I meant the Brüninghaus album...
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 21 August 2018 19:00 (five years ago) link
Listening to the Brüninghaus album right now. It's absolutely gorgeous.
I've only dipped a couple of toes into EM, but this is my favourite era - whether the tonal palette started to get fleshed out a little with synths and digital reverb units.
Has this ever been discussed? Total banger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX6-pNcJqko
― bamboohouses, Wednesday, 22 August 2018 11:48 (five years ago) link
* dipped a couple of toes into ECM, obviously.
― bamboohouses, Wednesday, 22 August 2018 11:49 (five years ago) link
That's great, Isham only made one record for ECM?
I feel a bit of an early/mid-eighties rabbit hole coming on, see if I can find some more records with that integrated synth feel.
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 22 August 2018 12:00 (five years ago) link
He played on a few other records, but this is his only album as a leader.https://www.ecmrecords.com/artists/1435045855/mark-isham
Would love some recommendations of other synthy titles.
― bamboohouses, Wednesday, 22 August 2018 12:36 (five years ago) link
I will report back on my findings, I'm kinda intrigued by 'Ecotopia' by Orgeon based on the Allmusic review quoted in it's Wikipedia entry.
"there is no excuse for this waste of studio time and Manfred Eicher's energy. It is no wonder that he began the ECM New Series a few years before, given the junk churned out by some of label's stable between 1983 and 1988, and this record is a stellar example. Simply put, this is a trite, new age piece of dreck slopped out by a group of musicians whose combined creativity should always take them to stellar heights. There are no redeeming tracks on this disc, and few redeeming moments "
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 22 August 2018 13:59 (five years ago) link
That sounds exactly like my kind of thing.
Looks like Ralph Towner's on that one - his Blue Sun has loads of synth all over it.
It's interesting to hear synths used in this context, rather than 'pure' electronic music which tends to put a premium on sound design over playing chops. It's sometimes quite jarring to hear a DX7 on one of these records, played virtuosically but using some hoary old presets.
― bamboohouses, Wednesday, 22 August 2018 14:03 (five years ago) link
This might be a good jumping off point.
https://thevinylfactory.com/features/vf-mix-ecm-by-arp/
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 22 August 2018 14:21 (five years ago) link
Brilliant - yes, that looks like a great place to start!
― bamboohouses, Wednesday, 22 August 2018 14:23 (five years ago) link
Surman & DeJohnette's Adventures of Simon Simon would fit
― doug watson, Wednesday, 22 August 2018 14:50 (five years ago) link
Another Brüninghaus from an earlier record released in '80, this has an almost John Carpenter-y looping synth/electric piano line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg2214arX04
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 22 August 2018 15:00 (five years ago) link
Ecotopia is pretty bland for Oregon, not sure if there is nothing to keep but they have done much better.
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Wednesday, 22 August 2018 20:05 (five years ago) link
yeah i really like Surman's use of synth vs sax overdubs, really unique - withholding pattern and upon reflection are my favourites in this vein
big fan of that isham album too
i had somehow missed that Tomasz Stanko died - seeing him play with his Polish quartet is a top 10 show for me
― umsworth (emsworth), Wednesday, 22 August 2018 23:02 (five years ago) link
That Brüninghaus album is so great, thanks for the rec.
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 23 August 2018 11:40 (five years ago) link
The new album "Helsinki Songs" by Norwegian sax player Trygve Seim and his quartet is grand cru. Kristjan Randalu's subtle piano play is wonderful.
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Wednesday, 5 September 2018 15:51 (five years ago) link
oh hell yeah
so much good scandi jazz
― niels, Thursday, 6 September 2018 08:44 (five years ago) link
If you're buying the Art Ensemble box in-person, you might want to make sure all discs are there before you check out. My box has two copies of New Directions (XVI) and no copies of Far Side (XIV).
