Tag: lists

2019 New To Me Music – A Partial List

Seth Anderson0 comment

Continuing a half-assed tradition, these are albums I liked that were new-to-me in 2019, and some honorable mentions. Many from used stores, not all. In no particular order, just as I am scrolling through my 2019 Albums iTunes playlist, and queuing ‘em up…

  • Bob Dylan – Travelin’ Through, The Bootleg Series, Vol 15, 1967-1969
  • Dr. John (RIP) – Desitively Bonnaroo (meh)
  • Dr. John – In The Right Place (thumbs up)
  • Dr. John – Remedies (includes the nearly 18 minute song, “Angola Anthem”)
  • Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer (thumbs up)
  • Albert Collins – Don’t Lose Your Cool(thumbs up)
  • The Long Ryders – Final Wild Songs (compilation of their 1980s albums, a couple I heard on vinyl back in the stone ages)
  • Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue (thumbs up)

All The Young Droogs - box set

  • All The Young Droogs   (box set of glam-rock singles from obscure UK bands from the mid-70s, thumbs up)
  • Billy Gibbons – The Big Bad Blues (thumbs up)
  • Otis Rush – Cold Day in Hell (replacement of a well-worn vinyl record purchased from Antone’s Records vinyl record adjunct on Guadalupe, is that even still in existence? Doubtful)
  • Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Colorado (thumbs up)
  • Neil Young & The Stray Gators – Tuscaloosa (1973 recording, released this year)
  • Neil Young – Songs for Judy (1976 tour acoustic recording- “collects 23 highlights curated by journalist Cameron Crowe and photographer Joel Bernstein”. Enthusiastic thumbs up)
  • Bob Dylan – The Rolling Thunder Revue – 1975 recordings (another box set from Bob’s deep library of unreleased material)
  • Tangerine Dream – Zeit (Spooky)
  • Jenny Lewis – On The Line (I decided I enjoy the lyrics written by Jenny Lewis, and bought three of her solo albums)
  • Mulatu Astatqé – New York – Addis – London: The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975 (Enthusiastic thumbs up, discovered via this Joe Tangari, Pitchfork review, “boogaloo, Latin jazz, and other Americo-Caribbean forms” mixed in with pentatonic Ethiopian melodies)
  • Beatles – The White Album box set (including the legendary Esher Demos)
  • Albert Collins – Frostbite (another replacement of something I wore out the vinyl version of)

Hindu love gods

  • Hindu Love Gods – Warren Zevon, with R.E.M. as his backing band, performing covers of songs like Travelin’ Riverside Blues, Raspberry Beret, Vigilante Man, etc. Fun, sloppy, which is part of the fun…
  • Jenny Lewis – The Voyager (thumbs up)
  • Gene Clark – No Other (deluxe edition, including demos, replacing an older CD I still own)
  • Rachid Taha (RIP) – Je Suis Africain (2019) Guardian U.K. review by Kitty Empire
  • Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Live at Womad 1985 (thumbs up)
  • Attarazat Addahabia & Faradjallah – Al Hadaoui (Habibi Funk)
  • Thelonious Sphere Monk – Solo Monk (thumbs up)
  • Prince – Originals (songs from the early 80s mostly, other artists recorded them, these are the demos)
  • Robert Plant – Dreamland (thumbs up)
  • Raconteurs – Help Us Stranger (thumbs up, mostly, though I agree with Ptichfork this isn’t Jack White’s best work)
  • Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990 (thumbs up)
  • Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown – Texas Swing (1987– Solid, sometimes the horn section is boring, lyrics cliché. Probably was a good live show, but, ya know)
  • Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown – Original Peacock Records (circa 1954 era – thumbs up)
  • Dukes of Stratosphear (aka XTC) – Psurroundabout Ride (1985 Andy Partridge project, who has the tabs?)
  • Nigeria 70: No Wahala: Highlife, Afro-Funk & Juju 1973-87 (12 tracks from 1973-1987, including Sir Victor Uwaifo & His Titbitis doing Iziegbe (Ecassa No.70))
  • Townes Van Zandt – Sky Blue (demos from 1973, recorded at a home studio in Atlanta not my top TVZ, still thumbs up.
  • Lambchop – This (Is What I Wanted to Tell You) (thumbs up)
  • Mdou Moctar – Ilana: The Creator (Thumbs up. Reviewed by Andy Beta, Pitchfork)
  • Neko Case – Hell-On (thumbs up)
  • The Kinks – Soundtrack from the Film, “Percy” (basically Lola Versus Powerman And The Moneygoround, Part One, with some orchestral arrangements conducted by Stanley Myers)

