From Sunday, when Jean, Renee and I were eating at John Barleycorn's with Jean's sister Ann. There was a somewhat weak quartet playing classical music. Ann thought quietly, then said:
"They're playing Vivaldi ... Vivaldi is winning."
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Friday, June 12, 2015
QOTD
“I don’t want them to follow me. I want them to follow themselves, but to be with me.”
- Ornette Coleman
- Ornette Coleman
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Substitute Meditation
So the evening activities run on beyond the normal routine, and you don't have the energy to do your normal night time meditation. What to do? Slip on the wireless headphones, close your eyes, and listen to Baby's on Fire (the original, not Die Antwoord, ugh, Google!).
Friday, July 20, 2012
Why haven't I had these albums for years?
I'm way behind on recording what I've bought musically. So what else is new? So let us briefly visit what has been added to my pop culture archive.
My habit, when discovering a new artist, or revisiting one I've known but not 'owned', is to do a little research (in the last decade, "Google"), and settle on an album which is representative of the artist's ouvre. Typically, one album is enough. Sometimes it is a "best of" album, and sometimes, it is that snapshot in time, the crystalline essence of an artist's potential (cf. Harvest, Tapestry, etc.). Yes, I know those are both ancient. Sorry, so am I. [They date from my high school years or even before].
Despite the last two examples being from my childhood/teens, some of my favorite music dates from before I was born. Collectively, I absolutely love bebop and hard bop. One of the classics of the era is Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus. This is one of those albums which has very few filler pieces. I'm hard-pressed to name a piece off this album which is sub-standard.
Given that, I have to ask, "Why haven't I had The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady for all those decades? While there are only four compositions on this album, each is steeped in its era. I listen to this and I revisit every album, every film from the mid-sixties, when I was but a wee tot. All that pop culture was just background noise as I was growing up. But now, and yes, even for many years, it has been a vital part of my musical tapestry ('I see what you did there').
"Mingus Ah Um" is a great, perhaps magnificent album. But while "Black Saint" isn't quite the crystalization of concepts, it is still in my top 100 albums of all time. So to repeat the refrain, "why haven't I had this album for years?"
About the same time that I procured 'Saint', I also picked up a copy of Come Dance With Me, a 1959 Frank Sinatra album arranged and conducted by Billy May. I already had two best-of albums and Watertown. Some of them I've had for many years. But 'Come Dance with Me!' is undeniably catchy, upbeat and fun. It's purely Frank, in a positive mood. Once again, why had I not heard of this one, or gotten it, before?
I've picked up a number of other albums in the interrim since getting these, but none are so notable, so I think I'll leave it at that (I'm sure you're relieved to hear). Just check these two out on Spotify or your own favorite sampling site, and see if you like them as much as I do.
My habit, when discovering a new artist, or revisiting one I've known but not 'owned', is to do a little research (in the last decade, "Google"), and settle on an album which is representative of the artist's ouvre. Typically, one album is enough. Sometimes it is a "best of" album, and sometimes, it is that snapshot in time, the crystalline essence of an artist's potential (cf. Harvest, Tapestry, etc.). Yes, I know those are both ancient. Sorry, so am I. [They date from my high school years or even before].
Despite the last two examples being from my childhood/teens, some of my favorite music dates from before I was born. Collectively, I absolutely love bebop and hard bop. One of the classics of the era is Mingus Ah Um by Charles Mingus. This is one of those albums which has very few filler pieces. I'm hard-pressed to name a piece off this album which is sub-standard.
Given that, I have to ask, "Why haven't I had The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady for all those decades? While there are only four compositions on this album, each is steeped in its era. I listen to this and I revisit every album, every film from the mid-sixties, when I was but a wee tot. All that pop culture was just background noise as I was growing up. But now, and yes, even for many years, it has been a vital part of my musical tapestry ('I see what you did there').
"Mingus Ah Um" is a great, perhaps magnificent album. But while "Black Saint" isn't quite the crystalization of concepts, it is still in my top 100 albums of all time. So to repeat the refrain, "why haven't I had this album for years?"
About the same time that I procured 'Saint', I also picked up a copy of Come Dance With Me, a 1959 Frank Sinatra album arranged and conducted by Billy May. I already had two best-of albums and Watertown. Some of them I've had for many years. But 'Come Dance with Me!' is undeniably catchy, upbeat and fun. It's purely Frank, in a positive mood. Once again, why had I not heard of this one, or gotten it, before?
