httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlTc6gxc-ZM
Live in Virginia, 2000. Bonus after the break. Continue reading Bonnie “Prince” Billy – “One with the Birds”
(1 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
Loading... httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXgNndB8VyY
I don't think even Aaron Dilloway or Black Dice could come up with something this crazy.
Continue reading Capercaillie “Display Calls”
(3 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)Loading... httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09aN6Tvf6oo
Live 2005 "With Strings"
(2 votes, average: 7.50 out of 10)Loading... AMR's out doing his dissertation on the history of the phrase, "Risk Is Opportunity" so I guess I'll throw out a placeholder.
Post your ten here.
Just a little promo video of the Nath Family. Continue reading Nath Family “Sounds of the Indian Snake Charmer, Vol 2.”
(3 votes, average: 7.33 out of 10)Loading... Three big themes for me this year:
1. I spent a lot of time listening to stuff that was new to me but which didn't come out this year, or which I hadn't listened to in more than a decade. Aaron Dilloway, Emot, my own 90s records, some other things.
1b. Is this what middle age feels like?
1c. I also spent a lot of time listening to digital libraries of bird songs and calls, trying to get better at recognizing them. That really shouldn't be relevant here, but it took a lot of my listening time.
2. I've given up on my old reliable methods of staying current on anything, and nothing's replaced them. I haven't even read my smattering of reliable top-#0s lists. There are probably awesome things I missed like house singles.
3. I almost want to talk more about the albums that don't show up on these list. Yeezus, the Kniφfe, Beyoncé, Modern Vampires (only because I believe some here think it stellar), etc.
My rules, you don't have to use them:
Songs from the album list are pretty much excluded from the song list.
Released in calendar year 2013.
This is some mix of "favorite" and a more objective "best", but "best" is just about how well things meet my (capricious) tastes.
I go until I don't. Continue reading Friday Music Day: Best of 2013
Peter Tosh's Legalize It. I owe my owning of it to some anti-prohibitionist views held much more strongly in my youth (and The Nice Price discount), but leave aside the first track and you've got eight tracks that are some fantastic reggae, and I've been listening to this a lot more over the past few years than I have anything from Tosh's more famous former bandmate. I think Tosh has more character depth in his voice (tad more "this guy's lived something and really believes these crazy ideas" than "this guy is a good singer"). While his singing is clear enough, but with enough Jamaican patois and nonstandard grammar to make unpacking his lyrics a challenging but not impossible puzzle. (Earlier this week I mentioned to E-6 how I enjoyed parsing Boomhauer's lines on "King of the Hill", this is similar.)
The tracks behind his vox are probably the highlight for me, kindof sounds like the pinnacle of the early 70's reggae sound (is that "Roots Reggae"?). After this point, Bob's records showed some London polish and subtle disco influences leak in. Tosh, too. And there was a rise in groups with a later sound like Black Uhuru, or the American-influenced songs on Darker Than Blue.
(I'm not a reggae historian, this is just the feel I get out of listening to these things now and piecing together a timeline.)
But the tracks on Legalize It really have none of that overt influence, and I'd be happy with just the instrumentals alone. There's a "Legacy Edition" reissue that has a whole disk with "Tosh's Original Jamaican Mix" or something that hits me as even better (thicker drums? grittier bass?). I've basically blind-tested myself, when I have my iPod on shuffle and a track from the album makes me say "Dang!", I look at which version it is, and it's invariably one of the older unreleased mixes.
Anyways, if you're looking for branching out on some reggae past Bob Marley, you've now got my recommendation.
Now leave your random ten.
When I first discovered Bonnie "Prince" Billy, I quickly went through his back catalog only with a general idea of the order and timing of the releases. When I heard the title track from Ease Down the Road:
I took her on a simple trip
To see her husband's family
And on the way upon her hip
Was laid my head down gently
In my "Best of 2012" column, I mentioned one album and one track that I though maybe should be there, but of which I had just learned. Well, upon 7 months reflection, and finally getting it on CD, Aaron Dilloway's Modern Jester is my 2012 album of the year. I've been listening a lot on headphones and computer speakers at the office, but listening to it loud was something else. I think he's done something with the sound waves and cancellation like Ryoji Ikeda where turning your head makes it sound different, that just doesn't register on headphones. This album is the kind of thing that's gonna ruin my life listening to tons of absolute crap that sounds similar but isn't actually very good (it already has and now I've got to re-try them all loudly). The genre tags at the bandcamp site are pretty descriptive: "crude drone electronic experimental junk modern classical musique concrete noise sound art synthesizer tape music Ohio." Continue reading Friday Music Day: July 26, 2013
I made some music comments this week. To summarize:
Daft Punk album: Joy-Destroying
Scout Niblett's cover of "No Scrubs": Opinion contaminated by Daft Punk
Yeezus: Palate-Cleansing
Scout Niblett's cover of "Uptown Top Ranking": Great.
Miley Cyrus single: awful, but I can get past it.
More thoughts:
Scout Niblett's got some greatness in her, and some stretches on her albums that absolutely get lost and have nowhere to go. (Oddly reminds me of Regina Spektor, who she sounds nothing like.) So far, I've mostly needed a hook to get into her songs, like if it's a cover (two listed above, plus a take on Palace [Will Oldham]'s "Trudy Dies"), or a Will Oldham duet ("Kiss")
Yeezus: I don't really think this entirely works, especially lyrically. (Not only is there little coherence within the album, but single tracks are all over the place, except for anger. Which makes it feel more genuine.) I'm glad there's someone with big pop success who's willing to take big artistic risks like these. I betcha Alec Empire (Atari Teenage Riot) and Kevin Martin ("The Bug", "Techno Animal") are kicking themselves for not getting involved with this album. The beat for "Black Skinhead" is pretty fantastic; it's got the swing from "Gold Digger", the drums from "Love Lockdown". And if Miss Cyrus is singing (autotuning) "We like to party / dancin' with Miley" in her single, then Mr. West could be singing (autotuning) "When we tried our first Miley / and came out of our body". I could listen to this album a lot.
You can download Aaron Dilloway's Siena for free. Or just listen. I believe this is what the kids are calling "Noise". It'll probably be on a best-of-the-year list for me in about six months.
Some random tracks I listened to that appeal a lot to me:
Mikal Cronin "Shout it out"
Disclosure "When a Fire Starts to Burn" (Hadn't looked at the video before, ignore it.)
And two old songs that are great, just because:
Mylo "Need You Tonite" (feat. a Judie Tzuke sample)
Camp Lo "Luchini AKA This Is It"
