Drummer Ben Baker Billington and guitarists Mark Shippy and Daniel Wyche unite for their first recording: a 47-minute, ripping, hypnotic improvisation in three parts, released last year on Austin-based record label and multimedia imprint, Astral Spirits. Billington, Shippy, and Wyche are all heavy-hitters in Chicago experimental and DIY music. Billington drums with ONO, the Industrial
Corima (Andrea Calderon, Paco Casanova, Patrick Shiroishi, Ryan Kamiyamazaki, Sergio Sanchez Ravelo) – Amaterasu (Soleil Zeuhl, 2018) Pharoah Sanders Quintet – self-titled (ESP-Disk’, 1965) [vinyl] Weasel Walter, Henry Kaiser, Damon Smith – Plane Crash (ugExplode, 2009) Quin Kirchner – The Other Side of Time (Astral Spirits, 2018) [double vinyl] Weasel Walter – A Pound of Flesh (self-released, 2017) [disc
The fast burning trio of Florian Herzog (bass), David Leon (alto sax), and Stephen Boegehold (drums) played an impressive set as part of the Bushwick Improvisers Collective series at Bushwick Public House, Monday, May 7. At the center of the trio was a lot of rhythmic brilliance, keeping it off-kilter or multi-faceted throughout the extended
The remarkable aesthetic resonance of British vocalist Viv Corringham and German guitarist Nicola Hein was on display at the Outskirts series in East New York on Sunday night, May 6. The two quickly calibrated to each other in this freely improvised piece. They opened with percussive vocal clicks and low, faintly rumbling guitar. Corringham worked
Alessandro Cortini – Avanti (Point of Departure, 2017) [vinyl] Roscoe Mitchell Solo – Live at the Muhle Hunziken (Cecma, 1987) [vinyl] Keir Neuringer & Matthew Wright – Speak Cities (Spectral Motif, 2017) A Pride of Lions (Daunik Lazro, Joe McPhee, Joshua Abrams, Guillaume Seguron, Chad Taylor) – self-titled (Bride Sessions, 2018) Havard Volden & Carlo Costa – In the
As part of the groundswell of activism that has emerged from the #MeToo movement, the We Have Voice Collective–an organization composed of fourteen female and non-binary artists–has issued a code of conduct demanding zero tolerance of harassment of any kind in the performing arts. The collective is composed of artists who represent a diverse array
Spectral – Empty Castles (Aerophonic, 2018) Sandy Ewen & Weasel Walter – Idiomatic (self-released, 2018) Sonic Youth-I.C.P.-The Ex – self-titled (In the Fishtank, 2002) [vinyl] Mirrors (Peter Kowald & Damon Smith) – Broken but No Dust (Balance Point Acoustics, 2001) [cassette] Meridian Trio – Triangulum (Clean Feed, 2017) Robbie Basho – Live in Forli, Italy 1982 (ESP-Disk’, 2018) Miles Davis
Take One “I don’t know if I should hug or slap the shit out of you.” My now deceased stepfather once said this to me after he picked me up from the local precinct after being arrested my one and only time. This message rings in my head quite often in my adult life, and
Patrick Shiroishi – Black Sun Sutra (Weird Cry, 2013) [cassette] Matthew Shipp Quartet – Sonic Fiction (ESP-Disk’, 2018) John Coltrane – Within and Without Miles: Live 1960 (Doxy, 2016) [vinyl] Anthony Braxton Solo – Live at Moers Festival (Moers, 1974) [vinyl] Bill Dixon Orchestra – Intents and Purposes (RCA, 1967) [vinyl] Burmese – 撚樣 (Rock Is Hell, 2011) [vinyl] Weasel Walter
On March 12, I had the opportunity to hear three great sets of music in the Late Breakfast series at Ham & Eggs in downtown Los Angeles. These culminated with alto saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi leading a nine-piece band that included voice, two flutes, tenor saxophone, guitar, bass, cello, and harmonium. The one extended piece they
