Prague, the
city where I lived for one week as a tourist from 9 to 14 August, is a very
small-bourgeois town. It’s full of small and big shops, where you can buy
things and, above all, food. At night, from every corner a different music
reaches you, creating an overstimulation similar to the one experienced by the
so-called ‘flaneurs’ in the Paris of the Nineteenth century. You’re sure to
float and never fall, basically. But it’s hard to really feel something.
I avoided
the Ghetto of the Jews since I wasn’t in the right mood for everything coming
from it, as far as the international situation goes. I wanted to keep my
empathy for someone who really deserved it. More suggestive, the block of the alchemists,
near the “Lennon Wall”: I love the fact that magic and music are close the one
to the other, and I can only imagine that maybe they’re working together for the
umanity.
Obviously I
got curious about the local music scene, but I was able to find only a small
jazz club filled for a couple of nights with some no-one-will-be-hurt fusion,
with people cheering with an applause the musician after the end of each solo.
Stuff like that. Even the most interesting record shops, like Maximum
Underground, were not furnished with records from local bands (apart from heavy
metal, but this is not my cup of tea).
Luckily enough,
at home, at ease, I could do my research with my laptop, so I can give life,
through the following lines, to a succinct resumé of the rock’n’roll scene in
Prague and the Czech Republic. I haven’t found out something outstandingly
beautiful, but some interesting stuff and food for thoughts. Thoughts that,
with the music, I’d like to share with my reader.
During the
1960s many young guys, despite the denials from the Communist regime,
discovered the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones thanks to Radio Free
Europe and the smuggling albums. First bands from Czechoslovakia were Olympic
and Beatmen. In 1968 there was a short season of concerts, festivals and freedom
of expression, quickly frozen by the Varsavia Pact and its tanks.
But before that,
Prague and Bratislava (land respectively of Olympic and Beatmen) were the main
capitals of beat culture and of the Czech way to rock’n’roll. Olympic were born
in Prague in 1962, formerly called Karkulka. Originally devoted to the Beatles
repertoire, in 1968 after some original singles they released the album “Zelva”
that was the first LP of Czech rock music, becoming a reference for all the
following scene.
Their style
is not completely different from that of the contemporary Brazilian
counterparts (in giving life to a mix of popular melodies and rock
arrangements), even if less intellectual and more keen on simple texts and music
of impact. Nonetheless, their sound is not only raw and wild, but it’s capable
of finesses and original instrumental passages (see their use of guitar and
flute).
Beatmen,
formed in Bratislava in 1964, distinguished themselves for a repertoire related
to the so-called British Invasion and the Beatles, but they were also one of
the very first bands to explore the stages going over the boundaries of their
country, contributing to the diffusion of beat music and to the following
development of progressive rock during the Seventies.
The 1970s
saw an authoritarian turn (no pemission to exhibit live, musicians had to cut
their hair, and to change their names), and the music gone underground. In 1968
Plastic People of the Universe, a psychedelic and avant garde band, became the
first symbol of the resistance of youth against the regime.
Members of
the band were arrested in 1977 and the trial gave life to a transversal solidarity
between intellectuals. This led to the creation of the movement passed through
the historiy as Charta 77, coordinated by the political dissident, near both to
the US and the Vatican, but in a way also to ecologism, Vaclav Havel.
Plastic People
of the Universe are a classic example of how the avant-garde rock developed
itself in Czech Republic during the various decades. In fact, they were
promoting bands like Velvet Underground and their experimental sound, but in a
way they were not adding something peculiar or personal, as it happened in
Brazil with the above mentioned wave of rock music with Caetano Veloso and Tom
Zé. PPotU are a clear example: they play well, they’re enough raw, but they
miss somehow a true personality, an original voice.
During the
1980s, rock converged in a shy and innocent pop rock, while the ‘true’ rock
music lived in canteens, rural festivals and always with the fear for the
musicians to be arrested or blocked. Before Perestrojka anyway, and the famous
Rolling Stones’ concert giving life to a renowned season of rock music for
everyone since 1989, punk and post-punk operated in Czechoslovakia in a covert
manner.
Bands like
F.P.B. and E created their own music. Not at all vulgar, their proposal anyway seems
at a deep listening son of the European/American sound of that time, with no
peculiar or personal flickers, as said before. F.P.B. and E (this last from the
city of Brno) are a classic example of passage from punk to post-punk. Both
interesting bands, they miss that particular element that can make of them
markers, and not followers of a style.
Even the
most recent post-punk revival like Dukla, Plusminusnula and CosmoBrigade (the
most interesting act to my ears) are calligraphic and not completely original. I
suppose this is a mirror of the historical development of the country in which
these musicians lived. Communism from 1948, then the so-called “Velvet
Revolution”, the new closeness with the Western World and its religion,
capitalism, then again the splitting in two countries did not helped people to
develop a proper personality.
In a way, with
some notable exceptions of some stuff coming from the Olympic and Cosmobrigade,
the rock music in the Czech Republic was the music of people dragged by the
events, as they were not able to take their life on their shoulders – even if
they were enough self-conscious to notice it.
It is
difficult to tell where the world, inside and outside the Czech Republic, is
going nowadays, but if there is an opportunity to say and create something
original, my hope is that someone will be able to grab it.
Today's
news is that American actor Morgan Freeman will be making his music industry
debut with a blues album. Just to continue my little stream of consciousness,
Alessandro "Asso" Stefana, among other things PJ Harvey's guitarist, have
released a blues album in 2024. And now this "Windrose" by Sebastian
Brown, aka Daniele Mattioni, has landed on my desk.
