June Tunes

I understand what you are saying and this is why I only have one of his CDs but I would say its not bad and I think some original playing on there esp Geri Allen. This is heresy I know but I am not a great fan of electric Miles and find Roney a nd NPM rather more intersting in a background/chill out music sort of way. Though this kind of stuff is not really my thing. By the way Gary Bartz was playing sax with him and he blew Roney off the stage. I will have to get some of his records. Going to see Reggie Workman/Andrew Cyrille/Oliver Lake and Keith Tippet this week.
What new stuff are you listening to these days Hock?

John

Sorry to everyone else if too much jazz talkrr

[This message was edited by John C on MONDAY 11 June 2001 at 09:12.]

[This message was edited by John C on MONDAY 11 June 2001 at 09:14.]

Air 10,000 Hz legends - So how do you follow up a fabulous and unique album such as Moon Safari? With great difficulty would seem to be the answer. The knowing kitsch charm has largely been replaced with cheese, and much sounds as lifeless and full of pretence as Pink Floyd in their 1990s "fat Elvis" stages of decay. I really wanted this to be a great album, and sadly it is not.

Plaid Double Figure - Plaid are unique, it is really hard to describe what they do, as only they seem able to do it. Its electronica, but they throw the rule book out concerning everything to do with time signatures and melodic construction. From their early days as part of the seminal Black Dog Productions they have pushed back musical boundaries and really invented something new, at their best they produce some of the most beautiful and unusual music I have ever heard. I have not really had time to delve into the depths of this album as its 19 tracks will take some unravelling. There are moments of real brilliance here for sure.

Tony.

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i do need your help, i just picked up a copy of can "flowmotion" for the i want more/and more tracks. these i love, the rest of the album is ok but not really my cup of herbal tea.

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This is a really tough question. 'I want more' is certainly not a typical Can song, not that there really is a typical Can song. The albums I rate as their best are 'Soundtracks', 'Monster Movie, 'Tago Mago', and 'Ege Bam Yasi', but none are remotely like the single 'I want more'. You need to hear stuff. There is some good Can info here at Spoon Records http://www.spoonrecords.com

Tony.

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...are there any other can albums i should check out? i have heard some of the earlier ones and they are too freakout for my tastes (read guitar noodly).

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I know exactly what you mean. If you like Can's inventiveness and imagination then you might like the following solo albums from Can members:

Irmin Schmidt (and Bruno Spoerri): Toy Planet

Nothing on this is like I Want More but there's no noodling. There is plenty of inventiveness - but not inventiveness for its own sake. One track features vocoded gipsy guitars - and makes perfect sense for doing so. The highlight of the album for me is Rapido de Noir (The Last Train to Eternity), which features a subtly vocoded train recording and a wind synthesiser, which gives the synth more expression than was usual in 1980 when the record came out.

Avoid getting the Virgin edition of this on vinyl (unless it's very cheap) because it sounds a LOT worse than the original. The original is on Spoon records.

Holgar Czukay: On the way to the Peak of Normal

If you like - or can stand - his sense of humour then most of his LPs are worth a listen. [I find his sense of humour too childish to wholeheartedly recommend some of his other LPs...]

This LP doesn't suffer from "amusing" lyrics (althought there are lyrics in places). The music is weird, imaginative and inventive but definitely not noodly. There's nothing remotely like "I Want More", though.

--Jeremy

[This message was edited by Sproggle on MONDAY 11 June 2001 at 15:37.]

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next i will have to sort out the Neu tracks i like.

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Good news on that front, finally the three classic Neu! albums have been reissued. For years they have only been available as bootlegs. I have just ordered Neu! and Neu! 2 from Diverse Vinyl (www.diversevinyl.com) - yes! they are available on vinyl. Will report back when I get them as to how good they sound. I have seen the current CDs, so they definitely are now finally out. The new legitamate releases are on EMI, so don't be palmed off with the bootlegs (which just have a catalogue number, no record label).

Tony.

right, who is into ryoji ikeda's brand of wierdness then?

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2. And speaking of Can, I picked up a s/h cd of "Sacrilege", which is a "modern" tribute to Can with jungle bits etc.

