The Bottom of the Page

Hi everyone! As 2016 draws to a close, I’ve decided to commit to something that has been slowly happening of its own accord – the shuttering of Paper for the Border. I’m not going to do the podcast anymore. I’m proud of the episodes I produced, though, and will make sure they are all available in the Internet Archive. Many of the early ones (I believe episodes 1-13) are already there. Over the next few weeks the later ones will join them. I’ll be spending some time revisiting them and talking about them here and on my blog. But that’ll be it for Papers for the Border. My goal in 2017 is to focus on words about music. And of course, dancing about architecture.

Papers for the Border Episode 2.2

We hit the ground running and we’re still going strong, inspired this time largely by Paul Bowles’s recordings of Moroccan music.

Here is the link to the podcast.

We’ll start with the tracklist, and then follow with some notes.

~~~

1. 00:00 (Sounds of General Rejoicing) ~ Music of Morocco (Dust to Digital, 2016)
2. 01:44 The Anachronist ~ Robert Wyatt, Comicopera (Domino, 2007)
3. 05:12 Ahmeilou ~ Music of Morocco (Dust to Digital, 2016)
4. 09:05 Montparnasse Derailment ~ Ikue Mori & Steve Noble, Prediction and Warning (Fataka, 2013)
5. 12:28 Wood Moon V ~ Ryoko Ono & Rogier Smal, Wood Moon (Jvtlandt, 2016)
6. 17:11 Wood Moon IV ~ Ryoko Ono & Rogier Smal, Wood Moon (Jvtlandt, 2016)
7. 21:04 Reh Dial Beni Bouhiya ~ Music of Morocco (Dust to Digital, 2016)
8. 26:01 Excerpt from Ears Are Filled with Wonder ~ Heather Leigh & Peter Brotzmann, Ears Are Filled with Wonder (Not Two, 2016)
9. 36:02 Aiyowa d’Moulay Abdeslam ~ Music of Morocco (Dust to Digital, 2016)
10. 37:07 Qsida Midh ~ Music of Morocco (Dust to Digital, 2016)
11. 46:56 When You Wish Upon a Star ~ Bill Orcutt, A History of Every One (Editions Mego, 2013)
12. 48:56 Stay Tuned ~ Robert Wyatt, Comicopera (Domino, 2007)
13. 52:30 El Fjer ~ Music of Morocco (Dust to Digital, 2016)

~~~

It was the “Music of Morocco from the Library of Congress” box set that got us wanting to put together another episode so soon after the previous one. The archival label Dust to Digital has done an outstanding job of combining previously released with never-before publicly heard recordings of Moroccan musicians by author and composer Paul Bowles in the late 1950s. We’ve tried to present a cross-section of what’s available in the four-CD set, just as Bowles himself tried to present a cross-section of the different types of folk music that were already starting to fade in Morocco.

For some reason, when we started thinking seriously about what to include from the box set, Robert Wyatt popped into our heads. We’re not sure why, but we went with it, taking two tracks from an album we hadn’t heard before, Comicopera. The latter of the two tracks featured in the podcast could serve as a poignant theme for PFTB – stay tuned!

Ikue Mori works with electronic percussion and Steve Noble dispenses with the electronics; Ryoko Ono plays sax and improvises vocally and Rogier Smal plays the drums on Wood Moon; Heather Leigh plays lap steel guitar and Peter Brotzmann is just Peter Brotzmann, blowing all over the place.

Bill Orcutt plays guitar and we thought this would be a nice counterpart to Gary Lucas’s guitar takes on cinema music featured in the previous PFTB episode.

Papers for the Border 2.0 ~ Episode 2.1

Once more into the fray!

This playlist was composed on April 1 and executed early in the AM of April 2. Updated April 9. Here is the link to the podcast.

 

1. 1. Some Voices (00:00)
   2. Waudang 1 (00:26)
   3. “Howdy Doody” Theme (07:17)
   4. “Charlie Brown” Theme (07:45)
   5. “Vertigo” / “Psycho” Theme Medley (09:11)
   6. Fucshia (13:06)
   7. Triologue (17:28)
   8. Duologue (19:05)
   9. Solologue (19:49)
   10. Belem (20:36)
   11. Painted Desert (36:00)
   12. Live at the Metz’ Arsenal Part 2 (39:29)
   13. Quiet Money (46:26)

The introductory chaos comes from R. Stevie Moore’s second album, Delicate Tension. Recorded in 1978, but re-released at least twice and peppered with extra tracks over the decades.