An album
that is the exact German translation (read: krautrock) of the devil's music of
Charley Patton and many other pioneers of pre-war folk. It's all in the opening
track "Westwards": fourteen minutes and forty-one seconds of pure
shamanic hypnosis that culminates in echoes and reverberations worthy of
"Tago Mago." And that's already a miracle.
It's 2026,
not the 1990s. Listeners are increasingly distracted. Music isn't even on
Spotify, but on TikTok, as an accompaniment to trashy dance routines. They have
to captivate you in a few seconds, or else face eternal oblivion.
Brown/Mattioni doesn't: he aims for attentive listening, for the kind of
audience you gain after a series of sessions with the needle on the vinyl (or
the CD in the player, if you prefer), because the atmosphere and the journey
are all that matters.
Yes,
shamanism: we're somewhere near Jodorowski, perhaps even Castaneda. Add a pinch
of Vic Chestnutt (not quite as skewed, but that's beside the point) to a song
like "Windrose," and you're almost there: here's the intimate
post-rock of "Northwards," with its gentle percussion introducing a
textbook example of ritual songwriting.
Finally,
the concluding “Southwards” takes everything and spins it around, reiterating
that even today, so that an experimentation could come from here and, even if
lacking the rough edges of the originals, still has the feeling of the second
generation of post-rock (from Sigur Ròs to Godspeed… ), abandoning its
magniloquence and awareness of experimentation in favor of a more painful
feeling that does not renounce its liturgical nature (with a touch of Swans).
How then
can we not recommend you to lose yourself in the music of a work that, in just
under forty minutes, manages to deliver, from its base in Italy, an
unspecified, unidentified object that nevertheless draws from the best of the
music of the past decades to transport you into a world that, all things
considered, has also a certain amount of originality?
Released
this month, the album also boasts a minimalist cover that nevertheless captures
all the merits of the musical work it is destined to present. Light and shadow,
their coincidence, but without duplicity and easy psychologisms: only the
sense of a cyclical return, of wandering within oneself at the risk of never
returning to the way one started. Which, after all, should be the ambition of
every journey...
Many months
have passed since I wrote my last review. Many albums have seen my desk and my
CD reader, or have been transferred to my laptop. The fact is, I’ve started
writing for an Italian magazine online, in my native language, but after some
months the articles were not published, nor rejected. They were simply frozen
on the virtual desk. Then there was the theatre laboratory, and the arts
academia. And my daily job.
But since
many musicians have sent to me their beautiful works, and since I have bought
some other records that to me were worth listening to, now I want to give my
reader a small “best of 2025”. So, I’ll start in no particular order. There
won’t be a podium, and the albums will not be displayed from worst to best or vice
versa. The reader is free to skim through the lines and read the reviews of the
albums he had listened to or maybe he’ll want to discover the music he was not
aware of.
As in the
past, you will find albums coming from Italy as much as from the rest of the
world, experimental records and noise rock, metal influenced by jazz and
industrial music. Obviously my (non-)ranking is subjective, so don’t mind if I
miss LPs or CDs you liked: it is impossible to be conscious of everything that
sorts out of the music business, and every time I read magazines, on line or on
paper, I see a beautiful anarchy coming out of them, more than a dreadful or
mortal order. That’s life!
Wadada Leo
Smith/Vijay Iyer “Defiant Life” (ECM)
Partially
deluded as I was by last year collaboration between the A.A.C.M. trumpet player
and Amina Claudine Myers (see my review here), I was really happy to hear him and Vijay
Iyer in this ECM release. Space and time are suspended, but you won’t enter
into another dimension as while listening to Chet Baker or Chopin’s preludes:
better, you’ll enter in touch with yourself. If post-punk is the right music to
deep dive into yourself from 1979 onwards, this 2025 album is beautiful and
courageous in a similar way.
Leo Smith’s
trumpet is interspersed with layers and layers of piano, Fender Rhodes and
electronics, but the music is always essential and the compositions are created
by subtraction. The dedications to Patrice Lumumba and Refaat Alareer (poet,
activist and co-founder of the project ‘We Are Not Numbers’ in Gaza) say it
all.
And so,
even if sometimes the (abstract) ‘muezzin call’ we are accustomed to listen
while hearing Wadada Leo Smith trumpet here is more elliptical than in his
usual concerts or records, the meditative atmosphere can bring consciousness
about the nature of activism – it doesn’t sort out of the will to affirm oneself,
but from a deep connection with the inner self and with reality: this is at
least what the music suggested to me.
Nine Inch
Nails “Tron: Ares” (The Null Corporation / Walt Disney / Interscope)
It’s
incredible how much Reznor’s music under the monicker Nine Inch Nails is able
to speak out loud to me even when it is a partial compromise with the music
business as this soundtrack for the movie starring Jared Leto is. But let’s go
with order: last year Reznor himself told the press that he was imagining with
difficulties a future for his major creature. But after a small amount of time
he was helped by Walt Disney’s CEO who wanted the new soundtrack for the movie
“Tron: Ares” to be released as a proper NIN album.
And even if
Reznor is assuring in 2026 we’ll see other new NIN material, this album in the
end, thanks to pieces like ‘As Alive as You Need Me to Be’, the duet with the
Spanish singer Judeline ‘Who Wants to Live Forever’, the meditative ‘I Know You
Can Feel It’,and a bunch of
instrumental tracks like the ecstatic ‘Echoes’ or the threatening ‘Infiltrator’
are raising high the flag of the band name. Obviously, we will be grateful to
Reznor and Atticus Ross for the newmaterial we’ll hear this year, with great curiosity.
