Playlist, Week of 2017-05-28

I've long been a sucker for the Hammond B-3 and similar organ sounds--nurtured by Felix Cavaliere and the Rascals--and lately, after a couple of years of digging Jamie Saft's work with Slobber Pup and Plymouth, not to mention John Medeski's playing in Simulacrum, I've been going back to the motherlode with Larry Young, first with the Tony Williams Lifetime and now with some great Blue Note albums... Then there's Alexander Hawkins, whose Decoy albums are full of brilliant off-kilter, spacey, and always stunning Ra-inspired organ work...  There's some great organ work from Rodger Coleman on our forthcoming release, too!... Have been digging Terry Adams' takes on Monk tunes, Talk Thelonious, especially his version of "Ruby, My Dear," which is as much a tribute to Brian Wilson as it is to Monk... The Hatfield and the North radio session from 1973 is notable for two reasons: Robert Wyatt guests on vocals (and does a killer duet with Richard Sinclair on "God Song"), and it is the only Hatfield recording I know of with Richard's cousin David Sinclair (formerly of Caravan and Matching Mole) on keyboards instead of Dave Stewart... it's a fabulous set...

Playlist 2017-05-29:

*Terry Adams: Talk Thelonious
*Colla Parte: 2015-08-15 Auxiliary, Richmond VA (wav)
*Convergence Quartet: Owl Jacket
*Decoy: Vol 1: Spirit
*Barry Guy New Orchestra: Inscape - Tableaux
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2017-05-08 "No Crickets Here" (wav)
*Paraphrase: Pre-Emptive Denial
*Sun Ra: Singles: The Definitive 45s Collection 1952-1991 (disc 3)
*Larry Young: Into Somethin’
*Larry Young: Unity
*Larry Young: Lawrence of Newark
*Chicago: Live in Japan (disc 1)
*Elvis Costello and the Attractions: Blood & Chocolate
*Flaming Lips: Oczy Mlody
*Hatfield and the North with Robert Wyatt: 1973-01-02 Paris (CDR)
*Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Navigator
*Jefferson Pilot: Soundtrack to Welcome Stranger
*OOIOO: Shock City Shockers, Vol. 2: OOIOO Remix
*Wig Drop: Wig Drop 2
*Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention: Meat Light: The Uncle Meat Project/Object Audio Documentary (discs 2, 3)

Reading List, Week of 2017-05-28

Reading List 2017-05-29:

*Aton, Ayé. Sun Ra + Ayé Aton: Space, Interiors and Exteriors, 1972 (started/finished)
*Corey, James S. A. Abaddon's Gate (finished)
*Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania (in progress)
*Josipovici, Gabriel. Hamlet: Fold on Fold (in progress)
*Shakespeare and the Digital World (ed. Christie Carson and Peter Kirwan) (in progress)
*Silliman, Ron. The Alphabet (in progress)
*Tatsumi, Yoshihiro. A Drifting Life (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2017-05-21

Rodger Coleman sent me the final masters for our next CD release, Who Doesn't Fade?... he has done a fantastic job; it sounds wonderfully clean and is some of the spaciest stuff we've ever done... coming later this year... Continuing my ongoing explorations of Tom Rainey's drumming.... Drew Gress Quintet, Big Satan, Prezens, Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House, his own trio... the guy gets around!... Pianist Agustí Fernández's contributions to Barry Guy New Orchestra's Amphi • Radio Rondo are fantastic... My wife was at the Clash show in LA in 1982 featured on Stinkfoot in Hollywood... it's nice to think that I'm hearing her in the crowd!

Playlist 2017-05-22:

*Daniel Barbiero/Ken Moore: Lunge
*Big Satan: Souls Saved Hear
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium J (disc 2)
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: Who Doesn't Fade? (final master wav)
*John Coltrane: Live in Japan "Leo"
*Sylvie Courvoisier/Mark Feldman: 2010-07-03 Whitney Museum of Modern Art, NYC (CDR)
*Exploding Star Orchestra: Stars Have Shapes
*Drew Gress Quintet: 2006-01-22 Bimhuis, Amsterdam (CDR) (disc 2)
*Barry Guy New Orchestra: Amphi • Radio Rondo
*Barry Guy New Orchestra: 2014-05-22 London (CDR) (disc 2)
*Brian Jones Wurlitzer Trio: Drug Piano
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: Strong Place
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2017-05-08 "No Crickets Here" (wav)
*Prezens: Slipped on a Bar
*Tom Rainey Trio: 2011-05-06 Firehouse 12, New Haven, CT (CDR) (disc 2)
*Secret Keeper: Emerge
*Sun Ra: Singles: The Definitive 45s Collection 1952-1991 (disc 2)
*David Bowie: David Bowie [1969]
*Chicago: Live in Japan (disc 2)
*Clash: Stinkfoot in Hollywood (boot CDR)
*Heldon: Agneta Nilsson
*Joy Division: Closer
*King Crimson: 1971-1974 (CDR)
*NRBQ: High Noon: A 50-Year Retrospective (selections)
*Tower of Power: In the Slot (side 1)
*Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention: Road Tapes, Venue #2 (1973) (disc 2)

