Errors-To: admin at elephant-talk dot com Reply-To: newsletter at elephant-talk dot com Sender: moderator at elephant-talk dot com Precedence: bulk From: moderator at elephant-talk dot com To: newsletter at elephant-talk dot com Subject: Elephant Talk #1229 E L E P H A N T T A L K The Internet newsletter for Robert Fripp and King Crimson enthusiasts Number 1229 Saturday, 6 May 2006 Today's Topics: A is A and Umphrey Asbury Park demo ITALIAN PIANIST STEFANO BOLLANI PLAYS LIVE FRAME BY FRAME Thanks and opinions of Fripp's soundscapes Re: Are We KC? Re: Crim-related music New music suggestions Fripp magazine article about picking GIG REVIEW: Levin in Asbury Park ------------------ A D M I N I S T R I V I A --------------------- POSTS: Please send *all posts* to newsletter at elephant-talk dot com ** Posts intended for the newsletter should have a subject prefix of ETPOST ** Posts intended for an individual newsletter contributor should have a subject prefix of their ET 'Ticket Number', shown at ETxxxxx in their 'From:' line in the newsletter. To UNSUBSCRIBE, or to CHANGE ADDRESS: Send a message with a body of HELP to admin at elephant-talk dot com or use the DIY list machine at http://www.elephant-talk.com/list/ To ASK FOR HELP about your ET subscription: Send a message to: help at elephant-talk dot com ET Web: http://www.elephant-talk.com/ Read the ET FAQ before you post a question at http://www.elephant-talk.com/faq.htm Current TOUR DATES info can always be found at http://www.elephant-talk.com/gigs/tourdates.shtml You can read the most recent ten editions of ET at http://www.elephant-talk.com/newsletter.htm THE ET TEAM: Mike Dickson (ET Newsletter distribution/subscriptions) Nadim S. Haque (ET Webmaster) Toby Howard (ET founder and Newsletter Moderator) Dan Kirkdorffer (ET Webmaster Emeritus) ET presents the view of the authors of posts in good faith, in a spirit of free and open discussion. The views expressed herein are those of the individual authors of posts. The ET TEAM accepts no responsibility for the views of authors of posts. ET is produced using John Relph's Digest system v3.7b. If you'd like to donate to the upkeep of ET, please press the "Donate" button at ETWeb. ------------------ A I V I R T S I N I M D A --------------------- Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 21:32:15 EDT From: Inturmoil Subject: A is A and Umphrey While I disagree with the "basement dweller's" assessment of KC, I agree with you that A is A. I am not a filthy socialist, either. Applause for some of the post. As for new music, Umphrey's McGee is my fave right now. Jason aka John Galt ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 05:07:35 -0700 (PDT) From: rich mlinar Subject: Asbury Park demo What would be appropriate to accompany the big event - Asbury Park segueing into Fracture? http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060427/NEWS/604270387 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 12:38:36 +0100 (GMT+01:00) From: giandomenico.decicco Subject: ITALIAN PIANIST STEFANO BOLLANI PLAYS LIVE FRAME BY FRAME Yesterday the italian jazz pianist Stefano Bollani was in Cosenza to play a concert of solo piano. One of the tune that ha played was a very intersting version of "Frame by Frame". At the beginning he playd almost literally the theme, using his marvellous indipendence of hands to play the different parts of hte tune. The improvisation that came after was not too long and was thematic. This, I think, show the influence that Crimson had on the young generation of italian jazz players (Bollani is borno 1975) due - I think - to the great numbers of admirers that the group has in Italy since the 60's. Sorry for my bad english ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 11:05:44 -0700 (PDT) From: John B. and Mary Pace Subject: Thanks and opinions of Fripp's soundscapes I very much appreciate you who sent me emails giving me Crimson related material or semi-Crimson related material such as Tool (who I'm not knocking) and others. Thank you. I was wondering what others were thinking of the soundscapes Fripp is doing. I live near Nashville and though I didn't catch the Fripp soundscape myself, a friend did. He ultimately found it dull. Adrian Belew was in the audience as he lives in the area and Fripp introduced him at "half-time" during the show and said that they would be working on a new project in the future. No date was given, but according to my friend, whom I have not the slightest reason to doubt, there is going to be something new happening with Belew and Fripp...and who knows who else. I truly do wonder what others think of the soundscapes. My friend is young and I'm 52, so there could be differences of opinion. I'd like to know what others think. Thanks! John Pace ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 16:45:57 -0400 From: Mike Subject: Re: Are We KC? Someone said, and I quote, "KC fell asleep after leaving the court", end of quote. Well the beast has awoken many times. So sorry you missed the wake up calls. Boy, did you miss out! If some need to ask who is KC, answer: extremely talented musicians and one of the most influential bands of all time. :) Cheers, Mike http://community.webtv.net/thedukeofprunes/ALLTHINGSCRIM P.S. Happy early b-day Mr. Fripp. