Category: music

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I’ve been going through a marathon listening session for Siti Nurhaliza. Also starting August I’ve bought an emusic value pack, so I can report some emusic purchases (although I’m probably down to the bottom of the barrel).

Articles and Interviews

I’ve been thrilled to find this English language Latin American music review site called Club Fonogram. It was started by one American guy named Carlos Reyes who died a year or so ago, but several people wrote reviews, and during the 2000s and especially the 2010s it was covering a lot of interesting stuff from South and Central America. Here’s the complete list of reviews (I think). Here’s his list of best albums from every year — and to my amazement a list of compilations he put together of his favorite artists (with their consents) which are hosted mostly on Archive.org. Unfortunately the direct downloads work very slowly, but the archive torrents still work lightning fast. Here’s the trick: copy the name of the compilation and paste it into the archive.org search engine. (Here’s Vol 3 and Vol 4 Some more are here even though there’s repetition). Here’s a list of interviews he did with Latin American performers when they showed up on SXSW. This is really outstanding stuff.

Emusic Purchases

1. Elements by Louise Burns. 3.99. Wonderful FM-radio pop songs that are more mellow/downboat, yet still have a nice rhythm. Her Portraits album is also terrific.
2. Hôtel Costes A Decade. 6.49 for 2 1/2 hours. Stéphane Pompougnac makes these Hotel Costes mixes. They are terrific, but this double album compilation kind of bites. Too much spoken word, not enough melody.
3. Two albums by Moonsoup: Archipelago Vol 4 (1.99)and Do what you want (1.49).
4. Acustico San Jose by Camila Moreno (17 minutes, 1.49). Apparently I’ve already downloaded 3 albums by this Chilean singer, but there’s a few others on another label.
5. Auto Radio by Benjamin. 5.49, 45 minutes. Apparently according to RYM this Portugese singer is also known as Walter Benjamin.
6. Ah ce-mi place! by Bogdan Ioniță. 4.99, 49 minutes. Fast Upbeat Dance Europop by the ancient Electrecord Romanian state label. Some of his compositions seem to be on Soundcloud.
7. Strada sperantei by Vasile Veselovschi. Famed Romanian songwriter. 4.99 for 70 minutes.
8. Time by Sara Tindley. 40 minutes, 6.49. Australian country singer who died a month or two ago.
9. Nightengale of Bucharest volume 2 by Maria Tanase. Classic Romanian singer. These recordings from the 1950s are still better than Volume 1 (which is terrible), but the playback levels are terrible.
10. Romante by Iona Radu. 3.99, 10 songs. Not her best stuff, but still great songs by the immortal Romanian singer.
11. Prietenii mei dumanii by Victoria Pene. 4.99, 10 tracks. Lovely easy listening Romanian ballads with an acoustic pop sound. Recorded in the early 2000s but the spirit feels older than that — in the best sense.
12. Hai Acasea, Puisor by Bianca Ionescu Ball. (also known as Bianca Ionescu). 4.99 , 50 minutes. Romanian female singer with a lovely operatic voice who sings mostly ballads here.
13. Celeste by Soundcarriers. 53 minutes for 5.49. Great, sunny/psychedelic band from UK. Very pleasant sound though it might get monotonous after a while. PS multiple albums on emusic, horray!
14. Several albums by Congelador. s/t by Congelador. 4.49 Brilliant post-rock meditations with lots of hazy guitars, gentle vocals, strange progressive effects. Also Persona, Abrigo, Cajon, All these are very interesting and different from one another. Like Pink Floyd, The Clean, Sonic Youth, Collective soul, etc. The two brother behind this group also run the Chilean music label Quemasucabeza which I’m really loving.
15. 3 albums by Simon Campusano: Brillo 4.49 for 36 minutes. and Este Debe Ser el Lugar (99 cents for 20 minutes) and Sesiones 050: Simón Campusano (0.99 for 30 minutes!)
16. Maiferland (Acto de Amor) by Maifersoni. 5.49 fr 55 minutes
17. Lance by Ninos del Cerro
18. Wed 21 by Juana Molina. 11 tracks
19. Viva! Los Punsetes. 4,99 for 11 tracks. Groovy Spanish pop sensation.
20. 2 by Denver: Fuera de Campo and Sangre Cita. (both about 40 minutes for 99 cents each).
21. Somos by Quiero Club. 10 tracks,
22. Tormenta Solar by Fakuta. Low-key downbeat electropop/dreampop from female Chilean composer/singer.  alias of Pamela Sepúlveda, a Chilean composer and songwriter. Her music has been described as “delicate indie space pop”, having an ethereal sound that is normally only accompanied by her voice.
23. Various low-cost EPs by Planeta No: Raro, Matacuna, Traducciones,
24. Live albums by the Monterrey Mexico rock band album: Live at SXSW 2005, Live at Clickaporte 2007. Live albums are all that emusic has, yes they’re pretty amazing; they growl, they storm, they amaze.
25. 2 dance pop albums by Chilean singer Teleradio Donoso: – Bailar y llorar and Gran Santiago
26. That’s your wife on the back of my horse by Johnny Dowd.
27. Swinger 500 by Chris and Carla.
28. Cheers by Steiner and Madlaina.
29. Nights to Forget by Martha Ffion. 4.49 for 10 tracks, 36 minutes.

Youtubey Things

Mullholland Drive soundtrack on YT.

I’ve always been a big fan of Prokoviev‘s Cinderella Ballet, especially the Waltz and Midnight Music. Here’s a recording of those two movements.

Here’s colorized and restored footage of the Glen Miller Modernaires. (cue to the 2:28). Sound isn’t terrific, but who could not fall in love with the beautiful Paula Kelley? Here’s another music clip from the 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade singing Chattanooga Choo Choo — followed by a dance number sung by Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers

This may look like an ordinary performance, but it’s actually 2002 Eurovision winner (Marija Naumova from Latvia) singing a classic song by prolific Latvian composer Raimonds Pauls a decade later. Hey, that’s Raimonds Pauls playing the piano! I love this performance…. Here is that 2003 Eurovision-winning performance.  I’ll be delving into the music of 87 year old Raimonds Pauls some more over the next few weeks.

Freegal and Library CDs

1. Raimonds Paul. Classic 1970s Soviet-era pop songs by this Latvian composer.
2. Marija Naumova — After winning Eurovision with an upbeat pop song, she has been singing all kinds of easy listening ballads, mostly Latvian.
3. Bette Lemme. Young Canadian singer who did a great duet with Sofi Tukker in the song Awoo (one of my favorite songs and vids).
4. Lady Wray. Really amazing
5. Albums by Low (Trust and Things We Lost in the Fire.

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Podcasty Things

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My emusic subscription is now active again. I haven’t bought any bonus packs yet though.

Eurovision Blather

I did a separate post about Eurovision. In short, it was exhilarating to watch, but I wish that the favorite didn’t win … just to be surprised.

BEAUTIFUL SONGS NEVER WIN BIG THINGS. Here’s a terrific and uplifting sung by Mia Nicolai & Dion Cooper (Official Eurovision entry for Netherlands). Such a simple song, yet a standout performance which unbelievably didn’t qualify for the Eurovision finals. Have no fear. This song will endure with or without the Eurovision bump.

1st Semifinals featured a LOT of strange songs — even by Eurovision standards. Truthfully I love strange songs and performances at Eurovision, but after watching so many outlandish hyperkinetic performances I begin to want something more basic. (Btw, the interval act with Alyosha and Rebecca Ferguson singing Ordinary World was extraordinary even though the audio quality was substandard).

Articles and Interviews

Here’s a great annotated ranking of Weird Al songs (though I’m bummed it didn’t include the awesome SPORTS SONG on the list). Special appreciation goes to Dick Van Patton for his cameo appearance in the SMELLS LIKE NIRVANA music video.

Emusic Purchases

1. Of Night and Shades by Nazca.
2. Play by Inge van Calkar.
3. Two by Deborah Palmer: Dreaming Wide Awake and Nowhere Land.

Bandcamp Purchases

None this month.

Youtubey Things

Here’s an On the Road YouTube playlist I made with the theme (music you’ll like to speed to). About half the ideas came from a subreddit thread, the other half were personal picks.

To my astonishment, I discovered that the Houston club Mucky Duck has been producing a lot of concerts of its mostly Texas performers. Here’s a playlist of full concerts. I particularly recommend Bob Schneider, Sarah Hickman, Kelly Willis, Shinyribs, Trish and Darren Murphy, Patricia Pike, but clearly I am only scratching the surface. Wow, here’s Jonatha Brooke who just performed there last weekend!

Ace of Base I’ve been on a memory trip about Ace of Bass, a group I was only dimly aware of while working overseas.

I’ve been watching Sofi Tukker live performances on Youtube. Here’s an energetic 2021 concert — the first they did after COVID lockdown –563 days after their last performance. Here’s a July 2022 DJ set in Croatia — with a gigantic crowd. Half of the songs are their songs, but they know how to work a crowd. (Also the funky visuals behind them help a lot).

