Wyatters delights (what are you listening to?)

[nonightsweats]

new album by murcof called cosmos - terrific old style electronic space music on london's leaf label. also mother mallard's portable electic company - 70's hybrid of steve reich and middle period tangerine dream.

[strongcomet]

Black Pony Express - Love in a Cold Place
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - Knives Don't Have Your Back
Erik Truffaz - Arkhangelsk
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

[theallgolden]

hello all,

i've been a long time absent (but always read, and many thanks to strongcomet for all that wyatt food. absolutely fantastic.).

a few cd's delighted me over the last few weeks.

james blackshaw - the cloud of unknowing
glenn jones - against which the sea continually beats
(both albums are acoustic guitar (steel) music in the tradition of fahey/basho)

desperate man blues . the accompanying cd to the Joe bussard film with the same title. great 78 rpm records form the twenties and thirties of the last century.

the decemberists - the crane wife
what a great record, what a great band.  there is a  lot of 'prog' in it. highly recommended.

the sea and cake - everybody  
my favourite band of the nineties with a wonderful new album.

kammerflimmer kollektief - jinx
german avant / jazz / rock / kraut / or whateever you will call them  band with their latest release. nearly the same high level as the forerunner.

meg baird - dear companion
the singer of espers. like sandy denny. beautiful, beautiful.

von südenfed - tromatic reflexxions
mark e. smith together with mouse on mars.  both fit perfectly. much better than the latest the fall album.

cheers

the all golden

[theallgolden]

clark - ted e.p.

exciting electronics.

[Max_Gate]

I've been under the weather - snow, gales, sleet have been met by coughing and sneezing. Even as my nose runs these ears seem blocked. Whatever, I've been listening to little more than the sound of my own voice complaining. When music has graced my place it has been acoustic: Bert Jansch. He has the delicacy yet directness of a wise surgeon.

[nonightsweats]

miracle fortress - five roses: indie beach boys obsessives (seems to be a sub-genre) mixing the harmonies and pop with elements of krautrock, etc. quite lovely but a little enervating over the long haul.

[nonightsweats]

st. vincent - marry me: one of the best indie releases i've heard in ages. full blown baroque pop arrangements, interesting time signatures and instrumentation (one song sound very much like Aksak Maboul or similar) and sweet melodies sung by someone with a strong voice.

[Max_Gate]

Bach: Six Partitas, BMW 825-830, Trevor Pinnock (Edition Bachakademie 115)

Pinnock's playing is inspired in the original sense of the term; there's a whiff of the divine in the air. When listening to these pieces for harpsichord you can hear mathematics singing to itself, which is as close to the voice of God as most of us are likely to get.

[In fairness I should alert you to a sonic problem: the cat purrs loudly throughout this, then rolls on his back and shows his tummy to the ceiling tiles as if paying homage to the Creation while inviting a rub from God's right hand.]

[Max_Gate]

desperate man blues . the accompanying cd to the Joe bussard film with the same title. great 78 rpm records form the twenties and thirties of the last century.

You've started something wonderful. This morning, with a birthday looming come Monday, I've been dyeing myself blue. Two minutes of Radio NZ's news confirmed that the blind lead the blind so I opened with:

Blind Boy Fuller: Remastered 1935-1938
Blind Willie McTell: Definitive
Blind Willie Johnson: Complete Recordings

Then, having miraculously recovered my sight due to 'John the Revelator', I turned to:

Muddy Waters: Complete Plantation Recordings
R.L. Burnside: First Recordings

As I type the walls are dripping navy blue with Mississippi Fred McDowell: I Do Not Play No Rock'n'Roll

[theallgolden]

there is so many fantatsic blues to find. i ignored it too long. maybe because of all that boring blues rock stuff which i heard on local festivals in my youth.

a great, big box set of charley patton exists. released on revenant (the john fahey label). made lovingly. with lyric transcriptions, the 78 record label stickers from all his releases, a reprint of the john fahey book about patton and so on and so on. a reallydelight!

read more (and better described) here:  http://www.revenantrecords.com/index.php?section=releases&cd_ident=10

[Max_Gate]

Thanks for the heads up. I have Charley Patton: The Definitive (3CD set), however this week I've been listening to:

Quatuor Ysaye: Ravel & Debussy String Quartets (Decca,1991)
My favourite quartet plays my favourite quartets. When Debussy heard the worried Ravel's piece he reassured him: "In the name of the gods of music and of mine, don't change a single note."