The first proper track, at about 00:25, is flute music from New Guinea, assisted by Jessica Mayer. Wonderful folks, I’m sure. Robert Wyatt and his wife Alfreda Benge had some clout in getting these recordings released on Rounder in 1999. Digital mastering was done in July, 2015 and the revamped version of these recordings — Sacred Flute Music from New Guinea— will be out in mid-April on the Ideologic Organ label.

Switching up rather radically, the following three tracks are from guitarist Gary Lucas, who has played with such wide-ranging artists as Captain Beefheart, Peter Hammill, and Jeff Buckley, as well as amassing an impressive body of solo work. These oddball takes on movie themes are from Lucas’s album Cinefantastique.

Next comes the track “Fuchsia” from the album Icepick by Nate Wooley, Chris Corsano, and Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten. Wooley plays trumpet, Corsano is on drums, and Haker-Flaten plays double-bass. Monofonous, 2016.

The following three tracks also feature Nate Wooley, as well as Zeena Parkins and Vera Westera. The music and texts on this album are inspired by Charles Baudelaire and are the brainchild of composer Bojan Vuletic, who gave the trio of musicians ideas to work with and then reworked their playing into the final product. Partly composed, partly improvised. See here for more details regarding this fascinating record, fugitive beauté.

 

The next two tracks are performances by the MMM Quartet – Fred Frith, Joelle Leandre, Alvin Curran and Urs Leimgruber, on guitar, double bass, piano, and sax, respectively. The first MMM track is titled “Belem” and is from the album Oakland/Lisboa. The second track, “Part 2” is the tail end of a concert given by the quartet from the album Live at Metz Arena.

These tracks are separated by an intermission: “Painted Desert” is from the album The Pharaoh’s Bee by ex-Pere Ubu member Allen Ravenstine. Ravenstine was the Ubu member responsible for upping the chaos ante by adding analog synthesizer noise to the proceedings. Quite unlike his contributions to Ubu, this album is full of gentle, meditative sounds, albeit not without a certain edge. More info here.

Finally, “Quiet Money” by The Remote Viewers, from their latest album, November Sky. More info on The RVs here.

I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I enjoyed compiling it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Papers for the Border #21: October, 2015

1. The Strait ~ Geoff Leigh and Yumi Hara, from the album Upstream
2. Mud ~ Claudio Milano’s Nicholodeon / InSonar project, from the album UKIYOE
3. Pure Intentions ~ Mountain Goats, from the album Protein Soure of the Future… Now!
4. Allurement 2 ~ Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M., & others, from the album Allurements of the Ellipsoid
5. Happy After Party Dance ~ Slugfield, from the album Slime Zone
6. Two Thousand Seasons ~ Mountain Goats, from the album Bitter Melon Farm
7. Election Day ~ Eugene Chadbourne, from the Various Artists album Music Made with Balloon and/or Needle

Podcast link is here.

 

Enjoy!

Papers for the Border #20: Ghédalia Tazartès’s Passport

Hello! I didn’t know if I was going to do another PFTB podcast or not, but in the midst of nights of thunder and days of rain, at the end of the summer, I found myself entranced by the musician Ghédalia Tazartès, and wanted to share. So here’s a sampling of his music. I won’t talk about him (yet) — I think it’s better to just jump into his sonic world with both feet. Here’s the link to the podcast, which will also be available on iTunes.

Tracklist:

1. 00:00: (I) ~ Repas Froid (2009)
2. 18:45: Soul 3 ~ Hystérie Off Music (2007)
3. 21:45: Merci Stephane ~ Tazartes (1987, reissued 2015)
4. 28:30: Soul 2 ~ Hystérie Off Music (2007)
5. 32:40: Elle Eut Des Étouffements Aux Premières Chaleurs Quand Les Poiriers Fleurirent ~ Tazartes (1987, reissued 2015)
6. 41:15: Soul 1 ~ Hystérie Off Music (2007)
7. 44:00: Une Éclipse Totale De Soleil I ~ Une Éclipse Totale De Soleil (1984, reissued 2015)

PFTB 19: Reboot ~ A Sideways Glance at 2014

HI!

