The instrumental guitar-drums duo (they used to be a trio) Ahleuchatistas have a new album, Heads Full of Poison, out now on Cuneiform Records. It’s pretty stunning stuff, at times sounding like a West African take on Orthrelm and at other times like nothing you’ve ever heard in your life.
Here’s a video they’ve made with filmmaker Courtney Chappell for the song “Lighted Stairs”:
And here’s a stream of another track from the album, “Wisps”:
Here’s the best possible transfer of a well-known Genesis concert film from October 1973, filmed at Shepperton Studios in the UK. The footage has been cleaned up and restored (watch it in HD) and the audio has been re-synced from better sources than the original 16mm film. Plus, of course, the music is brilliant. Prog rock was pretty much at its peak between 1972 and 1974. Yes, King Crimson, Can, Tangerine Dream, Van der Graaf Generator, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Genesis were all releasing amazing albums—in most cases, the best work they’d ever do. Foxtrot and Selling England by the Pound (the albums from which most of this material is drawn) are definitely among the greatest albums of the ’70s.
Set list: Watcher of the Skies, Dancing with the Moonlit Knight, I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe), The Musical Box, Supper’s Ready
Lineup: Peter Gabriel, vocals; Steve Hackett, guitar; Tony Banks, guitar/keyboards/backing vocals; Mike Rutherford, bass; Phil Collins, drums
Here’s the video. Enjoy!
Who better to feature, on Friday the 13th?
Thelonious Monk: piano; Charlie Rouse: tenor saxophone; Larry Gales: bass; Ben Riley: drums, live in Copenhagen, 1966. I have always liked Monk’s Columbia albums featuring this band (or the earlier iteration with John Ore on bass and Frankie Dunlop on drums) better than his Riverside or Blue Note recordings.
Set list:
Lulu’s Back in Town
Don’t Blame Me
Epistrophy
Here’s some video of guitarist Derek Bailey and saxophonist Evan Parker from April 22, 1985.
Up first, here’s some solo footage of Bailey; Part 1 of a long piece:
And Part 2 of the same piece:
And a second piece:
Now here’s some duo work by both men; here’s the first piece:
A second:
And a third:
Two years later, in 1987, Bailey and Parker would have a major falling out, resulting in the Incus label (which they’d run collaboratively since the early ’70s) remaining entirely in the guitarist’s hands until his death in 2005. It’s still around today, run by his former partner, Karen Brookman.
