A List for 2013

As family tradition would have it, once again we compile our own list of favorite artists/albums from 2013.  Just for fun; for whatever it is worth.  Here goes:

My clear favorite this year, interestingly, comes from an artist featured on last year's top pick.  That would be Valerie June and her "Pushin' Against a Stone"; she made an appearance on a track ("Be My Husband") on the 2012 Me'Shell N'Degeocello album, "Pour Une Ame Souveraine - A Dedication to Nina Simone."

The remaining favorites, in no particular order, are:

Sarah Neufeld: Hero Brother
Atoms for Peace: Amok
Lucrecia Dalt: Syzygy
The Necks: Open
Agnes Obel: Avertine
The Bryan Ferry Orchestra: The Jazz Age
Olafur Arnalds: For Now I Am Winter
Latvian Radio Choir: On Photography
The National: Trouble Will Find Me

Others were considered, and gave some good listens, including:

James Blake: Overgrown
Bombino: Nomad
Emika: Dva
Ludovico Einaudo: In A Time Lapse
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Push The Sky Away
Tim Hecker: Virgins
Arcade Fire: Reflektor
Neko Case: The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight
Laura Mvula: Sing to the Moon
Courtney Barnett: A Sea of Split Peas

A special mention is deserved of Caroline Shaw.  I haven't heard a full album from her, but the Pultizer-award-winning composer's "Partita for 8 Voices", performed by the vocal ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, made me eager to hear more of her work.  You can do that, too, on her site, on YouTube, on Vimeo, etc.

I probably forgot some other respectable contenders, but that it as good as memory serves at the moment

Yusef Lateef Passes On ...

In the early 60s, I first heard Yusef Lateef, and still have his Eastern Sounds album from 1961.  I hear these sounds frequently as I walk about as they have a more or less permanent home on my MP3 player.  He died yesterday at age 93. Long live Yusef Lateef!  Let's revisit some of Yusef's great music:

Open

"Open" by The Necks is a 68 minute long single number album:



This Australian minimalist-jazz-ambient trio has apparently been around a long time, but they are new to me. I am wanting to explore everything they have ever done. My first hearing of "Open" conjured up the likes of Brian Eno's "Music for Airports" for me. If this keeps up, I'll be adding this album to my (yet to be posted) favorites of 2013.

Tallis Scholars Live in Concert

For at least a while -- five or six days, you can hear the Tallis Scholars live in concert in the Temple Church in London.

Nelson Mandela, Free

Nelson Mandela's passing yesterday immediately brings to mind this anthem from the 80s, before he was freed from prison, before closing the chapter on apartheid, before becoming president of South Africa.  Here is a tribute to one of the most important figures of our times, perhaps ever:

Monk in Paris

Coming out next week, you can stream Thelonious Monk's Paris 1969 album now at NPR.  As the NPR piece tells, listen especially for the drum work of Philly Joe Jones.

Dylan, Interactive

Funny, amazing, crazy, odd, baffling. Takes a bit of bandwidth. It's the Bob Dylan Interactive Rolling Stone Video...

 You may be hearing about this.  I heard about it from Paste.

UPDATE: I have watched this two or three times now and I am thinking that it may be even worse than Dylan's infamous Christmas album of a few seasons ago.

A Lady G > Amy Connection

Now that Lady Gaga tells us that she intends to overcome her drug issue and to not join the infamous "27 Club" (think Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, et. al.), the sounds of another member of that tragic group came through my mp3 player while walking to work this morning.  While you can mourn the passing of any other member of the "Club" and wonder what they could have gone on to accomplish, and there are quite a few more than I just listed, the one I am missing so much right now, whose amazing contralto voice I heard today, is Amy Winehouse.  Hear her now in any early performance:

Really? Something for Everyone to Love?

NPR publishes the results of its poll for the top ten most-loved albums, the top ten women, the top ten least-loved albums, and the top ten least-heard.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2013/07/09/200471775/results-the-albums-everyone-can-love

John Tavener, R.I.P.

