Austin Improv

The Brigadier wrote:No way, man. It was unbelievably gayer than that.

Yay for gay blood and gore!

*Jefferson Airplane - After Bathing At Baxter's
*Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
*Jefferson Airplane - various live tapes 1965-1968
Beach House - s/t and Devotion
Stevie Wonder - live stuff from 1972/73
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating as One
Sun Ra - Angels and Demons at Play
Lee Dorsey - The New Lee Dorsey
The Clean - Compilation/Anthology


*I'd always dismissed this band -- I had "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" crammed down my throat by radio or the 60's legacy or whatever for years, plus the latter is such a novelty single and it seems almost cliche at this point. I was also not a fan of what fell into the "wailing hippie" type of singing to me. ...But I started listening to live tapes of the band in 1965/66 and they were actually pretty darn good. Surrealistic Pillow, when you can get past some of dire earnestness, is pretty solid (great song "My Best Friend" from Skip Spence, written before he left the band for Moby Grape) and the follow-up 10 months later, After Bathing At Baxter's, is pretty out-there (in a very good way) and starting to grow on me. The details are starting to shine through on all this stuff and it's often quite good, though there's still some songs/moments that scream "too much drugs!" Also, they did some really great covers early on (ie. Tobacco Road, Fat Angel, Other Side of this Life).

Hahahaha. Once again, Bob, our musical deals are lining up simultaneously. My friend Tim just visited me and he brought his external hard drive, which allowed me to "borrow" some albums I've been meaning to check out for some time. Among them were:

mcnichol wrote:*Jefferson Airplane - After Bathing At Baxter's
*Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
The Clean - Compilation/Anthology

Also, in the batch was:

Soft Boys--Underwater Moonlight and Invisible Hits
Daniel Johnston--Songs of Pain and More Songs of Pain (holy shit!)
Brian Eno--Taking Tiger Mountain By Strategy
Cansei de Ser Sexy
Beirut--Gulag Orkestar

That's just what I've been able to absorb so far. Much more, which I'll get to posting here soon enough.

yesterday, we went to cheapo's.

here are the things i picked up and like so far:

st. vincent - marry me
(sounds alot like kate bush)


hot chip - coming on strong


new pornographers - challengers
(wow! i like this. this is my first foray into the new pornographers, and i thought they would be more like the broody neko case stuff from fox confessor.)

erikamay wrote:yesterday, we went to cheapo's.

here are the things i picked up and like so far:

st. vincent - marry me
(sounds alot like kate bush)

That's one of my favorite albums of 2007. She was a fantastic last-minute addition to ACL this year and watching her perform was quite mesmerizing.

erikamay wrote: new pornographers - challengers
(wow! i like this. this is my first foray into the new pornographers, and i thought they would be more like the broody neko case stuff from fox confessor.)

"Myriad Harbor" just might be my favorite song of the year (but then there's "Fireworks" and "All My Friends" and "1234" and "D.A.N.C.E," so ... ). While certainly not as broody as Neko's solo stuff, Challengers is the New Porno's most sedate release yet. If you're inspired to check out the rest of their discography, it might be best to work backwards from Challengers; 2005's Twin Cinema introduced mood and introspection to the band's arsenal, whereas Electric Version (2003) and Mass Romantic (2000) are non-stop peppy power pop.

Speaking of yearly favorites/best of's/top tens, who's got one for 2007? My preliminary, unranked, predictable and unfortunately Pitchfork-approved list is:
of Montreal -- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
LCD Soundsystem -- Sound of Silver
Animal Collective -- Strawberry Jam
Panda Bear -- Person Pitch
Feist -- The Reminder
Architecture in Helsinki -- Places Like This
The New Pornographers -- Challengers
Spoon -- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Kanye West -- Graduation
Radiohead -- In Rainbows

Since seeing The Future Is Unwritten last week, I have had The Clash's entire catalog (except for Sandanista, which I need to buy today) on repeat.

Lame, I know.

myfriendedward wrote:
Speaking of yearly favorites/best of's/top tens, who's got one for 2007? My preliminary, unranked, predictable and unfortunately Pitchfork-approved list is:
of Montreal -- Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
LCD Soundsystem -- Sound of Silver
Animal Collective -- Strawberry Jam
Panda Bear -- Person Pitch
Feist -- The Reminder
Architecture in Helsinki -- Places Like This
The New Pornographers -- Challengers
Spoon -- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Kanye West -- Graduation
Radiohead -- In Rainbows

I'm not sure if I've heard enough new music in 2007 to come up with a top 10 list (I'll be caught up by February or so), but I would love to hear from more of you who have some fav albums of 2007. Please contribute!

My 2007 short list so far, in no order:

Radiohead - In Rainbows
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna...
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Wolf Eyes - Black Wing Over the Sand
Wooden Shjips - Wooden Shjips
Castanets - In the Vines

Now I really want to hear Panda Bear.

I listened to this today at Waterloo and purchased it:


Me likey.

myfriendedward wrote:Speaking of yearly favorites/best of's/top tens, who's got one for 2007?

