FRED FRITH – Step Across The Border (2LP-1990)

Label: RecRec Music – RecRec 30

Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Compilation / Country: Switzerland / Released: 1990

Style: Avantgarde, Experimental, Jazz-Rock

Music for the film by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel, Recorded between 1979 and 1989.

Artwork [Lithography] – Busag, Zürich

Design [Cover] – Peter Bäder

Engineer – Benedykt Grodon

Photography By – Oscar Salgado

Recorded By – Jean Vapeur

Compiled with additons and alterations at Sound Fabrik, Munich Dec. 89.

A1 - Sparrow Song ........... (1:31)

A2 - Voice of America, Part III .......... (4:26)

A3 - Selluloid Restaurant ........... (3:12)

A4 - After Dinner .......... (1:49)

A5 - Houston Street .......... (2:56)

A6 - Drum Factory .......... (2:04)

A7 - Regardless of Rain ............ (3:07)

B1 - Candy Machine ............ (3:02)

B2 - Romanisches Café .......... (6:22)

B3 - The Border ........... (3:31)

B4 - Nirvana Again ............ (1:55)

B5 - Scottish Roppongi ........... (1:50)

C1 - Norrgarden Nyvla ............ (2:59)

C2 - Birds ........... (2:21)

C3 - The As Usual Dance towards the Other Flight to What Is Not, Part 3 ........... (1:50)

C4 - Williamsburg Bridge ........... (1:56)

C5 - Same Old Me .......... (4:13)

C6 - The As Usual Dance towards the Other Flight to What Is Not, Part 7 ........... (2:28)

C7 - Lost and Found .......... (3:20)

D1 - Nine by Nine .......... (5:54)

D2 - Evolution ........... (3:23)

D3 - Union Square .......... (1:44)

D4 - Morning Song .......... (2:03)

D5 - Voice of America, Part IV .......... (2:05)

D6 - Too Much Too Little ........... (2:09)

D7 - Too Late ........... (2:25)

Line-up / Musicians:

- Fred Frith / guitar, violin, bass, home-mades, DX7, Casio, voice, percussion, bottles, trumpet

- Tom Cora / cello, drum, voice

- Zeena Parkins / keyboards, drum, voice

- Bob Ostertag / Serge synthesizer, tapes, samples

- Bill Laswell / bass

- Fred Maher / drums

- John Zorn / alto saxophone

- Daihachi Oguchi / factory sound

- Jean Derome / alto saxophone

- René Lussier / bass

- Kevin Norton / drums

- Eino Haapala / guitar

- Marc Hollander / alto saxophone

- Lars Hollmer / keyboards

- Hans Bruniusson / drums

- Tim Hodgkinson / bass clarinet

- Iva Bittová / violin

- Pavel Fajt / beer cans, guitar, voice

- Eitetsu Hayashi / taiko

- Tina Curran / bass

- Haco / piano, voice

Step Across the Border is a 1990 avant-garde documentary film on English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith. It was written and directed by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel and released in Germany and Switzerland. The film was screened in cinemas in North America, South America, Europe and Japan, and on television in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France. It was also released on VHS by RecRec Music (Switzerland) in 1990, and was later released on DVD by Winter & Winter (Germany) in 2003.

Shot in black and white, the 35mm documentary was filmed between 1988 and 1990 in Japan, Italy, France, Germany, England, the United States and Switzerland, and shows Frith rehearsing, performing, giving interviews and relaxing. Other musicians featured include René Lussier, Iva Bittová, Tom Cora, Tim Hodgkinson, Bob Ostertag and John Zorn.

The film won "Best Documentary" at the European Film Awards in 1990. A companion soundtrack album, Step Across the Border was also released by RecRec Music in 1990.

A ninety minute celluloid improvisation by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel.

"Improvisation" here refers not only to the music, but also to the film itself. Humbert and Penzel state in the 2003 DVD release of the film:

“In Step Across the Border two forms of artistic expression, improvised music and cinema direct, are interrelated. In both forms it is the moment that counts, the intuitive sense of what is happening in a space. Music and film come into existence out of an intense perception of the moment, not from the transformation of a preordained plan.”

The film is not narrated, and the musicians, the music and the locations are not identified. Instead it is a sequence of "snapshots' taken of Frith and musicians he has worked with, rehearsing and performing, interspersed with apparent random images of movement (trains, cars, people, grass) that blend in with the music. The improvised nature of the film and its Direct Cinema approach make it more of an art film than simply a documentary on a musician.

