What other music are you listening to? #9

[Steve Reynolds]

Pavement: Slanted and Enchanted
Pere Ubu: Story of My Life

[john williams]

[john williams]

[Steve Reynolds]

Can: The Lost Tapes


just a few random tracks as I just picked this up.

sounds AMAZING!!!

will be the release of the year for me, I think

[john williams]

Can: The Lost Tapes


just a few random tracks as I just picked this up.

sounds AMAZING!!!

will be the release of the year for me, I think

It's pretty great. I also thought outstanding value for what you get.

Np



Pere Ubu - Lady From Shanghai (Demos)

[Steve Reynolds]

when is the official release date of that new Pere Ubu record?

anyone know?

[john williams]

I got impatient waiting so paid for the demos. From the Ubu Projex site:

Lady From Shanghai
The next Pere Ubu album, Lady From Shanghai, is finished. It is very special and marks a new era of the history of Pere Ubu. In ways it is shocking. No word on a release date yet. Various demos of the works-in-progress are posted on hearpen.com in deiffering states of completion.

http://ubuprojex.net/

[Bourne]

On a recent trip I had these four in rotation:

Band of Horses - Cease To Begin


The Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Communion


Beck - Sea Change


The Soundtrack Of Our Lives - Throw It To The Universe

[baksheesh]

Have been on a major Merzbow kick lately. The guy has some absolutely phenomenal albums out. I've been reading around the web to get some recommendations and this one came up. It is extraordinary in it's power and scope - the variety of sounds and moods, the development and evolution throughout, is up there with that to be found in any genre of music I've encountered.

Extremely highly recommended.

[baksheesh]

Outtakes huh? This stuff is better than most groups achieve in their lifetimes. Truly brilliant - more catchy and accessible than Trout Mask Replica, but with that warped, lurching blues groove that was the hallmark of his best work.

[baksheesh]

Can you tell me a bit about this one John? Which period is it from, and more importantly - how good is it?

[john williams]

It's a 3 disk set comprising of tracks from 1968 to 1977. It's excellent value and comes in an attractive 10 inch box with booklet. The quality of the music is very good for the most part. I'm a fan of Mooney and there is a lot from that period so I'm quite happy. There's a bit of live stuff that's less good but I always thought their strength lay in their studio albums. I've seen a bit of live footage of concerts on DVD and thought they were a bit boring live. The side restrictions on LPs were good for a band like Can who needed editing in my opinion. Still, this is more than just a compilation of offcuts and the quality is very good. Anyone who's a fan of the band would find this an essential purchase. Compilations like this often have too much filler but there is very little here.


Np

[john williams]

[Steve Reynolds]

agree with John regarding "The Lost Tapes"

and even the live stuff, especially the 16 minute version of 'Spoon' is very good.


I have 'Waiting for the Streetcar' with Malcolm Mooney dancing in my head...


similar in some respects to 'Delay 1968' which is also essential Can...

not Tago Mago ro Ege Bamyasi or even Future Days, but what is???

[baksheesh]

Thanks for the heads up re The Lost Tapes guys, I'm looking forward to tracking them down.



Been on a mission to catch up with the Captain lately, and this is quite a swan song. I listened to Blue Jeans and Moonbeams first, to get it out of the way as people seem to consider it a low point. It is dreadfully disconcerting to hear him play it straight, but it's not without it's charm.

I was impressed with how ICFC shows a Magic Band which is in the tradition of the earlier incarnations. However the fire and magic isn't all there. Still excellent music, but the one I'm really looking forward to now is Lick My Decals Off, Baby which I hear has been rated as on a par with, or even better than Trout Mask Replica.

That, my friends is one hell of a recommendation.

[john williams]

Lick My Decals Off, Baby

Lick My Decals Of Baby is my favourite and easier to digest than TMR. It may not be 'better' but I listen to it far more often. Decals might be hard to get hold of.

[Bourne]

Emusic has it for $7.14

[john williams]

Oh yes you can get Mp3 copies of course. I was thinking of vinyl or CD as I very rarely purchase Mp3s and don't even have an I-Pod.

[baksheesh]

Lick My Decals Of Baby is my favourite and easier to digest than TMR. It may not be 'better' but I listen to it far more often. Decals might be hard to get hold of.

I've got 'em all, just savouring that wonderful feeling of discovery - I know I'll be listening to most of these bad boys an awful lot.

@ Scott - are you into Beefheart? What're your favourite albums?

[baksheesh]

Oh yes you can get Mp3 copies of course. I was thinking of vinyl or CD as I very rarely purchase Mp3s and don't even have an I-Pod.

Interesting. Am I right in suggesting then that you have very focused listening habits - i.e. not into using music as background per se. Do you not like to listen to music as you're in transit, walking around town etc? And if you do, do you have a Discman or similar?

[Bourne]

I've got 'em all, just savouring that wonderful feeling of discovery - I know I'll be listening to most of these bad boys an awful lot.

@ Scott - are you into Beefheart? What're your favourite albums?

Still don't have an ear for him, Jesse. Still strictly a Zappa fan. Don't even care all that much for Bongo Fury.

[john williams]

I listen to music mostly at home or in the car. I don't really walk around that much. I live in a rural area and three days a week I travel to another town about 45 minutes away and tend to get a lot of listening done. I also don't really like headphones too much although I have a nice set of Sennheiser headphones for home use but rarely can be bothered using them. I don't like the bud type earphones either. It's also a case of how much shit do I need? An i-Pod is just another thing I don't need. I resent having a cell/mobile phone and leave it at home most days I'm actually pretty content to be disconnected when everyone around me is obsessed with connectivity. My job is all about new technology and keeping up with it, so out of work I'm happy to leave that stuff behind. Our tech guys at work treat all this stuff in such a reverential way it borders on religion for them. They certainly preach about the newest great i or e thing that'll be obsolete in a few months, so I keep it simple at home. I listen to records and CDs. I wear a mechanical wristwatch too and live in an art deco house.

