Archive
* Favorite Instrumental Albums of 2008 *
Disclaimer section is again shamelessly plagiarized from Andy Whitman at Paste…
Disclaimer #1: No, I haven’t heard all 8,000 albums released this year. I’ve heard about 200 of them, which makes me at least 97.5% likely to be wrong. But hey, this isn’t math class, and I make no claims to objectivity. These albums are my favorites from 2008. You might think that the one you’ve heard that I haven’t heard is the best album of 2008. And you might be right.
Disclaimer #2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just get it out of your system now and be done with it. I am deliberately trying to be obscure. Who the hell has even heard of these people? So go ahead and vent, then read Disclaimer #1 again.
My Other Favorites of 2008 Recaps:
- Fave Concerts of ‘08 are recapped *HERE*
- Fave EPs/Vinyl/Live/more of ‘08 are recapped *HERE*
- Fave Vocal Albums ‘08 are recapped *HERE*
- Old Years: 2007V, 2007I, 2007C, 2006, 2005
As I start this post, I will say that this is all very subjective and really put together for my own purposes. I’ll also state that, yes, some of the music below does have some vocals. For the most part, it’s sequestered to a track or two on a long CD of mostly instrumental goodness. My list, my rules, and/or my breaking of the rules. With that being said, all of the artists below tend to be in the jazz and instrumental frame of reference anyway.
Hopefully my spilling out of music that I like finds interest with someone else. But if not, thanks for stopping by… check out their webpages, MySpaces, my fave song recommendations on iTunes (in 30 second bursts), yadda yadda yadda. OK, now on to the best of what’s hit my ears this year on the mainly instrumental front…
Honorable mentions (aka my list is too jam packed, and I still really love these records, too): Bill Frisell‘s History, Mystery (with Eyvind Kang, Jenny Scheinman, Kenny Wollesen, etc); Charlie Hunter‘s Baboon Strength; John Zorn‘s Filmworks XX & XXI: Sholem Aleichem & Belle de Nature / The New Rijksmuseum; Medeski Martin & Wood‘s Radiolarians I; and Dub Trio‘s Another Sound is Dying.
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Well, I bought ten (10) John Zorn CDs this year (unless I’m misscounting), and 2 of them didn’t make it anywhere on the list (the Lou Reed & Laurie Anderson improv benefit CD for The Stone NYC & the score for The Last Supper, aka Film Works XXII)… so, you can’t say that I’m totally biased towards John Zorn. :) Though, I do buy just about everything in his label Tzadik’s Archival series, Key series, and Radical Jewish Culture series (and a handful of the rest of the other series).
What I’m looking forward to in 2009? More great music…
~Dan – np: Miles Davis – Miles in the Sky
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ha’fway
(Sub)consciously prompted by this music blog, here are my favs of the first half of 2008… it’s all bound to switch around by year’s end:
Artist Album (label)
- The Secret Chiefs 3 play Masada Book Two: Book of Angels, Vol. 9: Xaphan (Tzadik)
- The Bar Kokhba Sextet play Masada Book Two: Book of Angels, Vol. 10: Lucifer (Tzadik)
- My Brightest Diamond A Thousand Shark’s Teeth (Asthmatic Kitty)
- Opeth Watershed (RoadRunner)
- Earth The Bees Make Honey in the Lion’s Skull (Southern Lord)
- Dave Douglas & Keystone Live at Jazz Standard, 4/10/2008 to 4/13/2008 (2 sets each night = 8 CDs worth, each set downloadable within 24 hours of the performance… cool stuff…) (Green Leaf)
