music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: miscellaneous electronics
2011
Wednesday, 10/12/11
No one could convince me, when I’m listening to the clarinet, that any instrument is more beautiful.
Shabaka Hutchings, clarinet, with Kit Downes, keyboards; John Edwards, bass; Mark Sanders, drums; Leafcutter John, electronics; live, London (St. Sepulchre-without-Newgate), 7/14/11
Vodpod videos no longer available.2011
Saturday, 10/8/11
Melody?
Just little fragments now and then.
Harmony?
None in the usual sense.
Rhythm?
Ditto.
What is there?
A sonic space you inhabit the way you would a dream.
Olivia Block, composer, sound artist, performer; “field recordings on damaged cassette tapes,” “controlled feedback from small speakers/contact mic,” “amplified autoharp” (YouTube post); Chicago (Saki Records), 2010
Vodpod videos no longer available.You’ve got to be bold, or nuts, or both to do what these Saki folks did last year in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood—open a new record store.
**********
lagniappe
reading table
summer moon—
there is no such thing
as a flawless night—Kobayashi Issa, 1812 (trans. David G. Lanoue)
2011
Wednesday, 10/5/11
serendipity
The other day, while I was listening to the radio,* this popped out.
Derek Bailey (guitar) & Tony Oxley (percussion, electronics)
“Sheffield Phantoms,” The Advocate, Tzadik, 2007 (rec. 1975)
Rarely do you hear something that’s both this “out” and this intimate.
*Afternoon New Music, WKCR-FM (broadcasting from Columbia University), Mon.-Wed., 3-6 p.m. (EST)
2011
Monday, 9/19/11
Dub shows aren’t an everyday thing in Chicago, so last night, despite the weather (rain) and weariness (from traveling to see a client in prison), I ventured out to a club to catch this guy. A show like this isn’t just an aural experience: each beat of the bass vibrates your ribcage.
Mad Professor (AKA Neil Fraser, born 1955, Guyana)
Live, London, 2011
Vodpod videos no longer available.******
Live remix, Bob Marley and the Wailers, “Lively Up Yourself,” c. 2008
Vodpod videos no longer available.2011
Tuesday, 6/21/11
one man’s meat, etc.
(an occasional series)
The other night I happened upon a live set by this guy on WKCR-FM’s Live Constructions—after a few minutes, it felt as though someone had poured a bottle of Drano down my ears (which, actually, I mean as a compliment).
Rust Worship (Paul Haney), live, New York, 2009
Music? Noise? What’s the difference?
2011
Saturday, 6/11/11
What would Monday’s featured artist sound like if he’d come along a generation later?
Tyondai Braxton (Anthony’s son), “Dead Strings,” live, 2009
Part 1
Vodpod videos no longer available.***
Part 2
Vodpod videos no longer available.More? Here (with Battles, a group he’s since left).
**********
lagniappe
If you had to take five albums, books or DVDs on tour with you, which ones would they be, and why?
I picked 5 records and they are:
1. Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra & Marin Alsop: Takemitsu: The Flock Decsends Into The Pentagonal Garden
Honestly I always take this piece and the score with me on tour everywhere I go. It’s one of my favorite pieces.2. Fela Kuti: Underground System
This record is a force. Infectious.3. Black Dice: Miles Of Smiles
One of my favourites from this band. The mood it creates is wholly its own.4. Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Pierre Boulez: Boulez Conducts Varèse
Varese is where my head has been for the past couple of months. Amériques is such a mind boggling piece.5. The Bulgarian State Radio & Television Choir: Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares 1&2
Another go-to old favorite. Stop what you’re doing and order this right now.For DVDs, the complete Six Feet Under, The Wire and Entourage. Is any other network up to the challenge to even attempt to compete with an HBO series?
Books:
Donari Braxton: The Invisible Alphabet
New novel from my brother. It’s seriously amazing. He seems to have an inexhaustible amount of ideas and has such a great sense of control in his craft. I looked to him and his work when struggling to flesh out my own.Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise
Such an incredible book. Ross fed into my already glorified view of the 20th century composers and made them into the lead characters in one of the most compelling stories I’ve ever read.John Adams: Hallelujah Junction
It’s great to hear a very down to earth narration of a composer who you respect.
*****
art beat
Lee Friedlander, Flowers and Trees (1981) (one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever seen), Tokyo 1977
music clip of the day 