Favorites of 2007… local music, vinyl, internets, podcasts…
Well, this is Round 2 of the traditional year-end wrap-up… Round 1 (here) was all about concerts I attended. Since I’m still not ready for my favorite album recap, I’ll ease into with some non-standard categories…
Favorite Local Music 2007
Well, being caught in a move 2,600 miles away this year, my “local” is not quite Oregon-related, yet. In fact, I built up such a battalion of favorite local Cincinnati/Dayton artists, that I may always consider them “local” for me…
1) Wussy – Left for Dead – Simply a fantastic record through and through. “Airborne,” from the first Wussy record (Funeral Dress), may be one of my favorite songs as of late… and the new Wussy record had many songs up to its caliber. Don’t be shocked if this album shows up in my Top 20-something overall albums of the year. It’s a beaut.
http://www.wussymusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/therealwussy
2) Kelly Evans – Easy (ep) – I heard of Kelly Evans barely a year ago (MPMF in Sept ’06). Her debut -EP- is something of a gorgeous effort. Great guitarwork, great vocals, fun songs… sorta jazz with a world beat in spots. She’s posted roughly 10 more songs to her MySpace page over the year… this girl needs a full length record. :-) Her record is not in stores, as far as I know… so ask her how you can get one…
http://www.kellyevansmusic.com/
http://www.myspace.com/skyfeathervivella
3) Auragami – +/- (ep) – This was a gift from a very talented bassist in the Dayton area named Michael Miller. I’ve been a fan of his music since Space (circa 1998). He’s got a great feel for groove, experimentation, and melody. To quote another SW Ohio bassist Mike Georgin, “bass is good.” His record is not in stores, as far as I know… so ask him how you can get one…
http://www.myspace.com/auragami
Favorite Backwards Technology Releases 2007
What’s not to love about vinyl? It crackles when you play it, scratches easily, and it a pain to put on your iPod, and some artists like to release things on it as special releases that won’t see the light of day in a more accessible format. That’s what not to love about it. With that being said, I still love it. Here are my favorite vinyl-only releases of 2007:
1) Secret Chiefs 3 – four 7″ vinyl singles – Cool design and music to boot. I wish they’d crank out some more music soon, but these vinyl singles were a good layover until Trey Spruance and the SC3 can get Book of Souls or his take on Masada Book Two out (in 2008).
http://www.webofmimicry.com/
http://www.myspace.com/secretchiefs3
2) Pearl Jam (with U2) – Love Reign O’er Me (fan club 7″ single) – PJ and U2. Nuff Said.
http://www.pearljam.com/
http://www.myspace.com/tenclub
3) Sufjan Stevens – I Went Dancing with My Sister / Waste of What Your Kids Won’t Have (7″ single bonus with Seven Swans vinyl re-issue) – I dislike the “only way you can get this is by getting this, too” aspect of it all… but, hey, it was cheap(ish) and it is Sufjan. He’s new to my camp of “can’t do wrong.” I’m a sucker.
http://www.myspace.com/soundsfamilyre
http://www.myspace.com/asthmatickitty
4) Sigur Rós – Hljómalind 7″ single – Of any current band that I’m happy to “grow up” with, this will be one that I’ll be happy to tell people 30 years from now that I saw live.
Sigur Rós is. They just are.
http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/
http://www.myspace.com/sigurros
Favorite Internet-only Releases 2007
1) Ben Elliot – Fairytales (ep) – Rarely do those “band spammers” who claim to sound like “such and such” actually get much attention. Well, Ben Elliot actually bothered to message rather than just friend requesting me. His claims of Silverchair/Dissociative-ness seemed suspect. Alas, I found his music to be QUITE GOOD… so far his stuff’s only available online (no CDs), but well worth whatever change-per-song you throw his way. Do it!! You’ll thank me.
http://www.benelliot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/benelliot
2) Derek Webb – One Zero (Remixes) – I’ve been a fan of Derek since the Caedmon’s Call days. The “remix” notion wouldn’t seem like it’d fit a primarily acoustic singer-songwriter. Alas, it does. Fun stuff…
http://www.derekwebb.com
http://www.myspace.com/derekwebb
3) Xenuphobe – 2.0: Electrolux – OK, technically, this one is not internet-only… but I only had funds to get the download version. Xenuphobe is Wally Farkas (of Galactic Cowboys fame) and Ty Tabor (of King’s X fame). It’s an experimental, psychedelic, ambient rock album… I dig it a bunch. I loved X1, and this one beats that one… great works, guys!
http://www.xenuphobe.com/
http://www.myspace.com/xenuphobemusic
4) My Brightest Diamond – Tear It Down (b-sides) – I hate exclusives on iTunes… but at least I didn’t have to buy the whole album again to get these extra gems. I can’t wait for MBD’s next one, A Thousand Shark’s Teeth. Shara’s vocals are sublime.
http://www.mybrightestdiamond.com/
http://www.myspace.com/mybrightestdiamond
5) Puscifer – Don’t Shoot the Messenger (ep) – Ah, Maynard James Keenan, you wiley tool of the devil. Not for the faint of heart or ears…
http://www.puscifer.com/
http://www.myspace.com/censorshipisacancer
Favorite Podcasts 2007
I blame two people for this new addiction of mine… Gary Lenaire and Kevin Smith. Gary Lenaire was interviewed on The Infidel Guy show, and I got hooked on that podcast. I had stayed away from podcasts until that show. And then, Kevin Smith started pod’ing with the also amusing über-producer Scott Mosier… ensuing hilarity. Anyway, podcasts help fill my “new audible content” addiction… for free.
1) Smodcast – Filmmakers Kevin Smith & Scott Mosier discuss things that probably should never be discussed. For fans of their movies/commentary tracks, this is right up your proverbial alley. Guests include Kev’s wife Jen, Jason Mewes, Walt, Bryan, Malcolm, and others in the askewniverse.
http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/smodcast
2) Real Time with Bill Maher – Posted a few days after the show airs on HBO. This show is fantastic. I wish I had HBO for this show (and Curb Your Enthusiasm), but this podcast is the next best thing. Great sociopolitical content, discussion, comedy, and world class guests (almost as world class as Ali G’s guests). :-)
http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/downloads/
3) Ken Laster’s In the Groove, Jazz and Beyond – There seem to be a bunch of jazz podcasts out there that are just plain weak or irregular… or play things that simply aren’t jazz. Ken plays a great jazz mix from old greats to up-and-coming to local… not too “smooth jazz” and enough hard bop and experimental thrown in to keep me interested.
http://jazzandbeyond.com/
4) The Infidel Guy: The Way of Reason – Reginald Finley, Sr. puts on a great free-thinker show, hitting many topics primarily revolving around religious dogma and other atheistic topics.
http://www.infidelguy.com/
5) Dogma Free America – RIP. It just ended at 50 episodes… after lasting about a year… it’ll be missed. (Note: this podcast came back to life in May 2008… woot!)
http://www.dogmafreeamerica.com/
6) NPR: Jazz Profiles – Superbly crafted A&E-type audio biographies on the greats. Duke, Monk, Bird, Dizzy, Miles, Billie… I came into jazz via the avant-garde scene (Zorn, et al); so getting some exposure to the founding fathers (and mothers) of jazz is awesome!
http://www.npr.org/programs/jazzprofiles
7) Jazz NW with Jim Wilke – A Seattle-based radio show that more often than not makes me happy to be living in the PacNW. Who knew there’d be such a great jazz scene? Favorite find thus far has easily been Seattle-based Monktail Creative Music Concern (and side band Reptet).
http://www.kplu.org/wilke.html
8 ) George Hrab’s Geological Podcast – I just got into this one… it’s fuuuuuuun. and his love for all things Zappa can’t be bad. Geo’s music is pretty damn good, too.
http://www.geologicpodcast.com/
9) Soccergirl, Incorporated – I just got into this one, too… because of GeoHrab. SG’s very similar to Sarah Silverman in comedy stylings — oft-raunchy, un-PC, oft-ridiculous. And that’s a good thing.
http://www.soccergirlincorporated.com/
10) Compassionate Cooks: Vegetarian Food for Thought – One word: quinoa. It changed my life with regards to home stir-fry, salads, burritoes, and all around superfood goodness. :-)
http://www.compassionatecooks.com/
best videocast: (tie) Les Concerts à Emporter -and- Liam Lynch’s Lynchland – One for intimate performances in public places by indie-rocks’ biggest indie-stars. One for crazy videos and tidbits from the guy who brought us the puppet-rific Sifl & Ollie (an unrelated pre-cursor to Greg the Bunny), who happens to be friends with the Tenacious D guys and Sarah Silverman, etc…
http://www.blogotheque.net/concertaemporter/
http://liamlynch.net/
best internet mini-series: Clark and Michael – Michael Cera (George Michael from TV’s Arrested Development) is one of the funniest young men in comedy. He is straight-man GOLD. He and Clark made a witty, pseudo-documentary, 10-episode internet series. Clever.
http://www.clarkandmichael.com/
That’s all for now…
~Dan – np: Iron & Wine – The Sea and the Rhythm -ep-
Mike Patton and Will Smith
re-posted from the Ipecac blog…
Hooray for Hollywood!
Take note if you are a movie fan. There is a little film coming out in December called I Am Legend that features our very own Mike Patton. It also stars some actor named Will Smith. The tricky part is, you won’t see Mike, but you’ll hear him. He is the voice of the creatures in the movie. That is right, the evil screams and howls coming from the “creatures” will be courtesy of Mike. Seems he is getting a lot of requests to do evil/monster/zombie noises and sounds. Remember he is the Darkness in the game of the same name and even shows up in the game Portal as well!!!
~Dan – np: reptet – do this!
http://www.myspace.com/reptet
Holy Funk, Batman!!
um… this announcement made me so incredibly happy.
Gary Cherone, Nuno Bettencourt, and Pat Badger (with Kevin from Nuno’s other band Population-1 on drums) are coming back with a new EXTREME album and tour in 2008.
