Musical Ramblings

Hazmat Modine à Paris le 7 juin !

Since this post is about a concert in Paris, it's only truly relevant for my French readership and will therefore be in French. If you're non-French speaking but live in or around Paris, feel free to email me for details.

Hazmat Modine, un des groupes les plus originaux issus de la scène jazz/world New Yorkaise passe (enfin) à Paris. A part un concert au festival Harmonica sur Cher de Saint-Aignan il y a trois ans, Hazmat Modine n'était jamais passé en France, alors qu'ils remplissent des salles et jouent à des festivals prestigieux partout ailleurs en Europe. Il seront au Divan du Monde le 7 Juin au soir.

Je ne peux que vous encourager à aller à ce concert. Hazmat Modine est éminemment New Yorkais dans la mesure où leur musique est un melting pot de jazz, de blues et de pleins d'influences européennes et plus éloignées. Regardez la video si vous voulez vous faire une idée. C'est une musique qui déménage et qui voyage. 

Evidemment, si vous êtes harmoniciste, la décision est encore plus facile: c'est double-bonus puisque le chanteur, Wade Schuman est un excellent joueur de diatonique dans une veine blues, et que parmi les musiciens on trouve l'excellent Bill Barrett, joueur de chromatique inventif et décalé (qui joue également du Sheng en concert!)

A l'occasion de ce concert, le distributeur Européen du nouveau disque de Hazmat Modine "Cicada" m'a envoyé 4 exemplaires de promotion que je me propose de faire gagner aux lecteurs qui le souhaitent (uniquement en France, expédition à mes frais). Pour le gagner, il y a deux méthodes: 

• soit vous laissez un commentaire sur ce post, et tant qu'à faire vous me dites pourquoi vous aimez bien Musical Ramblings. N'oubliez pas de laisser un contact mail valide. 

• soit vous envoyez un tweet avec le texte exact suivant: Gagnez le dernier disque de Hazmat Modine "Cicada" et venez les voir en concert au Divan du Monde le 7 Juin: http://bit.ly/lyXuB0

Vous pouvez parfaitement faire les deux, et doubler vos chances de gagner !

J'annoncerais les gagnants des quatre disques le 7 Juin dans la journée. 

Voici pour vous donner une idée de la musique de Hazmat Modine une video de The Tide, de leur dernier album, enregistré pour la BBC: 

 

 

Backing Brass Roots

My love of brass bands is no mystery. As a consequence it was an easy decision for me to back the Kickstarter program to finance a movie on the roots of New Orleans Brass Bands called Brass Roots. I've backed enough to get a digital download of the movie once it's released. Go and check it out yourself !

Treme is Back !

The first episode of the second season of Treme was broadcast last night in the US. This is one of the many trailers, one that doesn't actually feature all that much music, but it's a powerful trailer (and poem) and sets the scene. In honor of this amazing show and even more amazing City of New Orleans, all the videos this week will be from artists who have been featured on the show's first season. 

Swallow your notes!

Lee Sankey has just released a very cool video on producing a big tone on the harmonica. I've been known to criticize players obsessed with the bog blues tone, but if you want to achieve that, there's a ton of good advice in this video, and there are few people out there as credible as Lee when it comes to that particular sound.

Check it out, work on it, and swallow your notes !

 

Blues fin août sur la Cote d'Opale!

I apologize to my english language readers, but since this is an announcement for a festival in France, it seems to make more sense to make the announcement in French. If you don't read French and want some details, drop me an email!

Mon excellent ami et non moins talentueux harmoniciste Xavier Laune m'a informé de la tenue de la seconde édition du festival qu'il organise, Bluesin' (a)Out. Ce festival a lieu sur une journée à Montreuil sur Mer sur la Côte d'Opale. L'affiche est ci-dessous, et si vous habitez n'importe où dans le Nord de la France ou en Belgique et que vous aimez la bonne musique, c'est l'endroit où être le Samedi 21 Août.

