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God of Shamisen – Smoke Monster Attack
God of Shamisen, led by shamisen master Kevin Kmetz, is putting out their second album – Smoke Monster Attack.
Teaming up with producer Billy Anderson, God of Shamisen returns with Smoke Monster Attack, their second album. Featuring some new tunes along with some interesting video game cover songs, the band is back to its genre-bending ways. Featuring Kevin Kmetz on the Japanese shamisen, Karl Schnaitter on guitar, Mark Thornton on bass, and Lee Smith from the band Estradasphere on drums. The band goes all over the place, from an aggressive new arrangement of the traditional “Jongara Bushi,” to the Indian-inspired mellow breakdowns of “Last Shamisen Master Attack,” to a wild metal cover of the “Star Wars” theme. The album is only available digitally, and features guest musicians Rick Walker (percussion), Rich Doucette (sarangi) and Takemi Hirohara (shamisen on “Tiger Feint Attack”). http://www.godofshamisen.com/
- Metal-Jongara Attack
- Dragon Quest Attack
- Last Shamisen Master Attack
- Tar Bomb Attack
- Sandcastle Attack
- Final Fantasy Attack 2010
- Tiger Feint Attack
- Star Wars Attack
- Dragon String Attack (Super Short Version)
Much of this material is actually from their sessions for EMI Japan, which never surfaced outside of Japan. They’re also releasing it in lossless FLAC format on LobeFood (not available yet).
Release date: November 23, 2010
~Dan – np: Ikue Mori – Painted Desert
There is no free mp3 download or flac torrent for this album on this blog (nor will there ever be). If you like music, support the artists. Buy it!!
REVIEW: Fishtank Ensemble @ House Show (Eugene, OR – 3/5/10)
FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM
Fishtank Ensemble hit the scene in 2005 with Super Raoul. The first record hit my radar with members from bandmembers from bands I was already into: Kevin Kmetz (from God of Shamisen/Estradasphere/Secret Chiefs 3 on occasion), Doug & Tim Smolens (El Douje’s record & Estradasphere), and Adam Stacey (Estradasphere). Only Doug “El Douje” Smolens remains from that first group of guys who got me into the band, but the other members definitely kept me around…
The band is Fabrice Martinez (pictured above – violin), Ursula Knudson (pictured above – vocals, saw, violin, etc), El Douje (guitar) and Djordje Stijepovic (Bass). They play a mix of Eastern European “gypsy” music mixed with a heavy dose of Django Reinhardt influenced French jazz (dominated by guitars & violins). Think… Hot Club de Baltic States. On their records thus far, they also add in some Japanese music (from former member Kevin Kmetz’s shamisen work).
This was my first time to one of their shows. Last time they came through Eugene, I was up in Portland for another band, but my wife gave a rousing thumbs up (she ended up going to see Fishtank at Cozmic Pizza).
The band played about two hours, split up with a nice intermission / snack time in the middle. The band was red hot, and the intimate living room setting made this concert very special. I’ll admit, I’m not usually a fan of vocals as of late, especially in world music. However, Ursula nails it. Seeing her perform in concert 4 feet in front of me was quite stunning. Besides the stunning dress (!!!), her vocals were utterly fantastic! She did a lot of vocal acrobatics, which worked amazingly well with violin, bass and guitar acrobatics that the rest of the band was giving us as well.
They played a lot of material I recognized from their second album, Samurai over Serbia, as well as some new and/or traditional tunes. Here’s what I scribbled down (fixed by bassist Djordje – – Thanks!)…
Setlist:
- Espagnolette
- Saraiman
- Arabo Andaluz
- After You’ve Gone
- Fraima
- Woman in Sin
- Swing 2003
- Hopa di Bida
- Am Furat de la Haidouks (Romanian Sirba dance medley)
<<intermission>> - O’Dewel
- Kolo Suite (Serbian/Transylvanian Medley)
- Tchiki Tchiki
- Djordje’s Rachenitza
- Coucou
- Opa Opa
- Samurai Over Serbia
- Encore: Ursula’s high school song
- Ciocarlia
They’ve got a new record coming out soon, called Woman in Sin. Keep an eye out for it on their webpage, MySpace, et cetera. Thank you to Michael & Carolyn for putting on a great house show! I look forward to the next Rolling & Tumble house show — Tuvan throat singers!!
many more photos below
The Appropriate Linkage:
~Dan – np: Bill Frisell – Rambler
FISHTANK ENSEMBLE PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2010 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution
(click for larger)
Higher Resolution (4 pics)
Limited to 1200 pixels wide or tall (26 pics)
Vladimir Bozar ‘n’ Ze Sheraf Orkestar
new music alert
Vladimir Bozar ‘n’ Ze Sheraf Orkestar‘s Universal Sprache is one of those albums that is hard to define. Vladimir Bozar started as an offshoot from a French Frank Zappa cover band, The Children of Invention. Their last gig was Vladimir Bozar’s first gig. The music on this debut CD is a great mix of the insanity that comes from artists like Frank Zappa, Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3, and to some extent John Zorn.