A few incomplete’s: albums I haven’t yet heard enough times to form an opinion

  • Various Artists – Afro Baby: The Evolution of the Afro-Sound in Nigeria 1970-79
  • Who – The Who
  • Sudan Archives – Athena
  • Omar Souleyman – To Syria, With Love
  • Stereolab – Emperor Tomato Ketchup
  • Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen
  • R.E.M. – Monster Box
  • Stevie Ray Vaughan – In Step
  • Billy Bragg – Tooth & Nail
  • Robert Ellis – Photographs
  • The Raincoats – The Raincoats
  • Bad Religion – Suffer
  • The Claypool Lennon Delirium – South of Reality
  • Low – Double Negative
  • Julian Cope – Drunken Songs
  • Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Hope Downs
  • Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba – Miri
  • Various Artists – Éthiopiques 8: Swinging Addis 1969-1974
  • Various Artists – Éthiopiques 13: Ethiopian Groove – The Golden Seventies

And finally, don’t think I got any real duds this year, at least that I remember being irritated by, and irritated at myself for purchasing. If I remember any, I’ll add ‘em later.

Sunday Song Survey part 2

Seth Anderson0 comment

Plugged headphone into iPod containing 27,773 songs1, hit shuffle, and here’s what emerged. Added a two mile run on the treadmill to the beginning of this mediation, which did require me to skip an 8 minute cello piece; cannot keep a steady pace unless the music is moving too.

  1. Yardbirds, The– You’re A Better Man Than I


    Greatest Hits, Volume One

  2. Led Zeppelin– Immigrant Song


    BBC Sessions

    One of the few Led Zeppelin songs I just don’t care for. This live-at-the-BBC-studios version is better than most.

  3. Freddie King– Play It Cool


    Atlantic Blues: Chicago

    slinky guitar blues from 1969, about the sexual revolution, or something. Mini-skirts, my baby thinks she was put here forever, so she’s going to love as many (men) as she can, etc.

  4. The Velvet Underground– Rock & Roll (Demo)


    Fully Loaded Edition

    The vocals aren’t quite as tightly wound, and there is a flub in the last minute or two2, otherwise this could have been the final version. Thinner sound, perhaps, were there over-dubs on the final release?

  5. Cooder, Ry– Look At Granny Run Run


    Bop Till You Drop

    is this about a prototype of Viagra? 1979 seems a little early to be singing about a brand new pill that Grandpa takes that causes him to regain his, umm, energy for lovin’. Filled with tasty Ry Cooder guitar licks, of course.

  6. Thomas Mapfumo, The Acid Band– Chengeta Va Bereki


    Hokoyo!

    A favorite concert of recent vintage was in Manhattan a few years ago, at some benefit hosted by Bonnie Raitt. For me, the highlight was Thomas Mapfumo. Such a voice, full of expressive power with a hint of melancholy. A musical hero of mine.

  7. Cale, John– Child’s Christmas In Wales


    Paris 1919

    Buoyant pop tune, you’d never know that John Cale was the glowering rocker clad in black on the Velvet Underground’s first two albums just a few years prior to this album’s release in 1973. Some of the lyrics are obscure to me, but the melody compensates. Also, I’ll have to check, but that sure as hell sounds like Ry Cooder playing some slide guitar. You should probably own this album if you don’t, highly rewarding.3

  8. Led Zeppelin– The Song Remains The Same
    Conspiracy Theory
    Bootleg recording from 1975, to my ears, not recorded from the soundboard, despite. Still pretty good quality, so maybe it is from a soundboard. Not Jimmy Page’s finest guitar solo – it is kind of formless, and John Paul Jones is mostly buried in the mix, but John Bonham sounds fucking loud, possessed, and Robert Plant assures you everything small will grow. If you like Zepp, you should have this.
  9. Fred McDowell– Red Cross Store Blues


    Good Morning, Little School Girl

    Fred McDowell’s voice and his guitar perfectly in tune, limited range, but extremely powerful. In the days before Yelp!, one had record one’s complaints in song form, and hope for compensation. Whatever that Red Cross Store did to Mr. McDowell, they should be sorry. Damn. Probably racial, at least in part, but who knows. All we know is that he’s not going to that store any more.

