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On his latest album, Kenny G overdubs himself on top of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”. It’s a sad tale of the bastardization of one of jazz music’s greatest figures, but it certainly is an entertaining read. Pat Metheny is erudite, passionate and pulls no punches in describing Kenny G’s “lame-ass, jive, pseudo bluesy, out-of-tune, noodling, wimped out, fucked up playing“. I attended the recent Opeth show in NYC at Terminal 5. This was one of the stops in this limited tour to commemorate their twentieth anniversary – six exclusive shows across the globe. Tour stops included Stockholm; Essen, Germany; Paris; London; New York; and Los Angeles.
Opeth performed two sets and played for just short of three hours(!). It was a full frontal assault. For the first set, they performed Blackwater Park in its entirety. Not a word (during the entire set) was said by frontman Mikael Akerfeldt. They showed up shortly after 8 PM and simply played flawlessly. The tracks were 1. The Leper Affinity, 2. Bleak, 3. Harvest, 4. The Drapery Falls, 5. Dirge For November, 6. The Funeral Portrait, 7. Patterns In The Ivy, and 8. Blackwater Park . After a short break the band returned for the second set. And Akerfeldt became his typical talkative and funny self. They started with their first album and played a single track off each album. So, starting with Orchid they worked through to their recent masterpiece, Watershed. The track list included 1. Forest Of October (Orchid, 1995), 2. Advent (Morningrise, 1996), 3. April Ethereal (My Arms, Your Hearse, 1998), 4. The Moor (Still Life, 1999), 5. Wreath (Deliverance, 2002), 6. Hope Leaves (Damnation, 2002), 7. Harlequin Forest (Ghost Reveries, 2005), 8. The Lotus Eater (Watershed, 2008). Akerfeldt introduced each track with a comment on band members (who left, who joined), challenges in the studio, hooking up with Steven Wilson, writers block during Ghost Reveries, etc. Very entertaining. If you are familiar with their catalog, you will recognize these songs as some of their strongest metal songs. Its amazing just how good these guys have become in a live setting. PS, I’m not a fan of the club because 1) the acoustics can be very poor depending on where you are standing; 2) its a touch claustrophobic; and 3) there are much better choices in NY for a show. The club was sold out and when I arrived (an hour early); the queue was a city block long. It was great to see this type of turnout.
March was a busy month, saturated with music and thought. Here is a little of what I have heard (and retained!)
First, Holly Herndon (full disclosure, my wife) performed her latest work ’195′ at Mills College early in the month. The piece is due to be performed at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in May, and explores the juxtaposition of acoustic, amplified, and processed voice. It was a great month for techno, with Resident Advisor releasing a podcast from the mysterious ‘Horizontal Ground’ label, whose artists to this date remain anonymous. Also, I received an advance copy of Berghain resident Marcel Dettmann’s debut full length, which is astounding. No playlists up online yet, but here is an older single of his as a taster. Admittedly this is ridiculous, but a lazy Facebook trawl drew this to my attention. Utterly epic italo space synth from Eastern Europe. I have a soft spot for this kind of material, hopelessly dreamy and utopian. Evidently the future is what it used to be in Lodz, Poland! Slightly unrelated, but this month the superb Ken Hollings also aired his latest documentary program ‘From Gameboy to Armageddon’ on BBC Radio, which is hauntingly prescient in light of the Wikileaks video that made it’s way into the public consciousness last week. Currently reading ‘The Soul at Work: From Alienation to Autonomy’ by Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi 5 Track is actually some kind of distant cousin of mine – we never quite worked it out – but anyway – REALLY HAPPY to see this review on his work. He is an amazing musician. But not in what we might call the ‘mainstream’. Take a look – peruse – enjoy. 
Passed on – with thanks to : Julian Cope presents Head Heritage | Unsung | Album of the Month | 5-Track – 5-Track EP Not sure if I have posted this one for before – and on the run – so no time to look it up – however – been playing with this in the background on itunes for a few weeks now – and it is rather neat. Definitely worth a ‘looksee’ – the functionality is great the LOOK of the whole thing is horrible – so bad that I assume they are going out of their way for a Jules Verne look – but all said – very clever bit of stuff to attach to an iTunes account near you.
A Los Angeles (Echo Park) folk outfit signed to Chrysalis Music Publishing. Debut EP produced by Mike Daly (Whiskeytown) and Michael Beinhorn (Soundgarden, RHCP).  The band consists of Jason Mandell (vocals, guitar), Darice Bailey (keys, vocals), Jason Debo (bass, vocals) and JR Kurtz (drums). Also singing on the recordings is Sutter Zachman and Sara Watkins, a mainstay at the Largo scene in Los Angeles. Venues they have played to date include LA scenes – Largo (residency), Spaceland, Silverlake Lounge, the Bootleg Theater and even The Press in Claremont. Personally – I like the sound a lot. Riding that wave of Folk Rock that abounds – but a nice varied sound – and somehow different. Oh wait – actually – I agree with their label promotion … they are “minus the cuteness or irony that soaks so much of today’s folk music.” - Yup – that’s it. The Coals @ Chrsalis – their new label Passed on – with thanks to : Jason Mandel of the The Coals – who made me aware of the music and the release. Thankyou Jason A review of Porcupine Tree’s ‘The Incident’ … Musicolog – marcel’s muzieklog Passed on – with thanks to : Musicolog – marcel’s muzieklog I think I have played this album about 50 times since I first heard it. It is brilliantly Steven Wilson. NO point after such a long time of listening to go into a detailed review of it – just go listen … and the two offerings below are DIFFERENT. It is an album of continual changes and switches. If you know Wilson – you know that he is part of many different bands – and in various ways – all of them come through at different times on this tour de force. Sonic Audioscapes and ‘In your face’ walls of sound give way in a split second to a lonely voice – he is spectacular. He utilizes the almost trademarked scratchy vinyl and definitely little things appear that you know you have heard before – but bottom line – this boy keeps delivering the goods. “I had this idea that I wanted to write this long song cycle…this long piece of music.” great interview on The Incident and tour |
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