Favoriting Observations of Deviance with David Mittleman: Playlist from May 16, 2023 Favoriting

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Observations of Deviance is a vinyl focused, free form program that harkens back to early days of underground FM radio. Your host, David Mittleman, hunts down the most exotic, unusual and off-the-beaten-track music from around the world in a number of genres: Spiritual Jazz, Free Improvisation, Experimental Electronics, Ethnographic Oddities and World-Wide Psychedelic Funk. You are guaranteed to hear sounds you’ve never heard before.

Saturday 7 - 10pm (EDT) | On WFMU's Give the Drummer Radio
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Favoriting May 16, 2023: Fred Frith Fiesta: Exclusive Interview

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Artist Track Album Label Year Comments Approx. start time
 
Fred Frith  The Border   Favoriting Step Across The Border  East Side Digital  1990    0:02:35 (Pop-up)
Fred Frith  Hello Music   Favoriting Guitar Solos  Caroline  1974    0:05:57 (Pop-up)
Naked City  Jazz Snob Eat Shit   Favoriting Torture Garden  Shimmy Disc  1990  feat. Fred Frith  0:07:27 (Pop-up)
Penn Jillette  Fred Frith 1   Favoriting Ralph Records 10th Anniversary Radio Special!  Ralph  1982    0:07:53 (Pop-up)
Fred Frith - René Lussier  The Same Wide Wall   Favoriting Nous Autres  Les Disques Victo  1987    0:08:21 (Pop-up)
Fred Frith & Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles  Something About This Landscape for Ensemble   Favoriting Something About This Landscape for Ensemble  Sub Rosa  2023  https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/frith-and-ensemble-musiques-nouvelles-fred-something-about-this-lands-lp/SR.536LP.html  0:11:40 (Pop-up)
Tom Cora / Chris Cutler / Fred Frith  One More Time   Favoriting Hallelujah, Anyway - Remembering Tom Cora  Tzadik  1999  March 1998  0:18:53 (Pop-up)
Andy Haas Duet With Fred Frith  Cicatrix   Favoriting Arnhem Land  Avant  1997    0:21:54 (Pop-up)
 
Fred Frith  Interview: Part 1   Favoriting Interview April 17, 2023  N/A  2023    0:26:29 (Pop-up)
 
Henry Cow  The Lions Of Desire [With Phil Minton] (France, Unknown Venue, 1978)   Favoriting Glastonbury And Elsewhere  ReR Megacorp  2023  feat. Fred Frith; https://henrycow2.bandcamp.com/album/glastonbury-and-elsewhere  0:49:49 (Pop-up)
Fred Frith  Norrgarden Nyvla   Favoriting Gravity  Ralph  1980    1:05:45 (Pop-up)
Penn Jillette  Fred Frith 2   Favoriting Ralph Records 10th Anniversary Radio Special!  Ralph  1982    1:09:26 (Pop-up)
Naked City  Thrash Jazz Assassin   Favoriting Torture Garden  Shimmy Disc  1990  feat. Fred Frith  1:09:48 (Pop-up)
Chris Cutler & Fred Frith  Live In Prague (Part 1)   Favoriting Live In Prague And Washington    1983  recorded at the 8th Prague "Jazz Days" Festival on 25th May 1979 at the Lucerna Hall, Prague  1:10:34 (Pop-up)
Fred Frith  Sparrow Song   Favoriting Step Across The Border  East Side Digital  1990    1:15:50 (Pop-up)
Art Bears  Moeris, Dancing   Favoriting Hopes and Fears    1978  feat. Fred Frith  1:17:17 (Pop-up)
Fred Frith  Alienated Industrial Seagulls Etc.   Favoriting Guitar Solos 3  Red  1979    1:20:17 (Pop-up)
 
Fred Frith  Interview: Part 2   Favoriting Interview April 17, 2023  N/A  2023    1:26:54 (Pop-up)
 
Lol Coxhill / Fred Frith  Reims '82   Favoriting French Gigs  AAA  1983    1:48:48 (Pop-up)
Naked City  Shangkuan Ling-Feng   Favoriting Torture Garden  Shimmy Disc  1990  feat. Fred Frith  1:54:01 (Pop-up)
John Zorn & Fred Frith  The Ladder   Favoriting The Art Of Memory  Incus  1994    1:55:12 (Pop-up)
Fred Frith  Osaka I   Favoriting Live In Japan  Recommended  1982  The Guitars On The Table Approach  2:00:30 (Pop-up)
Christian Marclay  Fred Frith   Favoriting More Encores  No Man's Land  1989    2:06:45 (Pop-up)
Penn Jillette  Fred Frith 3   Favoriting Ralph Records 10th Anniversary Radio Special!  Ralph  1982    2:10:09 (Pop-up)
Skeleton Crew  Learn to Talk   Favoriting Learn to Talk  Rift  1984  feat. Fred Frith  2:10:19 (Pop-up)
Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser  Twisted Memories Give Way To The Angry Present   Favoriting With Friends Like These  Metalanguage  1979    2:14:05 (Pop-up)
Naked City  Perfume Of A Critic's Burning Flesh   Favoriting Torture Garden  Shimmy Disc  1990  feat. Fred Frith  2:17:54 (Pop-up)
Fred Frith  Saving Grace / Speechless   Favoriting Speechless  Ralph  1981    2:18:20 (Pop-up)
Fred Frith  Water / Struggle / The North   Favoriting Guitar Solos 2  Caroline  1976    2:21:18 (Pop-up)
 
