I think that most members of EC are aware of who Bob Ostertag is. If not, I strongly suggest that you check out his Bandcamp page, where all of his material is available for 'pay what you want'.
https://bobostertag.bandcamp.com/music It really doesn't matter which album you start with, because all are very different and all are superb. But, this time, I don't want to talk about the artist's music, but about his new project. Actually, I will let Bob explain it himself... "Thanks to Hank" is the story of a gay saint, a liberation movement, a plague, and an approach to gay activism that puts poor people first. Meet Hank Wilson, the fiercest gay activist you never heard of. In San Francisco during the 1970s and 80s, Hank was the Johnny Appleseed of gay liberation. Everywhere he went new organizations sprang up. Many are still with us. The AIDS Candlelight vigil he put together, five years before the formation of ACTUP, is now the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial, organized by 1,200 community organizations in 115 countries. A kindergarten teacher, Hank took the lead in providing for the many young queers fleeing to San Francisco after being kicked out of their homes, He quit teaching to manage the Ambassador Hotel, a derelict 150-room residency hotel in the toughest part of town as a refuge for street kids and anyone else with nowhere to go. AIDS arrived, and Hank spent the next 20 years running the hotel as an unfunded hospice for the homeless and drug-addicted who were dying of AIDS. Many hundreds of poor people died in the Ambassador. To survive a plague you need to laugh, so somewhere Hank found the time to start the first queer comedy club in San Francisco, where Whoopi Goldberg and Lea Delaria got their start. Through it all he maintained a modesty so extreme even his closest friends found it odd. He slept on the floor of a one room roach-infested apartment, and invited homeless people to sleep in his car. Like the residents of his hotel, Hank contracted AIDS and died way too soon. We talk so much about community these days, but what do we actually mean? Hank Wilson had a definition even his kindergarten students could understand: a community is something that takes care of its least privileged members. If this simple thing cannot be done, then you don't have much in the way of community. This was Hank’s life project, his singular, profound gift to the queer community, and to the city of Saint Francis. Please join star of Orange is the New Black Lea DeLaria, former California State Assembyperson Tom Ammiano, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Kronos Quartet, and Bob Ostertag to help pass this gift on to future generations. Why $15,000? We are making this movie Hank Wilson-style, on a shoe string, using community resources wherever possible. Much of the work is being donated. The Kronos Quartet, Carla Kihlstedt, and Mark Orton are all donating their music. Some videographers have donated their skills. Hank was an extremely modest person who avoided the camera, and we will use animation in place of all the missing pictures and footage. We are very excited to have Jeremy Rourke as our animator. Jeremy works his magic with paper and scissors instead of digital processing, and his artistic sensibility fits perfectly with Hank's modesty. Jeremy will be working for far below commercial rates, but making animation for a feature-length film is a huge job, and he has to eat and pay the rent while doing it. Any funds raised through Kickstarter beyond what it costs to make the film will be donated to the organizations Hank started. The Team: Bob Ostertag: Producer, Director, Writer, Editor. Jeremy Rourke: Animation. The Kronos Quartet: Music Thin Hat: Music And with the support of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the GLBT Historical Society For more information and/or to support Bob's project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/845108579/thanks-to-hank/rewards I really hope some of you will support this, or buy an album of Bob Ostertag! Either way, it's not a waste of money.
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A couple months ago {AN} Eel started sending out invitations to artists, for his latest project 'Three Way Dance'. For this project, he brings together 3 artists, whom in most cases never worked together and has them make an album. Each album will consist of 3 solo numbers, 3 duets and 1 trio. The first album in this series just got released yesterday and is made by William Davison, Wilfried Hanrath and Glenn Sogge. I guess that those 3 artists don't need a separate introduction, and that most EC-readers will already know about them and their work. If those names don't ring a bell, you might want to check out:
W.A.Davison at Recordism Wilfried Hanrath at Bandcamp Glenn Sogge at Aural Films Bandcamp... a little advertisement for Aural Films, never hurt anybody. Now, about the album... I don't like comparing artists with other artists, but I might just throw in a name here and there. But first, {AN} Eel wrote some liner notes for the album... let me start with stealing some of his words that sum up the general feeling(for me) of this record: metal, fog, raw earth, vanishing, collide, electric discharge, unfolding, grim realities... these words alone, should make you surf to:
Solos, Duos, Trio at Bandcamp and make you buy the album for a 'pay as you want' price!
Ok here I go, the album starts very strong with 'The Creeps', a slightly industrial composition/drone of William. If I may throw in a first comparison... Machinefabriek, comes to mind!
