The most beautiful sound next to silence comes to NYC. This “all-star night” of ECM-related performers is a delight, with some unique performances and collabs. Manfred Eicher’s esteemed label had been around since the late 1960s, but Keith Jarrett’s blockbuster surprise, The Koln Concert, brought ECM closer to the mainstream in 1975. Jarrett wasn’t there for this evening’s celebration, but the All-Stars shine bright without him.
Search Results for: ECM
Pat Metheny Group (ECM, 1978)
Guitarist Pat Metheny recently described music as a “carrot”, “I am still figuring out what the stick is,” he concluded to Ross Simonini in The Believer. That idea of constant investigation permeates Metheny’s nearly 50 year music career as well as his first s/t LP with his Pat Metheny Group.
Aquarium Drunkard: ECM Night { June 24, Los Angeles @ In Sheep’s Clothing
Next Thursday, June 24, we are hosting our third night of dedicated listening to the perennial ECM Records catalog. Free to attend with RSVP , the event is in conjunction with In […]
John Surman :: Upon Reflection (ECM)
Here’s something to get lost in, the hypnotic world of British reedman John Surman, courtesy of his 1979 ECM effort, Upon Reflection. Recorded in Oslo, with production helmed by Manfred Eicher, the recording finds Surman in widescreen form experimenting with sequencers and synthesizers in addition to his duties working bass clarinet and baritone/soprano saxophone.
Aquarium Drunkard Guide to ECM Records: The New Millennium
Welcome to the third installment of the Aquarium Drunkard Guide to ECM Records: The New Millenium. Writer James Jackson Toth (Wooden Wand) explores the label’s contemporary output, that of “a boutique label in the guise of a music industry behemoth.”
Aquarium Drunkard Guide To ECM Records: Second Installment
Welcome to the second installment of the Aquarium Drunkard guide to ECM Records . Marked by an attention to sonic space and a distinct visual aesthetic, since 1969 ECM has released a […]
Transmissions Podcast :: Kurt Vile / ECM Records / James Booker
Happy Halloween and welcome to the October edition of the Transmissions podcast. Hope you enjoyed our bonus podcast episode, featuring AD’s Halloween mix. If you haven’t heard it, check your […]
Aquarium Drunkard Presents :: ECM Listening Party
In anticipation of the second installment of our Guide to ECM Records , join the Aquarium Drunkard crew and our friends Zach Cowie and Third Place this Sunday, October 28th, in Los Angeles at […]
The Aquarium Drunkard Guide To ECM Records
Founded by Manfred Eicher in Germany in 1969, ECM Records (Editions of Contemporary Music) has spent nearly 50 years assembling one of the strongest catalogs in musical history. Marked by […]
Transmissions :: Amelia Courthouse
This week on Transmissions, the return of Leah Toth, aka Amelia Courthouse. She was last here on the podcast in its earlier, more feral incarnation—and by feral we mean “updated with elss regularity”—but back in 2018 she reviewed Shinya Fukumori Trio’s incredible ECM release For 2 Akis. We’ve wanted to have Leah back on ever since, and this now we’ve got a great excuse to do so: the release of her incredible new album under the Amelia Courthouse name, broken things. Blending Protestant solemnity with dream pop bliss with extended, meditative ambient music and skeletal folk, she’s created a work of gentle and imperfect holiness.
George Cromarty :: The Wind In The Heather
1984’s The Wind in the Heather finds Cromarty evolving from folk-blues purist to a cosmopolitan songcrafter fully aware of the environment in which he created. From the outset, the listener finds that Cromarty is still a powerhouse of the alternating thumbed bassline though he has picked up some new tricks. Incorporating flamenco style strumming, quick runs of clusterchorded breakdowns, and, importantly, that ever elusive idea of ‘space’ within the composition expand his sound beyond the decades-old template dictating the cornerstones of Guitar Soli.
Krononaut :: Krononaut II
While their 2020 debut featured a clutch of out jazz ringers from both Europe and the US on a set of fourth world excursions, the new Krononaut album pares down to the core duo of guitarist Leo Abrahams and drummer Martin France. The results, a series of evolving conversations between Abrahams’s chiming guitar peals and France’s restless free jazz rustle, are nothing short of sublime.
Dog Days of Aquarium Drunkard
We were curious what people’s summers sounded like. So we asked a clutch of the regular contributors to tell us what they were listening to beat the heat and why. What we heard back made for a weird, wonderful soundtrack for this far stretch of the earth’s revolution around the sun. Here’s a slate of recommendations to power you through these dog days of summer.
Ethan Iverson :: The Aquarium Drunkard Interview
Ethan Iverson is a rare bird, a jazz musician who’s just as adept at writing about the form as he is playing it. As a member of The Bad Plus, the recorded a series of adventurous albums with the trio between 2001 and 2016, incorporating covers of artists like Radiohead, Aphex Twin, and Pink Floyd along the way. In 2017, he departed The Bad Plus, turning his focus to albums like his new Blue Note outing, Technically Acceptable.
Transmissions :: Daniel Bachman
This week on a far-ranging episode of Transmissions: guitarist, folklorist, and all-around-top-notch thinker Daniel Bachman. A songwriter and composer from Fredericksburg, Virginia, Bachman first began releasing records under the name Sacred Harp, before adopting his own name for a series of finger-picked classics. In the years since, Bachman’s music has grown more and more experimental, and also, it’s become more directly informed by climate change. He joins us to discuss.