The music in the film is performed by Frith on his own, with others, and by others on their own. Some of the music is improvised, some is composed material performed "live", and some is previously recorded material played as accompaniment to many of the "movement" sequences in the film.

The recording of the film coincided with the formation and activity of Frith's review band Keep the Dog (1989–1991), and many of the participants of the band appear in the film. There are even a few rare glimpses of the band rehearsing. René Lussier in particular, features prominently and "interviews" Frith about his musical upbringing and approach to music.

The title of the film comes from the lyrics of the song "The Border", recorded by Skeleton Crew on their album, The Country of Blinds (1986). A brief "video" of this song also appears in the film.

Although this is technically the soundtrack to a film of the same name by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel, Step Across the Border actually serves as an excellent overview of Fred Frith's groundbreaking work as a soloist, bandleader, and collaborator. There's an example of his "guitars on the table" approach ("Romanisches Cafe"), and a couple of excellent duos with tape manipulation whiz Bob Ostertag ("Voice of America, Pt. 3," from the lost and lamented Voice of America album they made for the defunct Metalanguage label). There are also scraps of material from his work with Skeleton Crew as well as numerous other well-chosen miniatures that vary from tuneful and charming to stark and forbidding. Perhaps the best thing this album accomplishes is that it puts some of the material from the astounding (but, sadly, long out of print) album of avant-garde power trio compositions and improvisations Frith recorded with Bill Laswell and Fred Maher under the name Massacre back into circulation: the very fine "Legs" is included here, as is a previously unreleased live track from 1983. Very highly recommended.

_ Review by Rick Anderson

The collection itself is wonderful, showing all sides of Frith's skillful and innovative playing and composition. The songs range from sounds similar to The Residents, whose Commercial Album featured Frith as a sideman, to early Zappa, and even one song Evolution, with high pitched vocals and a reggae influenced beat, that sounds sort of like a deranged version of The Police.

This is a gem in my collection. Highly recommended for the RIO fan.

If you find it, buy this album!

AQSAK MABOUL – Un Peu De L'Âme Des Bandits (LP-1980)

Label: Crammed Discs – Atem/Crammed 002

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Belgium / Released: Jan. 1980

Style: Avantgarde, Jazz, Experimental, Prog Rock

Recorded February and August 1979 at Sunrise Studio, Kirchberg, Switzerland

Mixed by Etienne Conod and Fred Frith, assisted by Aqsak Maboul

Front cover by – Pat Andrea

Back cover and layout by – M.M.C. Octave

Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits (English: A Little of the Bandit Spirit) is the second album by Belgian avant-rock band Aksak Maboul. It was recorded at Sunrise Studio in Kirchberg, Switzerland in February and August 1979, and released on LP in January 1980 on founding member Marc Hollander's Belgian independent record label, Crammed Discs. At the time the band had changed the spelling of their name to "Aqsak Maboul", and this is reflected on the album's record sleeve. When the album was re-issued on CD in 1995 (also on Crammed Discs) the spelling of their name reverted to "Aksak Maboul".

In addition to the Aksak Maboul line-up at the time, the album also featured ex-Henry Cow musicians Fred Frith and Chris Cutler whose contribution and names helped bring the album to the attention of a wider audience. Aksak Maboul's co-founder, Vincent Kenis did not play on this album, although he did arrange two of the tracks.

A1 - Bo Diddley / Modern Lesson . . . . . 4:58

            bassoon, oboe, choir – Michel Berckmans

            cello [violoncellos] – Denis Van Hecke

            drums [part I], performer [flipper], recorder, choir – Frank Wuyts

            drums [part II] – Chris Cutler

            electric guitar, acoustic guitar, violin, viola, bass – Fred Frith

            organ, piano, clarinet [Bb], bass clarinet, saxophone  – Marc Hollander

            voice, performer [flipper] – Catherine Jauniaux

            written-by – Hollander

A2 - Trio-Tango / Palmiers En Pots . . . . . 3:24

            alto aaxophone – Hollander

            bassoon – Berckmans

            cello – Van Hecke

            drums – Cutler

            piano – Wuyts

            violin – Frith

            written-by – Wuyts, Hollander

            written-by [Trio] – André Verchuren

A3 - Rondo / Geistige Nacht . . . . . 5:18

            bass – Frith

            bassoon, oboe – Berckmans

            cello – Van Hecke

            drums – Cutler

            piano, synthesizer [Oberheim] – Wuyts

            soprano saxophone – Hollander

            written-by – Frith

A4 - Truc Turc / I Viaggi Formano La Gioventù . . . . . 5:15

            cello [acoustic & electric cellos] – Van Hecke

            goblet drum [dumbeg], soprano saxophone, organ, – Hollander

            guitar [Guitars] – Frith

            oboe – Berckmans

            synthesizer [Oberheim], Piano – Wuyts

            written-by – traditional

A5 - Pogo / Inoculating Rabies . . . . . 1:50

            bass clarinet – Hollander

            bass, lead guitar – Frith

            bassoon – Berckmans

            drums – Cutler

            rhythm guitar, electric cello, voice – Van Hecke

            written-by – Van Hecke, Wuyts

B  -  Knokke  / Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (22:45)

