Playlist Week of 2015-08-08

* Dowland: Complete Lute Works Vol.3 (O’Dette) (Harmonia Mundi CD)

* J.H. Schmelzer: Unarum Fidium (Holloway/Assenbaum/Mortensen) (ECM CD)

* Andrew Hill: Lift Every Voice (Blue Note CD)

* Herbie Hancock: Sunlight (SME CD)

* Herbie Hancock: Future Shock (Columbia/Legacy HDCD)

* Billy Cobham: Shabazz: Recorded Live In Europe (Atlantic LP)

* Dorothy Ashby: Afro-Harping (Cadet/Verve CD)

* Pat Martino: Joyous Lake (Warner Bros. LP)

* Pat Martino: Starbright (Warner Bros. LP)

* Charles Gayle/William Parker/Rashied Ali: Touchin’ On Trane (FMP CD)

* Susie Ibarra: Flower After Flower (Tzadik CD)

* Exploding Star Orchestra: We Are All From Somewhere Else (Shortwave 2LP)

* Grateful Dead: Boston Garden, 1994-10-01 (SBD (3CDR)

* Van Morrison: Common One (Warner Bros. CD)

* Van Morrison: Live At The Grand Opera House, Belfast (Mercury CD)

* Van Morrison: A Sense of Wonder (Mercury CD)

* Love: Love (Epic/Sundazed LP)

* Gary Higgins: Seconds. (Drag City LP)

* Alexander “Skip” Spence: Oar (Columbia/Sundazed CD)

* Caravan: In The Land of Grey And Pink (Deram/Universal 2CD+DVD)

* Placebo: 1973 (EMI/Music On Vinyl LP) †

* Placebo: Placebo (EMI/Music On Vinyl LP) †

* Chrome: Half Machine Lip Moves (Siren/Caroline LP)

* Chrome: Half Machine From The Sun (King of Spades 2LP)

* David Muse: Tonal Alchemy (Deva LP)

* Michael Hedges: Breakfast In The Field (Windham Hill LP)

* Wally Badarou: Echoes (Island LP)

* Earth: Primitive & Deadly (Southern Lord 2LP)

* Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group: Los Suenos de un Higado (Rodriguez Lopez LP)

* Kylesa: Ultraviolet (Season of Mist 2-45RPM LP)

* Montibus Communitas: The Pilgrim To The Absolute (Beyond Beyond Beyond LP)

* Padang Food Tigers/Lake Mary: Crabbing King Sappling/White River (Scissor Tail 7”)

* Windhand: Soma (Relapse 2LP)

* Ecstatic Vision: Sonic Praise (Relapse LP)

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Commentary:

It was twenty years ago today that Jerry Garcia died, at the age of 53, in a rehab facility in Marin County, California. And with his passing, the Grateful Dead died. I was utterly devastated and now it's hard to believe so much time has passed--in another year, I'll be the age as Jerry was on that day twenty years ago. It just doesn't seem possible.

Over the years, I continued to buy all the official product: 33 volumes of Dick's Picks, the complete Road Trips series, all the box sets, DVDs, and a subscription to (the unimaginatively titled) Dave's Picks, now at 15 volumes and counting. I didn't bitch about the artificially limited editions, the "bonus discs" or the steadily escalating prices. And I eagerly devoured every volume of Pure Jerry and Garcia Live along with the solo DVDs and box sets. I was a fan and I was happy.

Until now.

It also happens to be the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead and the surviving members have decided to celebrate--by cashing in big time. 

First there were the handful of "Fare Thee Well" shows last month, with Trey Anastasio taking the lead guitar role. Aside from my general dislike for Phish, the ungodly expensive ticket prices and ginormous venues struck me a nothing but a cynical money-grab from the get-go. Having watched some clips on YouTube, I can confirm that it was as musically disastrous as I feared it would be. To be honest, Trey acquitted himself quite well. He had obviously been practicing, knew the material, and comported himself with an understated dignity that I wasn't expecting from him. So, bravo, Trey. His bandmates, however, were apparently content to forego any serious rehearsals and just bash out the old songs in as perfunctory way as possible. Somnambulant tempos, disjointed rhythms, train wreck transitions, and truly atrocious vocals made a mockery of the Dead's rich catalog of songs. Watching these clips made me profoundly sad and I couldn't even make it all the way through any of them.

The second thing that pisses me off is the seven-hundred-dollar asking price for Thirty Years Around The Sun, the upcoming 80-disc box set containing one complete show from every year of the Grateful Dead's touring history. Don't get me wrong: I want it. I want it bad. And it's not that can't afford it, necessarily. It's just that it is massively--ridiculously--overpriced. I happily paid around five hundred bucks for the 72-disc Complete Europe '72, which included luxurious packaging, a hardbound book, and a facsimile of the tour program. How can an additional eight CDs (and a seven-inch single) add another two hundred freaking dollars to the price? Does it include a bit of Jerry's DNA? An unwashed black T-shirt? Otherwise, no, not for me.

And Garcia's estate continues to release the most unnecessary things, the latest being all thirteen nights from Jerry's run on Broadway in 1987. This was, of course, an historic occasion, featuring his specially assembled "almost acoustic" group along with his usual electric band and is well represented on seven CDs released in the Pure Jerry series back in 2004. Given the restricted repertoire and less-than-spectacular sounding soundboard recordings, the last thing I need is more from this run. Again, it just smacks of laziness and contempt for the fans. What are we? Flesh and blood cash machines?

So, after a lifetime of being the Dead's best customer, I am calling it quits. I will not be going to Madison Square Garden to see the ersatz Dead shows with John Mayer (and, notably, minus Phil Lesh). I will not be buying Thirty Years Around the Sun. I will not be buying the Jerry on Broadway series. One more volume of Dave's Picks is due later this year and, unless it is truly revelatory, I will not be renewing my subscription for 2016. It makes me sad to find myself in the place after a lifetime of being a devoted Deadhead. 

As the years pass, I have often wondered what this stuff sounds like to someone who never heard them live, in person. Ask anyone who was there: Grateful Dead shows were shamanic rituals, a happening in the now. What was captured on tape is just a mere approximation of the experience, a signpost to possibilities not yet achieved. The Dead could be transcendent or horrible, moment to moment, within the same song, because it wasn't really music as we normally think of it. It was about a real experience, not entertainment, correct notes and professionalism. Now that Garcia is gone, what is left, really? Memories--and a bunch of recordings which don't even come close to getting at what it was really like to be there. Well, I have enough of them to last the rest of my life and more of them won't bring those days back. So, "Fare Thee Well," indeed.

Playlist Week of 2015-08-01

* Luetkeman, Albrici, et al.: Musica Baltica (Musica Antiqua Koln/Goebel) (Archiv CD)

* Revueltas: Night of the Mayas: Music of Silvestre Revueltas (Catalyst CD)

* Stephan Micus: Darkness And Light (ECM CD)

* John Abercrombie/Dan Wall/Adam Nussbaum: Tactics (ECM CD)

* Oregon/Elvin Jones: Together (Vanguard LP)

* Jose Roberto Bertrami: Blue Wave (Milestone LP)

* Grateful Dead: Dave’s Picks Vol.15: Nashville, TN 4/22/78 (GDP/Rhino 3HDCD)

* Grateful Dead: Mountain View, CA 1990-06-15 (selections) (SBD 3CDR)

* Spirit: Spirit of ’84 (Mercury LP)

* Blue Mountain Eagle: Blue Mountain Eagle (Atlantic/Rhino LP)

* Lindisfarne: Roll On, Ruby (Elektra LP)

* Lindisfarne: Happy Daze (Elektra LP)

* Uriah Heep: Uriah Heep (Mercury LP)

* Curved Air: Live (BTM LP)

* Walter Carlos: Sonic Seasonings (Columbia 2LP)

* Lucifer: Black Mass (MCA LP)

* War: The World Is A Ghetto (Avenue/Rhino CD)

* War: Why Can’t We Be Friends? (Avenue/Rhino CD)

* Lula Côrtes: Rosa De Sangue (Time-Lag LP)

* William Onyeabor: Who Is William Onyeabor? (d.2-3) (Luaka Bop 3LP)

* Mick Karn: Dreams of Reason Produce Monsters (Virgin LP)

* Jansen/Baribieri: Worlds in a Small Room (Pan East LP)

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

* Ogurusu Norihide: Modern (Carpark HDCD)

* The Sword: High Country/Hexenringe (Razor & Tie 7”)

* Montibus Communitas: Montibus Communitas (Cosmic Eye LP)

* Montibus Communitas: Hacia Aquellos Bosques de Immensidad (Trouble In Mind LP)

* Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp A Butterfly (Top Dog/Interscope CD)

* Inter Arma: Sky Burial (Relapse 2LP)

†=iPod/iTunes

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Commentary:

This article from Stereogum has caused quite a stir amongst record collectors by making a convincing argument that we have reached "peak vinyl" with a big crash looming over the horizon.

