Archive
Favorite Albums & Concerts of 2016
- Car Seat Headrest – Teens of Denial (lo-fi indie rock) fave song: “Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales” (#6)
- Glen Phillips (of Toad the Wet Sprocket) – Swallowed by the New (singer-songwriter) fave song: “Criminal Career” (#3)
- Sia – This Is Acting (pop) fave song: “Alive” (#2)
- Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (rock) fave song: “Ful Stop” (#5)
- Wussy – Forever Sounds (lo-fi indie rock) fave song: “Dropping Houses” (#1)
- Holy Fuck – CONGRATS (groove electronic) fave song: “Tom Tom” (#2)
- Elliott Smith – Heaven Adores You (indie rock) fave song: “Plainclothes Man” (#6)
- Steve Taylor & the Danielson Foil – WOW to the Deadness -EP- coffin (indie rock) fave song: “Wow to the Deadness” (#1)
- Circle of Dust – Machines of Our Disgrace (hard industrial) fave song: “Machines of Our Disgrace” (#2)
- Lily & Madeleine – Keep It Together (singer-songwriter duo) fave song: “For the Weak” (#2)
- Charlie Hunter, Bobby Previte, and more – Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth (jazz) fave song: “No Money, No Honey” (#7)
- Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom – Otis Was a Polar Bear (jazz) fave song: “Fuster” (#1)
- David Bazan (of Pedro the Lion) – Blanco (indie rock) fave song: “Little Landslide” (#7)
- Anna Tivel – Heroes Waking Up (singer-songwriter) fave song: “Black Balloon” (#2)
- The Jelly Jam –
ProphetProfit (prog rock) fave song: “Care” (#1) - Dave Douglas’ High Risk – Dark Territory (jazz with electronics) fave song: “Celine” (#1)
- Amendola vs. Blades – Greatest Hits (jazz) fave song: “Lima Bean” (#1)
- Damien Jurado – Visions of Us on the Land (indie rock) fave song: “Exit 353” (#11)
- Greydon Square – Omniverse : Type 3 : Aum Niverse (rap/hip hop) fave song: “Defiant” (#5)
- Elysian Fields – Ghosts of No (sultry indie rock) fave song: “Shadows of the Living Light” (#11)
- Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree) – 4 ½ -EP- (prog rock) fave song: “My Book of Regrets” (#1)
- Opeth – Sorceress (prog metal) fave song: “Will o’ the Wisp” (#4)
- Scandroid – Scandroid (keyboard electronic) fave song: “Aphelion” (#3)
- The Claypool-Lennon Delirium – Monolith of Phobos (weird rock) fave song: “Cricket and the Genie, Movement I: The Delirium” (#2)
- Kaada & Patton – Bacteria Cult (ambient experimental) fave song: “Immodium” (#7)
- {8 Apr} Peter Mulvey w/ Anna Tivel :: Alberta Rose Theatre :: Portland, OR
- {22 Apr} Sufjan Stevens, BØRNS, Parov Stelar, LCD Soundsystem & more :: Coachella 2016 :: Indio, CA
- {23 Apr} CHVRCHES, Guns N’ Roses, Gary Clark Jr., Ice Cube, GoGo Penguin & more :: Coachella 2016 :: Indio, CA
- {24 Apr} Sia, Kamasi Washington, Wolf Alice, Joywave & more :: Coachella 2016 :: Indio, CA
- {16 Jun} Holy Fuck :: Doug Fir Lounge :: Portland, OR
- {25 Jun} Flight of the Conchords with Eugene Mirman :: Keller Auditorium :: Portland, OR
- {28 Jul} Ozomatli :: HiFi Music Hall :: Eugene, OR
- {29 Jul} Weird Al Yankovic :: Cuthbert Amphitheater :: Eugene, OR
- {13 Aug} Buster Keaton’s The General film with live score by Mark Orton, Carla Kihlstedt, Matthias Bossi, Todd Sickafoose :: Bohemia Park :: Cottage Grove, OR
- {29 Oct} Failure presents Fantastic Planet’s 20th Anniversary :: Star Theater :: Portland, OR
- {9 Nov} Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket :: Alberta Rose Theatre :: Portland, OR
- {17 Nov} Car Seat Headrest :: The WOW Hall :: Eugene, OR
ha’fway 2016
Happy 240th birthday, United States!