Fred Frith  Interview: Part 3   Favoriting Interview April 17, 2023  N/A  2023    2:26:52 (Pop-up)
 
Fred Frith - Susana Santos Silva  Laying Demons To Rest   Favoriting Laying Demons To Rest  RogueArt  2023  https://rogueart1.bandcamp.com/album/laying-demons-to-rest  2:48:46 (Pop-up)


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Listener comments!

Avatar 6:55pm
Observations:

Get ready for a FRED FRITH FIESTA 🚀❤️🔥💫🌟✨🪅🎉
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:02pm
Rich in Washington:

I'm here for the Frith-Fest.
Avatar 7:03pm
Observations:

We are live!!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:04pm
Rich in Washington:

I need to see this film again.
Avatar 7:04pm
northguineahills:

so, we shouldn't fret, the fred frith fiesta features a fretless?
Avatar 🥁 Swag For Life Member 7:05pm
WR:

↳ Rich in Washington @7:04
Film?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:06pm
Rich in Washington:

↳ WR @7:05
The Fred Frith documentary called Step Across The Border. It's fantastic.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:08pm
Rich in Washington:

↳ Song: "Jazz Snob Eat Shit" by "Naked City"
OH YEAH
Avatar 7:09pm
Observations:

🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:11pm
Rich in Washington:

↳ Song: "The Same Wide Wall" by "Fred Frith - René Lussier"
Love this album so much
Avatar 7:12pm
northguineahills:

↳ Song: "Jazz Snob Eat Shit" by "Naked City"
I was once in line at Other Music and Jim O'Rourke was in front of me w/ a vinyl copy of Torture Garden. He asked me if he should by it. I responded, "hell yeah!" (I already had a copy for about four years at the time).
Avatar 7:13pm
Observations:

↳ Song: "Something About This Landscape for Ensemble" by "...
"Commissioned by and recorded during the 2018 Ars Musical Festival, Fred Frith composed this work while under the inspiration of his residency at Lou Harrison's straw-bale house in the desert at Joshua Tree, CA, then performed with the Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles, along with two very unique improvisations, one recorded during the dress rehearsal and then again in concert."
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:15pm
StringOFperils:

Wow, great! I've seen René Lussier several times, but not in recent years; it's nice when his name crops up in a broadcast of some sort. Him, Jean Derome, Les Quatre Guitarites d'Apocalypso Bar, etcetera...many reasons why I wish I'd moved to Montreal instead of Toronto, way back when.
Avatar 🥁 Swag For Life Member 7:20pm
doctorjazz:

Hey Observers!
Just got my Swag yesterday, love the Gilmore CD!
  7:23pm
Dean:

Damn, damn, damn. I have missed the first 20 minutes or so.

So when are you going to play "The Frith of Fifth" from Selling England By the Pound?
  7:24pm
Dean:

That Cora tribute is terrific.
  7:27pm
Doug Schulkind:

Hello, Mr. Mittleman and Frith fans!
Avatar 7:28pm
northguineahills:

I agree w/ Frith's music assessment..
Avatar 7:29pm
Observations:

↳ doctorjazz @7:20
Wonderful! ❤️🔥
Avatar 7:30pm
Observations:

👋👋👋
Avatar 7:30pm
northguineahills:

↳ Dean @7:23
only if he plays it on the firth of forth..

/actually, that was the first fred frith album i picked up, randomly. (thrift store find)
  7:31pm
Dean:

Frith's remarks about mediation of jazz via records reminds me of, of all people, Philip Larkin, the librarian/poet who also published reviews of jazz recordings. His tastes were fairly conservative.
  7:32pm
Dean:

If I had a nickel for every time I heard a band claim, "We opened for Pink Floyd several times"...
Avatar 7:34pm
Observations:

www.dukeupress.edu...
Avatar 7:36pm
northguineahills:

↳ Dean @7:32
you'd have 5 cents?
Avatar 7:37pm
Observations:

Henry Cow = Henry Cowell pun
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:37pm
StringOFperils:

'....I'd be the dean of nickels' popped into MY mind.
  7:38pm
Dean:

...I'd be opening for Pink Floyd.