Sweet muscular Jesus, that is AWESOME NEWS!! they’re one of my favorite bands… ever. The only downside is that my brother may get a chance to see them live, and I won’t have that to hold over his head anymore… :-)
~Dan
REVIEW: John Zorn’s Moonchild @ The Moore Theatre / Earshot Jazz (Seattle, WA – – 11/4/07)
Two statements needed to be made prior to really starting this review… 1) caveat for the non-Moonchild enthusiast: “They’re like an audible Jackson Pollock,” and 2) I feel sorry for the ushers who obviously didn’t know what they were getting into when they signed up for this.
A little background / sidenote… I came into being a John Zorn fan through first being a Mike Patton fan. One of Mike Patton’s (and Trevor Dunn’s) early bands, Mr. Bungle, had a Zorn link early on (JZ produced their Warner debut in 1991). However, I didn’t really start getting into Zorn until about 2-3 years ago when I stumbled on his jazz-klez band Masada. I didn’t know that John Zorn did such melodic work; so Masada totally caught me off guard. Anyway, by that time in my musical meanderings, my interests had started getting into more experimental bands anyway. When I dug deeper into John Zorn’s back catalog I really dug most of his work – whether it be the melodic Masada incarnations, Bar Kohkba, FilmWorks, et cetera or the experimental, harder-edged Naked City, Painkiller, et cetera.
By the time the first mention of the upcoming album Moonchild: Songs Without Words (on his label Tzadik or an email from Downtown Music Gallery), I about flipped… as an experimental/avant-garde trio with Mike Patton (the aforementioned Mr Bungle, Fantômas, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom, Faith No More, many many more), Trevor Dunn (the aforementioned Mr Bungle, Fantômas, Trio Convulsant, many more), and Joey Baron (Masada, Barondown, many more) was right up my alley. After that initial album in early 2006, Moonchild: Songs Without Words, the trio has put out two more albums of John Zorn’s compositions… Astronome (late 2006) and Six Litanies for Heliogabalus (early 2007) which also includes a chorus and other players (Ikue Mori, Jamie Saft, and Zorn himself).
All beautifully packaged and musically brutal, I don’t know where composition from Zorn stops and improvising by the Trio begins, but it can be as breath-taking as it is ear-hurting (remember my line above about it being an “audible Jackson Pollock“…?).
OK, now on to the concert review… note: 6 video snippets and 14 pictures are linked at the bottom of this review.
I took this concert trip alone… While I ease my lovely wife into listening to some of Zorn’s music (like Masada), I know when to not even bother (like Moonchild). I’m sure she’ll check out the video below and think I’m even more crazy than she already thinks I am for all of the cross-country concerting. But I think she’ll at least be thankful that I didn’t try to drag her to it, too… :)
I really had no idea or expectations for this show. I mean, I knew what to expect musically, but I didn’t know what to expect of the venue or the crowd. The venue, the Moore Theatre in downtown Seattle, was um… OK. I’ve been in better places, but I’ve been in worse. I was surprised at how big it was (capacity of 1419) compared to what I was thinking (a small venue, maybe not as small as The Stone, but not much bigger than 100 people). By the time the start time rolled around, the theatre was fairly full (the main floor was sold out, and I know the balcony was also open, too). Great turnout maybe due to the Earshot Jazz Festival or maybe due to the potentially “handful of shows only” nature of this band.
The band came on around 8:15pm… and blistered through around a solid hour of compositions. All three of them had sheet music on stands; so I’m fully aware that it’s somewhat composed music. Again, where the composition stops and the improvisation begins… your guess is as good as mine. Due to the lack of other players (like Saft, Mori, Zorn), and my lack of identifying the Moonchild trio’s “song” names… let’s just say that they stuck to a good mix of Moonchild and Astronome tracks.
Mike Patton was fairly wild for most of the set: jumping, squat-walking, tying himself up in the mic cord, swallowing the mic while screaming into it, spitting and belting out noises that made my throat sore just listening. He left the stage maybe 30-40 minutes in to let Joey Baron and Trevor Dunn have their way with our ears. I’d only previously seen Dunn in Mr. Bungle and Baron in Masada. In this entirely different setting with Moonchild, they really put out a veritable wall of sound. Even without Mike Patton’s screeching and guttural belts, Dunn and Baron were menacing in their own right.
The sound in the room was brutal. Loud, loud, loud. I thank my local music store for Hearos(tm). And, again, bless those poor ushers who didn’t know what they were getting into. I bet they were equally stunned with this “music” and the overwhelming positive crowd response. I wonder what they told their loved ones after going home from this ushering gig. hmmm…
The capper for the show proper was when Joey and Trevor left the stage. Mike Patton ripped into a 12-minute vocal solo which to me had many elements of “Litany IV”… probably the only Six Litanies piece in the set.
After a short break, they all came back for an encore… with the man himself, John Zorn. I had hoped that he was there, but after the main set was half over, I had written that off. He came out and directed them through a rippin’ tune… it could’a been 10 minutes, it could be 20 minutes, it could’a been 2 minutes. All I know was that it was intense, and Mike/Joey/Trevor definitely fed off of his energy on stage with them. My only desire on this one would have been for John Zorn to come out with his alto sax and do some of the call-and-repeat sax vs. voice that he did with Patton on Six Litanies… alas, I’ll have to wait another lifetime, perhaps.
All in all… great show – probably an hour twenty or just shy of an hour thirty of Zorn/Patton/Dunn/Baron. Worth the 8 hour roundtrip from Eugene, Oregon. Worth losing a little bit of sleep and homework time reading accounting valuation doctoral papers (blah blah blah). The Earshot Jazz Festival, or at least the only piece I could attend, was fantastic!! Being one of a potential handful of Moonchild appearances ever, I was happy to be in attendance and happy to document some of it in words above and in {cheap/low quality} video/pictures below.
Enjoy! :)
VIDEO SNIPPETS (6 total – toggle amongst them in lower section of YouTube screen)
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=B84E0210411747E9
These are digital camera “movie file” snippets. Low quality? Sure. Posted mainly for “(blurry) fly on the (noisy) wall” add-on to this review. MOONCHILD is Mike Patton (voice), Trevor Dunn (bass), Joey Baron (drums), and John Zorn (director/composer). All music copyright John Zorn, 2006-2007.
PICTURES (14 total – click thumbnail for larger)
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~Dan – np: Hiromi’s Sonicbloom – Time Control
PS– to the guy who was handing out free CDs after the show… I got one… maybe you were trying to give them to Earshot Jazz “bigwigs,” but somehow I got one. I love it!!! Anyone interested in some great instrumental music, The Coma Lilies‘ Memento Mori -EP- is GREAT!! The Coma Lilies‘ MySpace page is HERE. Listen to their stuff, it’s goooood.
PPS– other related MySpace & other Links (some fan sites, some official):
- John Zorn: http://www.myspace.com/johnzorn
- Stephen Colbert Report (Comedy Central) video on John Zorn: HERE
- Earshot Jazz Festival: http://www.earshot.org/
- Tzadik Records (Zorn’s label): http://www.myspace.com/tzadikrecords / http://www.tzadik.com/
- Moonchild: http://www.myspace.com/pattonmoonchild
- Ipecac Recordings (Patton’s label): http://www.myspace.com/ipecacrecordings / http://www.ipecac.com/
- Trevor Dunn: http://www.myspace.com/convulsivebeauty / http://www.trevordunn.net/
- Joey Baron: http://www.joeybaron.com/
asthmatic
an Asthmatic Kitty-related blog…
There’s a nice hour-long streaming interview and sampling of Sufjan Stevens‘ new instrumental piece, “The BQE” (the Brooklyn Queens Expressway). This piece was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music and has its worldwide premier the first weekend in November 2007. The link to the interview/sample is here –> http://www.wnyc.org/stream/spinning/spinning102807.mp3
In My Brightest Diamond news, here’s a beautiful clip of her performance on Manchester’s City Centre Social:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1127703951/bctid1213891068
~Dan – np: celldweller & subkulture “erasus” collaboration
REVIEW: Hot Club Eugene @ Luna Café (Eugene, OR – – 10/12/07)
Hot Club Eugene (myspace link), named and styled after Quintette du Hot Club de France (fronted by Stéphane Grappelli & Django Reinhardt), played last night at the Luna Café in lovely downtown Eugene.
I showed up right on time (8:30pm), but little did I know that that was actually late… the room was packed. That’s a great thing for great music, though. Keep the house full, they get to keeping playing out. Anyway, HCE’s violinist (Brian Price) was chatting to some folks and when he went up to play, I saw that they had an extra seat (and they were kind enough to let me use it). Score!
They started their set, and I’m blaming the packed room on my lack of getting any Willamette Pinot Noir. It was all sold out. ::grumble:: Regardless of my failing to score some last night, I do love living in an area with such great music and such great local wines and beers. It’s a yummy town.
Anyway, back to the music… I only had time (and ocular fortitude) to stay for their first hour set. They played a solid mix of self-penned tunes and standards. One thing that struck me after the first few songs was that… hey, this jazz group is all strings – – violin, lead guitar, two rhythm guitars, and a contrabass. Usually you tend to see some reeds, brass, keys, or skins thrown in the jazz mix. My personal jazz preferences goes somewhat towards the brass of a Miles Davis/Dave Douglas/Steven Bernstein or reedwork of an Ornette Coleman/John Zorn/Chris Potter, but this Hot Club Eugene all-string quintet had a great sound. The two rhythm guitars (Jim Lichens & Ben Doidge) and contrabass (Hamilton Mays) had a really full, percussive-at-times rhythm section.
The two lead men, Brian Price on violin and Spencer Doidge on lead guitar, really piqued my interest in the music. It makes me want to go out and check out some of Stéphane & Django’s groundwork… and, n’doy, come back and check out Hot Club Eugene very soon!!
Packed room as it was, there was still a lively/dancy crowd. At the get-go, there were only two people dancing. After only mild prompting, a small gang of folks bounced around up front. Great show overall, and I look forward to seeing them again soon… the wife and I will just know to show up earlier to get a good table… and the Pinot Noir. ::prospective yum::
~Dan
np: radiohead – in rainbows
You down with NPP?
