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K. Bourdaghs homepage
For the log of “What I’m
Listening To” for 2005, click here. For the log of “What I’m Listening To”
entries for the year 2003, click here.
Posted on 12/12/04:
It's been a Shostakovich week or two around here. I've been listening especially to
his String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, op. 110, a remarkable composition from 1960
dedicated to 'the victims of fascism.' In poking around the Internet,
I've learned that it's his most frequently performed Quartet. Mostly,
I've been playing the version by the Fitzwilliam String Quartet included
with their complete cycle of the Quartets, but I've also given a listen to an earlier recording by the Borodin
String Quartet.
The piece combines sadness, anger, joy--and numerous quotations from earlier
works by Shostakovich. Among these are the Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor,
op. 67, another powerful chamber work I've been listening to lately. I
have the version recorded by Martha Argerich,
Gordon Kremer, and Mischa Maisky from a 1998 live performance in Japan, very nice. As I've
written here before, Shostakovich's music seems to speak with remarkable
fluency the language that I live in this hectic world, where one often has to
find one's beauty in the unlikeliest heaps of discord.
Posted on 11/6/04:
The new release, Sparkle in the Finish, by the Ike
Reilly Assassination,
a great Midwestern bar band that is developing a legend for incredible live shows. I'm not certain this is quite as
good as their debut CD, Salesmen & Racists, but it's close. Ike Reilly has a
remarkable knack for constructing rock anthems, ala Bruce Springsteen or
The Who--complex songs built around multiple changes linking together several
distinct melodies in widely variant styles. The music is a blend of
garage rock, punk, hiphop, and Americana. He's got the Charles Bukowski
barfly poet line down pat, too. His best songs are built around
unforgettable lines--e.g., "I believe you when you say/That I'll be judged
on garbage day" ("Garbage Day"). I don't know that he will
ever break out with a major hit; I think it's more likely he will remain a cult
figure for the next couple of decades. Well, here's your chance to get in
on almost the ground floor of the cult--and there's almost nothing more fun on
earth than being a fan of a cult band. Ask any Kinks’
fan.....
Posted on 10/9/04:
Just got the new, expanded 3-CD version
of The Kinks' 1968 masterpiece,
The Kinks Are The Village Green
Preservation Society, the album that failed to chart in either the U.S. or the U.K.
when first released, but that now is almost universally acknowledged as the
band's greatest work--despite the fact that it contains none of their hits
(although you may have recently heard the song "Picture Book" used as
the backing track for an HP commercial on tv). The core album, with its wistful
lyrics and deceptively simple melodies, is simply gorgeous. You get it in
both the stereo and mono versions on disks one and two, along with a handful of
nice bonus tracks on each. There are significant differences between the
two versions, but probably only hardcore fans (like me, for example) need
both. But disk three is a wonder, full of rare tracks, many of them
previously available only on vinyl or bootlegs. Some of them, I've never
even heard before. One of the greatest rocks bands of all time captured
at their creative peak--and almost no one has ever heard the damn thing!
Posted on 9/6/04:
I heard a few cuts off of Nellie McKay's debut CD, Get Away From Me, on KCRW here in LA and found myself intrigued enough to buy the
double CD. She reminds me a bit of the early Roches' albums: the
same clever lyrics, quirky song structures, flash genre hopping, and strong
female vocal harmonies. About half of the songs are terrific, and the
rest are at least listenable--at her worst, she reminds one of a female Billy
Joel. And she's not even twenty years old. It's hard to predict her
future: she could burn out quickly (cf. Macy Gray), or blossom into
another Björk. Whichever the case, I'll be watching and listening with
interest.
Posted on 7/4/04:
I always like to start out my summer by acquiring a pile of newly released CDs, as I seek out the songs that will come to define the summer in my memory. I've picked up four so far in the weeks since classes finally let out. In rough order of preference, they are:
1). Ozomatli, Street Signs. This ought to be be their
breakthrough work. The song "Saturday Night" should zoom up all
the charts and playlists. They get their unique salsa/hiphop blend just
right on that song, and on many others here, too. Simply terrific.