The last time I sat down and played around with my rankings, I came up with this arbitrary top 16. It looks like Pitchfork might approve of it as well, though I managed to support a few that were nowhere to be found in their top 50 list.

16. Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This
15. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
14. White Denim - Let's Talk About it
13. Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
12. Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature
11. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
10. The New Pornographers - Challengers
9. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
8. Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
7. The Magic Numbers - Those the Brokes
6. Panda Bear - Person Pitch
5. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
4. Radiohead - In Rainbows
3. St. Vincent - Marry Me
2. Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover
1. The National - Boxer

SIC ALPS!!!!
SIC ALPS!!!!
SIC ALPS!!!!

duly noted, bob

thank you dudes for reminding me i need to get the arcade fire album.

i also got this (courtesy of bob) for christmas:


which made my brain hurt at first, but i can't give up on these guys easily.

also, i am a terrible top anything list maker. but i love reading other's lists, so list on peoples!

erikamay wrote:q

The Fiery Furnaces are one of the few bands I find extremely frustrating. Some albums I absolutely love, others I detest to no end.

1.) First, we'll get the Christmas stuff out of the way: American Boys Choir (Carol), Luciano Pavoratti (Oh Holy Night). The ABC is a Princeton-based non-sectarian boys choir that attracts some extremely talented arrangers and conductors to work with them. I heard their version of the 16th century traditional Coventry Carol on the radio and had to buy this album. It’s really solid throughout. As for the Pavoratti disc, with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 tracks, a lot of these tracks would not be confused as popular Christmas songs which is why I go back to this CD in Spring, Summer and Fall to listen to the awesomeness that was Pavoratti in his prime. Not for you if you don’t like fat Italians and little Austrian boys singing in Latin.
2.) Schindler’s List Soundtrack by John Williams. If you have the opinion that John Williams is great because he writes catchy melodic orchestral music to films you know or you think he’s crappy for the same reason…I encourage you to take a second listen with this score. I’ve probably owned it for a decade now and still love it. There are also two fantastic pieces that are sung by a mixed (children/adult) choir in Hebrew. I can’t find any more music by the choir listed in the booklet, or else I would have already bought it. Simply beautiful stuff.
3.) Godspeed You Black Emperor (Yanqui U.X.O.) – I love these Montreal based guys and this is probably my favourite under this sobriquet. While the build, build, climax thing can be a little predictable at times, if you let yourself get lost in the sound you don’t really mind at all and it all feels very organic rather than repetitive.
4.) Trio (eponymous) – so all my music of late has had to fit through the eye of my parent’s taste needle, and this is one we can both agree on. You won’t find too much country playing at my house, but this one always embodied that classic country feel with a female voice (in this case Emmylou Harris, Linda Rondstat and Dolly Parton) that I can enjoy. And if you’re into ironically awful covers….you’ve hit the jackpot.
5.) Pink Martini (Hey Eugene) – while it’s tempting to call it irony, this Portland based group really take pleasure in something just a little different and hard to explain. They’re consummate musicians with a real reverence for a certain maybe 50’s Hollywood-glamour-international-big-band sound (???) but still put silly titles and photos in their albums. Incredibly hard to put your finger on the style when they’ve recorded original songs in seven or eight languages….I guess you could just say it’s retro. They had a hit in France with their first single ‘Je ne veux pas travaille’ (I don’t want to work). Which is played repeatedly on May Day (Labor Day) there. Anyway…as a beginning French student I loved it because its French was slow and simple and I could understand it. My host mom bought me the CD and I have avidly enjoyed their two subsequent releases. It’s kind of like a more polished version of 8 ½ Souvenirs if folks remember that more Django Reinhardt / Stephane Grappelli themed local band.
6.) David Darling (Darkwood) – technically classified as New Age next to the rainforest cds if you’re trying to find it in the record store, this album has a whole lot more to offer than easy listening. It’s a single celloist, multi-tracked to create a cohesive whole. Think Conversations with Myself…but with Cello and a little more pensive. I love the rich brooding sound of the Cello, and this album is that from end to end.
7.) Ghazal (the Rain) – This a blend of Persian and Indian instrumentation in the form of 5th generation master sitarist, Shujasst Husain Khan and the Kurdish, Kayan Kalhor. This is live and largely improvised…and just stunning. I only have one other Kurdish traditional CD to compare this one to but I would say that I really appreciate what the cultural pairing brings to it.
8.) Ethiopiques, Vol 21 (Emahoy Tzegue-Mariam Gebru) - this is the jazz album of the classically trained ethiopian nun that was discussed earlier in this thread. I bought it and listened to it and I have to say that it was way more rag-time-y than I was expecting or than are really my tastes. Unlike on standardized tests, my first impressions in music are rarely correct so I'm going to put it on the shelf for a while and come back to it and listen anew.
9.) The cover art has already been posted here several times, but I've listened to the Feist (Reminder) Cd several times and am really enjoying that more than expected (see comment above). Looking forward to picking up some of her back catalog.