For one reason or another I haven't done this for awhile, it's supposed to be a quarterly occurrence (not that anyone noticed I guess), but sometimes real life gets in the way. Anyway a crop of songs I've listened to a lot over the past months:
First, another one from my "Mike Hammer" collection. I love this type of Harlem Nocturnesque bleary sax on almost anything. Here it's done with a pinch of interpolated commentary that lifts the tune out of the mundane. Way cool.
Pad — Fleet & Freddy
Arthur Lee's final trip into the recording studio produced this jazz vocal with Chico Hamilton. It's a brave, rather than bravura performance, but it gives an indication of where he might have headed musically had he survived. I'm always left slightly saddened that the Forever Changes concerts featured the man whose voice had outlived the magnificent music he made in his twenties. This, however, suits his voice at his time of life. It's just a tragedy that wasn't very long.
What's Your Story, Morning Glory — Chico Hamilton
My track of the year so far. I was familiar with this duo's artwork before their music and I liked that, but I'm blown away by this. It's got a weird Kate Bush on quaaludes feel to it to me, maybe because of — what I take to be — the Virginia Woolf references, and I love its urgency the most: "keep it up... don't stop... don't lose your place... " I need lots of that in my life right now.
LightHouse — NewVillager
Finally, I know that — besides G-Man and myself — Emiliana Torrini doesn't have a whole bunch of fans on here. Neverthless for me she has, bar none, one of the most drop-dead-gorgeous voices in music today. This song — of male pain and female comfort — I played a lot in the weeks following my father's death.
Bleeder — Emiliana Torrini
First, another one from my "Mike Hammer" collection. I love this type of Harlem Nocturnesque bleary sax on almost anything. Here it's done with a pinch of interpolated commentary that lifts the tune out of the mundane. Way cool.
Pad — Fleet & Freddy
Arthur Lee's final trip into the recording studio produced this jazz vocal with Chico Hamilton. It's a brave, rather than bravura performance, but it gives an indication of where he might have headed musically had he survived. I'm always left slightly saddened that the Forever Changes concerts featured the man whose voice had outlived the magnificent music he made in his twenties. This, however, suits his voice at his time of life. It's just a tragedy that wasn't very long.
What's Your Story, Morning Glory — Chico Hamilton
My track of the year so far. I was familiar with this duo's artwork before their music and I liked that, but I'm blown away by this. It's got a weird Kate Bush on quaaludes feel to it to me, maybe because of — what I take to be — the Virginia Woolf references, and I love its urgency the most: "keep it up... don't stop... don't lose your place... " I need lots of that in my life right now.
LightHouse — NewVillager
Finally, I know that — besides G-Man and myself — Emiliana Torrini doesn't have a whole bunch of fans on here. Neverthless for me she has, bar none, one of the most drop-dead-gorgeous voices in music today. This song — of male pain and female comfort — I played a lot in the weeks following my father's death.
Bleeder — Emiliana Torrini
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