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Autumnal Listening - 2006
2006-10-31
Autumnal Listening
Ok, it’s time for some new music. The leaves are the perfect mix of sunset/vermillion/ochre/brown to go with the bright cobalt-blue sky and I can smell the melancholia in the air. For this season (mid-fall moving into winter) I love to listen to quiet music. I’ve found some really great new sounds for this time of year and some interesting interviews with some of the artists…take a look and have a listen…
Max Richter – my good friend Tim Bridgham introduced me to Mr. Richter (thru our mutual friend Aaron Clark)…The Blue Notebooks is a great starting place and is available thru FatCat…His new record, Songs From Before, should be out at the end of November here in the States. Go here to listen…I think it may be even deeper in it’s scope than The Blue Notebooks… His descriptions of making Songs From Before are fascinating. This quote in particular grabbed my attention as a recordist:
As with a box of found objects carefully arranged to reveal meaning, the remote, grainy dubs that permeate the record, redolent of Mike Ink’s Gas or perhaps the more opaque Basic Channel / Chain Reaction output, deploy slight shifts in tone and colour, framing the music. Comprised mainly of shortwave radio sounds (a fondly revered but increasingly archaic medium with the advent of the internet), this connects with the analogue and tape aesthetics of the music, and the title itself. Recorded at Eastcote Studios on 16 track 2 inch analogue tape via the old MCI desk (a forerunner of the 24track format that became the standard in the 70s and 80s), known as “the Bob Marley desk” because of his love of it, Max expands ‘this record is all about bass, so it is perfect’.
You can read more about it here…
Iceland wins again! Well, it’s been two years of Icelandic domination in my musical heart and their run doesn’t appear to be losing any steam. Through some internet stumbling, I’ve discovered some new great music from a guy named Jóhann Jóhannsson. He’s got a great new record out that runs in the same vein as the Richter-mine and takes me on the same trip as Sigur Ros does only without the bombast of a rockband. I love the concept of his new record, ibm1401 ausersmanual. Evidently, his father was the chief engineer of Iceland’s first computer back in the early 60’s - the IBM 1401. It was the first computer to come ashore on that beautiful country and Jóhann’s dad (a musician himself) found a way to make the computer sing. He recorded some of this “singing” just before the computer was put out of service and these recordings were the springboard for ausersmanual...It’s available thru the 4AD label and is stunningly beautiful. You can read more of the backstory here... And find an ingenious site with the story here. Jóhann talks about some of his favorite music here...
Also from Iceland is the beautiful electronica of KiraKira. Kira Kira is Kristin Bjork Kristjansdottir, a founding member of Icelandic art collective Kitchen Motors. I still haven’t gotten more than just a taste of their music, but am hoping to hear more…You can listen to some snippets at their site here.
Another intriguing Icelandic find is Seabear…more Nick Drake than Sigur Ros, but still great for the season...Go listen to them here.
Enjoy!
mike
Some midsummer listening
2006-07-09
Hey everyone-
Thought I might drop some summer listening tips on you. I was reading an interview a few months back with Daniel Lanois in Guitar Player magazine. He was talking about how certain cds can really take you to a different time or place or set up such a good vibe. Here's the quote:
Thought I might drop some summer listening tips on you. I was reading an interview a few months back with Daniel Lanois in Guitar Player magazine. He was talking about how certain cds can really take you to a different time or place or set up such a good vibe. Here's the quote:
You sometimes say that your job as a producer is to “raise the spirit.”
That’s just another way of saying “get it right.” Because what we love about records is that they get us out of our skins and provide an opportunity to be elevated. Everyday life is sweet but humdrum, and what we love about art is that it gives us a chance to look at life in a different way. When I go home and put on Stan Getz’s Bossa Nova—Jazz ’Round Midnight, I feel good right away. It’s a beautiful record, and it makes me want to have a lovely evening.
That’s just another way of saying “get it right.” Because what we love about records is that they get us out of our skins and provide an opportunity to be elevated. Everyday life is sweet but humdrum, and what we love about art is that it gives us a chance to look at life in a different way. When I go home and put on Stan Getz’s Bossa Nova—Jazz ’Round Midnight, I feel good right away. It’s a beautiful record, and it makes me want to have a lovely evening.
