Friday, May 31, 2013

May 2013 Listening

1.       “In a Silent Way” Miles Davis (Columbia) CD
2.       “Nuggets” Various Artists (Rhino R2 75466)  CD
3.       “Mask of Light” Rudolph Grey/ Jim Sauter/ Rashied Ali (New Alliance NAR 050) CD
4.       “Holy Ghost” Albert Ayler  (Revenent 123)  CD
5.       “Pure Phase” Spiritualized  (Arista 74321-26035-2)  CD
6.       “Evil Empire” Rage Against the Machine (Epic  EK 57523) CD
7.       “Spiritual Unity” Albert Ayler/ Sunny Murray/ Gary Peacock
8.       “Half Machine Lip Moves / Alien Soundtrack” Chrome CD
9.       “Entertainment!” Gang of Four (Rhino  R2 78428)  CD
10.   “OV” Orthrelm /Mick Barr (Ipecac IPC 64) CD
11.   “HeyDay 1979-83” The Embarrassment (Bar None  059-2”  CD
12.   “From the Discrete to the Particular” Joe Morris / Nate Wooley / Augusti Fernandez (Relative Pitch Records   RPR1007)  CD
13.   “Bach Suites for Solo Cello” Janos Starker (Mercury  D 225364)  CD
14.   “The Perfect Prescription” Spacemen 3 (Fire) LP
15.   “Sound of Confusion”  Spacemen 3 (Fire LP)
16.   “Second Album” The Beatles (Capitol  ST 2080) LP
17.   “The Chess Box” Muddy Waters (Chess  CH6-8002  LP
18.   “New Geocentric World of the Acid Mothers Temple”  Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO (Squealer  SQLR 034-2 ) LP
19.   “Born to be Wild in the USA 2000” Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO LP
20.   “The Rock Revival” Major Stars/ Wayne Rogers (Twisted Village) LP
21.   “Mellow Out” Mainliner / Makoto Kawabata / Hajime Koizumi (Riot Season) 
22.   “We Rose From Your Bed With The Sun In Our Head” Swans
23.   “Heavier Than A Death In The Family” Les Rallizes Denudés
24.   “Live Evil” Miles Davis
25.   “The Raw and the Cooked” Bill Orcutt / Chris Corsano (Pallida)
26.   “Scott 3” Scott Walker
27.   “At the Finger Palace” Evan Parker (The Beak Doctor 3) LP
28.   “Bish Bosch” Scott Walker
29.   “Decibels of Gratitude” Major Stars (Drag City)
30.   “Dispersion” High Rise (Squealer)
31.   “Full Nelson Reilly” Didjits      
32.   “Hemat” Harverster      
33.   “Hissteria” Purling Hiss      
34.   “In Cold Blood”   Johnny Thunders      
35.   “Light Up Gold” Paraquet Court      
36.   “Live at WFMU”   Jooklo Duo/ C Spencer Yeh    

