Last X records you bought, 4th quarter 2003

and the lost in translation soundtrack on vinyl

totally.

Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden - "Soapsuds"
Ornette Coleman - "Body Meta"
Carla Bley and Paul Haines - "Escalator over the Hill" (3LP)
The Art Ensemble of Chicago - "Live" (2LP)

I also got the Postal Service "Give Up" on CD recently.

New

Franz Ferdinand - Darts of Pleasure 12"
Manitoba - Hendrix With KO 12"
Pine Valley Cosmonauts - Executioners Last Songs Vols 2&3
Scout Niblett - I Am
V/A - Worlds of Possibility (Domino 10th anniversary comp)

Used

John Leyton - Johnny Remember Me/Wild Wind 7"s
Low - Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me CDS
McLusky - To Hell With Good Intentions CDS
Nico - The Marble Index
Voodoo Queens - Supermodel Superficial 7"
Walkabouts - New West Motel

The last library haul was

Godspeed You Black Emperor - F#A#oo
Green Day - Dookie
Arto Lindsay Trio - Aggregates 1-26
John Cage at Summerstage
Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual
Techno Nations III - The Mind Trip
Peter Gabriel - Security
Yes - Close to the Edge
James 'Blood' Ulmer - Revealing
Downtown Does the Beatles Live at the Knitting Factory
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Bap-Tizum
The Fertile Crescent

DMX - new single, title escapes me
Nightmares on Wax - first album (£5 in fopp!)
Domino Records Compilation
Gilberto Gil - ???
Danny Krivit - Edits by Mr K
Throbbing gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats
The Clientele - Suburban Light
Kompakt - Schaffelieber 2
V/A - Reggae Gold 2003

This may seem excessive, but it a combination of HMV sale, an amazon order and a trip to sapin all happeneing at once, so noy a usual week's consumption!!

my friend got poison's greatest hits, a patsy cline comp, and two albums of portuguese music. pretty decent haul.

Buying tomorrow:
Belle & Sebastian and Ludacris

Tomorrow buying the new US Maple on vinyl!

Pick of the bunch, the ska box or Dan the Automator.

What do you think of it?

also Yes 'close to the edge', bowie's 'logder', was (not was), elvis costello: all bargain cassete/vinyl.

and during lunch when i went to buy some indoor sport shoes i had to hide from rain & thunder and there, suddenly, i saw a music store! so:

mc5 - 'kick out the jams' [cd]
motorpsycho + jaga jazzist horns - in the fishtank [cd]

Murcof - "Ulysses"
Bubba Sparxxx - Deliverance
IAM - Revoir un printemps
Ladytron - Softcore Jukebox

Robert Wyatt - Cuckooland

Ex Models, Zoo Psychology
State Property, The Chain Gang, vol 2

After two listens, I'm unhappy, though they're always hard to get initially. Overall, the energy level seems low. The drumming is much less inventive than in the past, and there's a dreary (and surprisingly faithful) version of "Lay Lady Lay" which hopefully won't be on the CD.

Gripe #2 is that the art and packaging don't live up to past examples. Overall it finally feels like the band isn't progressing, though I'm amazed that they managed four albums before that happened. It's not a disaster, and I may like it more down the road, but it's not what I'd hoped for.

Due to hurricane conditions in the east coast of Canada, today's releases didn't make it to some stores in Newfoundland (like the Ludacris or the Kid Koala). boo to the hurricane.
Also didn't see the new Do Make Say Think anywhere, but not sure if that's hurricane related or not.

listened to the new ladybug transistor, they got lucky with albermarle sound.

plus i just pre-ordered the second Rubble Box

frank lowe/rashied ali- duo exchange
ornette coleman- science fiction LP

Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
Tom Waits - Farnk's Wild Years
Elbow - Asleep in the Back
Delgados - Hate
Chore - Coastaline Fire
A Silver Mt. blah blah (new one)
Gathering - How to Maeasure a Planet? 2CD
Pulp - We Love Life
Oasis - What's the Story...(recently stolen, not too saddened)
This Mortal Coil - Blood

new cd:
Prefuse 73 - "One Word Extinguisher"

used cd:
Alex Von Schlippenbach Trio - "Pakistani Pomade" (reissue)

