The Grand Rio Connection

Newsflash!

"PATRICIA DALLIO has a new CD out "L'encre des voix secrètes" which hit all the major High Street shops on the 20th August and immediately sold out! Tesco's, Sainsbury's and Wallmart are re-ordering to cope with heavy demand".

"Carlsberg don't usually broadcast Newsflashes but if they did ... they'd be the best Newsflashes in the world"

OK, Back to the real world, Yes Patricia Dallio "L'encre Des voix secrètes" is available for Euros 20 which includes postage from Sound Track (see below) Obviously no reviews out as yet but here's some information about Sound Track:

"We are a French association and our purpose is the promotion of experienced contemporary composers with a view to working with the "Visual arts world" i.e.: Choreographers, Painters, Film directors, Web designers etc.
We are a 20 strong creation team and we occasionally meet to build on common projects.
Often Art directors contact us to source composers who can write for their spectacle, then we present our team. Over the last 10 years with this purpose in mind we have created a "mini CD catalog" that showcases the composers of the association. We intend to replicate this project using DVD to be able to show the work of the visual creators that are also part of our team.
Cyril Dumontet (conservative of museum of contemporary art) and Patricia Dallio (musician, composer) are at the centre of the project.
We have a lot of difficulty attracting funding here in France and it is for this reason Patricia Dallio gives part of the profits from her CD sales because she thinks that Sound Track is really a good way to meet people and make quality projects. This is very important to her.

The artists in this association are always busy because of the quality of their work and experience. They concentrate on their creations, projects, concerts and performances. So we also have some volunteers that help the association to exist.
I am the secretary and I handle the CD orders and am always at your disposal to answer questions concerning sales.

Our Website Sound Track is under construction however you can always contact me directly.

For questions concerning the actual content of the CD's it is better to go directly to the Patricia Dallio website or contact her Patricia Dallio E-mail

Many Thanks
Caroline for Sound track "

Do Art Zoyd ever do Colour?

OK, This dropped through my letterbox a few days ago. Unfortunately my pet Rottweiler was asleep behind the front door at the time and he ripped it to shreds in a frenzied attack, annoyed at being woken from his slumber.

I've stuck it back together again as best I could. Hope you can make some sense out of it.

Cinéma/Concert
Metropolis/Art Zoyd

LAUSANNE Mercredi 10 septembre 2003 à 20H30
MAD (moulin à danses)
Rue de Genève
1003 LAUSANNE
"Association La fête du cinéma" , contact (00) 41 21 312 37 32

Metropolis de Fritz Lang est le quatrième film-concert d'Art Zoyd après Nosferatu et Faust de Murnau, Häxan de Christensen. Gérard Hourbette a choisi cette fois de superposer en quasi permanence deux, trois, voire quatre ou cinq musiques, que ce soient les siennes, celles de Patricia Dallio ou de Kasper Toeplitz. Chacune d'elle lutte contre l'autre, se marie, émerge, disparaît ou se confond en l'autre, le tout comme dans un immense maelström, mais aussi comme au cinéma : parfois premier ou second plan, horizon ou filigrane, comme une gigantesque fête foraine où les sons, les bruits et les musiques s'amoncellent, s'aliènent et finissent par créer une troisième musique, UN troisième espace, une troisième symphonie.
Yukari Bertochi-Hamada : clavier, samplers
Patricia Dallio : clavier, samplers
Jérôme Soudan "Mimétic" : Percussions, pads, samplers
Didier Casamitjana : Percussions, pads, samplers
Compositions : Gérard Hourbette, Kasper Toeplitz, Patricia Dallio
Contact : Monique Vialadieu 03 27 64 74 33
Visit : Artzoyd.com or check out their September newsletter, then go on the the site

It's the best I could do, sorry! However the great thing about me regurgitating this wonderful "French" Spam is that we get a chance to visit a brilliant Website devoted to plugging women into electrical contraptions.... No sorry, Art Zoyd. If you are not aware of the music of Art Zoyd then brace yourself, very much like Maria is doing above!

