The upside of lastfm is that I can discover new music daily ... the downside is that I have nowhere near enough time to listen to it all. Recent discoveries include a genre of music completely new to me called Zeuhl (basically late 60's/early 70's French avant garde), Art Zoyd, Henry Cow, Egg, and Giles, Giles and Fripp. I was very pleased to discover the latter as I knew Robert Fripp had been in a band before King Crimson but had never heard any of the material. So this album is definitely one to track down, and also the King Crimson back catalogue, which I have only on vinyl and haven't listened to for years ... so a bit of a prog rock/avant garde revival coming to an iPod near me soon.
By way of contrast I've also been re-discovering US indie/lo-fi material recently, particularly Matthew Sweet, Preston School of Industry, Tobin Sprout, and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. Some of these bands are new to me whereas others are those I listened to at the time but had long forgotten.
And having had my apetite for live music reignited when I saw The Damned a few weeks ago, I'm off to see Public Image later this month, and also Billy Bragg and the Doves.
Showing posts with label avant-garde. Show all posts
Showing posts with label avant-garde. Show all posts
Saturday, 3 July 2010
Thursday, 25 March 2010
A handful of recent favourite finds
Over the past 2-3 weeks I've come across so many great albums that I feel a compelling urge to share my findings:
Richard Thompson - Mock Tudor (1999)
I've had Richard and Linda Thompson's I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight for several years now, but it was only recently I heard any of Richard Thompson's solo material. Crawl Back (Under My Stone) was the first track from the album I heard and after that I just had to go out and get a copy. The whole album is excellent, mixing blues and rock, and a healthy smattering of slower ballads.
John Cale and Terry Riley - Church of Anthrax (1971)
If I had heard any of the tracks from this album without knowing who recorded them and when, I would automatically have assumed they were reasonably recent. Firstly though I didn't know that John Cale and Terry Riley had ever collaborated as it seems like an unlikely partnership, and secondly the sound of this album from way back in 1971 is way ahead of its time.
John Cale and Lou Reed - Songs For Drella (1989)
The title of the album, Drella, is a combination of Dracula and Cinderella, and was recorded in dedication to the memory of Andy Warhol. Each track is outstanding and it's pretty hard to choose my favourite as I simly love each one I hear, whenever I hear it. Pretty sure all the tracks have come around on lasfm, but I'm still looking forward to the arrival of the CD, hopefully later this week.
Other recent finds worthy of mention include ...
John Cale - Paris 1919
Pere Ubu - Raygun Suitcase
Residents - Petting Zoo
Just need more time to listen to everything.
With an ever accumulating CD collection, inevitably some are set free to go to new homes. Follow the link to see a list of my records and CDs for sale
Richard Thompson - Mock Tudor (1999)
I've had Richard and Linda Thompson's I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight for several years now, but it was only recently I heard any of Richard Thompson's solo material. Crawl Back (Under My Stone) was the first track from the album I heard and after that I just had to go out and get a copy. The whole album is excellent, mixing blues and rock, and a healthy smattering of slower ballads.
John Cale and Terry Riley - Church of Anthrax (1971)
If I had heard any of the tracks from this album without knowing who recorded them and when, I would automatically have assumed they were reasonably recent. Firstly though I didn't know that John Cale and Terry Riley had ever collaborated as it seems like an unlikely partnership, and secondly the sound of this album from way back in 1971 is way ahead of its time.
John Cale and Lou Reed - Songs For Drella (1989)
The title of the album, Drella, is a combination of Dracula and Cinderella, and was recorded in dedication to the memory of Andy Warhol. Each track is outstanding and it's pretty hard to choose my favourite as I simly love each one I hear, whenever I hear it. Pretty sure all the tracks have come around on lasfm, but I'm still looking forward to the arrival of the CD, hopefully later this week.
Other recent finds worthy of mention include ...
John Cale - Paris 1919
Pere Ubu - Raygun Suitcase
Residents - Petting Zoo
Just need more time to listen to everything.
With an ever accumulating CD collection, inevitably some are set free to go to new homes. Follow the link to see a list of my records and CDs for sale
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
How did I miss out on this band ...
