PURCHASE '68' by Robert Wyatt @
AMAZON (digital & physical): http://www.amazon.com/68-Robert-Wyatt/dp/B00EI63LJY
ITUNES (digital): https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/68/id687598452
BANDCAMP (hi-fi digital): http://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/68
WAYSIDE (physical-ships worldwide): http://waysidemusic.com/Music-Products/Wyatt--Robert---68__Rune-spc-375.aspx

"After a half a dozen listens I am convinced this is of the very best archival releases EVER.
The creativity was pouring out of RW at that time and the freedom he had doing these demos reveal a sense of freshness that is really exciting – also there is a feeling of warm intimacy like we get to be the fly on RW's studio wall in 1968 - the interview is amazing too. Do not miss this."
–Udi Koomram, engineer.

"Some have called this - the complete set of Robert Wyatt's solo recordings made in the US in late 1968 - the ultimate Holy Grail. Half of the material here is not only previously unreleased - it had never been heard, even by the most dedicated collectors of Wyatt rarities."
–Aymeric Leroy, author and historian of the 'Canterbury Scene'.

"A stunning archival release that sheds new light on early Soft Machine. A must-have for Softs fans"
–Sid Smith, journalist

For over 45 years, Robert Wyatt has been a major, creative force in music, having had a major impact on the beginnings of both psychedelic rock and jazz/rock in the UK with Soft Machine, to his eventual long solo career as a unique singer/songwriter.

In September, 1968, the Soft Machine had just finished their second, exhaustive tour of the USA supporting the Jimi Hendrix Experience. At the conclusion of the tour, vocalist/drummer/multi-instrumentalist Robert stayed, working on recordings in Hollywood and New York City. Upon Robert's return to England to re-start the Soft Machine in December, 1968, these documents lay forgotten. Two of them were eventually found and issued, but half of these recordings were unreleased and thought lost forever...

Now, for the first time, all four of the recordings Robert made in '68 are collected together and released, all carefully worked on and presented in the best possible sound quality – and the recorded sound here is surprisingly excellent overall!

This release is fully authorized by Robert and the liners include an in-depth interview with Robert about his recollections of this period, with insights into his songwriting process, recording procedures and previously untold anecdotes of this period of his work and life.

There are four tracks. Two of the demos are shorter songs. Of these, one of them was a track Robert used to play with the Wilde Flowers, Brian Hopper's Slow Walkin' Talk, while the other features music that would later be re-worked by Robert and appear on the 1st album by Matching Mole!

The bulk of the material - the two long suites - were later re-recorded by the Soft Machine; Rivmic Melodies later became the basis of side one on Volume II (1969) and Moon In June showed up as Robert's showcase on Third (1970). The two side-long epics are particularly worth noting how they present, even in this very early stage of his career, Wyatt's seamless integration of song fragments and instrumental passages within a unified whole, his stream-of-consciousness, often self-referential lyrics interspersed with witty asides (soon to become a defining characteristic of the 'Canterbury scene'), matched by Wyatt's equally idiosyncratic singing.
These tracks serve as a template for the post-psychedelic Soft Machine's career as founders of European jazz/rock and the entire release is a precursor to Robert's post-band, solo career.

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Robert Wyatt, "Rivmic Melodies" [excerpt] from '68' (Cuneiform Records)

Buy it here
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/other-worlds

Andrew Niven – drums, percussion, synth, sequencers
Eric Klerks – bass, 8-string guitar, synthbass
Max Kutner – electric and acoustic guitar

with
Mike Keneally ¬– keyboards, guitar, samples
Jonathan Sindelman – keyboards, organ
Daniel Rosenboom – trumpet
Jessica Lurie – baritone sax
Gregg Bendian ¬– vibes

Produced by Mike Keneally and Android Trio

Concentric Lines

ANDROID TRIO "Concentric Lines" from "Other Worlds" (Cuneiform Records)

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https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/facelift-france-and-holland-3

