there was a thread like this a while ago and it was pretty cool. I guess there are already like five threads in this vain, "recent purchases", "albums listened to today", "now playing" ect, but not many of them have much insight on the music.
Recent things heard that caught my attention:
Pricy Decay - Guidelines for Basement Non Fidel(1991)
Not really into the D Nyokis i had heard prior to hearing guidelines, but i was told to check out this record before writing him off. I Am pretty fond of vocal oddness/"sound poetry" in music, especially people meowing like cats(the godz), burps surrounded by intense silences(R&G) and just general moaning(smegma, furious pig ec), so this album was right up my alley. One of the most wacked out things i've heard in a while(besides maybe my 2nd entry). Title is pretty perfect. I could never really tell what the hell was going on. The track that really stood out to me was "cooked chicks". Starts off with some high end boiling sounds, follwed by some intense low frequency blasts that come just at the right times. I haven't had much luck finding stuff in this vein with such great dynamics and sense of timing, but if there is some out there, let me know! Hope im not the only one who slept on this. Total classic that i have slept on way too long.
Smell and Quim - Jesus Christ LP
I still have yet to find a picture of the front cover of this, sounds pretty gross. The back cover is pretty crazy. The music, well...gross tape loops. Heavy weird guitar. Don't even know what to really call the vocals. All one big fucking mess. Really freaked me out. Sort of a mix between the broken flag/death industrial stuff and the acid casuality drug noise ie smegma and la forte four. I dig it.
Goslings - Grandeur of Hair
You guys all know this record and it seems to be pretty popular among this forum. I hadn't checked it out till a few days ago because it didn't really seem like my bag. I figured it would be sort of a free folk sorta thing but it turns out its actually part of a new genre, "shoedoom". Pretty awsome blown out shit. Can't really say much else since i've only listened once, its due for another go.
VA - From Where I Stand: The Black Country Experience
Man, why does this have to be out of print! Absolutely amazing 3cd box set that goes in chronological order, starting with Mississippi Shelks and ending with Charley Pride. The first disc which covers the early 40s to the 50s might not be a very extensive look into the music of that era, but its quite a nice collection of tunes nonetheless. My knowledge of pre 1960s music sucks, so whenever i find comps like this (such as the pre war gospel comp on revenant, the blind willie johnson collection ect) I end up playing them over and over again for weeks. The 2nd disc goes into the mid 50s to the early 60s, another era i know very little about. A little bit of everything on this disc, from a great orioles track, an awsome fats domino cover of "you win again", and some early al green. The 3rd disc covers the late 60s and 70s with the infamous charley pride and his cover of "is anybody going to san antoine". This disc is mainly strait up country while the first is mainly blues and the 2nd mainly soul/doo wop. The roots of country and the influence soul had on it always interested me. Ever since finding out that half of the burrito bros tunes on gilded palace were dan penn songs i've been really into the marriage of c&w and soul. This comp is a pretty nice glimpse into this world and i highly highly recommend it to anybody.
So, give us some thoughts on what your listening to, because relying on the music press avalible sucks.
thoughts on recent listenings
these aren't new to my ears, but the last few things listened to:
Zbigniew Karkowski: Consciously Unconscious
A mellower affair for ZK, my enjoyment of this comes mainly out of it's compositional nature rather than specific sounds. Not sure to what extent it is actually composed, but i love how so many things weave in and out while maintaing a consistent tone and sound throughout. The varied-yet-static dynamic/juxtaposition is obviously something I'm very interested in, though calling this one static is defnitely a stretch.
Zbigniew Karkowski: Hear
This one is definitely less composed and more balls out. The tone is crisp and the frequencies all over the map. Sounds swell up, peak, implode, and re-emerge. Seems to be a lot of digital feedback, but I'm really have the slightest idea. My disc "Hearing" was definitely a nod to this one, which i could safely call my personal favorite Karkowski release.
Bastard Noise: Descent to Mimas
Four tracks, two harsh, one epic minimalist piece and one in that vague midground. The closer "Space Coffin" (the epic) is a truly great piece. Perhaps you have to be a fan of the BN's unique sonic palette to feel it on the level I do, but even if not, I highly recommend it. Not nearly as sci-fi as the title would suggest and not really too far removed from the realm of eai. In a different tonal/conceptual area for sure, but undoubtedly a very heavily focused improvisation.
Zbigniew Karkowski: Consciously Unconscious
A mellower affair for ZK, my enjoyment of this comes mainly out of it's compositional nature rather than specific sounds. Not sure to what extent it is actually composed, but i love how so many things weave in and out while maintaing a consistent tone and sound throughout. The varied-yet-static dynamic/juxtaposition is obviously something I'm very interested in, though calling this one static is defnitely a stretch.
