Sir Richard Bishop/Double Leopards at 611 Florida, May7

[snailhook]

Clavius Productions presents:
 
 Sir Richard Bishop (of Sun City Girls!)
 Double Leopards (NYC, Eclipse Rec.)
 Mouthus (NYC, Ecstatic Peace Rec.)
 Kohoutek (DC improv psych/noise)
 
 Saturday, May 7
 611 Florida Ave NW WDC
 8pm, $5 suggested donation
 www.claviusproductions.org
 call 202-360-9739 for info
 BYOD!
 
 Sir Richard Bishop
 
 Since 1981, Richard Bishop has been traveling the spaceways as 1/3 of Ethno-Improv Pioneers, Sun City Girls. The Girls have released nearly 100 albums and tapes over the last 25 years, many of which are now very difficult to obtain. Sun City Girls have managed to perplex, amaze, and alienate their audiences over the years (as planned) and though they toured heavily in 2004, they will be taking this year off as a trio to work on other projects both at home and abroad.
 
 Sir Richard Bishop is taking advantage of this opportunity and will gladly fend for himself with his first solo US tour which begins in April and will continue well into the month of May. His only weapon will be one magic wooden guitar and with this sole instrument he will perform unique and startling wonders and will present a series of mysterious displays and unaccountable mysteries, which have been given in the presence of the Crowned Heads and Nobility of Europe, and before large and intelligent assemblages throughout the civilized world! These mysterious powers have astonished the wisest of all countries, and the most learned have been forced by overwhelming evidence to acknowledge them as inexplicable. There will be no complicated or glittering apparatus for deception used. This rare tour is all about playing the guitar�?�in ways that it should be played and ways in which it has never been played. Each performance is likely to be diffferent from any of the others so we recommend seeing as many shows as possible. Shows are also likely to include a few rarely played Sun City Girls pieces, as well as a selection of North African and East Indian style music, both original compositions and improvisations.
 
 Double Leopards
 
 "This digital version contains the exact same tracks as the double LP (now out of print) and is a mini-replica of the gatefold LP version. tempted to shove this in alongside such shadowy double albums as Wickham & Young's Lake, The Dead C's Harsh 70s Reality, Charalambides' Market Square, and Twenty-Six's This Skin Is Rust, but even those gave you a little breathing room now and then; Halve Maen smothers all light from the get-go as it burrows into the bowels of the earth below. Very tactile from the first needle-drop, the everyday objects at the old loft space move of their own volition, at the edges of the feverish eyes. Household items like chord organs, plastic toys, and wind chimes suddenly lurch to the fore during �??The Fatal Affront�?�, before all the room's paraphernalia disintegrates into the more solemn and murky affair, �??Druid Spectre�?�. The last side is given over to �??The Secret Correspondence 1 & 2�?�, plopping us into the vertiginous tides of the Dead Sea, where the silty, unseen bottom is stirred up something fierce. Cymbals are struck but quickly sink below the briny waters. Tremors of ghostly orchestras are constantly conjured by the guitars, a mass grave of vindicative strings that howl and die only to be resurrected for the finale. The instruments and processed moans of the group commune with a far more surly and slurred spiritual world than previously glimpsed, heavily sedated and hovering with a menacing glint just at the threshold of sanity. As it all slips away at record's end, I'm left questioning the mental stability and half-life of this trip. What I believed to be firmly in my grasp slithered away, a disquieting residue left behind on my hands and in my eyes and ears. Overwhelming in its morose synesthesia and downright bleary at times, Halve Maen is like those little yellow pills I popped so long ago: Ingestion will definitely fuck you up." (Andy Beta)
 
 Mouthus
 
 "Somewhere between electronic noise, drone, and psychedelic rock, you will find the Brooklyn duo, Mouthus, coiled and ready to strike. On Loam, Brian Sullivan's impenetrable guitar stirs your emotions and Nate Nelson bangs a primeval beat that pounds through your chest to your very being. Sinister vocal sounds on �??Must Anubis�?� threaten to spin you back to your caveman past. The movement of sound from chaos to structure is Venus emerging, not from the ocean, but from primordial ooze, then melting back into the goo."
 
 Kohoutek
 
 Improvised psych with noise tendencies and abstraction. Sonic explorations in any combination of drums, percussion, guitar, bass, laptop, homemade electronics, field recordings, chord organ, and household appliances.
 