Elton Dean : Alto sax, saxello
Lyn Dobson : Soprano and tenor sax, flute, harmonica, vocals
Hugh Hopper : Bass
Mike Ratledge : Hohner Pianet, Lowrey Holiday Deluxe organ
Robert Wyatt : Drums, vocals

Out 3/25/22

SOFT MACHINE "Out - Bloody - Rageous" from "Facelift France and Holland" (Cuneiform Records)

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https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/turf-ascension

Blake Albinson : Guitar 
Jay Burritt : Bass
Kai Esbensen : Keyboards, vocals
James Flagg : Drums, vocals
Jonathan G. Smith : Vocals, guitar

BUBBLEMATH "Everything" from "Turf Ascension" (Cuneiform Records)

purchase information will be here soon!

Ken Field - saxophones, flutes
Alieno deBootes - keyboards, creative mix

KEN FIELD & ALIENO DEBOOTES "The Garden" from "Alien Field" (Cuneiform)

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https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/multicolored-midnight-2

Michael Formanek - double bass and electronics
Tomas Fujiwara - drums and vibraphone
Mary Halvorson - guitar

THUMBSCREW "Survival Fetish" from "Multicolored Midnight" (Cuneiform Records)

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https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-dutch-lesson

Roy Babbington: Electric 6-string bass
Karl Jenkins: Soprano sax, baritone sax, oboe, electric piano
John Marshall: Drums
Mike Ratledge: Electric piano, organ

Recorded at De Lantaren, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, October 26, 1973.

The Dutch Lesson

SOFT MACHINE "Chloe and the Pirates" from "The Dutch Lesson"

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Written and performed by a Light Sleeper:

Maria Elena Hernandez - alto and tenor saxophones
Traci Huff - viola
Matthew Jung - drums, keyboard
Dheeru Pennepalli - guitar

A LIGHT SLEEPER "Chrysanthemums" from "Equaeverpoise"

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https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-strainge-case-of-steve

Steve Kretzmer: organ
Guy Segers: bass
Dave Newhouse: horns, woodwinds
Dario D’Allessandro: guitars, synths
Kimara Sajn: additional bass
James Strain: drums

RASCAL REPORTERS "I Cries Crimes" from "The Strainge Case Of Steve"

Happy Family RETURNS! 

'Minimal Gods' out September 30, 2014 on Cuneiform Records. 

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Happy Family, "Slide" from 'Minimal Gods' (Cuneiform Records)

You can buy this album here!
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/cbgb-1987-taklos-festival-1986

George Cartwright - saxophones
Wayne Horvitz - keyboard and keyboard bass
Pippin Barnett - drums
Tom Cora - cello
Davey Williams - guitar

CURLEW "Agitar/The Victim" from 'CBGB, NYC, NY 1987 - Taklos Festival, Bern, Switzerland 1986'

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https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-ghastly-state-of-affairs

Mike Sary : bass, loops, samples
Katsumi Yoneda : guitars
Patrick Strawser : keyboards
Fenner Castner : drums
with 
Kenji Imai : flute
Warren Dale : saxes
Ludo Fabre : violin

FRENCH TV "The Mayor of Ding Dong City from "A Ghastly State Of Affairs" (Cuneiform Records)

Easily buy 'Relics' here
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Søren Høi 				drums
Laust Moltesen Andreasen 	guitar
Mads Ulrich 				guitar
Janus Bagh 				bass

ANTISTATIC "Angels vs. Peasants" from "Relics" (Cuneiform Records)

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Pascal Globensky :Composition, musique et instruments

PASCAL GLOBENSKY 'Approche' from "Zigzag" (Cuneiform Records)

Easily buy this album here: 
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-summer-we-went-west-and-east-live-2006

Shane Parish – guitar
Derek Poteat – bass
Sean Dail – drums

Tracks 1-19 recorded at Saalfelden Jazz Festival, August 27, 2006.

