Anthony Joseph profile picture

Anthony Joseph

New 12" - 'La Diablesse' released June 2008!

About Me


ANTHONY JOSEPH
“afro-blue to astro-black and what glimmers in between” -
The Times
"Joseph employs a syncretic, diasporic and highly innovative blend of genres and styles, providing an example of how diaspora becomes subject, inspiration and rationale for the innovative use of form, while experimental traditions enable him to show the diaspora in a fresh light."
Dr. Lauri Ramey, Professor of English, California State University, Los Angeles.
The African Origins of UFOs tracks the pull of place and the pull away from place, Afro-blue to astro-black and what glimmers in between. "Genetic contraband" and "bootleg melanin" afford a measure of the job it takes on. Possessing or possessed by requisite bearings, language and lore, Anthony Joseph is fully and beautifully up to the task.
Nathaniel Mackey
"The leader of the Black avant-garde"
Ilkley Literature Festival
This is great new 'second generation' Caribbean stuff – movin away from the script & the scruff – or ratha – betta! – writin upon it – over and under it – a palimpsest to rahtid! – pouring out images like Eno's – or UFOs!!!
Kamau Brathwaite
Anthony Joseph is a talented writer with a powerful imagination. Linton Kwesi Johnson
Anthony Joseph is one of the leading writers of his generation. Born in Trinidad, his experimental poetry, fiction, music and spoken word performances fuse Calypso rhythms with a postmodern eye, creating what he calls 'liquid textology'.
Joseph is the author of two poetry collections, Desafinado in 1994 and Teragaton in 1997) and the spoken-word CD Liquid Textology, in addition to releases featuring his Jazz Quartet The Spasm Band. He cites his main influences as Jazz, Calypso, the Spiritual Baptist rhythms of his childhood, the Trinidadian dialect, Surrealism and language poetry.
In September 2004, he was selected by the Arts Council England as one of 50 writers for the historic photo "A Great Day." as one of fifty Black and Asian writers who have made major contributions to contemporary British literature. The event was instigated by Melanie Abrahams of renaissance one and took place at on the steps of the British Library in a homage to the famous Harlem Jazz photo of the same name.
In April 2005, Joseph served as the British Council's first poet-in-residence at California State University, Los Angeles. He has also read at The Chicago Humanities Festival, Festa International De La Literatura, Barcelona, Spain, UCLA, Howard University, Washington, Ilkley and Durham Literature Festivals and at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Joseph's debut novel, The African Origins of UFOs was published by Salt Publishing in November 2006. It has been described as an "afro-psychadelic-noir", a work of metafiction, mythology, Afro-futurism, and a future fiction classic. An excerpt from the novel was included in the critically acclaimed Time Warner anthology Dark Matter: A century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora.
Joseph is currently a PhD student at Goldsmiths with an interest in experimental Caribbean poetry and spoken arts. As a tutor/lecturer, Joseph has taught creative writing at University of Surrey Roehampton, and at University of North London, where he taught science fiction writing. He currently lectures in creative writing at Goldsmiths College and at Birkbeck College in London.
He is well known for his performances, often accompanied by The Spasm Band. His debut album with the band 'Leggo de Lion' was released April 2007 by Kindred Spirits, Amsterdam. The Spasm Band toured Europe and Morocco during much of 2007 in support of the album, appearing at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam, Les Eurockeennes, Belfort and the Blue Note Jazz Festival in Paris. He is currently working on a new collection of poetry - his first since 1997's Teragaton due in 2008 and a new Spasm Band album.
see Anthony's page on Salt Publishing for more info on The African Origins Of UFOs.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Desafinado (London, poisonenginepress 1994)
Teragaton (London, poisonenginepress 1997)
Liquid Textology (CD, London, poisonenginepress, 2005)
The African Origins of UFOs (2006, Salt Publishing)
See www.anthonyjoseph.co.uk/textology for more info and excerpts from these books.
ANTHOLOGIES
- Chimurenga, South Africa 2007
- Harlem Studio Museum magazine, 2006
- Hambone Vol. 18 - Ed. Nathaniel Mackey - 2006
- Poetry International Web(Poetry Society)- Oct 2006 - http://uk.poetryinternationalweb.org
- Surrealism : Black, Brown and Beige : Writing and Images from Africa and the Diaspora - Franklin Rosemont Ed. Forthcoming 2007
- New Writing 15, British Council 2007
- Black British Aesthetics Today (Cambridge Scholars Press 2007)
- Dark Matter - A century of speculative fiction from the African Diaspora - ed Sheree Thomas(New York, Warner Books 2000)
- Modern Love - London, Renaissance One, 2001
SELECTED ACADEMIC PAPERS
- Spew and Revolution: The Revolutionary Impulse in Caribbean Poetry, 2007
- Cultural Fictions II, Goldsmiths College, London, 2006 - Building The African Origins of UFOs : Using the future to reconcile the wrongs of the past
- Black British Aesthetics Conference Howard University, Washington, 2006
- The Continuous Diaspora: Experimental Writing in Black British Poetry.
- Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, 2000 Exile and Poetry: A personal Perspective. Guest speaker and performer at The Contemporary Poetry Colloquium.
See Anthony's blog birdheadson.blogspot for work in progress, essays and random instances from the Diasporic Avant garde.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 5/12/2006
Band Website: anthonyjoseph.co.uk
Band Members:

