tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91712826180158827172024-03-13T03:49:05.605-07:00...As Though The Shame Would Outlive Himmusic and listeningUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-43707954338778719252020-01-23T18:36:00.001-08:002020-01-23T18:36:10.791-08:00Aqua Marina<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP2FJkdPc3MbXG8a1EWZFi3C_e8SNC25xFO968O-wWUVZ60JUXOSwQc3b0A2cXoECRhQUbNraIVPtcXXzI5s3nGKYLpLnnGxSEr1blMnFT2PHoIoEnt7w6b-uVyuUKxa0zXYGNWjtuDvvS/s1600/Aqua_Marina_A3+%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1132" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP2FJkdPc3MbXG8a1EWZFi3C_e8SNC25xFO968O-wWUVZ60JUXOSwQc3b0A2cXoECRhQUbNraIVPtcXXzI5s3nGKYLpLnnGxSEr1blMnFT2PHoIoEnt7w6b-uVyuUKxa0zXYGNWjtuDvvS/s320/Aqua_Marina_A3+%25281%2529.png" width="226" /></a></div><br />
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/djtropicalbreeze">DJ Tropical Breeze</a> and <a href="https://soundcloud.com/thereturn">Dave Mack</a> will be presenting an extended 8 hour all vinyl DJ set playing Balearic classics and obscurities on Saturday 1 February at <a href="https://www.eydies.com.au/">Eydies</a>, Lygon Street Brunswick. More info <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B7kAe8qg9Gx/">here</a> and <a href="https://www.residentadvisor.net/events/1379683">here</a>. To celebrate we have produced a 2 hour sampler mix, available below. It steers more to the calmer side of Balearic but starts picking up pace in the latter half. This is Volume 1 so expect more to come...<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/746378863&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<blockquote>1. Toshiki Kadomatsu - Sea Song (repise)<br />
2. Seahawks - Calling Always (The Advisory Circle Loving Arms Mix)<br />
3. Blue Gas - Shadows from Nowhere<br />
4. Horizont - Light of Darkness<br />
5. Andreas Vollenweider - Moon Dance<br />
6. Mo Foster - New York City (KBE Remix)<br />
7. Peter Gordon - Afternoon Drive<br />
8. Antena - Achilles (Phreek Plus One Typhoon Mix)<br />
9. David Arkenstone - Valley of the Clouds<br />
10. Hamou Cheheb - Ma Fille<br />
11. Cantoma - Cosmopole<br />
12. Andras Fox - Janine's Theme (Earth)<br />
13. Vânia Bastos - Tabu<br />
14. The Ballistic Brothers - Uschi’s Groove<br />
15. Quiet Village - Too High To Move<br />
16. Knopha - 三 San<br />
17. Warm - On a Journey<br />
18. The Fizz - Rumours (Lipelis Edit)<br />
19. Whitesnake - Is This Love? (New Found Land Edit)<br />
20. House of House - The Rough Half (Don't Stop)<br />
21. Blue Vision - Leila (Variation)<br />
22. Dennis Young - Primitive Substance<br />
23. Your Song is Good - Re-Search (Force of Nature Remix)<br />
24. Poolside - Harvest Moon<br />
25. Pilou - Ca Va (Waffles Remix)<br />
26. Africaine 808 featuring Nonku Phiri and Macadem - Tummy Tummy (Esa's Afro Synth Bubblegum Remix)<br />
27. Nelson Family - Gimme Love<br />
28. Morgan Buckley - Heavy Traffic<br />
29. Cerrone - Back Track (Rizzolo DJ Edit)<br />
30. Francesco Napoli - Balla Balla</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-16738716943037544542019-12-23T17:59:00.002-08:002019-12-23T17:59:51.235-08:00Hiroshima - Odori (1980)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3xcr2s0qXNPlypLCB2Z45AZppxQD4kyml2SOuUZiKHEnRp-tZaf-_Dd9fNaLSukLRbPNQ0yOrDEa9MTPnWLatuG_C2uirNomYOo-QjWxTuqSTEUpJ2Ytd3m6wUnNx8zbK0eKu2vX5v1cA/s1600/Folder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3xcr2s0qXNPlypLCB2Z45AZppxQD4kyml2SOuUZiKHEnRp-tZaf-_Dd9fNaLSukLRbPNQ0yOrDEa9MTPnWLatuG_C2uirNomYOo-QjWxTuqSTEUpJ2Ytd3m6wUnNx8zbK0eKu2vX5v1cA/s320/Folder.jpg" width="320" height="320" data-original-width="600" data-original-height="600" /></a></div><br />
<a href="https://www93.zippyshare.com/v/4ETY7OZe/file.html">Hiroshima - Odori (1980)</a><br />
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Smooth slice of Japanese 1980s fusion.<br />
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<a href="https://www93.zippyshare.com/v/4ETY7OZe/file.html">Here.</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-1650565136561097812019-12-22T18:46:00.001-08:002019-12-22T18:46:15.581-08:00DJ Tropical Breeze - Opus 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiue_eSIg0tOPzK6wvsFitMEailSf-jZ6fUdyGDxmOgzuVa05ji4ydE4D24H9ryN2jRPjSRkVbmuznPSLlWAF7SEoMtUKWrOZGHDCgmMdwJg46HnOY4FI62vyhDMpEHS-hx4VSaQAq33ox/s1600/a3591288081_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiue_eSIg0tOPzK6wvsFitMEailSf-jZ6fUdyGDxmOgzuVa05ji4ydE4D24H9ryN2jRPjSRkVbmuznPSLlWAF7SEoMtUKWrOZGHDCgmMdwJg46HnOY4FI62vyhDMpEHS-hx4VSaQAq33ox/s400/a3591288081_10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Inaugural official release by DJ Tropical Breeze: <i>Insurrecto</i>. Two tracks recorded sometime in the last couple of years. Title track is a sparse, slow house number. 'Island of Samar' is a dub tempo experiment in layered synths, delays and echo. I hope to put some more of this stuff out but I'm pretty inefficient.<br />
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Get it <a href="https://djtropicalbreeze.bandcamp.com/releases">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2102790951/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 120px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://djtropicalbreeze.bandcamp.com/album/insurrecto">Insurrecto by DJ Tropical Breeze</a></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-76189614430295945422019-09-10T06:21:00.000-07:002019-09-10T06:21:43.478-07:00Light Mellow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCV6JisYRlNjng-5jeZSZDCVHBZwBgM5R4v1bVY0H1rfdz1SUshESmJGy9R4jA_9xhNF90olKD0JWueKEx55tK7PU4mTtOxQyiQrw_qN_L8mlZOsuY4uqoqlT0npjkmp54u2WtszhpvO_S/s1600/thumbnail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCV6JisYRlNjng-5jeZSZDCVHBZwBgM5R4v1bVY0H1rfdz1SUshESmJGy9R4jA_9xhNF90olKD0JWueKEx55tK7PU4mTtOxQyiQrw_qN_L8mlZOsuY4uqoqlT0npjkmp54u2WtszhpvO_S/s400/thumbnail.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
On 5 October 2019 DJ Tropical Breeze is playing Japanese music all night at <a href="https://www.eydies.com.au/">Eydies</a>. In celebration I've made two pseudo-City Pop mixes. <i>Light Mellow</i> does what it says, low key tunes for sipping a lemon sour by the (Disney) sea, while <i>First Light</i> takes us into the night, named after the unbeatable Makoto Matsushita song. Some well known City Pop hits among some lesser known 1980s and further-afield songs.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="120" src="https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?hide_cover=1&light=1&feed=%2Fjoshualine%2Flight-mellow%2F" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<blockquote>Malta - Summer Dreamin'<br />
Amii Ozaki - My Pure Lady<br />
Miho Nakeyama - Far Away from Summer Days<br />
Tin Pan Alley - Soba Kasu no Oru Ona<br />
Haruomi Hosono - Shimendoka<br />
Izumi Kobayashi & Flying Mimi Band - Summer Wine<br />
Mariya Takeuchi - Oh No, Oh Yes!<br />
Seaside Lovers - Lovers Paradise<br />
The Milky Way - Theme from 'A Summer Place'<br />
Abe Yasuhiro - Still I Love You<br />
Lily - 水鏡のなか<br />
Tetsuji Hayashi - Rainy Saturday & Coffee Break<br />
Ryuichi Sakamoto and the Kakatougi Session - Time Trip<br />
Hamada Kingo - Yozorano Information<br />
Signal - Heartbreak Season<br />
Tohoko Shinkaensen - Summer Touches You<br />
Yuki Okazaki - Jamaican Affair<br />
Logic System - Be Yourself<br />
Narumi Yasada - Kaze no Yousei</blockquote><br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="120" src="https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?hide_cover=1&light=1&feed=%2Fjoshualine%2Ffirst-light%2F" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<blockquote>Hitomi Tohyama - We Are in the Dark<br />
Seika Iwashita - 新しい風<br />
Miho Nakayama - Funky Mermaid<br />
Kimiko Kasai - The Right Place<br />
Kazuhito Murata - So Long, Mrs.<br />
Miho Nakeyama - Moonlight Sexy Dance<br />
Midori Hara - Osaka Amemoyoh<br />
Vizion - Somebody's Getting To You<br />
Eri Ohno - Live Hard, Live Free<br />
Naoya Matsuoka & Wesing - The September Wind (You're Romantic)<br />
Chiemi Manabe - 不思議・少女<br />
Hiroshi Satoh - Love Is Happening<br />
Hatsue Katoh - 朝のコラージュ<br />
Toshiki Kadomatsu - Rush Hour<br />
Tatsuro Yamashita - Loveland Island<br />
Junko Ohashi - Perfume<br />
Shigeru Suzuki - Phoenix<br />
Tomoko Aran - Hito Natsu no Tapestry<br />
Meiko Nakahara - Fantasy<br />
Makoto Matsushita - First Light<br />
Momoko Kikuchi - Broken Sunset</blockquote><br />
Photographs all © Adele Moon, 2000Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-70565068190160644352019-08-18T20:10:00.001-07:002019-08-18T20:10:39.512-07:00Tapestry Workshop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmsI7wcLDtVEJaO8KbOUaaShtagW5OPVBqWJxTZl9QDgDDlWY4XibiBmZIulnjtqomgiwV-3G23n9qAAauw5uh1pI5QH9-Z8vX7c2ETmFNf_J3aSSZQ6AoMr7xWrBXvbTIaJES0Ym5lqzo/s1600/IMG_1649.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmsI7wcLDtVEJaO8KbOUaaShtagW5OPVBqWJxTZl9QDgDDlWY4XibiBmZIulnjtqomgiwV-3G23n9qAAauw5uh1pI5QH9-Z8vX7c2ETmFNf_J3aSSZQ6AoMr7xWrBXvbTIaJES0Ym5lqzo/s320/IMG_1649.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
