Taplog - Music Diaries - Forums : Best Ever Albums

Tap · 2015-11-05T15:54:49-05:00

TAPLOG I will be writing about my day's listening here, a post for each day. Just getting this started, I'll fill out the structure of the day as it goes and then I will edit in details and thoughts later. Feel free to comment and suggest things just maybe don't give too many suggestions and also really try to sell me on it or I might forget. Oh and if there's anything here you're interested in hearing but you're having difficulty finding, pm me and maybe I can help you find it. 11/5/15 Art Angels by Grimes Then I followed this up with the Improv4Humans podcast, new ep today has musical guest Dan Deacon. It was too distractingly funny though so I had to pause. Got me thinking that I didn't give a close enough listen to Deacon's latest, so let's give that a whirl. Gliss Riffer by Dan Deacon Yeah, I don't know. I like it. But my way in with Deacon was Spiderman of the Rings. I still love that album, because there was a forcefulness to it, and danger and sharp edges and all of that. While the compositions following that album have gotten more intricate, it feels like all the edge has gotten sanded off. I think the songs on this are fine, and I do like a lot of them more than what was on the previous album (and, controversially, a lot of Bromst, which I still need to put on my year chart come to think of it), and would love to experience them live. But I guess it's a combination of the smoothing of the sound and the increased familiarity with who Dan Deacon is that leads to me noticing that there is some sort of nuanced development to his sound, but just not being able to feel it as much. But I wouldn't say it's bad by any means. It's getting too normie in here so now: Flowers Of Evil by Ruth White Oh, this. I love this album. It's one of the many albums that I love that I found through the Creel Pone unofficial reissue label. Lots of musical spoken word that's all been treated to some degree put over synthesizers of varying levels of murkiness. Nothing really in the way of percussion, but in spite of that and all the murk there's still some really clear forms to these songs that makes them seem quite direct. Anyone looking to expand their knowledge of women making far out electronic sounds in the early days of it absolutely must check this one out. I can hear some loud drums being soundchecked at the venue next door now which is simply too distracting so now I'm goin to some talky podcasts, starting with Who Charted. New format is weird but it works for some word listening. But now I need something wordless to go with the working so Precipice by Byron Westbrook This is just some fantastic ambient music right here. But what makes this stand out is that beyond the gorgeous waves of sound, there are all of these weird little elements to the songs, enough to where I've seen this album referred to as electro-acoustic on top of being ambient. What's great about these layers of weird synthesis in the mix is that they're more than just flavor, they're major determinants in the structure. Like in the last track, there's all these gorgeous waves and it's wonderful but then they break apart into some series of notes and the slowness intensifies and I like it a lot. I need more, so KOCH by Lee Gamble This album is still growing on me, a year later. And I still don't know how to describe it. But man oh man I love these timbres. It's some pretty consistent, minimal music. But there's this quality to his music where it's like he's taking something that previously existed and erasing, and the talent is in the space that's created from the erasure. I don't know. I still need more time and more listens. I'm hungry so I'm going to get something going with that while finishing up the Dan Deacon ep of Improv4Humans. I dunno I could imagine a lot of people find this sort of improv comedy to be annoying but this is so much my jam, absolutely loving it. This will be one of those podcast episodes that I actually listen to more than once. Ok now to go through this again so I can figure out what I want to say here Art Angels by Grimes I guess I have a sort of weird relationship with capital p Pop. I enjoy a song here and there but I never really feel compelled to go dive into a whole album. This is a bit different than capital p Pop, with all the indieosyncrasy. But there's still that slick sort of timbre all over the place, and so many filter sweeps. So I do feel put at a distance from this. On the other hand tho, I've seen some people online absolutely losing their shit about how bad this is. And I completely disagree with those folks. This has tons of really fun catchy songs on here. Kill V Maim, Pin, Realiti (which I actually prefer here to the previously released one), Venus Fly, and Scream and Flesh Without Blood are all great as far as I'm concerned. The other songs, nothing strikes me as being especially bad or enough to make me want to skip, but I don't know if I feel a strong pull back to them. I figure I probably won't be pulling out this album in it's entirety all too often (though I'll have it on my phone for a lil bit I think), but I do think this is good stuff. But the overall timbre, like I can never feel at home with this sort of sound, I'll always feel like a tourist with it and so I value the stuff I feel more at home with more. Now let's go with a first listen for something I think I'll feel at home with On Earth by Hans Otte This is another Creel Pone thing that I ordered recently, I'm not sure if there's any copies online. I guess this was some sort of sound art thing that happened in the space pictured on the cover, and man it must have been really cool to be there in person, with all these noises and spoken German coming out of the squares on the ground and also from the ceiling. It starts up and there's a sort of irregular bass throb that gives a pulse to the whole thing, while waves of noise build up from nothing and hang out in the space for a bit. It can get a bit harsh. But I have no problem with that. The structure isn't super overt, very much in the horizontal development mode throughout and I'm more generally aware of change happening than seeing an exact point of it, if that makes sense. Sometimes this sort of thing doesn't work for me so well when it feels like it's just lingering in a certain mode and not pushing into anywhere new, but this uses a small selection of sounds to go all sorts of places, like it gets into a sort of rhythmic thing in the second half of side A with much more... I guess they would be percussive hits? Well, sort of? It's weird. But the focus in aesthetic and constant development in what the piece is is just great to take in. And then Side B sort of repeats the process of Side A, but gets into more feedback drones, it feels similar in shape, but slower and everything hangs a little different in my ear. And more of the German spoken word. Yes, I am at home here. That's it for today on the music front. Going to catch up on adventure time and then get things sorted for the day tomorrow.