::a rare non-music blog:: 
Kudos to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their valuable contribution to awareness about climate change. Al Gore has donated his $1.5M stake in the Prize to the Alliance For Climate Protection, the non-profit he founded for spreading the message. Let’s hope the message about the need for solutions for making a positive impact can be spread wider and not dissolve into the trash-heap brain of American collective retardedness(tm).
~Dan
-np: ken laster‘s in the groove, jazz and beyond podcast (podcast link)
REVIEW: Nellie McKay @ The Shedd (Eugene, OR – – 10/5/07)
Nellie McKay at the John G. Shedd Institute in downtown Eugene, OR – Fri, Oct 5th
We got to the venue right at 7:30. It’s a quaint music hall that was obviously converted from a church back in the day. There are hymnal racks and communion “empty” holders on the back of each pew. Anyway, Nellie ended up showing up late, as she was flying in from San Fran that afternoon. They pushed back the show only 30 minutes. There was no opener; so we wandered around the Institute for a bit. There’s a place to have dinner before the show… so that’s something to keep in mind for next time. There was also a nice “living room” where they had the concessions and merch. Amongst the concessions was a bottle of wine with Nellie’s picture pasted over the label. A local winery was one of the hosts/sponsors of the concert, and I suppose they were having fun.
We got to our seats and didn’t really like their location (quite right of center with Nellie’s piano blocking any chance of us seeing Nellie sing). The audience seemed to be showing up late; so we moved over to the (better) left side… only had to move over for people with tickets for our seats once (not bad).
Anyway, she played a great mix of songs from all three of her albums, as well as many standards, and some possibly not-so-standards. Here’s what I jotted down as the setlist (forgive the few that I had no clue on and couldn’t find info on from The Internets):
SET
Change the World
Clonie (start/stop… she complained that she needed to do it “punchier” and restarted it)
In a Sentimental Mood [Duke Ellington]
Oversure
Gin Rummy
The Dog Song
Toto Dies
Won’t U Please B Nice
Yodel
Cupcake
The Down Low (start/stop…. she messed up near the beginning of the song… then said how famous people either have “drugs or a teleprompter” and this show’s too cheap for either of those… then she restarted it…)
Columbia is Bleeding
http://www.columbiacruelty.com
http://www.stopcolumbia.org
Prisoner of Love (beautiful & haunting…) [Kitty Wells version]
Pounce (we sing this to our puppy a lot… a lot…)
Politan
Mother of Pearl
(switched to electric Ukelele)
If I Were a Bell [from “Guys and Dolls”]
Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter [Herman’s Hermits]
(back to piano)
I Wanna Get Married
A-Tisket, A-Tasket [Ella Fitzgerald]
There You Are In Me
Lali Est Paresseux
Mein Auto Zoom (thx for the title, nightlight)
Me Gusta Mañana (thx for the title, nightlight)
(back to front mic… singing to CD)
ZOMBIE!! (she went all out… and it was hilarious…)
Encore:
“Oh Freddie, I’m sorry…” (I don’t know what song this was)
…some song with something about “Jesus on toast” in it
Sari
Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans [Louis Armstrong]
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
It was a fantastic, hour and 45 minute set (or so) from this energetic songstress. She truly seemed to be having a fun time up on stage, and the audience also had a blast. She had a signing session in the living room after the show. Had we known that was gonna happen, I would’a pulled out my VegNews issue with her big article… alas, we didn’t know. Nor did we want to fight the crowd to talk to her… Margarita was tired from working all day, and I was tired from doing geometric average annual returns and stock correlation homework all day. So we called it a night…
Check out some of Nellie’s tunes:
Or check out VegNews:
Anyway… I hope to see Nellie again sometime. I’m glad we finally got to see her yesterday after being a fan of her music for going on 5 years… :-)
~Dan
now playing: groundtruther (charlie hunter & bobby previte) with john medeski – altitude
Music is Best. -FZ
1) Lala is fantastic… it helps having a rabid music obsession and living on a doctoral stipend a possibility.
2) Nellie McKay is playing the Shedd Institute this Friday. M & I have tickets. I’m sooo stoked. I heart Nellie. I’ll post a review-blog afterwards. Other shows in the near future (hopefully for me) are… Melt Banana (see below), Múm/Talkdemonic (see below), John Zorn’s Moonchild (Mike Patton/Joey Baron/Trevor Dunn), Iron & Wine (early Dec), David Bazan (mid-Dec), Do Make Say Think (maybe)…
3) Melt Banana (from Japan aka MxBx) are coming to Eugene’s W.O.W. Hall (~5 miles from me). And it’s $10. They’re a hardcore/noisecore/screamo band (the 2 songs on their MySpace player are not really indicative of their overall sound, IMO)… like John Zorn’s Naked City with less jazz or Mike Patton’s Fantômas with more velocity/ferocity… and Japanese “singing.”
4) Icelandic electronic-soundscapers Múm are coming to Portland’s Crystal Ballroom, and Portland instrumental band Talkdemonic are opening. It’s cheapish, but I don’t know if I am going, yet. We shall see how this month progresses… but it is a show that excites me. Múm are like a more electronic Sigur Rós, in many ways (to me)…
5) Shortly after 1999 or 2000, when I heard about them from a 1¶ blurb in SPIN, Sigur Rós quickly became one of my favorite bands of all time. Their new 2-CD collection, Hvarf-heim, is going to have one CD of “hits” and one CD of acoustic songs. Also, out on the same day, their Icelandic concert documentary DVD, Heima, looks bucking frilliant. The trailers (here -and- here) are astounding when it comes to colors and cinematic vision, IMO.
6) Radiohead are “selling” their new album, In Rainbows, as a “pay what you can” for the download version. They’ve also got this for the physical product fans (decidedly not pay what you can):
Tracklisting:
CD 1 AND VINYL
15 STEP
BODYSNATCHERS
NUDE
WEIRD FISHES/ARPEGGI
ALL I NEED
FAUST ARP
RECKONER
HOUSE OF CARDS
JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE
VIDEOTAPE
CD 2 AND VINYL
MK 1
DOWN IS THE NEW UP
GO SLOWLY
MK 2
LAST FLOWERS
UP ON THE LADDER
BANGERS AND MASH
4 MINUTE WARNING
Ooo… shiny…
~Dan
REVIEW: That 1 Guy and Grynch @ John Henry’s (Eugene, OR – – 9/18/07)
Well, I think I’ll start posting concerts reviews here… as my “other outlet” is now not available to me (probably for the best).
On Tuesday night, I had the great opportunity to catch one of my favorite one-man musical freak-shows… That 1 Guy (http://www.that1guy.com/). I’d seen him twice before at the Mad Frog in Cincinnati, Ohio. I moved across country for school with my wife and puppy, and what do you know? T1G was playing here less than 2 weeks after we arrived. Yay!
Anyway, I started the evening with a fantastic meal (gardenburger w/ bleu) and beer choice (a Brother Thelonious Belgian-style ale) at the Eugene City Brew Pub. I walked around the corner to John Henry’s for the early show (it started at 7:30pm). I, luckily, got to catch most of the opening set by local metal band Grynch. They seemed to me to be a good combination of what I like in the Deftones and Fear Factory. They were also fairly tight on stage, and had a very professional sound. A welcome surprise to what you usually end up with local openers.
That1Guy came on around 8:30 perhaps? I don’t know… but it was good to see him set-up the pipe (how does he get it through customs when doing his Aussie gigs?). For those of you who aren’t familiar with That1Guy… well, he plays what most would consider to be plumbing (see picture below). Yet I’ve come to the realization after three shows and many spins of his CDs that he’s not even close to being a novelty act. He makes such well-conceived rhythms and melodies from his triggered-up & strung-up pipe, kick drums, magic saw, and tabla-stylized cowboy boot. His lyrics are usually plays on words and rhyme-y nonsense, but the main draw is his ferocity and skill in wielding that magic pipe to do his bidding. It’s a drum machine and stringed-instrument all in one. Truly a sight to see…
He played songs from his two albums (Songs in the Key of Beotch and the new The Moon is Disgusting)… Bananas, Oranges, the Moon is Disgusting, Buttmachine, Birds, Weasel Potpie… et cetera. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and the crowd seemed uber-into-it as well.
http://www.that1guy.com/
http://www.myspace.com/that1guy
the opener: http://www.myspace.com/grynch
~Dan
mini-REVIEW: Over the Rhine @ Doug Fir Lounge (Portland, OR – – 9/15/07)
Great show last night (my 50th). Set not-unlike Seattle. “And Can it Ever Be” was great (don’t know how I missed that when glancing at the Seattle setlist). “Don’t Wait for Tom” also excellent (my fav of the night). “Ohio” was actually quite a good version, and I don’t really prefer that song… so something was up. Linford’s very walking/bouncy bass on “Orphan Girl” was cool… and he seemed to be having fun playing while standing up. 
The venue (Doug Fir) is also neato. I was bummed because I missed The Album Leaf & Under Byen there in July, but it’s nice to know a great venue like that is only 1.5 to 2 hours away.
~Dan
mini-REVIEW: Silverchair in Philly & Detroit (late-July & early-August ’07)
two little blurbs… two great shows… too much driving…
Philly~ I drove too much over this past weekend (16 hours of driving in a 34 hour window)… but I got to see Silverchair for the first time. It was at the Fillmore at the TLA in Philadelphia. The opener, We Are the Fury, was “alright.” I’ve seen better, but I’ve definitely seen worse. Silverchair came on around 10:10 and played around an hour and a half. The first two songs were muddy as hell, all bass and vocals, but luckily the sound guy fixed it by the 3rd song. They played most of the new album, Young Modern, “The Lever” and “Greatest View” from Diorama, “Emotion Sickness” and “Ana’s Song (Open Fire)” from Neon Ballroom, “The Door” and “Freak” from Freakshow, and none from Frogstomp (thankfully).
