6/14/2009:

Two Great Shows to kick-off Summer! Over at the events page, cast your eyes at two incredible musical offerings we have to start your summer. On Sunday the 21st there’s the 2nd annual Summer Solstice Festival at the Magic Gardens. This year the emphasis is on World & Psychedelic musics, along with the acrobatics and more that you’ve come to expect..The next Sunday (the 28th) is the Philly return of Susan Alcorn at Gojjo in West Philly. This will be your last chance to pick up a copy of her Majmua Music release Curandera. We’ve been sold out for awhile, Susan is bringing the handful of copies she has left up to sell at the gig. Again, go to the events page for all the details, and see you there!

4/19/2009:

All About Alcorn Curandera gets a rave review in the newest issue of Signal To Noise: “The pedal steel has suffered an ignominious fate, culturally read as the instrument that makes country music weepier and, by supposedly logical extension, cheesier. The tone of the pedal steel – either pearl-like and teardrop-fragile, or wantonly cherry – doesn’t help its case. But for the pedal steel player to drop her lexicon and explore outer space seems as cheap an option as unthinkingly playing to the instrument’s chintzier excesses, which is why Susan Alcorn is the instrument’s greatest current exponent. She’s aware of the instrument’s history and language, but is equally careful to draw on those signifiers only when they advance the cause of the composition she’s exploring, whether an original or cover. Curandera features both, and it proves Alcorn’s compositional and improvisational mastery is just as potent when she moves into interpretation. On the title track and “Twin Beams”, episodes where single notes are fired into silence’s gaping maw alternate with periods of seismic disturbance, yet the transitions always feel logical, natural; her transcription of Messiaen’s choral piece “Sacrum Convivium” finds humility at the heart of the composer’s tendency toward grand gestures. But it’s the two takes on popular music here that most resonate – Alcorn sources the and warmth in Tammy Wynette’s voice in her version of “You and Me” and finds a new kind of joy in Cutis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready.” Both versions are true to the personal and public politics of their originals while giving Alcorn space to comment on current times, and in this respect her interpretive approach recalls that of Diamanda Galas. But most of all, Alcorn’s playing reflects her own description of Wynette: “(she) sang with an aplomb, an intelligence, and a precision of emotion” – Jon Dale In a recent posting on Arthur titled “The Hovering Glass Angel of Susan Alcorn’s Guitar”, Ian Nagoski adds to the accolades: “(I)n the unlikely event that anyone ever holds a gun to my head and demands to know, “who is your favorite musician in the city?” I’ve got my answer all ready: Susan Alcorn. Alcorn is a Texas native who plays the pedal steel guitar. The journey from playing country and bluegrass and straight jazz to her mature style has aided by advice from Muddy Waters and Paul Bley. The wide-open ears, keen intellect, emotional sensitivity and rigorously-honed skill as a player that she has developed has brought her into collaborations with Pauline Oliveros, Peter Kowald, Eugene Chadbourne and Jandek among many others. But it’s her solo work as a composer, improviser and interpreter of songs, which are more aching sequences and clusters of crystaline sounds than tunes, that always blows me away. With clarity and precision and a gift for invoking sweeping landscapes, Alcorn is able to perform arrangements of Curtis Mayfield or Olivier Messiaen highlighting both their structural and spiritual aspects simultaneously and then attacking the strings zen-slap-loud or hovering stained-glass mobiles of sound-clouds. Dreamy stuff, full of emotion and one of the more Universalist twists on Americana.” UPDATE 4/20/09: We are now sold out of this release, copies still available from Tomentosa & Eclipse.