I've picked up a number of other albums in the interrim since getting these, but none are so notable, so I think I'll leave it at that (I'm sure you're relieved to hear). Just check these two out on Spotify or your own favorite sampling site, and see if you like them as much as I do.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
New Music
I realized I need to catch up on what I've acquired recently. No hotlinks, just Google if you care...
Those last four have been on my want list for years (used to own them in LP format in my college years). They are the four classic albums in the 'pop' series by Brian Eno, who has done a lot of cool music in many genres, including inventing a couple on his own. He has also produced albums for such 'formerly famous' groups as Roxy Music and Talking Heads.
The major emusic players all wanted $9.50 for each, and that seemed a little steep for albums from the 70's. But today I got email from Google that they were running a new music store, and when I checked, these were all available for $5 apiece. So I bought them all. Seems that capitalism works in my favor sometimes.
Assuming that Music for Airports is still $5 when I get my next paycheck, I'll grab that one too. That's not from his 'pop' series, but from his 'ambient music' series. I consider him one of the primary inventors of that genre.
While downloading these, I spent the evening browsing Spotify, and discovered that they had the collaboration between Brian Eno and David Byrne (Talking Heads) entitled "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts", which is an album of compositions mixed over samples from Southern Evangelical radio shows. It was one of my favorite albums of the period. Unfortunately, it is still 'expensive'. Guess I'll just have to wait for more 'capitalist' competition to bring the price down!
- Bright and Vivid - Kathryn Calder
- The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Sampler) - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
- Another Green World - Brian Eno
- Before and After Science - Brian Eno
- Here Come the Warm Jets - Brian Eno
- Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) - Brian Eno
Those last four have been on my want list for years (used to own them in LP format in my college years). They are the four classic albums in the 'pop' series by Brian Eno, who has done a lot of cool music in many genres, including inventing a couple on his own. He has also produced albums for such 'formerly famous' groups as Roxy Music and Talking Heads.
The major emusic players all wanted $9.50 for each, and that seemed a little steep for albums from the 70's. But today I got email from Google that they were running a new music store, and when I checked, these were all available for $5 apiece. So I bought them all. Seems that capitalism works in my favor sometimes.
Assuming that Music for Airports is still $5 when I get my next paycheck, I'll grab that one too. That's not from his 'pop' series, but from his 'ambient music' series. I consider him one of the primary inventors of that genre.
While downloading these, I spent the evening browsing Spotify, and discovered that they had the collaboration between Brian Eno and David Byrne (Talking Heads) entitled "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts", which is an album of compositions mixed over samples from Southern Evangelical radio shows. It was one of my favorite albums of the period. Unfortunately, it is still 'expensive'. Guess I'll just have to wait for more 'capitalist' competition to bring the price down!
Friday, September 9, 2011
New Back Catalog Acquisitions
Amazon's September $5 sale includes two albums from my high school years, so I grabbed 'em:
Hunky Dory
Sheer Heart Attack
Hunky Dory is of course due to my tracking down the song Kooks after it was played in the movie Hanna. I still think this album is one of those pivotal works that should appear on every top-X albums of the history of pop/rock.
Sheer Heart Attack is just my nod to Freddie's birthday, which was nicely acknowledged by a Google Doodle recently.
Hunky Dory
Sheer Heart Attack
Hunky Dory is of course due to my tracking down the song Kooks after it was played in the movie Hanna. I still think this album is one of those pivotal works that should appear on every top-X albums of the history of pop/rock.
Sheer Heart Attack is just my nod to Freddie's birthday, which was nicely acknowledged by a Google Doodle recently.
Monday, August 15, 2011
QOTD
"If the whole thing is a put-on, a bit of Vincent Gallo life-as-theater for the benefit of whoever happens to be sitting next to them, that's no excuse. It's being an asshole about being an asshole."
Steve Albini on Odd Future
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Spotify
If you check my Last.FM list, you'll see that instead of getting ready for bed and tomorrow, I've been frittering away the evening playing with the free stream from Spotify, which launched in the US today (Hacker News was full of free invites, and in fact included a Python program to scan for available invites, so I used that).