― Andy K, Sunday, 16 December 2018 01:06 (five years ago) link
Very clear and fjordian
― j., Saturday, 19 January 2019 17:46 (five years ago) link
Accurate.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 19 January 2019 17:50 (five years ago) link
I think David Torn's 'cloud about mercury' was just reissued.
― akm, Saturday, 19 January 2019 19:44 (five years ago) link
They're reissuing 50 titles on CD in cardboard sleeves - the first 25 on February 1, and the rest in May. This is the first batch:
Paul Bley • BalladsChick Corea • Piano Improvisations Vol. 1Ralph Towner/Gary Burton • MatchbookBarre Phillips • MountainscapesEberhard Weber • The Following MorningPat Metheny • Watercolors Mick Goodrick • In Pas(s)ingGeorge Adams • Sound Suggestions Leo Smith • Divine LoveJan Garbarek/Kjell Johnsen • AftenlandSteve Tibbetts • Northern SongMike Nock • OndasKeith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette • Standards Vol. 1Kenny Wheeler • Double Double YouJohn Abercrombie • NightDave Holland Quintet • Seeds of TimeDavid Torn • Cloud About MercuryTerje Rypdal & The Chasers • BlueDino Saluzzi • AndinaLouis Sclavis Quintet • RougeMiroslav Vitous/Jan Garbarek • AtmosJohn Surman/John Warren • The Brass ProjectStephan Micus • To the Evening ChildBobo Stenson Trio • War OrphansPeter Erskine Trio • Juni
I'm definitely buying Divine Love and maybe Double Double You.
― grawlix (unperson), Saturday, 19 January 2019 20:30 (five years ago) link
ugh, cardboard sleeves.
I'll still buy a few.
David Torn is a given, yes, but anyone who doesn't know the Goodrick, Tibbetts, and Barre Philips titles here in particular should snatch them up asap. Massively underrated ECM titles imo
I'm assuming there's no need to remaster any of these, so these are likely just straight reissues of the previously CD versions, right?
― Paul Ponzi, Saturday, 19 January 2019 22:15 (five years ago) link
Ondas is pretty classic as well.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 19 January 2019 22:23 (five years ago) link
which ones of those are fjordian
TIA
― j., Saturday, 19 January 2019 22:42 (five years ago) link
not fjordian at all but I love some Dino Saluzzi and his version of the Haden/Bley classic Silence (with Haden) is so beautiful.
― calzino, Monday, 21 January 2019 20:43 (five years ago) link
If you've never heard it, this would be the perfect time to dig in to Eberhard Weber's the Following Morning.
Also, everyone should buy Northern Song, too!
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Monday, 21 January 2019 22:04 (five years ago) link
These re-issues are great news. On another note, I've checked the "Offers" section on the ECM homepage and noticed these are different titles than when I checked last time (around December).
― EvR, Saturday, 26 January 2019 08:29 (five years ago) link
i'm liking Yonathan Avishai's Joys and Solitudes. No mystic fjords but it is lovely and subtle.
― calzino, Thursday, 14 February 2019 15:06 (five years ago) link
Is it just me, or have ECM New Series releases really dropped off? This seems to have happened around the release of the Kurtág box set. I wonder if that project involved such financial expenditure for ECM that Manfred Eicher won’t get around to recording more avant-garde classical until the main ECM label releases something popular and relatively high-selling that can subsidize the ECM New Series side of the label (historically, this has been yet another Keith Jarrett release, but Jarrett probably doesn’t move units like he used to).
― Melomane, Thursday, 11 April 2019 20:02 (five years ago) link
It's not just you, and it saddens me to no end.
― pomenitul, Friday, 12 April 2019 07:44 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nOqxTdQiKQ
― MaresNest, Friday, 23 August 2019 23:24 (four years ago) link
Posted this on the Bill Frisell thread, but I listened to the Frisell/Thomas Morgan live album Epistrophy a bunch today, and really enjoyed it. Frisell in chill improv mode is great.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, 23 August 2019 23:29 (four years ago) link
Checking out their previous one, Small Town, now
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, 23 August 2019 23:31 (four years ago) link
I think the new Kit Downes album the nicely titled Dreamlife Of Debris is a lovely album, loved Obsidian as well. Also cool that he recorded his church organ pieces at St Paul's Hall in the cultural wasteland that is Hudds again!
