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* Geminiani: Concerti Grossi (after Corelli, Op.5) (AAM/Manze) (Harmonia Mundi 2CD)* Vivaldi: Cello Sonatas (ter Linden/Mortensen) (Brilliant Classics 2CD)
* Rebel: Violin Sonatas (Manze/Egarr/ter Linden) (Harmonia Mundi CD)
* J.S. Bach: Violin Sonatas (Manze/Egarr/ter Linden) (Harmonia Mundi 2CD)
* J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations (Hewitt): RFH, London 4-29-09 (FM CDR)
* Debussy/Ravel/Dutilleux: String Quartets (Juilliard Quartet) (Sony CD)
* Bill Evans: The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 (d.1-2) (Riverside 3CD)
* Sun Ra: Helsinki, Finland 10-14-71 (FM 2CDR)
* Sun Ra: Aarhus, Denmark 10-19-71 (d.2) (FM 2CDR)
* Sun Ra: Delft, Netherlands 11-11-71 (d.1) (FM 3CDR)
* Peter Brötzmann Sextet/Quartet: Nipples (UMS/Atavistic CD)
* Peter Brötzmann Sextet/Quartet: More Nipples (UMS/Atavistic CD)
* Matthew Shipp Duo with Mat Maneri: Gravitational Systems (hatOLOGY CD)
* Mary HalvorsonTrio: Dragon’s Head (Firehouse 12 CD)
* Mary Halvorson Trio: The Vortex, London 12-14-09 (FM CDR)
* Bill Frisell: Nashville (Nonesuch CD)
* The Beatles: Rubber Soul (U.K. mono) (Apple/EMI CD)
* Jimi Hendrix: South Saturn Delta (Experience Hendrix/MCA CD)
* Grateful Dead: Performing Arts Center, Milwaukee, WI 10-24-72 IIx (SBD CDR)
* Grateful Dead: Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO 7-8-78 (SBD 3CDR)
* Led Zeppelin: II (Atlantic – Japan LP)
* Henry Cow: Concerts (Virgin 2LP)
* Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon (Capitol SACD)
* Genesis: Paris Theatre, London 3-2-72 + BBC Studios 9-25-72 (Pre-FM CDR)
* Van Morrison: Veedon Fleece (Polydor CD)
* Neil Young: Time Fades Away (Reprise LP)
* Nick Drake: Pink Moon (Island/Universal CD)
* Chris Bell: I Am the Cosmos (Deluxe Edition) (Rhino Handmade 2CD)
* Golden Palominos: Visions of Excess (Celluloid LP)
* Golden Palominos: Blast of Silence (Celluloid LP)
* Guided By Voices: “I Am a Scientist” (Scat 7”EP)
* Guided By Voices: Alien Lanes (Matador LP)
* Guided By Voices: “Motor Away” (Matador 7”)
* Guided By Voices: Tigerbomb (Matador 7”EP)
* Robert Pollard: We All Got Out of the Army (GBV, Inc. LP)
* Robert Pollard: “Silk Rotor” (side B) (Happy Jack Rock Records 7”EP)
* Buckethead: Monsters and Robots (CyberOctave CD)
* Praxis: Bonnaroo Music Festival, Manchester, TN 6-11-04 (Axis Festival/SBD 3CDR)
* Beck: Mutations (Bongload Custom LP)
* Beck: Various B-Sides 1996-1999 (mix CDR)
* Animal Collective: Fall Be Kind (Domino CDEP)
Commentary:
Inspired by Sam’s recent playlists, I decided to pull out my CDRs of the Praxis set at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2004 and give them a spin. I’m embarrassed to admit that, even though Bonnaroo takes place every summer just down the road from here, I have never been. My lame excuses are as follows: for one thing, I am simply getting to be too old for that kind of thing -- and I’m getting older by the day. More importantly, I just don’t have the camping gear required to make such a trip even remotely comfortable. So, every year I daydream about how fun it would be to go to Bonnaroo but ultimately wind up realizing it’s just not feasible.
