What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XIII)
Posted by: Richard Dane on 01 January 2017
2017 has arrived today, so time to start this thread afresh.
Last year's thread can be found here;
Jussi Lehtonen - This time
- Jesse van Ruller - Guitar
- Jussi Lehtonen - Drums
- Jonatan Rautio - Sax
- Mikko Heleva - Organ
Nice new classical music...
"....There is no middle ground
Or that's how it seems
For us to walk or to take
Instead we tumble down
Either side left or right
To love or to hate..."
(2013)
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - II
Now Playing......
Rachel Grimes - The Clearing
I enjoyed listing to Rachel's 'Book of Leaves' album and found the 'The Clearing' on Tidal which allows me to listen to the whole album without commercial breaks.
I find the 'The Clearing' to be superb! You would not waste your time giving it a listen.
Review from the New Yorker:
When the group Rachel’s formed in Louisville, Kentucky, in the early nineteen-nineties, they bore very little resemblance to their friends in the city’s thriving independent rock scene. Even at a time when musicians who had been weaned on punk and hardcore were rethinking structure and rhythm, patiently unspooling their songs until they became tiny epics of texture and grain, Rachel’s seemed of a different era altogether, playing a kind of old-timey chamber music. To the snooty teen-age aesthete (like me) or the high-school-orchestra dropout (same), this was classical music with rock bona fides, which made it O.K. and, in an unexpected way, cool. Of course, this misunderstood what the group, which initially revolved around the neoclassical leanings of the guitarist Jason Noble, the violist Christian Frederickson, and the pianist Rachel Grimes, had set out to do. Over the years, they grew into their expansive style, providing scores for dance and theatre productions, noodling around with field recordings, and collaborating with the experimental electronic duo Matmos. Their final release was “Technology is Killing Music,” in 2005: a terrific, haunting, cut-and-paste suite featuring some of their most ambient excursions.
In 2009, Grimes, who still lives and works in Kentucky, released “Book of Leaves,” her first album of solo piano compositions. Since the disbanding of Rachel’s—Jason Noble died of cancer in 2012—Grimes has collaborated with chamber ensembles around the world, while also playing in the Louisville band King’s Daughters and Sons. Later this month, she will release “The Clearing,” a bewitching album driven by collaborations with her old comrades in Rachel’s, the Canadian ambient electronic musician Loscil, and the drummer Kyle Crabtree, of the Shipping News. The saxophonist Jacob Duncan offers a fiery, brooding riposte to Grimes’ restrained playing on “The Herald,” one of the album’s most wondrous tracks. I always appreciate it when I can forget what it is I’m listening to, not because the music is easy to ignore but because I’m lost in something that sounds like so many things at once. There were moments of “The Clearing” when my memories drifted toward Philip Glass and Michael Nyman, spiritual jazz and soundtrack music, Radiohead’s “Amnesiac,” Ryuichi Sakamoto’s collaborations with Fennesz and Alva Noto. “The Clearing” is a study in contrast—majestic and radiant one moment, ominous and weary the next. There’s a feeling of presence and possibility throughout, as Grimes’s sonorous piano seems to dissolve into something sublime and vaporous, a reminder that there are always greater forces at play.
Lizz Wright - Grace
Listening to this on Tidal to decide if I want to invest in the CD. Grace has a bit more of a Gospel influence than my favourite LW album The Orchard but I am liking what I am hearing. Lizz has such a gorgeous, velvety voice which is easy to loose yourself in. A gift indeed.
On CD:-
David Crosby - Sky Trails
Now Playing......
Jussi Lehtonen - This Time
Jussi Lehtonen (drums), Jesse Van Ruer (guitar), Mikko Heleva (organ), and Joonatan Rautio (tenor saxophone)
Saw that Jussi's album was mentioned by JEROEN20 above and decided to take it out for a spin. So far, so good!
1965 - Vinyl - 2012 reissue...
Tidal. Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston
Now Playing......
James McMurtry - Candyland
Start the evening off with another of James's albums. A little music to prepare dinner by........
Bartok Concerto for Orchestra: Leinsdorf/BSO - 1962 recording
Beautifully recorded ( RCA Living Stereo ). Excellent low level detail and dynamics. Quiet surface, too.
Modern classic reading. Missing is a bit of youthful hot blooded pulse compare to Bernstein/NYO set. Highly emotional Elegy is akin to *Mahlerian* personal torment rather than a spooky mysterious supernatural bent. In Leindorf's capable hands, it’s well organised and nothing gets muddled. He deliniates a melodious narrative with an excellent clarity. Lenningrad quote is not as angular but plenty of wit thrown in. Exciting build to the finale without being over the top again, shows conductor’s great skill. Perhaps more genteel than Lenny’s but equally well done and entertaining.
I actually prefer this set over more famous Reiner/ CSO recording which sounds a bit dated.