 Upcoming events at Warehouse Next Door:
 
 5/4: Psychic Paramount/Jenna & Barbara Bush/Trephine
 5/9: The Crackpipes/Goners
 5/10: Sightings/Michael Columbia/Ovo/Mr Natural
 5/14: Graves Brothers Deluxe/Jana Hunter/Semaphore
 5/25: Meatjack/Weedeater/Mouth of the Architect
 5/26: (Sounds of) Kaleidoscope/Relay/The Grey Daturas/Kohoutek
 5/31: The Dirty Projectors/The Wind-Up Bird/Stamen & Pistils
 6/1: Wooly Mammoth/Test-Site
 6/2: DC Improvisor's Collective (DCIC)/Na/Spaceships Panic Orbit
 6/7: The Impossible Shapes/Odwalas
 6/20: Green Milk From the Planet Orange/WZT Hearts
 6/29: Rope
 7/2: Nick Castro/In Gowan Ring/Long Live Death
 7/16: Reverend Bizarre/Well of Souls/Gates of Slumber/VOG
 7/21: Castanets/Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice/I Heart Lung

[snailhook]

from the Baltimore City Paper:
 
 Royal Highness
 International Guitar Explorer Sir Richard Bishop Pauses His Journeys With Sun City Girls to Spin An Otherworldly Web of Acoustic Improvisations
 
 By Marc Masters
 
 Sir Richard Bishop is not an actual knight, but his inventive, majestic music places him in the ranks of such acoustic guitar royalty as Django Reinhardt, John Fahey, and Robbie Basho. Otherwise known simply as Rick of the legendary avant-rock trio Sun City Girls, Bishop chose his solo moniker with tongue partly in cheek. �??Lord Richard Burton seemed too lofty, and Dame Richard Burton wasn�??t quite enough,�?� Bishop says, laughing. �??It�??s somewhat a tribute to Sir Richard Burton, the explorer.�?�
 
 The reference to global travel is apt; Bishop himself has journeyed around the globe several times. The music he�??s encountered in India, Southeast Asia, and North Africa has shaped his own, particularly Improvika (Locust), his 2004 second solo album. �??This album wasn�??t influenced by specific players so much as geographic locations I�??ve been to and the sounds associated with them,�?� Bishop explains. �??Seeing someone play the oud in North Africa, watching them get a sound that was orchestral or sounded like more than one player, that really influenced how I approach the guitar.�?�
 
 The music on Improvika certainly sounds beyond the capability of a single human. Swinging from gypsylike hymns to blurry-fast strumming to shining finger-picked clarity, Bishop�??s playing is dazzlingly rapid and precise. The jaw-dropping �??Jaisalmer�?� opens with patient, hypnotic snake-charming before fast-forwarding into flaming strings and teetering plucks, while the stormy chords of �??Skull of Sidon�?� are struck so hard it sounds like Bishop�??s hand is punching through the speakers.
 
 Throughout the album, ideas spill out of Bishop�??s brain like an avalanche, and he catches them all on the fly, with nothing on Improvika preplanned. �??I wanted to make an all-improvised album, just play raw music as it came out,�?� Bishop says. �??Not a lot of thought went into the record beforehand, because I felt like if I thought about it too much, it wouldn�??t come out the right way.�?�
 
 Ironically, this decision was inspired in part by Bishop�??s obsession with gypsy music, a style often associated with meticulous reproduction. �??I�??ve hung out with some modern gypsy players, and all they�??re concerned about is replicating Django Reinhardt solos note for note,�?� Bishop says. �??I will admit I have tried that, but you get so frustrated because you can�??t do it. And when you can, you�??re proud of yourself for about two minutes, but then you realize, what�??s the point? You might as well try to take the same energy and feeling these players are using and come up with something on your own.�?�
 
 Bishop�??s commitment to improvisation makes Improvika a contrast to his first solo album, 1998�??s Salvador Kali, whose mostly composed pieces echo the guitarist�??s fiery Eastern-tinged riffs in Sun City Girls. That record also includes piano, harmonium, and some overdubs, whereas Improvika is strictly one-tracked acoustic guitar. �??I find that acoustic guitar is the best gauge of guitar playing, where you�??re not relying on effects pedals or volume settings, or any other escape hatches,�?� Bishop says. �??You just have a man and an instrument, as they were both originally made.�?�
 
 Bishop�??s own self-reliance extends back to his first guitar encounters. �??When I was 12, I took guitar lessons for about three weeks, but I just wasn�??t into it,�?� he says. �??So that was my formal training. In high school, I was lucky enough to have friends who knew chords and solos and things like that, and they were patient enough to teach me a few things. And I tried to replicate solos by Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Ted Nugent. But most of my developing ideas came from playing on my own, just improvising and seeing what comes out.�?�
 
