we should have a "takoma one-offs and obscurities" thread; so many weird things on that label. i'm partial to joseph byrd's "yankee transcendoodle."
― by another name (amateurist), Tuesday, February 23, 2010 12:51 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark
I'm surprised there's not a thread for this. Here's their complete discographyhttp://www.wirz.de/music/takomfrm.htm
I've been loving these, but I know there's more out there looking through their back catalog
and Homegas, man that record is something else.
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:20 (1 year ago) Permalink
What about the Mike Bloomfield records or any of the 80's stuff?
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:21 (1 year ago) Permalink
Larry McNeely's "Live At McCabe's" is pretty good... also Charlie Nothing to thread!
― sleeve, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:23 (1 year ago) Permalink
That Robert Pete Williams album is one of my favourite blues records ever.
― cloaca flocka flame (NickB), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
Laser Pace - Granfalloon (Takoma - 1974) Wow!
― Mr. Patrick Batman (WmC), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
i'm partial to joseph byrd's "yankee transcendoodle."
Is that the United States of America guy?
― i wanna be yr rhizome (seandalai), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
^ yes!
Wasn't expecting to see all that UK folk rock stuff in the later releases
― cloaca flocka flame (NickB), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
yes! see also the LP he did with the Field Hippies.
xp
― sleeve, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
the Homegas record is one of my faves.. an incredible piece of wax. Also a fan of the Floating House Band, Granfaloon, the Tony Thomas record (traditional texas style fiddle! with fahey on gtr on a few tracks.), Norman Blake's Takoma LP (is there only one?)
Not so into the Rabindra record on the Devi sublabel. The One-String Jones LP is decent, but sort of a novelty.. I bought a sealed covpy and it's got a skip! Pressing defect?
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
hmm those Phil Yost recs look interesting too... anyone heard them?
― sleeve, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
Phil Yost record are great!! My friend Otto played one for me a few years back. I always get outbid on ebay for them.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:43 (1 year ago) Permalink
I regret not buying a sealed orig charlie nothing record for $20 about 7 years ago...
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
that first george winston album is rilly good. that rick ruskin album is not so good.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
The Contemporary Guitar comp is ace too. with Max Ochs, Harry Taussig, Fahey, Basho and Bukka White.
i like all the dobro bluegrass rekkerds on takoma.. mike auldridge and stuff like that. but that norman blake record! loving it the past week or so.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:45 (1 year ago) Permalink
bola sete good too.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:45 (1 year ago) Permalink
rick ruskin was to takoma what bill horwitz was to esp.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:46 (1 year ago) Permalink
tut taylor good too.
oh yeah, rick ruskin, not great. tut taylor! i don't know if i have anything by him on takoma..
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:48 (1 year ago) Permalink
also not super into the Randy Brook album on devi/takoma.Janet Smith's "The Unicorn" is a cool record too. Mellow, fairly traditional folk.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:49 (1 year ago) Permalink
post-fahey, the roulettes album is pretty bad and i like all kinds of bad power pop records.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
I like that T-Bone Burnette album--"Boomerang"!
My cousin told me that back in '79 in Austin you could buy that Fab T-birds lp (their debut, which got picked up by Chrysalis) at Conan's Pizza parlours.
― Mucho! Macho! Honcho!: Turn Off The Dark (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
I'd like to hear Rita Weill record.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:52 (1 year ago) Permalink
the Chris Darrow record on Takoma is not good, it pains me to say.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:55 (1 year ago) Permalink
Was wondering about that one, I *love* Kaleidoscope but have never investigated any of those guys subsequent stuff.
― cloaca flocka flame (NickB), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 19:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
Xp to Scott: I have that Phil Host Bent City record and it's pretty good. Gets filed near my Basho records. I bought it off my friend Kate when she was moving, and I think later she regretted selling it.
I know Yankee transcendoodle has been talked about here before. I kind of like that record, but maybe it's because I like the source material. The bass is really heavy on it. The copy I bought was sealed ($1), and I wonder if that's not common, as if it was a record no one cared for or bought and so ended up stored unopened in the boxes they came in from the record pressing plant?