Skip James: The Complete Early Recordings, 1930 (Yazoo/Shanachie, 1994)
- Listening to this I'm fifteen again and, at midnight, I'm shivering in Barbadoes Street Cemetery while drinking Jim Beam purchased on the sly from The Eastern. The recordings are faint as an epitaph in moonlight, fainter than a chalk line in drizzle. Great.

Duke Garwood: Holy Week (Loog, 2005)
- If Franck Vigroux played blues it might sound like this; the songs form an arch that overrides despair sweat semen yet has you believing in redemption. Not bad for a white boy.

Michael Powers: Onyx Root (Baryon)
- A debut that pivots off the delightful line: "Mama bought me a guitar with three books of stamps...." Mama did good.

Paul Motian: Tribute (ECM, 1975)
- I bought the first issue of this on LP; it introduced me to Carlos Ward's alto sax and then, twenty-five years later, made him a family friend. His notes still wash me clean of pettiness and I can hear why John Coltrane, Don Cherry and Cecil Taylor sought out that tone.

Roberto Szidon: Scriabin, The Piano Sonatas (DG, 1971)
- The battle between light and dark with the pianist as, alternately, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

Buddy Guy: Buddy's Blues (Chess, 1997)
- I don't like this guy; his songs are stolid, his phrasing doctrinaire, yet he can play. But I'd rather he played elsewhere.

London Chamber Orchestra: Minimalist (EMI, 1990)
- Pieces by Adams, Glass, Reich and Heath. I'd happily leave Adams and Glass on some godforsaken heath, however Reich's "Eight Lines" is spellbinding.

Various: When I Grow Too Old To Dream 1934-35 (Jazz in the Charts 19, Membran)
- This anthology opens with Ethel Waters' absurdist "Miss Otis Regrets (She's Unable To Lunch Today)" and advances through Fats Waller and Benny Goodman to Cab Calloway's prancing. Fun to lunch to but the dinner menu better be more substantial.

[greystone]

My absolute favourite contemporary band at the moment are Tunng. I think some Wyatt fans will love them as I do -though some of you might hate them. You can sample their music at

http://www.tunng.co.uk/audio.html

[Max_Gate]

The mind simultaneously invites and defies analysis: I'm listening to John Tavener's 'Funeral Ikos', with The Tallis Scholars honouring its homophonic scoring, yet my memory prompts an unexpected response - these lines from the Sudanese writer Tayyib Salih:

"What is death? Someone you meet by chance, who sits with you as we are sitting now, who talks freely with you, perhaps about the weather or women or shares on the stock market. Then he politely sees you to the door. He opens the door and signs for you to go out. After that you don't know."

Whatever, the music is not urbane. But it does open the door.

[Duntroon]

Good evening or good morning all.

After being an avid reader of this forum for a few years now, I make my debut. This forum has been a great resource for me, turning me on to all sorts of music I might never have heard.

First off, heartfelt thanks to Zeebras for turning me on to a whole bunch of cd's, in particular:
"Hoboken Saturday Night" by the Insect Trust. I play this quite a lot.
"Appaloosa" by Appaloosa. I agree with you that this is very Nick Drake like. And I've since bought a cd by John Parker Compton recorded live in 1968, just before signing with Columbia records. Do you know this one Zeebras? If not, go to CD Baby. Maybe I can turn you on to something.
"Farewell Aldebaran" by Judy Henske & Jerry Yester and "Definition" by Chrysalis. A tip of the hat also  to The Allgolden on these. Fascinating music.

This past week, I've been enjoying:
"NoVa eXPReSS" by NeBeLNeST. NeBeLNeST (this is how they spell their name) are a French progressive band similar to Yang and Shylock. Intense, heavy guitar instrumental rock.

"Labirinto d'acqua" by Yugen. An Italian band who name King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Henry Cow, Gentle Giant and some modern classical composers as their influences. You can hear all this and more in their music.

"Fillmore 1969" by The Grateful Dead. A three cd set. Great jamming.

All praise to musicians everywhere.
Duntroon.

[theallgolden]

welcome duntroon and thanks for the nice words. yes, farewell aldebaran is a fine work. i can also recommend 'big judy' an overlook of the career of judy henske. it is a double cd and released on rhino handmade. a bit expensive, but limited and made well.
btw:  the 'chrysalis' listener must have been another fine one from the board. i don't know this album. but maybe i should give it a listen, too......

my biggest delights of the last few days resp. nights is/was:

mickey newbury - looks like rain. it is the perfect album for the night. a intimate journey. a genius work, really. everyone who likes townes van zandt must like this too.

take care

the all golden