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Ah, the annual halfway through the year music recap where I never post an end of year recap. *eyeroll* Eh… I don’t blog much anymore… regardless, here goes for my Top 10 of 2016 so far…
Artist – Album (style)
- Sia – This Is Acting (pop)
- Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (rock)
- Wussy – Forever Sounds (indie rock)
- Holy Fuck – CONGRATS (live electronic)
- Elliott Smith – Heaven Adores You (soundtrack) (indie rock)
- Steve Taylor & the Danielson Foil – WOW to the Deadness -EP- (indie rock)
- David Bazan – Blanco (indie rock)
- Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom – Otis Was a Polar Bear (jazz)
- The Claypool-Lennon Delirium – Monolith of Phobos (rock)
- Damien Jurado – Visions of Us on the Land (indie rock)
What’s still to come in 2016…
Chevelle, Peter Mulvey (it’s in the can), Alex Somers’ score for Captain Fantastic, John Zorn (about every month), TOOL (music done, lyrics nearing completion?), Sigur Rós (maybe 2017), Charlie Hunter, and based on kickstarters/pledgemusic that I’ve supported: Jeremy Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate, Derek Webb‘s Mockingbird Remixed and Fleming & John, plus much more, I’m sure.
Will I continue with blogs in the future? I don’t know. :P
Dan – np: Auragami – Formation (single)
Cibo Matto – Reunion Tour 2011
Cibo Matto (Yuka Honda & Miho Hatori) are hitting the U.S. with a little reunion tour… I’ll sadly miss the Portland date by about two weeks… :( But anyway, catch it if you can.
West Coast
6/21 Seattle, WA – Neumo’s
6/22 Vancouver, BC – Fortune
6/23 Portland, OR – Doug Fir
6/25 San Francisco, CA – Bimbo’s
6/26 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl w/Yellow Magic Orchestra
East Coast
7/12 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl
7/14 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
7/16 Toronto, ON – Mod Club
7/18 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
7/19 Washington, DC – Rock N Roll Hotel
7/20 Boston, MA – Brighton Music Jason Hall
Check out their cool split-screen, double-one-shot (one forward, one backward) video of “Sugar Water” directed by Michel Gondry…
I like the video better than the actual song. My favotire album of theirs is Stereo Type A (with some of my fave NYC jazz fiends like Dave Douglas, John Medeski & Billy Martin of MMW, Sean Lennon and Marc Ribot). No word on their band for this tour. I know most of those guys are busy, but… maybe Sean Lennon will join them? I dunno. Last time I saw Yuka Honda in concert, Sean Lennon popped up on stage for a song (with Nels Cline Singers at the Doug Fir earlier this year).
Stay tuned: http://www.yeahbasicallycibomatto.com/
~Dan – np: The Book of Mormon (original cast recording) 
REVIEW: Nels Cline Singers with Yuka Honda @ Doug Fir Lounge (Portland, OR – 1/30/11)
FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM
I had heard of Nels Cline like many people… via Wilco. I had even seen Wilco at some point on the A Ghost is Born tour (Taft Theatre, Cincinnati, 2000-and-something). While I dig Wilco enough, more adventurous music is where it’s at for me nowadays. I had heard of Nels and knew of his free jazz group, but I had only actually heard a little bit of his music – which gets me to my interest even being piqued in this show… enter Yuka C. Honda.
