• Music

    CAN – The Singles

    April 13, 2021 - By 

    It looks like Mute Records are beginning to put more effort into their Bandcamp page, adding a lot of classic albums from their catalogue including licensed material from CAN, the legendary Krautrock band whose members all went on to do wonderful projects on their own. Though most readers here will have a favorite album they would rather feature (mine is Monster Movie), I’m posting this concentrating on my Chinese friends today so that they can sample what CAN were all about. The Singles is a decent introduction to their material.

  • Music

    Various Artists – Audion Magazine #36 (Multimedia)

    February 12, 2021 - By 

    I had a good friend whom I worked with at a record shop in Los Angeles called Dana, who was probably 20 years my senior or so, and he was always amazed at how I managed to retain so much information at a young age (I was 23 when I met him) about prog, psych and other weird musics.  I told him it was simple – I had family who liked weird things, and I bought Audion Magazine quarterly without fail for many years. I’m very happy to see the Freeman Brothers, who are responsible for this magazine and Ultima…

  • Music

    Ghost Rhythms – Imaginary Mountains

    January 21, 2021 - By 

    The French band Ghost Rhythms live up to their name.  The beats are pretty wild on this one. This release sets between avant-progressive, Canterbury, and some of the freakier excursions of late-period King Crimson.  Perhaps Samla Mammas Manna and their side-projects could also make good reference points. Very engaging listening, especially if you like time changes.

  • Music

    Jeff Gburek/Akashic Records – Twin Oscillators ((An Electro-Isolation Suite for 2020))

    January 16, 2021 - By 

    At its heart, Jeff Gburek’s latest release on Bandcamp, Twin Oscillators, presents itself as astoundingly good experimental music.  I had the pleasure of writing about his works (13 mentions, the most, I believe, of any artist whose work I checked out) at my now-defunct blog, A Miscellany of Tasteful Music.  The quality of his work never wanes. In a just world, he would be recognized as one of the foremost improvisers to come out of America in decades, and perhaps as time passes, his work will become more widely recognized. This is one of the reasons I write about the…

  • Music

    The Claudia Quintet +1 with Kurt Elling & Theo Bleckmann – What Is The Beautiful?

    January 3, 2021 - By 

    Cuneiform Records offers a very generous program where a release from their back catalog is offered for $5 ($7 for a double album release), and they don’t skimp on the quality of these releases. Drummer John Hollenbeck’s The Claudia Quintet released this disc in 2011, and as a Rock-In-Opposition / Avant-Progressive / Spoken Word release, it holds together beautifully.  Collaborating on this album are Kurt Elling, one of America’s finest jazz vocalists, and Theo Bleckmann, one of Germany’s finest singers. From the Cuneiform Bandcamp site: For their sixth album, What Is The Beautiful?, The Claudia Quintet brings together the acclaimed…