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Cassette
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AMI 059CS
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$10.00
PREORDER
RELEASE DATE: 2/21/2025
"Following the recent archival release of Primitive Art Group's studio albums, 1981-1986 Amish Records present the release of this 65-minute album of live PAG performances recorded between 1981 and 1983. These recordings document the beginnings of the PAG in all its raw beauty and chronicle its development into a unique improvising unit. Made from original cassettes tapes, this fills a missing part in the story of free music and in the story of underground music from New Zealand. Live Cuts 1981-1983 contains three tracks featuring early member Pam Grey on cello and vocals, a snapshot of a remarkable and largely unrecorded musician. Wellington legend Gerard Crewdson joins for one improvisation on wordless vocals. The band work out on covers of Albert Ayler's 'Ghosts' and 'Bells,' a few group improvisations, some originals and a homage reworking of Cecil Taylor's 'Unit Structures.' Live Cuts 1981-1983 presents the band live and spontaneous, anticipating their later recorded output. Another crucial piece of the Primitive Art Group and New Zealand free music story."
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2LP
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AMI 054LP
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"Primitive Art Group 1981-1986 is presented on gatefold 2LP, and is a combination of the group's only two albums, consisting of one LP of Five Tread cuts plus 'Cecil Likes to Dance' a never-before-released live recording from Thistle Hall (1984) and the full 1985 LP Future Jaw-Clap. This material that has been unavailable since mid-1980s. It is well documented that in the early '80s, New Zealand was awash with adventurous new music. Though sharing the kind of happy isolation and the DIY ethic with contemporaneous outfits like Flying Nun, South Indies, and Xpressway, one band cut a decidedly different path. The Primitive Art Group, formed in Wellington, devoted itself to collective improvisation coming out of a jazz tradition. With the line-up of Anthony Donaldson (drums), David Donaldson (bass), Neil Duncan (saxes), Stuart Porter (saxes), David Watson (guitar), and originally with Pam Grey (on cello), the group's relatively brief existence left a lasting impression on the New Zealand's free music scene. Musically, there was no precedent in New Zealand for their combination of noise, collective playing and compositional freedom. The band's five-year lifespan was non-stop activity: rehearsing, touring, the creation of Braille Records (their own record label which released ten LPs), dance and theater work, appearances at music festivals, and hosting two hugely influential national festivals of improvisation at Thistle Hall, Wellington. In 1984, Primitive Art Group spent a week making their first recording, an ambitious double LP, Five Tread, which had only a single pressing and sold-out locally. One year later they were back in the studio making their second album, Future Jaw-Clap. This outing contained tighter pieces, as the band widened its repertoire with nods to broader influences and antecedents. In 1986, The Primitive Art Group gave their last concert at the Wellington Town Hall, just a half mile from Rawa House and the legendary Thistle Hall where their first shows had taken place. The band's Braille Records' recordings have never been released outside of New Zealand, nor have ever been available digitally. The group's brief tenure has continued to inspire new generations of improvisers, but nothing has ever quite matched the visceral blast of the Primitive Art Group's arrival on the scene. Every member of the group has carried on doing creative work at the highest levels: scoring films, making art, mentoring, organizing, touring and always playing."
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