Thievery Corporation's label finally, after weeks of being blown off and told"it's in the mail"-can you believe that little chestnut is still used?- sent the CD to the mailbox. I jus' don't get no respect...
I am just wild about Four Tet-Everything Ecstatic. Four Tet is Kieran Hebden and when he says his influences were broad before making this album, I am a true believer. I may be a neophyte to this whole Trip Techno (my term for it) stuff, but this album should be in every household.
Monolake sent me four CDs and his albums are complex experimental techno. I mean what the hell do you call this stuff? Dark Trip Techno? Robert Henke is Monolake and just maybe I can get an interview sometime. Seems like there's some samples from Apocalypse Now or maybe it's just late and those two Diet Cokes are really kicking in. It's just late. www.monolake.de
Paul Avgerinos sent me four of his CDs. This carefully walks a thin line between New Age (most of which is dreadfully dull and unimaginative) and Ambient. Paul comes from a classical background and it seems a degree from Peabody is part of that. I have been delaying listening to these and I need to get over my "teshophobia"-a fear of new age music.
Charleston musician Terry "Bug" Lilly sent me his "Songs From A Green Guitar." This kid has got an amazing voice. Normally singers with guitars make me leery, but I always give everything a shot. Half of Me is a good song.
Prime Time Sublime Community Orchestra, lead by Paul Minotto, has a new one appropriately called Songs That Will Never Win A Grammy. This in-your-face-we're-not-commercial wacky ensemble has not very subtle Zappa influences written all over it. This we're-so-creative-and-never-commercial attitude is written all over this group and while that's a concept I can easily swallow, my thought is this: groups who are creative don't have to so agressively advertize it. Medeski, Martin and Wood immediately come to mind in that regard. Still, anything this wacky has to be played if only to annoy people.
Patrick O'Hearn has Slow Time out now. I enjoyed 2003's Beautiful World. One of these guys with a gentle take on electronica that neither gets too ominous, far-out, dark or freaky, yet he makes it interesting. That's not easy.
new ECM discs in specific:
Marcin Wasilewski, Slawomir Kurkiewicz, Michal Miskiewicz-Trio
Savina Yannatou & Primavera en Salonico-Sumiglia
Trygve Seim- Sangam
Charles Lloyd- Jumping the Creek
Dino Saluzzi, Jon Christensen-Senderos
Giya Kancheli-In l'istesso tempo
Keith Jarrett-Radiance
Gianluigi Trovesi, Gianni Cosia- Round About Weill
Frances-Marie Uitti, Paul Griffiths-there is still time
Tord Gustavsen Trio- The Ground
Christian Wallumrod Ensemble- A Year From Easter
More stuff as it comes. Enjoy.
-eclectic guy
2 comments:
Trio -- I've mumbled about, but you should know that this is Stanko's band, and the piano picker in particular bears watching. These guys are years away from turning 30.
Yannatou -- I want to get this, having heard an interview with her on All Things Considered.
Seim -- I have the last one he did with this large ensemble. It was rather intimate from a large band, and it seems he maintains a sizable ensemble more for the range of colors at his disposal as a composer than for the force such numbers enable. He's another guy to monitor.
Charles Lloyd -- I'm sure he's doing great things for the volume of records shipped. And, it's not for a lack of legitimacy as an artist. But, musically, I'm much more satisfied with the Lloyd discs I own for their propensity to propel the sidemen to improvisatorial profundity than for anything for which Charles is directly responsible. One critic nailed it with "Coltrane Light". But, I'm open -- maybe this is a gem.
Saluzzi and Christensen -- the instrumentation intrigues me from the get go, although it may prove less compelling than its uniqueness may suggest. But anything with Jon Christensen is worth a listen. And, it's the closest thing ever to a disc under his own name. Tell me about it.
Kancheli -- Certainly touted for his compositional gravitas, but I tend to hear long quiet murmuring passages punctuated with occasional jarring crescendi. It's a (tired) schtick.
KJ -- I have enough KJ solo. But I am curious. I'd like to shake this curiosity. That I cannot seem to explains the considerable shelfspace I devote to his stuff. Again, let me know if there's anything compelling here.
Utti / Griffiths -- I know nothing about this. Griffiths I am familiar with from his association with the Evan Parker ensemble (and, I recall the impact that guy had on you many years ago). This is likely very free, possibly virtuously so, possibly to its detrament.
Gustavsen -- This guy is really getting some notariety in the popular media. And, I think he's selling some discs. I really know nothing of his music, save the bits I've heard on NPR. But, from the limited bits I know, if you want to get some piano trio stuff, these will be at least as (and probably more) compelling:
Wasilewski et al -- Trio
Bobo Stenson Trio
John Taylor Trio
Peter Erskine Trio
Marilyn Crispell Trio
Paul Bley Trio -- Not Two, Not One
(even the) Jarrett Trio (which can be rather wonderful)
Christian Wallumrod Ensemble -- I want to investigate this guy. But, he's down the list and I may never get to him
Hi there;
I wanted to say that I was thoroughly stunned at how cool your blog was. Mentioning Bobo and Stanko and Saluzzi in a blog post definitely caught my attention, and I'll be reading a lot.
Rudy
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