  10. John Fogerty– Heaven’s Just A Sin Away


    The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again

    Speaking of copyright theft, John Fogerty got screwed re: Credence Clearwater residuals for years. This country-pop song is pretty light-weight though.

  11. Akli D.– Azul – Salut à vous


    Anefas trankil
    not quite Raï, but similar in spirit. Tamazight, actually, a Berber language from North Africa4. Hypnotic, insistent, quite spectacular. Worth owning if you are at all fond of desert blues.

  12. Sun Kil Moon– Lily And Parrots


    Ghosts Of The Great Highway

    Really love this song, timbre of the lead vocalist reminds me of Neil Young, and now that I think of it, this could be a Crazy Horse record. Rocking, in other words.

  13. Big Star– September Gurls


    Keep an Eye on the Sky

    Probably my favorite box set of 2009 was the Big Star collection. Remastered, and filled with transcendent moments, including songs like this one. Love the backing vocals going “whoo-oooh”, among other subtle touches.

  14. Damned, The– Noise, Noise, Noise


    Machine Gun Etiquette
    I know The Damned are punk-rock legends, but this song doesn’t do much for me. Not that it sucks, but I’m not picking the needle up to play the tune again

  15. Thompson, Richard– Rockin’ In Rhythm


    Strict Tempo!

    Sprightly instrumental, did Richard Thompson overdub the second guitar? or does he have 25 fingers? Seeing as the only other musician credited on this seemingly out-of-print album is drummer Dave Mattacks, I guess Thompson does have 28 fingers.

  16. Boozoo Chavis– Who Stole My Monkey?


    Who Stole My Monkey

    ?
    Nearly instrumental, as a matter of fact, the lyrics are just variants of You Stole My Monkey, repeated over a danceable zydeco beat.

  17. Little Richard– Good Golly Miss Molly


    Greatest Gold Hits

    even after a thousand plays, still love Little Richard’s whoops.

  18. Helmet– Unsung


    Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – Radio X

    In Grand Theft Auto, music plays on the radio in any car you steal. As the GTA franchise has gotten older, the soundtrack has gotten more expansive. This box set is actually pretty good, even though this heavy rock song is on it, not my typical listening.

  19. Wire– Strange


    Pink Flag

    such an unusual loping vamp in A and E5. R.E.M. covered the song , but the original is better. Love this song, love this album.

Part of the fun for me of this project is stretching my memory: can I remember what my impressions about a song are later when I am in front of a computer? Listening to music is, and has been, my most favored hobby for nearly my entire life, but I would not assert that I am an astute critic of what I hear. I’ll never get better explaining what I like and don’t like unless I try. Odds are, I’ll tire of it soon enough, and go back to mostly blogging about politics and corporate corruption.

Footnotes:
  1. out of a possible 61,676 [↩]
  2. Lou Reed can be heard laughing [↩]
  3. nope, turns out it was Lowell George, of Little Feat fame. Interesting. Though Ry Cooder did do studio work on Little Feat’s first album [↩]
  4. Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and elsewhere [↩]
  5. if my guess is correct [↩]

Saturday Song Solipsism Part 2

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Haven’t gotten bored with this game yet- lower the lights, go into the sauna-pod, put on the headphones, and hit shuffle on my iPod. Here’s the latest results:

  1. El Rego et ses Commandos– Vimado Wingnan


    Legends Of Benin

    Delightful West African release of Afro-funk etc. If The Talking Heads were not listening to artists covered on this album, I would be very surprised. Chiming arpeggio guitars, funk drums, driving bass lines, infectious poly-rhythms, great fun.

  2. Young, Neil– Through My Sails


    Zuma

    A near-Desert Island disc. Still debating whether to splurge on the BluRay Neil Young archive Vol 1 or not. If it doesn’t include regular audio files that can be converted to MP3 and played on an iPod, will hardly ever listen to it. This lovely song is acoustic guitar, with backing vocals by what sounds like Stephen Stills and maybe even David Crosby.

  3. Observer All Stars, The– Rebel Dance


    Trojan Dub Box Set

    instrumental reggae, not much dub weirdness, thus not a great tune. Good for meditation though.

  4. Weezer– O Girlfriend


    Weezer (Green Album)

    gah what tiresome 1990s alternative rock crap. If I wasn’t an inveterate pack rat, I’d have deleted this annoyance long ago.

