Max Richter - Sleep (BBC Radio premiere, Sept. 2015)

Shortly after the release of German-British composer Max Richter (b. 1966)'s "eight-hour lullaby" Sleep and its accompanying one-hour album From Sleep in September 2015, an invited audience took to their sleeping bags in the Reading Room of London's Wellcome Collection museum/library of health science for a unique night's rest.

From midnight to 8am, Richter, a small string group (working in shifts) and a soprano singer performed the work's live premiere, which was given a record-breaking live broadcast on BBC Radio 3 - the longest uninterrupted piece of music they'd ever aired live. [To note for the download: there are occasional dropouts of a few seconds each - I can't remember now if this occurred during the recording, or if they're due to the limitations of the get_iplayer sound grabber or file converter that I used, when dealing with such a gargantuan file.]

In Richter's words, 'I think of Sleep as an experiment into how music and the mind can interact in this other state of consciousness, one we all spend decades of our lives completely immersed in, but which is so far rather poorly understood. I consulted with [American neuroscientist] David Eagleman on how music can relate to the sleep state and have incorporated our conversations in the compositional process of the work'.

The audience at the premiere were specifically invited to sleep through as much of the performance as they could, and then describe the sensations they experienced.  I've certainly spent one or two interesting nights sleeping through this recording (when I could manage the full night without my earphones falling out) and occasionally half-waking to the gentle soundscape.

The 31 sections of Sleep range from simple piano pulses, to deep electronics, gorgeous string arrangements and wordless flights for the soprano voice.  Needless to say, I've never heard the entire thing whilst fully awake - might give it a try some day, but I suspect Richter wouldn't approve.

Taking in the occasional random half-hour is fun, to pay closer attention to the construction of the different segments, and the microscopic development (or sometimes hypnotic non-development) within them.  Which I suspect is what Richter was trying to do with the release of the more manageable From Sleep - which I don't see around as much these days, but will probably order a copy at some point.

link, no pw - one mp3 file, 1.8GB :)

Album cover for the full studio recording

Radka Toneff & Steve Dobrogosz - Fairytales (1982)

More mellowness to see the year out, in today's post and next Monday's.  Radka Toneff (1952-1982) was one of Norway's finest jazz singers, before dying aged just 30 from a sleeping-pill overdose (friends were uncertain if it was deliberate).  She was also Arild Andersen's partner for a time in the 70s, and wrote some material with him.  By the time of her third and final album, Toneff was working with US pianist Steve Dobrogosz, and the sparse, haunting piano-and-vocal Fairytales became hugely popular in Norway.

Fairytales caught my attention when a YouTube session hit upon the stunning take on Jimmy Webb's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress that opens the album.  Infinitely more stark and restrained than Linda Ronstadt's version from the same year, it sets the tone for a low-key, melancholy set taken from eclectic sources, including Webb, John-Taupin and Anderson-Weill, as well as a gorgeous take on My Funny Valentine.  An album of unearthly beauty for late-night candlelit contemplation.

Original LP cover

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Richard Hayman & His Orchestra - Waltzing Cat - The Music of Leroy Anderson (1989)

Something nice and light & relaxing for Boxing Day - this was a charity shop find that I grabbed right away due to that title and cover, thought it would at least be worth a giggle.  It's actually a very good recording of the most well-known tunes by light music composer Leroy Anderson (1908-1975), performed by pops-orchestra bandleader Richard Hayman and his orchestra.  Lots of fun to be had in the way that Anderson wrote and arranged, with plenty of these tracks falling on just the right side of novelty.  Reminds me of music for old-time cartoons in places.  BBC Radio 4 listeners will also recognise 'The Typewriter' as the theme tune from The News Quiz.  Lovely stuff.

link
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Merry Christmas!

Have a great one tomorrow.

If you fancy a nice bit of unaccompanied choral relaxation, here's the Christmas concert given by the Tallis Scholars a week and half ago, in London's Temple Church.

Programme:

Palestrina: Hodie Christus natus est
Palestrina: Missa Hodie Christus natus est (Kyrie and Gloria)
Muhly: Premiere
Nesbett: Magnificat
Palestrina: Missa Hodie Christus natus est (Credo, Sanctus and Agnus dei)
Byrd: Lullaby
H. Praetorius: Magnificat V (with In dulci jubilo)
link, no pw.

Pat Metheny - New Chautauqua (1979)

Pat Metheny's third solo album was also his first completely solo - working with overdubs to create a guitars-and-bass-only statement of his increasing skill and ambition.  It ended up being a bit of a sleeper in his catalogue, getting some much-needed rehabilitation when it featured in the first wave of ECM's 'Touchstones' CD reissues in 2008 (word on the street is that 50 more are coming in 2019 - I can't wait!), and remains a beautiful record throughout.

IIRC this was the first Metheny album I bought on vinyl, and was captivated by how fresh and vital it sounded from the word go.  On digital, that opening title track still jumps out with its 'hit the open road' energy.  After that, Pat mellows out for a short acoustic interlude, before tackling an atmospheric suite.  The album's second half is just as wonderful, as Pat continues his solo road trip as far as Mexico (in my personal favourite) before settling back at his final destination to watch the sun rise.

link
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Threnody Ensemble - Timbre Hollow (2000)

Fascinating one-off collaboration between two guitarists (Dave Cerf and Erik Hoversten) and a cellist (Dominique Davidson) from the post-rock/'math-rock' sphere, augmented by further strings, percussion and clarinet.  These tracks were recorded between 1997 and 1999, and released the following year by New Albion Records (Terry Riley et al). 

The premise appears to have been to find a part-composed, part-improvised space between folk music, chamber classical and the post-rock movement, and Timbre Hollow succeeds rather well on those terms.  Both guitarists play acoustic, with the playing style and production giving them an almost lute-like quality at times.  This along with the other instrumentation can give the odd feel of a late-baroque chamber ensemble having time-traveled to the 20th century, then remembering the musical progress they've witnessed in strange fits and starts.

