Drowning In Sounds
I feel that i'm way over the edge with acquiring new recordings. Last month i wrote down the names of anything new that looked like it might even vaguely interest me and / or was something i'd missed from way back when. And got them. Completely ridiculous; there is no point, surely, in getting this much music.
Except, ofcourse, that there's some fantastic things in the bunch...
oren ambarchi - grapes from the estate
as always - "how can this be made by a guitar".
appliance - are you earthed?
i sort of liked their 1st album but thought it was too slavishly motorik for it's own good. this sounds less krautrock and so the vocals are more prominent somehow, making comparisons to other UK groups a bit more obvious. they are no more but this was a good finale.
biosphere - autour de la lune
deep, humming vibrating bass with swirling mid range loops and occassional high pitched mini-chords with shifting frequencies. i loved the tones as soon as i put it on and the reminiscences to the very, very first synth piece i ever commited to tape helps as well - although, ofcourse, this is much more refined than my Roland SH-3 masterpiece. another 'band' to scrutinise thoroughly.
carla bley band - musique mechanique
michael mantler - hide and seek
nick mason's fictitious sports - nick mason's ficticious sports
the bley family in all it's glory. MM was the last carla album i recall with any fondness. it has an infectious, happy quality that belies the title's intent. my favourite sections are where the band stops and piano does a few short solo breaks - like all the band members have a go at in Roxy Music's Remake/Remodel. the nick mason was supposedly a label cash-in on the popularity of pink floyd at the time but, instead, it's all written by CB and has some great moments including robert wyatt's clear singing and chris spedding's riffing on the 1st track. i think H&S is the most recent mantler release and it's not as depressingly obtuse as some of his earlier pieces. still can't write a melody for quids, though.
robert fripp - exposure ; god save the queen / under heavy manners ; let the power fall ; radiophonics (soundscapes vol 1) ; that which passes (soundscapes vol 3)
after enjoying the new Fripp and Eno so much I thought I should give Fripp's solo work another try. a lot of this stuff is Frippertronics based and some of it works spectacularly well - let the power fall especially - whilst some is a bit more genericly ambient to me - radiophonics et al. exposure is his first (?) solo LP and it's a mix of looping, mid 70s Crimson metal and some awfull rock songs. uneven but that guitar sound still draws me back.
the danielson famile - fetch the compass kids ; tri danielson volume 1 (alpha) ; tri danielson volume 2 (omega) ; brother danielson - brother is to son
that voice can kill an infant, i'm sure. maybe that's his reason for existing? it is an acquired taste but then: i like weird voices. give me dagmar, banhart, newsome and david thomas over anyone with a less screeching style. this doesn't mean that i like everything the famile puts out by any stretch of the imagination. every release has at least one terrific track but their overall effect is lessened by too many changes in songs and, yes, too much of that voice.
brian eno - here come the warm jets ; another green world ; before and after science
There's very little I can say about these records that is new or insightfull as they're simply a deep, deep part of my early interest in music. I just can't stand back from them at all: I still play them all the time. Instead read K-Punk's excellent stuff on Eno and Glam and Close Your Eye's look at HCtWJ. However, I can talk about the remastering job endlessly (until all consciousness is wiped from the readers gaze). I acquired the remastered Taking Tiger Mountain a while back and was particularly underwhelmed with the sound. These aren't that much better although AGW does hint at the hidden depths people keep talking about. Maybe it's just my ears but I really can't hear much difference between these and the 80s release cds. Although I can understand Simon Heyworth's attitude - very, very carefull digital transfer with the best equipment and nothing else - the fact remains that there is a LOT of tape hiss. And tape hiss just gets worse over the years. A little bit of noise reduction would have made a difference... and some extra tracks too.
donovan - sunshine superman ; hurdy gurdy man
another 60s artist whose work i never really explored and, yet again, they're full of great things. why did i wait till they were 40 years old before i investigated them? i can vaguely remember the singles from my crystal set days, sitting awkwardly on the fence with the 'aerial' attached to the metal roof of the neighbour's garage, but that's about it. his voice is clear and the words are precisely sung and there's a rich tone springing up from time to time. maybe the best psychedelic pop of the 60s? seems like it to me at the moment.
pinback - summer in abaddon
most bands have a style of music writing that they stick to throughout their lifetime. pinback are no different but the very things that appealed to me on their 1st releases - carefull note positioning and bass / guitar interplay - are now so dully re-examined on their new one that you wonder if they have any other ideas at all.
and i have very little to say about these ones...
pink grease - this is for real : supposedly glam but more garage rock to me
savath and savalas - apropa't : thanks mark
sigur ros - () ; von brigdi : i enjoyed the new ep so here's the others
sufjan stevens - a sun came (2nd edition) : not as great as i'd hoped
supergrass - life on other planets : definitely the final throes
various artists - country got soul volume 2 : a few wonderfull deep voiced talking tracks
the bees - free the bees
the fiery furnaces - demos / live london 2003
eastley / toop - doll creature
belle and sebastian - books ep / live @ black sessions
essra mohawk - primordial lovers MM
margo guryan - 25 demos
the concretes - the concretes
Except, ofcourse, that there's some fantastic things in the bunch...
oren ambarchi - grapes from the estate
as always - "how can this be made by a guitar".