Personnellement, je suis de mariage dans l'Est ce jour là, donc impossible d'annuler, mais je vais être bien vert. D'abord parce que ça fait presque dix ans que je n'ai pas vu Tao Ravao et Vincent Bucher jouer, et qu'ils sont extraordinaires, ensuite parce que 24 Pesos est un groupe qui m'a été chaudement recommandé et que j'avais envie de les découvrir et enfin parce que Xavier est une telle crème d'homme que je sais d'avance qu'un évènement qu'il organise ne peut être qu'un lieu de chaleur humaine et de joie partagée.

Blues & Roots Masterclass in Alsace

A « European Blues and Roots Masterclass » for harmonica, guitar and percussions will take place from August 3rd til August 8th at the Maison de la Musique et de la Voix du Kleebach in Munster, touristy town at the foot of the Alsatian Vosges and home of the cheese of the same name.

Inscriptions are now open for this second edition of the masterclasse. It will be ablther opportunity  for three internationally renowned professionals to share their experience: Steve Baker (harmonica), David Goodmann (guitar) et Martin Röttger (cajon).

Amateur musicians of all levels and age will be offered four days of intensive seminars combining lessons on instrumental theory and practice, jam sessions between participants and a concert given by the three teachers - as well as the students who wish to participate - at the end of the class.

La Maison du Kleebach is perfectly adapted to musical practice. It features seven rehearsal rooms (5 with piano) and 72 beds in rooms of one to three people as well as all the amenities to tan intelligently this summer.

The price for a full accomodation (5 nights, three meals per day): 549,- euros.

Details can be found at the following URL: http://www.european-blues-masterclass.com/

Inquiries and inscriptions:
   Robert Koch
   1, rue de la Hache
   57.000 – Metz (France)
   (+33) 608.30.86.59
   rok68@free.fr

Discovering Elise Caron...

The week-end before last, I went to the Sunset on Sunday evening to listen to Laurent de Wilde and his trio inviting Elise Caron. I'm partial to the piano-bass-drums trio at the best of times, but it was more Elise Caron's name that attracted me there. I read repeatedly on Sunship's blog that she was an amazing singer and the few videos that he posted tended to prove the point.

And that was nowhere near as powerful as the real thing of seeing and hearing her with the Laurent de Wilde trio. I feel very lucky in a sense, because this was their first concert together and there are no plans as of yet to make this a longer lasting collaboration. I hope it does happen again, because the chemistry was evident and the music was hair-raising.

There's something special in seeing talented musicians play together for the first time. They are on edge because the repertoire is brand new, they are also elated when it works because - in a sense - they are discovering the material at the same time the audience is. And believe me, it worked that night. The repertoire was a mix of songs Elise Caron played in different contexts (mostly from her album with Lucas Gillet A Thin Sea of Flesh) but also some of her own compositions, and covers of Ferré, Stevie Wonder, the Beatles and others.

While Elise really moved me, I shouldn't give you the impression that Laurent de Wilde's trio was in any way not up to the task, it's just that when singers are involved you tend to focus your attention on them. But the trio was amazing. Laurent de Wilde had just the right level of involvement, not too up front, not too subdued, and his playing and harmonizing is both subtle and unusual. Laurent Robin on drums really pushed the trio forward, like a good drummer should, and while Bruno Rousselet is a very solid bassist, he peppered his playing with a little fantasy that made it stand out too.

I immediately purchased two Laurent de Wilde CDs (The Presence and Organics) as well as Elise's A Thin Sea of Flesh, which I've only been able to give a couple of listens, but I can already say it's a long-lasting beauty. It's hard to describe Elise Caron. She looks like a younger Jane Birkin and has some of her mannerisms (probably not deliberately), but she sings like a broken angel: her voice can soar or break, it's crystalline and flexible, but she can growl to, or veil it. Her range and breadth of expression are astounding.