The opening three-part suite ThaRoman (Formerly Valerie White) is a case in point, as passages of beauty and subtlety are railroaded from time to time by knotty experimentation that just about holds together; the 12-minute third section could've benefited from some trimming.  The remaining three tracks are more succinct.  Somewhere Near Denton initially sounds like a guitar-tuning exercise, but settles down into a nice minimal duet with some ambient field recording towards the end.  The Machine showcases the core trio's interplay at its best, and the closing Tension As Opposed To Tension is the most atmospheric, with a gamelan influence.  This album will at least be interesting to most listeners, and no doubt some folks will find it right up their street.

link
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Harold Budd & Brian Eno with Daniel Lanois - The Pearl (1984)

For their sequel to the eternally gorgeous Plateaux Of Mirror, Budd & Eno added Daniel Lanois as producer, and Plateaux's piano & sound treatments blueprint into a masterpiece.  The Pearl was very much cut from the same cloth, but also improved on the formula, and nudged it closer to pure ambient music.

Much of the joy of The Pearl is in the small details: the occasional environmental sounds in the mix, the closer blending of the piano and electronics, and the more pronounced production touches on Budd's simple melodies, for instance the echo delay on the sparse notes of Their Memories.  A beautiful album that suits background listening and close attention equally well.

link
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Bill Evans & Jim Hall - Undercurrent (1962)

Simply one of the greatest and loveliest jazz duo albums of all time.  Some would say that sentence doesn't even need the "duo".  Either way, six great tracks from two absolute masters of jazz piano and jazz guitar are here to enrich your weekend.  After a cooking take on My Funny Valentine opens the album, the overriding pace is relaxed and intimate, and the interaction between pianist and guitarist is effortlessly sublime throughout.

What would my absolute favourites be... I Hear A Rhapsody? Skating In Central Park?  Just going to go for 'all of them' as it's impossible to pick.  Was going to snip out the bonus tracks as I generally tend to do, then decided against it as they enrich the album even further (as well as almost doubling its slight running time).  Essential listening, especially for rainy days and long nights - plenty of those round here now.

link
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Michel Saugy - Oceanique (1991)

Sub-aquatic electronic mellowness from Swiss-born Saugy, on the French New-Age label Ellebore. First up is the 16-minute gentle drift of Asteria, and it's a very good piece for its era.  This was a couple of years after Jean-Michel Jarre came out with the extended ambience of En Attendent Cousteau''s title track - possibly an inspiration here?

The following three tracks, each 4-5 minutes in length and livened up by drum tracks, don't really feel like they belong here.  I've listened to them once or twice, and they were pleasant enough, but are essentially forgettable 90s library music rather than New Age or ambient.

Not to worry though - the half-hour long Navicula is still to come.  Even more of a becalmed oceanic drift than Asteria, this track more than makes up for the shortcomings of the middle section of the album.  In fact, if you just take the opening and closing tracks together, you've still got a pretty decent 46 minutes of early 90s electronic chillout to enjoy as an album.

link
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Franco Battiato - Sulle Corde Di Aries (1973)

Third album in Italian legend Franco Battiato's 1970s journey from avant-prog to straight up avant-garde, and the one that came before Clic.  Dominating Sulle Corde Di Aries is the 16-minute opener Sequenze E Frequenze, in which a drifting opening soon gets tightened up into a juddering pulse of synths and kalimba.  Battiato's definitely been listening to Terry Riley on this one.

Three shorter tracks follow, with the spacey Aries first, the synths gradually joined by guitar, wordless vocals and finally a sax solo.  Aria Di Rivoluzione has Battiato attempting a raga-style vocal, singing about war and revolution whilst a spoken female voice recites lines by East German dissident/poet and songwriter Wolf Biermann over synth, drumming and sax.  The closing Oriente Ad Occidente starts out electronic, but gradually becomes dominated by oboe and mandolin.  A mind-boggling variety of sounds packed into 33 minutes then, and a must-hear all round.

link
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Carla Bley And Her Remarkable Big Band - Appearing Nightly (2008)

Following on from the first SGTG post of Michael Mantler's music last week, how about some Carla Bley?  Well, this isn't the first time music penned by Carla has featured here - that was Dreams So Real - but it is the first time the fringed genius herself and her own band have been posted.  Daughter Karen Mantler (on organ) and longtime bassist Steve Swallow are just two of the "Remarkable!" big band here.

Appearing Nightly is a live album recorded at the New Morning club in Paris in July 2006, and starts with three commissions - the opening pair, Greasy Gravy and Awful Coffee, were commissioned by the Jazz Orchestra of Sardinia, and the spectacular suite that follows, Appearing Nightly At The Black Orchid, was written for the Monterey Jazz Festival.  Throughout, Bley pays tribute to the big band traditions of Ellington and Mingus whilst putting her own idiosyncratic stamp on everything.  Closing out the show are Someone To Watch (another Bley composition, but it does end with a sly quote from Someone To Watch Over Me), and a lovely rendition of Ray Noble's I Hadn't Had Anyone Till You.  Remarkable stuff from the first note to the last.

link
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István Mártha, Sándor Bernáth, Endre Szkárosi - The Wind Rises (1987)

The Wind Rises (Electropleniar Sound Diary), or Támad A Szél - Hangnapló on its 1987 vinyl release by Hungaroton's jazz imprint Krém, was a bizarre collaborative project led by composer István Mártha.  Working with associates Sándor Bernáth and poet/sound artist Endre Szkárosi, as well as several other musicians, Mártha intended The Wind Rises to be the start of a multimedia project, out of which all that was completed was some video footage and this album.  So if the world was denied what could've been a Hungarian Twin Peaks, at least there's some fantastically odd music to listen to.

The album was eventually reissued by ReR Megacorp in 1998 with the cover above, and English track titles, lyrics and liner notes that helped non-Hungarian speakers to somewhat decipher what's going on.  What emerges is a strange narrative of the everyday existence of some timberyard workers in the village of Kapolcs, overlaid with folk singing (some of it seemingly recorded in the early 70s), bits of organ music, folk music, synths, avant-garde chamber music, skronking saxophones... you get the idea.  Tibor Szemző drops by to handle the wind instruments.  In a brief reminisce, Mártha describes the project as "an ex tempore exhibition containing sediments of feelings and documents, a mapping of fading connections with nature", perhaps as clear an explanation as can be found for this remarkable record.