Like all music services, for sale or streaming, it is incomplete, failing some of my 'acid test' list of hard-to-find musicians and albums, but it nevertheless has an impressive playlist with many 'soundtrack-of-my-life' songs. It won't replace eMusic, or anyway, it won't replace the eMusic I liked before they tried to become iTunes-only-more-expensive-and-less-convenient, but it will let me play in the more popular streams. Still need a good indie/jazz/world/outsider vendor to force me outside of my comfort zone, but this will be fun for more conventional needs.
Like all music services, for sale or streaming, it is incomplete, failing some of my 'acid test' list of hard-to-find musicians and albums, but it nevertheless has an impressive playlist with many 'soundtrack-of-my-life' songs. It won't replace eMusic, or anyway, it won't replace the eMusic I liked before they tried to become iTunes-only-more-expensive-and-less-convenient, but it will let me play in the more popular streams. Still need a good indie/jazz/world/outsider vendor to force me outside of my comfort zone, but this will be fun for more conventional needs.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Hunky Dory (and Hanna)
A couple of weeks ago I went to see Hanna, after reading this interview with the director, Joe Wright, who had previously been known for more arty fare, such as Pride and Prejudice. The conflict between a tense spy action movie and a coming of age drama struck me as intriguing. As it turns out, I enjoyed the movie very much. Saoirse Ronan is striking and has great stage presence. The supporting cast seemed perfect. And, the jumps between action and long, contemplative passages where Hanna revels in the new world, are very appealing.
However! There was one scene which tormented me for the last couple of weeks. In it, Hanna has 'stowed away' in a family's van as they drive across Europe on holiday. The scene is meant to show how she is exposed to the casual love and playfulness of a family, so unlike her own boot camp relationship with her own father, played by Eric Bana. But as the family is playfully mucking about, with Hanna observing from her hiding place in the laundry box at the back of the van, a whimsical tune is playing. I knew I had heard this tune many times, but just could not place it.
Well, I tried to look up the song in the soundtrack credits, but they don't include it. The soundtrack for sale is just all Chemical Brothers (the electronica duo responsible for most of the music). Okay, they are fun, but this was not what I wanted to know. No matter how I rephrased my search in Google, it always turned up Chemical Brothers. Wrong!
I had given up.
So tonight, for some reason, I'm browsing album samples on Amazon MP3. I come across an old David Bowie album, Hunky Dory, which I remember listening to in early college years (it had already been out perhaps five years by then). And what a surprise, Kooks is the damn song I was looking for! Interesting synchronicity there, as the song was written by Bowie for his son, whom I knew for years as Zowie Bowie, but whose full legal name is Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones. He is now a well regarded director, responsible for the lovely scifi film Moon (starring Sam Rockwell), and the more recent scifi puzzle/thriller (echoing Philip K. Dick): Source Code.
Anyway, I'm thrilled to uncover this when the Internet failed me. So I'm logging it here in case anyone else is going through the same struggle I did.
However! There was one scene which tormented me for the last couple of weeks. In it, Hanna has 'stowed away' in a family's van as they drive across Europe on holiday. The scene is meant to show how she is exposed to the casual love and playfulness of a family, so unlike her own boot camp relationship with her own father, played by Eric Bana. But as the family is playfully mucking about, with Hanna observing from her hiding place in the laundry box at the back of the van, a whimsical tune is playing. I knew I had heard this tune many times, but just could not place it.
Well, I tried to look up the song in the soundtrack credits, but they don't include it. The soundtrack for sale is just all Chemical Brothers (the electronica duo responsible for most of the music). Okay, they are fun, but this was not what I wanted to know. No matter how I rephrased my search in Google, it always turned up Chemical Brothers. Wrong!
I had given up.
So tonight, for some reason, I'm browsing album samples on Amazon MP3. I come across an old David Bowie album, Hunky Dory, which I remember listening to in early college years (it had already been out perhaps five years by then). And what a surprise, Kooks is the damn song I was looking for! Interesting synchronicity there, as the song was written by Bowie for his son, whom I knew for years as Zowie Bowie, but whose full legal name is Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones. He is now a well regarded director, responsible for the lovely scifi film Moon (starring Sam Rockwell), and the more recent scifi puzzle/thriller (echoing Philip K. Dick): Source Code.
Anyway, I'm thrilled to uncover this when the Internet failed me. So I'm logging it here in case anyone else is going through the same struggle I did.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Princess Pangolin
As I jokingly told my wife yesterday evening, I've been "in mourning" since leaving eMusic. Despite my complaints about the escalating costs increasing the risk of experimentation, and the dilution of truly unique music with standard major-label dreck, eMusic served one purpose very well. It got me out of my comfort zone.
