FRED FRITH

COSA BRAVA
RAGGED ATLAS

 


Fred Frith guitar, bass, voice
Carla Kihlstedt violin, nyckelharpa, bass harmonica, voice
Zeena Parkins accordion, keyboards, foley objects, voice
Matthias Bossi drums, percussion, sruti box, voice
The Norman Conquest sound manipulation


Special guest Anantha Krishnan: mridangam and tabla on For R. D. Burman


Intakt CD 161_2010



1. Snake Eating Its Tail 2:13
2. Round Dance 3:25
3. Pour Albert 4:36
4. R. D. Burman 4:18
5. Falling Up (for Amanda) 5:38
6. Out on the Town with Rusty, 1967 5:11
7. Lucky Thirteen * 6:58
8. Blimey, Einstein 4:11
9. The New World 3:57
10. Tall Story 3:49
11. For Tom Zé 4:49
12. A Song About Love 6:24
13. Market Day 6:42

Recorded to 24 track analog at Tiny Telephone, San Francisco between December 17th and 21st, 2008.
Engineer: Scott Solter. Assistant engineer: Laura Dean. Digital transfers, track rationalization, and additional
recording by The Norman Conquest. Mixed at Jankowski Soundfabrik, Esslingen in July/August/December 2009.
Engineer: Peter Hardt. Mastered at Headless Buddha, Oakland on January 11th, 2010. Engineer: Myles Boisen.
All compositions by Fred Frith. * Words by Fred Frith & Rebby Sharp.
Cover image: Heike Liss. Graphic design: Jonas Schoder.
Produced by Fred Frith and Intakt Records. Published and copyright by Intakt Records, Patrik Landolt.


Cosa Brava is a quintet formed in March 2008 in Oakland, California by multi-instrumentalist and composer Fred Frith (Henry Cow, Skeleton Crew, Keep the Dog). Fred Frith's career began as a folk and later rock musician – he co-founded Henry Cow in 1968 – but has since diversified into a number of different genres, from avant-jazz to contemporary classical music. He has written scores for film and dance, and music for orchestras and string quartets. But, like a lot of musicians, the idea of "genre" is not really very interesting to him anyway!


The motivation behind the formation of Cosa Brava arose out of Frith's love of rock music in general and songs in particular. He said, "Over the years I’ve done a lot of improvising, and composed a lot of music on paper. I’ve written for orchestras and string quartets, directed ensembles of improvisers of all descriptions, produced scores for dance and film. I even somehow became a Professor of Composition! But I really miss what you can do with a rock band. I miss developing material through the push and pull of cooperative rehearsals, I miss what happens when you move away from “the parts” and start formulating things with a collective ear, I miss the single-minded commitment to a group identity. The musicians in Cosa Brava can improvise, read scores, AND rock the house. … Like I say, if you pick the right players, chances are the music will take care of itself.”

Frith had previously worked with Zeena Parkins in Skeleton Crew and Keep the Dog, and had collaborated with Carla Kihlstedt on several albums.


Cosa Brava, Spring 2010. Photo: Heike Liss


Fred Frith brilliert seit den 80er Jahren an der Nahtstelle von Rock und Avantgarde, Jazz und Folk. Der Gitarrist und Komponist machte sich früh einen Namen mit Bands wie Henry Cow, Slapp Happy, Art Bears, später mit Skeleton Crew und als Mitglied von John Zorns Naked City. Abenteuer in der freien Improvisation oder in der Neuer Musik der Komposition prägen das Wirken der letzten Jahre von Fred Frith.

Nun ist der Gitarrist mit Cosa Brava zurück auf der Bühne des kreativen Rock. Dies zusammen mit den grossen Musikerinnen Carla Kihlstedt (Tin Hat Trio) und Zeena Parkins (Björk), dem Schlagzeuger Matthias Bossi und dem Soundkünstler The Norman Conquest. Nach einer Tour legt Cosa Brava ihre erste CD „Ragged Atlas“ vor. Ein Meisterwerk, das aus dem heutigen Musikkosmos von Songs, Rock, Folk und Improvisation schöpft und wundersame, eigensinne Stimmungen kreiert. „ Die Musiker von Cosa Bara improvisieren, lesen Noten und ROCK THE HOUSE”, kommentiert Frith die Musik der Band.

 

 


Fred Frith, 2010. Photo: Heike Liss

 

Fred Frith on Intakt Records

Zeena Parkins on Intakt Records

Carla Kihlstedt on Intakt Records

 

 

 

 

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