What are you listening to right now?

This is for all non-EC or peripheral-EC topics. We all know how much we love talking about 'The Man' but sometimes we have other interests.
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Never heard that song before.

Image
This is a fabulous record. So many great songs. Anthemic but highly original and often quite weird. Take for example the mighty 'Waving Flags' which celebrates the enriching of British culture through the admission of Central/Eastern Europeans with particular attention to their love of alcohol. The world is increasingly a mixed up place, but we retain a love of our origins, and we're all waving flags now. Or the awesome 'Canvey Island' which somehow relates avian flu to a 1950s flooding of this area near London where the annals of the local football team got lost. They're bonkers in a way that outdoes the more appealing elements of the Manic Street Preachers and an entirely top live band to boot. I love this album. 'We're all in it and we close our eyes.' Indeed.
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Took into work today Debussy's Twelve Etudes featuring Mitsuko Uchida. My wife will often try these pieces at home on our piano and I know she is playing them from the other room when I hear her cursing their incredible difficulty. I love the way the first six are studies in harmony and how the intervals expand as each book expands into the next. Most impressive. Needless to say Uchida is not heard muttering curse words as she works her way though these wonderful exercises.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

I have those Etudes by some French geezer, Bavouzet or something. Am seeing Mitsuko Uchida play Beethoven's sublime 5th Piano Concerto with the LSO under Colin Davis at the Barbican in a few weeks. Woohoo!
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Saw her many years ago in a program at Avery Fisher Hall of Mozart Sonatas- she was tremendous- hope you have a great night listening to her.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Revisiting this morning at work "Tropical Brainstorm" from Kirsty MacColl. The rhythms are seductive and her take on the Cuban song styles is vivacious. I miss her unique take on music and her playfull vocals. As my middle daughter is a redhead love her blazing hair, as well. Now all I need is a Mojito in my hand.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Am celebrating the fact that finally over three years after their magnificent OH (Ohio) album, Lambchop have announced their next, Mr M, out in Feb, and finally I'll get to see them live at the Barbican, with huge bonus of Cortney Tidwell as support, so no doubt Kurt Wagner will do some Kort songs with her, their collaboration, praised here by Inv Pole, I recall. A classy country collaboration.

And of course I'm working my way through my Lambchop CDs. I've bought most of them in the wake of OH, and although people celebrate, with reason, Nixon, Is A Woman, Aw, C'mon (which I have just ordered) et al, for me nothing can touch OH. It contains 5-6 songs which are among my favourites of the century. They are truly unique, I can't imagine anyone else writing a song with a title like 'Sharing a Gibson With Martin Luther King Jr', which spells out the ingredients of a Gibson including the pearl onion, and manages to have an exciting, stirring rush to it even if his voice barely lifts above a murmur. I can't recommend it enough.

Also exciting is the fact that brilliant guitarist William Tyler is part of their touring line-up. he's done a fine record of solo guitar music called Behold the Spirit. he also plays on Kort.

All great music from contemporary Nashville musicians.
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invisible Pole
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by invisible Pole »

Speaking of Lambchop, I am just listening to a leadoff track from their new album.
It's called If Not, I'll Just Die and it's lovely.

You can download it (legally) here:
http://www.chromewaves.net/2011/11/lamb ... -lambchop/
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Nice, ain't it? Hope it's a good record. Must get KORT as opposed to just Spotify. Do you much of Lambchop's music? If so, which albums do you rate highest?
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invisible Pole
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by invisible Pole »

Difficult task.
I would say they are probably one of the most quality-consistent band around, and there is no album of theirs that I was ever disappointed with (admittedly, I have yet to get acquainted with pre-Nixon stuff).
This said, if I had to choose only one album, I'm with you on OH (Ohio).
Damaged, which you have not mentioned, is pure bliss as well, and opens with this gem:

If you don't know what is wrong with me
Then you don't know what you've missed
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Spending time with Horace Silver today and, particularly, his "Six Pieces of Silver" album. This unit can swing and has a sophisticated rhythmic sense about them. Silver can write some fun hooks and his sense of melody is impecable but it is his sense of time that always keeps me coming back to him- I love "Senor Blues" with its convoluted time changes, triple time and when that time changes within the song you are treated to some wonderful sounds. Nice way to spend the day at work.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Isn't Horace Silver a wonderful name? Checking out that track on spotify. Love it. So far sounds like a more Hispanic version of the wonderful sound of the Ethiopiques compilation.

