RFI: Dagmar Krause

haha. i kept reading this as an E6 typo.

i listened to Henry Cow many years ago and thought it was gawd awful - mainly because of the voice. but then i started getting into all sortsa prog and picked up tons of Frith's records and the art bears "winter songs" record and thought it was pretty interesting. Art Bears are still not my favorite, but i definitely like them. i'm thinking of going back and trying some Cow now.

"In Praise of Learning" is their best? dont' they also have an instrumental album

and to o.nate, i know this is a long shot, but there are always a couple of LP copies of that "Winter Songs" record lying around a record store near me (SF). if you're interested i could possibly pick it up and ship it to you???

she started off poppier, doing a lotte lenya kind of thing with the early slapp happy records. the first one 'sort of' is kind of a toss off, but 'acalbasac noom' is a beautiful, classic, happy odd pop record, every track gets caught in your head. the third one 'Desperate Straights' is my favorite, the songs get angular and were recorded with Henry Cow.

('Acalbasac Noom' are the original demo versions, recorded with Faust, for the self titled album that was rerecorded for Virgin with session musicians. The demo versions came out in the early 80's, and are much better, though the Virgin album has interesting moments too.)

Then 'In Praise of Learning' she turns into a shrieking dragon... this record can still clear rooms, but if you stay with it, by side two has the original studio version of 'Beautiful as the Moon - Terrible as an Army With Banners' which is featured on 'concerts', and is basically the first Art Bears song...

Bootlegs of their 77 Stockholm gig feature Tim Hodgkinson's 'Erk Gah', which is even more punishing than 'living in the heart of the beast', I like it but it takes a bit of work. The opening line, Dagmar on a high note singing 'Condemned! To! Death!' It also ends with a cover of Phil Ochs' 'No More Songs' where she just soars.

'Winter Songs'/'World As It Is Today' are the 2nd and 3rd Art Bears albums, available on one CD and it's essential. (Cutler's organizing a 25th anniversary Art Bears remix compilation which should be out later this year.)

The News From Babel records, another Henry Cow side project, more Chris Cutler lyrics, Lindsay Cooper composes the music. Dagmar and Robert Wyatt do the vocals. If you like the Art Bears you'll want to hear this stuff although it's very distinct.

'Supply and Demand' and 'Tank Battles' are both wonderful. Her record with Marie Goyette a few years ago, wasn't sure, might need to listen to it again.

The Slapp Happy reunion 'Ca Va' initially left me a bit cold due to the production, which occasionally relies on some very silly drum loops, but after a few listens the songs start to come through. Some of this album is as good as anything they've ever done.

Uhm to sum up, if you like catchy oblique indie pop, try 'acalbalsac noom', if you like edgier stuff proceed directly to 'Winter Songs/World As It Is Today' disc.

Awesome, is there a story about this on the cutler site? Milton, have you heard the Domestic Stories album (and of so, how is it)?

I find the first (instrumental) Henry Cow album to be mildly diverting but basically bloodless and cerebral and whimsical - kind of typical post-Soft Machine/Zappa English art-rock really. The 2nd was better, but a bit dreary. I haven't got "Concerts", haven't heard it in years. "Western Culture" is much like the first album except that it was released in 1978, by which time this kind of tweedy, chin-stroking poppycock was entirely redundant.

Oh has no-one mentioned, "Desperate Straights" the Slapp Happy/ Henry Cow album? Amazing in places, irritating in others - Dagmar's at her most outre on this album!

I didn't know about this one. I guess that's probably the one you meant. The one I have has some Eisler songs, but also some Weill.

Otomo's Cassiber remix is outstanding. Especially the ending during 'at last I am free' when the floor drops away. I'm a Ground Zero fanatic, though, they never let me down once (though those two remix records, consume volumes 2 and 3, are skippable.)

Cassiber is a mixed bag, many great ideas and high points buried amid a lot of half-decent one-take blather... my favorite is 'perfect worlds', by a long shot. That one's actually quite good. 'Face We All Know' is my least favorite, and frankly the only reason to buy the live album is for the Otomo remix disc.

Another one that is interesting is A Scientific Dream and a French Kiss, her collaboration with Marie Goyette. The music is comprised of direct samples of recorded symphonic music (Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" and Bernard Herrmann's "North by Northwest" are the only ones I remember offhand) , and these sections are overlayed w/ new lyrics. Hit and miss, but when it hits it hits.

I like some of Slapp Happy's second and third album that I've heard. "Me and Parvati" is probably my favorite overall song with Dagmar.