Brought up on The Glen Campbell TV show and Motown, at 15 years old I began writing songs on piano and guitar after studying violin (with MR. SWANSON) and drums (with BILLY MOORE, drummer for Ray Charles and James Brown) in Los Angeles. In 1976 I discovered punk rock and played in bands with STEW (THE ANIMATED, THE WONDERFUL GUISE, The Negro Problem), BILLY GOULD (THE ANIMATED, Faith No More), and CHUCK MOSLEY (THE ANIMATED, Faith No More, Cement)
When Reagan was elected, I left Hollywood and the U.S. for Europe in 1982 for a 2 year "Solo Madness Tour". Which crashed in Brixton where I was reunited with artists from New York and Los Angeles. We formed a Performance Arts Group titled THE NEW YORK SOUND IMAGE GROOVE which became THE WONDERFUL GUISE and was based in Berlin for one year. At which time we were arrested for subversive activities and I was refused entry back to Berlin as an undesirable
Returning to Hollywood, I continued my composition studies for 2 years
Now I am with the band THE FAIRYS and find myself once again marooned in London, this time by the river...
....FRIZZ RECORDS is proud to announce our fourth LP release...
LEILA ADU has been described as 'A Nina Simone for the Noughties', and her two acclaimed albums infuse a broadly 'art-rock' approach with elements of torch song, speakeasy blues, avant garde jazz, gamelan, post-rock textures, and a David Lynch style dreamlike b-movie melodrama. As her website has it, exploring the "dissonant edges of familiar forms", but with that kind of 'dissonance' that they once accused Thelonious Monk or Debussy of, the kind that soon betrays it's own compelling melodic and harmonic logic to the attentive listener...
'Dark Joan', Leila's third album as a solo artist, was recorded in Chicago with the legendary Steve Albini (PJ Harvey, Joanna Newsome, Nirvana, Pixies), and Albini's genius has been to strip her sound back to it's essence, and hold it's most distinctive qualities up to the light. It doesn't hurt that this is by far Leila's most powerful set of songs to date, and if anything we are lead even deeper into her world by the pictures painted with just piano (or in some cases harpsichord or a grime-encrusted electric piano) and that voice...
Capable of anything from delicate heartbreaking purity to a fearsome dramatic power, her powers are seemingly limitless, yet unlike most other singers of her calibre, never does she resort to melodrama or show-boating, or any kind of pastiche, instead she employs her resources fully in the expression of her distinctive musical vision and the deep well-spring of her imagination. Nothing ever sounds as though it could have not been sung...
....FRIZZ RECORDS is proud to announce our third LP release...
"Anutha Kinda Brotha" is the debut LP from underground legend ART TERRY. Since moving to the UK from his native Los Angeles in the early 90s, Mr Terry has established himself as one of London's characters.
Describing Art's sound to the uninitiated usually involves debunking some of the stereotypes of what the 'typical' black Californian might play. Despite his jazz training, and coming of age to the sounds of classic soul and funk, these styles are only a part of his musical vision. His fascination with folk styles, classical music, punk rock, pure pop, easy listening, musical theatre and the European avant garde have taken him on different paths from most...
The result is an orchestral pop record full of sonic inventiveness, whether it's the blend of Shuggie Otis's 60s California and Sun Ra's ancient Egypt on 'Bible', Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons leading a mariachi band on 'Escort', or the Walt Disney music box orchestra of 'Miss Dominatrix', but whilst this is very much a sonic feast, we shouldn't overlook Art's extraordinary lyrical adeptness, and the distinctive character this brings to the proceedings, with a knack for unique and colourful imagery, and how like a great short story writer he is able to paint an engaging picture whilst keeping back from casting judgement on his characters, always leaving open ends for the listener to tie; giving us the feeling that however far astray someone might have gone, there is always sympathy and human feeling for them in Art's mind...
....FRIZZ RECORDS is proud to announce our second official LP release...