Zbigniew Karkowski: Hear
This one is definitely less composed and more balls out. The tone is crisp and the frequencies all over the map. Sounds swell up, peak, implode, and re-emerge. Seems to be a lot of digital feedback, but I'm really have the slightest idea. My disc "Hearing" was definitely a nod to this one, which i could safely call my personal favorite Karkowski release.
Bastard Noise: Descent to Mimas
Four tracks, two harsh, one epic minimalist piece and one in that vague midground. The closer "Space Coffin" (the epic) is a truly great piece. Perhaps you have to be a fan of the BN's unique sonic palette to feel it on the level I do, but even if not, I highly recommend it. Not nearly as sci-fi as the title would suggest and not really too far removed from the realm of eai. In a different tonal/conceptual area for sure, but undoubtedly a very heavily focused improvisation.
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user_350
That record is pure fuckin' genius. Total sloppy rambling Beefheart style going on amongst the broken toy and toilet spitfire.icefactory wrote:You should check out that Milovan Srdenovic lp on Freedom From. I think it's one of the guys from S&Q doing wacked out folk music with toys and garbage and stupid lyrics. It's got a certain kind of charm that you find in some dirty public toilets.
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user_294
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AlbionMoonlight
- Posts: 525
- Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 12:14 am
I really enjoy Stepahn Mathieu's work. The Wurmolch pieces are fabulous. My favorite work of his is The Sad Mac from last year. I wish he was a more prolific artist, but I suppose his sense of quality control restricts his output. I also hope that another collaborative work is in his future--Heroin with Ekkehard Ehlers was a stellar album.misc frank wrote:stephan mathieu - wurmloch (last track on WURMLOCH: Variationen), this is a sad but comforting, piano-based track w/lil' shrill resonances. it helps me to understand where i stand (out in the cold, on icy sidewalk)
[/i]
In fact I'll go ahead with what I have and have heard:
1. Reciprocess + / vs., Vol. 02 with Benford (BiP HOp)
2. Die Entdeckung Des Wetters (Lucky Kitchen)
3. the three tracks off Good Night: Music To Sleep By (Tigerbeat6)
4. Pieces of Winter with Hudak (Sirr)
5. the track off Small Melodies (Spekk)
6. Kapotte Muziek (Korm Plastics)
I also saw him perform this: http://www.discogs.com/release/655277 at Lampo in '05 it was DOPE.
1. Reciprocess + / vs., Vol. 02 with Benford (BiP HOp)
2. Die Entdeckung Des Wetters (Lucky Kitchen)
3. the three tracks off Good Night: Music To Sleep By (Tigerbeat6)
4. Pieces of Winter with Hudak (Sirr)
5. the track off Small Melodies (Spekk)
6. Kapotte Muziek (Korm Plastics)
I also saw him perform this: http://www.discogs.com/release/655277 at Lampo in '05 it was DOPE.
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AlbionMoonlight
- Posts: 525
- Joined: Mon May 12, 2008 12:14 am
a s o
--Got a chance to sit down and listen to this one--Thoroughly enjoyable for its quiet tension, though the obvious crescendo seems a bit forced via careful editing and track arranging. The most enthralling moments come when Ami's voice loses its more definite vocal qualities and meshes with Kurzman's electronics; when their aural identities seem to float away, even if not only for a few seconds.
Clouddead-Ten
--I've been listening to Doseone's material for sometime now, and love his work. Such disparate influences (Reading his pick for cover art in December's Wire reveal a collection with This Heat's Deceit alongside some other interesting stuff) combining to make hip-hop that is indefatigably unique and even textural, an adjective little used in much of hip-hop.
-----Cottoncotton candy cottoncotton candy spun anyway you like it.
William Basinski-Disintegration Loops
Fell asleep to this last night. I find this Loops project to be much more successful than his other work--I almost think that he is a sort of one shot artist in that respect. But look at this guy!
--Got a chance to sit down and listen to this one--Thoroughly enjoyable for its quiet tension, though the obvious crescendo seems a bit forced via careful editing and track arranging. The most enthralling moments come when Ami's voice loses its more definite vocal qualities and meshes with Kurzman's electronics; when their aural identities seem to float away, even if not only for a few seconds.
Clouddead-Ten
--I've been listening to Doseone's material for sometime now, and love his work. Such disparate influences (Reading his pick for cover art in December's Wire reveal a collection with This Heat's Deceit alongside some other interesting stuff) combining to make hip-hop that is indefatigably unique and even textural, an adjective little used in much of hip-hop.
-----Cottoncotton candy cottoncotton candy spun anyway you like it.