Tracks 21-34 recorded at the University of Maryland, WMUC studio, April 19, 2006.

AHLEUCHATISTAS 'Fodder For Defamation' from "The Summer We Went West [and East] - Live 2006"

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Patrick Forgas - Drums
Mathias Desmier - Guitar
Frédéric Schmidely - Saxophones & Flute
Stéphane Jaoui - Keyboards
Philippe Talet - Bass
Mirelle Bauer - Vibrophone & Marimba

FORGAS BAND PHENOMENA 'Déclic' from "Roue Libre"

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Patrick Forgas - Drums
Mathias Desmier - Guitar
Juan-Sébastien Jimenez - Bass
Gilles Pausanias - Keyboards
Denis Guivarc’h - Saxophone

All compositions and arrangements by
Patrick Forgas.

FORGAS BAND PHENOMENA 'Rebirth' from "Extra-Lucide" (Cuneiform Records)

Easily buy 'This Is Not The End' here: 
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●  Roger Trigaux – keyboard, vocal
●  François Mignot – guitar
●  Pierre Chevalier – piano, keyboards, vocal
●  Dave Kerman ­– percussion
●  Keith Macksoud – bass
●  Kurt Budé – sax, clarinet, bass clarinet
●  Liesbeth Lambrecht – violin
●  Udi Koomran ­– sound

PRESENT "This Is Not The End, part 1 (edit) from "This Is Not The End"

Easily buy 'Vacate' here:

https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/vacate-2

CHEER-ACCIDENT "Range" from "Vacate" (Cuneiform Records

You can easily buy the album here: 
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● Tomeka Reid – cello
● Mary Halvorson – guitar
● Jason Roebke – bass
● Tomas Fujiwara – drums

TOMEKA REID QUARTET 'Sauntering With Mr. Brown' from "3+3"

You can easily buy the album here: 
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/h-vikodden-1971

Elton Dean : alto sax, saxello, Hohner pianet
Hugh Hopper : bass
Mike Ratledge : Hohner pianet, Lowrey Holiday Deluxe organ, Fender Rhodes
Robert Wyatt : drums, vocals

Recorded February 27, 1971 at the Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter in Høvikodden, Norway.

SOFT MACHINE 'Virtually' from "Høvikodden 1971"

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Janel Leppin - cello, modified cello, vocals, bass, synthesizers, piano, koto, hammered dulcimer
Anthony Pirog - electric and acoustic guitars, guitar synth, synthesizers, bass, percussion

06 - Fly Over Iceland

09 - Pacific Grove Monarch

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Larry Feguson : drums
Luke Stewart : bass
Anthony Pirog : guitar
Sarah Hughes : alto saxophone
Brian Settle : tenor saxophone
Janel Leppin : cello

JANEL LEPPIN 'As Wide As All Outdoors' from "Ensemble Volcanic Ash: To March Is To Love"

Soft Machine were one of the greatest UK avant/jazz-rock bands of all time and their work, whether their earliest performances as a psychedelic band, who were contemporaries of, and shared stages with Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, all the way to being one of Europe's best known 'fusion' bands, their work continues to be name-checked by today's hip experimentalists.

By mid 1973, Soft Machine had gone through a tremendous amount of personnel turnover and a shifting in their sound over the previous year. The band now consisted of founding member Mike Ratledge (electric piano, synthesizer), Karls Jenkins (electric piano, piano, sax, oboe), Roy Babbington (electric bass) and John Marshall (drums and percussion). Having already collaborated with a guitarist, Gary Boyle (as documented on NDR Jazz Workshop), upon meeting guitarist Allan Holdsworth, then in the early stages of his professional career, in November, the group invited him to join the band, which he did, becoming the first guitarist to join the band in over 5 years!

With the addition of a musician of Holdsworth's prowess,  Soft Machine decided to take a fresh start and develop material that would feature their virtuosic new addition in a fitting manner. Jenkins and Ratledge composed a whole new repertoire which was road-tested on extensive tours of North America and continental Europe in the first half of 1974 and which would ultimately make up the Bundles album, widely acknowledged as a jazz-fusion classic alongside the best exponents of the genre worldwide.

