Phillip Corner-3 Pieces for Gamelan Ensemble

When not appearing as a phony Korean, Philip Corner makes music. He does other things I’m sure. Eating sandwiches, folding bed sheets, crinkling the toothpaste tube down to the very bit of it to catch the final remains are all activities that Corner participates in. But seeing as this is a music blog/crybaby journal I’ll focus on the music (more on the crying later). The gamelon is one of my favorite instruments, and should be one of yours as well. Maybe why it is so sweet sounding is because it’s large and expensive, thus preventing an army of hipster dorkuses from slathering it on all their releases. Unlike the unfortunately ubiquitous ukulele (check out those U’s), the gamelon is something that is somehow under used. So any chance you get to hear them should be taken as a treat you little selfish child.

Here (Reuped 6/8/12)

Paul Horn-Inside

Things have been pretty weird around here. By weird I mean lousy. But did you really expect anything different from me. Rather than write out all the stupid events I’ll just post what I sent my ex (we weren’t actually married but being together for almost 9 years is pretty much like a marriage anyways). So this is what I told her: “for a laff, here's how my day went. I awoke to the hicks above me screaming. I went to bed at four, woke up at seven. No one did their work in either of my classes. They had to write a sentence. They couldn't even do that. Then I walked into a staircase full of pepper spray. I couldn't figure out the recognizable smell at first, then my throat closed up. Then, went on a date with a Vietnamese girl I met. Six hours into the date she tells me about her 4 year long relationship with some guy living in Germany that she has only seen 4 times. So I walked down to the bar to get drunk. I got soaked from the rain. I'll probably catch a cold soon. I feel like an epic failure. My friends laugh at how ridiculous my life has become.” This is really isn’t that unusual than any day in the past two years. So in my crummy mood I turn to this album. I know the creepy close up is enough to scare off the most violent perpetrator but it really is a super soothing album. Bliss for the ears if you will. Recorded inside (hence the title) the Taj Mahal, Horn predicts the dreaded new age genre but far before it became overrun by dads and later reclaimed by ironic hipsters. And the story of the Taj Mahal is heartbreaking but always makes me feel a little human.

Here

Valerio Cosi-Collected Works

I think some of my pals who have enjoyed the more trancey things I post would dig this, so fellas give this a listen. Touchstones here could be Terry Riley and Lamonte Young in that there's definitely some heavy meditation going on here. But Cosi also has a Pharaoh Sandersish sax playing ability. He's also wise because drone records can get super fucking boring so he adds in some interesting elements like krautrock beats, exotic instruments, tribal percussion, etc. It all adds up to something that really surprised me on first listen. You know I typically could care less about what people are producing these days, which is why I was so pleased to stumble across this.

Here

Julie Tippetts-Sunset Glow

I've heard people say this is in someway a companion piece to Robert Wyatt's epic Rock Bottom (one of my favorite albums of all time). Well, right up front I should say that this isn't as good. But really, I think there's only a few albums that actually are. But this still is great. You know when Elton Dean (Soft Machine) and Brian Godding (Blossom Toes, BB Blunder, etc.) are swinging by then you're bound to produce something magical. This will probably go down well if played at your next sewing circle.

Here

Keith Richards-Umano non Umano

I figure that since I posted Mick's little electronic experiment, then this might as well be posted. It's just Keef fucking around with some early modular synth. Letting it drone out and then fucking with the patches. That type of stuff. But watch the video here just to see how cool this motherfucker was (pre-pirate era). Or I guess you can just look at the above photo.

Here