Jazz, Free Jazz, Improv, Improvised; CD (1995)
The first document of the intense one-on-one music created by Chicago percussionist Hamid Drake and German multiple reedman Peter Brotzmann ...and a revelation it is! The Dried Rat-Dog contains some of Brotzmann's most forceful, powerful playing, as well as his most lyrical and intimate. With Drake featured on hand drums, North Indian tabla, and frame drum, as well as trap kit, the polyrhythms and percussive ideas flow freely, and Brotzmann responds with earth-moving alto and tenor sax, tarogato, and clarinet. Brotzmann plays a host of reed instruments – including tarogato, e-flat clarinet, alto, and tenor – and Drake plays his trademark frame drum, plus tablas and a regular drum kit. 6 tracks of varying length, including "It's An Angel On The Door.
Japan, Noise, Rock, KK Null, Acid Mothers Temple, Ruins; Rare CD (1991) Public Bath Records
1991 studio release from Japanese band ZENI GEVA, who formed in Tokyo in 1987. They incorporate elements of prog-rock, hardcore, heavy metal and noise-rock in their music. The core members are KK. Null (who is also known for his solo works) and Mitsuru Tabata (who is mostly known for his work with Acid Mothers Temple), the rest of the line-up went thru several changes over the years. They reformed in 2007 after a long break and started to tour again in 2009, joined by Tatsuya Yoshida on drums, who was also a part of one of the early line-ups. Tabata left the band in 2012, so currently they work as a duo.
Noise, Experimental, Smegma, Yellow Swans, Daniel Menche, Portland, Underground; DVD Self Released
People who do noise is a full-length documentary about Portland music makers.
What is "noise" and what is "music"? And where exactly do the two meet? Or should they? Are they completely different entities, to be appreciated on separate but equal terms? Such questions are apparently the basis of a riveting documentary (see it below) called People Who Do Noise, which focuses on artists working in the experimental music underground of Portland, Oregon. To aficionados of the noise genre, Portland is akin to Liverpool, England in the early '60s, or Seattle, Washington in the early '90s. Made on a shoestring budget of $10,000 back in 2008, People Who Do Noise goes up close and personal with the musicians of this scene, profiling them in candid interviews (they're an opinionated bunch!) and working on music they fully admit isn't for everyone. And that's precisely the point. Perhaps the sounds these performers create aren't your cup of tea, either. That's fine. But the documentary is well worth watching for the interviews. Taken together, they create a fascinating mosaic of a bold, uncompromising musical movement.
Improv, Improvised, Noise, Self Released, Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith, San Francisco, Experimental; DVD
Noisy People is a feature length video documentary that opens a window into a tightly-knit group of unusual sound artists and musicians from the San Fransisco improvisational music community. Self Released DVD (2006)
Surreal, Gore, Violent, Erotic, Gruesome, Disturbing, Weird, Netherlands; DVD (2010)
This surreal erotic thriller is set in a flesh-filled and violence-prone butcher shop. A large, lustful butcher, used to living out his sexual fantasies in the shop, becomes interested in Roxy, his young female apprentice. The girl, documenting everything with a video camera, enthusiastically gets involved with him. But when the butcher is murdered and a police inspector, who looks exactly like the dead butcher, investigates the crime, the story takes on a dreamlike quality.
Berlin, Germany, Photography, Art; Paperback Book (2009)
Berlins biennial festival on 5th September '08 culminated in a large scale film and photography project which saw a 24 hour TV screening, and resulted in this hug 544 page book put together by over 80 film-makers and photographers, documenting 24 hours of the buzzing German capitol. This mostly colour photo book was published one year later on 5th September '09.
Graphic Novel, Gay Interest, India, Comic, Paperback, Museum of Fine Art; 120 pages VG Used condition
They were inseparable – until the day they jumped. Ruth, saved by safety nets, leaves the city. Kari, saved by a sewer, crawls back into the fray of the living. She writes ad copy for hair products and ill-fitting lingerie, falls for cats and roadside urchins, and the occasional adventuress in a restaurant. As Danger Chhori, her PVC-suit-clad alter ego, she unclogs sewers and observes the secret lives of people and fruit. And with Angel, Lazarus, and the girls of Crystal Palace forming the chorus to her song, she explores the dark heart of Smog City – loneliness, sewers, sleeper success, death – and the memory of her absentee Other. Sensuously illustrated and livened by wry commentaries on life and love, Kari gives a new voice to graphic fiction in India.
Video Art, Zine, Art, Paperback, Australian; April 2006 with DVD - VGC
Runway was an independent, artist-run initiative published twice a year by The Invisible Inc.
Comic, Vertigo, Graphic Novel, Eisner Award, Fables; 2007 VG Used condition
Pinocchio suffers seriously divided loyalties between his father, the evil Adversary, and his fellow Fable refugees in New York. Plus, Bigby Wolf reluctantly decides it's finally time to square accounts with his long-estranged father, the North Wind, and makes a journey with Snow White and their kids to find him.