Rick Beato and songwriter Mary Spender marvel at the beautiful lyrics of Jim Croce’s Operator. They marveled at the compactness of the language, the antiquated technology (calling the operator for a number!?) and the hints of sadness in the midst of the upbeat chord changes. Someday I would like to write lyrics for a song! I can do prose and I have a very good sense for rhythm and word flow.

Amazing studio performance by Blondie in 1977 (2 years before they hit it really big). Here’s Debbie Harry singing Rainbow Connection with Kermit (aka Jim Henson). Here’s an interview with Paul Williams about the composition of Rainbow Connection for the Muppet Movie. Here’s his description:

 There was an initial meeting at my house in the Hollywood hills to discuss the film, the story of how the Muppets met and the songs that were needed.  Walking Jim to his car I told him that Kenny and I would not throw any surprises at him.  We’d let him hear the songs as we worked on them.  He answered with a smile and then said “Oh, that’s all right Paul.  I’m sure they’ll be wonderful.  I’ll hear them in the studio when we record them.”

I’ve never once, before or since, experienced such freedom.  In the world of filmmaking and the costs involved it’s unheard of.  But, there in the street above tinsel town I was shown a level of trust that says more about Jim Henson than it does about Kenny Ascher and I.

Confident in the creative choices he’d made he was willing to step back, allow the process to unfold without excessive control and, energized by his caring and respect Kenny and I did our best work. His graciousness and the elegance of kindness he wore so well made knowing and working for Jim Henson a classic case of living with a master of gratitude and trust

Freegal and Library CDs

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1. Mina
2. Deltron 3000
3. Miriam Makeba.
4. Sofi Tukker. More random tracks.I can’t get enough of this group!
5. Sammi Smith. Country star famous for pretty much one song. Help Me Make it through the Night. But she has a great voice and a slow deliberate way of singing.
6. Runaways.
7. Microphones. The Glow Pt. 2 . This 2001 strangely-named avante-garde album has received widespread praise, even from Pitchfork Magazine.

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Podcasty Things

None this time.

See also: Previous and Next (View all)

Articles and Interviews

Here’s a brutal Pitchfork review of the latest Maneskin album. I actually have come to like this group ever since they won Eurovision.

LIZZO RECEIVES THE NARDWUAR TREATMENT: Houston singer Lizzo already seems to know about the reputation of this Vancouver interviewer, but Narduwar still manages to flummox and amaze Lizzo with his encyclopedic knowledge of the Houston music scene.

RIP BURT BACHARACH: What do you get when you fall in love?

A guy with a pin to burst your bubble

That’s what you get for all your trouble

****

What do you get when you kiss a guy?

You get enough germs to catch pneumonia

After you do, he’ll never phone ya..

(I just love those lyrics — which probably are more of Hal David’s handiwork than Bacharach’s. Still Bacharach provides the magic.)

Twenty-five years ago, they spoke out and they broke out /
Of recession and oppression and together they toked /
And they folked out with guitars around a bonfire /
Just singin’ and clappin’, man, what the hell happened?

Smashwords’ Walking on the Sun was released 25 years ago — here’s a live performance from 25 years ago!

Emusic Purchases

1. List begins here

Bandcamp Purchases

1. Begin

Youtubey Things

Nice video by NFKRZ about dissident Russian musicians. NFKRZ is a fast-talking and delightful Russian dissident emigre who knows his Russian stuff.

CANNOT BE UNSEEN: This horrifying clip was referenced in a 90s pop music podcast. QUOTE: ““You didn’t need much sense of rhythm to do the Macarena. You didn’t need to remember too many steps. You simply had to be aware of the location of your chest, head, and butt, and you needed to be able to put your hands on those parts in sequence. Few dance crazes are quite so undemanding.” (I was out of the country when this was on TV — thank God!)

QUOTE: “A Miami radio DJ named Jammin Johnny Caride, he’s DJing live at a club in Miami. He’s there with his program director at the influential radio station Power 96, and he’s trying to convince his boss that they should play “Macarena” on the radio even though the current remix version is all in Spanish, because every time he puts the song on in the club everyone starts line-dancing immediately. So Johnny says, “And I play the song again and the same thing happens. It was like the bubonic plague. The dance floor clears out, people fall in line, like an army, and they start to do that little dance. The ones who didn’t know it, they learn it on the spot. And the boss looks at me and says, ‘What the hell was that?’”

Beverly Kenny sings a light-hearted song about the alphabet. This jazz singer who died at 28 made several brilliant albums, and I fall in love with her songs over and over. Writes David McGee:

Musically, she got it all right: her enunciation is precise yet soulful, as if she had absorbed every elegant phrase Billy Eckstine—or indeed, the young Ella—had sung. All the pauses are in the right place; her understanding of the songwriters’ intent, if her own choices are any indication, is virtually infallible as she finds new ways into familiar texts from the Great American Songbook; the supple texture of her voice enhances the lyrical narrative she serves; and her uncanny ability to enlarge the emotions of a song without losing control of them reveals an advanced sensitivity to the complexities of this thing called love.

Freegal and Library CDs

Wow, so many new stuff on Freegal and from the Library. I even purchased some used CDs.

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Podcasty Things

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See also: Dec 2022 and Feb-March 2023 (View all)

I put my emusic account on hold for financial reasons. So I won’t be buying many albums for the next few months. Fortunately I have been checking a lot of cool CDs from my local libraries.

Actually though I really just want to sit around and listen to all the things I’ve found over the last year. I don’t consider myself a particularly astute music critic but I can get excited about things nobody else notices. I resolve to write more music reviews. One side benefit of writing music reviews is that it forces me to focus on what I’m listening — to concentrate on the album itself.

Another thing. My listening habits are haphazard. I do my most serious listening on my PC with Foobar2000 program. It’s nice, but frankly my digital music collection is so vast that I end up overlooking many artists and albums. I need to devise a good way to plan my listening — even if it’s simply to play a random album on this list sometime.

I don’t really listen to a commercial streaming service like Spotify, but I’ve been uploading my favorite albums to ibroadcast, which is an online music locker/streaming service . I’m still on the free plan, but will eventually roll over to the premium plan I like it so much. I have to create my own playlists, but that is not too terrible a problem. Actually though it’s somewhat hard to order classical albums correctly in my playlists.

Also, I plan to revisit some musical favorites — and maybe do casual posts about them. This month will be Mazzy Star

Articles and Interviews

Here’s a wonderful annotated list of Eurovision participants by country. Of course, many Eurovision winners either were distinguished musicians or later did many interesting things. Eurovision — like any contest — is just a good way to keep track of musicians since most of them pass through there at one time or another.

Emusic Purchases

1. List begins here

Bandcamp Purchases

This may not be considered a “purchase”, but about 6 months ago I bought lots of Name Your Price albums on Bandcamp. Then I did something unusual. I bought a “DIGITAL DISCOGRAPHY” to the Business Casual label which allowed me to download/stream all the catalog’s albums. That turned out to number in the hundreds. Wow, that took a long while — plus I’m not sure that everything on the catalog is worth listening. Will report back.

1. Begin

Youtubey Things

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Freegal and Library CDs

Mostly I’m downloading tracks by former Eurovision winners, using names found in the subreddit article mentioned above.

1. Bert Jansch. Scottish folk singer.
2. Anggun
3. Edurne
4. Gromee
5. Loic Nottet
6. Laura Tesoro
7. Samira Said
8. Kuunkuiskaajat

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Podcasty Things

I’ve been listening to the always excellent 60 Songs that Explain the 90s podcast. It’s great hearing a dissection of seemingly unremarkable pop hits and back stories behind the production, the genre and the musicians. I’ve been enjoying the episodes about Offspring, Britney Spears, Spice Girls.

See also: Oct-Nov 2022 and Jan 2023(View all)

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Articles and Interviews

I’ve been really getting into Rob Harville’s podcast 60 Songs that Explain the 90s. I know the 90s pretty well — and I just listened to 2 of my favorite subjects — Selena and the Cranberries.

Emusic Purchases

1. beritanya by Dansaya (IND). 4.49, 43 minutes.
2. Untitled by Ana Roxanne. 2.49, 27 minutes. experimental US singer.
3. Harorat by Yagona (UZB), 4.99, 55 minutes, 15 tracks. Dynamite Uzbek popstar.
4. Sibeba by Hijas del Sol. 59 minutes, 4.99, 15 tracks.
5. Shouka by Mariem Hassan. 69 minutes, 4.99, 16 tracks. W. Sahara singer.
6. E’tirof Et by Ozoda (UZB). 3.99, 40 minutes, 9 tracks,
7. To’plam 2 by Otash Xijron (UZB). 4.99, 130 minutes.
8. To’plam by Manzura (UZB). 4.99 , 150 minutes.
9. Hang from a Star by Sorry Kisses, 3.49, 8 tracks, 32 minutes.
10. Memento by Jes. (US) 107 minutes, 14 tracks, 3.99. EDM headed by longtime female vocalist.
11. Wilkes by Sam Wilkes. 2.49 for 31 minutes, experimental jazz artist featured in a recent New Yorker profile.