Here is the tracklist for the new podcast that can be found by clicking this link (or by going to iTunes, which also gives you the opportunity to subscribe to future PFTB podcasts!):

1. Intro (You’ll Never Get Me – R. Stevie Moore, 1952 – 19??)
2. Reboot ~ Peter Hammill and Gary Lucas, Otherworld
3. LED – Amy Kohn, PlexiLusso
4. Records – R. Stevie Moore, 1952-19??
5. Wind on Water – Fripp and Eno, Live in Paris, May 28, 1975
6. I’m Finding You – Ashley Paul, White Light
7. Delirium Perhaps – Fred Frith & John Butcher, The Natural Order
8. The Lyrics Are Simultaneously About How the Song Starts And What the Lyrics Are About – People (feat. Mary Halvorson), 3x a Woman
9. Cassettes – R. Stevie Moore, 1952-19??
10. Faust Suite: Rejsen til Bloks Bjergog Valborgsnat – Else Marie Pade, Electronic Works 1958-1995
11. Vai Lentissimo – Peter Hammill, ...all that might have been…
12. Outro (You’ll Never Get Me – R. Stevie Moore, 1952-19??)
13. BONUS TRACK

~ENJOY~

Episode 18.1: The Poetry Bonus EP

Hello again!

At the outset of putting together the 18th episode, I knew I couldn’t reasonably expect listeners to sit through almost three hours of this business, but there was too much good stuff left on the cutting room floor, so I knew fairly early on that there would be a “bonus EP” of sorts. In the spirit of the other Haines-inspired title, I’m calling this one What this Was Going to Supposed to Mean. The URL for the podcast, which you can stream or download (or get through iTunes – you can even subscribe through iTunes and get all future podcasts automatically) is http://dpcoffey46406.podomatic.com/entry/2014-05-15T08_16_47-07_00

Here’s the tracklist, following the format of Episode 18, it’s just bare bones, with credits and other info directly following it. Please take a look at the previous blog post for more info on all the albums from which these tracks are culled. I won’t rehash info at the album level, only what’s unique and pertinent at the level of each individual track.

Episode 18.1 Playlist

1. (00:00) “Testing Testing”
2. (03:00) “In a Landscape X”
3. (06:16) “Art in Heaven”
4. (08:50) “What Is Free to a Good Home (For Robert Wyatt)”
5. (13:55) “Live on the Internet: A Diary (April 7)”
6. (17:51) “Cellular Phone”
7. (21:04) “In a Landscape XL”
8. (23:47) “Third World Two Medley: She Was Showing Me / Boint Liver”
9. (26:15) “Vocalise (For Jeanne Lee)”
10. (45:23) “Paint Me!”
11. (50:48) “Toy Epigrams”
12. (53:42) “Today”
13. (57:05) “In a Landscape XXXVI”
14. (59:17) “What this Was Going to Supposed to Mean”
15. (1:01:27) “This Dedication”

• Tracks 1, 3, 8, 14 and 15 are from the Darn It!  album.
• Tracks 2, 7 and 13 were recorded by John Gallaher.
• Tracks 4, 10 and 12 are from Curlew’s A Beautiful Western Saddle album.
• Track 5 was recorded by Becca Klaver.
• Track 6 was from Karen Alkalay-Gut’s album Thin Lips.
• Track 9 was from the Joelle Leandre / Steve Dalachinsky album The Bill Has Been Paid.
• Track 11 was from the Bernadette Mayer reading captured on the Rattle up a Deer CD.

All information given in the previous blog post applies here as well except for the following:

• Track 1 features the voices of Paul Haines’s sons, and the latter part of the track features guitar and bass from ex-“No Wave” pioneer and DNA member Tim Wright.
• Track 3 finds Derek Bailey playing guitar and reciting Haines’s poem.
• Track 8 features vocals by Mary Margaret O’Hara, Fernando Saunders on bass, and Gary Lucas on guitar. Gary also wrote the music.
• On track 14 you’ll hear saxophone from Evan Parker and vocals by Carmen Lundy.
• Finally, track 15 was written by, and features tenor sax from, John Tchicai, bass by Andy Gonzalez, and drums by Marvin Smith.

Enjoy, and let Papers for the Border know what you think!

We’re Back! Episode 18: “When Nothing in the Form of Everything Is at Stake”

Papers for the Border #18: When Nothing in the Form of Everything Is at Stake

(Click here to listen to the podcast.) Please note that all credits appear after the playlist below.

This is the second PftB poetry episode (see #13 for the first). Alhough PftB usually incorporates poetry to some extent in almost every episode, this one is comprised exclusively of poetry — which isn’t to say there isn’t plenty of music. The poetry here ranges from stark spoken-word performances by the original poets to some pretty outlandish sung interpretations of poems set to music.

There were no Papers for the Borders episodes in 2013 and there’s no good reason for that. There’s no bad reason, either. I was inspired by all the poetry action going on during this past month (April) and decided it would be a good time for PftB to get back on course. But then I thought I should wait until the end of the month so that the podcast didn’t get swallowed up amid all the other fine work being done. My plan was for it to hit on April 30, but we all know how that goes.

I’m only going to put the song titles in the actual playlist below. The full information is too convoluted to fit reasonably in citation format within the playlist, so I’ll put that in the text that follows it.

