GHOST RHYTHMS - avant-jazz progressive band

[battema]

Peachy!!

[thedunno]

Awesome track! Anticipation grows....

[XavGel]

And here is the preorder link on Cuneiform's Bandcamp page :
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...e-at-yoshiwara
Support your local time-traveller band !

[per anporth]

And here is the preorder link on Cuneiform's Bandcamp page :
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...e-at-yoshiwara
Support your local time-traveller band !

Xavier - will this recording be available to buy as a cd within the EU? (of course, we may not be available in the EU, but perhaps the music will be...)

I went through the ordering process on the Cunie/Bandcamp site, only to find that postage for the cd would be nearly €20.

I'd prefer to own this recording in physical form, if possible...

(Meanwhile, I am working with colleagues on a project on "waiting times" - waiting times are like times-in-between - &, of course, you know what comes to pass in the times-in-between!)

[Steve F.]

Xavier - will this recording be available to buy as a cd within the EU?
I'd prefer to own this recording in physical form, if possible...

Yes, although our physical distribution within Europe isn't what it used to be, so you may have to work a little bit harder to get it. But there will be at least some copies in the EU and the band themselves will have copies.

Where are you in Europa?

[NogbadTheBad]

Will certainly pick this up.

[per anporth]

Yes, although our physical distribution within Europe isn't what it used to be, so you may have to work a little bit harder to get it. But there will be at least some copies in the EU and the band themselves will have copies.

Where are you in Europa?

Thanks for this, Steve (& for supporting GR!). I'm in that part of Europe which, for reasons unknown to itself, no longer wants to be part of Europe.

(In fact, at this very moment, I'm about as far south & as far west as it's possible to be in Britain - close to Penwith, which in Cornish means the end of the land - so Land's End is, in fact, the end of the land at the end of the land! - in France, they "only" have Finisterre!)

If it comes to it, I'll see if I can buy directly from Xavier.

(music for which one has had to work always sounds that little bit sweeter!)

[Steve F.]

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

It should be in the UK. One of our best remaining distributors is there.

At worse, I'm sure that Xavier will be thrilled to sell it to you!

Thanks.

[XavGel]

I sure can sell you one Robin, it's a pleasure, if you can't find it in "the european land that refuses to be european" ! As for Finis Terrae, we have one in France (which is spelled Finistère), and they have one Cap Finisterre in Spain. So I have to understand that every country can pretend he has its own "end of the land" ?

AND thanks endlessly to Steve F. and to all of you who support our music. I know it sounds like the bad liner notes on the disc from a singer who can't help but thank God, his family and so on, but the way I see it, it's a dream come true, to have made connexions with people with music, and to have the opportunity to work with a label I love dearly.

[Poisoned Youth]

Thanks Xavier and Steve for sharing the track! Autobuy for me.

[Poisoned Youth]

I know it sounds like the bad liner notes on the disc from a singer who can't help but thank God, his family and so on, but the way I see it, it's a dream come true, to have made connexions with people with music, and to have the opportunity to work with a label I love dearly.

No, thank YOU!

Ghost Rhythms and Lady With are among my favorite discoveries in the last few years without a doubt. I hope there is more in the future and more archives we don't yet know about.

[XavGel]

No, thank YOU!

Ghost Rhythms and Lady With are among my favorite discoveries in the last few years without a doubt. I hope there is more in the future and more archives we don't yet know about.

Thanks a lot !!! There's certainly more to come in the future !

[Sputnik]

Will certainly pick this up.

Thanks Xavier and Steve for sharing the track! Autobuy for me.

Yep, me too! Will be getting this as soon as it's available.

Thanks a lot !!! There's certainly more to come in the future !

Hope so, GR is near the top of my favorite current bands list! Lady With not quite at that level, but I do enjoy those albums and would get more of those as well. Really excited to get the new one and to know there's more in store for the future!

Bill

[Steve F.]

AND thanks endlessly to Steve F....

I’ve heard this before. The ‘we’re off to Inside Out, sucker’ sayonara comes next....

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Consider another copy sold once it's listed at wayside. Looking forward to this one and the future from the mighty GR!

[XavGel]

Consider another copy sold once it's listed at wayside. Looking forward to this one and the future from the mighty GR!

Thank you !!!

[XavGel]

I’ve heard this before. The ‘we’re off to Inside Out, sucker’ sayonara comes next....

My faith is in Le Dépôt exquis

[XavGel]

As you may know, we have a new record out on october 4th, available for preorder.
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.co...e-at-yoshiwara

I thought it would be interesting to tell a bit of the story behind it. So here it is !