 Bishop�??s continual work on his guitar playing has created a style in which technique and creativity inextricably entwine. Every note on Improvika drips with proficiency and imagination, with one never obscuring the other. �??When I�??m sitting around playing the guitar, sometimes I improvise, and sometimes I work on technique, trying to play things faster, or slower, or cleaner,�?� Bishop says. �??Sometimes by trying to play things faster, I might not succeed, but I might make a mistake that leads to an idea I can further develop.�?�
 
 Such open-eyed inventiveness has also marked Bishop�??s time with Sun City Girls. Over the course of 24 years and more than 50 releases, the trio of Rick, bassist (and brother) Alan Bishop, and drummer Charlie Gocher has been a singular icon of the American underground, rivaled only by legends such as the Residents and Jandek. The band�??s sprawling oeuvre straddles fringe world music, far-out improv, heavy rock, abstract theater, and so much more. While Sun City Girls have rarely toured, Rick and Alan often travel together in search of inspirational sounds. �??Only once, in 1983, we did take instruments with us, trying to get our hotels and food paid for by busking wherever we could,�?� Bishop says. �??But whenever we travel, especially in the Asian countries, there are always local people sitting around playing. We usually approach them to listen, and invariably a couple of other guitars show up and we end up playing.�?� Many of the sights and sounds the brothers have absorbed are collected on the CDs and DVDs Rick helps assemble for Sublime Frequencies, a label run by Alan and Hisham Mayet. Sun City Girls have recently ventured out more and hope later this year to tour Europe, a place they�??ve only played once, at 2002�??s All Tomorrow�??s Parties festival in England.
 
 Bishop�??s current three-week solo tour, which ends this Saturday in Washington, is his first in the U.S., following a string of dates last winter in Australia. �??When I play live, I usually do a lot of improvisation, some gypsy stuff, some raga-styled pieces, some North African stuff, and some Sun City Girls pieces that we don�??t do with the band too often,�?� Bishop says. Future plans include a European stint opening for Devendra Banhart and hopefully, opportunities to improvise with others.
 
 �??There are certain players I�??d like to play with, like Ben Chasny from Six Organs of Admittance and Jack Rose,�?� he says. �??If I�??m improvising with someone, I like to have an idea of how they play. You can make something a lot better if you understand the other player, and are willing to not play at certain points and listen to what�??s going on, as opposed to just thrashing off some notes. [In Chicago during this tour] I played with Eugene Chadbourne. We hadn�??t played together in about 15 years, and it was a little all over the place, but the audience seemed to like it.�?�
 
 Perhaps the greatest response to Bishop�??s music came from the late John Fahey, whose Revenant label released Bishop�??s first solo album. �??I introduced myself to him as Richard Bishop, and he didn�??t really react,�?� Bishop recalls. �??So I told him I had a record on his label, and he paused, and then said, �??Oh, Sir Richard Bishop.�?? Then he paused again and said, �??You play like the devil.�?? That was the best compliment he could�??ve given me.�?�

[snailhook]

#1 pick in the city paper!
 
 http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/pix/pix.html
 
 SATURDAY
 
 Though I own more than 20 records featuring Sir Richard Bishop, I never had a good idea what he looked like until recently. I certainly didn't expect the distinguished, folky gentility of a Rounder recording artist from the man responsible for such releases as Horse Cock Phepner and Three Fake Female Orgasms. Of course, my surprise can be blamed on the fact that Bishop and his bandmates' faces are often obscured by costumes at live shows. His visage has been hidden by a variety of masks: hockey, Kabuki, Balinese, Saddam Hussein, and one that appeared to be a papier-mâché rendering of an adobe dwelling. Bishop is primarily known for his many years with the Sun City Girls, who are, I can say without hyperbole, absolutely the strangest and most fascinating band in rock history. Formed in the early '80s with Bishop's brother, Alan, and Charlie Gocher, the group has released more than 40 full-lengths since then; some of the albums consist of little more than hastily conceived nonsensical skits, and some contain beautiful, hallucination-inducing, Eastern-tinged psych-rock. The Girls have gone from playing punk shows with Black Flag and JFA to playing on Indonesian cruise ships to becoming renowned ethnomusicologists with their current Sublime Frequencies series of releases. These days, Bishop whiles away his time making amazing solo wooden-guitar records, revealing a style somewhere between the Middle Eastern stylings of Robbie Basho and the impressive Americana-influenced dexterity of Takoma Park's John Fahey. And though he would probably deny it, it's obvious now that it was Bishop behind the Sun City Girls' prettiest moments. Not only will it be nice to see him play his intricate melodies in a live setting, but it will also be good to finally see him face to face. Sir Richard Bishop plays with Double Leopards, Mouthus, and Kohoutek at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 7, at 611 Florida Ave. NW. $5 (suggested donation). (202) 360-9739. (David Dunlap Jr.)