Best Ever Albums

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Sun, 17 Sep 2017 13:17:52 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/17/2017 17:17

Seen Henry Threadgill's Zooid perform In for a penny, in for a pound since my last post; will likely be the most complexly composed piece I'll ever see, and the tuba/cello combo is really inspired. Speaking of jazz composers, I will be seeing Leo Smith's golden quartet preform Ten Freedom Summers in a couple of weeks; pretty excited about that. Recently finished up Sonic Transmissions III festival, at which the highlight was a trio of Ken Vandermark, Joe Mcphee, and Susan Alcorn. Just two working groups so far, but sax/steel pedal seems like a combo that's building steam. Apparently, the trio recorded with Astral Spirits while they were in town, so looking forward to that; Astral Spirits also had their next few months of releases available at the fest and their level of quality just keeps on rising (I'm listening to an excellent Rob Mazurek cornet/electronics solo right now). Was also able to pick up Ken Vandermark's Momentum 1: Stone, which I highly suggest to anyone trying to get into contemporary, boundary-pushing jazz; it's almost a who's who of great American players right now. Other than that, been listening to what's on my chart and digging in to more Steve Swell, Mat Maneri, and Ned Rothenberg

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Repo — Fri, 4 Aug 2017 16:37:56 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 08/04/2017 20:37

Kool Keith Sweat wrote:

This is a quiet one

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Anatomie Des Clefs by Michel Doneda

It might be hard to find online though; I just bought the CD

Alright. Got it used from amazon. Should arrive in a week or so.

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Fri, 4 Aug 2017 15:14:45 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/04/2017 19:14

This is a quiet one

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Anatomie Des Clefs by Michel Doneda

It might be hard to find online though; I just bought the CD

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Repo — Fri, 4 Aug 2017 13:58:05 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 08/04/2017 17:58

Hey, Keith! I'd love to discuss this stuff with you. Why don't you rec me a jazz album on the mellow side of things and we can start from there. I think we have fairly similar tastes (Tortoise, Talk Talk, etc.) I just haven't been exposed to a lot of jazz.

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Fri, 4 Aug 2017 12:10:05 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 08/04/2017 16:10

Since the last entry in this diary, my listening has changed to the point where free improvisation and jazz make up at least 80% of my listening and that's probably a conservative estimate.

I think I was/am drawn to free improvisation largely because, more than any other kind of music I've come across, it has a tendency to really explore the timbral boundaries of instruments, and I mean really open them up, via extended techniques. A lot of my highlights from rock songs were also extended techniques, extreme vibrato/tremolo, feedback, etc. It was almost a natural progression for me to see to what extremes instruments could be taken to with extended techniques or, if a lot of what I enjoy in rock is timbral revelry and extended technique, why not try to find entire tracks of that. A secondary draw for me is/was definitely freeing track structure as well. I think I've grown progressively more conscious of overused track structures and a lot of free improvisation (definitely not a lot of free jazz) frees track structure. At this point, I'd much rather listen to something like repetitions that "go nowhere" or impressions that "go nowhere" than a GY!BE track that's going to predictably crescendo, a verse-chorus-verse pop track, or a free jazz track that starts quietly, rises in volume and gets frenetic, and then fizzles out again. Finally the nature of improvisation and our music culture's relationship with it is very interesting to me; grappling with that definitely brings a freshness to the music. For instance, improvisation is definitely performance-based music, opposed to our rock-centric culture based on recorded music. How do you evaluate recordings of improvised music? As a flash in the pan snapshot of the trajectory of the performer? Could or should improvised music be evaluated like a performance, after one listen? Is improvised music somehow inherently "never as good" as composed music (actually a prevalent thought)? If communication between performers is an established primary indicator of the quality of group performance, what implications does that have for evaluating a solo improvisation? How much of a performance can be improvised (I don't think anyone agrees it's 100%)? Is it possible to be a non-idiomatic performer, as many improvisers posture themselves? and what makes the jazz idiom? These are some of the questions that float around this music that I think are interesting.

I definitely have a bias towards solo improvisations; they make up over a quarter of my overall chart at the time of this post. I think it's interesting to listen in on a mind in a room. I think it takes some courage to start improvising in something more "formal" than your home practice space, without the crutch of another player sharing the burden of space with you or taking those first steps into an empty space with you. I'd like to think it provides a view into the unmolested style of a performer, into their playing personality, so it becomes very interesting to see how they perform differently in duo, trio, and larger formats. Which is why I probably listen to duos second-most, because it's not too big of a step from the solo; I can still identify most everything a performer is doing and have time to think about how their style has changed in relation to the other player. Things get messier the more people get involved, but I'm always trying to go bigger to test my ears.