The second composition, 'Sue§o', is from Wilfried. A more ambient-piece, with a reverb/delay guitar and synth (that would be my guess), that gets a little more threatening half way through the song. And, I don't know if they planned it, but it is a perfect introduction to 'Preparations of the Blood Moon', Glenn's solo composition. This song, makes the industrial feeling stronger again (Z'EV comes to mind) and that feeling remains in the next 3 songs.
'Shovelling Glass', 'Some Thing or An Other Thing' and 'Beyond the Boundaries of the Remit', those are the 3 duets that the gentlemen did. For the regular EC-readers, remember a while ago, the show that Swami Loopynanda did about Klaus Schulze? Well, that is who those 3 duets remind me of. That's the last time, that I will compare, I promise! 3 different combinations of musicians, but these 3 songs form one whole. The last song, the trio piece, conveniently called: 'Trio Piece', is a strong ending of a superb album! That's all I have to say about that! And, as you all know, I have an exquisite taste in music, so go and buy this album and support your local artists! Cover image of the album: Glenn Sogge... I do wonder if the picture is taken in his garden.
Maybe there is something in the water, but I think a lot of great music comes from Holland! Last time, I also talked about some Dutch artists and this time I am going to do it again. Most of you probably heard about Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek, the least I can say is that he's prolific!
Every once in a while, I discover something 'music-wise', that completely blows me away and getting to know Machinefabriek is one those times that left me speechless. On one of my Bandcamp-search sessions, I typed in 'fieldrecording' and the first album that popped up was 'Macrocosms' by Banabila and Machinefabriek. I liked the cover, so I bought the album and that was the beginning of my MF-addiction and my Banabila-addiction (more about him later).
Reading some more about both artists, I decided to buy 'Live at IKLECTIK' from MF. It is not one of my favorite MF albums and as a first purchase, it almost scared me away... but it didn't and I wanted to hear more from Mr.Zuydervelt! After that purchase, I guess I bought around 30 more of his albums, in a very short period of time and I still continue to do so(though less fanatic). I think Mr.Zuydervelt was impressed to, because he send me a thank you mail (same like you Hal).
One of the things I like about MF, is that sometimes he brings out pieces of music, that he made before he was famous and so, you can hear where he's coming from. I know that a lot of artists would not put such things on the internet, but MF is not ashamed to do so. For that(amongst other things), he deserves respect! Talking about every album that MF made is impossible, that would be a very long resume! But, it might be interesting for people who never heard about him, to give some album titles, so they can go explore...
Also, all (or most) of the artwork on his albums are made by Rutger himself. If I am correct, he is a graphic-designer and it shows.
As I said, he's very prolific and he worked together with many great artists... Celer, Jaap Blonk, Minus Pilots, Stephen Vitiello, Steve Roden, Peter Broderick, Gareth Davis, Andrea Belfi, Dag Rosenqvist, ... to just name a few! He's also a member of Piiptsjilling... a band that mostly does improvisations while Jan Kleefstra recites poems in Frisian dialect (a Dutch dialect)... a must have in any collection! Rutger Zuydervelt website Machinefabriek at Bandcamp That's it for now, I do hope that anybody who is not familiar with Rutger's work, gives him a listen! I think he makes some of the most original music! Drones, micronoises, dance, theatre, television, ... he's done it all and I am positive that he will keep on surprising me in the future!
Listen below to Frank's rendition of John M. Bennett's 'tornatrueno' 192 kbps MP3 streaming audio and download a WAV file
About a year ago, I discovered the MOMA (Museum Of Microcassette Art) project, which definitely doesn't need an introduction, or does it? Now, I never listen first to what I buy. If the cover attracts me, or what is written about it (in this case by Hal), I just buy it. Most of the times, my feeling is correct and sometimes, well, I end up with crappy music (in general, I am not talking about MOMA). One of the MOMA-recordings that didn't attract me at all was MOMA093, from HAR$, titled 'Sketches for String Quartet with Windows, Open'. But for some strange reason, I always got pulled back to reading about that recording, again and again, until I finally decided to give it a go. And I haven't regretted it at all! It quickly became one of my favorite MOMA-albums. Another one of the MOMA-albums I kept postponing to buy is MOMA120, from Rinus van Alebeek, titled 'New Jerusalem'. There wasn't really a description of the record and the word 'Jerusalem' kinda scared me away also. But again, for some strange reason, I got pulled back again(maybe the orange cover) and I decided to buy it and once more... no regrets at all! It quickly became one of my favorite MOMA-albums. Guess, what I want to tell about MOMA115? Yes, the one from Emmanuel Rébus, with no particular title... Indeed, the same story, no attraction at all... but I kept on going back until I finally decided to buy it and yes... It quickly became (and so on). When something gets my attention, as the three previously mentioned albums did, I have the habit to learn/read more about the artists in question. And so, I found out that Harold Schellinx (HAR$), Rinus van Alebeek, Emmanuel Rébus and a fourth companion, Jean Bordé, make music together as DIKTAT and it is amazing! Mr. Bordé plays double bass and the three others play dictaphones! This is how Mr.Schellinx explains it himself: "If you would have the chance to hear Diktat play more often you will hear that the same voices and snippets of talking come back in a different setting." So, he doesn't see Diktat as a group that performs and performs, but as a piece of music that has different instantiations. Each time they perform, is a different instantiation of the piece DIKTAT.