  5. Ramones, The– I Don’t Wanna Be Learned / I Don’t Wanna Be Tamed (Demo)


    Ramones

    whew, a welcome palate cleanser after the Weezer dreck. The Ramones only play two or three chords, but more energy in their demos than Weezer’s entire recorded output combined.

  6. Joe Higgs– My Baby Still Loves me


    Life of Contradiction

    I lean towards political reggae more than “sweet” reggae, but this is a decent enough “sweet” reggae tune. Can’t always listen to songs of institutional oppression, right? This is a good album to own if you want to branch out beyond Bob Marley, especially since Joe Higgs was extremely influential on creating the classic Wailers sound, mentoring Marley and Tosh in the early 1970s.

  7. Funkadelic– Hit It And Quit It


    Maggot Brain

    Before George Clinton decided if Parliament-Funkadelic was a rock band or a funk band, they recorded this album. Other than a somewhat annoying organ solo, a great tune. A template for all the Red Hot Chile Peppers and like-minded bands to follow; reverbed-like-crazy rock guitar, coupled with driving New Orleans style funk drums. Still remember purchasing this album from the now defunct Sound Exchange next to Mad Dogs and Beans and Les Amis. Ahh, youth.

  8. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier [Disc 1]
    Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 – Prelude #12 In F Minor, BWV 857- Leon Berben
    ahh, Bach.
  9. Reign– Padre Nuestro
    Silencio= Muerte: Red Hot + Latin Redux
    am a sucker for the Red Hot + comps. This a latin dance-club tune, or what I would call so anyway. Good in small doses
  10. Garcia, Jerry– Gone Home


    Almost Acoustic

    I don’t know this for a fact, but strongly suspect Jerry Garcia was in the depths of his heroin addiction when this dirge was recorded. Waltz-time, but slower. Though, to be fair, it is a funeral song, and has some fine mandolin bits, and bit of the High, Lonesome wild mercury sound that Bob Dylan is always muttering about. Not a shite song, just wouldn’t be good to listen while biking the lakefront, your bike might keel over.

  11. Dylan, Bob– You Ain’t Going Nowhere
    Genuine Basement Tapes
    I wish these delightfully fun tracks would get a proper release. They float around on the internet, but the bit rate is often low. Bob Dylan and The Band hanging out in Woodstock, having a probably illegal amount of fun. Lots of silliness, like in this track, probably one of the ones where the lyrics were written randomly1 by committee2; Richard Manuel backing vocals, and some classic Robbie Robertson guitar work. Wonder if Robbie Robertson’s copyright theft from the rest of The Band is part of the reason these songs have never been given a proper release?
  12. The Mamas & The Papas– California Dreamin’
    All Time Greatest Hits
    I first heard this band only a couple of years ago, before the whole incestual/attention grabbing news about John Phillips and his daughter, but the song is a classic slice of Americana, evocative of the time in which it was created. Undercurrents of foreboding, minor keys, but so damn catchy.
Footnotes:
  1. just pick up that oilcloth/cram it in the corner/I don’t care if your name is Michael/you’re gonna need some boards/get your lunch/you foreign bib/you ain’t goin’ nowhere [↩]
  2. this particular Basement track was polished up, all that remains on the Genuine Basement Tape version is the chorus [↩]

Friday Musical Free For All

Seth Anderson0 comment

Immersed myself in my meditative tube, put on my headphones, and hit shuffle on the iPod. Here’s what played:

  1. Alejandro Escovedo– Slow Down


    Real Animal

    I won’t bore you with a tale of Alejandro Escovedo, Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew album, LSD and the (now defunct) Waterloo Records Vinyl Annex, as I think I told it before. Glad Mr. Escovedo doesn’t have to clerk at Waterloo Records anymore though: he played at the Democratic National Convention in Denver if I’m not mistaken.

  2. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach: Cello Suites [Disc 2]
    Bach: Cello Suite In D Minor, BWV 1008 – Gigue- Jaap Ter Linden
    Cello is becoming one of my favorite instruments to listen to
  3. Sir Victor Uwaifo & His Melody Maestroes– Akuyan Ekassa


    Nigeria 70 Vol. 1

    an awesome album, and a great funky tune; guitars, bass, drums, percussion.