One of my most-admired contemporary composers, British Sir John Tavener, passed away today. Perhaps best known for his "Song for Athene", performed at the funeral of Princess Diana, I started listening to his work in earnest when in the mid-1990s I acquired an album by the choir of King's College of Cambridge called Ikos. The album also featured pieces by composers Henryk Gorecki and Arvo Part, which was why I got the record in the first place, but I soon found myself seeking out more Tavener work.  I have heard that Tavener claimed to be a descendant of John Taverner (note the spelling difference), himself a composer of wonderful religious vocal music in the 1500s, but I don't know if that is in fact the case.  Tavener also famously said, in explaining his transcendent, ethereal sounds,  something along the lines that many composers could lead you to hell, but he wanted to lead you into the experience of paradise.  Try the effect for yourself:

Lucrecia Dalt

Stream these sounds from the new Syzygy album:


Read full review of Syzygy - Lucrecia Dalt on Boomkat.com ©

Circuit des Yeux

Stream from the new Overdue album by Circuit des Yeux (aka Haley Fohr) ...

Lou Reed Lives On

Kinda amazing about how much conversation and messaging I'm having with friends and acquaintances about Lou Reed's personal influence on all of us.  And media as mainstream as last night's PBS NewsHour had a nice remembrance and interview.  And zillions of tweets, of course, including this one from Whoopi that caught my eye:

Lou Reed, RIP (Rock in Peace), continued

Just saw that KCRW -- arguably the best radio station in the known universe -- has a terrific blog post in tribute to Lou Reed's passing.  The post includes links to KCRW interviews with Lou Reed and an incredible Henry Rollins two-hour show of Reed performances and covers that you can hear online now:

http://blogs.kcrw.com/musicnews/2013/10/rip-lou-reed-a-tribute-from-kcrw/

Lou & Antony

The beat goes on.  Friend John just passed this along for my notice.  Never heard it before, but I have been totally taken by Antony (Antony and the Johnsons) ever since I heard his cover of Leonard Cohen's If It Be Your Will  ...



Lou Reed, more than a legend.

Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson

Found the 1995 Annie Leibovitz photo of Lou Reed and his widow, Laurie Anderson (one of my very favorite artists in her own right) at Coney Island:

photo by Annie Leibovitz

Farewell, Lou Reed

One of my early favorites during his Velvet Underground years and solo beyond, Lou Reed passed away today.  I will probably never forget some of his work, particularly Sweet Jane, Walk on the Wild Side, and of course Heroin. So let's see if we can find some performances:

circa 1972?

1982, live:

circa 1967 (Velvet Underground & Nico)?
from Rock n Roll Animal (there are at least three or four distinctly different versions of Sweet Jane)


Brian Eno is to have said that even though very few people heard his first album, almost all of those who did, formed a band. Lou Reed, rock on.

Stairway to Heaven, Heart Cover

Ann and Nancy Wilson beautifully cover the Led Zeppelin classic at the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors event, while the surviving band members, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones  , along with the Obamas, look on.   (Jason Bonham, son of the late Led Zep member, John Bonham, plays drums in this performance.)

 

Hear comments by the Wilson sisters here about the experience.

 A tribute to the band by President Obama:

 

 And here is an early live rendition by LZ in 1973:

 

The Beatles, A Capella

Making its way around the Interwebs is this vocal only 16-minute Abbey Road medley.  Try this one with headphones.

Valerie June Revisited

Hear more from Valerie June -- last featured here -- in this August 9, 2013 NPR interview.  Yep, I'm still big on this woman and her sound.