― calzino, Friday, 25 October 2019 15:43 (four years ago) link
Well, this fucking sucks:
How many of the moments of genuine peace in your lives do you owe to Jan Erik Kongshaug, the legendary Norwegian sound engineer behind the sound of ECM Records, who passed away today?— Brent S. Sirota (@BrentSirota) November 5, 2019
― Naive Teen Idol, Tuesday, 5 November 2019 20:45 (four years ago) link
Oh no. Fuck, that's horrible. RIP.
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 5 November 2019 20:50 (four years ago) link
:(((
― Le Bateau Ivre, Tuesday, 5 November 2019 21:02 (four years ago) link
I wonder how far this documentary got: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1919963818/jan-erik-kongshaug-dokumentar/posts/2472853
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 21:11 (four years ago) link
rip to a real one
― ت (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, 5 November 2019 21:17 (four years ago) link
shit missed this revive. RIP Jan
― calzino, Wednesday, 6 November 2019 01:44 (four years ago) link
Mal Waldron - Free At Last, the Extended Anniversary Edition is issued as an audiophile vinyl double album.Revisited and remastered, with additional takes + 16 page booklet.Pre-order here: https://t.co/hJ6meW7ftB pic.twitter.com/brJole1eMs— ECM Records (@ECMRecords) November 8, 2019
― calzino, Friday, 8 November 2019 10:41 (four years ago) link
I’m finding a lot of these records sound *incredible* on good stereo speakers. Tord Gustavsen Extended Circle is the latest one to really grab me. Opener “Right There” is a stark, stately thing of beauty.
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 9 November 2019 03:34 (four years ago) link
Nice thing by Richard Williams on the 50th anniversary - with a Top 20 (19): https://thebluemoment.com/2020/01/03/ecm-at-50/
― Life is a meaningless nightmare of suffering...save string (Chinaski), Sunday, 5 January 2020 19:44 (four years ago) link
no Mal Waldron no cred imo!
― calzino, Sunday, 5 January 2020 20:38 (four years ago) link
ECM's artwork over the last fifty years has evolved, for example the recent choice to put portraits of musicians on the covers or back (Avishai Cohen, Elina Duni) has been a striking change.
But has any release had such extremely un-ECM cover art as the new Vincent Courtois release? https://www.ecmrecords.com/catalogue/1578064137
― Melomane, Friday, 17 January 2020 18:01 (four years ago) link
The catalogue number is different: RJAL 397034. The cover art appears to be in keeping with their other releases in the series: https://www.ecmrecords.com/search-advanced/rjal.
― pomenitul, Friday, 17 January 2020 18:05 (four years ago) link
Sorry, I goofed. The new Vincent Courtois release has a catalogue number RJAL 397034, which means it belongs to the La Buissonne side label, not ECM proper. But showing this album on the general ECM New Releases page makes it look really outlandish compared to its more typically austere neigbours.
― Melomane, Friday, 17 January 2020 18:06 (four years ago) link
I know, right? I mean...a serif font?
A lot of Carla Bley's albums have very goofy, un-ECM-ish cover art, but those were licensed from her to the label, so Manfred didn't have much input.
I liked this cover, from 2015 (and the music's really good too):
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/714t8cm9bQL.jpg
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Friday, 17 January 2020 18:24 (four years ago) link
I've always thought the cover of The Colours of Chloe is very un-ECMish, but I guess it was early days then.
― fetter, Friday, 17 January 2020 19:15 (four years ago) link
I know Kit Downes is probably tainted by being the regular token jazz nom for low level shite like the mercury/BBC awards for years, but I think his last two albums Obsidian/Dream Life of Debris are really beautiful. Pretty typical ECM covers though.
― calzino, Friday, 17 January 2020 19:50 (four years ago) link