One of the previous posts in this diary actually mentioned following a sound strain of trombonists (Grachan Moncur III, Clifford Thornton, Roswell Rudd) and I'm actually going through a heightened interest trombone right now as well. I still think those previous three are great players, but this time around I'm focusing on George Lewis, Paul Rutherford, and Matthias Muller. Lewis' style is a master blend of complex structure and timbral exploration, whereas Rutherford has more open space, impressions, larger timbral boundaries; Muller is an quiet extremist from what I've heard - the trombone equivalent of Michel Doneda. They all have pushed or are pushing the language of the trombone. I was drawn to the trombone the first time around because I was into JCOA and wondered why, of their seven or so albums, they commissioned trombonists to do three of them; this time around, I think I'm drawn to it because it's the only horn with a slide, one of the only instruments that can produce a true glissando and has an interesting tonal blurring effect, maybe something else.

I think the instrument I'm drawn the most to is soprano saxophone, but that's largely because I've explored improvised music through big soprano players like Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Steve Lacy, Michel Doneda, etc. Evan Parker is just a technical powerhouse. Lol Coxhill is like a quaint Ayler or Fahey, perverting folk songs to fit his instrument and his various timbral preferences, which can be "out there." 20 minutes of circular breathing, split tones, false fingering, 120+ notes per minute all the way to majority silent impressions are possible for him; the take home though is that breath and monophony are not restrictions for him. Steve Lacy is a more traditional player, and draws explicit attention to the limitations of breath and monophony. Michel Doneda's pieces are literally breath, most of the time, but he can breathe circularly and monophony is not a restriction for him, he just chooses to draw attention to the breath required to play.

I've gotten kind of bored of typing, so I'll stop there. Just some ramblings that I hope someone will read and want to think and talk about because discussion threads are scant

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Apr 2016 20:53:30 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 04/25/2016 00:53

Almost exclusively listening to Spring Heel Jack ('00-'08), Mark Hollis, Autechre ('95-'05), Roy Montgomery, John Fahey, The For Carnation's EPs, Andy Stott, and Tortoise remixes these days, with some Massive Attack and Bill Callahan, some other songs here and there. Saw The Necks a couple weeks ago, which was the best live performance I've ever seen along with Sleep. Am very excited for the coming Levitation Fest and Brotzmann and Tortoise shows I've got lined up.

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 09:03:14 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/25/2016 14:03

This past week I've been a bit all over the place as far as listening, but there has been a slight focus on two or three sounds.

Been listening to the work of Grachan Moncur III, Clifford Thornton, and Roswell Rudd quite a bit. I've recently acquired Moncur's New Africa and Echoes of Prayer on vinyl, so I've been listening to those quite a bit, as well as his two Blue Note recordings, and they're all masterpieces. I intend to get to 2004's Exploration soon, and dig around in his projects as sideman on Blue Note. Been listening to Thornton's The Panther and the Lash, The Gardens of Harlem, and Ketchaoua, and those are all masterpieces as well. There's an aggressive energy to him that I don't believe I've heard matched outside of Mingus recordings, and I intend to explore him more, particularly his Freedom and Unity, which features Karl Berger, my favorite jazz vibraphonist that I've found, who is pretty much Ornette Coleman on vibraphone. Lastly, been listening to Roswell Rudd, who I've mostly just listened to as sideman, but have put on Numatik Swing Band and Malicool. I really started paying attention to these trombonists when I noticed JCOA chose the trombonists to lead recordings in their relatively small discog. It's also triggered an interest in paying more attention to the exploratory BYG Actuel label.

Been listening to quite a bit of Basic Channel, Maurizio, Moritz van Oswald trio, and Monolake as well. Any recommendations from the Chain Reaction label are welcome, and I know this is Satie's territory, so I might just ask him later.

Been listening to a bit of glitch again too, focusing on the first three Clicks and Cuts compilations, which I own on vinyl, from Mille Plateaux and the first two Staedtizism compilations from Scape, as well as Kit Clayton's Lateral Forces and Nek Sanalet (and digging around in musicians discogs featured on those compilations). I feel pretty well-versed on glitch, but any recommendations are always welcome.

Lastly been relistening to Boris' discog

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 18:44:56 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/19/2016 23:44

Was playing a lot of glitch towards the end of my dubtrack session with mecca, and given my recent leanings towards doom, I wondered "why not glitch doom?" and came across KLT, listening to 2 now.