I have ordered two other albums of her today, Euridyce Bis and Chansons pour Les Petites Oreilles, and I'll let you know what that's like.

I really wish I had shot a couple of videos at the concert. I didn't dare because I was literally standing in the musician's faces, and I worried it would distract them. There's actually a dearth of Elise Caron stuff on Youtube. The best if a pop-jazz show she did on Franco-German TV Channel Arte. It's all 80s pop covers, but hopefully you'll get a feel for the thrill of her voice...

Girls Just Want to Have Fun

People are People

People are People only starts properly at 1.15. Wait until then, it's worth it. And makes me realise I never listened to the lyric on the original...

Win JJ Milteau's Harmonicas: Week Two

The first week's contest for the JJ Milteau Harmonicas compilation is over, and the winner is @kikacastro. Week two of the contest starts immediately. If you want to read the review of Harmonicas, check it out here.

The principle for week two of the contest are exactly the same. Please note that participants for week one need to tweet again! There's no automatic participation! Note also that the url has changed, so your previous entry will not show up when I search for this week's text.

I'm also introducing an additional change to the rules to expand participation: you can participate via twitter like last week or via a blog if you have one.

Twitter:

What do you have to do to win? Very easy, here it is in 3 steps:

1. If you do not have a twitter account, open one on www.twitter.com, it's free.

2. Once you have a twitter account, you need to start following me, ie. @fiberguy.

3. Once you've subscribed to @fiberguy, you need to tweet the following:

Win JJ Milteau's 2-CD 40-track career spanning compilation. Please RT. Info: http://bit.ly/4tYVIj #harmonica #blues #soul #milteau

Blogging:

What do you have to do to win? Very easy, here it is in 2 steps:

1. Blog about the contest on your blog. Feel free to word the text any way you want, but your blog post needs to mention the following:

• that the CD to be won is JJ Milteau's 2-CD, 40 track carreer spanning compilation Harmonicas
• that the contest is organised by www.musicalramblings.com
• that the full rules can be perused at http://bit.ly/5RI9nV
• that the P&P will be covered by Musical Ramblings worldwide

2. Email me the blog post with reasonable proof that you were the author (if I have doubts, I won't validate your entry!)

And that's it. Simple isn't it ?

At the end of the week I will collate all the tweet handles and emails of the participants, paste all of that in Excel and randomly select a winner.

Just three important note:

• tweeting or blogging more than once will not get you several chances to win.
• you need to tweet the text exactly with no variations whatsoever.
• if you retweet, DO NOT USE the new retweet, it's results don't show up in your twitter timelines and I won't be able to see it. Use instead the "edit then retweet" options or do the RT manually by copying RT @fiberguy in front of the required text.

Good luck to all!

Also, since many French participants were frustrated in understanding the rules, here they are in French:

Les règles en Français

Le concours de la première semaine pour gagner la compilation Harmonicas de JJ Milteau est terminé et le gagnant (ou plutôt la gagnante) est @kikacastro. Le seconde semaine commence aujourd'hui. Si vous voulez lire la critique du disque, elle est ici.

Le principe du concours pour la deuxième semaine reste le même. Notre que les participants de la première semaine devront tweeter (ou bloguer, voir plus bas) de nouveau. Il n'y a pas de participation automatique, et comme l'url change, votre tweet précédent n'apparaîtra pas quand je ferais la recherche des participants.

J'introduis également un changement aux règles pour étendre la participation: vous pouvez participer via tweeter comme la semaine dernière ou via un blog si vous en avez un.

