Michael Chapman

Can't remember where I read it but it looks like his noisy last one - Clayton Peacock - is going to get a proper release this year on Blast First Petite. Think it was in the Wire's 2011 top ten?

Oh wait, it was mentioned in this Dean McPhee interview:

http://thequietus.com/articles/07659-dean-mcphee-interview

Maybe a little OT, but heck, he plays with Chapman and I can't think of anywhere else much to put this so: I've been listening to that Dean McPhee album (Son of the Black Peace) quite a bit recently and it's a really good record. It's all beautifully-played improvised solo electric guitar fingerpicking which is obviously going to remind you of Loren Connors and late period John Fahey, but I think it stands on its own two feet. Quite sombre and lyrical but not as bluesy as Connors and a bit more straightfoward than I remind Womblife etc being. Was just out walking in the fields with it on my headphones and it sounded perfect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1vBN6ZUTBg

that's nice, thanks for posting. what has he done w/ chapman?
still loving rainmaker, a great great record.

So far he's just toured with Michael Chapman, but as far as I understand it I think they're collaborating on live performances of the Clayton Peacock stuff.

McPhee album is on spotify and also emusic btw.

yeah, i want to check this record out!

Really fucking nice tones, if you'll pardon my french.

Just streaming the Dean McPhee album for the first time. Beautiful stuff.

Ive also just got this. Really love it. I've had Fully Qualified Survivor for a while, and picked up the Train Songs compilation mentioned above a while back and a Peel Sessions disc.

Any other recommendations? Must check a few of my secondhand vinyl shops.

This thread reminded me to check out Michael Chapman ambient guitar album 'The Resurrection And Revenge Of The Clayton Peacock', which I discovered you can currently get for £1.38 on Amazon (or, in my case, nothing since I had a couple of those two quid off when you buy a whole album promotional credits). Sounds good so far: http://amzn.to/HdhtbI

the benefits of few, long songs! cheers for that. I noticed that one of the Dean McPhee albums mentioned above is only £2.70:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Son-Of-The-Black-Peace/dp/B005XQ3Y9U/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333290914&sr=301-1

sweet, thanks for the tip(s). those are a steal.

<3 this guy. The Trainsong thing is so nice.

How long would it take for me to learn and play guitar like this? haha

http://www.eastvillageradio.com/content/content.php?id=1267

^^ link to him playing on my radio show last year. he is a super nice guy. i never listened back to the show so i dunno how the quality is. i'm afraid i come off like a nerdy fanboy or something, idk.

How long would it take for me to learn and play guitar like this? haha

Indeed. He is a *very* talented guitarist. I'm a passable finger-picker, but Chapman makes me realise there is a whole other league...

I'd be interested to hear his guitar instruction LP just for the fun of it

And thanks for the link to the radio show -- lovely.

http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs034/1101382621048/img/104.jpg

1. Black Twig Pickers - Life on the Ceiling
2. D. Charles Speer - Expressway in the Rain
3. Lucinda Williams - That Time of Night
4. Thurston Moore - It Didn't Work Out
5. Meg Baird - No Song To Sing
6. Maddy Prior - The Prospector
7. Hiss Golden Messenger - Fennario
8. Rick Kemp - Vanity and Pride
9. Two Wings - You Say
10. Nick Jonah Davis - Little Molly's Dream
11. Bridget St. John - Rabbit Hills
12. William Tyler - Naked Ladies and Electric Ragtime

did this dude co-write "Little Willy"?

no idea!
urgh, the bridget st. john track on this is devastating! someone make this lady make a new record!

my pal josh put out a vinyl version of a recent-ish MC CDr and its really good! i confess i have never listened to his latter-day stuff.

this one:

Artist: CHAPMAN, MICHAEL
Title: Plaindealer
Label: MYSTRA RECORDS
Format: LP
Price: $16.00
Catalog #: MYS 009LP
Reissue of one of Michael Chapman's self-released CDRs -- a studio album from '05. Hand-made sleeves with insert. "Long stretches of clawing, flipping digits from one burning line to the next, all the while kinda hooting vocally along with a snort and a smile...each jam more deadly then the next. Which TURNED ME THE FUCK ON as much as any holy shit..." -- thurston moore.

ew, thurston, why so graphic

he's a passionate man.

since i can't really tell from thurston's blurb, what's it like? a solo acoustic thing?

