Tunesday Time Again - listen to anything good last week?

[Davey]

Not all that much in the mix for me but I did get to hear a few good ones. Just mentioned it in another post, but I really like that Americana 2004 sampler that came with the last Uncut magazine so listened to that a few times. Nice mix of some old friends and some new friends. Also leaned pretty heavy on that new Fiery Furnaces disc. Blueberry Boat. Pretty addictive stuff for me. Thirteen songs spread over 76 minutes obviously means this isn't your normal feel good radio friendly pop. Many of the songs are actually long suites with 3 or 4 interconnected segments, giving it a somewhat progressive feel but with an eclectic indie rock and electronica type sound. Probably my favorite album of the year right now. Also got in a listen to the very engaging Enon High Society which shares some of the same musical vision, except on a little less epic scale. And the always welcome Devendra Banhart Rejoicing In The Hands got at least a couple listens last week, as in all recent weeks. And one of my other big favorites this year by Carina Round called The Disconnection monopolized the rest of my listening time. I've posted about it before, but this CD is just so good. Also was kind of forced to listen to a spin or two of Josh Groban's self-titled debut schmoozefest. But enough about that already!

Looking forward to hearing some other new stuff in the coming weeks too. David Kilgour, Court and Spark, The Libertines, Clinic, and the rest. 2004 seems to be shaping up into a pretty good year in music history (at least in that wacky place known as Davey's world).

[MasterCylinder]

IQ -- Dark Matter
Led Zepp -- Houses of the Holy
ELP -- Best of (arguably)
OSI -- OSI

[Troy]

Gordian Knot- Emergent- Kinda forgettable modern fusion. Not melodically compelling enough.

Tony Levin- Pieces of the Sun- Unforgettable modern fusion. Dynamic and exciting.

Alamaailman Vasarat- Kaarmaletunnawhatever. Klezmer-metal instrumentals. Dead betty bat-mitzvah music. I love it, but then, I'm weird that way.

Our Daughters Wedding/The Cowboys International. I dubbed these 2 circa 1980 new wave LPs into the computer and baked a CD of them. Lawn Chairs ARE everywhere, donchaknow.

12 Rods- Separation Anxiety- A few great tracks on this disc. Call 'em an angsty power pop band.

The Nines- Wonderworld of Colorful- PPG sent me this a long time ago. Really excellent XTC style power pop.

Genesis Archives disc 3. The one with all the live stuff. Great veresions of Supper's Ready and Firth of Fifth.

RPWL- Stock- Me likey.

Roland Orzabal- Tomcats Screaming- I like this one more and more.

Missing Persons- Spring Session M. Outstanding metallic new wave.

[DarrenH]

Pulled out some things I haven't heard in awhile:

Spock's Beard - V and The Kindness Of Strangers
The Flower Kings - The Rainmaker
IQ - The Seventh House
Pallas - The Cross and the Crucible
Dream Theater - Falling Into Infinity and Images And Words
Mostly Autumn - Passengers
Porcupine Tree - Signify
Pineapple Thief - Variations On A Dream
OSI - OSI
Frameshift - Unweaving The Rainbow

And some newer things:

Tr3nity - Precious Seconds
The Killers - Hot Fuss (awesome disc)
Godspeed! You Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.(Okay, it's from 2002 but I'm diggin' it)

And a few older things:

Fuzzy Duck - Fuzzy Duck
Tull - Minstrel In The Gallery and Crest Of A Knave
Strawbs - Ghosts
King Crimson - Vroom Vroom (these concerts are awesome - classic late period Krim)
Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mining (another awesome disc)
XTC - Skylarking

There was some jazz in there as well. Some Miles Davis. Some Larry Coryell. Some other things.

A big (and way overdue) thanks to Jack70 for sending me another batch of Timemasheen comps. Great stuff Jackson. I rather enjoyed the Scandinavian discs. I won't say I liked it all but the majority of the content was pretty cool. Thanks again! Keep up the great work.

Darren

Edit: Added a few things to the list.

[Dave_G]

Rush - Permanent Waves - I like this one a lot, too.

IQ - Ever - what a great old IQ album.

Sparks - Propaganda - this recording is excellent power pop stuff.

Galahad - Sleepers - this pseudo neo prog band knocks me out.

Pallas - Beat the Drum - I just love this band, just ordered the Wedge off of an ebay auction. Their concert dvd is easily one of the best rock dvd's out there.

Marillion - Made Again - a 2 cd live set, superb H vocals before they went pop.

The Fixx - King Biscuit live - A great band, I love 'em.

Darren - great stuff you list there dood! We need to talk, too.

