International Anthem: S/D

I’m ok admitting I’m in love with the Jaimie Branch record — so great to hear her vocal and trumpet voice, hear body music with an improvisational bent, and I just love the whole thing.

Finding myself wondering who tf is Bex Burch?

Looking forward to that one as well, not familiar but the preview tracks sound great

IE are great and anything with Moor Mother rules, I forgot this group had been on International Anthem. Also love to see DC guy Luke Stewart get recognition and acclaim.

Open the Gates might be my favorite IE release I've heard.

My first encounter with Moor Mother was Art Ensemble of Chicago's We Are On The Edge: a cast of thousands, but she stood out among the standouts. Fave IE is still Who Sent You?, but haven't heard the latest yet.

Speaking of Bex Burch, got this today:

oday, composer, percussionist, producer and instrument maker Bex Burch (Flock, Vula Viel, Boing!) shares the second single “Don't go back to sleep” from her forthcoming LP, There is only love and fear, along with a music video she made herself.

A twinkling piece of arcadian minimalism, “Don’t go back to sleep” eavesdrops on an electro-acoustic conversation with the avian world. Pulsing and playful, Burch and Dan Bitney (Tortoise) merge the organic qualities of synthesis with the synthetic qualities of the organic to create an intuitive tone poem that takes the rhythms and melodies of birdsong as its natural cue. Recorded at the Center of Search & Research where Burch was based while in Chicago, its homely feel bathes the track in dappled sunlight. Deceptively simple in its construction, “Don’t go back to sleep” is an invitation to wake up and listen to what is already out there.

The music video for “Don’t go back to sleep,” created by Bex Burch, demonstrates the unspeakable beauty of nature’s synchrony and how it reflects in Bex’s and Dan’s interplay.

Read the full story of the album by Emma Warren:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZO15FMKKByTAmHF4-yVuQwzSnnnh42bFy58YgzMbYp4/edit?pli=1

TOUR DATES
October 13 - RIAA, Hamburg, Germany (Listening session w/ Bex Burch)
October 20 - Cafe Oto, London, UK
October 27 - King Georg, Cologne, Germany
October 30 - Rhinoçéros, Berlin, Germany (Listening session w/ Bex Burch)
November 03 - ÜBERJAZZ Festival, Hamburg, Germany
November 17 - Jazz Brugge, Belgium

<<< for more information >>>
Label: Scottie McNiece // scottie at intlanthem.com

Not sure if gossip is welcome here, but I heard that Andre 3000 is working on an album for International Anthem

:0

I can see it, he's already guested on an IA record (I think it was Carlos Ninos?).

this Jaimie Branch record, wowwwww

― out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Saturday, August 26, 2023 9:11 PM (three weeks ago)

finally got around to listening to this (extremely hectic fall here) and it is so great!

^

picked up the LP over the weekend and the cover is astonishingly gorgeous

The Daniel Villarreal / Jeff Parker / Anna Butterss record sounds fantastic so far.

agreed!

as does the new Jeremiah Chiu!

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/in-electric-time

new Bex Burch also sounding great this morning, man this label!

Really lovely, yeah.

I didn't realize Bex Burch was also involved in the Flock album from last year that I really liked.

https://flock.bandcamp.com/album/flock-2

I’m off to see Bex Burch tonight and am looking forward to it a great deal. “Messy minimalism”, yes please.

Bex Burch was every bit as good as I’d hoped. The show was mostly solo with some interjections on violin.

They encored with a version of “O Superman”, using whatever member of the xylophone family she was playing. I couldn’t believe my luck. That verse that starts “When love is gone, there’s always justice” always seemed like a punch in the guts to me- now, more than ever.

unperson recommended the new Thandi Ntuli with Carlos Niño record on another thread. Absolutely lovely Sunday morning music and I imagine just excellent at other times. Ordered a copy.

new chiu, honer & kalma 👌🏽

Yes, real good.

otm x2

yeah, I was underwhelmed by Recordings from the Åland Islands, but this is beautifully immersive

Anyone else enjoying the new Villarreal/VV Lightbody Valebol album? I’m absolutely loving it — so springy, reminds me of Antena

It’s very accessible and I can see people well outside the IA world enjoying it.

