Exposé issue #32 Summary
Issue #32 of Exposé is available now!
Features in this issue include:
HUGH BANTON:
Exposé had the sincere privilege of speaking with Van der Graaf Generator (VdGG) organist Hugh Banton before and after the band undertook their first of a set of reunion concerts in 2005. Hugh had been the missing cog in an unexpected but surprisingly successful rejoining of the classic 70s quartet together with Peter Hammill, Guy Evans and Dave Jackson. By sheer coincidence the schedule for the band’s first gig coincided at the end of the week for another just as unlikely reunion for the Cream.
MUSHROOM:
One of the movers and shakers in the San Francisco Bay Area music scene, Pat Thomas has been the leader of the improvisational band Mushroom since the late 90s, during which time they’ve released over ten CDs and LPs. He’s also the owner of the Black Beauty label, which releases Mushroom’s CD’s and related side projects, and by day his job is doing A&R and promotion for a distribution company called Runt – which includes many other labels that he is involved with in various ways. He was a founding member of Daevid Allen’s University of Errors, and Mushroom has been and continues to be one of the backing bands of choice for visiting musicians from abroad. Exposé finally had a chance to catch up with Pat following the release of Mushroom’s latest double-disk set Glazed Popems.
CHARMING HOSTESS:
Band names can be misleading. Charming Hostess is definitely an inviting and feminine moniker, but also one that might conjure up an image of some superficial-light-polite-foo-foo music. Maybe something to listen to while sipping a Day-Glo colored mixed drink through a straw from a curvy fish-bowl-looking glass with a little paper umbrella in it and a miniature plastic monkey hanging from the side by its tail? Hell no! “We put the Harm in Charming and the Ho in Hostess” commented one-time Hostess Nina Rolle. Though Nina’s description is apt, it’s too narrow to give these talented musicians the credit they deserve. Like any good hostess, this group is capable of many different expressions but, perhaps unlike a hostess, their music is anything but shallow. They’re not faking. They sing well in several languages, play solidly across changing complex time signatures, and have tight arrangements with good grooves throughout. For them to employ musical styles from traditional Balkan folk to American country from song to song is typical. Throughout all these diverse musical forms, prominent multi-part harmony female vocals are the thread of continuity that ties the stylistically varied songs together.
UDI KOOMRAN:
He may be unknown to most progressive rock fans, but he has been a mover and shaker working behind the scenes as engineer and producer with various artists including Present (also doing live sound), 5UU’s, Ahvak and acclaimed Israeli Klezmer act, Kruzenshern & Parahod. Exposé is indebted to Udi for sharing time with us out of his busy schedule for this interview.
POCKET ORCHESTRA:
Their first release is finally out for all to hear. Gary Parra explains: We were all living in Arizona, and during the 1970’s, Rock in Opposition in Arizona was limited to say the least. So those of us who did experience RIO inevitably found each other. This became useful in networking and promoting gigs while tuning in others to adventurous music. Bob Stearman was the first person I had contact with even before the members of Cartoon. Soon, both of us realized we were “that other drummer in town.” Our youthful competitive egos soared. We would unknowingly show up for those same few progressive auditions in Phoenix, and Bob would get the gig every time. Regardless, we became good friends and comrades in the limited Arizona progressive music scene. I thought I would bring up a few pertinent questions for the keyboard man Craig Bork to elaborate on, and this is what we came up with. I want to thank Craig for taking the time to write down these answers to a few questions that I felt were interesting to the history of Pocket Orchestra. I would like to add, the friendship with these guys was quite special for all and we fueled each other’s sense of musical adventure and lack of commercial potential.
ASTURIAS:
I was surprised when the band roster for BajaProg 2005 was announced, and among the bands playing were no other than Asturias from Japan, who I hadn’t heard from for many years. I always figured they were a studio-only project, and had called it a day a decade ago after their excellent third album Cryptogam Illusion went largely overlooked. In fact bandleader Yoh Ohyama has recently reformed the group with new members as a performing acoustic ensemble, and released a new disc Bird Eyes View containing reworked versions of three older tunes, plus two brand new pieces, arranged for acoustic guitar, piano, clarinet and violin. Exposé had a chance to talk with the band at Baja, who at the time were missing their regular violinist Misa Kitatsuji, who was out on leave; joining them since December 2004 was violinist Miki Fujimoto, who would also be appearing at the festival with her own band Fantasmagoria, so we took the opportunity to talk with Miki a little about her band as well.
OÖPHOI:
In recent years several Italian musicians hit the big time in the electronic scene. Most of them use a pen name: Gianluigi Gasparetti, a.k.a. Oöphoi, is a case in point. This Rome-born artist is an all-around musician: a player and a composer, he was also the editor of Deep Listenings, a magazine devoted to a wide-ranging choice of non-commercial music. He has released some 20 CDs for many international labels (Hic Sunt Leones, Amplexus, Electroshock, Skean Dhu, Stella Maris, Aplaus, Mystery Sea) and he currently runs his own, Umbra, devoted to new Italian ambient artists.
Also included in issue 32: Mac Beaulieu’s feature on NEARfest 2005, and the Cuneiform 2005 Sampler CD featuring tracks from all the label’s latest releases, plus as always, this issue contains hundreds of reviews: Roundtables, New Releases, Archives and Reissues.. 92 Pages total.