A few weeks ago my partner went to the Australian Tapestry Workshop for an event and I stayed home and played records. I had just bought <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykVi7WtJgTQ">Psychic Mirrors' 'I Come For Your Love'</a> so played around that. What a killer! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl5drD0CfuA">The B-side</a> is pretty good too. <br />
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So here's a collection of angular boogie tracks centred around Psychic Mirrors.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="120" src="https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?hide_cover=1&light=1&feed=%2Fjoshualine%2Ftapestry-workshop%2F" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<blockquote>Moon B - Untitled<br />
Fabrizio Fatorri - Running on the Nile<br />
Letta Mbulu - Vumani Makhosi<br />
Enlightenment - Burning Flame<br />
Paul Hardcastle - Strolling<br />
Sass - Much too Much<br />
Jura Soundsystem - Boogie Tune<br />
Glenn Riccs - I've Been Waiting<br />
John Robie - Vera Cava<br />
Psychic Mirrors - I've Come For Your Love<br />
Harold Faltermeyer - Fletch Theme (M&M Mix)<br />
Haruomi Hosono – LDK<br />
Bonzo Goes to Washington – 5 Minutes<br />
Jaki Graham – Victim of Emotion<br />
Legacy - Monday Blues<br />
52nd Street - You're My Last Chance<br />
Gruppo Controle Digitale - A Festa e Nossa</blockquote><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ykVi7WtJgTQ" width="480"></iframe><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-34043209102413726162019-06-06T04:46:00.000-07:002019-06-06T04:46:43.598-07:00Max Headroom - Spencer Clark Thanks Spencer, you're a champ. <br />
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Listen here:<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="120" src="https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?hide_cover=1&light=1&feed=%2Fjoshualine%2Fmax-headroom-spencer-clark%2F" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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Check <a href="https://pacificcitysoundvisions.bandcamp.com">Pacific City Sound Visions</a> for more.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-45899949042766294902019-06-05T17:53:00.000-07:002019-06-05T17:53:16.733-07:00Spencer Clark on Max Headroom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcch3-p88SvWKSHVUKv8yUmmV74KHEwdAFEshzLcUQ5GtvbkbyBVhSolwBGOGFjXJlrqvCaMogWqQi-TSbUF5E73LxV7xzMbeK18FifCV2INb_ohoQ7paJ1lRagY5qqzMN2cM6UzOUvBvv/s1600/CLARK_Spencer_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="940" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcch3-p88SvWKSHVUKv8yUmmV74KHEwdAFEshzLcUQ5GtvbkbyBVhSolwBGOGFjXJlrqvCaMogWqQi-TSbUF5E73LxV7xzMbeK18FifCV2INb_ohoQ7paJ1lRagY5qqzMN2cM6UzOUvBvv/s400/CLARK_Spencer_3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Tonight on <a href="http://www.rrr.org.au/">Max Headroom for RRR 102.7FM</a> I'm diving deep into the world and music of Spencer Clark - 7.00pm Melbourne time tonight. Here's the blurb:<br />
<blockquote>Ex-Skater, Hypnagogic popstar, Vaporwave pioneer, Spencer Clark is one of the most exciting and difficult to categorise musicians working today. His latest album Avatar Blue presents itself as an alternative soundtrack to the yet to be released James Cameron Avatar sequel, and adds to Clark's esoteric interests: underwater aliens, astrobiology, biodome science and regression hypnosis. Confused? Tune in as Clark beams in from Belgium with Joshua Meggitt this Thursday for Max Headroom on Three Triple R.</blockquote><br />
Spencer has been extremely generous with providing extensive interview material for this special, which i hope to present all of tonight. If possible I may include it here in text format.<br />
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Spencer's discography is enormous so I encourage all to check his label <a href="https://pacificcitysoundvisions.bandcamp.com/">Pacific City Sound Visions</a> for more info (even this presents but the teeniest sliver of his work). Here are a few choice moments:<br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3252327322/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="http://pacificcitysoundvisions.bandcamp.com/album/make-mine-macaw">MAKE MINE, MACAW by MONOPOLY CHILD STAR SEARCHERS</a></iframe><br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=248261490/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="http://pacificcitysoundvisions.bandcamp.com/album/h-r-gigers-studiolo-4-h-r-gigers-necronomicon">H.R. GIGERS STUDIOLO 4: H.R. GIGER'S NECRONOMICON by H.R. GIGER'S STUDIOLO</a></iframe><br />
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<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3049963146/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="http://pacificcitysoundvisions.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-of-shells">THE WORLD OF SHELLS by TYPHONIAN HIGHLIFE</a></iframe><br />
<br />
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3834907287/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="http://pacificcitysoundvisions.bandcamp.com/album/the-spectacle-of-light-abductions">THE SPECTACLE OF LIGHT ABDUCTIONS by FOURTH WORLD MAGAZINE VOLUME 1</a></iframe><br />
<br />
<iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=351497477/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="http://pacificcitysoundvisions.bandcamp.com/album/shee-ro-gateway-temples">SHEE-RO GATEWAY TEMPLES by VODKA SOAP</a></iframe><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8FStUTZGN0Q" width="560"></iframe><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwXjd6liHIVSgEkQsDnZ1NzjxP140EHQcR8oA_c1lL0gGGDPq2EnRD4UVz8xeDXbQBjGHH_XYHr-Z3b_faGZCiCsuoIaLjwNAI1p3F05TvQbsSBHECgEeMyKG0Dqky6gGQLX96e8ODRrK9/s1600/hqdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwXjd6liHIVSgEkQsDnZ1NzjxP140EHQcR8oA_c1lL0gGGDPq2EnRD4UVz8xeDXbQBjGHH_XYHr-Z3b_faGZCiCsuoIaLjwNAI1p3F05TvQbsSBHECgEeMyKG0Dqky6gGQLX96e8ODRrK9/s400/hqdefault.jpg" width="400" height="300" data-original-width="480" data-original-height="360" /></a></div><br />
Spencer's next project, coming soon, is a mammoth exploration of the Avatar world,, presented as AVATAR BLUE. I'll leave the story to him, but the mix CDR available at his website is well worth the 5 euros, and can also be heard here<br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6grjm7SkuRM" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Tune in tonight at 7.00pm Melbourne time, streaming link to follow...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-90109922354151102592019-04-16T21:02:00.002-07:002019-04-22T21:45:14.890-07:00The Beach Boys - Endless Harmony<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx7v3YTckeCgLbmBg1YwnLSp2lpNcccpqo0cjG0-wG26GjSFPm6ayM8pTcb7Q7Mt0KcwimFYWsjTTp3oND6SqpFRRr19GlQErloyoKGWz6kCFPpbB-D5S1kKjFjJ7082OELwCzgheQrCpq/s1600/bc760405f7b263b79bf52145f0988faf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="375" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx7v3YTckeCgLbmBg1YwnLSp2lpNcccpqo0cjG0-wG26GjSFPm6ayM8pTcb7Q7Mt0KcwimFYWsjTTp3oND6SqpFRRr19GlQErloyoKGWz6kCFPpbB-D5S1kKjFjJ7082OELwCzgheQrCpq/s320/bc760405f7b263b79bf52145f0988faf.jpg" width="218" /></a></div>This mix was nearly finished ages ago but have finally wound it up, in time for northern summer. If it's anything like last year's summer this ought to fit right in. All Beach Boys, mostly non-hits, with a few hits. I find I listen to nothing-but-Beach Boys every summer so wanted to compile some, and given that its late April and still summer in Melbourne it remains appropriate in the south too. <br />
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Please let me know of any doozies you think I missed.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="120" src="https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?hide_cover=1&feed=%2Fjoshualine%2Fendless-harmony%2F" width="100%"></iframe><br />
<br />
More <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/joshualine/">here</a>.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-2223999753725562722018-10-10T03:07:00.000-07:002018-10-10T03:07:37.179-07:00Hong Kong Nights<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxDCujYADcb-AHzvfQeLon9omx_UtU6CJ16FL7Cz1rHE6tj0GXGbRrEu4jMlkeakbume6wiqgdaJtD-iWzNDmmsUZtYJ21upvi9eXCjXcrkXoCvBxRJ2cQeia8XAymj9tU8x-4Kbil4op0/s1600/IMG_2607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="427" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxDCujYADcb-AHzvfQeLon9omx_UtU6CJ16FL7Cz1rHE6tj0GXGbRrEu4jMlkeakbume6wiqgdaJtD-iWzNDmmsUZtYJ21upvi9eXCjXcrkXoCvBxRJ2cQeia8XAymj9tU8x-4Kbil4op0/s640/IMG_2607.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
New mix up, inspired by the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2tqYPhEqLI">Tin Pan Alley title track</a> and aiming for a particularly sickly kind of sweet, light disco. Sometimes this stuff makes me feel ill but at others it's pure gold. <br />
<br />
<iframe frameborder="0" height="400" src="https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?feed=%2Fjoshualine%2Fhong-kong-nights%2F" width="100%"></iframe><br />
