current favorite albums

[sjewkestheloon]

Haven't heard Outward Bound, will definitely pick it up after hearing that. Great stuff.

Oh yeah I love the grunt of a bass clarinet, and love my players to play reeds over specific instruments.

You should definitely check out Braxton but be warned... He is seriously odd and his output is incredibly varied. I recommend Six Monk's Compositions as a good intro, and maybe some of the Black Saint albums of his original compositions for a further taste. His solo alto records are legendary and any fan of avant jazz or modern classical music should give a few of his Ghost Trance Music records a try.

[Marc]

Would someone like to take a shot at recommending a Jazz record for a completely clueless noob that thinks his tastes may be heading in that general direction?

[Siren2011]

I am so glad you asked!

As far as jazz goes, you can't beat Peter McConnell's score for the PC adventure game Grim Fandango.

http://www.grimfandango.net/?page=soundtrack

Personally, I don't know of any more particular albums or records that stand out, but Charles Mingus is pretty hit or miss.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__OSyznVDOY

Also, you'd do well to watch Ken Burns' documentary on Jazz. They mention a shitload of big and underdog names from the golden age of Jazz. That should lead you in the right direction.

[Eaglet]

Just some recommendations:

Charlie Parker for bop.
Django Reinhardt (Quintette du Hot Club de France) for gypsy swing/manouche.
Wayne Shorter for hard bop.
Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane for hard bop into avant garde.
Ornette Coleman for free jazz.
Peter Brötzmann for modern free jazz/free improvisation music.


Those should get you started on and give a general idea of each particular sub-genre.

[sjewkestheloon]

Charles mingus- black saint ans the sinner lady. Composed and conceived as a ballet, it is the epitome of the jazz suite, and one of my all time favourites. Lots of melody and forward motion with buckets of brilliant improvisation and a large variety of instrumentation.

Miles Davis - a kind of blue. A great introduction to modal jazz with gentle and quite static frameworks on which there is some magnificent playing.

John Coltrane - a love supreme. Small group with a free feel but still with one foot planted in the tradition. One of the greatest small groups in jazz with brilliant sound and characterful playing.

That is pretty much where I started and they remain firm favourites. I found it easier to appreciate bop and swing after having listened to what came after, and would move backwards from these recordings.

If you like your music furious but salutationary then you could try Albert ayler too.

[mesh control]

It's all about Interstellar Space, man.

I still need to hear Ascension and the rest of his later catalog.

[Siren2011]

My longtime friend's brother is the lead guitarist in the band Kaddisfly, and they're phenomenal. Here are some select songs off of both CDs. Please check them out. I promise you won't be disappointed.

-from Buy Our Intention; We'll Buy You a Unicorn-
La Primera Natural Disaster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3gDAAgfjYA

A Message to the Flat Earth Society
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVJdQXb6 ... re=related

The Calm of Calamity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJNldm5Y ... re=related

Eres Tremulent
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TLG2E-5 ... re=related

New Moon Over Swift Water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_MI_WRHcMU

Crimson Solitude
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBT1b169 ... re=related

--from Set Sail the Prairie--
Campfire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Lha5Mothns

Silk Road
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o5hhwf8 ... re=related

[JBC]

I just recently discovered the absolute grandeur that is Electric Light Orchestra, and have been blazing through an album a day. I, for some reason, always assumed ELO was just some gay classic rock mullet band truckers liked. I was so wrong. The guys are right up there with Queen. I even had a moment listening to 'Mission' off A New World Record for the first time earlier. What an amazing band.

[burgerkingdiamond]

Queens of the Stone Age (self-titled)

[Marc]

Mastadon's Blood Mountain. Not what I thought it would be at all.

[RNGmaster]

Identified Flying Object by Pleiadians.

Best electronic album. At least, that I've heard.

[MovingTarget]

http://goldenerajungle.com/php-files/news.php

That site is a gold mine for mixes if you love early jungle like I do I tend to stick a bunch of mixes on a flash drive then run em on my xbox whilst playing whatever. Tis 400% more awesome

[ancestral-knowledge]

Hatred for Mankind - Dragged to sunlight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBI8z3Cn ... re=related

Goatmoon - Death Before Dishonour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k8_qELK ... re=related

got these 2 albums together with the new Burzum - Fallen . excellent!

