Teodoro Anzellotti: Erik Satie Compositeur de Musique

Bob Burnett: When composer/pianist Erik Satie died in 1925, a group of friends and admirers realized no one had been to his one room apartment in the Parisian suburb of Arcueil since he had moved there twenty-seven years earlier. A group got together and decided to go in and explore--after all someone had to take on the task of dispersing his belongings. What was found has been called the King Tut tomb equivalent of the eccentric musician's stamp on life; scores of umbrellas--many never used, a total of four pianos: two dust and spider web encrusted ones were back to back, the others sat upside-down on top of the other two. Scattered about were letters from all periods of his life, drawings, collections of writings and other memorabilia including seven velvet suits from his Velvet Gentleman period; an era where he wore the identical suits one after another.

Found among the ephemera of nearly three decades of living and working in one room was sheet music for compositions. The scores were discovered behind the piano, in the pockets of the velvet suits, and in other odd places. According to a very well put-together wikipedia submission, these included marathon composition Vexations and other unpublished or unfinished works, The Dreamy Fish, many exercises, a previously unseen set of "canine" piano pieces, several other piano works often without titles. Some of these works would be published later as Gnossienes , (the series being some of his more known compositions) Pièces Froides, Enfantines, and Furniture Music.

I have known Satie's work from a variety of solo piano releases--my first exposure being the '70s EMI release by Aldo Ciccolini. There have been many others. A 2002 release, Hidden Corners by Eve Egoyan being my most recent version purchased. Now I've found another version--but not for piano. This time it's Satie performed on accordion, Erik Satie Compositeur de Musique by Teodoro Anzellotti on the Winter & Winter label, first released in 1998.

As his website states, Anzellotti has successfully contributed to integrating the accordion into classical music. This has occurred principally through his service to New Music: through his development of performing techniques he has enlarged the tone-color capabilities and sonic profile of his instrument. I first became aware of him on another Winter & Winter release 3 Compositions by John Cage which is a wonderfully subdued and beautifully executed offering.

I'm finding Erik Satie Compositeur de Musique to be an addicting listen. The melodies are familiar (Sports et Divertissements, Gnossienne's and Gymnopedie for piano No. 1) but the tone of the accordion and Anzellotti's ability to overlap and differentiate the simple but elegant notation is captivating. He creates an open, minimal quality that usually isn't associated with the accordion. In terms of easy digital purchasing, Erik Satie Compositeur de Musique is available via emusic or Amazon. I suggest looking into it.

The Mysteries of Sustain and Electricity:Kim Kirkpatrick: Through the years I routinely ponder band dynamics. The quality of their music over the long haul and how they manage to stay together for years. My own brief struggles in a band produced an appreciation for bands that remain creative for years. I honestly cannot fathom how bands manage to hold it together, maintain a positive group dynamic, and create excellent music with such longevity. Now many an important band in my life has carried on too long, gotten so bad and such a parody of themselves that their previous output becomes ruined for me (yeah I know this is a personal problem). But being in a band is a marriage (with extra spouses) and how can anyone be expected to recognize their failure while in the decay itself, much less halt the tumbling disaster?

This submission started true to C60 form, positive thoughts about bands to be shared. I am often pleased to consider the scope and size of discographies by such bands as The Bats or The Clean. Such bands of commitment and growth remain musically relevant in my life and are very important to me. All their years together can be heard in the familiarity and comfort level of playing together, as well as the band's overall refinement and progress. These are experienced musicians with time well spent together, traveling companions in a multitude of ways, and they share it all with us.

A few examples:

The American Analog Set

The Go-Betweens

Luna

Yo La Tengo

The Bats: The Guilty Office

Kim Kirkpatrick: A frustrating life experience we all share is waiting, and more often then not satisfaction is not the end result, right? How about a happy ending this time? I wait and wait for new music from The Bats. I wait for more of their melodies, their comfortable interplay, and I look forward to experiencing new musical swirling and floating pleasure in my head and heart. The Bats may not surface as often as I'd like but astoundingly the original line up has remained in tact for 25 years, half a dozen albums and several world tours. I was fortunate early on to catch a small club appearance by The Bats thanks to an insistent friend (Mike of Slumberland) and it was an invigorating, pop rockin' experience I'll always remember. I can still picture Mike smiling, eyes shut, his head swinging trance like to the jangle and pulse of The Bats. The band's songs (especially early on) were most often fast and driven hard by clean electric rhythm guitar. As a fan(atic) you'd rise up on these sonic waves, ride them gleefully, enjoy the blissful balance of it all, and really hope the wave never broke. It did of course but another wave of pleasure was right behind.

Leading The Bats is Robert Scott (also of The Clean), the main vocalist, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist. The bassist, Paul Kean slips along and punches through the melodies with a unique style and tone. Kaye Woodward always has a concise solo, color, or melody to enhance the structure and direction of their songs. Malcolm Grant's drumming holds it all together and moving forward with a particularly bouncy, light touch that really adds to the pleasure that is The Bats.

