More important in the field of Krautrock than a certain Gounod opera in symphonic domain, FAUST don’t seem, fortunately for their followers, able to stop experimenting. While the echoes of 2022’s “Daumenbruch” – which saw the band’s collaborators overdub basic tracks, overseen by founding member Zappi W. Diermaier, doing this individually and independently of others and not knowing what those others would add – still reverberate through the ether, the veterans came up with a new album.
He may have issued his last album four years ago, but it doesn’t mean that Randall Bramblett was resting on his laurels since “Pine Needle Fire” was out. Quite contrary, the veteran’s been busy writing, and not only for himself, what with Bettye LaVette’s "LaVette!" from 2023 consisting solely of songs penned by Randall. This is why there’s a lot to be expected of Bramblett’s forthcoming album, titled “Paradise Breakdown” and planned for release on September 27th.
Being a member of Canterbury scene may be a blessing and a curse for many a musician who found fame, if not fortune, in constant experiments that they find impossible to put an end to, and this is something their fans favor quite a lot. Just ask John Greaves who, after decades of working both solo and in such prominent ensembles as HENRY COW, NATIONAL HEALTH and SOFT HEAP is still able to surprise listeners and himself by delivering riveting instrumental opuses. The latest of those is titled “Timelines” and will arrive on August 23rd as part of the French “Radiophonie” series of releases.
For an ensemble who have been around for close to six decades, the ratio of CHICAGO‘s concert albums to their studio platters seems criminally small, especially when the collective’s prowess is taken into account. More so, half of their audience-fronting recordings were preserved for posterity in this millennium, the earliest of those tapes dating back to the band’s shortened set from The Isle Of Wight Festival of 1970, with a few 1969 tracks appearing on the “Live VI Decades Live (This Is What We Do)” box set – yet finally September 27th will see the issue of an entire show surpassing the scope of, “At Carnegie Hall” from 1971 which was the Americans’ first official foray into capturing onstage magic.
It’s a matter of taste, of course, as there are quite a few people who can’t stand David Surkamp‘s distinctive voice, yet a lot of listeners find PAVLOV’S DOG‘s music fascinating enough to fiercely love this ensemble. Formed a bit more than fifty years ago, the St. Louis collective may have broken in 1977, yet they were back with a new line-up in 2004, and two decades further down the line the Surkamp posse are ready to celebrate their glorious beginnings with the band’s first-ever box set.
