The radio in my used car doesn’t work and I have had only one CD to listen to for the last month. I only need one CD.
What are you listening to?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Good Lord, that’s nice music. Thanks for the posts.
Listened to Metal Machine Music for the first time after Lou died; had to hear what set Lester Bangs off so hilariously. I should say, I tried to listen to MMM…
I remember listening to Prince’s peculiar follow-up album to Purple Rain and thinking, wow, this guy’s running away from megastardom pretty intentionally here. His gesture doesn’t hold a candle, light, match or other metaphorical comparative to Reed’s torching of his fan base with MMM. I know Lou had often pursued experimental music in the past, but, that?
I have to admit I’ve been addicted and my guitar and amp are gettin’ a workout.
Mostly NPR and 80s stuff on XM.
The last two weeks, my mornings have started with the 5 am alarm set to play Wild Flag’s first CD, which begins with Janet Weiss’ totally badass drums kicking off the women on the first cut, “Romance”:
https:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKplBq-9eSo
On my computer these days, it’s James Brown and the JB’s “Love Power Peace” performance, the Olympia, Paris, 1971. Bootsy on bass, Fred on trumpet, Bobby on the second mic, James riding and pushing hard on the one, and the nastiest funk guitar ever laid down by Catfish on “Ain’t It Funky Now,” starting at around :30 in this post:
https:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsJReQmaNgg
In the car, it’s two local NPR stations, major AM news radio and an eclectic left-of-the-dial station or two, along with Wilco’s “The Whole Love” CD and the pretty amazing “Art of Almost”:
https:
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz6UrYvacQk
I gotta learn how to embed…
On the YouTube page you want to embed, click share, then embed, check the “use old code” box and use that version.
Yeah, I figured that out. Thanks.
Sorry, misread this as a reply to me.
OK, giving it a ride:
Wild Flag:
James Brown and the JB’s:
Wilco:
I’m currently infatuated with a young musician named Ben Cooper, who has several bands. He’s a wonderful musician and lyricist. One band is called Radical Face, and the album I like most is Ghost. Go to youtube and listen to Welcome Home. Awesome.
Also, for something really different, his other Band is Electric President. There’s an album called Sleep Well, which has a theme about the nature of nightmares. Amazing. And also an album Violent Blue, which was inspired by the ocean.
The albums have been out for a while, but honestly, they are just wonderful.
Tough call. Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall would probably be it. Although it was recorded on Nov 29, 1957, it still speaks to me. Or one of the Beatles mid albums, or perhaps the Eagles Live.
For two years I had one cassette in my car. It had Exile in Main St on one side and Derek and the Dominoes on the other
The Milk Carton Kids
I have a bunch of CDs in my car, but for months the five studio albums by Garbage have been getting heavy rotation. There’s about two or three songs on each album I’m not in love with. And even they’re earworms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s32wqdLG0k
Thanks. I was listening to Garbage a few years ago and moved on primarily because they only had a few albums and there were new things to hear. Now I see they have a new (2012) one. Looking forward to it.
I’m back on Steely Dan again.
Steely Dan is still unique after all these years. And I think Katy Lied was their best. Every song is a gem.
Junior Wells!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbYFn5RkX0U
OK, I’ll post a few. If people like them, I have lots more. I’ve been getting into Gregory Porter’s first and best album Water.
Gregory Porter 1960 What?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmDcWr1yqCc
Let’s try this embedded.
By the way, to make this work I had to use the old, not current, youtube embed code. I didn’t notice that called out in the FAQ, though I didn’t look carefully, I just guessed at the problem.
Here’s Cassandra Wilson making a vocal of 70s fusion-era Miles. Even Eddie Jefferson, the founder of jazz vocalese, sounded silly trying this, but Wilson pulls it off just great.
I’ve also been liking this Roy Nathanson album with its minimal approach (not always a fan of minimalism). Here is the pop side.
and here is arty side.
Here’s a Russian band I’ve getting into lately (no, not that one). Auktyon
I’m also a fan of Badi Assad.
Or if you like a more straightforward tune (this one is also in English, but I didn’t come across it on Youtube. It’s just a light song in praise of her “little white top:
Kind of a mixture right now: Miles Davis’ mid-70s live albums (“Dark Magus” are in the CD changer, along with some work by Steve Reid and Kieran Hebden (last albums before Reid passed away), early Aphex Twin, Richard H. Kirk. Just a few things to make the commute bearable.
Also got hooked on Ian Dogole’s work – been playing an album called Ionospheres, which has some pleasant Miles Davis covers with a bit more of an overt world fusion feel.
What do you think of the albums inspired by 70s Miles fusion? Wadada Leo Smith and Henry Kaiser did one called “Yo Miles”, then did some more albums as “Yo Miles”. There is a tribute band called “Bitches Brew” that I like. You can’t imitate that stuff, so they are going on their own take. And a bunch of guys from India got together with people who had played with Miles at various times and did Raga-fied Miles covers. Everyone from Jimmy Cobb (who played on Kind of Blue Probably you knew that, but just saying.) to Wallace Roney (who was on the last album with Quincy Jones), including Chick Corea, Ron Carter, Pete Cosey. Mostly, they cover fusion stuff, although also some things from Kind of Blue. The Fusion stuff works better for an Indian treatment. I guess a purist wouldn’t covering Miles like this. But the purists hated the Miles fusion albums at the time and sometimes still too.
I like almost all of it (I’m not entirely sold on Kaiser, but I love Wadada). I think we understand this music better now than they did at the time, when it was very exploratory. Our ears are now on the far side of hip hop and electronica.
This is from Miles From India
This is Yo Miles (coverage on Youtube very limited)
Bitches Brew is a bunch of San Francisco locals. No one famous. Can’t find them on YouTube. As individual players, not on the level of some of the others here (much less Miles’ bands), but they have a more cohesive sound.
None of these bands actually sound that much like Miles of that period nor seriously try to. The Miles is so unique, there are a thousand places to go from there.
I’m familiar with the “Yo Miles” recordings, and love them. Henry Kaiser I’d heard of for a long time – his recordings (including bootlegs) were the staple of a college radio DJ who was really obsessed with Grateful Dead-style jams. Good times. Wadada Leo Smith would come a bit later to me as I got bored of the various strands of the scenes I’d been in during the 1980s. But yeah, I think a good way of thinking of what Miles Davis was doing in any period of his career was pointing the way for others to explore as they could or saw fit, rather than to imitate. The combination of influences that made up that 1970s sound was, and still is, quite potent. I’ll have to see if I can find some downloads by Bitches Brew and give them a listen. The “Miles From India” recording I had not actually heard – perhaps heard of, but not heard. The clip you shared sounds intriguing enough to pursue, and I thank you for that. 🙂
You’re welcome. Thanks for responding. I never know whether there is a point to posting clips here, because who knows if anyone will like what I like, so I’m glad, in this case, there was a point. And someone did like Cassandra Wilson’s version of Voodoo Down upthread, so there is that.
Heard Wadada’s electronic album Snakish?
The descriptions of “Snakish” made it look like something that would be up my alley. Haven’t had a chance to hear it – a lot of my music purchasing was regrettably curtailed starting a few years ago due to finances (long story short: our country’s approach to health “care” stinks, but was even worse last decade). Anyhoo, it’s always cool to find out that others on this blog harbor some common interests outside the realm of politics. Keep posting those clips – you just never know with whom they’ll connect. 🙂