aworks :: "new" american classical music

aworks +1 web log :: aphex twin recovery plan, via B

Cover of Drukqs

Aphex Twin is via the Björk recommendations. After being rear-ended on 101 while listening to Aphex Twin, I've been avoiding the weirdness so giving this another try is part of my recovery plan...

Aphex Twin - Drukqs

1. Gwely Mernans
2. Avril 14th
3. Petiatil 
4. Ruglen Holon
5. Beskhu3u

Joshua Pierce - John Cage: Works for Piano & prepared Piano - Vol.1

1. A Room: for piano
2. A Room: for prepared piano
3. In a Landscape
4. And the Earth Shall Bear Again

Thai Beat-A-Go-Go Vol. 1

1. Starlights. Day Tripper
2. Louis Kennedy. Poo Yai Lee

Electrelane - I Want to Be the President EP

1. I Only Always Think

Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

1. She Watch Channel Zero?!

Rolling Stones - No Spare Parts

1. Before They Make Me Run

 

aworks +1 web log :: the legend of john fahey

Wikipedia

John Fahey - The Legend of Blind Joe Death

• Sligo River Blues
• Uncloudy Day
• In Christ There Is No East or West
• Desperate Man Blues
• Sun Gonna Shine in My Back Door Someday Blues
• Poor Boy Long Ways from Home

John Fahey - Rain Forests, Oceans, & Other Themes

• Melody McOcean
• Layla - Eric Clapton
• Rain Forest
• Lullaby & Finale from the Firebird - Igor Stravinsky
• Samba De Orfeo
• Atlantic High
• Juroscho Ascopi

John Fahey - Railroad (not available on rdio)

• Summer Cat By My Door
• Medley: Imitation Train Whistle's, Po' Boy
• Afternoon Espee through Salem
• Delta Dog through the Book of Revelations

aworks +1 web log :: live dreams and other pursuits

• Dreams - Live. An Evening with the Allman Brothers Band
• Dreams. The Allman Brothers Band. The Millennium Collection
• Dreams - Demo Version. The Allman Brothers. Dreams
• Altrice. Stem (Caribou's "Swim" Remixed)
  • Elsa 
  • Peace of Minds
  • Abe
• Electrelane. I Want To Be the President EP (via Sick Mouthy)
  • I Want to Be the President
  • I Only Always Think
  • I've Been Your Fan Since Yesterday
• Paul Kerschen. The Pacific Theatre
  • All My Life
  • The Golden Gate
• Dollars & Cents (Live). Radiohead. I Might Be Wrong
• Hello from Everywhere. Drift. Wire Tapper 27
• Danzon Cubano. Aaron Copland - Christian Ivaldi, Noël Lee. Musique Americaine Pour Deux Piano

Spotify: Dreams - Live. Dreams. Dreams - Demo Version

Related articles

• Win Tickets to the Allman Brothers Band in Boston (wzlx.radio.com)
• aworks +1 web log :: another look at american driving (rgable.typepad.com)
• aworks +1 web log :: war and gratitude and serenity (rgable.typepad.com)

aworks +1 web log :: war and gratitude and serenity

Boy watching 11/11/11 Veterans Day Parade by Getty Images via @daylife

Veterans Day today in the US.  As always, thanks to the three Gable brothers who served in WW2 and returned, the fourth brother who didn't make it back, the fifth who stayed home and took care of the family farm, and my still living Uncle Harold who was stationed in Germany in the fifties. Hoosiers protecting the world...

• Quatuor Diotima. American Music. rdio spotify
  • Different Trains for string quartet and tape. Steve Reich 
  • String Quartet. Samuel Barber
  • Black Angels for Electric Quartet. George Crumb
• Black Sabbath. YouTube
  • Iron Man. Ozziefest (NSFW + Spanish captions)
  • War Pigs. Ozziefest 
  • Iron Man. Metallica
• Benjamin Britten - Simon Rattle. rdio spotify
  • War Requiem
• Charles Ives - John Adams/Dawn Upshaw. 
  • Serenity. rdio spotify

Update: And thanks to the women for their efforts at the time. This includes my Mom who as a young woman during the war worked third shift in an Indiana factory measuring aircraft piston rings as they came off the line...

Update 2: To honor Viet Nam Vets (who I see as I drive by the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital every day), I've added The End by the Doors to the rdio playlist).

aworks +1 web log :: another look at american driving

Franz Kline image via Wikipedia

I caught the last five minutes of the live Met broadcast of the Philip Glass opera Satyagraha. During the applause, one of the announcers said that the composer was "revered." My Glass fandom aside, is he really "revered?" Within the classical music community, Steve Reich seems held in higher esteem, for what it's worth.

I somehow had never heard Another Look at Harmony before. We'll see if my initial enthusiasm lasts but Glass' works played on organ are usually excellent...

