What is spinning?

Yeah, I'm gonna hafta pick up a copy of that Death Grips. But for today...

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FRAK: Muzika Electronic

Swedish duo FRAK walks a fine line between electronic dance and experimental music. They have been around since 1987, mostly releasing things on the Swedish Börft label that specializes in electronic music. This one is on Digitalis, is quite excellent, and comes on some fancy green vinyl.

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Today is Friday. It's gorgeous outside. I'm inside. The cure is big band. I'm hitting two recent releases, both good, they complement each other well. Captain Black is live and seems to be riding that energy wave, more the modern big band style. McBride is studio, solidly composed and swinging and tends to lean Ellington and Mingus. Mingus maybe somewhat due to McBride also being a stellar bass player. But McBride also has his own voice on his own compositions. Maybe Orrin Evans on piano (Captain Black) leans Mingus and McCoy Tyner. I'm more familiar with McBrides past work. Hearing some of his previous small group compositions played large is very nice; I also like to hear Nicholas Payton on trumpet. I don't think you can miss with either of these. Some links to youtube embedded.

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Ok. Done with AM big band. Now on to a full listen of Father John Misty

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This review put it pretty well:
"Josh Tillman bears an old soul. And not just in his wise-beyond-his-years demeanor. He's crotchety, riddled with existential angst and a dimming worldview. On his Sub Pop debut, the self-anointed and self-aware Father John Misty bemoans everything from his birth name ("Everyman Needs a Companion") to the petroleum it takes to press vinyl records ("Now I'm Learning To Love the War"). Fear Fun is that glorious bummer, steeped in the pastoral warmth of Laurel Canyon ("O I Long To Feel Your Arms Around Me"), Harry Nilsson's warped balladry ("Misty's Nightmares 1 & 2"), wry country soul ("Tee Pees 1-12"), and Sixties pop grandeur – often all in the same song ("Nancy From Now On"). "


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sing along...
I ran down the road, pants down to my knees
Screaming "please come help me, that Canadian shaman gave a little too much to me!"
And I'm writing a novel because it's never been done before

First house that I saw I wrote house up on the door
And told the people who lived there they had to get out "cause my reality is realer than yours"
And there's no time for the present
And there's a black dog on the bed

I went to the backyard to burn my only clothes
And the dog ran out and said "you can't turn nothing into nothing is with me no more"
Well I'm no doctor but that monkey might be right
And if he is I'll be walking him my whole life

I rode to Malibu on a dune buggy with Neil
He said "you're gonna have to drive me down on the beach if you ever want to write the real"
And I said "I'm sorry, young man what is your name again?"

Now everywhere I go in West Hollywood
It's filled with people pretending they don't see the actress and the actress wishing that they could
We could do ayahuasca
Baby if I wasn't holding all these drinks

Something 'bout the way Violet whips her hair
That makes me empty my pockets on the corner to corner bumming twenties as if I was the mayor
I don't need any new friends, Momma
But I could really use something to do
So if you're up for it sometimes
I swear you wouldn't have to be my muse

Heidegger and Sartre, drinking poppy tea
I could've sworn last night I passed out in my van and now these guys are pouring one for me
I'll never leave the canyon 'cause I'm surrounded on all sides
By people writing novels and living on amusement rides

Interesting stuff n0ddy...I did a bit of big band too, all be it slightly untraditionally.

Started off with the Jaco Pastorius Big Band's tribute album, "The Word is Out" with Randy Brecker, Victor Wooten, the very funky Will Lee, Mike Stern, Peter erskine and a host of others.

Afterward I moved on to the Telerc Archive, Lionel Hampton nd Friends that has a list of about 30 contributors with names like Mingus, Dexter Gordon, Coleman Hawkins, Bucky Pizzarelli, and Buddy Rich...one of the best ADD recordings I've ever heard.

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Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works 85-92
An all-time favorite electronic music selection and an absolute classic ambient techno record. If you like idm, ambient, electronic, techno or whatever you've already either listened to this or you're a serious slacker. This is the remastered vinyl from R&S put out in 2006. Sounds better to me than the CD versions I listened to before grabbing this. The originals are too rare and expensive for my blood so I can't say what good the remastering does compared to the original vinyl. I was just happy when they re-issued this version.

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Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works 85-92

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I love that disc--- Is that a tubed phono stage?