ANTHONY JOSEPH & THE SPASM BAND - Photo : Maya
Personnel : (L-R):
Paul Brett - Percussion
Colin Webster - Tenor Sax & Flute
Anthony Joseph - poet
Andrew John - Bass
Paul 'Zulu India' Zimmerman - Percussion

(not pictured) Adrian 'SunBlooz' Owusu - guitar
Craig 'Cigar' Tamlin - Percussion (bells, whistles, little instruments)

See www.flickr.com/sambucusnigra/ for more images of The Spasm Band

BOOKINGS
EUROPEAN AND WORLDWIDE : Antoine Rajon, [email protected]
UK BOOKINGS : [email protected]

Influences: Kamau Brathwaite, Derek Walcott, Bob Kaufman, Mighty Sparrow, Lord Kitchener, Trini people tongue, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Henry Dumas, Sun Ra, Elizabeth Smart (by grand central station...), Roland Barthes, Andre Breton, Funkadelic, Ted Joans, Jean Toomer, Nate Mackey, paul Keens Douglas, Will Alexander, William Carlos Williams, Claude McKay, Gil Scott Heron, Charles Bukowski, Dorothea Brande, Aime Cesaire, Wilson Harris, mother and grandmother who swim in heaven, vines and gulleys of backyard bush, aranguez savannah in old mt lambert trinidad, the batchacks and beetles I burned in matchbox discoteques, John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Basquait, Thelonious Monk, Brother Resistance, Amiri Baraka, LKJ, Fanon, James Oscar jr, my father who wore 12 eye high desert boots in 1970s Trinidad, Charles Mingus, Frank Wright, Rashaan Roland Kirk, David Rudder, Nathaniel Mackey, Foucault, James Brown, jourvert morning mud mas and all fish eyed badjohns roaming port of spain on jourvert morning with white handle razor, deep spiritual baptist rhythm and trance/spirit talk...
Sounds Like: LA DIABLESSE the new 12" ft Keziah Jones & Joseph Bowie is out June 2008!