I thought to myself, that sounds like some music I should check out. So I did and so should you. It is great summertime listening. Jazz 'Round Midnight is actually a compilation of a few records. I went for a couple of the the original cds - Jazz Samba and Getz/Gilberto. Both have been remastered and repackaged with original liner notes. The singing by Astrud Gilberto on the second record is quite mesmorizing...
While I'm in a South American mood, I thought I'd drop one of my favorite artists of the past year on you too. Her name is Juana Molina. She's a innovative Argentinian artsist doing some really cool acoutic guitar + loops song construction. Here's a video of her on Morning Becomes Eclectic - it is amazing to watch her do all the loops live. And that voice! Click on that link above and scroll down to the "Click Here to Watch Video" section when you have a spare 30 minutes or so...
happy summer,
mc
Yes Virginia, there is a Sufjan Claus!
2005-12-01
Merry Christmas season to you! Consider this internet find our early Christmas present to you...
peace, joy, love,
builder
Still Loving Iceland...
2005-11-06
I'm still loving my Icelandic music. Just got a copy of Múm's Yesterday Was Dramatic, Today is OK this week. It hasn't captured me like Finally, We Are No One did. Not yet at least. Also, have been listening quite a bit to the new Sigur Ros'
cd Takk. A good friend described it this way to me. "When you
listen, it's like you are watching a king entering his throneroom or
something." Quite majestic, to say the least.
Also been listening to cuts from Aoki Takamasa + Tujiko Noriko's new cd 28. I'm not an IDM music expert, so I don't really know how to classify this stuff. It's sort of glitchy and the singing is in Japanese and it's really, really great. It's quite amazing. I don't understand how people make this stuff... I can't wait to get a copy so I can hear the whole cd. It is being released here in the States later in November. You can listen to part of it here for now... Oh, just found this great review of the record that describes it much better than I could...
Also, wanted to say thanks to everyone who came out to the show on Friday nite. Man, we're lucky to have such great fans!
peace,
mc
Also been listening to cuts from Aoki Takamasa + Tujiko Noriko's new cd 28. I'm not an IDM music expert, so I don't really know how to classify this stuff. It's sort of glitchy and the singing is in Japanese and it's really, really great. It's quite amazing. I don't understand how people make this stuff... I can't wait to get a copy so I can hear the whole cd. It is being released here in the States later in November. You can listen to part of it here for now... Oh, just found this great review of the record that describes it much better than I could...
Also, wanted to say thanks to everyone who came out to the show on Friday nite. Man, we're lucky to have such great fans!
peace,
mc
( ) - love, iceland
2005-08-03
Had a talk with my friend Ian on the phone yesterday. He was urging me to move Sigur Ros'
() album to the front of my to-buy list. Some friends of mine (Andrew
and JennyRebecca Walker) used the first track in their wedding this
summer and it is beautiful. This is not a hard-sell for me as I already
admit to having a strong love of the Icelandic musik. Something about
the way their dialect sounds when they sing...
Been listening to lots of the beautifully organic electronica of Múm's Finally We Are No One over the past few months. My friend JT said the other day, "it's like listening to a fairytale or something." I concur. Kristen's voice is quite interesting - sort of like some fey pixie singing thru a tin-can telephone from a childhood dream that you almost forgot, and then, just remembered...
Also, Emiliana Torrini has some more pop-ish Icelandic sounds on her new cd, Fisherman’s Woman that I've been streaming as of late.
On the old reading list these days is Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller and A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories by Robert Olen Butler.
cool it now,
mc
Been listening to lots of the beautifully organic electronica of Múm's Finally We Are No One over the past few months. My friend JT said the other day, "it's like listening to a fairytale or something." I concur. Kristen's voice is quite interesting - sort of like some fey pixie singing thru a tin-can telephone from a childhood dream that you almost forgot, and then, just remembered...
Also, Emiliana Torrini has some more pop-ish Icelandic sounds on her new cd, Fisherman’s Woman that I've been streaming as of late.
On the old reading list these days is Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller and A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories by Robert Olen Butler.
cool it now,
mc
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