October 16, 2012

TEB's "Area III" 'track of the day' at WNUR American Web radio!


At http://www.wnur.org/third-ear-band-area-iii/ TEB's "Area III" was track of the day last week at WNUR, an American Web radio station. With a short comment to it and a kind quotation of this archive by Dan Sloan...


As stated on the site, "WNUR is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station broadcasting at a frequency of 89.3 MHz FM and a power of 7200 watts. The WNUR studios are located in Louis Hall, on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, and the station produces a signal that can be heard by nearly 3 million potential listeners throughout Chicagoland. WNUR also streams on the Web to listeners around the world.
Through its programming, WNUR strives to provide a forum for underrepresented music and ideas. By pursuing the cultural, intellectual, and artistic aspects of radio, WNUR promotes musicians, musical genres, news, public affairs issues, and athletic events often overlooked by major media outlets. Additionally, because it is completely independent of commercial pressures, WNUR has the opportunity to provide unique and challenging programming to the Northwestern, Evanston, and Chicago communities no matter how unpopular or controversial."


no©2012 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first) 

October 10, 2012

The core of it. Some personal autosuggestions of postfolk-shaman Sedayne about the Third Ear Band.


An artist is an artist - an artist, an artist, an artist - as George Sand would tell today about Sedayne (Sean Breadin), the English postfolk shaman devoted to strong fieldworks on traditional soundscapes.
These are some inspired suggestions by him to get us ready for the Autumn-Winter season...

"A visitor to my house recently looked through my CD shelf and was surprised to see more than the three old Third Ear Band albums they were aware of. They hadn't known of the Hydrogen Jukebox, nor yet the re-union era Italian albums, much less Abelard and Heloise and The Magus; they hadn't known of all the rarities that have emerged in recent years from The National Balkan Ensemble to the session material (ancient & modern) or the German DVD and the French TV footage.

Time was, I was well content with my three Third Ear Band albums - old habits die hard: on cold Autumn mornings I always play Macbeth. Alchemy is special beyond measure - I only play it when it snows! Elements I play on stormy elemental evenings remembering the friends I never saw again after I first played it to them - Gong they could cope with, but the Third Ear Band was going too far.

These days - God knows. I often find myself playing Brainwaves when I'm cooking. It's nothing special in the way the other albums are, but it is Glen - the heart and soul of the Tertius Auris; Shaman, Trickster and catalyst for some of the finest music I've ever heard. Hell, even The Magus has its moments of utter transcendence, and Druid Grocking on the German footage is one of the most astonishing things I've heard in my entire life. 

The core remains the pure Alchemy of the four elementals though, as revealed on the French film: Richard is Fire - he burns & blazes, relentless, hungrily consuming the silences whilst lighting the very dark & warming the bitter cold; Paul is Air - he blows as the rushing wind that moves the waves & sets the very trees a dancing; Glen is the Earth - the stone circle dragon-alignments that set pulse and pattern to both enrich and 
 reveal the very chaos of nature; and Ursula is Water - she flows, she sparkles and she thunders in the depths of the unfathomable abyss. At least that's how I see it anyway.

Oh, and I forgot to mention New Forecasts, featuring Ursula on Sybilic Violin by way of pure Revelation, as the best of it remains, eternally...".

Follow Sedayne at:
http://ploughmyth.blogspot.com/ 
http://soundcloud.com/rapunzel-and-sedayne
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rapunzel-and-Sedayne/217002238319466

                                                        Sedayne - "Mr. Fox's Equinox" (March 2012)
no©2012 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first) 

October 05, 2012

Who knows the Extremities?



Alan Freeman (synths, keys, guitar, voice, loops, effects, whistle, percussion), Steve Freeman (bass, synths, loops, samples, turntable, voice, harmonica), Jim Tetlow (synths, loops, guitar, voice, percussion, toys, gadgets, pipes) and Dave Powell (hurdy gurdy, effects) are The Extremities.

They are an experimental/post-KrautRock/avantgarde/industrial band from Leicester (Midlands, UK) - born when Dave Powell joined-in the Endgame - with nine albums (on CD-R format) and a DVD recorded (http://www.myspace.com/extremitiesimprov).
About two tracks of their vaste repertoire they state they have been "definitely inspired by the Third Ear Band".
Listen to them and decide if they're right ...


                                  The Extremities - "Bite me" (2007)

                           The Extremities - "Balkan Ninja" (2002-2003)

no©2012 Luca Ferrari (unless you intend to make a profit. In which case, ask first)