If you think that I am finished with talking about Mr. Schellinx and companions... wrong! A while after my discovery of DIKTAT, I found out that he has this other thing going on, called 'unPublic'! He explains it himself as: "The only difference with a concert is, these are not concerts"... The first 'unPublic'-session they had was in Paris, on 18 October 2013. Again, the same names Jean Bordé (double bass, toy piano), Emmanuel Rébus (melodica, dictaphones), HAR$ (iPad/electronics, dictaphones) and joined by Doan Tri Minh (laptop/electronics, piano, toy piano) and Yoko Miura (toy piano, melodica, piano)... check it out! I love the concept and the music of course, judging by the unPublic Bandcamp account, I think I am their biggest fan (and almost only fan). Here's what happens, they get together (France, Belgium, Switzerland, South Korea, ...) and they start playing/ improvising/jamming/recording, having their own little concert without a public, hence 'unPublic' and without rehearsals. Every 'unPublic' has other participants, the only returning artist on all sessions is HAR$. At the moment, I think there are 40 something albums available and I simply love every one of them. Other artists, appearing on these sessions are: Rinus van Alebeek, Anton Mobin, Jeff Kolar, Jeff Surak, ... The point of my little story... not every story has to have a point! You can read some more about HAR$: www.harsmedia.com unPublic Bandcamp site Har$ Bandcamp Have a nice day. In the beginning there was: Let's go back in time a little for my first scribbles on Electronic Cottage. September 1987, that's when Gerry (classmate) gave me a mixed-tape of The Residents (side A had The Third Reich 'n Roll album and side B various songs). You can imagine the look on my face (at age 14) when I found out that music like that existed. Needless to say, I got hooked immediately and the following Saturday I went to town and bought everything that I could find of them. Remember the time that they still had real record stores? The smell of a record-store, the vibes inside the shop, I will never forget it, punks/rockers/skaters all side by side, each looking for their own little gems, CD-shops kinda ruined that one for me. Soon, I became a little collector of anything and everything I could get my little hands on... I started writing them (Ralph Records) and I even got some personalized items in the mailbox! I spent a small fortune on them back in the days, I got so deep into The Residents, that if I became a little deeper... I would be a Resident. I even had The Warner Bros. Album years before it got officially released. October 27, 1989 my first concert of them, after two years of collecting I could finally see them... what an experience! (could've been the LSD, but I doubt it) Let's be honest, everything they made in the 70's, simply amazing! The 80's same-same/but different, no other band even came close in producing such an amount of great albums! Ok, I didn't really like the Commercial Album, but that's a matter of taste. But then, only three years after I got to know them, they came out with Freak Show... I didn't get it, it sounded really boring to me. And unfortunately, I have had that feeling ever since. I don't want to say that they got less genius, or less inventive, but something was missing for me. I stopped collecting, stopped going to their shows, I even sold my collection (for the wrong reasons) and for way too little money. May 8, 2001 I went to see them once more and halfway the show, Frank left the building. April 28, 2010 one last try and once more, it just didn't do it for me anymore. (maybe, it was the lack of LSD, but I doubt it) Why I am writing this? Because, I wonder if other people have the same feeling about The Residents or maybe I am looking for someone who can convince me to listen to a certain album of them after 2000?
And why, why, why did Hardy Fox come out??? What happened to being anonymous?! Did he want to make more money as a solo-artist? To end my little rant, I want to say that I still have the utter most respect for the Eyeballed Ones! From 1972-till present, not many bands can top that! But in my humble opinion, as a collective... they could've existed forever! But then again... maybe they will.
Post-scriptum: Hell No! I will not stop making music! |
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