The Great Adventures of Kool Keith

[Kool Keith Sweat]

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.

[Kool Keith Sweat]

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

[Kool Keith Sweat]

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:

[cestuneblague]

[Kool Keith Sweat]

Giving this a go

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Rice Cultivation Society - Mystical Shitheads

[Kool Keith Sweat]

Finally getting around to this

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The Epic by Kamasi Washington

[Kool Keith Sweat]

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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.

[Kool Keith Sweat]

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

[Kool Keith Sweat]

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.

[Kool Keith Sweat]

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