New Release: Perihelion

Announcing our new release, Perihelion! This consists of three more longish pieces from the same December 2014 sessions that produced last year's release Aphelion. Both albums are available for free download at Bandcamp. Rodger has done a fantastic job editing and mastering this recording. Please check it out and let me know what you think!

Rodger Coleman for Sonic President!

http://nuvoid.blogspot.com/2016/01/playlist-week-of-2016-01-23.html

Yeah! Go, Rodger! Definitely check out the recordings of Rodger's solo set in Nashville earlier this week. Go here and read Rodger's take on the gig. There you'll also find links to the recordings, as well as a link to a Nashville blogger review (from which comes the wonderful title of this entry).

Playlist, Week of 2016-01-24

A wonderful Christmas gift! Braxton continues to slay me. I have long been familiar with these albums, having gotten most of them the first time around, but this box is definitely the way to go: the sound is superb (the Arista pressings were not always the best), and the ability to quickly absorb his entire Arista output really brings home just how far ahead (and far out!) he's always been. Beautiful, challenging, inspiring, and absolutely essential.

Playlist, Week of 2016-01-25:

*Anthony Braxton: The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton (discs 6, 7)
*Anthony Braxton/Tomas Fujiwara/Tom Rainey: Trio (New Haven) 2013 (disc 4)
*Rodger Coleman: 2016-01-20 Portland Brew 12 South, Nashville (wav)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2014-12-29 Nashville (wav) (selections)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2014-12-30 Nashville (wav) (selections)
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: Perihilion
*John Coltrane: Live Trane: The European Tours (disc 3)
*Marilyn Crispell/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian: Nothing Ever Was, Anyway (disc 1)
*Decoy: Vol 2: The Deep
*Duke Ellington: The Indispensable Duke Ellington Vol. 5/6 (1940) (side 1)
*Globe Unity Orchestra: 1967-10-21 Donaueschingen, Germany (CDR)
*Alexander Hawkins Ensemble: Step Wide, Step Deep
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: 2011-01-19 Bremen, Germany (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock: Ubatuba
*Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Inner Mounting Flame
*Secret Keeper: Emerge
*Sun Ra: Nothing Is (selections)
*Sun Ra: Calling Planet Earth (2015 ORG Music LP) (side 1)
*Cecil Taylor Unit: Cecil Taylor Unit “Holiday en Masque”
*Cecil Taylor Unit: Live in Vienna
*Cecil Taylor Unit: The Eighth
*Lester Young: The Aladdin Sessions (sides 2, 4)
*Electric Light Orchestra: Eldorado
*Fall of Troy: Doppelgänger
*Ravi Shankar: Three Ragas
*Soft Machine: Bundles
*Brian Wilson: No Pier Pressure (side 2)

Reading List, Week of 2016-01-24

Rodger turned me on to this book over the holidays, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. The fascinating thing is how much DeSantis' advice applies to all music making (including improvisation) and not just electronic music production. I'm finding much to think about in terms of my own playing. I'll throw out some examples after I finish it. In the meanwhile, check out some selected chapters here.

Reading List, Week of 2016-01-25:

*Vaughan, Brian K., and Fiona Staples. Saga, Volume 4 (started/finished)
*Vaughan, Brian K., and Fiona Staples. Saga, Volume 3 (started/finished)
*Vaughan, Brian K., and Fiona Staples. Saga, Volume 2 (started/finished)
*Vaughan, Brian K., and Fiona Staples. Saga, Volume 1 (finished)
*DeSantis, Dennis. Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers (in progress)
*Vickers, Brian. Shakespeare, Co-Author: A Historical Study of the Five Collaborative Plays (in progress)
*Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest (reread/in progress)

That Other, Better World

Daniel Barbiero has an excellent piece on free improvisation over at Arteidolia. Well worth checking out; it's hard to write about playing this kind of music, and he does a great job breaking it down. Fave quote:

Free improvisation is ... the exploration of a country that doesn't exist until it's conjured into being by that very same exploration.

Coming up in Nashville: Rodger Coleman solo set!

 
Props to Rodger, who will be opening up for pedal-steel guitarist Susan Alcorn this Wednesday at Portland Brew 12 South in Nashville. I'm pretty sure this will be his first live solo performance there. Very exciting! If you're actually in Nashville and reading this, details can be found in the commentary here. And in the meanwhile do check out this amazing solo piece. Break a leg (and not a string), Rodger!

Playlist, Week of 2016-01-17

Maybe I need to pick a better time to put these up, because while I'd love to write more about what I've been listening to, by Monday evenings I'm usually wiped out. Anyway, as always, lots of great music out there to check out and absorb!

