Happy Christmas to one and all!

A Merry Christmas to one and all! Hope you've had a good year and I hope the next one is better still.

I've just been looking back over the 2012 blog entries and they reminded me I've had a truly fantastic 12 months. It only seems like a few days since I posted the photos taken on the beach in Whitley Bay on New Year's Day. In 2012 I visited New York for the first time (and was blown away), received wonderful contributions to the book by Gong and System 7 man Steve Hillage, Alex Paterson of The Orb and Agitation Free founder member Lutz Ludwig Kramer. I also got to see Ashra live in Berlin, visited Manuel's amazing Studio Roma and met Lutz Ulbrich before seeing Agitation Free live in London. I saw an incredible shooting star burning up in the sky that made the BBC national news the next day and celebrated a fourth anniversary since I started writing the book. On a sadder note this year we lost Fax Records owner and ambient/electronic music genius Pete Namlook. I had a bit of correspondence with Pete when buying his CDs and he was a lovely man. He may be gone but his music will live on.

So, what of 2013, then? Well, we have Manuel's new DVD release, recorded live at Transmediale with the spectacular Joshua Light Show to look forward to and I'm rather hoping that this will be the year when you get to read my book. It is pretty much finished (with the exception of whatever minor alterations the publisher may wish to make) and it is currently in a waiting list to be checked out. Coming soon is all I can tell you. Thank you all for following my blog and not losing patience if you're still tuned in. I'll be back in 2013, hopefully offering some exciting developments in the not-too-distant future! Have a great holiday and take care until then.

Four years later...

Well, this weekend I travelled down to London to see Agitation Free live at the Jazz Cafe and they put on a tremendous show, playing a mixture of vintage and new material similar to the tracklisting of their recent live CD Shibuya Nights, albeit with some added stretches of ambient music and the surprise encore of Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive. Great stuff!

It has taken four years but I finally managed to buy Lutz Ulbrich a pint as a way of saying thank you for all of his help with my MG book. He's a very nice chap. Shame he had to stand with some hairy bloke for the photo above (which appears courtesy of Mr. Stephen Iliffe). A splendid weekend was had by all!

Agitation Free live in the UK

The legendary Agitation Free have two live UK dates coming soon. On Friday 9th November they will be playing at Moho Live in Manchester, supported by a DJ set from the Was Ist Das sound system and on Saturday 10th November they will also be playing at London's Jazz Cafe.

This is a chance to see the very same line-up that recorded the Malesch and 2nd albums back in the early '70s. If you haven't heard Agitation Free with their blend of melodic jamming rock and electronics then you're in for a treat and I can't recommend them highly enough. Their latest album, Shibuya Nights, which was recorded live in Tokyo in 2007 demonstrates that the band are every bit as exciting as they ever were, offering up a mixture of their vintage sound with some more contemporary moments. It all sits together very well indeed.

Of course it goes without saying that this is also an opportunity to see Manuel Gottsching collaborator and rock legend Lutz Ulbrich live on stage. Not to be missed! Tickets for both of the shows can be bought here. I'll be at the London show and I hope to see you there...

The Neverending Story

Hello readers. I thought I should check in and say hello in case any of you think my project has ground to a shuddering halt. Not the case at all! This morning I finally finished a skeleton index for the book (I call it this because it contains all of the keywords but not the accompanying page numbers - these will inevitably change when the book goes to a publisher). A citation section is also complete but I want to double check this for accuracy and I've also been adding some anecdotes and making amendments based on information I learnt on my trip to Berlin in June.

I've had some highly encouraging feedback from the people in the process of checking the book (can't disclose any specific information right now) but they have very busy lives and several projects currently under development. No matter. I have been assured that they will be back in touch when they have had sufficient time to read my draft carefully.

So, it's all about patience. Please continue to tune in, folks. I actually think that not having to rush things at this point is probably a positive thing, as it allows me to check, to fine tune and to add additional material that will make the finished product slightly better.

We shall arrive and you will be able to read. It just takes time...

Museum Piece VII

Three fascinating clips featuring Ashra circa 1981 have appeared on YouTube, all of which were originally broadcast by the Barcelona-based television channel TVE as part of their show Music Express.  The first two are live performances, both recorded in March. Ashra play alone and then join the Spanish band Neuronium for a lengthy jam.  

Another clip, recorded a month later, shows the band being interviewed in Berlin. The audible language for all of this (some of which is overdubbed) is Spanish. Perfect for Spanish speakers but for everyone else the visuals are very interesting in their own right. The band can be seen playing and chatting in Manuel's Studio Roma and shortly after this they would all go their own way for four years. Manuel's E2-E4 was just around the corner...

Thank you to Marco for posting these.

Happy Birthday, MG!

Here's wishing Manuel Gottsching a happy 60th birthday! Have a great day!

MG Live in Poland 2012

As part of the celebrations for his 60th birthday Manuel Gottsching is playing E2-E4 live tonight (8th September)  at the Kopernikus Centre, Warsaw, Poland. Visuals will be provided by the legendary Joshua Light Show, famous for their spectacular work accompanying acts such as The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin at the Fillmore East, New York. For more information about this free concert see here.