It's the Bellari VP530 with the usb output, which comes in handy for burning vinyl. Its got a tube, but I have seen much debate as to if it is a "true" tubed phono stage so I will leave it at that. Sounds good to me though and listening reviews seem uniformly positive. Good sound and the usb outlet make it plenty of fun for me.

And yeah that is my favorite Aphex Twin and definitely high on my all time list.

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Sugar Minott: Dance Hall Showcase Vol. II
Four classic dancehall tracks with dub versionsreissued on the Wackie's label as a 10". Minott is in fine voice throughout, as on the hit from this set, Transformer. But for me, the minimal, echo-box productions by Bullwackie steal the show. Short and sweet and really great if you like early dancehall at all.

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Sugar Minott: Dance Hall Showcase Vol. II
Four classic dancehall tracks with dub versionsreissued on the Wackie's label as a 10". Minott is in fine voice throughout, as on the hit from this set, Transformer. But for me, the minimal, echo-box productions by Bullwackie steal the show. Short and sweet and really great if you like early dancehall at all.

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You seem to know a little about reggae, any of these bands worth seeing, you think?

Thanks-

Gary

Reggae In The Hills 2012 featuring Yellowman, Bushman, Pato Banton, Mystic Roots and many more!Reggae in the Hills 2012 | Northern California Reggae Party featuring Yellowman, Bushman, Pato Banton, Mystic Roots and many more!

Yellowman is a legend, Pato Banton is good, saw him play a good show about a year or so back. Honestly seems kinda pricey to me considering after the top 3-4 acts, you've got what looks to me like a bunch of filler. But there are worse ways to blow some cash than hanging out and listening to some half decent reggae bands for the day and then catching a really good set or two to cap off the night. If this is a multiple day thing, I'd make sure to catch Yellowman. In the 80s, he was probably about the most popular dancehall guy to break through in America, outside maybe Eek-a-Mouse.

Been on a smooth jazz kick lately - living in Hong Kong the speed of the people rushing by and the constant business - this music is like music's version of pot.

Acoustic Alchemy - Missing your touch

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Originally Posted by RGA

Been on a smooth jazz kick lately - living in Hong Kong the speed of the people rushing by and the constant business - this music is like music's version of pot.

Acoustic Alchemy - Missing your touch

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I have a stack of AA disks and have seen them a few times but unfortunately after the one founding member died of cancer.

I was into the more grooving Smooth Jazz for a while a few years ago and did a 2 disk set of Smooth Jazz Pizazz with lots of good artists like AA, Special EFX, Rippingtons.......

Here is a link to the archives with some comments about the set from others here at AR

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Originally Posted by RGA

Been on a smooth jazz kick lately - living in Hong Kong the speed of the people rushing by and the constant business - this music is like music's version of pot.

Acoustic Alchemy - Missing your touch

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Check out any of Jeff Golub's solo material if you want more light stuff with substance.

Craig Chaquico's first 2 or 3 disks are really good also

I spent quite a bit of the holiday weekend listening to The Ventures, The Tornadoes, The Fireballs, and Bill Black's Combo. It's probably been 4 years since I listened to that many rock/pop instrumentals.

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~Rae

What do you get when an avant-garde/phychedelic/electronic/pop/noise/experimental band creates an homage to an avant-garde/hard bop/swing/experimental/jazz composer and bandleader? Believe it or not, you get something surprisingly cool.

When (wiki) meets Sun Ra (wiki)

It probably goes without saying that you might need an open mind. I encourage you to click and listen, it won't kill you. It may enlighten you. heh heh.

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Listen to track 5: "(Talkin' About) Nuclear War"


"The music is not part of this planet in a sense that the spirit of it is about happiness. Most musicians play earth things about what they know, but I found out that they are mostly unhappy and frustrated, and that creeps over into their music." - Sun Ra

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Jimmy Smith: The Sermon

Gotta be my favorite jazz organ album of all time. And certainly up there as one of my favorite jazz albums of all time. Came across it on this Blue Note Cobalt XDR Cassette with Dolby HXPro, and I gotta say this sounds pretty dang good.

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Jimmy Smith: The Sermon

Gotta be my favorite jazz organ album of all time. And certainly up there as one of my favorite jazz albums of all time. Came across it on this Blue Note Cobalt XDR Cassette with Dolby HXPro, and I gotta say this sounds pretty dang good.

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Thanks, nobody. That was such a solid recommendation I put in a buy order on Amazon and now have it on repeat as I get my day cranking. I always have a bit of a soft spot for organ. Terrific lineup too. Thought you'd like to know you made a sale. :-)

Went on (what amounts for me to) a CD binge.