ANYWAY, way back in 2004, I thought it was pretty darn cool that Bill Laswell’s ultra-urban, ad hoc Praxis ensemble (with Bernie Worrell, Buckethead, Bryan "Brain" Mantia, and, sometimes, Lili Haydn) performed a late-night set down here in rural Tennessee. Even cooler, the complete concert was later available for download on Livebonnaroo.com for those of us who couldn’t (or wouldn’t) make the trip. It’s a sprawling affair, almost three hours of space-funk-heavy-metal-dub mayhem that only occasionally comes together into a satisfying whole. In 2007, ROIR released a one-CD edit of this performance entitled, Tennessee 2004, but I haven’t heard it. Colloquially speaking, I expect it benefits from Laswell’s judicious editing, making for a satisfying album experience. In any event, I’m glad to have this raw document of a rare performance by this enigmatic group. Despite its flaws, this is another example of what I consider effective, if not essential, fusion music: virtuoso musicians fearlessly experimenting in genre-crossing synthesis. No, it doesn’t always work and some of it is in self-consciously bad taste -- or worse, merely boring; but the inherent friction sometimes sparks a fireworks display that justifies the risks and inevitable losses. Those moments of illumination, as fleeting and ephemeral as they might be, are what make any sincere attempt at fusion laudable, if not necessarily listenable. Think I’ll check out the rest of their discography in coming weeks.
Two things sound missing from this Praxis lineup: Bootsy, and DJs! I realize Bootsy's not on the live at Zurich stuff, but even so, without something like the DJs to provide contrast, I can only imagine how an unfettered Buckethead could dominate a set...maybe more headbanging than I could stand!
ReplyDeleteHere's my lists from last week:
Playlist 2010-03-08
*Marshall Allen & the Vertical Dogs: 2010-02-27 The Fridge, DC (wav)
*Anthony Braxton: Nine Compositions (DVD) 2003, tracks 8, 9
*Anthony Braxton 12tet + 1: 2010-01-29 Vancouver (CDR) [I see that I mistakenly dated this 2009-11-05 last week! Not sure how I did that]
*Miles Davis & John Coltrane: The Complete Columbia Recordings 1955-1961 (disc 6)
*Sam Rivers: Streams
*Sun Ra: Music From Tomorrow's World
*Sun Ra: Unreleased test pressing tracks, NYC, 1965 (CDR)
*Sun Ra: Space is the Place (Blue Thumb)
*Sun Ra: The Antique Blacks (Art Yard)
*Sun Ra: Disco 3000 (Art Yard)
*Sun Ra: Disco 3000: The Complete Milan Concert 1978 (Art Yard)
*Sun Ra: Detroit Jazz Center, discs 11, 12 (1980-12-28) (CDR)
*Taj Mahal Travellers: Live in Stockholm 1971
*Animal Collective: Strawberry Jam
*Beatles: Live: Conquering America (disc 1) (Purple Chick)
*Beatles: Revolver (2009 stereo remaster)
*Grateful Dead: 1969-12-26 Dallas (CDR)
*Grateful Dead: 1969-12-30 Boston (CDR)
*Grateful Dead: 1970-01-02 Fillmore East (CDR)
*Tito Puente: The Essential Tito Puente
*Frank Zappa: London Symphony orchestra
Reading log 2010-03-08
*The Complete Weird Science (EC) (finished)
*Wallace, David Foster. Consider the Lobster (finished)
*Kerr, Philip. March Violets (started)
*Shields, Davis. Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (started)
*Larson, Gary. The Complete Far Side (in progress)
*Musil, Robert. Man Without Qualities (in progress)
*A New Literary History of America (ed. Greil Marcus & Werner Sollors) (in progress)
I got a hair and decided to do another iPod shuffle playlist. Looks like I'll have to split into multiple comments.
