It's a new Tuesday ToonTime...

[tentoze]

Lots of spinnage, but I'll mention 3 new-to-me ones from the wk-end pilgramage to Big B's:

Damien Rice, O- I was late getting around to this one, but dang glad I finally did. Very fine to my ears.

Jolie Holland, Escondida- New release that finds Jolie refining the quirky folk-blues of Catalpa. The 1st few songs have a pretty jazzy presentation. And, unlike Catalpa, this one wasn't recorded under a freeway overpass. Highly recommended.

Mojave 3, Spoon & Rafter- spacy desert twang with elctr-beeps and glurps. A very nice record.

Anybody else?

[Mike]

courtesy of yourself Tentoze namely Poll This and Tookay Three

Poll This - A really good collection of songs at times it sounded just like listening to one of my own comps for the mood, well at least I thought so. Something on it's way back to you which funnily features a track by Damien Rice.

Tookay Three - It took me a while to realise what this was ie your year end comp (doh! a bit slow there) another nice collection of songs some familiar some not, but it's good to see another Joan Armatrading fan.

Some other stuff included
Butterfly Jones, Joss Stone, The Notwist and comps by Blur, Rolling Stones and Elvis Costello.

Cheers
Mike

[DarrenH]

I haven't bought any new (this year) music in quite awhile. Just a bunch of new old stuff. I've been eyeballing Clapton's new disc though but haven't sprung for it yet.

Still listening to lots of Miles Davis. Spun a DCC copy of Art Pepper's Intensity. Fantastic sound on these DCC recordings. I really like Steve Hoffman's work. He truly has and ear for music.

Lots of Tull this week too. The usual suspects including the latest remaster releases.

Rush - Moving Pictures. MFSL version
XTC - Black Sea
XTC - Drums and Wires. I didn't like this very much. The music after this release is much more to my liking.
Marley - Exodus.
King Crimson - Lizard and Thrak. When I first heard Lizard I thought it was awful. But I have grown to like it. The Belew period is still king with me though.

Lots of comps:

Troy's Garage Band and Trip 2. As usual Troy, well done.
DPM's Prog Attack IV. Isildurs Bane's new CD is killer. They've become one if my favorite bands.

Finch - Got a comp from him that was untitled and came with pop culture press comp. I'm really diggin' the pop culture press thing. I wish I had track list for it. Is this one artist or a collection of several? Damn good music especially track 3. Didn't care for the other comp that much. Few songs caught my attention. The Widespread Panic tune was okay. Tantric was cool and I see they have a new CD. The Trews I like. Couple of others but for the most part it didn't grab me.

Autumn's Canadian Toonies. The Trews are my fav. Sloan is cool. Kathleen Edwards wasn't bad. Colin James I liked. Pretty good comp FA.

Slosh's Half, Half, & Half August 23, 2003. Excellent mix of old and new. Not sure if I've mentioned this before but I really like this comp Slosh. Oh, and I got your Sepultura/SDRE/Porky Twee package yesterday. Thank You.

Jack 70's Timemasheen vol 13. I haven't got them all but of the ones I do have this is my favorite although vol 4, Guitar Heroes Under The Radar, is damn good also. Come to think of it vol 8, Search Breakup Build, was also quite good. The heck with it, I'm sticking with vol 13 as my favorite.

There's a few more but as usual, I can't remember.

Darren

[PPG]

Finch's Mystery Disc (see separate mini-review)

Retro Comps: 1981, 1978 (BarryL - very good comp), JC's 1982 - been lovin' these Retro comps lately, I think we should do more. When you step back from these comps and come back to them after a year or so, they really sound good.

Prog Covers Vol. 4

[tentoze]

courtesy of yourself Tentoze namely Poll This and Tookay Three

Poll This - A really good collection of songs at times it sounded just like listening to one of my own comps for the mood, well at least I thought so. Something on it's way back to you which funnily features a track by Damien Rice.

Tookay Three - It took me a while to realise what this was ie your year end comp (doh! a bit slow there) another nice collection of songs some familiar some not, but it's good to see another Joan Armatrading fan.