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Thanks! Hope you find something that clicks.

1/7/2016

1. Awakening by Nicole Mitchell (FL)
2. Knerpen (Bevel) by Vom Grill (LTY)
3. Anoxia by L A N D (LTY)
4. Alien Wildlife Estate by Tarzana (FL)
5. Technophelia by Geneva Jacuzzi
6. The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast by Matmos (LTY)
7. Different Selves by Shapednoise (LTY)
8. The Civil War by Matmos (LTY)
9. The Great Learning by Cornelius Cardew & The Scratch Orchestra (FL)
10. Electronics / Five Improvisations On Magnetic Tape by Remi Gassmann / Oskar Sala (FL)
11. K / Weeds by David Cope (LTY)
12. Clarinet And String Quartet by Morton Feldman (LTY)

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Introduction to: Matmos

I saw Applerill ask about Matmos in Satie's thread. I've been listening to them since 2001, so I feel qualified to talk a bit about them. So for those unfamiliar, Matmos is two dudes (Drew Daniels and Martin Schmidt) who love each other very much and make playfully weird electronic music. I'm not as sure about the very early stuff, but most of their albums have a sort of thematic constraint to them, which Daniels and Schmidt alternate picking out. Daniels tends to go for more heady conceptual type of things, having people do the ganzfeld experiment and attempt to psychically tell them what the new Matmos album is, or doing a series of biographical tracks about prominent homosexuals throughout history. Schmidt's tend to be more practical, incorporating civil war era instruments into the electronic music, or making an album entirely with synthesizer as a response to Queen putting their "no synthesizer" boasts on their albums, or the upcoming album focused on their washing machine. So I think it's important to see both sides when getting an idea of what they are. My personal recommendation is:

The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast (2006) & The Civil War (2003) by Matmos

So with The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast, that's the representative from the Daniels' side. It's the one where each track works as a sort of biography of an historically significant homosexual person. While I personally hold A Chance To Cut Is A Chance To Cure as my number 1 favorite, I think it's better to dive into all the ridiculousness on here first. You got snails playing laser theremins, ejaculation, cow reproductive organs (don't worry, it's a different track than the ejaculation one), cigarettes being put out on flesh, all put into styles ranging from disco to mystery soundtrack. It's a wild ride, and just for the sheer scope of it, I must recommend this as the initial way (partially) in.

For something representing the frameworks that Schmidt introduces, I'd have to go with The Civil War. Though it's hard not to say Supreme Balloon. But The Civil War just works so well. Like sometimes it gets really focused in on the older instruments and sounds a bit like Damon Albarn's ridiculous soundtrack for Ravenous, and other times those instruments are more about providing a splash of color in a piece dominated by electronics. It really does make the material stand out in their discography though, leading to different ways into their sort of humorousness, and also creating clear paths to the more straightforwardly beautiful aspect of what they do. Oh and also there's one track where they dragged a piano through a desert or something, it's a good sound. I would also add that I recommend getting a copy with the Japanese bonus track Cabin In The Sky, which is quite possibly my favorite Japanese bonus tracks ever.

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Running Tally '16

First Listens: 9
Releases listened this year: 51
2016 releases listened: 2
Total Listens: 57

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Had some busier than normal days, still got some music in tho.

1/8/2016

1. Vignetting The Compost by Bibio (LTY)
2. View by Rom=Pari (LTY)
3. Metasplice by Metasplice (LTY)
4. Kerrier District by Kerrier District (LTY)
5. Daydreams Of Night by Big City Orchestra (LTY)
6. Super Roots 7 by Boredoms (LTY)
7. The Electric Lucifer by Bruce Haack (LTY)
8. Persistence Of Vision by VHS Head (LTY)

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1/9/2016

1. ErstLive 006 by Keith Rowe & Taku Unami (FL)
2. Alien Wildlife Estate by Tarzana
3. Tra Scienza E Fantascienza by Moggi (LTY)
4. Celadon by Maja S. K. Ratkje, Jon Wesseltoft, Camille Norment, Per Gisle Galåen (FL)
5. Always by Matana Roberts (FL)
6. Hot Shaker Meet Lead Donut by Prants

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1/10/2016

1. Hangable Auto Bulb by AFX (LTY)
2. Izipho Zam by Pharoah Sanders (LTY)
3. Sonambient: Recordings Of Harry Bertoia (Disc 1) by Harry Bertoia (FL)
4. Sonambient: Recordings Of Harry Bertoia (Disc 2) by Harry Bertoia (FL)
5. Sonambient: Recordings Of Harry Bertoia (Disc 3) by Harry Bertoia (FL)
6. Sonambient: Recordings Of Harry Bertoia (Disc 4) by Harry Bertoia (FL)
7. Sonambient: Recordings Of Harry Bertoia (Disc 5) by Harry Bertoia (FL)
8. Motubachii by Annette Krebs & Taku Unami (FL)

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I'll get back to writing up longer chart note things tomorrow, but just some quick notes. Fans of Matana Roberts, I would strongly suggest checking out her 2015 release not in the Coin Coin series, Always. It's basically the polar opposite of Coin Coin 3, just her and her sax letting loose. I can't quite put it in words yet, but it seems very much worth your time.

Also I'm counting each disc of this Harry Bertoia collection as a separate album (though it's added into the DB as a single item of course), since they each represent a different release but it'd be too hard to add the original copies to the DB due to uncertainty about what year some of them came out in. It's very good stuff, some gorgeous ringing metal ambient sounds, but I don't think I can do all 10 discs in one go. I mean I actually probably could, it has been very easy to just leave it running and now I'm already on Disc 5, I should probably put some space between the other half though so I don't get all burned out.

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Running Tally '16

First Listens: 18
Releases listened this year: 71
2016 releases listened: 2
Total Listens: 79

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1/11/16

1. Sonambient: Complete Collection (Disc 6) by Harry Bertoia (FL)
2. Sonambient: Complete Collection (Disc 7) by Harry Bertoia (FL)
3. Izlamaphobia by Muslimgauze (FL)
4. Headboggle by Head Boggle (LTY)
5. Jesus Freak by Eric Copeland (FL) (don't believe RYM, this is a 2015 release)
6. "Heroes" by David Bowie (LTY)
7. Low by David Bowie (LTY)
8. Hot Shaker Meet Lead Donut by Prants
9. Yeppers! by Los Condenados (FL)
10. Subtle Scatter by Max Eilbacher
11. Traditional Music Of Notional Species Vol. 1 by Rashad Becker (LTY)
12. Celadon by Maja S. K. Ratkje / Jon Wesseltoft / Camille Norment / Per Gisle Galåen

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Hot Shaker Meet Lead Donut by Prants (2015)

So here's an awesome experimental electroacoustic noise type thing that I was super late on hearing, from Bhob Rainey from Nmperign and Chris Cooper (aka Angst Hase Pfeffer Nase). I'm still getting acquainted with both artists, but they really seem to combine nicely. On the first side there'll be there parts where there's like a solid drone with a really peculiar texture, which I think is Rainey? And there's this sensation that is sort of like they change direction? I don't know how to describe it, but it's like the drone will establish a consistency and then have these little fluctuations, and so that's sort of driving the macro image of the track but then there's all sorts of small detail work from I'm guessing Cooper. I don't know I could be totally off on that, but whatever they're doing, they're really listening and playing off each other very nicely, moving from location with patience but also with a clear drive to continue forward, even when the track gets into it's much quieter middle section. The flip side adds in a many more musicians playing physical instruments according to the credits, but it starts with a busier burst of noisy electronic activity than anything in the first half. It eventually subsides, with Rainey and Cooper each sort of focusing in on a part of the frequency band, opening up the space for those physical instruments. There's all sorts of back and forth about which elements are dominant, more like watching a single active scene than the journey of the first track. Which is great, because both of those are good, and so getting both of the experiences in a single package keeps the freshness up the whole way through.