Frith is dead wrong. Celine Dion adores Henry Cow and usually makes a point to do a medley of their tunes in her Vegas acts.
Avatar 7:38pm
Revolution Rabbit Nov63:

GoodLord is there no end to the treats FMU presents.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:41pm
StringOFperils:

She's love da Rock in Opposition, bien sur!
Avatar 7:42pm
Observations:

↳ Observations @7:34
The World Is a Problem / Benjamin Piekut
  7:42pm
Dean:

I met Frith at the Freight & Salvage a few years ago. I was there with a buddy who spent time filming and interviewing him. I also helped my buddy film him at Jazz House.
  7:44pm
Dean:

Henry Mac?
Fleetwood Cow?
Avatar 7:47pm
northguineahills:

↳ Observations @7:37
I actually had two Henry Cowell LPs before I picked up a Henry Cow record.
Avatar 7:48pm
northguineahills:

↳ Dean @7:44
I'd paid to see either just based on the names...
  7:49pm
Dean:

Same here, @ngh. Had Cowell way before Cow. But that's also because, as Frith intimated, back then I was one of those listeners who was at best Cow-curious.
  7:50pm
Dean:

Pretty sure my introduction to Henry Cow as Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls.
  7:51pm
Dean:

^as = was

Konk Pack, with Hodgkinson, was phenomenal at Victo.
Avatar 7:54pm
Observations:

↳ Song: "The Lions Of Desire [With Phil Minton] (France, U...
Phil plays 🎺 and sings 🎤
  8:00pm
Dean:

I have Box Redux. Need to add this Glastonbury record.
Avatar 🥁 Swag For Life Member 8:01pm
Andrew Waterloo:

This will be a good warm up for see Frith on Friday
Avatar 8:11pm
Observations:

↳ Andrew Waterloo @8:01
where is he playing?
  8:24pm
Dean:

Dig these images my buddy took of FF at either Freight & Salvage or Jazz House:
https://www.steveelkins.net/Interviews/On-Music/Fred-Frith/i-kq3NPMQ
  8:26pm
Dean:

(Includes historical photos, too.)

Frith did a soundtrack for a movie about Andy Goldsworthy, too, yes? Pretty sure I have it.
  8:32pm
Dean:

"In America nobody ever talks about Kevin Ayers..." Huh?
Avatar 8:33pm
Observations:

↳ Dean @8:32
perhaps a slight exaggeration
Avatar 8:34pm
Observations:

aquariumdrunkard.com...
  8:35pm
Dean:

Evan Parker has played more than once at a home about six blocks from my house, a place owned by Greg Goodman/Woody Woodman, who has also played with Bailey. I heard G(W)oodman once with Parker at the house a few years ago.
  8:37pm
Dean:

Good lord, Beresford, Frith, LaDonna (an acquaintance of a friend of mine who hails from AL)!
  8:41pm
Dean:

Frith is informing us that there is a legacy of mistaken credits even *before* ChatGPT.
  8:46pm
Dean:

Heh, funny, but I just read a review today of a record featuring some of Chopin's etudes. The reviewer made the point that most etudes at the time were gratuitous and needlessly demanding without musical virtue.
  8:52pm
Dean:

Yeah, @Observations @8:34, this is typical baloney journalism. He is "underappreciated" (?) and yet he wrote "some of the band's most memorable songs" (?). Utter nonsense.

If one is interested in Ayers, one can find a shit-ton of information about him. He is not appreciated as much as Mozart, I guess, and so in that respect he is underappreciated.
  8:53pm
Dean:

I'll note, too, that I am underappreciated.
Avatar 8:54pm
Observations:

↳ Dean @8:52
On the other hand - when was the last time a Kevin Ayers solo album was reissued in the US? A long time ago.
Avatar 🥁 Swag For Life Member 8:59pm
WR:

↳ Song: "The Ladder" by "John Zorn & Fred Frith"
one web search I just did on Frith came back with this description of "Step Across the Border": "British blues musician Fred Frith and his band rehearse and jam between formal gigs in Europe, Japan and the United States."

I was skeptical regarding Frith as a blues musician, but now I'm hearing it.
  9:00pm
Dean:

I'm glad you asked! 2014, it appears: https://www.discogs.com/release/5349374-Kevin-Ayers-Original-Album-Series (It's an EU issue, but Rhino markets it.)

