Give the Drummer Some's
Favorite Downloads from the MP3 Blogosphere
Today is the fifth anniversary of the passing of Dirk Gjaltema, a young Dutch music blogger whose irreverent appreciations in Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll (still kept online as a lasting memorial by his adoring family) was one of my first thrilling discoveries in blogland.
Take a moment to read my earlier post about Dirk.
Dirk's great gift was the generosity with which he transformed his own ecstatic love for music into a communal experience. The kindred spirit of that gift courses through my own music sharing endeavors, on the radio and here in this weekly column. Rest in noise, Dirk!
Maggie Nichols & Peter Nu ~ Don't Assume
(Blog: Continuo's Weblog)
Don't Stand Down Maggie
"On Don’t Assume, and particularly on the eponymous, side-long track #4, Maggie Nicols carefully avoids anything resembling jazz singing in favor of an intermediary state between spoken word, sound poetry, thinking out loud and sprechgesang. Similarly, the piano accompaniment, a delicate, needle-point construction of ephemeral chords and non-rhythmic structures, seems to be floating mid-air in an uncertain pitch like some of Olivier Messiaen’s piano music. This strange alchemy works wonders and inevitably takes the listener by surprise." (Description by Continuo)
Geetashree Sandhya Mukherjee ~ Love Songs from Bengal
(Blog: Anthems for the Nation of Luobaniya)
"Voice Like Liquid Honey"
"Did you listen to her before? She has a lovely voice....and the first song is for me, like a balm....soothing after a rough day! This is a beautiful collection of songs by an artist who remains almost unknown outside Bengal, though one, who according to me, deserves much more recognition. Someone rightly said that her voice is like "liquid honey." On this record, she sings a selection of her film songs. Most popular filmi and non-filmi Bengali music from the time when this was recorded falls under the larger umbrella of Bengali Modern Song." (Description by Arvind)
Dowland ~ Lachrimae or Seaven Teares and Fourteen Other Dances
(Blog: Ghostcapital)
Have a Good Cry
"This set of Dowland pavanes and other dances has steady calmed my worn-out nerves throughout the course of this entire month. To be true, it's been nearly the only newly-acquired LP that I've had on deck until late last week. I reckon I've found Lachrimae, in particular, uplifting in that reflective, somber, minor key kind of way. I recognize that Renaissance chamber sounds are something a change of pace for Ghostcapital, but really...Isn't that why we're all here in the first place -- Looking for new sounds and revelatory surprises? Besides, if I've played it that much, seems like the proof is in the pudding..." (Description by Nicholab, at Ghostcapital)
Viviane Greene ~ 1947-1955
(Blog: The River Club)
Daughter Sang with the Supremes
"A capable purveyor of R&B, intimate ballads, or boogie-woogie piano who sang in a high, sweet voice with soul and chutzpah similar to that of Lula Reed, Lil Green or Julia Lee, Viviane Greene made a series of fine little recordings for five different labels in San Francisco and Los Angeles between late 1947 and July 1955. This compilation claims to contain all of her recorded works with the exception of her 1962 Finer Arts material. The most dazzling tracks are without question her instrumentals, for Viviane Greene was a classically trained pianist who developed her chops working steadily at nightclubs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Denver, Colorado." (Description by Arwulf Arwulf, for Allmusic)
Eugene Chadbourne & Toshinori Kondo ~ Possibilities of the Color Plastic
(Blog: Inconstant Sol)
One Word. Just One Word: Plastics
"Han [Bennink] was a huge influence on Kondo and myself. Kondo used to call a certain type of activity on stage "doing." Others might describe is as fucking around...at any rate it definitely transforms the music, it can be used to totally disarm uptight musicians, for example. Han has a way of subtly changing the environment at a gig; one minute everything seems absurd, then the next, serious swinging. This type of juxtaposition is also something I have tried for in my own performances, so obviously I love getting a chance to work with one of the masters, and play off him." (From a Eugene Chadbourne interview by Will York )
Listen to my radio show Give the Drummer Some—Tuesdays, 6-7pm, and Fridays, 9 to noon—on WFMU's web stream Give the Drummer Radio.
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