<br />
Here's a few snaps from a visit to Hong Kong back in 2012.<br />
<br />
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<br />
And one of the finest musical evocations of Hong Kong:<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tKkpG_U10q0" width="560"></iframe><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-4874440314199908422018-07-19T14:25:00.001-07:002018-07-19T14:25:36.216-07:00Tropical Breeze Freeze<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
As a focus for my travels I have set up another blog (sigh), called <a href="http://tropicalbreezefreeze.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">TropicalBreezeFreeze</a>. The name comes from a work colleague who persistently fails to remember my catchy DJ name.<br />
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Find it <a href="http://tropicalbreezefreeze.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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http://tropicalbreezefreeze.blogspot.com/<br />
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I dunno what I'm still doing with this one, nor all the other ones at th elink over to the right, but maybe I'll do some more someday.<br />
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Don't go changin'.<br />
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f77PLFRP3Ok" width="560"></iframe><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-24468323050279595642018-05-04T23:18:00.002-07:002018-05-04T23:18:51.988-07:00Devon Cathedral<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_B10ckDHPVB-uWJGXf5bZ3F8lrb98NXK86VkY-Qq9d4iAjONLYNn-wemdytU2o_ap0RBI_s5aEolUKZ8ZET2LGnHML8siGAMqlnBEGvXoCeJHcJUhta87CaLTRZ5YNVJSsN1k40mX73F/s1600/IMG_3475.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_B10ckDHPVB-uWJGXf5bZ3F8lrb98NXK86VkY-Qq9d4iAjONLYNn-wemdytU2o_ap0RBI_s5aEolUKZ8ZET2LGnHML8siGAMqlnBEGvXoCeJHcJUhta87CaLTRZ5YNVJSsN1k40mX73F/s320/IMG_3475.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
New DJ Tropical Breeze mix, inspired by a rummage through old 90s records (Auch, Mouse on Mars, Brinkmann, Kron) in the shed. For Philip in Devon, may the cathedral be yours!<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="120" src="https://www.mixcloud.com/widget/iframe/?hide_cover=1&light=1&feed=%2Fjoshualine%2Fdevon-cathedral%2F" width="100%"></iframe><br />
<blockquote><br />
XYR - Middle of Nowhere<br />
DJ Sottofett - Space Dub<br />
Mike Cooper - Raft 29: Honey Hunters<br />
Mouse on Mars - Papa, Antoine<br />
SAD - untitled<br />
Dices - Back Frame<br />
Indoor Plants - Walking Man<br />
Cuisine Dub - Untitled<br />
Thomas Fehlmann - Andrea is Delighted<br />
Bus - Untitled<br />
Rhythm and Sound - Queen in my empire version<br />
King Tubby - Ital Skank<br />
The Upsetters - Longer Dub<br />
Prince Jammy - Attack on Ganymede<br />
Sugar Minott - Devil at Large<br />
King Tubby - Fat Thing Version<br />
Sad Rockets - Cascais<br />
Love Joys - Jah Light<br />
Rhythm and Sound - Music Hit You<br />
Madteo - Workshop 11<br />
Kron - Untitled<br />
Snd - Untitled<br />
Auch - Untitled<br />
Studio One - Thomas Brinkmann Variation 1</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-78629339051244125252018-04-17T23:10:00.003-07:002019-02-26T19:09:31.144-08:00Urgent!<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KAv500Q6bfA" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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On 5 April 2018, Dave L. and myself returned to RRR 102.7FM to present a survey of the Urgent! genre. Urgent! was coined by Dave and a pal of his to describe a particularly intense form of high-energy AOR, frequently featured in fight scenes of 1980s action films. The archetypal Urgent! song is Frank Stallone's 'Far From Over', above, which spurred the invention of the genre in the first place.<br />
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Listen again here:<br />
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https://www.rrr.org.au/explore/programs/max-headroom/episodes/3139-max-headroom-05-apr-2018#episode-playlist<br />
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Some other Urgent! classics:<br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/siTkX_35mPg" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rOXaPE6gklI" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oomCIXGzsR0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9D-QD_HIfjA" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lyNRmFxpbLU" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bj5jC1H3HWw" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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Now to create a Wikipedia entry...<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-71508056778658923752017-06-21T23:36:00.002-07:002017-06-21T23:36:44.007-07:00Slow Hand<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pnVOt2LK2Gg" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br />
In the Pointer Sisters version, has been a favourite of mine, perhaps even holding the number one spot, for over a year now, since I picked up their album ‘Black and White’ in my trawl through bargain bins in search of the entire Pointer Sisters catalogue. I played the album, recognised the tune from childhood AM radio, recalled a fondness, found it akin to much of the sappy AOR I currently dig (and a far cry from other Pointer Sisters smashers like ‘Automatic’), played it again… liked it a bit more, played it again…. And so on, over and over, and over again. I then waxed lyrical to my chums about what a masterpiece it was when out at the pub, before rushing home to play it again. What a song!<br />
<br />
Reading about the song’s history I discovered that for songwriters John Bettis and Michael Clark, the Pointer Sisters were about the last band they had in mind to record it. They were thinking Conway Twitty, who recorded a pretty similar version, performed live here in utterly bonkers surrounds. The audience are comotose, and frequently looking the other way, while Conway lumbers lazily - but proficiently - through those oh so moving cadences:<br />
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/prC2iOA5SmQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
<br />
Since then I've picke dit up on 7inch (Pointer Sisters singles are pretty widespread), and on another album, and got the wav file so I can rinse it to death. I play it publicly at every opportunity I get, and am yet to tire of it. Recently I was singing along to it, loudly, while scrubbing mould off the bathroom walls and my family recorded it, so i even have my own bathroom rendition of it. May the versions continue... <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-3531407183086008322016-08-14T20:07:00.002-07:002016-08-14T20:07:44.162-07:00Pages<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyVdWOH59DWrV0KrcorEhTvLNwlOnYz35dNzXFPXvb3VzYEwssudntBUVawW-S1iGyKqPJT6oIOaKaT1wOOaGujUKrvYXbNKjndRJu9FmLOyzNN_FpkecqQY13asJrE7m1XTHc-LTv6ky/s1600/Pages_%2528band%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipyVdWOH59DWrV0KrcorEhTvLNwlOnYz35dNzXFPXvb3VzYEwssudntBUVawW-S1iGyKqPJT6oIOaKaT1wOOaGujUKrvYXbNKjndRJu9FmLOyzNN_FpkecqQY13asJrE7m1XTHc-LTv6ky/s400/Pages_%2528band%2529.jpg" width="400" height="274" /></a></div>In my recent yacht rock trawling I’ve discovered a number of lesser known artists that have particularly impressed. Top of the list is Pages, most intriguingly known as the group that would become Mr Mister. Little of that legacy is in the Pages sound, save for the undeniably rousing vocals of Richard Page, namesake – obviously – for the band. Steve George is the other core member of Pages (and Mr. Mister), on vocals and keyboards, most crucially an array of synthesizers (Minimoog, Yamaha CS-80, Oberheim, ARP 2600 ). They’re joined on each album by a pool of top shelf smoothsters from the era – Kenny Loggins, Al Jarreau, Michael Brecker, Dave Grusin, Jeff Porcaro – resulting in polished but eccentric music. With the prominent electronics they sound kinda like Starbuck, but with cleaner production and slicker material. Thus, the contrast between abstract analog synth blurps and smooth late seventies-early eighties commercial AOR is more pronounced, strange and – to my ears - gripping. This is the stuff that thrills me now that I’m firmly middle aged. <br />
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I first heard Pages, unwittingly, via vaporwave project Macintosh plus, who sampled their biggest hit You Need a Hero on their "ライブラリ" (Library). <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c2SWFr66GEg" width="560"></iframe><br />
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This was a blatant descendent of Oneohtrix Point Never’s Chuck Persons echojams, where he ‘vaporwaved’ the likes of Gerry Rafferty and Toto. <br />
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These were all great, and part of the catalyst that had me searching back through my parents’ record collection. Toto, Rafferty, Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers; all were stock favourites in my childhood home, alongside oodles of less commercial jazz fusion, a spin off from my dad’s interest in prog.<br />