Original LP cover

link
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Giya Kancheli - Bright Sorrow / Mourned By The Wind (1997 compi, rec. 1986-88)

Two great works of sublime melancholy from Giya Kancheli (b. 1935, Tblisi), who since the end of the Soviet Union has been resident in Western Europe, building up a healthy catalogue of ECM New Series releases that I've still to investigate.  The two LPs that make up this compilation come from his time in late-Soviet Georgia, and this CD forms part of BMG's Musica Non Grata series that also featured other censored-by-the-state composers such as Gubaidulina and Artyomov.

First is Bright Sorrow, subtitled In Memory of Children, Victims of War, For the 40th anniversary of victory over fascism.  Mostly consisting of quiet drifting strings, occasionally swelling up into full-bodied orchestration, it's a choral work for two boy sopranos and boys' choir.  The texts are from Georgian poet Galaktios Tabidzes as well as Goethe, Shakespeare and Pushkin, using pointed and poignant lines about life, death and loss.

The other work, in four movements, is the 'liturgy' for viola and orchestra Mourned By The Wind, written 1984-88 in memory of Kancheli's associate and friend Givi Ordzhonikidze, a Georgian musicologist.  The violist here is the work's dedicatee, Yuri Bashmet, who paints in great charcoal streaks on the dark and moving orchestral canvas.  Anyone who likes Henryk Górecki et al will get a lot of enjoyment out of this great collection.

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Original LP covers 

Alan Stivell - Symphonie Celtique (Tir Na N-Og) (1980)

Whilst trying to pay attention in French class at school, I noticed a poster on my teacher's wall: a long haired, bearded bloke playing a harp, along with some other (presumably) musicians, and the word "Stivell" at the top in a Celtic-style font.  That image stuck with me, as I thought it could be something I might like if it was an artist/group.

A while later, I did indeed discover Breton harpist, singer, folklorist and composer Alan Stivell (born Alan Cochevelou, 1944), and got hold of an LP of the legendary Olympia concert.  Still don't have the Dublin concert, the source of Mr. Weir's poster, but now I do have this awesome "symphony" of Celtic prog-folk that Stivell wrote and recorded at the end of the 70s, which remains his most ambitious undertaking.

The Celtic Symphony is structured in three 'Circles' on sides 1-3 of the original double-vinyl, with the fourth side being a celebratory suite.  The circles represent the concentric structure of Tir Na N-Og, the island afterlife of Irish mythology also alluded to in one track on a recent post here, and break down into four tracks in each 'Circle'.  Missing from the CD is a minute-long reprise at the end of the Third Circle, but whatever the reason, that's no great loss.  What is here is wonderful.

I'm hearing some similarities to mid/late 70s Popol Vuh, albeit with a much more Celtic flavour, particularly in Ar Geoded Skedus and the stunning nine-minute Divodan.  Elsewhere there's organ drones, orchestrated pieces for strings, obvious spots for Stivell's beautiful harp playing and his vocals in Breton language/French/occasional English.  Intending the Celtic Symphony to be a more internationalist celebration of minority cultures, life, the universe and everything, there's also a reach beyond Stivell's traditional palate to more proto-World music sounds, hence bits of sitar and such.  An ambitious undertaking for sure, and one that pays off in spades.

Alternate cover, closer to original vinyl.  1988 French CD cover at top.

link
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Black Dog Productions - Bytes (1993)

Exquisitely produced and still-vital techno compilation from the original Black Dog stable of Ken Downie, Andy Turner and Ed Handley, aka (depending on who was taking the creative lead) Plaid, IAO, Xeper, The Discordian Popes etc etc.  After Warp Records' Artificial Intelligence series had set out its stall with an eponymous compilation that demonstrated their "electronic listening music" ethos, and given its first album release to Richard D James with Surfing On Sine Waves, Bytes was Artificial Intelligence #3.

Just about every single track here is essential electronica, so to name a few personal favourites: the pulsing motorik groove of Carceres Ex Novum, the warped earworm melodies of Yamemm and Merck, the full-on percussive assault of Fight The Hits... but it's all great stuff.  Despite officially being a compilation, Bytes is every inch an album, all bearing the hallmarks of these three electronic music virtuosos and well sequenced.  In the words of that first AI compilation: "Are you sitting comfortably? Artificial Intelligence is for long journeys, quiet nights and club-drowsy dawns. Listen with an open mind."

link
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Michael Mantler with Don Preston - Alien (1985)

Eerie, soundtracky collaboration between trumpeter, composer and Jazz Composer's Orchestra co-founder Michael Mantler, and Mother Of Invention Don Preston.  Mantler wrote this four-part suite and plays trumpet; Preston gets the sound bang up to date (for 1985) with an array of Yamahas, Korgs and Linn Drums.

The album title doesn't really have an explanation; a link to Ridley Scott's first Alien movie from six years prior is often hypothesized, as is the thought that it could work as an alternative soundtrack to that film.  Mantler is on record as saying that he wanted to write something that used synthesizers in place of an orchestra, and Alien works well in that intent.  The sinister synth buzzings and and stabbings in Part 3 are my favourite thing here, but the whole suite is an excellent conjuring of dark, cold space where no-one can hear you scream.

link
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Popular Mechanics - Insect Culture (1987)

Following on nicely from Popofoni last Friday, here's another insane cult item that was sparked by a TV show.  In this case, it was a BBC series aired in December 1985 called Comrades, about life in the new glasnost Soviet Union, specifically an episode called All That Jazz.  The star of the episode was avant-garde pianist Sergey Kuryokhin (1954-1996), who captured the imagination of viewer Colin Fallows, a young academic (now Professor, still at Liverpool John Moores University) who had just produced a Dada compilation in the UK, and then Pete Fulwell, who'd released the record.

The two Englishmen contacted Kuryokhin, who had already begun working with tape-collage composers Igor Verichev and Valery Alakhov, aka The New Composers.  Along with saxophonist Igor Butman, and spurred on by the encouragement of Fallows & Fulwell, the collective worked under the name Popular Mechanics to produce a jazz/electronics/tape collage album.  They plundered popular Russian radio, film and theatre for a mindbending 45-minute aural soup that was titled Insect Culture, appropriate to the image of marching ants that Fallows found for the LP label.

