1980s post-punk fanzine Ablaze! collected and published
Page tken from Ablaze!
British post-punk and grunge fanzine Ablaze! is being collected and published as The City Is Ablaze! The Story Of A Post-Punk Popzine. The Manchester and Leeds based fanzine started out in black and white in 1984 and ran for 10 years, growing to full colour pages and including flexidiscs and 7"s.
During the decade it existed, Ablaze! ran articles on Sonic Youth, Ut, Babes In Toyland, Eyeless In Gaza, The Pastels, Dinosaur Jr, Pavement, My Bloody Valentine, among others. This collection also bundles in intros by the fanzine's founder and editor Karren Blaze, plus essays and contributions from Morrissey and Thurston Moore plus some of Ablaze!'s regular writers. It is released with a free 14 track digital download (which they're calling a "virtual flexi-disc"), that you can listen to below.
Full list of interviews included and more details on the book here.
RP Boo, Porter Ricks, Earth announced for Unsound
porter ricks
Unsound has announced a first batch of acts for the 2013 edition of its Krakow festival. Thomas Köner and Andy Mellwig's Porter Ricks are coming out of retirement, and Robert Rich will perform an all night sleep concert for the first time since 1996. Also playing are Dylan Carlson's Earth, Robert Henke, Kevin Martin's King Midas Sound, and Mats Gustafsson's Fire! trio.
Also on the line up is New York Noise artist Pharmakon, Blawan and Pariah's live project Karenn, DJ Qu, plus Helena Hauff, Stellar Om Source, Tropic Of Cancer, Lumière. The theme for this year's festival is interference, with more additions to come in the next few weeks.
FatCat restarts Split Series with Ekoplekz side project and The Durian Brothers
FatCat has dusted off its Split Series and is restarting with a release from Ekoplekz side project Ensemble Skalectrik and Düsseldorff based trio The Durian Brothers.
This Ekoplekz side project, Ensemble Skalectrik, is the place for Nick Edwards's rawer, improvised output using turntables and pedals, under which moniker he's released an album via Editions Mego. The Durian Brothers have self released three EPs on their own Diskant label. The link is the turntables, with The Durian Brothers using a pair of prepared turntables, abused with objects and elastic bands (but not records) filtered through a sequencer and other effects generators.
The Split series has been on hiatus, with the last instalment in 2011. Since its inception in 1998 with V/Vm and Third Eye Foundation it's included releases from Konono #1 with The Dead C, James Plotkin with Pole, Alog and Astral Social Club, David Grubbs and Avey Tare, among others. Full list of Split Series releases here.
Split Series #22 is out on vinyl and as a download at the beginning of July. The 12" will be pressed in an edition of 700, and like the rest of the series, have hand drilled artwork.
N.Paradoxa starts networking salon for women
Feminist art journal N.Paradoxa is starting up a monthly salon for female artists, writers, curators and critics. The first salon takes place this Thursday (16 June) at Beaconsfield in London, with £5 entry fee. Further salons will take place on 13 June and 18 July.
The journal notes that the salons are not talks, seminars or discussion series, or a place for formal presentations, but an event to bring people together and share ideas. To register use the online contact form or email ktpress@ktpress.co.uk, with the dates you want to attend, plus current interests. More details here.
Berlin's Atonal festival resurrected
Berlin's Atonal festival, which began in 1982 hosting German industrial groups like Einstürzende Neubauten, Sprung Aus Den Wolken, Malaria, White Russia, Alu and others at Kreuzberg punk club SO36, has been resurrected.
The festival, which hosted the likes of Psychic TV, Test Dept and 808 State, is returning this year to Kraftwerk in Berlin (not the group) - a disused powerplant. The theme for the festival is 'forming space', with a line up that diverges from the original's Industrial roster, with Raime, Juan Atkins and Moritz von Oswald, Voices From The Lake, John Hassell, the Brandt Brauer Frick ensemble, Max Richter, Kangding Ray, Francesco Tristano, Murcof, Jacaszek, plus installations, workshops and discussion panels lined up.
Atonal takes place 25–31 July. More details incoming here, and line up additions are being announced largely via Facebook.
No-Neck Blues Band back catalogue available digitally
Photo: Chris Buck
The Minneapolis based De Stijl label has uploaded the entirety of the No-Neck Blues Band's discography to iTunes, from their first full length in 1994, through 8" lathe cuts, cassettes, CD-Rs, their soundtrack for the film At 6am We Become The Police, among other releases. In total, the digital filedrop comes to over 40 releases.
Full blurbs and monologues from Byron Coley, Chris Corsano, Michael Chapman, and Thurston Moore, among others, are online here, along with links to videos and live performances, plus links to buy physical copies where they are still available.
Stroboscopic Artefacts label head starts synth shop in Berlin
Brief news bite: Lucy, label head at Stroboscopic Artefacts, has opened a synth shop in Berlin along with two friends, selling vintage and rare analog synthesizers.
The shop, PhilSynth, currently has a stock of around 25 synths, and they also do services and will rent out their stock of Rolands, Korgs and other synths. More details on the shop here. It's located at Manitiusstrasse 2.
Documentary covering emergence of 17 year cicada brood crowdfunding completion
david rothenberg cicada
David Rothenberg, author of Bug Music (interviewed on this site last week), is crowdfunding a project with filmmaker Richard Knox Robinson to complete a documentary which brings together two narratives: the story of Tim Blunk, imprisoned for 17 years for the Resistance Conspiracy case, and the emergence of millions of cicadas on the East Coast of the States, following 17 years underground.
The funding Rothenberg and Robinson are asking for will cover the costs of using archival footage from the FBI's press conference which announced Tim Blunk and Susan Rosenberg's arrest. More details on the film, plus a trailer, here.
Los Angeles Free Music Society magazine republished
Photo: Fredrik Nilsen
An abridged version of Los Angeles Free Music Society's 1970s magazine Light Bulb is being published by LA based organisation East Of Borneo.
LAFMS, which includes Joseph Hammer, Smegma, Tom Recchion, Joe and Rick Potts, published the magazine occasionally between 1977–81. This version collects 62 looseleaf pages from the likes of Chip Chapman, Susan Farthing Chapman, Dennis Duck, Ace Farren Ford, Juan Gomez, Ju Suk Reet Meate, Fredrik Nilsen, Joe Potts, Rick Potts, Tom Potts, Tom Recchion, among others. More details here.
Milford Graves honoured at 18th year of Vision Festival
The 18th edition of New York jazz fest Vision will be dedicated to drummer Milford Graves and Pacific Coast Beat artist Robert Janz, and will take place 12 June–16 June at Roulette in Brooklyn.
Vision is the oldest continually running jazz festival in New York, and last year's festival was an anniversary edition for the Aum Fidelity label. This year, playing in various line ups and groups are Joe McPhee, Charles Gayle, William Parker, Amiri Baraka Roswell Rudd, Henry Grimes, Marshall Allen, Kidd Jordan, among others, with Graves playing in a number of line ups throughout the week.
More details on line ups and performances here.