Listen to an album you've never heard by an artist you never listen to and then tell us about it!

xp wrong, iirc the post referred to Workingman's Dead, which to be fair is the weaker of the two

i agree that dory previn is due for a critical overhaul. she's as clever lyrically as nilsson or zevon. coldwater canyon is a slam jam.

I've never heard her!

Since live Dead seems a better bet I will possibly flick through Europe 72 (not listening to all 2 hours of it) and report back. Don't expect anything much different though!

I could not get into those Previn records at all, but I definitely know fans

One of Andre Previn's . . . five wives lol

xxp Matt just jam "Truckin" from Europe '72, I played it just the other day and it's really an ur-Dead template imho, if it doesn't work for you then they are prob not for you

American Beauty is precisely the one that was "completely tedious" though!

― The Prime of the Ancient Minister (Tom D.), Thursday, April 4, 2024 3:28 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

no, workingman's

Morning Dew from '72 - I feel like that would move anyone

(xp) Ah, you're right, my mistake.

I have never listened to Grayfolded, despite knowing about it forever, should I?

"I'm so glad you're digging the Siberry, scott"

we put on a vinyl copy of Bound By The Beauty in the store today and it sounded awesome. "Everything Reminds Me Of My Dog"!

i've given up on trying to get people to like the Dead. it will either happen or it won't. i totally get people being turned off though. they can sound lethargic to people in a way that just screams boredom. but if you hear one of those great songs like "stella blue" in the right mood...they can be so lovely to hear. they can sound very unexciting to people who first hear them. its weird. they can not hit you and then...something changes. it happens to diehard haters. my pal ilxor tarfumes is one example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKsWDyvWaL4

xxp OMG YES

Grayfolded rules, all Oswald rules

https://i0.wp.com/collector.schothans.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IMG_001-10.jpg?fit=680%2C302&ssl=1

xp I mean I'm a big fan of Plunderphonics, I revisit it pretty frequently, and regularly see the dude around town and with CCMC etc. etc. etc. I feel like I've done the guy a disservice by not listening to it

it's one of his finest works imo, lol local connections noted, I thought abt that after I posted

Xpost I listened to the first disc of the essential Django Reinhardt. Lovely music. The guitar and violin are of course technically masterful, inventive and fun. But it kinda washed over me like it was upbeat ambient. I had hard time hearing them as individual tunes and recalling the melody lines. It is not really a complaint though. I enjoyed the music and will keep listening.

they always pick the same stuff for the reinhardt compilations, I should do a selection with some of the more off-piste stuff for you

i thought about maybe doing this with drake and five seconds later thought: yeah, i'm not listening to a drake album.

Yesterday I got three albums (bought two, downloaded a third from someplace else) by the Leaders, a jazz group from the late 80s with Lester Bowie on trumpet, Arthur Blythe on alto sax, Chico Freeman on tenor sax, Kirk Lightsey on piano, Cecil McBee on bass, and Famoudou Don Moye on drums. I listened to the third album, Unforeseen Blessings, first, and it's great. Much more straightahead than you'd expect from that lineup, though there are some short, somewhat avant-ish interludes (solo pieces by Lightsey and Moye, and a Blythe/Moye duo) punctuating the compositions. Good stuff.

currently spinning The Everly Brothers' Roots LP, it's... OK? I was expecting more overt psych moves.

I quite like some Weather Report but I've studiously avoided solo Jaco for reasons (mostly fretless bass related). Well, I listened to (most of) *Word of Mouth* and it's bonkers. It has an insane line-up (Herbie, Shorter, DeJohnette, Toots Thielemans etc) but I wasn't expecting third-stream big band fusion.

First track is kind of ugly and has lots of Jaco wibble. Track two made me think of Gil Evans in places, which is never a bad thing. It's the closing track that I liked the most. I'm not mad on the soprano sax, but Shorter is fire here. There are lots of steel drums and some quality handclaps towards the end.

I can see why Jim O'Rourke loves it: there are passages that big Jim nods to on Bad Timing and Eureka.

I love his s/t album

Listened to Deacon Blue's Raintown after Trevor Horn included it in an old Baker's Dozen column on Quietus. Surprised that WXRT didn't pick this up at the time. Could see the band playing Park West to a reasonably well-groomed late 80s Lincoln Park crowd. (update: Confirmed before posted) But then again, the songs aren't all that catchy, are they? I see this band inspires a fair amount of hate. Pleasant enough to my ears, though. Doesn't seem worth getting worked up over either way. Makes me want to listen to Prefab Sprout, which is fine.

I listened to Drukqs yesterday. I found it holds together really well for a supposedly overlong sprawling release (even if it is a little long), it has vision and variations, the gymnopédies tracks are genuinely good, there's a techno urge that is more palpable than in say Autechre, and for all its frenzy it coalesces into a placating whole.