LEGGO DE LION - Kindred Spirits -May 2007 - EU & US
Leggo the Lion is the debut album by Anthony Joseph and The Spasm Band.
Tracklist
01 . Buddha
02 . Black Dada
03 . Extending Out To Brightness
04 . Wallerfield
05 . Kneedeepinditchdiggerniggersweat
06 . On Kunu Land: Alfred Mac
07 . Killer Joe
08 . Hummingbird

To hear samples of all tracks and for more info see :
www.kindredpirits.nl/anthony

REVIEWS

The spoken word revelation of the year. Spiritual and surreal.
- Vibrations Magazine, France

Funky grooves and righteous poetry -- a contemporary album, but one that takes us back to the hip 70s work of artists like Gil Scott-Heron or Wanda Robinson! Words are by Anthony Joseph, who's got a spoken, slightly-sung style that's really compelling -- backed with rhythms that are more in a jazz funk mode overall -- played by the Spasm Band on flute, tenor, guitar, bass, and lots of rootsy percussion -- the last of which serves to give the tracks an earthy, organic quality that surprisingly timeless, given the recent date of the set!
- Dusty Groove

Rousing, provocative and times a little scary in his observations and assassinations of regular folk, Joseph’s spoken word monologues are delivered in bold, proud and often animated tones. Up close, they are actually harsh, acute tomes from leftfield (see the diseases befalling the central characters of ‘Wallerfield’). Delivered with a misleadingly blasé attitude, Joseph communicates with a flow that without being a breathless stream of conscience, manages to twist ordinary words into something more sinister and almost supernatural. Joseph’s bluesy yet shady band plays along in the background with suitable rustic minimalism.
- One Week To Live

Joseph is a fiery and capable performer and commands the unconditional attention of the listener like his influences Gil Scott Heron and Fela Kuti. This is an imaginative trip into the mind of a mystic.
- Scott C. -www.montrealmirror.com

Lyrically this is an intense album which requires your full attention. Daydream for a second and you'll be lost, then you're back to the rewind button, to start again. Driving in whilst listening to this became rather fun and games because I must have listened to this four times over. The jazz soundtrack by The Spasm Band is just perfect, with a real feel of the 70s and Strata-East or Impulse classics, to ensure this is essential for your collection."
- Simon Harrison, Basic Soul

Spoken word backed by a wild Afro-Carribean rhythm-jazz to produce a sound reminiscent of Gil Scott-Heron while having the slightly unhinged quality of Saul Williams or the Art Ensemble of Chicago. OK, it sounds like it was recorded thirty years ago and the lyrics sometimes seem no more than a kind of tripped-out, unravelling stream-of-consciousness, but that's exactly why we like it.
- www.thecrackmagazine.com

The music has a tribal Afro-jazz push to it that dictates the speed of fluency of Jospeh’s delivery with hypnotic dedication.
- www.subba-cultcha.com

Dans cet album d'Anthony Joseph,puissant autant qu'émouvant, on sera attentif aux beaux textes (intégralement repris sur un feuillet) allusifs, métaphoriques, surréalisants, parfois ouverts à des mondes anciens, mais chaque fois relus et emmêlés au présent, à la voix vibrante et chaleureuse, et au phrasé modulant et subtil qui les porte. - La Médiathèque

The album is in stores now!! Or get it from Amazon

SPIRIT LASH - Heavenly Sweetness, Nov 2006
The first Spasm Band 12" single Spirit Lash is out now on Heavenly Sweetness!

Tracklist
a. Buddha 6.54
b. Bo Nuggy 10.06

REVIEWS
Spirit Lash is the first 12" of the Spasm band and its leader/poet Anthony Joseph. A cult figure of the spoken word scene in the UK, Anthony has just released this month an acclaimed poetic novel 'the African origins of UFOs''. His music is a deep afro-carribean funky trance influenced by the rhythms of his nativeland Trinidad and the deep spirited jazz of the 70S. You will hear echoes of dub poets, Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Fela, Sun Ra cosmic visions, but the Spasm band has definitely a sound of its own . Tip!
Rush Hour, Amsterdam

By now, you should know that any track called ‘Buddha’ gets us excited. But it still has to answer a higher calling. Thankfully, it does as it finds the band somewhere between James Blood Ulmer and James Chance on an Afro trip with Mark Murphy. Really, it’s that good! This is going to be in my box until it is as big a hit as ‘The Creator Has A Master Plan’.
It’s that time of year where we start think about awards and the like and Heavenly Sweetness and ‘Spirit Lash’ is bombing into the top ten, Be warned, there is nothing spasmodic about this band’s pure African spiritual jazz brilliance. Gerry Hectic - Fly.co.uk
see www.fly.co.uk for the full review.