On July 4, 1974, Soft Machine were invited to perform at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, sharing the spotlight with such headliners as Billy Cobham’s Spectrum, Larry Coryell’s Eleventh House and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. This alone was evidence of the band being a dominant presence on the now widely popular jazz-rock scene, which had evolved out of the unique and edgy sound that the band had pioneered a few years before. Switzerland 1974 is this performance, captured just a couple of weeks before the studio sessions for Bundles. The hour-long set is the only available visual document of the Ratledge-Marshall-Jenkins-Babbington-Holdsworth  line-up, and it includes live versions of the entire album, most notably the classic “Hazard Profile” suite, augmented with individual showcases for each member as well as a collective improvisation and brief snippets from Six and Seven. As well as retracing Soft Machine’s transformation into one of the leading exponents of jazz-fusion, it provides a rare chance to witness the genesis of Allan Holdsworth’s unique, innovative and unbelievably fluid and dexterous playing, before he went on to universal acclaim with Tony Williams’ New Lifetime, the prog-rock ‘supergroup’ U.K., Jean-Luc Ponty, Bill Bruford and ultimately his own electric fusion groups.

Caveat: Due to the age of these tapes and how they had been previously mixed, edited, used, and stored, there were multiple visual and audio sources of this show in varying lengths, each with their own flaws. While significant flaws could not be completely eliminated, very special thanks are due to our engineers Doug Moon and Udi Koomran, who worked from these multiple copies in order to make the final result as good as it can possibly be. This was deemed the best available option in light of this document’s archival/historical importance.

Soft Machine, "Hazard Profile" (excerpt) from 'Switzerland 1974' (Cuneiform Records)

“So much came from my association with Mike... He went from being my hero to a friend, and he’s always been my teacher... I’ve always fantasized about doing something with him adapting some of my music.”
– Bill Frisell

As a dauntingly prolific artist, Bill Frisell has recorded in a vast array of settings, but he’s never made an album like ‘Play A Bill Frisell Set List’. Captured live in concert with the superb NDR Bigband, the guitarist delivers a tour de force performance on a program of ingenious arrangements designed specifically for him and the NDR by Michael Gibbs.
 
Recorded at the Überjazz Festival with the NDR Bigband on Oct 26, 2013, ‘Play A Bill Frisell Set List’ captures Frisell interacting with one of the world’s great jazz orchestras, exploring sleek, spacious, vividly expressive arrangements of compositions drawn from throughout his career. Gibbs didn’t plan the concert as a recording session, but after many years of trying to bring Frisell and the NDR together he felt the results were too good to keep under wraps. “Jeff Ballard playing drums for this concert was a dream, and the band really enjoyed playing it, so the music was magical,” Gibbs says. “I couldn’t resist the opportunity to release it.”

It’s difficult to overstate Gibbs’ impact on the trajectory of Frisell’s music and career. As a Denver teenager, Frisell convinced his father to take him to a touring Newport Jazz Festival show at Red Rocks in the summer of 1968 and the experience radically opened his ears. “It was an amazing program, with Gary Burton with Bob Moses, Coryell, and Steve Swallow, and they blew my brains out,” Frisell recalls. “I’d never heard anything like it. So I started getting those records, and there’s some guy named Mike Gibbs who wrote half the songs on these records. He had so much to do with that sound, making a world for that group to inhabit.”

Frisell started following Gibbs’ music, and was thrilled to discover that he was composer-in-residence at Berklee when he enrolled in 1975. He took all of the classes that Gibbs offered and was tremendously encouraged when Gibbs complimented his playing after catching Frisell’s group at a gig.