IP: indeed, have and love Damaged, including that great song. It tends to get a bit overlooked by people. I think they're very much a '5 plays' band. It took me a while to really get (OH) Ohio. Can't wait to see 'em live. Shame they're not going to Poland, but they are doing quite a few dates in Germany if you fancy a drive! Their European booking address is Berlin, indicating a strong interest in them in Germany. There are some great reviews of them playing the very lovely Union Chapel in London when touring the last time linked to on their site. Would have been great to see them there.
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Yes it is!- and I love the play on words in the album title because obviously the record has six of his original compositions and one standard. By all accounts he is a gentle, lovely man; something his playing alludes to at times. I also am taken by the photo on the album cover- lovely fall scene on a park bench.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Have to get leaves raked today and this has put me in the mood- Brahm's Piano Quintet in F Minor with Rudolf Serkin and the Budapest String Quartet- expecially the Finale with its combined rondo and sonata form. I really like the way the movement combines two themes and how it takes me from a feeling of darkness to one of light, airiness. It will help to get my rake moving in the yard later today as I create those piles of 'air' in the yard to be scooped up by my rake.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by noiseradio »

SMiLE Sessions by the Beach Boys.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
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when i was cruel
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by when i was cruel »

Annie Wants A Baby - Red Hot Chili Peppers
It's not the days when you leave me, but all I fear are the nights.
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by noiseradio »

El Camino by the Black Keys. I like it a lot, and more with every listen.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by noiseradio »

"Backatown" by Trombone Shorty
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
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redsfan720
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by redsfan720 »

This Wilco iTunes Session was just released, and it was a pleasant surprise since I preordered it a few weeks ago and forgot all about it until I was notified about an hour ago that it had automatically downloaded to my library.

http://itunes.apple.com/album/itunes-se ... mpt=uo%3D1

It's eight tracks: Five new recordings from "The Whole Love," reworkings of two older Wilco songs ("War on War" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and "Passenger Side" all the way back from A.M.) and a cover of "Cruel to Be Kind" with Nick Lowe singing.

The reworkings of the previously released songs are great. Nothing groundbreaking, but it confirms even further just what the band can do.

The version of "Cruel to Be Kind" is essential listening. It made my body tingle like great music does. I don't want to further describe it at the risk of selling it short. Just go listen.

It's great to hear Nick's voice in its current state in an update to his vocal from all those years ago.

The whole session is worth the $8, especially for the Wilco fan. The cut of "Cruel to Be Kind" is essential no matter who you are.
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Poor Deportee »

First, let me tip my hat to Christopher's citation of Jill Barber. This world-class artist is so neglected that she is reduced to doing gigs in my obscure little chunk of suburban Vancouver and toiling in the dubious vineyards of what's called 'CanCon' (i.e., government-subsidized Canadian culture). She ought to be a grande dame celebrated in sophisticated pop circles. Her songs combine whimsy, suavity and wit - and what a voice!! I have a hard time believing that regulars on this board will not enjoy the songcraft of Mischevious Moon.

As for what else I've got in the CD player these days, two recent purchases to share:

-The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams. A project like this can always go wrong, but this one is great fun. If it features a few too many rewrites of 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry,' by and large the performances repay their debts to the mighty original. Highlights, to my ear, include Jack White's cut, Levon Helm, and the delightful duet by Gill and Crowell. Least hank Williams-ish? Jakob Dylan's track, which comes off as nothing more (or less) than a Jakob Dylan song. The oddest cut, though, may be his dad's, which falls strangely flat and suggests he is much better at putting words to the music of others (as he's done his whole career) than the reverse. In any case, the album serves up some mostly gorgeous country music and is never boring.

-Let England Shake. OK, so I'm late for every party. PJ Harvey is a massive talent who interests me least when she returns to her 'staple' guitar sound and whose gifts, to my mind, fully realize themselves only occasionally. But here it is - the Big One. A wild mood swing relative to her jaw-dropping previous album White Chalk, but building on the themes of its title track - what a distinctive (and almost danceable!) sonic landscape she conjours up, to swirl around her dark ruminations upon an England that emerges as some sort of monster that eats is young, generation upon generation...while also offering its turbid forms of solace. I haven't listened to it enough to confidently declare it a Great Record. But that's my initial impression: the greatest album of PJ Harvey's career.
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by redsfan720 »

Poor Deportee wrote:First, let me tip my hat to Christopher's citation of Jill Barber. This world-class artist is so neglected that she is reduced to doing gigs in my obscure little chunk of suburban Vancouver and toiling in the dubious vineyards of what's called 'CanCon' (i.e., government-subsidized Canadian culture). She ought to be a grande dame celebrated in sophisticated pop circles. Her songs combine whimsy, suavity and wit - and what a voice!! I have a hard time believing that regulars on this board will not enjoy the songcraft of Mischevious Moon.