Swans
“Birthing” (Young God)
The two CDs (or vinyls) set published by Gira and friends this year is possibly the most
focused of these last years. More than the beautiful “The Beggar”, more than
the previous “Leaving/Meaning”. From ‘I Am A Tower’, with the guitars echoing
memories of Robert Fripp’s work with Eno and Bowie on ‘Heroes’, to the dramatic
crescendo of ‘Red Yellow’, Swans are creating a music full of tensions that are
not exploding, but that are accumulated until an abyss comes to your senses.
The
perfection of tracks like ‘The Merge’, with his noisy introduction and his
circular, even if a little limping, rhythms, make us forget about Gira
pretending “The Beggar” to be the testament of The Swans (do you remember ‘Michael
Is Done’?) and the following tour as the last of his career. It is not the
first time this happens with him, but the beauty of the music makes me curious about
the announced new phase of Gira’s creature as I was curious about his pupil
Devendra Banhart when his first albums came to light.
Model/Actriz
“Pirouette” (True Panther Sounds)
This is
possibly the album of 2025 I have listened to the most. I have read many
reviews in which the album was negatively judged because of his mixing
post-punk guitars and 4/4 beats as they happen in disco or dance music, but to
me this is definitely a ‘plus’. The single ‘Cinderella’ with his ‘queer’ video
is what we had missed for many years – Cole Haden, M/A lead singer, as the hero
we needed along with Anohni and Terre Thaemlitz as the only people able to
bring some diversity to some genres created mostly by and for cisgender hetero
males.
But also
‘Diva’, with his static tension, the second single from the album, has some
intriguing quality – as the rest of the album – as if the music were able to
bring the listener on the edge of the chasm leaving him here to dance. “I won’t
leave as I came” sings Haden, and this is exactly the destiny of the listener
of this album: the music and its meaning will remain glued to your conscience,
and it will be a beautiful experience.
KnCurrent “self
titled” (Deep Dish)
Jason Kao
Hwang (electric violin), Cooper-Moore (diddley-bo), On Ka’a Davis (guitar) and
Patrick Brennan (alto saxophone) have created one of the most adventurous LPs
you will listen from what is emerging from 2025. Some years ago I crowned Hwang
album “Uncharted
Faith” as one of the most intriguing and avant albums of that period, and even
if basically everything Hwang is involved bears traces of pure genius in music,
this album is so full of textures and nuances that I couldn’t help but insert
in this ‘best of 2025’.
Each track
has its own peculiarities and particular sound/vision in it, and the instruments
involved and the techniques they speak are so different from onepiece of music to the other, but taken as a
whole the album is showing how much the old masters of improvised music are far
from been merely legends of the past and can leave tracks into the present.
Another album I wrote a review early this year, musically different but
genuinely beautiful, is the album “Parallel
Aesthetics” by Ivo Perelman and Tyshan Sorey: my advice is to enjoy it in
its full length if you still miss it.
Trumpeter
Herb Robertson, vibraphonist Christopher Dell, bassist Christian Ramond and
drummer Klaus Kugel have released in 2025 this double album full of remembrances
from the Art Ensemble of Chicago (the ‘small instruments’ at the beginning) and
from the Blue Note era of the great Sam Rivers and others who tried to give
free jazz to the masses.
An intimate
and intriguing journey through the depths of sounds and the visions of these
musicians. Sometimes when I listen to them I ask myself why they’re not put on
the flag by every blog/website/magazine related to experimental music. This is
not nostalgia or carbon copy; this is devotion to an idea of music full of
personal nuances and will to create.
Duck Baker “There’s
No Time Like The Past” (Fulica)
Released in
December of 2024, this album has entered my radar only last year so I really
wanted to put lights on it since Duck Baker, a musician fond in fingerpicking,
jazz, country and other U.S. contaminated music like the blues, goes well beyond
my usual taste in experimental sounds. Melodic and enjoyable from the first
listen, “There’s No Time Like The Past” will be for many of you like a Pandora’s
box: Baker discography is full of treasures (he released at least other three
albums under its own name in 2025).
Far from the
deconstructions of musicians like Marc Ribot and Derek Bailey, Baker is one of
the many, too many good underappreciated artisans that silently but with great
love and devotion are leaving us an opus of beauty and truth. This album is a
testimony of how a someone able to create a music rooted into tradition can be
taken as example for other musicians or simple listeners as far as breadth of intention
and clarity of vision.
Tropical
Fuck Storm “Fairyland Codex” (Fire)
The nice
and usual habit of seeking influences to describe this or that post-punk band
are useless with this line-up coming from Australia. Obviously, there is the
hoarse voice of Gareth Liddiard to remind me a little of David Thomas, but is a
too obvious reference and Liddiard is a valid and original singer per se.
If you find
difficult to think of this genre as self-renovating again after last year “Romance”
by Fontaines D.C., this album will definitely change your mind. Drums, drum
machines, synths, pedal steel guitars are creating for the listener a wider
landscape, full of the irony and the abrasiveness that is typical of this style
of music. But the creative spark is here to stay, and I think many of you will
get back to this album also in 2026 …
Messa “The Spin”
(Metal Blade)
Heavy Metal
was the first genre of music to grab my attention as a teenager. Sonic violence,
in-yer-face attitude and tell-it-like-it-is vibes were accompanying my angst in
a way my parents were not completely approving, and this was enough to me. But
many years passed since my last look at this genre in the first part of the
2000s, with bands like Neurosis and few others.
Messa are
an Italian band (from the suburbs of Treviso if I remember well) who loves to
mix doom metal with jazz guitar licks and harmonies. But the result is different
from a pure melting pot of different styles: in a way only at an attentive
listening you’ll find the single elements melting together. Because the effect
is that of a perfect blend. A small miracle from my country, Messa are a band
worth seeing in live concerts and spanning through its career in order to enjoy
its evolution.