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 12:20:59 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 01/19/2016 17:20

Nothing in about a month...

Been buying a lot of vinyl. Picked up these since Christmas: Michael Mantler's No Answer; Sunn O)))'s Black One; Electric Wizard's Dopethrone; Om's Pilgrimage; Carla Bley + Paul Haines + JCOA's Escalator Over the Hill; Grachan Moncur III + JCOA's Echoes of Prayer; Don Cherry's Synmphony for Improvisers; Albert Ayler's Witches and Devils; Bill Laswell's Hear No Evil; Back Door's s/t; Morphine's Cure for Pain; Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire; PIL's Metal Box; Papa M's Live from a Shark's Cage; Eric Chenaux's Skullsplitter (still my favorite album from 2015); John Fahey's Fare Forward Voyager; Polly Bradfield's Solo Violin Improvisations; Derek Bailey's Incus Taps; Evan Parker's Topography of the Lungs; and Anthony Braxton's For Alto, Saxophone Improvisations Series F, Five Pieces 1975, and Creative Orchestra Music 1976. I've also picked up Sacred Guitar and Violin Music of the Modern Aztecs, Karl Berger's Transit, and Codona's Codona Trilogy comp on CD. Many of these have found their way on to the current iteration of my chart, and I've begun marking on there which albums I own on vinyl. On a side note, I'm perhaps the happiest with my chart than I have been in a very long time, though it's alphabetized by artist. However, not having to order everything is also probably why I'm happy about it.

So from that above list, you can infer that my listening at home is dominated by jazz, but my listening abroad, at work, in the car, etc. is dominated by metal. I've been re-establishing my intimacy with the discographies of Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, Sleep/Om, Earth, Sunn O))), and Boris, all of whom I love very much. Occasionally, I'll branch out into stoner/drone doom acts I'm not as familiar with, like Jesu, Nadja, Khanate, Black Boned Angel, High On Fire, Orange Goblin, Acid King, etc., but haven't found anything that quite compares to those other acts, except maybe Bongripper and some Khanate here and there. If anyone has suggestions in stoner or drone doom, please share them. I also have some interest in sludge, like Eyehategod, Down, and Isis (and Boris), but I'd prefer something really heavy, really slow, and really long. Part of my current interest in this type of metal might be because, this May, Sleep (my favorite live act I've seen thus far), Boris, and Sunn O))) will all be performing at Austin Psych Fest. I've also been getting into a lot of black metal as well, specifically Norwegian second wave, but also some other stuff like Krallice and Beherit. I'm not sure where my attraction to the sound or culture comes from, and I'm still training my ears to really distinguish each song. However, recs are still welcome. I've been loving Krallice, Darkthrone, and Burzum the most.

When not listening to jazz, metal, or other, perennial favorites, I've mostly been flitting around Autechre's discography, Spring Heel Jack's discography, and Roy Montgomerys discography, including Dadamah, Dissolve, and Hash Jar Tempo. Montgomery's Silver Wheel of Prayer has been a particular favorite of mine recently.

As far as upcoming shows: Killing Joke cancelled so I'll just be seeing Soft Moon this Friday; I'll be seeing Low in February; Freakwater in March; Savages in April; Tortoise in May; and then Levitation is in May as well.

And my gf has a new track out

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Dec 2015 19:00:34 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/13/2015 00:00

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So I'm getting my girlfriend a marimba for Christmas, but unfortunately it won't get here until mid-January, so I'm getting her another mbira, telling her that it's her only Christmas present, and then really surprising her with the marimba later. This is all to support her relatively new, percussion-based music project (which uses an mbira in "Layin' Down Track"). Wanted to get her a MalletKAT or a vibraphone but hot damn they're expensive. Anyways, put this on in part because of the shopping, and in part because I've been listening to a lot of Penguin Cafe Orchestra lately, particularly the s/t. The explorer series that this comes from, and I think there are three different releases of mbira tunes, are the best mbira recordings I've heard of about the fifteen or so mbira recordings I've heard. Just a crisp, personal, no frills production that doesn't top out much.

