Flying Aspidistra
Flying Aspidistra was a CDR label started in the mid’00’s to release selected improvised music recordings involving Fred Lonberg-Holm.
(FA #7) Audio Letters
(FA #7) Audio Letters
“Letter to David” was recorded ‘live’ and without edits direct to 2 track cassette at Manhattan School of Music sometime in late ’82 or early ’83. This improvisation was made on an Arp 2500. I recorded this for the sole purpose of filling up the b side of a tape-letter I sent to a good friend of mine (David Stoelting) and promptly forgot about it until he recently gave me a box of cassette tapes from those days.
“Dead Letter” is a piece from late 1984 made from fragments of an audio letter recorded but never sent to an ex-girlfriend.
Fred Lonberg-Holm – ARP 2500, source voice, razor and 1/4″ tape
(FA #14) The Maneri Lonberg-Holm Symphony Orchestra
(FA #14) The Maneri Lonberg-Holm Symphony Orchestra
Recorded by Gordon Comstock at Ivy Leeg Studios, Hudson NY on July 16, 2023.
Mat Maneri – viola
Fred Lonberg-Holm – ‘cello
cover – “small piece detail” – FLH
(FA #13) Hey Fred!
(FA #13) Hey Fred!
A collage/landscape of answering machine messages from the late ’80’s. The names of the message leavers have been muted. Some of them I am still in contact with, others, I have no idea who they were to begin with. Most of the KALX people I have lost contact with. If you are one, drop me a note.
This project began over 5 years ago but if not for Covid19 and the resulting lack of travel, I would never have been able to finish it.
BTW – The answering machine had a poorly functioning speed controller so… not all voices actually sounded that way IRL.
Thanks to Gordon Comstock for invaluable assistance organizing the materials and prodding me to finish. 🙂
license
(FA #12) A Meeting Inside The Brain
(FA #12) A Meeting Inside The Brain
Recorded live on the final night of the 2019 Chicago String Summit. It was an evening of small group “first meetings” with players chosen by chance from the festival lineup.
Josh Zubot – violin
Tristan Honsinger – ‘cello
Fred Lonberg-Holm – ‘cello
Cover art – Tristan Honsinger
Recorded at The Hungry Brain in Chicago on May 5, 2019 by David Zuchowski
Prepared for release by Gordon Comstock
Big thanks to Tomeka Reid and the Chicago String Summit for organizing and Mike Reed and Josh Berman and the crew at the Brain for keeping it together for so many years.
(FA #11) Borboletas Andarilhas
(FA #11) Borboletas Andarilhas
Two old friends hanging out and playing. They met in Stockholm over 20 years ago when H was just getting ready to move to Philadelphia and F was living in Chicago. Now she lives in Lisbon and he lives in upstate New York. In between, they have floated all over the place. She speaks Portuguese, he is trying to learn.
Helena Espvall and Fred Lonberg-Holm – ‘cellos
Recorded Dec 15th, 2019, by Derek Moench at Studio Mereotopologia, Lisbon, Portugal
Mixed and mastered by Gordon Comstock.
Cover art by FLH
(FA #10) Lonberg-Holm Rosso Zingaro
(FA #10) Lonberg-Holm Rosso Zingaro
Improvised trios with violin, ‘cello and bass.
Carlos Zingaro – violin
Fred Lonberg-Holm – ‘cello
Alvaro Rosso – contrabass
Recorded November 16, 2018
By Joaquim Montes at Studio Namouche, Lisbon PT
Mixed and mastered by Gordon Comstock
Cover art: Carlos Zingaro “No Title…” oil on paper, 2018
(FA #0) 80’s Pop
(FA #0) 80’s Pop
These recordings were made between 1983 and 1990 on a variety of equipment centered around a Fostex 4-track cassette recorder and a Tandberg 1/4″ reel-to-reel. A Yamaha CX5M and a Prophet 1 play important roles in most of these songs. Songs 9 and 12 use a Fairchild digital sampler. Vocals and instruments for 8 and 11 were partly recorded at the Mills College Center for Contemporary Music. Almost all microphones used (except on 8 and 11) were SM57’s and a Radio Shack dynamic. All voices are either found or F. Lonberg-Holm except: 1 – M. Mota; 4 – C. Rogers; 5 – R. Scott; 6 – C. Rogers; 8 – E. Bergkvist; 11 – E. Bergkvist, B. Kelley, A. Mniestris, C. Yasuhara, and J. Parsons.
All songs are covers in the public domain except 4, 7, 9, 10, and 12 (FLH) and 11 (Hume). 1 was released on a split 7″ release by the Retro Futurist group. 8 and 11 were released on the CD Theory of Motion. All others are private.
This recording is part of the secret tracks of the Flying Aspidistra series and is intended for the listening enjoyment of my friends (have a laugh!).