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 May 2006 12:09:19 +0100 From: Matt Nolan Subject: Re: Crim-related music Dan Wasser wrote: > What new music should I listen to? Dan, you've probably opened the door to endless lists of people's current favourites - so, who am I to argue? Here's mine ;-) In (rough) descending order of "Krim-ness": Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - prog/avant/art-rock with guitars and various interesting and home made string and percussion instruments. I can vouch for the album "Grand Opening and Closing", but intend to catch up with the others soon. Trevor Dunn's Trio Convulsant - avant-rock/jazz. Double bass, guitar, drums. Not for the faint hearted. "Sister Phantom Owl Fish" is the better (to my ears) and most recent album. Rodrigo y Gabriela - nu-flamenco! Mexican ex-metal rocker guitar duo go acoustic. "Live in Manchester and Dublin" has a certain charm and magic. I'd love to hear them re-interpret Fracture! Dillinger Escape Plan with Mike Patton - "Irony is a Dead Scene" EP. Not that new, but blimey - if you can get past the aggression - there's some seriously smoking math/punk/avant-rock here with a bit of soul. As an aside at this point, I'd heartily recommend anything recent that Mike Patton has had a hand in if you're looking for different directions and boundary pushing with equal measures of darkness and tongue-in-cheekness. It's almost all at the heavy/thrash end of the scale, but it all makes me grin when I listen to it. Tomahawk (funky, alternative metal with maybe even a tinge of country to it). Fantomas (thrash metal / film soundtrack / cartoon music combo! "Suspended Animation" is genuinely mind-blowing but "The Directors Cut" is the most accessible album). Mr Bungle (especially the masterpeice that is "California"). General Patton vs The Xecutioners (hip-hop / dj-turntabling / noise terrorism). It's worth checking out the non-patton artists at Patton's label, Ipecac Records too. A top two from me would be Flat Earth Society "Isms" - Belgian avant-garde big-band (with hints of New-Orleans Voodoo Jazz and of Zappa) and Vincent and Mr Green (self titled) - dark moody atmospheric stuff with female vocals. Back to the list: Muse - rock power trio. Can you say bombastic? "Origin of Symmetry" and "Absolution" are both crackers in my book. That boy Bellamy has got some seriously wiggly fingers on the old etboard and keyboard. They've outgrown their early "Radiohead-alike" sound now too. Flaming Lips - peculiar but inventive. Brecker Brothers "Heavy Metal Bebop" - not new but post-late-70s Zappa feel with Terry Bozzio on drums too. Terje Rypdal "Skywards" - ECM Jazz featuring trumpet and electric guitar. Serene and contemplative. Beautiful. Stimmhorn - Swiss Alpenhorn / Accordion / Yodelling duo. Sounds like it should be dreadful, but they're fantastic. Transfixing live, still rather charming on CD. Freedom Funk Ensemble - brass, drums, bass, keys, proper jumping funk from Oregon with a depth drawing from jazz. Susana Baca "Eco De Sombras" - simmering cool diva vocals over enchanting Afro-Peruvian grooves. Congotronics "Konono No 1" - Bazombo Trance music played mainly on different sized African Thumb Pianos through a wall of home made electric amplification. Gets a little same-y after a while but pretty different from anything else. Vaguely reminiscent of the gamelan influenced Discipline era Crimson guitars and drums. And I'm done. Hopefully there's something in there that will appeal. Best regards, Matt Nolan. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 11:19:31 -0400 From: Robert_Parducci Subject: New music suggestions In ET #1228, Dan Wasser wrote: >Recently, I've purchased Tony Levin's "Resonator," Adrian's "Side Three," >and Bruford's "World Drummers Ensemble," all of which I enjoy. >What new music should I listen to? I recommend you pick up Bill Bruford and Tim Garland's "Earthworks Underground Orchestra" and "Boston T Party" which features Dennis Chambers, Jeff Berlin, T Lavitz and David Fiuczynski. These CD's should nicely complement your other selections. - Robert ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 05 May 2006 20:15:41 +0200 From: RPGfreak Subject: Fripp magazine article about picking Hi folks, that's my first post here, I'm Simon from Germany, I've been listening to KC most of my live (thanks Dad!). When looking through the archive, I read something about an article about picking that Fripp had published in a magazine. Does anyone have a link or a scan of this article that he/she could send me? Thanks, Simon ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 15:46:29 -0400 From: "Raniere, Lawrence AMSRD-AAR-AEM-C" Subject: GIG REVIEW: Levin in Asbury Park Hello. My friend Bob attended the Tony Levin Band live show at The Saint, a small club in Asbury Park, NJ (famed Crimson haunt), on 20 April 2006. A few years back, I had seen KC at the Paramount Theater there. Having grown up at the Jersey shore, and having Asbury Park as one of my teenage haunts, I was anxious to attend