Give Me Take You

Just started. 

160kbps mp3 stream.

A very good new recording from Paul Zukofsky on his Musical Observations label.  This finally makes available to the public Zygmunt Krauze's great Aus Aller Welt Stammende, and while it is a more stripped down version than the orchestral, it's true enough to the original to make for a good listen.

The Ichiyanagi and Cage pieces are also very good and round out the disc nicely, making for a nicely curated disc all around.  The sound is unitary and dreamy throughout, making for a very imaginative, albeit exhausting listen.

It's not often that I'll post a promotional mp3 on this site, but this fine album's title track, "Luminoso", deserves it, being in my estimation more likely than most to break through the slurred imposition of surfing the net and all the content that goes with it.

This is one of the few recent composition albums to really grab my attention as virtuosic, tasteful, and exploratory all at the same time.  Gardner, though perhaps a little too keen on using the Papyrus font on her releases (yet endearingly so), is one of the most unique and rewarding musical voices engaged in electro-acoustic composition that I've heard in a long, long time.  She seems to have equally good footing in minimalist practices as she does in rhythmic complexity and electronic techniques.

Interstingly, the Innova label, who's responsible for the glorious new edition of Steve Reich's Music For 18 Musicians by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble and the lovingly comprehensive Harry Partch "Enclosures" series of releases, has also released this disc.

Alexandra Gardner's homepage can be found here, and her next performance is in New York, NY at The Stone in support of Kathleen Supové & Jennifer Choi on December 9th, followed by an appearance at the Icebreaker IV festival in Seattle late January.

TAJ MAHAL TRAVELLERS: August 1974 2CD (PCD 1463/4) 38.00 Repressed! Double CD reissue of the 2nd Taj Mahal Travellers album, originally issued by Japanese Columbia in 1974 as a 2LP set. Along with their debut album July 15th, 1972 (released by Japanese CBS in '72), these are some of the most hallowed and whispered about documents of the avant-garde artifact-era (a set of these on original LP would set you back $1000+ even 10-15 years ago & have very rarely been offered anywhere). Legendary higher-key improv-drone extravaganzas that more than live up to their reputation, this reissue is going to make a certain sector of underground society very happy. The group was led by the infamous Fluxus member Takehisa Kosugi (electric violin, harmonica, voice, etc.), with: Kyo Koike (electric double bass), suntool, voice, etc.), Yukio Tsuchiya (bass-tuba, percussion), Beiji Nagai (trumpet, synthesizer Mini-Korg, timpani), Tokio Hasegaw (voice, percussion), Kinji Hayashi (electronic technique), Hirokeszu Sato (percussion, voice). Recorded live at Nippon Columbia Studio #1, Tokyo, August 19, 1974. Four side-long improvisations."Places and times of the trip: coffee houses, small galleries of Tokyo. They perform also on lonely beaches at dawn or on deserted hills in the afternoon. Also in Sweden, India, Iran, and England. Wherever a power supply is available. 'This music is not rehearsed, it happens. Without written notes or oral instructions; without an ensemble leader, each one having his own discourse immediately integrated into a slow, irregular throbbing of complex sound waves. Sound waves surfing.' Verfremdung: instruments are amplified with delay through echo machines. Previously produced sounds delivered by distant loudspeakers have already become something beyond reach when heard. This feedback — actually a time-space lag — is the basis of their music. The instrument arsenal: a violin played with glissandi in the same manner as the Indian sitar, string bass, guitar, drums, harmonica, small synthesizers, santurs (Iranian dulcimer played with two spoon-shaped mallets), a shahnal (Indian oboe), voices (Japanese Buddhist chanting, harmonic singing such as LaMonte Young does or as heard in Stockhausen's 'Stimmung'). Amplifiers: a heterodyne (voltage controlled filters connected to infrasonic wave sources) which changes tone colors back and forth very slowly. Also, other rather primitive hand-made electronic devices. All these contribute to the everchanging diversity of the ensemble. Close your eyes, relax and musically receive passing clouds, breezes, surging waves. This music is slow as a Japanese tea ceremony and as peacefully full of cheer as ancient scroll paintings." –Yuji Takahashi.