Some other stuff included
Butterfly Jones, Joss Stone, The Notwist and comps by Blur, Rolling Stones and Elvis Costello.

Cheers
Mike

Glad they made it across the Big Water okay, Mike. Look forward to hearing yrs.

et

[newtrix1]

Zwan: Mary Star of the Sea
The Smashing Pumpkins: Adore
Doves: Last Broadcast
Outkast: Aquemini

vinyl:
can't remember, although I did spin something

comps:
J: Ex Beatles Beatles album

[-Jar-]

I'm schizophrenic this past week.. it's either been extreme hardcore/metal or very very mellow lazy tunes..

(all or parts of..)
Dillinger Escape Plan - CALCULATING INFINITY
Bolt Thrower - REALM OF CHAOS
John Zorn - NAKED CITY
Killing Joke - KILLING JOKE 2003
Acid Bath - WHEN THE KITE STRING POPS
Buzzoven - SORE
Eyehategod - DOPESICK
The Obsessed - THE CHURCH WITHIN
Slayer - SHOW NO MERCY, REIGN IN BLOOD
Exodus - BONDED BY BLOOD
Oxbow - SERENADE IN RED
High on Fire - THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE
The Appleseed Cast - MARE VITALIS
Hey Mercedes - LOSES CONTROL
Quickening - ARE YOU LISTENING?


Slosh - THIS TAINTED LIFE comp
Tentoes - POLL THIS comp

my own comp. I just made called Piano One . Very nice mix for lazy summer afternoons, and all the songs have piano in them in some form or another. Some old favorites mixed with some tunes some of you might recognize that I stole from other comps. If anyone wants one, please let me know. Turned out rather nice I think.

of if you don't want to click:

01 Lambchop - The New Cobweb Summer
02 Sixteen Horsepower - Beyond the Pale
03 Elysian Fields -Barely Recognize You
04 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Up Jumped the Devil
05 Radiohead - Karma Police
06 Radar Brothers - On The Line
07 Mojave 3 - After All
08 Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions - Down the Steps
09 The Black Heart Procession - We Always Knew
10 Red House Painters - All Mixed Up
11 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Love Letter
12 Cocteau Twins - Rilkean Heart
13 Elysian Fields - Fountains on Fire
14 Tom Waits - Take it With Me
15 Mercury Rev - Spiders and Flies


that's it.
-jar

[tentoze]

my own comp. I just made called Piano One . Very nice mix for lazy summer afternoons, and all the songs have piano in them in some form or another. Some old favorites mixed with some tunes some of you might recognize that I stole from other comps. If anyone wants one, please let me know. Turned out rather nice I think.

-jar

I'd take one of those if there's a spare.............

[Jim Clark]

Still waiting for the 2004 release that's just gonna bowl me over. Haven't listened to anything new over the past week, been on a little self imposed break from the used stores since April saw way too many unforseen expenses that really added up.

Really liked Tentoze' comp. To me it was sooo much better than his year end comp and by gawd I swear I heard some synths in there. Haven't been able to listen enough to get a firm handle on what I liked the most but there were a few tracks that really stood out. Thanks for the mailer!

Only thing a little out of the ordinary was a couple of Ridgeway boots that are tiding me over until I order his new CD. Speaking of the new CD what is going on with Stan selling a 16.00 CD at CDbaby.com? I'll be perfectly honest-that seems way too much to me. Being a fan I'll order it up eventually and reluctantly but he better start kicking out better material than he has of late or I'm going to have to put him off my automatic list. To be truthful the sound clips I've heard don't seem very engaging to me. I guess time will tell.

jc

[tentoze]

Really liked Tentoze' comp. To me it was sooo much better than his year end comp and by gawd I swear I heard some synths in there.
jc

O keeryst, there goes my hillbilly cred............

