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Sidesteps

part of SIDE EFFECTS - a box-set containing four single LPs - on colour vinyl - crustacean 61-64 More Info


Julie's Haircut - Shhh/Peaceful (Miles Davis)

Sendelica - I Feel Love (Donna Summer)



Definitely the most 'out there' combination of tracks in the box, at least on the face of it, combining jazz with disco - but of course it's not as simple as that, it never is...

Julie's Haircut were one of the revelations of the 'strangefish' box-set for me, and here they prove they are more than one-fish wonders with a driving version of the great but challenging Miles Davis, originally released on 'In A Silent Way'.
Italy seems to be a jazz/jazz-rock haven (there's a bar in Rome I found by accident (the bar, not Rome) called Henry Cow); if jazz-rock was still a genre, then this track would be a perfect example.

Sendelica paid scant regard to my suggestions as to the kind of thing that would fit comfortably within the open-prison confines of the box-set and decided to take things into their own hands by producing a 21 minute version of Donna Summer's synth-drenched 70s disco anthem (that's a phrase i've never thought I'd type); even the mighty Moroder couldn't manage more than an 8 minute mix - ha!
The motorik rhythm remains but Sendelica introduce Eastern influences and field sounds in this intrumental tour de force.

FdM asked the bands to explain themselves....

first - Julie's Haircut... why the choice of track?
We chose to measure ourselves against one of the giants of 20th century’s music. Not a light-hearted choice to make and obviously one that can easily attract criticism by purist fans. But still, it seemed somehow just natural to us. We started off years ago as a garage-rock band with psychedelic and noise influences and in time we developed this kind of sound that took our music to a completely new world, a kind of music that mixes together elements from many different influences and while the “rock” element is of course still a foundation of our sound, it mingles now with elements coming from world music, electronica and also, well, jazz. Miles Davis actually followed a similar, yet reversed, path during the late Fifties and all through the Sixties in particular, coming from jazz standards to reach modal composition and finally including electric instruments in his music. "Bitches Brew" is an album where jazz and rock are equally present. The song we chose was first released as the A side of the “In a Silent Way” album in 1969 and marked the very beginning of Miles’ research towards this famous “electric” period.

what are your thoughts on the original band/artist/recording?
Well, it’s one of our favorite Miles Davis’ albums. One of our favorite albums of all time, to be honest.

can you describe the recording process?
We have actually followed the Davis method of recording. Probably we’ve been more faithful to his spirit in the recording process than in the performance itself! This is something we’ve been doing for years now in the studio, it’s also the way we write and record our own albums. The collaboration between Davis and the studio producer Teo Macero worked more or less this way: the band recorded very long sessions playing live in the studio and improvising a lot around some phrases, modes or scales that Davis (or the composer) provided. Than the finished piece of music was in fact a sometimes very elaborated montage of those live takes made in the editing room: Macero used to cut and paste the original tapes creating the structure to the songs in post-production, sometimes even repeating some sections, as it’s common now in electronic music with its loops and samples.

what were you looking to add/subtract/change to the original recording?
We didn’t actually think it out too much. The only idea was to keep that free spirit alive in our rendition, so we wanted to enter the studio with no specific ideas on how we’d perform it. That is why we chose to go to a studio that was completely new to us and to invite a couple of friends for trumpet and saxophones who are not part of the band, so that an element of unpredictability was ensured. Than we just went into the room, plugged everything up and started playing… we did two or three takes and in the end chose the first one for the master. That take then underwent some editing and mixing and that was it. One good day at work!

...and now Sendelica...

Why the choice of track?
We've always thought of Donna Summer /Giorgi Morodar as a natural succession / progression of Krautrock. Listen to the sequencers of Neu (1972).... then listen to Tangerine Dream Phaedra era (1974)...... then listen to 'I Feel Love'... a natural and wonderful progression of a musical genre.

can you describe the recording process?
We started off with Colin recreating the original sequencer sections to a click track, we then decided to see if we could play it live as a band without the sequencers. The basic backbone of the track ended up being a mixture of live and electronic. Pete then did a lot of field recordings for the long intro / outro around Wales, travelling up a steam railway to Devils Bridge and just recording the ambient sounds, the wind chimes, the wind, the water... all ending up mixed into an amazing soundscape. We then started jamming over it and seeing where it took us. what were you looking to add/subtract/change to the original recording?
One of the things we loved about the original was the way it built up, the intenseness...... We wanted to build on that, so we started at a 'lower' point than the original and then took it 'higher'. We wanted to take the listener on a journey..... the beginning is like this long trek up a misty Tibetan gorge and in the distance you can hear this party going on at the top..... edging ever closer as the sun rises, over the top we go into the embrace of 'I Feel Love, then at the end of the day we start our chilled our journey back down the gorge.......

what live/recording plans do you have for the rest of 2015?
2015 seems to be shaping up as a very hectic year of Sendelica releases and live shows. Hot on the heels of our new studio album 'Anima Mundi', which was released in January, we have 'I Feel Love' on this FDM box set, a split album with Da Captain Trips coming out in Italy on V.E. Records, followed by a double live album released by German label Sunhair Records. This was recorded at the Psychedelic Network Festival last year and includes a 46 minute version of 'Master Benjamin warned young Albert not to step on the uninisulated air'. And last but not least a split 7" of Floyd songs with Astralasia which is a FDM release exclusively for the '13th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus' Festival.

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