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Like much yacht rock, but unlike prog, Pages fused fusion with slick pop-rock, which resulted in critical acclaim but commercial disregard, unlike their peers Steely Dan, Kenny Loggins etc. This is surprising, and a bit sad, as they sound like perfect seventies AM radio fodder to me. Perhaps that synth-AOR blend didn’t gel so well with mass taste. Pages recorded three albums between 1978 and 1981, all with plenty of gems (and a few duds), but the highlights I’d rate as the finest within the broader yacht rock AOR canon, and indeed some of the finest fusion of synths with standard commercial pop rock instrumentation and arrangements of any era. This is not synth pop by any means, but AOR with synths.<br />
<br />
Pages are ripe for rediscovery and I’m surprised by how they remain overlooked, and I’d recommend all three albums to be reissued, or perhaps a Music From Memory style compendium of the hits. Very hard to find on vinyl, my brother picked up a copy of their last album in Ballarat of all places (thank you!), but snap up whatever you can find.<br />
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Here’s an interweb blurb of their work album by album: <br />
<b>Pages (1978)</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpD7t-vhm10z9FAq-MafaGyapmZqjS5s5izX2tNm9HCGMkXqStODZGgAVTNdO7T3btJe67GyNZrP56btj3rTOG5iWbl54oGZ1_CT-cc8jTkZSVG5nF-QIB-kZeF_XaJcLTQeUztwWqqKq-/s1600/R-2426693-1464391886-1991.jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpD7t-vhm10z9FAq-MafaGyapmZqjS5s5izX2tNm9HCGMkXqStODZGgAVTNdO7T3btJe67GyNZrP56btj3rTOG5iWbl54oGZ1_CT-cc8jTkZSVG5nF-QIB-kZeF_XaJcLTQeUztwWqqKq-/s400/R-2426693-1464391886-1991.jpeg.jpg" width="400" height="397" /></a></div><blockquote>Pages' eponymous first album, released in 1978, featured tracks ranging from light funk ("Clearly Kim"), calypso ("Love Dance") and driving rock ("Room At The Top") to smooth, harmonious ballads ("This Is For The Girls," "I Get It From You") and luscious instrumentals ("Interlude").<br />
The album featured an impressive array of session musicians. The roster of talent included Colomby, Philip Bailey (Earth, Wind & Fire), Steve Forman, Dave Grusin, Claudio Slon, Victor Feldman and Michael Brecker. Although Page provided most of the lead vocals, George took the lead on "Let It Go" and "Listen For The Love."<br />
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Colomby was quoted as saying that "Pages represents the mainstream of contemporary music. They utilize various elements and combine them into an original and tasty mixture that will appeal to all formats of radio." Despite Colomby's prediction, radio found it hard to place the group's sound. Neither Pages nor its single "If I Saw You Again" made the Billboard charts. Leinheiser and Battelene went their own way after the album was recorded.</blockquote><br />
This dub/edit of Clearly Kim is an absolute cracker:<br />
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<b>Future Street (1979)<br />
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</b> <blockquote>After the commercial failure of their debut album, Pages went back to the studio to record their 1979 follow-up, entitled Future Street. Charles "Icarus" Johnson joined on acoustic and electric guitar, and George Lawrence was brought in on drums.<br />
According to Page, "Jerry [Manfredi], Steve [George] and myself were writing all the music but it just didn't sound right. Everybody knew it, but it was left unspoken for a long time because of that lingering bond. With Charles and George everything went perfect for the first time. The potential was just staring us in the face".<br />
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<blockquote>Once again produced by Colomby, the album blended the finely crafted overtones of the first album with a somewhat hard-edged pop-rock sound with progressive overtones. Additional musicians and artists on Future Street included Kenny Loggins (backing vocals and songwriting on "Who's Right Who's Wrong"), George Hawkins, Joey Trujillo, Jai Winding and Steve Lukather. George took lead vocals on "Two People." Another detail is that the cover sleeve was designed by John Lang.<br />
The opening track, the energetic "I Do Believe In You," peaked at number 84 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1979.</blockquote><br />
Both the artwork and title of <i>Future Street </i>hint at the group’s progressive reach, but perhaps they were too forward looking and ahead of their time as the album failed to chart.<br />
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<blockquote><b>Pages (1981)</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX3qFlw7HUK7-s5KgJOEughRR7p-S0Lk0LCt9wYl8yj2fFFzKuuwrK4Gbw6wHJU6gcfyJeAljXk_9WN1Q4mKXW-3XOt9PwpjFId_xiExM402-2SIgwPFkMXXK2hCMCEveca4iRY-hJRWjx/s1600/R-2911617-1306917919.jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX3qFlw7HUK7-s5KgJOEughRR7p-S0Lk0LCt9wYl8yj2fFFzKuuwrK4Gbw6wHJU6gcfyJeAljXk_9WN1Q4mKXW-3XOt9PwpjFId_xiExM402-2SIgwPFkMXXK2hCMCEveca4iRY-hJRWjx/s320/R-2911617-1306917919.jpeg.jpg" width="320" height="313" /></a></div>The band switched to Capitol Records, and brought in acclaimed producer Jay Graydon. The resulting album - eponymous like their first album - was released in 1981. Two singles were released from the album, "You Need a Hero" and "Come on Home." Interestingly, these were the only tracks produced by Colomby on the album.<br />
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The players on this album consisted of Page (lead and background vocals), George (backing vocals, Fender Rhodes, synthesizer: Yamaha CS-80 - Oberheim - ARP 2600, Mini-Moog, clavinet, electric power oboe and grand piano) John Lang (co-writer), Charles Johnson (guitar), Neil Stubenhaus (bass), Ralph Humphrey (drums), Steve Khan (electric guitar), Jeff Porcaro (drums), Paulinho DaCosta (percussion), Vince Colaiuta (drums), Tom Scott (sax), Jay Graydon (guitars, synthesizer programming, producer), Mike Baird (drums) and Al Jarreau (vocal flute). Despite this powerhouse lineup of musicians, the album failed to chart.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-31602249992871812462016-06-03T17:34:00.000-07:002016-06-07T16:31:17.608-07:00Ambient Music from Japan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicHOZ8D03QDo2xmxuzz5NutcK6rhku3WYJEPQuY-NDyDZ-P882-bYpYWevX2uI0aPAi9uhTZup7rXtCy0HL7YVxlow6tj67YDnW2pRSCdVkJiHpiuhGbuvpsDMoAS2Gd6Yd4UGH4MkQLGT/s1600/-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicHOZ8D03QDo2xmxuzz5NutcK6rhku3WYJEPQuY-NDyDZ-P882-bYpYWevX2uI0aPAi9uhTZup7rXtCy0HL7YVxlow6tj67YDnW2pRSCdVkJiHpiuhGbuvpsDMoAS2Gd6Yd4UGH4MkQLGT/s400/-1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Earlier this year I caught up with dear old chum <a href="http://floatingheads-mindbomb.blogspot.com.au">Floating Head </a>and we set ourselves the challenge of each recording a mix of Japanese ambient music. Several months later the work is done and here it is: two different takes on an hour-ish mix of ambient music by Japanese artists.<br />
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Floating Head’s description of how he put his mix together is included below, so here's my blurb. Floating Head and I go way back and connected over music, and an interest in Japanese art and literature among other things. We’ve mostly lived in separate cities (he in Barcelona, me in Melbourne) so we’ve kept in touch by sharing music, and talked music and reading recommendations, so this seems a natural extension. On his last visit we were talking current music interests – he mentioned Yui Onodera, I was on a Haruomi Hosono obsession – and we noted Susumu Yokota’s recent premature death, and our general abiding fondness for ambient music. From there somehow we got onto the idea of a challenge, a way of shaping our listening and providing an objective. This is the sort of thing I’m always keen for, given my sense of drowning in music and the flitting I do haphazardly from one world to the next. <br />
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Until the our mixes were finished all details were secret. Surprising only one overlap (Gallery Six’s ‘Hakasui Gasansui’), and very different sounds and approaches. I’m currently fascinated with the slick polish of 1980s music production of the more commercial variety, and Japanese 80s music seems to go one step slicker. That goes for ambient/new age music of that period too, as exemplified by artists like Yoshio Suzuki and Hiroshi Yoshimura, and everything on Hosono’s Yen Records label, where even twee lo-fi is hi-fi. I wanted to celebrate this sound, linking it with more recent, older, and varied work by Japanese artists. Beyond that I wanted it to be repeatedly listenable, erring on the pleasant side, without ruffling feathers (by either abrupt dynamic shift, or boring through lack of). <br />
