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Thread: Fred Frith

  1. #26
    Member Phlakaton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by daven View Post
    I've seen him twice. Both time he was with a band called Henry Cow.
    ARGGG... jealous.

  2. #27
    Member Phlakaton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor View Post
    If I could, I'd bring my six-year old to one of Frith's improvs. Knowing my kid, I'm absolutely dead convinced that he'd find it flabbergastingly fun and fascinating. Kids are unspoiled, y'know - long before the doops of "form" and "standard" and "rule" and "convention" grabs them and converts them into Portnoys or worse.
    When my son was 10 I took him to a ZPZ show. He was floored. The bass in his chest - Bozzio bleeding. He was flippin' out and is still boppin' his way through Zappa's catalog. Music has made him a math wiz too. If only I could have managed to get us to one of the Magma shows... sigh... he loves them too.

  3. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor View Post
    If I could, I'd bring my six-year old to one of Frith's improvs. Knowing my kid, I'm absolutely dead convinced that he'd find it flabbergastingly fun and fascinating. Kids are unspoiled, y'know - long before the doops of "form" and "standard" and "rule" and "convention" grabs them and converts them into Portnoys or worse.
    We took our grandkids (5 & 7 years old at the time) to see him live at a local contemporary music venue (The Chapel) and they loved it. They're unusual kids though...

    I do highly recommend exposing kids to this sort of music early. It's all about PLAY and discovery. Perfect time for them to have their minds opened to those possibilities remaining options into adulthood.

    And thanks for that Cosa Brava live footage. Very cool. Both of their albums are highly recommended also
    And the code is a play, a play is a song, a song is a film, a film is a dance...

  4. #29
    Member Phlakaton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Polypet View Post
    We took our grandkids (5 & 7 years old at the time) to see him live at a local contemporary music venue (The Chapel) and they loved it. They're unusual kids though...

    I do highly recommend exposing kids to this sort of music early. It's all about PLAY and discovery. Perfect time for them to have their minds opened to those possibilities remaining options into adulthood.

    And thanks for that Cosa Brava live footage. Very cool. Both of their albums are highly recommended also
    My oldest (14 right now) loves Guitar Solos - that Fred gets so many awesome sounds and tones from strings still blows his mind.

  5. #30
    chalkpie
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    Quote Originally Posted by Polypet View Post
    We took our grandkids (5 & 7 years old at the time) to see him live at a local contemporary music venue (The Chapel) and they loved it. They're unusual kids though...

    I do highly recommend exposing kids to this sort of music early. It's all about PLAY and discovery. Perfect time for them to have their minds opened to those possibilities remaining options into adulthood.

    And thanks for that Cosa Brava live footage. Very cool. Both of their albums are highly recommended also
    Since we're sharing kids/concerts stories, I took my daughter (6 at the time) to see Mahler 2 at the NYP. She knew the entire piece, since I had been playing it almost non-stop in the house during that time. My son's (8 years-old now) favorite band is Cardiacs! He was humming a Sea Nymphs melody the other day, and I haven't played that disc in at least 2 months. I'd say Tim did a nice job at writing memorable melodies

  6. #31

  7. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by Phlakaton View Post
    My oldest (14 right now) loves Guitar Solos - that Fred gets so many awesome sounds and tones from strings still blows his mind.
    But then again, this is arguably the greatest all-electric solo guitar album ever recorded. I once attended a lecture at the music conservatory in my hometown which had this exact album as its main topic, and even seasoned professors were ripe with wonder at the sound and mode of these recordings. To me, they are the token of and testament to Frith's extremely subtle impact as instrumentalist.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  8. #33
    Recently Resurrected zombywoof's Avatar
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    I saw a Tull show when I was 3 years old. Been music obsessed ever since.

  9. #34
    Quote Originally Posted by zombywoof View Post
    I saw a Tull show when I was 3 years old. Been music obsessed ever since.
    There weren't any cool bands when I was 3 years old! Anyway, Fred Frith has so many recordings to choose from, so I tried to listen to a bunch of stuff on YouTube over the weekend. I'm getting Gravity, Speechless, and Ragged Atlas for starters. That duo album with Evelyn Glennie sounds good too.

  10. #35
    chalkpie
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    Quote Originally Posted by Reid View Post
    There weren't any cool bands when I was 3 years old! Anyway, Fred Frith has so many recordings to choose from, so I tried to listen to a bunch of stuff on YouTube over the weekend. I'm getting Gravity, Speechless, and Ragged Atlas for starters. That duo album with Evelyn Glennie sounds good too.
    Dude, Frith is the man! Fripp who?

    Those are great and essential, and of course 'Guitar Solos' is a must. Kerman made me buy 'Accidental' at NF one year and I ended up loving that one - here is some detailed info on that sucker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_(album)

    I also heartily recommend 'Keep the Dog', which is a stellar (and "real") sounding double live album with some heavy cats on it like Hayward, Lussier, Zeena Parkins, Jean Derome, etc. GREAT!

    Have fun man - this guy is truly amazing IMO.

  11. #36
    chalkpie
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    Quote Originally Posted by Udi Koomran View Post
    Here is a track I recorded in 2005 with FF and Chris Cutler
    https://soundcloud.com/udi-koomran/f...-in-tel-aviv-1
    Holy crap - that is killer.

  12. #37
    Member Phlakaton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chalkpie View Post
    Dude, Frith is the man! Fripp who?