Sun Kil Moon - Among the Leaves
I like this a bit more than April. It's lighter, more melodic. Maybe a bit more folksy, story oriented. Humorous and dark, both. Not quite light, not quite heavy. Less drone-y. Long. Pleasant enough for just putting it on and listening for 73+minutes. I kinda like this unconventional track, Elaine -click me- You need to at least listen to the 2:30 mark.
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Liars: WIXIW
I like this one. Starts out a bit slow. First track seemed to be lodged somewhere between Peter Gabriel's US and Last Temptation of Christ. Track 2 changed to something else, track 3 a different something else and thus the album keeps morphing from one song to the next, picking up steam, picking up groves, picking up psychedelia. Adds up to a real nice listen start to finish. Sample track 3 No. 1 Against the Rush, which again sounds like other things (including The National, I thought) but still good in it's own right. And still not quite representative of the whole album.
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Django Django
Been wanting to pick this up without paying the import price. Finally decided to give deepdiscounts a try. That worked. Just a happy mix of infectious art-pop. Uptempo, easy to listen to as fluff but has a bunch of things thrown in that keep ones interest and entertainment up. Sample Default
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I'll copy this clip over from NME (link). It comes closer than I can to a description

"Django have emerged from their pupal stage showing off a blinding array of colours, and their debut album takes flight bound for somewhere new.

It’s not, though, somewhere entirely without precedent. The major inspiration on ‘Django Django’ would appear to be the works of The Beta Band. Yup, for some bands The Libertines are Day One. For others it’s the Stones. For Django Django, it’s the now-defunct Scottish indie semi-legends who were as much characterised by their muddy, spliff-friendly tones as their intrepid, far-sighted eclecticism.

Funnily enough, there is a family connection – Django bandleader David Maclean is the younger brother of Betas keyboardist John Maclean. Even so, they’ve moved on from their predecessors’ sofa-bound outlook on life. The rootsy acoustic scrapes, sneaker-shuffling rhythms, echo-slung vocals – all Beta trademarks. But Django make an itchy, Vitamin D-saturated music that grabs hold of their inner stoner, hauls him off the settee and catapults him out into the blazing sunshine.

We begin with ‘Hail Bop’, a baffling mix of tribal drums, electro-whooshes and cowboy whistles and cricket chirrups. This gives way to the kind of irresistible chant-chorus that peppers the entire album, and ensures that, as far as envelopes are being pushed stylistically, the finished product always hits your lap sounding dead-on immediate. There are echoes of Hot Chip in ‘Hand Of Man’, while ‘Love’s Dart’ is drum machine-bedded acoustic fingerpicking sliced from the most tender parts of Gruff Rhys’ brain. Out in front, though, is the Tarantino-theme-via-Calexico bounce of ‘Life’s A Beach’ – as immediate an anthem as you’re going to get from a band who clearly have the attention span of month-old puppies. It’s an album characterised by its sharp stylistic swerves, but never feels jumbled or incoherent.

It’s a dream of the psychedelic tropics, a heady explosion of colours, an album that takes what it means to be ‘in an indie band’ and gives it a good shake. Time to pay a visit. "

Worth a look.

Galactic - Carnivale Electricos
Similar to 2009's Ya-Ka-May except this one merges Galactic party funk with New Orleans Mardi Gras influences. So you get samba, zydeco, creole, bounce, marching band, horns, growl, grind...Rotating through a list of featured artists.
What you do not get is anything low energy (well, not much). Sample Hey Na Na
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Patti Smith - Banga
Picked this up to but haven't given it a good listen yet.
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I always like a little spending spree. Digital downloads and all the stuff floating around the net is great, but it doesn't beat actually coming home with a bag of records or the media of your choice. Looks like some interesting stuff too.

Glad you like that Jimmy Smith. I go back to that one a ton. If you like organ music, you might also wanna check out Jackie Mittoo, Jamaican organist. The Keyboard King of Studio One is a great compilation of his stuff.

Also...that When meets Sun Ra is pretty interesting, gonna hafta think about grabbing that. And that Velveteens is worth a free Bandcamp download for sure.

That particular Jimmy Smith album is a classic. I've got the RVG Remaster and it too sounds superb.

Speaking of organists, today's selection, Pat Martino's El Hombre, has some serious chops from Trudy Pitts. Great stuff...