37.   “Natty Cultural Dread” Big Youth      
38.   “Vanishing Point”  Mudhoney      
39.   “Wakin On a Pretty Daze”  Kurt Vile      
40.   “Before and After Science” Brian Eno (Astralwerks  7243 5 77292 22) CD
41.   “Two” Jemeel Moondoc / Connie Crothers (Relative Pitch Records   RPR1009)  CD
42.   “City of Refuge” John Fahey (Tim Kerr  644 830 127-2)  CD
43.   “Vintage Duets (Chicago, January 11, 1980)” Fred Anderson / Steve McCall (Okka Disk  OD12001) CD
44.   “The Copenhagen Tapes”  Albert Ayler / Don Cherry / Sunny Murray & Gary Peacock (Ayler  aylCD-033) CD
45.   “Rid of Me” PJ Harvey (Island 12 14696)  CD
46.   “Live in Europe” Last Exit w/Peter Brotzmann / Sonny Sharrock / Bill Laswell / Shannon Jackson  (DMG  DMG/ARC=0701)  CD
47.   “In Utero”   Nirvana (Geffen)     CD
48.   “Quintet 1965-68” Miles Davis / Wayne Shorter / Hancock / Ron Carter / Tony Williams  (Columbia   67398)  CD
49.   “The Complete Prestige Recordings” Eric Dolphy (Prestige  9PRCD-4418-2)  CD
50.   “Shostakovich The String Quartets”  Emerson String Quartet (Deutsche Grammophon   475-7407  CD)
51.   “M B V” My Bloody Valentine (mbv  mbv lp 01)LP + CD
52.   “Unknown Pleasures” Joy Division  (Factory/Rhino  FAC 10) LP
53.   “Worm Confesses & August” Ben Chasny / Chris Corsano / Paul Metzger (Roaratorio  Roar11) LP
54.   “Beethovan Eroica"  Herbet von Karajan & Berlin Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon 138 802) LP
55.   “My Brother the Cow” Mudhoney (Reprise  9 45896-1)  LP
56.   “The Music from the Connection” Jackie McLean / Freddie Redd (Blue Note   89392)  LP
57.   Let Freedom Ring  Jackie McLean  Bill Higgins  Walter Davis  Blue Note   BST 84106  LP
58.   “Historic Concerts - McMilliam Theatre Columbia U NY December 15, 1979”  Cecil Taylor / Max Roach (Soul Note  SN 1100/1)  LP
59.   “Eleven:Eleven”  Come (Matador  OLE-845-1)  LP

60.   “12x5”  The Rolling Stones  (London  PS 402)  LP

Robert Moog inducted in the Inventor Hall of Fame in 2013


Some great moments using the Moog Synth
2. Beastie Boys "Get it Togther" 
3. Devo 
4. Yes' Rick Wakeman "Starship Tooper
5. Brian Eno "Here He Comes" for Before and After Science
6. John Paul Jones on the song Friends from Led Zeppelin III
7. Stereolab 
8. Sunn O)))
10. Sun Ra "Space Probe"

George Crumb's "Black Angels" at Luther Place Memorial Church, DC; May 28, 2013

Signs, Prophecies & Places Unknown: 
The American Composer Today featuring SONAR New Music Ensemble  
George Crumb "Black Angels" 
Roger Reynolds "The Image Machine" 
Elliott Carter "Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux" 
Aaron Helgeson "Five pieces for string quartet" & "A place toward other places"

Monday, May 27, 2013

There's been changes in the old listening room, which has seen some fall-out since the Audio Show. I've cleared some furniture and opened up the space The changes are not quite complete, so I won't go into them yet, but I'll drop a teaser photo in here. I'm sure Bill will have the speakers nailed in very little time.  One thing I will mention is that my TT is now sporting an Audio Note IQ-1 cartridge; a bit expensive but worth every penny. Just a tremendous improvement in sound quality and tracking quality. With the amount of vinyl I listen to, it was the best upgrade I made. One other odd thing: I'm getting back into the Blue Note genre. Couldn't listen to any of that for quite long while, but now I find myself enjoying it once again. Must be a need for comfort food, and maybe some diversity. Going up to Vision Fest, might we see you there?