― bamcquern, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 20:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yost! Yost! Autocorrect.
― bamcquern, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 20:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
I've got that Rabindra (Danks) LP. It's weird.
― Vendo Caramelos A Veces Sin Dinero (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 20:22 (1 year ago) Permalink
man, i know almost none of these! someone make me a comp of takoma's greatest mixes, plzzz?
― tylerw, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 21:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
NickB -- there are other, really good Chris Darrow records... check the s/t on United Artists and "Artist-Proof" on Fantasy; I am a big supporter of those albums. I like them better than most Kaleidoscope stuff.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 22:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
Craig Leon's Nommos is fantastic.
― nerve_pylon, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 22:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
I've only heard the self titled Chris Darrow record and I love it. I've been looking for the Janet Smith and Rita Weill records but ebay and musicstack turns up nothing. This thread will surely keep me on ebay for awhile.
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 22:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
Ian, I will definitely check those - thanks for the tip!
― cloaca flocka flame (NickB), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 22:18 (1 year ago) Permalink
Did Fahey at some point sell Takoma or release his reins?
― JacobSanders, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 22:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
sold to Chrysalis at some point...
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 23:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
ok so is that tony thomas thing actually what it purports to be -- recording of an old-timer fiddler -- or is it actually what i think it is, recordings by the younger, african-african fiddler whose name happens to be tony thomas (and who is a prolific reviewer on amazon these days)? knowing fahey i wouldn't be surprised if he's up to more of his tricks.
btw when did fahey's involvement w/ takoma end?
also what about maria muldaur stuff? i have never investigated that.
― by another name (amateurist), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 23:19 (1 year ago) Permalink
Pretty sure the Tony Thomas record is not a ruse; seems too elaborate. The record is good. Info inside indicates it's just what it says it is.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 15 June 2011 23:48 (1 year ago) Permalink
wiki re: Takoma sale:
In 1979, Fahey sold Takoma to Chrysalis Records, owned by Terry Ellis and Chris Wright, which had artists such as Blondie, Pat Benatar, and Huey Lewis.[3] Jon Monday continued as General Manager of the label for Chrysalis until 1982 when Chrysalis sold the Takoma catalog. During the Chrysalis years, Takoma released albums by The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Maria Muldaur, Canned Heat, Mike Bloomfield, and T-Bone Burnett. The catalog was purchased in 1995 by Fantasy Records,[1] which in 2004 was taken over by the Concord Music Group. Fantasy has a handful of the Takoma recordings on the market as CDs as of this writing in 2007.
― sleeve, Wednesday, 15 June 2011 23:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
― one dis leads to another (ian), Thursday, 16 June 2011 02:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
http://www.discogs.com/buy/Vinyl/Swamp-Dogg-Im-Not-Selling-Out-Im-Buying-In/446775-2993708?ev=bp_titl
^^ don't think i've ever seen this one.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Thursday, 16 June 2011 02:16 (1 year ago) Permalink
I love Jerry Williams or Little Jerry Williams. I have most of his Swamp Dog records. My favorite is 'Cuffed, Collared & Tagged.' I've never seen 'I'm Not Selling I'm Buying In' on vinyl though. I have it on cd. Westside records rereleased most of his albums on cd in the early 00's.
― JacobSanders, Thursday, 16 June 2011 02:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
Yeah, I'm a swamp dogg fan! It surprises me that I never knew he had a record on takoma. my faves of his are cuffed, collared..., rat on, and gag a maggot. but i like them all for at least a few killer tracks... so far anyway. steered clear of disco-era material. just not ready yet.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Thursday, 16 June 2011 02:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
His cover of Sam Stone sounds so natural that I think it surpasses Prine's original.
― JacobSanders, Thursday, 16 June 2011 04:06 (1 year ago) Permalink
I have a dumb question: Is it pronounced Home Gas or like H+Omegas?
― Concierto Para Bongo (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Thursday, 16 June 2011 05:05 (1 year ago) Permalink
I love the Floating House Band LP.
― banjoboy, Thursday, 16 June 2011 05:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
uh, i pronounce is Home Gas but who knows?
― one dis leads to another (ian), Thursday, 16 June 2011 15:02 (1 year ago) Permalink
I would think more people would like Lawrence Hammond's 'Coyotes Dream'? He was the singer in the Mad River, which their last record hinted at the sound he would have. It's pure country gold! Their are only three very short reviews on his RYM page, all in italian.
― JacobSanders, Thursday, 16 June 2011 17:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
I think I've seen that record but never listened to it? I was never a huge Mad River fan tbh.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Thursday, 16 June 2011 18:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
after you posted abt it i went to look in the country & folk bins at the store, but it must have sold.
instead of ppl moaning abt too many polls or what kind of polls or who should be polled or not or whatnot they cld be reading and getting edumacated by this great thread, thank you jacob for starting it
i wish i cld contribute, but you just never really see this stuff in the uk, don't suppose most of it ever got propertly distribbed outside the usa. in fact thinking abt it, ian and scott pl collaborate on a bk abt this shit, you have one britishes buyer and eager reader, here.
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 17 June 2011 21:08 (1 year ago) Permalink
i get the sense lang is a little more "normal" than fahey was
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 29 June 2012 17:09 (10 months ago) Permalink
I'd heard quotes about how weird Fahey was in person and read him described as 'practiced at being obnoxious'. I'd say that type of writing up there is kind of a logical extension of his insane ramblings that made up his liner notes and his counter-counter-culture tendencies. Ever wonder where the title "Revolt of the Dyke Brigade" came from? In the Return of the Repressed liner notes he said that it was written 'around the time of women's lib, i was scared and insecure' or something similar. I feel like he reigned it in near the end, In 'How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life' he writes a quite sympathetic chapter about his gay friend that died and who couldn't be visited by his SO. I dunno.
― global tetrahedron, Friday, 29 June 2012 17:46 (10 months ago) Permalink
Doesn't hurt/help that you can tell how hammered he was in a lot of his live cuts (and on record! the slurring voice on the song 'Days Have Gone By' is Fahey)
― global tetrahedron, Friday, 29 June 2012 17:48 (10 months ago) Permalink
78 Collectors: Why are they so weird?
― tylerw, Friday, 29 June 2012 18:01 (10 months ago) Permalink
whoa holy shit @ that fahey excerpt
― 69, Friday, 29 June 2012 19:04 (10 months ago) Permalink
Not only is that passage willfully offensive, it doesn't really make any sense at all.
― global tetrahedron, Friday, 29 June 2012 19:33 (10 months ago) Permalink
Hmm, not to defend J. Fahey too much, as certainly I haven't read this passage, but I imagine that the "(not) really making any sense at all" part of the equation should be weighed heavily. Guy struggled with a lot, but I don't think he was really a bigot in any way.
― grandavis, Friday, 29 June 2012 19:41 (10 months ago) Permalink
i shouldn't characterize the whole this like that, like from what i've read some of it is really good....it's just, i dunno, lots of stuff in that era (like lester and nick tosches as skot mentioned in another thread) were a little too free with the f- and n-words in their kinda jive writing
but that particularly line of though is pretty stupid macho bullshit, continued:
"Mastering a guitar is very similar to conquering a woman, and when you fail to master it, like when you fail to master a woman, you have the same feelings of humiliation and violence."
but honestly for there's tons of great stuff too!
"And you can win -- with any guitar. Sit there with it for six hours. No guitar can withstand the creative spirit that is in every human being. Anyone who calls his guitar a "box" does not understand. Anyone who calls his guitar an "axe" cannot play it very well."
<3
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 29 June 2012 20:06 (10 months ago) Permalink
like you should just download the thing and read it, i feel a bit bad for calling that part out but goddamn some of it IS just offensive no other way around it.
uhm, that suni mcgrath record is great. all his records are great but that's my fave.fahey is a very complicated individual. i would suggest reading his books before judging him as a bigot
― one dis leads to another (ian), Friday, 29 June 2012 20:07 (10 months ago) Permalink
i wasn't saying he was a bigot! that part just kinda jumped out at me and i didn't really know much about the dude tbh!
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 29 June 2012 20:08 (10 months ago) Permalink
i mean large font headers called "Homosexual Guitar Playing" and "Guitar Angst" are sort of eye-grabbing
oh oh oh i know you weren't!! just advising anyone against making knee jerk assumptions abt the guy. there is a lot of sexual abuse/trauma in his past that he spent large chunks of his life dealing with.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Friday, 29 June 2012 20:09 (10 months ago) Permalink
plus his house was his car and it smelled like hamburgers
― manditory fun. day (Ówen P.), Friday, 29 June 2012 20:24 (10 months ago) Permalink
there's a bootleg from the mid 70s where Fahey suggests that everyone (including himself) commit mass suicide. "We could all go to sleep. Why don't we all go home and - why don't we go out back and have a joint suicide? Let's all go out back and commit suicide. Every one of us. The neat thing would be when the newspapers come they won't know what happened. Nobody will be able to figure it out."
― tylerw, Friday, 29 June 2012 20:30 (10 months ago) Permalink
huh!
Lang's musical career was postponed in the 1980s, to allow him to pursue a career in animation and special effects production.
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 29 June 2012 20:46 (10 months ago) Permalink
there's a bootleg from the mid 70s where Fahey suggests that everyone (including himself) commit mass suicide."We could all go to sleep. Why don't we all go home and - why don't we go out back and have a joint suicide? Let's all go out back and commit suicide. Every one of us. The neat thing would be when the newspapers come they won't know what happened. Nobody will be able to figure it out."
― tylerw, Friday, June 29, 2012 3:30 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
whoa, which one was this? i've been just getting into some of the bootlegs on delta slider. some heavy stuff in there, musically, that is. most of his banter thus far has been lightly amusing. nothing like this.
― global tetrahedron, Friday, 29 June 2012 21:21 (10 months ago) Permalink
delta-slider.blogspot.com/2011/04/john-fahey-as-jim-jones.html
― tylerw, Friday, 29 June 2012 21:22 (10 months ago) Permalink
Wow, that's pretty disturbing stuff, dude must've been more wrecked than I ever thought.
― global tetrahedron, Friday, 29 June 2012 21:46 (10 months ago) Permalink
hey we all have our nights, don't we? ok, maybe not.
― tylerw, Friday, 29 June 2012 21:47 (10 months ago) Permalink
This older lady, a folksinger, was telling me about being backstage at a festival in the late 60s or early 70s, when a limo came cruising through the mud, and people were saying, "Yeah, Fahey's here!" A guy who looked like a Texas Ranger got out, so impressive--followed by "a little ol' snakehead in a t-shirt." The Texas Ranger type was Fahey's bodyguard, the folksinger was told. "Like a cult leader, bad vibes, and lame. He played well, of course." But also, he was known early on for a warped sense of humor, and wouldn't be surprised if this scene fit that description. Later, in his more typical econo-mode, a Creem writer saw him onstage with a 12-pack and a rented guitar (both required in the contract), watching a little portable TV while he played (again, no complaints about the playing). But he also spent a lot of time talking about his favorite shows (re-runs of Green Acres, Adam-12, etc) and the Creem writer liked some of those shows too, but wanted a little more music. Still, it was okay. Glenn Jones had some good recollections in liner notes for Red Cross, which I think was the last album Fahey finished before he died, it was pretty good. But the up close and personal memoir that really gets me is Andy Beta's (Andy used to post around here)http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-01-24/music/looking-for-blind-joe-death/
― dow, Saturday, 30 June 2012 04:21 (10 months ago) Permalink
thanks for the link, good article
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 3 July 2012 15:31 (10 months ago) Permalink
yeah that's greatOther times, he would play his mixes: collages of Nazi rallies, Balinese gamelan, and recent Chicago blues licks with their verses and choruses mischievously lopped off, rearranging their 12- bar logic.wonder if any of these still exist?