[richmon]

New stuff:
ARK 'Burn the sun' - excellent melodic prog metal with outstanding vocals.
Eric Clapton + B.B King 'Riding with the king' - some of the best guitar work Clapton has done in last 10 years. Good + fun disc that works great for car music.
Poppy Chubby 'Booty and the beast' - 7 top notch blues rock cuts on this pup.
Al DiMeola 'Orange and blue' - like a combination of Pat Methany, Chick Corea and Al - really fine jazzy disc that never got much notice.
The Tangent 'The music that died alone' - prog superstar project that only partially works for me, mostly cause of Roine Stolt's voice and the chessy lyrics.
Old Stuff:
Steve Forbert 'What Kinda guy?' - a best of this excellent singer songwriter's stuff - have I ever seen a mention of him on the board?
Matthew Sweet 'Girlfriend' - an old favorite from way back
King Crimson 'The power to believe'
Anglagard 'Hybris'
and lots of Reggae to welcome back the warm weather.

[Pat D]

Anybody else?

We've been away for several months to deal with a family crisis in my wife's family. She's been pretty tired so a lot of this is sort of relaxations stuff. Not much big symphonic music this time. The Quads blew their power supply and will be expensive to fix, and since this house isn't really suitable for big dipoles, I thought I'd try out some forward radiating speakers. Will be trying out some that I really like later this week. In the interim, we are using some old Paradigm 5SE's, which are fine for movies, less so for music.

Brahms, Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115; String Quartet no. 3. Boris Rener, clarinet; Quatuor Ludwig. Naxos 8.554601. We got this in our travels. So far, I find this rather overdramatic.

Dvorak, String Quartets, Op. 96 (American) and 106. Vlach Quartet. Naxos 8.553371. This is world class playing.

Mendelssohn, Symphony no. 2 (Lobgesang). Dohnananyi, Wiener Philharmoniker. The local chamber orchestra and choral society just did a performance of this--not bad, had good soloists in the choral movement. Decca 289 460 236-2.

Berwald, Septet in B flat major, etc. Arion Wind Quintet, Schein String Qt. Naxois 8.553714. I didn't listen to the rest of the CD.

Berlioz, Overtures. Yoav Talmi, San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Naxos 8.550999. This is quite good with fine sound.

Reicha, Wind Quintets, Op. 88, no. 2 and Op. 100, no. 5. Michael Thompson Wind Quintet. Naxos 8.550432.

Debusssy and Ravel, String Quartets. Cleveland Qt. Telarc CD-80111.

Haydn, String Quartets Op. 20. Kodaly Qt. Naxos 8.550701 and 8.550702.

Haydn, Symphonies nos. 22, 29, and 60. Nicholas Ward, Northern Chamber Orchestra. Naxos 8.550724.

[dld]

Old Stuff:
Steve Forbert 'What Kinda guy?' - a best of this excellent singer songwriter's stuff - have I ever seen a mention of him on the board?

Yea, I propped him awhile back for Streets Of This Town. I included it on e comp called Just Passing Thru. Included another contemporary of Steve's, Robert Earl Keen Jr., along with Darden Smith and a few others.

Agree that Forbert could use more mentions. And I'll for sure look up What Kinda Guy. If its his "best of", it should be great, as Streets is pretty fookin' good.

[tentoze]

Welcome back, Pat D. I'm always amazed at the quantity of music you fit in during a week.

[Pat D]

Welcome back, Pat D. I'm always amazed at the quantity of music you fit in during a week.

Actually, once I play something during the week, I put it on the 'played' pile so I can count them up on Tuesday! I don't have to rely on memory and its easier than writing them down.

I have a fair amount of time to listen, although the wife keeps me busy. Once I settle the speaker question, I should be listening to lots of stuff. I miss first class sound!

[Dusty Chalk]

Once I settle the speaker question, I should be listening to lots of stuff. I miss first class sound!

Please keep us informed, I'm dying to know what you end up choosing. What are you looking at?

[ToddB]

My pile of played discs fits in quite nicely with the other piles of CDs. Too bad those other piles don't also have legitimate reasons for being.