Insect Culture was released in 1987 on Fulwell's ARK label, and thanks to a Russian CD reissue in the late 90s, here it is, complete with an unreleased promo 12" remix entitled, in further Dada homage, The Blue Blouse.  The whole thing is a treat to listen to in its ever-shifting variety, as varispeeded tape loops of the sound sources blend with Kuryokhin's synths and Butman's sax solos.  Anyone who loves Faust, early Zappa, early Residents, etc etc knows what to do - grab this immediately.  Everyone else - grab this immediately.  It's a classic.

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Michael Garrick Trio - Moonscape (1964)

A super-rarity of British jazz, this little mini-album was released in an edition of just 99 copies on 10" vinyl.  It made its way on to CD a decade ago thanks to the efforts of obscurity-hound Jonny Trunk and his Trunk Records label, also responsible for reissuing mildly-distressing children's record The Seasons.

Michael Garrick (1933-2011) worked with the cream of the jazz avant-garde in London and beyond in the late 60s and 70s, including a 1970 release with Norma Winstone that I've got my eye on.  In 1964, he was audibly influenced by Bill Evans (Sketches Of Israel here is just gorgeous) but keen to sail to choppier waters beyond, and Moonscape always passes a hugely enjoyable 22 minutes whenever I dig it out.

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James Wood - Stoicheia (1990)

Percussion and electronics aplenty from English composer James Wood (b. 1953).  Finished in 1988, Stoicheia ('elements', 'fundamental principles') works its way up from the ground - literally, using stones, glass, metals, wood, bamboo etc - all the way to vocal phonemes and electronic manipulation, "the indigenous sounds of the 20th century", as Wood puts it here.  The signs of the zodiac are also involved in determining the placement of the performing groups and how they interact.

The result is a highly listenable and engrossing hour of shifting sounds and subtleties, like a more understated version of Xenakis works like Pléiades, Psappha, and Persephassa.  Definitely one for headphones, turned up loud.

link
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Various Artists (incl. Jan Garbarek Quartet) - Popofoni (1973)

Anyone watching the Åpen Post show on Norwegian TV on 6th March 1969 (which I doubt will include any readers here, but you never know -YouTube link, sorry no subtitles) would've caught a fascinating, bizarre debate about pop music/popular culture vs. classical music/high art.  The programme caught the attention of Arne Nordheim, previously featured on these pages here, and of the Ny Musikk organisation and the Henie-Onstad arts centre.

The plan was hatched (in an uncanny precedent for Ode To Marilyn) to get hold of some prime Nordic musicians - step forward Jan Garbarek, Bobo Stenson, Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen and Terje Rypdal - and have them collaborate with some of Norway's foremost modern composers to produce music that would represent a meeting point between popular music and the avant-garde.  Arne Nordheim, Alfred Janson, Gunnar Sønstevold, Kåre Kolberg and the soon-to-be ECM-ers, plus additional musicians, duly obliged, and a concert of the results was held in April 1970.  Three years later, this limited-edition double album emerged as a document of the project, which had been titled Popofoni.

The six tracks here are certainly fascinating, essential listening, especially if you're familiar with early ECM classics like Afric Pepperbird / Sart / Rypdal's debut.  Imagine these records with a whole extra layer of avant-garde composition/production over the top, and that's pretty much what Popofoni sounds like.

The 20-minute opener Arnold, composed by Gunnar Sønstevold, is a free jazz groove with echo-laden vocals wafting over the top, and occasional organ and tape effects.  Nordheim's two tracks that follow are even better works in the same vein, with the eerie collage of Solar Plexus (his first response to the TV debate) ending in a scratchy, sampled dance orchestra, a hail of gunfire then an emptying sink (or toilet?).  The second disc is dominated by Alfred Janson's 25-minute Valse Triste, where the jazz musicians veer between free playing and lounge pastiche, feeling their way towards the eventual schlager payoff, whilst spoken samples of the TV debate pepper the sonic landscape.  Kåre Kolberg's Blow Up Your Dreams is a more succinct attempt at stretching a conventional song (sung by Karin Krog) to fit an avant-garde frame, and as a closer we get a brief Rypdal composition in which he plays flute rather than guitar.  An utterly essential collection.

Original double-LP cover

Disc 1
Disc 2
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Van Morrison - No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986)

If Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart was a bit synth-heavy for some Van Morrison fans in the 80s, they needn't have feared - by 1986 he had fully returned to a more natural sound, and released one of the greatest albums of his career.

Morrison's lyrical preoccupations were more grounded too - after spending the early part of the decade looking into theosophy and the burgeoning New Age (especially Anglo-American writer Alice Bailey), the title of this album could be read as a statement of intent.  With Ray Charles named as one of his earliest sources of rapture within the opening lines, No Guru is an album that primarily looks back, but still finds spiritual wonder everywhere.

Musically, it's a largely relaxed and meditative listen, only breaking a sweat a couple of times, and the closing Ivory Tower is the only decisively upbeat track.  Elsewhere, six out of ten tracks break the five-minute barrier (nothing approaches Common One status, though!) as the extended meditations on love, nature and art take jazzy and folky forms.  Some reviewers have even posited No Guru as an 80s sequel to Astral Weeks, and if you listen to Tir Na Nog, or the "gardens wet with rain" callbacks on In The Garden, you can see their point.  A massively underrated career highlight from a singular artist.

link
pw: sgtg

Previously posted at SGTG:
Saint Dominic's Preview
Common One
Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart

Nurse With Wound - Lumb's Sister (2014 compi, rec. 1986-7)

Long overdue some NWW here, so here's one that I've been listening to a lot on the dark evenings.  Originally written as a film soundtrack - the director's eventual choice of alternate music gets a good-natured "aw shucks" from Stapleton in the brief liner note - Lumb's Sister is classic mid-80s Nurse With Wound.

All the expected ingredients are present: huge, formless chasms of ambient sound from which emerge creakings, groanings, occasional soft and ominous rhythms, and so forth.  A selection of Lumb recordings were released as part of a 3LP box set in 1989, shared with Current 93 and Sol Invictus; Stapleton then took an informal run at a reissue circa 2012, which appeared on a few CDRs, before this definitive collection was released in 2014. 

