Daniel, what's the word on that Kate Bush album? Any thoughts? I still remember her enchanting voice from the 80's.
sorry, jonah, just saw this. i've listened to it twice now. it's very good. some people whose opinions i respect (e.g., producer ewan pearson) praise the second song -- lake tahoe -- but i prefer the middle stretch of the album. it's more rock-oriented, beginning with an almost jazzy piano and drum piece (misty) and ending with some clever wordplay on 50 words for snow.
btw, everyone's been praising it, but you have to take all that -- and, frankly, all reviews of freshly-released music -- with a grain of salt. truthfully i look to emusic's reviews and editorial pieces as my primary recommendation engine (and that's kind of high praise, since -- as a retail operation -- emusic obviously isn't a disinterested party).
haha, that's my definition, too! except sometimes she will "rock-out," just not to the noisier stuff.
in that regard: our 10 year-old daughter's Thanksgiving playlist consisted of blondie; the dum dum girls; dj zinc featuring miss dynamite; and lykke li. very proud.
Is this something your wife would listen to, Greg?
I have been spending the morning in an ill mood over at eMu culling my SFL's down ruthlessly but this one I downloaded - 100 songs, $4.40 ( probably not in the UK however ) - and it is really nice in a yesteryearish way, occasionally hoakey, but man, I'm telling you, when The Peter Gunn Theme by Henry Mancini came on I gunned the volume, baby.
It is amazing how hard some of these cats swing. I'm just a fool for music that swings - jazz, blues, latin.
I doubt it BDB! Abba and Phil Collins are OK. Really anything post about 1980's isn't 'real music like they used to make' I've tried introducing newer stuff - I can get away with some folk music, and certainly more accoustic West African music. If I drip feed some into the mix that is OK, but no way anything vaguely resembling blues or jazz. This next one would just about be alright
I was quoting her, Daniel!! Hence the commas surrounding the statement. There is good music in any era and there is less good music in any era, but in my view the 70s and 80s had plenty of the latter amongst some good. I'm currently listening to Spiro, released last year, which is great
This wasn't one of their well received ones, but I kind of like it every now and then.
@BigD, I'm going to take a look at that Big Band collection. It's the kind of music that I kind of want to explore a little but not badly enough that it's creeping higher on my actual to-purchase list than other stuff that I know I want. It's music that when I hear tracks that I like I really like it and others just kind of annoy me. A big, cheap sampler might just do it.
I was looking at this one just yesterday - it's $3.49 on CD right now in the CDUniverse sale (but $3.99 shipping), and cheap on Amazon too. Can any of you who know more about this tell me if either of these is a good set and what different directions I'd be heading by putting either on my christmas list? (I confess that even the Big Band/Swing distinction is a little vague for me - one seems to name size of ensemble, the other a style - can the music be both?)
Three Cane Whale are an inventive Bristol trio who are part of that unnamed acoustic movement in which experimental, minimalist or systems styles are matched against echoes of traditional themes. Their lineup consists of Pete Judge, from the West Country jazz-rockers Get the Blessing, on trumpet, harmonium and glockenspiel, along with Paul Bradley from another local band, Organelles, on guitar, and Alex Vann from that remarkable folk-systems outfit Spiro, playing mandolin and bowed psaltery. They don't have the complexity and intensity of Spiro, but create delicate mood pieces in which cool, muted trumpet work is matched against gently rhythmic changing themes. Recorded in a mere 11 hours in a Bristol church, this is an album of elegant and atmospheric pieces that include the drifting Look Up at the Sky (And Remind Yourself How Insignificant You Are), the lyrical Eggardon Hill, and the stately and charming Sluice. An impressively original debut.
Taken from today's Guardian
Recommended for all sorts of tastes! I'd put the emusic url, but the site is barely moving at the moment for me...
GP, the biggest difference is the size of the ensemble. Big band is usually a largish number of players with a complete horn section, which would require at least 10-20 musicians (although I'm no expert at this), where as the album you linked is smaller ensembles, even a sextet being a small band next to the typical big band of the era. Yes, big bands can swing, many did, although not all big band music is necessarily swing. Helpful, huh? Musically swing is a feel comprised of dotted 8th notes or something - I am not literate enough in written music to explain better. Consider In The Mood by the Glenn Miller Orchestra - this is a big band number that definitely swings - right past the intro notes where the band hits the head of the song it starts to swing, and the quiet parts in the middle where you can hear the bass, that's the feel of swing - if it makes you want to swing back and forth that's swing as best as I can explain it. Even some musicians never get it.
There's also a series of albums on eMu called 100 Vocal & Jazz Classics, it's 19 volumes currently, arranged chronologically, which are also $4.40 - I've downloaded a couple of the later volumes from the 40's and early 50's and as cheap samplers (I'm all in favor of cheap samplers) they are not bad at all.
