Playlist Week of 2014-10-11

* J.S. Bach: Cello Suites (Jaap ter Linden) (d.1) (Brilliant Classics 2CD)

* Django Reinhardt: The Classic Early Recordings in Chronological Order (d.3) (JSP 5CD)

* Creative Construction Company: Vol. II (Muse LP)

* Alice Coltrane: Eternity (Warner Bros. LP)

* Larry Coryell: Offering (Vanguard LP)

* David Wertman Sun Ensemble: Earthly Delights (Sweet Earth LP)

* Tatsuya Nakatani: Present Presence (Nakatani-Kobo CD)

* Assif Tsahar/Tatsuya Nakatani: I Got It Bad (Hopscotch CD)

* Loren Mazzacane Connors: Unaccompanied Acoustic Guitar Vol.1-9 (d.1) (Ecstatic Yod 4CD)

* Buddy Miles: A Message To The People (Mercury LP)

* George Duke: Dream On (Epic LP)

* Rasa: Everything You See Is Me (Iskcon LP)

* Pearls Before Swine: One Nation Underground (ESP-Disk’ LP)

* Grateful Dead: Boston Garden, Boston, MA 1991-09-26 (selections) (SBD 2CDR)

* Wichita Fall: Life Is But A Dream (Liberty LP)

* Spirit: Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (Epic LP)

* Klaatu: Klaatu (Capitol LP)

* Nektar: A Tab In The Ocean (Passport LP)

* Kayak: See See The Sun (Harvest LP)

* Gong: Shamal (Virgin LP)

* Stomu Yamashta: Go (Island LP)

* Cordon Bleu: Solution (Rocket/MCA LP)

* David Muse: Tonal Alchemy (Deva LP)

* Lucifer: Black Mass (MCA LP)

* Emerald Web: Lights Of The Ivory Plains (Fortuna LP)

* Peter Gordon: Star Jaws (Lovely LP)

* Bongwater: Double Bummer (Shimmy Disc 2LP)

* Porcupine Tree: Stars Die: The Delirium Years 1991-1997 (KScope 2CD) †/‡

* Porcupine Tree: The Sky Moves Sideways (KScope 2CD)†

* Anathema: Distant Satellites (KScope CD+DVD)

* Earth: A Bureaucratic Desire For Extra-Capsular Extraction (Southern Lord 2LP)

* Earth: 2: Special Low Frequency Version (Sub Pop 2LP)

* Wye Oak: Shriek (Merge LP) (†)

* Goat: World Music (Rocket LP)

* Goat: Commune (Sub Pop LP)

* London Grammar: If We Wait (Columbia 2LP)

†=iPod/iTunes

‡=car

Commentary:

Well, after 15+ years of love and abuse, my Yamaha digital piano has ceased functioning and is virtually unplayable. It being so old, parts are impossible to get and wouldn't be worth the expense to repair even if you could find them. So while I am heartbroken, the good news is that I have ordered a new one - and Clavinovas have come a long, LONG way in the last decade-and-a-half. I am really excited about having a new, improved instrument but it will be few weeks until it arrives, unfortunately. In the meantime, I feel like my hands have been cut off! At least I have synthesizers, guitars and drums to bang around on while I wait. 

+++

Yes, Cosmologies was recorded on an ancient digital piano - how about that? You can get your copy digitally or on deluxe vinyl at Bandcamp. Don't sleep - the strictly limited edition of 200 LPs is almost half-way sold out!

Playlist Week of 2014-08-30

* Buxtehude: Sonatas, Op.1 (Holloway/ter Linden/Mortensen) (Naxos CD)

* Telemann: Complete Tafelmusik (Freiburger Barockorchester) (d.1-2) (Hamonia Mundi 4CD)

* Francis Lai: A Man And A Woman OST (United Artists LP)

* Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Abraça Jobim (Pablo 2LP)

* Charles Mingus with Eric Dolphy: Cornell 1964 (Blue Note 2CD)

* John Coltrane: A Love Supreme (Impulse! SACD)

* Dave Holland: Prism (Dare2 CD)

* Dino Saluzzi: Cité de la Musique (ECM CD)

* Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: Cosmologies (NuVoid Jazz LP)

* Portara Quartet: Live/Remix (selections) (Realworld 2CD)

* Hot Chip: In Our Heads (Domino CD)

* Jerry Garcia Band: The Long Island Sound (d.5) (ATO 6HDCD)

* Van Morrison: Wavelength (Warner Bros. LP)

* The Band: The Band (Capitol LP)

* Gentle Giant: Free Hand (Capitol LP)

* Gentle Giant: Live: Playing The Fool (Capitol 2LP)

* Camel: Mirage (Janus LP)

* Camel: Moonmadness (Janus LP)

* Pete Bardens: Seen One Earth (Capitol/Cinema LP)

* Pete Bardens: Speed Of Light (Capitol/Cinema LP)

* Thompson Twins: Side Kicks (Arista LP)

* Thompson Twins: Here’s To Future Days (Arista LP)

* Boredoms: Vision Creation Newsun (Birdman CD)

* Boredoms: Super AE (Birdman CD)

* OOIOO: Feather Float (Birdman CD)

* Meshuggah: Contradictions Collapse/None (Nuclear Blast CD)