I dig Yuka’s Japanese/American sugar-pop of Cibo Matto (with fellow Japanese ex-pat Miho Hatori), but I also dig her experimental acoustic-electronic albums on Tzadik. My love of Yuka’s solo work led to her Portland tour date popping up on my radar…and I saw “oh, and with Nels Cline, I’ve heard some of his stuff.”
Boy, was I in for a surprise.
I found out about a week before the show that Yuka was actually playing with the Nels Cline Singers (the next generation of his NC Trio). I found out later that they’re married ; so the joint tour totally made sense to me now.
Then I found out that one of my favorite bassists, Trevor Dunn, was playing in the group for this short West Coast tour. Trevor played/plays with Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, Moonchild, Trio Convulsant, Electric Masada, et-fucking-cetera (tons upon tons of groups).
Then I found out that Scott Amendola was drumming with them… he’s the drummer for Mike Patton‘s fantastic Mondo Cane big-band. Then, after seeing the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger* on Friday 1/28 in Portland, I thought… “hey, GOASTT is wrapping up their tour in Seattle on the 29th, and Nels Cline is starting their tour on the 29th in Seattle. Sean Lennon (of GOASTT) & Yuka used to be together as a couple and still work in bands together, Sean & Nels are on the same label, I bet something’s up.” Well, yeah, something was up…
*GOASTT is Sean Lennon & Charlotte Kemp Muhl‘s band (to the R of Nels).
As evidenced above, Sean & Charlotte watched from side of the stage during the first set, until Sean disappeared only to come up on stage to tambourine with the group for the last song in the first set.
So, now that my mind was thoroughly blown with all of the players on stage – let’s get on with the music.
Despite the “Singers” namesake, it’s an instrumental band. Actually, it’s an instrumental force with which to reckon. The first set started off with just the trio of Nels’ guitars and the battery of Trevor & Scott. The first song “Forge” swooned and swelled before crashing down on our ears.
The group seemed to me to be a great mix of what I love about both free jazz and post-rock. You don’t know what to expect, and you don’t want to know what to expect. The wave-like rise and fall is part of the enjoyment. If the wave doesn’t take you to where you wanted to go, well, you have to give in… it’s not your wave to control.
After the first few songs, Yuka came on and joined them on keyboards and percussion. I think she evened out the sound a bit… less chaotic, but still adventurous.
1st Set: 60-70 minutes
- Forge
- A Mug Like Mine
- Dedication
- Thurston County
- B86 (Inkblot Nebula)
- Thoughts on Caetano [with Sean Lennon]
Brilliant wall of sound and magic coming from the Singers. Alas, I had to call it a night. They took about a 30-40 minute break before I threw in the towel (around 11pm). They were going to come back on and do a 2nd full set. Sunday night, long drive ahead of me… I headed back to Eugene. I sooo very much wanted to stick around for the second set. The cards were stacked against me; so I scurried to my car and hit the road… if any readers caught the second set – how was it? what did they play?
many more photos below
The Appropriate Linkage:
- Nels Cline’s Site
- Nels Cline’s Social Media Links (see below)
- Yuka Honda’s Site
- Yuka Honda’s MySpace / Twitter
- Trevor Dunn’s Site
- Trevor Dunn’s MySpace
- Scott Amendola’s Site
- Scott Amendola’s Facebook / MySpace / Twitter
- Other Related Reviews~
- GOASTT / Sean Lennon & Charlotte Kemp Muhl (Portland – Jan 28, 2011)
- Nels Cline Singers by Karina (Seattle – Jan 29, 2011)
- Doug Fir Lounge’s Site / Facebook / Twitter
Check out more tour dates below.
Next shows for me… Sir Elton John in Eugene on 2/17 and then Godspeed! You Black Emperor the next day in Portland.
