ANTHONY JOSEPH & THE SPASM BAND - Photo:Aiste, London Sept 2008 L-R
Paul Brett - Snare, Irons, Cymbals
Andrew John - Bass
Colin Webster - Tenor Sax & Flute
Anthony Joseph - Vocals, Tamborine
Paul 'Zulu India' Zimmerman - Djembe, Congas
Craig 'Cigar' Tamlin - Bells, Shells, Quica etc Christian Arcucci - Guitar
Kamau Brathwaite, Derek Walcott, Bob Kaufman, Mighty Sparrow, Lord Kitchener, Trini people tongue, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Henry Dumas, Sun Ra, Elizabeth Smart (by grand central station...), Roland Barthes, Andre Breton, Funkadelic, Ted Joans, Jean Toomer, Nate Mackey, paul Keens Douglas, Will Alexander, William Carlos Williams, Claude McKay, Gil Scott Heron, Charles Bukowski, Dorothea Brande, Aime Cesaire, Wilson Harris, mother and grandmother who swim in heaven, vines and gulleys of backyard bush, aranguez savannah in old mt lambert trinidad, the batchacks and beetles I burned in matchbox discoteques, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Basquait, Thelonious Monk, Brother Resistance, Amiri Baraka, LKJ, Fanon, James Oscar jr, my father who wore 12 eye high desert boots in 1970s Trinidad, Charles Mingus, Frank Wright, Rashaan Roland Kirk, David Rudder, Nathaniel Mackey, Foucault, James Brown, jourvert morning mud mas and all fish eyed badjohns roaming port of spain on jourvert morning with white handle razor, deep spiritual baptist rhythm and trance/spirit talk...
ROOT STRATA MIX After the stunning Afro-Punk-Jazz "La Diablesse EP", we're all eagerly awaiting Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band second album, "Bird Head Son", to be released January 2009 on Naive/Heavenly Sweetness , the french Parisian jazz label. As a taster, here's a exclusive one-hour "Roots Strata" mix of Calypso, Jazz, Afrobeat, Funk & Rock... selected and MC'd by Anthony Joseph himself!
"Killer Joe" live at the Vortex, London, Sept 10 2009
DISCOGRAPHY
Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band - BIRD HEAD SON Released January 20 2009! (Feb 7 in the UK)
Heavenly Sweetness / Naïve(CD, double vinyl)
Tracklisting :
01. Vero 6:14
02. Blues For cousin Alvin 4:55
03. The Bamboo Saxophone 3:29
04. Jungle 12:04
05. Bird Head Son 8:40
06. Cutlass 6:21
07. His Hands 5:19
08. Two Inch Limbo 6:21
09. Conductors of His Mystery 7:31
10. River of Masks 4:51
11. Robberman 3:28
12. Dream on Corbeau Mountain 3:46
PURCHASE or download from itunes
or purchase it from Heavenly Sweetness Ebay Store : http://stores.ebay.fr/heavenlysweetness00
The album is released alongside a new collection of poetry also entitled Bird Head Son
REVIEWS
Some seriously raw funk. Joseph intones funny, funky Gil Scott Heron-ish rhymes as his Spasm band - featuring tenor sax, wah wah guitar, bass and bongos produces a remarkable racket, flirting with Ethiopian Jazz, Nigerian afrobeat and James Brown's garage funk. - Uncut Magazine
An intensely challenging, yet gloriously rewarding volume of spiritual tales. A place where the parables, pitfalls, redemption and affirmation of life are rapped-chanted-sung-slam-stitched together with Voodoo funk, Rastafarian revelation, bayou blues, calypso rhythms and unbridled free jazz movement - Shook Magazine Read the rest of this review at www.shook.fm
Warm, elegant and accomplished, this new offering reunites the manifold musical identities of the African diaspora over twelve tracks. Here, spoken word lyrics, inspired horns and layered grooves conjure up some sacred syncretic dreams, evoking fabled free spirits like Gil Scott-Heron or The Last Poets. Sincerity shines through, and this sharp wordsmith and his impeccable Spasm Band touch the motherlode on this trip to the heart of Great Black Music. - Mondomix Full review at www.mondomix.com
LA DIABLESSE 12" EP Heavenly Sweetness (France), Aug 2008. ft Keziah Jones & Joseph Bowie
Tracklist :
Side 1 - Vero
Side 2 - 1. Robberman 2. Poverty is Hell
REVIEW :