It can probably be taken as a given, knowing the artist's predilection for remixing himself, that at least some of the material was smartened up for final release, but it certainly all sounds fantastic and has an album-like consistency.  As a bonus, Coil appear on Stapleton's remix of How To Destroy Angels.

link
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Yep, another files update...

Google Drive isn't going to work.  I've already started to receive copyright notices and account suspension warnings.  Had to immediately delete all the files from the past few months as they were in the Drive tied to my personal email address, and there's tons of family photos etc stored there that I don't want to risk losing.

So I'm afraid (unless anyone has any other suggestions) it's back to Zippyshare for everything.  Will re-upload as and when I've got the time and energy.

Update. Sat 10 Nov: Thanks again everyone for your helpful comments, and your encouragement.  First thing I'm getting done is putting back up the 2018 links that I wiped yesterday; Zippy will do for now, then will think through other options.

The good thing is that all the other Google Drive accounts that I opened to host the 2016-2017 links have so far (fingers crossed!) not received any notifications, so they can stay there until any problems arise.  (Ellington Uptown from Dec 2017 will go back up today - thanks to the person who noticed I'd skipped over it!)

I stopped using full names for the zip files and changed to letters & numbers a while back, and will use passwords going forward; re-zipping everything else to include passwords will get done eventually, but that'll need to be a low priority.  The other thing that will be useful will be when I get a Lumen report from Google, apparently this service tells you (eventually, it can take weeks) which files were reported.  Will be interesting to find out - I think the main problem I have that, say, Die or DIY doesn't have, is my tendency to stray in to major label waters, or labels that were once indies and now have ownership by one of the majors, e.g. Virgin/Charisma.  May have to avoid that going forward if it turns out to be the case.

cheers

AB

John Adams - The Chairman Dances, etc (1987)

If you enjoyed the John Adams piano post last month, here's some of his classics for orchestra/chamber ensembles.  This album was released as a trailer for Adams' opera Nixon In China, which would get a full album release the following year.  The title piece here remains the most famous excerpt from the opera, and chugs along nicely with its foxtrot and cabaret influences representing the dance between Mao and his wife.

The rest of this collection gives a nice overview of Adams' work from the mid 70s onward, with the gentle Christian Zeal & Activity being the oldest.  With the melancholy atmosphere and overlay of snippets from a preacher's sermon, it somewhat evokes Gavin Bryars' Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet.  Next up are 'Two Fanfares for Orchestra' from 1986, the first being the sedate pulse of Tromba Lontana and the second the more upbeat and well-known Short Ride In A Fast Machine.  Lastly, Common Tones In Simple Time (1980) stretches out for a nicely hypnotic 20 minutes, and makes plain the influence of Steve Reich on Adams' compositional style.

link
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Robert Rich & B. Lustmord - Stalker (1995)

This'll do nicely as a belated Halloween post.  I did get hold of this album on Halloween last week - walked in to my favourite Oxfam Music shop, and it was playing over the speakers.  Initially wondered if this was Tangerine Dream circa Atem, or something... no, the tech's not vintage enough... eventually, I just walked up the counter and asked to buy it.

So here it is - over an hour of first class dark ambient from California ambient master Robert Rich and Welsh industrialist Brian 'Lustmord' Williams, inspired by Tarkovsky as per the album title.  I've never actually seen that film - any good?  This album is phenomenal though, I keep hearing Coil-esque bits, even eerie resemblances to In The Shadow Of The Sun.

link
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Re-upping Update

Hi folks.  Just about there - every post should be on Google Drive by Tuesday.

Aug-Nov 2017 was the trickiest - looks like the only backup I did was on the HD of a laptop that died at the end of last year.  Still, got just about everything re-ripped, or otherwise found, with one exception that I've completely lost.  So here's a bit of a reader appeal: anyone got the files for the Mingus Tribute?  I know I did that one plus an unedited file, so it's a big ask, but if anyone's able to help out (doesn't have to be both aspects, unless anyone has the whole lot) that would be awesome (All good now, with huge thanks to the two contributors of the files!).

Cheers,
AB

Astor Piazzolla - Concierto Para Quinteto (rec. 1981, rel. 1990)

Whilst the re-uploading continues, the show must go on!

A recent charity shop find, of the very best kind - where I take a chance on something completely unfamiliar, and it turns up pure gold.  I've definitely heard the name Astor Piazzolla before, maybe even looked him up on discogs, so I knew he was an important Argentine musician, but hadn't listened to him at all until now.

Grabbed this double set (in an old-style fatbox) initially thinking from the title that it was some kind of classical-crossover work.  Turns out 'Concierto Para Quinteto' is one of Piazzolla's (1921-1992) most famous compositions, but it's only one track here in a live concert recording from the Cine Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires on 20 December 1981.  Piazzolla's bandoneon is supported here by electric guitar, piano, violin and double bass.

And it's quite a listening experience - especially if you're unfamiliar with the artist and his 'nuevo tango' style.  From what I've read, Piazzolla's mature style from this era was the result of fusing traditional Argentinian tango with jazz and classical influences, where he traveled extensively, working in the US and back in Argentina with different ensembles, becoming a stylistic pioneer as well as a national legend.  There's a good mix in the setlist here of upbeat material and more reflective, sometimes more complex compositions, and it was all an absolute joy to listen to.  Will definitely be exploring further.

Disc 1 link
Disc 2 link
pw: sgtg

Mega have suspended my account, and every link seems to have been wiped.

Yep, even the Zippy links.  Don't know where to go from here, or if I've got the time to spare to re-up Zippy links.

Update:  Now that the shock has sunk in, time to move forward...  Thanks all for your comments.  I reckon Google Drive is the way to go - currently rattling around with memory sticks, with fingers crossed that there aren't any stray months I didn't back up [Update 2: that's this year to date back up, and 2017 except Aug-Nov].

Will get everything back up in due course.  Hey ho, that's life.  Thanks again everyone for your support.

AB.

