Just brought to my attention by Austin American-Statesman’s Joe Gross:

Awesome Tapes From Africa

It is what it says. Enjoy.

Argentinian pianist Guillermo Klein’s Sextet will be appearing at Library of Congress‘ Coolidge auditorium this Friday, February 29, at 8p.m.

The show is free: Reserved tickets for the concert are available through Ticketmaster (if you don’t mind paying the service charge), or you can just show up early for free seating.

Here’s what Ben Ratliff wrote about Klein in the New York Times:

His jazz, if you want to call it that, is built from the ground up, starting with ideas about instrumentation, then rhythm, then harmony, then gesture. In one of his large ensemble sets, there could be brass choirs, Cuban rhythm, fugue-like passages, talking, whistling, mechanical repetitions over a groove, and bits of aerated rock.

And here’s what I’ve written about Ben Monder, the Sextet’s excellent guitarist (in a duo setting and in Paul Motian’s band).

Guillermo Klein: piano, vocals
Bill McHenry: saxophone
Ben Monder: guitar
Matt Pavolka: bass
Jorge Rossy: piano, drums
Richard Nant: trumpet

6:15 pm: Pre-concert conversation with Guillermo Klein and Larry Appelbaum in the Whittal Pavilion.

For details, contact (202) 707-2329.

Word from the DC Baltimore Punk Rock Showlist: “[M]ark your calendars, set your TiVos, or VCRs. Washington’s own Georgie James will be on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on Wednesday the 27th. [L]et’s give Conan a huge ratings boost that day. Plus, John and Laura are really nice folks.”

Back in the mid-’90s, I briefly worked at the Library of Congress, where Polvo guitarist Dave Brylawski’s uncle was one of my supervisors. At the time, his nephew’s North Carolina alt-rock outfit was one of my favorite bands.

(I spent a week last month listening to Polvo’s entire catalogue–every skronky aside, every Dinosaur Jr.-worthy hook, every Indian-sounding riff–going to and from work. Know what? It sounds every bit as great as it did back in the band’s early-to-late-’90s heyday.)

So, when I discovered that the Brylawski I worked for was related to the Brylawski in Polvo, I began a regular ritual of asking the uncle for news about the band. I remember, at one point, getting kinda PO’d when I saw a new EP, 1995’s This Eclipse, at Vinyl Ink in Silver Spring. Why didn’t the uncle tell me about this?!?

Anyway, I used to go see Polvo whenever they would come to the Black Cat, which, according to Pitchfork, is where the band is scheduled to play its first show on an All Tomorrow’s Parties-inspired reunion tour.

If it’s anything like the show or two I saw during my Library of Congress stint, the May 9th set will involve equipment malfunctions, tuning problems, and a sleepy-looking Ash Bowie. Can’t wait.

Heard in a cab yesterday: Club Envy, a NE nightspot described as a “dance club that is also used as a music venue,” has been closed by D.C. police after a fatal shooting that happened at 4:20 Sunday morning.

According to this Washington Post article, a man was killed and a woman was injured.

In Dischord news, “Medications are soldiering on as a duo and have a show booked in March in Washington at DC9.”We know that drummer Andrew Becker has left the band. But Dischord doesn’t say what form the duo will take. Both of the remaining members, Devin Ocampo and Chad Molter, excel on multiple instruments.

Here’s what Medications’ Web site has to say: “we have yet to work the kinks out. please come out as it will be interesting if only to see us fail miserably.”

You know it’s a slow year when news of Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s continuing hiatus (going now since 2002) is considered newsworthy–much less news that gets repeated and repeated.

A band that isn’t broken up, GY!BE-related outfit Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band, will be appearing at the Black Cat on May 23rd. That is, if the Iraq war doesn’t stop them.

Last week, Plug Research released D.C. electronica duo Chessie’s latest, Manifest, a full-length that San Francisco’s influential Aquarius Records says is both “very highly recommended” and “one which will no doubt be on [lots] of folks 2008 top ten lists!”

Mark Jenkins wrote a City Paper feature on the train enthusiasts in November 2001.

Here’s an excerpt:

Chessie’s new label, Plug Research, calls the duo’s music “a swirling, indistinct realm of sonic abstraction with influences ranging from the Beach Boys to My Bloody Valentine and Satie.” My Bloody Valentine is a longstanding model, and anyone looking for Satie need only play Meet’s “Katy (For Satie).” The Beach Boys, though, are less immediately evident in Chessie’s style.

It’s “more in theory than in sound,” Gardner explains. “Sure, Pet Sounds is a big influence to me—and everyone else in the freakin’ universe making records at the moment. It’s not particularly interesting or revealing to say that. Except that I really am still profoundly moved by the care and detail devoted to sound beyond the composition and lyrical content. I feel like that record opened up a whole new dimension of pop music. I’m still inspired by that.”

At the duo’s MySpace page, you can hear what Stephen Gardner and Ben Bailes are up to now.

‘Snice.

For those of you who need encouragement, April 19th, 2008 is–officially, I guess–record store day.

Click here to sign up a store.

A not-so-well documented passion of mine is the British jazz scene of the late ’60s and early ’70s. Some of the most exciting music made there and then came from a bunch of South African expats. They showed up in London, jammed at Ronnie Scott’s, bedded a lot of birds (much to the chagrin of the locals), and made some of their best music under the aegis of Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath (which also included some non-expats).

For those who neither care about jazz, in general, or Brit-jazz, in particular, BoB has at least one kind-of-obscuro, but kind-of-semi-popular, claim to fame: It was one of the acts produced by Joe Boyd, the guy behind the boards for many a Fairport Convention, Incredible String Band, and Nick Drake session.

Anyway, back to the jazz. Silver Spring’s Cuneiform Records is responsible for a top-notch new BoB archival release, Eclipse at Dawn. The live disc, which was captured by German radio in 1971, is surprisingly well-recorded and features the 12-piece band in all of its freewheeling, Mingus-meets-the-townships glory. Great stuff.