May 27, 2005
listening list
Luciano Berio - Sequenzas
Ornette Coleman - Beauty is a Rare Thing
System of a Down - SOAD
DJ Spooky - Optometry
Skin on Skin - The Mongo Santamaria Anthology
It was quite remarkable to listen to Berio's Sequenzas and Ornette Coleman's free jazz in quick succession. This is not the nice sensibly melodic music we are all comfortable with, but it is pretty amazing to listen to. Notes jumping around all over the place like Jackson Pollack.
May 05, 2005
cinco de listening list
Beethoven - The Nine Symphonies!!!
Morten Lauridsen - Lux aeterna
Shostakovich - Complete String Quartets
Moby - Hotel
Beck - Guero
Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth
This trio of new albums was fun to listen to. It's always interesting to hear the new (or not) directions that musicians go in with subsequent albums. Although I have only listened to each of these once, I can say that the Moby is really bad (not a big surprise), the Beck is totally good (even less of a surprise) and the NIN seems like it will settle in nicely as well (thank you, Trent).
(I know I normally have five items on these lists, but it would have been overload today...)
March 31, 2005
listening list
Evan Ziporyn - This is Not a Clarinet
John Adams - Nixon in China
Adam Green - Friends of Mine
Steve Reich - Works - 1965-1995
Evelyn Glennie - Rebounds
This woman Evelyn Glennie is totally incredible. She is a virtuosic percussionist and she is 'profoundly' deaf. I'm not kidding. She performs barefoot because by some twist of Darwinian persistence, she has effectively turned her feet into listening devices. She feels the minute sound vibrations through the floor and her feet rather than through the air and her ears. Weird, huh? I don't know how she does it, but what is entirely clear is her ability to perform at the highest levels with countless other musicians.
It is incredible when you think about it, but I have not done her justice here at all. Being a deaf musician is fascinating, but being an incredibly talented and multi-faceted musician is what is truly worth writing about. When you are a percussionist, unlike virtually all other musicians, you have to master a huge number of far flung instruments. Believe it or not, playing the maracas is totally different from playing timpani, or marimba, or snare drum or... Yes Evelyn, you are amazing.
As far as this cd goes, the concerto for marimba by Ney Rosauro totally kicks ass.
March 08, 2005
listening list
Terry Riley - In C
Baden Powell - three originals
Morton Feldman - Piano and String Quartet
Rachel's - Systems/Layers
Gary Burton - Reunion
The Morton Feldman cd is one track, 79.35 long! And it feels like there are about 4 notes in the entire thing. Really quite remarkable in its own incredibly sparse and beautiful way.
February 17, 2005
listening list
A Perfect Circle - eMOTIVe
Krishna Das - Pilgrim Heart
George Antheil - Ballet Mecanique
Kroumata Percussion Ensemble - Works by Cage, Cowell, Lundquist and Taira
Peaches - The Teaches of Peaches
This percussion cd actually says on the label in big red letters: "WARNING! Contrary to established practice, this recording retains the staggering dynamics of the ORIGINAL performance. This may damage your loudspeakers, but given first-rate playback equipment, you are guaranteed a truly remarkable musical and audio experience. Good luck!" How cool is that? They wished me luck! This music is so crazy, it might just break my speakers! Now that's good stuff.
January 20, 2005
listening list
aevidence - words and voices
aevidence - words and voices
aevidence - words and voices
ha ha ha
Heitor Villa-Lobos - Piano Concertos
Tool - Lateralus
Manu Chao - Proxima Estación: Esperanza
thank god there is other music!
December 17, 2004
listening list
Franz Liszt - Complete Works for Piano
Rachel's - Music For Egon Schiele
Sparklehorse - Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
Morphine - Yes
Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
I like this band Sparklehorse a lot. It seems like it is sort of a one man band with an non-eponymous name like Badly Drawn Boy or, say, aesthetic evidence.
November 29, 2004
listening list
Tom Waits - Real Gone
Steve Reich - Electric Counterpoint
David Byrne - live bootleg (March 2004)
Eminem - Encore
Mogwai - Happy Songs For Happy People
Olivier Messaien - Meditiations Sur Le Mystere de la Sainte Trinite
It's been a long time since I have listened to Electric Counterpoint. I heard it once played live while in college and it blew me away. 10 recorded electric guitars along with 2 basses (Pat Metheny playing on my recording) accompanied by one live soloist. The rhythmic complexity Reich creates with short simple motives working off of one another is unbelievable. This is minimalism at its absolute best.
I like to listen to it when it is raining.
November 03, 2004
listening list
Tricky - Blowback
Fatboy Slim - Palookaville
Poulenc - Complete piano sonatas
Avalanches - Since I Left You
Morcheeba - Big Calm
1) why are ALL classical composer websites terrible?
2) Ed Kowalczyk is great on the Tricky album
September 21, 2004
listening list
Catatonia - International Velvet
Weezer - Pinkerton
Alan Moore - Snakes and Ladders
Grandaddy - Sumday
Bjork - Medulla
The Prodigy - Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned
I think that the woman in Catatonia has the sexiest voice I have ever heard.
September 02, 2004
listening list
Peter Gabriel - Up
The Shins - Oh, Inverted World!
Disturbed - The Sickness
Mum - Summer Make Good
Muse - Origin of Symmetry
Turns out that I was right in my feeling that Mum's newest music was probably better in recorded form than live. Summer Make Good is a very cool and unique album. They have come far from the Sigur Ros-ishness of Finally We Are No One.
August 12, 2004
listening list
Gustav Mahler - Fifth Symphony
The Prodigy - Fat of the Land
Heitor Villa-Lobos - The Little Train of the Caipira
John Antill - Corroboree
Paul Oakenfold - Tranceport
the Villa-Lobos has some of the coolest percussion I have heard in a classical piece in a long time...
July 20, 2004
listening list
Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson (with Sigur Ros) - Angels of the Universe
Eels - Shootenanny!
Fatboy Slim - You've Come a Long Way, Baby
Cake - Prolonging the Magic
The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
July 05, 2004
listening list
Arnold Schoenberg - The Complete String Quartets
Underworld - Everything, Everything
Anders Eliasson - Concerto for Bassoon and Strings
Stabbing Westward - Ungod
Toru Takemitsu - Riverrun, Water-Ways etc.
This is a slightly incongruous list. Apparently I've been into classical lately.
How about you?
June 23, 2004
listening list
Sneaker Pimps - Bloodsport
David Byrne - Grown Backwards
Muse - Showbiz
Einojuhani Rautavaara - Seventh Symphony
Praxis - Collection
What are you listening to today?
June 15, 2004
listening list
Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News
B-Tribe - Fiesta Fatal!
Beastie Boys - To The 5 Boroughs
Juana Molina - tres cosas
Lost in Translation - OST