1) SYMPHONY No.4: Mahler, Solti, Concertgebouw. London LP.
2) HEYDAY: Jagged Sky-Gress, Binney, Monder, Wollesen. Soul Note CD.
3) IN THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON: Geri Allen, Haden, Motian. JMT CD.
4) IMAGES: Sonny Red, Blue Mitchell, Grant Green, etc. Jazzland LP.
5) SPACE & DECORUM: Adriana Holszky, comp. Various orchestras. Aulos LP. Picked this up at a sale. The album is by a contemporary German composer, and it is quite good.
6) MYRIAD: Magda Mayas, Christine Abdelnour. Unsounds CD.
7) HAMMERED: Ches Smith and These Arches. Clean Feed CD.
8) FUHUFFA: Daniel Levin Trio. Clean Feed CD.
9) BLACK UHURU. eponymous. Virgin LP.
10) TRIBUTE TO JOHN COLTRANE: Select Live Under the Sky '87 10th Special. Shorter and Liebman lead the charge, especially the latter. King Records (Japan) LP.
11) LIVE AT THE LIGHTHOUSE, Vol. I: Elvin Jones and Liebman again. Blue Note CD.
12) was there to illuminate the night: Trespass Trio. Clean Feed CD.
13) SYMPHONY No.8: Mahler, Tennstedt, London P.O. EMI.
14) BARCELONA: Joe Henderson. Enja CD.
15) ODE TO THE LIVING TREE: Cyrille. Evidence CD.
16) WINDOW STEPS: Pierre Favre. ECM CD.
17) LIVE AT THE PUBLIC THEATER (NY 1980): Gil Evans. Trio Records (Japan) LP.
18) MINGUS DYNASTY: Mingus. Columbia Special Collection. LP. Mingus in some outlandish gear, looks like Sun Ra.
19) A TRIBUTE TO ED BLACKWELL:  Old and New Dreams. Black Saint LP.
20) BROTHERS IN ARMS: Dire Straits. Warner Bros LP.
21) THE CONGREGATION: Johnny Griffin. Blue Note LP.
22) PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION: Moussorgsky-Ravel, Toscanini, NBC S.O., RCA LP.
23) THE UNREPEATABLE QUARTER: CALGARY 2012: Jack Wright, et al. Bug Incision CD.
24) TIRESIAS: Louis Belegonis, Bisio, Murray. Porter CD.
25) NEXT: Bynum, Morris, Schoenbeck. Porter CD.
26) SYMPHONY No.4: Tchaikovsky. Yuri Temirkanov, Royal P.O. RCA CD.
27) PLATFORM 1: TAKES OFF: Vandermark, Broo, et al. Clean Feed CD.
28) UNIVERSAL SOUNDS: Odean Pope, Marshall Allen (!), et al. Porter CD. Marshal actually sounds pretty good on his EVI; never thought I'd say that.
29) BROWN RICE: Don Cherry. Horizon LP.
30) PLAYING: Old and New Dreams. ECM LP.
31) SOLO AT DOBIALAB: Brotzmann. Dobialabel CD. Brotz is fine, but the amount of talking during his performance is surprising, and diminished somewhat the enjoyment of the performance.
32) SPECIAL DETAIL: Gerry Hemingway Quintet. hat Art CD.
33) THE MUSIC OF LOU HARRISON: Various performers. Phoenix CD. I've listened to this album a few times, and just don't find much there. It's all in the "Pacific Overtures"/Madame Butterfly style.
34) YOU ARE (VARIATIONS): Steve Reich. Nonesuch Box. CD 3.
35) DAYDREAM NATION: Sonic Youth. DGC CD.
36) LONG STORY SHORT: Brotzmann, et al. Trost Box, Discs 1 & 2. Hot!
37) SYMPHONY 1 & 2: Lutoslawski, comp.& Cond. Polish National S.O.
38) STRING QUARTETS 3, 6: Shostakovich. Beethoven Qt. Consonance CD.
39) THE CLOWN. Mingus. Atlantic CD.
40) COSMO SUN CONNECTION: Sun Ra. ReR CD. Meh!
41) JOURNEY: Trio X. CIMP CD.
42) COMPLETE 1961 VILLAGE VANGUARD RECORDINGS:  Coltrane, Dolphy, et al. Discs 1 & 2. Hot! Who is Garvin Bushell?  Impulse Box.
43) THREE BABIES: Beresford, Kuchen, Solberg. 19 CD.
44) DAY IN PICTURES: Bauder, Wooley, Sanchez, Ajemian, Fujiwara. Clean Feed CD.
45) PSYCHOMAGIC COMBINATION: Leandre and Italian trio. Setola CD.
46) LONG STORY SHORT: Disc 3: The initial long "vocal" piece by Hano is a drag, the rest is fine.
47) SYMPHONY No.4: Shostakovich, Gergiev, Kirov Orch, Philips CD.
48) LONG STORY SHORT: Brotz and Hairy Bones and Chicago Tentet. Trost. Hot!
49) STRING SYMPHONY, SUNDAY MORNINGS, EAGLES: Ned Rorem, comp. Robert Shaw, Louis Lane, Atlanta S.O. On repeat listening, liking it a bit more. New World CD.
50) MAD DOGS: Guy, Fernandez, Parker, Gustaffson. Disc 4. No Business. Why Disc 4? Because this "box set" has the absolute worst packaging I've ever seen-- even worse than the Ictus sets I'm always complaining about. Disc 4 looked damage--and it was! I talked to Phil and he said he has been getting complaints from other customers about damaged discs (they come loose from the little spongey sprockets holding them to something that looks like the insert to an LP).  Phil wrote to No Business and copied me on the email. Anyway, No Business is supposedly sending me a replacement CD.  What I could get of the music did sound hot. Try to buy this at VF or somewhere else you can see it personally. It does not ship well.
51) BLUE TRAIN: Coltrane. BN CD.
52) FISH: Derek Bailey, Shoji Hano. Modern Music CD.
53) THE CLASSIC QUARTET: COMPLETE IMPULSE STUDIO RECORDINGS:  Discs 1 &2.
54) SOUNDS OF LIBERATION: Byard Lancaster, Jamal, et al. Porter CD. Ech.
55) CHAMBER MUSIC 1955-64: Apartment House. Matchless CD.
56) SOLO LIVE AT GASTHOF HEIDELBERG LOPPEM 2005: Braxton. Locus Loppem box. Disc 1. Yes indeed.
57) CLASSIC QUARTET: Disc 3. All very fine, but one can see why Coltrane had to jump.
58) LONG STORY SHORT: Disc 5. Really liked this box set with the exception of the Heino piee on Disc 3. Isn't the artwork by Brotz compelling?
59) HORSES: Patti Smith. Arista CD.
60) CROSSWORD PUZZLE: Double Duo, Mengelberg, Satoko Fujii, et al. Jasrac CD.
61) PHILOMEL: Milton Babbitt, comp. Various artists.
62) THE VIOLA IN MY LIFE, FALSE RELATIONSHIP, WHY PATTERNS: Morton Feldman, comp, plays piano, various performers. CRI CD.  Greatness.
63) DIALECT FLOURESCENT: Steve Lehman. Pi CD.
64) WATERLOO 1985: Parker, Rutherford, Lytton, Schneider. Emanem CD.
65) ANAYA: Indigo Trio. Rogue Art CD.
66) SENILITA: Milo Fine, Viv Corringham, et al. Emanem CD. Had this laying about for a while, tried it and found it rather amazing.
67) HAUNTING THE SPIRITS INSIDE THEM: Golia, Leandre, Filiano. Music & Arts CD. Worthwhile.
68) SIX STANDARDS (QUINTET) 1996: Braxton (on piano!), Dave Douglas, Pavone, Whitecage, Warren Smith. Splasc(H) CD.  Not your usual Braxton ensemble,
69) SOLOS EAST AND WEST: Coxhill (mostly) and Haslam. Slam CD. Great!
70) ASYLA & OTHER PIECES: Thomas Ades, comp. Rattle,, cond, City of Birmingham SO. EMI CD. Interesting contemporary composer.
71) A NIGHT IN TUNISIA: Art Blakey and Jazz Messengers. Blue Note LP.
72) ROUGH 'N TUMBLE: Turrentine. Blue Note LP.
73) TIME REMEMBERED: Bill Evans Trio (Israels, Bunker). Milestone 2LP.
74) BILLIE HOLLIDAY ON VERVE 1946-59). LP 7 (from a 10 LP box set).
75) VASISTAS: Denzler, Guionney, et al. Creative Sources CD.
76) TRIO WITH INTERLUDES: Parker, Wales, Coxon, Sanders. Treader CD.
77) BREAK UP SONGS: Deerhoof. Polyvinyl Records LP.  Really enjoy this group. Lovely white vinyl too!  You can see the new AN IQ1 doing its thing too, lol.