  4. Freakwater– Put My Little Shoes


    Feels Like the Third Time

    other than the nice Carter Family-esque guitar playing1, not a favorite. They have much better songs in their oeuvre, some of which are even on this album, like My Old Drunk Friend which is a classic.

  5. Swanksalot Orchestra, The– Dancing Bull
    Swanky Headroom III
    a tune composed, mostly in GarageBand, and not one of my most successful, I’m afraid. Thought it would be fun to record a bunch of guitar riffs and merge them, but it didn’t turn out that well. Oh well, still fun to hear fruit of my labor from 4 years ago. Hadn’t listened to it in a while.
  6. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark– Enola Gay


    Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The ’80s Underground

    little bit of nostalgia for the 80s, though this track is not a huge favorite of mine. Love this Rhino 4 disc box set however, tons of good singles on it.

  7. Pearl Jam– Gone


    Pearl Jam

    I like the idea of Pearl Jam: earnest, Pacific-Northwesterners, with political views close to mine, but truth be told, have never really have enjoyed listening to their music. Boring to me, this song included.

  8. Cale, John– Antarctica Starts Here


    Paris 1919

    quiet, melodic pop tune. No idea what the song is about

  9. Lang, Peter– St. Charles Shuffle


    John Fahey, Peter Lang, Leo Kottke

    flashy acoustic guitar instrumental from an album full of them. Is it a dobro? Steel strings at least.

  10. The Melodians– Sweet Sensation


    The Harder They Come

    classic reggae tune from The Harder They Come soundtrack, a Jamaican blaxsploitation film that is worth Netflixing if you haven’t ever seen it. The Melodians biggest hit was Rivers of Babylon, Sweet Sensation is solid, just not as good.

  11. Devendra Banhart– Lover


    Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

    fun, bouncy track, a homage to early 70s funky-soul, or whatever the hell it called, complete with slightly risqué lyrics.

  12. ChickenFat Klezmer Orchestra– Ot Azoy
    ChickenFat Demos
    Surprisingly good stuff from a local band; need to go see them perform live one of these days. They have several MP3s available at their website, check it out.

Today’s play list had a few duds on it, guess that’s part of the randomizer fun. Better luck next time…

Footnotes:
  1. bass strings of the guitar playing a melody, in other words [↩]

Sunday Song Survey

Seth Anderson0 comment

Today’s edition of Songs That Played During My Meditation Time1

  1. The Besnard Lakes– Disaster


    The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse

    Like this pulsing bass line a lot, and actually this song is really growing on me. The band has a new album coming out early next year, I’ll probably pick up a copy.

  2. Destroyer– European Oils
    2006 Pitchfork Music Festival Sampler
    I went to the Pitchfork Music fest this year2, I think, but I don’t remember seeing Destroyer. Probably would have been fun, as I like the album this song is taken from.
  3. Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five– You Will Always Have A Friend
    Disc E: 1949-1950
    you will always have a friend, as long as you have money to spend. True, cynical, but true. Recently picked up a 5 disc box set of Louis Jordan: a slightly forgotten, R&B jump blues jokester from the 1940s and 1950s. Highly enjoyable. This is a danceable calypso-esque song, with horns, drums, piano and percussion.
  4. Beastie Boys– Get It Together


    Ill Communication

    With Q-Tip providing additional vocal contributions, one of the better tracks on Ill Communication, the last great album the Beastie Boys released, so far anyway. Ma Bell got the Ill Communication. Indeed.

  5. Stone Roses, The– Made Of Stone


    The Stone Roses

    from one of the many golden eras of British pop, now reissued and remastered.

  6. Marley, Bob & The Wailers– Duppy Conqueror


    Burnin

    speaking of ululation, this track from one of my Desert Island discs3 has some funky background vocal effects. I suspect Peter Tosh is making sounds with his mouth emulating a cat purring, but who knows. Lovely track, not my favorite on this album, but every song by the classic edition of the Wailers4 is excellent in my estimation.

  7. O’connor, Sinead– All Apologies
    Universal Mother
    and speaking of trills and spills, love how O’Connor’s Irish brogue is noticeable on words like marriage, buried. Also imagine she sings in the son I feel as one, instead of the Kurt Cobainin the sun I feel as one, but I could be wrong.
  8. Callahan, Bill– Diamond Dancer


    Woke On A Whaleheart

    Bill Callahan’s5 decent, observational song about a girl who danced by herself so hard she became a diamond, gave the world her light. His baritone is so emotionless, he probably irritates you or enthralls you, depending upon your mood.