Fiercely funky work from Anthony Joseph and his Spasm Band -- their greatest single to date, and a really righteous batch of grooves! The set leads off with the long "Vero" -- a cut with funky guitar, pounding percussion, and a vibe that's somewhere between spiritual soul jazz and tighter funk -- almost in the mode of some of Archie Shepp's recordings of this nature from the early 70s, but harder overall. "Poverty Is Hell" is equally funky, if not more so -- with some wah-wah guitar in the mix, and nicely accented vocals from Joseph
that are a bit of a change. "Robberman" continues the vibe, again with lots of guitar and percussion -- and on the cut, Joseph's vocals are perhaps the most free-flowing of all! Dusty Groove
LEGGO DE LION - Kindred Spirits - 2007
Leggo the Lion is the debut album by Anthony Joseph and The Spasm Band.
Tracklist
01 . Buddha
02 . Black Dada
03 . Extending Out To Brightness
04 . Wallerfield
05 . Kneedeepinditchdiggerniggersweat
06 . On Kunu Land: Alfred Mac
07 . Killer Joe
08 . Hummingbird
The spoken word revelation of the year. Spiritual and surreal.
- Vibrations Magazine, France
Funky grooves and righteous poetry -- a contemporary album, but one that takes us back to the hip 70s work of artists like Gil Scott-Heron or Wanda Robinson! Words are by Anthony Joseph, who's got a spoken, slightly-sung style that's really compelling -- backed with rhythms that are more in a jazz funk mode overall -- played by the Spasm Band on flute, tenor, guitar, bass, and lots of rootsy percussion -- the last of which serves to give the tracks an earthy, organic quality that surprisingly timeless, given the recent date of the set! - Dusty Groove
Joseph is a fiery and capable performer and commands the unconditional attention of the listener like his influences Gil Scott Heron and Fela Kuti. This is an imaginative trip into the mind of a mystic. - Scott C. -www.montrealmirror.com
SPIRIT LASH - Heavenly Sweetness, 2006
The first Spasm Band 12"
single, still available but hard to find.
By now, you should know that any track called ‘Buddha’ gets us excited. But it still has to answer a higher calling. Thankfully, it does as it finds the band somewhere between James Blood Ulmer and James Chance on an Afro trip with Mark Murphy. Really, it’s that good! This is going to be in my box until it is as big a hit as ‘The Creator Has A Master Plan’.
It’s that time of year where we start think about awards and the like
and Heavenly Sweetness and ‘Spirit Lash’ is bombing into the top ten, Be
warned, there is nothing spasmodic about this band’s pure African spiritual jazz brilliance.
Gerry Hectic, Fly.co.uk
see www.flyglobalmusic.com for the full review.
Very hip work from jazz poet Anthony Joseph -- 2 tracks that are issued
here on 12" single, but which sound like righteous jazz numbers from many years past! Both numbers feature Joseph's words mixed with hip
instrumental backings from a combo that includes tenor, flute, guitar, and lots of percussion -- often used in rootsy ways that give the tracks a very organic, almost improvised feel -- like lost gems from the New York loft jazz years, or some of the later generations of the downtown scene! Dusty Groove, Chicago
ANTHONY JOSEPH is one of the leading writers of
his generation. A poet, novelist, academic and
musician, he was born in Trinidad, moving to the
UK in 1989. His publications include Desafinado
(1994), Teragaton (1997) and The African Origins of
UFOs (Salt, 2006). In 2004 he was chosen by the
Arts Council as one of 50 black and Asian writers
who have made major contributions to
contemporary British literature, appearing in the
historic ‘Great Day’ photograph. In 2005 Joseph
served as the British Council’s first Poet in
Residence at California State University, Los
Angeles. He has performed internationally and
also tours with his band The Spasm Band. Joseph
lectures in creative writing at Birkbeck College
and at Goldsmiths College, University of London
where he is a doctoral candidate.