It always amazes me just how many bands I completely missed out on during my formative years. Some are more obvious candidates who, although being regarded as 'seminal, 'classic' or whatever other terminology comes to mind, were making music before my time so I have an excuse for missing them. There are however plenty who were making music when I was listening to and reading about anything and everything to do with music, who just passed me by.
Fortunately help has been at hand over the past few years with the various internet radio stations. I've blogged about these guys before but the biggest surprise to me was Tuxedomoon. This band were definitely making records during my formative years but I completely missed out on them. Furthermore, I don't regard them as someone I would have heard at the time and dismissed, only appreciating them later ... I'm just pretty sure I'd never heard their material. Were these guys never played on John Peel? Having only discovered them a couple of years ago I'm making up for lost time and they are now my most played artist on lastfm.com. The solo and collaborative material by two of their members, Steven Brown and Blaine L.Reininger is also really good and I probably have more of the solo material than releases by the actual band. If anyone wants a recommendation for a Steven Brown release, then I would start with his excellent Decade compilation and branch out from there.
Other groups which fall into the category of 'how did I miss out on this band' are The Sound, Mission of Burma and This Heat who I have only discovered through lastfm. These bands are always a pleasure to listen to whenevr they appear on lastfm, but as yet I've not felt compelled to get their albums.
Bands I missed out on who were active before I really got into music include The Residents. I have heard 30 or so tracks by these guys and everyone, no matter how quirky, sounds great. I do wonder though how I would fare listening to a whole album, end-to-end. If anyone has any suggestions which are the 'must have' Residents albums, please let me know.
Pere Ubu were a band whose name I'd heard but pretty sure that until recently I'd not heard any of their material. Again like the residents I have heard 30 tracks or so, but do not yet own an album. Looking at the albums which contain the tracks of their I like the most, it's liklely that Modern Dance and Dub Housing will be maing their way into my collection soon ... again more than happy to take recommendations.
What's more is that I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm very sure that there are hundreds of worthy bands out there just waiting for me to discover.
And finally a couple of artists that no matter how much other people rate them, and no matter how many times I listen to them, just don't do anything for me. These include Devo and Captain Beefheart. Captain Beefheart was a firm John Peel favourite which is usually a good recommendation. I've often found that music championed by John Peel that I didn't appreciate at the time improved with its and my age, and that I just didn't have the finely tuned musical taste buds that Peel had, but for me anyway, this is not the case with Captain Beefheart. Maybe there's a Captain Beefheart 'initiation album' that I'm somehow missing out on which will open the doors?
As always, plenty of records and CDs for sale on my web site.
Fortunately help has been at hand over the past few years with the various internet radio stations. I've blogged about these guys before but the biggest surprise to me was Tuxedomoon. This band were definitely making records during my formative years but I completely missed out on them. Furthermore, I don't regard them as someone I would have heard at the time and dismissed, only appreciating them later ... I'm just pretty sure I'd never heard their material. Were these guys never played on John Peel? Having only discovered them a couple of years ago I'm making up for lost time and they are now my most played artist on lastfm.com. The solo and collaborative material by two of their members, Steven Brown and Blaine L.Reininger is also really good and I probably have more of the solo material than releases by the actual band. If anyone wants a recommendation for a Steven Brown release, then I would start with his excellent Decade compilation and branch out from there.
Other groups which fall into the category of 'how did I miss out on this band' are The Sound, Mission of Burma and This Heat who I have only discovered through lastfm. These bands are always a pleasure to listen to whenevr they appear on lastfm, but as yet I've not felt compelled to get their albums.
Bands I missed out on who were active before I really got into music include The Residents. I have heard 30 or so tracks by these guys and everyone, no matter how quirky, sounds great. I do wonder though how I would fare listening to a whole album, end-to-end. If anyone has any suggestions which are the 'must have' Residents albums, please let me know.
Pere Ubu were a band whose name I'd heard but pretty sure that until recently I'd not heard any of their material. Again like the residents I have heard 30 tracks or so, but do not yet own an album. Looking at the albums which contain the tracks of their I like the most, it's liklely that Modern Dance and Dub Housing will be maing their way into my collection soon ... again more than happy to take recommendations.
