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June Playlist
Time for a new playlist, methinks. CDNow is
no longer my supplier of choice having left the shores of Chris
Colon. Instead it's Nipper the dog
on-line (that be HMV) for me CDs.
Calla. S/T. sub rosa.
sr156.
Creeping up on you in the twilight noises from Brooklyn bunch.
Fabulous groove.
JS Bach Sonatas for Violin and
Harpsichord. 3 Sonatas for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord.
Glenn Gould, piano. Sony Classical. SM2K 52615.
If it says harpsichord, how come it's played on a piano? Maybe
because it's the late, great, oddball Canadian Glenn Gould tinkling on
the ivories.
Boxhead Ensemble. The Last Place to
Go. Recordings from the Dutch Harbor European Film Screening Tour.
Atavistic. ALP96CD.
Dutch Harbor: Where the Sea Breaks Its Back. Original Film
Soundtrack. Atavistic. ALP85CD
Music from the Braden King documentary about Dutch Harbor (aka Unalaska)
halfway along the Aleutian island chain off southwest Alaska.
Brooding, subtle and quiet scratchings of noise: both evocative of
Alaska and not. The likes of Will Oldham, Mick Turner, Jim O'Rouke,
David Grubbs and Ken Vandermark provide the music. Highly
recommended.
Mice Parade. mokoondi. fatcat.
fatcd16.
Adam Pierce and assorted friends, including Doug Scharin of HIM and June
of 44 fame, mining that post-rock vein. One
track is a
cross between Japanese kabuki, syncopated, unsyncopated, hemi-demi-semi
syncopated break beats and the music from my all-time favourite movie
– the day the earth stood still.
Windy
& Carl. depths. Kranky. krank024.
flying saucer attack. further. Drag City.
cd69cd
Washes of guitar noise and feedback with the odd voice thrown in.
Far out, man.
Red
House Painters. Old Ramon. Subpop. SPCD 565
Mark Kozelek. What's Next to the Moon. Badman.
BRCD990
The very tuneful and laid back Mark Kozelek makes a double
appearance. The first marks a return of RHP after a protracted
contract disputed. Meanwhile, Kozelek solo tossed off 8 AC/DC
songs with acoustic guitar accompaniment. Stunning. As my
mate Luke commented: "AC/DC, the poor man's Led Zep."
Chicago
Underground Trio. Possible Cube. Delmark.
DE-511
The trio as a quartet. You've seen it before. Rob
Mazurek and the best of Chicago's jazz laced scene get groovy, whilst
leaving one foot in avant garde territory.
Anja Garbarek. Balloon Mood.
RCA. 74321 64061 2.
Or, as it says on the sleeve - Balloon Mood by Anja Garbarek.
Anja is the daughter of Norwegian jazz (er, vergin on New Age)
saxophonist. Rather than ploughing the folk influenced groove of
dad, Anja has absorbed pop especially Bjork. It's a nice Euro
friendly album and I'm off to see her at the South Bank as part of
Robert Wyatt's Meltdown series.
The Montgolfier Brothers. Seventeen Stars.
Poptones. mc5001cd.
I was expecting great things after reading a glowing Time Out
review. But, this struck me as a poor person's Belle &
Sebastian.
Miles Davis. Sketches of Spain.
Columbia/Legacy. CK 65142.
A true classic of Miles hard bop era, this album coalesces around
Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez.
Orbital. The Altogether. London
Records 90. 8573 87782 2.
The Hartnoll Brothers showing signs of running slim on ideas.
There are a few decent tracks, but it's mainly sausage stuff here.
The much hyped cover of the Doctor Who theme is disappointing.
to rococo rot and i-sound. music is a
hungry ghost. City Slang. 20177-2.
This knocks the spots of Orbital. A baker's dozen of inspired
electronica - nicely composed and delicious executed. I caught the
Liphook Brothers at 43 Feet East in Brick Lane last week. A very
danceable set which included a couple of interesting collaborations with
classical violinist Alex Balanescu, who I saw the other day performing
with Philip Glass.
Mogwai. Rock Action.
Southpaw. PAWCD1.
Clocking in at around 40 minutes, Glasgow's finest naughty boys aim to
be succinct this time around - their 4th long-player. Aside from
trimming the length, there's the addition of vocals, (guest vocals in
Welsh from Gruff Rhys of Super Furry fame), string accompaniment and
banjo (from Papa M's Dave Pajo). Mogwai have stretched themselves
musically by broadening their palette from the usual soft-loud
formula. Do they succeed? You be the judge: I'm still
deciding. But, you gotta admit "Take me somewhere nice"
is delicious.
Mum. Yesterday Was Dramatic - Today is
Okay. Tugboat. Tugcd21.
It must have a been a difficult job for ethereal, poly-instrumental
Icelanders, Mum, to support Mogwai live back in May. Their
fragile, yet engaging set was enough to persuade me to buy the CD.
It's well worth a listen. A bit easier to understand than
countrymen Sigur Ros, because the vocals are fewer and farer
between. I see quite a bit of potential here.
the 6ths. Hyacinths and Thistles.
Merge. MRG185.
From the creator (as Magnetic Fields) of the massive three CD set, 69
Love Songs, Stephin Merritt, comes this intriguing platter of more
than a dozen song-lets. Merritt puts down the mike this time and
hands it to the likes of Marc Almond, Momus, Bob Mould, Clare Grogan and
others.
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