Browse by Artist: FRITH, FRED

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Accidental
Label:	FRED RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	FRA 001CD

"Any new record from Fred Frith, one of the world's leading avant rock guitarists and composers, is a major event. Accidental was commissioned by a British choreographer who lives in Amsterdam, Paul Selwyn Norton, for a dance piece made with the Batsheva Company in Tel Aviv. For Fred it's a return to basics, a series of deeply contrasting moods achieved with the simplest of means. Throughout the CD, noises of rusty metal, electronic detritus, bits of random radio, improvised cut-up vocals and messed up percussion, suggest an unpredictable and hostile landscape."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Prints
Label:	FRED RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	FRA 002CD

"It's a real pleasure to hear a new album of Fred's songs. He's rather shy about his singing, but he shouldn't be; he sounds like a cross between David Byrne, Christoph Anders and Robert Wyatt. The songs often make use of samples from well-known sources, and album has to be the most user-friendly he has produced in years. This is Fred in real pop mode, a fascinating, and yes, commercial album. Guest musicians include Mike Johnson and Dave Kerman on vocals, Bernd Lehman on clarinet and sax and Sebastian Gramms on double bass. Other guest appearances include Bill Clinton, Burt Bacharach, Serge Gainsbourg And Helmut Kohl."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Keep the Dog
Label:	FRED RECORDS
Format:	2CD
Price:	$24.00
Catalog #:	FRA 003CD

Jean Derome: (alto & baritone sax); Fred Frith: (guitar, bass, violin, voice); Charles Hayward: (drums, voice); Rene Lussier: (guitar, bass); Bob Ostertag: (sampler); Zeena Parkins: (accordion, harp, piano, voice). "This is the legendary band which Fred formed in 1989, but which till now has never been captured on record. The compositions were culled from all periods of Fred's career, and the idea was to re-make them with a wild, inspirational and improvising aesthetic. 'It was a glorious and nerve wracking couple of years, and exactly the kind of transformation I'd dreamed of. I was pulling out all kinds of stuff -- Massacre tunes re-constituted as ballads, Henry Cow material that had stayed in my notebooks, things that had been written for dance and theatre. It was basically 'light the blue touch paper and stand well clear!''. The material on this double album was recorded live at concerts in Germany, Italy and Austria in 1991."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	The Happy End Problem
Label:	FRED RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	FRA 005CD

"An instant Fred classic, Happy End presents two, related, small-ensemble works for 6 and 7 musicians respectively -- mostly strings of one sort or another, with percussion, flute, clarinet and electronics. Fred, violinist Carla Kilsteht and percussionist Willie Winant play throughout providing continuity across the pieces, as the music constantly unfolds into new textures and dialects. Melody, harmony and rhythm are omnipresent, though not always obviously colluding, and the music moves with a constant assurance, never hesitating and never marking time. There are some affinities with Nicola Kodjbashia's luminous Solitary Walker here (which it predates), particularly in its use of minimal instrumentation to maximum effect, popular materials, exquisite articulation and a kind of modest transcendence. The necessity and simplicity of these pieces conceals a catalog of experimental techniques and novel ideas -- there are those who'd have squeezed a score of albums from this material."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Impur
Label:	FRED RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	FRFC 001CD

"In 1996, at the end of a two year residency, Fred organized an event at L'Ecole Nationale de Musique de Villeurbanne in France involving as many of the students as possible, grouped according to their departments -- early music, rock, African drumming, classical &c. Each group was set up in a different room in the school building and during the concert the public was encouraged to wander around creating their own mix, or to sit in the courtyard and listen to the sound drifting out through the open windows. For their part, each group of musicians had to play musical material Fred had prepared for them -- occasionally they could improvise. In order to co-ordinate all the groups, who naturally couldn't hear each other, everyone followed a precise time-score prepared by Fred (55 minutes regulated by synchronized stopwatches). The entire event was recorded on 4 A-DAT machines, to be mixed down later, and this CD is the result: a lurching, complex and capricious beast with many heads: an orchestra tuning up; a salute to Sonny Blount; a roiling chaotic mass of sound splitting into layers, colliding back together, pullulating, ululating, roaring and sometimes mewing like a kitten. FRFC is a new tributary of the Fred label, signifying 'Fred Records French Connection.' The first of many."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Gravity
Label:	FRED RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	FRO 001CD