[baksheesh]

Still don't have an ear for him, Jesse. Still strictly a Zappa fan. Don't even care all that much for Bongo Fury.

I've heard that Bongo Fury isn't a great one for either Zappa or Beefheart. The Captain was at a bit of a nadir - he'd made a play for the commercial market and it hadn't come off - he alienated his existing fan base, such as it was, and failed to get any chart success.

I believe that The Sunlight Kid and Clear Spot are less idiosyncratic and brilliant in their way. I posted some excellent live footage of the group in the Non-Jazz Youtube Videos thread. It's funky and wild - I'd single out the drumming as one of the most remarkable features - funky, yet disjointed.

[john williams]

Bongo Fury is pretty good and one of the better mid 70s Zappa albums.

[baksheesh]

I listen to music mostly at home or in the car. I don't really walk around that much. I live in a rural area and three days a week I travel to another town about 45 minutes away and tend to get a lot of listening done. I also don't really like headphones too much although I have a nice set of Sennheiser headphones for home use but rarely can be bothered using them. I don't like the bud type earphones either. It's also a case of how much shit do I need? An i-Pod is just another thing I don't need. I resent having a cell/mobile phone and leave it at home most days I'm actually pretty content to be disconnected when everyone around me is obsessed with connectivity. My job is all about new technology and keeping up with it, so out of work I'm happy to leave that stuff behind. Our tech guys at work treat all this stuff in such a reverential way it borders on religion for them. They certainly preach about the newest great i or e thing that'll be obsolete in a few months, so I keep it simple at home. I listen to records and CDs. I wear a mechanical wristwatch too and live in an art deco house.

I'm guessing you have a gobsmackingly nice stereo. I'm envious you've got vinyl on the go - that's what I grew up with, with my dad (still got a big stack of vinyl up in the attic, but nothing to play them on) - and I've found that tapes of the old vinyl have more character and 'body' than the remixes which came out in later years.

To give two examples of this phenomenon which hit me particularly hard at the time: As a teenager I had cassettes (amongst many others) of Bitches Brew and Axis: Bold as Love, both taped from vinyl and listened to them constantly. Then, when I heard the remixed versions that came out on CD in the 90's (both with extreme brouhaha - from the Hendrix Family on the one hand, and on the other the first Columbia Miles back catalogue pushes) I was shocked and appalled.

To my ears these albums had been neutered. Bitches Brew was no longer a brew, it was a cleanly separated, clinical and almost characterless sound, as though laid out on a dissecting table. The Hendrix had lost its warmth, and was now - like BB - reduced to its constituent components. Dismay!

Having said that, over time you get accustomed to anything, and at the moment my entire collection (which is tolerably vast) is all in mp3 form. I just don't have the scratch to sustain a vinyl habit, and convenience wise, I listen to most everything on the move, except when at the computer.

My own CD collection is mouldering in the attic of the family home - and believe me, I spent a fortune on it, searching and triumphing at new finds (an Aunt's visit to Tokyo resulted in a haul of Columbia's Japanese only releases, such as Dark Magus and Black Beauty, long before their release, or a heartbreaking decision in Carrefour in Paris, having to reduce a stack full of CDs I'd only read about in the PJG, and having to run a traumatic triage before the cash register).

[john williams]

Actually my stereo is nothing fantastic but ok. I only have Yamaha components with Wharfedale speakers. It's quite middle of the road. I do appreciate the space saving qualities of MP3s and if I were a frequent traveller I would buy one for sure.

I agree, many early CDs were atrocious. I bought the Japanese CDs of Agharta and Pangaea.

[Bourne]

Bongo Fury is pretty good and one of the better mid 70s Zappa albums.

Muffin Man was an excellent tune. Aside from that I found it rather mediocre. One Size Fits All is my favorite from that particular era. A bit over-produced, but excellent execution.

BTW, digital technology has come a long way in recent years. I have Klipsch earbuds and keep higher sampled mp3's and also lossless files on my iPod Touch. The sound is so impressive that I rarely touch cd's anymore, and rarely crank up my also mid-level home stereo. Now is the time to be in the market for the miniature stuff. Just have to be willing to spend a little more on higher quality buds.

[Bourne]

Oh, and there is no question first gen cd's were an atrocity.

Just compared the remastered Beatles cd's to the first gen releases. Stark contrast.

[john williams]

Muffin Man was an excellent tune. Aside from that I found it rather mediocre. One Size Fits All is my favorite from that particular era. A bit over-produced, but excellent execution.

BTW, digital technology has come a long way in recent years. I have Klipsch earbuds and keep higher sampled mp3's and also lossless files on my iPod Touch. The sound is so impressive that I rarely touch cd's anymore, and rarely crank up my also mid-level home stereo. Now is the time to be in the market for the miniature stuff. Just have to be willing to spend a little more on higher quality buds.

I agree One Size Fits All is great. It stands out from all the other studio albums from this time.

Buds don't stay in my ears ,they just fall out. I would choose quality headphones. I like music to fill a room anyway.

[Bourne]

I agree One Size Fits All is great. It stands out from all the other studio albums from this time.

Buds don't stay in my ears ,they just fall out. I would choose quality headphones. I like music to fill a room anyway.

I used to have the same problem with the cheapr buds, John.

The higher quality buds have different size ear pieces that you can switch out to fit your ears properly. On my Kipsch buds I actually have a difference size ear piece on each side.

Some companies will even build custom pieces using molds from your ears.

Like I said, the technology has come a long way in recent years.