Nils Frahm & Ólafur Arnalds - Collaborative Works (2015 compi, rec. 2011-15)

Back to Erased Tapes, with a compilation that does exactly what it says on the tin: brings together an hour's worth of EP tracks recorded by labelmates & close friends Nils Frahm & Ólafur Arnalds.  Then tops it off with a bonus 40 minutes drawn from an evening's improvisations whilst planning the reissue of the EPs.

The EP tracks find both artists in a much more pure electronic mode that they normally operate in, most notably on the superb 25 minutes of Loon, recorded 2014 and originally released as a 12" the following year.  They skirt the edges of Cluster-esque minimalism before taking a full-on dive into it with the standout tracks W and M.  This is followed by the three untitled tracks of 2012's more atmospheric Stare EP.  German cellist Anne Müller (who had previously collaborated with Frahm on 2009's 7Fingers album) proves an inspired and understated third partner on the longest track.  Lastly, the 2015 7" (recorded in 2012) Life Story/Love & Glory returns to the more familiar piano-and-ambience of Felt.

As noted above, when meeting up to arrange the EP compilation, Frahm and Arnalds decided to record a new exclusive track for it.  This turned in to an entire evening of spontaneous loveliness, and was titled Trance Frendz, receiving its own vinyl release in 2016.  The first three tracks are again in Felt mode, based around gentle piano and electronics, and washes of harmonium in 23:17 (each track is named after the time recording started).  Then there's a change of scenery with 23:52's swelling synth and harmonium atmosphere, and the pure electronics of 00:26.  Entering the small hours, everything mellows out once more with tinkling piano and music box ambience.  Essential, gorgeous music from start to finish.

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Disc 2 link

Arild Andersen - Shimri (1977)

Yeah, I know... I've probably written things like 'autumnal ECM gorgeousness' a hundred times in different posts - but this is the absolute zenith, one that oozes it from every pore.  In October 1976, Arild Andersen brought this Norwegian-Swedish-Finnish group into the studio for his second album as bandleader, and came up with this mellow beauty that was released the following year.

The opening title track shimmers like a glassy lake, with Juhani Aaltonen's sax smouldering in the embers of a lakeside campfire, before a gentle breeze carries forward the slightly more upbeat No Tears with some stunning piano from Lars Jansson.  As twilight descends, Aaltonen switches to flute for the next three songs, all of them gorgeous beyond words, before the last and longest track goes back to sax.  This finale, Dedication, gets a lot more firey than the rest thanks to the momentum Aaltonen gives it, but doesn't disturb the mood of the rest of the album - rather, it just balances it out perfectly.  As if we hadn't heard enough of Andersen's bass mastery already, he takes a solo just before the end.  For me, this is the absolute highlight of his discography.  Essential peak ECM.

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Wendy Carlos - Digital Moonscapes (1984)

In which Wendy Carlos (Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Tron et al, not to mention the groundbreaking Switched On... series) writes a full-on orchestral work about space, and records it all using digital synthesisers - with "no microphones", as proudly noted.  In a lengthy liner note, Carlos describes the process of collecting hundreds of synth voices during the early 80s that would emulate the characteristics and dynamics of orchestral instruments - certainly an impressive undertaking in its day - and then composing two astronomical-themed suites intended to appeal to a contemporary audience.

The first suite is the three-part Cosmological Impressions, evoking the vastness of space in grand style.  The remaining 41 minutes are the Moonscapes suite of the album title, covering in its nine sections our own moon and those of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.  Some of these pieces are more immediate and impressive, others take a few more listens to appreciate, but the writing throughout is definitely ambitious and evocative, taking in all of Carlos' classical influences and creating something unique and memorable.  Imagine a Vangelis record where all the atmospherics and synth manipulation are replaced by a focus on intricate composition, and you'll at least be in the right galaxy.

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Daniel Kientzy - Musiques Contemporaines Pour Saxophones (1988)

The great avant-garde/modern classical sax master Daniel Kientzy, previously highlighted starring in ensemble works here and here, returns to these pages in an early compilation of pieces for solo saxophone.  Or indeed more than one sax at once, or sax plus electronics - it's all here at its most mind-bending, in one piece each from the seven composers listed on the cover.

If you love solo saxophone doing insane, improbable things, this is the album for you for sure; if you think it might be a bit much to sit through 71 minutes of this stuff, I recommend taking it in stages.  Personal highlights would be the blasting opener, the overture to Aurel Stroe's Eumenides opera (can never resist a Romanian composer) and the closer, Horacio Vaggione's Thema, that sounds like it's being played inside a gigantic cement mixer.  Then enjoy the frenzy of tape effects layered on to Aulodie by François-Bernard Mâche, then the slowly integrating layers of the Stockhausen piece, then the rest will be a breeze.  I promise.

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Argo - Discophonia (1981)

Early 80s electronica with a good dose of gentle funk, from Lithuania.  Argo were formed out of the Kaunas Musical Theatre in 1979, and released three albums, of which this debut is the only one available digitally.  Discophonia initially caught my eye due to that wonderful Sticky Fingers-esque cover drawing, and the rainbow's a nice touch.  Given this paired with the album title, I was prepared for something along the lines of Arp Life; turns out that Discophonia's a much more stripped-down affair.

The liner notes explain the album title as referring to the two intended purposes of the music: Disco tracks for dancing, and -phonia meaning tracks for sitting down to listen to.  Things kick off in the former mode, with electric piano, phased funky guitar, a pumping bassline, and a vocal exclaiming "DISCO!" at regular intervals.  This is just the intro to A1 (all the tracks are just titled in sequence like that) though, as it moves through different sections that show off the band's musical chops.  A2 and A3 follow with more grooves, but getting progressively more relaxed; in particular, if someone introduced me to A3 as a great lost track from a KPM library record I wouldn't bat an eyelid.

A4 is pure mellowness by contrast, featuring ethereal vocals - intended, as per the liners, to act just as another instrument.  B1 goes further by starting acapella before a mellow bassline and twinkling synths relax you just in time for its upbeat mid-section.  B2 and B3 are just absolutely gorgeous electronica to finish, with barely-there drum machines and gentle keyboards; stuff of this calibre could've sat nicely on a Sky label release from the same time period.  There's one more disco flourish right at the end to get you in the mood for starting from the beginning again.  Very highly recommended.