Via Twitter:

Comment gagner ? C'est très simple, voici les trois étapes à suivre:

1. Si vous n'avez pas de compte twitter, vous devrez en ouvrir un sur www.twitter.com, c'est gratuit.

2. Une fois que vous avez un compte twitter vous devez suivre @fiberguy, c'est à dire moi.

3.Une fois que vous suivez @fiberguy, vous devez tweeter le message suivant:

Win JJ Milteau's 2-CD 40-track career spanning compilation. Please RT. Info: http://bit.ly/4tYVIj #harmonica #blues #soul #milteau

Via un Blog:

Comment gagner? C'est également très simple:

1. Ecrivez une bafouille sur le concours sur votre blog. Formulez le texte comme vous le souhaitez, du moment que les éléments suivants y apparaissent:

• le CD à gagner est le double CD compilation de JJ Milteau Harmonicas
• le concours est organisé par www.musicalramblings.com
• les règles complètes peuvent être consultées sur http://bit.ly/5RI9nV
• Musical Ramblings paiera pour les frais de port partout dans le monde

2. Envoyez moi un lien vers votre bafouille sur mon email, avec des preuves raisonnables que vous en êtes bien l'auteur (si j'ai des doutes sérieux, je ne validerais pas votre participation)

Et c'est tout. Facile, non ? A la fin de la semaine, je réunirais tous les pseudos twitter et emails des participants dans un fichier Excel et je sélectionnerais aléatoirement un gagnant.

Just two important note:

• tweeter ou blogger plus d'une fois ne multiplie pas vos chances de participer.
• si vous tweetez, vous devez le faire avec le texte exact, sans aucune différence.
• si vous faites un retweet, ATTENTION A NE PAS UTILISER LA NOUVELLE FONCTION RETWEET. Les résultats de celle-ci n'apparaissent pas dans votre timeline twitter et je ne pourrais donc pas voir votre tweet. Utilisez plutôt la fonction "Modifier puis Retweeter" ou faites un RT à la main en copiant le texte précédé de RT @fiberguy par exemple.

Bonne chance à tous!

Win JJ Milteau's Harmonicas - Week One !

As I mentioned last month, JJ Milteau recently released a 2-CD set called Harmonicas which presents 40 tracks, mostly instrumentals that have been out of print for a decade or more. You can't exactly call this a "best of" since what you get is 11 out of 17 tracks from Bastille Blues, all 11 tracks from Explorer, 11 out of 15 tracks from Routes, 2 instrumentals from Merci d'Être Venus, 2 live tracks from Blues Live and 3 live tracks from the never distributed Pacific Blues.

This slew of great music includes all of the amazing tracks that made Milteau famous in and outside of France, not just amongst harmonica players but amongst lovers of African-American and world  music. Marcelle & Marcel, Rue du Rendez-Vous, Down at Utopia, Boogie Mix, Rue Doisneau, Bordighera, Lonely Crowd, Big Walter, Tin Biscuit Boy, and many many more are all in there.

And here's the great thing: you can win a copy of this CD thanks to JJ Milteau, the Dixiefrog and Harmonia Mundi labels and Musical Ramblings. I have 9 copies to give away (they sent 10 but I had to open one for this review!), and I will give one away each week. I will pay for P&P, wherever you are in the world. What do you have to do to win it? Very easy, here it is in 4 steps:

1. If you do not have a twitter account, open one on www.twitter.com, it's free.

2. Once you have a twitter account, you need to start following me, ie. @fiberguy.

3. Once you've subscribed to @fiberguy, you need to tweet the following:

Win JJ Milteau's 2-CD 40-track career spanning compilation. Please RT. Info: http://bit.ly/4zk20v #harmonica #blues #soul #milteau

And that's it. Simple isn't it ? At the end of the week I will collate all the tweet handles of the participants, paste all of that in Excel and randomly select a winner.

Just two important note:

• tweeting this message more than once will not get you several chances to win.
• you need to tweet the text exactly with no variations whatsoever.

And there you are! Of course, feel free to spread the word far and wide (blogs, fora, etc.) but remember that the contest is twitter based.

Free Galactic Track from Next Album Ya-Ka-May

Galactic has released a free mp3 track from their next album out in February Ya-Ka-May. It's available here. I don't have the ability to switch the sound on where I'm sitting right now, but hey, this is Galactic, you can't exactly go wrong!