Detroit~ great show!! “Without You” instead of “The Lever” and no “Low” when compared to Philly. Fantastic set regardless!!!
~Dan
REVIEW: Ric Hordinski & Leigh Nash @ the Monastery (Cincinnati – – 6/26/07)
great show last night. Ric‘s set was loud and buzzy, but good songs nonetheless. he didn’t play anything from his new record, The Silence of Everything Yearned For, which was odd… but it was a good set anyway. and his new record is great. listening to it now… perhaps more similar to Hush but more straight-forward guitar rather than ambient guitar. Josh Seurkamp joined him on drums, and Mark Lukie (sp?) on bass (aka “Shaggy” per Bruce).
Leigh Nash‘s set was great as well. She played roughly an hour, containing songs from her solo album (last year’s Blue on Blue) as well as “Breathe Your Name” and “Kiss Me” from the 6p catalog. Cute persona and beautiful voice. We stayed for her whole set, even though I’m known for liking sleep on a weekday. It was a highly enjoyable evening.
~Dan
np: ric hordinski – the silence of everything yearned for
REVIEW: Ellery, CSO, Antibalas (Cincinnati – – late April 2007)
Great three-concert weekend… Ellery/Over the Rhine on Friday, Paavi Järvi’s CSO with Alison Balsom on Saturday, and freakin’ ANTIBALAS on Sunday. Wow… I don’t mean to sound bitchy, but Over the Rhine was the lowlight of the weekend. I think I’m done seeing them live for a long time. So, yeah, you won’t hear me bitching about how bored I was anymore. I think I’ll set my self-imposed boycott at 4 years, and see how I do. 
I might sneak a Taft show in or a Portland show in… but I’m definitely/officially on the bubble these days for their live shows. Eh. It was a good run.
Anyway, Ellery… great stuff. Can’t wait for a follow-up album… Tasha’s got a great voice. This was my 9th time seeing them… and it doesn’t drag. Great songs, great music. I’ll miss them when we move to Oregon. Maybe they’ll have to come out and do some label showcase shows for their Seattle-based Virt Records. As for Over the Rhine, I liked some of their newer songs… but left after/during “Ohio.”
M & I saw the CSO with guest pianist Hélène Grimaud in the spring. I enjoyed it, but the piano didn’t seem to work as well (and Margarita was bored, to say the least). This show with solo trumpet, though… it was fantastic. The Paavi Järvi-led Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra played SIBELIUS’s Night Ride and Sunrise, then solo trumpeter from the UK Alison Balsom came out for HAYDN’s Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major. It popped, and the symphony and solo trumpet really meshed. Also impressive was the way she was belting out the notes while wearing a quite elegant and long evening gown. After the intermission, Paavo led the CSO through SIBELIUS’s The Bard and SCHUMANN’s Symphony No. 4 in D Minor. Fantastic evening… including dark chocolate pretzels from Divine’s at the show… mmm…. oh, and a veggie phillycheese from Northside’s Melt to start the evening off anyway…. mmm… Hail Seitan!
Last night was Antibalas (aka Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra). Wow. They’re an 11-piece band from NYC… maybe like an east-coast Ozomatli, but instead of the Latin feel, they’ve got the Nigerian thing going on. They’re similar to Ozo in that they’re also very funky, dancable, and political-infused. They went on around 10:15 and M & I ended up bouncing and dancing with some friends until we had to call it quits around 12:15am while they were wrapping up their last pre-encore song. Of the 2 hours, they probably played 6-8 songs… Very groove oriented and some fantastic solos by all members… they had a keyboardist, congo-player/singer, 2 guitarists, a bassist, a gourd/percussionist, a drummer, 2 trumpeters, and 2 saxaphonists (1 alto, 1 baritone). Fun evening… the main singer’s shirt was also quite spiffy.
~Dan
REVIEW: MusicNOW Fest (Sufjan Stevens, Amiina, My Brightest Diamond…) Cincinnati, April 2007
I’ll start this 1st review by saying that I truly feel fortunate to live in the city that is hosting this truly wonderful MusicNow Festival. It is elegantly and professionally put together and a trove of new and exciting music (many of the pieces from last night were world premieres).
Music Now Festival – April 5, 2007 (Day 1)
Memorial Hall, Cincinnati, OH
http://musicnowfestival.org/
Pedro Soler:
selected works for solo guitar
We showed up a little late (maybe only 10 minutes), but luckily there were some fabulous seats up near the front left. Pedro plays an amazing flamenco guitar. Very much a virtuoso. I’d say the music was not quite noodling, but also not quite all that melodic either — sort of a cross-between. His technique was fascinating to watch, and it was oft stunning. He played probably 50 minutes or so, ended with a standing ovation. He’s 68 or 69 years old and a world renowned flamenco guitarist, but this is apparently his first tour of the U.S. — with Cincinnati being one of the first dates. Bizarre choice in city to start.
Bryce Dessner’s “Memorial” (2006):
Bryce Dessner (guitar), David Cossin (percussion), Padma Newsome (viola)
This piece for trio showed off some great playing and composition. It was originally composed for the New York Guitar Festival to show off Bryce’s Spanish guitar playing. I’d say it was probably 10-15 minutes (no idea really) with some flair and highlights from Padma and David as well. David’s percussion on this piece made us excited for the next piece…
Tan Dun’s “Water Music” for solo percussion (2007):
David Cossin (percussion)
This was a third arrangement of Dun’s “Water Music.” The initial being for percussion and orchestra and the 2nd being for a percussion quartet. The solo percussion from David Cossin was brilliant and subtley played. Not brilliant in the Alanis “My Humps” way, but brilliant in the soundscapes and avant-garde asthetic kinda way. :P His main “drums” were two big plastic bowls… BIG bowls (10 gallons each is my guess). The opening was a rainfall from a colander. Next up was an odd-looking bulb with water in it, and a stem with strings (or spokes) that David played with a cello bow. It made primarily shreeking, dissonant noises; but then he warbled it around near the mic and the water in the bulb at the base ossilated the sound. Quite neato. He then went on to play different cymbals over (and in) the water and different depths with different mallets, sticks, et cetera. Two of the cooler parts of the set — 1) the wooden bowls of different sizes placed upside-down over the water… think “water tom” drums. Nice, full sounds… he played these with bigger tympani-like sticks, as well as with his hands. And 2) the water trombone… it was a clear boxy basin of water with a clear, slender tube in it. He hit it with something that resembled a Croc shoe (but wasn’t), and he raised the tube up and down. Again, “water trombone” is the best description.
Anyway, I’m a fan of one-man musical freak-shows (That1Guy, Buckethead) and a fan of composed and avant-garde music (Zorn, Zappa, et al). This was a pleasant combination of all three of those aspects of experimental music. David Cossin’s performance wins my “surprise enjoyment” award for the evening. Surpise in that I didn’t know so many artists were playing Thursday night, but I’m glad he did. The other musicians that evening were also probably glad that their gear wasn’t set up too near his 20 gallons or so of water… as some of it made its way on to the stage.
Maria Huld Markan’s “Thorri” (2007):
Hildur Ársælsdóttir (saw), David Cossin (marimba), Osso Quartet: Maria Jeffers (cello), Marla Hansen (viola), Oliver Manchon (violin), Rob Moose (violin)
Written by Markan of Amiina and performed here for the first time in public… it had a good vibe. Very much like most chamber music I’ve heard, but with a slight world feel (marimba) and oddities from the saw. It wasn’t as captivating/electronic as Amiina’s music, but I enjoyed it. Maria’s intro to it was funny. The title of the piece (Thorri) is all about what Icelanders call the Jan/Feb period in winter. They have a festival where they eat traditional, yet disgusting foods… “rotten shark” and “sour ram testicles” were uttered in an accent that was not-unlike that of Björk. Quaint. Anyway, she wrote the piece in London because she missed the bright, crisp winters she had in Iceland while suffering through a grey, rainy London winter. Great music, too…
Sufjan Stevens’ selections from Enjoy Your Rabbit arranged for string quartet (2007):
Michael Atkinson (arrangements), Osso Quartet: Maria Jeffers (cello), Marla Hansen (viola), Oliver Manchon (violin), Rob Moose (violin)
Enjoy Your Rabbit is Sufjan’s experimental, instrumental electronic album. When I first got in to Sufjan, I actually liked this album the best (it’s fucking weird as was what I was craving musically at the time). Anyway, “selections from Enjoy Your Rabbit arranged for string quartet” was actually one of the biggest draws for me for this festival in the first place. I heart Enjoy Your Rabbit; and, bonus, I heart string quartets. The formerly unnamed string quartet (named themselves “Osso” {aw-so} from the stage last night) played the selections in a very chamber music way, but paying attention to the electronic blips-and-beeps from the original by vocally “shushing,” playing pizzicato, and plucking or beating on their instruments to translate the electronic structure for their organic instruments. They played what I figured they would… the more melodic tunes from the album: Year of the Ox, Enjoy Your Rabbit, Year of the Lord, and Year of the Boar. Great stuff, and I was thrilled to be part of this world premiere.
Padma Newsome / Clogs Songs (2007):
Shara Worden (vocals), Sufjan Stevens (vocals, banjo, celeste), Padma Newsome (vocals, viola, harmonium, celeste), Rachel Elliott (bassoon, celeste), Thomas Kozumplik (percussion), David Cossin (percussion), Aaron Dessner (bass, guitar), Bryce Dessner (mandola, ukelele, guitar), Maria Jeffers (cello), Marla Hansen (viola), Oliver Manchon (violin), Rob Moose (violin), Michael Atkinson (horn), Irena & Vojt–ch Havel (cellos)
Another world premiere… the Clogs had heretofore been primarily an instrumental band. This collaborative Clogs (fronted by Padma Newsome and Bryce Dessner) featured more “traditional” song structures and *gasp* vocals. Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) lended her operatic voice to the first three songs (“On the Edge,” “The Owl of Love,” and “The Adages of Cleansing”). She’s got a beautiful voice, but I don’t think it matched well with the songs. Viola-playing Padma switched to vocals and harmonium for the 4th song (“Red Seas”). Sufjan joined the percussionist to play the celeste (like a super-sized toy piano). The Osso string quartet also joined the band for some songs (I forget which ones). The last song (“We Were Here”) featured Sufjan on vocals and banjo and Shara Worden came out and sang with Sufjan. All in all, a great set…
I’m looking forward to Day 2 (Amiina & My Brightest Diamond) and 3 (The Havels & Sufjan).