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Running Tally '16

First Listens: 23
Releases listened this year: 80
2016 releases listened: 2
Total Listens: 91

Last edited by Tap on 01/13/2016 04:19; edited 1 time in total

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1/12/16

1. Hot Shaker Meet Lead Donut by Prants
2. Toxic Cosmopolitanism by Kassel Jaeger (LTY)
3. Sonambient: Complete Collection (Disc 8) by Harry Bertoia (FL)
4. Sonambient: Complete Collection (Disc 9) by Harry Bertoia (FL)
5. Simple Songs by Jim O'Rourke (LTY)
6. Merve Discount by 40 Sekunden Ohne Gewicht (LTY)
7. Technological Music Vol. 2 by Kyle Bruckmann (LTY)
8. Electronic Virtuosity by Oskar Sala (LTY)
9. A Simple Procedure by Various Artists (LTY)
10. Incunabula by Autechre (LTY)

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A Simple Procedure by Various Artists (2015)

John Cage has this piece called Imaginary Landscape No. 5, a composition for 42 record players. This compilation is about creating a new performance of this piece, getting 42 different experimental musicians to contribute short pieces which were then pressed onto 7 inch records and then used for a realization of this Cage piece. A digital version of the piece was also made, and all of these things are collected here on this massive 44 track, 2CD compilation. It's kind of an overwhelming amount of content, though I think I may have a particular struggle with taking in so many distinct voices in one sitting. You'll have stuttering blasts of computer noise one minute, straight field recordings the next, then pleasant oscillators with a digital shimmer to them. The sequencing is pretty solid and helps everything go down though. Naturally with a compilation this big, there's some stuff I dig quite a bit and some stuff I'm not so hot on. And more specific to this release, the way each track is capped to around 3:30 means that nothing really gets a chance to develop too deeply. But even with all that I'd still say it's mostly some pretty good stuff on here. And there's a lot of people I need to dig into, I've already picked up on the awesome work of Andrea Pensado from this, and there's still many more people on here that I want to follow up on, so for that value alone I hold this release in high esteem. I do think in the future though that I'll only be taking one CD at a time. It's just so much stuff.

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Running Tally '16

First Listens: 25
Releases listened this year: 89
2016 releases listened: 2
Total Listens: 101

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1/13/16

1. Parazoan Mapping by Eric La Casa / Taku Unami (LTY)
2. Silver Apples Of The Moon by Morton Subotnick (LTY)
3. Pollution by Franco Battiato (LTY)
4. Four Forms by Rie Nakajima (LTY)
5. Gesang Der Jünglinge - Kontakte by Karlheinz Stockhausen (LTY)
6. Mobius Fuse by Olivia Block (LTY)
7. Hubba Bubba by Damaged Bug (LTY)
8. New York Eye and Ear Control by Albert Ayler (LTY)
9. Perils by Perils (LTY)
10. Fuck Fundamentalist Pigs by Stephen O'Malley (FL)

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Still writing about 2015 releases. I think I'll have something written for everything I want to write about by March.

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Perils by Perils (2015)

Benoit Pioulard had quite a busy 2015, with an album on Kranky followed by two self-released ones, and then an EP. And of course, this collaboration with Kyle Bobby Dunn, my favorite of the bunch (tho I might be taking the Kranky album (Sonnet) for granted, that'll get some deeper appreciation later down the road I think). This one's a bit different than Sonnet. That album was focused on more of a lo-fi sort of thing, where as this one has sort of a hybrid fidelity (dominant hi), where there's lots of relatively clean sounds but with some murkier field recordings and drones in the mix as well, with the balance moving around as the album goes. Perils also goes a bit more all over the place, like on the third track there's a lot of ambient stasis but then the fourth track is a sorta upbeat folky thing with singing and everything. Dunn and Pioulard keep it all cohesive even though the album's jumping up and down in alertness a little bit, by way of a presentation that's always seeming to emphasize a particular sort of serene beauty, I don't know, there's probably more specific words for it. Basically do you like chill ambient where sometimes the dudes sing but they're mellow about it? Then get this.

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Concerts!

Here is what I have planned for Q1 so far.