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Georgy Dmitriev - Chamber and Electronic Music (2000 compilation)

Equal amounts fascinating and highly listenable stuff here from Georgy Dmtiriev (b. 1942, Krasnodar, Russia), in an hour-long compilation.  No recording dates here, but all the compositions date from the 80s.  The first piece is probably my personal favourite, a 19-minute saxophone quartet, In The Spirit Of Herman Hesse (1983).  Some almost jazz-like moments give way to more complex writing, at times microtonal, towards the end.

Warsaw Fantasy, for violin and piano, was written in 1983 in response to events in Poland that year.  This one is apparently a really good example of Dmitriev's enjoyment of stylistic allusions and 'music as dialogue' - among the subtle quotations I could definitely pick out a Chopin nocturne and a waltz.  The 'Nicolo' of the title of the other violin/piano piece is Paganini, on the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Stained Glass for oboe, clarinet, alto sax and bassoon (1981) was another one that really appealed to me in its instrumentation.  It's in two parts, a nicely languid one for monotone stained glass, and a more animated one for multicoloured glass.  In the latter, there's some of the staccato pulsing in similar style to early Xenakis, which was nice.  Speaking of Iannis, in 1990 Dmitriev paid him a visit in Paris following an invitation to try out the UPIC graphic-interface composing software that he'd developed.  The result was Adagio For UPIC which closes this collection in memorable style with its eerie swishes of sound.

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Tomasz Stańko - Bosonossa And Other Ballads (1993)

YEEESSSS finally got hold of a copy of this!  Majorly out of print (seeming to have disappeared from the GOWI label's catalogue on their own website), Bosonossa is well worth chasing down.  Stańko's quartet with which he'd return to ECM the following year (on Matka Joanna - will post sometime) appear here fully-formed, and sound fantastic on this masterpiece of an album.

Six tracks in just shy of an hour means that everyone gets a chance to stretch out and showcase their considerable talents alongside Stańko.  Drummer Tony Oxley is particularly adept at sketching the atmospherics - I remember one reviewer of Matka Joanna likening him to 'a ghost dragging its chains around', and the same is true in places here.  ECM familiars Bobo Stenson and Anders Jormin contribute some stunning pianism and thick, meaty bass respectively, brilliantly rendered in a production job by Stańko himself.

As for the (sadly now late) trumpeter, he's on top form throughout, spitting out firecrackers of sound one moment then languidly breathing out the residual smoke trails the next.  His chosen material for Bosonossa is inspired as always - his 80s staple Sunia gets its most respectful and drawn-out treatment on record, and three of the other tracks he was rightly proud enough of to recast them in the initial phase of his ECM homecoming.  Fans of Matka Joanna and Leosia will therefore enjoy both a bit of familiarity, and also the sheer brilliance of these tracks in their original outings.  But to be honest, anyone who likes Stańko, or just great quartet jazz, is in for a treat here of the highest order.

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previously posted at SGTG:
Jazzmessage From Poland (1972)
Purple Sun (1973)
Freelectronic in Montreux (1987)
Bluish (1991)
Dark Eyes (2009)
Wisława (2013) 
Polin (2014) 

John Adams - Road Movies (2004)

Some of the most sublime minimalist piano music ever written, in one handy package that spans 24 years of John Adams' composing career.  That timespan makes for a collection in which familiar, widely-interpreted pieces sit alongside two that made their recording debut here, but it all feels nicely consistent and album-like.

The three-part title piece, from 1995, adds violin to the piano for a nice 15-minute road trip that rolls along rural highways at first, takes a slower look at the landscape then kicks up into an even higher gear.  The "40% Swing" subtitle of Part III comes from a MIDI sequencer setting that Adams found akin to ragtime or Benny Goodman-esque jazz.

After that, everything is pure piano, starting with Hallelujah Junction (1996) for two pianos.  The first two parts might now for some be indelibly associated with Luca Guadagnino's magnificent adaptation of Call Me By Your Name (and certainly, that was my introduction to the piece, buying this album soon after), but Adams' original inspiration was the name of a truckstop on the California-Nevada border.  Whatever it evokes, from the joyful bell-like opening onwards, it's a thing of pure loveliness, even with a bit of a knotty ending.  That hectic finale is taken even further in American Berserk (2001).  What remains is a fresh look at the legendary "Gates" from 1977, both China and Phrygian, both clearly and expertly rendered by Nicholas Hodges and Rolf Hind, and sounding as spectacular as ever.

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previously posted at SGTG: Shaker Loops

Fernando Grillo - Fluvine (1976)

Only solo album by avant-garde double bassist Fernando Grillo (1945-2013), the man responsible for breathing fearsome life into Iancu Dumitrescu's early recordings of his writing for double bass.  This four-part suite from the mid-70s makes one wonder if Grillo perhaps provided the original spark of inspiration to Dumitrescu for wringing every possible unearthly sound from the bass, whether in percussive attack or in ominous creakings and rumblings.

The sound quality is a little muted - not sure if from the original recording, or just in the mastering of this reissue.  In any case, more than enough of the unearthly tones of the bass come through here to show how unique Grillo's approach to his instrument was.  Fluvine Due made me think of early Throbbing Gristle in their more subdued moments, if Genesis P-Orridge had been a virtuoso on the bass rather than just whacking it as a percussive sound-source.  Don't know what's going on in Fluvine Tre - is that tape manipulation making the squeedgeing noises, or is it all Grillo?  Lastly, the 22-minute Fluvine Quattro packs in all of Grillo's phenomenal technique into an epic journey into the sound of one instrument.

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Mary Jane Leach - Celestial Fires (1993)

Mostly choral pieces from Mary Jane Leach (b. 1949 in Vermont, based in NYC since the mid-70s) that showcase her talent for layering multiple voices either live, on tape, or both.  This is apparent right from the opening track Bruckstück (1989), in which a phrase from a Bruckner symphony is transposed into a shimmering sea of voices.  Leach borrows another little bit of inspiration and takes it somewhere extraordinary again in Green Mountain Madrigal (1985) and Mountain Echoes (1987), which are both loosely based on a Monteverdi madrigal.  The close harmonies and dissonant intervals of the madrigal are stretched out, and the melodies passed around the singers, to gorgeous effect.