[sjewkestheloon]

Olivier Messiaen - Vision de l'Amen

Wonderful stuff, the two piano setup can be an annoying and indistinct mass of percussive bashing in the wrong hands but Messiaen really knew how to write. He seperates the players masterfully, and it often sounds almost conversational.

[professor ganson]

Listening to anything by Nobukazu Takemura that I can get my hands on. I would love to find more electronic composers with this kind of talent.

[jonny5]

http://goldenerajungle.com/php-files/news.php

That site is a gold mine for mixes if you love early jungle like I do I tend to stick a bunch of mixes on a flash drive then run em on my xbox whilst playing whatever. Tis 400% more awesome

Thanks for this!

[rapoon]

French Films. Sounds like the result of a Ménage à trois between Joy Division, The Cure and The Smiths.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HrysKg1te0

[Ex-Cyber]

Emerson Lake & Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery: i thought it was borderline unlistenable when I first heard it (particularly Toccata; maybe it helps to know that it's supposed to be fucking scary per the original composer). I don't know if I'm more mature or just more demented these days, but now it feels pretty brilliant. Anymore, Karn Evil 9: 2nd Impression blows me away every time I hear it.

(should probably mention a standard disclaimer that I'm kind of a sucker for over-the-top pomp/bombast/pretentiousness/etc. which is probably why I can still stand most prog rock in the first place)

(also, the infamous "welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends" is kind of amusing given its original context, i.e. after the LP flip in the middle of a 30-minute epic)

Kazuhito Yamashita - Pictures at an Exhibition: Despite not really being into classical music, I think I can pick up a faint inkling of why it's controversial. Still, I have to at least admire the sheer ballsiness involved in seriously attempting this arrangement.

[tommyb]

Burzum - Fallen
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Between the Buried and Me - Colors

[ColonelFatso]

Premiata Forneria Marconi - Per un Amico
Frank Zappa - FREAK OUT!
Gentle Giant - In a Glass House

I'm all over the place right now (where 'all over the place' operates on a VERY small subdomain of rock music)

[spadgy]

I cannot get enough of the assault that is Dada Cat's new album Gypsycore.

It's a touch eccentric (actually, it's off its face), but it's my favourite new release in the Gypsy-Jungle and Balkan-core scene. It's a lot more towards the breakcore end of the spectrum, that's for sure!

And you can download it legally for free from Bandcamp here. If you like your music fast and broken to pieces, its essential listening. Although I fear everyone would hate it.

But look at the fucking cover! You want that in your record collection.

[mesh control]

That's some cool shit, thanks, Spadgy.


Games - That We Play
All about that Strawberry Skies remix
Cars Get Crushed - Unreleased songs (meh)
The Cardigans - Emmerdale
Kavinsky - Nightcalls
Coltrane - One Up, One Down


Someone should make me a Italo Disco mixtape.

[RNGmaster]

Arcana by E-Mantra.

I need to branch out a bit more, yes, but Praying Forest and Beyond the Boreas are just amazing.

[JBC]

I'm really looking forward to the new Garbage and Silversun Pickups albums. Shirley Manson's voice is so hot.

So is Brian Aubert's.

[szycag]

Lee Ranaldo - Between the Times and the Tides

[mesh control]

Cocteau Twins - Everything
Winfred E. Eye - A Bottle, A Dog, Some Milk, A Bottle
Merchandise - Schoolyard club mix 7"
Sun Ra - Nothing Is...
The Smiths - The Old Guard BBC tapes vol. 1
and I just got these in the mail

[JBC]

Going through the Blondie and A-ha discogs

[RNGmaster]

Drukqs.

[drauch]

Cocteau Twins - Everything
Winfred E. Eye - A Bottle, A Dog, Some Milk, A Bottle
Merchandise - Schoolyard club mix 7"
Sun Ra - Nothing Is...
The Smiths - The Old Guard BBC tapes vol. 1
and I just got these in the mail

Dudeeeeee, tight haul.

[mesh control]

This is so fucking good.