Another pleasure for me personally is their combination of a Vox AC30 and Fender Twin Reverb amps, both classic equipment for decades of rock music. A simple comparison could describe the Vox as one of clarity and sparkle as compared to the Fender Twin's loud, muscular tone. I love so much music that utilizes either of these amps (do some research if you are so inclined) but I particularly like the Fender Twin's breathing, smooth lower register tone. I love to hear the driven amp tones, the subtle use of analog effects, and tasteful sonic touches.

All of this is masterfully present on The Guilty Office, along with the addition of strings, a harp, and an accordion. This newest release lingers more at a mid to slower pace, but as always the songs are compelling and grow with repeated listening. Lyrics about relationships, observations, even seemingly timeless tales continue to flow with refinement from Mr. Scott. The Bats create beautiful, catchy, intelligent music whenever they gather together. If you are new to The Bats The Guilty Office is a fine starting point and not as pricey as some material appears to have gotten. Other additions would be the band compiled best of (import), Thousands of Tiny Luminous Spheres, another import, Compiletely Bats pulls together early material, and Fear of God or Daddy's Highway are also solid releases.

Lots of info about The Bats at this site.

The Big Eyes Family Players: Do the Musiking

Bob Burnett: Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Tin Hat Trio, Young Marble Giants. A diverse set of musical styles that bring to mind eccentric, spare, haunting music. I'm adding The Big Eyes Family's Do the Musiking to that wide ranging group of oh so masterful artists. Do the Musiking is a series of short cuts--mostly 2 minutes or so in length-- that form a 29 track-72 minute compilation. There's a yard sale full of instrumentation--sometimes played rhythmically and sometime a kilter; moments of spare Americana folk, klezmer, old world acoustic, occasional spacious-semi psychedelic electric guitar as well as woodwinds straight out of late '60s progressive that would fit right in on King Crimson's first album. The project evokes a Joseph Cornell meets Boo Radley feel; small, delicate, slightly dusty keepsakes of sound pulled out of an old forgotten chiffarobe.

According to Matthew Murphy's Pitchfork write-up, Do the Musiking was released in 2006. The project's mainstays were multi-instrumentalist James Green and guitarist Dave Jaycock who have worked together since the late '90s under the name Big Eyes. Following the release of Big Eyes' 2004 album We Have No Need For Voices When Our Hearts Can Sing, the duo expanded the standard group format to add a series of guests that included Rachel Grimes (Rachel's), Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel, A Hawk and a Hacksaw), and Scottish folkie James Yorkston. Do the Musiking was three years in the making.

Apparently the Big Eyes Family Players have a recent release titled Warm Room. I know nothing about it beyond what I gleaned from a few brief write-ups about it being connected as an ode to folk through their unique lens of what folk music is. Hopefully it connects as nicely as Do the Musiking did with me.

Taylor Deupree+ Christopher Willits: Listening Garden

Bob Burnett: I've spent a good part of the last 30 years getting further and further immersed in long form, minimal/slow/glacial forms of music and sound composition. It all started with the Obscure label (Eno, David Toop, Jan Steele/John Cage, Penguin Cafe Orchestra) and has drifted, melted and ambled through many wonderful iterations and varieties. (This Heat, Lamonte Young, Morton Feldman, William Basinski) One of my current favorites is a sound composition by Taylor Deupree and Christopher Willits aptly named "Listening Garden". The composition is an environmental sound design based on the natural sounds of Japan's Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media. Among the tones and hues of the space is a beautiful blending of Deupree's sonic manipulations and Willits' treated guitar textures and hums. The result is an album-length composition broken into five segments that drifts and ambles within the sound textures of the environment; the listener experiences air pressure changes, muted voices and distant comings and goings, the clicks and clacks of motion and a sense of a fleeting moment in time captured and framed. There's nothing new-agey or sound effects soaked about this composition. Albeit "relaxing" as a listening experience, it offers engagement and stimulation. Listening Garden was released on Deupree's 12k label--a limited edition run of 1000 vinyl copies came out originally. I found it as a digital download on emusic; it instantly made its way onto my iPOD however, I suggest playing it through speakers to give it the much deserved space it craves. There's another review with further comments here. In addition to the mentioned review please go to 12k's webpage.

The Clean "Mister Pop"

Bob Burnett: I've been pretty much heavy rotating The Clean's September release "Mister Pop"since it came out. All praise must go to WFMU DJ Maria Levitsky. I was streaming one of her Wed. afternoon shows and there it appeared--the unmistakably fresh sound of New Zealand's The Clean. Merge Records, is currently streaming "Mister Pop" so I suggest hitting the link and listening in yourself--and of course don't take advantage of their generosity; get it on cd, mp3 or FLAC directly from Merge.

Other Music's Dave Martin also spoke highly of "Mister Pop" in a review that sums it up nicely:

"The Clean are now into their third decade as a band and while there has been a lot of downtime in that span, they still managed to draft the blueprint for the sound that came be known as indie rock, and what I would consider some of the best music ever made, ever. The on-again, off-again status that the Kilgour brothers and Robert Scott have maintained over the last two decades seems to suit them very well. These days it appears that their strength is in their lack of ambition beyond self-satisfaction. They don't expect to unveil another "Tally Ho" and you shouldn't either, but they do make music that hits the perfect balance of familiar and new, and if that doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement then you are reading it wrong. On the whole Mister Pop drifts by in a wonderful psychedelic haze but the more you listen the better it gets.

