Western Culture (album)
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Western Culture (album)
''Western Culture'' is a studio album by English avant-rock group Henry Cow, recorded at Sunrise Studios in Kirchberg, Switzerland in January and July–August 1978. It was their last album and was released on Henry Cow's own private label, Broadcast, in 1979. Later editions appeared on Interzone in the US and Celluloid in France. Only the UK Broadcast pressing used the custom label artwork design. Background ''Western Culture'' is an instrumental album which came about as a result of disagreements in the band as to what the composition of their next album should be. Recording had already begun at Sunrise Studios in January 1978 and some members were not happy about the predominance of song-oriented material. As a compromise it was agreed that two albums would be made: one of "songs" (released soon after as ''Hopes and Fears'' under the name of a new group Art Bears) and one of purely instrumental compositions. The group returned to Sunrise Studios in July that year to record t ...
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Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, bassist John Greaves, and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members alongside Frith and Hodgkinson. An inherent anti-commercial attitude kept them at arm's length from the mainstream music business, enabling them to experiment at will. Critic Myles Boisen writes, " heir soundwas so mercurial and daring that they had few imitators, even though they inspired many on both sides of the Atlantic with a blend of spontaneity, intricate structures, philosophy, and humor that has endured and transcended the ' progressive' tag." While it was generally thought that Henry Cow took their name from 20th-century American composer Henry Cowell, this has been repeatedly denied by band members. According to Hodgkinson, the name "He ...
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Art Bears
Art Bears were an England, English avant-rock Musical ensemble, group formed during the disassembly of Henry Cow in 1978 by three of its members, Chris Cutler (percussion, texts), Fred Frith (guitar, bass guitar, violin, keyboards) and Dagmar Krause (vocals; previously of Slapp Happy). The group released three studio albums between 1978 and 1981, and toured Europe in 1979. In 2008 Cutler, Frith and others formed Art Bears Songbook, an Art Bears "review" project that performed at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Quebec, Canada. Biography Art Bears were formed during the recording of Henry Cow's fifth album in January 1978. Disagreements had arisen over the album's content: Frith, Cutler and Krause favoured song-oriented material, while the rest of the band preferred instrumental compositions. As a compromise, Frith, Cutler and Krause agreed to release the songs already recorded on their own album, ''Hopes and Fears (Art Bears album), Hopes and ...
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Don Martin (cartoonist)
Don Martin (May 18, 1931 – January 6, 2000) was an American cartoonist whose best-known work was published in '' Mad'' from 1956 to 1988.''Don Martin Obituary''
NY Times, Jan 8 2000
''Don Martin Obituary''
Salon.com, Jan 15 2000
His popularity and prominence were such that the magazine promoted Martin as "Mad's Maddest Artist."


Early years

Born on May 18, 1931, in , and raised in nearby Brookside and
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Chris Cutler
Chris Cutler (born 4 January 1947) is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, News from Babel, Pere Ubu and (briefly) Gong/Mothergong. He has collaborated with many musicians and groups, including Fred Frith, Lindsay Cooper, Zeena Parkins, Peter Blegvad, Telectu and The Residents, and has appeared on over 100 recordings. Cutler's career spans over four decades and he still performs actively throughout the world. Cutler created and runs the British independent record label Recommended Records and is the editor of its sound-magazine, ''RēR Quarterly''. He has given a number of public lectures on music, published numerous articles and papers, and written a book on the political theory of contemporary music, ''File Under Popular'' (1984). Cutler also assembled and released ''The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set'' (200 ...
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Gravity (Fred Frith Album)
''Gravity'' is a 1980 solo album by English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith from Henry Cow and Art Bears. It was Frith's second solo album and his first since the demise of Henry Cow in 1978. It was originally released in the United States on LP record on The Residents's Ralph record label and was the first of three solo albums Frith made for the label. ''Gravity'' was recorded in Sweden, the United States and Switzerland and featured Frith with Swedish Rock in Opposition group Samla Mammas Manna on one side of the LP, and Frith with United States progressive rock group The Muffins on the other side. Additional musicians included Marc Hollander from Aksak Maboul and Chris Cutler from Henry Cow. ''Gravity'' has been described as an avant-garde "dance" record that draws on rhythm and dance from folk music across the world. AllMusic called it one of the most important experimental guitar titles from Fred Frith. Background Fred Frith was a classically-trained violi ...
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Curlew (band)
Curlew is an American experimental free jazz group founded by saxophone player George Cartwright in 1979.Tilland, William & Lynch, DaveCurlew Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 2011-01-26 Members of the band have included cellist Tom Cora, drummer Pippin Barnett, guitarists Davey Williams and Fred Frith, and bassist Bill Laswell. Discography * ''Curlew'' (1981, Landslide) ** George Cartwright saxes and flute; Tom Cora cello; Bill Laswell bass; Nicky Skopelitis guitar; Bill Bacon drums. **Note: The double CD release includes ''Live At CBGBs'' 1980, with the same lineup except for the drummer, who is Denardo Coleman, Ornette Coleman's son. * ''North America'' (1985, Moers) **George Cartwright saxes; Tom Cora cello, accordion; Fred Frith bass, guitar, and producer, Mark Howell guitar; Rick Brown drums; J. Pippin Barnett drums. Guests Butch Morris cornet, Polly Bradfield violin. * ''Live in Berlin'' (1986, Cuneiform) **George Cartwright saxes; Tom Cora cello; Wayne Horvitz keyboard ...