Yes!  Totally essential.  Just buy, buy, buy.  Then listen to it for ever.

SATIE, ERIK: Socrate/Mass For The Poor/Piano Pieces by Francis Poulenc CD (ACMEM 130CD) 17.00 "These recordings of Erik Satie's symphonic drama Socrate (1916) and the beautiful Mass for the Poor are both very rare. They have been out of print for five decades and here are restored and released digitally for the first time. Erik Satie's compositions have been recorded by such diverse musicians as John Cage, Gary Numan, Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett and one of his greatest admirers was Frank Zappa! Erik Satie has an international fan-base amongst whom he has attained god-like status. These completists alone will deliver good sales. Satie's sumptuous melodies (what he described as 'Furniture Music') remain attractive to the modern ear; compositions such as 'Gymnopedies' (included here in a performance by Francis Poulenc from 1956) are amongst the most famous of the 20th century. Classical, avant-garde and independent outlets the world over, should all do well with this little beauty."

I really wish it weren't so unclear which recordings of these pieces they are.  Definitely suspect, but I've never even heard of Mass for the Poor, so that's definitely enticing.

DAUNER QUINTET, WOLFGANG: The Oimels CD (LHC 059CD) 21.00 "Originally released in 1969 on the famous German MPS label The Oimels presented Dauner & co. in a very different setting, namely as a psychedelic pop band. Full of surprises, this collection even included a version of The Beatles' 'A Day In The Life' alongside twisted pop, beat and ethnic music. Over-the-top fuzz guitars, one primal punky stomper and sitar-drenched lounge freakouts are the order of the day. Truly superior stuff, especially the great guitar work from Siggi Schwab, who appears on Vampyros Lesbos, Roland Kovac Set and numerous MPS label releases. An outstanding album!"

I wonder if this is legit?  Anyhow, originally being on MPS, the quality is probably fantastic, even as a bootleg.  I'll probably buy this.

LEGENDARY PINK DOTS, THE: Early Recordings 5LP BOX (VOD 048LP) 100.00 "This 5LP box features the very early '80s tape recordings by The Legendary Pink Dots ('80-'82) including Kleine Krieg, Chemical Playschool 2 – edition 2 which is Chemical Playschool Vol.1 and 2 plus outtakes and Live in Cologne 1983."

Ugh, Vinyl on Demand is too fucking cool.  It's too bad I never have the money throw down on any of these sets. 

This record is a prime example of how, despite its various merits (primarily it's ability to get people excited about hearing music), Pitchfork's really easy to peg as often carelessly fickle and hipsterish.  Getting a solid 3.0 from them and a wholly negative review which basically centered around the cheap sentiment, "I liked John Phillips, Wolfking of L.A. but this is not like that album," ie I felt cool when I listened to that album and I feel confused, and slightly sad, when I listen to this one.

The real story on this is that, yes, this is an odds and ends collection and not a lost masterpiece like his first, and is billed as such, and is actually very good as far as odds and ends collections go.  With the exception of two rare tracks from the obscure Brewster McCloud soundtrack, none of the tracks have been previously released, and all have the benefit of being recorded in more or less a short period following his first album.  The feel is quite different from John Phillips, Wolfking of L.A, which was essentially a masterful genre exercise.  You do see a little of the genre exercises on this release, yet they're particularly interesting in themselves because instead of a popular well-established west-coast sound, Phillips is working off some of the precedents set by art-rock acts of the time like the Velvet Underground.  In fact, Phillips seems to be doing something of a Lou Reed impersonation on many of the tracks.  And while the quality of the productions does seem only slightly above demo standards, the quality of the musicianship is still heads and heels above your common recorded fare.

So, all in all, this is a highly recommendable release for Phillips fans to explore.  While it is somewhat difficult, it's difficulty and uniqueness also afford the opportunity to play it over and over again.  I have found new things to appreciate each time I explore it.  If I were Pitchfork I would have rated it more like 6.95578.