Notícias

Pere Ubu will perform "Long Live Pere Ubu!" in Reims (F) on Dec. 16.

The latest release on hearpen.com is "Let's Visionate!" by David Thomas And The Accordion Club, featuring Ira Kaplan and Garo Yellin. Recorded live in 1992 at the Knitting Factory in New York.

Chris Cutler's RERMegacorp label released a live Pere Ubu cd of tracks selected from the hearpen.com download audio releases Waltz Across Texas and Waltz By The Sea. The cd is called London Texas (ReR U01).

Scott Krauss and Tony Maimone bring their Home And Garden band to New York City on October 24 at The Charleston (174 Bedford Av, Brooklyn, New York 11211) as part of the Exit Stencil CMJ Showcase. Showtime is 8pm.

Sam Adams interviews David Thomas about "Long Live Pere Ubu in the LA Times.

The political spectrum is a horseshoe, where extreme left-wing behavior and extreme right-wing behavior manifest in essentially the same ways, indistinguishable from each other to the victims suffering under them. Perhaps art and culture are similar: the most extremely high-brow art and the most extremely low-brow art may well be indistinguishable from each other. I suspect that Pere Ubu's members intuit that, and have thereby found the sweet spot where those distinctions become meaningless. It's a jaw-dropping spot to sit, watch and listen... There's a look, a sound, and a feel to Pere Ubu's works that's impossible to match, and I'm glad that with all the new elements they've added to their already impressive palette, that they didn't drop or alter those core concepts and conceits. "Long Live Pere Ubu!" is one of the most audacious pieces of new music that I've heard in ages.

"Long Live..." is an intellectual piece, musically and due to its subject matter. But it's also bizarre and freakish, classically grotesque and downright silly at times. Like a Roald Dahl book come to life: full of monsters and hideously unpleasant characters. All set off to a dynamic, winding soundtrack which veers off on its own and back seemingly of its own accord.

"Long Live Pere Ubu!", the new album from Pere Ubu, is on sale as a download at hearpen.com.

"Long Live Pere Ubu!", the new album from Pere Ubu, is on sale as a download at hearpen.com.

Make no mistake, this is an album that requires an awful lot of investment of time and understanding from the listener to fully appreciate the scale of what has been achieved. But it is more than worth it. Long Live Pere Ubu is a challenging, difficult and incredibly rewarding listen. Uncomfortable at times, but always controlled, intelligent and due to the subject matter, often outrightly childish. It represents a considerable achievement both musically and intellectually. Pere Ubu deserve widespread recognition for a wonderful piece of work that needs to be heard by as many people as possible.

Lurching and angular, as well as being creepily fascinating, this latest studio album... is refreshingly ambitious. There's a slow-building feel which matches the arduous methods used by Thomas and co, as crashing rhythms and jerky guitars alternate on the album opener, while time changes are negotiated like an F1 driver taking a hairpin bend at breakneck speed. One of the most interesting aspects of the record is the twisted narrative which is woven throughout... The addition of Sarah Jane Morris' vocal - particularly on centre-piece "Bring Me The Head" - brings an extra dimension to the storytelling dynamic of this hugely intriguing record... With such a dazzlingly inventive and idiosyncratic streak - witness the recurring sombrero image - you begin to wish more bands dabbled in such creative flourishes.

Cooking Vinyl will re-issue the box set October 5. They have license rights in territories outside North America. The booklet and packaging have been redesigned by John Thompson. It is now a 4-cd set, including all songs from the studio albums from The Modern Dance to Song Of The Bailing Man. The original 2-track, quarter-inch analog mix tapes of all the albums were re-transferred to digital at 192khz / 24 bit resolution and re-mastered, after, of course, having been baked in the Suma oven to dry them out.

Along with the signature electronic dissonance and stabbing, post-punk guitar, there's a touch of the gallows theatricality of The Birthday Party and the dust bowl holler of Tom Waits at his scratchiest. Most of all though, "Ubu!" resounds with the influence of Captain Beefheart circa Doc at the Radar Station or Ice Cream for Crow. As a bold experiment in fusing spoken word with post-rock, post-punk and ambient electronica, "Long Live Pere Ubu!" is an unqualified success... it's trippy, twisted genius.