~Dan – np: Opeth – Orchid
NELS CLINE SINGERS PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2011 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution
(click for larger)
Winter 2011 West Coast Tour Dates
- Jan 29 – Seattle, WA – Is That Jazz? Festival
- Jan 30 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
- Feb 2 – Arcata, CA – Arcata Playhouse
- Feb 3 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent
- Feb 4 – Santa Cruz, CA – Don Quixote’s
- Feb 5 – Los Angeles, CA – Getty Center
Nels Cline Singers – Portland (photos on Wednesday)
Last night’s show at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland with the Nels Cline Singers (Nels, Trevor Dunn & Scott Amendola) with Yuka Honda was rad. Due to my schedule, I won’t be able to post the review until late Tuesday Wednesday (Go Here for the Review/Photos). Here are some teaser shots… one with Sean Lennon…
More to come… check back Tuesday night Wednesday morning! Sorry, utterly swamped at work…
~Dan
REVIEW: Sean Lennon/Charlotte Kemp Muhl’s Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger @ The Woods (Portland, OR – 1/28/11)
FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM
Sean Lennon‘s last studio album, Friendly Fire, was brilliant. Not only was it chock full of great pop songs, but it also came with a DVD with a full album’s worth of cinematic music videos… for the entire album. Back in 2008, his new band Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (with Charlotte Kemp-Muhl) had a presence on MySpace… and put out some songs that eventually blossomed into the debut album – Acoustic Sessions (out in late 2010). They hit the road this past December & January, winding up with their last few shows here on the West Coast.
Opener Laura Gibson is a Portland local who has been the support on this recent GOASTT tour. Of all the venues on the tour, she said she could have “roller skated to this venue” (The Woods in the Sellwood neighborhood). She played 45 minutes with her drummer / multi-instrumentalistSean Ogilvie. Their set was quite wonderful: a folky, poppy duo… similar to the Weepies with a bit more charm, and very reminiscent in some of her vocal delivery to Maery Lanahan (from Seattle via Dayton, OH). Charming, well-crafted songs… and with anagram nicknames like “Albino Sugar” and “Eagle Vision,” you simply can’t go wrong with Laura Gibson & Sean Ogilvie!
After what seemed like a long-time, Sean, Charlotte & horn-player C.J. took the stage. They dug right into a new song, the only song I didn’t previously know… Sean rattled off the song name quickly. I didn’t catch it, except for they did sing “she’s got a meanstreak” a few times throughout. They played mostly everything from their Acoustic Sessions album except for “Robot Boy,” and also threw in a couple covers and a great song from Sean’s Friendly Fire album.
Sean sang and played guitar & drums. Charlotte also sang, played bass, accordion, toy piano/xylophone, melodica and other percussion. We never really got the real name of the horn-player, but “C.J. Calamari” played french horn and trumpet. He used several foot pedals to run the horns through effects processors… giving it a jazz-fusion sound that reminded me a lot of NYC-trumpet player Dave Douglas‘ Freak In album. It was a great electronic-rooted-in-brass timbre that really worked well with Sean & Charlotte’s poppy, eclectic-folky sound.
Setlist: 90 minutes
- new song “she’s got a meanstreak”
- Rainbows In Gasoline
- Jardin du Luxembourg
- Lavender Road
- Shroedinger’s Cat
- Dark Matter, White Noise
- Songs For James
- Girl From The North Country [Bob Dylan]
- Candy Necklace
- Dead Meat [Sean Lennon]
- The World Was Made For Men [false start x3 / giggle fest]
- Bennie and the Jets [Elton John]
- The World Was Made For Men
When they announced “Lavender Road” as being their “rocking song,” I internally chuckled, but wow… they tore it up at the end with guitar, drum and horn solos that truly rocked out.
Throughout the night, the band joked a lot in between songs, many times to the point of inability to hold back the laughter (both the crowd & band). You’d think this was a comedy tour instead of a music tour. There were stories of bar fights at Tex-Mex restaurants. Sean added a silly little impromptu “reggae rap” at the end of “Candy Necklace.” And the “worldwide venereal disease of tuning / history of world music” from Sean after Charlotte pulled out the accordion for “Song For James” was quite piece of stagecraft with many bad accents.