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I too have this, and really like this. There's a Boy called gerald remix of tangowhiskeyman which really works, for me. I can now expect the wrath of all resident Can and Neu puists, so 'bring it on', boys.

What's this band of weirdness, Dev?

Rico - all your base are belong to us.

this is not a new purchase -- i have actually had this album for quite a while now. first time i played it, i dont think i enjoyed it as much as i did when i played it a few minutes go. the theme is quite simple and digestible, buy very enjoyable nevertheless. know this one?? hockman? others?

enjoy

ken

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[Fred] Hersch is never flashy or adventurous but plays with real lyricism and taste. Too much of a good thing?

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I love Fred Hersch (and only partly because his name is Fred), and he is a master of lyricism and taste, and never flashy but always adventurous. There are many ways to be adventurous, and it need not always be in a deliberately edgy or "avant-garde" way. Hersch is very adventurous in terms of playing with the most basic elements: melody, rhythm, harmony, tempo, counterpoint, development, narrative flow ... it's just that his own adventuresome way is lyrical, tasteful, and non-flashy. It's a more "inside" kind of adventure, deep below the "pretty" surface.

Check out his solo album Let Yourself Go, which is a paradigm of a quirky (sometimes thorny), melodically and harmonically advanced (yet basically tonal), rhythmically inventive, contrapuntal, personal voice.

There can never be enough of this kind of good thing.

Ornette Coleman - "Sound Museum (hidden man version")
Adventurous and edgy - why not try to learn more about one our greatest living composers? This stuff is simply great!

Thievery Corporation - "Mirror Conspiracy"
Really good chillin' dance music-recommended to me by Chris Koster.

David Gray - "White Ladder"
Very honest sounding singer/songwriter. I like it.

Jeff Buckley - "Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk"
If you like JB's "Grace", you should check this out. It is the album he was working on when he tragically drowned in the Mississippi river. Put together from studio working tapes, it's simply brilliant. My favorite cut is "Everybody Here Wants You", but the whole album is beautiful. If you haven't discovered Jeff Buckley yet, you're missing one of the brightest lights music has known in the past 30 years or so.

Neu! 'Neu!' - IMHO this is one of the most important albums ever produced. It is to post rock what 'The Velvet Underground and Nico' was to new wave and indie, i.e. it is hard to imagine the whole genre taking place without this album. Even before removing the record from its sleeve it is obvious this is no ordinary 1971 album. The white sleeve with Neu! scrawled across it like a bad washing powder packet is so far removed from the lavish pretence of Roger Dean / Patrick Woodruff or Hipgnosis covers that adorned so many records of the time, it is almost a punk sleeve. The music is equally removed and in advance of its time. The first track is a 10 minute E major driving trance dirge called 'Hallogallo' which completely set the tone for post rock - stick a French bird on vocal and you have Stereolab. If Neu! never did a track other than this they would still have changed the face of rock music. The other real standout track is 'Negativeland', which pretty much defined new wave (10 years to soon!) - it sounds for all the world like an instrumental collaboration between Magazine and The Fire Engines. Absolutely essential, you have a crap record collection without it!

Neu! '2' - The opening track 'Für Immer' is essentially a reworking of 'Hallogallo', its still E major all the way through, its still got the same beat (as have all Neu! tracks), but it has evolved into something slightly less delicate. There are now swathes of Joy Division like guitar noise flying about in a truly Martin Hannett kind of way - again its years too soon for all this. Side one of 'Neu! 2' is remarkable - it is impossible to believe this was recorded about 28 years ago, and it is equally impossible to file it historically with its contemporaries. Side two is where the money ran out - they had blown the whole recording budget on the perfect 'Für Immer', so the only option left was to produce a slab of anti-music that Throbbing Gristle would have been proud. Essentially side two is earlier tracks sped up stupidly fast, and slowed down to atonal dirges. A truly obnoxious side of vinyl, though a small price to pay for the sheer brilliance of side one. I would love to have heard what would have happened had the cash not run out.

Tony.

Archie Shepp - Mama Too Tight Continuing my Archie Shepp month this is much more avant garde than Four for Trane (which is a great record). Surprisingly accessible though intense record. Features the long 15-20 mins "Portrait of Robert Thompson". The dual trombone attack of Grachan Moncur and Roswell Rudd is excellent as is the mighty Charlie Haden. All you Ornette fans would love this.During his Impulse years Shepp was outstanding.