Holiday in Cambodia

You're a star-belly sneech | You suck like a leech | You want everyone to act like you
Kiss ass while you bitch | So you can get rich | But your boss gets richer off you
Well you'll work harder | With a gun in your back | For a bowl of rice a day
Slave for soldiers | Till you starve | Then your head is skewered on a stake
Now you can go where people are one | Now you can go where they get things done

What you need, my son…
Is a holiday in Cambodia | Where people dress in black
A holiday in Cambodia | Where you'll kiss ass or crack
Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot, Pol Pot, etc…
And it's a holiday in Cambodia | Where you'll do what you're told
A holiday in Cambodia | Where the slums got so much soul

- "Holiday in Cambodia" by the Dead Kennedys

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Yesterday, my brother told me of his experience of sitting through a grim, grisly documentary of the murder of Filipino civilians in the 60s.  

This brought immediately to mind the Khmer Rouge genocide under dictator Pol Pot in Cambodia during the VietNam war era, perhaps best known to many through the award-winning "Killing Fields" film.  But, for me, the Dead Kennedys and its vocalist, Jello Biafra (aka Eric Reed Boucher) was the early 80s punk-era social protest band that made the definitive anti-Pol Pot comment in "Holliday in Cambodia".  

One of my very favorite bands of the era, Dead Kennedys put out much other controversial material, ranging from "Too Drunk to Fuck" to "Moral Majority".  Great stuff.  Jello Biafra made for a memorable live act.  And don't miss the drumming work of D.H. Peligro, added to the ensemble a bit later.

(As an aside: The band's name was not meant to insult the Kennedy family, but according to Biafra, "to bring attention to the end of the American Dream".)

JJ Cale, RIP

Passing last night with a heart attack at age 74. Neil Young once famously declared his the second best electric guitar to Jimi Hendrix. JJ Cale could do it all: rock, blues, jazz, you name it. Here's a performance of After Midnight in 1971:




And here, a few years later, with Eric Clapton:

Sarah Neufeld and Hero Brother

Here's one release, set for mid-August,  that I am eagerly anticipating.  Sarah Neufeld, probably best known as Arcade Fire's violinist, springs forth with her first solo album, Hero Brother, influenced by such figures as Steve Reich and Bela Bartok.  Recorded in Berlin in venues ranging from an orchestral hall to a parking garage to a geodesic dome, Neufeld's violin work can be previewed here:




Hear the entire track, entitled "Forcelessness", here.

Beware of Mr. Baker

Yes, he was a train wreck.  But he was a hellacious drummer and a real part of rock history.  See the trailer here:

Valerie June: Pushin' Against A Stone

She describes it as "organic moonshine roots music".  Whatever sort of blend of blues, gospel, country soul, bluegrass, folk and more it may be, I can't get enough at the moment.  Ranging from quaint to soothing to riveting only begins to describe the unique quality of June's sound.  Fine backing music on the album, too.    I first came upon June when she was featured on Me'Shell Ndegeocello's superb 2012 Nina Simone tribute album, and was mesmerized.

My only quibble is that, like 90% of modern fare -- excepting most jazz and classical -- the album is regrettably engineered to compress its dynamic range, coming up at an average of only DR7 on my meter.

Can't stop now:




Not yet, either:



Bring it on:



A little collaboration:


Some conversation:



Enough of this. Gotta get back to hearing the album right with the headphones and my main amp ...

20 Feet From Stardom

Put this one on your watch list or Netflix queue or however you keep track: 20 Feet From Stardom. This documentary about the essential but usually unheralded role of the backup singer has to be a must, if Terry Gross' Fresh Air interview show of June 12 is any indication. Gross interviews Merry Clayton who sang "rape, murder" on the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter, and also interviews producer Morgan Neville. Hear the whole thing here: http://www.npr.org/2013/06/12/188384737/20-feet-from-the-spotlight-theres-singing-worthy-of-one.

Downloadable Norma

Bellini: Norma | Vincenzo Bellini par Cecilia Bartoli

Ray Manzarek Remembers, Remembered

Ray Manzarek died earlier this week.  As a founding member of the Doors, certainly one of the most memorable bands from that rock era, Manzarek was all about blues.  Here, alongside blues guitarist Roy Rogers, with whom he often partnered, Manzarek reminisces:



 Want more?