Bandcamp Purchases

1. Other albums by 19 Wiosen. Cesarstwo Zwierz​ą​t, Pi​ę​kno, Po​ż​egnanie ze światem.
2. music at a distance 110 by smv.

Youtubey Things

RIP Hamish Kilgrour (drummer of iconic NZ jangle-rock group THE CLEAN). ANTHOLOGY was one of my all-time fave music albums. Here’s a track that is positively sublime:

NEW CHRISTMAS SONG: I was putting together a Christmas playlist and discovered this SpongeBob gem:

Freegal and Library CDs

1. Naughty by Nature, a 90s rap band.

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Podcasty Things

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See also: Aug-Sept 2022 and Dec 2022 (View all)

I recently came across this group named the Traveling Wilburys — and was stunned to see that this super group had Dylan, Petty, Harrison, Lynne, Orbison — and I’d never heard of them!

During the Beatles’ GET BACK documentary, George Harrison that they should have permanently split up and then get back together every decade or so and release a collaboration album. I guess the Beatles became super too quickly and then found they couldn’t walk away…

I was always into strange music. the stereotype is that when people get older their tastes are more traditional and timid, but I’m more into weird shit than I ever was. That said, I find some current pop music to be unlistenable — PostMalone, etc. But I am lot more tolerant about dance pop but experimentation for its own sake doesn’t excite me as much. Internet makes it so easy to learn about new music and musical styles. But it’s exciting to learn about how much I missed first time around….

1988-1989 (and actually a good part of the 1980s) was a black hole for me, musically speaking. I was listening to only classical, and then a bit of jazz, but by 1995 I was totally into pop music, Selena.

During college I listened to whatever my roommates were listening to but I was pretty much ignorant about anything remotely country until 1996 when a friend Sherry Stokes sent me a mix tape of country hits when I was living in Albania. From that point on, I became a fan even of country music — and then in 2000s I sort of became a pop music omnivore. I often joke that living in Albania gave me a first class education in American pop and country music.

Emusic Purchases

1. 23 am by Robert Miles. (4.99, 60 minutes). Iconic dream trance music from the late 1990s. I first heard Robert Miles in a Ukrainian dance club!
2. Di Dalam Jiwa by David Bayu (IND). 3.49 for 35 minutes.
3. Present Tense by Yumi Zouma (NZ) 6.49 for 35 minutes.
4. Ile De Reve by Private Agenda. (UK). 3.99 for 41 minutes.
5. Down by the Bayou by JeConte, 9 tracks, 39 minutes.
6. Sezónne lásky by Miroslav Zbirka (SLO). 44 minutes, 12 tracks, 6.49, I think Zbirka’s 80s album Zlomky poznania was one of the best albums I’d heard all year. This one is not quite as good, but still enjoyable. He’s like a Slovak Journey or Styx, peppy, upbeat, catchy.
7. Atelier duse by Marika Gombitova (SLO). 44 minutes, 11 tracks, 6.49
8. Archer by Suzanne Choffel. (USA) 7 tracks, 26 minutes. Austin singer.
9. Brazilian budget albums: Clareou by Dinho Zamorano, Sem Moldura by Ive Greice,
10. Albums by Norwegian singer/composer Kate Havnevik (NO: Melankton, Lightship,
11. Hello Kitten — Kitten and the Hip. 5.49, 48 minutes. Great British pop duo with retro jazzy sensibility. The singer Scarlett Quinn is great.
12. Zawsze jest za krótko by 3moonboys. 6.49, Polish avante-garde jazz-rock fusion group which puts together these amazing rhythmic pieces almost seem orchestral,
13. Dyliżans Siedmiu by Tatvamasi, 41 minutes, 2.49
14. Na Osi Czasu by Anita Lipnicka. 6.49, 72 minutes. Live concert from 2017 by this Polish folk singer. Hints of Joan Baez, etc. Probably not as good as her studio recordings, but the only title on emusic.
15. Philadelphia 1980 by Frank Zappa. 6.99 for 4 hours.
16. Live 1981 by Devo. 70 minutes for 6.49 Audio quality isn’t great, but the energy is. Also, didn’t realize I had so little music by Devo other than a Greatest Hits.
17. Pillars by Soderqvist. 12 tracks, 5.49, 50 minutes.
18. Penny Days by Lazylazy. 8 tracks, 99 cents.

Bandcamp Purchases

1. Now by 19 Wiosen. NYP. I loved this rock band by this electro-punk album by this Polish group. Surprisingly chill for a punk band that’s around for 2 decades. BTW, other albums are more raw, not as well put together. This one is terrific.

Youtubey Things

Aha, I ‘m noticing that my musical posts start to have giant gaping holes when a Youtube vid becomes unavailable. So I need to identify the song for the vid.

I ain’t no miracle worker by The Brogues. (1966). Incredible California garage rock band — great lyrics too.

Here’s Shagg’s Own Thing, a totally bizarre song by the men of the Shaggs (the brother and the father?!

Here’s a great interview with Devo on David Letterman in 1982. I realize that they are just being silly/strange for its own sake, but the two band leaders are both eloquent and hilarious. (This clip includes no music btw). Enjoy!

Freegal and Library CDs

1. 7 Seconds (compilation); also Africa Rekk, Youssou N’Dour
2. Various 80s hits by Debbie Gibson
3. Sixteen Stone by Bush
4. Love in the Time of Science by Emiliana Torrini. Torrini sang that incredible song, Gollum’s Song from the Lord of the Rings saga
5. Songs by Nina Bogdanov, who sang popular jazz and pop hits in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. There’s an incredible number she performed in the 60s with Rossner Jazz Orchestra (one of my all time favorite youtube finds). Нина Бродская – Хали-Гали

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Podcasty Things

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See also: July 2022 and Oct-Nov 2022 (View all)

Wow, I was really late creating my music column, so this one will cover 2 months. I was busy spending my remaining emusic credit. It’s funny. I keep resolving to cancel my membership or to suspend it indefinitely. Then when I am close to canceling, I keep finding some incredible musicians.

Lately I’ve been grabbing some albums from Opus Records which are listed in the 100 Greatest Slovak Albums of all time. I generally enjoy this album if only because of its vintage sound.

Emusic Purchases

1. Flames to Ashes by Elissa Pernu. 4.99, 13 tracks, 41 minutes. Great slow traditional sounding country songs by Australian singer Pernu and songwriter Bill Chambers. Lots of soothing harmonies and harmonica! (She also sings with a group Woven Hearts). It’s so great to listen to Pernu’s voice — especially in ballads like “One I Miss.” Even in songs like Oceans’ Wide where she lets loose some nice notes in the refrain, it blends very well with the light arrangements. This is real gem of an album!
2. Best of Gosia Andrzejewicz. Polish pop star.
3. Soliloquy for Lilith by Nurse with Wound. 145 minutes, 8 tracks, 6.49. Ambient stuff
4. Taking Shape by Ohm Square. Groovy-nerdy and fast-paced Czech pop band with a retro sound. Lots of synthesizer and just strange but beautiful notes sung in harmony. Compare to The Octopus Project, Hooverphonic or Komeda . The songs definitely grows on you, but I still don’t know what I’ve just experienced. The vocals are crazy; check out Animated (with furiously fast sax and electric guitar) where the woman practically is scatting the lyrics. Every song is different and fun.
5. In search of Sunrise 3 Panama by Tiesto. 4.99, 200 minutes. I love these old trance mixes, and I’ve collected most of the ISOS series.
6. Rewashed – Series One. Compilation of Mole Listening Pearls label. 4.99, 120 minutes
7. Siap Melayang by Young De Brock. 3.49 36 minutes. Indonesian hard rock. Surprisingly hard and fast and fun.
8. Love Classics by Ohm Square. 5.49, 45 minutes.
9. Albums by Marika Gombitová: Dievča do dažďa (1979 debut, most famous). Early album by this high-pitched Slovak pop star.
10. Zelena posta by Pavol Hammel & Marian Varga. 43 minutes, 6.49 . Top rated 1972 album by two legends in Slovak music.
11. Zlomky poznania by Miroslav Zbirka, 45 minutes, 13 tracks. 6.49
12. s/t by Los Flakos. Delightfully weird and peppy Mexican pop. 3.99
13. Dunyo by Nilufar Usmonova. (Uzbekistan) 51 minutes for 3.99. More pop songs by Uzbek superstar. The melodies are conventional Turk-influenced tracks, but her singing is always beautiful.
14. Apart by Kidso. 99 cents, 30 minutes.
15. Terraplane by Scott Ainslee (USA). 16 tracks, 50 minutes, 6.99
16. Portraits by Louise Burns (Canada) . 47 minutes, 10 tracks. Slow and lovely songs that seem almost like psychedelic easy listening pop. Understated, minimal synth and arrangements, led along by Burns’ expressive voice. Compare to Nichole Atkins, Polly Scattergood, Sean Colvin.
17. Curiche by Newen Afrobeat. (CHILE), 2.99, 48 minutes.
18. Mister Mellow by Washed Out (USA). 5.49 for 29 minutes.
19. Carried Away by Jessica Lee, (CAN) 4.99 for 11 tracks, 37 minutes.
20. Wild Things by Ladyhawke (USA). 6.59 for 11 tracks, 37 minutes.
21. Various live concerts in Poland: (mostly from 2010 or so). They all have the same title: Najmniejszy Koncert Świata. Here’s Tomek Lipinski & Tilt. (Tilt is one of the first Polish rock bands), and Hey, (mysterious punk-rock diva — think Blondie or Zemfira and Voo Voo (jazzy folk rock

Youtubey Things

Here’s a wild performance of a Buddy Holly song by Paul McCartney. Strap on your seatbeats!