Reggie Workman/Andrew Cyrille/Oliver Lake in concert. Superb concert from three greats.Lake has a somewhat Dolphyesqe sound on sax but more harsh drier tone in some way and is probably an acquired taste. Workman was really in a groove and the highlight was a Cyrille drum piece "Tribute to Bu" which was an improvisation on Art Blakeys drumming on "mosaic". Defined polyrhythmn for me at last!

Hockman if you want new exciting jazz its all happening in the avant garde!This week Max Roach/William Parker/Matthew Shipp live!! Oh Doctor!

John
J

Ezio - Black Boots on Latin Feet
Some pretty lively (good) acoustic guitar.

A hole stack of new classical Bach, Britten, Brahms, Part, Taverner, Mozart, Bartok, Handel... if only I had the time!

Matthew

Well thanks to drive-time radio I was gradually worn down and ended up really liking the current single. So much so I succumbed and bought the album. I've just given it a once through on the CD Walkman/headphones and its rather good. Varied, confident, majestic, thought-provoking, err..dance music ? (well thats where I found it in HMV). Big recommendation.

Allan

if you have and like "Gone to Earth", you must get Secrets of the beehive. Also recommended (although less laid-back in style) is DS's collaboration with Brian Eno The first day, which is excellent IMHO.

DS is playing a show in London during October.

Rico - all your base are belong to us.

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"IMHO this is one of the most important albums ever produced. It is to post rock what 'The Velvet Underground and Nico' was to new wave and indie, i.e. it is hard to imagine the whole genre taking place without this album."
"If Neu! never did a track other than this they would still have changed the face of rock music."
"which pretty much defined new wave "
"Absolutely essential, you have a crap record collection without it!"
"There are now swathes of Joy Division like guitar noise flying about in a truly Martin Hannett kind of way - again its years too soon for all this."

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So, you like this then?

Question: Where do I find the CD releases of this work? And how do I ensure I'm getting the "right stuff"?

I've now heard so much about them from you, I guess I'd better just buy - now that they're available, and continue the learning!

Rico - all your base are belong to us.

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Question: Where do I find the CD releases of this work? And how do I ensure I'm getting the "right stuff"?

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The bootleg CDs do not have a visible record label, just a long bogus catalogue number. I will list these numbers when I get home. The official release has the EMI logo. The bootlegs are pretty rare, though I have seen them at Selectadisk, Sister Ray etc. I actually have the bootlegs of Neu! and Neu! 2 myself, as for a while they were the only way to hear the albums for a remotely reasonable price. The vinyl obviously sounds miles better, as will the new CDs.

There is an interesting Neu! interview in this months The Wire magazine.

Tony.

That minor correction aside, my latest listening has been the two new CDs from Mr. McFall's Chamber, a group based around a string quartet of Scottish Chamber Orchestra musicians but with supplementary bass, sometimes drums, sometimes piano, sometimes vocals, sometimes musical saw. I went to the launch concert of "Upstart Jugglers" on Saturday and it was a sublime gig with a bit of everything (if you like an eclectic mix, this is a band you really should check out). The CD itself is good, but live it all fits into place much better. The other new disc from them is "Revolucionario!", which is all tango music. Very, very good, and IMHO the better of the two discs (mainly because the material just suits recording better, I think, rather than because it's intrinsically better music or recording). Piazolla seems quite fashionable lately, so hopefully that will translate into some sales. If you fancy some tango music in your life, it's a great place to start (you don't need to cavort about with a rose in your mouth, it stands up perfectly well on its own merits as fine music).

You can pick up both of these wee gems through the McFall's web site.

Pete.

[This message was edited by Pete on TUESDAY 19 June 2001 at 13:35.]

I miss the other three-quarters of my music collection

Rico - all your base are belong to us.

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The bootleg CDs do not have a visible record label, just a long bogus catalogue number. I will list these numbers when I get home.

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I have found Klaus Dinger's homepage (him being half of Neu!) - he lists the dogy bootlegs amongst other stuff: Dingerland

Tony.