Anyway, I'm not sure the measure of appreciation is record label reissues, which seem these days to be willy-nilly. My measure of appreciation is more focused on radio stations, word of mouth, that sort of thing. Maybe The Wire hasn't promoted him of late, I dunno, but I find The Wire insufferable.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 9:01pm
StringOFperils:

I sensed that Ayers himself was skeptical of most things, and wisely opted for disappearing into the weeds with ample supplies of good claret.
Avatar 9:02pm
Observations:

↳ Dean @9:00
Ayers is rarely in Mojo or Uncut
  9:04pm
Dean:

I've heard of Mojo, not Uncut. I consult neither.
Avatar 9:06pm
Observations:

↳ Dean @9:04
then where do you see Kevin Ayers appreciation?
Avatar 9:08pm
northguineahills:

↳ Song: "Fred Frith" by "Christian Marclay"
thought this sounded familiar!
  9:10pm
Dean:

As I mentioned above, radio stations and word of mouth. I also recall the ubiquity of his records in certain circles at the time they appeared. You couldn't NOT see them. It was easy to discover favorable (or unfavorable) opinions of him.

Is he as "appreciated" as, say, Leonard Cohen? Of course not. But that doesn't mean he is therefore underappreciated. Perhaps the contrary?
Avatar 9:11pm
northguineahills:

↳ Dean @9:00
tell us how you really feel about The Wire™? 🙃
  9:13pm
Dean:

My real feeling about The Wire: they could be a truly informative, useful organ for the community of musics they represent. But most of the writing is akin to, say, The Wine Spectator: the same old bland figures of speech about the same network of producers.

Honestly, I wish they were better.
Avatar 9:13pm
northguineahills:

I picked up all of Kevin Ayers in a nine month span in 2000-2001. Should have gotten him together w/ Roy.
Avatar 9:16pm
northguineahills:

↳ Dean @9:13
I feel by 2007 the got rid of mist of the greybeard tiresomes that weighed it down, and by 2015, outside of a few exceptions, they had significant fresh turnover in the staff. That said, I haven't read an issue from them since 2019...
  9:17pm
Dean:

I gave up on them c.2001. Ben Watson, jesus.
  9:19pm
Dean:

Worth noting that Frith is on bass with Naked City. Stunning.
  9:20pm
Erik/VermonT:

@ David Mittleman : I will be obsessing over this fascinating interview and wonderful show via the archives (no doubt many times !). But I must sincerely thank you for sharing this rare interview with all of us !
Fred Frith literally & profoundly changed my life (not only musically … but in aesthetic ways, too complicated to relate here 😉). From approximately 1981 forward, I have been intently following Mr Frith’s career with awe and admiration ! With great appreciation, I return to listening.
Avatar 9:21pm
northguineahills:

↳ Dean @9:17
The way I saw it, I knew the writers well enough that for the reasons they would dislike something would be the reasons I would love it, and vice versa (that happened often).
Avatar 9:22pm
Observations:

↳ Erik/VermonT @9:20
Glad you dig it! ❤️🔥❤️🙏🙏✨
Avatar 9:23pm
northguineahills:

↳ Song: "Water / Struggle / The North" by "Fred Frith"
This was the album that got me into Frith (around 95).
  9:23pm
Dean:

That's a fair response, @ngh. It's how I read Fanfare, which is a bimonthly magazine of reviews of new classical recordings, ~600 pages per issue, no illustrations, no margins. I read individual reviewers according to their biases, which they often make explicit.
  9:27pm
Dean:

My poetry workshop is about to commence. Goddammit.

A marvelous series of interviews.
Avatar 9:33pm
northguineahills:

Leng Tch'e is my favorite Naked City...
Avatar 9:34pm
northguineahills:

Vaclac Havel of the Plastic People of the Universe!
  9:34pm
Dean:

Agreed: Leng Lch'e.
Avatar 9:34pm
northguineahills:

(and the Velvet Revolution)
Avatar 9:34pm
northguineahills:

err, vaclav..
Avatar 9:36pm
northguineahills:

i use, 'object-oriented, highly structured real-time processes of recursive composition' rather than improvisation..
Avatar 9:36pm
northguineahills:

(but, I also use improv)
  9:44pm
Dean:

^Leng Tch'e

obvs
Avatar 9:48pm
northguineahills:

Thanks David, that was magnificent!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 9:50pm
Rich in Washington:

This has been absolutely fascinating!
Thanks so much for the wonderful show and interview! I am sure I will be revisiting this episode often.
Avatar 9:50pm
Observations:

↳ northguineahills @9:48
🙏🙏🙏
Avatar 9:51pm
Observations:

↳ Rich in Washington @9:50
Thanks! 🙏👋
Avatar 9:53pm
northguineahills:

since we're talking about Naked City, I used to sample the one track from torture garden that is four seconds long that is nothing but yamataka eye hocking a lugi followed by a cymbal crash w/ techno mixes...
Avatar 🥁 Swag For Life Member 9:57pm
WR:

This has been truly festive!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 9:58pm
Rich in Washington:

yeah, I did not know that about him hosting a WFMU show. Would be cool to hear one but I believe it LONG predates the archive system.
Avatar 10:03pm
Observations:

I'll be back next week, goodnight!
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