“afro-blue to astro-black and what glimmers in between” - The Times
"Joseph employs a syncretic, diasporic and highly innovative blend of genres and styles, providing an example of how diaspora becomes subject, inspiration and rationale for the innovative use of form, while experimental traditions enable him to show the diaspora in a fresh light." Dr. Lauri Ramey, California State University, Los Angeles.
The African Origins of UFOs tracks the pull of place and the pull away from place, Afro-blue to astro-black and what glimmers in between. "Genetic contraband" and "bootleg melanin" afford a measure of the job it takes on. Possessing or possessed by requisite bearings, language and lore, Anthony Joseph is fully and beautifully up to the task. Nathaniel Mackey
"The leader of the Black avant-garde" Ilkley Literature Festival
This is great new 'second generation' Caribbean stuff – movin away from the script & the scruff – or ratha – betta! – writin upon it – over and under it – a palimpsest to rahtid! – pouring out images like Eno's – or UFOs!!! Kamau Brathwaite
Anthony Joseph is a talented writer with a powerful imagination.
Linton Kwesi Johnson
ANTHOLOGISED IN
- Caribbean Review of Books, Summer 2008
- Chimurenga, South Africa 2007
- Harlem Studio Museum magazine, 2006
- Hambone Vol. 18 - Ed. Nathaniel Mackey - 2006
- Poetry International Web(Poetry Society)- Oct 2006 - http://uk.poetryinternationalweb.org
- Surrealism : Black, Brown and Beige : Writing and Images from Africa and the Diaspora - Franklin Rosemont Ed. Forthcoming 2007
- New Writing 15, British Council 2007
- Black British Aesthetics Today (Cambridge Scholars Press 2007) - Dark Matter - A century of speculative fiction from the African Diaspora - ed Sheree Thomas(New York, Warner Books 2000)
- Modern Love - London, Renaissance One, 2001
Online Resources:
AJ on Wikipedia
See Anthony's page on Salt Publishing for more info on The African Origins Of UFOs.
BLOGS
See Anthony's literary blog at http://birdheadson.blogspot for work in progress, essays and random instances from the Diasporic Avant garde.
Also see the Spasm Band blog http://spasmband.blogspot.com for exclusive tracks, photos, videos etc from the Spasm Band.
"VERO" live at L'Olympic, NANTES
..
For the full concert go to http://www.grandcrew.com/videos/110
Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band ft Joe Bowie - live at Transmusicales, Rennes Dec 2008
Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band live at Esperanzah Festival, Belgium Summer 2009
Thank you for the concert at the Solidays. It was great! My review (in french) & pictures of the show : http://mondomix.com/blogs/solidays-2009.php/2009/06/29/27-juin-2009-solidays-jour-2-les-concert
I am really sorry that I missed you!!! Again! Was hoping to see you around Crawford as I dropped in on my only day I had in London :( Back in Aus now... maybe you and the Spasm band will come here??? Otherwise I will be back next year too so I'll keep you posted!! Take care... x
Hi ! ... thanks for the add ... I really love your project with the Spasm Band ! .. I wasn't in Sète but my friends told me the story : a big great show !!! ... sure that I will be at Le Jam in Montpellier on next december ! Peace, Love, Unity and Having fun as said Afrika Bambaataa... Mars.
Hi Anthony, thanks for adding us among your friends! Too bad I couldn't see you when you came to the Festival du bout du monde. Your music is so great!!!
thanks for the add your group is so funny, your feeling so positiv so good time afront the stage i hope i will see you again on another place! one love....
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