"The last studio album in the band's first phase was recorded in 87. Winston Tong has gone missing for two years, and has been replaced by young multi-instrumentist Ivan Georgiev. A strange, tortured album, containing the epic Never-ending Story, the serene You, blasting jazz horns ("Spirits & Ghosts"), and instrumental which may have been dedicated to Polanski ("Roman P")and the Boxman vignettes, based on the writings of Japanese writer Abe Kobo/"
- Crammed Discs 1982.
"Mixing dialogue and musique concrete with both electronic and neo-classical music, The Ghost Sonata is a primarily instrumental album that crosses all known boundaries to create possibly one of the most psychedelic symphonies ever waxed.
The Ghost Sonata is based on the groups opera without words performed in 1982 at the Polverigi Theatre Festival in Italy. Though considered by many to be their best and most ambitious work, the soundtrack had not been released in its entirety until 1990.
Tuxedomoon core members Steven Brown, Blaine Reininger and Peter Principle entirely re-recorded all musical selections of the soundtrack during the latter half of 1990, while the linking narrative and sound-effects are taken from the original 1982 source tapes."
- Crammed Discs 1992.
Comments
Dpony - Movie
This a side project of Hooray for Earth, but is much more drone oriented. It's really, really good and free here.
Craig
....very softly... everybody's sleeping.
Thanksgiving seems like a good opportunity to spend time with your loved ones and have some good food.
sorry, jonah, just saw this. i've listened to it twice now. it's very good. some people whose opinions i respect (e.g., producer ewan pearson) praise the second song -- lake tahoe -- but i prefer the middle stretch of the album. it's more rock-oriented, beginning with an almost jazzy piano and drum piece (misty) and ending with some clever wordplay on 50 words for snow.
I bought this a couple of weeks ago as a CD from a sale in our only major UK bricks and mortar CD retailer, really liking it
and btw, some people might try to demean the album by saying it's an "easy listening" disc. it isn't!
in that regard: our 10 year-old daughter's Thanksgiving playlist consisted of blondie; the dum dum girls; dj zinc featuring miss dynamite; and lykke li. very proud.
I have been spending the morning in an ill mood over at eMu culling my SFL's down ruthlessly but this one I downloaded - 100 songs, $4.40 ( probably not in the UK however ) - and it is really nice in a yesteryearish way, occasionally hoakey, but man, I'm telling you, when The Peter Gunn Theme by Henry Mancini came on I gunned the volume, baby.
It is amazing how hard some of these cats swing. I'm just a fool for music that swings - jazz, blues, latin.
here i have to (respectfully) disagree, especially as i start giving thought to my favorites from 2011.
no idea how i'm going to rank-order my no. 3 -- 20 albums of 2011 (nos. 1 -- 2 are likely set in stone).
This wasn't one of their well received ones, but I kind of like it every now and then.
@BigD, I'm going to take a look at that Big Band collection. It's the kind of music that I kind of want to explore a little but not badly enough that it's creeping higher on my actual to-purchase list than other stuff that I know I want. It's music that when I hear tracks that I like I really like it and others just kind of annoy me. A big, cheap sampler might just do it.
I was looking at this one just yesterday - it's $3.49 on CD right now in the CDUniverse sale (but $3.99 shipping), and cheap on Amazon too. Can any of you who know more about this tell me if either of these is a good set and what different directions I'd be heading by putting either on my christmas list? (I confess that even the Big Band/Swing distinction is a little vague for me - one seems to name size of ensemble, the other a style - can the music be both?)
Taken from today's Guardian
Recommended for all sorts of tastes! I'd put the emusic url, but the site is barely moving at the moment for me...
There's also a series of albums on eMu called 100 Vocal & Jazz Classics, it's 19 volumes currently, arranged chronologically, which are also $4.40 - I've downloaded a couple of the later volumes from the 40's and early 50's and as cheap samplers (I'm all in favor of cheap samplers) they are not bad at all.
Starting to really appreciate The Boats. Lot of their stuff is hard to track down.
"The last studio album in the band's first phase was recorded in 87. Winston Tong has gone missing for two years, and has been replaced by young multi-instrumentist Ivan Georgiev. A strange, tortured album, containing the epic Never-ending Story, the serene You, blasting jazz horns ("Spirits & Ghosts"), and instrumental which may have been dedicated to Polanski ("Roman P")and the Boxman vignettes, based on the writings of Japanese writer Abe Kobo/"
- Crammed Discs 1982.
storm queen -- it goes on
he's got the male-diva house sound right.
"Mixing dialogue and musique concrete with both electronic and neo-classical music, The Ghost Sonata is a primarily instrumental album that crosses all known boundaries to create possibly one of the most psychedelic symphonies ever waxed.
The Ghost Sonata is based on the groups opera without words performed in 1982 at the Polverigi Theatre Festival in Italy. Though considered by many to be their best and most ambitious work, the soundtrack had not been released in its entirety until 1990.
Tuxedomoon core members Steven Brown, Blaine Reininger and Peter Principle entirely re-recorded all musical selections of the soundtrack during the latter half of 1990, while the linking narrative and sound-effects are taken from the original 1982 source tapes."
- Crammed Discs 1992.