What are you listening to right now?

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Comments

  • That's a good one, luddite - I think it was written by John Cage, wasn't it?
  • perfect thing for a luddite to listen to.
  • You know what froggie? I'm half way through The Orchard listen number 2, and it's really grabbing me this time. It still doesn't have many hooks, but it's quite enjoyable.

    Note to self: Don't review albums based solely on one listen while at work. Dipwad.

    Craig
  • edited August 2010
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    Andrew Liles - My Long Accumulating Discontent - (Nextera 2004)
    The most important and pleasing aspect of Andrew Liles' latest full-length is that it doesn't depend on any one formula, nor does it ever venture into the realm of total and complete chaotic madness. At times the music is wonderfully melodic, featuring ballroom-like music circa 1930s or 1940s and, at other times, it is an admixture blossoming with strange digital reverberations and analogue distortion. Most notably, however, My Long Accumulating Discontent features intelligible vocal parts and nearly unedited instrumental passages. His music is ever-expanding and finding new modes of existence. There is no sense here in talking about drones or noise. Though the music can be a collage of random samples and instruments at times, this record also features a queer and convincing logic that stems from its almost antique sound. Tracks like "Dissolved (Te Whare Ao Aitu)" and "The Sour Accompaniment" make a direct appeal to antiquity and play on the notion that these songs are all part of some morbid dream set far in the past; almost like Tim Burton's vision of America at the turn of the century. On the other hand, there are soft and fluid pieces such as "The Children's Infirmary or Precious and Sugar Foot" and "A Cold Spring in Summerland" that play off less familiar sounds and structures. While sounding distinct and perhaps more inviting than their musical neighbors, they ooze an aroma woven out of dust, old age, and memories better forgotten. I have an inkling of an idea that there is some form of a band environment behind these seventeen tracks—saxophones, nervous cymbals, melodic vocal parts, and narrative elements all play a part in various places—and there is, periodically, a very direct and uplifting song structure that stands out among the other pieces without being a show-stealer. I doubt Liles is forming a familiar band whatsoever, but the music that's ushered forth from his mind and those of the musicians used on this album is undoubtedly more structured and mesmerizing than anything else I've heard from him. Despite this, he's also managed to maintain the haunting, demonic, and perverse demeanor that makes his music so unique and alluring. It's the addition of new sounds and structures to his music plus his ability to manipulate those structures that make this record stand out so sharply in my collection. Songs like "An Unkempt Garden or the Cod Cape"8 and "The Captain's Apprentice" are the most emotionally stunning songs I've heard come from Liles and it is in their shape and movements that they become so remarkable. It's a shame that I missed this record in 2004, it deserves a great deal of attention as it is one of the most exciting records I've heard from the realm of all music subconscious and spectral.
    - Lucas Schleicher / Brainwashed.
  • edited August 2010
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    Well worth the wait.

    Craig
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    Why did I wait so long?
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    what he said...
  • Brighternow - He's referring to my post above.

    Craig
  • edited August 2010
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    Andrew Liles - Black Widow - ( Beta-lactam Ring Records 2007)
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    Andrew Liles - Black Sea - ( Beta-lactam Ring Records 2007)
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    Nascent Jazz Fusion makes for a complete part of a healthy breakfast.
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    Ethiopian Jazz strapped to an interstellar drive.
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    Looks like that kind of day.

    Craig
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    Sitting in Starbucks listening to this Cat Stevens collection they are pushing. I haven't heard some of these songs for many years, what a great young talent he was. Kind of surprised that Sbux is featuring this artist, in these days of anti-mosque hysteria.

    @elwoodicious, I got that in the big Miles sale on Amie a little while ago, I had never even heard of it before. Kind of like discovering the missing link.
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    Never gets old.

    @doofy, I picked it up at the same sale and completely forgot about it until this morning when it bubbled up in my consciousness whispering, "Play me. Play me. Play me." Glad I listened.
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    I haven't listened to this much since it dropped at Amie--it seems saccharine to my ears right now.
  • elwood and doofy (or anyone really) - What are your thoughts on his late hip hop fusion stuff? I listened to Doo Bop for the first time in a long time this weekend, and I'm still torn on it.

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    Craig
  • @cafreema, Tough call for me. It was very forward looking and at the time when it dropped it hit me like a ton of bricks the wrong way. I was getting into Hip Hop and was very much into the 60's small group work of Davis, Coltrane, Coleman, etc and when I heard that album it felt very Frankenstein to me. I think part of the problem is that I'm prejudiced to see his work from the 50's to mid 60's as the apex of his output but that is likely because I grew up mostly hearing Jazz that either landed in Big Band, Hard Bop, and Modal because of my father's tastes. I'm still trying to ease my way into Fusion: Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra still give me trouble, Hancock is preferred because of the heavy Funk elements, Shakti with John McLaughlin is sublime but that's because of my predilection for Indian Classical and "organic" fusion, but Davis still proves to be enigmatic.
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    My ears just left for S
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