar + vocals
Bill Hubauer : Keyboards + vocals.

-- info: Philippe

MAMAS GUN

PaulB's video of Mamas Gun, the 'five-piece London based electric groove band'.

BEARDFISH - +4626 - COMFORTZONE

• beardfish: +4626 - comfortzone
      (2015, 2cd, ger, insideout 0507018)

Beardfish is back !
Their latest album, "+4626 - Comfortzone", exists in two versions: the 2CD 'deluxe' set that comes with a bonus disc of early years demos, and a regular 1CD album.

For those who need to know these kind of things (like myself), +4626 is the telephone area code for Gävle, Sweden, home-town of Beardfish.

MATS ÖBERG - IMPROVISATIONAL TWO.FIVE

• mats öberg: improvisational two.five
      (2014, cd, swe, caprice records cap 21838)

Excellent new record by Mats Öberg.

From the Caprice Records website :
http://musikverket.se/capricerecords/artikel/improvisational-two-five/?lang=en
Before recording the second album in the Improvisational series, Mats Öberg’s headstrong interpretations of the songs of Cornelis Vreejswijk, Mats had a difficult decision to make. He had to choose between making an album with improvisations over his uncle’s music (Berndt Egerbladh, a very well-known jazz musician in Sweden) or with the music of Cornelis Vreejswijk. In the end the decision was too hard to make so Dragan Buvac, the producer of the series, recorded two albums. Caprice decided to wait for the best possible occasion to release the Egerbladh improvisations, which proved to be during the 2014 Umeå Jazz festival with Berndt Egerbladh’s music in focus.

The conditions are the same as for the earlier releases in the series. A sumptuous concert hall containing a large Steinway grand piano, a pianist and a sound technician/producer – in the dead of night, the witching hours. Thus the mood is set for Improvisational, Caprice’s CD series of improvisations by some of our most talented musicians. Once again, Mats demonstrates what an excellent pianist and improviser he is, having already made a name for himself as a cross-genre keyboardist who has accompanied such varied artists as Ale Möller, Frank Zappa, Morgan Ågren (Mats/Morgan Band), Lena Willemark, Ann-Kristin Hedmark and Jonas Knutsson. He also plays in his own trio with Filip Augustsson (bass) and Sebastian Voegler (drums). With a sense of playfulness, mood and tenderness, Mats improvises over Berndt Egerbladh’s best-known songs, including You Never Come Closer, A Song for Amy, Worksong and Sarek. In one word: irresistible.

LEX BRONKOWITZ ORCHESTRA TO PERFORM IN KÖLN ON JUNE 05

The Lex Bronkowitz Orchestra will be performing the music of Frank Zappa in Köln / Cologne on the 5th of June.

KULTURCAFE LICHTUNG Ubierring 13 50678 Köln
21:00 h

Be sure to reschedule your agenda as this is the place where you need to be.

FIDO PLAYS ZAPPA

GOV'T MULE UPDATE

Gov't Mule, considered by some as the ultimate jam band, has just released a new album, "Sco-Mule".

The band is also starting a new tour on Feb 18, and will come to Europe in May.
Unfortunately without John Scofield, but that's no reason not the go to their concerts.
I already have my tickets printed out.

STRATOSPHEERIUS HAS A NEW SINGLE OUT

Joe Deninzon's Stratospheerius has released another download-only track through CDBaby.
It's called 'Guilty of Innocence' and can be found here:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/stratospheerius4

SINISTER SISTER IN CONCERT IN BRUSSELS FEB 5, 2015

This Thursday, February 5th, SINISTER SISTER will perform instrumental music of the great FRANK ZAPPA!

Place to be:
BRAVO BXL
Rue Alost, 7-11
1000 Brussel
(https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bravo-Bxl/788575331172558)

Band line-up:

• Maayan Smith: tenor sax
• Jan Ghesquière: guitar
• Pieter Claus: vibraphone
• Michel Hatzigeorgiou: electric bass
• Lander Gyselinck: drums

KING CRIMSON TO TOUR EUROPE

Mon 31st Aug, Friars, Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, UK
Tues 1st Sept, Friars, Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, UK
Wed 3rd Sept, St.David’s Hall, Cardiff, UK
Sat 5th Sept, Dome Concert Hall, Brighton, UK
Mon 7th Sept, Hackney Empire, London, UK
Tues 8th Sept, Hackney Empire, London, UK
Fri 11th Sept, Lowry, Manchester, UK
Mon 14th Sept, Symphony Hall,Birmingham, UK
Thurs 17th Sept, Usher Hall, Edinburgh, UK
Mon 21st Sept, Olympia, Paris, France
Tue 22nd Sept, Olympia, Paris, France
Thurs 24th Sept, Tivoliredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Fri 25th Sept, Tivoliredenburg, Utrecht, The Netherlands

LET'S ZAPPALIN' AND NAPOLEON MURPHY BROCK