  9. We The People– You Burn Me Up And Down


    Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era, Vol. 4
    Florida based garage rockers, a favorite song from my favorite compilations of garage rock, the Nuggets series.

  10. Butthole Surfers– Mexican Caravan


    Psychic … Powerless … Another Mans Sac

    I came of age in Austin during the Butthole’s heyday, so of course I love this song and this band. Not everyone loves psychedelic punk rock songs about scoring Mexican heroin, that is their loss.

  11. The Black Keys– Stack Shot Billy


    Rubber Factory

    Modern garage rock, slightly derivative6 but still quite fun. One could compile an eclectic mix of Stagger Lee songs, ranging from the original recorded versions of bluesmen from the 1920s and 1930s, to the R&B versions in the 1950s to the 1960s British blues-rockers to The Clash to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to The Black Keys. That Stagger Lee is a bad motherfucker.

all in all, a pretty good meditative soundtrack

Footnotes:
  1. no playlist today, just a shuffle [↩]
  2. 2006 [↩]
  3. an album I would theoretically take with me if I had foreknowledge I was going to be stranded on a desert island [↩]
  4. before Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh left [↩]
  5. aka Smog aka (Smog) for some reason [↩]
  6. but then what rock music isn’t? [↩]

Saturday Song Solipsism

Seth Anderson0 comment

Another edition of Songs That Randomly1 Played While I Was In My Meditation Pod. I’m not good with “Best Of” lists, as my taste are too mercurial to lock down, so these meditations will have to suffice…

  1. Calexico– Corona


    Convict Pool

    One of my favorite new(ish) discoveries, and not just because Calexico were chosen to be the house band for the Bob Dylan soundtrack album, I’m Not Here. This is a cover of a great Minutemen song, from their best album,


    Double Nickles on the Dime

    and just not any cover, but a conjunto-esque mariachi version with fiddle, horns, etc. that swings. Highly enjoyable.

  2. The Dillards– Lemon Chimes
    Where The Action Is!: Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968
    I love garage rock, love these Rhino compilations, though this song has more of a bluegrass vibe. Written by Dewey Martin, later of Buffalo Springfield. 2:37 seconds only – must have been released as a 45 single.
  3. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 4 – Cantatas, Vol. 1 [Disc 3]
    Bach: Cantata #72, BWV 72, “Alles Nur Nach Gottes Willen” – Alles Nur Nach Gottes Willen- Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Etc.; Piet Jan Leusink: Netherlands Bach Collegium, Holland Boys Choir
    I bought a lot of new-to-me classical music last year, not least of which was the set this piece came from, The Complete Bach2- 155 CDs worth. Still haven’t finished playing the entire thing, much less converting all the discs to MP3.
  4. Green Day– Last Of The American Girls
    21st Century Breakdown
    Don’t understand why this band is so celebrated. Singer’s voice is irritatingly thin3, and the music seems very paint-by-numbers. Boring, in other words.
  5. Nelson, Willie– Laying My Burdens Down


    Naked Willie

    One of my favorite purchases in 2009 is this Willie Nelson album. Naked is not quite accurate description, Willie Nelson and long-time harmonica player Mickey Raphael just removed the schmaltzy strings and slick backup vocalists, and left vocal, bass, drum, and slinky jazzy guitar, remixing from the original multitrack tapes. Awesome in fact. Get a copy if you don’t have one.

  6. John Barry– Boom
    Boom! Soundtrack
    As much as I love Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, haven’t yet managed to sit through this film.
  7. Jerry Jeff Walker– North Cumberland Blues
    Vanguard Visionaries – Jerry Jeff Walker
    Surprisingly good, funky blues-rock with a nicely insistent bass line. Let’s have another round…
  8. Terry Hall & Mushtaq– Ten Eleven
    Music is your Radar
    part of an Uncut Magazine sampler put together by Damon Albarn celebrating Honest Jon’s Records. Terry Hall4 sings the chorus in English, Mushtaq5 sings the verse in Arabic6. Quite good in any case. I just ordered a copy of the album it came from, The Hour of Two Lights.
  9. Johann Sebastian Bach – Toccata and Fugue in D Minor for Organ, BWV 565- Klemens Scnorr
    The 99 Most Essential Pieces of Classical Music
    thought this was the Ozzy Osbourne song, Mr. Crowley7at first, probably because I think it is nearly the same opening riff, plus lots of trills / triplets / whatever-they-are-called.
  10. 13th Floor Elevators– The Kingdom Of Heaven (Is Within You) (stereo edition)


    The Psychedelic Sound of the 13th Floor Elevators

    My birthday splurge was the limited edition remastered version of all extant 13th Floor Elevators songs in a beautiful box set. Austin garage rock legends,8 this song has, as most do, some weird stuff going on in the background, and ends with a patented Roky Erickson scream.