They'll be appearing later this summer at the great Fuji Rock festival in Japan.
2). Wilco, A Ghost is Born. More of the same from this group--which is a very good
thing. A cleaner sound than on the last release, very appealing.
They'll be at Fuji Rock, too (I really have to get to that event
one of these years....).
3). Los Lobos, The Ride. These guys just keep on going and
going. Not quite as good as Good Morning, Aztlan, their last
release, but still fine.
4). Brian
Wilson, Gettin' in Over My Head. What can you say about Brian? How good to have new
tunes from him, and he sounds like he's actually enjoying himself for a change.
Posted on 5/29/04:
It's been a bit shizophrenic around here
lately. On the one hand, as I get ready to carry out a research project
this summer on the Japanese Group Sounds rock 'n' roll bands from the 1960s,
I've been listening to lots of guitar rave ups by groups like the Spiders, the
Tempters, the Tigers, the Carnabeats, the Wild Ones, etc., etc.--stuff that
Quentin Tarantino would love. Geez, Shinjuku and Roppongi must have been
fun places to hang out in circa 1967....
On the other hand, I've been working my way
slowly through the 11 CD set I've just purchased that contains all fifteen of
Shostakovich's symphonies, performed by WDR Sinfonieorchester under the direction of Rudolf
Barshai. At the moment, I'm very much enamored of the 15th symphony, with
its playful first movement full of jokes, like the quotations from the
"William Tell" Overture, but with its somber and moving final
movement. As always, I find Shostakovich's music speaks to me and my
experiences in remarkably direct fashion; this powerful but cracked music is
what my life sounds like.
Posted on 4/3/04:
It's been a great year for those of us who
were fans of the Minnesota band that started out in the late 1970s being called
Flamingo, later changing its name to the Flamin' Ohs and then
finally to the Ohs. They were a terrific bar band with good songwriting,
personality, and energy, and they seemed destined for big things--they even had
a local radio hit or two back in the Twin Cities in the early '80s. For
various reasons, though, they never achieved the fame that seemed their
due. At any rate, early last year saw the release of The Flamin' Ohs Live at Moby Dick's 1983, a double CD that captured a night in the
life of the band at its peak. Then late last year, the band's leader
Robert Wilkinson released a new CD of original songs, Days Like Glass, a mellowed and philosophical take on life. And now the
band's first two albums have been reissued on a single CD, Flamin' Ohs: The First Two Albums. Terrific stuff from a band that
with a few more lucky breaks might have been the Midwest's version of the
Stones or Aerosmith.
Posted on 2/28/04:
Missy Elliot's This
is Not a Test, which I've borrowed from my son. I'm too old for this
stuff: hip hop will never feel like "my music." But it's
just impossible to deny that it's the most creative force in pop music
today--as this CD attests. All sorts of styles and hooks and jokes, so
that you never have time to get bored. I was reading somewhere a few
months back that this is an exciting time because with contemporary hip hop,
including this, at the top of the charts, once again the very best music being
produced is also the most popular music. It's true, too true.
Posted 1/19/04:
So Much for the City, the new CD by The Thrills, a young Irish band that's been getting much critical
attention--and even a little airplay for their video. I could go either
way on this one. They remind me a bit of the great Japanese rock band,
Happy End: both groups are fixated on California folk rock, circa
1969. Happy End had better lyrics (you have to know Japanese to
appreciate them, unfortunately) and knew how to rock out better. The
Thrills have a banjo (on pretty much every song, it seems), and they have a
better sense of harmony. At this point, I'd take Happy End, but that may
change. Have also been listening to Kind of Light by a local LA
band, the 88, which has often been compared to
mid-period Kinks. To my ears, they sound more like the late '70s, early
'80s version of David Bowie. I look forward to future releases:
lots of promise in this band, though much of it remains unrealized as of
yet. A few sharper melodies and hooks and they could turn into something
special.
For a list of all my recent CD acquisitions, see here.