From: gcf@spd.eee.strathclyde.ac.uk (graham Freeland )
Subject: Re: avant
Followup-To: rec.music.bluenote
Summary: Brief review of Avant01
Originator: gcf@newton
Organization: Signal Processing Division, University of Strathclyde. Glasgow
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 14:01:11 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.185052.29224@news.cs.brandeis.edu> rardin@binah.cc.brandeis.edu writes:
>In article <1992Sep1.141405.7944@ccsun.strath.ac.uk>, gcf@spd.eee.strathclyde.ac.uk (graham Freeland ) writes:
>>In article rardin@binah.cc.brandeis.edu (R. Lynn Rardin) writes:
>>
>>>I just read an interesting tidbit in the latest (9/92) Pulse! magazine from 
>>>Tower.  It seems that DIW of Japan has "given" John Zorn his own record label, 
>>>to be called Avant...
>>
>>Have just purchased Avant01: Naked City,"heretic,jeux des dames cruelles",
>>@ Tower Records @ 12.99 pounds (= $26 since the dollar is doing particularly
>>shite (see below)). May post a brief review if I can affect the style of
>>a Yamatsuka Eye scream. The cover Art should prove a big hit amongst the
>>scatologist community (however only female buttocks are aired).
>>
>>Graham Freeland.
>
>Have any of the Avant releases shown up in the U.S. yet?  I look forward 
>to hearing your review, Graham!
>
>-Lynn
>
Shit, that pressure is on! I'll pass on the screaming however, and
affect a narrative pose. The recording is billed as an "original motion 
picture soundtrack", presumably of "heretic, jeux des dames cruelles"
from which I further presume the stills that `beautifully' adorn the
cover are taken from (all female `spanking' and dominatrix scenes,
sepia aged, indicating that if the above is true then it is 
posthumously written soundtrack; commonsense probably leads to
that conclusion more directly!). A further complication is the
dedication of the work to "Harry Smith, Mystical Animator, Pioneer
Ethnomusicologist, Hermetic Scholar, Creator of "Heaven + Earth Magic",
one of the greatest films of all time". So alternatively, all of the
above conjecture may be entirely wrong and my lack of knowledge of
S&M history (and practise) and the Hermetic Tradition is showing through.

`Heretic' comprises of 24 pieces ranging from 49secs (Vliet) (Beefheart??!!)
to 4mins21secs (Submission), averaging at about 2mins, all in a
style, in abstraction at least, one might have expected.
This does not mean that Zorn `dominates' since all, bar one, involve only
either two or three out of the six strong pool (Frisell also plays a
prominent role). Both this and the slow space of play (certainly in 
comparison to `Torture Garden'!) give a consistently spacious feel to 
it all, even on the five occasions when Yamatsuka Eye is being
trussed up by the throat. The tone is of `rock' without the thrash 
power chords.  Musically, it seems to sit well with `Filmworks' which, 
given the albums (intended?) purpose, would make sense. Having
made the last two comments, this is rock played by Naked City
not Robert Quine ("White and Lazy"). A few listens and already I like it; 
it is `derivative', but of previous work splashed around JZ,BF and WH
albums. Here they concentrate on the one (duo and trio) format, 
one that can be easily listened to, as I am doing at the moment, 
on a personal stereo without one's eyes and ears bleeding 
(Commentary: I've just past the section of "Heretic 3" where
JZ sounds like Bachir Attar (or maybe its a Horvitz sample!))

Finally, the CD comes with a Japanese insert which would appear
to give details of the Avant label and its intended releases
which extend to Avant-13. I'm trying at the moment get information
from Harmonia Mundi Jazz U.K.

I intend all of the above to be a recommendation! Does anyone
happen to have a copy of the film for which the above is a 
soundtrack? It's given me a taste for leather and chains.
All trussed up,

Graham Freeland.