ReplyDeleteiPod shuffle playlist, week of 2010-03-01 to 03-07 pt. 1
Okay, I know it's been written about ad nauseam, but I have some thoughts about the supposed true "randomness" of the iPod's shuffle mode. As you can see from the weeks' worth of shuffling, all one sequence (that is, I didn't restart the shuffle mode or move out of it and then return to it, all week), it's got a pattern. True, all random sequences eventually show some kind of pattern, but the playlist's incessant hovering around Jimi Hendrix show that, in a "random" sequence, it chooses an area (in this case, "artist," in this case, "Jimi Hendrix") to serve as a touchstone, a launching pad from which to spring off and randomly grab other songs from other areas. Last week, and for several weeks before, Hendrix had not shown up at all in the shuffle sequences. But other artists, not represented here, did, and in much the same way as Hendrix does here--every few songs would be, say, Billie Holiday, or the Beatles, or Duke Ellington. My point is that that technique, that series of actions, by the very nature of its being defined (programmed), is not random--it is ordered, controlled, to give the illusion of randomness. This is not to say that in the random, patterns like this cannot occur naturally; obviously they can. But I have seen this pattern repeated time and again in various shuffle sequences, enough so to the point that I can almost predict, fifteen songs into a sequence, what the touchstone will be for that particular sequence--enough so that I conclude that this technique is in fact a programmed mode of operation. It may be one of several such techniques design to produce the illusion of randomness, with a built-up layer of many such actions, each feeding on and off the other. Who is to say that the result of such mixed techniques is not in itself random, even though the results listened to usually seem so? Me. that's who. Random, my ass.
1. Beach Boys: Good vibrations (live 1966)
2. Rolling Stones: Jumpin' Jack Flash (live 1974??)
3. John Lee Hooker: Big legs tight skirt
4. Sun Ra: Discipline 11 (live Slug's 1972)
5. Staple Singers: I'll take you there
6. Jimi Hendrix: Hear my train a-comin' (live Hawaii 1970)
7. Aretha Franklin: Spirit in the dark
8. Rolling Stones: Miss you (live 1974???)
9. Cryptic Jr.: selection
10. The Spaniels: Goodnite sweetheart
11. Charlie Parker: The Hymn (take B)
12. Jimi Hendrix Experience: Foxey Lady
13. Screamin' Jay Hawkins: Little demon
14. Charlie Parker: Cheryl (live Roost 1949
iPod shuffle playlist, week of 2010-03-01 pt. 2:
ReplyDelete15. Otis Redding: Your one and only man
16. Brenda Holloway: Together 'til the end of time
17. Husker Du: Bed of nails
18. Soft Machine: We did it again
19. Jimi Hendrix: Love or confusion (BBC)
20. Blind Alfred Reed: There'll be no distinctions there
21. Howlin' Wolf: Color and kind
22. Tad Thaddock: Attitude sax (live New Horizons, Richmond 1985)
23. Clarence Williams' Blue Five: Just wait 'til you see my baby do the Charleston
24. Duke Ellington: Mood to be woo'd
25. The Fabulous Wailers: Tall cool one
26. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles: Baby baby don't cry
27. Elmore James: It hurts me too
28. Tad Thaddock: Pimples who need people (take 1)
29. Roy Palmer/Bob Hudson: Trombone slide
30. Beatles: You know my name (look up the number) (mono)
31. The Who: I can see for miles
32. Sun Ra: Sometimes I'm happy (1970 Red Garter)
33. Impressions: Don't cry my love
34. Bob Dylan: I pity the poor immigrant
35. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles: He don't care about me
36. Thelonious Monk: Crepuscule with Nellie (Carnegie hall, w/Coltrane)
37. Original Yellow Jackets: Business after midnight
38. Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (track 1 sound effects) Purple Chick deluxe
39. XTC: The meeting place
40. Spirits of Rhythm: I got rhythm
41. Ruby Andrews: Just loving you
42. Outkast: Spaghetti Junction
43. Sun Ra: Unidentified title (1969 Newport)
44. Beatles: A picture of you (BBC)
45. Supremes: Surfer boy
46. Tommy Ridgley: Jam up
47. Eureka Brass Band: You tell me your dream