Live at Yoshiwara is exactly what the title says : a live album, in a place called Yoshiwara.
Except there are no venues called Yoshiwara. There is one infamous Yoshiwara district in Japan, which in turn lend its name to the depraved, ambiguous red-light district and club in Metropolis, the Fritz Lang's 1927 silent sci-fi movie.
metro344.jpg
For a long time, Camille Petit and myself were very interested in the slight frontier between existent and non-existent features in human's life ; dreams, for once ; memories ; and ghosts. That was that main interest that brought to life our double album Madeleine, which creates another soundtrack for Hitchcock's Vertigo, and gives space for the ghost that the movie gives life to, Madeleine. Madeleine really influences the characters in the movie, though she is not a real ghost, but merely an invention from a con-man.
téléchargement.jpg
This interest for non-existing but nevertheless present features is shown in the music Ghost Rhythms creates since its beginnings. Our tunes play on musical perceptions, unveiling a different comprehension of the music by adopting rhythmic deplacements, variations, and so on. In a word, our music plays with ghosts, music that might be, possibilities that might happen.

This record, Live at Yoshiwara, is no exception. We chose to make a live, but in a non-existing venue ; we created a space which exists but by name and recorded the music there, in front of a little audience. In the meantine, however, the music we made, the way we interpreted it, and the way we edited it, was influenced by the strong atmosphere surrounding Metropolis' Yoshiwara, mixing several venues (Japan, France, Germany, United States...) and several times (ancient Japan, european 1927, United States 60's, present time) in once.
yoshiwara1.jpg
I remember being amazed by Pink Floyd's live at Pompei, since they played a live for no audience ; and being intrigued by Frank Zappa's concept of Xenochrony, which consists of mixing several pieces from different times into one song.

You can say that this album pays homage to those two attempts at playing with the "live album" concept.

Tell me what you think ! Next time, I will tell you about the free track Kamaloka.

Yours,
Xavier

[thedunno]

I just had one spin so far and that's nowhere nearly enough for any judgement. Initial thought; 'omg, just think of the rehearsal time needed tot pull this off live'

This will get many many many plays.

[XavGel]

I just had one spin so far and that's nowhere nearly enough for any judgement. Initial thought; 'omg, just think of the rehearsal time needed tot pull this off live'

This will get many many many plays.

I'm glad you like it enough to spin it ! A lot of work was put into this !

[Steve F.]

A lot of work was put into this !

and that was just from training the parakeets!

[NogbadTheBad]

It's very good

[XavGel]

It's very good

Hi everyone, you can have signed posters to celebrate the new record, for 1 euro :
https://ghostrhythms.bandcamp.com/me...hiwara-posters
Support your local time-travelling band !

[XavGel]

As the release record gig approaches (on friday october 18th) I decided to post some texts on Facebook explaining or at least sharing some light on the process of composition of the tracks, and give a taste of what the internal life of the band look like. I already did three texts, and as Steve F. thought it was a good idea to share it here, I will oblige ! Thanks Steve for the idea.
Here is the text explaining a bit about Maohee, which is the second track from Live at Yoshiwara.

Only 5 days left before our release gig on october 18 at Sunset Sunside. Guess it's time to talk about 5 pieces of music from our Live at Yoshiwara record, tell a bit about the concepts, the music and the people behind what you hear. Today, I'll write about Maohee, which is the second track of the record, and was composed by Alexis Collin, who plays the accordion in the band.
First, a link to listen to the track :

Then, a little bit of the story behind it !

Live at Yoshiwara was designed to show on record what the band could actually achieve in a live situation. As such, Camille Petit and myself decided to ask the musicians of the band if they wanted to contribute material for this one-off project, as we used to write all music of the discs. Soon Alexis Collin presented us this tune, which I immediately fell in love with, as I felt it could channel most of the power and the rhythmic interplay of the band.
The tune is in a 6/8 time signature, with occasional 7/8 riffs, and showcases Alexis' use of the accordion in a organ-like style, with much emphasis on the bass tones and a real work around orchestration.

The title of the track itself comes from the novel Metropolis, written by Thea Von Harbou which served as the basis for the 1927's movie of the same name. It is the name of the strange drug that the Yoshiwara's regulars take to feel a very strong connection, as the novel says in this dialogue between two charachters named Slim and September, the proprietor of the Yoshiwara club :

"What is that: Maohee?" asked Slim, irritably. September drew his head down between his shoulders. (...)
"You don't know what Maohee is...Not a soul in the great Metropolis knows...No...Nobody. But here in Yoshiwara they all know." (...)
"Drugs, I expect, September--?"
"My dear sir, the lion is also a cat. Maohee is a drug: but what is a cat beside a lion? Maohee is from the other side of the earth. It is the divine, the only thing--because it is the only thing which makes us feel the intoxication of the others."
"The intoxication--of the others...?" repeated Slim, stopping still.
(...)