 

Episode 18 Playlist

1. (00:00) “Just When I Thought” / “Kitchen (Intro)” / “Just When I Thought”
2. (01:08) “Let’s Sit Right Down / The Passing”
3. (05:09) “In a Landscape V”
4. (07:46) “Route Doubt”
5. (08:51) “Live on the Internet: A Diary (April 16)”
6. (12:18) “TV”
7. (15:31) “In a Landscape VI”
8. (18:36) “Today”
9. (20:52) “In a Landscape IV”
10. (23:41) “Poem for Gretchen Ruth”
11. (27:30) “Comes Through in the Call Hold”
12. (40:27) “On the Way to Elsewhere and Here”
13. (43:56) “Try to Remember”
14. (47:17) “In a Landscape XII”
15. (51:19) “Sweet and Low (the bill has been paid)”
16. (56:35) “Martyrs”
17. (61:21) “Ask Me If You Know”
18. (64:26) “Human Weather Words”
19. (69:00) “From ‘Decade Zero'”
20. (71:32) “Laundry, Food, and School Epigrams”
21. (74:24) “Just When I Thought”
22. (74:31) “On Stage”
23. (79:18) “In a Landscape XIII”

This episode focuses largely on the work of four poets: Paul Haines, Karen Alkalay-Gut, John Gallaher, and Becca Klaver, with a few other poets thrown in (Bernadette Mayer, Clark Coolidge, Steve Dalachinsky, and Anne-James Chaton) to round out the episode and provide contrast.

Tracks 1, 4, 12, 17, and 21 come from the album Darn It! (American Clavé, 1993). Darn It! is a tribute to the work of the late Canadian poet, lyricist and music journalist Paul Haines (1933-2003). Haines doesn’t perform on any of the tracks on the album, but all the tracks contain his poems set to music. Paul Haines was best known for the libretto he wrote in his collaboration with jazz composer Carla Bley, Escalator Over the Hill. A posthumous collection of his writing, Secret Carnival Workers (Coach House Press), was published in 2007, but unfortunately has gone out of print.

Tracks 1 and 21 feature a very short poem (made shorter by yours truly in track 1 through careful editing) by Haines read by Michel Contat, a French writer and film director.  Derek Bailey plays guitar and recites Haines’ poem on track 4.  Track 12 features Mary Margaret O’Hara’s vocals, ex-Magic Band member Gary Lucas on dobro, and Steve Swallow on bass. John Tchicai doubles up on sax and vocals, reciting Haines’ poem on track 17.

Further attention to Haines is paid in this podcast episode: tracks 2, 10, and 18 come from the album A Beautiful Western Saddle by Curlew (Cuneiform Records, 1993, remastered and re-released in 2010). Curlew consists of Pippin Barnett on drums, bandleader George Cartwright on alto and tenor sax, Tom Cora on cello, Ann Rupel on bass, and Davey Williams on guitar. Non-member Amy Denio (an old friend of Papers for the Border) contributes vocals, and the entire album consists of songs set to poems by Haines. Finally, track 8 is from the album Hallelujah Anyway – Remembering Tom Cora (Tzadik, 1999). Cora, part of the Curlew recording, died in 1998, and Hallelujah Anyway is a heartfelt tribute to the cellist — not unlike Darn It!, some of the songs are interpretations of Cora’s compositions, but others are recordings made by or with Cora himself. In this case, vocalist/guitarist Chris Cochrane sings Haines’ poem “Today,” and, to the best of my knowledge, is also the pianist.

 

Tracks 1, 6, 13, and 16 come from the album Thin Lips (released in 2003 on the Pookh label), by poet Karen Alkalay-Gut, working with musicians Ishay Sommer and Roy Yarkoni (two members of an avant-garde “progressive rock” band Ahvak, who have, like Curlew, recorded for the Cuneiform label). Alkalay-Gut was born in London, moved to Rochester, NY at an early age, and now lives in Tel Aviv, where she is a retired professor of English from Tel Aviv University. She has published numerous books of poetry in English and Hebrew, translated works of many other writers, and released several other CDs besides Thin Lips.

The tracks titled “In a Landscape…” are poems written and recorded by John Gallaher, author of In a Landscape (obviously the textual source of these tracks and due to be published in October 2014 by BOA Editions). John’s previous books include The Little Book of Guesses  (Four Way Books, 2007), Map of the Folded World (University of Akron Press, 2009). With G. C. Waldrep, he co-authored Your Father on the Train of Ghosts (BOA Editions, 2011).