appliance - are you earthed?
i sort of liked their 1st album but thought it was too slavishly motorik for it's own good. this sounds less krautrock and so the vocals are more prominent somehow, making comparisons to other UK groups a bit more obvious. they are no more but this was a good finale.
biosphere - autour de la lune
deep, humming vibrating bass with swirling mid range loops and occassional high pitched mini-chords with shifting frequencies. i loved the tones as soon as i put it on and the reminiscences to the very, very first synth piece i ever commited to tape helps as well - although, ofcourse, this is much more refined than my Roland SH-3 masterpiece. another 'band' to scrutinise thoroughly.
carla bley band - musique mechanique
michael mantler - hide and seek
nick mason's fictitious sports - nick mason's ficticious sports
the bley family in all it's glory. MM was the last carla album i recall with any fondness. it has an infectious, happy quality that belies the title's intent. my favourite sections are where the band stops and piano does a few short solo breaks - like all the band members have a go at in Roxy Music's Remake/Remodel. the nick mason was supposedly a label cash-in on the popularity of pink floyd at the time but, instead, it's all written by CB and has some great moments including robert wyatt's clear singing and chris spedding's riffing on the 1st track. i think H&S is the most recent mantler release and it's not as depressingly obtuse as some of his earlier pieces. still can't write a melody for quids, though.
robert fripp - exposure ; god save the queen / under heavy manners ; let the power fall ; radiophonics (soundscapes vol 1) ; that which passes (soundscapes vol 3)
after enjoying the new Fripp and Eno so much I thought I should give Fripp's solo work another try. a lot of this stuff is Frippertronics based and some of it works spectacularly well - let the power fall especially - whilst some is a bit more genericly ambient to me - radiophonics et al. exposure is his first (?) solo LP and it's a mix of looping, mid 70s Crimson metal and some awfull rock songs. uneven but that guitar sound still draws me back.
the danielson famile - fetch the compass kids ; tri danielson volume 1 (alpha) ; tri danielson volume 2 (omega) ; brother danielson - brother is to son
that voice can kill an infant, i'm sure. maybe that's his reason for existing? it is an acquired taste but then: i like weird voices. give me dagmar, banhart, newsome and david thomas over anyone with a less screeching style. this doesn't mean that i like everything the famile puts out by any stretch of the imagination. every release has at least one terrific track but their overall effect is lessened by too many changes in songs and, yes, too much of that voice.
brian eno - here come the warm jets ; another green world ; before and after science
There's very little I can say about these records that is new or insightfull as they're simply a deep, deep part of my early interest in music. I just can't stand back from them at all: I still play them all the time. Instead read K-Punk's excellent stuff on Eno and Glam and Close Your Eye's look at HCtWJ. However, I can talk about the remastering job endlessly (until all consciousness is wiped from the readers gaze). I acquired the remastered Taking Tiger Mountain a while back and was particularly underwhelmed with the sound. These aren't that much better although AGW does hint at the hidden depths people keep talking about. Maybe it's just my ears but I really can't hear much difference between these and the 80s release cds. Although I can understand Simon Heyworth's attitude - very, very carefull digital transfer with the best equipment and nothing else - the fact remains that there is a LOT of tape hiss. And tape hiss just gets worse over the years. A little bit of noise reduction would have made a difference... and some extra tracks too.
donovan - sunshine superman ; hurdy gurdy man
another 60s artist whose work i never really explored and, yet again, they're full of great things. why did i wait till they were 40 years old before i investigated them? i can vaguely remember the singles from my crystal set days, sitting awkwardly on the fence with the 'aerial' attached to the metal roof of the neighbour's garage, but that's about it. his voice is clear and the words are precisely sung and there's a rich tone springing up from time to time. maybe the best psychedelic pop of the 60s? seems like it to me at the moment.
pinback - summer in abaddon
most bands have a style of music writing that they stick to throughout their lifetime. pinback are no different but the very things that appealed to me on their 1st releases - carefull note positioning and bass / guitar interplay - are now so dully re-examined on their new one that you wonder if they have any other ideas at all.
and i have very little to say about these ones...
pink grease - this is for real : supposedly glam but more garage rock to me
savath and savalas - apropa't : thanks mark
sigur ros - () ; von brigdi : i enjoyed the new ep so here's the others
sufjan stevens - a sun came (2nd edition) : not as great as i'd hoped
supergrass - life on other planets : definitely the final throes
various artists - country got soul volume 2 : a few wonderfull deep voiced talking tracks
the bees - free the bees
the fiery furnaces - demos / live london 2003
eastley / toop - doll creature
belle and sebastian - books ep / live @ black sessions
essra mohawk - primordial lovers MM
margo guryan - 25 demos
the concretes - the concretes
posted by Phil at
1:12 pm
2 Comments:
sean from said the gramophone was disappointed by the new pinback as well. i only heard the one track on the label site called "fortress" which was very nice. i really loved the 1st pinback when it came out but i must admit that when listening to it recently it hadn't aged well or i have already played it to death though i didn't play it more than ten times altogether.
By
Alexander, at 3:07 pm
there's a few tracks from their albums and eps that still give me shivers so i must have a predeliction for their style. it may just be that they've run out of melodic ideas that work in their context for now.
By
Phil, at 7:49 am
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