4/7/2009:

Pre-order special extended to April 14th After all this time, you’d think I’d know to wait until you have everything in hand before publicizing upcoming releases.. I guess my excitement got the better of me this time. When I received the initial shipment of the new Majmua Music releases the shipment didn’t include all of the copies of two of the releases. Assuming that they would be arriving soon I went ahead and started publicizing these new releases. As it turns out, I don’t have sufficient copies of everything to mail out all the preorders today, so the official release date has been moved back to the 14th. I do this with a fair amount of confidence because the discs were shipped on the 3rd, and the manufacturer is just in another part of the state. As a result, the preorder special has been extended until that date as well, so there’s still time to act and pick up all five releases for $23 (plus postage and handling). Yes, that’s the new releases by Aditi Tahiti, Hexlove, Libellula (aka Michael Northam, Hitoshi Kojo and Sebastian Clinger), Eric Carbonara and Pink Saliva (Gordon Allen on trumpet, Alexandre St-Onge on bass and laptop & Michel F. Côté on percussion). Individual preorders at normal price are possible as well, of course.

3/30/2009:

Boojum review at KZSU! Since we’re spending too much time updating webpages these days, let us bring it to your attention that Boojum was just reviewed over at KZSU. ”I’d bank that this guy took the same keyboard that Wesley Willis uses and decided to see what he could do, sans the mildly retarded social commentary and off-key singing. Bizarre compositions that utilize the rhythms and sounds of a “one man band” cheesy keyboard, but with dissonant playing and all the fun you’d expect from something that I would gleefully put on the review shelf, review, and add... in a mess of bodily fluids, vicodin daze.... Josh: this does NOT sound like Frippertronics, Eno, Do Make Say Think or Flying Saucer Attack at all. Fans of fucked up twisted shit take note.” -Your Imaginary Friend Philadelphians, and those that enjoy coming here take note over at the events page. We will be showing City of Photos at Brickbat Books on April 25th. Be there!

3/21/2009:

PREORDER 5 NEW MAJMUA MUSIC RELEASES!! Over on the preorder page you will find the Majmua Music March madness preorder special in full swing – Five (yes, count ‘em, 5) great discs for $23 (plus postage and packaging)! A fine batch of discs if we do say so ourselves, check out the latest offerings by Aditi Tahiti, Hexlove, Libellula (a trio of Michael Northam, Hitoshi Kojo and Sebastian Clinger), Eric Carbonara and Pink Saliva (Gordon Allen on trumpet, Alexandre St-Onge on bass and laptop & Michel F. Côté on percussion). You may have noticed that the Pink Saliva is being released in an edition of 100 copies, as opposed to the standard Majmua Music edition of 75 copies. Paradoxically, this is a release that we personally will have fewer copies on hand ourselves than usual. Most of the copies disc will be available via Distroboto machines throughout Montreal. Don’t sleep on this special, it will end on April 3rd.

3/21/2009:

Arborea now sold out! Our release by the good folks known as Arborea is now sold out, thanks to everyone who purchased a copy. A few copies are still available from our distributor, Forced Exposure.

3/20/2009:

Curandera review in The Wire Normally we wouldn’t do a news update for a single review, but this one of Curandera in the new issue of The Wire is quite nice. To quote: ”Pedal steel guitar player Susan Alcorn describes the title track of Curandera as a song based on the music of the Mapuche people of Chile. This beautiful solo CD also includes versions of Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready”, Tammy Wynette’s hit “You and Me” and Oliver Messian’s choral work Sacrum Convivium. As that list indicates, Alcorn sings atop the glistening metallic glide and swell of her instrument. As it also suggests, she places no boundaries around the pedal steel’s expressive potential. Her musical awareness is broad and refined, extending from the heart of Country and Western Swing through the language of the high modernist avant garde to the communicative urgency of free jazz. The less vocal aspects of her improvising often recall Fred Frith’s tabletop guitar soundings – harmonically expansive, tinged with ghostly overtones or vividly metallic. In more vocal moments, especially on “Curandera”, you could be listening to Meredith Monk or Joan La Barbara, not just in terms of tone and timbre but in the pacing and the breath that seems to flow so naturally through Alcorn’s playing. Pedal steel guitar can sound glacial, in Alcorn’s hands it’s got soul” -Julian Cowley Next week we will be announcing the preorder special for the new Majmua Music releases (Eric Carbonara, Libellula (aka Sebastian Clinger, Hitoshi Kojo & Michael Northam), Pink Saliva, Hexlove and Aditi Tahiti), so check this space soon!

