This was recorded 50 years ago today in one eleven hour session. Those were the days! An attempt is being made today in the same Abbey Road studio to recreate this with contemporary artists.
Gp, that comment made me wonder, so started looking for some of the genre's founders, which led me to this slightly tangential but very interesting-looking release which is on Guvera:
- Absolutely !
- There's also Robert Ashley's "The Wolfman" (pretty harsh stuff) and David Behrman's "Wave Train" (Also to be found @ Ubuweb Goodies)
(Also on music)
@Craig - I saw MOB several years back. I really wanted to hear "All World Cowboy Romance" but didn't really expect them to play it. Not only did they do it during their encore, but Ira Kaplan and Moby came out and jammed with them. Unreal.
Currently listening to "Circle Time Live" (a local children's band) as my wife and daughter finishing prepping to ditch me for sunny Florida.
@BT, so far by Pat Metheny I have downloaded and listened to Watercolors and 80/81. So far, despite liking some apparently similar stuff a lot, I'm not really connecting with it. Watercolors especially comes across too sweet and muzak-ish, like music in the background at the restaurant. Is that heresy? But he seems highly regarded. 80/81 was a bit better, but is not drawing me back the way, say, the John Abercrombie albums are. Am I listening to the wrong albums? Any suggestions?
Metheny is highly regarded, and I regard him highly, but no question, much of his music has an unapologetic populist easy-listening aspect (which I don't intend as a criticism). If that doesn't suit your ears, that's fine, of course. To confirm, check out a Group album like Offramp or First Circle. A straighter jazz release like Rejoicing. Perhaps his debut Bright Size Life. But given your remarks, I wouldn't expect much to change.
I was actually just looking at "Travels" by The Pat Metheny Group. I've always thought Metheny's unique and often "pretty" sound was a key contributor to the homogenized Smooth Jazz sound - maybe it wasn't so cliche until he started doing it.
The first hip hop post is up over at MiG. Far longer than I intended (a little over 2000 words), but the following parts will be shorter without the intro.
On Metheny; I have only the Rarum, ECM best of disk; I found that I liked some of it, and that other parts grew on me after a while. For example I initially hated te guitar-synth stuff, but I started to appreciate it more with a few listens. Don't know if they have those collections on Guvera, but it might be a good place to start.
Thanks, all. Kargatron, I'll give those other albums a listen. It does sound from all of your comments as if maybe my ears are not deceiving me.
The heresy comment was of course tongue in cheek, but gesturing towards the question of how one ought to react to not immediately liking something. Take "Conference of the Birds" - on first listen, I just don't like it. But I am going to listen to it some more, because in light of what you said about it on the other thread, and various reviews, and its inclusion in the core collection, etc., it seems safe to conclude that there is something of high quality there that could be liked by a discerning ear and might be worth the effort of discovering. I'm not saying one has to like everything that's highly regarded, just that if it's highly regarded there's a reason not to take one's first dislike at face value but to see if pressing on changes things. I wasn't sure if saying "Metheny sounds like Muzak" was like saying "Coltrane was just playing too fast" or 'Ellington should play the right notes".
- "In 2010 a new sound emerged on the Belgian airwaves.
The vulnerable, murmuring, melancholic, hissing and zooming sounds of Amatorski were discovered during Humo's Rock Rally. Everybody immediately fell in love with the band's debut Same Stars We Shared; a short work of art with only four magical songs which carried an exquisite and pure sound, dusted with soft, reserved, child-like vocals mumbling stories of love and heartbreak.
The nostalgic Come Home surprisingly conquered all the charts and got airplay on all national radio stations, including the alternative station Studio Brussel and Radio 1. At the end of this glorious year, Amatorski got nominated for the Belgian Music Industry Awards in the categories 'breakthrough artist', 'best artwork' and 'best song of the year'.
However, this only appeared to be a prelude to a far richer, more sonic universe. Amatorski's second release is more diverse; youll still hear the hisses and crackles, but some tracks have more elaborate arrangements interspersing electronic ingredients with delicate orchestrations. The fragile voice of Inne Eysermans still forms the backbone of the songs, but is occasionally supported by the vocals of guitar player Sebastiaan Van den Branden.
This time around, the band has painted using more poignant and varied colours.
In 2011, Amatorski went to London, where Darren Allison's (Efterklang, Belle & Sebastian, The Divine Comedy) analogue mixing desk and tape recorders were used to add that final spark of magic to the songs splattered with emotive, dramatic colours emitting a bleak, ominous, dreamy, emotional, silencing, noisy, and minimal feel.