The 90 minutes they were on stage flew by far too quickly. They spared us the “ruse that is the encore,” but when they couldn’t get past the first 15 seconds of “The World Was Made For Men” due to a giggle fest from both Charlotte & Sean, they rocked into a seemingly impromptu “Bennie & the Jets” with the house piano on stage, and then finally hit “The World” again with a giggle-free completion and many cheers!
I’ve been privileged with many shows, but this was one of the best shows in a while – definitely for the year. Great songs, great people, great humor, great musicianship, great souls… and you could tell that they were having fun on stage. Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger plays Seattle tonight before heading back home. Check out their album Acoustic Sessions… it’s bueno!
more photos below
The Appropriate Linkage:
- GOASTT’s Site
- GOASTT’s Social Media Links (see below)
- Laura Gibson’s Site
- Laura Gibson’s Facebook / MySpace / Twitter
- My Related Reviews~
- Sean Lennon w/ Nels Cline Singers (Portland – Jan 30, 2011)
- The Woods’ Site / Facebook / Twitter
Check out more tour dates below.
Next show for me… Nels Cline Singer and Yuka Honda on 1/30.
~Dan – np: GOASTT – Jardin du Luxembourg 7″ vinyl
GHOST OF A SABER TOOTH TIGER PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2011 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution
(click for larger)
GOASTT 2010/2011 Tour (backwards order)
- Saturday 1/29/11 – The Crocodile, Seattle WA
- Friday 1/28/11 – The Woods, Portland OR
- Tuesday 1/25/11 – Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco CA
- Saturday 1/22/11 – Pappy & Harriets, Pioneertown (Joshua Tree) CA
- Friday 1/21/11 – Club Congress, Tucson AZ
- Wednesday 1/19/11 – Cactus Cafe, Austin TX
- Tuesday 1/18/11 – Dan’s Silver Leaf, Denton TX
- Saturday 1/15/11 – The Earl, Atlanta GA
- Friday 1/14/11 – Melting Point, Athens GA
- Thursday 1/13/11 – Evening Muse, Charlotte NC
- Wednesday 1/12/11 – Local 506, Chapel Hill NC
- Tuesday 1/11/11 – Ioata, Washington D.C.
- Saturday 1/8/11 – Rockwood Music Hall, New York NY
- Friday 1/7/11 – Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia PA
- Thursday 1/6/11 – Great Scott, Boston MA
- Friday 12/17/10 Bercy, Paris, France (with -M-)
- Thursday 12/16/10 Bercy, Paris, France (with -M-)
- Wednesday 12/15/10 Bercy, Paris, France (with -M-)
- Tuesday 12/14/10 Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Monday 12/13/10 Frannz Club, Berlin, Germany
- Saturday 12/11/10 MOD, Hasselt, Belgium
- Friday 12/10/10 Zenith, Saint Herblain, France (with -M-)
- Thursday 12/9/10 Zenith, Saint Herblain, France (with -M-)
- Wednesday 12/8/10 Grand Hall, Tours, France (with -M-)
- Tuesday 12/7/10 Zenith d’Orleans, Orleans, France (with -M-)
- Friday 12/3/10 Arena de Montpellier, Montpellier, France (with -M-)
- Thursday 12/2/10 Nikaia, Nice, France (with -M-)
- Wednesday 11/17/10 Largo, Los Angeles, CA
GOASTT @ The Woods (coming soon)
Setlist, photos & review from last night’s The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (Sean Ono Lennon & Charlotte Kemp Muhl) at The Woods in Portland, Oregon, will be posted later today… Update: GO HERE
~Dan
GOASTT
Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger’s “Schroedinger’s Cat”
Behold… Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp-Muhl of Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger‘s debut video from Acoustic Sessions is “Schroedinger’s Cat“…
See if you can count / list all of the historical figures and celebrities. 1-2-3-Go!
