Electronics For You From September 2016

Among the wave of brass rock groups that embraced the rock world from 68 until 71 or 72, Warm Dust was a late-comer, but quickly became one of the most interesting and progressive group of the genre. The sextet developed a solid psych-laced progressive brass rock, lead by the twin sax players of Alan Solomon (also KB) and John Surguy (also guitar) and featuring future Mike Rutherford and Steve Hackett acolyte Paul Carrack…

Jack De Johnette & Foday Musa Suso - Music From The Hearts Of The Masters (2005) {Golden Beams GBP1112}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 368 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 141 Mb | Data -> 92 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 65 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2005 Golden Beams Productions | GBP1112
Jazz / World Music / Avant-Garde Jazz / Drums / Kora / Dousinguini

When Foday Musa Suso teamed with drummer Hamid Drake in the ‘80s to form the Mandingo Griot Society, the usage of kora and the American drum kit was a novelty, and successfully but precariously placed the traditions of African village music and jazz oriented polyrhythms in a new place. Suso and the veteran drummer Jack DeJohnette team up in duets that do not juxtapose, but complement the rhythmic strengths of the different instruments, creating a language of their own. Suso is happy to play the vibrant shimmering melodies his 21-string instrument uniquely brings to the table, while DeJohnette adopts a sensitive, supportive rather than similarly melodic role, forming funky beats, cymbal accents, and colorations that shade rather than drive the music.

Rebekka Bakken (born April 4, 1970) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and music producer who is often associated with jazz, although she refuses to characterise herself as a jazz musician. Her voice reaches over three octaves.

Lana Del Rey could have retired after the cinematic grandeur of her 2019 high-water mark Norman Fucking Rockwell! That album's imaginative songwriting, finely crafted performances, and exceptional production served as a realization of the magnificence promised by earlier efforts, and the deepest look yet at Del Rey's stormy inner world. Subsequent albums suggested a little bit of a comedown after such heights. Both released in 2021, Chemtrails Over the Country Club felt like an NFR! bonus reel, while Blue Banisters played like a mixtape of solid but random song ideas. Ninth album Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd finds Del Rey returning to the powerful level of song sculpting she reached on NFR!, and feels like a strong step forward as much as it does a worthy follow-up to her best record.

Anthony Braxton -12 Duets (DCWM) 2012 (2014) {12CD Set New Braxton House NBH904}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 3.54 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.53 Gb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2012, 2014 New Braxton House | NBH904
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Creative Music / Experimental Jazz / Saxophone

Several years ago, Anthony and I discovered our mutual (giddy) enthusiasm for the music of Richard Wagner. I feel compelled to mention this because there is a positively orchestral, if not Wagnerian, element to our recording together—a sonic Gesamtkunstwerk, if you will, representing all registers of playing. In each take, new drama unfolds, as if each were a new act in an operatic continuum.

The 20th Anniversary Edition comes with a second disc of standout remixes from the time, including the previously vinyl only Jack Dangers dub, plus a handful of fresh remixes by fellow Disco Gecko artists.

Luca Francesconi is one of the most prominent Italian composer of his generation with a substantial and varied output to his credit. The release under review provides a good idea of his output although all the works recorded here are already some ten or twenty years old. Da Capo (1986) for small ensemble is the earliest work here and is probably one of Francesconi’s best-known and most popular. It is not difficult to understand why. It is a brilliantly scored, colourful piece full of nice instrumental touches and lively rhythms, although it opens and ends in a rather subdued manner. The other works were all composed at about the same time: between 1994 and 1995. They, too, display a considerable variety of means and moods. Etymo is the most substantial both in length and in content. The title, Etymo (as in etymology) is about the search for the origin and development of language. It sets texts from various poems from Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal for soprano, large ensemble and electronics. The final words are drawn from Baudelaire’s Carnets intimes.

Die Like a Dog - The Complete FMP Recordings (2007) {4CD Set, Jazzwerkstatt jw060 rec 1993-1999}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.52 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 647 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 63 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1993-99, 2007 Jazzwerkstatt / FMP | jw 060
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Improvisation

In 1993, Peter Brotzmann launched his Die Like A Dog quartet to pay tribute to the short and turbulent life of his near-contemporary Albert Ayler, a synchronistic saxophone innovator and fellow timbral virtuoso ('It's not about notes, it's about sounds'). all the highs and lows of an insane 'career' that nudged Albert ever closer to that dog's death in the East River. 'Die Like A Dog', though, has to be a misnomer for the life-affirming music of Brotzmann's quartet. Kondo, a most curious fellow whose every appearance seems a Zen manifestation - he pops up suddenly, like an oriental rabbit out of a hat - is, according to this month's jazz press, on conversational terms with the Dalai Lama. He's also a long term student of T'ai Chi and knows when to hit.