When they're intoxicated with the drug, the people in the crowd begin to invoke Maohee as a god-like figure, which chose to "descend" into one of the participant's mind. As such, he is the one who feel the power of everyone else's intoxication, and is not himself anymore for a while. It is a transcendant experience, shamanic in a way, a possession-like trance.
The track efficiently translates this feeling by making the band act as one musician, with powerfuls ostinato conveyings all of the members of the band on one rhythmic figure, which grows and grows before exploding.

The track was an apt choice to really open the disc after the "Yoshiwara's theme" introduction ; it sums up what the record is all about, an invocation of sort of a non-existent place, a ghostly room, where to play and listen to the music. Not ghostly in a menacing way : we all do go to a certain place in our mind and heart when we listen or play music ; it is an embodiement, an "incarnation" of this room.

Funnily enough, when I composed Yoshiwara's theme, I wasn't aware of Alexis' composition ; I was amazed to discover that the two musical pieces shared a suite of musical chords that you can hear after the 4'48 mark of the track. You'll also find this musical suite in Funus Imaginarium, but that story is for later.

Bonne écoute !
Enjoy !

Xavier

[XavGel]

Here is the text for Nattes, which is the 4th track of the disc :

4 days to go til the release gig of our new album, Live at Yoshiwara. That means 4 tracks to explore til friday 18 ! Today we'll talk about Nattes, which is the fourth track of the disc.
First of all, here is the link to listen :
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/track/nattes

Nattes proved to be the toughest score in a long time for the band, as we not only had to learn the parts which are intricated, but RECORD IT LIVE. I'm really glad of the version we have on the disc, that shows all the hard work every member put in the making.
Ghost Rhythms is a band where you can find good music readers and, well, not so good (or not at all). I for myself am a non-reader. I tried but not hard enough, and so I find myself to be the co-leader of a band with some excellent readers without being myself able to properly read a score.
Anyways, that doesn't, funilly enough, prevent me to WRITE scores and to think about music in a formal way. I write the ugliest scores ever, that take hours and hours to decipher, and I feel sorry for the band every time I bring a piece to the table. So this one was especially excruciating, because as a non-reader I had to teach to other non-quite-so-good readers (Greg Kosovski and Guillaume Aventurin) to learn their parts, which are quite complicated ; and they had to do it by heart or almost by heart, which represents quite a number of notes and specifications.
I could feel the sweat coming down my neck as the recording date approached and I had no clue about how and when to learn others the parts and give specifications to others musicians that already knew their part. The clock was ticking, and Camille Petit helped this track to take shape a lot by encouraging me to go forward, and of course by giving score indications where I was clueless.
What gives the track its complexity is, however, what also makes its simplicity. Nattes (french braids) is a type of braided hairstyle where three sections of hair are braided together from the crown of the head to the nape of the neck. The track is essentially that : three sections of melodies are braided together. You can hear those three sections played at 0.29, by the cello, the tenor sax and the accordion. Together, when they are braided, they "reconstitute" a melody that was created on guitar and divided in three different melodic sections.
What makes that difficult to hear is that the real melody is in 5/8 ; but, when divided and played by three instruments, this means that :
1. there is a "ternary" feel to it, as the three instruments playing note after note create a kind of waltz ; although the real melody is in 5 times.
2. there is an "uncertainty" to it, as the instruments don't play a looped melody. To make it brief : the 5/8 nature of the melody prevents the instruments to play the same notes as the melody comes back again for another time (anybody wants aspirine ?).

So this rather simple system leads to a seriously complicated score, and furthermore this is complicated by the fact that there can be no mistake in the timing : if the cello plays WITH the saxophone, then something is wrong. So this shows how the band did work on this one, and how the night was good, as one week or two before the recording took place, we couldn't play the track entirely (seriously).

I remember fondly of a movie that our good pal Jonathan Martin (who designs our layouts since our first disc, and with who I paired for a number of editorial adventures) did, which involved someone making french braids to another. It is quite a striking image to see, and the movie (or the memory of it, or both) made a strong impression on me. For nothing is so gentle, and so human, than to make french braids to one another (well, I can see your point, there are a lot more ways to be human than to make french braids, but you see what I mean). Those woven gestures simply creates beauty. I can think of this movie as a "point de départ" for this composition.

Of course, the simple idea of spreading a unified melody on multiple instruments is not new, even in Ghost Rhythms' music, as we used this technique a lot in Madeleine, for example. But this composition, in a way, kind of represents my best effort to date to illustrate it.

And it would be a crime to not mention Camille Petit's delicate chorus, which illuminates and somehow clears the space in the middle of the track. This man is something.

To finish (a second aspirin?), I would like to highlight some "occult" implications that made me take a special interest in that composition. For there can't be only one world around us ; there has to be three. The one we can see, the one we can't, and the one that's in between. And those three universes, I think, are braided all the time.

Enjoy !

Xavier