Twittering Machines

Jimi Hendrix
Axis: Bold As Love

Obi Oboy. A Universal Records Japan limited re-release of Hendrix’s second LP. My guess is most first pressings have been through the trippy hippie grinder but luckily for us, this recording is fabulous with a capital PH. This LP was largely cooked up in the studio which led Hendrix away from blues into parts unknown. May be the only album to feature Hendrix on flute and Graham Nash stomping his feet. Sandwiched between Are You Experienced? and Electric Ladyland, Axis may get passed over but its well worth the time and gear-shift to get the full psychedelic Hendrix palette.

Interesting tidbit – the story goes Hendrix asked for an “Indian” theme for the cover art. The brit-artists (Axis was recorded at Olympic Studios in London) naturally thought India-Indian when Jimi was referring to his native American roots.

James Blood Ulmer
Are You Glad to Be in America

Recorded one fine day in 1980, Are You Glad… is a jazz, funk romp. Featuring Ronald Shannon Jackson and G. Calvin Weston on drums, Amin Ali on bass, David Murray on tenor sax, Oliver Lake on Alto sax and William Patterson on rhythm guitar. Compared to something like Last Exit, Are You Glad… is lighter, funkier fare. The track title “Jazz is the Teacher (Funk is the Preacher)” says it almost.

I figured it was time to get serious about this reviewing gig so I went out and got this test equipment. So far I’ve measured everything in my listening room and oddly enough most LPs measure exactly the same (to within 1/16″). The real mind-blower is John Cage’s Silence measures the same as Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury.

Skip James
Today!

An obvious one but what the heck. Available in reissue, there ain’t nothing and noone like Skip James. This recording is from the 1964 session, his 2nd recording date in some 30 odd years.

One of the funniest threads I’ve read in a while. All by the same poster SuperXRSSeattle from Audio Circle.

Post 1: September 02, 2007, 03:46:35 am

“I love these Super XRS’s!”…”The cabinet\finish\appearance the packaging, the little itty bitty single round speaker, the BALANCE!”

Post 2: September 02, 2007, 07:07:25 am

“The speaks just shifted into more warmth at this post’s hours – nonstop rock, symphony, rap, deep-funk. Low spl’s. But a shift toward fullness…hmmm neato”

Post 3: September 02, 2007, 08:32:29 am

“These have cohesiveness!!! Beauty”

Post 4: September 02, 2007, 08:41:54 am

“I should mention that I’m listening in the nearfileld for now. I have also put paper towels (hung, taped) over the single speaker because they “stabbed” my ear”

Golden Record

Onboard the Voyager 1 and 2-a, the Golden Record contains spoken greetings in 55 languages, natural sounds, music and images from Mother Earth. Compiled some 30 years ago by a committee headed up by Carl Sagan, the Golden Record was made for the benefit of our friends and neighbors in outerspace.

” The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet.” Carl Sagan

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by Haruo Suekichi

“Hmmm… In the beginning, with watches that I had worked hard to make, I think I might have been a bit of sad. But now, ideas are always coming to me, and I want to sell the ones I’m making so I can move on, and in this way I keep making more and more new ones. And once they are made, well, if they’re just there, like this [points to a finished watch], they don’t have any meaning, you see? Watches aren’t anything before they’re on someone’s arm. So I am happy once they are bought, once their life begins. I mean, I only have two arms, you know? I can’t wear them all! So it’s better if someone else has them…” from an Interview in Chief Magazine

MiniGods by Victor “Marka27″ Quiñonez
“Givers Of Divine Sound”