Marc Ribot “Map
Of A Blue City” (New West)
A little
bit disappointed as I was by Ribot’s recent outputs as a leader (Ceramic Dog
were satisfying to me only partially), I enjoyed this album the was released
after decades from its conception, thanks to many record companies who didn’t
know how to label the music contained in it.
Ribot and
his pals give life to a music that can be put aside of the beautiful folk of people
like Nick Drake, but with a tinge of contemporary electric experimentations and
some Latin nuances (see ‘Daddy’s Trip To Brazil’). There’s also space to put
into music a poem by Allen Ginsberg (‘Sometime Jailhouse Blues’). One of the
major works of Ribot to me, along with Spiritual Unity (with Ribot recreating
with his guitar the music of Albert Ayler) and the famous (for the wrong
reasons) ‘fake-cuban’ albums.
Suede “Antidepressants”
(BMG)
Famous
during the mid-Nineties for their almost-glam rock revival in an era in which
everyone was looking for an alternative from the Oasis-Blur battle, Brett
Anderson’s Suede are coming back with a concept album that is deep and full of
nuances to appreciate through different listenings.
Symmetrical
to last year’s The Cure comeback, and different from the poorly written (in my
opinion) Lebanon Hanover’s “Asylum Lullabies”, this record, released by a major
label, has new obscure nuances the old Suede were completely missing. And if
the album’s cover is inspired by a famous Francis Bacon (the painter) photograph,
the music is more essential and plainer than in the past.
So, these
are the album I enjoyed this year – along with older stuff – and these are my
advices after almost a year of silence with this blog. I don’t know honestly
how much I will write this year 2026. But obviously I’ll keep on listening new
music, and so get ready for new releases like the new album by Wadada Leo Smith
and Ivo Perelman. I still need to listen to this unprecedented collaboration,
but I hope it will be a good sign for all the new alternative and experimental
music that will be released this year.
While I’m writing this review for the last double album to be released tomorrow by the incendiary couple of tenorist Ivo Perelman and pianist/drummer Tyshawn Sorey I’m listening to the music, not wanting to put on paper a detached analysis but instead hoping to be inspired by the music itself. After all, I believe many of us have in the back of their memory that beautiful scene from Gus Van Sant’s “Finding Forrester” where Rob Brown (the actor, not the musician) and Sean Connery are typing wildly their tales of narrative onto their typewriters while the music of Ornette Coleman is clearly audible. Let’s say I just wanted to feel the same magic, at least a bit of it.
My memory goes back to that time in which Sorey was an important part of Roscoe Mitchell’s various line-ups, and I was focused on that music, so deep and visceral but also cerebral and complex. At a certain point, I realized that what Roscoe was achieving was kind of a ‘zen’ music, where the research for a new self as an improviser was leaving place to the simple essence of being. I was curious of hearing Sorey playing with other musicians, to hear what he could realize with another dress.
So, you can imagine how happy I was while I found out that Perelman sent to me, through my email address, the files of his new piece of art, this double album titled “Parallel Aesthetics”. I have no liner notes, no press release, only the music and the images on the cover. And that’s enough. After all, I am a person who writes about improvised music since 2010, so I’m supposed to be able to give life with words to something worth to accompany what my ears are listening to in this moment …
But let’s start with the basic facts: the double album is composed by a couple of records, the first including four compositions for a total time of 55 minutes, while the second features only two tracks for an amount of 37 minutes. Perelman is a musician that, after attending the Berklee School of music for only one semester, moved to L.A. where, three years after, he gave life to his first album, before moving to N.Y. His musical style is somewhere between the open but oblique singing of an Ornette Coleman and the edginess of a Steve Lacy, even if he concentrated himself on tenor saxophone and has a personal, distinct voice.
Sorey, who shared the stage with musicians as diverse but unique such as John Zorn, Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton and Wadada Leo Smith, well known for his commitment both in the field of jazz and contemporary music, can be seen, as a pianist, as the missing link between Cecil Taylor and David Tudor – even if I know how much these two extremes are hard to put together – while on drums he perfectly fits into that tradition of musicians using percussions to give life to beautiful colours more than concentrated on marking the time.
“As Serious as Your Life” is the title of a book by journalist and photographer Valerie Wilmer dedicated to the first free jazz music scene in the 1960s, a book released for the first time this year in my country, and ‘as serious as your life’ is how I dare to indicate to the listeners to take into account music such as the one you’ll meet through this two albums. Because, even if the idea of alternating the tracks with Sorey on drums and the ones where he is featured on piano may seem a rational choice, the music you’ll listen is a perfect mix of head and heart. I don’t think it is so important this time to understand and separate the contemporary from the jazz influences on the compositions, at this point in history we’re all accustomed to such a meeting of different tinges and colors – at least since Anthony Braxton’s “Three Compositions of New Jazz” (Delmark, 1968).
What I can report for sure is that, once again, even if In the world of improvised music, at least in the purest world of intentions such kind of music has been played more and more, indeed while listening time stops, the miracle of a dialogue between two well refined musicians is happening as it happens while listening to the best albums you have in your collection if you are lucky or educated enough. I mean, you know that magic. Rational discussions about how this music is tracing a new line or is following a path, or anything in the middle, fade away in front of such mastery and enchantment.
But if there’s magic, for sure there is innovation. Sorey and Perelman with this albums are really giving life to an encounter between worlds and inspirations, and their ‘parallel aesthetics’, their attempt to create a dialogue between two worlds is really a new world in itself. There is intense flowing, moments of amazing exchanges, a vibrating feeling, some telluric and velvet sparks, but, most of all, I can clearly hear this sensation of listening to musicians which are telling something.