We also get an introduction here to Leach's work for instruments on tape.  The first of these two is Feu De Joie (1992) for bassoon solo plus six bassoons on tape.  With the melody directed by computer analysis of the harmonics produced by the layered tracks, and the whole piece's immersive droning soundworld, it's very reminiscent of the title track from David Behrman's On The Other Ocean.  Trio For Duo (1985), for flute, taped flute and voice, tries to meld the sound of the voice with the timbre of the flute as sounds are passed between them.  Following that, the closing track is another vocal piece, Ariel's Song (1987) for eight sopranos, gradually changing their parts in clockwise and counter-clockwise movement.  As with everything else here, it sounds stunningly lovely, and this collection comes with a huge recommendation from me.

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Aparis - Despite The Fire-Fighters' Efforts... (1993)

The Stockhausens and their percussive accomplice returned to ECM the summer of 1992 to record this sequel to Aparis.  Now using the debut album title as a group moniker, they gave this one (sadly their last together) an album title that appeared to be pulled from a news report - probably one from late November 1992, when Windsor Castle caught fire; I'm almost certain that's what's pictured on the cover.

Musically, the trio expanded and refined the palette of their debut, with 13-minute opener Sunrice starting out in ambient mode before picking up pace towards an increasingly free ending.  Jo Thönes' muscular acoustic drumming is particularly noteworthy.  The next epic, Welcome, follows a similar structure, and in between them the liquid atmosphere of Waveterms is punctuated with what sounds like zither swishes, and percussive sections that introduce sampled speech and singing from unspecified locations.

The album's second half travels from its most upbeat and jazzy (Fire) to its most fully-realised electronic and dark-atmospheric in Green Piece and Orange, with the anthemic Hannibal the perfect closer.  The keyboard work is still a bit of its time, but sits much better within the overall production (handled by the trio themselves, in one of a small number of ECM releases where Manfred Eicher isn't credited with overall control).  I'm not sure if I'd go as far though as to say that this album is preferable to the first; better perhaps to think of Markus, Simon & Jo's ECM output as two hours of fascinating, original music that leaves you wishing there'd been more, to see what other developments arose.

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Markus Stockhausen, Simon Stockhausen, Jo Thönes - Aparis (1990)

The rest of this week spotlights a little-known ECM grouping featuring two of Karlheinz Stockhausen's offspring: trumpeter Markus (born 1957), and his decade-younger half-brother Simon on saxes & synths, plus percussionist Jo Thönes.  This August 1989 recording was the trio's debut; I haven't been able to find any info on what the album name means (maybe just "à Paris" - of Paris?), but they seemed to like it enough to use it as a band name by the time of the 1993 follow-up.  That's for Friday, but today, here's Aparis the album.

The 16-minute title track is up first, setting an extended mood of subtle percussion, chilly synth and a gradual building of Markus' trumpet lead.  If a 20-years-younger Miles Davis had just been settling into his electric period in 1989, In A Silent Way might well have sounded like this.  The track catches fire about halfway in, only to mellow out again as a sequencer threads its way around a sibling horn duet.  Don't want to write a whole load about this one track, but the 'synth apeing a wailing lead guitar' ending was just too much fun to pass over.

Another lengthy piece, Poseidon, follows in a more energised free jazz mode with electronic effects that might sound dated but are enjoyable for sure, before a morse-code rhythm sets up the main body of the track.  Your mileage may vary on the synth bass.  After a mellow interlude in Carnaval, and an upbeat one in the most sonically 80s-anchored track High Ride, we're due another 13-minute exploration in Rejoice.  This one might be my favourite, coming across as it does like a piece of 80s Tangerine Dream progressive electronica with a fully-compatible jazz crossover, and it's followed by the sweet closing ambience of Peach.  If you can deal with the very much of their time synths, this album is a keeper.

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Gong - You (1974)

One more Gong/Hillage post for the time being, in the last (studio) occasion that they'd both intertwine.  This album is the sweet spot of psychedelic Gong for me, where they got to fully flex their musical muscles on four lengthy tracks, and the remaining short pieces are the ones that carry most of Daevid Allen's comic-space-opera narrative.

After You opens with two of the latter plus a short atmospheric instrumental, Hillage is the first to get the musical spotlight with Master Builder.  I'm assuming the main riff was his, as it would appear again as The Glorious Om Riff on Green, and his guitar solos here are nothing short of blinding.  The next track, the nine mind-bending minutes of A Sprinkling Of Clouds, might prefigure Rainbow Dome Musick to begin with, but the master synther in this case is Tim Blake rather than Hillage/Giraudy.

The absolute star of You, however, IMO has to be bassist Mike Howlett.  Rock solid throughout, the generous dose of psych-jazz-funk that he lays down throughout the album reaches its apex on the ten minutes of The Isle Of Everywhere.  Laying down a hypnotic bassline that Holger Czukay might've been proud of, everyone from Blake to Hillage to the French percussion team that would shortly take ownership of the band gets a chance to shine on this album high point.

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Chick Corea & Gary Burton - Lyric Suite For Sextet (1983)

The 80s adventures of Armando Anthony Corea continue (prev. posts: Children's Songs & Voyage) with this September 1982 recording.  Winding up (for the time being; they'd reunite again from the late 90s onward) a partnership that began a decade prior, Chick and vibesman Gary Burton decided to push the boat out a bit and record this Corea-penned suite, accompanied by a string quartet.

What could've been, at the very least, an interesting experiment does sound exactly like that in the album's early tracks, to be honest.  Corea's always-exciting pianism and Burton's gorgeous vibes blend as beautifully as ever, but the strings can feel a little grafted on.  Not to worry though, as this is an album that peaks midway and then just cruises at that altitude through to its close.

The crossing point from 'interesting experiment' to 'absolutely lovely' coincides with IMO Corea's compositional highlight of the whole thing, Brasilia.  Sounding like a perfect modern-classical package that Erased Tapes' Robert Raths would give his eye teeth to get his hands on, that track and its follow-up, Dream, are also the two longest pieces in the set, giving the listener extra time to luxuriate in their brilliance.  In summary, a really nice suite of music for autumnal chillout, raised up to near-essential by the huge step up in quality in its second half.

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