GOASTT on NPR Tiny Desk Concerts
Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl (aka Goast of a Saber Tooth Tiger) just recorded a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR. I’m super stoked about their upcoming tour (go here for dates).
photo by Mito Habe-Evans/NPR
Watch / Listen / Download from NPR
You all should just go on and subscribe to the Tiny Desk Concerts podcast while you’re at it.
~Dan – np: Ennio Morricone – Crime and Dissonance
The GOASTT Tour
Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl‘s band The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger just put out their debut album Acoustic Sessions…
On their debut album, “Acoustic Sessions”, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger show their love of quirky and whimsical ’60s folk pop, reminiscent at times of Syd Barrett, Incredible String Band and Simon & Garfunkel. Though stripped-down to spotlight their idiom juggling and intriguing wordplay, the sparse arrangements are adventurous and playful, anchored by the beautiful blend of Sean and Charlotte’s voices, acoustic guitar and a smattering of other instruments – a vibraphone here, a banjo there. GOASTT weaves narratives around a metaphysical geography of their own devising, finding a surrealist beauty in the mundane.
They are doing a quick set of dates in France / Germany / Netherlands in December, but they’re making a swing around the US in early 2011. Check to their dates below…
GOASTT 2010/2011 Tour (backwards order)
- Saturday 1/29/11 – The Crocodile, Seattle WA
- Friday 1/28/11 – The Woods, Portland OR *got my tickets*
- Tuesday 1/25/11 – Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco CA
- Saturday 1/22/11 – Pappy & Harriets, Pioneertown (Joshua Tree) CA
- Friday 1/21/11 – Club Congress, Tucson AZ
- Wednesday 1/19/11 – Cactus Cafe, Austin TX
- Tuesday 1/18/11 – Dan’s Silver Leaf, Denton TX
- Saturday 1/15/11 – The Earl, Atlanta GA
- Friday 1/14/11 – Melting Point, Athens GA
- Thursday 1/13/11 – Evening Muse, Charlotte NC
- Wednesday 1/12/11 – Local 506, Chapel Hill NC
- Tuesday 1/11/11 – Ioata, Washington D.C.
- Saturday 1/8/11 – Rockwood Music Hall, New York NY
- Friday 1/7/11 – Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia PA
- Thursday 1/6/11 – Great Scott, Boston MA
- Friday 12/17/10 Bercy, Paris, France (with -M-)
- Thursday 12/16/10 Bercy, Paris, France (with -M-)
- Wednesday 12/15/10 Bercy, Paris, France (with -M-)
- Tuesday 12/14/10 Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Monday 12/13/10 Frannz Club, Berlin, Germany
- Saturday 12/11/10 MOD, Hasselt, Belgium
- Friday 12/10/10 Zenith, Saint Herblain, France (with -M-)
- Thursday 12/9/10 Zenith, Saint Herblain, France (with -M-)
- Wednesday 12/8/10 Grand Hall, Tours, France (with -M-)
- Tuesday 12/7/10 Zenith d’Orleans, Orleans, France (with -M-)
- Friday 12/3/10 Arena de Montpellier, Montpellier, France (with -M-)
- Thursday 12/2/10 Nikaia, Nice, France (with -M-)
- Wednesday 11/17/10 Largo, Los Angeles, CA
I’m really stoked, as The Woods is an awesome, intimate venue in Portland. I imagine the rest of the venues are similar. For a feel for their sound, check out this in-studio video:
GOASTT play “Lavender Road” on WNYC
~Dan – np: Ikue Mori – Class Insecta
Sean Lennon & Charlotte Kemp Muhl
Back in May 2008, my first post on jazzsick blog (I was transitioning from MySpace blogging) was about Sean Lennon‘s collaboration with Charlotte Kemp Muhl in a project called Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger. Their music has been up on the MySpaces since that May 2008, and it was finally released in physical form this week (10.26.2010)…
Listen to it over here. Check it out on CD or vinyl.