― tylerw, Tuesday, 3 July 2012 15:38 (10 months ago) Permalink
The Mark Fosson is great.
― Austin, Tuesday, 3 July 2012 20:28 (10 months ago) Permalink
another good one is the john jeremiah sullivan essay, which features fahey a bit: http://essayist.tumblr.com/post/8424884997/unknown-bards-the-blues-becomes-transparent-about
― tylerw, Tuesday, 3 July 2012 20:32 (10 months ago) Permalink
just got a promo of a new (!) harry taussig album!
― tylerw, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 18:45 (10 months ago) Permalink
:Dwwant
― one dis leads to another (ian), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 19:01 (10 months ago) Permalink
Ha, I came here to post that press sheet, so anyway here tos
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tompkins Square Releases American Primitive Guitar Pioneer Harry Taussig's First Album in 47 Years'Fate Is Only Twice' Available on CD/LP/DL August 21, 2012HTReleased as a short-run private press LP in 1965, 'Fate Is Only Once' has long been a coveted collectible among American Primitive guitar enthusiasts. The album presages the broader movement. Acoustic musicians were still largely stuck in a rigid "Folk" mindset in 1965, and there are just not that many other examples of the exploratory guitar sounds found on 'Fate' during this time period. Alternating between haunting originals and jaunty blues-based traditional numbers, this absurdly rare LP was reissued by Tompkins Square in 2006. Taussig's only other recorded works appear on the long out-of-print Takoma compilation 'Contemporary Guitar Spring '67' alongside John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Max Ochs and Bukka White. Taussig spent years as an educator, published instructional guitar books, and traveled extensively to photograph weird museums.
Amazingly, he returns with his first album in 47 years, appropriately titled 'Fate Is Only Twice'. The same stark, smoldering playing is evident, all the humor and inventiveness intact.
Available on LP (TSQ2738), CD (TSQ2745) and DL on August 21, 2012.Tompkins Square is distributed by INgrooves/ Fontana in the US, Cargo UK for Europe, FUSE for Australia/NZ.
― dow, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 19:02 (10 months ago) Permalink
Here's a track from it, with other Tompkins Square posts linked in the lower right-hand railhttp://soundcloud.com/tompkinssquare/rondo-in-d-on-southern-themes
― dow, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 19:05 (10 months ago) Permalink
haw "traveled extensively to photograph weird museums"
― tylerw, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 19:08 (10 months ago) Permalink
Aaaaaah! Starting my lessons with Peter Lang today!
Sitting here sipping a coffee to "Transfiguration of..." and thinking pretty much everything is going to turn out alright. How could it not, with music like this in the world?
― global tetrahedron, Wednesday, 1 August 2012 15:21 (9 months ago) Permalink
good luck!
― tylerw, Wednesday, 1 August 2012 15:23 (9 months ago) Permalink
sweet! i haven't set mine up yet....let me know how it is
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 1 August 2012 15:24 (9 months ago) Permalink
here's to the new generation of homosexual guitar players!
― tylerw, Wednesday, 1 August 2012 15:26 (9 months ago) Permalink
Tyler's link to that John Jeremiah Sullivan excursion re and with Fahey leads to fine fine things, check it out thx tyler
― dow, Saturday, 18 August 2012 23:22 (9 months ago) Permalink
― dow, Thursday, 18 October 2012 00:22 (7 months ago) Permalink
Which is the cover for this:Since 2005, Tompkins Square label's 'Imaginational Anthem' compilations have featured some of the greatest acoustic guitarists in the world, with recordings spanning five decades. More than mere samplers, these albums have served as state-of-the-art dispatches from the front lines of the art form. The first three volumes, available as a low-priced box set, intermingled generations of American Primitive players - lost, forgotten masters next to contemporary players. Volume 4 saw a departure from that formula, featuring only new jack players.
