Twittering Machines

I know. That’s a bit, perhaps even more than a bit, pretentious. But I figured it was time to offer another filter onto the hundreds of records we’ve talked about on Twittering Machines and in one-click give you a list, much shorter than the “Great LPs” list, of records I think would be happy on any record shelf and even happier in anyone who loves music’s ear. In other words, if I was you, I’d own these records. So I offer up – Indispensable Records.

I tried to stick to selections that are at a minimum slightly off the beaten path since we all know we all need records like A Love Supreme and Are You Experienced. I’ve already added a few records to the new “Indispensable Records” category (I made it through 2008) and figure it’ll take a few more days to go through the entire TM back catalog with a fine tooth comb bringing the list up to the present. Enjoy!

Mark Leckey gives us a tour of his exhibit See, We Assemble at London’s Serpentine Gallery.

“…you take something from culture that’s kind of greater than you and turn it to your own ends. And in a way you can gain some power from that and even if its kind of pathetic it still seems to me the only gesture you can make in the face of just, you know, total brand capitulation.“

Mark Leckey
Installation view, Serpentine Gallery, London
(19 May – 26 June 2011)
© 2011 Mark Blower

I’ll cut to the chase; this LP is freakin’ awesome!

Feeling lazy, I borrowed this from the previously mentioned Volcanic Tongue:

“Fantastic almost-Fushitsusha scale amplifier worship from Evan Caminiti of Barn Owl. Over the space of the last few years Barn Owl have evolved from a group that dealt primarily in slow-mo feedback architectures to a pair of heads with enough vision to marry Charalambides-style E-Bow gravities with orchestral/early music settings, black 70s metal, Savage Resurrection-style twin guitars and classic weightless Japanese psych. Here Caminiti combines Bay Area tectonics – the sounds of horns in the fog, the feel of SF ballroom era Trips festivals – with lucid six-string devotionals that move from soaring arcs of feedback damaged melodies to the kind of fragile portraiture in sound of Loren Connors circa Hells Kitchen Park. The atmosphere has the same choral/devotional air of the more orchestral Fushitsusha work – especially aspects of the Tokuma releases – combining achingly simple single note solos with endless waves of black electricity, but it’s all cut with a classic parched/desert feel that draws on inherited traditions of blues as much as imported avant axe. This is a major solo guitar side and one that sits happily alongside your favourite solo six-string testaments. If you dig Haino, Rallizes, Loren Connors etc you won’t be disappointed. Highly recommended!”

So there you have it.

Congratulations are in order for K&TH Manufacturing, one of my favorite beautifully-made-in-Japan retro-workwear styled clothiers. J. Crew is the new US Stockist.

Caravaggio
Narcissus (1597-1599)
Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 110 cm × 92 cm (43 in × 36 in)
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica

11. Some audiophiles believe that their knowledge and experience outweighs your enjoyment of your hi-fi.

Marissa Nadler
s/t

This is Marissa Nadler’s fifth release and her first self-released LP on her Box of Cedar Records. This record also got its start through Kickstarter and I’d say with all that said it’s remarkable how much amazing music is coming at us from all angles. Thank you. You can listen to the entire record on Marissa’s Bandcamp page (thank you) and it sure sounds like another sweet, country-tinged folk-infested and deeply personal collection of songs I’d like to live with.

Circuit des Yeux
Portrait

This is Haley Fohr’s third record and it gives voice to a more personal side, namely her voice(s). Where her last LP Sirenum buried Haley deep in the mix, Portrait lets her stand out from a more varied background of grunge, guitars and samples and from what I’ve heard, and I’ve heard all of this, another thank you is order. Dark, introspective and off-kilter (yum). From De Stijl.

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou
The 1st Album (1973)

From Analog Africa a reconstructed version of Orchestre Poly-Rythmo’s first LP – the first full take of this record was never released due to some sound issues so the band took two which became their official debut. Analog Africa found the test pressing of the unused first take and includes two tracks from it and two tracks from the official release for The 1st Album (1973). Sounds monstrously musical and magical (again).

Master Musicians of Bukake
Totem 3

More constructed worldly riff-age from a bevy of master musicians of worldly-sounds and what sounds to me like a world of fun. From Important Records.

“A place where disembodied nomadic djinn join in lament attempting to push through the cell phone interference with a message of no return.”

Randall Dunn: Rag-Dun Tibetan long trumpet, throat singing, Korg MS-20, Mellotron, Micromoog, Korg Poly Six, Guitar, Audio hallucinations.
Don McGreevy: Drums, percussion, gong ritual, Acoustic Guitar, eternal thirst
Milky: Electric guitar and Vocals and yugas
Dave Abramson: Drums and percussion, singing bowls, Kalibash
B.R.A.D: Divination, Gongs, Vocals, Atrophy, 80’s Italian fear
Jim Davis: Electric Bass, keyboards, Nylon String Guitar, fair
Timba Harris: Violin and Viola, middle way

Special Guests:

Alan Bishop: vocals on 2,4
Faith Coccolia: Text and literagy on tack 6
Hans Tueber: Flute
Josiah Boothby: French Horn
Taiana Karr: English Horn and Oboe
Steve Moore:Trombone
TorDietrichson: Tabla

Phil Minton & Okkyung Lee
Anicca

Improvised voice (Minton) and cello (Lee) recorded in a day at Eastcote Studios, London, make for otherworldly sounds. From the liner notes by Christian Marclay, “Words are powerless when it comes to describing what Okkyung Lee and Phil Minton are doing here.” Well OK. Someone from the label was able to say this much, “Recorded acoustically and with the aim to capturing the rawest, smallest, biggest and most beautiful sounds of their respective instruments, Okkyung’s cello and Phil’s voice sound nothing like they should. At their most powerful the resonance of both strings and vocal cords trade places, merge and tangle to create a storm, a wave and a crackling fire.” From Dancing Wayang Records in an edition of 350.

