Not sure if this is a transnational blend of Nigerian and Malian music or the group is being consciously Pan-African. Whichever, it makes that "Desert Blues" sound more energetic and dancey.
Just been trying this again. I've long had this feeling that I somehow ought to like it, given that I love ambient music and this is supposed to be some kind of ambient music, some kind of classic even, appearing in lists of best ambient albums. I still don't like it. At all.
That reminds me, someone in college once gave me a birthday card they made that was a flat paper object with three different messages on its three sides - a trihexaflexagon. I thought it was pretty cool.
Yes, I do like this one somewhat better, and am more willing to describe it as "ambient", though only some stretches of it are really appealing to me. I have often thought that with ambient music maybe a little more than in some other genres there's a hard to pinpoint quality in how a given musician hears sound and hears the tone of the world, and sometimes it either matches your ear (or your sense of how life resonates) or it doesn't. Aphex Twin's particular kind of creepy streak doesn't appeal to my ears; the times when he lets the light in I enjoy a bit more.
The first full-length Aphex Twin album, Selected Ambient Works 8592, was released in 1992 on R&S Records. It received high ratings and praise from critics. John Bush of Allmusic described it as a "watershed of ambient music".[12] In 2002, Rolling Stone wrote of the album: "Aphex Twin expanded way beyond the ambient music of Brian Eno by fusing lush soundscapes with oceanic beats and bass lines."[13] Pitchfork Media's review called it "among the most interesting music ever created with a keyboard and a computer".[14] Critics also noted that the songs were recorded on cassette and that the sound quality was "relatively poor".
(Wiki)
- Oh yes !
ETA: Richard James was born in 1971 which means he was only 14 on some of the works on vol 1.
Yeah, those are the kinds of reviews that make me think I should try to like it. I just don't very much. (On a minor point, I am personally inclined to think that putting beats into ambient music is not often "expanded" music - more often "spoiled"). Clearly I'm in the minority; never mind, there's plenty of other music.
NP:
I think in the late 80s and early 90s ambient meant something a little different; back then when I heard ambient I thought first of Aphex Twin or Moby's ambient album. It was ambient techno or ambient dance or IDM. So it wasn't as much adding beats to ambient as maybe adding ambience to beat music.
@amc2, that sounds right; I was reacting to BN's Rolling Stone quotation about expanding Eno - I am not so convinced that particular expansion does Eno a favor. I actually don't mind some kinds of ambient techno in modest doses. Like any well established genre label "ambient" has a lot of flavors by now. I should stop expecting it to be any better a predictor of actual sound than "jazz" or "rock".
NP: Went back to the Charles Lloyd/Maria Farantouri Athens concert set above and listened to the other disk. Great album. Had been on my SFL for a while due to the $15 price tag and lack of options for streaming before buying - two-for-one boosters helped me take a chance on it, and it's wonderful.
That got me doing a sound test with another Charles Lloyd album that I have on CD and high bitrate MP3; played the same passage from both on the good speakers to see how marked the difference was. My goodness, was it ever. I can hear the breath in the sax notes on the CD, the MP3 flattens the sound, like a painting redone with fewer colors and some subtlety gone. I am sure it's pretty system-relative, but this is the stereo system I have. Which makes me think that Athens Concert recording could end up costing me more than $15, because I might well end up wanting the CD... It's so hard to know whether to just shell out for the CD in the first place on unknown-but-potentially-important things.
Downloaded this little beauty after streaming on Bandcamp. Very nice indie-folk 6-track EP of English and French songs from a female trio of Canadian singer-songwriters.
In spite of the cover, this is country-rock with some Celtic instrumenation, sort of in the vein of Guy Clark. The first half is very strong, the second half is samey.
Concerning Les Hay Babies: they aren't kidding when they say their accents vary. Some are hard to get a handle on. Nonetheless, great stuff. Thanks, kez.
Live At The Academy Of Music 1971 - The Band - recently released 4 disc sort of deluxe Rock Of Ages, which I didn't have, so splurged on this with my 50% booster cash. So far, so good. Edit - very, very good.
Comments
Not sure if this is a transnational blend of Nigerian and Malian music or the group is being consciously Pan-African. Whichever, it makes that "Desert Blues" sound more energetic and dancey.
My second play - liking it.
Streaming from Bandcamp, for fans of Epic 45 and July Skies
Lil Ugly Mane - Three Sided Tape Vol. 1
Just been trying this again. I've long had this feeling that I somehow ought to like it, given that I love ambient music and this is supposed to be some kind of ambient music, some kind of classic even, appearing in lists of best ambient albums. I still don't like it. At all.
The Destructive Element by Harris Eisenstadt's September Trio
Storymap by Eamon Coyne and Kris Drever
Yes, I do like this one somewhat better, and am more willing to describe it as "ambient", though only some stretches of it are really appealing to me. I have often thought that with ambient music maybe a little more than in some other genres there's a hard to pinpoint quality in how a given musician hears sound and hears the tone of the world, and sometimes it either matches your ear (or your sense of how life resonates) or it doesn't. Aphex Twin's particular kind of creepy streak doesn't appeal to my ears; the times when he lets the light in I enjoy a bit more.
ETA: Richard James was born in 1971 which means he was only 14 on some of the works on vol 1.
Pretty amazing, me thinks . . .
NP:
Rockin' bagpipe. (Yeah, I said it.)
John Hudak, free at bandcamp.
NP: Went back to the Charles Lloyd/Maria Farantouri Athens concert set above and listened to the other disk. Great album. Had been on my SFL for a while due to the $15 price tag and lack of options for streaming before buying - two-for-one boosters helped me take a chance on it, and it's wonderful.
That got me doing a sound test with another Charles Lloyd album that I have on CD and high bitrate MP3; played the same passage from both on the good speakers to see how marked the difference was. My goodness, was it ever. I can hear the breath in the sax notes on the CD, the MP3 flattens the sound, like a painting redone with fewer colors and some subtlety gone. I am sure it's pretty system-relative, but this is the stereo system I have. Which makes me think that Athens Concert recording could end up costing me more than $15, because I might well end up wanting the CD... It's so hard to know whether to just shell out for the CD in the first place on unknown-but-potentially-important things.
Downloaded this little beauty after streaming on Bandcamp. Very nice indie-folk 6-track EP of English and French songs from a female trio of Canadian singer-songwriters.
In spite of the cover, this is country-rock with some Celtic instrumenation, sort of in the vein of Guy Clark. The first half is very strong, the second half is samey.
Enjoyable free piano jazz album by one Paolo di Sabatino from Jamendo.