Bruce Anderson (& his MX-80 family) was the reason Family Vineyard was founded. For me, MX-80 Sound’s debut 1976 EP and LP is a pinnacle of rock n roll’s possibilities. “Tidal Wave” or “Man on the Move” just makes me lose my mind.

So FV's first release was Strict-- a darkly brilliant tapestry of Bruce's savage n’ meditative n’ barbed guitar wrapped in Feldman, Monteverdi, etc. samples & MX-underpins. Between 1999-2004, Family Vineyard released five albums by Bruce, Dale and the gang as O-Type that culminated in The New Edge boxset and DVD. Then, it was the total honor to release MX-80's first studio album in over a decade.

When Bruce came back to Bloomington, Ind. in 1999 as part of a 50th birthday trip to see family in his tiny hometown of Oolitic he also performed solo at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. A lot of the locals expected the MX-juggernaut sound. But that was never going to happen.

Bruce’s guitar somehow got knocked out of tune before he hit the stage. So, he played a few notes then worked his effects for an hour, shaping tones into a flutter, then conjured a blood thick drone that swallowed everyone up. At the end, when we got spit out, most walked bewildered out into the street.

Thank you, Bruce.

RIP, Bruce Anderson
October 22, 1949 - January 10, 2022

For the second time this year, Kuzu released a new album: All Your Ghosts In One Corner (Aerophonic Records). Recorded on the final date of their last tour, the music scorches as only these three can. After a pandemic delay, the trio of Tashi Dorji, Tyler Damon and Dave Rempis will get back on the road - this time in the European Union of three weeks. Get at them if you can:

– Friday, November 5th @ Centro D’Arte (Via Luigi Luzzatti, 16b), Padova, IT
– Saturday, November 6th  @ Sound In Motion, Antwerp, BE
– Sunday, November 7th @ Kaap (Zeedijk, Koning Boudewijnpromenade 10), Ostende, BE
– Monday, November 8th @ Punctum (Krásova 803/27), Prague, CZ
– Tuesday, November 9th @ Martinschlossl (Martinstrasse 18), Vienna, AU
– Thursday, November 11th @ Stockwerk (Jakominiplatz 18), Graz, AZ
– Friday, November 12th @ Villach Kulturforum, Villach, AZ
– Saturday, November 13th @ Alte Gerberei (Lederergasse 5), St. Johann, AU
– Monday, November 15th @ Dialograum Kreuzung an Sankt Helena (Bornheimer Str. 130), Bonn, DE
– Tuesday, November 16th @ Live Im Speicher, Leer, DE
– Wednesday, November 17th @ OCCII (Amstelveenseweg 134), Amsterdam, NL
– Thursday, November 18th @ POM (Ruysdaelbaan 106), Eindhoven, NL
– Friday, November 19th @ Club Manufaktur (Hammerschlag 8), Schorndorf, DE
– Saturday, November 20th @ Club W71 (Zwischen den Sportplätzen), Weikersheim, DE
– Sunday, November 21st @ Offene Ohren, Munich, DE
– Monday, November 22nd @ Dokkhuset (Dokkparken 4), Trondheim, NO
– Tuesday, November 23rd @ Blow Out! Festival, Oslo,

We'd been reading Alan Licht's views and conversations for what seems like forever, or at least, the early 1990s. Now 500-plus pages worth are collected in the weighty Common Tones: Selected Interviews with Artists and Musicians 1995–2020 (Blank Forms). The book features interviews with Matthew Barney, Glenn Branca, Tony Conrad, Milford Graves, Adris Hoyos, Ken Jacobs, Jutta Koether, Lou Reed, Kelly Reichardt, Rudy Wurlitzer, and many others...