I’ll be spinnin’ this one later.

Television
Live At The Old Waldorf San Francisco, 6/29/78

What a great record in every way a record can be. This was a “professionally recorded” live performance and this band – Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd, Fred Smith and Billy Ficca – is on fire and the recording captures every last flicker and flame.

Rhino released this double LP as part of their Handmade series in an edition of 3,000 on white vinyl! this past Record Store Day and man o man am I happy that Jon at PREX pointed me to it.

There’s something about Television that I’ve always found delightfully disconcerting as if I need to think more or less.

Zentripetal Duo

Yesterday evening we were treated to a rare treat – live music in an intimate (and really good-sounding) setting. The Zentripetal Duo, violinist Lynn Bechtold & cellist Jennifer DeVore, performed three pieces for the Monkeyhaus gang- C17H21NO4 by Gene Pritsker (thankfully no one knew what the title referenced), Astor Piazzolla’s “Violetas Populares”, and finally a piece composed by Monkeyhaus regular Dan Cooper titled Design Duo. I found the performance thrilling, moving (each piece in its own way – e.g. Dan Cooper’s piece literally put me on a path through a lush field and forest) and fun. Musically delicious.

Afterward we listened to records and the theme or rule if you prefer for this portion of the evening was “Covers Only”. Cover versions can be pure fun in their simultaneous difference and reference and some of my personal highlights included Bauhaus’ stupendous version of “Ziggy Stardust” and a smashing pair of Gloria’s one each from Patti Smith and Jimi Hendrix. I’ve said this before but its worth covering again – you want this record (both actually).

And I feel compelled to point out the excruciatingly obvious which is that live music sounds like live music and recorded music sounds like recorded music so why fret. Another thing about live music is you, we the listeners, are not in control. Anything can happen and there’s no volume control. And that’s a beautiful thing. And my feeling is musicians play for the room (I mean that in every way) – the human version of DSP is so far advanced from the poorer and infinitely simpler software-in-a-box (the former is actively emotive for one) its not even funny. Records on the other hand put our musical world at your cartridge-tip which is equally grand. Life with music live and on record is good.

A big thank you to our host, Mr. ‘Haus and the Zentripetal Duo for reminding us that music made in the moment is a precious thing to capture fleetingly.

Arthur Rimbaud
Illuminations
Translated by John Ashbery

This book is certainly deserving of a repeated and highlighted mention – my copy arrived yesterday so I have not started in (I’ve read other translations but this one strikes me as an Event) but I still believe this is a must-have book for all English readers (even the ones who can also read French imo) who are passionate about a passionate life.

“If we are absolutely modern-and we are- it’s because Rimbaud commanded us to be.” ~ John Ashbery, from the Preface

Let me read that quote from Patti Smith that appears on the dust jacket:

“John Ashbery has gifted us with an exquisite, untainted translation of Rimbaud; a transmission as pure as a winged dove driven by snow.”

I love it when poets get all poetic about other poets even ones translating other poets.

Patti Smith
…DEVOTIONS. TO ARTHUR RIMBAUD
New York: Gotham Book Mart, ca. 1973

” ‘I’ is someone else. ” ~ Arthur Rimbaud

Announcing the – Cables Cannot Possibly Make a Difference – inspirational CD! Our narrator repeats over and over that based on all known science, cables cannot possibly make a difference in the sound of a hi-fi. If you use this CD to audition cables, we guarantee you’ll never hear a difference between cables ever again since we all know that any perceived difference is rooted in perceptual foibles caused by the power of suggestion*.

If you order now, we’ll also include a Find Your Perfect Mate Blindfold, a $19.99 value for FREE!

* we don’t actually know this for sure but it sure is the easiest explanation we could cook up

One of the more interesting and perplexing events at the recent T.H.E. Show Newport Beach occurred when I played this CD’s title track at the request of a room’s ‘owner’. “Did you bring any music?” he asked, “Yea a few CDs. How about this. Track two please.” While I’m not a fan of “test tracks”, I’ve owned and enjoyed this CD since it was released in 1989 and I’ve traveled with it over many a system. It’s familiar.

During “Voice of Chunk” which is a clamorous orgy of horns, piano, John Lurie’s hissing, bass, percussion and drums, Marc Ribot steps out for a wonderfully viscous solo where he changes his pickup setting just before taking full furious flight. This particular part is especially good at showcasing a systems’ ability to handle timbre – I’ve heard this not-so-subtle shift in tonal balance all but disappear on some setups.

It was right about this time that another reviewer from one of the e-zines waltzed in, someone I’d just met during this trip, and announced, “Whoever recorded this CD should be shot. They emasculated it. It sounds like shit!” He went on (and on) but that’s the gist and when I asked him if he knew the CD he admitted no but “Unless these speakers have no bass and really suck, it’s the CD.” Since the speaker designer was sitting next to me (I found out later that he already knew this reviewer and was used to him “talking shit”) I felt a bit awkward because something was amiss – there was practically no bass or mid-bass – but I smiled through the urge to tell Mr. Reviewer to sit down, shut up and listen.

The speaker designer put on another CD which exhibited big, bloated bass to show us both it wasn’t the speaker. Hmm. Later on I was in another room and I played the exact same track from the exact same CD and “Voice of Chunk” sounded great – big, bold, ballsy, damn near chunky, just like I knew it should because it typically does.

The moral of the story (at least for me) is don’t jump to conclusions when attributing performance issues – it could be the recording, the room, a component or any combination thereof and if you are completely unfamiliar with all of the above it’s best to just sit down, shut up and try to enjoy the music.