48. The Who: Summertime blues (Live at Leeds)
49. Louis Armstrong: You made me love you
50. Moses & Joshua Dillard: My elusive dreams
51. Minutemen: Cohesion
52. Lee Dorsey: Operation heartache
53. Chip Taylor & Evie Sands: Let's put our hearts together
54. Tommy Dorsey: Hollywood hi hat
55. Knockout: Darling Lorraine
56. High Llamas: The hokey curator
57. Willie Nelson: Basin Street blues
58. Eddie Cochran: Somethin' else
59. Robert Moore: Am I wasting my time
60. Stock, Hausen & Walkman: Melons
61. Pavement: Cream of gold
62. Tad Thaddock: Snuff baby
63. John Coltrane: Miles' mode (live Europe '61)
64. Elvis Presley: Judy
65. Grateful Dead: Playing in the band (1974 Cow Palace)
66. XTC: Punch and Judy
67. Anthony Braxton Quartet: track 4 (Knitting Factory 1993)
68. Beatles: Help! (take 13) Purple Chick
69. Frank Zappa: Father O'Blivion
70. Rolling Stones: Stupid girl
71. Impressions: You got me runnin'
72. Bing Crosby: My kinda love
73. Beach Boys: Good vibrations (stereo, original lyrics) Purple Chick
74. Shirelles: Sha la la
75. Jimi Hendrix: Hear my train a-comin' (live Oakland)
76. Mar-Keys: Banana juice
77. Zombies: Leave me be (demo)
78. Jimi Hendrix Experience: Castles made of sand
79. Robert Wyatt & Friends: Dedicated to you but you weren't listening (live)
80. Jackie Wilson: Singing a song
81. Pere Ubu: All the dogs are barking
82. Charlie Parker: Dewey Square (take A)
83. Al Green: I'm so lonesome I could cry
84. Beach Boys: Caroline, no (mono mix, original speed)
85. Roy "C": High school dropout
iPod shuffle playlist, week of 2010-03-01 pt. 3 (of 3):
ReplyDelete86. Beach Boys: Passing by
87. Beatles: Get back (rehearsal, boot)
88. Frank Sinatra: How about you?
89. Cold Bleak Heat: Raising the dead (freezer fight) (excerpt)
90. Jimi Hendrix Experience: Machine gun (live Berkeley)
91. Julius Daniel: 99 year blues
92. Beastie Boys: Ask for Janice
93. Ray Charles: Greenbacks
94. Duke Ellington: Grievin'
95. Charlie Rich: Big boss man
96. Impressions: Never could you be
97. Bootsy Collins: Psychoticbumpschool
98. Beastie Boys: Dub the mic
99. Charlie Parker: Marmaduke (take 4)
100. Booker T. & the MGs: On a Saturday night
101. James Brown w/Marva Whitney: Think (live, Apollo)
102. Stevie Wonder: You and I
103. John Coltrane: Brasilia
104. The Crystals: Uptown
105. Sun Ra: Song No. 1
106. Beatles: Revolution (Love)
107. Hatfield & the North: The other Stubbs effect
108. The Ad Libs: The boy from New York City
109. Steely Dan: Peg
110. Carla Thomas: It ain't no easy thing
111. Beach Boys: Little St. Nick (45 version)
112. Nat King Cole: What is this thing called love
113. Willie Hightower: Time has brought about a change
114. Nat Pierce Orchestra: Red hills and green barns (excerpt)
115. Mothers of Invention: Lonely little girl
116. James Brown: Soul power (live Paris)
117. Parliament: Testify (original group vocal version)
118. Shaggs: Sweet thing
119. Breakaways: That's how it goes
120. Sizzlers: Diga diga doo
121. Billie Holiday: My first impression of you (alt take)
122. O.V. Wright: I don't want to sit down
123. Beatles: Twist and shout (live, Drop In, 1963)
124. Sun Ra: S'wonderful (Wonder Inn)
125. Beatles: I'm down (live '65)
126. Fats Domino: Blueberry Hill
127. John Burris: Piccolo Pete
128. Duke Ellington: Old man blues (take 4)
129. Tower of Power: Soul vaccination
130. Ruby Johnson: If I ever needed love (I sure do need it now)
131. Unknown: Pua mao mao (Thai country)
132. Sgt. Peppers Band: Sour milk sea
133. Dennis Wilson: Mexico
134. Robert Wyatt: Speechless
135. Hersal Thomas: Suitcase blues
136. Alberta Hunter w/Louis Armstrong: Nobody knows the way I feel dis morning
137. Beatles: Noticed I was late (BRG)
138. Pavement: Blue Hawaiian
139. Jimi Hendrix Experience: Fire
140. John Coltrane: Impressions (live '62)
141. UYA: Song from next door played twice as fast (WERS)
142. Hank Williams: I''m a long gone daddy
143. Beatles: Billy Shears (applause track) Purple Chick
144. John Brim: Be careful what you do
145. John Dilleshaw: Cotton patch
146. Charlie Poole: He rambled
147. Sun Ra: Delight (Transition acetate)
iPod shuffle playlist, week of 2010-03-01 to 03-07 pt. 3 (of 3):