Because, even if you’ll pass through different temperatures and feelings, the final idea is that of a music where the concentrated and the relaxed are perfectly balanced. This means there is a magic equilibrium between the mind, the intention and the output of the musicians. And since it is difficult to reach such a result, I’m writing that this is possibly the best output for this year as far as improvised music/jazz music I’ll be able to listen to in 2025. Now, I’m curious to get back to this review and this release in December, and see if it has kept its promises.
My followers know how much I've appreciated Moor Mother's music since I first listened to her album "Jazz Codes" (Anti-, 2022). I felt a similar intention in her work as I had encountered in Daniel Marcellus Givens' music at the start of the new millennium, and I was excited to hear someone continuing that artistic lineage. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to see Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother) perform live in Milan, having eagerly anticipated the chance.
Accompanied by a drummer whose jazz background was evident despite the music's departure from classic jazz, Moor Mother introduced the audience to her latest album, "The Great Bailout" (Anti-, 2023), playing only three pieces from that record. The compositions were transformed by new arrangements rooted more in noise and industrial music than jazz. Yet, Moor Mother has reached a point in her career where she can reinterpret pieces like "All The Money" or "God Save The Queen" without seeming derivative, even when compared to artists like Merzbow or Throbbing Gristle.
The live performance, consisting of just 50 minutes of drums played with sticks, electronic devices, small instruments, and Moor Mother's own vocals, was enough to captivate the audience, who showed their appreciation with warm applause at the end. The show began with small electronic sounds and electrified drumsticks, building layer upon layer into an impressive wall of sound. Moor Mother's phrases, such as "how long did it take to pay off the trauma?", echoed with sharpness and precision through the various noise textures, reflecting her time spent with Roscoe Mitchell and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, as well as other free jazz collectives like Irreversible Entanglement.
If I had to nominate some of the best musical moments this year, I would include this Moor Mother concert, along with the new albums by Jason Kao Hwang, Fontaines D.C., and Kim Gordon. However, we still have time before looking back and tracing the lines of musical tendencies for the past year. For me, Moor Mother's live performance in Milan's Triennale was the equivalent of last year's intense and bold concert by Michael Gira's Swans. The difference is that Swans are an institution in the post-punk continuum and among the most important founders of no-wave, giving them the freedom to do as they please. In contrast, Moor Mother and her collaborators are only recognized for their artistic value after the performance, which adds an extra layer of courage to their work.
Live music offers a unique opportunity to test musical theory against practice, allowing us to experience sounds in a communal setting that, while perhaps less comfortable than our homes, enables shared emotional connections and collective enjoyment. Such was the premise of an evening at Milan's Auditorium San Fedele on Monday, October 14.
The event began promisingly in the theater's foyer, where attendees were treated to a pre-concert listening session of Aphex Twin's seminal "Selected Ambient Works 1985-1992" (R&S, 1992). This piece, chosen by audience members through a Facebook poll, served to inaugurate the venue's new speaker system while guests enjoyed wine and conversation.
The evening's first performer, Japanese DJ Wata Igarashi, known internationally for his live sets, unfortunately fell short of expectations. While his ambient compositions demonstrated competent use of dynamics and variations, they offered little beyond what audiences have heard since the genre's emergence in the 1970s. His most noteworthy contribution was the application of aging effects to his sounds – reminiscent of Boards of Canada's more accomplished work on "Geogaddi" (Warp, 2002) – creating a sonic equivalent of a Polaroid filter. However, the overall musical development remained predictable and lacking in innovation.
The evening was redeemed by Drew McDowall, whose performance elevated the proceedings considerably. A veteran of influential groups like Coil and Psychic TV, McDowall presented material from his latest album "A Thread, Silvered and Trembling" (Dais Records, 2024). His setup, combining synthesizers with recorded strings, harp, and flugelhorn, created an extraordinary sonic palette that transcended conventional electronic music boundaries.
McDowall's composition drew inspiration from Scottish funeral melodies contemporary with Carmina Burana, weaving them into a tapestry of drone music and orchestral elements. Performed in complete darkness, his set constructed an immersive soundscape of devotional, crepuscular music that was at once melancholic and powerful. Rather than merely juxtaposing elements, McDowall crafted a cohesive journey into a shadow realm of mystery and introspection, allowing listeners to explore their own inner dimensions.
Looking ahead, the venue will host performances of Eliane Radigue's "Tryptich II" (1979) and Lorenzo Senni's "Canone Infinito Extended" from his latest Warp Records release. Reviews of these performances will follow.
In the ever-evolving landscape of music, the transition from modernity to post-modernity has been marked by groundbreaking shifts in artistic expression. As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Arnold Schönberg's birth, we're reminded of his pivotal role in shaping contemporary classical music. This past weekend, I had the privilege of attending a concert that not only honored Schönberg but also showcased the rich tapestry of 20th and 21st-century composition.
The Italian Associazione Culturale Secondo Maggio curated an impressive program featuring Schönberg's "Kammersymphonie No. 1 Op. 9". Completed in 1906, this piece stands as a testament to the composer's transition from tonality to dodecaphony. We experienced Anton Webern's 1921-22 arrangement for five instruments, which beautifully captured the essence of Schönberg's original vision while adapting to the practical constraints of smaller ensembles.
The concert opened with Fausto Romitelli's "Domeniche Alla Periferia Dell'Impero" (1996), a composer that boldly experiments with elements of rock and non-classical traditions. Romitelli's composition challenged our perceptions, presenting a sonic landscape that was both magmatic and deliberately unstable.
Two pieces particularly stood out: Goffredo Petrassi's "Tre Per Sette" (1964) and Niccolò Castiglioni's "Gymel" (1960). These works showcased the virtuosity demanded by contemporary classical music and highlighted the influence of Italian flutist Severino Gazzelloni, who also played a crucial role in shaping the American New Thing movement.