Radio 4 - Gotham
Filter - The Amalgamut
The Frank and Walters - Trains, Boats and Planes
Headswim - Flood
Enon - Hocus-Pocus
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
Yes - Relayer (the new Rhino remaster)
Poster Children - Daisychain Reaction
Censurados - Confusão
Our Lady Peace - Gravity
Moonspell - The Antidote
Jane's Addiction - Strays

Afro-Cuban covers of Arabic songs, some unfamiliar, some very famliar to me. It's better than it deserves to be considering what a premeditated and staged sort of fusion it is. I will have to listen to the originals again, since I thought at least one of them was a tango (in the original). I don't know whether or not it's easier to go from a tango to son than or from an Arabic song to a son.

Asmahan is probably dancing in her grave, a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

Joseph Ayoub: The Festival of Lebanese Music and Arabic Dabke Vol. 1.

I'd like more Lebanese folks music, and more Arabic instrumental music.

Alice Coltrane - Ptah the El Daoud
Six Organs of Admittance - Dark Noontide
Sonny Sharrock - Ask the Ages
Archie Shepp - Attica Blues
The Shangri-La's - Best Of (Mercury Years)
Scott Walker - Scott, Scott 3, Tilt
Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels - Rev Up!
Faust - Faust / So Far
Can - Unlimited Edition
V/A - Acid Daze
Joe Meek - The Alchemist of Pop

I am not going to buy any more CDs* until my VISA bill is caught up. That's for real for real, this time. After that, I'm going to cut back so I can start saving more for bigger things. Maybe one or two a month.

Also music-related, I just got A. J.** Racy's new book Making Music in the Arab World: The Culture and Artistry of Tarab

Racy is also a pretty good musician, not just an ethnomusicologist/barely-tolerable-musician. I liked a CD he did with Simon Shaheen, despite being skeptical of both of them, after hearing other recordings by each. I've also seen them perform in Brooklyn, which I seem to remember as being good, though I hardly remember the details now.

*(not counting the three that come with the Music of Bahrain book I ordered a couple weeks back, which I'm probably not going to ever see anyhow, since it seems to have been printed in a very small edition)

**That's "Ali Jihad." I wonder if he is going by "A.J." now since it's probably more marketable in the west than having "Jihad" for one's middle name.

aksak maboul - un peu de l'ame des bandits (upgrading to cd, honeymoon killers bonus track is great, who has their album?)
Ami Yoshida - Tiger Thrush
Kaija Saariaho - 6 Japanese Gardens / 3 Rivieres Delta (yawn)
Helmut Lachenmann - Schwankungen am Rand (!!!, !!, !!!!)
Roland Kayn - works for orchestra & ensemble 1957-1974
Michael McNabb - Computer Music
Luc Ferrari - Acoustmatrix 3 Electronic Works
Mike Oldfield - Balm for the Walking Dead (rarities bootleg)

what's this like?

it's not what I expected; some of the instrumentalists actually play notes, on occasion. it's great though. the first thing I'd heard was Gran Torso for string quartet. one of his early goals was live acoustic concrete music, and that's Gran Torso all over, pitchless micro-sounds, intricately interrelated, very quiet and intense. that one would probably make a better first impression, it's the most extreme. but Kairos just put out a bunch of his stuff, so I'm checking that out next.

also just bought:

Heiner Goebbels - Eislermaterial

So, it's more than ten.

Haha so I thought I had all the Bowie I wanted. Somebody sold back ALL those recent Bowie reissues cuz the guy heard they're coming out on SACD. The second I heard "Queen Bitch" I realized I NEED MORE BOWIE.

Damn "Queen Bitch" is great.

I got the ReR mailout today, read the preorder announcement and got all lightheaded.

TOO MUCH MONEY SPENT ON MUSIC :(

Considering the Soul Jazz Britfunk one, 600% Dynamite and the Jehst album.

John Cage: Empty words live 2 CD set on sale!!!

that empty words set is probably the Italian recording that ends in the riot, right? it's a lot of fun.

