MUSIC REVIEW 015:: IE - Terry Riley's Keyboard Study No. 2

IE is a Minneapolis drone orchestra and super group. This is a live arrangement they made of a decadent Terry Riley drone piece. It features cascades atop cascades of notes where you can clearly hear sequences of overtones and percussive subdivisions building and sinking. This is a bold performance where magnetic precision meets an endearing level of human interplay. While it might sound like chaos to the novice, IE has a clear grasp on the complex piece. The dynamics, mixing, and the warm hum of the wall of sound itself are worth the price of admission. Definitely a great place to start with a great band, IE.

LISTEN HEAR AT DRONE NOT DRONES! ALL PROCEEDS GO TO THE CEDAR CULTURAL CENTER LOCATED IN SUNNY MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA!!

RANDOS 006:: Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!

 

MUSIC REVIEW 014:: Mar10 - THE NIGHT WITCHES

 

The Night Witches is an opera composed and performed by Mar10. Best spoken in his own words::

 " THE NIGHT WITCHES is the end result of a labor of love begun around 2010.

Originally, I conceived it as a total improvisation, following only the lyrics. Vocals and all instrumentation would be improvised. As Chairman of the Oxford Cultural Arts Commission (in Oxford, CT), I attempted to resurrect the Nine Mile Players theater group by using my play/musical as a springboard for actors, musicians, and dancers to tell this story. Unfortunately, life certainly gets in the way, and things fell apart. Not forgotten. Just on the back burner, always being tweeked. Until now. It is complete and it is dedicated to my Muse, Karen. Without her encouragement I would have cast this aside, years ago. Thank you, my forever love.

Covid has us all under it's thumb for now, but my isolation began over 2 years ago with a Lung cancer diagnosis and treatments.

With a compromised immune system, I locked myself down. This afforded many musical opportunities. In particular, live videos. I have over 230 to date. These spontaneous, looping jams kept my chops up and offered me song ideas for The Night Witches as a complete song cycle. It is in essence a love story. Since then I have completed my History based Musical, die Nachthaxen. It is live, start to finish, warts and all. I present it this way for documentations sake. Also, for a few other reasons.

Since my access to professional recording equipment is limited, I've had to work with my old Windows XP computer which barely runs my Sonar 7 recording program. Since I can't predict when it will give up the ghost, I felt a live performance of TNW will at least present a BLUEPRINT for my vision, which includes a small orchestra, choreography, acting, and 3 female leads! I can perform the whole piece on my own but I would dearly love to replace my croaky, unstable, (yet surprisingly powerful with a decent ear), voice, with the more dulcet tones of a female(s). Considering this was written about one female in particular, and it remains on the to do list in the post Covid world.

While reading the NY Times for a friend afflicted with Alzheimer's, I came across the obituary of this remarkable woman. Thus began my obsession.

Nadezhda Vasiliyevna Popova was born Dec. 17, 1921, in what is now Dolgoye, Ukraine. She planned to become a teacher or a doctor, until one day a plane landed near her home and she met the pilot.

“I had thought only gods could fly,” she said in an account published in the book “A Dance With Death: Soviet Airwomen in World War II,” by Anne Noggle. “It was amazing to me that a simple man could get in a plane and fly away.”

Ms. Popova joined a flying club and later graduated from an aviation school. When the war started, she was working as an instructor. She said that she decided to join the military after losing her brother in the war and after watching Germans abuse her townspeople.

“I saw the German aircraft flying along our roads filled with people who were leaving their homes, firing at them with their machine guns,” she said. “Seeing this gave me feelings inside that made me want to fight them.”

Over the course of the war, Ms. Popova said, she fought in Belorussia, Poland and Germany. In 1942, she was shot down in the North Caucasus. Retreating with the infantry, she met her future husband, Semyon Kharlamov, also a decorated pilot. They were married for many years until his death; together they had a son, who grew up to be a general in the Belarusian air force. A complete list of survivors could not be determined.

Minerva, an academic publication on women and the military, cited Soviet records indicating that the women’s regiments flew more than 30,000 combat sorties. Their ranks produced at least 30 Heroes of the Soviet Union — about a third of all women so honored — and at least three fighter aces. Decades after the war, Ms. Popova, who often was called Nadya, reflected on the perils she had endured. “At night sometimes, I look up into the dark sky, close my eyes and picture myself as a girl at the controls of my bomber,” she said, “and I think, ‘Nadya, how on earth did you do it'?" - Mar10

Considering it is one person performing everything live in real time (alongside minimally pre-programmed layers) the continuity of the story is not lost on the listener. Besides the clear storyline the album is highlighted with timbre driven guitar solos morphing alongside the melodies to the song. Mar10 is a really spectacular guitarist mind you so the morphing solos really accent the motifs and themes of the songs the way a good Pink Floyd album would. 