In some ways, I hope that's true.

My trips to record store the past several weeks have certainly convinced me that we are in a vinyl bubble market. Thirty-dollar reissues of Carly Simon's Greatest Hits and the complete catalogs of Styx and Lynyrd Skynyrd clog up the new release bins and I have to ask: who the hell is buying these things? Nothing against these artists, but those records can be found for next to nothing in thrift stores everywhere. Why? Because they sold a bajillion copies back in the day! And, really, any self-respecting record collector is gonna want an OG, all-analog, first pressing, etc., which can be found near-mint for a fraction of the cost these ultra-expensive (and no doubt inferior-sounding) reissues. 

There are only two types of people I see plunking down stupid money for such things: the obsessive super-fan who collects everything by their favorite band or the noobie vinyl hipster wannabe who just got a turntable and doesn't know any better. Or perhaps, a third type: the affluent, but lazy, baby boomer who dumped all his vinyl when CDs were cool and is now jumping (back) on the vinyl bandwagon. In any event, these folks are being played for suckers.

That's par for the course with the record industry. They always shit the bed, kill the golden goose. How? Well, most recently, by massively overcharging for CDs. By making criminals of their best customers instead of seizing on the MP3 as the ultimate zero-cost promotional tool. By inventing and promptly abandoning high-resolution digital formats. By thwarting every effort to create a viable, high-quality streaming service. Etc. The history of the recording industry is rife with corruption and cultural larceny on a grand scale. So of course they think the suckers will buy the same records again (and again and again) and they will, of course, flood the market with crappy, needless reissues--until the suckers stop buying.

This is especially irritating to those of us who never gave up on vinyl in the first place: artists, labels and collectors who kept the format alive during the darkest days of digital, when major labels were closing profitable pressing plants and selling the irreplaceable equipment for scrap, doing their very best to kill the format while touting the new-fangled (and hugely profitable) compact disc. Now, here we are with very few working presses left in the world and they are overloaded pressing thousands of copies of Carly Simon's Greatest Hits while indie labels are squeezed out or placed at the end of the queue. Turnaround times of eight months or more are commonplace these days for non-major-label clients--more than twice as long as they were last year when I pressed Cosmologies (the first pressing of which was, as you recall, disastrous). I really want to put out another vinyl record but the current state of things puts me off. To say the least.

Meanwhile, no one wants CDs, which is sad in its own way. So much great music is only available on the lowly compact disc. LPs are expensive, heavy, fragile and artists on the fringe cannot afford the luxury of vinyl. But the hipsters turn up their noses in favor of overpriced status symbols or freaking cassettes for cheap analog purism. Urban Outfitters is one the largest retailers of vinyl records in the United States. What the hell is going on here?

It seems to me that the current model is unsustainable. Despite its exponential growth in the past few years, vinyl still remains a tiny percentage of overall music sales so when the bubble bursts, the major labels will barely register the hit. But the suckers will have been fleeced once again and the indie labels, record stores, and fans will either struggle or die. Win/win! And while CDs have come down in price vis-a-vis their vinyl counterparts (if they exist), they remain, bit-for-bit, a total ripoff by any rational estimation. The music industry continues to cling to an old, outmoded business model that ultimately drives consumers away--and I don't see that changing any time soon.

Hardcore record collectors like me will always be here and we will put up with a lot of abuse for what we love. And I am sure that some of these younger folks will persevere, despite being burned by a cynical industry. But we have our limits.

Playlist Week of 2015-07-25

* Takemitsu, Hindemith, et al.: Five Pieces (Duo Gazzana) (ECM CD)

* Luening/Ussachevsky, et al.: Early Modulations: Vintage Volts (Caipirinha CD)

* Miles Davis: The Bootleg Series Vol.4: At Newport 1955-1975 (d.3-4) (Columbia Legacy 4CD)

* John Coltrane: Live Trane: The European Tours (d.1-3) (Pablo 8CD)

* Jeanne Lee & Ran Blake: The Legendary Duets (RCA/Bluebird CD)

* Weather Report: Sweetnighter (Columbia LP)

* Ray Anderson: Harrisburg Half Life (Moers LP)