Agalloch- Mantle
Neurosis- Sovereign
Nebula- Atomic Ritual
Mars Volta- DeLoused in the Comatoreum

Harmonia - Harmonia cd
Harmonia - DeLuxe cd
David Bowie In Bertolt Brecht's Baal ep

It´s pretty cool,have your heard anything by them or are you just interested because of the Jim Jarmusch thing?
I may trade it/sell it

Thanks for the compliment Scott M !

Overwhelming Colorfast - s/t
Doc Wor Mirran - The Music of Blood
Robert Wyatt - Cuckooland

I'm liking my nonsense electonica type stuff at the mo.

John Butcher - Invisible Ear (maybe album of the year)
Brett Larner/Joelle Larner/Kazuhiso Uchihashi - No Day Rising

I just borrowed

Living Colour - Vivid (Fuck, this is amazing so far! Maybe my favourite 80s hard rock album. Why don't people love them like Jane's Addiction? They're better! The opening to "Desperate People" is dazzling. "Funny Vibe" is mental in a great way. The guitar noise in "Memories Can't Wait" as well as Glover's voice is fab. Shit, I just got to the solo in "Broken Hearts". It's awesome.)
Arrested Development - 3 Days, 5 Months, and 2 Days In the Life Of
Fred Frith - Step Across the Border
Alice Coltrane - Universal Consciousness
Dream Warriors - And Now the Legacy Begins
Portishead
Ornette Coleman - In All Languages
James Blood Ulmer - Freelancing
Elliott Sharp/Orchestra Carbon - Abstract Repressionism 1990-99
Kaiser/Kimura/O'Rourke/Oswald - Acoustics
Sonny Sharrock Band - Highlife
Sly & the Family Stone - There's a Riot Goin' On
Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Mother's Milk
Electroacoustic Music: A Collection of Compositions from the Experimental Studio of Slovak Radio Bratislava (1966-1991)

*"best of" 1996-98, that is - my first jigga purchase ever btw

various - schaffellieber 2
1) outkast - speakerboxxx/the love below
2) jaylib - champion sound
3) basement jaxx - kish kash (i actually really don't like it)
4) death cab for cutie - transatlanticism
5) jean grae - the dirty mixes
6) andrew thomas - fearsome jewel
7) various reggae gold 2003
8) can't remember the title, but it's an appalachian yodel compilation
9) some budget gospel comp from hmv
10) bubba sparxxx - deliverance

and however in love i am with the outkast album, the records i have been enjoying most are the bunch of dancehall comps i bought off guys in the street in NYC, a lovers one i picked up in hackney in the same manner and the yodelling comp...

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
Chick Corea - The Mad Hatter
James Blood Ulmer - Freelancing
Muddy Waters et al - Fathers and Sons
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Inner Mounting Flame
Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out
Thelonious Monk - Straight, No Chaser

A.A. Allen Miracle Revival Ministries -- Crying Demons, I Am Lucifer (I just love how Don Bolles won't stop)
Barmy Army -- The English Disease
Basement Jaxx -- Jaxx Unreleased (some Australian thing of remixes and stuff from Remedy it looks like)
Ornette Coleman -- This is Our Music, Live at the Golden Circle Volume 1
The Magick Heads -- Lazy Ways
The Melvins -- 26 Songs
Van Morrison -- The Contract-Breaking Sessions
Oasis -- Songbird CD/DVD singles
OMD -- self-titled, Organisation remasters
Radiohead -- Amnesiac (cheap and used, wanted to replace the mp3s)
Random Number -- I Understand Your Date and Time of Nowhere
Revillos -- Attack!
Mark Robinson -- s/t (I think)
Saint Etienne -- You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone, Finisterre
Steven R. Smith -- Slate Branches
v/a -- Take Me Home: A Tribute to John Denver
v/a -- Trojan Reggae Brothers box

Rah

Amon Duul 2 - Wolf City (£6)
Astalos / Dumitrescu / Avram - Ed. Mn. 1004 (£6)
Biting Tongues - After The Click (£5)
Kapotte Muziek - Verder (£3)
Phil Minton / Gunter Christmann - (For) Friends And Neighbours (£3)
and, er, Journey - Greatest Hits (£3). I'm so ashamed, but it's the one I'm playing first for sure.

i just got these yesterday, which is cool cos i was able to listen to the first on the way to work this morning. i waited on purpose. absentminded freeway driving with no traffic is good for listening to new music. maybe i'll be able to move on to the second on the way home.