Dave

[mad rhetorik]

Slosh's McLusky/Les Savy Fav split
Troy's Garage Band discs
Porcupine Tree: In Absentia
Run-D.M.C.: Raising Hell
The Clash: London Calling
Lacuna Coil: Comalies

[Stone]

I've had Blueberry Boat nearly in constant rotation the past week, but I also listened to:

A.C. Newman - The Slow Wonder
Sluts of Trust - We Are All Sluts of Trust
The Who - A Quick One
Juliana Hatfield - In Exile Deo
Bad Religion - The Empire Strikes First
Mclusky - The Difference . . .

[tentoze]

No new releases for me again this week- did make a small used vinyl haul on Saturday, with Steeeleye Span's Original Masters, a 2 disk best-of; David Bromberg's Reckless Abandon ( makes two of his on consecutive Saturdays that I never listened to before); Sparks' Whomp That Sucker (not the best outing I've heard from the Mael Bros.); and a few more that escape me right now. Listened to a broad swath of more recent cd acquisitions in preparation for another of those pesky COMPS I come up with periodically- I have a thematic idea for the next one that requires a lot of listening to find the right toons to mebbe pull it off.

Best of a good music year thus far are still in rotation, and will be until notice to the contrary: Devendra Banhart, Jesse Sykes, and Willard Grant Conspiracy.

[nobody]

Been listening to a bunch of reggae lately....

Mighty Diamonds: Right Time
U-Roy: Versions Galore
The Congos: Heart of the Congos
Horace Andy: Greatest Hits

They all sound great in the summertime. I've been scrounging for reggae records lately, and intend to keep digging for more. That Congos record has such a unique sound. If anyone knows anything that sounds similar, let me know. Really digging the Mighty Diamons too, especially "They Never Love Poor Marcus." And, speaking of reggae...if anyone has a vinyl copy of Culture: Two Sevens Clash they would be willing to part with, let me know.

some jazz...

Jimmy Smith: The Sermon - excellent Hammond Organ stuff with some nice jazz guitars and horns as well. 3 tracks on the whole albnum, but very nice indeed.

Also some more Monk and Horace Silver. I had Art Blakey's Moanin' in my hands, but had already spent too much so put it back...maybe this weekend.

some rock stuff...

The Hives: Trynasourus Hives - Their best yet in my estimation. High energy garagey rock. While the White Stripes have progressed and branched out these guys have just intensified their act.

McLusky: The Difference... - Only listened to it once. Not sure I like it as well as their last one. I miss the catchiness that seems to be missing. Maybe it will grow on me.

PJ Harvey: Stories from the City Stories from the Sea - Nice realese, although I think I liked the one before it, whose name escapes me, better. Anybody get a good listen to her new one yet?

And, one of my mellow favorites from 2004...

Iron & Wine: My Endless Numbered Days - Just a really beautiful record. Another one that comes with a free 45 if you grab the vinyl. I lost a CDR I had oif this one and had to go out and grab it again immediately. One of my favorites this year.

That's enough to mention for now...

[Davey]

Been listening to a bunch of reggae lately....They all sound great in the summertime. I've been scrounging for reggae records lately, and intend to keep digging for more.

Yeah, I know what ya mean. Ska and reggae make great summertime listening fun. Have you ever heard any of the real early Bob Marley stuff from the 60s? I had only heard snippets until I picked up a used copy of his Songs of Freedom box set and discovered lots of new to me music. Almost a revelation. I condensed it to one CD-R that is heavy on the 60s stuff and listen to it all the time now. Totally cool. I do have that Congos on vinyl and of course it is a classic and deserving of the hype and accolades. Perry's production masterpiece, although I can't remember my copy sounding all that good. Wonder what the CD remaster sounds like? Or is that what you've been spinning? They used to bounce the tracks around so much on those cheapass 4-tracks that by the time they were done it had lost most of the magic juice

[Davey]

I've had Blueberry Boat nearly in constant rotation the past week, but I also listened to: The Who - A Quick One

Hehehe, so be honest, Stoney...did all the early Who references in the reviews and interviews inspire you to pick that up or did you already have it in your 30-something CD collection? Love that early Who stuff, but being an old geezer, I kinda remember it from when it was new

[Whooptee]

This is what the stack next to my player says,

Eszter Balint - Flicker
Paula Frazer - Indoor Universe
Mary Margaret O'Hara - Miss America
Nina Nastasia - The Blackened Air
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter - Reckless Burning
The Guthries - S/T
The Legendary Shackshakers - Cockadoodledon't

John

[Stone]

Hehehe, so be honest, Stoney...did all the early Who references in the reviews and interviews inspire you to pick that up or did you already have it in your 30-something CD collection? Love that early Who stuff, but being an old geezer, I kinda remember it from when it was new

I picked it up last week. I'd never heard the first three Who albums (even though I have a copy of Sell Out on vinyl), and have never been a big fan of the Who. After I read the reviews of Blueberry Boat, and the interview on Pitchfork, I decided to pick A Quick One up. I've only spun it once, but it's already on the shelf. "A Quick One, While He's Away" is definitely an interesting piece though.