His drum programming, both sample wise and rhythmically is deft and clear. Perhaps the most memorable element of this record itself is Mar10's superbly powerful voice and clever lyrics. There is a great amount of awesome synth bass and some really refined looping tricks. Its hard to explain the catchiness of songs within a modern any modern opera but Mar10 tells the story with whimsical terms and memorable tunes. The album concludes with a beautiful cacophony of noises into the most beautiful song of the opera with Mar10 repeating "and quiet flows the don.." in harmony with himself. 

This is definitely a record for progressive rock fans but the songs have an appeal that would go well beyond that world. His guitar playing might really be the showstopper with a really fresh, dynamic style that sounds great on all his records. I think this is a great release for this time right now due to it being confidently upbeat and positive. The symbol of female aviators antagonizing Nazis is one that seems totally appropriate for this day and age. Kudos to Mar10 on his hard work to bring this modern classic to fruition.

LISTEN TO IT ON THIS BANDCAMP !! HERERERERRRE!!

MUSIC REVIEW 013:: The Always Right Reverend Doktor Robert Are - DR JAZZ IN THE GROOVE

 

DR JAZZ IN THE GROOVE is a complex jazz album by composer and programmer The Always Right Reverend Doktor Robert Are and recorded by the Nine Unknown Men. Immediately, I was gripped by the fabric of compositional density and the maturity in the themes and arrangements. At moments it sounds like Mingus, others like Zappa. The songs have strong melodies and bold rhythmic decisions that lead to cascades of notes and whole moments that sound like extended runs. Elements of fusion permeate but this would probably be described compositionally as some sort of advanced style of "third-stream".

The bass programming may be amongst the most standout aspects of the record along with a timbre palette evocative of 80s or 90s era of the Residents sequenced to aggressively rapid yet humanistic instrumentation. There are elements you'd find in Stravinsky, Varèse, Noncarrow, and even television theme music.

 The sheer amount of detail that went into each moment of each track of this record is very impressive. The harmonic direction of each song is dense to the point where at times it sounds like Romantic Era classical music but with unpredictable certainty (specifically the track A Past Outside of Time). Another element I greatly appreciate is the diversity in style from track to track, if not moment to moment. There are a lot of stop on the dime twists and turns on this album. Some of the songs even sound like they'd be perfect for action scenes in a David Lynch film.

All and all, this was a great, great listen. The Always Right Reverend Doktor Robert Are is a  brilliant composer and this album is worth some re-listens.

CHECK OUT THE ALBUM AT THIS BANDCAMP HERE!!

MUSIC REVIEW 012 : Karl Blau - "Children of All Ages"

 

Karl Blau's markedly beautiful voice finally graces his first homemade collection of children's songs, "Children of All Ages". With brilliantly counterpointed arrangements and idyllic lyrics, the album is almost like a children's television network's entire schedule of theme songs the way it morphs from style to style and genre to genre in a clever non-disruptive way. 

"Six Mini-Ponies On an Island" opens the album with dense children's music reminiscent of Moondog with spiraling tropical melodies surrounded by free floating saxophone and many detailed hooks throughout. His lyrics are clever and paint a clear picture of six mini-ponies on an island of some sort.

"Spin Around" is almost like a child's introduction to dub pop, Karl's signature sound from some of my favorite records by him (Dance Positive, Beneath Waves).

"Stuffing with Stuff" is a funky, modernized Rugrats (tm) Rap with many clever samples  *(including, spoiler alert:: cats).

"Elephant in the Room" is a disco song that's actually about elephants..I think..?

"Cryin'" is a laid back sophistipop ballad with some very sad chord changes and some very sad lyrics and some very delicate keyboard sounds..He sings "I can find a way to feeeeeeeel better/I just might need to cry to get betttttttttter".

"Rainbow" is a simple pop song about the vastness of the weather system with a really cool break beat.

Karl is really on top of his game production wise for this album, exploring ideas dense enough to keep adult's attention but catchy and fun enough to entertain children. If you're looking for a fun album that let's you travel in your imagination to a warm and friendly place, this is the record for you. Karl Blau is a ray of sunshine and this of course is a get record for "Children of All Ages".