~Dan – np: Charles Mingus – Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus
recent jazz {Feb/Mar 2010}
So, I usually don’t do album reviews, but I get tons of music; so I figured I’d do little snippet reviews once a month or so… here are some recent jazz CDs I got recently. All of them were pretty darn fabulous…
Mycale – Masada Book Two, Book of Angels, Volume 13 (Jan 2010) I’m a BIG fan of the Masada Book Two series. John Zorn’s post prolific book of music was for the Masada quartet… until he had a spurt of writing material and wrote 300+ songs for the Masada Book Two series. Each year, 3 or 4 different artists release albums on Tzadik covering Zorn’s MB2 series (Secret Chiefs 3 and Medeski Martin & Wood have been my faves thus far). This Mycale group is the first vocal group, and I was skeptical how it’d turn out. Well, it turned out fantastic. It features vocalizations by Ayelet Rose Gottlieb (Israeli singer), Sofia Rei Koutsovitis (jazz vocalist), Basya Schecter (of Pharoah’s Daughter), and Malika Zarra (Moroccan-French singer). I am a fan!! My favorite track is “Moloch.”
http://www.myspace.com/mycalevocalgroup
Yuka Honda – Heart Chamber Phantoms (Jan 2010) Yuka Honda puts out great music – whether it be with Cibo Mato, Sean Lennon, or downtown NYC jazz musicians. This is her third CD in Tzadik’s Oracles series. It’s a breath of fresh air. Experimental yet poppy. She keeps making enjoyably melodic music that punches the envelope in the mouth. Give “Hydrosphere” a listen. I hope it’s sooner than 5 more years until her next solo record.
http://www.myspace.com/yukahonda
Mark Feldman & Sylvia Courvoisier – Oblivia (Jan 2010) The duo of Feldman-Courvoisier is a familial one in the Tzadik catalog. I always know I’ll like it. While I can’t say that Oblivia is much different than their past releases, it is an enjoyable listen. My favorite track is “Messiaenesque.”
http://www.myspace.com/sylviecourvoisier
http://www.myspace.com/markfeldmanviolin
Satoko Fujii & Natsuki Tamura – 4 records: Ma-Do’s Desert Ship / Zakopane / Gato Libre’s Shiro / First Meeting’s Cut the Rope (late 2009/early 2010) I’ve been a fan for Satoko Fujii’s for a while. Her 2009 duo album Minamo with violinist Carla Kihlstedt (or Two Foot Yard & Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) was excellent. For these four CDs, she teamed up with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura (with whom she has collaborated in the past). Cut the Rope is a bit more experimental and improvisational (fave song is the title track). Desert Ship is an acoustic quartet jazz album (fave song is the title track and “February – Locomotive – February”). Zakopane features a larger orchestra led by Satoko (fave songs “Tropical Fish” and “Desert Ship”). The Gato Libre album Shiro features a more subdued accordion and guitar alongside Tamura’s trumpet (fave song “Memory of Journey”). All four of these records are great works in modern jazz, and Desert Ship has a great chance of making my 2010 favorites list. These aren’t listed on Amazon yet, but they can be obtained from Downtown Music Gallery (my favorite jazz store, by far).
http://www.myspace.com/satokofujii
http://www.myspace.com/natsukitamura
Salvatore Bonafede Trio – Sicilian Opening (late 2009) This album is quite enjoyable, from start to finish. Salvatore’s piano work is masterful, and the drums and upright bass bounce around nicely. Sal has worked with Lester Bowie, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas and more (and his musical chops show it). He threw in a couple Beatles covers and a gospel number amongst a great album of original jazz numbers. My favorite track is the opening title track, but the entire album moves really well from speakers to your ears.