BTW, I'm up to 42 CDs now, so piss off.

[Slosh]

I haven't attained any newness since Wilco in June but wanted to give a shout out to Mike. I received your 2003 year-ender and Comfort In Sound comps yesterday. Been so busy lately but managed to listen to CiS to and from work today and I can see we'll get along just fine. Nice song selection and sequencing and use of crossfades. Probably not at all what you intended but the ebb and flow of this comp seems conducive to some serious #@&% sessions, err, um . . . sexual relations, and I'll give it a go with a certain unsuspecting so-and-so in two days time. The 2003 is slated for later tonight but I can already see there's lots to like there judging from the stuff I know from the tracklist.

NP: Smashing Pumpkins - Gish (ah, now I remember dynamic range on a rock CD)

[nobody]

Yeah, I know what ya mean. Ska and reggae make great summertime listening fun. Have you ever heard any of the real early Bob Marley stuff from the 60s? I had only heard snippets until I picked up a used copy of his Songs of Freedom box set and discovered lots of new to me music. Almost a revelation. I condensed it to one CD-R that is heavy on the 60s stuff and listen to it all the time now. Totally cool. I do have that Congos on vinyl and of course it is a classic and deserving of the hype and accolades. Perry's production masterpiece, although I can't remember my copy sounding all that good. Wonder what the CD remaster sounds like? Or is that what you've been spinning? They used to bounce the tracks around so much on those cheapass 4-tracks that by the time they were done it had lost most of the magic juice

I've heard pretty much of the early Marley stuff. The earliest thing I've got of his is Soul Rebel though. Great album that one for sure. That single disc distillation sounds interesting...hint...hint...hint...

I've been listening to the reissued vinyl that was done along with the CD remaster as far as the Congos go. I wasn't really talking abut sound as in sound quality though. I was more referring to the minimalist sound of the music itself. It's all echoey and sparse. Sme of that is the crude production for sure, but I get the feeling much of it is intentional...allthough I could obviously be wrong.

[BillB]

I picked up John Lennon's "Plastic Ono Band" on MoFi CD and find it to be 10 times better sounding to the original CD issue.

I understand it's been remastered and rereleased recently and I haven't heard that version but the MoFi is quite good compared to the original. I like the album much better than "Imagine" but the quality of it might force me to pick up the MoFi remaster of "Imagine" as well.

Bill

[ForeverAutumn]

I had to hit the road on a business trip. 4 hours in the car yesterday and another 4 hours today. Yesterday's drive up was basically a Rush lovefest inspired by last week's three top Rush albums thread and the purchase of a few Rush CDs that were missing from my collection.

Roll The Bones
Signals
Power Windows
Counterparts

The entertainment on today's drive home was courtesy of my RR friends.

Mike's Ryan Adams comp
Swishy's Fresh Brew II comp
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow - This warranted 2 spins...I love this disk!
Honeydogs -10,000 Years - I've only given this one a total of 2 spins. It's taking a while to warm up to but the 2nd spin was more enjoyable than the first. I can feel this one growing on me.

I also listened to Jamie Cullum, Twentysomething. Anyone else heard this guy? He's a Jazz singer from the UK. Apparently, his debut album was the second best selling debut disk in the UK last year, next to The Darkness. It's a good disk if you like this kind of thing. About half original songs and half covers, including Hendrix's Wind Cries Mary and Radiohead's High and Dry as well as some more traditional stuff. I saw the video for Wind Cries Mary and was so impressed I ran out to buy the disk the next day.

[Pat D]

Horowitz in London. RCA RCD1-4572. Has Chopin's Polonaise-Fantaisie and Ballade no. 1, Schumann's Scenes from Childhood (Kinderscenen), and Scriabin's Etude in D-Sharp Minor.

Canciones y Leyendas. Steven Peacock, guitar; Yvonne Kershaw, bassoon. Blue Milo BMR 49041. This is a very unusual combination. We bought this after a recital they gave. Nice.

Holly Cole Trio, Don't Smoke in Bed. Alert Z2 81020

Sarah Brightman, La Luna.