Very hip work from jazz poet Anthony Joseph -- 2 tracks that are issued here on 12" single, but which sound like righteous jazz numbers from many years past! Both numbers feature Joseph's words mixed with hip instrumental backings from a combo that includes tenor, flute, guitar, and lots of percussion -- often used in rootsy ways that give the tracks a very organic, almost improvised feel -- like lost gems from the New York loft jazz years, or some of the later generations of the downtown scene!
Dusty Groove, Chicago

Listen to these samples -
Buddha
Bo Nuggy

Buy it now from http://music.rushhour.nl
or www.juno.co.uk
www.dustygroove.com
For more info see Heavenly Sweetness



All photos (c) A. Joseph 2008
Record Label: Kindred-Spirits.nl, Heavenly Sweetness(Paris)
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

New 12" La Diablesse ft Keziah Jones & Joe Bowie out soon!

This is the cover art for the New Spasm Band 12" - 'La Diablesse' released June 2008 on parisian label Heavenly Sweetness, the first single from our forthcoming album 'Bird Head Son'. The tracks are :...
Posted by Anthony Joseph on Wed, 28 May 2008 06:21:00 PST

Bird Head Son and Keziah Jones on Arte, France

Have a look at a work in progress video, filmed 'live in the studio' in Paris, with Keziah Jones and AJ working on the track 'Bamboo saxophone' for the new album by AJ & The Spasm Band 'Bird Head ...
Posted by Anthony Joseph on Mon, 05 May 2008 06:36:00 PST

Times Top Ten Literary Stars of 2008

From Times Online February 13, 2008Top ten literary stars of 2008 - Check the full list athttp://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entert ainment/books/article3358452.ece...
Posted by Anthony Joseph on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:35:00 PST

Heliocentrics feat. Anthony Joseph on Giles Peterson

The two tracks I did with the Heliocentrics at BBC Maida Vale - Listen!7 February  2008see - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/gillespeterson/ - for tracklisthttp://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/radio1_aod.s...
Posted by Anthony Joseph on Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:23:00 PST

UPDATES

Flurries of activity already and the year just start/thought I'd use myspace for what it was meant for to update folks on what's going on, creatively. Working with the Helliocentrics, did a couple tra...
Posted by Anthony Joseph on Tue, 05 Feb 2008 09:49:00 PST

NUMOON VIDEO

Streaming video of the recent Numoon festival where I performed alongside Ursula Rucker, Dwight Trible, Joseph Bowie, Mark De Clive Lowe, Bembe Segue, Kain and the Numoon Orchestra, all of whom are on...
Posted by Anthony Joseph on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 05:36:00 PST

NUMOON

Just played an amazing festival in Rotterdam. The Numoon Festival, with Ursula Rucker, Joseph Bowie (defunkt), Bembe Segue, Mark de Clive Lowe, Kain the Poet. Collective improvisation with the Numoon ...
Posted by Anthony Joseph on Wed, 19 Dec 2007 04:15:00 PST

CHECK OUT THE NEW PICS

Just added some new pics. over the next week i'll also be updating the music.
Posted by Anthony Joseph on Tue, 18 Dec 2007 05:34:00 PST

GONZO magazine

There is a 5 page feature on my life, influences and work in this months Gonzo magazine (Belgium). I can't read it so if anyone would like to translate that would be good. I actually don't remember do...
Posted by Anthony Joseph on Fri, 14 Dec 2007 04:01:00 PST

New Review of ’Leggo de Lion’ - Cyclic Frost

this is a recent review of the Spasm Band's Leggo de lion' album from those good souls at Cyclic Frost. Its decent. http://www.cyclicdefrost.com/blog/?p=1514...
Posted by Anthony Joseph on Sun, 04 Nov 2007 09:17:00 PST