The Essential Johnny Cash
Al Green's Greatest Hits

Maybe I don't like Al Green as much as I thought I did (or would). Not that I have anything bad to say about it exactly, but I'm not getting into it. The Johnny Cash is okay and has some songs I like, but I'm in no hurry to buy more of his work.

The Coup - Party Music

I was just reading about that on ILM.

and Mrs Dr. C bought me a Jackie Mittoo CD 'The Keyboard King at Studio One'

Clone Defects - The Shapes of Venus
Nathan Michel - Dear Bicycle
Guitar Solos 3 (Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser, Eugene Chadbourne, etc.)
Archive of Jazz Vol. 18 - The Blues New Orleans Style (Big Bill Broonzy, King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, etc.)
Billie Holiday - The Billie Holiday Story Vol. 3

at once. Oh my...

Bill Bruford's Earthworks - Footloose and Fancy Free (disc 1 is awesome! I had no idea he became a straight jazz guy and was that good at it.)

Ornette Coleman - New York Is Now

Herbie Hancock - Future Shock

La Monte Young - Volga Delta

Ornette Coleman - Skies of America

Weather Report - Mysterious Traveller

Sainkho Namtchylak - Lost Rivers (good)

Last Exit - Koln (awesome)

Fiuczynski's Headless Torsos - Amandala (nice)

The Beatles - Help! (one of the most consistent I've heard)

Abdullah Ibrahim - African Magic (pretty)

The Fugees - Blunted on Reality

i'm enjoying this batch very much! perfect fall/winter music to drive with the windows down to, especially the rj valeo.

Yeah, sundar, he actually started out as a straight jazz guy, though I've heard him drop some pretty rigid time IMO in a jazz setting since. He did a record with Jamaaladeen Tacuma that has some of the straightest "swing" I've ever heard.

(last two, yes guilty of reading andy hamilton's primer on spectralism in this month's wire. they are good, though I'm still wondering why he didn't mention dumitrescu)

you wanna know guilt? I d/l quite a few of those through slsk. 'quatre chants...' and claude vivier (in my defence, this is out of print), kaija saariaho 'private gardens' is terrific, also d/l tristan murail (but haven't got round to it yet) but i bought:

james dillon- helle nacht...
(also braxton quartet: london 1985)

David Bowie - Hunky Dory (1971, RCA)
John Cale - Music for a New Society (1982, Ze/Island)
Can - Moonshake (1989, Marcon Path)
Gang of Four - Solid Gold (1981, EMI)
Green - White Soul (1989, Megadisc)
Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express (1977, Capitol)
Kraftwerk - Computerwelt (1981, EMI/Electrola)
Nils Lofgren - s/t (1979, A&M)
Loop - A Gilded Eternity (1990, Beggars Banquet)
Gram Parsons - GP (1973, Reprise)
Gram Parsons - Grievious Angel (1974, Reprise)
Iggy Pop - The Idiot (1977, RCA)
Iggy Pop - Lust for Life (1977, RCA)
Iggy Pop - Zombie Birdhouse (1982, Animal)
Primal Scream - Evil Heat (2002, Sony)
R.E.M. - Reckoning (1984, IRS)
Velvet Underground - VU (1984, Polygram/Verve)
Yung Wu - Shore Leave (1987, Megadisc)

plus a lot of other records all bought the last two weeks. I like England.....

my last purchase:
outkast speakerboxxx/love below
jay-z black album

Got today:

Arthur Russell - WOrld of echo Lp
Arthur Russell - Let´s go swimming 12"
49 Americans - Too young to be ideal LP
49 Americans - E pluribus... LP

Medicine - Shot Forth Self Living
Long Fin Killie - Valentino / Amelia
Levitation - Need For Not
Adorable - Against Perfection
Bardo Pond - Set And Setting
Acetone - Cindy

John Lee Hooker- Hooker n'Heat
I've been thinking about getting this one for years, then I heard the version of "Burning Hell" from it on a blues show and I really wanted to pick it up. It is a good record.

