Orchestra Pit
John is signed to Vacilando '68 Publishing Co. ( www.myspace.com/v68publishing ), the publishing arm of The Orchestra Pit who release records (see Naim Amor feature elsewhere in this letter), put on shows (via their Orchestra Pit and Scaledown musical nights), and also help promote other artists shows when called upon for such assistance. The Orchestra Pit/V '68 Promotions has indeed been called upon in this latter capacity to help promote a show at the Luminaire on August 8th featuring THIS AMBITIOUS ORCHESTRA and THE MYSTERY FAX MACHINE ORCHESTRA, and has secured the opening spot for John Bisset who will be joined by his regular musical collaborator Alex Ward.
John Bisset & Alex Ward have worked together in many and varied settings – from free improvisation to collaborations with Orchestras. In the urban surf quartet Pocket they were the central duelling guitars, whilst their output outside of that group encompasses L.E.G.O., the Gannets, Country Dad and the Guillemots, but tonight be prepared for departures, digressions and diversity.
"Ward's nasal sneer versus Bisset's deep-throated, Vox AC30-amped twang. Bisset's melodies pit the guitars against each other, trading phrases in a spiralling, competitive hocket, until both collapse back into the main tune." Wire Magazine.
Tickets for what promises to be a fantastic night are available from The Orchestra Pit website ( http://www.theorchestrapit.com/luminaire ), where you will also find additional information on the other acts performing.
The following week on August 13th will see a live set from John's band Country Dad recorded at Scaledown in 2008 broadcast as a WFMU podcast courtesy of Kurt Gottschalk and his The Brother Lucy Show [ http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/KU ]. WFMU is an independent freeform radio station broadcasting at 91.1 fm in the New York City area, at 90.1 fm in the Hudson Valley, and live on the web at www.wfmu.org .
Scale Down
Naïm Amor
Na ï m’s second release for The Orchestra Pit Recording Co. features 2 x Bucks group represented titles in the shape of his cover of "(It's Not Easy) Bein' Green" by Joe Raposo [Standard Music Ltd], and his own composition "Stuck (instr.)" [Bucks Music Group Ltd o/b/o A Side Music LLC d/b/a Grow Your Own Music]. This double 7" single comes in a gorgeous gatefold sleeve and features recordings from his 2 albums made with Calexico’s Joey Burns & John Convertino and PJ Harvey cohort John Parish (‘Sanguine’ and ‘Mistake Love’ respectively). Disc one features the lead track “Precious Second”, a reflective autumnal shuffle, combining Na ï m’s gallic suave with that bone dry Tucson backbeat to create an elegantly simple 3 minute pop song; whilst flip-side “Woman, Who’s A Woman”, with lyrics penned by Marianne Dissard, is a languid rocker à la Velvet Underground, replete with a great Keith Moon style drum break from former Calexico member Tasha Bundy. The bonus disc offers up one of the highlights from Na ï m’s series of ‘Soundtracks’ albums, now on it’s third volume, the track “Stuck (instr.)” originally featured on Volume II which was put out through Howe Gelb’s OwOm label; and finally we have Na ï m’s take on the Kermit classic “(it's not easy) Bein’ Green”, ubiquitous though it may well be of late, Na ï m takes the song back to its roots.....as he says “I’m French…don’t worry”.
Naim Amor