"Fred Frith is undoubtedly one of the world's greatest electric guitarists. Starting out with UK avant rock group Henry Cow in the early 70's, he developed a devastating melodic fuzz lead guitar style that took its cue from the 'Canterbury' bands Soft Machine and Hatfield and the North. He's also developed a whole series of Frithisms which do not rely on the fuzz box -- gorgeous jazz chords which swell out of thin air, delicate high melodic lines, fantastically complex riffs, and a new language of the solo improvisation which re-connects Derek Bailey with rock n roll. Gravity, originally released on vinyl by Ralph Records in 1980, is one of Fred's most enjoyable and accessible releases. It was born at a time when he wanted to get away from the massive and complex structures of Henry Cow, and he began to think about more direct song and dance forms. During a Greek holiday he scribbled down the melodies of local musicians on napkins, raw material for this album of intriguing electric guitar and violin tunes. There are some impossibly catchy melodies, arranged with the off kilter sense of harmony and instrumentation reminiscent of the first Cow album, but here delivered with in-your-face brutal simplicity. There is mutated mandolin, township jazz piano, Balkan wedding music, and Fred's trademark fuzz guitar. There's even a vicious re-working of Dancing in the Street. Musicians including The Muffins and Samla Mammas Manna and Marc Hollander are the support."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Guitar Solos
Label:	FRED RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	FRO 002CD

"Here's the original CD as released by the Virgin subsidiary Caroline, in the early '70s. Hugely influential at the time, and still legendary, this is just Fred alone with electric and acoustic guitars, and the help of multiple pick ups, scrapers, and countless new techniques for getting new sounds out of the guitar. At the time it impressed Brian Eno so much Fred got to work with him. It also launched Fred's career as a solo improviser of world stature, which he remains to this day. From rock and roll attacks, to post apocalyptic scraping, Eno-esque delays and ambiences, and wild fuzz lead, Fred does just about everything you could imagine doing to a guitar. The release replaces the first CD version, which was available in the 80's and 90's on the Swiss Rec Rec label."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Step Across The Border
Label:	FRED RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	FRO 003CD

"This is Fred's soundtrack to the independent movie of the same name, by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel, which was voted one of the 100 best films ever by the critics of Cahier du Cinema. The album does not sound like a conventional sound track album, it's one of Fred's most vibrant releases, as the music rushes between styles as far apart as East European folk, Japanese Pop, African drumming and just about everything you can do in between. Of course, Fred's guitar is to the fore, cajoling and coaxing great performances out of an all star cast; Iva Bittova, Joey Baron, Ciro Batista, Tom Cora, John Zorn, Bob Ostertag, Haco, And Zeena Parkins are just some of the musicians who appear. One of Fred's most enduringly popular albums."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Speechless
Label:	FRED RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	FRO 004CD

"This one of the most important guitar-based, experimental guitar titles from the avant-guitarist and founding Henry Cow member Fred Frith. Frith's second solo album, Speechless, includes appearances by Estron Fou Leloublan, Massacre, and Bill Laswell. This is a studio Frankenstein of live clips and found sounds. While Frith states attests to the occurrence of many 'happy accidents,' the album comes across confidently and more often more coherent than merely challenging. Six bonus tracks appear on this CD version. This is often cited as Frith's best solo record and its inspired manipulations hold up under repeated scrutiny. There is a bit of European folk influence here, too, but not as obvious as on Gravity."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Middle of the Moment
Label:	FRED RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	FRO 005CD

"Field recordings of traditional singing and drumming, the jaunty accordion and violin music of a travelling circus troupe, the sounds of trucks, trains, wells, winds, flies, fire, thunder, camels, goats and a jackal are woven into a multi-layered, subtly shifting cinematic aural journey. This is Fred's poetic soundtrack CD accompanying the Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel documentary film of the same name. Middle of the Moment is a poetic evocation of nomadism; The filmmakers travelled with the Tuereg people in the Sahara desert, and also experienced the exotic wanderings of Cirque 0, an avant garde circus troupe."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Cheap At Half the Price
Label:	FRED RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	FRO 006CD

"Fred's third LP for the US label Ralph Records, back in 1983, was a collection of gloriously direct pop songs, recorded on a four-track home studio system. Fred played almost all of the instruments: guitar, six string bass, Casio 101 keyboard, violin, xylophone, and home mades. There are some great production ideas, with intrusive samples (Ronald Reagan appears in a memorable moment), and guitars snaking, bending and sliding around the mix. It's quite extraordinary, given the sound quality and the vibrancy of the production ideas, that this was recorded on a four-track recorder. There are influences from European caf� music (the inspired electronic doodling of ZNR springs to mind), and Frank Zappa, East European traditional music, Cajun, and....er...Sting and the novelty singles of The Flying Lizards all make themselves felt. Fred is joined for cameos on bass by Bill Laswell and Tina Curren, and Hans Bruinnsson provides some great drum samples. The album caused ripples in the 'progressive music snob' circuit at the time, for its apparent simplicity. With the benefit of hindsight, Fred really captured something with his popularisation of sometimes excessively elitist po-faced avant-garde music."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Allies
Label:	FRED RECORDS
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	FRO 007CD