Praetorius, Dances from the Terpsichore. Westra nos Pijpare. Naxos 8.553865

Boismortier, Ballets de village, Serenade. Herve Niquet, Le concert spirituel. Naxos 8.554295

Brahms, Symphony No. 4; Beethoven, Egmont Overture. Fritz Reiner (Brahms), Rene Leibowitz (Beethoven), Royal Philharmonic Overture. Chesky CD-6

J. S. Bach, Magnificat In D, Cantatas 50 and 70. Felix Prohaska, Vienna State Opera Soloists, Choir and Orchestra. Vanguard OVC 2010

Bach, Cantatas 4 and 140. Rosemarie Landry, soprano; Ben Heppner, tenor; Mark Pedrotti, bass; Wayne Riddell, Tudor Singers of Montreal, CBC Vancouver Orchestra. CBC SMCD5029C

Organ Meditation. Janos Sebestyen, organ. Naxos 8.550791. Calm pieces by various composers arranged for organ.

J. S. Bach, The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1. Jeno Jando, piano. Naxos 8.553796-7. Jando is almost the Naxos "house pianist" and it seems he plays everything very well.

[DPM]

Stu Hamm/Radio Free Albumeth
Renaissance/Ashes Are Burning
Yes/Tales From Topographic Oceans
King Crimson/Lark's Tongues In Aspic
ZZ Top compilation
Dire Straits compilation
Metal Of Ages 4 compilation

Dave M

[Dusty Chalk]

Venetian Snares, Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding -- bizarro-land. I dig it; LOTW, even.

Deep Purple, Best Of (I forget which one, the 30 Years one, I think -- 2 CD set, starts with "Hush", and has a good taste of old stuff on it)

Einstürzende Neubauten, Silence Is Sexy -- I pretty much never get tired of the first disk of this album. Heh-heh, must be good music, then, huh, skeptic?

Some Ghostly International stuff, I don't remember which ones...

[ToddB]

Denali - The Instinct
My Hotel Year - The Curse
The Decemberists - Her Majesty The Decemberists
The Decemberists - Castaways And Cutouts
Camera Obscura - Underachievers Please Try Harder
Paul Oakenfold - Great Wall
Paul Oakenfold - Transport
Tobin Sprout - Lost Planets And Phantom Voices
Echobelly - Gravity Pulls
Echobelly - People Are Expensive
Sasha - Involver
Pedro The Lion - Achilles Heel
Superchunk - Here's Where The Strings Come In
Preston School Of Industry - All This Sounds Gas
Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
Gary Numan - Hybrid
Ester Drang - Infinite Keys
Matthew Sweet - Kimi Ga Suki
Depeche Mode - Exciter
The Fire Theft - The Fire Theft
Teenage Fanclub - 4,766 Seconds
The Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart
Elliott - Song In The Air
Azure Ray - Hold On Love
Ann Beretta - Three Chord Revolution
Sugar - Copper Blue
Cruiserweight - This Will Undoubtedly Come Out Wrong
Paul van Dyk - Reflections
Curve - The New Adventures Of Curve
BT - Emotional Technology

I really need to file away this pile of CDs...

[Davey]

BTW, I'm up to 42 CDs now, so piss off.

I had no idea you were so elevated

Hey, I was just cruising some of my favorite review sites and saw this really nice one on the Fiery Furnaces at AmericanaUK. Can't link directly to it so I'll post it below, but the link for the latest reviews is http://www.americana-uk.com/html/reviews.html.....BTW, have you heard any from the Comets On Fire that is getting so much good press? 12 out of 12 at fakejazz this month and good reviews at most of the other sites too. Are they kind of like Trail Of Dead or Constantines or some other hard rockers I might know?

 

The Fiery Furnaces "Blueberry Boat" (Rough Trade 2004)

