THIERRY
ZABOITZEFF15-03-93 Montreux 18-03-93 Le Sunset, 60 rue des Lombards, Paris 19-03-93 Le Sunset, Paris 20-03-93 Le Sunset, Paris
27-03-93 Ampithéâtre Pablo Picasso, Le Plessis-Robinson
29-04-93 Palais des Congrès, Le Mans (Europa Jazz Festival du Mans) ??-07-93 Reims (Possible concert - date still to be confirmed) ??-11-93 Bordeaux (Georges simply says "postponed until November - probably").
29-05-93 Théâtre Municipal, Calais
One of the future AKT releases will feature a (rehearsal?) session by MAGMA recorded in September 1969.
Jannick Top plays his unique cello styled bass on UTE LEMPERER's (German Torch singer) latest album. She was in London in March for a concert at The Sadlers Wells, but sadly without Jannick.
ART ZOYD were quite active last year with marathon twelve hour concerts and various promotions for their excellent 'Nosferatu' album. I still don't know what happened to the projected UK tour though. If it ever happened there was certainly no press coverage or advertising. Let's hope they try again soon with help from RéR Megacorp perhaps. Chris Cutler's mail order company also staged a wonderful FAUST reunion concert at the Marquee in London on 1-11-92 at which Jean-Herve Peron promised to return soon. Anyway, in between ART ZOYD's various French concerts some of them managed to find time to produce two new solo albums.
THIERRY
ZABOITZEFFMulti-instrumentalist THIERRY ZABOITZEFF has released a second solo album of experimental New Music called 'Dr Zab & his Robotic Strings Orchestra' (Mantra). Like his previous solo album ('Promethée') it has an electronic ambiance to it that's spiced up by various experimental touches on bass, percussion and winds. The feel is much like ART ZOYD, but the sound is more focused, making the impact perhaps even greater.
Keyboard
player PATRICIA DALLIO is back with another colleague from Art Zoyd, Alain Eckert
on guitar, for her second solo album 'Procession' (DTR 554). Unlike her earlier
piano solo album (which I must add that I have not heard), this New Music CD
(53 mins) is quite similar in style and content to many recent Art Zoyd works.
It also features alto saxophonist Philippe Gisselman from the 70's Zeuhl group
CARMINA. The talents of Eckert and Gisselman enhance the dark climates and provide
impressive atmospheres, avoiding all the electronic excesses that often detract
from solo keyboardist albums. It is the dark Art-Zoydian undertones that immediately
struck me on first listening - a must for any AZ collector. I find myself returning
to this album every few days, in fact it's one of the finest albums I have heard
in the last year.
If you still have not discovered the WEIDORJE CD - Archie from Eurock Magazine says: "WEIDORJE was Bernard Paganotti's Post Magma band. Their one album was pure Kobaïan space music (a la 'Üdü Wüdü'). This reissue has two extra bonus tracks making it a real treat for all fans of high intensity sound".
XAAL is a band that combines the sound of KING CRIMSON with the spirit of Magma. Basically a trio, they play up a storm as a heavy rhythm section backs up a super-sonic guitar / synthesized guitar assault that's embellished by various winds and keyboards. They played a concert at the Théâtre Trevise in Paris on the same night as the concert in Le Plessis-Robinson, a bit of bad timing unfortunately.
ReR Megacorp should now be stocking the 'Un Homme... une batterie' video by Christian Vander, be warned though - it's a curious item, a drum tutor, with only a few very short live OFFERING clips.
Chris Cutler also mentioned in passing that he might speak to Daevid Allen concerning some of the untold stories about Magma. Time was when they represented two poles of music in France and were intensely aware of one another - going to each other's concerts and sometimes enacting dramas. It was a fascinating time: Magma and the classic GONG.... Let's hope Chris can find the time to interview Daevid for Ork Alarm!
RICHARD
PINHASRichard PINHAS' latest release 'DWW' on the Cuneiform label (Rune 40) is sadly no better than many of his solo albums of the eighties but at least he is starting to get involved in the music business again and perhaps will reach the inventiveness of his HELDON era with his next release. In the meantime the 1992 album 'DWW' features Patrick GAUTHIER on three tracks and Paganotti plays bass on another. Gauthier wrote one track 'Ballade pour Frederic Magnus' but most of the album was compiled from a variety of sessions from 1983 up to 1991.
ARTE (Franco-German TV) have discussed with Christian, a special programme about Magma; now don't forget to set your video recorders.... Especially anyone with a PAL system! But wouldn't it be even better if Seventh could get the rights to sell the programme in PAL, NTSC and SECAM video formats?
XCRANIEUM are a Californian trio who are developing in the THINKING PLAGUE / UNIVERS ZERO vein. They have a vaguely King Crimson / Zeuhl influenced demo cassette recorded in 1991 called 'Moodgraft' it's a sometimes light, gentle, relaxing music with the occasional melancholy flavour of Univers Zero. Another more recent recording 'The State of Time' for a Cable TV program is more ambient and partly improvised. Their bassist, Greg GUNTHNER informs me that they are planning a CD release soon in their new heavier style. The subtle twists in their musical styles are intriguingly hard to define - AUDION magazine said "Intensive yet elusive instrumental music that is totally fascinating". We hope to do a feature on XCRANIEUM in a future issue of Ork Alarm!
Daniel Denis was in the audience at Christian's concert in Le Plessis-Robinson and he is, as far as I know (we discussed the availability of Univers Zero T-shirts) still working on his new album, but Jean Christophe Alluin says that it will also feature Andy Kirk and Dirk Descheemaeker (both ex-Univers Zero) and will have a more "live feel" than 'Sirius and the Ghosts'.
Ultima Thule still have stocks of their release by SHUB NIGGURATH: 'Live' (AMC 036). It is a forty-minute tape of five tracks recorded in Paris on 13-01-89. Often quoted as "Magma inspired", Shub Niggurath have always been much more than that. For proof, check out their awesomely powerful debut LP on Musea. With influences that include: Stravinsky, H.P. Lovecraft (the author) and King Crimson, their concoction is a weird and fascinating neo-gothic horror fusion, particularly brooding and spooky on this concert recording. Meanwhile, Shub Niggurath are working on another album for 1993.
Sophia Domancich - Funerals (Gimini 1001).
Her debut CD featuring Bruno Tocanne, Paul Rogers, The brothers Guillard and,
on one track, John Greaves. A passionate example of jazz-fusion, with the benefit
of the horns in parts.