"Featuring beautifully understated performances from Joey Baron (drums), the late, great master cellist, Tom Cora, and the inimitable sax talents of George Cartwright, Allies is the second in the Music For Dance series, pioneered originally on Fred's Technology Of Tears. While some compositional similarities are reminiscent of that work, Allies employs a more organic approach, weaning mostly acoustic elements into Fred's penchant to explore the musical relationship between the mechanical and the natural elements of sound and modern music. Elegant and meticulously crafted surfaces are constantly under attack from unpredictable elements, creating a particular tension that is haunting and quite unlike any of the composer's other works. The six movements that comprise this amazing disk examine the ways Fred's angular, trademark melodies are constructed/de-constructed, particularly with regards to how multiple melodies can be extracted from a single melodic source. Single notes of different instruments are strung together to 'hocket' particularly gorgeous melodies that expound upon the composer's harmonic developments with mathematical references, much in the same way he is famously known for his work with complex time signatures."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	The Previous Evening
Label:	RECOMMENDED (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	RER FF1

"Former Henry Cow guitarist Fred Frith pays homage to three giants of contemporary classical music: John Cage, Morton Feldman and Earle Brown. In his own inimitable fashion, Frith has tried to incorporate the chosen composer's own working methods into each of the three pieces that make up The Previous Evening. As he explains in the enclosed booklet regarding his John Cage homage: 'Fragments of text heard in Part 1 were taken at random from Cage's book Silence. Tape editing, the structure of the events, and dynamic markings in this section were also determined using chance methods." Performed by: Christian Kaya (clarinets), Claudio Puntin (clarinets), Heike Liss (perc.), Bernd Settelmeyer (perc.), Bernd Weber (voice) and Frith (voice & all other instruments and manipulations).

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Pacifica (1993-95)
Label:	TZADIK
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	TZ 7034

"A major new composition by the world-famous guitarist, improvisor and composer. Over an hour in length and composed for a large ensemble of winds, strings and percussion, Pacifica sets the poetry of Pablo Neruda into a seductive and hypnotizing sound world that slowly metamorphoses into something altogether different. Lyrical written passages, inspired improvisations, sensual vocals and provocative sound effects all come together into a fascinating whole -- one of Frith's most brilliant orchestral creations."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Freedom In Fragments
Label:	TZADIK
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	TZ 7076

"Active since 1978, the dynamic Rova Saxophone quartet has collaborated with and commissioned from some of the world's greatest composers. Here they give a dynamic reading of Fred Frith's major composition Freedom in Fragments, which was written expressly for them and comprises a series of short compositions that can be played in whole or in part and in any given sequence. Rova has chosen the most rigorous of these, and the final sequence, created by the composer himself gives a seamless flow to the overall listening experience. Messiaenic harmonic shifts, catchy folk melodies, complex dance rhythms and looping minimalism from one of new music's original border crossers."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Clearing
Label:	TZADIK
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	TZ 7605

"Fred Frith is one of the world's greatest originals on the guitar, a composer/performer who has been at the forefront of avant garde music since the early '70s. Clearing is his first solo guitar recording in over twenty years (since his classic Live In Japan of 1981) and his first solo studio recording since his groundbreaking Guitar Solos of 1974. Of the three existing solo recordings by this quirky musical master, Clearing is undoubtedly the most dynamic, the most direct and sonically the best recorded. An absolute must have for all fans of guitar music, improvisation and the avant garde."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	To Sail, To Sail
Label:	TZADIK
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	TZ 7625

All songs improvised on a Taylor 810 model steel-string acoustic guitar. "One of the most profound solo statements to date from a musical master who has been crossing musical borders for over three decades! Concentrating exclusively on the acoustic guitar, Fred Frith stretches himself and the instrument like never before, performing with the eloquence and grace of a master in peak form. With a prodigious technique and elegant sense of maturity, he draws upon a lifetime of study and experience to bring together influences as diverse as classical, blues, folk, gypsy and free improvisation, creating a fascinating new world of sound and feeling. Beautiful and absolutely essential."

Artist:	FRITH, FRED
Title:	Back to Life
Label:	TZADIK
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	TZ 8045

"A new CD of classical chamber music by a contemporary master who has been redefining new music since 1972 with cutting edge bands like Henry Cow, Keep the Dog, Skeleton Crew, Massacre and Cosa Brava. Featuring the virtuoso cellist Joan Jeanrenaud (formerly of the Kronos Quartet), percussion madman William Winant (who has worked with everyone from Lou Harrison, Steve Reich and John Cage to Mr. Bungle and Sonic Youth), pianist/conductor Stephen Drury with his remarkable Boston ensemble the Callithumpian Consort, and the Belgian virtuoso Daan Vandewalle, Back to Life presents a sparkling program of five major chamber works by this imaginative and courageous border crosser."

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