- Sigur Rós Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (XL)
- Reptet Chicken or Beef? (Monktail Creative Music Concern)
- John Zorn’s The Dreamers (Tzadik)
- King’s X XV (Inside Out)
- Glen Phillips (of Toad the Wet Sprocket) Secrets of the New Explorers -EP- (Umami)
- Ashes Divide (Bill Howerdel of A Perfect Circle) Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright (Island)
- Mike Patton A Perfect Place (Ipecac)
- Puscifer V is for Viagra – The Remixes (Puscifer)
- Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey Lil’ Tae Rides Again (Hyena)
- Bill Frisell History, Mystery (Nonesuch)
- Steven Bernstein (of Sex Mob) Diaspora Suite (Tzadik)
- Hiromi Beyond Standard (Telarc)
- Stebmo Stebmo (Stebmo)
- Bobby Previte & New Bump New Bump: Set the Alarm for Monday (Palmetto)
- Swami Late Plate (Previte & Saft) Doom Jazz (Veal)
- Porcupine Tree We Lost the Skyline -EP- (Transmission)
- Raquy and the Cavemen Mischief (Meef)
- Aimee Mann @#%&*! Smilers (Super Ego)
- Kaki King Dreaming of Revenge (Velour)
The 2nd half of 2008 promises to bring some potential great ones, too… Medeski Martin & Wood play John Zorn’s Masada Book Two, 3 other Medeski Martin & Wood albums (later in the year), Secret Chiefs 3 Book of Souls (maybe), God of Shamisen debut, Extreme Saudades de Rock, Mike Patton‘s Mondo Cane, Mike Patton & Dan the Automator’s Crudo, a new Sufjan Stevens (just speculating, since it’s been a while), Ben Folds is working on one, Ani DiFranco always has something coming out, Jude‘s Cuba, Jon Madof‘s CircuitBreaker debut (and maybe another Rashanim?), The Tango Saloon‘s Transylvania, new Tristeza, Over the Rhine Live from Nowhere III, David Bazan full-length, George Hrab (maybe?), SFJazz 2008 with Dave Douglas & Joe Lovano and others, Frank Zappa‘s One Shot Deal, another installment of the John Zorn avant-metal trio of Mike Patton/Trevor Dunn/Joey Baron… and I’m sure another dozen or more that I’ll dig from Tzadik.
~Dan – np: Reptet – Chicken or Beef?
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Scrt Chfs 3
If vowels didn’t exist, this sentence would be idiotic. If vowels also didn’t exist, it would seem that Scrt Chfs 3 were opening for Scrt Chfs 3… or perhaps… Scrt Chfs 3 wr pnng fr Scrt Chfs 3. Gd thng thy d xst…
The Portland show (Oregon… eff you, Maine) of the Secret Chiefs 3 mini tour has openers of the Diminished Men and Secret Chefs 3 (a tribute band who play the SC3-style of world metal/rock with kitchen utensils).
Sunday, August 3rd. Doug Fir Lounge. 3 grt bnds.
Assuming I’m not far away for work, I’m planning on making it up from Eugene for the show.
http://dougfirlounge.com/
http://www.myspace.com/secretchiefs3
http://www.myspace.com/secretchefs3
http://www.myspace.com/DIMINISHEDMEN
Nooch.
~Dan
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Medeski Martin Wood & Zorn
OYG!
According to Downtown Music Gallery‘s catalog search and this MTV entry, the next treatment for John Zorn‘s Masada Book Two: Book of Angels series is… MEDESKI MARTIN & WOOD. Wow.
It’ll be #11 in the series on Tzadik Records, and it’s named after the angel/demon Zaebos.
My recent review of #10 in the series (Secret Chiefs 3’s Xaphan) is HERE. I’m equally stoked about this forthcoming MMW treatment… and quite frankly it totally caught me completely off guard (I think I knew about the SC3 one, like, 18 months ahead of time).