Volume 5, available November 13, also features the current crop of younger players, but with a twist. This is the first volume not compiled by Tompkins Square's Josh Rosenthal. Instead, he recruited guitarist Sam Moss. Josh explains, "I felt I'd exhausted most of the older guys I wanted to dig up, and I wasn't hearing that much new guitar that I really liked. I sensed that Sam knew what was going on."
The result is a gorgeous panoramic view of contemporary guitar, full of agile finger-style, and a few jagged detours.
'Imaginational Anthem vol. 5' will also be available as part of the 6-CD box set, 'Imaginational Anthem vols. 1-5', (TSQ2790) out November 23 (Black Friday). The limited edition box (only 999 units) features all five volumes in their original packaging, plus an exclusive live disc from William Tyler (Lambchop), entitled 'Elvis Was A Capricorn.'
Imaginational Anthem vol. 5 track listing :
1. Temple Walk - Steve Gunn2. I Think We'll Be Happy Here- Jordan Fuller3. Lookout Point- Danny Paul Grody4. There Is A Place In This Old Town- Nick Schillace5. Hemet Pine Singer- Will Stratton6. John Fahey Commemorative Beer Can- Bill Orcutt7. Confederate Rose- Daniel Bachman8. Through A House Of Violet Abandon- Eric Carbonara9. Her Unmediated Eyes- Tom Lecky10. Standing At The Entrance Of A Hidden City- Alexander Turnquist11. Modern Man In Search Of A Song- Cam Deas12. Rivers Gone Badly Wrong- Yair Yona
― dow, Thursday, 18 October 2012 00:24 (7 months ago) Permalink
this series is always great.seeing bill orcutt on here is making me happy, a step towards the weird & abrasive most artists in this series wld be afraid to touch
― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Thursday, 18 October 2012 03:10 (7 months ago) Permalink
also: steve gunn is the best
yeah these comps are always a pleasure. love orcutt's song title. anyone heard daniel bachman's new one on tompkins sq. jack rose fans will love it.
― tylerw, Thursday, 18 October 2012 03:13 (7 months ago) Permalink
I forgot who was wanting it, Evan maybe, but there's a copy of Homegas up for sale on ebay right now! I haven't seen one for sale since last year. http://www.ebay.com/itm/FOLK-PSYCH-LP-HOMEGAS-S-T-TACOMA-LABEL-PRODUCED-BY-JOHN-FAHEY-/170925089715?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item27cbede3b3
― JacobSanders, Thursday, 18 October 2012 03:36 (7 months ago) Permalink
tyler listening to that george cromarty - grassroots guitar albums you sent mesoooo goood.
also playing phone tag with peter lang! i have his number in my phone which is kinda cool. i spoke w/him briefly but have a message out now about lessons.
globaltetrahedron - did you ever do the lessons?
― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 26 October 2012 21:56 (6 months ago) Permalink
if yr still on ilm that is
― seasonal hugs (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 26 October 2012 21:57 (6 months ago) Permalink
cool, glad you're digging the cromarty. root blog put it up over here http://rootstrata.com/rootblog/?p=7596 along with his kids album (which is ehhhh) http://rootstrata.com/rootblog/?p=7614
― tylerw, Friday, 26 October 2012 22:00 (6 months ago) Permalink
also: steve gunn is the besthe really is! i've really been listening to him a lot this year.
― tylerw, Friday, 26 October 2012 22:05 (6 months ago) Permalink
Oh my god, Craig Leon "Nommos" rules, what a strange and beautiful record this is
― in an English way (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 16 November 2012 03:26 (6 months ago) Permalink
This is really the best
― in an English way (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 16 November 2012 04:14 (6 months ago) Permalink
This is the latest dispatch from my buddy John W., with intriguing links re Fahey and raga. Start from the top or scroll down:
For decades, Don Cherry's "Malkauns" was a favorite track of mine before I learned that the title is taken from a well-known and widely performed Indian raga; and therefore the entire piece is essentially a performance of the raga just the way any other track called "Raga Malkauns" by an Indian classical musician is. But now that I now this, I don't like the piece any less.
samples here:http://www.amazon.com/Malkauns/dp/B001NU6EVKand here:http://www.last.fm/music/Don+Cherry/_/MalkaunsYou're on your own as to locating and downloading an mp3 that has the whole thing.