"Modern Mediaeval" is the third LP from singer-songwriter DAVID GARSIDE, and the first to receive the full Frizz Records vinyl treatment. It’s also clearly the most fully-realised statement of his distinctive vision so far…
It’s an easy route to locate David in the tradition of his ‘classic’ influences (McCartney, Nick Drake, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, The Beach Boys, Love, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, Dexy’s…), but there are few songwriters working today that have absorbed these influences so fully, and arrived at a mature style as David has…
This is ’singer-songwriter’ music in the sense that it’s focus is on song-craft and the unfolding of the lyrical vision of a single individual, but if so then it’s definitely at the sophisticated end of the scale (’progressive’ if that term isn’t too loaded…), filed alongside ‘Bryter Layter’, ‘The Hissing Of Summer Lawns’, ‘Pretzel Logic’ or ‘Surf’s Up’...another FRIZZ RECORDS instant classic!
"Modern Mediaeval" can be downloaded from the iTunes Store
The album is also available on heavyweight vinyl LP, or on Digipack CD from www.FrizzRecords.com & all good retailers
....FRIZZ RECORDS is proud to announce our first official LP release...
"It's Not The Wand, It's The Magic" is the debut release from AUGUST, the London based band centred around the songwriting partnership between vocalist VEDINA MOSE and multi-instrumentalist / producer RAPHAEL MANN (MR HUDSON / JOY JOSEPH / ART TERRY), with master drummer CLEAN CUT MARK and clarinetist / vocalist MAREE CHOIE completing the core line-up, and a supporting cast including ART TERRY (keyboards), SHOHEI KAWAMOTO (AKA Japanese producer Baraki, Bass clarinet, soprano sax and flute), and KAI HOFFMAN (French horn)
Always an act that juggled a diverse set of influences, the album has been compared to artists as diverse as KATE BUSH, PRINCE, DE LA SOUL, SLY STONE, MADLIB, SERGE GAINSBOURG and THE DELFONICS, for its concoction of wild experimentation and traditional song craft, organic production and futuristic electronic touches, funk bass & drums and jazz & orchestral references, infectious melodies and lyrical flights of fancy...with nods towards classic soul, JB funk, Studio One, 60s pop, psychedelia, left field hip hop, new wave, doo wop, tropicalia, high life, & avant garde jazz, without any song ever fitting squarely into any of those categories...new music, basically...and an instant classic!
"It's Not The Wand, It's The Magic" can be downloaded now from the iTunes Store
The album is also available on heavyweight vinyl LP in a sumptuous gatefold sleeve, or on Digipack CD from www.FrizzRecords.com & all good retailers
Just stopping by to say hello and give you some news. The new album 'Coolgilly and the Freakshow' from Centascope is now available worldwide from CD Baby and directly from the merchandise page of the official website. You can also get the album from Apple iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, Amazon and many more.
Left Banke are awesome! Nice meeting you, and thanks for lending us your keyboard stand. Your show was great! Hope to see you again and all the best /Niklas
THE BACK TO WAX REVUE Tom Rodwell, Madame Pamita, the Borough Cat VS the Vulcan Cylinder Record Co.
*** Wed May 20 - The George Tavern, 373 Commercial Road, Stepney, London E1 0LA - 8pm £6 / £4 concessions *** Sun May 24 - The Luminaire, 311 Kilburn High Road, London NW6 7JR 7.30pm £10 door / £8 adv from www.wegottickets.co.uk
Weep not for the CD! Presenting the Back to Wax Revue, live onstage primitivist soundclash featuring genuine wax cylinder recording sessions. Witness performers battle with the original medium of recorded sound, Edison's wax cylinder, state of the art circa 1877. Ponder how recording mediums affect music; what changes in in the midst of form and content?
FEAT: Tom Rodwell (NZ) - gospel-blues primitivist Madame Pamita (LA) w/ K. Boogie - the world's foremost euphonious prognosticatrix Borough Cat (London) - London's doe-eyed dude of dolorum VS The Vulcan Cylinder Record Co. of Sheffield, UK - one of only two studios in the world with the capacity to acoustically record cylinders in the Edison fashion, Vulcan is also the world's only cylinder pressing plant and label.
Helloo Art!! Come and join us, the Squirrel Skin Slippers, for the launch of our howlin' new EP at the Stranger Than Paradise Easter Extravaganza all night party!!!
Online!