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As for whether Japan has a unique take on ambient music, through associations with Zen tradition, a particular understanding of nature, space and silence, or somesuch, I would rather not comment. One thing that can be noted is that there does seem a large volume of ambient music made by Japanese artists. Is this the result of the economic boom in the 1980s and a need for corporate relaxation (see <a href="http://rootstrata.com/rootblog/?p=7819">root strata</a>), or a pervasive market for it by western audiences? Or a particular knack for synthesis? Or those notions touched on above...? <br />
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<b>DJ Tropical Breeze: Japanmbient Mix:</b><br />
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<blockquote>1 Minamo Beginning Durée 12K 2010<br />
2 Toshiki Kadomatsu Sea Song [Reprise] Sea Is A Lady BMG Victor 1987<br />
3 Gallery Six Hakasui Gasansui Shimmering Moods 2015<br />
4 Hiroshi Yoshimura Green Green Air Records Inc 1986<br />
5 Yoshio Suzuki Meet Me In The Sheep Meadow Morning Picture JVC 1984<br />
6 H Takahashi Soft Wave Sea Meditation Entertainment Systems 2015<br />
7 Yoshio Ojima Serene Une Collection Des Chainon I Wacoal Art Centre 1988<br />
8 Pass Into Silence Iceblink Calm Like A Millpond Kompakt 2004<br />
9 Inoyamaland Morn Music for Myxomycetes Transonic Records 1998<br />
10 Toshiro Mayuzumi Mandala Mandala Symphonie Columbia 1969<br />
11 Midori Takada Trompe-l'oeil Through the Looking Glass RCA 1983<br />
12 saburo ubakata from late spring Reflection Primal Kaico 2013<br />
13 Susumu Yokota Azukiiro No Kaori Sakura Leaf 2000<br />
14 Yoshio Ojima Glass Chattering Une Collection Des Chainon I Wacoal Art Centre 1988<br />
15 Satoshi Ashakawa Image Under Tree Still Way Sound Process 1982<br />
16 Akio Suzuki Bottle K7 Box Alm Records 2007<br />
17 Haruomi Hosono wakamurasaki Tale of Genji OST Sony 1987<br />
18 sawako Piano.cote Nu.it Baskaru 2014<br />
19 Yui Onodera Cloudscape 01 Cloudscapes Serein 2015<br />
20 Ryuichi Sakamoto Nostalgia Three Decca 2013<br />
21 Kazumasa Hashimoto Ending Epitaph Flyrec 2004</blockquote><br />
Here's Floating Head's comments:<br />
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"To be honest I can’t quite remember the exact reason how this started. The real origin of the seed of the idea could have come from anywhere, perhaps just the need to have a basic concept to tie a mix together. Why Japanese in particular I cannot really say anymore. I don’t remember if there was a particular album or anything that triggered it off. But in any case, I remember discussing it with my good friend, fellow music lover and radio presenter Josh/DJ Tropical Breeze while in Melbourne at Christmas time. The idea from that time was that we would each prepare a mix of Japanese ambient music and publish them around the same time. Since then it has been a steady immersion in as much Japanese ambient, synth pop and experimental music as possible, around 6 months of focussed listening. While we did exchange names of artists and albums, there was no other insight into what the other was doing until we shared our mixes and track lists this week. Several of the artists consequently overlap, although in the end there is only one track that is the same between mixes, Hidekazu Imashige/Gallery Six’s Hakasui [Shimmering Moods].<br />
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My shortlist for the mix was 100 tracks clocking in at around 12 hours of sound if unedited and unmixed, so about one third of the tracks made the final cut and plenty more that didn’t make it. Consequently there is also quite a bit of overlap between tracks, with the first 17 tracks all fitting in to the first 25 minutes alone. That is, for the first 25 minutes there is generally at least two and sometimes up to four tracks playing at the same time. It’s a bit less crowded by the end.<br />
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One thing that surprised me making the mix, which was assembled carefully on Adobe Audition and in no way was mixed live, was that the tendency was to mix down tracks and not up as is usually the case. Not sure if this is something specific to Japanese ambient or it relates more to the superimposition of multiple tracks at the same time. In any case, the mix uses a lot of dynamic range and tries to emphasise the noise and the silence where possible.<br />
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I have seen quite a few Japanese artists complaining about lazy Western journalists describing their music in terms of Zen and related concepts, probably without really understanding anything about Zen and having only a post-card image of what Japan is really like. In any case, I really appreciate a lot of the material I found was based on field recordings and even in some cases people playing instruments as if joining in with nature and natural sounds as well as of course some temple sounds and related audio phenomenon. It would be interesting to talk directly to a lot of the artists and to see what terms they would use to describe their sounds and if Zen is a genuine interest or it is just a coincidence.<br />
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<b>Floating Head: Japanese Ambient Mix:</b><br />
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<blockquote>1 Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. La Novia - Speed Guru (Live in Tokyo) Acid Mothers Temple 2002<br />
2 Tetsu Inoue Background Story Instinct Ambient 1996<br />
3 Ametsub Faint Dazzlings Mille Plateaux 2010<br />
4 Ghost Masttillah Drag City 1996<br />
5 Geinoh Yamashirogumi Shohmyoh Victor 1988<br />
6 Ground Zero Paraiso 1 Trigram / ReR Megacorp 1995 / 2005<br />
7 Gallery Six Hakusui Shimmering Moods 2015<br />
8 Yui Onodera Rhizome 4 Gears Of Sand 2007<br />
9 Buddhastick Transparent Labyrinth (Lunatique Lux) Sharira 1997<br />
10 Adzuki 秋 / Autumn Adzuki Self-released (Bandcamp) 2014<br />
11 松本 一哉(Kazuya Matsumoto) たゆたう水月(Tayutau suigetsu) Spekk 2015<br />
12 Chihei Hatakeyama A bronze pike Room40 2015<br />
13 松本 一哉(Kazuya Matsumoto) 秋霖(Shurin) Spekk 2014<br />
14 Yasuaki Shimizu Kono Yo Ni Yomeri #2 Better Days 1982<br />
15 Tetsu Inoue Remote DiN 2005<br />
16 Stilllife 彗星 Nature Bliss 2014<br />
17 Ippu-Do Alone Epic 1982<br />
18 Stilllife やがて霞とともに Nature Bliss 2014<br />
19 Ametsub 66 Mille Plateaux 2010<br />
20 Michiru Aoyama World Shimmering Moods 2015<br />
21 Yoichiro Yoshikawa Crater On The Moon (Short Version) Eastworld 1987<br />
22 Yamaoka Late in summer Twice Removed 2015<br />
23 Fourcolour Double 12k 2016<br />
24 ENA Absorption #2 Samurai Horo 2014<br />
25 Go Hiyama Hiku Stroboscopic Artefacts 2011<br />
26 A.O.T. ”フィードバック (Go Koyashiki Remix)” (Rundgång) SonuoS 2013<br />
27 Yui Onodera Semi Lattice Part 5 Baskaru 2015<br />
28 Dumbtype Drawing #3 Digital Narcis 1997<br />
29 Toshifumi Hinata Colored Air Alfa 1986<br />
30 Maki Asakawa Onna Honest Jon's Records ? / 2015<br />
31 Fruit Of The Original Sin Interscape (-X) Kin Sound Recordings 2001<br />
32 Susumu Yokota Shinsen Leaf 2000<br />
33 Buddhastick Transparent Morpheus (Eve Eva : X) Sharira 1996</blockquote><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-52625424338801507822016-06-03T17:22:00.000-07:002016-06-03T17:22:24.661-07:00Soft Options<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUt5P3vJ8ScEgHobXnXSMSdhbp4qB5qLc7PfysEvd06cCvqVI5eyib05rXid3vdAsNvBvJ_bZR_s9MeIZNYDMOOYi7McjTr6DzJkUXgeVWY0edN_OOrGnGJ-FM3UM5cfZBDNwQX423BxH_/s1600/f721e45d6ed69b45f9b36651b1693a60.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUt5P3vJ8ScEgHobXnXSMSdhbp4qB5qLc7PfysEvd06cCvqVI5eyib05rXid3vdAsNvBvJ_bZR_s9MeIZNYDMOOYi7McjTr6DzJkUXgeVWY0edN_OOrGnGJ-FM3UM5cfZBDNwQX423BxH_/s320/f721e45d6ed69b45f9b36651b1693a60.jpg" /></a></div>Soft Option is over, so relive those mellow midnight memories by streaming! 4 episodes, 8 hours, 2 charming hosts, and 4 sadsack Sabbath songs:<br />
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Episode 1: http://ondemand.rrr.org.au/player/128/201605070000<br />
Episode 2: http://ondemand.rrr.org.au/player/128/201605140000<br />
Episode 3: http://ondemand.rrr.org.au/player/128/201605210000<br />
Episode 4: http://ondemand.rrr.org.au/player/128/201605280000Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-50556790040495261862016-05-03T21:29:00.000-07:002016-05-03T21:29:06.146-07:00Soft Option<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7h_iZgPli8G6v62FHZvyTu1jMiOASJK50jMSHvfx0Z-bfDYXDBp9Fcz0biZ1yh-M-J-DyDwxa_SbUXQDm0wBZ_BXeS5V_KtlMx7-7MZSoxWda9GJr9rXeTTLSxdojo_tPKMSJQaiZ0be9/s1600/81GY48iskyL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7h_iZgPli8G6v62FHZvyTu1jMiOASJK50jMSHvfx0Z-bfDYXDBp9Fcz0biZ1yh-M-J-DyDwxa_SbUXQDm0wBZ_BXeS5V_KtlMx7-7MZSoxWda9GJr9rXeTTLSxdojo_tPKMSJQaiZ0be9/s320/81GY48iskyL._SL1500_.jpg" /></a></div><br />
For the month of May, I am back on the <a href="http://www.rrr.org.au/program/tabula-rasa/">aiRRRwaves</a> to present a new program for the Friday midnight Tabula Rasa slot, entitled 'Soft Option'. Joyously, I'll be joined by <a href="http://manwithoutshame.blogspot.com.au/">Lexican Devil</a> on presenting duties.<br />
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The title is rather self explanatory as to the show's content, but here's the blurb:<br />