This one (Row Row Row) is my favorite so far https://open.spotify.com/track/3UZv2dCGfVS1cllt4oVPhO?si=b592c32c71fe4934

Woops this is not released via IA — a different label called Otherly Love Records

It’s still good!

agreed, really enjoyed that one. thanks for the mixup haha

This is really fun, thanks LL! Her voice reminds me of someone. I want to say Liz Fraser?

Always I am mixing up this label with the very different but equally good Imaginational Anthem label.

I feel like a chump getting psyched about promo copy but this sounds amazing (and the one available track is p cool): https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/small-medium-large

Yeah, I'm really excited for that one!

Cool advance single by SML--more than any of the big-name comparisons in the one-sheet hype, though, I'd compare the production style and funk-jazz approach to something contemporary like "Ekuté" off of the still-quite-recent Pino Palladino & Blake Mills jawn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXQUVKko5J8

this one is great too

https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/mestizx

That’s my first drum teacher! He’s the best.

I was a little worried the new Carlos Nino & Friends was going to be too similar to the new age Andre 3000 stuff, but it's really good and weird! I mean, most definitely still some new age moments (I mean, Iasos is on it!), but it's all over the place, in a good way. Just lots of different things to latch onto.

This album from SML (which is Jeremiah Chiu, Anna Butterss, Joshua Johnson, Gregory Uhlmann, and Booker Stardrum) is pretty great: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/small-medium-large. It's pulled from two two-night concerts at ETA in L.A. Josh Johnson's solo album from earlier this year "Unusual Object" is really good too.

I'll never get why Josh Johnson's records aren't more popular. Consistently innovative artist making great music. And yes, the new one is fantastic

i love unusual object, thanks for tipping me of on this - i do sometimes find Chiu's stuff too polarized formless/klaxony, curious to hear what they're doing here

Johnson has some great videos up on his site of him playing stuff from Unusual Object: https://www.joshjohnsonmusic.com/#video

I'd love to see him play live. SML has two free shows in L.A. next week, really wish I could make it to those.

Ooh I gotta check this one out. Anna Butterss - Activities is one of my fav albums to just throw on whenever, great vibes (not the instrument)

^^ yes, yes, yes

i am generally more miss than hit w/ this current jazz-adjacent stuff, but Butterss, Johnson, SML and Chiu all are "hits" for me over the past couple of years.

Speaking of JJohnson live: here he is at Enfield Tennis Academy again, with Butterss, Parker , and Bellerose; he's seated and using two foot pedals (w embouchure, yas):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T9yEgppRYo

that SML album is awesome

yeah it is! not sure it lives up to the promo copy I mentioned upthread, but it's probably better for that as it sounds totally contemporary

and new Butterss solo coming out in November: https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/mighty-vertebrate

Press release now saying Oct release for album---new video here

http://international-anthem.lnk.to/MightyVertebrate

ANNA BUTTERSS LIVE
September 28 - Marz Brewing - Chicago, IL
October 4 - 2220 Arts + Archives - Los Angeles, CA

ALBUM CREDITS
Produced by Ben Lumsdaine and Anna Butterss.
Recorded by Chris Schlarb at BIG EGO Studios and Ben Lumsdaine at Laundry Works II Recording Services.
Mixed by Ben Lumsdaine.
Sequenced by Scott McNiece.
Mastered by David Allen.

Artwork by John Herndon.
Layout by Jeremiah Chiu.
Photographs by Robbie Jeffers.

Josh Johnson - alto saxophone, effects
Gregory Uhlmann - guitar, effects
Ben Lumsdaine - drums, percussion, guitar, lap steel, drum programming
Anna Butterss - upright bass, electric bass, guitar, synths, flute, drum machine
Jeff Parker - guitar (on “Dance Steve”)

All compositions by Anna Butterss

That link leads to audio options and to the video, which is on youtube.