William Basinski-Disintegration Loops
Fell asleep to this last night. I find this Loops project to be much more successful than his other work--I almost think that he is a sort of one shot artist in that respect. But look at this guy!
As it usually happens, when I get in the mood for something and wind up with a solid album, I get thirsty for more.. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury compelled me to seek out some more rap. Hadn't bought much in a while...
Rhymefest - Blue Collar
Chicago on the rise? On first 1/2 listen.. not impressed at all. OK beats but the vocals and rhymes seem lacking. I'll have to give it another chance now that I know what to expect.
AZ - The Format
Been wanting to pick this up for a while now. Satisfying, unsurprisingly. THat NY shit, my favorite kind... samples, solid beats, gritty rhymes.
The Roots - Game Theory
I almost felt bad for them after catching some of Questlove's video tour blog - the man is down... success came and (kinda) went. I was into them a bit in the 90's but lost interest. A friend was hyping this up so I decided to give it a chance. This actually seems good on first listen, I'll be playing it some more. Prog-Hop ?
DJ Screw - 11-16-00
3 discs at a real cheap price. So I was jonesin' for some of that syrupy slow TX stuff. I guess this is some of his original Screwed Up Click tapes. Some tracks have that crappy lo-fi cassette sound and everything. Nice.. authenticity. heh. It's pretty patchy but I'll roll with it - I'd rather get a feel for it from the source if I can vs. a greatest hits thing.
Rhymefest - Blue Collar
Chicago on the rise? On first 1/2 listen.. not impressed at all. OK beats but the vocals and rhymes seem lacking. I'll have to give it another chance now that I know what to expect.
AZ - The Format
Been wanting to pick this up for a while now. Satisfying, unsurprisingly. THat NY shit, my favorite kind... samples, solid beats, gritty rhymes.
The Roots - Game Theory
I almost felt bad for them after catching some of Questlove's video tour blog - the man is down... success came and (kinda) went. I was into them a bit in the 90's but lost interest. A friend was hyping this up so I decided to give it a chance. This actually seems good on first listen, I'll be playing it some more. Prog-Hop ?
DJ Screw - 11-16-00
3 discs at a real cheap price. So I was jonesin' for some of that syrupy slow TX stuff. I guess this is some of his original Screwed Up Click tapes. Some tracks have that crappy lo-fi cassette sound and everything. Nice.. authenticity. heh. It's pretty patchy but I'll roll with it - I'd rather get a feel for it from the source if I can vs. a greatest hits thing.
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user_1697
When i was a littlun, we went to London for a few days with the school class while the headlines screamed Chernobyl. I felt: now that I'm in London, I gotta buy a strange record that will beriddle anyone when I come back and play it for them. So I went into a hip looking store, and the record I ogled endlessly was by the Deep Freeze Mice, but for some strange reason (childish inhibitions) I didn't dare buy it. Instead I settled for a Roy Wood solo effort and some Psychedelic Furs (hey, I was a littlun, and both disappointed me bitterly when I got home and played them).
Now, centuries later, thanks to the perversities of the interweb, I'm listening to the Deep Freeze Mice for the first time. I'm too old for them now, but man, they would have exactly fit the bill then. I had to wait for another couple of years before Flying Nun imports satisfied that unrealized craving. So right now, scuze me while I drown in nostalgia for a parallel past that could have been.
Now, centuries later, thanks to the perversities of the interweb, I'm listening to the Deep Freeze Mice for the first time. I'm too old for them now, but man, they would have exactly fit the bill then. I had to wait for another couple of years before Flying Nun imports satisfied that unrealized craving. So right now, scuze me while I drown in nostalgia for a parallel past that could have been.
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user_1697
Man, I think this thread is cool, so keep it up, mere statistics of when anybody listens to anywhat don't do anything. Well, right now I'm still listening to the Bad Plus and on the whole they're coming off as a latter day Dave Brubeck, which is the last thing that I need... Elsewhere just found some Japanese gagaku music which is probably what will keep my ears from dropping dead for the next couple of years...
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vegetable mind
- farcical and aquatic
- Posts: 620
- Joined: Sat May 10, 2008 3:56 pm
Recently I've been listening to john maus's album "Songs" a lot. personally i think it's brilliant. it can get somewhat samey sounding at times, but some of the lyrics are brilliant and his voice is great. deep and with this beautiful resonance, plus the fact that the songs can be catchy, insane pop songs...see Maniacs. great stuff
mike shiflet - ichinomiya
oh man, what a beautiful album. drifty without being dulled, crackling around all the right edges, and edging its way directly into the brain stem. it's almost melodic and it's insistant and it's like embalming fluid.
so yeah, anyway, it's great. surprised not to see it talked about more, but then i guess that's as much my fault as anyone's, as i haven't been talking about it.