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<i><blockquote>Soft Option celebrates music’s tender, gentle moments, a world of mannered, smooth vibes and adult contemporary sophistication. Soft Option finds the common ground between hazy country classics, heart-on-tear-stained-sleeve rock ballads, slick yacht rock product, honeyed Philly soul stirrers, wispy new age doodles, major-keyed fusion noodlers, dinky Balearic chuggers, and private press bedroom whingers… united under a shared vision of sweet, smooth, soft music. <br />
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Sometimes revolutions happen in velvet.</blockquote></i><br />
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Tune in midnight, this Friday 6 May. It's going to be a cool night...<br />
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z9F86jSMu7Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-27867968933693255412016-05-03T20:34:00.001-07:002016-05-03T20:34:27.696-07:00Prince<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmyA2xPGhp7hM9tggdvm0dC7MSfxNrxHnnsL6nMlh6SfYBtgrjx9d850hgos8N1iXIxIzPnXGjx9uIV5w3rj988TtbFfQhkxZz75CRLpgU-UqMSpdiF7OW1xYPrS7-sNZj49uPDfEwAHXN/s1600/soulhead_Prince_DirtyMind_35th_Image1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmyA2xPGhp7hM9tggdvm0dC7MSfxNrxHnnsL6nMlh6SfYBtgrjx9d850hgos8N1iXIxIzPnXGjx9uIV5w3rj988TtbFfQhkxZz75CRLpgU-UqMSpdiF7OW1xYPrS7-sNZj49uPDfEwAHXN/s320/soulhead_Prince_DirtyMind_35th_Image1.jpg" /></a></div><br />
So long Prince.<br />
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yy9L4ft7EGk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-37880834967628870922016-04-06T18:53:00.000-07:002016-04-06T18:53:03.819-07:00So long Merle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiae_3ssF3z0YOgbPAr5hnhoVfKRBjFzzr0H5C4a0dzzHEgA7iuRjwdTxPms6f2IV1w0TytSi9EOdBgTpsbmj2fe050Q-qORoh0bNyhIm3R2yQbMStE5XsYdYzZo95vU60TRQzgNjLDuqTl/s1600/merle-haggard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiae_3ssF3z0YOgbPAr5hnhoVfKRBjFzzr0H5C4a0dzzHEgA7iuRjwdTxPms6f2IV1w0TytSi9EOdBgTpsbmj2fe050Q-qORoh0bNyhIm3R2yQbMStE5XsYdYzZo95vU60TRQzgNjLDuqTl/s320/merle-haggard.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/06/merle-haggard-obituary">Goodbye Merle Haggard</a>, one of the greats.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjTykOQRwx3Bi_5uIyCoK-GmsZ6ZEqDakUI53cJZb9V_2OUHOyHiQyclzBQcrTO38AVt_4-6XevOjF7mlM9IZpJCnJKwlXOx3jRAgMUJAiU1LLgqhnhFmPWiyK2mMqwhFjiVm75sZFHepc/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjTykOQRwx3Bi_5uIyCoK-GmsZ6ZEqDakUI53cJZb9V_2OUHOyHiQyclzBQcrTO38AVt_4-6XevOjF7mlM9IZpJCnJKwlXOx3jRAgMUJAiU1LLgqhnhFmPWiyK2mMqwhFjiVm75sZFHepc/s320/images.jpg" /></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-9231009762756565782016-04-04T21:45:00.001-07:002016-04-05T23:26:09.234-07:00Music and Hyperobjects<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdzyXR-Dh9lQ9COVbZAYKmR3tBU-1CEVSr2ycmdfHp4CNRhNN1Bll7tghIOXtIdYgJ3kUtDumJUHkM19_6oD9KoywQ2ceB52a5jthAF8-jLVERisbP_oWfbKAgX7uYgXtHfGFZb038Aw5/s1600/2014-10-13-morton_hyperobjects_cover_hi_res-thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdzyXR-Dh9lQ9COVbZAYKmR3tBU-1CEVSr2ycmdfHp4CNRhNN1Bll7tghIOXtIdYgJ3kUtDumJUHkM19_6oD9KoywQ2ceB52a5jthAF8-jLVERisbP_oWfbKAgX7uYgXtHfGFZb038Aw5/s320/2014-10-13-morton_hyperobjects_cover_hi_res-thumb.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<a href="http://ecologywithoutnature.blogspot.com">Timothy Morton</a>'s fascinating <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/hyperobjects"><i>Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World</i></a> introduces the term 'hyperobjects' to describe objects that are so massively distributed in time and space as to transcend spatiotemporal specificity, such as global warming, styrofoam, and radioactive plutonium. His thought is grounded in Speculative Realism / Object Oriented Ontology and <i>Hyperobjects</i> provides an approachable and engagingly thorough introduction to these concepts and the implication to art, literature, religion and, of course, ecology.<br />
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Morton's understanding of music is particularly engaging and in the final chapter, 'The Age of Assymetry', he examines the transition of eras of Western thought from the Symbolic through to the present alongside the art and music of these times. Here he discusses artists from Mozart through to Schoenberg and Cage, but also looks at the likes of La Monte Young and Francisco Lopez. Here he is on the Classical collapsing into the Romantic period:<br />
<i><blockquote>In the Classical phase, there is a Goldilocks sweet spot in which there is a pleasant symmetry between Spirit and art materials. A harmony emerges that a later age can only regard as an illusion. Humans and nonhumans meet each other halfway, generating all kinds of beautiful machinery. Mozart and Haydn sound sweetly neoclassical, their music embodying how the nonhuman no longer towers over the human, but the human doesn’t fully comprehend the depths of its own inner space. <br />
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So the Classical phase collapses into the Romantic phase. Spirit’s selfunderstanding far outstrips the materials of art at this point. Philosophy takes over the driver’s seat. In this period, humans recognize the infinite depths of their inner space for the first time. It becomes radically impossible to embody this inner space in any nonhuman entity. So Romantic art must talk about the failure to embody the inner space in outer things. Yet by failing this way, art ironically succeeds to talk about the inner space. Isn’t the inner space precisely what can’t be embodied? So the job of art is to fail better, or rather, more sublimely. So, oddly, medieval cathedrals are less Christian than a Beethoven string quartet. From here on, art can only be about the failure of its materials to embody Spirit fully, precisely because Spirit is not reducible to those materials... Art becomes deeply story-shaped, as artists realize that since they can’t directly express Spirit, they must tell the story of the failure to express it. Music develops into the extreme chromaticism of Mahler, who explores every possible relationship between the notes of a tune. </blockquote></i><br />
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Equal temperament and the invention of the piano are shown to embody the Romantic era and the beginnings of the Anthropocene:<br />
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<blockquote><i>In order to express the nonexpression of the inner life of the human, technologies were invented such as the piano, whose massive resonant interior can be heard when the sustain pedal is depressed. Equal temperament came to dominate modes of tuning, because it enabled music to wander around in a consistent world, no matter how much chromaticism was employed. Now in order to attain equal temperament, you have to detune the piano strings a little bit. The relationships between them are not based on whole number ratios. If they were—a tuning called just intonation—then wild dissonances and interference patterns between sound waves would result: the wolf tones. Equal temperament fudges the ratios a little bit. The endless journey of musical matter in search of Spirit happens in a coherent world of equal temperament fudge, like a sepia painting or photograph. So, ironically, Beethovenian expressions of the rich inner life of Spirit are bought at the price of the enslavement of nonhuman beings—piano strings—to a system that turns them into fudge. Likewise, conductors arose to command the orchestra like a boss commanding workers in a factory. Gone were the genteel classical days when an orchestra conducted itself through the agency of the lead violinist, an arrangement that rather elegantly expresses the Goldilocks harmony between Spirit and materials that exemplifies that earlier era... <br />
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The Romantic period is the very advent of the Anthropocene, when a layer of carbon is deposited by human industry throughout Earth’s top layers of crust. It doesn’t seem like a random coincidence, the epochal event of carbon deposits in Earth; the invention of pianos, gigantic slabs<br />
of hollow wood wound with strings tightened with industrially made nuts and bolts; the invention of the factory-like orchestra with its managerial<br />
conductor; and the dominance of equal temperament, spearheaded by the age of the piano. Equal temperament allowed the piano to dominate,<br />
to become a general musical instrument, much like the steam engine. </i> </blockquote><br />
La Monte Young is held up as among the first to recognise and most successfully explore the features of our current era and fully reject the 'Goldilocks fairytale' of the past: <br />