I got very used to listening to bands I'd never heard of, and often got whole albums on the strength of the curated reviews. Now I'm mostly adrift, and honing my sifting and winnowing skills anew. Since early October, my listening time has fallen off a cliff, and it's mostly due to the fact that I'd grown used to a steady stream of new music forming the playlists on my iPod. That stopped, and I stopped listening.
Now, the pain is fading (wink), and I've begun to cast an eye about for new interests. Happily, Mark at BoingBoing chose to vocally declare the beauty of Princess Pangolin, a lovely, soft, folky debut album by an indie artist. It is a short album, clocking in at around thirty minutes, and at $3, is a damn bargain. My favorite song of the week, and due to the hiatus, the month, is "The Great Divide", which could easily be a single on the right radio station.
And now I have to spend at least an evening a week perusing Bandcamp. It's not eMusic, and doesn't try to be, but it is another place to hang out and stretch my boundaries.
P.S. - Chromatophore is nearly as good as The Great Divide. And yes, I am listening to it right now.
I got very used to listening to bands I'd never heard of, and often got whole albums on the strength of the curated reviews. Now I'm mostly adrift, and honing my sifting and winnowing skills anew. Since early October, my listening time has fallen off a cliff, and it's mostly due to the fact that I'd grown used to a steady stream of new music forming the playlists on my iPod. That stopped, and I stopped listening.
Now, the pain is fading (wink), and I've begun to cast an eye about for new interests. Happily, Mark at BoingBoing chose to vocally declare the beauty of Princess Pangolin, a lovely, soft, folky debut album by an indie artist. It is a short album, clocking in at around thirty minutes, and at $3, is a damn bargain. My favorite song of the week, and due to the hiatus, the month, is "The Great Divide", which could easily be a single on the right radio station.
And now I have to spend at least an evening a week perusing Bandcamp. It's not eMusic, and doesn't try to be, but it is another place to hang out and stretch my boundaries.
P.S. - Chromatophore is nearly as good as The Great Divide. And yes, I am listening to it right now.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Glee! and Halloween
I've watched the first few episodes of Glee!, and while it is somewhat fun, it somehow just didn't stick with me, unlike LXG. But I hope you can guess which episode I'll be making a point of watching as Halloween rolls around.
Holy Cow! Netflix has Rocky Horror available streaming now! Just keep lining 'em up!
Later...
Holy Cow! Netflix has Rocky Horror available streaming now! Just keep lining 'em up!
Monday, October 11, 2010
End of an Experiment
I cancelled my eMusic account tonight. I came home from work after buying a new office chair for the den, and checked my email only to find a message that they were once again planning on bumping prices. It's only been about a year since the last bump (and they used the same excuse: "we're adding a major label to our line-up. More choice!").
Given that I joined eMusic to experiment, taking chances on new and indie music to broaden my horizons, this second price hike pushed me over the edge. The fact that they are now able to offer more of the mainstream music I can get elsewhere isn't much of an attraction. The fact that I must now spend quite a lot more to take a chance on an unknown is the final straw.
Goodbye, eMusic. You were the source of some inspired discoveries, and a lot of so-so experiments. At the new price points, I can't justify that model anymore.
Given that I joined eMusic to experiment, taking chances on new and indie music to broaden my horizons, this second price hike pushed me over the edge. The fact that they are now able to offer more of the mainstream music I can get elsewhere isn't much of an attraction. The fact that I must now spend quite a lot more to take a chance on an unknown is the final straw.
Goodbye, eMusic. You were the source of some inspired discoveries, and a lot of so-so experiments. At the new price points, I can't justify that model anymore.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Carl Stalling Project
Okay, I know, SOMEWHERE in this stinking house, there is a cd of this album, but I just can't find it. So after listening to Be the Frog for the millionth time, I finally decided to spend some eMusic credits to download a new copy of Carl Stalling. It's such fun!
Monday, May 17, 2010
The Blue Album
Just grabbed this album by Orbital. It was their last album, and contains samples from a Russell T. Davies show with Christoper Eccleston (first Doctor Who in the new series). This is what first piqued my interest. Gonna listen to it while writing code tomorrow!
Dunno why, but I just frickin' love You Lot...