What's more is that I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm very sure that there are hundreds of worthy bands out there just waiting for me to discover.
And finally a couple of artists that no matter how much other people rate them, and no matter how many times I listen to them, just don't do anything for me. These include Devo and Captain Beefheart. Captain Beefheart was a firm John Peel favourite which is usually a good recommendation. I've often found that music championed by John Peel that I didn't appreciate at the time improved with its and my age, and that I just didn't have the finely tuned musical taste buds that Peel had, but for me anyway, this is not the case with Captain Beefheart. Maybe there's a Captain Beefheart 'initiation album' that I'm somehow missing out on which will open the doors?
As always, plenty of records and CDs for sale on my web site.
Saturday, 27 February 2010
John Foxx and Ultravox!
I have now played all 3 of the John Foxx era Ultravox albums, Ultravox!, Ha Ha Ha, and Systems of Romance, and am kicking myself for having lived without them for so long. They are all masterpieces. My favourite track on first listen would have to be Young Savage.
I've also been listening to some John Foxx solo material, including a few collaborations he did with Louis Gordon and also with Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins. The genuinely solo material is quite 'stripped down' and bare in places, whereas the albums the collaborative ones are much fuller sounding.
Still plenty of albums left on his Metamatic label to track down.
Friday, 19 February 2010
Krautrock, Japrock, Progrock, Postpunk ... a few recent finds
Being fortunate enough to visit London with work on a reasonably regular basis, most weeks I manage to find time to visit a record shop or two after work. Over the last few weeks in particular I have picked up a wide variety of CD's which do not fit neatly into a single musical category, other than the fact that I like them. Perhaps instead of trying to come up with a meaningful title for this post I should have justed called it "Me rock".
Probably my favourite out of the latest batch is John Cale - Paris 1919. I had heard the odd track on last.fm so was not buying blind, but this is a truly brilliant album. My only dilemna now is that having bought what seems to be widely regarded as his best solo work, anything else I buy may be a disappointment. I did notice that he's performing this at the Festival Hall next month but it seems like tickets sold out pretty quickly - I'm just hoping it's the sort of thing that might appear as a BBC4 documentary later in the year.
Other great finds have been a couple of CD's from Van Der Graaf Generator. I now have four in total having recently added H to He Who Am The Only One and Still Life to the collection. Whilst these are both great albums, I do find I need to be in the right sort of mood to listen to Peter Hammill's 'shoutier' material ... I could however listen to his ballards every day, regardless of mood.
Having now finished reading Julian Cope's excellent Japrocksampler book, I did try and track down some Japrock CD's but this did unfortunately not bear any fruit. I was however a bit more successful with Krautrocksampler and managed to find a copy of Harmonia - Deluxe. For anyone who doesn't know, Harmonia are Michael Rother (Neu), Hans Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius (Cluster). This is a perfect album in every respect and has been played daily since I found it.
And finally, for this blog entry anyway, a couple of CD's by John Foxx, on his Metamatic label: A New Kind of Man and Impossible, both featuring Louis Gordon. As I think I've mentioned before, John Foxx is one of those artists that I didn't give adequate attention to at the time. I particularly like Impossible which sounds simultaneously modern and retro. Looking through the Metamatic discrography on Discogs it seems that there are plenty more releases to track down. I also need to get hold of the 3 albums that he did with the pre-Midge Ure Ultravox!
As with all my CD's, I generally don't keep them in physical format, and now having upgraded to a massive 160Gb iPod even less so. Those that I'm selling on can be found on my web site.
Records and CDs for sale
Probably my favourite out of the latest batch is John Cale - Paris 1919. I had heard the odd track on last.fm so was not buying blind, but this is a truly brilliant album. My only dilemna now is that having bought what seems to be widely regarded as his best solo work, anything else I buy may be a disappointment. I did notice that he's performing this at the Festival Hall next month but it seems like tickets sold out pretty quickly - I'm just hoping it's the sort of thing that might appear as a BBC4 documentary later in the year.