Kim Kirkpatrick: The Clean's first EP Boodle Boodle Boodle was released in 1981 on New Zealand's Flying Nun Records. If (at the time) you were following the current punk, post punk, rock of England and America The Clean was relatable and utterly refreshing at the same time. Historically this release from The Clean boosted and supported the growth of the label and consequently brought the world New Zealand's vibrant "do it yourself" musical scene that was Flying Nun Record's punk/pop/noise. "Billy Two" was a gleeful jolt of a song, with it's powerful acoustic guitar, punk in it's energy and pop with it's oh so fast and fetching catchiness. "Anything Could Happen" started with the prettiest of slow paced 12 string strumming, then a loping bass joined in and the song twisted towards a country saloon performance (Stones circa Beggar's Banquet). "Point That Thing Somewhere Else", an electric, muscling surf/psych sound, driving and pulsing like The Velvet Underground or a possessed version of The Ventures. In retrospect the approach and attitude of these three songs prove to be the blueprint for all that was to become The Clean. One could also link these songs (+" Tally Ho") with all of Flying Nun's various bands to come. Musical connections and line up crossovers within the New Zealand/Flying Nun scene abound. A worthy 2 CD compilation of The Clean is available from Merge Records and Bob reviewed it back in January of 2008.

The Dave Martin review of Mister Pop that Bob posted should send you in pursuit of this music, and of course the fact Bob bothered to write about it is reason enough for most of us to give it several spins. As for myself, I'd say Mister Pop is a must own, a masterful collection of songs that function best in their entirety. We all know how rare and precious such a find is in musical recordings. I could list all the styles touched upon, do a dreaded checklist of related bands, but seriously just give it a listen. You will hear the links, make your own connections and come away wanting to listen again and again to Mister Pop. It has great diversity from track to track yet fits together comfortably. It rocks, jangles, and even manages to produce an instrumental that organically crosses Cluster/Neu with Nick Drake! Throughout Mister Pop the band produces a warm, friendly performance, and the lyrics are playful but often carry an underlying poignancy. And The Clean still play tune after tune that will keep resurfacing in the canyons of your mind long after you turn off the stereo or remove your earbuds. The musicians that play together on Mister Pop are settled into life, matured, and can take a song, a solo, a tone, in any direction they want with ease. On Mister Pop every song is natural, homemade, and just perfect. And The Clean manage to reproduce this like you are in the room with them.

Here's a link to a David Kilgour release I wrote back in February of 2007.

Bob Burnett: I couldn't agree with Kim more--and what a terrific connection he made about the song "Tensile" as being Cluster/Neu/Nick Drake. I'm listening to "Moonwalker" right now and am amazed at the raga-rock nature of the vamp they create. A floating "Baba O'Reilly" experience with a gentle, even tempo--The Who meets Cul de Sac. I find this album to be a transformative iPOD experience. Can't recommend it enough.

Yo La Tengo and Steve Eliovson/Colin Walcott

Bob Burnett: We've let the site sit still basking in the stage lights of the Jonas Brothers concert review. I was just headphonin' on my couch at sunrise, listening to Yo La Tengo's "And then nothing turned itself inside-out" on a quiet rain-filled Sunday and said, "it's time....yes.....it's time" especially since last evening was filled with Yo La Tengo's recent "Popular Songs" release. Yo La Tengo is the group for me that brings so many things together-including the desire to write a thing or two on C60. I google-crawled around for a moment looking into what was being written about "Popular Songs" and discovered the usual need to say the band has been at it 25 years as well as a need to dog the two long, beautiful, engaging cuts at the end of the release as "interminable".....blah....blah reviwerspeak slather. Yo La Tengo can do their own version of Erik Satie's "Vexations" on every release as far as I'm concerned. More about Erik Satie's "Vexations" here if interested. They've earned the right in my opinion to extend, extend and extend. The world needs more "Sister Ray"'s in a Morton Feldman blender.

Another bright spot for me this weekend was the re-discovery of the Steve Eliovson/Colin Walcott album "Dawn Dance". The ECM duet album of acoustic guitar and percussion came out in the early '80s. I used to play it all the time and then one day just stopped. Never to re-visit. In fact, it eventually vanished a long time ago from my "record collection". I had a sudden "I wonder what happened to Steve Eliovson" moment yesterday. I found he made "Dawn Dance" to well-received praise and due to a series of life circumstances pretty much Giuseppi Logan'd and vanished from the world of music. The album is hopelessly out-of-print however is available as a download from Amazon for under $10. There's a rather nice photo montage on youtube that features a cut from the album worth looking into.

Re-finding this album is tempting me to consider getting the Codona boxed set. Just what I need--another boxed set to simultaneously revel in the fact that I have it--and be overwhelmed by the sheer mass to ever properly listen in full.