Playlist Week of 10-13-12

* Morton Feldman: Crippled Symmetry: At June In Buffalo (Frozen Reeds 2CD)

* Anthony Braxton: GTM (Iridium) 2007 Vol.4 Set 1 (New Braxton House FLAC)

* Anthony Braxton: GTM (Iridium) 2007 Vol.4 Set 2 (New Braxton House FLAC)

* Henry Threadgill: Song Out Of Our Trees (Black Saint CD)

* Henry Threadgill Zooid: Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp (Pi CD)

* Joe Morris/William Parker/Gerald Cleaver: Altitude (AUM Fidelity CD)

* Veryan Weston/Ingrid Laubrock/Hannah Marshall: Haste (Emanem CD)

* Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: Moers, Germany 5-26-12 (FM FLAC)

* Ingrid Laubrock/Olie Brice/Javier Carmona: Catatumbo (Babel CD)

* Mary Halvorson Quintet: Saalfelden, Austria 8-25-12 (AUD FLAC)

* Grateful Dead: Dick’s Picks Vol.20 (9-25-76 + 9-28-76) (d.2, 4) (GDP 4HDCD)

* Grateful Dead: Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ 11-24-78 (d.3) (Pre-FM 3CDR)

* Joni Mitchell: Hejira (Asylum HDCD)

* Deep Purple: In Rock (Warner Bros. LP)

* Deep Purple: Who Do We Think We Are! (Warner Bros. LP)

* Soft Machine: Het Turfschip, Breda, Netherlands 3-14-71 (SBD 2CDR)

* Soft Machine: 4 (Columbia LP)

* Soft Machine: 7 (Columbia LP)

* Gentle Giant: Acquiring The Taste (Vertigo LP)

* Gentle Giant: Three Friends (Vertigo/Alucard CD)

* Gentle Giant: Octopus (Vertigo/Alucard CD)

* REM: Document (IRS LP)
* REM: Green (Warner Bros. LP)

* Sonic Youth: “Simon Werner A Disaparu” (Original Soundtrack) (SYR LP)

* The Flaming Lips: Embryonic (Warner Bros. 2CD/DVD)

* The Chills: Kaleidoscope World (Normal/Flying Nun LP)

* Robert Pollard: Jack Sells The Cow (GBV, Inc. LP/MP3)(†)

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

* Storm Corrosion: Storm Corrosion (Roadrunner CD/BD)

* Opeth: Heritage (Roadrunner CD/DVD)†/‡

* Katatonia: Dead End Kings (Peaceville CD)†

* Agalloch: Pale Folklore (The End CD)†

* Agalloch: The Mantle (The End CD)†

* Agalloch: The Grey EP (Agalloch/Bandcamp FLAC)†

* Agalloch: The White EP (Agalloch/Bandcamp FLAC)†

* Blut Aus Nord: 777 – Sect(s) (Debemur Morti CD)

* Blut Aus Nord: 777 – The Desanctification (Debemur Morti MP3)†

* Blut Aus Nord: 777 –Cosmosophy (Debemur Morti MP3)†

* Tortoise: Beacons Of Ancestorship (Thrill Jockey LP)

* Six Organs Of Admittance: Ascent (Drag City LP)

* Grails: Deep Politics (Temporary Residence CD)†

* Russian Circles: Empros (Sargent House CD)†

* Metz: Metz (Sub Pop MP4)†

†=iPod

‡=car

Commentary:

Last weekend was the annual SoundCrawl here in Nashville, which coincided with the monthly ArtCrawl in downtown Nashville. I took a bunch of pictures, some of which you can check out on my Flickr Photostream.

On Saturday, Brian Franklin set up his interactive installation in the Arcade downtown. Consisting of a modified keyboard which controlled old-school videogames while emitting dulcet piano tones, it was fun to watch people get into it, battling it out onscreen while simultaneously generating frenetic, minimalist music. Later, electric violinist Tracy Silverman played duets with drummer Roy Futureman Wooten at the Brick Factory, a late night of trance-y looping and occasional rocking. Their cover of Hendrix’s “1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)” was quite effective, with Wooten’s supple timekeeping and Buddha-like presence keeping it from getting too spaced out.

On Sunday was “Art of the Future,” again at the Brick Factory with electro-acoustic performances from Mark Zanter, Timothy Harenda and Sally J. Williams, Adam Vidiksis and a computer-generated work by Jason Fick for dancer Ilana Morgan. Franklin’s videogame piece was set up and there were video and audio installations from a variety of artists worldwide. It was a fantastic evening, but the highlight for me was Harenda’s  “Absence,” which combined variegated electronic sounds with Williams’s virtuosic violin figurations (and the birds chirping en plein air) for an unpredictably enticing six minutes. Spiky, dissonant and totally enrapturing, I wish it had gone on longer than it did.

I also went with my nephew to the semiannual record convention at the Holiday Inn on Sunday morning—we just couldn’t resist. After some digging, I found a few choice platters, including Soft Machine’s 7 and the semi-rare three-LP live collection, Triple Echo (which I have yet to listen to); plus a couple white label promos, including a nice clean copy of Deep Purple’s Who Do We Think We Are! Other selections turned out to be irredeemably trashed (despite a thorough cleaning) but so it goes with these things. Used vinyl is a crapshoot: you win some, you lose some.

Unfortunately, all this activity (and miserable weather) wore me out and I wound up getting sick—so I missed out on the rest of SoundCrawl and Indeterminacies as well. I’m just not as young as I used to be—and obviously, not physically fit. Thankfully, this is a stay-at-home weekend—my favorite kind!