PORTISHEAD NOSTALGIA. I heard several songs by this group on a mix tape I played all the time in Albania in 1995. Loved their music, but it never occurred to me to check their performances on Youtube. Here’s a terrific live performance. BTW, a “Glory Box” is an Australian idiom for a “hope chest” — a box filled with various household items and given to young married women.

Here’s a really wonderful Youtube video which analyzes Glory Box and the historical importance of the band. Here’s a 1995 interview and a Pitchfork Review.

BJORK “DEBUT” ….WITH HARPSICHORD!?? (and Gamelan, citar, etc.). I always loved the electro-dance “Debut” album which burst upon the scene in 1993. Just an hour ago I discovered the unplugged live version of this same album — full of minimalist — even anachronistic music arrangements. Some songs have the same pulsating energy (Violently Happy) while others like the soulful COME TO ME sound a lot smaller in scale. Bjork’s amazing voice comes through regardless; also I guess it becomes dull when you sing a song in a single way.

SINGING BY THE SHAGGS’ MEN! By now you have probably heard the story of the all girls’ band, THE SHAGGS, who were forced by their father to produce a music album even though they had crappy instruments, barely knew a thing about music and played songs for their iconic PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORLD album in a primitivist and almost otherwordly way. You probably already know that this original album reached a certain level of fame and notoriety and yes, even respect from music critics. BUT did you know that they did a second compilation album consisting of cover songs and this crazy song sung by the the girl’s father and brother. No joking — this song is kinda brilliant and psychotic — it sounds like a novelty song from the early rock era. It definitely sounds like musical talent runs in the family.

RAP SONG…WITH THE BEACH BOYS!? I was surprised and delighted to hear this 1987 mashup song Wipeout with the actual Beach Boys. In 1987 I was still in my “classical music” phase, so there’s absolutely no chance I would have heard that song when it was released.

Freegal and Library CDs

Bruce Cockburn: Stealing Fire and Nothing but a Burning Light

Various songs by Los-del-rio

Deluxe Special by Waitresses

Be Here Now by Oasis

Big Innings by Outfield

Songs of Daniel Johnston by Built to Spill

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

See also: June 2022 and Aug-Sept 2022 (View all)

I just finished appearing on a guest podcast to discuss two albums Pistola de Plástico by the Chilean punk-pop group Los Ex and Lupon by the Portland group Y La Bamba. Both were great albums, and I’ve been following the Los Ex lead singer Colombina Parra for a while.

Articles and Interviews

stuff

Emusic Purchases

1. Light by Tessie. 5 tracks, 99 cents. Nice solo work by Tessie Spoljaric-Woodgate, lead singer of the INTIMATE STRANGER band from Chile (also great). Not as pop, but more like Mazzy Star (and the last two songs were absolutely beautiful). Nice lowkey EP, in slow ambient shoegazing style
2. Various low-cost eps from Mitimitis: (Soundcloud) Abrilar, Terror en el autocine, Monos en la costa, videoclub, campos de amberries por siempre.
3. Just (We are not Just Human Beings) by Intimate Stranger. About half these tracks already appeared in their compilation album,
4. GBS Fest by Gugun Blues Shelter. 3.49 for 37 minutes. (Youtube) Nice mainstream Indonesian blues rock.
5. Bosque Sagrado by Felics. 3.99 for 34 minutes.
6. 3 albums by Elso Tumbay: s/t (1997) and Nino Planta, and Arbolica, Each is 3.99 for 45 minutes.
7. Gorgeous George by Edwyn Collins. 55 minutes, 5.99 Scottish songwriter famous in the 1980s and 1990s.
8. A Flower White EP by Susumu Yokota. 99 cents for 21 minutes.
9. Hotel Valentine By Cibo Matto. 4.99 for 37 minutes.
10. s/t by Omni. 5.99 for 42 minutes. 80s Polish electro, very Vangelis/Stranger Things.
11. Electric Love by 70sOC (70s Orgasmic Club). Indonesian funk band. Also, Supersonicloveisticated 1.99 , 21 minutes.
12. Golden Hits by Adriano Celentano. 97 minutes, 44 tracks. 3.99
13. ZYX Italo Disco Collection 2, Various, 6.49. 210 minutes. Call me crazy, but I just love that 80s Euro-disco sound. It’s oddly soothing.
14. More ESP-Disk Experimental Jazz (unbeatable prices!) New York Eye and Ear Control by Albert Ayler, Town Hall 1962 by Ornette Coleman, On tour by Burton Green Trio, 99 cents, 46 minutes, s/t, Noah Howard Quartet, 99 cents, 29 minutes, Pharoah’s First by Pharoah Sanders, In Search of Mystery by Gato Barbieri, Two by saxophonist Sonny Simmons: Music from the Spheres, Staying on the Watch, Forest and the Zoo by Steve Lacy, Your Prayer by Frank Wright,
15. African Prayers by Amine Mesnaoui & Labelle (bc), 2.99, Moroccan piano compositions, with all sorts of percussive accompaniment.
16. Gondrong Kribo Bersaudara by Gribs. Indonesian glam rock. Conventional and predictable, but still a nice listen.
17. Saz Ile Modern Oyun Havaları by Kadir Seker. 3.99, 56 minutes. Intense and fast-paced Turkish instrumentals which sound like bellydance music a little.
18. Young and Old by Tennis, 4.49 for 33 minutes. 2012 album Early album by Denver pop duo and husband and wife (and still going strong). Crap, looks like their albums are already on freegal.
19. Various

Bandcamp Purchases

1. Begin

Youtubey Things

SANREMO ROCK AND ROLL SPECIAL: Adriano Celentano shows off his dance moves in this classic rock and roll song from 1961.

Recently I’ve grown sentimental about some musical pieces for children written by Carl Orff for pedagogical purposes. My high school girlfriend Susan Engelhardt gave me two classical music cassettes for my birthday: Haydyn‘s Mass in the Time of War (an extraordinarily beautiful piece) and Orff’s Musik für Kinder (which included the lovely Gassenhauer). I was probably a senior in high school and knew Carmina Burina very well (maybe I even had a cassette of it), but the Orff music for children caught me off-guard. It was so inventive and unconventional and yet sophisticated. I didn’t learn until later that these pieces were invented mainly for pedagogical reasons. No matter! (Gassenhauer is the first piece on the youtube clip, and it is justly famous). There’s a great note on the youtube vid:

it should be mentioned that the ‘Street Song’ album was pretty much entirely arranged/composed by Gunild Keetman, not Orff, including ‘Gassenhauer’,the sole exception being the collaboration ‘Unsquare Dance’. The credits on the 6 CD release ‘Musica Poetica’ by RCA/BMG from 1994 confirm this-she was the percussion/instrumental genius while Orff’s contributions tended to lean more towards vocal/choral works. Unfortunately Keetman rarely gets the credit she deserves-for example her name has been airbrushed from the original album cover shown in this video and on some releases, not mentioned at all.

The Haydn mass in the time of war was not as lugubrious as I expected it to be. It was a simple classical mass — more Bach than Beethoven, but the last part, the Agnus Dei has a nice adagio which ends with a dirge-like trumpet and drums. Actually though the last dona nobis pacem ends quickly on a simple and glorious note. (Here’s a great Neville Marriner version).

Freegal and Library CDs

start

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Podcasty Things

start

See also: May 2022 and July 2022 (View all)

Hey, I’m still catching up here. Strangely I’ve been checking out lots of music CDs from libraries.

Articles and Interviews

stuff

Emusic Purchases

I have a lot of emusic credit to burn; I’m going to buy a lot of Polish jazz on the GAD music label (bandcamp), get a lot of Turkish stuff and some old compilations. I might surf through some Iranian music on Yaletown Technologies and Opus music label from Serbia/Yugoslavia. Update: Here are links to several interesting emusic labels.

