Hella and Me

A few years ago, a good friend turned me on to a band called Hella, then a guitar/drum duo. As a bassist, I immediately felt the need to fill that gap (and test my skills, big time). So I recorded the whole album, except for D.Elkan and Brown Metal, and tried to get it done in as few takes as possible so i left some mistakes in that i liked. Over all i think the bass lines stay true to the songs and add a little something to the harmony and rhythm. Well, there's not much more I can say except that it was a pain in the ass and I really enjoyed it.

Thanks for being awesome.

Hella and me - Hold your horse is

The Revolutionary Ensemble - Psyche

The RE were:

Sirone - Bass
Leroy Jenkins - Violin, Viola
Jerome Cooper - Piano, Drums

"The Revolutionary Ensemble were an extraordinary trio who unfortunately has a very limited discography, and what they did record is rather difficult to find. The Psyche is a case in point, released in 1975 on the small, self-produced RE: Records label and, as of 2002, unavailable on disc. It's a superb performance, however, consisting of three compositions, one by each group member, and can serve as a microcosm of what the band was about. Drummer Jerome Cooper was always the most concerned with extended and complex compositions. His lengthy "Invasion," which occupies side one of the album, is an episodic suite where the solos are integral to the piece's structure, not simply improvisations spun off of riffs. Even with the "limited" palette of violin, bass, and percussion (plus the composer on piano for a bit), Cooper is able to conjure forth a unique and fascinating sound world allowing both a clear exposition of his ideas as well as offering the personalities of the musicians to shine. Leroy Jenkins, the most soulful and bluesy of avant-garde jazz violinists, takes special advantage here in his extremely lovely solo feature. Sirone's "Hu-Man" is a freewheeling piece with an implied cadence as natural as rolling down a hill, but also with a melancholy theme once again driving directly to Jenkins' strength as he wrenches out another powerful, blues-drenched solo. Jenkins' own "Collegno" is a gorgeous and delicate work, giving lie to the notion that bands like this were only about screeching. Using the lightest of frameworks, the trio limns an exceedingly fine tracery of clearly etched yet breathtakingly fragile improvisations, never drifting very far from the feeling established at the outset until Sirone embarks on an arco solo that may threaten the integrity of one's woofers. The Psyche is a very fine recording by a wonderful and underrecorded trio; snatch it up if you're lucky enough to come across it."

Hu Man

Bablicon - In a Different City

"When The Melody Maker (RIP, and good riddance) describes your debut album as "certainly the the worst record ever made", you know you must be doing something right. This is precisely what the now defunct music paper said of Bablicon's 'In a Different City' album, and believe me, they are doing very much right. It's not difficult to imagine why the present breed of inkie journos might find this difficult music – it certainly isn’t for the narrow-minded! Their free, jazzy approach owes more to Robert Wyatt or Sun Ra than anything from the Rock world. But the Bablicon sound encompasses much more: there are elements of prog, echoes of Stravinsky, of krautrock and Beefheart. This might all sound like a recipe for chaos, but Bablicon manage to seamlessly blend all these elements together, often mixing several styles within the same song, and the end result, as Douglas Wolk wrote in CMJ, "comes out composed like a flower arrangement".

Bablicon are a Chicago-based trio of multi-instrumentalists with adopted Magic Band-style pseudonyms. Blue Hawaii (real name Griffin Rodriguez) plays electric bass, melodica, electronics, upright bass, voice, piano, electric piano, oisac keyboards and tape effects. Rodriguez has performed with a diverse selection of musicians, including Stereolab, The Olivia Tremor Control, Jeff Parker and Mars Williams. He is also a member of Icy Demons, another experimental Chicago/Philly outfit, and has produced both the Need New Body albums. The Diminisher (born David McDonnell) plays electric piano, clarinet, alto, soprano and C melody saxophones, oboe, small baby horns, theremin twins, friendly bird tinkles, electric ghetto duck, electronics, tape manipulation, piano, woodwinds, alien organ transmitter and voice. He graduated from DePaul University with a B.A. in composition and frequently has his works performed in Chicago. He too has collaborated with musicians from many backgrounds, also including Need New Body, The Olivia Tremor Control, Japanese pop star Kahimi Karie and jazz legend Ken Nordine, and also now plays with the Icy Demons. Marta Tennae (aka Jeremy Barnes) plays drums, accordion, electronics, piano, little drum, organ, voice and electric consultant. Barnes is a self-taught musician, who has played in more bands than would normally be considered healthy, including Neutral Milk Hotel, the Gerbils and Guignol, as well as live stints with - amongst others - Pop-Off Tuesday and Broadcast. Jeremy is also now performing and recording as a one-man-band, under the name of 'A Hawk and a Hacksaw'."

Bablicon really ripped shit up. A unholy mixture of concrète electronics, Faustian cut-up, Zapp'ed instrumental prowess, full-on Fire Music freedom and Beefhartian convoluted structures. The group is dormant now, with members pursuing other interests (specially Barnes who has gained quite a bit of notoriety with A Hawk and a Hacksaw) but let's hope they reconvene again to make awesome shit like this. The other album will follow soon.

2 birds