Other great finds have been a couple of CD's from Van Der Graaf Generator. I now have four in total having recently added H to He Who Am The Only One and Still Life to the collection. Whilst these are both great albums, I do find I need to be in the right sort of mood to listen to Peter Hammill's 'shoutier' material ... I could however listen to his ballards every day, regardless of mood.
Having now finished reading Julian Cope's excellent Japrocksampler book, I did try and track down some Japrock CD's but this did unfortunately not bear any fruit. I was however a bit more successful with Krautrocksampler and managed to find a copy of Harmonia - Deluxe. For anyone who doesn't know, Harmonia are Michael Rother (Neu), Hans Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius (Cluster). This is a perfect album in every respect and has been played daily since I found it.
And finally, for this blog entry anyway, a couple of CD's by John Foxx, on his Metamatic label: A New Kind of Man and Impossible, both featuring Louis Gordon. As I think I've mentioned before, John Foxx is one of those artists that I didn't give adequate attention to at the time. I particularly like Impossible which sounds simultaneously modern and retro. Looking through the Metamatic discrography on Discogs it seems that there are plenty more releases to track down. I also need to get hold of the 3 albums that he did with the pre-Midge Ure Ultravox!
As with all my CD's, I generally don't keep them in physical format, and now having upgraded to a massive 160Gb iPod even less so. Those that I'm selling on can be found on my web site.
Records and CDs for sale
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
More Japrock
Despite the potential for my order to have been delayed due to the UK's adverse weather conditions, I am now the proud and excited owner of Julian Cope's excellent Japrocksampler book. It's a great book to use as a reference and recommendation for Japanese rock and also a good read in general and talks about Japanese history and culture, and their impact on the music scene.
Tracking down some of the material mentioned, even online, is proving tricker. I have found some Flower Travellin' Band, Magic Power Mako and Les Rallizes Denudes on lastfm.com but often these are from different/later albums than those in the Japrocksampler Top 50.
One particular album that has appeared frequently on lastfm.com, and that has grabbed my attention, is Satori by the Flower Travellin' Band, which features at joint top place in the aforementioned top 50. The tracks on this are just brilliant and have been getting regular airplay this week.
Other more recent Japanese artists such as Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple also get a mention in the book and seem to have a lot of material on lastfm. To be quite honest I'm a bit undecided about this lot. Some of the tracks I've heard are great, but others less so. I'm sure that's no different than most bands and perhaps I set my expectations too high. The good thing about Acid Mothers Temple however is that I've definitely seen their CDs in the various record shops I frequent in London.
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Japrock vs. Krautrock
I first developed a taste for Krautrock from a friend who suggested a few bands I might like to check out, and also lent me his copy of Julian Cope's great book Krautrocksampler from a good few years ago now. I tracked down lots of Can material quite quickly, including some of the solo and collaborative efforts of its various members. I also managed to find copies of a couple of Neu, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Cosmic Jokers, Faust and Ash Ra Tempel releases. Can, Faust and Neu were probably my favourite of that batch. I didn't discover the likes of Amon Düül, Harmonia and Popol Vuh until much later. Harmonia were a really great find and I was quite surprised to not have discovered them earlier through my following of Brian Eno.
I have made extensive use of lastfm.com over the past few months to discover more Krautrock but today something I was listening to or reading brought back a distant memory of a book I'd seen called Japrocksampler, again by Julian Cope. I remember looking a t it briefly in the shop at the time but then promptly forgot about it. So, it was with great interest this week that I have been exploring Japrock on lastfm.com. I'm definitely a novice in this area but have unearthed some interesting bands and songs already.
The Flower Travellin' Band were a bit of a surprise. Admitted I've only heard a couple of tracks so far but was surprised that they were a bit blues/rock oriented. I had some sort of impression that the genre would be really quite weird and experimental, so whilst this was not unpleasant, it was slightly unexpected.
My expectations however were soon set right when I heard some material by Magical Power Mako. The tracks which have come up so far are from the more recent albums, but are still challenging in their own way.
Probably the most bizarre discovery however was Les Rallizes Dénudes. Not only is their music interesting, but the band history is also somewhat out of the ordinary in that one of the band's members took part in a plane hijack with the Red Army Faction, and ended up taking asylum in North Korea. That is so much more rock'n'roll than throwing the TV set out of your hotel room window.
