One of the rare but ugly dangers of rock shows is that occasionally, a nut-job can attack you onstage when you’re not looking. Noel Gallagher just found that out the hard way, poor bugger.
- Rudy Carrera.
Mister Glasses: Episode Two @ YouTube
Strong production values and loving attention to detail make Mister Glasses more fun than the rigors of Modern Architecture.
See also Philip Johnson @ Wikipedia.
~ Karl Jones
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Song Zuying performs this wonderful Chinese folk tune with the Master Chorale of Washington and the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tang Muhai. It’s a gorgeous piece of music and a fine collaboration.
- Rudy Carrera.[/lang_en]
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I had just finished posting a link to Music For A Found Harmonium by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra on my other site when I came across another wonderful ditty in Perpetuum Mobile. Enjoy!
- Rudy Carrera.[/lang_en]
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I’ve seen lots of good Los Angeles bands in my heyday, but I don’t recall any group that has floored me so heavily in the past 10 years as the Secret Society of the Sonic Six have. This three-piece group headlined a show a good friend of mine, Biff of Tunnelmental, put together for his return. They were in wonderful form after shaking off a bit of rust from a very long hiatus, but after they performed, I was warned by another mate, Tommy Grenas of Pressurehed, Farflung and a host of other remarkable bands that I was going to be floored. Normally, I’d brush off a statement like that, but Grenas has impeccable taste, and I figured I’d give them a listen. After about a minute of watching them perform, I was indeed leveled. They had the stage presence of bands like Tuxedomoon in their early days, Yello, Kraftwek, Neu, and they added a very Los Angelino dimension with a sort of hazy psychedelic sound that would sound perfectly in place with a Mexican horror film (you know, the ones that feature a masked super hero like El Santo or Mil Mascaras)! They are the most unique and interesting band performing in Los Angeles, and it’s high time the rest of the world hear them.
- Rudy Carrera.
Lindsay Mac performs an outstanding solo cover of “Use Me”.
Link to YouTube video. Dig that funky cello!
“In order to stand while singing on stage, Mac harnesses the cello with a shoulder strap and does not use a bow. She plucks the strings in a manner similar to the traditional pizzicato technique, but largely employs a more percussive approach. The strings are alternately strummed like a guitar or slapped like a bass.”
- Wikipedia
“Use Me” by Bill Withers (1972): Link to YouTube video.
“Bill Withers (born July 4, 1938 in Slab Fork, West Virginia) is an American singer-songwriter who performed and recorded from the late 1960s until the mid 1980s. Some of his best-known songs are “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Use Me,” “Lovely Day,” “Lean on Me”, “Grandma’s Hands” and “Just the Two of Us”.”
- Wikipedia
~ Karl Jones
Ooh, painful. America’s coolest record shop may be chased out of business.
See the video here.
- Rudy Carrera.
William S. Burroughs and Anthony Balch collaborate for this slice of weirdness. See the video here.
- Rudy Carrera.
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Ah, mashups, you gotta love ‘em.
Rufus Harley, A LOVE SUPREME, Washington D.C. 1987
Yes, this really is free jazz with bagpipes.
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The Guardian features the genius of former Talk Talk frontman Mark Hollis, whose eponymous album left me gobsmacked by its fragile, elegant beauty. Here he is singing “I Believe In You.”
- Rudy Carrera.
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The inventor of the modern crooning style, I came across Al Bowlly thanks to this song being the ending credit for the John Batchelor Show which I listen to Sunday evenings.
- Rudy Carrera.
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Sumptuous folk music from Galicia, Spain, by Luar na Lubre.
- Rudy Carrera.
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I’m cheating a bit here! Lot-Lorien are a band I’ve worked with since their inception 10 years ago as their publisher, and it’s time they get brought to a wider audience. This is their signature tune performed at their 10-year anniversary concert on April 10, 2008. I hope for another 10 great years out of these kids.
- Rudy Carrera.
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Värttinä come from Finland, sing in the Finno-Ugric languages in their native country and in Russian Karelia, and are one of the leading lights of the Scandanavian new folk music scene. They make for a sublime listen.
- Rudy Carrera.
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The Vodka King and Holland’s wildest drummer pair up for this performance in Amherst, Massachusetts.
- Rudy Carrera.