By 1978 Frisell had relocated to Belgium to focus on his music, which meant he was well placed to step in when Gibbs needed a guitarist for a tour of the UK. The group included the German bassist Eberhard Weber, with whom Frisell would play a duo at every concert. The connection he forged with the bassist on this tour led to Frisell’s participation on Weber’s 1979 album Fluid Rustle, the first of the dozens of recordings that Frisell would do on ECM as a sideman and leader, and where his career truly started!

‘Play A Bill Frisell Set List’ is Bill Frisell’s first-ever appearance as the featured soloist on a big band session, and with Gibbs’ melodically verdant, harmonically suggestive arrangements, he’s not likely to find a better set list than 'Set List'. 

Michael Gibbs & the NDR Bigband, "On The Lookout/Far Away" from 'Play a Bill Frisell Set List'

Spaced is previously unreleased studio recordings recorded in early/mid 1969 by the "classic" Soft Machine trio line-up of Hugh Hopper [bass], Mike Ratledge [electric piano/organ] and Robert Wyatt [drums]. These heavily manipulated/ looped/etc. recordings were originally presented as the backdrop to a multi-media work entitled Spaced. After it's week-long performance, the tapes were forgotten for over two decades until rediscovered by Mike King. These recordings feature the band at their most radical, and while they would never again use the studio in such an extreme fashion, the work done here definitely influenced later works such as Third and Hugh's 1984.

Soft Machine, "Spaced Two" from 'Spaced' (Cuneiform Records)

Beat Circus - Boy From Black Mountain

Far too many groups are described using the words "nobody sounds like them," but with Switzerland's Sonar, it's a description of rare verisimilitude. At a time when most guitarists' acumen is measured in notes per second, Sonar is, instead, the confluence of rigorously considered writing, collective restraint, and a sound instantly recognizable as much for what is not there as for what is. A musical animal that manages to engage the mind while hitting the heart and the feet (despite its disposition towards complex polyrhythms), to call SONAR "instrumental rock" is unfairly reductionist for a group whose purview extends beyond progressive rock into contemporary classicism...certainly minimalism...a subtle taste of jazz...and, on its latest album, Black Light, perhaps even a hint of surf music described by the group's primary composer, guitarist Stephan Thelen, as "Duane Eddy Meets Jackson Pollock."

Thelen may cite King Crimson, the compositional rigour of Nik Bärtsch, and minimalist composer Steve Reich amongst SONAR's more obvious touchstones but, just as its previous albums did, Black Light manages to come out of the gate sounding like none of them. An integrated team of players who place music ahead of ego, guitarists Thelen and Bernhard Wagner relentlessly eschew flashy gymnastics and even largely avoid the usual arsenal of effects beyond a touch of reverb and a bit of distortion; Christian Kuntner is a lithe, dancing and eminently intuitive bassist while, at the same time, providing a potently visceral foundation; and Manuel Pasquinelli accomplishes the seemingly impossible feat of simultaneously delivering multiple rhythms in real time.

Black Light also represents the first time Sonar has recorded with an outside producer in tow. And what a producer: David Bottrill, whose work as a producer and/or engineer, in addition to Crimson, Peter Gabriel and Tool, also includes time spent with Rush, Smashing Pumpkins and Dream Theater. "The music is at once simple and complex," Bottrill writes at his website, "polyrhythms over melodies over thunderous bass and a drummer who can seem to split his own body in half to play in two or more different meters at once." Recorded live in the studio with no overdubs, Black Light is as in-the-moment as it gets and is a perfect representation of this band and what this band does!

SONAR, "Black Light" from 'Black Light' (Cuneiform Records)

Rights

Schnellertollermeier, "Rights" [Part 1] from 'Rights' (out October 6, 2017 on Cuneiform Records)

Andi Schnellmann - electric bass
Manuel Troller - electric guitars
David Meier - drums and percussion

SCHNELLERTOLLERMEIER "209 Aphelion" from "5" (Cuneiform Records)

Cuneiform Records is an independent record label releasing adventurous, boundary-bursting music by artists from around the world. Founded in 1984.

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