Playlist: Feb. 27, 2009

(Update: You don’t need to know much French to appreciate the tour photos on Lê Quan Ninh‘s blog. He and Doneda had quite the day going from Berkeley to Stanford up to San Francisco — he’s posted pictures of all three cities and the belowmentioned sfSound event. Cool stuff.)

KZSU playlist for Friday, Feb. 27, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Highlight: Lê Quan Ninh and Michel Doneda performing live!

And they were loud! I’d heard both of them in a variety of contexts, but maybe because I’d just been sampling the CD from The International Nothing, I was in the mind of expecting quiet, calm interplay. Nope.

Quan used a bass drum as a platform, creating sounds with an army of objects — a rolled-around pine cone, or the ends of drumsticks rubbed along the top, or a rock lightly scraped against the tuning pegs. He started the set by blowing viciously through a cymbal hole onto the drum surface, a big stormy sound.

Doneda got into some subtle long tones here and there but also used his saxes for brash, raspy declarations. A lot of listeners probably had trouble placing the saxophone amid the din. It was cool.

The first hour of the show was devoted to the sfSound Microfestival of New and Experimenal Music, a three-day set of shows that includes some visitors from Europe and from elsewhere in the U.S. It starts tonight, as noted here.

In addition to the live set, we played CDs from other artists at the festival, interspersed with Kyle Bruckmann explaining the whole concept. Doneda and Lê also talked about how they met up musically in communist Poland in 1986, noting that the cheesecake there was so much better than what one can find elsewhere. Doneda declared their second, shorter improv to be titled “Cheesecake Forever,” and so it was.

Most album titles link into KZSU’s Zookeeper database; the icon means there’s a review or description there as well.

Artist	Track		Album/Label
International Nothing, The [Kai Fagaschinski & Michael Thieke]	We Already Know…		Mainstream Ftarri
Doneda, Michel	Creux Actif		Anatomie Des Clefs Potlatch
Lê Quan Ninh	Peau Neuve		Le Ventre Negatif Meniscus
Coleman, Gene	Excerpt From Bands [excerpt]		No Smoking, Littering or Radio Wnur-Fm 89.3
Lê Quan Ninh & Michel Doneda	[live, in-studio improvisation]
Lê Quan Ninh & Michel Doneda	“Cheesecake Forever” [live, in-studio improvisation]
	— (4:00 p.m.) —
International Nothing, The	Wenn Alles Wehtut und Nichts Mehr Geht		Mainstream Ftarri
Brötzmann, Peter & Fred Lonberg-Holm	Section 1		Brain Of The Dog In Section, The Atavistic/Truckstop Audio
Frazier, Colter Quartet	Where000		Colter Frazier Quartet PfMENTUM
Shipp, Matthew Trio	Quantum Waves		Harmonic Disorder Thirsty Ear Communication
Léandre, Joëlle & Àkosh S.	Part 2		Kor Leo Records
Spahlinger, Mathias	Apo Do Ii Quasi Da Capo Senza Fine		Furioso Kairos
	— (5:00 p.m.) —
Vervloesem, Pierre	400 Personnes		Not Even Close Off
Romus, Rent / Jazz On The Line With Chico Freeman	Cameltrot		Thundershine Edgetone Records
Ornstein, Leo	Metaphor #1		Fantasy And Metaphor New Albion Records
Mosher, Rob / Storytime	Jupiter		Tortoise, The Old Mill
Abrams, Muhal Richard	B Song		Live at Montreux 1978 Arista Records (Hiphop)
Pavone, Mario Double Tenor Quintet	Andrew		Ancestors Playscape Recordings
Villanella	Tranquillo		Villanella Ubuibi
Ware, David S.	Antidromic		Shakti Aum Fidelity
Mostly Other People Do The Killing	My Delightful Muse		This Is Our Moosic Hot Cup