Tracks 5 and 19 are two works by poet Becca Klaver. The first is, as the title implies, a poetic diary entry recorded as a video and placed, temporarily, on YouTube. The second is a portion of her poem in progress, “Decade Zero,” recorded exclusively for this podcast. Becca’s previous books include Nonstop Pop! (Bloof, 2013), Merrily, Merrily (Lame House Press, 2013), and LA Liminal (Kore Press, 2010).

Track 11 features Clark Coolidge reciting his own poetry over Thurston Moore’s guitar playing. It comes from the eponymous album by Coolidge, Moore, and Anne Waldman (Fast Speaking Music, 2013).

Track 15 comes from the album The Bill Has Been Paid (Dark Tree Records, 2013) by double-bassist Joelle Leandre in collaboration with poet Steve Dalachinsky.

Track 20 is from the album Rattle up a Deer (So You’re a Poet / Farfalla Press, 2004). The CD documents a poetry reading by Anne Waldman and Bernadette Mayer. This track features a series of epigrams written and read by Mayer.

Track 22 is from the combination book + CD Decade (Raster-Noton, 2012). The book is by poet Anne-James Chaton, who also performs on the accompanying CD, which includes a distillation of sections of the book, along with Andy Moor, guitarist from The Ex, and musician Alva Noto (pseudonym of Carsten Nicolai).

Many of the recordings in this episode are interconnected to an extent: Coolidge and Mayer have worked together, co-authoring The Cave (Adventures in Poetry, 2008); both Alkalay-Gut’s collaborators and Curlew have recorded for the Cuneiform label; Amy Denio has worked with Derek Bailey (see the first episode of Papers for the Border). All of these poets and musicians have, to paraphrase Paul Haines, a stake in nothing in the form of everything. So sit right down, and make sure your papers are in order.

 

 

2013

It was the year of no podcasts. But it’s 2014 now!

Papers for the Border #17 is live!

Click here for the podcast (which can also be found on iTunes).

And here is the program:

1. Birds to Telephone – R. Stevie Moore
2. Adjacent Species Like You – R. Stevie Moore
3. Ill (Worst) – R. Stevie Moore
4. The Eternal Recurrence Of Mark Ockenbock, A Man Devoted To The Fantastic Real (Parable Of Unforecast Choppy Hair) – Mary Halvorson & Kevin Shea
5. Symphony No. 163, A Winter Solstice Symphony for Geoff Hendricks – Andantino – Dick Higgins
6. Symphony No. 163, A Winter Solstice Symphony for Geoff Hendricks – Scherzo Finale – Dick Higgins
7. Loud Nothing – R. Stevie Moore
8. Dharmakaya – Sir Richard Bishop and W. David Oliphant
9. Ajar – Sachiko
10. The Information Bomb – Paul Lytton and Nate Wooley
11. Mrs. Wheeler – Reiko Kudo
12. Mr. Wheeler – Pere Ubu
13. The Story Of Subjective Experience (Ethan Hawke, The Man Of Men’s Men) – Mary Halvorson & Kevin Shea
14. Accessories Got Me To Where I Am (Hipsters Clearing The Good Shit Out) – Mary Halvorson & Kevin Shea
15. Life and Death of an Insect – R. Stevie Moore
16. Let’s – R. Stevie Moore
17. Sambhogakaya – Sir Richard Bishop and W. David Oliphant
18. No Body – R. Stevie Moore
19. Likelihood of Bang – Mary Halvorson and Kevin Shea
20. Without Mentioning Any Names – R. Stevie Moore
21. Eugene’s Record Shop – R. Stevie Moore

• Tracks 1-3, 7, 15, 16, 18, 20 and 21 are from the R. Stevie Moore compilation Hearing Aid (Megaphone / Knock ’em Dead, 2012).
• Tracks 4, 13, 14 and 19 are from the Mary Halvorson and Kevin Shea album People  (I & Ear Records, 2005).
• Tracks 5 and 6 are from the Dick Higgins album The Thousand Symphonies (Alga Marghen, 2010).
• Tracks 8 and 17 are from the Sir Richard Bishop and W. David Oliphant album Beyond All Defects (Chodpa Media, 2012).
• Track 9 is from the Sachiko album Bird Songs in a Deep, Hollow Tone (Reverb Worship, 2012).
• Track 10 is from the Paul Lytton and Nate Wooley album The Nows (Clean Feed, 2012).
• Track 11 is from the Reiko Kudo album Rice Field Silently Riping in the Night (Periodic Document, 2000).
• Track 12 is from the Pere Ubu album Pennsylvania (Director’s Cut Edition) (Cooking Vinyl, 2005).

Special thanks to Kimberly Terry and Jason Willett!