CHECK IT OUT HERE!!

https://klaps.bandcamp.com/album/children-of-all-ages

GOLDEN OLDIES 001

 

MUSIC REVIEW 011 - Adrian Knight - Pleasure Center

I am exceptionally excited to hear a new Adrian Knight album in a time that seems to find new releases stagnating from quarantine ambivalence. From the get, Mr. Knight brings a denser direction to his notable harmonic language. With more sophistication than ever, the prolific sophistipop composer brings perhaps his heaviest synthesizer patches and most introspective lyrical content yet.

The second track "Pleasure Center" brings some amazing bass playing, deft songwriting, and really imaginative horn arrangements in a track that nearly evokes a "Boston Rag" ala Steely D. I'm eagerly anticipating the accompanying lyrics video so I can sing/sway along.

"Quarantined" is a real jazz-funk groove and was my favorite track on the album. Adrian Knight's chord changes fly where few other sophistipop musicians dare. So unpredictable are the harmonic twists and turns that I'm uncertain whether it would be appropriate to either laugh or either cry. 

"Captain's Log" is some straight break beat funk which finds Mr. Knight delivering some of his rawest bass lines to accompany an outstanding vocal performance! 

"Invisible Man" shows some real flash in the bass department with a catchy series of hooks throughout. There is a really fantastic synth solo in the outro.

"Lasertown" has some heavy grooves and some excellent woodwinds by David Lackner, head of Galtta Media.

"Drifter" finds Knight cooing smoothly over a synthesizer ballad.

"Waiting for a Ride", the album's closing track is a smooth trip down a street and back, which seems much less common in this day and age. 

Overall, I loved this album and I'm prepared for repeat listens. Its among the finest albums I've heard that have been released since the quarantine started and is a real envelope pusher in terms of modern pop in general. 

..AVAILABLE AUGUST 7, 2020..

....PRE-ORDER HERE!!....

https://galttamedia.bandcamp.com/album/pleasure-center

VIRTUAL fun 004

Brilliantly patient man shows how 1985-1990 dance music was made with low memory Amiga sampler programs and early trackers!

RANDOS 006

Still keeping up with this dude like this song came out yesterday. Proggy!!

VIRTUAL FUN 003

Man spends exceptional amount of time, intellect, and energy trying to reverse engineer the powerful Sega Saturn system from 1994!! His initial goal was to crack it to use the sound card as a tracker synthesizer!!

Randos 005

Important podcast that everyone needs to hear!! <3

Randos 004

This guy!! (via Midnight Matt B.))

Randos 003

Indescribably weird/beautiful progressive rock with remarkable guitar and programming!!

CHECK OUT THEIR NEW SINGLE "DANCING THE TAO" HERE!!!

Retro Review 009 :: Alanis Morisette - Jagged Little Pill

I swear I've actually never heard this entire record in my life. I bet I'm in for a treat here based on the fact that a third of the albums 12 tracks are hit singles I find myself very agreeable to! A big part of my fascination with Alanis is her appearance in "Radio Free Albermuth," a film adaption of the 2nd part of a final, unfinished Philip K. Dick trilogy of books.

"All I Really Want," the first track is a SUPERB opener with lots of weird Alanis Morisette melodies that sound surprisingly fresh. The production is buoyant and I'm guessing is reliant on electronic drums over drum loops. Alanis really wails in her performances with a voice ranging from crackly grumbles to sparkling highs!!

"You Oughta Know" is still really upsetting lyrically, a little bit..maybe? The song still sort of hits me when the big drum and guitar really kick in at the bridge and the whole melody to this song is superb and of course there is the badass part where she does the hiccup YOU!!.. I'm not sure who this song is about (Mr. Duplicity..I imagine..?) but its got quite a few barbs..I REALLY love the bass playing on this song (with which a little research revealed that it's the Red Hot Chill Pepper's Flea..). It's super funky and doesn't step on the rockiness of Jane's Addiction's guitarist Dave Navarro's shredding or the brightness of the vocals.