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<i> <blockquote>Then La Monte Young, a student of John Cage, took the next step. He liberated the strings of the piano from equal temperament, reverting to the just intonation that had been abandoned to create the Romantic world of sepia fudge. To return the strings to just intonation was indeed an act of justice, a “doom.” In justly tuned piano wires, we hear the doom of wire and wood. It was Young, first of the New York Minimalists, who used sound to end Romantic storytelling. Serialism had deconstructed the Romantic narrative by feeding what Webern calls the Strukturklang, the ghostly, spectral–material sound of structure as such, back into the music. Cage had gone further and fed household objects into pianos. Instead of coming up with a new tune, Young decided to work directly with tuning. Young’s The Well-Tuned Piano explodes the tradition begun by Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, organizing music not around a journey but around the vibrations of strings tuned to whole number ratios, ratios that allow ears to hear a dizzying height of crystal clear harmonics within any one note. <br />
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This is the music of attunement, not of stories. Young’s drone music, accompanied by Marian Zazeela’s light pieces, happen for days at a time, sometimes longer, as human voices try to tune to a sine wave that is as pure as possible. The world of sepia, the consistency that enables the world as such to be, is brought to an end by vibrant colors that clash and interfere with one another, like lines in a painting by Napangati or Riley.</blockquote></i><br />
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There is much, much more here but worth reading <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/hyperobjects">Hypoerobjects in its entirety</a>.<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-85771641478669051902016-03-22T21:05:00.000-07:002016-03-22T22:39:12.218-07:00Lee Gamble on Max Headroom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU_al0yrPlaJ6AwQbWmuxiWNxv60MbYzLd9CDJj-1Y7jpvtpMxrb96dz_FiLLZQVqr1KXDe4ai2WgKWq0Y-EXz_OJXV2soxTKBrWwu0QwzJWl_nVmgky29zP_grdL-XuvoWEDwyKRFC8Gm/s1600/Lee-Gamble-Secret-Thirteen-Mix-702x336.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU_al0yrPlaJ6AwQbWmuxiWNxv60MbYzLd9CDJj-1Y7jpvtpMxrb96dz_FiLLZQVqr1KXDe4ai2WgKWq0Y-EXz_OJXV2soxTKBrWwu0QwzJWl_nVmgky29zP_grdL-XuvoWEDwyKRFC8Gm/s320/Lee-Gamble-Secret-Thirteen-Mix-702x336.jpg" /></a></div><br />
This Thursday 24 March for <a href="http://www.rrr.org.au/program/max-headroom/?list=o-tomorrow">Max Headroom on www.rrr.org.au</a> I'm joined by ex-junglist and post-rave experimentalist <a href="https://soundcloud.com/leegamble">Lee Gamble</a> ahead of his appearance at this weekend's <a href="2016.innervarnika.com">Inner Varnika</a> festival. <a href="http://www.rrr.org.au/programs/streaming//Triple-R-Melbourne-Independent-Radio-102-7FM-Programs-">Listen live (from 7pm) here</a>.<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C77nKPjL1hc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-55862946808744960012016-03-16T20:42:00.002-07:002016-03-16T20:51:38.235-07:001980s Japan - Are We 30 Years Behind?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WDBrvkHZpFb01mSz_vndXOV8_2VjJE-AVu1JkaetK1-HMspDe_qzNYwdzGrAwCUr718LKuj6pSiyk1M7siy0umHnHcCRaxmT0VL5YQK0BIbsEH_o_n9-2vJ-iYjACoTdIMIkubOadDj0/s1600/Tokyo_Pop_RCR850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WDBrvkHZpFb01mSz_vndXOV8_2VjJE-AVu1JkaetK1-HMspDe_qzNYwdzGrAwCUr718LKuj6pSiyk1M7siy0umHnHcCRaxmT0VL5YQK0BIbsEH_o_n9-2vJ-iYjACoTdIMIkubOadDj0/s320/Tokyo_Pop_RCR850.jpg" /></a></div><br />
With the contemporary obsession with 1980s Japanese music, epitomised by recent reissues of releases like <a href="http://paltoflats.com/release/mariah-utakata-no-hibi/">Mariah</a> and <a href="http://musicfrommemory.bigcartel.com/product/dip-in-the-pool-on-retinae-12">Dip In the Pool</a> and less recent interest in <a href="http://blog.zzounds.com/2015/10/21/musical-almanac-japans-city-pop/">City Pop</a> and <a href="http://rootstrata.com/rootblog/?p=7819">corporate new age</a> by the likes of <a href="https://www.discogs.com/artist/2566865-Greeen-Linez">Green Linez</a> and <a href="http://rootstrata.com/rootblog/">Root Strata</a>, are we simply 30 years behind?<br />
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Certainly the Balearic New Age House that's currently popular owes much to 1980s Japan, particularly that from around these down under parts.<br />
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I doubt they'd mind the connection, all part of the retro world we're living in, but if we are 30 years behind should we be paying more attention to Japan in the 1990s to see what we're up for next? <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibuya-kei">Shibuya-kei?</a> Might not be so bad.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-90007391098955736692016-01-28T21:15:00.001-08:002018-04-17T23:13:01.698-07:00DJ Tropical Breeze<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDy8APdOc1H2NWSbl7qPYBzfJ1cyZ60aqgjLGxuFT76bjCjBVkAGivi7dFz5tLyrudq_X1qeR686Oiy2NrYurfa5J4V0re_ZxuUz8NAge5hnmXkY4yVIGzBF3clNMTkc8qIQGp_ZFv_eGJ/s1600/zuberbresilcrop.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDy8APdOc1H2NWSbl7qPYBzfJ1cyZ60aqgjLGxuFT76bjCjBVkAGivi7dFz5tLyrudq_X1qeR686Oiy2NrYurfa5J4V0re_ZxuUz8NAge5hnmXkY4yVIGzBF3clNMTkc8qIQGp_ZFv_eGJ/s320/zuberbresilcrop.png" /></a></div>
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I've started DJing under the name <a href="http://djtropicalbreeze.blogspot.com.au/">DJ Tropical Breeze</a> and have set up up a blog as a repository for all things <a href="http://djtropicalbreeze.blogspot.com.au/">DJ Tropica Breeze</a> - http://djtropicalbreeze.blogspot.com.au/. Here's the blurb:<br />
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<i></i><br />
<blockquote>
<i>DJ Tropical Breeze plays laid back, familiar, comfortable island music.</i><br />
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<i>Yacht Rock, Exotica, Lover’s Rock, Disco, and many points in between.</i><br />
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And this is a theme song of sorts:<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-38539801504352993532015-10-28T15:43:00.000-07:002018-10-10T03:08:57.231-07:00Haruomi Hosono<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLYR9NVpf0c8KulbpR5K0jVCg1qESCIMwl1IEfozeKeMCzA9bJ1kvCP6WLwhGZR2CCnN1KBNIWz8xq4rfzOO6pUlRDMvE0CquTycxDDyfk3oSzOWTSFYn38lI6KmeixnUJdFgiQYB4uox5/s1600/Haruomi_Hosono_on_Papersky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLYR9NVpf0c8KulbpR5K0jVCg1qESCIMwl1IEfozeKeMCzA9bJ1kvCP6WLwhGZR2CCnN1KBNIWz8xq4rfzOO6pUlRDMvE0CquTycxDDyfk3oSzOWTSFYn38lI6KmeixnUJdFgiQYB4uox5/s320/Haruomi_Hosono_on_Papersky.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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On 29 October 2015 for <a href="http://www.rrr.org.au/program/max-headroom/">Max Headroom</a> I presented a special on the early works of Japanese maverick Haruomi “Harry” Hosono. I paid particular attention to his run of tropical albums from the mid-to-late seventies, truly glorious music. <a href="http://ondemand.rrr.org.au/player/32/20151029190017">Stream it here</a>, and here's what was played:<br />
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Apryl Fool - <i>Honkytonk Jam </i><br />
Happy End - <i>Kaze Wo Atsumete</i><br />
Haruomi Hosono - <i>Party </i><br />
Haruomi Hosono - <i>Muji Original BMG </i> (excerpt)<br />
Haruomi Hosono - <i>Peking Duck</i><br />
Haruomi Hosono - <i>Exotica Lullaby </i><br />
Haruomi Hosono and The Yellow Magic Band - <i>Japanese Rumba </i><br />
Haruomi Hosono - <i>Hepatitis </i><br />
Haruomi Hosono - <i>Coral Reef </i><br />
Haruomi Hosono - <i>Atlantis </i><br />
Haruomi Hosono - <i>Cosmic Surfin' </i><br />
Haruomi Hosono - <i>Philharmony </i><br />
Haruomi Hosono - <i>Pac Man </i><br />
F.O.E with James Brown and Maceo Parker - <i>Sex Machine </i><br />
Miharu Koshi - <i>L'Amour Toujour </i><br />
Haruomi Hosono - <i>Sportsmen </i><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/trrOKj72aa4" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9171282618015882717.post-4824040922442422472015-09-14T00:06:00.004-07:002015-09-14T00:06:34.423-07:00Flat Champagne: The Last Albums of the Rat Pack<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I wrote this for Triple R's <i>The Trip</i><i>, </i>a subscriber only magazine issued in August.</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Final Albums of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Between
1982-84, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr, the core members of the
Rat Pack, all released their final solo studio albums. Strange, patchy affairs,
with two recorded in Nashville and the other adding electronics, they are
incongruous blots at the end of generally esteemed careers. By 1982, they were
hardly in their prime (Sinatra 67, Martin 65 and Davis Jr 57), and their boozy
crooning and misogynist humour was not in vogue. Even the lounge revival,
itself a disrespectful satire of their Vegas showbiz style, was a decade away.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Lured by money,
contractual obligations, curiosity or boredom, all three returned to the