Music Now Festival – April 6, 2007 (Day 2)
Memorial Hall, Cincinnati, OH
http://musicnowfestival.org/
Amiina:
Maria Huld Markan Sugjusdóttir, Hildur Ársælsdóttir, Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir, Sólrún Sumarliadóttir
I like Amiina a lot, having seen them open for Sigur Rós several times, and this show didn’t disappoint. It was good to pick up their debut LP (Kurr) without having to pay tons in shipping. Their sound also featured some gentle vocals in several tracks, which is a new direction for them. It almost seemed to Enya-y for me, but that’s OK. Maybe it’ll replace Bob Johnson‘s Musings as our house’s 1 massage CD (“oh no, not Bob Johnson!“). I dug their hour long set — it was a good mix of the string/organic sound and electronics. It was a very similar set-up as previous shows… instruments everywhere and the girls roaming about and playing just about everything. The saw song (“Seoul”) was played. They also had a short last song where all four girls played saws of various lengths. I can’t say I saw that coming… :D
My Brightest Diamond:
Shara worden (vocals, guitar, piano), Osso Quartet: Maria Jeffers (cello), Marla Hansen (viola), Oliver Manchon (violin), Rob Moose (violin)
Shara Worden’s been a favorite vocalist of mine since I first heard her on MySpace. Bring Me the Workhorse, her debut album under the My Brightest Diamond moniker (she has three discs as AwRy), was one of my favorite CDs in 2006. Anyway, I knew what to expect going in, but she still blew me away. Her vocals are quite possibly the richest, most beautiful in indie rock. She’s got the delicate, quirky pixie side and the grandiose, powerful operatic side. It’s compelling to see her sing. The last time I saw her, she had more of a rock-meets-strings setup. This time around, her backing band was solely the Osso string quartet (no drums/bass). I scribbled down the song titles, but I know I’m guessing on some in the italics (she didn’t give the name, or I forgot it/couldn’t hear her totally)… Apples (a very cute song), Dragonfly (from Workhorse), If I Were Queen, Bass Player (a new song), Disappear (from Workhorse), Goodbye Forever (which had the lyrics “A Thousand Shark’s Teeth” which will be her new album title), Clean Through, Gone Away (from Workhorse), Riding Horses (from her AwRy Quiet B-Sides disc), New Dawn/Day/Life (Nina Simone standard), Golden Star (from Workhorse), Black and Gusteaux (the French Sherlock Holmes), Youkali (gorgeous French lyrics, a cover from her AwRy Quiet B-Sides disc). A fantastic performance.
Sufjan is tonight… Shara and the Osso quartet will be backing him. yay!
Music Now Festival – April 7, 2007 (Day 3)
Memorial Hall, Cincinnati, OH
http://musicnowfestival.org/
Irena & Vojtech Havel:
cellos, piano strings, piano
The sister of festival curator Bryce Dessner went to Prague in the mid-80’s and bought a CD by the Havels and brought it home. That CD would shape Bryce’s musical interests as he progressed into songwriting. He essentially went on a 15-20 year hunt for this band from Prague, but finally made contact last year in order to bring them to Cincinnati to play at this festival (made possible by a grant from the Ohio Arts Council). Some people in the audience might not have liked the Havels, but I thought they were quite compelling to watch – – except for perhaps when Irena was singing (I liked it more when they were both cello-ing). They played for about an hour, 10 minutes of which was vocal and the rest was all instrumental – – chiefly avant-garde, but more composed in nature than noodling, IMO. There was some bird chirping and kittie meowing cello lines, but there were also some more standard scales. Their dual cello work was all over the place, but still structured, sort of. I loved it when they were complimenting each other (one upbeat, one downbeat). I also liked some of the more adventurous plucking below the bridge and almost strumming the cello like a guitar (rather than pizzicato). Their second to last bit was of both of them playing the piano, Irena sitting and after Vojt–ch finished on the cello he came around and played on her right, then, while standing started playing on both her right and left. It was sweet and romantic.
Sufjan Stevens:
Sufjan Stevens (vocals, guitar, banjo, piano, harmonium, celeste), Shara Worden (vocals, celeste, piano), Bryce Dessner (guitar), Michael Atkinson (horn), Rachael Elliott (bassoon), Padma Newsome (viola), Osso Quartet: Maria Jeffers (cello), Marla Hansen (viola), Oliver Manchon (violin), Rob Moose (violin)
The first time I saw Sufjan live, he and his band dressed up as cheerleaders. The second time I saw him live, he had on huge bird wings, and his band had on butterfly wings. This time, it was all about the music… no costume gimmicks. He and his lovely string-based band put on a great show. Probably my only regret in setlist was that they didn’t play “They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back From the Dead!! Ahhhh!” (my favorite from Illinoise), but all-in-all, it was a great-sounding, moving set… hour and a half, I think.
Here are the songs that they played (I’m not claiming 100% accuracy)…
- “Jupiter to June” (titled guess… song from way back in his unreleased conceptual songbook about the planets)
- “Dad’s Girlfriend” (titled guess… Sufjan on solo banjo… song about one of his dad’s crazy girlfriends)
- Three Stars (new one?)
- The Avalanche (from the vinyl & iTunes version of Come on Feel the Illinoise and the CD version of The Avalanche)
- All the Trees of the Fields Will Clap Their Hands (from Seven Swans)
- The Predatory Wasp Of The Palisades Is Out To Get Us! (from Illinoise)
- Casimir Pulaski Day (from Illinoise)
- John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (from Illinoise)
- Come On! Feel The Illinoise! (Part 1: The World’s Columbian Exposition; Part 2: Carl Sandburg Visits Me In A Dream) (from Illinoise)
- “???” (a new one… I think I zoned out)
- The Transfiguration (from Seven Swans)
- Year of the Boar (played by the string quartet, Osso… from Enjoy Your Rabbit)
- Seven Swans (from Seven Swans)
- ENCORE: To Be Alone With You (Sufjan solo guitar… from Seven Swans)
It seemed heavy on the Seven Swans/Jebus-y stuff, but seeing as it was “Zombie Carpenter Eve” this night, I understand why… there also may have been an instrumental or two from Michigan and/or Illinoise that I didn’t know the name — thus it didn’t make it in my notes…
Fantastic festival. Day 2 was probably the most favorite, but all three days were utterly enjoyable.
~Dan
REVIEW: Holy Fuck @ Southgate House (Newport, KY – – 4/1/07)
Holy Fuck put on a great set. Say what you will about their potentially unfortunate moniker, they really master their art. They play groove-oriented, experimental post-rock (like a louder, vocal-less Sigur Rós meets a groovier Mogwai). This show was a one-off, as their tour with fellow post-rockers Do Make Say Think didn’t have anything scheduled. They played about an hour, and it was jammed packed in the Southgate Parlour. I was the first one there and caught some of their soundcheck… drinking a Guinness sitting amongst their gear and a box of t-shirts. After soundcheck, their “leader” (I think his name was Brian) chatted with me for a bit… how I heard about them, etc. After oogling their newly arrived vinyl, they started playing their opening set. By the end of the show, there were probably 20 people there. And for a SgHouse Parlour show on a Sunday night, 20 people ain’t a bad crowd.
The band set-up… drummer, bassist, and 2 keyboardists. The keyboardists play everything from keyboards, to electronics devices, to 35mm film audio editing equipment (scratch-like), to toy mouth-pianos, to drum machines… it was wild. It’s very much like a live electronica experience. Gadgets and gizmos and a good groove.
Anyway, I loved LOVED loved their set. Way better than on record, but their new record (the Holy Fuck -EP-) gives a great taste of their new groovier direction (the precursor Holy Fuck -LP- was more experimental and drummy).
Holy Fuck = Reco-fucka-mmended.
Their webpage: http://www.holyfuckmusic.com/
~Dan
REVIEW: my crazy music-filled NYC trip in March 2007
Wow… today is my “first day off” from a show since last Friday (2/9)…
Here’s how NYC “for business” played out on the “for enjoyment” sense of it…
SATURDAY 3/10 I arrived in town at 11:30am. Checked in, and then headed up to “scout out” the Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater as that’s where MASADA was playing that night. While I was there, I got word that there were two free jazz shows going on that afternoon that were sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of U.S. Department of State. It was apparently spreading jazz music to 3rd world countries, and this was the coming home show. I love jazz, and I love how sometimes governmental bodies put good money to use for the arts. It seems weird how we seem to only export bombs lately. Jazz is better than bombs, but less than food and medical aid. I guess I should just be glad that is wasn’t bombs or Christina Aguilera instead of jazz.
Anyway, the Ari Roland Quartet was the free 1pm show. Great quartet, not unlike some quartets that I like… more straight jazz, flashy but not experimental (IMO). Enjoyable, but not mind blowing. “Safe jazz,” if you ask me. Their drummer was pretty good. My favorite song was the one penned by their piano-player. The Cultures of Rhythm was the free 3pm show (both of these free shows were at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Lincoln Center). COR were a bit more interesting. It was a jazz quartet, but “bouncier.” And it featured djembe, drums, hammond organ and a trumpeter. Trumpet usually excites me more than safe saxaphone jazz. Anyway, this band (Culture of Rhythm) had a great vibe. Very enjoyable…
After these free shows, I was pooped… and headed back to my hotel in Chelsea for a nap. The evening show was Masada and Cecil Taylor at Lincoln Jazz Center’s Rose Theater. This was Masada’s last show ever. I drove down to Raleigh, NC, last fall to see tham at Duke. This show, they amazed even more. Masada has many incarnations (as do many of John Zorn’s projects), but the standard acoustic quartet of John Zorn on alto sax, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Greg Cohen on bass, and Joey Baron on drums is the true Masada band. Masada tunes are all written by John Zorn… he’s written upwards of 300 one-page melodic tunes. These one-page 16-bar songs become the framework for jazz improvization. While some of it becomes quite adventurous and “avant-garde,” it still remains very melodic — which can be scarce for John Zorn material. Anyway, the four members of Masada were ON that night. It was truly a beautiful hour+ of music. I’m sad that it’s their last show as this original quartet, but I’m glad that I got to see them twice. I didn’t stick around for Cecil… I had other shows I wanted to fit in…
I took the subway from Columbus Circle (near Central Park) all the way down to the Bowery… walked about a mile to get to the Stone (an avant-garde music space) and made it just in time to see the Joe Morris Trio. It was basically a guy (Joe Morris) noodling on a guitar while another guy (Daniel Levin) was noodling on a cello and another guy (Michael Evans) was noodling on a drumkit. Udon!