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This song has been rolling around in my head and humming from my lips since watching Wes Anderson's Hotel Chevalier/The Darjeeling Limited over the weekend:

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<b>Digitalis Recordings: Born Again for the First Time</b>
Label sampler from Digitalis, celebrating the launch of their redesigned website. If you're at all into odd synth stuff, experimental music, and the gentler side of noise music Digitalis has a ton of great stuff for you. This sampler is a great way to jump in because it has fresh material from a lot of label artists like Discoverer, Panabrite, Hobo Cubes and many more, right around 2 hours of music. And, it is available at name your price/free, in whatever format you want, even FLAC. A great way to see what the label is about and pick out something to explore further.

Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline on Sundazed vinyl. Nice.

One of the very best debut albums ever...

I finally found of this CD locally. Only one listen so far but I'm not at all let down. It even sounded pretty well-recorded but admittedly that listen was in my girlfriend's car, which isn't really a good system to judge sonic quality.

Codeine - When I See the Sun gorgeous box set put out by Numero Group. Their 3 albums, remastered. Demos/acoustic demos, B-sides on second lp for each. + cd's.

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High On Fire - De Vermis Mysteriis (not what's pictured ^ there but I happen to like that cover a lot). really amazing musicians who would impress, I'd think, some of the prog-lovers around here. Heavy shreddin' stuff that sounds most excellent to me (in all ways, production on this is great with a quiet, full-sounding vinyl pressing available.

First spin:

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Ricardo Villalobos: Dependent and Happy

Been spinning with this one today. There's far too many categories for electronic music for me to even name, as if I even knew what they call em. I think this one's supposed to be in the dance variety. It chugs along at a pretty even temp for 80 minutes. But what makes it enjoyable to listen to is the casual an constantly evolving mix of rhythms and noises. Mostly electronic but a fair amount of environmental samples. It rewards listening without being pompous or overly showy. Put it on and just let it take you where ever. Nice if you like this sort of trance-y stuff.

Dusted Reviews: Ricardo Villalobos - Dependent and Happy
Ricardo Villalobos: Dependent and Happy | Album Reviews | Pitchfork

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<b>DJ Clash featuring Nicodemus and Toyan</b>

Been on a bit of a reggae/dub/dancehall kick lately. Just picked this one up on vinyl and I'm loving it. Great dubbed out backing with Nicodemus and Toyan taking turns over the top. Henry "Junjo" Lawes handles the production on this and does a fantastic job as the backing tracks steal the show for me.

I stumbled across this the other day. I didn't even know he had a new one coming out this year. One spin so far and it doesn't disappoint.

I've enjoyed this thread recently more than any other here. For go the gear and just get into the music.

Thanks to all who posted in the last couple of weeks you've just added a huge amount to my "want list"

Cheers

....I guess I should post some albums I've gotten recently when I get around to it.

2012 is finishing up strong

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~Rae

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Holy F**k, Rae! This is a fantastic rec! Not at all what I was expecting, but right up my alley.

And if all goes well, I will be getting an emailed link to the cassette!

Thanks!

Snowie

Edit: The link to bandcamp is really cool, as well.

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Originally Posted by Slosh

I stumbled across this the other day. I didn't even know he had a new one coming out this year. One spin so far and it doesn't disappoint.

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Alright, you Indie Hipster! Would it have been so difficult to tell those of us who don't always connect the dots, that this is a solo album by the lead singer of Grandaddy! ;)

I was just listening to I'm Okay with My Decay (ipod shuffled) on my walk and thinking how much I like Sophtware Slump, but its the only album of theirs in my collection.

There's no mistaking Lyttle's voice!

Snowie

Hey, a new Clinic record

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God what a nightmare posting at AR has become. It took great effort to get these up!!

In any case this 3 disc collection is a revelation in soul music. I am convinced that he was the greatest deep soul singer EVER. That's right, better than Marvin, Otis and anyone else you can name. I managed to actually get my hands on this Japanese LtdEd, and it was worth every penny.

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Originally Posted by Snowbunny

Holy F**k, Rae! This is a fantastic rec! Not at all what I was expecting, but right up my alley.

And if all goes well, I will be getting an emailed link to the cassette!

Thanks!

Snowie

Edit: The link to bandcamp is really cool, as well.

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Oh, great! I didn't see this until just now. I'm glad you dug it!

I haven't posted in here in a while, but in the last day or so:

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~Rae