So today I went over to the fabulous multimedia lending library to try to locate versions of the raga as done by Indian musicians -- ideally, to try to find one that sounds like what might have inspired Don Cherry and Charlie Haden so that I could hear the connection, how they got from A to B and came up with what they did.
As you can see at this link to the library's online catalogue, they have many recordings of the raga, but most of them are in the archive/storage and weren't available out in the bins:http://www.lamediatheque.be/med/rech_n.php?intervenant=&morceau=&titre=malkauns&ref=
I did however find 4 recordings of Raga Malkauns on the premises (one of them included in the apparently encyclopedic "The Raga Guide: A Survey of 74 Hindustanis Ragas", a book accompanied by 4 CDs). To my Occidental ear, none of the versions seem to bear any relation to each other or to the Don Cherry track -- except of course that they happen to use the same scale.
There's one exception however: the version by Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and his brother Zia Fariduddin Dagar, which lasts SIXTY-NINE MINUTES and is available on YouTube!
If you listen to this all the way through, by the time you get to the end you can hypothesize that the drone that one of them often uses in the lowest register might have provided the original impetus for what Charlie Haden does on the bass on the Don Cherry version. And also by the end, the notes of the scale are ingrained enough in your brain that you also have a sense of how Don Cherry came up with the trumpet part. For instance, if you play the notes of the scale in your brain, and imagine them played on trumpet, you can produce an inferior but similar version of Don Cherry's improvising.
btw, my discovering Z.M. Dagar is something of a revelation -- this is seriously trippy stuff. When he's playing both with his brother and with other people, he's not accompanied by any percussion, and each of his CDs includes a performance of only one raga. 70 minutes' worth of the same raga, the same drone. And therefore, often the first 40 minutes (the opening "Alap" section) is nothing but drone with ornamentation, and then finally he introduces a pulse (in the concluding Jor and Jhala sections) -- except that the pulse is conveyed only via string instruments (the vina and accompanying tamburas).
I'm sorry to say this, but once you hear Z.M. Dagar's stuff, you hear how avant-garde minimalist guys like Phill Niblock and Glenn Branca have a long way to go, and Jim O'Rourke and Loren Mazzacane Connors should just pack it in altogether. On the other hand, the stuff that John Fahey was doing at the end of his career really is as good as Z.M. Dagar (e.g. check out the samples of the first four tracks of this:http://www.allmusic.com/album/sea-changes-and-coelacanths-a-young-persons-guide-to-john-fahey-mw0000566552
If I understand the Indian musical system correctly, a raga is a scale (not necessarily the same notes ascending as those descending), the musician improvises on the scale, and then the resulting "piece" is simply given the title of the raga. So that in the end, any pieces called "Raga Yaman" might not sound any more similar to each other than, among Western composers, any two pieces called "String Quartet in C major" do.
But still, this seems very strange to me when I read liner notes of Indian music CDs and then attempt a cultural transposition and come up with examples like these:
1. "Beethoven's 5th Symphony is surely the most compelling and insistent performance of C minor in recorded musical history."
2. "John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' stands as what is likely the most moving rendition of the Dorian mode, especially in D."
3. "Charlie Parker's compositions 'Constellation' and 'Anthropology' belong to the harmonic system known as 'Rhythm Changes', whose pieces are traditionally performed in the milieu of urban clubs late at night, between the hours of midnight and 2 a.m."
― dow, Sunday, 18 November 2012 14:32 (6 months ago) Permalink
snagged an original pressing ofpeter lang - the thing at the nursery room windowlast nite! :) :)
(it's the one pictured upthread with the amazing sphinx art!!! love it
― Andrew WKRP (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 13 December 2012 17:56 (5 months ago) Permalink
― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Saturday, 18 May 2013 04:16 (Yesterday) Permalink