I was toying with the idea of heading way the fuck back uptown to Lincoln Center for the 11:30pm show for Kenny Werner‘s Lawn Chair Society. I dig the CD (and it features trumpeter Dave Douglas and saxaphonist Chris Potter), but I didn’t have tickets and thought it’d be sold out, and I knew Dave Douglas wasn’t playing in the band that night (and I had just seen Chris Potter play a few weeks earlier in Cincinnati). It was rainy and I didn’t find the subway stop where I left it last; so I walked about 2 miles to Union Center (my pedometer was upwards of 11 miles walked that 1st day — it got about half that every day afterwards). My sleepy head won out and I crashed back to my hotel in Chelsea eventually…
Oh, speaking of crashing… they had 7th Ave closed from 27th St to 23rd St most of the day on the Saturday and Sunday that I showed up because they were filming chase scenes for the upcoming Borne Ultimatum. I didn’t catch a peek at anyone famous (Matt Damon or anyone), but it was interesting to see how they blocked a major road off for the better part of the weekend. The secondary chase seemed to happen right outside my window (on 25th St)… it’ll be weird to see when that movie comes out if I recognize any of the street stuff…
SUNDAY 3/11 I had a lazy and cheap Sunday… went to the Downtown Music Gallery’s free shows (they do them every Sunday). I spend a lot of coin at DMG for avant-garde jazz; so I figured I’d take in some free stuff. At 6pm, I saw Jason Stein (sax from Chicago) and Mike Pride (percussion from Brooklyn) toy around with some sounds. It was pretty intense, and very much avant-garde. I dug it. Next up (7pm) was Susan Alcorn on lap-steel. It was mesmerizing, entrancing, but uninviting. It really zoned me out for a good 45 minutes. Very much avant-garde lapsteel. At least it wasn’t country, eh?
I was gonna catch two shows at the Stone after these free DMG shows, but I was worn out. Susan Alcorn fried my brain, or perhaps it was watching Jesus Camp that afternoon. Scary shit, that movie was…
MONDAY 3/12 Lazy Monday… I think I walked down to WTC and Statue of Liberty this morning, but I forget. That may have been Sunday morning (and then after got a shot of Johnny Walker Red at Elliott Smith‘s XO hangout). I didn’t pay for the ferry to Ellis Island… eh. Monday dinner was delightful. I caught some good thai grub with who law enforcement officers refer to as the “great-hatted bootlegger.” Keith was catching a Steve Earle show with a friend and we met up prior. Good food and conversation. Afterwards, I hussled out to the Jazz Standard (I forget what part of town). Brian Bromberg’s Downright Upright All-Stars were about 20 minutes in to their sold-out show, but the gate keeper let me sneak in to the standing-room-only part of the club. The club wreaked of pork and bbq sauce, but I guess that’s better than pork and bbq sauce and smoke… gotta love the smokin’ bans. Dave Weckl played dums for this band, and I had heard of his name before. Anyway, they played more accessible jazz (not safe, but not avant-garde). Very enjoyable stuff… I picked up their CD on the way out. I then headed to the Village Vanguard, and was gonna try to see the Village Vanguard Orchestra (a big band). They didn’t take credit cards at the door and I didn’t wanna shell out a lot of cash; so I quietly left and went back to my hotel. I was tired anyway…
TUESDAY 3/13 This was a Tonic night. I’m a big Ikue Mori fan… she is a laptop soundscape musician. Very avant-garde (‘cept her Painted Dessert is my favorite and it’s more traditional song structured). Anyway, Ikue Mori was playing a show with Briggan Krauss (on sax) and Jim Black (on percussion). It was quite avant-garde and was led by Briggan mostly. Ikue could have been there or not for all I know/care. Eh. Jim Black’s drumming was fantastic, but not drumming in the stricted sense. He played a lot of scraping movements along the cymbals… he also used a cello bow on the cymbals… he also covered his toms and snare with literally t-shirts to get a really muffled sound. It was weird, but good. The 10pm Tonic show was Ellery Eskelin (on sax), Lisle Ellis (on laptop and upright bass) and Erik Deutsch (on piano). I’ve enjoyed Ellery Eskelin’s guest spots on various jazz CDs I own. The show was good, but too dissonant for me at that point of the night; so I only stuck around for half of their set before heading back to the hotel.
WEDNESDAY 3/14 I opted out of the ambient-metal band ISIS. I love their sound, but just saw ’em a few months ago opening for Tool. I went back to Tonic instead for two bands that became the better choice. I saw Inlets and Edison Woods. Inlets was fantastic. It is fronted by Sebastian Kruger (who has played on My Brightest Diamond CDs). He is a multi-instrumentalist and has some great songs. He also has a dandy falsetto. Both his physical appearance and music sound bring to mind Jude and Sufjan having hot-n-nasty sex in your living room and popping out Sebastian as their “love-child.” So, yeah, in short, Inlets sounds like a man-on-man love-child. He washed up before getting on stage, mind you. Oh, and his EP is available FOR FREE at http://luvsound.org/. For Free. Next up was Edison Woods, which was a band much like Elysian Fields, yet maybe not as sultry. Their main vocalist/pianist didn’t have the best vocals ever, but their background vocalist had some operatic amazingness going. She should have been the lead vocalist. Oh well… the band also had cello and some brass and drums. I dug ’em… not as much as Elysian Fields, though. I’m bummed… Elysian Fields is playing at Joe’s this coming weekend. Keith, you should check Elysian Fields out. They’re Over the Rhine-y-ish…
THURSDAY 3/15 Thursday was one of the shows I was looking forward to the most (outside of the Masada show). Secret Chiefs 3 and Sleepytime Gorilla Museum at the Bowery Ballroom. I got there early enough, as I knew that SC3 was going on first, and they also had some limited edition vinyl singles that were rumored to be going quick on the SC3 board. I snagged my vinyl sets and a t-shirt. Trey Spruance (mastermind behind SC3 and Mr Bungle) was manning the table along with bassist and multi-instrumentalist Jason Schimmel (of SC3, but also in Estradasphere). My vinyl & t-shirt order total came up to a “magical number” per Trey. I just nodded in agreement and said “yeah.” I had no fucking idea what he was talking about… maybe because it was divisible by 9 or something. or maybe his brain is fried. Anyway, the artwork for the SC3 vinyl singles is kewl.
The show was anti-climatic. I mean, when I saw Estradaphere (a brother band of SC3’s) last year in Bloomington, they blew me away. Secret Chiefs 3 should have blown me away. The first three songs were utterly sloppy, though. By the 4th song, they started venturing into “known” territory and it sounded great. By the end, they had it going pretty good, but again, it was weird that it just wasn’t up to the level of tightness and musicianship that Estradasphere showed. I think Trey’s been off the road for too long… he hasn’t toured consistently since the Mr Bungle days. I think it showed. Also, they had two violinists (Anonymous 13 and Timb Harris)… I never knew A13 was a girl… but both she and Timb were good, but not as good as Timb was on the last Estradasphere tour. Other than the drums and basses, SC3 also busted out the Oud, Sas, Sarangi, Esraj, and probably even a Jalebi or two… and Trey doesn’t play any normal guitars… they’re all butchered and tuned oddly to some middle-eastern scale or something. It’s quaint.
Regardless of the seeming sloppiness at the beginning, it was still a fun evening… it was good to see SC3 play some great tunes like “Dolores Strike,” “Personnae: Halloween,” “Bereshith,” “Assassin’s Blade,” “Ship of Fools (Stone of Exile),” and definitely “Renunciation.” I only stuck around for a bit of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum’s set. They don’t do much for me on record (or live). I’d say the “Renunciation” encore and the vinyl singles (money directly into Trey’s hand) were the highlights.
FRIDAY 3/16 I saw a wonderful show at the Bowery Ballroom by Blackfield (Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson and Israeli popstar Aviv Geffen). I’ve posted a review in the blog as well. The opener was Jordan Rudess (of Dream Theater). I feel truly outraged at any elephant that lost its life to make pianos used by Jordan.
I think of any of the bands I saw… my wife (and others who aren’t into the avant-garde stuff) would have liked Masada, the Downright Upright All-Stars, Inlets, and Blackfield. SC3 was a bit too strange, even though she likes some of their recorded stuff.
Time for bed… 
~Dan
REVIEW: Blackfield @ the Bowery Ballroom (NYC – – 3/16/07)
The Blackfield show last night was excellent!!!
I showed up late (on purpose) as Jordan Rudess was opening. I had a slow subway ride to the Lower East Side, walked through the piles of snow to Leela Lounge (a tasty “hip” Indian restaurant), ate too much, then had a slow walk to the Bowery Ballroom. I still managed to catch about 20 minutes of Jordan’s set. I swear, it was painful. Nothing’s as boring as a rocker keyboardist playing piano-sounding keyboard classical-style songs for 45 minutes straight. I mean, yeah, he can play piano-board, but he still can’t write “a song” to save his life. I know I’ve griped about being bored at OTR shows. That’s mainly due to being tired and the music being slow. Jordan was truly bad, though (whereas OTR ain’t). I turned my iPod on and walked to the corner of the room to avoid it. I love 
love instrumental music. Jordan Rudess is just 
-ingly boring, though. The Dream Theater fans were eating it up like it was Chicken Pot Pie.