Playlist 2016-01-18:

*Muhal Richard Abrams: Song for All
*Anthony Braxton: The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton (disc 5)
*Anthony Braxton/Tomas Fujiwara/Tom Rainey: Trio (New Haven) 2013 (disc 3)
*Rodger Coleman: “Prepare Guitar No. 1” (streaming)
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: 2015-12-28 Nashville (wav)
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: 2015-12-29 Nashville (wav)
*Anthony Davis: Of Blues and Dreams
*Miles Davis: Miles Davis at Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 (disc 4)
*Jack DeJohnette: Cosmic Chicken
*Whit Dickey: In a Heartbeat
*Marty Ehrlich's Dark Woods Ensemble: Emergency Peace
*Ray Mantilla: Mantilla
*Plymouth: Plymouth
*Tom Rainey Trio: Camino Cielo Echo
*Various artists: Weather Report. J. Hammer (cassette compilation) (side B)
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: 2016-01-08 (wav)
*High Llamas: Hawaii
*Santana: Borboletta (side 2)
*Brian Wilson: No Pier Pressure (side 1)
*XTC: Apple Vinyls (selections)

Reading List, Week of 2016-01-17

Reading List 2016-01-18:

*DeSantis, Dennis. Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers (started)
*Vaughan, Brian K., and Fiona Staples. Saga, Volume 1 (started)
*Gillen, Kieron. The Divine + The Wicked: The Faust Act (started/finished)
*Gillen, Kieron. The Divine + The Wicked: Fandmonium (started/finished)
*Vickers, Brian. Shakespeare, Co-Author: A Historical Study of the Five Collaborative Plays (in progress)
*Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest (reread/in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2016-01-10

Lovin' me some Ingrid!

Playlist 2016-01-11:

*Anthony Braxton: The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton (discs 2, 3, 4)
*Anthony Braxton/Tomas Fujiwara/Tom Rainey: Trio (New Haven) 2013 (disc 2)
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: 2015-12-28 Nashville (wav)
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: 2015-12-29 Nashville (wav)
*Miles Davis: Miles Davis At Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4 (discs 1, 2, 3)
*Duke Ellington: The Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA-Victor Recordings (disc 11)
*Mary Halvorson Quintet: Saturn Sings
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: Roulette of the Cradle
*Ingrid Laubrock: Ubatuba
*Learning to Read: Learning to Read
*Nicole Mitchell/Tomeka Reid/Mike Reed: Artifacts
*Tom Rainey Trio: Pool School
*Cecil Taylor Feel Trio: Two Ts for a Lovely T (disc 1)
*Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly (selections)
*Carla Thomas: Sweet Sweetheart: The American Studios Sessions and More

Reading List, Week of 2016-01-10

Reading List 2016-01-11:

*Vickers, Brian. Shakespeare, Co-Author: A Historical Study of the Five Collaborative Plays (in progress)
*Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest (reread/in progress)

Art

Art is not difficult because it wishes to be difficult, but because it wishes to be art. (Donald Barthelme, "Not-Knowing," in Not-Knowing: The Essays and Interviews of Donald Barthelme, p. 15)

Playlist, Week of 2016-01-03

Had a fantastic time over Christmas visiting and recording with guitarist/pianist extraordinaire Rodger Coleman! We recorded almost four hours' worth of improvisations over a period of two days. Whoo!

Playlist 2016-01-04:

*Tim Berne’s Snakeoil: You’ve Been Watching Me
*Anthony Braxton: The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton (disc 1)
*Anthony Braxton/Tomas Fujiwara/Tom Rainey: Trio (New Haven) 2013 (disc 1)
*Billy Cobham: Spectrum (selections)
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: 2015-12-28 Nashville (wav)
*Miles Davis: In a Silent Way
*Kamasi Washington: The Epic (sides 1 & 2)
*Beatles: 1962-1966 (disc 2)
*Beatles: 1967-1970 (disc 2)
*Drifters: Greatest Hits
*Sam Cooke: Greatest Hits
*Fall of Troy: Fall of Troy
*Tom Jones: The Best of Tom Jones: The Millennium Collection
*Temptations: The Ultimate Collection

Reading List, Week of 2016-01-03

Reading List 2016-01-04:

*Watterson, Bill. Weirdos from Another Planet! (started/finished)
*Jones, William B., Jr. Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History (2nd ed.) (reread/finished)
*Vickers, Brian. Shakespeare, Co-Author: A Historical Study of the Five Collaborative Plays (in progress)
*Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest (reread/in progress)