  11. K’naan– 15 Minutes Away


    Troubadour

    one of the weaker tracks on a pretty good album (blogged about here). Something about being broke, and getting money from Western Union, 15 minutes away. I prefer the more political-oriented songs, this song sounds like filler.

Footnotes:
  1. again using the iTunes smartplaylist, This Years Models; criteria – added to library this year, more than 4 plays, not played in last 19 days [↩]
  2. blogged about it here [↩]
  3. hey, I own every Bob Dylan album, and his voice is, shall we say, unique. So it isn’t just musicality that matters [↩]
  4. of The Specials, et al [↩]
  5. of Fun-Da-Mental [↩]
  6. I think: album blurb says: In 2003, Hall collaborated with Mushtaq of Fun-Da-Mental on the album The Hour of Two Lights which contains contributions from a twelve-year-old Lebanese girl singer, a blind Algerian rapper, a Syrian flautist, Hebrew vocalists, a group of Polish gypsies and Damon Albarn. [↩]
  7. a song about English occultist Aleister Crowley from Blizzard of Oz [↩]
  8. influences include: LSD, Gurdjieff, the General Semantics of Alfred Korzybski, the psychedelic philosophy of Timothy Leary, Tantric meditation, you get the idea [↩]

Wednesday Musical Meditation

Seth Anderson0 comment

Another installment of the music that plays during my evening meditation session1

  1. Felice Brothers– The Big Surprise


    Yonder Is The Clock

    are they really brothers? More alt-country, but this album and band has really grown on me.

  2. Joni Mitchell– Coin In The Pocket Mingus
    Charles Mingus talking about always having a little coin in his pocket. Not rich, but enough.
  3. Psycho Acoustic Sounds– Covered Wagon
    Godzilla vs. Ralph Records
    just like it says. Quick, full of energy, fun, but not music to play during family dinners.
  4. Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 4 in B-Flat Major, Op. 60: II. Adagio- London Symphony Orchestra

    I don’t know all that much about classical music, still, even after listening to it for more than half my life, but love this symphony. Also, in part because of my lack of musical training, I often visualize playing electric guitar in accompaniment – mostly on the sustained notes – whatever they are, oboe? French horn?

  5. Les Boukakes– Kallouha
    Marra


    “Marra” (Les Boukakes)

    Raï, with linky funk-esque verse, and heavy rock choruses. Not sure of the language, sounds Arabic, North African, or similar. Awesome. Get this if you can find a copy2.

  6. Joni Mitchell– A Chair In The Sky

    “Mingus” (Joni Mitchell)

    a very jazzy number, with fretless bass, slightly amorphous melody, some scat-singing by Joni Mitchell, an organ or vibes player that I could do without. All in all, an interesting song, but not a toe-tapper.

  7. Cluster– Rosa


    Zuckerzeit

    German instrumental electronica from 1974, always want to astral-project over meadows when listening to it.

  8. Andrew Jenkins– Alabama Flood
    People Take Warning (2 of 3) Man Vs. Nature

    “People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs 1913-1938” (Various Artists)

    tale of an Alabama flood, accompanied by guitar, fiddle and back-up vocal. How do they all fit into the can?

  9. They Might Be Giants– Withered Hope
    The Else
    meh. Not TMBGs best work, imo, lyrics are not sparkling. The Dust Brothers drum loops are ok.
Footnotes:
  1. generated from a iTunes smart playlist called This Years Models. Criteria is: added to iTunes library this year, more than four plays [↩]
  2. seems out of print [↩]

Tuesday iTunes Randomizer

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Non-Sequitur alert: a random playlist, as generated tonight during my meditation1. Ignore the goofy formatting and crazy number scheme, I made a typo in the HTML, and didn’t want to go back and redo all the code.