Ugh… I hate prog fans. No offense Steve, but I about had that reaction to you when you first started going on about PTree… “yeah, yeah, they’re a prog band.” They’re actually so much better than just about every prog band out there. Anyway, I’m glad that Porcupine Tree and Blackfield know things or two about song structure. I’m glad you pimped PT to me 4 years ago (wow… it doesn’t seem that long ago), but I couldn’t care less about the Dream Theater/Queensrÿche fans anymore… it’s just too much like watching a train wreck in a social setting.
Anyway, on to positive thoughts…
Blackfield came out. Steven Wilson was dressed like usual (t-shirt and jeans, glasses, floppy hair). Aviv Geffen (the other half of Blackfield’s songwriting) was dressed more like a rocker, dark shirt and tie, with glitter mascara and everything. The rest of the band was… the rest of the band (hired guns or friends or whatever). They played a good mix of Blackfield I & II songs (obviously). Steven also did his Cover Version I, which is Alanis Morissette‘s “Thank You.” It was just Steven singing and Aviv playing piano (no other band members on stage, and Steven not playing his guitar). It sounded great. Aviv also played a song on piano that was just him singing, too… I forget which song, but it was one of the quieter Aviv songs (maybe “The Hole in Me” than never got ‘boomed’ up like it does on disc).
Songs I know they played from I: Open Mind, Blackfield, Glow, Pain, The Hole in Me, Hello. Songs I know they played from II: Once, Miss U, Christenings, Epidemic, Where Is My Love?, End of the World. Other songs played: Alanis Morissette’s “Thank You” …and they probably played some that I’m forgetting…
I hope the filming turned out good for the upcoming DVD. I may have gotten into a few shots, as there was a guy filming the crowd some… I was in the back, though… so I doubt I’m in it too much… I bet the film crew started focusing on “shirtless Aviv” by the end…
~Dan
Favorite Albums of 2006 (and Instrumental albums & EPs, too)
TOP 15 Instrumental Albums of 2006
1) 
Estradasphere – Palace of Mirrors (epic and cinematic) : A sibling band of Secret Chiefs 3… Estradasphere got their start on SC3’s label Web of Mimicry (and many of their members from SC3 as well). This is their The End Records debut, and it went in a direction that I wasn’t expecting. Their previous albums have been quite ADHD (a la SC3 and Mr Bungle), but they always had a gypsy-meets-cinematic feel. This album is quite epic and gypsy-cinematic throughout. It’s got a touch of metal in spots and some SC3-type middle-eastern roaming, but the production on this album is masterful compared to their prior works. It truly blew me away. Seeing them perform this year also helped the album’s appeal with me. Brilliant band. Web: http://www.estradasphere.com/
2) 
Bobby Previte – The Coalition of the Willing (groove-laden jazz) : A drummer-led jazz band with inescapable grooves, this CD was a “whim” purchase that totally paid off. It also features some of my fav NYC jazz musicians: guitarist Charlie Hunter & organist Jamie Saft, to name a couple… Web: http://www.bobbyprevite.com/
3) 
Irving Fields Meets Roberto Rodriguez – Oy Vey…..Olé!!! (klezmer jazz with a latin flavor) : This album is quite the engaging mix of Jewish and Latino musical culture. More of a collaboration than a mashup, though. Great stuff from a great bunch of musicians. My wife liked it, too… Web: http://www.tzadik.com/
4) 
Frank Zappa – Trance-Fusion (the return of meedley meedley meeeeee) : Apparently FZ fans have been waiting on this for 10 years… hell, I only found out about it a month before its release, but it’s a great guitar-centric album that fits nicely near the top of my Frank Zappa collection. Web: http://www.zappa.com/
5) 
Dweezil Zappa – Go With What You Know (the son of the return of meedley meedley meeeeee) : The lead-off track has vocals, but after that it’s an entire shredfest. Wicked fast, but with a nice groove that DZ usually delivers at a level on par with his father… *gasp* Web: http://www.zappa.com/
6) 
Dave Douglas – Meaning and Mystery (trumpet-led jazz quintet) : After getting into klez-jazz phenom Masada earlier this year, Dave Douglas quickly became one of my favorite jazz soloists. He’s got great sound, composition and groove. Web: http://www.davedouglas.com/
7) 
Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood – Out Louder (groove-jazz with guitars and a bit more meandering) : I dig MMW a bunch, and MSMW adds a familiar guitar tone to the groove-jazz. Web: http://www.mmw.net/
8 ) 
Cracow Klezmer Band – Masada Book Two: Book of Angels, Vol. 5 ~ Balan (klezmer jazz) : Masada still plays live, but I’m fairly certain that John Zorn’s quit writing tunes for them as a band. His new Masada tunes (“Book Two” as it were) are numbered upwards of 200-300 songs that he wrote over a few years, and different artists are recording them and putting their own spin on the music. Five Masada Book Two albums came out from different artists in 2006, and this one by the Cracow Klezmer Band was the most engaging (Jamie Saft Trio’s & Kobe Israelite’s were also good). 2007 looks to be awesomer, though… as Secret Chiefs 3 (one of my fav bands ever) is going to releasing their Masada Book Two angel-demon incarnation in May (or so). Web: http://www.tzadik.com/
9) 
John Zorn – Astronome (glossolaliac noise metal) : I’m a big avant-garde, screamo fan. I dig many projects from John Zorn and Mike Patton that are so absurd that no one should really listen to them on a recommendation. This one is just that way. I don’t expect anyone to take a recommendation to check out Astronome (or Moonchild). If you’re curious, maybe check it out on iTunes… or shove a guitar into a blender with some avocadoes. I’m a big Fantômas fan — and for both Astronome and Moonchild (below), John Zorn has written some Crowley-influenced, magick-heavy “tunes” with vocal-utterance master Mike Patton in mind. The songs are all fairly instrumental, with the “vocals” not being lyrical, but rather very primitive. He rounds out the trio with fellow-Fantômas bandmate Trevor Dunn on bass and Masada drummer Joey Baron. Astronome beats out Moonchild only due to Mike Patton’s vocal acrobatics being more kooky. The third in the series is due in 2007. Web: http://www.tzadik.com/
10) 
Jon Madof’s Rashanim – Shalosh (klezmer rock) : Great fretwork with the sound of old culture seeping through. Of all of the radical Jewish culture series that I’ve gotten into this past year, Jon Madom & Rashanim stands out due to its “rock band” feel… Web: http://www.tzadik.com/
11) 
Flat Earth Society – Psychoscout (orchestral big-band with a sense of humor) : I first heard of FES while getting into bands on Mike Patton’s Ipecac label. They stood out as not really fitting the heavy, screamy type of band. Multi-instrumentalist big band with its hand in jazz and its other hand in orchestral scores. Fun stuff that’s very much “familiar” without being “all up in your junk.” More Ennio Morricone than, say, um… John Williams. Web: http://www.fes.be/
12) 
Electric Kulintang (Susie Ibarra & Roberto Rodriguez) – Dialects (percussive, yet smooth) : Two drummers making a very accessible instrumental record… crazy, huh? There are some non-lyrical vocalizations by Susie on some songs; but all in all, this is straight up instrumental fun. It’s way more poppy than I would have thought. Web: http://www.susieibarra.com/
13) 
Talat – The Growl (klezmer jazz) : Lots of klez-jazz this past year… this one rose to the top. Web: http://www.tzadik.com/
14) 
Mogwai – Mr. Beast (post-rock ) : Mogwai put out some solid material in 2006… the Zidane Sountrack is also good, but more mellow in spots (not head-butty, like I expected it would be). 
Web: http://www.mogwai.co.uk/
15) 
John Zorn – Moonchild: Songs Without Words (glossolaliac noise metal) : Ditto reason as #9 (Astronome) above, ‘cept Moonchild had some neat-o artwork… Web: http://www.tzadik.com/
TOP 5 EPs of 2006
1) 
Glen Phillips – Unlucky 7 (poppy singer-songwriter) : His full-length this year was good/OK, but this -EP- is what I feel is up to par with his prior work. Great stuff!! Web: http://www.glenphillips.com/
2) 
David Bazan – Fewer Moving Parts (melancholic singer-songwriter) : Two versions of five songs (one acoustic, one band format) from the former Pedro the Lion frontman. PTL was pretty much a one man band; so his “departure” doesn’t hurt me so much. I look forward to his “debut” full-length in 2007. Web: http://www.davidbazan.com/
3) 
Thom Yorke – Spitting Feathers (twitchy electronic rock) : This -EP- has some nice b-sides, a video and an extended version of “Harrowdown Hill.” Web: http://www.theeraser.net/
4) 
O.S.I. – Re: Free (progressive rock, remixed) : A great follow-up to a wonderful sophomore album. Web: http://www.osiband.com/
5) 
Tristeza – En Nuestro Desafío (organic electronic) : This -EP- was coupled with a great live DVD; which is fun, seeing as they never seem to come ’round these parts… Web: http://www.trstz.com/
Best Soundtrack/Score
Mogwai‘s Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (runner(s)-up: OutKast‘s Idlewild & The Beatles‘s Love: Cirque du Soliel)
/ 
/ 
Best Debut Album
My Brightest Diamond‘s Bring Me the Workhorse (runner-up: Ellery‘s Lying Awake)
/ 
Best Concept Album
Estradasphere‘s Palace of Mirrors (runner-up: Jóhann Jóhannsson‘s IBM 1401, A User’s Manual)
/ 
Best “I Found them on MySpace” Album
Au4‘s soaring On: Audio (runner-up: 8mm‘s sultry Songs to Love and Die By)
/ 
and now… my favorite albuims of 2006… at the time… note: I got lazy after I had written little blurbs for all of the instrumental and EPs by the time I got to the album list. Eh.