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Sat, 5 Dec 2015 19:22:17 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/06/2015 00:22

Finally getting around to this

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The Epic by Kamasi Washington

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Fri, 4 Dec 2015 16:48:27 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/04/2015 21:48

Giving this a go

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Rice Cultivation Society - Mystical Shitheads

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

cestuneblague — Thu, 3 Dec 2015 09:39:12 GMT

Author: cestuneblague

Posted: 12/03/2015 14:39

Kool Keith Sweat wrote:

Speaking of listening to records...

it's time for Christmas! Which means that I get to make a vinyl wishlist to give to my girlfriend and family in the hopes of getting a material thing I'll actually use. Here's what I've given them this year:

Keith wrote:

needle/cassette for record player

(reissues fine)
Morphine - Cure for pain, Yes
Roy Montgomery - Scenes from the South Island, Temple IV, And now the rain sounds like life is falling through it, Allegory of Hearing
Dadamah - This is not a dream
Hash Jar Tempo - Well oiled, Under glass
Eric Chenaux - Skullsplitter
Don Cherry - Symphony for improvisers, Complete communion, Eternal rhythm, Orient, Codona 1, Codona 3
Albert Ayler - Spiritual unity, witches and devils, New York eye and ear control, Ghosts
Marion Brown - Quartet, Porto Novo, Reeds 'n vibes
Anthony Braxton - For alto, Saxophone improvisations 1972, Alto saxophone improvisations 1979, Five pieces
Sam Rivers - Contours, Waves
Lol Coxhill - Three blokes, Alone and together, Ear of the beholder, Solos: East West
Jazz Composer's Orchestra - (Carla Bley) Escalator over the hill, (Don Cherry) Relativity suite, (Leroy Jenkins) For players only
Bill Laswell - Baselines, Hear no evil
Material - Memory serves
Papa M - Live from a shark's cage
Ui - Answers
Vladislav Delay - Anima

We'll see what I get. Unfortunately I haven't gotten any vinyl since my birthday back in September; however, during September I got a copy of Low's Trust and Bark Psychosis' Hex from CellarDoor as a 'thank you' for hosting him and then this amazing haul from my girlfriend: The For Carnation's Marshmallows, Tone Dogs' Ankety Low Day, Roy Montgomery and Grouper's split EP, Terry Riley & Don Cherry's 1975 Koln concert bootleg, Autechre's Chiastic Slide and Confield, Ui's Sidelong, Spring Heel Jack's Disappeared, To Rococo Rot & D's TRRD, and Him's Changes 12"

Drudging that haul up reminded me of this pic, which I have to - as the resident Tortoise fan - journal here for posterity.

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I would be offended that I didn't get a copy of this list, but you know me and my bank account too well so no harm done. Anyways hope you get everything or at least the coolest of what you need!

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Wed, 2 Dec 2015 19:46:44 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/03/2015 00:46

Speaking of listening to records...

it's time for Christmas! Which means that I get to make a vinyl wishlist to give to my girlfriend and family in the hopes of getting a material thing I'll actually use. Here's what I've given them this year:

Keith wrote:

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Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Wed, 2 Dec 2015 19:36:03 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/03/2015 00:36

Been listening to my own records throughout the early evening, just playing tracks here and there... Roy Montgomery (Grouper split), Bedhead (Live in Chicago), Terry Riley (Koln 1975), Oval (Aero Deko EP), Andy Stott (Faith in Strangers), Sam Rivers (Streams), Sun Ra (Magic City), etc. and am now on Red House Painters II, which is the best collection of B-sides ever. I think people are too harsh on this album; anyways, listening to it in full.

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Red House Painters (Bridge) by Red House Painters

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Wed, 2 Dec 2015 10:33:14 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/02/2015 15:33

Started off the morning with a 2015 favorite

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Universal Themes by Sun Kil Moon

and now I'm gonna move through my 2015 wishlist with records from Cuneiform, beginning with

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Been pretty dissappointed with Thrill Jockey's output this year, and I feel like I can't be bothered with the ambient strain that Kranky pushes lately; Constellation, on the other hand, has had a really great year. Remember to intermittently check back on that post for ratings; I rate everything only after three listens.

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Tue, 1 Dec 2015 15:20:08 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/01/2015 20:20

Last listen of the day unfortunately

Fred Frith - Traffic Continues

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Tue, 1 Dec 2015 14:12:29 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/01/2015 19:12

Spent a bit of time doing errands while listening to Nicolas Jaar's Nymphs series from this year. Now on to

Bags Meets Wes! by Milt Jackson & Wes Montgomery

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Tue, 1 Dec 2015 09:25:12 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/01/2015 14:25

The Denison/Kimball Trio - Plays the music of "Walls in the City"

Re: The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

Anonymous — Tue, 1 Dec 2015 08:39:38 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 12/01/2015 13:39

Leroy Jenkins - Lifelong Ambitions