78) GOIN' UP: Freddy Hubbard. Blue Note -Toshiba LP.
79) SINFONIETTA by Henry Cowell, and MELORHYTHMIC DRAMAS by Carlos Surinanch Louisville Orch, Jorge Mester, cond. Louisville Orchestra First Edition LP.
80) DONOVAN's GREATEST HITS: Donovan. Epic LP. Used to pooh-pooh Donovan's songs, ahem "back in the day," but they hold up pretty well.
81) SYMPHONY No.4: Mahler, Karajan, Berlin Phil, DGG LP.
82) CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA: Bartok, Reiner, Chicago S.O.  RCA "shaded dog" LP.
83) LOTTE LENYA SINGS BERLIN: Lotte Lenya. Rather compelling voice. Columbia -6-eyes LP.
84) ELVIN!  Elvin Jones. Riverside/Victor Japan LP.
85) GENERAL GRAMAFON: Doneda, Lazro, et al. NATO LP.
86) THE CLASH: eponymous. Epic LP (Epic had some fine artists).
87) ALADDIN SANE: David Bowie. RCA LP.
88) 4, 5, & 6: Jackie McLean. New Jazz LP. A great musician from start to last.
89) HANK MOBLEY: eponymous. Blue Note/Classic Records 200g. With the new kit, this one really sings.
90) THE CATBIRD SINGS: John Lindberg Ensemble. Black Saint CD.

