title track from the forthcoming LP :::

Within Sun Ra’s vast-as-outer-space discography, the album that orbits the furthest away from the known jazz universe is Strange Strings. Calling it a “study in ignorance,” Ra directed his Arkestra stalwarts to pick up unusual stringed instruments and homemade percussion with which they had little familiarity, and improvise without any guidelines or direction; the resulting record is one of Ra’s best. Now, Roaratorio is proud to issue a satellite around that lonely planet: Other Strange Worlds, recorded in Ra’s NYC apartment in May of 1965, dates from the same era and employs the same methodology as Strange Strings. But while the latter album featured the full Arkestra, Other Strange Worlds pares the players down to a core quintet of Ra, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Art Jenkins, and Ali Hasaan. There’s plenty of freewheeling collective improvisation in the Ra catalog, but rarely in a small-group setting such as this. Half of the pieces are texture-over-tonality string experiments, while the rest feature exotic reeds and percussion. Other Strange Worlds is a significant addition to Sun Ra’s body of work, and a brilliant example of free improv from the days before it had a name. 

“There’s always more Ra being issued than anyone can keep up with. But this one’s essential. Don’t skip it.” – Byron Coley



Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra - Other Strange Worlds

Playlist and other information available at: http://www.freeformfreakout.com/fffoxy-podcast-37-roaratorio-feature/

FFFoxy Podcast #37: Roaratorio feature

DAVID MARANHA & HELENA ESPVALL - SOMBRAS INCENDIADAS
three:four records, 2015 (TFR027)
http://www.three-four.net/releases/TFR027

OUT IN JANUARY 13, 2015

Helena Espvall first met David Maranha in 2006 when her band Espers played a show in Lisbon. They played two gigs the following year, and Espvall contributed to Maranha's 'Marches of
the New World'. Since then they always had the intention of working together more extensively and once Espvall moved to Lisbon two years ago they had no more excuses.

Sombras Incendiadas ("Exploding Shadows") features Espvall on amplified cello and Maranha on electric organ and amplified violin. Espvall has an amazing cello sound, kind of Velvet Underground, while David Maranha is in the vein of La Monte Young or Tony Conrad. As a duo, they create heavy drones with delicate harmonics behind the wall of sound. The textures are raw, the compositions are minimalistic, and the riffs are heady. The repetitive patterns played very loudly create a monolithic, hypnotic, and time­stopping album.

Sombras Incendiadas is available on LP (with a download coupon) and digitally.

Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra - Other Strange Worlds

Roaratorio

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