Available: 6th September 2004. Review by David Jenkins 

Indie siblings create genre-hopping masterpiece. It has been nary a year since the release of their critically lauded debut "Gallowbird's Bark" which consisted primarily of short, sharp, ditties with a notable Syd Barrett influence. Few would have guessed that they would have concocted a follow-up such immense vision. "Blueberry Boat" is astounding. An album whose subjects include pirates, dogs, sports merchandise, attention deficit disorders and or course, fruit. Lyrics that are as crazy as they are poignant sound like they could have been gleaned from Post It notes left on your mother's fridge, or half remembered diary entries from your formative years. "Mason City" begins by detailing directions to the titular destination with Matt rasping, "Take the Oregon Shortline to Salt Lake, take the Pere Marquette, take the Michigan Central to West Madison, for Christ Sake." It concludes with Eleanor claiming she has discovered that the "Buffer Nabber" (?!) is in fact the lowest form of life on Earth. This stream-of-conscious lyrical approach is most fitting to the continuously changing music which accompanies it.  Every song (or should that be symphony?) overflows with time-signature changes, overlapping vocals, crazed guitar work-outs, melodies within melodies, skewed wordplay and vast Orchestral flourishes resulting in a grandeur reserved principally for the Opera. The opening track, "Quay Cur" pushes the listener straight in at the deep-end with its ten minute-plus run time and electronica-opening-that-soon-becomes-countrified-polka finale. "My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found" sees Eleanor singing feverishly what seems to be an urgent plea to recover her missing canine. The dog is eventually found in a church. As it turns out, it was only "lost" spiritually. Matt's ragtime piano and guitar soloing perfectly complement Eleanor's every utterance. "Blueberry Boat" is similar in style and song-structure to Wilco's recent "A Ghost Is Born" in that they both ebb and flow between pop and experimentalism. But, whereas "Ghost" lays out distinct boundaries between which tracks are pop and which experimental, the Fiery Furnaces have created a successful fusion of the two. A cloudburst of ideas and emotions. Highly recommended. www.thefieryfurnaces.com

[Stone]

I had no idea you were so elevated

Hey, I was just cruising some of my favorite review sites and saw this really nice one on the Fiery Furnaces at AmericanaUK. Can't link directly to it so I'll post it below, but the link for the latest reviews is http://www.americana-uk.com/html/reviews.html.....BTW, have you heard any from the Comets On Fire that is getting so much good press? 12 out of 12 at fakejazz this month and good reviews at most of the other sites too. Are they kind of like Trail Of Dead or Constantines or some other hard rockers I might know?

Nice review there.

I haven't heard Comets on Fire. I looked for their album the last time I was at the local record store, but they only had an older one available. I've been reading great things about it, and I have a feeling that it's a bit heavier than Constantines, et al., but obviously I haven't heard it.

Anything else new(ish) I should hear? I just scored a copy of John Cale's latest (Hobosapien) and have Architecture In Helsinki en route to my place.

[Davey]

Anything else new(ish) I should hear? I just scored a copy of John Cale's latest (Hobosapien) and have Architecture In Helsinki en route to my place.

Always lots of good stuff floating around we should all get a chance to hear (in a perfect world) but who has the time anymore? Sometimes I can't quite figure out your tastes either so it's hard to say. I really love the Carina Round album that I've been talking up around here recently, but don't have a clue if you would like it. Can't remember you ever mentioning PJ Harvey or Fiona Apple or Patti Smith or Chrissie Hynde or any of the "old-school" rock chicks, so guess maybe not. Very good album, though, and very likely in my personal top 10 this year. Similarly no clue about Willard Grant Conspiracy, but another big one for me. The new David Kilgour supposedly hits the street here today and that's one I've been looking forward to. And the new Bark Psychosis is great, but not widely available in the US yet. I've heard it once but don't yet have copy, but if I did I'd be playing it a lot. Stylus gave the new one by Bravecaptain (ex-Boo Radleys' Martin Carr) album of the week and it sounds like a good one, but don't know bout availability here. I'm also a big fan of Robert Wyatt so will likely grab his latest before year's end, but probably not something you'd go for. The band Richmond Fontaine has a new one I want to check out. Love what I've heard of those guys. And The National has an EP called Cherry Tree that I want badly too. Should I keep going

I was just listening to some John Cale on the excellent Sahara Blue by Hector Zazou. Great stuff. I've been trying to find a realistically priced copy of Zazou's Strong Currents from last year but not much luck so far. One of these days I'll break down and order it from France or Italy if I don't find it here. Let me know what you think of Hobosapien. I think Snowbunny was talking about buying that one but I haven't talked to her about it yet. My initial thought was that it seemed a little too far out there for her, but she's surprised me on many occasions so who knows. Maybe a bit far out for you too? Hehehe, maybe I can score it cheap after you listen

On second thought, The Fiery Furnaces is kind of on the wacky fringe too so I guess I'm barking down the wrong alley....which reminds me....I went to church that Wednesday night. The guest preacher said I bark but I don't bite. I saw my dog, but he'd seen the light. My dog was lost but now he's found. Ruff ruff

[Davey]

Anything else new(ish) I should hear?

New stuff: part II....or, in other words, how to shamelessly keep my thread popping to the top of the pile

Hey, another one on my list that's been getting great reviews for a debut is The Earlies. What I've heard sounds very good. Another in a long line of Flaming Grandaddy Mercury Lips disciples, but much more rounded than most of their peers. It was pretty high at metacritic last I checked.

And the reissue at the top of my list, you ask? No contest!