Agh, I would go see Michael Chapman but he just has to be playing at 8pm on a Thursday?! I have to work :(

:( he rules, bummer

bummer indeed! you guys see this thing? http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Michael_Chapman__The_Woodpiles/NATCH_7
couple other good chapman sessions on the FMA too.

yeah, the Natch series is cool! Some of those guys playing w Chapman are my fave locals.

yeah seems like a cool little collective. the zachary cale session is nice too. need to listen to more of these things. http://freemusicarchive.org/label/NATCH/

yeah it totally sucks. i MIIIGHT change my mind and get a sub?! i did that for a swans show last fall and did not regret it.

zach cale is playing in manhattan w gary higgins & ed askew at a place called the ding dong lounge, unfortunately it's during my radio show timeslot :(

also tyler, you should check the dave shuford/margo bianca/pigeons sesh.

pigeons are another great new york band.

Just heard of Chapman last week when an editor asked me to interview him. I did my homework, listened to the first couple albums, and had a great chat with him. He's my new hero! This guy could have been a huge name but he just won't jump through hoops. Very inspiring that he's managed a non-stop career into his early 70s without ever catering to any muse other than his own.

Badass.

I just spotted this in my local record shop:

http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_500/MI0003/564/MI0003564142.jpg

re-released earlier this year by Light In The Attic records:

We are happy to announce our release of yet another outstanding album from British singer, songwriter and hugely talented psych, folk and rock guitarist Michael Chapman. Wrecked Again (1971), is Chapman’s final album for EMI’s seminal stoner imprint Harvest, home to Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett. Buried in EMI’s release schedule and afforded no promotional budget, Wrecked Again is his lost classic. Recorded at the noted Rockfield Studio, a residential complex-cum-working farm in Wales, Wrecked Again explores orchestration via Paul Buckmaster (Miles Davis, David Bowie) and The London Symphony Orchestra and production courtesy of Gus Dudgeon (Elton John, Bonzo Dog Band), but also explores a new sound influenced by Memphis soul. With a blend of electric and acoustic instruments, Chapman is found where he feels most comfortable: in-between folk and rock, contrasting soft with edgy.

Just a few songs in; enjoying so far.

Interview with Chapman here: http://thequietus.com/articles/12964-michael-chapman-interview

https://michaelchapman.bandcamp.com/album/true-north

must have picked up a recommendation for this from elsewhere on ilm cuz it's such a rolling tompkins square records thread album, but i only just got around to it so i forget

Algorithm just kicked out one of this guy’s tunes and I am immediately hooked. “You Say” from Rainmaker.

RIP

???

Aw man that is so sad!

Oh wow, that is sad. Damn.

he had a hell of a life from what i can tell

Ah shit. He was immense. RIP.

Oh shit :'-/ RIP

NOT what I was expecting when I opened this thread. Very sad news. RIP.

saw him a couple of times in his later days - first time really sticks in my mind because i sat next to him beforehand in a half-empty pub and we watched the football together on some dodgy eastern european satellite feed and chatted about general nonsense, and then he went upstairs and played an absolute stormer of a set. farewell mc :(

Sad news. Eighty years and active till the end

ugh, fuck

RIP, what an amazing player, amazing character

ums - where would you start with Chapman? I know he was an elder statesman of sorts in the post-Fahey scene but have never dived into him

I'd start with Fully Qualified Survivor. An obvious choice, but....

The song Among The Trees maybe