"One Hand in My Pocket" is my favorite song on this record. I love the drum production and vocal performance and synth bass and heroic sounding guitar. The lyrics are still very curious and I always sort of thought of this song as similar to "Where It's At" by Beck. "I've got one hand in my pocket, and the other's:
- giving a high five,
-flicking a cigarette,
-giving a peace sign
-playing a piano
-hailing a taxi cab

There are the three other singles (Ironic, Head Over Feet, You Learn) and some other tracks that are all pretty great, narrowly standing the test of time with still some pretty surprisingly fresh Alanis-brand melodies and chord changes. The lyrics to Ironic are still pretty poignantly silly. Isn't THAT ironic?



AVAILABLE WHERE MUSIC IS FOUND!!

Retro Review 008 :: Services - Your Desire is My Business

From some of the guys that brought you unbelievably endearing industrial group Flux Information Sciences (the "something to write home about" voice of singer Trtzn is definitely the voice on the record but it is difficult researching the band due to every search engine bringing up a million other things with "services" in the name when queried..) comes a song with the lyrics:

YOU! ME! WE!! KILLER BEES!! TAKE ME BACK TO THE CEMETERY, WHERE I'M BURIED, AT ONCE!!

This is pretty much heavy break beat pop with a splendid singer and lots of booty bass and heavy metal guitar samples, bridging the whole thing on industrial and thrash. The lyrics are concise and clever. Loveeeeeeeeeeee it!

LISTEN TO IT HERE ON YOUTUBE!!!! KILLER BEES!!

Quarantine Watching 005 :: Genesis - Three Sides Live

Phil Collins gettin' proggy!!

Music Review 010 :: Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

There's never a bad time for a new Fiona Apple record and this album was apparently good enough to have it's release mentioned in the major news headlines. Three tracks in, I'm already enamored. I will finish writing this tomorrow! 

Jamband Jzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The next day..
This is so good. Soooooooooo good. Great songs with fantastic drum and bass with interesting counterpointed rhythm to Apple's magnetic voice, keyboard playing, and lyrics. I still need a few more listens to process this but this just totally "ruined my shit". The two songs that stood out to me for repeated listens is "For Her" and "Shameika" !! I give this album a twenty piece nugget and fries!!! 

LISTEN TO IT HERE!! NOW!!!!

VIRTUAL FUN 002

You can win

Satisfaction is within your reach

10 minutes of your time

Prepare to become a believer

MUISC REVIEW 009: "bangplay"

From the city of Denver,

I present the now defunkt, BANGPLAY

Science Fiction Fantasy Jazz Prog

Complex and Refreshing

Straight to the Point

To the edge and Back

Not without a promise of a weirder tomorrow

Music for flashbacks

I discovered this on Bandcamp's Dashboard

I'm impressed by a website

A website, making the internet a better place

Sometimes I fall asleep to negative thoughts about the internet

Here's a splash of much needed positive contrast

Its a great website

Called Bandcamp

Quarantine Watching 004.2 :: "More Things That Happened" : Inland Empire Deleted Scenes

Another 75 minutes to go with the 3 hours of Inland Empire!

Quarantine Watching 004 :: Inland Empire

David Lynch's modern classic about a "Woman in Trouble" is a 3 hour long surrealist romp through a movie about within a movie and more.

MUSIC REVIEW 009 :: MonoNeon - Toxic Wasteland 2 The Hills

The prolific bassist/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer Dwayne "MonoNeon" Thomas first came to notice as being a Prince protege and the last bassist the purple maestro ever hired. Since then, he has not only released quite a few records combining Prince/80s electro Parliament Funkadelic elements with the Residents and other avante-garde pop permutations but has managed to join and play with several popular jambands and release some very interesting youtube videos.

The thing that always stands out in his songs are his fantastic yet bizarre melodies and unreal bass playing. I mean, he is not just good at bass, he is markedly tasteful. He's got a remarkably fun singing voice; evoking Sly Stone or George Clinton but unique in its own way.

"Do You Remember the Days in New York?" is a delightfully groovy head bobber with smooth synth and guitar interpolation with also delightful bass synth and a bridge that will knock your socks off!

"Wish Our Party Would've Last" is almost like a fantastic Prince rock ballad but with an overall strangeness that fit with these strange modern times.

"Live, Learn, Bye, and Fly" shows off his tasteful yet technically gifted guitar playing with feverish Isley Brothers style funk riffs alongside his gnarly bass playing and fascinating drum programming. There is a really stirring synthesizer conclusion with some lovely counterpoint.

"The Sunken Place Instrumental" is almost like a Drexciya track but with fiery live bass alongside synth bass and a magnetic sounding drum groove.

"Going Cold Turkey From Your Touch" is a proggy, bluesy pop-rock song with another world class bassline and some really funky guitar and bass drum work.

"The Price I Have To Pay For Not Loving You" is a straight up Isley Brother's style jam in the vein of "Voyage to Atlantis" with just about everything that could go right in a song!!




CHECK OUT THE ALBUM HERE!!

RETRO REVIEW 007:: Steve Winwood - Arc of a Diver

This album really sets a lot of musical standards for excellence. First of all, every instrument on Arc of a Diver is played by Steve Winwood (oftentimes known exclusively for his truly gnarly keyboard playing). Second of all, it is anchored by leading track and mega-hit "If You Take A Chance" with exceptional lyrics, melodies, rhythms, synthesizer & organ tones, and just about every quality associated with musicality; not to mention his classic raspy yet tonally clear voice. Third of all, this album serves as a predecessor to much of 80s sophistipop (including Winwood's own "Higher Love"). This album evokes Traffic but with a LOT of synthesizers.

Its really remarkable to think one guy did all this in a pre-digital sequencing age, considering these songs have lots of parts with a number of changes. Sometimes its even confusing to sit up and notice its all one guy who is that good at guitar, drums, synthesizer, bass, and programming; not to mention singing (with excellent harmonies and dual leads). A lot of his weirdness from the 60s and 70s music is combined here with smooth grooves, get ready for a lot of different synth patches.

My other favorite song on this album is "Spanish Dancer," a funky synth jam with impeccable synth bass and twinkling counterpoint, all anchored by an "Empty Pages" type vocal line. All and all, if you're looking for something mellow and synthy to crunch down on with hyper musical qualities and smooth drum & bass, check out Arc of a Diver by Steve Winwood!



WHILE YOU SEE A CHANCE: TAKE IT AND LISTEN TO THIS FANTASTIC ALBUM!!
Link to playlist below::::

RANDOS 002

Subtle Bob Dylan Christian House

RETRO REVIEW 006:: Jimi Hendrix - At Last the Beginning : The Making of Electric Ladyland : The Early Takes Sampler

At Last the Beginning : The Making of Electric Ladyland : The Early Takes Sampler is a less common Hendrix compilation that I recently noticed was available on Spotify! If this wasn't licensed to Experience Hendrix L.L.C. I might have a hard time imagining this is real.

It opens with a majestic demo of 1983...(A Mermaid I Should Turn to Be) played softly by Hendrix on guitar, painting a post-apocalyptic picture similar to the orchestrated version but with more of an R&B flair to its psychedelic strum.

There is an excellent acoustic rendition of the rare but truly classic song "My Friend" (the finished orchestrated version is on the posthumous "Cry of Love")
"Sometimes its not so easy especially when your only friend walks, feels, and talks like you and you do the same just like him".

Included on this is also a different instrumental, seemingly funkier instrumental take of "Long Hot Summer Night" with much more piano and a different version of the sonic instrumental "At Last the Beginning".

All and all this might just be one for the hardcore Hendrix fans but the version of My Friend and 1983 are worth checking out and any insight into how Hendrix wrote his songs has always interested me!!

Thanks Spotify! Listen here!!

p.s. There is an unreleased Hendrix demos collection, "Black Gold"! Here is the only song available from it ::::

RETRO REVIEW 005:: Radio Zumbido - Last days of AM

Back in middle school this album carved out a much needed space beyond NOFX and Radiohead.

The armchair sonic fantasies of exotica, delivered in an internet age collage of rhythm, field recordings and electronica genres, I loved the sunny and supersmart mood of this album. 

I remember being happy and being smart seemingly existing in opposition to eachother, my goth friends really driving this point to an extreme. This album kinda made me not care about Modest Mouse or Radiohead - which I'm really grateful for! I never related to that angst and depression, I still don't. 

I love the utopian holographic summer radiating from this album, like Mouse on Mars, it combines samples and synthesizers in a mesh of improvisation and delicate editing to create what to me is a new listening experience with every return listen.

I spent alot of time on Fruity Loops trying to recreate the sounds on this record but could never pull it off the spacious sense of swing and interwoven jazzlike entrances and exits.

Hope u enjoy!

<3 Joey B

QUARANTINE WATCHING #003 The Prisoner

Rarely a show comes along that embeds itself into my lifestyle and habits, however when it does its usually one of those super original one season shows, like Cowboy Bebop or in this case - The Prisoner!

Available for free streaming here: http://www.shoutfactorytv.com/series/the-prisoner

This show captures the banal luxury of the modern panopticon, an inescapable Russian doll set of conspiracies and duplicity between allegiance to any nation. A global shadow organization jails countless citizens of every nation on a resort island made inescapable by giant balloons that chase you and scores of double agents.

Visually impeccable and full of bright colors and mid 1960's science fiction interiors and props, this show is surprisingly relevant and insightful about psychology, government and the role technology and aesthetics play in normalizing society and its absurdities.

The pacing is slow by today's standards, but like Twin Peaks, it carries a blanket of ambience that I look forward to being immersed in time and again. Maybe thats a weird metaphor.

I tried watching it on my VR headset a few nights ago, I felt kind of like Alex in Clockwork Orange with his eyes taped open being forced to watch a brainwashing feed. Fans of that movie will enjoy this too, similar ideas and aesthetics but much less punk and violent.

Okay tune in yer tellies and enjoy!
- Joey B

QUARANTINE WATCHING #002 - THIS TIME WITH ALAN PARTRIDGE

This 2019 series follows EVERYONE'S (and I mean literally everyone's) favorite bumbling, mediocre broadcaster (as portrayed by Steve Coogan) in his incidental return to the BBC television screen (both in real life and in the story of the show)). Enjoy!!

QUARANTINE WATCHING #001:: TV ONE'S UNSUNG

As all you readers know, Unsung is TV One's long running answer to VH1's Behind the Music. 
Here are some interesting episodes I've found of the 153  brutally honest episodes that have aired to date!!

MUSIC REVIEW 008 - Alice Cohen & The Channel 14 Weather Team - Artificial Fairytales

If I kept a list, this might have been my #1 album of last year. I completely destroyed a CD copy some one gave me of it in my car through overuse. Just about every song on this record struck a chord with me through its introverted lyrics, their exceptionally genuine vocal delivery, and the overall complexity of Alice Cohen's Artificial Fairytales. This album sounds like Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey! I would go as far as saying this album evokes certain elements of Stevie Wonder's songwriting. Their is a subtle familiarity but obvious abstractness to her melodies and chord changes; as catchy and clever as they are dense from a compositional standpoint!

The album was constructed with help from Adrian Knight and Dave Lackner (of Galtta Media) and they bring along Knight's signature technical accomplishments on various instruments and Lackner's distinct brand of melodic saxophone solos and flute work with them. The keyboard work and synthesizer programming on this album is really what brings the whole thing home.

"Thank You" was definitely my favorite song on the album.
"I don't need a knight in shining army/I need more than an imaginary friend/I don't need an artificial fairy tale/I don't need an artificial fairy tale" she sings, conclusively to the hum of flutes.

"Broken Bubbles" is an enchanting, floating interlude between "Thank You" and "Hourglass" (a wonderfully catchy tune in the mind of a progressive Natalie Merchant meets the Cocteau Twins). "Hidden Staircase" is a fascinating Italo-disco styled dance tune with elements of Genesis (see:: Duke...) and heavy syrup synths.

"Faces in the Rain" is as if Tangerine Dream performed a pop ballad in the style of "Love on a Real Train". "Ravers at Dawn" is an electro-exotica instrumental and a worthy interlude to the finale, "Bubblegum Heart," another tender sophistipop ballad.

I really enjoy this album and think its a really fun listen!!



Out now on vinyl and compact disc from NNA Tapes!!

RETRO REVIEW 004 - Scorn - Gyral

They say there are faces that could launch a thousand ships. Well in the case of Scorn's Gyral, this is one of those albums that launched about 100 sub-genres, all as technically proficient as they are abstract. What is essentially sort of..well dub music or illbient or "abstract" (which is a nice genre tag I found on discogs.com for this) or maybe some weird slowed down type of drum & bass or perhaps dark ambient or even industrial hip hop?

If Scorn (a side project of Napalm Death members) always does one thing right its how palpable their abstract timbres are. Organized into crunchy grooves, Gyral is a perplexing record of not very dissonant sound collages. Its pretty damn hard to figure out how they are making this music all the way back in 1995. Is he playing live instruments? Is it all sequenced? There is a lot of subtle, slowed down juggling and distinct cross fading tricks to these instrumentals. Gyral is home to some really bad ass bass and drum tones. Get ready for that /low/ low bass and lots of effects.

Probably more for fans of Autechre than Napalm Death.