Depeche Mode - Exciter; Ultra; Songs Of Faith And Devotion; Violator
Jesus Jones - London; Already
Erasure - Loveboat; I Say I Say I Say; Chorus
Seam - The Pace Is Glacial; Headsparks
Ride - Going Blank Again
Hum - Downward Is Heavenward
Denali - The Instinct
Pixies - Bossanova
The Elected - Me First
Starflyer 59 - Americana
Elliott - False Cathedrals
Now It's Overhead - Fall Back Open; s/t
The Jesus And Mary Chain - Live In Concert
Mogwai - Happy Songs For Happy People
The Dagons - Teeth For Pearls; Make Us Old
The Wrens - The Meadowlands
Echobelly - People Are Expensive
The Letterpress - Input/Output

Also finally got around to hearing Mos Def, which I'll have to investigate further.

[tentoze]

I have a fair amount of time to listen, although the wife keeps me busy. Once I settle the speaker question, I should be listening to lots of stuff. I miss first class sound!

Breaking in a new pair myself right now in my "thrown-together" desert system; but I still miss my Dahlquists back in Florida.

[Pat D]

Please keep us informed, I'm dying to know what you end up choosing. What are you looking at?

Well, I'll just list what I've auditioned at some length with a few comments. The rooms in the house we have are really too small for the Quads: though they did very well in many ways, they simply were not at their best. Since it would be expensive to fix the power supply, I thought I would look at forward radiating speakers, which should work better in the locations available. Since I have a big 15 inch subwoofer, a Paradigm PW-2500 (no longer made), and don't play super loud, I don't need main speakers with super deep bass response, so I looked mainly at smaller speakers. However, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to listen to the big Paradigm Reference Signature S8, although it is the S2 that would actually be on my list. As well, the dealers suggested some other speakers.

Small monitor speakers:

Paradigm Signature S2------------very nice, will audition more.
B & W 705 -----------------------very nice.
Joseph Audio RM7Si --------------imaged well, but I found it hard sounding.
PSB Stratus Mini------------------very nice.
Totem Mani-2 Signature-----------very nice, with really deep bass.
Revel Performa M20----------------very nice. Has tweeter adjustment.
Vienna Acoustics Haydn----------- pleasant, but too laid back.

Tower speakers:

Paradigm Reference Studio 100-----nice, but somewhat colored.
Paradigm Signature S8-------------very nice.
Dali Helicon 400--------------------very nice.
Martin Logan Mosaic----------------midrange blown, but nice in mono!
Sonus Faber Concerto Grand Piano--very nice.
Vienna Acoustics Mozart------------pleasant, but too laid back.

The Joseph Audio speaker measures quite well but I guess I simply don't like the overall balance: but that shouldn't deter anyone else from listening to them. The VA speakers seem to have a dip in the upper midrange (you can find measurements for one of them in Stereophile) and are too laid back even for me, but many people like them a lot.

Having found a number of speakers I like, I simply cut off the more expensive speakers from the short list and the one with the blown midrange. This leaves basically the B & W 705, the Paradigm S2, and the PSB Stratus Mini, and I am pretty sure I could live with any of them quite happily. They are all very nice, neutral and smooth, image like champs, and seem to have no anomalies in the sound which call attention to the speakers themselves. They all measure very well and have excellent horizontal dispersion. They seem to do all types of music well and have more than adequate bass response to mate well with a subwoofer.

The PSB Stratus Mini is has a slightly downward sloping frequency response which makes it a more forgiving speaker, and it is the least expensive. So, right now, I am leaning towards the PSB Stratus Minis and will be auditioning them at home very soon. I should be able to listen to the Paradigm Signature S2 here in a couple of weeks.

[Stone]

Still waiting for the 2004 release that's just gonna bowl me over. Haven't listened to anything new over the past week, been on a little self imposed break from the used stores since April saw way too many unforseen expenses that really added up.

Have you heard either Electrelane or Xiu Xiu? I'm not saying either is a sure bet to bowl you over, but both certainly have the potential.

[Davey]

Have you heard either Electrelane or Xiu Xiu? I'm not saying either is a sure bet to bowl you over, but both certainly have the potential.

I think Jim might just be finding one of those in his mailbox before too much longer. Stay tuned.....same donkey channel, same donkey time...



Sorry, I was just up there yesterday and picked up this postcard - kind of cute