John Lee Hooker- His Best Chess Sides
I've got a couple of compilations of Hooker, but none of these cuts, so it seemed like a good fit.

Black Flag- My War
This is a Black Flag record I never had. It is better than what I had heard and will probably lead me to checking out the couple of other later records I never heard.

Beethoven - Compete String Quartets, The Lindays

Elgar - Symphonies 1+2, cond. by Elgar and Boult

The Essential Sly and the Family Stone

Neil Young - On the Beach

and on lovely vinyl for 50p each (all mint too!) :

OMD Sugar Tax
ABC - How To Be a Zillionaire
Kid Creole - Off The Coast Of Me
Pet Shop Boys - Behavior
Prince - Lovesexy
Prince - Parade
Underworld - Change The Weather

roland kayn- tektra (4 Cds for £25 is not bad at all)
derek bailey- duos 2001
john butcher/ vanessa mackess duo
henri pousseur on the Bvvast label
(those 3 on sale)
rune lindbald (sp?): a Cd of his concrete stuff

* - must have been in a extraordinarily nostalgic mood that day!

Until I took a trip out of town!
So euhh, the X just isn't enough:

Aesop Rock - Bazooka Tooth
Big Black - The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape
Botch - Unifying Themes Redux
Carter, Betty - The Audience With Betty Carter (2CD)
Coltrane, John - Interstellar Space
Coltrane, John - Olé Coltrane
Coltrane, John - Sun Ship
Davis, Miles - At Newport 1958
Davis, Miles - Complete In Personer At The Blackhawk (4CD)
Davis, Miles - Miles Smiles
Discordance Axis - Original Sound Version (2003 re-release)
Ellington, Duke - Money Jungle
Flying Luttenbachers, the - Infection And Decline
Gordon, Dexter - Go!
Hancock, Herbie - Crossings
Masada - 9: Tet
Necromantia - Cutts Of The Shadow (2CD)
Praxis - Metatron
Repulsion - Horrified (2CD)
Rollins, Sonny - Tenor Madness
Sanders, Pharoah - Thembi
Varathron/Necromantia - Black Arts Lead To Everlasting Sins

Tito Nieves: The Best. . .

The only Tito Nieves best of that I have any real use for, and even this has a fair number of songs I could do without. But it's nice to have the ones. Like a lot of salsa romantica, some of this material goes from very wimpy beginnings to fairly intense later sections. Unfortunately, some has wimpy office radio synthesizer all the way through. But, take the song playing right now: "De Mi Enamorate." The beginning strikes me as ridiculous and melodramatic, then it goes into a kind of blah wimpy section, but it turns into the sort of song that would get me onto the dance floor. There's some English language stuff on here, including a couple house tunes (which I actually don't hate). But of the salsa numbers, I think "Dejame Vivir" is great and "Le Gusta Que La Vean" is also very good, and reminds me of dancing outside in the summer.

The Rough Guide to Greece

I was excited about this based on some audio clips I listened to, but I'm disappointed. Still, it will at least help me get the names of a few performers I'd like to hear more from. Either way, I will be investigating Greek music further in the next few years, money permitting. I am starting to get some clues about what I might like, and I've found a promising looking U.S. distributor.

Gang of Four, Entertainment! (w/ only 3/4 of Yellow appended to it-- whoops)
The Kinks, The Kinks
The Kinks, Kinda Kinks
The Kinks, The Kink Kontroversy
The Kinks, Face to Face (all Castle editions w/ extra tracks)

used CDs:

Cocteau Twins, Head Over Heels/Sunburst and Snowblind
Erase Errata, Other Animals
Essential Logic, Fanfare in the Garden
The Locust, Plague Soundscapes
Solex, Low Kick and Hard Bop
Throwing Muses, The Real Ramona

I JUST FOUND A COPY OF LA MONTE YOUNG'S WELL-TEMPERED PIANO ON CD IN SUPER MINT CONDITION AT MY LOCAL RECORD STORE.

all second hand

joseph jarman: song for

and i get on the train and its school home time cos i've skived off early and i'm surrounded by 13-14 year olds and i keep the cover in my bag as i slip the disc into the walkman and i feel like a kiddy fiddler. and the disc is a bit meh anyway.

i can't remember all of what i passed up. hvratski's swarm & dither, a genesisi p.orridge spoken word thing, a two disc ardkore comp (had cookin' up yer brain on it). fucknows.