And even more from this pair:

Norma and Cecelia

Hate to get swept up in advertising, but here are the trailers for Cecelia Bartoli's forthcoming recording of Bellini's Norma.


Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

The Breeders and Last Splash

Remember The Breeders? This indie rock band, spun off from the fabled Pixies, has recently reunited for at least a concert or two. Here you can experience their acclaimed 1993 album, Last Splash, including the memorable "Cannonball":

Read full review of Last Splash (Original Edition) - THE BREEDERS on Boomkat.com ©

Caroline Shaw and the Pulitzer

Caroline Shaw just won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for music, the youngest composer ever to do so. Turns out that Shaw is a friend of Son Lux (whose remarkable remix work you may have heard, and which I will have to feature sometime in this blog).  It was his newsletter that brought her to my attention. Check out the fourth movement of Partita for 8 Voices composed by the 30-year-old Shaw, who doesn't even think of herself as a composer!



Learn more about Shaw and her gorgeous music at her website.

You can also find Shaw's music on the New Amsterdam label, a site rife with good stuff from a variety of composers (you can find Nico Muhly there, for example) you may not have heard yet.

Richie Havens, R.I.P.

Richie Havens, dead today, at age 72.   But his performances, like this one at Woodstock 1969, will live on for the rest of us.


Or this Dylan cover:
Another one:

Learn more about Havens.

Be Quiet and Listen

Brian Eno installs soundscapes and images in hospitals.  More here.

The Lonely Night

New collaboration from Moby and Mark Lanegan ... (watch full screen, of course)

Exceeding expectations. Last night I watched the PBS TV "In Performance At The White House" tribute to Memphis Soul. A great way to spend an hour, and hear both legendary soul singers and some newer contenders. Watch the program in its 56-minute entirety here ...

Watch Memphis Soul on PBS. See more from In Performance at The White House.

Olga Kern and the Rach Third

As a followup to yesterday's tribute to the late Van Cliburn, I started casting about for more modern performances of Cliburn's winning works.  Here is a stunning full-length (42+ minutes) performance of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor by Olga Kern (aka Olga Pushechnikova), herself a former gold medal winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. 

Van Cliburn, R.I.P.

Van Cliburn passed today at age 78.  He was the best-known classical pianist of my generation (I'm not counting Liberace here), coming to the forefront when he won the  International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, at age 23, becoming known as the "Texan who conquered Russia".  He is perhaps best known for the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1 which he performed at that competition, along with the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, which I particularly liked (he was definitely an inspiration and influence during my high school years), and as shown here:




I also saw an encore piece on Van Cliburn on tonight's NewsHour, and have been reading a large number of online tributes from many other sources, easily discovered with Google.

Regina Carter

Last night I tuned in my local PBS station to catch Austin City Limits (Esperanza Spalding was on!), and a bit early, came upon last twenty minutes or so of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival (a series I will not overlook in the future!). Featured was violinist Regina Carter and her group, playing some very wonderful stuff indeed, apparently mostly from her "Reverse Thread" album. While I haven't located that exact performance yet, here is a sample of the group via YouTube:
 Note the use of the kora, an African harp-like instrument (aka calabash?) I first became aware of a couple of years ago -- was it on Bill Frisell's "Intercontinentals" album?

The only music I have of Regina Carter is a album with Kenny Barron, the 2001 "Freefall". But that needs to change! Regina Carter is classically-trained, but professionally works as a jazz musician with strong Afro-Cuban and other world music influences. Carter is a cousin of the noted woodwind, especially baritone sax, jazz player, James Carter (the two did a duet album around 2000 that I need to track down). She received particular notice, in the aftermath of 9/11, for being the first jazz musician and first African American to be invited to play "The Cannon", the legendary 1700s violin once owned and used by 18th century Italian composer and violinist, Niccolo Paganini.

O Sister

A great Spanish group, singing and composing in the spirit of the Boswell Sisters: Visit them at http://osister.bandcamp.com

Landfill Harmonic

Landfill Harmonic film teaser from Landfill Harmonic on Vimeo.