rfi: amm

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(in fact i know nothing about improv at all so feel free to broaden this out a bit)

toby, Saturday, 13 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

They were always my favourite of all those free improv groups. I've seen them live a couple of times and they were excellent. As for records try "AMM Music" recorded in 1968. It features Cornelius Cardew.

Mark Dixon, Saturday, 13 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Sorry, the album recorded in 1968 is called "The Crypt 12th June". My tape copy isn't labelled correctly.

Mark Dixon, Saturday, 13 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

The Inexhaustible Document (Matchless MRCD13)
The Nameless Uncarved Block (Matchless MR20)
AMMusic 1966 R&R AMMCD

mark s, Saturday, 13 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

i was listening to tunes without measure or end (aka the new one...i think) this past february and had an out of body experience! thank you electro-acoustical improv! otherwise mark's recommendations are spot on, although i've always had a soft stop for newfoundland too.

jess, Saturday, 13 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Keith Rowe's solo guitar experiments are worth hearing too. I've got an album by him called "A Dimension of Perfectly Ordinary Reality".

After answering this thread earlier on I realised how many years had passed since I listened to improv on a regular basis. When I started university in London in 1991 I often went to improv gigs. I saw John Stevens, Derek Bailey, AMM, Evan Parker, Steve Beresford, David Toop and Max Eastley, Chris Burns Ensemble, Morphogenesis, Lol Coxhill and Charles Hayward. I don't know why I stopped going to gigs like this. I suppose I often found the gigs to be a bit austere and I was always a lot younger than most of the audiences. I need to hear some improv again. I've been listening to AMM today and they still sound wonderful.

Mark Dixon, Saturday, 13 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Toby- 95% of records I buy nowdays are free improv or records which have some improvisation. As creative music it is, at its best, irrestible. A good starting point is AMM1966.

''When I started university in London in 1991 I often went to improv gigs. I saw John Stevens, Derek Bailey, AMM, Evan Parker, Steve Beresford, David Toop and Max Eastley, Chris Burns Ensemble, Morphogenesis, Lol Coxhill and Charles Hayward. I don't know why I stopped going to gigs like this. I suppose I often found the gigs to be a bit austere and I was always a lot younger than most of the audiences. I need to hear some improv again.''

I've just started going to improv gigs (I've spent quite a while listening to the records- its only now that I'm getting out there. Lazy or what!) Today I went to Sound 323 record shop. They have a gig space and today I saw Rhodri Davies on Harp duetting with michel duck on double bass. Great stuff. And I was the only one that paid 3 quid to watch this (there was one other- but only because the guy in the shop said: 'We are closing now for the gig, you can pay for the gig or come back in 40 minutes' so he paid).

So it was 2 people, the store man and another guy who recorded it.

Though 25-30 turned up to see Lol Coxhill, what, 3 weeks ago.

''Keith Rowe's solo guitar experiments are worth hearing too. I've got an album by him called "A Dimension of Perfectly Ordinary Reality".''

So have I. His playing, as documented on 'Harsh, Guitar solo', is excellent and worth hearing.

Julio Desouza, Saturday, 13 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

''(in fact i know nothing about improv at all so feel free to broaden this out a bit)''

Don't have loads of time right now but I could go on forever and evah and evah about it. I was listening to some of the records I bought today. Among those was Paul Rutheford's solo trombone album 'Gentle harm of the Burgeoisie' and, you know...its incredible! The only category this belongs to is the one called 'Great Music'. The invention here is stunning.

But anyway, try and get some of the records. The web has some excellent zines that cover this music. The stuff on Incus and Matchless and Emanem is mostly quality. they have websites.

Julio Desouza, Saturday, 13 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

if you got an electric guitar stick a knife in the strings and let it go "boing" you too can build a career in "experimental" music. i used to love amm now i think they're just uncommunicative snobs

bob snoom, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

The only time I've ever seen AMM play live, John Tilbury v. nearly lost his temper 'cos he didn't like something Prevost or Rowe played.

Andrew L, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

andrew that is awesome!! i must quiz my spy in the house of [whatevah] abt that => tilbury was a sweetheart the time i met him

mark s, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Mark, they were supporting Faust at the QEH, mid-'90s. A friend of mine worked w/ Tilbury at Goldsmiths and said much the same thing as you.

Andrew L, Tuesday, 16 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

i'm a bit slow; what does rfi mean? i love AMM, i think they're some of the most communicative of the free improv groups. My favourite lineup is the current one (are they still?) of Tilbury/Rowe/Prevost, and the CDs Allentown and From am Unknown Place are utterly fantastic. Do any of you people who have grown tired of them want to trade with me so i can fill in the gaps in my collection? i've got a sale list here and a wants list here.

hamish, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

rfi = "request for information"

mark s, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

rfi = Request For Information.

I saw AMM at a London college too (can't remember which) in 80s. Don't remember any arguments. I have AMM3's "It Had Been An Ordinary Enough Day In Pueblo Colorado" LP, which is mostly great. AMM3 = rock?

Jeff W, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

yeah & rfi means request for information, are you deaf or something.

, Wednesday, 17 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

non-idiomatic / meta music / laminal interaction. yeh it really speaks to me. what does it say? xxxxxxxx __________sssssss klang ping __________ping__________________pong_________XXXXXXSSSSSSSSSSSSKJIXXQS L:XXXXXXX>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><>>>>>>>cccc__________bbbcdddddddddjjjj jjjrffdkkkkkkkkkkkkkkb

bob snoom, Thursday, 18 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

twenty years pass...

They played what is likely to be their last gig.

Correction more ‘improvised/new music’ than free jazz and the 86 yr old pianist too frail to play. Combined age of 2 musicians 162 approx. Sublime stuff.

— Neil Griffiths (@neilgriffiths) July 30, 2022

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 31 July 2022 08:23 (one year ago) link

Then again me and my grandma on bongos could be AMM.

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 31 July 2022 08:31 (one year ago) link

Words from Richard Williams about last night’s AMM performance at Cafe Oto. Their final one. https://t.co/jYEIejqRKb

— A.F. Jones (@subjockey) July 31, 2022

xyzzzz__, Sunday, 31 July 2022 22:09 (one year ago) link

ffs this would be the one I miss wouldn't it?

Apologies to any lip readers (Tom D.), Monday, 1 August 2022 10:44 (one year ago) link


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