* Opeth: Pale Communion (Roadrunner CD/BD/7” Box)

* White Hills: Glitter Glamor Atrocity (Thrill Jockey LP)

* Wolves In The Throne Room: BBC Session 2011 Anno Domini (Southern Lord EP)

* Liturgy: Renihilation (Thrill Jockey LP)

* Liturgy: Aesthetica (Thrill Jockey 2LP)

* Red Fang: Murder The Mountains (Relapse LP)

* Red Fang: Whales And Leeches (Relapse LP+12”)

* Mortals: Cursed To See The Future (Relapse LP)

* Krakatau: Water Near A Bridge (Trouble In Mind LP)(†)

†=iPod/iTunes

‡=car

Commentary:

My latest album with Sam Byrd — and my first ever on vinyl — is now out in the world. And the consensus is that the limited edition Cosmologies LP is a spectacularly well-pressed piece of wax. In fact, Sam and I agree that it sounds even better than the test pressing, which is really saying something! 

As you all know, I went into this project with much trepidation. Let's face it: vinyl is a pain-in-the-ass. Warps, off-center pressings, clicks, pops and skips are all too common. The music on Cosmologies has an extremely wide dynamic range, which I went to great lengths to preserve by having it mastered by the legendary Richard Dodd and hiring Cameron Henry at Welcome to 1979 to cut (and re-cut) the lacquers. All of this hard work would have been obliterated by a poor (or even run-of-the-mill) pressing job.

Despite the flawed first attempt, United Record Pressing really came through for me with Cosmologies. This is as good as vinyl gets and rivals any high-dollar "audiophile" LP I've heard, at least in terms of its fit-and-finish and dead-quiet surfaces. Needless to say, it far exceeds my initial expectations. Add in the letterpress covers, hand-printed by Griffin Norman at Isle of Printing, and you have more than just a record — you have a true work of art. 

Limited to only 200 numbered copies, Cosmologies won't be around forever. Get yours exclusively at Bandcamp.

Playlist Week of 2014-08-09

* Debussy: Preludes, etc. (Thibaudet) (London 2+1CD)

* Satie: L’Orchestre de Satie (Concerts Lamoureaux/Sado) (Erato CD)

* Elvin Jones: Merry Go Round (Blue Note LP)

* Keith Jarrett: Treasure Island (Impluse! LP)

* Keith Jarrett: Shades (Impulse! LP)
* Sonny Fortune: Awakening (A&M/Horizon LP)

* Jean-Luc Ponty: Imaginary Voyage (Atlantic LP)

* Larry Coryell: Spaces (Vanguard LP)

* Larry Coryell: The Restful Mind (Vanguard LP)

* The Free Zen Society: The Free Zen Society (Thirsty Ear CD)

* Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: Cornelia St. Café, NYC 2013-03-05 (AUD FLAC)

* Mary Halvorson Quintet/Septet: The Stone, NYC 2011-10-14 (AUD FLAC)

* Alex Ward & Dominic Lash: Downtown Music Gallery, NYC 2011-10-16 (AUD FLAC)

* Joshua Abrams/Ingrid Laubrock/Gerald Cleaver: Soto Vélez, NYC 2011-10-17 (AUD FLAC)

* Michael Bisio & Thomas Ulrich: Soto Vélez, NYC 2011-10-17 (AUD FLAC)

* Laraaji: Celestial Music 1978-2011 (All Saints 3LP)

* Jon Hassell: Fourth World Vol.2: Dream Theory in Malaya (Editions EG LP)

* Jon Hassell: The Surgeon of the Nightsky Restores the Dead… (Intuition/Capitol LP)

* Sade: Diamond Life (Epic/Audio Fidelity LP)

* el-p: High Water (Thirsty Ear CD)

* Lee “Scratch” Perry: Arkology (d.1-2) (Island 3CD)

* Grateful Dead: Dave’s Picks Vol.11: Wichita, KS 11/17/72 (GDP/Rhino 3HDCD)

* Grateful Dead: RFK Stadium, Washington, DC 1973-06-10 (selections) (SBD 4CDR)
* Tangerine Dream: Optical Race (Private Music LP)
* Boston: Don’t Look Back (Epic LP)

* R.E.M.: Dead Letter Office: B-Sides Compiled (I.R.S. LP)

* The Dream Academy: The Dream Academy (Warner Bros. LP)

* Blind Idiot God: Blind Idiot God (SST LP)

* Saccharine Trust: We Became Snakes (SST LP)

* Teenage Guitar: Force Fields At Home (GBV, Inc. LP)

* Deerhoof: Reveille (Kill Rock Stars/Polyvinyl LP)

* Deerhoof: Milk Man (Kill Rock Stars/Polyvinyl LP)

* Deerhoof: Offend Maggie (Kill Rock Stars CD)

* Deerhoof: Deerhoof vs. Evil (Polyvinyl LP)

* BORIS: New Album (Sargent House CD)†

* BORIS: Noise (Sargent House 2LP)†

* Ray LaMontagne: Supernova (RCA LP)

* Electric Citizen: Sateen (Riding Easy LP)

†=iPod/iTunes

‡=car

Commentary:

I am pleased to announce that United has agreed to re-press Cosmologies and it should be ready in a couple of weeks. Let's keep our fingers crossed!