1. Doble Exposition by Capricornio Uno. $4.
2. Arriba Excursionistas! by Biodramina Mood. 99 cents.
3. 40 Hits 1946-1949 by Bourvil. He’s a French comic actor and singer and this seems to be his earlier stuff.
4. Live in Prague 1964 by Krzysztof Komeda Quintet. 5.99 historic and famous recording by Poland’s most famous jazz composer. (I’m a big fan of the Komeda pop band who were inspired by his music).
5. Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966 Vol 3 by Don Cherry. 49 cents for 50 minutes.
6. Kochaj albo rzuć by Andrzej Korzyński
7. s/t by Phia. 6.49 for 42 minutes. Australian DIY. 6.49
8. Compilation: Ze szpulowca bigbitowca 2 (1964-70 Polish Beat from Radio Vaults). 6.49
9. Detik Waktu : Perjalanan Karya Cipta Candra Darusman. (compilation). This song collection won 2018 Best Album in Indonesia. Candra Darusman writes mellow jazz and upbeat pop (in the vein of Barry Manilow or Elton John). This album includes performances by various other singers and duets. All are lovely. Don’t miss the compilation sequel Detik Waktu #2 : Perjalanan Karya Cipta Candra Darusman. (4.99)
10. Skilfulness by Alan Silva. 49 cents for 37 minutes. Wiki article on the album: “For all the hippy fantasies of rock and the space operas emerging on the fringes of jazz, nothing of the time quite captures its spirit – ethereal but grounded in sophisticated intelligence and high technical skill – quite as well.” From the ESP-Disk label.
11. Various albums by jazz saxophonist Frank Wright: Your Prayer, Unity
12. Burton Greene Trio: On Tour. 99 cents. I was a big fan of the Burton Greene Quartet which was furious and fast-paced avante garde jazz, but still fun and listenable. This one is less interesting but also cheap.
13. Ebikokyo by Faizal Mostrixx and Suzan Kerunen featuring Aloysius Migadde. 99 cents, 23 minutes. Nice dance music from Uganda.
14. Tangawizi by Ondi. 99 cents, 22 minutes Here’s an interview.
15. Imperial Blue OST, David Bryceland and others. 5.99, 55 minutes. Strangely and annoyingly, they put bits of film dialogue at start of some tracks, but it doesn’t distract too much.
16. Listen All Around: The Golden Age of Central and East African Music, Compiled by Hugh Tracey. 131 minutes, 7.50 Another Dust 2 Digital megacollection of field recordings from the 1960s. Reviewed here.

Bandcamp Purchases

1. Begin

Youtubey Things

I’m going to try not to embed youtube videos in these posts — pretty much the URLs go bad after a while. I still will link to them. I just love this song by Moldovan Eurovision contestants Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers – Trenuleţul – Moldova

When Stefania won Eurovision, I knew that there was a “sympathy vote” supporting the Ukrainian entry, but later, they remade the video for the song which captured the literal meaning of the song — affection for the mother, metaphorical comparisons with the “motherland.” A later video uses the backdrop of war and buildings destroyed by Russian fire to bring the point home more dramatically. Manipulative, yes, but effective. If I were to do it indifferently, I would include pictures of the war dead; I come across them all the time (graduating from college, smiling at the beach, etc). The whole is such a profound waste of life.

Here’s a great song by Kristin Chenoweth which won her first Tony. I just love this song!

As crazy as it sounds, somebody surreptitiously taped a full 1999 performance of You’re A good man, Charlie Brown — apparently from a cell phone although I can’t imagine that watching it would be a pleasant experience — although I’m grateful to have it. That makes me think. I’m sure big Broadway productions must have videotaped their live performances at least once — maybe not for sale, but certainly for archiving. I’m really surprised that more of these tapes haven’t been converted to DVD or made available on streaming services. By the way, the live taping of the original production of Come From Away is available on Apple TV+. God that was one of the best things I’ve ever seen!

Here’s a great early Boz Scaggs bluesy number with a rare Duane Allman recording (a 13 minute recording!).

Here’s a CBS profile and interview of A.J. Croce, the son of Jim Croce.

Post Roe vs. Wade, I recalled a lyric from this Digable Planet song . Actually, there’s another song on that same brilliant album that speaks about the metaphor of abortion.

Just try — TRY — to listen to the Caldonia song (by Louis Jordan) without snapping your fingers or tapping your feet. You can’t do it! This comes from my ultimate playlist of Broadway songs.

RUSSIAN WAR PROTEST SONG — WOW! Little Big has been famous for their stylistically subversive songs & music videos. Up to now these songs have been (mostly) devoid of political overtones. Here is their first song since the war started, and it tackles the political subject directly. Singers have always sung songs with subtle political messages (even during Soviet times), but this song is not subtle at all — and strangely, the lyrics are entirely in English! (Then again, their visuals transcend language).

The interesting thing is that the outrageous campy style and violence are perfectly normal in any hard rock music video — it’s not even that outrageous — and yet its messages cut very deep — never before have the stakes been so urgent.

Also The Russian Eurovision singer Manizha performed a very beautiful choreographed anti-war song in middle of March. (also in English, but with Russian subtitles). One wonders whether watching a music video will eliminate political indifference or simply express messages for the people who follow political events more careful.

Freegal and Library CDs

1. Songs by Kiki Dee. Wow, I didn’t know she was that popular before she sang Don’t Go Breaking My heart with Elton John. Her big song was, I’ve Got the Music in Me.
2. Various tracks by Wilson Pickett. You probably already know that Wilson Pickett’s Hey Jude (with Duane Allman on the guitar) is much better than the Beatles’ version (!). His other tracks are pretty wicked, though more in the soul category than bluesy rock.

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Podcasty Things

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See also: April 2022 and June 2022 (View all)

This is the month of song contests — American Song Contest and Eurovision. I’ll try to capture my thoughts. ON the day of Eurovision finals, I’ll do my once-a-year tweeting about Eurovision at this twitter account.

Here’s my twitter storm:

All psyched to watch @Eurovision from Texas, with the fun commentary by ex-Olympian ice skater
@JohnnyGWeir.. My rule for the contest is that the winner never turns out to be who you want or expect. (Last year, I rooted for Germany’s Jendrik and Lithuania’s Roop — oh well!)

As good as this year’s @Eurovision will probably be, Euro2021 was pretty amazing — the best ever. Even Russia was great, and so was … Malta!? Israel!? Iceland?! Belgium!? Even the Yaja Ding Dong Man was there.

I’m so into @Eurovision but I gotta admit, American Song Contest was also outstanding. Jordan Smith, Allen Stone, Tyler Braden, Alexa, Grant K were all the best — any one of them could probably do great in ESC as well.

Gotta admit that I love the interval acts, local talent, dance medleys and nostalgia cameos just as much as the @Eurovision itself. I still remember being gobsmocked by Onuka in 2017’s contest…..

I always knew that Italy would put on a great show this year. Their Sanremo song contest was the place to be in the 1950s and 1960s. (Frankly I didn’t belong to the Maneskin fan club, but they were great tv!)
@Eurovision

Czech’s song was cool and danceable, though not weird enough for my tastes. Some competitors aim for mainstream appeal, others try to go for niches. I guess to be popular across Europe you can’t be too niche…

Romania, well, it was fun, but nothing special.

Portugal’s Saudade is a different kind of singing — slower, more relaxed and lowkey. I love these kinds of songs, but unfortunately it’s not often that these songs win….. @Eurovision

It’s often fun when hard rock/heavy metal songs compete — as long as there’s not too many. Finland’s Jezebel is upbeat, energetic definitely not as rowdy as other rock songs @Eurovision

Nice Boys do Cry song by Switzer…. slow, earnest song with a very pleasant peaceful finish….@Eurovision

This year’s France entry is so much more energetic and folkselectronica than last year’s wonderful VOILA. It almost sounds like the kind of thing Ukraine specializes in… @Eurovision

I like Norway’s stylish memish song, kind of like “What does the wolf say?” . It doesn’t really inspire though…

I love Armenia’s blithe spirit, the ultimate bedroom song. Kind of has an Olivia Rodrigo vibe . I just love this song!

Sorry, not getting into Italy’s song. Maybe it’s a language thing, but it didn’t really work as a melody.

Spain’s song is catchy, and the dance steps are great too. (Also great costume change too!) If you’re talking about theatrics, Spain’s song is great.
.

Netherland’s song is simple, uplifting, joyful. Wish I knew what she was singing about. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her win the whole thing

Ukraine’s song… I wanted to like it, but the rap vs. folk singing just seemed a little forced. Outstanding dancing though…

Germany’s confessional rock was a surprise; it’s very “unproduced” and personal, with a rap climax. Liked it, but I don’t think it willdo well.

I love Lithuania’s nightclub chanteuserie. These things rarely win, but the style and melody tends to stick in your mind long after #Eurovision is over.

Wow, Azerb has an incredible vocal climax ; the song seems a little muted though…..#Eurovision

I love Belgium’s soulful I’m going to miss you —- Noooo! (Also I really loved Hooverphonic from last year’s contest). Wow that song ended very well… High marks! #Eurovision

Greece’s song seems awfully forlorn for a #Eurovision contest. Lovely song, but it just didn’t work…..

Even though 2021 iceland group was incredible, I’m liking this dreamy country song. The song is good, but the singers are barely part of it… Maybe it’s a problem with the musical arrangements or balance…. #Eurovision

Moldova’s song is fun, zany, eclectic. I would love to see this song win the whole thing. I can’t help but snap my fingers….. This is Moldova’s best shot at taking the crown #Eurovision

Sweden’s singer is definitely a star, and the song is great, but I’m not sure this is her ideal place to shine. Kind of has a Duffy vibe (that’s the ultimate compliment in my book). #Eurovision

Astonishing vocal power of Australia’s NOT THE SAME — though it’s a little too emotional for me. #Eurovision

I always love when they recall older songs, like Laura Pausini singing Volare…..

