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Re: OT: What's on your iPod/CDplayer/Turntable
I like these listening lists, it's always a great source for new music.
Last CD's I got:
Sun Ra: With Pharoah Sanders and Black Harold: reissue of an extremely
rare
mid-60's Saturn LP. I actually have the LP, but the CD adds 45 extra
minutes
of better recorded tracks. This is the energy music side of the Arkestra,
and Sanders, who was new to NYC at the time of this recording, is already
sounding killer.
John McLaughlin/Chick Corea: Five Peace Band Live and Return To Forever:
Live at Montreaux (DVD). In hight school in the 70's, I idolized Corea,
especially the RTF quartet stuff. I pretty much quit listening to him
after
the Elektrik Band's glossy FM overload, but these two releases have just
been klicking my ass. Both of these are just killer, the new RTF seems to
have a deeper pocket than they ever did in the 70's, and the 5PB is pure
fusion, excellent musicianship and a lot of fire.
Mulatu Astatke with the Heliocentrics: Mulatu is an Ethiopian
musician/arranger/bandleader behind much of the excellent Ethio-funk of
the
70's, and The Heliocentrics are a young British band with a vast 70's
fixation. It's a perfect match, Mulatu's slinky grooves and strange modal
melodies tastefully updated with touches of hip hop and electronics.
Secret Chiefs 3: The Severed Right Hands of the Last Men (title is
actually
in Italian, but I don't have the disc with me and am too lazy to look it
up). Speaking of 70's fixations, this is a soundtrack to an imaginary
Italian horror film. If I didn't know better, I'd swear it was a lost
Morricone or Goblin rarity, even the recording quality fits with the era.
Also, the new Tortoise is very nice, lots of cool distorted analog synths.
But the majority of my listening lately has been stuff I've downloaded
from
avantgardeproject.org: an archjive of about 150 lp's of out of print
academic electronic and 20th Century classical music. Lp's are transferred
from vinyl with extreme fidelity, even the mp3 versions sound excellent,
and
it's really a wealth of interesting music. Material by Parmegiani, Berio,
Subotnick, Kagel, Cage and many others, including composers I've never
heard
of, and I've been kind of obsessed with this stuff since college. Probably
of special interest to this list are several late-70's Henry Kasier
recordings. This archive is simply astounding, it'll take me weeks of
listening to just make a first pass through this.
Seems like I've been living in the past lately :-)
Also, I should second Rick's recomendation of Nik Bartsch's Ronin, I have
both of their ECM discs and they are incredible. It's like the concepts of
80's Krimson as played by a chamber-jazz ensemble. Great stuff.