As I listened, I couldn't help but draw parallels between the complexity of this music and the intricate world we navigate today. Contemporary classical music doesn't merely mimic historical events; it serves as a form of mental training, helping us cope with the challenges of our reality.
Conversely, composers like Anton Webern, whose "Drei Kleine Stucke op. 11" we heard, anticipated post-post-modernity. These brief, epigrammatic pieces laid the foundation for artists like Morton Feldman, offering moments of respite in our fast-paced lives.
A special mention must go to the Dedalo Ensemble, celebrating their 25th anniversary this year. Their impeccable execution of seven challenging pieces demonstrated not only technical proficiency but also a deep understanding of the genre. The ensemble, featuring Daniela Cima, Silvano Scanziani, Stefano Merighi, Michela Dapretto, Matteo Zurletti (see photo), and Sonia Candellone, under the direction of Mauro Bonifacio, made the sometimes daunting world of contemporary classical music accessible and engaging.
As we consider the importance of experiencing this music live, I'm excited to announce that I'll be attending two performances this Monday. Drew McDonald, formerly of Psychic TV, will present an album blending electronic and acoustic elements. Wata Igarachi, evolving from punk and techno roots, will showcase his instrumental experimental music.
Stay tuned for my review of these upcoming performances, as we continue to explore the diverse and exciting world of contemporary music.
Contemporary classical music has witnessed a significant increase in the use of percussion since the early 20th century. This trend, influenced by various cultural encounters and avant-garde composers, has reshaped the sonic landscape of classical compositions. A recent concert by the Percussion Orchestra Cologne at Milan's Teatro Dal Verme on September 18, 2024, showcased this evolution, presenting works spanning nearly a century of musical innovation.
The integration of diverse percussion instruments in classical music can be traced back to cultural exchanges such as the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition. Here, Claude Debussy's encounter with the Javanese Gamelan profoundly influenced his compositional approach, introducing new timbres and rhythmic complexities to Western classical music.
Concurrently, traditional instruments like the piano saw a radical reimagining of their role. Edgard Varèse's "Ionisation" (1929-1931) exemplifies this shift, employing the piano in a percussive manner with cluster notes played directly with the forearm. This groundbreaking work for 13 percussionists incorporates a vast array of instruments from various cultures, including sirens, gongs, and log drums, expanding the timbral palette available to composers.
The Percussion Orchestra Cologne's rendition of "Ionisation" offered a contemporary interpretation of Varèse's seminal work. While slightly more "swinging" than traditional performances—perhaps a nod to Milan's reputation as the "City of Aperitif"—the execution maintained a commendable balance between elasticity and structural integrity.
This "smart" version, while sacrificing some of the original's dramatic impact, showcased the musicians' remarkable skill in navigating the piece's complex layers. True to Varèse's concept of sounds detaching from one another like parts of an ionized atom, the performance demonstrated that "Ionisation" remains a pivotal work in the percussion repertoire, its influence evident in many subsequent compositions.
The concert also featured two more recent works, illustrating both the enduring influence of mid-20th century innovations and attempts at further experimentation: "Herbstfestival" (1989) by Nicolaus Anton Huber played by Schlagquartett Köln for four percussionists initially evoked the explorative spirit of groups like the Art Ensemble of Chicago. However, it soon transitioned into a prolonged unison section that, while technically impressive, raised questions about its musical necessity.
"Erdenmarsch" (2022) by Fabio Nieder, a student of Witold Lutosławski, that presented a 30-minute work for 13 percussionists. The piece incorporated a wide range of instruments and unconventional sound sources, including live-streamed radio content via iPhone. While dynamically engaging, the work's harmonic palette felt limited. Notable elements included a centrally placed large drum and theatrical interactions between musicians, though these at times seemed superfluous.
The concert underscored the enduring impact of early 20th-century innovations in percussion music. While the performances of more recent works demonstrated technical proficiency, they also highlighted challenges in pushing the boundaries established by earlier masters. The virtuosity of the Percussion Orchestra Cologne was evident throughout, elevating even the less cohesive compositions.
This evening of percussion-focused contemporary classical music, spanning over 80 years of compositional history, offered a compelling, if sometimes uneven, journey through the genre's evolution. It reaffirmed the pioneering spirit of early modernist composers while raising questions about the direction of contemporary classical music in the 21st century.
Born in Lake Forest, Illinois, Jason Kao Hwang's musical odyssey began with classical violin training. However, his eager exploration of jazz and improvised music long before the 1970s set the stage for a career marked by constant evolution and innovation.
Hwang's discography is an expression to his versatility, with each album offering a unique sonic experience. My introduction to his work came through a double CD featuring the supergroup The Commitment, alongside William Parker on bass, Zen Matsuura on drums, and Will Connell Jr. on flute and alto saxophone. In this ensemble, Hwang's improvisational style echoed influences from Leroy Jenkins and Billy Bang while incorporating flavors and techniques from Asian music.
The year 2022 saw the release of "Uncharted Faith" (Blue Coast Music), a collaboration with the late J.A. Deane. This album showcases Hwang's violin and its electronic treatments, creating a genre-defying sound reminiscent of Miles Davis's electric period from 1968 to 1975 in its innovative approach.
The following year, "Book of Stories" (True Sound, 2023) by the Critical Response quartet presented compositions deeply rooted in the New York free jazz scene, yet imbued with a distinct personality.
Given this diverse background, Hwang's latest solo effort, "Soliloquies," came as a delightful surprise. Tracks like "At The Beginning" and "Encirclement" reveal new facets of both the musician and the man.