As for what else I've got in the CD player these days, two recent purchases to share:

-The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams. A project like this can always go wrong, but this one is great fun. If it features a few too many rewrites of 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry,' by and large the performances repay their debts to the mighty original. Highlights, to my ear, include Jack White's cut, Levon Helm, and the delightful duet by Gill and Crowell. Least hank Williams-ish? Jakob Dylan's track, which comes off as nothing more (or less) than a Jakob Dylan song. The oddest cut, though, may be his dad's, which falls strangely flat and suggests he is much better at putting words to the music of others (as he's done his whole career) than the reverse. In any case, the album serves up some mostly gorgeous country music and is never boring.

-Let England Shake. OK, so I'm late for every party. PJ Harvey is a massive talent who interests me least when she returns to her 'staple' guitar sound and whose gifts, to my mind, fully realize themselves only occasionally. But here it is - the Big One. A wild mood swing relative to her jaw-dropping previous album White Chalk, but building on the themes of its title track - what a distinctive (and almost danceable!) sonic landscape she conjours up, to swirl around her dark ruminations upon an England that emerges as some sort of monster that eats is young, generation upon generation...while also offering its turbid forms of solace. I haven't listened to it enough to confidently declare it a Great Record. But that's my initial impression: the greatest album of PJ Harvey's career.
I have yet to listen to the Hank Williams lost notebook record but I've heard great things from people I trust implicitly. Vince Gill is one of my favorite active musicians, so I'm always delighted to see his name pop up.
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by noiseradio »

"Know Your Rights" - The Clash
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Jackson Monk »

Portions for Foxes - Rilo Kiley. Love it!!
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

invisible Pole wrote:Difficult task.
I would say they are probably one of the most quality-consistent band around, and there is no album of theirs that I was ever disappointed with (admittedly, I have yet to get acquainted with pre-Nixon stuff).
This said, if I had to choose only one album, I'm with you on OH (Ohio).
Damaged, which you have not mentioned, is pure bliss as well, and opens with this gem:

I went through a week of playing that song over and over. then last week Steve McQueen off Aw, you C'mon was the one. Getting very excited about Mr M, out in a week, inc special edition with DVD of them live in Berlin with Kurt interview. Finally got Kort too. Very nice indeed, though hadn't realised until getting it that the songs were all covers, and from Tidwell's dad's label. Some great songs. And I'm getting even more excited about her and them at the Barbican on May 1st (there's even a song off Damaged called 'Beers Before the Barbican'. I'll have to try out that concept.

There's something about their songs when they're delicate, subtle, very still, but there's lots happening that really gets me. OH (Ohio) is full of it, and Paperback Bible too. And all those weird lines about getting a second hand RCA TV for the parts and stuff. So much quotidian weirdness in the lyrics.

Mr M sounding very positive. The initially available opening track If Not I'll Just Die, with its arresting opening line 'Don't what the fuck they talk about...', is, as you observe, lovely stuff, and this one too:
http://www.lambchop.net/lambchop-gone-t ... ial-video/

Very positive review here (which I suspect is why the word 'quotidian' was in my head above:
http://www.lambchop.net/review-prefix-mag/

Guardian interview here, with depressing details of how astronomical his health insurance is, and yet how he had to shell out a huge sum to treat his prostate cancer. Sounds like the touring band will be pretty modest. Was really hoping the very wonderful William Tyler would at least be there working his magic on the guitar, for me a key element in what makes Lambchop sound so unique. Most of the LP is streaming off this site too.

It's Lambchop month. If you want something slow, mesmeric, detailed, subtle and involving, Mr M should fit the bill nicely.
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by Jack of All Parades »

Back from a Rhino Record store run this afternoon and have been spending time with a re release -The Jubilee Edition of Glenn Gould playing the Six Last Sonatas of Haydn. What a treat in this late career recording. Love his precise and percussive attack- spot on as he strikes the keys- the 2nd movement of the Sonata in E-flat major the Adagio e Cantabile has me stunned- its dynamics are sublime. Have made my wife promise to attempt it this evening on our piano minus the humming.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Re: What are you listening to right now?

Post by ice nine »

Rummaging through the bargain bin at my local cd store I found a popular 90's band's CD. Great purchase for $1.

Everclear - So Much For the Afterglow
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