past and present
///9.7.15///
This is side A of mixtape from Mississippi Records called “Samba Triste.” I’m a huge fan of Bossa Nova, and this mix has been in heavy rotation since I first heard it a couple years ago. Assembled by my friend Karen Atunes, aka DJ Cuica.
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///10.9.14///
What do you get when a bunch of German metal guys decide to play slow, moody jazz? Bohren & der Club of Gore. Described as “doom jazz,” this music is an ideal fall soundtrack. Kind of sound like the soundtrack to a David Lynch film, mixed with the gloomier elements of doom metal, without being aggressive. Ignore the name. It’s really good.
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///8.24.14///
Colombia-born, Berlin/Barcelona-based musician Lucrecia Dalt makes some of the most beautiful, weird pop music that I’ve heard in some time.
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///5.4.14///
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///4.21.14///
Nostalgia/memory exploratory ambient project from British musician James Kirby. The haunted ballroom scenes in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” were the original inspiration for the project, hence the name The Caretaker.
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I love this track from the Studio One Instrumentals compilation on Soul Jazz records. The backing band is Sound Dimension, who were the studio house band, and the backing band for many Studio One recordings of the late 1960’s They released a few great records of their own as Sound Dimension and The Soul Vendors.
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Chicago musican Kelan Philip Cohran is a former member of Sun Ra’s band (1959-1961), and an incredibly talented musician in his own right. He’s been a band leader, arranger and composer since the 60’s in various ensembles, some including his sons. A multi-instrumentalist, Cohran plays the trumpet, harp, french horn, baritone sax, percussion, and an electrified thumb piano of his own invention called the Frankiphone.
something newer (1993) from him:
and older (1968 as leader of the Artistic Heritage Ensemble):
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///4.7.14///
And yet another French musician….Brigitte Fontaine made this classic record, “Comme à la Radio,” with the Art Ensemble of Chicago in 1969. I was recently reminded how much I love this when it came on at a bar while having drinks with friends the other night.
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///3.25.14///
Brussels-based French singer Françoiz Breut is another long time favorite. These two tracks are from her newest record, “La Chirurgie des Sentiments”:
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///3.23.14///
This record by Gabriel Amor, a French musician living in Tucson, is the first of a series of four soundtrack records he did for “imaginary films that never existed but in your daydreams.” It was released on now-defunct Portland label Film Guerrero back in 2001, and has been one of my favorites for nearly as long.
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///3.21.14///
Hailing from NYC in the late 90’s, free music/noise rock/Kraut rock group Laddio Bolocko is one of the most-underrated bands of their times. They broke up way too quickly, after one album and two EP’s, which were compiled and re-released on double CD by No Quarter in 2003. Their music prominently featured the jaw-dropping drumming of Blake Fleming (Dazzling Killmen, Mars Volta).
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///3.20.14///
This record from German pianist/producer Nils Frahm was first released as a giveaway, free download from his Soundcloud page (still available for free). It is by far his simplest recording – one mic to mono for the whole record – and one of my favorite recordings of his. Beautiful, somber, pensive, simple. Perfect for a slow day in the house.
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///3.16.14///
I’m a long time fan of Bossa Nova, especially early Bossa Nova from the 1960’s and 1970’s. There are so many notable artists and albums, but this one from 1966, Vinicius de Moraes and Baden Powell’s “Os Afro Sambas” is definitely my favorite. An absolute classic, and very hard to find on vinyl. When I first heard this record, it was all I listened to for a month.
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///3.5.14///
I was fortunate enough to see a rare performance by this Canadian/Ukrainian pianist last week in the vast upstairs space at YU in Southeast Portland. it was a mind-blowing concert. I was impressed not only by his endurance at playing fast cyclical runs on the piano (which he did for a half hour straight for one piece), but also by his philosophy about sound and performing. 1) He doesn’t believe that what science tells us about the nature of sound is true, and 2) a couple of his pieces were him playing over a recording of piano – he insists that that recording need to be done with that particular piano on the day of the performance, so the sound melds just right. I admire that level commitment to the sound itself.
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Amazing tune from an incredibly rare artist from Trinidad. 1984.
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Occasionally I’ll be running sound for some bands I’ve never heard before, and be completely stunned by their music. It doesn’t happen often, but Madison, Wisconsin’s Samantha Glass was one of those rare surprises for me in the past year.
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One of my favorite albums in the last two years, from Manchester producer Andy Stott.
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One of the saddest and most beautiful pieces of music ever, from Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.
and along those lines…Christina Vantzou. I’ve really been taken by this album lately. Christina, an American multimedia artist and musician living in Brussels, is one half of the Dead Texan, along with Adam Wiltzie of Stars of the lid and A Winged Victory for the Sullen (another favorite of mine, included below).
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The Evolutionary Jass Band, now sadly defunct, was one of my favorite bands from Portland. Members are all involved in other projects now, musical or otherwise, including two personal favorites, Gulls and Marisa Anderson.
A bunch of their work is available for listen and free download on their Soundcloud page here.
A selelction of tunes from Gulls:
And a tune from Marisa Anderson: