Photo credit: oybay

There I was making an actual “murder ballad” playlist when it suddenly dawned on me that we have far too less upbeat music around here. Of course, motels are supposed to be somewhat depressing and I happen to be a huge fan of anything remotely gloomy. But still, every now and then some colourful and uplifting music wouldn’t hurt us at all.

So let me try to start this week off with some music that casually looks at the positive side of things, the colourful aspects of life, the sunny side of the street.

Murder ballads… pfff.

1. Dizzy Gillespie – On the Sunny Side of the Street
   Sonny Side Up (Polygram, 1957)
2. Tribalistas – Já Sei Namorar
   Tribalistas (Blue Note, 2002)
3. Orchestra Baobab – Werente Serigne
   Pirate’s Choice (World Circuit, 1982)
4. Telegenic – Untitled 9
   Meet in California… When We’re Dead (self-released, 2007)
5. The Cannonball Adderley Quintet – Jive Samba
   Cannonball in Japan (Capitol, 1966)
6. The Robot Ate Me – On Vacation Part 2
   On Vacation (5 Rue Christine, 2004)
7. Susumu Yokota – Flying Cat
   Grinning Cat (Leaf, 2001)
8. The Golden Oaks – Sweet Kentucky Ragas
   Split CD-R (Time-Lag, 2005)
9. Tin Hat Trio – The Clandestine Adventures of Ms. Merz
   Book of Silk (Ropeadope, 2004)

Alvin Lucier – Music on A Long Thin Wire 1
(Music on a Long Thin Wire / Lovely Music / 1992)
Andrew Chalk – The River That Flows Into The Sands 3
(The River That Flows Into The Sands / Faraway / 2005)
Andrew Liles – Where?
(Un World / Infraction / 2001)
Carl Stone – Big Gold
(Kamiya Bar / Robi Droli / 2000)
Luciano Berio – Venid a Ver
(Coro / Deutsche Grammophon / 1991)
Giacinto Scelsi – Trio for Strings 3
John Cage – A Room
(Music for Prepared Piano II / Naxos American / 2001)
Fennesz – Sz
(Hotel Paral.lel / Mengo Austria / 2004)
Scott Smallwood – Re’juvin
(Eletrotherapy / Deep Listening / 2004)

note: these need your extreme patience… =)

photo by borix

Photo credit: Milosav Druckmuller

At night nothing beats the sonic attack of some heavy droning psychedelic rock with scorching guitar riffs and earth shattering drumming extravaganza. The kind of music that scorches your brain circuits and leaves you disoriented. The absolute kings of modern spacey, psychedelic freak-outs are the Japanese psych-collective Acid Mothers Temple. It is quite impossible to fully keep track of these people with their releases seeming to pile up every week but “Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky” easily was one of my favourite tracks of 2006.

Also note the drumming on the Numinous Eye track which is quite phenomenal and proves why this kind of music is at its best when recorded live. This album was just released on Archive and is Mason Jones on guitar, performing with different drummers while on his 2005 tour. This track was recorded with Tatsuya Yoshida on drums. A very much recommended release.

1. Acid Mothers Temple – Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky
   Have You Seen the Other Side of the Sky? (Ace Fu, 2006)
2. Mammatus – The Righteous Path Through the Forest of Old
   Mammatus (Holy Mountain, 2006)
3. Wooden Shjips – Shrinking Moon for You
   Shrinking Moon for You (self-released, 2006)
4. Numinous Eye – (live at 2000V, Koenji, Tokyo)
   With A Little Help (Archive, 2007)

Since these tracks tend to be quite long – and with “Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky” being a half-hour epic – I’ve decided to break the list in two parts, both being about 50 minutes long. Stay tuned for next week’s part two.

But often, in the world’s most crowded streets,
But often, in the din of strife,
There rises an unspeakable desire
After the knowledge of our buried life;
A thirst to spend our fire and restless force
In tracking out our true, original course;
A longing to inquire
Into the mystery of this heart which beats
So wild, so deep in us–to know
Whence our lives come and where they go.
- Matthew Arnold, The Buried Life, 45-54

There is something inheritently daring about the great masters who seek to explore the past to redefine the present and finding new path to the future. The little punctuation in history that turns how the entire story unfold. It even tried to find the true proportion of man.

This list is self conscious in that it tries to look for new relationship between melody, rythm and composition techniques in pop music. Scattered somewhere between mainline blues based genres and electronica, the songs move beyond rock without entirely rejecting it. With floating imageries exploring ideas in different cultures, they are not fast, nor loud, but are richly detailed and masterfully composed. So here are some recent favorites albums that probably will make best of year albums combined with the great ones from the past. End of winter list with no rock.

Is it possible to move beyond rock gracefully?

“The Adventures of Ghosthorse & Stillborn”

01. Islaja - Varjokuvastin (web)
(Ulual Yyy, 2007)

03. Jah Wobble and Bill Laswell - Alsema Dub (web)
(Radioaxiom – A Dub Transmission, 2001)

04. Alice Coltrane - Blue Nile
(Ptah, The El Daoud (remastered), 1970)

05. Icarus - Benevolent Incubator (four tet web)
(Late Night Tunes: Four Tet, 2004)

06. The Cinematic Orchestra - Breathe
(Ma Fleur EP, 2007)

07. Aphex Twin - oval the politics of digital a (web)
(mixing with richard d james, live mix on bbc radio 3 on 6.11.95)

08. Fridge - oram (web)
(The Sun, 2007)

09. Macromantics - Generation (web)
(Movements in Movement, 2006)

see also: 2007 list
image: Image of Vitruvian Man by Leonardo Da Vinci

Entre Ceuta…

1. John Fahey – lewisdale blues
(the voice of the turtle, 1968)
2. Fridge – Harmonics
(Happiness, 2001)
3. Pink Floyd – the red queen theme (take 1)
(Zabriskie Point sessions, 1969)
4. µ-Ziq – phiesope
(the pine effect, 1995)
5. Dungen – familj
(Tio Bitar, 2007)

y Gibraltar.

1. Current 93 – idumea (baby dee)
(black ships ate the sky, 2006)
2. Warsaw Village Band – Fishie
(uprooting, 2004)
3. Kronos Quartet & Asha Boshle – mehbooba, mehbooba
(You’ve stolen my heart, 2005)
4. Tomatito – a mi niña rosa alba (merci, zeynep)
(Vengo OST, 2000)
5. Panda bear – carrots
(person pitch, 2007)

Photo: attributed to B. Mitchell.