Clearly not for the purveyor of “pop” music, this is a very imposingly hard to digest collection of great sounds that I wouldn’t necessarily call “songs.” With that being said… I love it. It jots and tittles across your mind, and right when you start getting into the groove… it slaps you upside the mouth, buzzes up your leg, claws through your pant leg and sits down like a puppy who wants to be petted, then zooms off for an espresso.
Metal, punk, classical music, jazz, movie sound, Tzigane music, electronic, and spoken word. This Ritalin-side effect gang of misfits has toured in Europe with Trey Spruance’s Secret Chiefs 3, as well as the stripped down Estradasphere Trio. Trey Spruance said of Vladimir Bozar ‘n’ Ze Sheraf Orkestar that “obviously, this music is composed of lunatics hopelessly.” :)
The album, Universal Sprache, was recorded in Estradasphere’s Seattle studio with Tim Smolens recording, Tim Smolens and Jason Schimmel* mixing, and Timb Harris contributing trumpet, TIm Smolens contributing bass & vocals, and Jason Schimmel contributing mandolin.
*– Speaking of Jason Schimmel, I’m stoked for his amazing Orange Tulip Conspiracy tour coming through Eugene, Oregon, next week… November 17th @ Samurai Duck.
Vladimir Bozar ‘n’ Ze Sheraf Orkestar are planning to tour Europe and (hopefully) the US in 2009. In the meantime, you can hear clips of the album on MySpace and order it from iTunes, EMusic, Rhapsody, et cetera… or physical CDs via Estradasphere’s Lobefood mail order should be coming soon (not yet, though).
The band is:
- Djé de Vence (Jérome Simond)-Clavier/Sequencer/Accordion
- B’hz (cédric Benard)-Drum
- Cyro (Cyril Torres)-Guitar/back vocal/kazoo
- Mina (Jasmina Barra)-Bass/vocal
- Pedral (Pierre Lacasa)-Lead vocal/mandolin
On the web:
You down with OTC?
Jason Schimmel, from Estradasphere (and the recent Secret Chiefs 3 live incarnation), has a lovely new album out now… Orange Tulip Conspiracy. It’s available directly from Web of Mimicry (SC3’s label), but oddly not yet from Lobefood (Estradasphere’s distro) or Amazon (a large women & rainforest wholesaler). I picked it up at the Portland SC3 gig, and I absolutely LOVE IT. Behind SC3’s Xaphan, it’s probably my #2 album of 2008 so far.
Well, apparently the OTC is going to tour. YAY! The tour is going to feature Jason Schimmel (guitar/ keys), John Whooley (sax, an original Estradasphere member), Dan Robbins (bass), Zach Cline (guitar/ keys) and Lee Smith (drums).
Here are the dates and cities (subject to change):
Saturday Nov 15- Seattle, WA @ Rendezvous
Sunday Nov 16- Portland, OR @ Dante’s
Monday Nov 17- Eugene, OR @ Samurai Duck :)
Tuesday Nov 18- Sacramento, CA @ On the Y
Wednesday Nov 19- Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s Alley
Friday Nov 21- Los Angeles, CA @ The Knitting Factory
http://www.myspace.com/orangetulipconspiracy
http://www.myspace.com/estradasphere
Jason needs help with opening band slots and additional venues in or around the cities above. If you are in a band or know of any good venues, contact him through either the OTC or Estradasphere MySpace pages (above).
Mark my words… best CD of 2008…
I’m not a bettin’ man, but I’ll bet you a hundred ducks that Secret Chiefs 3‘s Masada Book Two, Volume 9: Xaphan will be one of my favorite CDs of 2008 (likely Top 3 to be safe)… and it’s not even out yet.
Per a recent SC3 blog, it hits April 11th (from Tzadik-direct Downtown Music Gallery) or later in the month at other outlets (April 22nd or so from Amazon, etc), and a “Masada preview” is now posted on their MySpace page.
The Masada Book Two series is comprised of 300 or so songs that John Zorn wrote in the Masada vein, but not for the Masada quartet to play. A different artist arranges and records a handful of these tunes to make them theirs… so far, the results have been great (Marc Ribot, Cracow Klezmer, Koby Israelite to name a few). Xaphan (aka Volume 9 from Secret Chiefs 3) features arranger Trey Spruance, plus musicians from his latest SC3 tour, members from Estradasphere, and more…
http://www.myspace.com/secretchiefs3
Up next in the Masada Book Two series is Volume 10: Lucifer from Bar Kokhba which will likely also hit a top spot on my CDs for 2008. It’s Bar Kokhba’s first studio release since The Circle Maker in 1998.
~Dan – np: Bill Moyer’s Journal podcast interview with Susan Jacoby