1/23: Corridor Fest - as_dfs, Rene Hell, A Box In The Sea, Sarah Davachi, RAMZi, LIMITS, Black Hat, x/o, DJAO, Raica, Decimus, Ahnnu, Beastnest, The Esoterics (I think some of these people are just video artists that will be going along with the musicians)
2/3: Julia Holter w/ Circuit Des Yeux
2/6: Seattle Symphony: Richard Strauss - Don Juan, Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 2, Luciano Berio - Sinfonia for Eight Solo Voices and Orchestra
3/4: Animal Collective w/ Ratking

Anybody know of any tours I should be paying attention to coming to the Seattle area?

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Running Tally '16

First Listens: 26
Releases listened this year: 99
2016 releases listened: 2
Total Listens: 111

Last edited by Tap on 01/14/2016 06:22; edited 1 time in total

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Tap wrote:

2/6: Seattle Symphony: Richard Strauss - Don Juan, Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto No. 2, Luciano Berio - Sinfonia for Eight Solo Voices and Orchestra

is this widely touring? I'd kill to hear Sinfonia live...

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Unfortunately it doesn't look that way, they're bringing in this group Roomful of Teeth to do the vocal bits and it looks like those folks are just doing their own material at other shows.

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Tap wrote:

Unfortunately it doesn't look that way, they're bringing in this group Roomful of Teeth to do the vocal bits and it looks like those folks are just doing their own material at other shows.

Ah man that sounds cool. Well I hope you enjoy it and lemme know how it goes! Mad jealous. As you know that's an all-time favorite of mine (and those Strauss and Beethoven bits ain't half bad either)

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Sorry no writing in this post at the moment, I have been feeling not good but here's what I've been listening to, I think I'm on the mend so maybe I'll add in some words for something later tonight.

1/14/16

1. Scale by Herbert (LTY)
2. Future Days by Can (LTY)
3. Heaven by Arica (LTY)
4. Sonambient: Complete Collection (Disc 10) by Harry Bertoia (FL)
5. Sonambient: Complete Collection (Disc 11) by Harry Bertoia (FL)
6. Dutch Tvashar Plumes by Lee Gamble (LTY)

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1/15/16

1. m b v by My Bloody Valentine (LTY)
2. Black To Comm by Black To Comm (LTY)

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1/16/16

1. Selected Ambient Works Volume II by Aphex Twin (LTY)
2. Curling Pond Woods by Greg Davis (LTY)
3. Magnetoception by Joshua Abrams
xx. Crippled Symmetry by Morton Feldman performed by Dutcher/Hennies/Minaux (link)
4. Sounds Of Sacred Places by Moniek Darge (LTY)
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Running Tally '16

First Listens: 28
Releases listened this year: 110
2016 releases listened: 2
Total Listens: 123

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1/17/16

1. Euclid by Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
2. American Drift by Elysia Crampton (FL)
3. The Expanding Flower Planet by Deradoorian (FL)
4. Work On What Has Been Spoiled by Borbetomagus (LTY)
5. KTOTAM by Andrea Pensado (FL)
6. Ritratto Di Giovane / Symphonie Pour Un Enfant Seul by Françoise Barrière / Christian Clozier (LTY)
7. Spanish Fighters by AMM
8. La Création Du Monde by Bernard Parmegiani (FL)
9. Celadon by Maja S. K. Ratkje / Jon Wesseltoft / Camille Norment / Per Gisle Galåen

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Celadon by Maja S. K. Ratkje / Jon Wesseltoft / Camille Norment / Per Gisle Galåen (2015)

I'm still getting acquainted with Maja S. K. Ratkje's work, but what I know of it generally involves some pretty abrasive noises. So seeing her name first on the artist line, I was hyping myself up for some more of that. So I was quite surprised to find some rather peaceful vocals from her accompanying slow moving tone clouds. This is not all smooth surfaces though; the glass harmonica and zither in the mix for the instrumentation pull a sharpness out of the high end. There's 3 pieces on here that balloon in length, and each one sort of follows a similar template of very slight moves where the players sort of gradually float around each other and establish a loose consistency, and they all push at the edges of the consistency before unifying into something that feels like a single gesture, pushing the piece forward. Though with the longer pieces of course things get a bit more complicated, but I think that's sort of the general template. Although there is also an overall progression through the album to less peaceful sounds, maybe not going into a full-on audio assault, but Ratkje's vocals in particular start getting into an absolutely delightful spot in the last track. A very pleasant surprise here, I should look into these other musicians because it seems like a group effort sort of thing, no one person to take the bulk credit. Together, they realized a very strong and engaging approach to a sort of drone music that puts in the work to be more than just a comfortable background, and that's pretty awesome I think.

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Running Tally '16

First Listens: 32
Releases listened this year: 116
2016 releases listened: 2
Total Listens: 132