If you listen to the new Amatorski, your dreams will be haunted and your mind, echoed by sounds of Portishead, Massive Attack, Sparkehorse, Ornette Coleman or the gloomy children's song from Eraserhead.
In 2011 Amatorski was nominated for best album, best artwork and best alternative band during the Belgian Music Industry Awards."
- http://amatorski.be/bio
I wasn't sure if saying "Metheny sounds like Muzak" was like saying "Coltrane was just playing too fast" or 'Ellington should play the right notes".
I would say it's analogous (in kind, maybe not degree). I do consider it plausible if you kept Metheny "in the mix" for a while, you'd start enjoying the easy-listening aspects that are putting you off, but that's not the same as saying your initial reaction is "deceiving". Since you're not headfirst in love with the more adventurous jazz genres (yet!), you probably won't like it much now, but you should hear Metheny play with Ornette Coleman on Song X if you can, just to hear a different side (that's another highly regarded album, one I deeply love: Metheny really meets Ornette on his level, I think).
Doofy, I'm not so sure Metheny's music was a "key contributor" (a minor one, at least, sure) - I think I'd trace that transition from poppy jazz to "smooth/urban/R&B-instrumentals" to work more like Grover Washington's, and maybe Spyro Gyra, the Yellowjackets, etc.
@GP - I would definitely say check out the first Pat Metheny Group album (s/t). If you don't dig "San Lorenzo" or "Phase Dance" he probably just isn't your thing.
Comments
This was recorded 50 years ago today in one eleven hour session. Those were the days! An attempt is being made today in the same Abbey Road studio to recreate this with contemporary artists.
G!
David Van Ronk, Inside David Van Ronk
Alain Bashung, Tourn
Just found some more ambient/drone material on guvera, a rare thing. This is not amazing so far, but not bad.
Source magazine's Music of the Avant-Garde
Definitely looks worth checking out - most are long tracks. If you haven't heard Alvin Lucier's I Am Sitting In a Room, you haven't lived!
- There's also Robert Ashley's "The Wolfman" (pretty harsh stuff) and David Behrman's "Wave Train" (Also to be found @ Ubuweb Goodies)
(Also on music)
Currently listening to "Circle Time Live" (a local children's band) as my wife and daughter finishing prepping to ditch me for sunny Florida.
Dan Ashwood - Blind Carbon Copy
Basically indie pop, but with some electronic and folk elements. NYOP on Bandcamp.
Craig
Thanks, kargatron.
G.
In a fleet mood this morning.
Gu!
American Garage has a naivet
Metheny is highly regarded, and I regard him highly, but no question, much of his music has an unapologetic populist easy-listening aspect (which I don't intend as a criticism). If that doesn't suit your ears, that's fine, of course. To confirm, check out a Group album like Offramp or First Circle. A straighter jazz release like Rejoicing. Perhaps his debut Bright Size Life. But given your remarks, I wouldn't expect much to change.
Funk/soul/acid jazz, pick one...
I was actually just looking at "Travels" by The Pat Metheny Group. I've always thought Metheny's unique and often "pretty" sound was a key contributor to the homogenized Smooth Jazz sound - maybe it wasn't so cliche until he started doing it.
Craig
On Metheny; I have only the Rarum, ECM best of disk; I found that I liked some of it, and that other parts grew on me after a while. For example I initially hated te guitar-synth stuff, but I started to appreciate it more with a few listens. Don't know if they have those collections on Guvera, but it might be a good place to start.
The heresy comment was of course tongue in cheek, but gesturing towards the question of how one ought to react to not immediately liking something. Take "Conference of the Birds" - on first listen, I just don't like it. But I am going to listen to it some more, because in light of what you said about it on the other thread, and various reviews, and its inclusion in the core collection, etc., it seems safe to conclude that there is something of high quality there that could be liked by a discerning ear and might be worth the effort of discovering. I'm not saying one has to like everything that's highly regarded, just that if it's highly regarded there's a reason not to take one's first dislike at face value but to see if pressing on changes things. I wasn't sure if saying "Metheny sounds like Muzak" was like saying "Coltrane was just playing too fast" or 'Ellington should play the right notes".
Seem like Metheny is self-consciously moody on this album. A little like world new age.
Gu!
Doofy, I'm not so sure Metheny's music was a "key contributor" (a minor one, at least, sure) - I think I'd trace that transition from poppy jazz to "smooth/urban/R&B-instrumentals" to work more like Grover Washington's, and maybe Spyro Gyra, the Yellowjackets, etc.
Gu!
Craig