TOP 30 ALBUMS of 2006
1) 
O.S.I. – Free (prog rock meets trip-hop beats) : Web: http://www.osiband.com/
2) 
Nellie McKay – Pretty Little Head (witty & spunky piano pop) : Web: http://www.nelliemckay.org/
3) 
Sean Lennon – Friendly Fire (John would be proud) : Web: http://www.seanonolennon.com/
4) 
Tool – 10,000 Days (art metal) : Web: http://www.toolband.com/
5) 
My Brightest Diamond – Bring Me the Workhorse (quirky pop with operatic training) : Web: http://www.mybrightestdiamond.com/
6) 
Peeping Tom – Peeping Tom (hard rock meets hip-hop meets pop-avant-garde) : Web: http://www.ipecac.com/bio.php?id=44
7) 
Au4 – On: Audio (sweeping and lush atmospheric rock) : Web: http://www.au4-audio.com/
8 ) 
Noctaluca – Towering the Sum (hard rock masterpiece) : Web: http://www.noctaluca.com/
9) 
Ellery – Lying Awake (passionate Cincinnati songwriting duo) : Web: http://www.ellerymusic.com/
10) 
Kim Taylor – I Feel Like a Fading Light (singer-songwriter with a Berquistian voice) : Web: http://www.kim-taylor.net/
11) 
Pearl Jam – Pearl Jam (rock icons) : Web: http://www.pearljam.com/
12) 
Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche (quirk-folk b-sides) : Web: http://www.asthmatickitty.com/musicians.php?artistID=5
13) 
Ani DiFranco – Reprieve (consistent folk hipster) : Web: http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/index.asp
14) 
Beck – The Information (electronic hip-pop) : Web: http://www.beck.com/
15) 
Dramagods – Love (melodic hard rock) : Web: http://www.dramagods.com/
16) 
Thom Yorke – The Eraser (not kid a… maybe kid b ) : Web: http://www.theeraser.net/
17) 
Jude – Redemption (golden-voiced songwriter) : Web: http://www.judemusic.com/
18 ) 
Evanescence – The Open Door (hard rock, angsty and hooky) : Web: http://www.evanescence.com/
19) 
Johnny Cash – American V: A Hundred Highways (his last complete work) : Web: http://www.johnnycash.com/
20) 
Incubus – Light Grenades (melodic hard rock) : Web: http://www.enjoyincubus.com/
21) 
David Gilmour – On an Island (longing for Floyd) : Web: http://www.davidgilmour.com/
22) 
Placebo – Meds (post-punk brit-glamrock) : Web: http://www.placeboworld.co.uk/
23) 
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium (funk rock?) : Web: http://www.redhotchilipeppers.com/
24) 
Isis – In the Absence of Truth (heavy metal ambiance) : Web: http://www.isistheband.com/
25) 
The Gotan Project – Lunático (modern tango) : Web: http://www.gotanproject.com/
26) 
Ty Tabor – Rock Garden (melodic rock) : Web: http://www.tytabor.net/
27) 
Jurassic 5 – Feedback (rap) : Web: http://www.jurassic5.com/
28 ) 
Regina Spektor – Begin to Hope (quirky piano pop) : Web: http://www.reginaspektor.com/
29) 
The Blood Brothers – Young Machetes (screamo) : Web: http://www.thebloodbrothers.com/
30) 
Rivulets – You Are My Home (Nick Drake-ian singer-songwriter) : Web: http://www.rivulets.net/
Honorable Mention:
Audioslave – Revelations / Cut Chemist – The Audience’s Listening / DJ Logic – Zen of Logic / Jars of Clay – Good Monsters / Mugison – Little Trip / The Receiver – Decades
Best Album Packaging & Design
Peeping Tom‘s snazy pull-out casing (runner(s)-up: Anathallo‘s Floating World die-cut slipcase and Beck‘s The Information sticker set)
Best Album Artwork
Tool‘s 10,000 Days artwork, including “Net of Being,” by Alex Grey (runner-up: Au4‘s On: Audio)
Biggest Disappointment
Web of Mimicry Records not coming through with their “Fall 2006” promise… and way too many X-mas albums this year (including Over the Rhine‘s Snow Angels, Sufjan Steven‘s Songs for Christmas, Aimee Mann, Bootsy Collins, your mom, your grandma)… ugh. X-mas albums usually sucked (save parts of Sufjan’s and “Goodbye Charles” from OTR’s)
and since I didn’t want to end on a sour note, here are some more “Best Of” winners…
Best Book on CD
Noam Chomsky‘s Failed States (runner-up: Eric Schlosser‘s Fast Food Nation (Updated))
Best Music-related DVD
Tori Amos‘s Fade to Red (runner-up: Megadeth‘s Arsenal of Megadeth)
Best Live Album
dredg‘s Live at the Fillmore (runner-up: Over the Rhine‘s Live from Nowhere Farm Vol 1)
Best Internet-only Release
Iron & Wine‘s iTunes Live Session (runner(s)-up: My Brightest Diamond‘s Disappear -EP- and Celldweller‘s Remix -EP-)
Best Re-issue
Porcupine Tree‘s Stupid Dream (runner-up: Steven Wilson‘s UEM on black-CDR)
Best “Late Getter”
Masada‘s Alef through Sanhedrin (runner(s)-up: Elysian Fields‘ Queen of the Meadow and Cibo Matto‘s Stereo Type A)
Best “Best Of”
No-Man‘s All the Blue Changes (runner-up: Medeski Martin & Wood‘s Note Bleu: 1998-2005)
Best Side-project
Electric Kulintang (Susie Ibarra & Roberto Rodriguez)‘s Dialects (runner-up: Xenuphobe (Ty Tabor & Wally Farkas)‘s Xenuphobe 1.0)
Looking forward to in 2007: Secret Chiefs 3 x 6 (or so), Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, OTR, Mum, Megadeth, Andy Yorke, Tori Amos, Amiina, Jenn Ghetto’s S, Silverchair, John Zorn’s 3rd in the Magick series with Patton/Dunn/Baron, Monk (Ric Hordinski), Tegan and Sara, Coheed and Cambria, Time Lapse Consortium, Eisley, Tomahawk, My Brightest Diamond (remix album) …
~Dan
Favorite Local Artists’ Albums of 2006 (Cincinnati, OH)
FAV Albums of 2006 coming in a month or so…
My Favorite Local* Artists’ Albums for 2006:
* – local for me equals the Dayton/Cincinnati, OH-area.
1) Noctaluca – Towering the Sum ~ Long, long, long awaited debut album from Jason Ludwig-fronted rock band Noctaluca. Solid, powerful, well-crafted rock songs in a loose-concept album. Overall, a crowd pleaser. I loved Jason Ludwig solo, but I’m really digging his band — and his vocals are superb. The only dissappointment with the album is that it didn’t include the early Noctaluca song “Monkey Moon.” Kim Taylor also makes an appearance on backup vocals on the sprawling “My Magic Hour.” All of the album’s artwork is from (legendary?) Gottfried Helnwein. If you love good rock music, this is one of my favs this year.
2) (tie) Ellery – Lying Awake ~ Ellery are quickly becoming my new favorite wife-husband duo from Cincinnati. Eh… sue me, Apples. Passionate, well-crafted pop songs… and Tasha’s vocals are simply surreal. Former-Over the Rhine guitarist Ric Hordinski and (Cincinnati drummer/percussionist-extraordinaire) Josh Seurkamp appear on the album (Ric produced half of it). I first heard (of) Ellery when they opened up for my friend Ashley Peacock in 2005, and then I first heard them (for real) when they opened up for the ever-wonderful Ryan Adcock at his EP-release party earlier in 2006 (see below). Anyway, I think I’ve seen Ellery 4 or 5 times since then… and I’ve got ’em on my calendar 2 more times for the month of December… You all owe yourself a new fantastic CD by Ellery.
2) (tie) Kim Taylor – I Feel Like a Fading Light ~ Kim’s debut album (So Black, So Bright) was fantastic. Her extended play, also fantastic, gave us a glimpse of what Ric Hordinski could do for her… then she toured a-plenty in 2005 with Over the Rhine, which made the “production by Ric” somewhat of a difficult scheduling situation. In September of 2006, after re-recording with a new producer (Jimmy Zhivago), her sophomore full-length album finally dropped. It was worth the wait. While I’m missing the Ric & Josh element in Kim’s live sound… her songwriting and vocals are still what make her a special artist. Josh Seurkamp does drum & “percuss” on some tracks… which makes all three of these “Favorite Local Albums of 2006” connected… or incestual, perhaps. I look forward to more Kim Taylor in the future.
All three of which have a serious chance of being in my Top XX list for 2006 overall…
Favorite Local -EP- for 2006:
?) Ryan Adcock – Unfinished -EP- ~ Ryan’s first two albums (Like Orville Stared at Air -and- From Silence and Joy) remain frequent “pull out and listen” albums in our house. Unfinished is comprised of 5 songs — full-band “singer-songwriter in rock mode” songs that expand upon his great songwriting from his first two albums. The only problem is that you’re actually wishing it were a full album. Here’s where Ryan got clever… on the actual slipcase for the -EP-, he’s got the missing tracks listed, and you can download the 5 acoustic tracks from his website and put them all in order and viola… a full-length album (with new artwork on the site, too). My run-on sentences notwithstanding, it’s a solid EP with a little web add-on that makes it bigger. In other Ryan releases this year, he was on a Cincinnati Reds album called Cincinnati Clutch Hits. The album (as a whole) is on par with “would someone do me a courtesy and keeeeeeeellll meeeeeee!!” (to quote the “having a bad time in the bathroom” rabbit on TV’s Greg the Bunny). However-however-however, Ryan Adcock’s song (“The Cul-de-sac League“) is brilliant, funny, and well… sweet. Ryan’s and Greg Mahan‘s songs are the only ones I enjoy on that album, and luckily can be bought online by themselves…
Website: http://www.ryanadcock.com/
MySpace: http://myspace.com/ryanadcock ?disappearing myspace page?
~Dan – np: Xtatika – Tongue Bath
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
Amazon.com mp3 downloads
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