ReplyDelete86. Beach Boys: Passing by
87. Beatles: Get back (rehearsal, boot)
88. Frank Sinatra: How about you?
89. Cold Bleak Heat: Raising the dead (freezer fight) (excerpt)
90. Jimi Hendrix Experience: Machine gun (live Berkeley)
91. Julius Daniel: 99 year blues
92. Beastie Boys: Ask for Janice
93. Ray Charles: Greenbacks
94. Duke Ellington: Grievin'
95. Charlie Rich: Big boss man
96. Impressions: Never could you be
97. Bootsy Collins: Psychoticbumpschool
98. Beastie Boys: Dub the mic
99. Charlie Parker: Marmaduke (take 4)
100. Booker T. & the MGs: On a Saturday night
101. James Brown w/Marva Whitney: Think (live, Apollo)
102. Stevie Wonder: You and I
103. John Coltrane: Brasilia
104. The Crystals: Uptown
105. Sun Ra: Song No. 1
106. Beatles: Revolution (Love)
107. Hatfield & the North: The other Stubbs effect
108. The Ad Libs: The boy from New York City
109. Steely Dan: Peg
110. Carla Thomas: It ain't no easy thing
111. Beach Boys: Little St. Nick (45 version)
112. Nat King Cole: What is this thing called love
113. Willie Hightower: Time has brought about a change
114. Nat Pierce Orchestra: Red hills and green barns (excerpt)
115. Mothers of Invention: Lonely little girl
116. James Brown: Soul power (live Paris)
117. Parliament: Testify (original group vocal version)
118. Shaggs: Sweet thing
119. Breakaways: That's how it goes
120. Sizzlers: Diga diga doo
121. Billie Holiday: My first impression of you (alt take)
122. O.V. Wright: I don't want to sit down
123. Beatles: Twist and shout (live, Drop In, 1963)
124. Sun Ra: S'wonderful (Wonder Inn)
125. Beatles: I'm down (live '65)
126. Fats Domino: Blueberry Hill
127. John Burris: Piccolo Pete
128. Duke Ellington: Old man blues (take 4)
129. Tower of Power: Soul vaccination
130. Ruby Johnson: If I ever needed love (I sure do need it now)
131. Unknown: Pua mao mao (Thai country)
132. Sgt. Peppers Band: Sour milk sea
133. Dennis Wilson: Mexico
134. Robert Wyatt: Speechless
135. Hersal Thomas: Suitcase blues
136. Alberta Hunter w/Louis Armstrong: Nobody knows the way I feel dis morning
137. Beatles: Noticed I was late (BRG)
138. Pavement: Blue Hawaiian
139. Jimi Hendrix Experience: Fire
140. John Coltrane: Impressions (live '62)
141. UYA: Song from next door played twice as fast (WERS)
142. Hank Williams: I''m a long gone daddy
143. Beatles: Billy Shears (applause track) Purple Chick
144. John Brim: Be careful what you do
145. John Dilleshaw: Cotton patch
146. Charlie Poole: He rambled
147. Sun Ra: Delight (Transition acetate)
RE: Praxis -- well, it's not even that there's too much head-bangin' Buckethead as too long drums solo, organ solo, and meandering dub-style riffing. But, yes, the DJ would have added something. Have you hear the Warsaw set on Ion?
ReplyDeleteRE: iPod suffle. Are you saying there's artificial intelligence stuff going on? That wouldn't surprise me coming from Apple! As for me, I never use shuffle play and listen to "albums" on the iPod. I'm old school that way.
Dang, Sam, that's A LOT of music!
Well, figure in commute time, dishwashing time, etc. ... and it -is- a week's worth, after all. I do occasionally listen to albums on the iPod, but for now I am quite taken with the shuffle--it's nice to hear things out of context, discover hidden gems, re-discover old faves, listen to things I wouldn't have chosen, etc.
ReplyDeleteRe: Praxis: no, I haven't heard the Warsaw set.