• Choir of the 21st Century, Howard Williams, Christopher Bowers-Broadbent. Philip Glass. Another Look at Harmony - Part IV
  • Opening Section: Choral Plainchant in Minims
  • Choral Plainchant Elaborated with Quaver Movement
  • Harmonic and Rhythmic Exploration, Leading to -
  • Oscillating and Repeated Chords; Then New Melodic Line Added
  • Organ Interlude on C Pedal with Gentle Cross-Rhythms
  • Choral Re-Entry in Repeated Sequences with Organ
  • Final Section - Chori & Organ with Shifting Harmonic Roots
• Heidi Louise Williams. Drive American
  • Joan Tower. No Longer Very Clear
  • Daniel Crozier. Winter Aubade
• Ensemble Avantgarde. Morton Feldman: Chamber Music (For Franz Kline / +). Four Instruments

 

aworks +1 web log :: blues for the forgotten kingdom

Wikipedia on Wellman Braud:

Braud's playing on Ellington's regular radio broadcasts and recordings helped popularize the slap style of string bass playing, as well as encouraging many dance bands of the time to switch from using a tuba to an Upright bass.

Cover of Mahalia Jackson

• Duke Ellington - New Orleans Suite
  • Blues for New Orleans
  • Portrait of Wellman Braud
  • Portrait of Sidney Bechet
  • Portrait of Mahalia Jackson
• Jordi Savall - The Forgotten Kingdom. Musique Bulgare - Taksim & Dance
• Henry Cowell - Piano Music. Fabric
• Glass Chamber Players - Glass/Schoenberg. String Sextet
• Nels Cline And Gregg Bendian - Interstellar Space Revisited. Saturn. John Coltrane
  
• Frederic Hand - Jazzantiqua. Cantigas De Santa Maria
• Harold Budd-Ruben Garcia-Daniel Lentz - Music for 3 Pianos. Pulse, Pause, Repeat
  
• Peter Case - I Am The Resurrection: A Tribute To John Fahey. When the Catfish Is In Bloom
  

aworks +1 web log :: the little drone drummer boy

The Little Drummer Boy (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)

The New Harvard Dictionary of Music:

Drone. (1) Any instrument that plays only a constant pitch or pitches. See Tambura... (3) A long, sustained tone in a piece of music, often intended to imitate the sound of (1), usually pitched below the melody. See also Bourdon, Pedal point.

The Roots of Drone is eye-opening although I'd like to see a follow-up collection that illustrates early *electronic* examples of this music. Still, any recording that coherently includes Haydn, Howlin' Wolf, La Monte Young, and a Christmas song is doing something right. 

• The Roots of Drone
  • Veena Dhanammal. Nijamarmamulan Raga Umabharanum
  • John Cage. 4.33
  • Efisio Melis. Mediana
  • Borodin Quartet - Shostakovich. String Quarter #4 In D Major Op 83-4
  • Floyd Jones. On the Road Again
  • Muddy Waters. Mannish Boy
  • La Monte Young. For Brass
  • Richard Wagner. Rheingold Prelude
  • The Harry Simeone Chorale. The Little Drummer Boy
  • Howlin' Wolf. I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)
  • James Shorty. Jesus on the Main Line
  • Miklós Rózsa. Arrius Party (Ben Hur Original Soundtrack)
  • Miles Davis. So What
  • Sir Thomas Beecham - Haydn. Symphony No. 4 (Spiritoso)
• Peter Geisselbrecht. Ives: Concord Sonata - Mompou: Música Callada. Música Callada. rdio

Related articles

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• For Brass (1957). La Monte Young /roots of drone/ (rgable.typepad.com)

aworks +1 web log :: premature holiday edition

Premature holiday image via Wikipedia

Over 4200 new albums on rdio this week. I recognize maybe 10% of the artists. I had to click to the 94th page to find new music by David Lang. Christmas music is rampant. The strangest recording is an album of the October Republican Presidential Debate.

Ok, enough browsing; on to the best of today's listening, rdio and non-rdio, sans holiday songs:

• The Best of John Renbourn
  • Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. Charles Mingus.
  • White House Blues
  • The Wildest Pig in Captivity
  • My Sweet Potato
  • Kokomo Blues
  • The Cuckoo
• Paint It Black: An Alt Country Tribute To The Rolling Stones [Explicit]. Jumpin' Jack Flash. Giant Sand
  
• The Wire Tapper 27. Hello from Everywhere. Drift
• Lees: String Quartets #1, 5 & 6. String Quartet #6. Benjamin Lees - Cypress Quartet
• Dimanche à Bamako. M'bifé blues. Amadou & Mariam
• Henry Flynt & Nova' Billy. Virginia Trance
• Harris - Symphony No.3 - Schuman. Symphony No.3. Leonard Bernstein
  
• At Town Hall - Keepnews Collection. Little Rootie Tootie. Thelonious Monk Orchestra
• Music For Three Pianos. La Muchacha De Los Suenos Dorados. Harold Budd With Ruben Garcia And Daniel Lentz
• Live At The Jazz Workshop: Complete. Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are. Thelonious Monk
• The Smithsonian Collection Of Classic Jazz. Criss Cross. Thelonious Monk Quintet

And here's my list of queued up recent rdio releases:

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