Looking over the list-- what a horrid mishmash!  It also occurs to me I might be spending too much time listening to music, LOL.  Anyway, hope you like the pictures.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Lately Listening

April was an exciting month for music: Chris Corsano blew minds at Squidco and Hopscotch (Raleigh) announced a lineup that includes Wolf Eyes, Merzbow, Mike Shiflet, Pelt, Angel Olsen, Ken Vandermark/Tim Daisy and some stuff that Adrienne likes--something to look forward to in September. Hope all is well in the DC area. I'll be in NYC May 24-25--definitely going to catch some music while I'm there.

1. Andrew Hill, Andrew!!! (Blue Note CD): Needed some vibes in my life. One of a handful of albums that feature John Gilmore outside the Arkestra.
2. Art Ensemble of Chicago, Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City: Live at the Iridium (Pi CD): Corey Wilkes and Jaribu Shahid fill in admirably. The best of the AEC's later recordings on Pi.
3. Alexander von Schlippenbach, The Living Music (Cien Fuegos LP): Damn. Cien Fuegos is doing a phenomenal job with its FMP reissue program.
4. Courtly Illusion Limited, Untitled (Space Slave Editions Tape): Water in a tea kettle, boiling in slow motion.
5. Zelienople, Give It Up (Type LP): Finally found a reasonably priced copy of this record. Next to Stone Academy (Root Strata) my second favorite release of theirs.
6. Ill Professor, Wire & Air (Constellation Tatsu Tape): Solo project from one of the dudes in Zelienople. Nothing to write home about.
7. Paul Flaherty & Randall Colbourne, Razor Blue (Zaabway LP): Purified by the fire.
8. Deaf Center, Owl Splinters (Type LP): Music to set a David Lynch film to.
9. Sun Ra, The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 2 (ESP-Disk LP): Mmm.
10. Ween, Pure Guava (Elektra CD): Flashbacks.
11. Daniel Carter/Andrew Barker/Sabir Mateen, Not on Earth...In Your Soul! (Qbico LP): Free-jazz rocket. For real.
12. Rara Avis, Mutations (dEN CD): Cool packaging. Vandermark with a bunch of Italians. Solid music.