  1. Jason Isbell– Dress Blues
    Sirens of the Ditch
  2. Americana, sometimes known as alternative country, a tale of being a casualty of war, sleeping in Dress Blues
  3. Bob Dylan– Stonehenge
    TTRH Season 2 – 05 – Days of the Week
  4. what is the deal with Stonehenge? Bob ponders rocks of all time, and notes that currently there are two Starbucks and and Applebees inside the circle
  5. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach: Notenbüchlein Für Anna Magdalena Bach
    Bach: Notenbüchlein Für Anna Magdalena Bach – Menuet, BWV Anh. 114- Pieter-Jan Belder
  6. Ahhh, Bach
  7. The Velvet Underground– I’m Waiting For The Man
    Peel Slowly And See Disc 2
  8. even after a hundred thousand listens, still love this garage rock tune, especially the occasional cha-ching double-time strum on one of the rhythm guitars
  9. Barack Obama– White Folks
    Dreams from My Father


  10. “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” (Barack Obama)

    There are white folks, and then there are ignorant motherfuckers like you…

  11. Micachu– Eat Your Heart
    Jewellery
  12. meh, some free track from Amazon.com
  14. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 5 – Cantatas, Vol. 2 [Disc 4]
    Bach: Cantata #98, BWV 98, “Was Gott Tut, Das Ist Wohlgetan” – Was Gott Tut, Das Ist Wohlgetan- Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Etc.; Piet Jan Leusink: Netherlands Bach Collegium, Holland Boys Choir
  16. Louvin Brothers, The– There’s A Higher Power
    Satan Is Real
  17. Check the album cover. Nuff said. Actually a great LP.


    “Satan Is Real” (The Louvin Brothers)

  18. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 4 – Cantatas, Vol. 1 [Disc 3]
    Bach: Cantata #97, BWV 97, “In Allen Meinen Taten” – Ihm Hab Ich Mich Ergeben- Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Etc.; Piet Jan Leusink: Netherlands Bach Collegium, Holland Boys Choir

  19. With a good sustain guitar pedal, this would sound rockin’ translated as an Indie pop song.

  20. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 12 – Keyboard Works, Vol. 2 [Disc 12]
    Bach: 3-Part Invention In A Minor, BWV 799- Pieter-Jan Belder

  21. Bach friendly meditation tonight. I forgot actually what I was thinking here, I drifted into galactic space

  22. The Velvet Underground– It Was A Pleasure Then
    Peel Slowly And See Disc 2


  23. “Peel Slowly and See” (The Velvet Underground)

  24. I’m lucky that I didn’t have a copy of this Nico rarity2 during my drug-addled youth, such a perfect song to listen to after being up for a few days straight on whatever. Not that I’d know about being up for days on end. That must have been someone else. Sounds like Nico singing, John Cale on squeaky viola, and Lou Reed on electric guitar, as far as I can tell.
  25. Iggy Pop– Repo Man
    Repo Man
  26. Iggy sounds like a thug here on the title track to the Repo Man soundtrack, love it. Bought a copy of this CD, used, this year, replacing my original vinyl version. Such memories invoked, of being a angsty-teen, of wondering what life would be like as a punk-rocker, etc. etc. I’m looking for the joke with a microscope!
  27. Circle Jerks– Coup D’Etat


    “Repo MAN – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” (REPO MAN – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Iggy Pop, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, The Plugz, Juicy Bananas, The Circle Jerks, Burning Sensations, Fear, harry dean stanton, emilio estevez, punk rock, art punk, 80’s) (michael nesmith)

  28. I even raised and shook my fist during the chorus of this song: Coup D’Etat!

  29. Stephan Smith– All Together Now
    Now’s the Time
  30. No idea where this song came from, but it isn’t bad. The singer has a slight lisp, but the acoustic guitar work is nice, and the lyrics are poignant and pointed enough to notice, about world unity. I’ll have to look for more music by this guy.
  31. Dubliners, The– Molly Malone
    Seven Drunken Nights
  32. This even goes further back: I remember learning this song in Mrs. Sullivans’ Fifth Grade class, South River, Ontario. I recall singing enthusiastically, in our children’s tenor voices.
  33. Barack Obama– Buy Your Own Damn Fries
    Dreams from My Father (Disc 2)
Footnotes:
  1. we have one of those one-person sauna devices, and I let the day’s worries leave my body while ruminating about whatever it is my mind decides to ruminate upon, while playing my iPod [↩]
  2. from Chelsea Girl [↩]