Music of the Week (Sunday 22 October 2000)
Posted by: P on 22 October 2000
Heh heh
P.
Mazzy Star: So Tonight That I Might See.
Beth Orton: Central Reservation.
Stewart
Ninja Tunes 'Xen tracks' - Three CD pack of 12" singles, greatest hits, out takes, and stuff from the best purveyors of what ever the hell Ninja Tunes do is called. This is sort of jazz samples mixed and scratched in with just about everything they can find. Very skilfully done with some fabulous grooves. The first CD contains some rap like vocal, though as a general hater of this genre I love this. The remaining two CDs are predominately instrumental. I love this, and intend to play it to death.
Morton Subotnick - 'Silver apples of the moon' - I have wanted this work of classic 1960s analogue synth madness for ages… it occurred that I should order it from AB Sound, and they delivered the goods in effectively short time. This sounds like the soundtrack from the best 1950s sci-fi movie never made, very cool. Morton plays this www.buchla.com/historical/b100/index.html This is all the information you need.
Kraftwerk 'Kraftwerk' - The original UK issue of the first two albums on the Vertigo record label, landed amazingly at the Chester Hi-Fi show. Julian Cope was right once again in the Krautrock sampler book, this is their best album, it is a 'real band' work in the way Tangerine Dream's 'Electronic Meditation' is, it pre-dates their move to electronica. Fabulous. The two albums are currently available on CD separately, anyone with the slightest love of Krautrock should buy 'em immediately (Joel - that’s you).
Densen 'Demagic' - This is some kind of weird signal that demagnetises your system - it works too, things sound cleaner and clearer afterwards. It makes a weird synth like noise that Jawed would buy as music while it does its stuff. I have a growing respect for Densen, their sound at the show (through JM Labs speakers) was absolutely stunning (best of show), and their CD player and amps seem absurdly good value.
Tony.
Mahler's 10th Symphony. I got Rattle's newest version with the Berlin Philharmonic. The disc served two purposes: 1.) to hear if the symphony is any good, and 2.) if the Rattle / BPO combo is worthwhile. The results were positive in both instances.
The symphony definietely has the soul of Mahler, the Adagio especially, but when I listened it was clear, at times, that Mahler did not write all I was hearing. If he would have been able to finish this work, this could have been right behind the 9th as his major achievement.
The really good news is that Rattle's new job may suit him well. As good as the CBSO are, the Berlin Philharmonic are better. The performance was more interesting and energized than what (limited amount) I have heard from Rattle before. I'll snap up the next disc with high hopes.
My other purchase was Wilhelm Kempff's four-disc set of Schumann's piano music. I believe a one-word summary is in order: Heavenly. I've only recently been able to enjoy Schumann, having found him too melodramatic and sappy initially, and this set simply elevated Schumann a few steps. The playing is so good. The music is so good. Granted, Kempff in his 70's was not as muscular and aggressive as some, but he had insight that few had, or have. I urgently recommend fans of piano music, Kempff, or Schumann to buy this set.
Pete.
Is that the "one" to get? I've thought about getting some of their stuff over the years but never got around to it.
Stewart
quote:
did you see the talk and film show that julian cope did at the national film theatre a while ago? lots of rare film of kraftwerk, neu, amon duul and all the others.
Wow, I never knew anything about it - I would have gone to that without a doubt. Lets hope he does it again sometime.
Tony.
However, AMG reports thus:
"Many McGarrigle fans cite this as their favorite, even if they don't speak French. The Canadian-based sisters are expressively at home in the country's other language, and this may be the
most musical of their albums."
OTOH, FR gets 3 stars (good) while their eponymous debut (one track of which appears on FR) gets 5 stars (best of genre) and mucho praise, so a guess uninformed by listening is that's an obvious point to start. Now I've done that research, have to get it myself...
Pete.
But I digress. On the merch table were a couple of things where BTSE had backed up Top Folkies, so I thought I'd give them a try: Aly Bain with "Follow the Moonstone", and Dougie MacLean's "Perthshire Amber". Have only had time to give them a quick once-through, but am pleasantly impressed. The classical strings are very well used primarily in a supporting role for the folk based work (backing AB mainly on his own, though DM has a band in play) though with well deployed spots in the foreground too. Nothing to have a rave to or make your ears bleed, but for well executed celtic music, expertly played and with an extra dimension from a great troupe of classical string players, add to shopping basket now.
Pete.