Reading List, Week of 2017-05-21

Reading List 2017-05-22:

*Corey, James S. A. Abaddon's Gate (in progress)
*Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania (in progress)
*Josipovici, Gabriel. Hamlet: Fold on Fold (in progress)
*Shakespeare and the Digital World (ed. Christie Carson and Peter Kirwan) (in progress)
*Silliman, Ron. The Alphabet (in progress)
*Tatsumi, Yoshihiro. A Drifting Life (in progress)

Playlist, week of 2017-05-14

I'm loving Taylor Ho Bynum's large-scale works... Enter the Plustet takes a different approach than 2014's Navigation... it's both tighter and more expansive at the same time... I somehow missed out on Heldon and Richard Pinhas all through the 20th century, so thanks to Rodger I've been playing catch-up... great stuff (again with the incisive criticism!)... Working my way through some Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey duets I got off of youtube... and what pleasurable work it is! They play really well together and beautifully extend the legacy of Interstellar Space... it's hard for me to watch the videos, though, because I don't want to be influenced by Rainey... he's just so damn good, and watching him I just want to emulate everything he does... I couldn't pull it off but I'd make a fool of myself trying.. The live Drew Gress Quintet music is an excellent showcase for Tom Rainey's "jazzy" side... he really swings hard here, and his drumming is impeccable... The Nels Cline/Larry Ochs/Gerald Cleaver Trio + Marshall Allen set in Philly: sublime hardcore free improvisation... I saw this trio in Richmond and they were again sublime... here, Marshall Allen fits like a glove... life-affirming energy!...

Playlist 2017-05-15:

*Muhal Richard Abrams Quintet: 2016-01-31 Milan (CDR)
*Taylor Ho Bynum: Enter the Plustet
*Nels Cline/Larry Ochs/Gerald Cleaver Trio + Marshall Allen: 2016-12-11 Philadelphia (CDR)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: Aphelion
*Kris Davis: Duopoly
*Decoy & Joe McPhee: Oto
*Globe Unity Orchestra: 2016-11-04 Berlin (CDR)
*Drew Gress Quintet: 2006-01-22 Bimhuis, Amsterdam (CDR) (disc 1)
*Barry Guy New Orchestra: Oort-Entropy
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: 2014-03-24 NYC (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: 2016-01-04 NYC (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: 2016-09-25 NYC (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey/Kris Davis/Ralph Alessi: Lark
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2017-04-17: "Unsudden Settling into Grey Emotion" (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2017-05-01 "Push That Sound Over Here, Will You?" (wav)
*Cecil Taylor Unit: It Is in the Brewing Luminous
*John Zorn: The Painted Bird
*Ahleuchatistas: What You Will
*David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (The Motion Picture Soundtrack) (disc 2)
*Car Seat Headrest: Teens of Style
*Gentle Giant: In a Glass House
*Keiji Haino: Experimental Mixture- In the World (disc 2)
*Heldon: Interface
*King Crimson: 1969-1970 (CDR)
*King Crimson: 1970-1971 (CDR)
*Minutemen: 3-Way Tie (For Last)
*UYA: 1990-03-19 Middle East, Cambridge MA (CDR)
*UYA: 1990-09-03 Willow Jazz Club, Somerville MA (CDR)

Reading List, week of 2017-05-14

Reading List 2017-05-15:

*Corey, James S. A. Abaddon's Gate (started)
*Josipovici, Gabriel. Hamlet: Fold on Fold (started)
*Tatsumi, Yoshihiro. A Drifting Life (started)
*Erens, Pamela. The Virgins (started/finished)
*Kirkman, Robert, et al. The Walking Dead (issues 68-80) (started/finished)
*Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania (in progress)
*Shakespeare and the Digital World (ed. Christie Carson and Peter Kirwan) (in progress)
*Silliman, Ron. The Alphabet (in progress)

Hamlet's Double Movement

[Hamlet] is brilliantly constructed moment by moment to convey a sense at once of a hopeless stasis, of endless talk and nothing decisive happening, and of a machine hurtling helplessly towards a conclusion at once longed for and fought against.
     This doubleness is felt by every viewer and reader, but it is very difficult to hold on to. For if we try to understand the play, to fathom its deepest springs, we lose the sense of its unfolding in time, while if we focus on its relentless forward motion we feel ourselves being carried not towards understanding but away from it. And all the while this double movement precisely mirrors Hamlet's own experience. (Gabriel Josipovici, Hamlet: Fold on Fold, Yale Univ. Press, 2016, p. 8)