I love UKs spaceman — definitely redeeming last year’s horrifying #Eurovision entry. Definitely a top tier performer for the year….. rock and roll with a crazy powerful voice…..

Poland’s song is just gorgeous and his singing is just amazing — a little operatic, but soaring enough for a pop song. What a beautiful song…..

Serbia’s story-based song is interesting and mysterious and certainly memorable, It’s an original concept, not the thing that goes over well in #Eurovision

Estonia’s country Johnny Cash song is pleasant, plus the singer is charming. It’s an interesting style and song, but I don’t see it going over that well in #Eurovision

Ok, top contenders: Moldova, Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Portugal, UK (ha,ha!), Romania, Armenia. I would also be happy with Ukraine, France, Belgium, lithuania,, Sweden, Australia, Switzerland,

It warms my heart to see Cinquetti singing onstage at #Eurovision again, seeing a return to its origins. I would love to hear her speak about what it was like to win in 1964….

I reallly want Moldova, Poland and Netherlands to win the damn thing. They are all spectacular. #Eurovision Ultimately though I have no idea who the Europe collective will vote for….

Truth be told, I have no idea who will win or even place….I love the singers but am usually disappointed at the final outcome..

It’s great to have the Italian hosts singing their hearts out. My public library actually has some Laura Pausini CDs, but it was pretty amazing to hear Mika sing #Eurovision

Midway through jury votes, I am shocked that UK is staying on top…. and Greece too.

Wow, Moldova turns out to be a crowd pleaser. Thank god…. #Eurovision

I am happy that Ukraine won (and I’m as pro-Ukraine as you can get), but I thought Moldova, Netherlands, Spain and Poland were equally incredible, probably more so than the country that actually won… Lots of individual performances really shone

Articles and Interviews

stuff

Emusic Purchases

I temporarily put my emusic account on hold, but I’ll be buying another $200 credit sometime this month. Stay tuned.

2. List begins here

Bandcamp Purchases

1. Begin

Youtubey Things

I’m kind of changing my mind whether I should embed youtube vids. Those links change so much, that you can never count on anything to remain.

Hooverphonic’s 2 Wicky is the strangest music video I’ve seen in a while. It’s goofy 1990s absurdist Euro-shit by the Belgian group Hooverphonic. She wowwed me in 2021 Eurovision with the song Wrong Place. . And I love it.

I’ve been addicted to watching this amazing light show on a 2019 live performance in Kiev of Chemical Brothers performing their song Private Psychedelic Reel. Who would have ever thought that animating some stained glass window designs would provide such an aesthetically satisfying experience. (By the way, the person who videotaped this song really did an expert job — he must be a professional; I just love how the camera mostly ignores the audience except for one simple 360 degree twirl at the 5 minute mark. Some other concertgoers have tried to capture the light show of Chemical Brothers concerts with somewhat disappointing results. Below this video I have placed a “Best Moments of their Paris Show” (1 hour long), which is also remarkable, but nowhere near as amazing as the Private Psychedelic Reel in Kiev.

Freegal and Library CDs

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Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Podcasty Things

See also: March and May (View all)

First, here’s another episode of Out of Obscurity music podcast which I was a guest at. It’s a lot of fun, but also a lot of preparation to get ready (and I’m not even the one producing it).

First, I wish to express my heartiest recommendation to the Bach Guild for selling downloadable megapacks of classical music on Amazon for dirt cheap prices — usually only 99 cents! Their catalog is mostly here and here. (I’ve bought about 3/4 of the boxes, possibly more). What’s the concept? They obtained the rights (mostly from Vanguard Records?!) and assembled classical recordings into megapacks which ranged from 3 hours to 8 hours. Normally I would be skeptical of such budget products. Also, these packages were unwieldy gigantic downloads. Even for people who collected classical music, I worried that “historic recordings” translated to low quality. I didn’t need that headache.

Actually though, these “historic recordings” turned out to be well-chosen, with great liner notes and meticulously gathered metadata. (It’s true that occasionally the metadata for a track or two would be messed up, but they generally updated it with the correct track shortly thereafter.

They do most of their Big Boxes by composer (Beethoven, Mozart, etc), but in some cases they do it by instrument (Big Guitar Box, Big Flute Box, etc) or by genre (Big English Music Box, Big Chamber Music Box, etc) or by nationality (Big Russian Music Box, Little Big Spanish Music Box). Sometimes they have multiple volumes; the chamber music collection has 3 volumes. They have several Bach boxes, and luckily they don’t overlap.

Classical music fans usually are a fussy bunch, but the Amazon reviews are mostly glowing — intrigued by certain performances, complaining about metadata mixups. How amazing is it that you can buy these things at 99 cents!? Seriously how much money are these people making?

It seems that the pushback is coming from the music sellers themselves. The Bach Guild site writes coyly:

We started selling Big Box Sets that were 5, 6 or 7 (or more) hours long. Some retailer named after a fruit said they didn’t want to sell any downloads that long. So we created smaller boxes…and called them Little Big Boxes. The fruit company didn’t completely follow through (unlike the retailer named after a river), but you, the customer did. So when we don’t have enough of repertoire for a themed Big Box Set, we create Little Big Boxes. Same great artists and performances, just a little less music.

Eventually it seemed that Amazon wants to stop selling music downloads and just do streaming — and indeed, some boxes are only streamable — you can’t buy them. Shucks! Also, allegedly you can stream your purchases on the Amazon music player. There is just one problem. You can filter to show only purchases, so you have to wade through things you used the music service for. No matter.

The other thing is that these files are huge. So far the directory containing these megaboxes is 40gigs on my PC. Managing these files is quite a chore (archiving, etc) and frankly, I’m sure Beethoven and performers will be horrified at the “commoditization” of these things at bargain prices. These are the masterpieces of Western culture! I listened to classical music stations in high school like a nut, so I know almost all the standard repertoire, but then again, it’s called my attention to certain works that get overlooked. I have Big Haydn Box to thank for introducing me to Symphony #59 and others. True, having easy access to these things makes classical music seem like wallpaper — but beautiful wallpaper at that.

It then raises the question about whether we should just call music something that is streamed by a centralized commercial server. Silly old-fashioned me, I like the idea of being able to listen to things without Internet access and without having to pay a blanket subscription.

American Song Contest (Weekly Report for Week 2 and 3)

Week 2. I didn’t enjoy this week as much as week 1, but it still was impressive. Jordan Smith‘s (KY) Sparrow song was a terrific country ballad and deserved first place. He’s a major talent. Unexpectedly I was impressed by Can’t Make You Love Me by Chloe Frederichs (ND). She is a Native American who sings plaintive country. I didn’t care for Green Light by Enisa (NY), but her other singles are great, so she deserved to advance. I enjoyed courtship‘s (OR) Million Dollar Smoothies goofy song, but of course it ranked low. I did enjoy Broderick Jones Tell Me song as well. I can’t expect to like every result, but I’m gratified that Chloe Fredericks advanced.

Week 3. Somewhat weaker than previous weeks. Highlights were Brooke Alexx’s I don’t take pictures anymore (NJ) and Tyler Braden‘s (TN) Seventeen. I loved seeing Jewel again to represent Alaska, but didn’t like her song. From TX Grant Knoche‘s Mr. Independent was also impressive as a dance song; so was Ale Zabala‘s Flirt. Now You Do by Brittany Pfantz (LA) grew on me over time. Also, I loved Delaware’s Nitro Nitra though I didn’t love the song.

Week 4. Competition this week was really intense. Allen Stone sang an incredible happy-go-lucky song wowwed everybody. Highlight of the day was watching Crystal Method‘s headbanging heavy metal song Watch Me. I also loved Savannah Keyes‘ Sad Girl (UT) which is just a lovely underrated song. Jared Lee (MA) sang a plaintive but powerful ballad, Shameless which was stirring and sung perfectly. I did not vote for Stela Cole‘s DIY (GA) which was upbeat and full of attitude, and I also loved. Surprisingly, Bri Steves (PA) did not make it with her soul+rap song (I loved it), but Mari‘s Fly (NH) made it instead — I really didn’t care for that song.

Week 5. Good songs, although I didn’t particularly like the jury’s favorite (Ada LeAnn from MI). John Morgan (NC) sang a really nice love song, Right in the Middle. The Latina 3some Sweet Taboo (CA) sang a real-crowd pleaser, Keys to the Kingdom, and let’s face it — the girls are hot! I had a hard time picking my third — I enjoyed Sisqo‘s (MD) new song, but I also liked songs from two islands — Jason J.(Guam)’s relaxing tropical-song, Midnight and Tenelle‘s Full Circle (American Samoa). Ultimately I went with Tenelle.

Articles and Interviews

stuff

Emusic Purchases

I bought several budget recordings on the Important Records label. Here’s the bandcamp page, but they are priced much cheaper on emusic. Helpfully the wikipedia page for that label contains a lot of background information about individual artists.