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The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set
''The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set'' (also known as ''The Road'') is a nine-CD plus one-DVD limited edition box set by English avant-rock group Henry Cow, and was released by RēR Megacorp in January 2009. It consists of almost 10 hours of previously unreleased recordings made between 1972 and 1978 from concerts, radio broadcasts, one-off projects, events and the studio. Included are new compositions, over four hours of free improvisation, and live performances of some of Henry Cow's original LP repertoire. Chris Cutler, of Henry Cow and RēR Megacorp, planned and coordinated the whole project. Assembly of the recordings began in the mid-1990s and were edited by Cutler. He also prepared and edited two books that are included in the box set. Bob Drake remastered and, where possible, non-invasively remixed the original recordings at Studio Midi-Pyrenees in France between 2004 and 2008. The box set was expected to be ready before the end of 2008 to coincide with the 40th ...
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Fred Frith
Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. He was also a member of the groups Art Bears, Massacre, and Skeleton Crew. He has collaborated with a number of prominent musicians, including Robert Wyatt, Derek Bailey, the Residents, Lol Coxhill, John Zorn, Brian Eno, Mike Patton, Lars Hollmer, Bill Laswell, Iva Bittová, Jad Fair, Kramer, the ARTE Quartett, and Bob Ostertag. He has also composed several long works, including ''Traffic Continues'' (1996, performed 1998 by Frith and Ensemble Modern) and ''Freedom in Fragments'' (1993, performed 1999 by Rova Saxophone Quartet). Frith produces most of his own music, and has also produced many albums by other musicians, including Curlew, the Muffins, Etron Fou Leloublan, and Orthotonics. He is the subject of Nicolas ...
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Recommended Records Sampler
The ''Recommended Records Sampler'' is a sampler double album by various artists released by English independent record label Recommended Records on LP in 1982. It contains tracks by musicians and groups on the Recommended Records catalogue at the time. This sampler differed from the traditional record label sampler in that all the pieces here were newly recorded by the artists and, at the time, had never been released elsewhere. (Many of the tracks were later re-released as bonus tracks on the artists' CD reissues of their own albums.) In 1985 Recommended Records launched the ''RēR Quarterly'', a "quarterly" sound-magazine, which continued this approach of releasing previously unreleased work on a compilation album. A limited edition single-sided EP of the same name was also released in 1982 by Recommended Records and given free to advance subscribers of the double album. It comprised four previously unreleased tracks. Reception Writing in a review at AllMusic, William Ti ...
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Ubu Roi
''Ubu Roi'' (; "Ubu the King" or "King Ubu") is a play by French writer Alfred Jarry, then 23 years old. It was first performed in Paris in 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at the Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de Paris). The production's single public performance baffled and offended audiences with its unruliness and obscenity. Considered to be a wild, bizarre and comic play, significant for the way it overturns cultural rules, norms and conventions, it is seen by 20th- and 21st-century scholars to have opened the door for what became known as modernism in the 20th century, and as a precursor to Dadaism, Surrealism and the Theatre of the Absurd. Overview ''Ubu Roi'' was first performed in Paris on December 10, 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de Paris), 15, rue Blanche, in the 9th arrondissement. The play – scheduled for an invited "industry" run-through followed by a single public ...
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Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry (; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics. Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, and his mother was from Brittany. He was associated with the Symbolist movement. His play ''Ubu Roi'' is often cited as a forerunner of Dada and the Surrealist and Futurist movements of the 1920s and 1930s. He wrote in a variety of hybrid genres and styles, prefiguring the postmodern, including novels, poems, short plays and opéras bouffes, absurdist essays and speculative journalism. His texts are considered examples of absurdist literature and postmodern philosophy. Biography and works His father Anselme Jarry (1837–1895) was a salesman who descended into alcoholism; his mother Caroline, née Quernest (1842–1893), was interested in music and literature, but her family had a streak of insanity, and her mother and brother were ...
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Tim Hodgkinson
Timothy "Tim" George Hodgkinson (born 1 May 1949) is an English experimental music composer and performer, principally on reeds, lap steel guitar, and keyboards. He first became known as one of the core members of the British avant-rock group Henry Cow, which he formed with Fred Frith in 1968. After the demise of Henry Cow, he participated in numerous bands and projects, eventually concentrating on composing contemporary music and performing as an improviser. Biography Tim Hodgkinson was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire in England on 1 May 1949, and was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated in social anthropology from Cambridge in 1971, but chose to pursue a musical career instead. His interest in anthropology, however, remained and he drew on it later during a series of study trips to Siberia. Henry Cow While still at university, Hodgkinson and fellow student Fred Frith formed the seminal avant-rock group Henry Cow in 1968. Hodgkinson remain ...
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