the Levin show. Unfortunately, I was infirmed, and could not go along. Here is a thoughtful gig review from the event. Enjoy - LR ---------- Mike and I got to The Saint last night right about 8pm. There were about 20 people in line in front of us to get in. They opened the door at about 8:15, and we found a very small club inside. There's a bar on one side that seats about 12-15 people, a couple of tables on the opposite side, and the rest is standing room, and we stood for the whole show. Very small stage. The website claims a capacity of 200 but that seems like a stretch. We got a beer and hung around waiting for the show. The crowd was similar to what you'd see at a Crimson concert. Few people there under 30 I'd say, with the average probably approaching 40. Mainly passive, arty types, but generally reasonable. The opening act was a one man keyboardist, Mike Black. We learned during the show that he had been a student at Fripp's "guitar craft", but then surprisingly he used no guitar. He did have some songs in the Frippy 5/4 time. The songs were reasonably good, instrumental with some vocal samples and effects, but not so's I'd pay for the CD. Fortunately, he gave out the CD's, so we got one gratis and will see how good it is from the studio. The CD was, we learned, picked up to be the soundtrack for the next Troma film (low-budget makers of The Toxic Avenger) to be called, Poultry-geist. At least he was suitably humble about that achievement, and in fact seemed like a very nice guy. It's just weird watching someone mainly pushing buttons and playing with one hand to create big sounds. Sometimes watching Fripp is a bit like that, too. Anyway, the crowd gave him a warm reception and there was a good vibe in the club, which by now had become quite crowded. It was dense without being too much of a squeeze. Thank God for NJ's new smoking ban!! Mike Black played from about 8:50 to 9:30ish. I think Levin and company came out a bit before 10. They started with the members entering virtually unnoticed and, standing off to the side of the bar, sang a little a-cappella song, barbershop style, about how "we're the Tony Levin band" and with a few cute little jokes in there, like "please buy our CD", etc. Right at the end of the song, a big, ominous synth note booms in the club and there's lots of applause and cheers. With that the whole band took the tiny stage, starting with a song I didn't recognize, probably from the new album, Resonator. As you probably know, Larry Fast is their keyboardist. He has a great guitarist, Jesse Gress, who played with Todd Rundgren, and writes and edits a lot in the big guitar magazines (more on him later). Jerry Marotta was on drums and some vocals. Levin also has his brother, Pete Levin, in the band now, who also plays keyboards, with a nice jazzy style. So Tony generally chatted between songs and explained some of his new stuff. To my recollection they played about three songs I didn't know. The sound quality in the club was very good, loud of course but not over the top. The first song that I recognized, which got no introduction, was Sleepless! Except for Levin's vocal, which was pretty poor, they covered it very well, particularly the guitarist, Cress. He seemed completely on top of it, without effort. Larry Fast covered some of the licks on keyboard that would normally come from Belew or Fripp. Other songs I recognized in the show was a band version of the Synergy track, Phobos, which actually lent itself quite well to a Crimsonesque style. Finally, the last song we saw was a rousing rendition of "Back in New York City" from Lamb Lies Down on Broadway! The drummer, Marotta, sang it from the back, practically invisible back there with no riser, and while the vocals were both unremarkable and unintelligible, it was still thrilling to hear one of my favorite Gabriel/Genesis songs of all time played well live. Now a bit over an hour into the show, we had to leave because our friends who drove down from Michigan were waiting for us back at the house. I heard Levin say, as we were exiting the door, that the next song was the last in their set. I kept listening to hear any hint of what it might be as we walked from the club, but could hear absolutely nothing from the outside! I would have to think they also played an encore. Overall we definitely enjoyed it, and regretted that you weren't there with us. I commented to Mike after the show that I wish they would hire a truly competent vocalist, just as we often lament after seeing a Crimson concert. They'd have a shot at becoming a legitimately great band, and a much more enjoyable live act, with the right front man. Unfortunately both Levin and Belew have tried (somewhat unsuccessfully in my mind) to front their own bands and get by on their self-perceived personality; that ego ultimately defeats the potential of what could have been. Like right now I'm listening to Resonator on Rhapsody, and even with the studio vocals (considerably better than the live ones) it's just not quite good enough. 8 out of the 10 songs have lyrics. ------------------------------ End of Elephant Talk Digest #1229 *********************************