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!

THE EX + TOM CORA - Scrabbling At The Lock (1991)

Label: Ex Records – EX 051D, RecRec Music – ReCDec 39
Format: CD, Album; Country: Europe - Released: 1991
Style: Avantgarde, Improvisation 
Recorded January 25-31 and mixed February 1-4, 1991, at ADM's Koeienverhuurbedrijf in Amsterdam, Holland; Printed in Austria
Published by RecRec Music (SUISA) Switzerland and Low Noise Music
Cello – Tom Cora
Guitar, Drums, Bass, Accordion, Voice – Andy, G.W.Sok, Katrin, Luc, Terrie (The Ex)
Mastered By [Cd] – DADC Austria
Music By – The Ex, (tracks: 1, 3 to 7, 9 to 12), Tom Cora (tracks: 1, 3 to 7, 9 to 12)
Photography By [Cover-photo] – N.D. Violllet
Sounds [Sound-scrapes] – Jeroen
Vocals [Vocal Improvisations] – Catherine Jauniaux (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10)
Words By – The Ex, (tracks: 1, 3 to 10, 12), Tom Cora (tracks: 1, 3 to 10, 12)

by Dean McFarlane

After producing an extensive discography through the '80s which contains some of the best avant-rock and post-punk put to record in the decade, the staunch Dutch independent group is paralleled by Fugazi in maintaining a strident autonomy in both business and aesthetic approaches. During the '80s they produced some of the most hard-hitting political punk, but by the beginning of the '90s were starting to experiment in new tangents that incorporated the influence of folk and free improvisation. Teaming up with the extraordinary avant-garde cellist Tom Cora of Skeleton Crew and Roof for his baffling solo cello improvisations, this formation explored the delicate modalities of European folk. A beautiful, candid recording that marks an inspired new tangent for the Ex which sparked themes that would run through their recordings for the remainder of the decade -- where folk and free improvisation would collide elegantly with their soaring autodidactic avant-rock.

I thought a lot about submitting this album to KiC, since it ’ s not exactly going with the current vibes of the site, but hey, it ’ s got Tom Cora in it, and Tom Cora is awesome under any circumstance. So here it is, a collaboration between him and Netherlander anarchist punk band The Ex, forming a very incisive force of sonic aggression unafraid of beating the liberty out of music as much as it is willing to exploit its more dramatically emotional qualities. Open to the questioning of dogma from the point of view of multiplicity, it goes beyond the usual anarcho-punk effort related to bands such as Crass by undermining their discourse with arts tinted by anarchism, the main of which is improv. It also calls upon the East and Africa as counter-influences to the Western government of science, drawn to the affirmation of life through both the individual and the communal in improvisation and non-European rhythms and chants.

The result is empowering and dramatic, bursting with walls of guitar distortion. Cora ’ s playing is melodious most of the time, but never traditional: it is played to produce rock riffs, oriental styles, and ultimate strain upon the instrument in its frantic pace. The Ex matches (generates, maybe?) the fierceness with its constant rhythmic allusions to different kinds of music (Jewish, African…), the electric power of noise, and the obvious breaks with “ normal ” punk and even post-punk. It all feels wild and genuinely fun, and I imagine one of those oh- so-old-yet-new futurist performances that grabbed the audience by the throat and shook it till the passive contemplation turned into loud, chaotic, angry, and enlightening fisticuffs. The train-wreck of civilization is, after all, always a couple minutes away from happening.

I don ’ t really have much more to say about this album, except that I hope you enjoy its very contemporary edge not only as music, but also as an ongoing expression of rebellion rooted in a very wide-reaching form of rock. Listen loud.
Have a great time!



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ROOF - Trace (1999) - Live At Bremen and Amsterdam 1997

Label: Red Note – Catalog ID: RN 7
Format: CD, Album; Country: Netherlands Released: 1999
Style: Free Jazz, Alternative Rock, Avantgarde
Artwork – Isabelle Vigier; Vatcher Engineer – Gisela Kniemeyer (tracks: 1, 2 to 4, 6, 8, 9); Liner Notes – Kevin Whitehead; Mastered By – Zlaya Saguvic
Music By – Roof; Producer – Peter Schulze (tracks: 1, 2 to 4, 6, 8, 9); Recording Supervisor – Torsten Müller (3) (tracks: 1, 2 to 4, 6, 8, 9); Technician – Inge Schmidt (tracks: 1, 2 to 4, 6, 8, 9), Rolf Osis (tracks: 1, 2 to 4, 6, 8, 9)

Notes:
Track 1, 5 and 7 recorded live at Bimhuis, Amsterdam on June 21, 1997. 
Intro of 1, 2 to 4, 6, 8, 9 recorded live at Lagerhaus, Bremen on June 25, 1997. 

Issued in gatefold cardboard sleeve, including thin folded paper insert with individual photographs of each artist (printed on one side only).

Musicians:
Tom Cora - cello
Luc Ex - bass
Phil Minton - vocals
Michael Vatcher - drums

Tom Cora described himself as "a musician who happens to play cello." That humble description belies the fury of his cello, but points to the overall musicality and excellence that he demonstrated as a musician. A seminal figure in the early downtown NY scene of the 70's Cora played with seemingly everyone of note, both in and around that scene. His early work had him playing with Lee Konitz and Don Cherry. He then formed the band Curlew with George Cartwright and Bill Laswell, arguably that band's best period. Moving to Manhattan in 1979 he fell in with artists like Steve Beresford, Fred Frith, Kramer, Eugene Chadbourne, John Zorn, and Butch Morris. He and Fred Frith created the incredible band Skeleton Crew, and with Samm Bennett the excellent "virtual trio" band Third Person. He collaborated with the Dutch band The Ex, and formed The Hat Shoes with wife/avant vocalist Catherine Jauniaux. With Phil Minton he formed the unusual band Roof which toured the European avant/free- improv scene to acclaim (and continues to under the name "4 Walls." His untimely death from melanoma robbed the world of a tremendous musician, a charismatic and vigorous player who is still missed.

Tracklist:
1 Trace  (7:28),  2 Halts  (7:16),  3 A Plinth  (0:39),  4 Buda Buda  (2:42),  5 Spit Pedro  (8:02),  6 Janna Li(v)e  (7:49),  7 Magnifique  (4:28),  8 Glory Too  (3:06),  9 Blind Spots  (4:22)

Amazing band that ended far too early in their creative cycle due to the early demise of Tom Cora. The band continued as 4Walls, but the recordings under the name Roof remain stellar achievements.




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