Blanks And Postage: How To Build A Diving Bell, or Tape-Hunting Tips For Quarantined Gormandizers

Blanks And PostagePosted on

Just as many of us were folding into our geo-domes for extended isolation in early March, a tweet floated across my transom that asked the reader to “Imagine a world where there were archives of live P-Funk and Fela recordings as extensive and well-curated as those devoted to the Grateful Dead.” To paraphrase a recent viral hit: it’s easy if you try. At least, the imagining is. Just pretend that they’re the Dead . . .

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Sorcery in the Kingdom | A Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool Mixtape

Miles DavisPosted on

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool—now available on Netflix after a brief theatrical run and as an American Masters feature on PBS—is a beautifully directed film by Stanley Nelson, which guides us through the different changes of Miles’ life, smoothly handling the tale of an artist who refused any complacency throughout a long and undeniably brilliant career . . .

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Sven Wunder :: Eastern Flowers

Sven WunderPosted on

The brilliant debut from the mysterious Sven Wunder came out of nowhere and left all the heads spinnin' and scramblin' to find an LP copy, which are currently few and far between. Eastern Flowers is brimming with gnarly bass and guitars, big drum breaks, and hairy synths, all of which are projected through a kaleidoscopic filter of modern and traditional Eastern sounds. This is one of the best albums you will hear this year . . .

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The Human Race :: An AOR Mixtape

MixtapesPosted on

Whatever happened to the human race? This mix explores the darker sides of the much maligned "AOR" genre, typically associated with 1970's overly-produced pop excess, while embracing it's playful and uplifting side. From Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott's lamenting a "Fatalistic Attitude" to the Monkees' Michael Nesmith's time capsule to "People A Hundred Years From Now", from Emitt Rhodes lamentable solo swan song "Farewell To Paradise" to true FM radio classic jam Starbuck's "Moonlight Feels Right", here The Human Race is represented in all it's conflicted glory . . .

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Joshua Van Tassel :: Dance Music Volume II |More Songs for Slow Motion

Joshua Van TasselPosted on

Toronto percussionist and composer Joshua Van Tassel follows up his 2018 album/novella hybrid Crossworlds with “Their Love Was Alive Before They Were Dead." It's the first music from September’s Dance Music Volume II: More Songs For Slow Motion, a slow-motion dream built around the Ondea, an updated version of the famous French synthesizer the Ondes Martenot . . .

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Music From First Cow and Other Films Real or Imagined (An Echo Magic Mixtape)

William TylerPosted on

Just before the lockdown, filmmaker Kelly Reichardt released First Cow, the filmmaker's seventh feature film. A slow and mediative movie, it features sounds by AD compatriot William Tyler, who recorded the soundtrack with Scott Hirsch at Echo Magic Studio. While composing and recording, Tyler and Hirsch put together a "mood board" of sounds they referenced while working. Here, Hirsch shares that mixtape, along with his thoughts about First Cow . . .

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Lee Konitz, Jazz Pioneer and Acoustic Experimentalist Claimed by Covid19 Complications at 92

Lee KonitzPosted on

The Chicago-born, nonagenarian American saxophonist and composer Leon “Lee” Konitz, known most notably for his pioneering playing on Miles Davis’ 1950 Birth of the Cool album, passed away on Thursday night from complications with the Covid-19 virus . . .

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Broadcast :: Sixty Forty (Nico cover)

Broadcast NicoPosted on

Broadcast’s cover of Nico's “Sixty Forty,” taken from their final Peel Session recorded in July 2003, finds the group exploring the perfect middle ground between the (then about to be released) cracked pagan kaleidoscope of Haha Sound and their next move, the searing minimalist cut-up Tender Buttons . . .

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The Aquarium Drunkard Show: SIRIUS/XMU (7pm PDT, Channel 35)

SIRIUSPosted on

Via satellite, transmitting from northeast Los Angeles — the Aquarium Drunkard Show on SIRIUS/XMU, channel 35. 7pm California time, Wednesdays.

34.1090° N, 118.2334° W . . .

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Hoping For A Replacement :: After The Gold Rush Re-Imagined

Neil YoungPosted on

After The Gold Rush’s downbeat-but-irrepressibly melodic songs would also find their way into the repertoire of many other artists. Hoping For A Replacement re-creates the album using a selection of these covers. There are future superstars, like Bette Midler and Linda Ronstadt. And then there are more obscure names, like Hookfoot, Julie Mairs and the Dutch band Teenmakers, whose “Southern Man” you have to hear to believe . . .

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Transmissions :: A Conversation With Jesse Jarnow

Jesse Jarnow Podcast Sidecar (Transmissions)Posted on

For this episode of Transmissions, we're joined by author, WFMU DJ, and historian of all things "heady," Jesse Jarnow. With society in a state of monumental flux, it felt like the perfect time to ring Jesse up to discuss the radical possibilities of the current moment, science fiction, various dystopian and utopian happenings and jam culture's ahead of the curve embrace of live streaming tech . . .

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James Booker :: Montreux Jazz Festival, July 1978

James Booker Live Upload SeriesPosted on

Ancient AD. We originally featured the following 1978 live recording (captured at the Montreux Jazz Festival) back in October of 2005. We’ve collected a number of live documents from this New Orleans piano master -- Live at Montreux is by far the most spirited. Pearls on black velvet, the set is essential listening for Booker acolytes and New Orleans piano disciples alike. Ten tracks, all very raw arrangements with Booker backed by a loose, electric pick-up band that full-on swings . . .

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John Prine :: Sessions At West 54th

John PrinePosted on

My first real exposure to John Prine was random and chance, one of those moments that floats into the periphery and either you see it or you don't. It was also lacking in the context that would make me appreciate it all the more later on.I was home from college my freshman year and was up late as usual, alone in a quiet house watching random things on television. I was partial to the music shows on PBS, especially Sessions at West 54th, a show I'd caught a few times before. It was on . . .

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Swamp Dogg ft. John Prine :: Please Let Me Go Round Again

John Prine Swamp DogPosted on

The whole record documents Swamp Dogg’s life over the years, using songs he penned some 30 plus years ago. Bon Iver and Sam Amidon contributed their instrumental prowess as well, but it’s the last track with John Prine that brings the magic. You’re witnessing a true southern porch hang . . .

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WHEN A DRUMMER FALLS DURING A PANDEMIC, DOES HE MAKE A NOISE? TRAVIS NELSEN DOES.

Okkervil River Travis NelsenPosted on

... when a musician dies there’s a tendency to separate who they were in the spotlight with who they were off stage, but Travis would wear the same monkey costume behind his drumset or when he grilled a rare steak in his kitchen for his beloved mom, all with gusto and an electric smile, straight from his gilded, white-hot heart . . .

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