Most concerts of traditional Japanese music is attended by old men and women with no teeth

The post title was taken from the liner notes of this album, and something you'd imagine John Zorn would write -- he also produced it. While I don't fully agree, Gagaku probably wasn't very known outside Japan by the 80's at all, so going to NY was a smart move for the young and ambitious Shamisen player Michihiro Sato. In fact, there wasn't a better place for him to be, since he was starting to trail the free improv path -- a trail with no shape, that is. The stellar cast -- Tom Cora, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, to name a few -- indicates how auspicious this meeting came to be.


pw: spooked

From Merrie Melodies to Basslines Generators

Sorry for the delay, chaps, this week's been a busy one. As a compensation, I'll share the fantastic collection of bleeps and bloops by the maestro Raymond Scott. He was to radio what -- ryan's and our beloved -- Suzanne Ciani was to television, composing many tracks using only LFOASDR in all its glory, promoting analog synthesizers while contributing to its development as well.  

His Jazz work is excellent too. Perhaps I'll post it here eventually.

Oh, one of his sons recently finished a documentary on his life, which I'm eager to watch. Buy the DVD, kids.

One more thing, the title song is arguably one of the most lovely tunes created on a sequencer.


part one
part two
pw: spooked (added in the zip file too)

Lloyd Miller, Dr. and wheatgrass juice advocate

I could spend a considerable amount of time writing about Dr. Lloyd Miller and many of his anecdotes, like the time he was scheduled to play at Woodstock but didn't make it due to helicopter logistics -- he was paid, though --, and his rant on E natural, but what for? The brah is a fucking living legend, having devoted his entire life to eastern music, particularly Persian -- from where the "Dr." came. Devotion is such that he completely despises any "modern" genres such as Rock, Hip-Hop, Electronic, etc, despite having recorded with The Heliocentrics in 2010 (terrific album, btw). A well-deserved statement for someone who, it's said, can play close to a hundred of different instruments. This treat -- which is not the East-West release -- is an early compilation of several singles and EPs. We salute you, doc.

pw: spooked

Yeah scrubs

I'm posting this because: a - I've been re-hearing it all week; b - everybody else should as well. Clinic is a tricky band. They've created such a distinctive sound that it's quite difficult to notice the nuances between their records -- about 10 so far --, thus giving the impression that they might've gotten engulfed by it. To be honest, I couldn't cope well with frustration and had kind of given up since Winchester Cathedral. The most recent one, Free Reign, was ok, although it was Daniel Lopatin's version that made it worth. Perhaps this collaboration could lead to more interesting outputs in the future. Meanwhile, Internal Wrangler is more than you'll need to root for this guys.

pw: spooked

A preamble to dr. LM

This one isn't exactly novel [within the blogoverse] nor as exotic as it might look. John Berberian is an Armenian-descendent born and raised in NY. Notwithstanding, he managed to become an authority in the Oud (worth mentioning his father was an accomplished player himself), bringing considerable western attention to the instrument and middle eastern music in general. This record is probably the most accessible and delightful one, with all the honours. I can't find a single moment in the album that I dislike.

pw: spooked

ps. for the scrobbler chaps, I've given up finding an ideal way to tag his albums.

Home is the farthest place from home

Choosing the first post was though, but I thought it would be nice to honour my Braziland -- nothing to do with football, I swear. Y'all probably have read something about the protests bursting around here, after a long democratic slumber. Without getting too much in-depth, the greatest victory was, indeed, actually going out to the streets and claiming the right to do so. It wasn't always like this until recently, tough.

Fernando Falcão was an active voice against the military regime, which lasted from 1964 to 1985. And like many of other libertarian artists, like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, he was forced to seek exile in another country. He chose France, where he eventually met his wife and made a life for himself. It was also the place where he recorded Memória das Águas (Water Recollections) along with dozens of excellent musicians (ryan and fellow Blacklodgers will probably recognize Raymond Guiot from Jazz Baroque Quintet). An absolute masterpiece on percussion and mood building.

The urge to write a long(er) essay about the album -- and how unfair history has treated it -- is almost unbearable. Just hear it for yourselves, guys.


oh, I've added a password in the mediafire link: spooked. Won't hurt being extra careful these days eh