Best Ever Albums

Re: ALC #21 Flying Soul

Skinny — Sun, 6 Jul 2014 07:03:55 GMT

Author: Skinny

Posted: 07/06/2014 11:03

SquishypuffDave wrote:

Always chasing a feeling. Really bright

This. It's just such a refreshingly light album, been listening to it regularly since I first noticed it on dbz's 2014 chart. It's actually remarkably accessible.

Re: ALC #21 Flying Soul

mickilennial — Fri, 4 Jul 2014 00:01:37 GMT

Author: mickilennial

Posted: 07/04/2014 04:01

I feel like DBZ and my tastes tend to align a lot when it comes to the sort of avant-garde side of things and this is another proof to reinforce that belief. This was wonderful as the avant-jazz comes together in a lot of interesting ways that seems to just resonate with me. This is definitely going on my chart.

Re: ALC #21 Flying Soul

SquishypuffDave — Thu, 3 Jul 2014 18:26:42 GMT

Author: SquishypuffDave

Posted: 07/03/2014 22:26

Beautiful. Delves into free jazz without ever becoming cacophonous or difficult. Always chasing a feeling. Really bright and quirky. In my top 10 of the year, easily.

Re: ALC #21 Flying Soul

Norman Bates — Thu, 3 Jul 2014 11:23:56 GMT

Author: Norman Bates

Posted: 07/03/2014 15:23

Really good! Particularly like "Onigawara", in which I seem to hear some reminiscence of Ayler's "Ghosts". Free jazz made modern classical, so to speak, I do not have the weapons to phrase how it's made, but it's interesting.

ALC #21 Flying Soul

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Jun 2014 14:19:04 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 06/30/2014 18:19

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Flying Soul by Aki Takase La Planete

1. "Into the Woods"
2. "Rouge Stone"
3. "Wasserspiegel"
4. "Onigawarau"
5. "Finger Princess"
6. "Morning Bell"
7. "Turtle Mirror"
8. "Reading"
9. "Intoxication"
10. "Schoolwork"
11. "Flying Soul"
12. "Tarantella"
13. "Twelve Tone Tales"
14. "Moon Cake"
15. "Piece for 'La Planete'"

This album landed almost near the top of my 2014 chart shortly after my hearing it, and only climbed after that. As much as I adore the John Zorn album that has occupied my #1 slot for the majority of the year, if anything is going to usurp Zorn's "The Alchemist", it'll be Flying Soul

dividesbyzero wrote:

It's difficult to identify a "standout" element on an album that manages to sneak by an inordinate amount of boundless creativity without any pretensions or flaunting of its individuality; it's remarkable really how easy it is to miss what makes "Flying Soul" so unique, just because this particular "standout element" works its way into the piece with such precision of synthesis that you might not even notice that what you are listening to is arguably not even a classical album; truly this "standout element" of Japanese pianist and composer Aki Takase La Planete's "Flying Soul" is its extremely prevalent and perfectly integrated jazz influence, both in terms of instrumentation and composition. (Again, arguably this is even more of a jazz fusion album that it is a classical album.) Instrumentally, Takase's piano is accompanied, to varying extents, by the reeds, cello, violin, and brass of the virtuosic French jazz trio consisting of Louis Sclavis, Dominique Pifarely, and Vincent Courtois, whose instrumentation ranges from acting as a parallel to Takase's modern classical sensibilities to contrasting (and thereby highlighting) those sensibilities with what is undeniably jazz. Compositionally, the album becomes a prime example of Third Stream composition when Takase & company partake in free improvisation (more characteristic of jazz) but in a classical context. The boundaries between Jazz, Third Stream, and Classical get wonderfully blurred as the album progresses, and the juxtaposition of these varying elements never feels unnatural or jarring (or at least no more jarring than the composer has intended). Perfect classical/jazz smoothie.

(anyone needs a link feel free to pm me)