Today I played...

[Sneakeater]

Thelonious Monk:  Palo Alto

Freitas Branco:  Symphony No. 4/Vathek (Cassuto/RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra) (might as well get familiar with the music of my new homeland)

Dvorák:  String Quartet No. 11/Two Waltzes (Stamitz Quartet)

The Beach Boys:  Surfin' Safari

Black Thought:  Streams of Thought Vol. 1

Schmidt/Anders Koppel/Martin Lohse/Per Norgärd:  Accordion Concertos (Mogensen//Gupta/Danish National Chamber Orchestra) (wish this could be my new homeland)

de Cleve:  Carole qui Veniens/Missa Rex Babylonis/Es Wel uns Gott Genedig Sein/Credo quod Redemptor/Corole qui Nomen//Vaet:  Rex Babylonis (Cinquento)

[hollywood]

Wow, he was 71 yesterday but he keeps on coming on.  The Boss.  

 

[joethefoodie]

Indeed -

And a new album next month (10/23), and long with one from EC (10/30). 

[Wilfrid]

Paolo Conte, live somewhere.

[mitchells]

Lots of Jason Isbell and Fantastic Negrito for me:

 

[hollywood]

 

[Sneakeater]

Dvorák:  String Quartets Nos. 7 & 9 (Stamitz Quartet)

Philip Glass:  Songs from the Trilogy

Beach Boys:  Surfin' U.S.A.

Frank Sinatra:  Sings for Only the Lonely (it's Capitol Records night at Chez Sneak!)

[Wilfrid]

Now listening to things I'm finding in David Toop's Ocean of Sound book,* ostensibly about "ambient music," but with ambient defined very broadly (if at all).

The KLF, Chill Out - didn't get more than halfway, pointless elevator muzak.

Sun Ra, Space is the Place

Nice bit of synchronicity: although I've known Sun Ra's music for years, and saw the post-Sun Arkestra supporting the post-Tyner/Smith MC5 in Central Park, I didn't know about the Space is the Place movie until I saw stills from it in an article in the Brooklyn Rail, like three or four weeks ago.

*Recommended by Sneak.

 

[Behemoth]

1 hour ago, Wilfrid said:

Sun Ra, Space is the Place

Nice bit of synchronicity: although I've known Sun Ra's music for years, and saw the post-Sun Arkestra supporting the post-Tyner/Smith MC5 in Central Park, I didn't know about the Space is the Place movie until I saw stills from it in an article in the Brooklyn Rail, like three or four weeks ago.

 

The whole Sun Ra  phenomenon and influence is really under-appreciated imo and not just because I'm a Philly partisan. There was a good recent article in NYT Review of Books that scratched the surface, maybe of interest. link

 

[Wilfrid]

Oh I'm an idiot, that's where I saw the pictures, not in the Brooklyn Rail. I would have had both print copies lying around the apartment at the same time (is my excuse).

ETA There was an article on Matthew Shipp in the BR, if that exonerates me (no, why should it?).

[Wilfrid]

Varése, Ionizations 

Dameron, “Fontainebleau“

[Wilfrid]

I'll drop these thoughts here, as this is the thread where they've been acted out. Working through David Toop's Ocean of Sound, and making notes of all kinds of things to listen to, it's really sinking in that I need my listening to be regimented. 

This has been a problem for me ever since all the music in the world became available online. I am paralysed by choice. As Malcolm McLaren said, "post modernity is when you don't know what to buy any more." I can sit around thinking, hmm, Tangerine Dream or Bach or Glenn Campbell or Camaron de la Isla, and end up making the wrong choice or no choice at all.

I didn't notice this so much before life went on pause, because I was often too busy to listen to much anyway. But having evenings indoors, and lots of extra time, it has become more pressing. But the solution was already there: Top 100 debut albums of all time; Rough Guide to Classical Music; now Toop. If I have third-party recommendations, or a roadmap like going through composers in alphabetical order, I listen to things I wouldn't have otherwise chosen, I have more fun, and I'm less frustrated.

For example, Toop had me listening to Chicago deep house this morning, a choice I would never have made myself, and it was just fine.

 

 

 

 

[Sneakeater]

I guess I avoid that problem by sticking to the incredibly antiquated expedient of only listening to music I own.  (I'm not trying to be superior or anything about this.  It's nothing more than a habit.)

[Sneakeater]

Cristóbal Halffter:  Cuarteto de Cuerda No. 7 "Espacio de Silencio"/Endechas para una Reina de España/Canciones de Al-Ándalus (Pozas/Jimenz/Parado/Leipzig Quartet)

Rachel Talitman et al.:  Jewish Composers:  The Escapers (chamber music including the harp by Goldschmidt/Dresden/Ben-Haim)

Bach:  Partitas Nos. 2, 3 & 4 (Perahia)

Strauss:  Also Sprach Zarathustra/Don Quixote (Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra)

D. Lobo:  Audivi Vocem de Caelo/Missa Sancta Maria/Christmas Responsories/Missa Elisabeth Zachariae/Alma Redemptoris Mater (Toscano/Cupertinos) (getting more familiar with the music of my future homeland) (I'm sure I'll be going to see this terrific group A LOT)

Nat King Cole:  Hittin' the Ramp:  The Early Years 1936-1943 (Disc 4)

Fleetwood Mac:  Future Games (I have a feeling the reason I liked this album so much back in the day is that I almost never listened to Side 2 -- a distinction you can't easily make any more) (although the wonderful "Show Me a Smile" is [or rather "was"] on the flip; I think I kind of missed out on it)

[Sneakeater]

Florio/I Turcini:  Il Tesoro di San Gennaro (sacred music from early 18th Century Naples by D. Scarlatti/Caresana/Fiago/Veneziano) (I am so in love with the Neapolitan school that it isn't even dignified) (listen and I'm confident you'll join me)

Bjarnason/Iceland Symphony Orchestra:  Concurrence (orchestral works by Anna Thorvaldsdottir/Haukur Tomasson/Maria Huld Marken Sigfusdottir/Paul Ragner Paisson) (the Icelanders will be relieved to know that I think their country is too small to imagine moving to)

Beach Boys:  Surfer Girl

Tricky:  Fall to Pieces (I was not expecting this to be this good) (it shows how cannibalistic the music audience is:  I'm sorry Tricky's daughter died -- but fuck this is a GOOD album)

Bach:  Partitas Nos. 1, 5 & 6 (Perahia)