2/7/2009:

The reviews keep on coming... The latest issue of Dirty Linen has a review of our Arborea release which reads as follows: ” Buck Curran handles guitars, bowed strings, and vocals, while Shanti Curran provides hypnotically beautiful vocals, percussion, and downright spooky banjo. Their music has grown by leaps and bounds since last year's Wayfaring Summer. One prime example is the haunting "Black Mountain Road", which begins with the eerie effect of the song being run backwards before it slips almost unnoticeably into real time. "Dark Horse" and the wonderfully titled "Leaves Among the Ruins" are minor-key excursions that evoke images of rust, bare trees, and the decay of time. On the deranged strains of "Swan," Shanti Curran reminds one of a wraithlike sister to Victoria Williams, while "Echo of Hooves" evokes a Hounds of Love-era Kate Bush. In spite of the foreboding quality in the songs, Arborea transmits timeless beauty, such as when Buck Curran chills the bones with his skeletal slide-guitar work on the album's ending track, "Plains of Macedonia." ~Lahri Bond, Dirty Linen What is about to stop (or, to be more accurate, run out) is our supply of this superfine disc. We are down to our last few copies, so order soon! To clarify something from the last post, Buck wrote to tell me that although their next release will come out on Darla, no contracts have been signed so it’s not exactly accurate to say that they are now signed to Darla.

2/7/2009:

On short-lived specials & more. Since they last for a short time I haven’t been posting them here, the best way to be notified is to sign up for our email list. Find out about specials on existing releases and other deals (for example when a limited number of “Clones of Eros” were returned we sold those off via a special), and of course shows and events if you live in the Philadelphia area (just mention that you do in the message you send). Send a message to media at museumfire dot com to sign up! Congratulations to Arborea for signing with Darla Records! In other news, Buck and Shanti are putting together a benefit CD for the World Food Program. The confirmed lineup is - Marissa Nadler & Black Hole Infinity, Devendra Banhart, Mi and Lau, Fern Knight, Rio en Medio, Larkin Grimm, Arborea, Alela Diane, Mica Jones, Big Blood, Micah Blue Smaldone, Cursillistas, Magic Leaves, The Plains, Starless and Bible Black, David Garland, Ora Cogan, Eric Carbonara, Jozef Van Wissem, and Silver Summit. For more information, click here. Here’s an excerpt from a review of Curandera that appeared recently at bagatellen: ”On her solo effort, Curandera, Alcorn makes the unorthodox seem conventional.. Of Alcorn’s own compositions here, the music is inspired by a range of interests: Chilean natives, visual art, Southern literature, and metaphysics. The accompanying tracks are interpretations of songs by no less varied a group than Messiaen, Curtis Mayfield and Tammy Wynette. Across the album, Alcorn’s playing shows virtuoso discipline and craftsmanship. Her dexterity in picking calls to mind Joe Morris and Derek Bailey, while frequently settling into the loose, sustained cries and decayed whines characteristic of the instrument. For most of the album, only the lightest touch of reverb is used to enhance the pedal steel’s tone. The music is otherwise unadulterated, benefitting primarily from Alcorn’s rich, deep sustains, in keeping with the record’s theme: a perpetual longing for things unreachable. On “Broken Obelisk” — composed out of necessity after Alcorn attended a peace vigil at the Rothko Chapel — she explores the central octaves of the guitar in a slow, contemplative tempo; dissonance is married with conventional slides to bring a unity between the instrument’s naturally opposing attributes. The tune’s disinterested resolution reminds that dilemmas are often conceded and then forgotten, here taking form in the long decay of a single tone. Alcorn’s record seems borne from personal philosophies, those which are important enough to share, but might lose weight in their expansion. A really beautiful recording.” -Al The next batch of new Majmua Music releases are off to the manufacturer, a great batch of recordings from Eric Carbonara, Pink Saliva (new group from Montreal of Gordon Allen, Alexandre St-Onge & Michael Cote), Libellula (who are Sebastian Clinger, Hitoshi Kojo & Michael Northam), Hexlove and Aditi Tahiti. Check back soon for information about the pre-release special!