~Dan – np: Bar Kokhba Sextet – Masada Book Two: Lucifer
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ALBUM REVIEW: Xaphan, Book of Angels Vol. 9 ~ The Secret Chiefs 3 play Masada Book Two
Got this album in the mail the other day… I’ve four times through it, and since I imagine it will hold up fairly well as far as albums go this year, it deserves the ol’ track-by-track analysis…
Xaphan, Book of Angels Volume 9
The Secret Chiefs 3 play Masada Book Two
Masada Book Two – Background: John Zorn had a fantastic jazz-klez quartet called Masada. It was John Zorn on alto sax, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Greg Cohen on bass, and Joey Baron on drums (sometimes Kenny Wollesen of the Sex Mob filled in on drums). They recorded 10+ studio albums in the mid-1990s, and they played live consistently up until March 2007. They may play a one-off in the future, but their Lincoln Center shows last spring were their final bow, as it were. I saw it, yay! The initial 10 studio albums by Masada are hardish to find (Japanese import label DIW), but they have many live and previously unreleased stuff on John’s own Tzadik Records, like Sanhedrin (below):
Anyway, sometime in the early 2000s, John Zorn started several splinter Masada or Masada-esque groups (Electric Masada, Masada String Trio, Bar Kokhba Sextet). He also wrote upwards of 300 additional Masada tunes that were not to go into acoustic Masada repertoire, but rather go into the “Masada Book Two. ” Different artists get these tunes (in the form of melody sheets of about 16 bars of music), and they arrange and record their version of John Zorn’s Masada Book Two tunes. Favorites in the past have been Marc Ribot, Koby Israelite, Cracow Klezmer Band, Bar Kokhba Sextet, et cetera…
Xaphan Personnel: Trey Spruance: guitars, organs, percussion, synths, autoharp, piano, bass; Timb Harris: violin, trumpet; Jason Schimmel: guitar; Anonymous 13: voice, viola; Rich Doucette: sarangi; Jai Young Kim: B3 organ; Shahzad Ismaily: bass; Ches Smith: drums, congas; with special guests Adam Stacey: clavinet; Monica Schley: harp; and Tim Smolens: cello, upright bass. ie- people from the latest incarnations of Secret Chiefs 3, Estradasphere, Mr. Bungle, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Carla Kihlstedt’s 2 Foot Yard, yadda yadda…
photo credits: Peter Gannushkin / Theremin Noise Club / Jae
The Xaphan Songs: (all written by John Zorn & arranged by Trey Spruance)
- Sheburiel ~ Nice surf/exotica about 30 seconds in, which transitions into a delightful string melody with surf guitar reminiscent of something from the Electric Masada catalog. Overall, this is quite a schizophrenic song, but nice textures… it’s a prelude for what’s to come in the rest of the record.
- Akramachamarei ~ Very much a spaghetti-western-meets-middle-east vibe on this track. I dig it. The title sounds like an interesting mixed drink (something along the lines of okra-infused vodka bloody mary with a sprig of mâche instead of celery). Oh, and if you don’t know what mâche is, well, it’s a delightfully nutty leaf in the lettuce family. So, yeah, spaghetti-western-meets-middle-eastern bloody mary concoctions all around!! And any band naming themselves Okra-infused Vodka, you owe me royalties. OK, back to the music…
- Shoel ~ Conga intro… keys, dub beats, and fuzz-guitar. Nice. Like at least 2-days of stubble on the guitars. Back into clean spag-west guitar… yeah, know, pretty soon, I’m running out of descriptions and adjectives beyond “cool,” “neato,” and “nice tom work, Ches.” I’m not a musician; so that’s the best you get, fools. This is one of my favorite tracks so far.
- Barakiel ~ Slowish, clean guitar entry with some slide, harp, and genteel vocals… moving into a bouncier spag-west guitar, but still with ethereal strings and piano.
- Bezriel ~ Oooo… Trey’s bringing the rock into it. Good interplay between the calm-before-the-storm viola and/or violin with the guitar chunk and vocal haunts. The last half of the track features some more strings and less of the chunk (oh, wait, I lied… it ends with the chunk). :) Another one of my favorite tracks.
- Kemuel ~ Bungle-y circus organ into swirling drum-guitar-vocal passage into a dirty string solo.
- Labbiel ~ Interesting time signature interplay between the guitars and drums.
- Asron ~ Aw geez, I just lost the game. I zoned out to the great music and forgot to write about it. Bad reviewer, bad reviewer. Anyway, back to the music. Nice violin and guitars to end it.
- Balberith ~ Starts with a great melodic bass line with some fuzz/scratch guitar. Ah, the trumpet finally kicks in. Nice stuff, Timb. This could fit on Zorn’s The Dreamers or Electric Masada nicely. That’s a compliment. :) Another one of my favs on this record.
- Omael ~ Add some xylophone, and I’d say the intro to this fits into a Zappa catalog. :) This is a faster-paced song… for the SC3 bellydancer contingent, don’t pick this. Your legs might fall off. This one has some great percussion and more trumpet. I’m getting lost in the sounds, but I’m digging it.