This work stems from Hwang's desire to engage more deeply with his family history, particularly conversations with his father about their experiences in China during World War II. These musical 'soliloquies' serve as an extension of moments lost to time, preserved through memory and emotion.
Hwang's approach to the violin in "Soliloquies" is transformative, relying heavily on pizzicato techniques that reimagine the instrument's capabilities. Critics have likened his playing to a zither or a talking drum, highlighting the innovative nature of his performance.
The music defies simple categorization, weaving together Eastern and Western influences in a tapestry of sound that requires multiple listens to be fully appreciated. It's a testament to Hwang's ability to seamlessly blend diverse cultural and musical traditions.
"Soliloquies" stands as one of the most powerful musical and creative acts in recent years. Its deeply personal nature and unique sound recall Audrey Chen's "Runt Vigor" (Karlrecords, 2018) in its compelling individuality. This album represents a potential new direction for improvised music, challenging listeners to expand their musical horizons.
Jason Kao Hwang, who has collaborated with luminaries such as Anthony Braxton, Billy Bang, Butch Morris, Reggie Workman, and Henry Threadgill, has undoubtedly earned his place as a maestro in his own right. While his multifaceted career may defy easy categorization, time will likely cement his status as a pivotal figure in improvised music.
As his recent works demonstrate, Hwang continues to push boundaries and explore new territories. His career trajectory suggests exciting developments for the field of improvised music in the years to come, offering hope and inspiration for musicians and listeners alike.
Massimo Zamboni, guitarist of CCCP Fedeli alla Linea, and his bandmates have resurfaced after nearly two decades with a reunion in 2024. While they haven't released new compositions, they've offered fans the ultimate live experience following an exhibition in Reggio Emilia, albeit at a premium price.
CCCP Fedeli alla Linea, though perhaps not the most innovative post-punk band in Italy (a title arguably belonging to Gaznevada), was undoubtedly the most captivating to audiences. Their references to Cold War-era Communism in the Western world positioned them as the quintessential anti-establishment voice for many young people.
The album under review, "Altro Che Nuovo Nuovo" (Universal, 2024), captures CCCP's first public live performance from 1983 in Reggio Emilia. This release offers several intriguing aspects: it features a live drummer instead of the drum machine that would later become their signature sound, and includes previously unreleased material, such as a cover of D.A.F.'s "Kebab Träume," the unheard tracks "Onde" and "Sexy Soviet," and early versions of songs that would be reworked in later years.
While the live drums occasionally struggle to keep pace with the guitar lines, explaining the band's future shift to electronic percussions, these imperfections don't significantly detract from the listening experience.
CCCP Fedeli alla Linea has faced criticism for prioritizing financial gain over artistic principles, evidenced by high reunion ticket prices and their signing with a multinational label in 1986. This situation draws parallels to Joe Strummer's experience with The Clash, though Italy lacked an alternative like Crass.
Unlike Strummer, CCCP's lead singer Giovanni Lindo Ferretti has, in recent years, embraced Christianity and adopted a stance reminiscent of Morrissey. However, it's important to note that CCCP's early works, particularly their first two EPs ("Ortodossia I" and "II") and debut album ("Affinità/Divergenze"), provide an authentic snapshot of Italy's counterculture during that era.
With CCCP's entire discography now reissued and remastered, "Altro Che Nuovo Nuovo" serves as an excellent entry point for post-punk enthusiasts looking to explore scenes beyond the US and UK. This live album offers a glimpse into a past that continues to resonate, as evidenced by the current resurgence of post-punk bands, underscoring CCCP's enduring influence.
Fontaines D.C.'s fourth album, "Romance," marks a triumphant evolution for the Irish post-punk band. Released under XL Recordings, this record stands as potentially their finest work to date, showcasing them at the peak of their creative powers.
Initially, one might draw parallels to Idles' recent release "Tangk" (Partisan Records, 2024). Both albums explore themes of love—an atypical subject for post-punk groups historically rooted in social critique. However, "Romance" transcends simple comparisons, carving its own distinct path.
What sets "Romance" apart is its ambitious sonic palette. The band ventures beyond their usual instrumentation, incorporating piano, Mellotron, Minimoog and Ring Modulators. These elements, combined with collaborations featuring a string quartet on tracks like "Desire," "In The Modern World," "Starbuster," and "Horseness Is the Whatness," create a rich, textured soundscape.
Producer James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Depeche Mode) lends his expertise, resulting in complex arrangements that elevate the album. The influence of classic British pop and even The Beatles can be heard, pushing Fontaines D.C. into new territory while maintaining their core identity.
While love is a central theme, "Romance" offers more than simple ballads. "Starbuster," the lead single, delves into the experience of panic attacks. The album also serves as a tribute to recently departed Irish music icons Sinéad O'Connor and Shane MacGowan, acknowledging artists who embodied punk's spirit of authenticity and defiance.
What's remarkable about "Romance" is how organic this transformation feels. Rather than a calculated move to avoid criticism of stagnation, the album radiates with genuine artistic growth. The band's commitment to their craft is evident in every track, resulting in one of the year's most captivating listening experiences.
"Romance" represents a significant milestone in Fontaines D.C.'s career. It demonstrates their ability to push boundaries while staying true to their ethos. The album's booklet photos capture a band revelling in their artistic journey, mirroring the listener's enjoyment. With this release, Fontaines D.C. have not only created their best work to date but have also laid an exciting foundation for future musical explorations.
A return to spirituality in jazz was clearly tangible since Eric Mingus, Charles’ son, released a record titled "Too Many Bullets, Not Enough Souls” (2002 Some Records, re-released in 2021 by Zoar Records). The collaborator of Elliott Sharp (who also produced this album), Hal Willner, Karen Mantler and many others, was clearly pointing out what we were missing at that point in history.