* David Schnitter: Thundering (Muse LP)

* Wayne Johnson Trio: Grasshopper (ITI LP)

* John Scofield: Electric Outlet (Gramavision LP)

* Recoil: Pardon My Fantasy (Pausa LP)

* Dino Saluzzi: Vanidad de los Andes (ECM CD)

* Rich Corpolongo/Doug Lofstrom/Paul Wertico: Spontaneous Composition (Spoco LP)

* Josh Sinton, Dominic Lash, Ingrid Laubrock, et al.: Signal Gain (OutNow CD)

* V/A: Native North America Vol.1: Aboriginal Folk, Rock & Country 1966-1985 (Light in the Attic 3LP)

* Bola Sete: Ocean: Solo Guitar Vol.1 (Takoma LP)

* Jerry Garcia Band: Garcia Live Vol.2: Greek Theatre, 8/5/90 (ATO 2HDCD)

* Comus: First Utterance (Dawn/Get Back LP+EP)

* Amazing Blondel: Fantasia Lindum (Island LP)

* Deep Purple: Made In Japan (Warner Bros. 2LP)

* Kevin Ayers: Yes, We Have No Mananas (ABC LP)

* Gentle Giant: Civilian (Columbia LP)

* Curved Air: Airconditioning (Warner Bros. LP)

* Curved Air: Phantasmagoria (Warner Bros. LP)

* Nektar: Remember The Future (Passport LP)

* Kayak: See See The Sun (Harvest LP)

* Kayak: Royal Bed Bouncer (Janus LP)

* Michael Hoenig: Departure From The Northern Wasteland (Warner Bros. LP)

* Heldon: Stand By (Cuneiform CD)

* David Sylvian: Secrets of the Beehive (Virgin LP)

* BORIS: Noise (Sargent House 2LP)

* Agalloch: The Serpent & The Sphere (Profound Lore CD)

* Grails: The Burden of Hope (Neurot/PSM LP)

* Grails: Redlight (Neurot/PSM LP)

* Locrian: Return To Anihilation (Relapse 2-45RPM LP)

* Locrian: Infinite Dissolution (Relapse LP)

* Pelican: Forever Becoming (Southern Lord 2-45RPM LP)

* Pallbearer: 2010 Demo (Twenty Buck Spin 12”)

* Wild Nothing: Nocturne (Captured Tracks CD)

* Padang Food Tigers: Running My Habits Clean (Bathetic CS)

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Commentary:

At the end of Electric Eden (Faber, 2010), the magisterial survey of the UK psych/folk scene of the 1960s and ‘70s, author Rob Young gamely attempts to trace the thread of folk music influences through the post-hippie decades, finding traces of Albion in such unlikely places as Aphex Twin and Radiohead. Of course, “folktronica” is something of a worldwide phenomenon—but the distinctly British “visionary music” Young describes in his book continues to be produced to this day, if obscured by the whims of fashion and commerce.

Padang Food Tigers is one such group that fits the paradigm. The London-based duo of Spencer Grady and Stephen Lewis combine their guitars, banjos, harmonicas and other acoustic instruments with evocative field recordings and other bits of audio ephemera to create bucolic pastorals, hallucinatory visions of a lost Eden. But they are no throwbacks; eschewing vocals as well as other idiomatic displays of “authenticity,” Padang Food Tigers conjure up thoroughly modern soundscapes.

The latest Padang Food Tigers EP, Running My Habits Clean, was released in 2014 as part of the cassette-only “Dynasty At Ghost Town” series on Bathetic Records and neatly captures what they are all about. “Calyx Malpractice Suit” features some wistful trumpet over ringing banjos while “Nurturing Of A Definite Hush” lives up to its title: gentle strumming and percussive scrapes bathed in a dusky atmosphere of found sounds and thick, delicious reverb. “Salacious Bee Amputee,” a lo-fi snippet of laconic banjo and murmuring children, serves as a prelude to the title track, a subtly nuanced tour de force. With its countrified double-stops and string bends layered over hazily modulating harmonies, “Running My Habits Clean” seems to summon up a mythical, rural past amidst our technological, urbanized present.

Or maybe I am just so enamored of Young’s book (which I read just recently) that I can’t help but hear this music through that lens. And perhaps Padang Food Tigers would be offended by my casting them with the dreaded “folkies.” But I mean it as a compliment. The more I listen to Running My Habits Clean, the more I want to track down the rest of their discography. Highly recommended!