1. Freeway by Pieta Brown. (11 songs for 4.99) This album definitely will grow on you; it is slow, meditative, tranquil; the singing and lyrics are intricate and carefully constructed. Apparently this Iowa singer has been producing albums since 2002 — of which this is only the latest.
2. Two 99 cent albums by composer Alvin Lucier (obit & wiki page). Orpheus Variations and Out of Our Hands. 99 cents each.
3. Electronic Works (1958-1995) by Else Marie Pade. 90 minutes, 6.99 (Wiki page)
4. Various albums by Acid Mothers Temple (anarchic guitar-driven soundscapes by a Japanese experimental rock band). Lots of 99 cent albums here, here, here and here and several more.
5. Drifter’s Symphony by Holy Sons. 36 minutes, 3.49.
6. Decibels of Gratitude by Major Stars. 99 cents for 40 minutes.
7. Spicchiology by XXL — Listenable experimental rock consisting of Xiu Xiu and Larsen
8. Fake Love by Enisa. 4.49, 7 songs, 19 minutes. Great dance pop by NY-based Albanian American singer (and .2022 American Song Contestant). These sings are more bluesy ballads, better than her competition song.
9. Assignment/stupid by Ni/Co. Another American song contestant. 2 songs, 99 cents. Much better soul songs than what they competed with.
10. I’m Sorry, Tokyo (featuring Lackhoney) by Brooke Alexx. 99 cents, 4 songs. New Jersey singer Brooke Alexx is knocking them dead in the 2022 American Song Contest. Her other albums are elsewhere, grab this while it’s still on emusic!
11. Simetria by Elle Belga. 3.99 for 33 minutes.
12. Puzzlewood by Plone. 6.49 for 39 minutes.
13. Lack of Resistance by Coss. 28 minutes, 4 tracks, from Serafin Audio Imprint, with lots of similar electronica/remix music.
14. Talk from Home by Suzanne Kraft. 37 minutes, 2.99
15. Evening with Silk Sonic by Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak, Silk Sonic. 6.49, 36 minutes.
16. See where the night goes by Goodbye June. 40 minutes, 4.99. Good southern bluesy-rock with a lot of Black Betty like yelling. This feels a little wilder than their previous album.
17. Albums by French 79. Angel (99 cents, 28 minutes) and Olympic (Remixes) (13 minutes for 49 cents)
18. Wohin? by Helium Vola. 6.99 115 minutes. Avante-garde arrangements of medieval choral group from Germany.
19. Jamie Singles Collection 1962-1965 by Barbara Lynn. 7.49 for 75 minutes. Classic Blues singer and electric guitar singer from Beaumont Texas.
20. Invisible by Chapelier Fou. 50 minutes for 3.99 . Also Darling, Darling, Darling, 25 minutes for 99 cents.
21. Rebirth Symphony by Mieczysław Karłowicz. 3.49 for 50 minutes. Karłowicz is a late 19th century Polish composer who died prematurely. Many online have praised this symphony; one Youtube commenter described it as “like hearing Mahler, Elgar, Tchaikowski, and even Bernstein (3rd movement) all at once.”
22. From the Reach by Sonny Landreth.
23. Various Southern blues from the PepperCake label (all are 3.99 for 50 minutes) : Nine Pound Hammer by Mark Selby, Travellers by Richie Arndt, Voodoo by Richie Arndt. Aha, Richie Arndt is NOT Richard Arndt (the US Southern blues singer NOT on emusic); he’s a German blues singer. They are both good though.
24. Anadolu’yum by Fikret Kızılok. 4.99, 48 minutes. Experimental pop singer from Turkey in the 1970s. This album gathers his hit 45s from the late 1960s to early 1970s.
25. Two albums by Chilean folk pop singer Angelo Pierattini: soy un Aprendiz (3.99, 30 minutes) and Tomatu Sopita (Vol. 1) (99 cents, 16 minutes). Also, Parabens (1.99, 16 minutes)
26. Collezione privata by Gigliola Cinquetti, 82 minutes, 6.49. She won Eurovision contest in the 1960s at the age of 15. This album showcases a lifetime of singing slow Italian ballads.
27. Demamanecer by Carlos Cabezas. 3.99 for 52 minutes. Several other 3.99 albums on emusic. This is the first I heard by this Chilean pop singer. Here’s a soundtrack he composed for the film El Chacotero Sentimental (some instrumental, some with vocals).
28. Lighthouse — Everything’s Calm by Yann Tiersen. 6.49, 70 minutes.
29. Camille 2000 (Soundtrack) by Piero Piccioni. 4.99, 62 minutes. I had seen this softcore European flick decades ago and listened to it for mainly sentimental reasons. What gorgeous incidental music.
30. Wunsch mir Gluck by Steiner & Madlaina. 4.99, 41 minutes.

Bandcamp Purchases

1. Begin

Youtubey Things

METAPHOR BECOMES REALITY: I had the good luck to see Ukrainian singer Ms. Irina Bilyk perform this song (translated as “I’m going to War”) live in 1998 (a double concert also with the Russian singer Linda, who was also great). It’s ironic that in 1998 songs would be about metaphorical wars and turn into actual wars 2 decades later. …. Слава Україні.

translated lyrics) I’m going to war

I’m not myself today,

I can’t sleep since the evening.

My weapons are already prepared,

I’m going to war.

My enemy is myself,

Dear God, forgive me.

My enemy is my eyes and my words,

Only you’re in them.

Refrain:

Tell me, who is to blame

That a war with oneself is waged now?

Tell me, who is to blame

That a war is waged now?

As I go, I’m seeing the fires

The burned garden of happiness.

I haven’t said “yes” or “no” yet,

But it’s late to go back.

Source: Lyricstranslate.

Am not embedding it, but here’s the link to the outstanding song Sparrow by Jordan Smith.

Here’s a lovely song by a Chilean singer. La Libelula translates as “The Dragonfly.” For more, here’s a 1999 live performance of another song.

I was delighted to see Sisqo performing at the American Song Contest. His song was good in an incomprehensible way. But I had to watch the music video for the Thong Song (an earworm which was everywhere in 2000; really, it’s a great song. I listened to it a lot). When I finally watched it for the first time 22 years later, I had to admit that it was exactly what I’d expected and more. Lots of butts and cleavage, lots of dancing and Massive budget, lavish colors,

Freegal and Library CDs

The Traveller by Khan Jamal. 1980s jazz album with Jamal on vibraphone.

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Podcasty Things

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See also: Feb 2022 and April 2022 (View all)

First, I created a super-duper 150 minute playlist called Ukraine Pop Music is Cool. Here’s the Spotify playlist and the Youtube playlist — or just click below. Man, this is a good playlist — collected over 20 years. Despite my very limited understanding of Russian and Ukrainian language, I think I have a good grasp of what is good and interesting about Ukrainian music. Ironically when I lived there in 1997-8 I went to different cities to give lectures at various universities — and my most requested topic was History of American Rock and Roll music, and I found Ukrainian and Russian music endlessly fun and fascinating. Over the decades though, Ukrainian has gone from simply imitating Russian styles and catering to Russian audiences to being unique and edgy.

Song Contests

Here’s my review of American Song Contest which premiered Monday March 21, 2022.

Overall, I was very impressed by the profiles and song numbers and the diversity of styles. I liked the fact that Michael Bolton was thrown in — with a pretty good song too. Some Europeans decried the number of commercials between performances, but hey, that’s just USA. I was impressed that the contestants contained a mixture of up and coming and established musicians. I don’t think the songs were overly pop or pandering to the audience, but they all had new takes on a kind of song, plus great performing skills. My favorites:

• Hueston (RI) a simple and sincere song (picked by the judges to advance, and I loved it too).
• Keyone Starr (MS) great bluesy-rock song, with a fierce beat. Athena Franklin?
• Jake O (WI). Great rock and roll song.
• Alexa (OK). Petite K-pop girl already popular in South Korea!

I put together a youtube playlist which will include all the states eventually.

Articles and Interviews

stuff

Emusic Purchases

1. Geoff Muldaur and the Texas Sheiks. s/t 6.99
2. Two albums by Savath Y Savalas: La Llama and The Predicate (Dub Version). I’m discussing their album Folk Songs for Trains, Trees and Honey (youtube link) on a podcast.
3. 2 albums by Vryll Society: Course of the Satellite (4.99) and Pangea (99 cents)
4. Secret Memories by Gentlemen. 3.99 47 minutes.
5. Her Greatest Hits by Carol Douglas. (1970s disco singer).
6. Texas Moon by David Allen Coe
7. Tboya – Твоя by Poli Genova. 7.99 for 53 minutes. Bulgarian techno-pop singer who competed in Eurovision in 2012.
8. Rey by Camila Moreno. Chilean avante-pop with cool music vids. Also Mala Madre (4.99 for 40 minutes) and Opmeitomsimla (3.49 for 37 minutes).
9. Various Chandraveena ragas by S. BalachanderChandraveena: Here, here and (maybe more?). Emusic has 6 albums of live recordings, each about 45 minutes for 99 cents. Bandcamp has the albums for more.
10. Infinity by Khan Jamal. 1.99, 37 minutes. Classic 1980s album by noted US vibraphonist.
11. Fragment of .. by Hunt, 9 tracks, 3.99. Ladytron, Cocteau Twins, Polly Scattergood, etc. Definitely an acquired taste, but this electronica-centered album is trippier than Cocteau Twins, always unpredictable and nice and moody.