   a - Ce Qu' On Peut Voir Avec Un Bon Microscope . . . . . 7:25

            bass, guitar, guitar [prepared] – Frith

            cello [acoustic & electric cellos], voice – Van Hecke

            composed by – Wuyts, Hollander

            composed by [part of] – Jauniaux, Cutler, Van Hecke, Frith, Berckmans

            drums, percussion, performer [radio] – Cutler

            oboe, bassoon – Berckmans

            organ, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, xylophone, piano  – Hollander

            piano, synthesizer [Óberheim], percussion – Wuyts

            voice – Jauniaux

   b - Alluvions . . . . . 5:27

            bass, guitar, guitar [prepared] – Frith

            cello [acoustic & electric cellos], voice – Van Hecke

            composed by – Frank Wuyts, Hollander

            drums, percussion, performer [radio] – Cutler

            oboe, bassoon – Berckmans

            organ, alto sax, bass clarinet, xylophone, percussion – Hollander

            piano, synthesizer [Óberheim] – Wuyts

            voice – Jauniaux

   c - Azinou Crapules . . . . . 7:05

            bass, guitar, guitar [prepared] – Frith

            cello [acoustic & electric cellos], voice – Van Hecke

            composed by – Wuyts, Hollander

            drums, percussion, performer [radio] – Cutler

            oboe, bassoon – Berckmans

            organ, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, xylophone – Hollander

            piano, synthesizer [Óberheim], percussion – Wuyts

            voice – Jauniaux

   d - Age Route Brra! (Radio Sofia) . . . . . 2:48

            bass, guitar, guitar [prepared] – Frith

            cello [acoustic & electric cellos], voice – Van Hecke

            composed by – Aqsak Maboul

            drums, percussion, performer [radio] – Cutler

            oboe, bassoon – Berckmans

            organ, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, xylophone – Hollander

            piano, synthesizer [Óberheim], percussion – Wuyts

            voice – Jauniaux

Marc Hollander – organ, piano, clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone , drum machine, alto  

                            saxophone, soprano saxophone, dumbeg, samples, xylophone, percussion

Frank Wuyts – drums, pinball machine flipper, recorder, piano, synthesizer, percussion, choir

Michel Berckmans – bassoon, oboe, choir

Denis van Hecke – acoustic cello, electric cello, voice, rhythm guitar

Catherine Jauniaux – voice, pinball machine flipper

Fred Frith – guitar, violin, viola, bass guitar, prepared guitar

Chris Cutler – drums, percussion, radio

_1.     Aksak Maboul (also spelled Aqsak Maboul for a while) were a Belgian avant-rock band founded in 1977 by Marc Hollander and Vincent Kenis. They made two studio albums, Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine (1977) and Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits (1980), the last one with ex-Henry Cow members Chris Cutler and Fred Frith. They were also active in the Rock in Opposition movement Maboul began in 1977 as a duo of Marc Hollander (keyboards, reeds, percussion) and Vincent Kenis (guitar, bass guitar, keyboards). Marc Moulin (keyboards) and Chris Joris (percussion, keyboards) joined later, and with this line-up, plus guests Catherine Jauniaux (voice) and others, they recorded their first album, Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine (French for “Eleven Dances for Fighting Migraine”).

It was released in 1977 under the name Marc Hollander / Aksak Maboul on an independent record label, Kamikaze Records.Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine was a playful mix of musical forms, cultures and genres. With drum machines and looping organ lines, it shuffled between improvised jazz, ethnic music, electronics and classical music. It was largely an instrumental album with snatches of singing and voices.In late 1977 Aksak Maboul started performing live, during which time Frank Wuyts (percussion, keyboards) replaced Joris and Moulin, and Denis van Hecke (cello) and Michel Berckmans (bassoon, oboe) of Univers Zéro joined. In early 1979, Hollander invited Chris Cutler and Fred Frith of the recently defunct avant-rock group Henry Cow to join Aksak Maboul on their next record.