= i am an idiot.

This is very good. The worst thing about it is that it end too soon.

Various Artists: Salsa Dura de Cali
Haris Alexiou: Ta Laika Tis Haroulas

The salsa compilation seems pretty good, but I will comment later. (I think "Cali de Rumba" sounds way better loud on a club sound system when I am warmed up than it does on my home CD player, at a moderate volume. And I don't think that makes it weak-ass music, to allude to an old thread I was just taking another look at.)

Now playing Haris Alexiou. I know this song! I think this CD is going to be great. This makes me want to cook garlicky food.

I also ordered the Beginner's Guide to Arabic Music just to see what it's like, since it's on sale at cduniverse.com for a pretty reasonable price (considering it's a 3-CD set).

I think Alexiou is way more instantly accessible than most of the Arab stuff I recommend, and she's quite good.

The Dastan Ensemble with Shahram Nazeri: Through Eternity
Psaratonis: Cretan Music
Marke b03 label compilation

I know nothing about the latter.

Tom Newman - Fine Old Tom (very very silly)
David Bedford - Instructions for Angels (fucking horrible)
LFO - Sheath (already in return pile, confused)
Blonde Redhead - Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons (I'm playing in a band with someone who sourced a loop from the song 'In Particular' which got caught in my head. Not sure about most of the rest of this album but this one song is very addictive)
Musique de la Grece Antique - Atrium Musicae de Madrid - Gregorio Paniagua
Jean-Francois Laporte - Mantra (Zambone Concrete)
Outkast - Aquemini
Dagmar Krause - Tank Battles
Zeek Sheck - Worcriers vs. The Care Company (wonderful, insane. especially track 3 & onward)

Iannis Xenakis - Oresteia
Bernard Parmegiani - La Creation Du Monde
Koji Asano - Spherical Moss Factory
Akiyama / Nakamura / Sugimoto / Wastell - Foldings
Toshimara Nakamura - No-Input Mixing Board (3)
Otomo Yoshihide - Ensemble Cathode
Albert Ayler - The Copenhagen Tapes

No more records this year now! Oh shit, the January sales...

I have a good part of it, but have never been able to find a copy of "Over the Edge".

the latter was my introduction to them back then. imo, they hit their peak on these albums. the opening songs to side A and B of BSD (the Seabirds & Wide Open Road, resp.) are glorious songs, and somehow paint a picture of how i imagine Australia (esp. the outback) to be (having never actually been there. yet). it's a shame that David McComb is no longer on this world.

1. Neil Young - "Decade"
2. Bubba Sparxxx - "Deliverance"
3. R.E.M. - "In Time: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988-2003"
4. The Roots - "Phrenology"
5. Drive-By Truckers - "Decoration Day"
6. Self - "Breakfast With Girls"
7. Jet - "Get Born"
8. The Rolling Stones - "Black And Blue"
9. Erasure - "Hits! The Very Best Of Erasure"
10. Brooks & Dunn - "Red Dirt Road"

#1 and #6 were to replace the copies that were stolen from me when hooligans raided my apartment when I lived in San Antonio two years ago.

Ry Cooder and the other guy with the Spanish name: Mambo Sinuendo
Various Artists: Nu Afrobeat Experience

I haven't seen any mention of the second one, on ILM, but it seems pretty good at first listen. It came out last year, sort of another tribute to Fela, but not as overly as Red Hot + Riot. Overall this seems closer to the original Afrobeat sound (and the vocalists sound primarily African to me), though there is some borrowing from house, for example. (The houseified tracks work for me, but I'm not sure what people who are house fans would think.) Includes a Tony Allen track.

