Musica Elettronica Viva could not be easily defined as one band. Instead, MEV were closer to a movement based around the idea of free improvisation in the form of experimental, electronic jazz. In the early '70s, there were three different (but related) bands that went by the name: one in New York that included Richard Teitelbaum and Frederic Rzewski; one in Paris, led by Patricia and Ivan Coaquette (before his Spacecraft days); and one in Rome, founded by Alvin Curran. In 1970, the French label BYG issued two recordings that included members from each of the branches of MEV. The first of these, Sound Pool, is a live 1969 performance -- both this and Leave the City were reissued in the late '90s by Spalax2. Leave the City is far less noisy than the earlier Sound Pool, though still highly improvised and only slightly less undisciplined. "Message" begins with the sounds of the seashore -- ocean waves and seagulls -- before the group slowly adds percussion, electronics, flutes, and other noises. Droning sounds are plentiful throughout the piece, especially on the second half where instruments and voices create a massive sustained drone that has an almost mystical spiritual feel, while primitive percussion clanks in the background. On the other piece, "Cosmic Communion," Nona Howard and Stephano Giolitti join the trio for an even more fascinating track. It begins like an industrial noisescape, with gritty electronic pulses, beeps, scrapes, and white-noise growls, while mostly female voices shout -- at times even scream -- about destruction, power, and greed. After about 15 minutes of this stark, brutal noise, the piece shifts 180 degrees to gentle acoustic guitar, odd harmonious singing, and earthy vocal drones, with environmental sounds of crickets and birds in the background, and then listeners finally return to the seashore where the album began. The second part of "Cosmic Communion" is breathtakingly beautiful, especially in contrast to the stark industrial beginning, and is like nothing else that MEV, in any formation, has ever done. Line-up / Musicians Alvin Curran Richard Teitelbaum Frederic Rzewski Allan Bryant Ivan Vandor Jon Phetteplace Steve Lacy Garrett List Franco Cataldi Gunther Carius Discography(Album) Leave the City 1970
Procession - Fiaba 1974PROCESSION formed in Turin in 1972. They came out that same year with an album titled "Frontiera" for the small Help label (an RCA subsidiary that als…Read More