Today they were playing pan-genre Latin covers of Kraftwerk while I was eating my lunch. I Shazam'd! It is Señor Coconut, the alias of a German guy who got into cha-cha and cumbia and made... an album of Kraftwerk covers, in 1999. This was the period when I was at my most musically omnivorous, so I'm surprised I hadn't heard it before-- I was listening to Louis Philippe and Darla compilations and shit so this should've been on my radar? I vaguely recall reading an article (prob in Vice magazine) wherein they shit on Señor Coconut and called it corny. It is corny! But hearing unfamiliar versions of Kraftwerk songs realllllly made me appreciate the brilliance of the musical material... usually I'm just lost in the production and the sounds of it. "The Robots" is an amazing song, every component part is so wonderful. Anyway. In 1999 this might've been considered some corny genre experiment but it was super-great to hear it in 2024, just driving home the classic nature of all these Kraftwerk tracks

yeah, i really wish i had picked up that album on cd when i had the chance.
was always in the racks of my local Fopp.
but i could not reconcile the fact that it was by the same fella behind some of my fave FAX releases as Atom Heart.
oh, and it was before i fell hard for library/corny grooves.

I'm going to pull that album out and listen to it right now!

Today I read this interview with drummer/composer Andrya Ambro in my friend's newsletter. I'd never heard of her, so I pulled up her most recent album, No More Blue Skies, released under the name Gold Dime, on Tidal. It's really good! Postpunk-ish arty vocals and angry guitars and synths, some really interesting rhythmic stuff going on, plus a few free jazz sax solos. It's on Bandcamp.

that senor Coconut record is an absolute blast!

His YMO covers album is pretty good too and he did 'Smoke On The Water', 'Riders On The Storm' and some other rock classics at some point. One trick pony but a consistently fun trick.

if you like that you may wanna check out this collection of steel drum Kraftwerk covers, it's really fun as well

https://www.discogs.com/master/1609899-Ebony-Steel-Band-Pan-Machine

lol i bought that Señor Coconut album in 1999 and sometimes i can still hear it in my head even when Kraftwerk is playing

I only got into Senor Coconut when Villalobos released this in 2006, I believe? That was the year I joined ILX, I think that was when this happened?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE_Im78tXH4

(I had this thread bookmarked and then didn't check it for several months until today lol)

Paix by Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes rules hard.

Just now discovered this thread and haven't read nearly all, but for Pavement covers by jazz artists and without many vocals (incl. 0 by Malkmus), try James Carter's Gold Sounds---some people really like it and some really don't---I did, though haven't listened since it first came out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEsf1l4nm1o

"Stereo" – 6:24
"My First Mine" – 6:30
"Cut Your Hair" – 6:30
"Summer Babe" – 4:36
"Blue Hawaiian" – 4:54
"Here" – 5:52
"Platform Blues" – 5:38
"Trigger Cut" – 3:54

James Carter – tenor saxophone soprano saxophone, contrabass sarrusophone
Cyrus Chestnut – piano, electric piano, organ
Reginald Veal – bass, electric bass, vocals
Ali Jackson – drums, vocals

(But really his albums with the most rockoid appeal, at least as launching pads, are Layin' In The Cut, w Ribot, Tacuma etc., also his first James Carter Organ Trio album, Out of Nowhere, with guests incl. Blood Ulmer.)

for Pavement covers by jazz artists

i cannot tell whether you are describing a circle of hell of not.

i might do this with blue nile - hats based on recent excellent revive. no idea what it could possibly sound like

oh it is so good, please listen Budo and report back

Ooh, there's a good one of these over on the ICP thread:
Insane Clown Posse

i did listen to the blue nile record. good night for it too, cool, took a walk by the river. i certainly thought it was beautiful, kind of lush and cinematic maybe, but i can tell i need a few more spins to let it sink in.

maybe after a few more listens i will have something to say. i feel like i almost never have anything interesting to say about music anymore. it's just kind of like, i like this, i don't like this, i'm not sure if i like this

(nb i may never have had anything interesting to say about music)

I don't know how this happened, but I've never listened to Arthur Russell much. I'm sure I listened to World of Echo at least once or twice but never dug deeper, I don't know if I was saving it or feeling resistant to the hipster renaissance and seemingly endless reissues.

Today I listened to Picture of Bunny Rabbit and Calling Out of Context, and of course they're incredible. I don't need to go into it, everybody knows, but Bunny Rabbit in particular has such a consistent and intimate feel. It's so stark and stripped back and yet somehow never feels demo-y or like anything's missing, and sounds like it could have been made yesterday.

I’ve never listened to Bon Iver. I’ve overheard Skinny Love and Re: Stacks and Holocene but I couldn’t name which one was which if you played it for me. I just had to Shazam one of his songs. He’s popular! I should know what his albums sound like

Huh this is so strange. It’s 50% the best thing I’ve ever heard and 50% “I feel embarrassed for all people involved”. Sonically this kinda kicks ass. I’m listening to self-titled, self-tilted

Overwhelmed by the impossible loveliness of the production. These stereoized guitars!