Hixter Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 Upcoming Releases for 2009Continuation by Alex ClineCoward by Nels Cline Guitarist Nels Cline and drummer/percussionist Alex Cline will have new releases hitting the streets February 10th, 2009. Alex's new CD "Continuation" features himself on drums and percussion, Jeff Gauthier on violin, Peggy Lee on cello, Myra Melford on piano and harmonium, and Scott Walton on bass. Alex's music strives ever toward the transcendent, and incorporates extensive improvisation, swinging string lines, and at times an infectious power and drive. Coward by Nels Cline is a solo/overdub effort recorded earlier this year. It's rooted more in the acoustic side of Nels's musicianship than many fans of Wilco or The Nels Cline Singers might expect. Nels plays a plethora of instruments from acoustic and electric guitars, to zithers, effects, the Kaossilator, and the Quintronics Drum Buddy. Both releases utilize luxuriously rich sonic palettes, and feature stunning compositions that astound in both their depth as well as their range of influences. Look for them February 10th at www.crypto.tv. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Three dollars and 63 cents Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Here's the album cover: Jeff Gauthier is a guest blogger this week over at Green Leaf Music. He posted an entry yesterday about the two albums and about his 30-year friendship with the brothers Cline. The entry also includes one track from each of the albums, available to stream. Nels's song, "Prayer Wheel," is so radically different from anything else I've ever heard from him. It seems rooted in that same quietness that characterized "Recognize I" and "Recognize II" from the last Singers' album, but it's richer and far more complex, and there's a real brightness to it in places, too. One of the things I love most about Nels as a composer is the structure and pattern of his songs, and that's very much evident in this song. Read the blog post and listen to the songs here. This has been done since spring and was originally supposed to come out last month. I was disappointed about the delay, but I know it will be worth the wait. Here's hoping he tours a bit in support of it. I'm going to be in Chicago the week it comes out, so I have my fingers crossed... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WaronWar Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Thanks for posting that. Can't wait to hear both! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Hollinger. Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Interesting to see Alex playing with a different lineup than usual. Looking forward to hearing it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Three dollars and 63 cents Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 Mike Watt plays a few songs from the album and chats with Nels in the most recent episode of The Watt From Pedro Show. I haven't heard it yet, but I'm downloading it now. Edit: Watt plays Nels's songs at the end of the first hour and start of the second (including "Thurston County," which Nels was playing last summer while touring with the Singers). Nels calls in around the 2 hour 25 minute mark and talks for awhile, admitting that the concept behind the album is too deeply personal for him to talk about comfortably in public, and that he's been kicking it around for almost 30 years. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jff Posted January 9, 2009 Share Posted January 9, 2009 I haven't heard any of Coward yet, but based on Nels' acoustic playing on The Inkling, Watt's "Contemplating the Engine Room", Carla Bozulich's "Red Headed Stranger", etc. I'm really looking forward to this. Nels spent a significant portion of his life playing acoustic guitar almost exclusively, so although he is probably best known as an electric guitarist, he has pretty deep roots in the acoustic world. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Littlebear Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Peggy Lee on cello No way Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Three dollars and 63 cents Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I haven't heard any of Coward yet, but based on Nels' acoustic playing on The Inkling, Watt's "Contemplating the Engine Room", Carla Bozulich's "Red Headed Stranger", etc. I'm really looking forward to this. Nels spent a significant portion of his life playing acoustic guitar almost exclusively, so although he is probably best known as an electric guitarist, he has pretty deep roots in the acoustic world. Red Headed Stranger is a pretty amazing album. Nels's work on "Just As I Am" is especially stunning, though I have to say that I prefer the Fibbers' version of "Hands On the Wheel" to this version. I was really skeptical of the album when I ordered it, since I love Willie Nelson and that's one of my favorite albums of his, but they handle it very well. It's both a tribute filled with care and respect and a bold reinvention of the original album. It was the first of Nels's work with Carla that I heard, and it made me start scouring ebay for what was out of print and ordering the rest. They've each got such a wide range, but I've never heard anything by either of them that hasn't been good. Granted, there are albums I like more than others (The Inkling isn't an album I love, for instance), but there's always such care and craftmanship in their work. I got Carla's I'm Gonna Stop Killing and Destroy All Nels Cline for Christmas. I haven't had a chance to listen to them, since I'm still visiting my family, but I'm going to have the house to myself tonight and will probably break them out then. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Hollinger. Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Destroy All Nels Cline is a treat. I have the Carla album, but I have yet to listen to it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jff Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 I got Carla's I'm Gonna Stop Killing and Destroy All Nels Cline for Christmas. I haven't had a chance to listen to them, since I'm still visiting my family, but I'm going to have the house to myself tonight and will probably break them out then. Yeah, Destroy All is one of my favorite Nels albums. That Carla album is kind of spotty, but I enjoy it. I was lucky enough to See Nels and Carla three times during the year or two in which those live recordings were made. The cd doesn't live up to the shows, but it's a nice document of that era. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Three dollars and 63 cents Posted January 12, 2009 Share Posted January 12, 2009 I have a Scarnella show from '98 or '99 that I got from somebody I met at their show in Montreal last summer. It's tough to track down their live stuff, so I treasure it. The live/studio hybrid form of that Carla album seems to doom it to being spotty, unfortunately, but I do love that version of Times Square. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scottwok Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 Going to see Nels tomorrow night at Largo in L.A. I can't wait! Hopefully he will play some tracks form the new cd. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Three dollars and 63 cents Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 The Singers do a great version of Thurston County, so I expect they'll do that. I'm not sure if Nels will want to play any of the other songs with Scott and Devin, just based on what I've heard him say and have read about how deeply personal the album is. I think they might be recording a new album sometime this year, so they may have some new material to try out. Regardless, I have no doubt it will be a great show. Enjoy it! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jff Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 I think they might be recording a new album sometime this year, so they may have some new material to try out. That'd be awesome. I don't know how they find the time. I hope they'll eventually release the improv material they recorded during the Giant Pin sessions. Nels seemed really proud of that, and was happy that he recorded the whole thing on a Gibson Howard Roberts guitar. I think he said they were toying with the idea of a vinyl only release. I'm guessing the bad economy has sidelined that plan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Three dollars and 63 cents Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I've been Googling to see if there are any early reviews. I found this brief one atPrefix Five years in to his tenure as Wilco's mad genius guitarist, Nels Cline could safely leave his avant-garde and jazz roots behind. Fuck that. Cline's a sonic omnivore, respectful of structure but more obsessed with the emotional power of sound in all of its shapes and un-shapes. On this solo-with-overdubs album from the adventurous Cryptogramophone label, Cline spotlights his mastery of softer shades. Acoustic improv, luminously-orchestrated compositions, pulses, electricity, quietude, zithers, electronics. Bliss. It's the introspective solo album that Cline's wanted to make for years. And now he has. Who's my favorite sonic omnivore? Also, this one, forthcoming in Downbeat, posted on Cryptogramophone's page about the album: Pivotal question for today's multistylistic musician: How do you keep versatility from turning into superficial eclecticism? Nels Cline long ago proved his versatility--look what a galvanizing effect his presence has had in the group Wilco, remarkable when compared with his other music from pop session work, jazz (including John Coltrane covers) and free improvisation to noise and his hard-to-describe band Nels Cline Singers. In his gibbon swings from one genre to another, and in the process of blending them together, Cline retains his center of gravity. Perhaps that's because he has a bealthy sense of humility and a funny bone--refreshing, given that with chops like his he could justify being a self-righteous, self-serious creep. But the good humor--coupled with great taste--keeps Cline in check. On Coward, the centrifugal force of the guitarist's many interests never seems haphazard or unmotivated. There's a bit more ECM to the overall mix than I might have expected, evoking Ralph Towner and Egberto Gismonti in their halcyon days; unlike ECM, though, the sound is never unnecessarily bathed in reverb. Cline doubles acoustic guitar notes with multitracked "autoharp/zither things" on the epic 18-and-a-half minutes of "Rod Poole's Gradual Ascent To Heaven," producing a density of string textures and shimmering just-off-pitch harmonies pierced by brilliant single-note runs. With her recent string fixation, PJ Harvey should consider deploying Cline. Some pieces, like the slide-intensive "The Nomad's Home," have a more song-like organization. Elswhere, there are more ambient, droning excursions, including the bookends that open and end the disc ("Epiphyllum" and "Cymbidium"), while the episodic "Onan Suite" (there's the self-deprecating sense of humor) sports some vent-like, thwacking noise passages, mixed with radiant strumming and '60s psych and progressive rock (Pink Floyd looms large in the dreadnought chording), and a hilarious, ripping finale that begs to be heard. On the post-Branca electric romp "Thurston County," Cline nods at Thurston Moore with chiming strums beyond the nut, crystalline slide and a great anthemic jam that might be the bed for a vintage Sonic Youth song. -John Corbett Downbeat [2/1/09] For anybody who's planning to order both his and Alex's albums, Crypto has a great deal--$15 apiece, plus $3.50 shipping. That's about what they'd cost from Amazon, and I like to think they get a little more back from the sale that way. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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