RETRO REVIEW 003 - The Rippingtons - Best of the Rippingtons

With all the swagger of a coked out Huey Lewis blowing through the doors of a production music studio in the mid-'80s and screaming "LET'S DO THIS" at a frightened receptionist, Garden of Babylon bursts to life with the kind of opening salvo any knowing montage aficionado would admire. This is peak montage music. This the kind of jam your parents did montages to. 

How many kids learned to judo kick to this song? No one can say for certain, but one can surmise it was quite a few. I did five as I wrote this sentence. Some music is baby-making music, which the Rippingtons traded in as well, but this track? This is '80s action montage-making music.

Tourist in Paradise? What a fucking track. Just closing my eyes I can see Don Johnson dancing down a boardwalk absolutely destroying an order of fish tacos and snapping Polaroids to the amazement of bewildered onlookers.

Affair in San Miguel shamelessly rips off the intro to The Way It Is, but who cares? This is montage music, motherfucker. Anything goes, so strap yourself in and enjoy the dumbbell raises, bucko.

Snowbound? Sounds like a euphemism for "I just did a bunch of coke while listening to Pat Metheny's most commercially viable tunes and then ran screaming to all my bandmates that we need to get to the studio right this minute and lay down a hot ass jam."

Principles of Desire is skeezy as hell—it's clear montage music wasn't the only thing on Russ Freeman's mind when he went into the studio. Nay, we have a regular Pickup Artist on our hands here, plying his trade on the airwaves of the Weather Channel, seducing all those unfortunate enough to wander into a dentist's office reception area in the late '80s and '90s.

There are moments on this album that seemingly answer the age-old question: what would it sound like if Penguin Cafe Orchestra made production music? It's about what you would expect.

She Likes To Watch wants so badly to be a Sade song, and it does a pretty good job of it, in a Sade-via-Weather Channel sort of way.

Overall, this band is exactly as good and exactly as corny as one would expect a group of talented musicians that think the Rippingtons is a passable band name would be. Excellent tracks abound, but the Boomer generation is strong with this one.

7.3442838201/10

MUSIC REVIEW 007 - SzK. - Something New

SzK. (pseudonym of composer/multi-instrumentalist Szabolcs Kiss)'s Something New is an impressive collection of prog-rock, jazz rock, and sophistipop tracks. What sets this record apart, aside from his smooth singing voice, is SzK.'s exceptional keyboard technique. This album has some outright catchy tunes specifically "Like You," a summery complexion of synth pop with an out... jazz saxophone solo! "Moving Walkway" is another fantastic experimental pop track with vocoded vocals, a beautiful chord-filled bassline (with synth bass too), and awe inspiring arpeggios!

His keyboard playing is REALLY something to write home about! His style brings to mind artists ranging from Rick Wakeman era Yes' all the way to Tangerine Dream, all while incorporating elements of soft rock and a certain Prince like confidence! There were definitely moments where I sat up and wondered why this sort of music couldn't be on the radio. My favorite song on the record was definitely "Goodbye". I listened to this song repeatedly because I couldn't get over the remarkably catchy refrain (with its bristling guitar, rapid heartbeat bassline, and beautiful synth arpeggios)!

Here is another artist I could directly point at say "SzK. is getting it right!" Definitely worth checking out if you like some smooth complexities!

Available NOW on Spotify and I think some other sites!!

VIRTUAL FUN 001

          

 As I dive into making my own experimental games and original music, here's some of my favorite soundtracks from the golden daze of Nintendo and Sega.

This one sounds like Chemical Brothers and is totally ready to DJ

Here's another one with fantastic groovy percussion, blending industrial and 'world' sounds:

 

This jam just blows my mind everytime it hits:

 

Sounds like Alice Coltrane got stuck in the computer:

I played this game to the point where the soundtrack got so etched in my brain I used to listen to it in my imagination waiting for the bus, all the midi detailed perfectly preserved by my once smooth brain.

  

Haunted by this soundtrack to a machine ruined planet, in a good way:

RON JARZOMBEK: Abstract Composition Videos

How to compose music with a color coded spreadsheet!!