chas smith - aluminum overcast
bach - secret of the semitones - andrew lawrence-king, baroque harp
bubba sparxxx - deliverance
wanna buy a craprak?
pluramon - dreams top rock (impeccably simulated, but why? strong reservations)
deadbeat vs. stephen beaupre - it's a crackhaus thing ($3)
aelters - ardchilds' com.undo
yoshihide / takemura - turntables and computers
linda perhacs - parallelograms
mary margaret o'hara - apartment hunting
harold budd - la bella vista
bartok plays bartok - microkosmos
beethoven - diabelli variations - pollini

Marcel Khalife: Caress
Various: From the Libyan Folklor [sic]Music

Very interesting new instrumental album from Marcel Khalife. He's mixing jazz elements with Arab music, not an original idea I realize, but I like what he's doing here more than I like just about any other combination of Arab music with jazz that I've heard. I'm glad he is getting away from the big orchestral works which all sounded the same to me, and which I didn't like to begin with. The personnel includes his sons (I assume): Rami and Bachar Khalife, Peter Herbert (who typically plays with jazz musicians) on bass, and a cameo appearance by violinist Omar Guey (soloing). The first three or four tracks flow together quite nicely, but the fifth--what is this--this thing? I heard something very similar in a song on an older Khalife album. It's like an extended Chopinesque version of "Happy Birthday To You!" Unbelievably sacharine. I have no idea what he is trying to do here. Nothing else on the CD is like that one track, although I'm not crazy about his son Rami's piano playing in some cases. A little too influenced by Romantic era classical piano. (Both his sons are trained in European classical music.) Overall, I like it quite a bit. The use of vibraphones (played by Bachar) adds an unexpected color, which works extremely well with Arab rhythms. The second track has an odd disjunctive sort of rhythm that seems to borrow from free jazz. (It's not Arab, I'm sure, and it's not a straightahead jazz rhythm.) Also, the audio quality is very high. I hope this Khalife CD gets some press. (I hope the label is sending out review copies, and not just to "world music" magazines, but to other places where it might have a chance of being covered.)

I've only heard part of Disc 1 of the 3-CD set of folkloric music from Libya. I guess it's not too different from other Islamic mystical trance-oriented type stuff I have heard from North Africa, though I like it a little better than I usually like such recordings. The melody is very Arab sounding, to me, while the rhythms seem more African. I think this would be great live. The sound quality is not very good, but there is an echoey female announcer at the beginning of a couple tracks, and the lo-fi sound gives that a psychedelic sort of quality. (It's very brief though.)

Now all I've got to do is resist the urge to order anything else for another 13 hours and 16 minutes....

"Remasters" - Led Zep (£3)
"The singles" - The Bluetones (£2)
"Roxy Music" - Roxy Music (£2) - all WH Smiths on Boxing Day
"Asleep in the back" - Elbow
"The singles" - The Smiths - both £5 from MVC.

I'm pissed off as hell about "The singles" because quite frankly, it isn't. If I wanted to compile the versions of the singles on the original albums, I would have done it myself thank you and not paid Warners a fiver for the pleasure. No, I want the proper "Boy with the thorn in his side" thank you, and I suppose I'll have to go and get "The world won't listen" to get it. Sigh.

Goldfrapp - Black cherry
St Germain - Tourist
Teenage Fanclub - Best of
Blur - Think tank
Nina Simone - Misunderstood
O Brother where art thou OST
Pink Floyd - Wish you were here
Ultravox - Vienna
3 CD box of classic disco
Cliff Richard, yes Cliff Richard- 1980's
Big beach boutique II
Dolly Parton - Little sparrow
Pet Shop Boys - Disco 3
Audio Bullys - Ego war
Best of Tony Christie
ELO - Gold collection (harvest era comp)
Prefab Sprout - Swoon
DJ Shadow - Private press

from eBay
Sandy Denny - Listen listen
John Lennon - Mind games
Marianne Faithfull - Kissing time

and 25 lp's and singles from Scope for £3 including an original pressing of Disraeli gears and Lawnchairs by Our daughters wedding. Makes up for getting sod all music for Christmas.

How are the Kites & Wolf Eyes things?

uhm

-- Jens (wimpshak...), November 26th, 2003.

wow.