The duty of a spiritual jazz, or of a spiritual crossover between genres, was taken more recently on the shoulder of musicians such the late great Jaimie Branch and of Kamasi Washington, that few months ago released this interesting LP titled “Fearless Movement” (2024, Young). The album opens with an invocation to God both in English and in an ancient Ethiopian language. But it’s the tone of Washington saxophone that sometimes makes you think of a spiritual musician such as Pharoah Sanders.
Clearly Kamasi Washington is not a copycat, his style is evidently his own, but there is something in his attempts to launch ‘that’ cry over the obstacles that in a way reminds us of John Coltrane’s pupil, exactly as the beginning of this record can remind us of many Coltrane’s moments on records such as the beginning of Om, or of Kulu Sé Mama. And even if Washington’s eloquence on saxophone is more linear than Sanders’, nonetheless his approach is similar, being a clear spiritual invocation.
“Lesanu”, the first track on the album, is clearly devoted to the Aethiopian music of Getatchew Mekurya, Mulatu Astatké and similar masters of ethio-jazz. Sometimes featuring horns speaking in tongues, sometimes featuring keyboard passages or tenor solos, the piece is possibly a prayer, an attempt to create a ‘new song’ for God and so it is a manifesto, as if Kamasi Washington were saying is music is ‘new music’, a new mix between jazz, hip hop, soul, and music to dance with, more than an intellectual experience. Anyway, we’ll see.
In an interview Washington recalled his aunt who was babysitting him and his brother making them dance, and if this is the idea underlying all the album, another recollection from the childhood is the second track “Asha The First”, whose melody was created by Washington’s daughter while experimenting at the piano. The little girl is present also on the cover of the album along with his dad. The song is immersed in a 1970s atmosphere but featuring singing and rapping by Thundercat, Taj and Ras Austin, and a beautiful electric bass solo that is an homage possibly to Stanley Clarke.
And if “Computer Love” is a cover of the soul combo The Zapp, from their fourth album “The New Zapp IV U”, “The Visionary” is a less common group improvisation just before “Get Lit”, a mid-tempo featuring the soulful voice of George Clinton and that of a younger but incisive D Smoke. “Dream State”, featuring André 3000 on flutes, has this short psychedelic intro before a small alto saxophone solo who introduces the song with a gentle touch. Washington shows us his expressive ductility at alto before the drums start signing the temperature of this song, calm but decidedly syncopated.
Finally, “Together” and “The Garden Path” close the first LP with an intriguing ballad with BJ The Chicago Kid at the voice and a hymn full of wah-wah guitars, choirs, and horn solos. At this point one might wonder about his own experience as a listener before passing to the second LP, even because the music is full of references to the past decades of the African-American music history, and you can also ask yourself if it all has a value nowadays in this returning. Obviously Kamasi Washington, his octet and entourage are searching for a commercial affirmation but there’s something original in this music or it is only a good summary of the past glories?
I know it is a strange question nowadays that everything of value has a strong tie with the past, but obviously we want to understand if what we’re listening to is in a way a small step ahead or if it is a mere reproduction of the past. Maybe the second LP can be of help for us? Let’s give it a try. “Interstellar Peace”, with its almost Coltrane-inspired title, is another piano melody with the horns creating a small hymnodic and melancholic choir before some trumpet and saxophone intense solos.
Then it’s time for “Road To Self (KO)”, with his almost minimalistic keyboards intro before a piano melody surrounded by the horns, while the drums depict a circular rhythm, leaving us with the feeling that this is not a record of solos emerging from a given structure, as in (too?) many jazz records, but an attempt to create a sonic landscape full of different meanings. One can appreciate pieces like this more than the others, as it happens to the writer of this review, but that’s it.
“Lines in the Sand” is another ballad where you can appreciate both the foreground and the background, the vocal melody and the horns’ countermelody, in a quiet atmosphere, with only one question in mind: what if these pieces were shorter and less complicated by solos? In a way, if I remember well, Albert Ayler’s “New Grass” was an album containing pieces from 3 to 5 minutes, and it worked well even if it was accused to be a commercial album.
Sometimes longer structures, like pieces of 12 minutes, aren’t paying well if they’re not able to convey tensions and releases in an intriguing way. Being too much redundant is the defect I can find in this music. Things go a little worse with the last “Prologue”, an homage to a beautiful melody by Astor Piazzolla where you can listen to all the weaknesses of the arrangements by Kamasi Washington.
In this piece you can find that ‘Seventies touch’ as something little bit out of time. This effect is propagating during the listening to all the album. But there is a sincerity in the music of Washington that is something I want to save. So in the end, all we can do is waiting for future releases and hope in a more contemporaneity of arrangements and of inspiration.
Spirituality is good, and since I’m reading Sun Ra biography by John F. Szwed in these days I can say it’s also something that has precious roots, but it must become a personal quest, otherwise the risk is that of following the leaders’ principles instead of becoming truly yourself. And what can be applied to spirituality, can also be applied to music. Washington is a musician coming from a noble tradition and with a personal touch as an instrumentalist, but he needs to rejuvenate some arrangements and/or become less verbose.
For the moment this album is something worth listening, as it is also last year output by Jaimie Branch “Fly Or Die Fly Or Die Fly Or Die (Word War)” (International Anthem, 2023), but everyone has to understand that the sound of music defines an era, and we can’t really take back the past in the present times. We have to move forward, defining this era with music for our times. This is unluckily not what happens with this album, and it’s a pity because the source of inspiration is original, and the musicians involved are great. But being contemporaneous, for an artist, is not optional.
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