Update
Dunno why, but I just frickin' love You Lot...
Sunday, May 16, 2010
New Music
Picked up lots of singles: two Joy Division songs, "She's Lost Control" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart"; Dr. John's "Right Place, Wrong Time"; Louis Prima's "Sing Sing Sing"; Adam Ant's "Dog Eat Dog"; Love and Rockets' "Kundalini Express", "Ball of Confusion", "So Alive".
Three albums:
Three albums:
- What Burns Never Returns - Don Caballero
- Blow By Blow - Jeff Beck
- Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven - Love and Rockets
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Two New Albums
Broken Bells - Broken Bells. This is a new collaboration for Danger Mouse (of Gnarls Barkley fame), this time with James Mercer, of The Shins. Sounds promising.
Battles - Battles. This is a band which features members of Don Caballero, another band which I enjoy, so I thought I'd take a stab at it.
Battles - Battles. This is a band which features members of Don Caballero, another band which I enjoy, so I thought I'd take a stab at it.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Musical Lapses
Okay, I know I've been on vacation from the weblog, and even when I do attend to it, I'm just using it as offboard memory, i.e. to remind me what I've recently seen on Netflix, or grabbed from eMusic, for instance. Guess what? This is another one of those posts!
I'm just starting it here to remind me to fish out the past few albums when I get home, but as I'm at work, I'll keep it short. I just wanted to note the new album I'm listening to right now:
The Edge of the Forest - Darren Johnston
Oddly, Darren is not in the Big Fat Book of Jazz, which gave me some pause. Is he a fly-by-night Jazz scammer? But the samples on eMusic sounded intriguing, so I decided to take a chance, and grabbed the whole thing (I know, eMusic bumped prices, how can I justify such a wild gamble? Just a fool for music, I guess...).
It's pretty avant-garde, and I'm not sure if it is going to grow on me, or 'go' on me, if you catch my meaning. But I'm attracted/repelled by the first composition, "Be the Frog", a nine minute journey from Gershwin to Cage to Carl Stalling (where is my damn Carl Stalling Project CD???) to who-knows-who. At times I'm just bouncing in my chair digging the music, while at others I'm sorta wagging my hand in the universal gesture of get-on-with-it.
Digging around on the net, I find he studied under Fred Frith, which is as good a pedigree as any. And why don't I have any Fred Frith, for frack's sake (I guess since I have a lot of The Residents I sorta have him, as he guested with them tons)?
Wow, pent-up weblogging fury! I better stop before I kill again. Anyway, I'll tag the other recent albums onto the end of this post when I get home. Ciao!
And two piano compositions by Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou from the 'Ethiopiques Volume 21 - Ethiopia Song'. I plan to grab the rest of this album over time.
I'm just starting it here to remind me to fish out the past few albums when I get home, but as I'm at work, I'll keep it short. I just wanted to note the new album I'm listening to right now:
The Edge of the Forest - Darren Johnston
Oddly, Darren is not in the Big Fat Book of Jazz, which gave me some pause. Is he a fly-by-night Jazz scammer? But the samples on eMusic sounded intriguing, so I decided to take a chance, and grabbed the whole thing (I know, eMusic bumped prices, how can I justify such a wild gamble? Just a fool for music, I guess...).
It's pretty avant-garde, and I'm not sure if it is going to grow on me, or 'go' on me, if you catch my meaning. But I'm attracted/repelled by the first composition, "Be the Frog", a nine minute journey from Gershwin to Cage to Carl Stalling (where is my damn Carl Stalling Project CD???) to who-knows-who. At times I'm just bouncing in my chair digging the music, while at others I'm sorta wagging my hand in the universal gesture of get-on-with-it.
Digging around on the net, I find he studied under Fred Frith, which is as good a pedigree as any. And why don't I have any Fred Frith, for frack's sake (I guess since I have a lot of The Residents I sorta have him, as he guested with them tons)?
Wow, pent-up weblogging fury! I better stop before I kill again. Anyway, I'll tag the other recent albums onto the end of this post when I get home. Ciao!
Updates
- Overnight in Paris - Clifford Brown
- Alice - Tom Waits
- Winter Moon - Art Pepper
- The Black Light - Calexico
And two piano compositions by Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou from the 'Ethiopiques Volume 21 - Ethiopia Song'. I plan to grab the rest of this album over time.
Friday, January 29, 2010
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