http://www.myspace.com/salvatorebonafede
Peppe Merolla – Stick With Me (Feb 2010) So… drummers as band leaders. I was skeptical, but I don’t know why. Joey Baron’s done it nicely. Bobby Previte does it consistently well. George Hrab, while not in the jazz world, puts together a great band. Paul Motian is legendary. Art Blakey – do I even need to go into Art Blakey? OK, Peppe Merolla… he’s in good company of being a great jazz drummer bandleader. His smokin’ sextet is full of horns – which definitely adds to the appeal for me – sax, trombone, trumpet, piano, bass, and drums. The album swings through its hard bop edges. This is a great jazz album – plain and simple.
http://www.myspace.com/merollapeppe
More by late March/early April: including VW Brothers, Chris Tedesco, The Ullmann Swell 4, Loose Grip, Ron Miles, and February & March releases from Tzadik Records…
~Dan – np: Opeth – Blackwater Park
Regina Spektor / Placebo / Elliott Smith / Sean Lennon+
A trio of news plus one batch of retro coolness…
Regina Spektor‘s got a new one coming out called Far (out in June on Sire Records). Read more over at Pitchfork (hey, I’m lazy and it’s busy season).
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(European date schemes are so… backwards)
Placebo‘s got a new one coming out in June as well… June 8th, that is. It’s called Battle for the Sun. Read more over at Placeboworld.
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Sean Lennon, Yuka Honda, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, and Yoko Ono have some tracks on the premiere release from Chimera Music (their record label). It’s got tracks from upcoming work by all of them… check it out at fina music downloads.
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Pitchfork has a 28+ minute 1998 documentary of Elliott Smith called Strange Parallels. I have this on DVD-R from a tape trader a while ago, but it’s available to watch for free up on Pitchfork. It’s quirky and fun – – a good look into Elliott right on the cusp of “super-stardom” (around/just after the Oscar nominee time).
~Dan – np: The Blood Brothers – Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck
Sean Lennon
For fans of Sean Lennon… or potential fans of Sean Lennon… his 2006 album Friendly Fire was one of my absolute favorites that year. It’s short, but it comes with a DVD that’s ostensibly the entire album set to a music video (and shot very well with real artistic, movie-making direction). Anyway, check it out…
http://www.myspace.com/seanlennon
I just recently stumbled on a few more Sean Lennon projects…
The Ghost of a Saber Toothed Tiger: Sean and his girlfriend (Charlotte Kemp Muhl) have a new pop project… the band name is The Ghost of a Saber Toothed Tiger. They go by “Amatla & Zargifon” instead of Sean & Charlotte, and they have four songs available on their MySpace page. My favorite as of now is “Robot Boy.”
http://www.myspace.com/theghostofasabertoothedtiger
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead: Sean’s done the score for this upcoming movie… apparently Ralph “Karate Kid” Macchio has a role in it (thanks for the heads-up Steve)… http://undeadflick.com/
Live at The Stone, Jan 2008: The Stone is John Zorn’s club in NYC’s East Village (C Ave a few blocks from the Bowery). I went there for a show last March. It’s an amazing, but small, space dedicated to the arts. 100% of the proceeds each night go to the artist. There is no food/drink vending. They have artist curators every month (artists pick who they want to perform). They usually have two performances a night. The way they bring in money to maintain The Stone is by having annual benefit concerts and by selling their annual benefit CDs (Volume 3 is a Lou Reed/John Zorn/Laurie Anderson improv set and it’s available at thestonenyc.com).
Anyway, Sean Lennon and some friends had a gig at The Stone in early January 2008. I’ll warn you that it’s avant-garde / experimental — and not his usual pop fare. It features some of my favorites in the downtown NYC scene (Trevor Dunn from Mr. Bungle & Fantômas, as well as Yuka Honda from Cibo Matto & her wonderful solo releases). The show is available as streaming and downloadable (low quality mp3) at http://seanonolennon.com/music/stone/mp3player/
Enjoy!
~Dan – np: Bar Kokhba Sextet – Masada Book Two: Lucifer
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
Amazon.com mp3 downloads
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