Bandcamp Purchases

1. Prototypes [DTNDLP004] by DAAT
2. Portals: Energostatic (For Ukraine) by A Strangely Isolated Place
3. Superradiance (name-your-price) by Deepspace
4. Descent (name-your-price) by Lorenzo Montanà

Youtubey Things

Ever since I found a box set of Cole Porter classics in the 1990s, I’ve been a huge fan of songs by Cole Porter. Some of the songs and recordings are iconic, this one being one of them.

This was the first song for a Youtube playlist I made for a Ukrainian friend. Don’t know if he actually listened to it, but it’s a feel-good-during-a-war kind of playlist.

If you know the famous “Who will Save Your Soul” song by Jewel but have never heard her live 1999 performance at Woodstock, trust me: you have NEVER truly heard the song before. It’s incredible. The full concert is here:

B Lionel Yu, a classical pianist famous for staging “remixes” of classical music, paid a dozen music producers to do “remix versions” of Beethoven’s Fifth symphony for him to play. This version turned out to be his favorite.

Freegal and Library CDs

I bought a boxful of used CDs for 50 cents each.

1. Irving Aaronson, 1920s Hot Dance classics
2. Fastball
3. Goofball 1920s — (Free on archive.org)
4. Sans Amour Mon Amour by Amandine Bourgeois (French Eurovision diva who sings uncharacteristically blues-pop –

Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Podcasty Things

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See also: Jan 2022 and March 22 (View all)

Starting this month I’m adding a new section for capsule reviews. I review albums semi-often in an online review spreadsheet, although I rarely write more than a few sentences.

Very strange. I was writing a capsule review of one of my favorite albums, 99.9 by Suzanne Vega, then checked if there was a live version or music video of the song. There was! To my surprise and delight, I saw that I had written a Youtube comment already last year: Not to diss Vega in any way, but Mitchell Froom’s musical arrangements in 99.9 and Nine Objects of Desire are positively ethereal. The two of them together really did amazing things…

Here is what I wrote today about 99.9: Iconic album which merges Vegas’s songwriting and Mitchell Froom’s unconventional percussive arrangements, producing masterpieces like IN LIVERPOOL and IF YOU WERE IN MY MOVIE, BAD WISDOM and BLOOD MAKES NOISE. Although Vega’s acoustic songs like BLOOD SINGS, AS A CHILD and SONG OF SAND are poignant and beautiful, Froom brings pulsating magic to BLOOD MAKES NOISE and 99.9. Who would have ever thought that two antithetical aesthetics could form such a beautiful result? I particularly love the restraint of IN LIVERPOOL; that song just lingers and then its guitars lead it blissfully away.

Wow, I see that rateyourmusic has 4 pages of longish reviews for this album!

Articles and Interviews

stuff

Emusic Purchases

1. Neura by Juliano Guerra. 99 cents, 52 minutes
2. Cuerpo, Ritual by Michelle Billiet, 99 cents, 20 minutes
3. 2 albums by Marem Ladson : Azul (99 cents, 14 minutes and s/t for 4.99)
4. 2 albums by that Malaysian rap star Namewee: here and here. (Both 4.49). These are early albums around 2016, and since then Namewee’s star has exploded, but the first album especially has some good tracks — accompanied by funny or stylish videos.
5. Myopia by Black Ice. 6.99

Bandcamp Purchases

Learned through Twitter that Merge Records is having NYP for some of its artists.

1. Goths (Deluxe Version) by The Mountain Goats
2. Getting Into Knives by The Mountain Goats
3. In League with Dragons by The Mountain Goats
4. Dark in Here by The Mountain Goats
5. Heart Like a Levee (Deluxe) by Hiss Golden Messenger
6. Terms of Surrender by Hiss Golden Messenger
7. Haw (Remastered) by Hiss Golden Messenger
8. Poor Moon (Remastered) by Hiss Golden Messenger
9. Bad Debt (Remastered) by Hiss Golden Messenger
10. Lateness of Dancers by Hiss Golden Messenger
11. What a Time to Be Alive by Superchunk
12. I Hate Music by Superchunk
13. Sometimes a Cloud Is Just a Cloud by Fruit Bats
14. Siamese Dream by Fruit Bats
15. Gold Past Life by Fruit Bats
16. Uyai by Ibibio Sound Machine
17. Live at Earth by Ibibio Sound Machine
18. Doko Mien by Ibibio Sound Machine
19. Kaputt by Destroyer
20. Streethawk: A Seduction by Destroyer
21. Poison Season by Destroyer
22. Silver Tongue by TORRES
23. Live in Berlin by Torres

Youtubey Things

Here is that wonderful Vega song and video

Here’s a great 90s song by an Austin group I was vaguely aware of called Fastball.

The song has an immensely interesting backstory. The Austin songwriter wrote it when an elderly couple went missing after going to a music festival outside Austin. One had Alzheimer’s; the other was recovering from a stroke. They lost their “way” and turned up dead in Arkansas. Tony Scalzo explains in a 1999 documentary about the group a nd then the local TV station does a great profile of the song and its history 19 years later.

Freegal and Library CDs

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Reviews (Rateyourmusic/Personal Reviews, etc)

See also my rateyourmusic profile and my review spreadsheet.in Google Docs.

Here’s a review of one of my favorite albums that is also one of the most obscure albums I know about. It’s also a free download on archive.org

Weltenshaaung by Psychonada. The titles and samples might suggest that the songs have political overtones. I don’t know; they are just fun. Psychonada, aka Siegfried Gautier, is a French trip-hop electronic musician who writes unconventional, zippy, dadaistic stuff with a light-hearted sense of political anarchy. He produced an album, Weltanschauung, which I think is just a compilation of the nutty stuff Gautier has been producing over the decade. Highlights include Ihr Seid Nicht Frei, (just marvelous upbeat triphop, groovy nonsense). Demagogic Repressive – a slight atmospheric moodscape with a nice strumming beat (I snap my fingers every time i hear this one), Lendemain de greve, a slow contemplative piece. Actually every track has surprises: vocals, strange samples, melodic reversals. Actually all these unconventional tracks seem to work together as an album.

Key of Cool by Mitchell Froom. This brilliant but easily overlooked synth-jazz album by Mitchell Froom was used as the soundtrack for the post-apocalyptic avante-garde 1980s porn movie CAFE FLESH. The tracks were eerie and tricky and unpredictable and full of percussion and random cool sounds and slow jazz interludes. I’ve seen the movie and can report that the music is so well-integrated into the movie you’d swear it was written specifically for it; the pounding industrial beats work as well on the dance floor as in the bedroom. But there’s a smattering of vocal effects throughout which though absent in the film’s version, kind of work; in ZIP CODE and PATIO, the beat poetry lyrics are almost nonsensical and sung in an almost campy style. THIRD FACTOR, WE DON’T DREAM and FRUTO PROHIBIDO really pound the life force out of you (into you?) I love how the melodies will settle on a single note and then transform into something totally different. Face Down starts as a melancholy piano melody with a fallen faded style, and then it reinvents itself into some mystical dance number. The final piece, Jungle of Cities starts out with otherworldly humming, then turns into a long solo piano piece that is both elegiac and impressionistic and full of Cage-like silences. One piece, Miami Priests, starts out with mystical magical intonations and layers of industrial effects, then twinkles into cool bebopping melody — broken up with interjections of coughs, drums, and wild guitar licks. By the midpoint of the relatively sedate Blue Lips, the melody begins to melt and the synth conga drums get away from us. I’ve gotten in the habit of mentally subtracting the main melody and just listening to the layers and the flourishes which are almost as fun as the main melody itself. (In many ways, the sounds of sexual congress are just another strange layer of sound laid upon the rest). These pieces of indeterminate genre feel just as fresh as they were in the 1980s; postapocalyptic synthjazz is the best phrase I could come up with.

(About this album, it has never been for sale as a CD or in digital form. in the late 2000s I purchased it as a used audio cassette and asked the fluffertrax DJ to turn it into mp3s. This seems incredible to me because Froom himself has gone on to be an A list music producer and winning multiple Grammys and even playing in two bands himself).

To see how well Froom’s music integrates into the movie, see these two G-rated Safe-for-Work clips here and here and here. (The last link is the PG version of the full film — and I just realized that one track from the movie — the last scene — is missing from the album. Darn).

Here’s a solo by a gifted 8 old Pakistani singer Hadia.

Here’s a bizarre nostalgic sing-along which will provide nice surprises to American viewers of a certain age. It was put together in 2010 to spoof a 1990 musical fundraiser to help victims of a ferry disaster.

Podcasty Things

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