Tigran Hamasyan is a new name on my radar. He’s from Armenia, plays a very aggressive sort of jazz, and will be worth watching develop as the years pass. Nonesuch Records have picked another winner.
Music
[Podcast] ‘Winter lends an me an ear’ by Klankschap
Winter lends an me an ear by Klankschap on Mixcloud
Christophe Ywaska, a rather good experimental musician, did me the kindness of turning me on to Klankschap’s most recent podcast. Well-balanced ambient music for a rather cool evening in Los Angeles.
[Video] Pageant – Vexation ページェント ヴェクサシオン ＜1987 New Version＞
Symphonic progressive rock from Japan. I’m constantly amazed at how well the Japanese language fits in a Western musical structure. Fine stuff from Pageant.
[Video] Colosseum – The Valentyne Suite
During a good part of the 1990s, I had the pleasure of working at one of the best record stores in America (I mean that literally – maybe two or three were greater, and that’s it). Aron’s Records was, for me, a finishing school for musical knowledge, a place where I was able to really broaden my taste in music (I have old friends Dana Madore and Ted Plank to thank for most of that, though so many contributed mightily to hipping me to new music).
Dana, in particular, as well as my clients, were fans of Colosseum and solo projects which sprang from its loins. ‘The Valentyne Suite’ is a particularly meaty piece of Hammond-based prog.
[Video] Venetian Snares – Ultraviolent Junglist
I can’t say I follow much IDM anymore (or EDM, Breakcore, or whatever the name the genre passes itself off as this week), but I’m really enjoying Venetian Snares tearing up the computer speakers right now.
[Video] ‘Wild’ Billy Chyldish & CTMF – March Of The Grey Mod Mullets
Despite the odd spelling change, Billy Childish is still producing fine music. This is an instrumental track from 2013, courtesy of Damaged Goods Records.
[Video] Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson – Big Bad Wolf
Big thanks to my dear brother, Paolo Merolla, for posting this great R&B sizzler from Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson.
[Video] Block Out (Nikola Vranjković) – Beograd Spava
I’m a fan of the Balkan singing voice, as it is rich in the way Tom Waits and Paolo Conte are. This is a new name for me, presumably out of Serbia. I’m looking forward to hearing more from Block Out.
[Video] Soft Machine – ‘Switzerland 1974’ Official Trailer
Thanks so much to the Steve Feigenbaum’s legendary Cuneiform Records, who posted this on their Youtube account. This is Soft Machine during their prime.
[Sample] Verckys et l´Orchestre Vévé – Congolese Funk, Afrobeat & Psychedelic Rumba 1969-1978
The Internet is a treasure trove which never ceases to amaze. Thanks to the enterprising souls over at Analog Africa, a brilliant reissue label from Germany, we get to here these long-forgotten wonders from the country formerly known as Zaïre, now the Democratic Republic of The Congo.