- Hamaya ~ Clean exotica guitar intro, organ, vocal chants (something about tostadas?). Oh, a seemingly (to me) “The Exile” or “Book T: Exodus” strings-n-guitars moment about 1 minute in… nice. Nice melty fade that sucks me back into… g-to-the-d, why is it 84 degrees in my house!? Sometimes I hate renting a house in Oregon that does have A/C. Anyway, a great end to a great album.
I recommend you take some listens on MySpace, Amazon, and iTunes (when they get it)… and support good music if you like what you hear. It’s currently available at Web of Mimicry, Downtown Music Gallery, and Amazon (to name a few). I don’t do the track-by-track treatment on just any record… this is a special record.
Any musical review faux pas above? Eh, I’m not a musician. My ears my have defied me brain, matey. For Secret Chiefs 3 fans, I suppose this more relates to a Ur / Ishraqiyun / Forms / Traditionalists musical offering? I dunno which one moreso than the others. Any thoughts from you WoM boardies?
Fav tracks: Shoel (#3), Bezriel (#5), Balberith (#9), and Hamaya (#11).
Recommended if you like: world music, middle eastern music, progressive music with a bellydance beat, ADHD prescriptions, Secret Chiefs 3, Estradasphere, Mr. Bungle, John Zorn, et al… it’s very much a Secret Chiefs 3 record, but probably one of their more “accessible” ones (as well as being an accessible John Zorn-penned album). User friendly, middle-eastern rock-romp through a mad alchemist’s mind (Trey is a brilliant musician, IMO). This is my favorite in John Zorn’s Masada Book Two series, and that’s saying a lot (I love all 10 of the series thus far).
The Appropriate Linkage:
- Secret Chiefs 3’s Website (pleasing design, not realistic from a PR side of things)
- Secret Chiefs 3 on MySpace
- Web of Mimicry (Trey’s label)
- Tzadik Records (John Zorn’s label, released Xaphan)
- Tzadik on MySpace (unofficial but approved)
- John Zorn on MySpace (unofficial but approved)
- Other key Xaphan players on MySpace… Estradasphere, Ches Smith…
~Dan – np: Susie Ibarra – Drum Sketches
The Masada Book Two Series (to date):
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new Secret Chiefs 3 tour dates
I imagine these tour dates, as they trickle in, are all about “making their way back home after a festival.” Alas, the fact that they’re swinging by my way is FANTASTIC…
Secret Chiefs 3
Fri, 7/25/08 – Detroit Lakes, MN -Soo Pass Ranch “10,000 Lakes Festival”
Sat, 7/26/08 – Milwaukee, WI -Turner’s Ballroom
Sun, 7/27/08 – Chicago, IL – Double Door
Thu, 7/31/08 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater new date
Fri, 8/01/08 – Salt Lake City, UT – Club Paladium new date
Sun, 8/03/08 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge new date yay!
http://www.webofmimicry.com/
http://www.myspace.com/secretchiefs3
Their latest record, Xaphan: Masada Book Two Vol 9, is FANTASTIC…
~Dan
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Mark my words… best CD of 2008…
I’m not a bettin’ man, but I’ll bet you a hundred ducks that Secret Chiefs 3‘s Masada Book Two, Volume 9: Xaphan will be one of my favorite CDs of 2008 (likely Top 3 to be safe)… and it’s not even out yet.
Per a recent SC3 blog, it hits April 11th (from Tzadik-direct Downtown Music Gallery) or later in the month at other outlets (April 22nd or so from Amazon, etc), and a “Masada preview” is now posted on their MySpace page.
The Masada Book Two series is comprised of 300 or so songs that John Zorn wrote in the Masada vein, but not for the Masada quartet to play. A different artist arranges and records a handful of these tunes to make them theirs… so far, the results have been great (Marc Ribot, Cracow Klezmer, Koby Israelite to name a few). Xaphan (aka Volume 9 from Secret Chiefs 3) features arranger Trey Spruance, plus musicians from his latest SC3 tour, members from Estradasphere, and more…
http://www.myspace.com/secretchiefs3
Up next in the Masada Book Two series is Volume 10: Lucifer from Bar Kokhba which will likely also hit a top spot on my CDs for 2008. It’s Bar Kokhba’s first studio release since The Circle Maker in 1998.
~Dan – np: Bill Moyer’s Journal podcast interview with Susan Jacoby
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-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa


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