aworks :: "new" american classical music

aworks listening log :: february 5, 2017

american classical

1. Boston Modern Orchestra Project - Stolen Moments [2016 BMOP/Sound]
2. Sylvester Draggon Jr - The Pillow Variations [2017 Sylvester Draggon Jr]
   • "A theme and some variations about delightful conversations on my pillow and moments of intimacy." Sylvester Draggon Jr
   • Via Ted Goia
3. Sylvester Draggon Jr - The Quarterly Suites [2015 Sylvester Draggon Jr]
4. Sylvester Draggon Jr - Piano Sonata [2017 Sylvester Draggon Jr]

everything else

1. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (Remastered Edition) [1970 Warner Bros.]
   • I didn't remember this was a short and sweet 39 minute album, with A Bit of Finger / Sleeping Village / Warning 14 minutes of that total.
2. Sneaker Pimps - Becoming X [1996 Clear Up Records]
   • I Love Music had a thread where they listened to all the Eagles' albums, track by track, to see if there was any good music beyond the hits. Turns out that wasn't. Same may be true here.
3. Bob Dylan - Slow Train Coming [1979 Sony Music Entertainment]
   • Reasonably good album and song yet others disagree: "Not about God. The gleam of the studio rock arrangement makes it worse (and endless)."
4. Chris Speed - Really OK [2014 Skirl Records]
   • I assume this the same Chris Speed whom I heard yesterday on The Clarinets.

 

aworks listening log - february 4, 2017

I'm listening to full albums this year, rather than other more chaotic approaches. Here's my recent activity:

american classical

1. Boston Modern Orchestra Project - Stolen Moments [2016 BMOP/Sound]
   • Stolen Moments and Piano Concerto No. 2 by David Rakowski.
   • Will give this another listen. BMOP may be the leading label for truly contemporary American orchestral music.
2. Anthony Burr, Oscar Noriega, Chris Speed - The Clarinets [2002 Skirl Records]
   • "The album was recorded in a resonant old church (in upstate NY) surrounded by nature, an environment that inspired the music's subtle shifts in timbre and pitch, enhancing the dreamy yet intense mood throughout the trio’s eight pieces." Skril Records
   • "Jazz purists won't find much to enjoy here: these eight pieces (gloriously recorded in the expansive former-church interior of the NACL Theater in Highland Lake, New York in 2005) display an almost-complete absence of tempo, jazz licks or harmonic development." AllAboutJazz
3. Boston Modern Orchestra Project - American Muse  [2016 BMOP/Sound]
   • Rhapsodies, American Muse, and Concerto for Orchestra by Steven Stucky.
   • The highlight was probably Sanford Sylvan singing on the middle work. 
   • Saw Steven Schick at Stanford recently but that's a different California contemporary music Steven.

everything else

1. Will Long - Rosy Reflections  [2015 William Long]
   • William Long is apparently a "warm drone" artist, and has some connection with Japan. Mildly and effectively resonant.
2. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath (Remastered Edition)   [1970 Warner Bros.]
   • Apparently, I still consider this the classic Sabbath.
3. Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, the Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle  [1973 Sony Music Entertainment]
   • The Boss is now our de-facto American values spokesman in Australia.
4. Oren Ambarchi  - Hubris  [2016 Editions Mego]
   • Oren Ambarchi was born in Sydney to an Iraqi Jewish family. Somehow, this is more relevant in 2017.
5. Massive Attack - Heligoland  [ 2010 Virgin Records]
6. Moon Duo  - Occult Architecture Vol. 1 [2017 Sacred Bones Records]
   • New album by the Moon Duo/Wooden Shjips guys. More rock-ish than hook-ish than previous recordings. I see that they are playing at The Chapel in San Francisco this month, although I've never heard of that venue.
7. Various - Shinkei + Mise_en_scene: Leftovers (Reworked) - [2011  Cronica]
8. Mogador - Absinthe Tales of Romantic Visions   [2014 Mentalchemy Records]
   • Some kind of progressive rock. No idea why I added this to my album inbox.
9. Black Sabbath - Paranoid (Remastered Edition)  - [1970 Warner Bros.]
   • Not the most classic Sabbath. Not even particularly interesting to hear Iron Man again.