well, i'm finally hearing it now and so i'm talking. also, it's green.
m
oh man, what a beautiful album. drifty without being dulled, crackling around all the right edges, and edging its way directly into the brain stem. it's almost melodic and it's insistant and it's like embalming fluid.
so yeah, anyway, it's great. surprised not to see it talked about more, but then i guess that's as much my fault as anyone's, as i haven't been talking about it.
well, i'm finally hearing it now and so i'm talking. also, it's green.
m
Re: thoughts on recent listenings
You ought to check out Medicine, particularly the Shot Forth Self Living CD, for shoe-centric noise. They descended into utter crap a few years later, sadly. Goslings labelmates shoot for shoedoom but their CD is pretty tedious.dave quam wrote:
Goslings - Grandeur of Hair
You guys all know this record and it seems to be pretty popular among this forum. I hadn't checked it out till a few days ago because it didn't really seem like my bag. I figured it would be sort of a free folk sorta thing but it turns out its actually part of a new genre, "shoedoom". Pretty awsome blown out shit. Can't really say much else since i've only listened once, its due for another go.
taylor deupree - stil.
I love this album. I bought it in september (released in 2001, re-released in 2006) at a local shop, just sort of found it serendipitously. The first three tracks are all good, but the title track, track 4, is completely brilliant.
nowadays deupree's output seems to have drifted toward the soft, listenable side of things, but this album is cold and hard, pristine. the last track is about 20 minutes long and it barely changes, but wow it's so great. It sounds like a bunch of sinewaves organized to make a chord or sorts, each tone has its own tremolo going on at a different frequency, each tremolo has been slightly randomized it seems, the overall effect is one of breath, of depth, static but not static. concurrent with these harmonious sinewaves is a subtractive synth chord that is very very quiet and panned hard left, this chord is down one half-step from the sonority of the sinewaves, but because this anti-harmonic element is so quiet the dissonance is quite subtle. You really have to concentrate even to hear this other chord.
The track begins suddenly, immediately immersing you into the texture i've described above. after several minutes, the tremolos on the sinewaves slow to a stop and the dissonant chord fades out creating an absolutely brilliant moment of stillness, clarity, and beauty that lasts for about 3 seconds before the tremolos and the dissonance return. The sudden absence of the quietly dissonant background creates a really remarkable effect, i can't emphasize this enough. The rest of the song is basically a repitition of this motif, the vibrating chords occasionally (~once every 6 minutes) interspersed with these still spaces. There are probably/maybe a lot of subtler variations going on between these moments of stillness that keep the sound alive.
The overall dynamics of this track is practically constant for the whole song. Totally breathtaking shit, lemme tell ya.
I love this album. I bought it in september (released in 2001, re-released in 2006) at a local shop, just sort of found it serendipitously. The first three tracks are all good, but the title track, track 4, is completely brilliant.
nowadays deupree's output seems to have drifted toward the soft, listenable side of things, but this album is cold and hard, pristine. the last track is about 20 minutes long and it barely changes, but wow it's so great. It sounds like a bunch of sinewaves organized to make a chord or sorts, each tone has its own tremolo going on at a different frequency, each tremolo has been slightly randomized it seems, the overall effect is one of breath, of depth, static but not static. concurrent with these harmonious sinewaves is a subtractive synth chord that is very very quiet and panned hard left, this chord is down one half-step from the sonority of the sinewaves, but because this anti-harmonic element is so quiet the dissonance is quite subtle. You really have to concentrate even to hear this other chord.
The track begins suddenly, immediately immersing you into the texture i've described above. after several minutes, the tremolos on the sinewaves slow to a stop and the dissonant chord fades out creating an absolutely brilliant moment of stillness, clarity, and beauty that lasts for about 3 seconds before the tremolos and the dissonance return. The sudden absence of the quietly dissonant background creates a really remarkable effect, i can't emphasize this enough. The rest of the song is basically a repitition of this motif, the vibrating chords occasionally (~once every 6 minutes) interspersed with these still spaces. There are probably/maybe a lot of subtler variations going on between these moments of stillness that keep the sound alive.
The overall dynamics of this track is practically constant for the whole song. Totally breathtaking shit, lemme tell ya.
well, i listened once or twice in the car, but that's obviously not ideal conditions. still making my way through erstquake pile and other stuff gleaned since summer. but yes, it's really really nice.mudd wrote:mike shiflet - ichinomiya
oh man, what a beautiful album. drifty without being dulled, crackling around all the right edges, and edging its way directly into the brain stem. it's almost melodic and it's insistant and it's like embalming fluid.
so yeah, anyway, it's great. surprised not to see it talked about more, but then i guess that's as much my fault as anyone's, as i haven't been talking about it.
-jesse