All talk and no action. And that’s a good thing in Richard Linklater’s ‘Waking Life’, a beautiful live action rotoscoped film that floats between sleep and wakefulness, life and death. The characters talk about life as they experience it: existential, suicidal, dreamlike…. Philosophy at its accessible best. And it has Ethan Hawke and a host of other great actors, and my favourite tour guide Timothy Levitch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waking_Life
and a peek of the film on Youtube:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=82EV4KBIsNk
– Radhika Yelkur
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Iannis Xénakis, the Romanian-Greek-French composer, led a full life. He came from a middle-class Greek family who lived near the Black Sea, fought for both Greek fascists and then leftists, where he suffered facial disfigurement from an explosion. After being sentenced to death by Greek fascists, he moved to France, where he not only composed some of the most forward-looking music of the 20th century, but also worked with the legendary architect Le Corbusier. The pieces posted on top feature 86 musicians, including the pianist Hiroaki Ooï, conducted by Michiyoshi Inoue.
– Rudy Carrera
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My brother and I were indie geeks as kids. His specialty was Anglo music, where mine was in the realm of the unpronounceable. He dug up some Wedding Present LPs and played them for me, knocking me off my duff immediately upon listening. Here are David Gedge and the boys from two decades ago.
- Rudy Carrera.
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The band-leader who popularized the most ridiculous dance of all time has died. This Bavarian travesty of a dance has haunted Oktoberfests all over the world, making otherwise sober looking German Catholics look like drunken krauts. You’ve just gotta love that!
- Rudy Carrera.
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Though I’m not Roman Catholic, I have a high appreciation for the current Pontiff, Benedict XVI (formerly theologian, writer and philosopher Joseph Alois Ratzinger). It simply amazes me that secularists see the world of Christendom to be a stunted, intellectually bankrupt collection of simpletons when scholars from all three major Christian traditions have contributed to much to philosophy, logic, science and the arts. That’s for another discussion, however.
He is due to minister to his flock in America in a few days, and I believe this is to be one of the songs performed in his presence. The video is taken from a performance by the Bavarian Radio Choir and Orchestra in front of the Pope at the Vatican.
I’ve read that this is the greatest piece of music written in the last millennium, and I agree. The words are by the German prose master Friedrich Schiller, and of course the music was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, where this piece was included in his Ninth Symphony. It is truly a glorious piece of music, something to brighten what was, I hope, an already good day for you.
Oh, and if you need “singing-in-the-shower” material, here are the words.
- Rudy Carrera.
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I profusely thank Dean Carlson of Fusion Radio for hipping me to one of Norway’s most beautiful new voices. Hanne Hukkelberg has a quality to her voice that floats somewhere between the Icelandic chanteuse Emiliana Torrini and and the slightly funky American sound Edie Brickell once had.
- Rudy Carrera.
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I cannot say that I have a vast amount of knowledge regarding pop music from Azerbaijan or the Azerbaijani region of Iran. This slice of ethnic pop by Azeri singer Flora Kərimova may open up an interesting avenue of research, though.
HT: Bijan Azadi.
- Rudy Carrera
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I’m a fan of basso voices, Bulgarians, and come from some Volga German stock, so this was a natural pick!
- Rudy Carrera
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Three of the world’s finest guitarists, Paco De Lucia, John McLaughlin and Al DiMeola, perform together in concert.
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Accordionist Dave Thomas does a stunningly good interpretation of Yann Tiersen’s La noyée.
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A couple of Colombia’s finest with a beautiful tune for you, Esta Vida (This Life).
HT: Musica Colombiana.
- Rudy Carrera
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Sadly, I didn’t have a chance to post this before. I loved DC5, not as much as the Beatles certainly, but “Glad All Over” was as good a beat anthem that came out during the 60s, and it’s sad to hear of the passing of their singer, Mike Smith.
“Glad All Over” is featured in the video above.
HT: Scott Brooks.
- Rudy Carrera
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One of New Yorks young lions of the avant-garde, Andrew D’Angelo, is fighting off a brain tumor. Consider, if possible donating to his site in order to offset his medical costs. There isn’t much protection for avant-garde musicians health-care-wise, sadly.
- Rudy Carrera
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Iarla Ó Lionáird is Ireland’s finest practicioner of the art of Sean nós, or the old vocal style of singing. He’s also a member of Afro-Celt Sound System. Here’s an older piece from 1981 for you to enjoy your holiday with.
- Rudy Carrera
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There aren’t enough words to express the important of Macedonia’s foremost electronic musician and film music composer. He’s worked with acclaimed Macedonian director Milčo Mančevski, had remixes of his work done by Bushwhacka and Dreadzone among others, and is currently doing production in Hollywood. He’s worth your support, so take a sample of his video and check out his website here.
- Rudy Carrera
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There’s something right about Argentine accordionists. How a German church instrument, by way of Paris brothels, could end up across the world in such capable hands leaves one speechless. Chango Spasiuk is a great case in point. The Ukrainian-Argentine wunderkind shows off his talent on this clip.