They rehearsed together, performed in a few concerts and then went to Sunrise Studio, Kirchberg in Switzerland to record their second album, Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits (French for “A Little of the Bandit Spirit”).This was released in 1980 on Crammed Discs, a new independent record label Hollander had created to release the album.Un Peu de l'Ame des Bandits was more intense and experimental than their first album. It contained complex written sections as well as improvised ambient pieces. It used sampling before samplers were invented and was a mixture of jazz, tangos, traditionals from the eastern Balkans, chamber rock, noisy punk rock and pseudo-Varèse music. Like the first album, it was instrumental with a little singing and voices.Back on the road again, Aksak Maboul joined the Rock in Opposition (RIO) movement and in April 1979 they performed at an RIO festival at the Teatro dell'Elfo in Milano, Italy.

Aksak Maboul were one of the last of the original RIO bands.In early 1980, Hollander founded the Crammed Discs independent record label. A few months later the original nucleus of Aksak Maboul (Hollander and Kenis) and the core of a Brussels band Les Tueurs de la Lune de Miel joined forces to become The Honeymoon Killers. They toured Europe between 1980 and 1981, although still under the name Aksak Maboul. 

They later recorded an album Tueurs de la Lune de Miel / Honeymoon Killers and toured for a few months under that name. The last recorded work by Aksak Maboul appeared on a 1984 compilation album, Made to Measure Vol. 1, where the original duo of Hollander and Kenis contributed seven tracks of new material composed for a play by Michel Gheude based on the life of Maïakovsky.The music here has been described as “minimalist rock” and is very different from their two studio albums.By the mid-1980s Aksak Maboul ceased to exist as a group, but Hollander and Kenis continued to play an active role in Crammed Discs' musical policies.

_2.     Aksak Maboul - Un peu de l'ame des bandits Aksak Maboul (a.k.a. Aqsak Maboul) was one of the original Rock-In-Opposition (RIO) groups. They were one of three that were officially elected into the movement after Henry Cow’s original selection of bands (Univers Zero, Etron Fou Leloublan, Samla Mammas Manna and Stormy Six) had explored the style and ideology. “Un peu de l’ame des bandits,” Aksak Maboul’s 1980 effort, is more or less quintessential to the RIO genre, and one that set the stage for many of the Avant-Prog groups that have followed since...

The late '70s were a heady time in European progressive rock circles. Chris Cutler, drummer 

of the leading group Henry Cow and unrepentant leftist seeking to distance himself from both major label and American rock influences, found similarly minded groups in France, Sweden, Belgium, and Italy, and brought them together for a British tour under the banner of Rock in Opposition (RIO). New musical influences and adventures gave rise to more short term formations for Cutler and Fred Frith (Cow's guitarist), including this venture with a Belgian duo, Aksak Maboul, comprised at the time of Marc Hollander and Vincent Kenis. This group had recorded an album in 1977, Onze Danses Pour Combattre le Migraine, which became a cult album in its own right. As Aksak toured, their paths crossed with the various RIO groups, which led to this album in 1980. Cutler and Frith brought a solid rhythm section, but ready to make terrific noise when appropriate (as on the backing tracks of Inoculating Rabies). Michel Berckmans, wind player from Univers Zero (one of the Belgian RIO groups), and Hollander were the wind and reed section. Frank Wuyts and Denis Van Hecke rounded out the group on keyboards and strings. Stylistically the album is all over the board. For example, the opening track, featuring Catherine Jauniaux on vocals, launches into a twisted blues number, with the singer freely improvising and trading licks with Van Hecke's cello and Hollander's sax. The second part of Modern Lesson features extremely intricate horn writing, with different players rapidly trading different elements of the lines. "I Viaggi" uses a Middle Eastern scale, with cello and voice doubling the melody line. "Palmiersen Pots is a classical piece for string trio, followed by a tango composed from several popular pieces cut up with scissors and reassembled at random. The album culminates with a long suite (originally all of side two on the vinyl release) based on a shorter peggiated figure, composed sections alternating with solos on bass, cello, electric cello, and synthesizer. On top of all of the great musicianship, Frith and lead engineer Etienne Conod performed significant studio wizardry after the sessions. Modern Lesson contains sounds from a pinball machine as well as bits from every other track (and this is well before the age of samplers). The lead bassoon/oboe lines of Inoculating Rabies would be inaudible over the guitar and percussion noise in a live situation, but the contrast makes the piece.  

This Aksak Maboul lineup and this album, is remains a pinnacle of the RIO movement.

_Review by Caleb Deupree

If you find it, buy this album!