    Those are great and essential, and of course 'Guitar Solos' is a must. Kerman made me buy 'Accidental' at NF one year and I ended up loving that one - here is some detailed info on that sucker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_(album)

    I also heartily recommend 'Keep the Dog', which is a stellar (and "real") sounding double live album with some heavy cats on it like Hayward, Lussier, Zeena Parkins, Jean Derome, etc. GREAT!

    Have fun man - this guy is truly amazing IMO.
    Keep The Dog is indeed badass. I was on cloud 9 when that came out. I wish that Fred Frith club had worked out through ReR years back. I was getting all those new cd releases signed in shiny silver pen with numbered copies. It just sort of went away... Anyone else do that subscription?

  13. #38
    finally was able to see a live solo guitar performance by ff and it was even better than i imagined it would be.

  14. #39
    Quote Originally Posted by chalkpie View Post
    I also heartily recommend 'Keep the Dog', which is a stellar (and "real") sounding double live album with some heavy cats on it like Hayward, Lussier, Zeena Parkins, Jean Derome, etc. GREAT!
    Sounds good. That's what I'm looking for. Records that feature a working band with a lot of group interaction. And I need some type of rhythmic structure. I'm not as crazy about the avant weirdness stuff with a bunch of bleeps and honks.

  15. #40
    chalkpie
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    Quote Originally Posted by Reid View Post
    Sounds good. That's what I'm looking for. Records that feature a working band with a lot of group interaction. And I need some type of rhythmic structure. I'm not as crazy about the avant weirdness stuff with a bunch of bleeps and honks.
    Yeah, then that album will be right up your alley. Gravity and Speechless both are just killer too - you will love those. This guy is very eclectic so when (if?) you are in the mood to explore the bleeps and honks side of him, they're there for the taking! Are you hip to the Art Bears albums? Must-haves if you aren't.

  16. #41
    Member Phlakaton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by chalkpie View Post
    Yeah, then that album will be right up your alley. Gravity and Speechless both are just killer too - you will love those. This guy is very eclectic so when (if?) you are in the mood to explore the bleeps and honks side of him, they're there for the taking! Are you hip to the Art Bears albums? Must-haves if you aren't.
    +1 on those Gravity and Speechless albums... Speechless is particularly good at sneaking in those bleeps and honks while keeping you seriously groovin' at times. Nobody is quite like Frith in this aspect.

  17. #42
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    Keep The Dog rules!

  18. #43
    Member Nashorn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rcarlberg View Post
    Buy the DVD "Step Across The Border" if you can't see him live.
    And if you can see him live, buy it anyway.

  19. #44
    I also love his Quartets album
    and recently digging my teeth into Traffic Continues with the Ensemble Modern very cool

    https://youtu.be/c-U8l7ox-C8

  20. #45

  21. #46
    Quote Originally Posted by Udi Koomran View Post
    Traffic Continues with the Ensemble Modern very cool
    This is my fave of his contemporary ensemble works. Pacifica also has some amazing parts. Eye to Ear (on the Tzadik Filmmusic series) is highly underrated, and The Previous Evening (on ReR) was the first of his "serious" pieces I got, I believe. Both Impur and Nowhere-Sideshow-Thin Air are worth exploring if you like Frith "the Composer".

    Of his rock/progressive/whatever records, Gravity and Speechless are absolutely awesome, with Cheap at Half the Price less so yet still enjoyable (it's all solo, him on every instrument and oddball vocals/lyrics, engineering and production).
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  22. #47
    chalkpie
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    Quote Originally Posted by Udi Koomran View Post
    I also love his Quartets album
    and recently digging my teeth into Traffic Continues with the Ensemble Modern very cool

    https://youtu.be/c-U8l7ox-C8
    Seen this project a million times but never heard it. Wonderful! Love the aleatoric nature combined with the scored material.

    Udi - have you heard the entire album?

    EDIT: just saw that Scrotum comment above. I guess it will go on the "list"

  23. #48
    chalkpie
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    Thanks to this thread I think we're (and that means 'me', my friends) gonna do a mini Frith "binge", adding Massacre, Art Bears, and maybe even the Cow.

    BTW, how killer is this? I love the unison scored melody at 1:29 in which he alters the scales and modes used over that pedal. A simple idea/concept with brilliant results!

    Also, at 2:00 listen to those harmonics ring out - such a beautiful sound.

    Last edited by chalkpie; 07-01-2015 at 08:41 AM.

  24. #49
    Member Phlakaton's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor View Post
    This is my fave of his contemporary ensemble works. Pacifica also has some amazing parts. Eye to Ear (on the Tzadik Filmmusic series) is highly underrated, and The Previous Evening (on ReR) was the first of his "serious" pieces I got, I believe. Both Impur and Nowhere-Sideshow-Thin Air are worth exploring if you like Frith "the Composer".

    Of his rock/progressive/whatever records, Gravity and Speechless are absolutely awesome, with Cheap at Half the Price less so yet still enjoyable (it's all solo, him on every instrument and oddball vocals/lyrics, engineering and production).
    Eye To Ear is high on my list... not sure what it is about that one but I keep coming back to it... more and more.

  25. #50
    Quote Originally Posted by Phlakaton View Post
    Eye To Ear is high on my list... not sure what it is about that one but I keep coming back to it
    For me, this is about the small-unit ensemble approach of written score contrasting with the man's always unconventional modes of free improvisation, or the often stripped-down instrumentation to back an audio narrative hinting at much grander flicks. The end result is highly contemplative yet active, (mostly) quiet music of the "minimally maximal" variety, something Frith masters better than just about anyone else I know from the initial world of rock.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

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