RETRO REVIEW 002 - Larry Wish - "World of Pictures" & "Spring Awakens a Ning Nong"

I absolutely adore these two albums! I remember having them on tape about a decade ago when they first came out. Before the Minnesota prog musician had his band "The Guys" (as in illustrious live band Larry Wish & the Guys) he was among my favorite bedroom musicians, programming and playing a more chamber pop version of his signature prog sound. Instead of the bombast of live drums, there is carefully delivered time signatures in pastiche driven drum machine patterns. Get ready for a LOT of parts! These albums are littered with brief yet clever instrumental interludes when not flowing with concise yet usually ludicrously weird lyrics. His vocals on "Abel and Cain/Stepdad" and "Quadrology: Sin Once Again" (definitely my favorite song by Larry in both the solo and live band version) are just awesome.

The main reason I've signed on board to so many Larry Wish records over the course of time is that Larry is a man that defines himself in his bizarre & theatrical take on rhythmic and harmonic structuring, eschewing what have become conventions in the progressive & art rock world. You can expect not to know what to expect from a Larry Wish album and these two records definitely take that idea very far without the structuralism of his later orchestrations. Is this a transition or a refrain or both? 

World of Pictures contains a beautiful homage to science fiction author Philip K. Dick titled "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said". "Krinket Pleasure 1" has Larry's baritone croaking "a hole is a hole/a mouth is a mouth/an eye for a pair of eyes that fit/a hole is a hole/a mouth is a mouth/an eye for a pair of jeans" over hammering piano and the groove of hand percussion. World of Pictures precipice is definitely the Quadrology suite towards the end of the record that goes a variety of places, painting a picture of a static home life in perhaps another galaxy. "Now to make a nice dinner.." says Larry in his most sinister voice! The sonic experimentations Larry takes opposite his progressive counterpoint is impressive to say the least!

Spring Awakens a Ning Nong is a brighter album with many more delicate ornamentation, a softer (almost pastel) sound palette, and a different brand of Wish's focused compositional style. "Marc Hammill Chapman" is a catchy progressive pop tune with savage brooding tom toms, country western keyboards, and Larry's voice tremoloed throughout! There are some really endearing melodic abstractions on this album. One of this albums cherries is Larry's cover of Fausts' "It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl"! "King & Prince" deliver a beautiful finale with streaming synthesizer arpeggios in counterpoint with Larry Wish's voice.

These albums will sound great to you ((perhaps)) if you already like progressive rock but might be quite SHOCKING at first if you're unfamiliar with odd, linear time signatures, strange lyrical subject matter, and progressive melodic & composition styles (from a decade ago)!!


GET "WORLD OF PICTURES" HERE!!

&

GET "SPRING AWAKENS A NING NONG" HERE!!

Watts, Duncan J., and Steven H. Strogatz. “Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’networks.” Nature 393.6684 (1998): 440-442.

MUSIC REVIEW 006 Max Zuckerman - The Corner Office

This is some mind-blowingly smooth shit! Like most of the stars in the Galtta Media universe (Adrian Knight, Alice Cohen, Dave Lackner, Billy G. Robinson, Nick Stevens, Blue Jazz TV)) Max Zuckerman, the Blue Jazz TV guitarist, is trying to raise the jazz-rock & sophistipop bar past many more visual predecessors and contemporaries. The album opens with chord changes that would make Walter Becker blush and a powerful vocal zeal. Royal Scam era Steely Dan is obviously the first place I'd go as far as comparisons but really it has dense sophistipop elements evocative of The Blue Nile, Talk Talk, or Japan! The choruses anthemic, the guitar solos masterful with distinct tones; there is brilliant songs on this record. This record is blessed with a shit load of jazz hits! Zuckerman's distinct style fringes upon Steely Dan's Aja as well with groovy boogie counterpoint and thrilling dynamics.

One thing that stands out on most Galtta releases are the unmistakable, pristine production quality and the saxophone & flute solos of label head Dave Lackner (from the delicious Billy 'n" Dave) but this record brings a rhythmic and instrumental daring perhaps not yet seen on the crunchy label! Zuckerman has exceptionally fascinating synth tones, particularly on "Airplane Girl". The bass tone and performances is definitely among the albums highlights! I find Max Zuckerman's voice to be really appealing and his melodies to be unpredictable & fresh! He is also a well seasoned jazz soloist with very creative ideas for his leads!

Essentially, this smooth groove will take a few more listens (Wakai Tsubame, the opening track was my favorite ((so nice I was compelled to listen twice)). I have to ask myself, has Max Zuckerman ever inhabited that corner office or is it all just jazz? Anywho, and hey, this was a spectacular record so pick this up on tapeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Am I right??

GET IT ON TAPE FROM THE GALTTA MEDIA BANDCAMP!