studio, perhaps regrettably, for a last hurrah. For all their faults, each
reflects – in a rather warped way - the history and personality of their star,
and collectively they reveal a picture of the entertainment industry’s
perception and treatment of faded glory. Let’s revisit these long forgotten (if
ever considered) products and see if anything still sparkles.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxj2biwp5RslCdpL_tmajqLPMfeN4Ts0lLzKgxOJ_ozZbJ8BRwqvCCckWq4I_bNyGkaw42S4T84SUjfx1uARyurCyVXYpTeSM4Gz4Voa59bXcBkTd0XGW6_Km1w6ETHj_HgQjh8AIDE3qe/s1600/la+is.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxj2biwp5RslCdpL_tmajqLPMfeN4Ts0lLzKgxOJ_ozZbJ8BRwqvCCckWq4I_bNyGkaw42S4T84SUjfx1uARyurCyVXYpTeSM4Gz4Voa59bXcBkTd0XGW6_Km1w6ETHj_HgQjh8AIDE3qe/s320/la+is.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Frank Sinatra: <i>LA Is My Lady</i> (Qwest, 1984)</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Sinatra’s final
solo album (not counting <i>Duets</i> of 1993, or indeed 94’s <i>Duets II</i>)
is the most respectable of the three, with by far the biggest budget, and
corresponding effort, and is consequently the least interesting. Hardly
surprising as his career had fewer outright lowlights than Dean or Sammy, and
Sinatra, the consummate professional, seemed unable to do anything half
hearted, or use irony (his appearance in <i>The Canonball Run 2 </i>excepted –
note his body double in scenes with Burt Reynolds). It’s telling too that, of
the three, only Sinatra strives to remain relevant and update his sound for the
eighties: recruiting Quincy Jones, at his peak in 1984, and a huge cast of
crack players, from George Benson to the Brecker Brothers. He also adds
synthesizers, and on the title track, disco rhythms. These kitsch moments are
amusing, but for the most part it’s<i> </i>just a bigger big band and a tired
Frank. This is especially so on “How to Keep the Music Playing”, another disco
number, which asks the wrong question and truly drags. The joy of <i>LA Is My
Lady</i> however is in watching money and talent squandered, producing
something dazzling but flat, smoke and mirrors, more coal than diamond. </span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It was also
released on video and featured Frank’s latest pallies, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Van_Halen" target="_blank" title="Eddie Van Halen"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Eddie Van Halen</span></a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Summer" target="_blank" title="Donna Summer"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Donna Summer</span></a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lee_Roth" target="_blank" title="David Lee Roth"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">David Lee Roth</span></a>, broadcast on the fledgling <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV" target="_blank" title="MTV"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">MTV</span></a>
Network</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. As a final insult, <i>LA is my Lady</i> was
recorded in New York .</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDaeQrLOYX7pKOpy1nwz6tJ8BG5VWJVngv8Jos-C-4mr4HgEkfJm67KIGAdQTDLGL5i0sbZTKyzoXbnDx3I4Q04R7Z55ofzTtaNXGnwKCZEg70V3EmW0c0lYXcHyXTfUGp-mmn601qYBTb/s1600/Dean-Martin-The-Nashville-Ses-434566.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: normal; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDaeQrLOYX7pKOpy1nwz6tJ8BG5VWJVngv8Jos-C-4mr4HgEkfJm67KIGAdQTDLGL5i0sbZTKyzoXbnDx3I4Q04R7Z55ofzTtaNXGnwKCZEg70V3EmW0c0lYXcHyXTfUGp-mmn601qYBTb/s320/Dean-Martin-The-Nashville-Ses-434566.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Dean Martin: <i>The Nashville Sessions</i> (Warner Brothers, 1983)</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">By 1983 Dino
hadn’t released an album since 1978’s <i>Once In A While</i>, which was cobbled
together from recordings from back in 1974. Like all of his seventies output, <i>Once
in a While</i> was an ugly melange of 1930s Tin Pan Alley standards rendered in
country-tinged pop-brass, with Dean swanning in at the last moment to overdub
his vocal parts. The ultimate<i> menefreghista</i>, as biographer Nick Tosches
dubbed him: he didn’t care then and he certainly doesn’t on <i>Nashville</i> .
Dino had dabbled in country on a number of albums (<i>Dino “Tex” Martin Rides
Again, Country Style, Gentle On My Mind</i>), not to mention dixieland (<i>Way
Out Yonder, Dino Goes Dixie, Southern Style</i>); indeed, there was little he
didn’t touch (<i>French Style, Cha-Cha-Cha D’Amour, Sings Italian Love Songs,
Dino Latino,</i> countless Christmas albums). With <i>The Nashville Sessions</i>
however, Dino dips more than a toe in the country pool: Merle Haggard joins him
on “Everybody’s Had The Blues”, and Conway Twitty on “My First Country Song”. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At 65, and with
a lifetime of booze, fags and indifference behind him, Dean’s voice has a
weathered purr comparable to late Johnny Cash (Dino always, bafflingly, had a
Southern drawl, despite being an Italian from Ohio), and few seem as
comfortable fronting such studio froth (his TV career was sodden with canned
laughter). Opener “Old Bones” is a highlight, a loping self-pitying ballad
about ageing featuring the line “I love life I’d like to do it again”. This
rings particularly hollow given Dino’s addiction to painkillers, suicide attempts
and almost violent misanthropy. “Drinking Champagne ” is more accurate: “I’m
drinking champagne, and feeling no pain, ‘til early morning”. The pace never
quickens from slurred ballad crawl, with “Shoulder to Shoulder” and “In Love Up
To My Heart” both particularly narcoleptic, cloaked in anodyne female backing
(a Dino trademark). <i>The Nashville Sessions</i> also features Dean’s only
music video, produced by his son Ricci, “Since I Met You Baby”: tuxedoed Dino,
glassy eyed and lost amidst sequences of swimsuited eighties ladies, palm trees
and cheap video effects. Prime fodder for sampling chill wave hypnagogues but,
alas, <i>The Nashville Sessions </i>has so far eluded the modern hipster’s
retro grasp. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<o:p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVTX-vw65cp2sjyYy_cOj4J3toE6gM5HL5OExrbzHSzIrQlJ-hgvOkkPlnDA1YvAOrGdAQk7rBPs4DhACubr3fQPTVrz_R3tRHXwcwL3BthKzyIZlEK5TiAAMjNE_j0bNrjV__qRHl3wu/s1600/R-6024302-1409088581-5665_jpeg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFVTX-vw65cp2sjyYy_cOj4J3toE6gM5HL5OExrbzHSzIrQlJ-hgvOkkPlnDA1YvAOrGdAQk7rBPs4DhACubr3fQPTVrz_R3tRHXwcwL3BthKzyIZlEK5TiAAMjNE_j0bNrjV__qRHl3wu/s320/R-6024302-1409088581-5665_jpeg.jpg" /></a></o:p></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Sammy Davis Jr: <i>The Closest of Friends</i> (Applause, 1982)</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Recorded in Nashville, hardly the logical musical resting place of Sammy
Davis Jr, <i>The Closest of Friends</i> (also known as <i>Sings Country
Classics)</i> is among the most strangely poignant of final albums. With
material penned by the city’s country finest (Don Gibson, Kris Kristofferson,
Merle Travis), yet cheaply recorded with plastic keyboards and hokey
arrangements, it pits Sammy’s still impressive croon (he was the youngest of
the three) against cold industry indifference and musical mediocrity. This was
a context Dino seemed drawn to, even thrive in, but Sammy comes off second
best. “Smoke Smoke Smoke That Cigarette” is pleasingly macabre, opening to
Sammy’s wheeze before he boasts “I’ve smoked all my life and I ‘aint dead yet”
(he would be, by throat cancer, in 1990). Sammy is on decent form throughout,
but it’s a struggle: through ill-fitting flange guitar gospel (“Come Sundown”),
wayward Casio runs (“Mention a Mansion) and awkward lyrics ("Hey, Won't
You Play (Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song)". The standout
however goes to “(We Could Have Been) The Closest of Friends”, which reads like
a heartfelt plea to his more famous and accepted white Rat Packers, his musical
colleagues in Nashville, and even his audience. As with Martin’s late work,
there is something perversely endearing in the loveless product that is <i>The
Closest of Friends</i>, but this scrapes a barrel lower than Dean ever did,
with Sammy reluctantly forced to eat what he’s served. As testament to the
industry’s enduring disrespect for Sammy Davis Jr, <i>The Closest of Friends</i>
is among his most frequently reissued albums, generally with misleading album
title and artwork.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Sammy was the first to go, aged 64 (damned cigarettes!), with Dean
following in 1995 (fittingly on Christmas Day, aged 78) and Frank making it to
82 in 1998. All joined forces, briefly, in 1988 for a railroad-stadium reunion
tour, but Martin bailed early, to be replaced by Liza Minelli. Aside from
Frank’s stocking filler <i>Duets</i> albums they recorded nothing more. Out
with a whimper, like flat champagne, but one with a strange, lingering
aftertaste that may just grow on you. </span></div>
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