Having been impressed with what I've heard so far from this genre, Japrocksampler is definitely a book I'll be tracking down, and the Japrocksampler web site is a great resource too. As with some of my other less mainstream tastes such as Nurse With Wound, Throbbing Gristle, etc., it's not the sort of music that the rest of the family appreciate too much, so listening becomes somewhat more of a private pleasure.
I'll probably write more blog entries on this fascinating subject once I know more about it and have discovered which aspects I like more/less than others.
I don't own any Japrock records or CDs that I've grown out of and/or stored electronically yet, but I do have some Krautrock CDs and records for sale for anyone interested.
I have made extensive use of lastfm.com over the past few months to discover more Krautrock but today something I was listening to or reading brought back a distant memory of a book I'd seen called Japrocksampler, again by Julian Cope. I remember looking a t it briefly in the shop at the time but then promptly forgot about it. So, it was with great interest this week that I have been exploring Japrock on lastfm.com. I'm definitely a novice in this area but have unearthed some interesting bands and songs already.
The Flower Travellin' Band were a bit of a surprise. Admitted I've only heard a couple of tracks so far but was surprised that they were a bit blues/rock oriented. I had some sort of impression that the genre would be really quite weird and experimental, so whilst this was not unpleasant, it was slightly unexpected.
My expectations however were soon set right when I heard some material by Magical Power Mako. The tracks which have come up so far are from the more recent albums, but are still challenging in their own way.
Probably the most bizarre discovery however was Les Rallizes Dénudes. Not only is their music interesting, but the band history is also somewhat out of the ordinary in that one of the band's members took part in a plane hijack with the Red Army Faction, and ended up taking asylum in North Korea. That is so much more rock'n'roll than throwing the TV set out of your hotel room window.
Having been impressed with what I've heard so far from this genre, Japrocksampler is definitely a book I'll be tracking down, and the Japrocksampler web site is a great resource too. As with some of my other less mainstream tastes such as Nurse With Wound, Throbbing Gristle, etc., it's not the sort of music that the rest of the family appreciate too much, so listening becomes somewhat more of a private pleasure.
I'll probably write more blog entries on this fascinating subject once I know more about it and have discovered which aspects I like more/less than others.
I don't own any Japrock records or CDs that I've grown out of and/or stored electronically yet, but I do have some Krautrock CDs and records for sale for anyone interested.
Thursday, 24 December 2009
An excursion into Industrial and Drone music
Having been more or less housebound over the past few days because of the snow, and therefore working at home, I've been expanding my musical horizons by letting lastfm "do its thing" by finding music associated or similar to an artist I select. As usual I've found loads of new and exciting sounds.
I think I entered Cabaret Voltaire to start with, which not only brought up some great tracks from the band across their many years, but also re-introduced me to the likes of Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Rapoon, Clock DVA and Chris and Cosey.
I have always had a liking for industrial type music, although I know many of these bands dislike the categorisation, but it's not an area I'd really explored much outside of the Nurse With Wound, Throbbing Gristle and Coil 'families'. I've been particularly impressed with the industrial-techno sounds produced by Chris Carter and Robin Storey, and whilst not something I would listen to on a daily basis has provided a pleasant, and sometimes challenging, listening experience.
My web site has a few pages dedicatd to my industrial and drone CDs and records for sale where you'll find Nurse With Wound, Current 93, Coil, Richard H Kirk, etc.
I think I entered Cabaret Voltaire to start with, which not only brought up some great tracks from the band across their many years, but also re-introduced me to the likes of Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV, Rapoon, Clock DVA and Chris and Cosey.
I have always had a liking for industrial type music, although I know many of these bands dislike the categorisation, but it's not an area I'd really explored much outside of the Nurse With Wound, Throbbing Gristle and Coil 'families'. I've been particularly impressed with the industrial-techno sounds produced by Chris Carter and Robin Storey, and whilst not something I would listen to on a daily basis has provided a pleasant, and sometimes challenging, listening experience.
My web site has a few pages dedicatd to my industrial and drone CDs and records for sale where you'll find Nurse With Wound, Current 93, Coil, Richard H Kirk, etc.
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