My introduction was on the advice of Andy Garibaldi of CD Services (UK based mail order). Andy is a big Magma fan and I've always found his recommendations to be right up my alley until ..... Nosferatu, Art Zoyd's soundtrack to Murnau's Vampire Classic (see issuses 23 and 24 of Ork Alarm!) This was eagerly awaited, especially after Andy's big build up. Nosferatu was my "starter for ten". And after that ..... The World! However things didn't according to plan. In a nutshell, I thought it was the biggest pile of dog turd I'd ever had the misfortune to hand over hard earned cash for. It certainly wasn't Magma style, actually I wasn't sure it was Music. OK, I wasn't aware at the time that it was a "soundtrack", but even so it was filed under B for "bin".

I haven't a clue what possessed me to play it again (possibly reading back issues of Ork Alarm!) but I'm glad I did. Art Zoyd don't do colour Films and I don't do reviews, I've tried them. I sit there in front of the screen and two hours later it's still blank. All I'd say is if you are looking for something off the beaten track, or possibly Richter Scale, then look no further. Whether it's Zeuhl is another matter entirely, although earlier Art Zoyd ensembles were intertwined with Univers Zero and Daniel Denis, who of course once brushed past Christian Vander in a pub and part of his left shoulder turned Zeuhl overnight. I digress, I'm delighted I did return to Nosferatu and then take the plunge further,. Berlin, Faust, Haxan, Ubique, I'm working my way slowly towards the early years at the moment (any recommendations?) and of course Patricia Dallio (Discography), Art Zoyd band member and my current Heroine. I just love "Procession" (see Ork! Update 13) and I can't wait to get my grubby mitts on her new one. As Eddie Charlton (Australian Snooker Player) once said, concerning his all time favourite singer, Barbara Striesand .... "If she had a shit in the middle of the road, I'd sit by it all night long!" (he has such a way with words) OK, I'm not sure I'd go that far, but for me, Patricia, and for that matter Art Zoyd can do no Wrong.

Gateway to the Stars

I recently read in a computer magazine an article stating that with the latest generation of software, there was no excuse for anyone not having their own personal Website. Now that is bollocks! Read my lips. "Content, Content, Content" Ork Alarm! Issues 1 to 25 had it, The Magma Web Press book has it, but there's an awful lot of poo out there! (as Eddie would have said)

I think the "Zeuhl Gateway" idea has many merits. A "Zeuhl" filter! Yes! Chaff and Wheat and Shit. Yeah, you got the idea? (I'm just filling up the page) If you know any relevant sites, then drop me a line. Also this takes the heat off me having to deliver original copy.

Here's a few Art Zoyd links, as if you didn't know them!
Art Zoyd - This has a medium chaff rating but is worth a visit especially as you get to E-mail the "Zoydmaster"
Silent Cries - This is more like it! Where else can you find Art Zoyd and Kate Bush articles on the same site? The Patricia Dallio link has been sabotaged, possibly by Kate. (Interesting fact: Tony Meo (Snooker Player) went to same school as Miss Bush).
Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive rock - Wow! (overused word, I know) Check this little site out and I'll see you back at Ork Alarm! in a couple of Months time.
Ground and Sky - Scraping the barrel a bit here but there is some Art Zoyd info and an updated review page on "Mekanïk Kommandöh ", which was nice. This is also an excellent Prog Rock Review Encyclopedia
Opposition de Phase - Avant-rock, prog, impro, concrète... toutes les musiques nouvelles et inventureuses! Bloody annoying Pop-up ad mate! However, right up your alley and a Radio Station to boot?! Well on 99.83654FM if you live within a 7 Iron and three putts from number 14 Lille High Street.
Rock in Opposition - et dérivés, avant-prog, avant-rock, et autres musiques progressives et nouvelles - Seems to be related to the site above but can obviously afford to do away with the Webspace Provider adverts. This looks great apart from one small problem, I can't read French very well. Discuss: Is it an advantage listening to music in a Foreign Language, in as much as you cannot be put off by the words. Would I like the Albert Marcoeur tracks on Ma Vie avec Elles as much if they were in English? Is Pavarotti talking Bollocks? Would an English version of Carmina Burana make you cringe? Great article in there somewhere? Fancy taking it on? drop me a line!

A Hard Quest

My Ten year old son loves "Toujours plus à l'est" - Univers Zero (Crawling Wind CD) Cuneiform Records He doesn't know it yet, but after I've forced him to listen to it (on the "School Run") a few times, he'll be begging me to stick it on a CDR for him - He's already got Simon Steensland, Weather Report, Cygnes... , Herbie Hancock, A Tous Les Enfant, and I've got him trying to follow the beat in "Ubique". I'll teach him to play me S Club 7! Wait until Andy Kirk's Synth kicks in! He was listening to Mekanïk Kommandöh whilst watching my online Poker skills take a bashing at Poker Million and asked me who the guy with the crappy voice was? He openly admits to prefering "a Pizza Hut a Pizza Hut Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut" Don't worry, I'll force him to listen to "Ima suri dondai" MDK version and that'll be that sorted!

Anyway, where was this leading? .... Ah! Univers Zero, now there's a band, but where's the official website? Am I missing something? There's a dated effort Unvivers Zero which is good nonetheless (this also contains a hidden game! thanks Totalzoo! Try to escape from the "Hard Quest" .... Great isn't it?)

Phil Kime has some top stuff on Univers Zero and Shub Niggurath. The FAQ's also make interesting reading.

I knew there was a reason we pay our license fee here in the UK. Good old Auntie Beeb (a.k.a. BBC), I thought they played Kylie and stuff, where have I been hiding? A review of Rhythmix by Bill Tilland and a Cueiform link. What would Paul M. have made of this???

The Perfect Sound website - "The online music magazine with warped perspectives since 1993" carries a 1996 interview with Daniel Denis which was originally published in Drummer Dude magazine. Clicking back to their home page promises a ... warped ride at the very least.

All Present and Correct?

From the people that gave us the "Hard Quest" interactive game comes another website and it has no Britneys*. Talk about up to the minute, this official Present website has the 2004 band members included already! Haven't checked out any of the games yet. Also visit the official website of Dave Kerman from U TOTEM, 5 UU's, BLAST, THINKING PLAGUE and PRESENT fame.

* From the New Oxford Dictionary of English 2003 Cockney Edition:
Britney Spears
Vulgar/Noun/Plural
1. Of the same status
2. Without Britneys - Unrivalled, without equal.
see also - Peers

Arkham (like Beckham)

Well, OK it'll never make a film title but I thought it might help from a search engine perspective! Currently sitting here in this backwater, you don't get a lot of stray.

Arkham are one of the lost legends of early 70's European progressive rock. They were formed in Bruxelles in 1970 by keyboardist Jean-Luc Manderlier & drummer Daniel Denis, along with a bassist. They were probably the most popular progressive rock band in Belgium during their lifetime, playing numerous gigs & festivals, but the band eventually broke up in 1972, when Christian Vander invited Daniel & Jean-Luc to join Magma. Jean-Luc stayed for some time, performing on their Mekanïk Destructïw Kommandöh album, while Daniel only stayed a short while, before eventually returning to Belgium and eventually founding Univers Zero. An all instrumental trio/quartet (late in the band's life, they added electric flugelhornist Claude Deron), their sound was comparable to an original, continental take on Canterbury style bands such as Soft Machine, Egg & Caravan. Despite their popularity & influence, due to their early demise no recordings have ever been released until now! Includes an 8 page booklet with astounding period photos & a short history of the band written by Daniel & Jean-Luc. Note that while these tapes have been carefully remastered from concerts & rehearsals from over 30 years ago, they are not up to modern day recording standards.

Visit - Cuneiform Records - To buy this CD