Blog: wordsandmusic

Murray Ward of The Lows and the Highs sends this info - grab yourself a bargain! We've now sold out (or have very limited stock) of a number of our early releases. You can now download them for free: HI/LO001 - The (plexus) Collective - Warner/Ward: The Alephs HI/LO002 - dj_spleenbaby - Gone with the Wind vs. The Last Starfighter HI/LO003 - The (plexus) Collective - Warner/Ward: Axiom of Choice HI/LO004 - The (plexus) Collective -Ward: Ekstasis HI/LO005 - The (plexus) Collective - Warner/Ward/Teledu: Differend HI/LO006 [...]

Then there was Stinking Badger ... Dave Teledu, A-Bander and co-member of Plexus with myself and Murray Ward, has a solo album out under this moniker on The Lows and the Highs. Sonic explorations from north of where I am... Soiling Charge...

My head has been down these last couple of weeks. Under the radar, as it were... With the book pretty much finished and almost ready to launch, I've been recharging the batteries. Reading a lot - and one book I just finished, William Gibson's latest, 'Zero History,' made me think of Lustfaust, James Shovlin's conceptual project from a couple of years ago. Then I remembered that one of the people involved with Mr Shovlin, Murray Ward, had just made some material available over on 'The Lows and the Highs,' for whom I sporadically record. [...]

Just got the proof copy back and it's looking good so far. There is a new post on the book blog here with a photo from Leicester Square in 1968 and three short extracts...

Alongside the book 'Don Partridge and Company' which I have been working on with Pat Keene (and the late Don Partridge up to his untimely death last year) I managed to publish a book of poetry. 'Poems Twenty Eleven,' now available from my Lulu/Rawmusics publish on demand outlet. Which is here...

Murrays Ward's label The Lows and the Highs (for which I record the odd album or two) getting more publicity out there. Byron Coley has some good words for KPTMichigan and Black Stepdad split above in July's Wire ... Note: this is a co-release by The Lows and the Highs and MirrorWorldMusic .

Two new ones from Murray Ward's fine label - Yajé Go here... And one from my alter ego: DJ Whitedog [...]

A busy summer - there is a new post with some extracts from the book on the Don Partridge and Company blog here... News from The Lows and the Highs later...

Edging towards the end now - Don Partridge and Company by Don Partridge, Pat Keene and Rod Warner will be published in the first week of September, if all goes well. I've launched a blog to act as a trailer for the book and that will have publishing details etc when the time comes - here... The interlocking stories of three young street musicians, ranging from Bohemian Paris in the early 1960's to London - and beyond. One of them became famous...

A rum night... I got to the Cafe Oto and found a really good seat, couple of rows back from the stage, fairly central and sat in pleasant anticipation with a pint of the Oto's worthy but foul lager in front of me and somewhere to put it, for a change – the house was busy but did not get as full as it was the last time Gayle was here in January. I had wondered about the line-up: Bobby Few , legendary piano player, cohort of Albert Ayler, Steve Lacy, among others, expatriate musician [...]

Back from London yesterday and exhausted - but review of Charles Gayle/Bobby Few gig at the Cafe Oto almost written - for a change! An extraordinary night in many ways... I'm off out with the family today to explore the wonderful sunshine etc - but should get it up by tomorrow...

After the excuses of the last post - onwards! Off to town tomorrow to see Charles Gayle, probably my favourite musician of the moment - at the Cafe Oto , of course. The band, with Bobby Few et al, looks fascinating and I'm really looking forward to seeing how he plays with a piano in the lineup

I didn't put up the rest of my review from the Freedom of the City fest... usually I would have attended for a couple of days or more solid - this year just a scattering, due to other commitments. When I read back what I originally intended to post about the 'Feral Choir,' I thought: well, these I do not dig, to the point that I find them hilarious and for all the wrong reasons (maybe...). Some of the other stuff I caught was... o.k. - but I was tired when I got there that last night and [...]

For several reasons I was unable to get to a large chunk of the Freedom of the City festival this year, so my overall impressions are somewhat fragmentary, maybe even more so, because of the delay in posting them. But I caught some fascinating music, as ever, thought the new venue, the improbable Cecil Sharp House, worked very well, and was pissed off that I missed a couple of acts through arriving late on Sunday. Usually I immerse myself for at least two days, trying to catch as much as I can until exhaustion takes over – but [...]

Back from London. A couple of excellent exhibitions and some good music at the Freedom of the City festival, which I only bounced across this year, unfortunately, rather than the usual full immersion. A couple of reviews to follow - then into the last lap with our book: 'Don Partridge and Company...' which Pat and I hope to publish very soon... watch this space etc...

It's that time of the year again... for the Freedom of the City festival. Only going down for a couple of days though, not the whole shebang. Off tomorrow early... bizarrely, this year the fest is being held at Cecil Sharp House. Hey nonny... Reviews will no doubt follow.

Travis Reuter (guitar, electronics) Jeremy Viner (sax) Bobby Avey (fender rhodes) Chris Tordini (bass) Jason Nazary (drums) Available from New Focus Recordings . On his debut album, 'Rotational Templates,' released by New Focus Recordings, composer/guitarist Travis Reuter explicitly sets out to use techniques from modern classical music to frame his works. The accompanying blurb states that he 'draws heavily on influences from the music of composers Elliott Carter, Brian Ferneyhough, and Jason Eckardt.' So: a brave and hazardous endeavour: this is an approach that has been tried many times, [...]

April brings three new releases on The Lows and the Highs label: An old session unreleased till now from Plexus(Teledu/Ward/Warner) and Ollie Betts (of Black Carrot fame): Songs from the old Grammar School Black Stepdad: Trancers 2 and one from yours truly: 'One for Julie C.' Follow the links to sample and buy... Mr Ward also says: 'The Failed NASA Experiment recently participated in ' Six Glass Fingers: Bandscape ' which was filmed [...]

Good review of the kptmichigan/black stepdad split cassette here... (About time I started getting the owld critical faculties moving again...)

The main reason (apart from my natural sloth!) that this blog has gone very quiet the last months has been because much of my time and energy has been involved in writing, editing and putting together the collaboration we are going to call 'Don Partridge and Company...' Patrick and I decided that I would publish it myself, via my internet outlet, if we could not find a publisher before the spring. Many polite refusals, some compliments - but no action, so forwards we will go on our own. The book is almost ready, just needing some fine-tuning [...]