the of mirror eye

* Brotzmann’s Chicago Octet/Tentet: Immediate Music (17.5 mb) | Makapoor (17.5 mb)
From The Chicago Octet/Tentet : Okka Disk : OD12022

Sometimes there are certain musicians that just blow away your preconceptions of what music is and should be and they manage to introduce you to a whole genre of music that was previously unattainable. For me, Peter Brotzmann (look here) is one such fellow. And to a certain extent, Mr. Brotzmann (along with maybe one other musician) really cut the top of my head off, dug into my brain and showed me just what this free jazz was all about. And his Octet/Tentet album really paved the way.

This album is a monumental achievement. The music contained on these three disks is absolutely mind blowing. You’d think, with 8 to 10 musicians, that the music would just be a muddled mess. Yet, the opposite happens. Showing the power of masterful musicians, they manage to play their hearts out, and yet somehow leave enough room for the others to shine. Recorded ten years ago, this album is as vital now as it was when it was first released.

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And if you’re in Chicago, over the next week and a half, you can enjoy the Brotzmann Tentet in various forms at a number of different venues all over the city. Look over here for more info.

* Sun Ra: Strange Strange (30.0 mb)
From Strange Strings : Unheard Music Series : UMS263CD-X

…all this considered, Strange Strings, the culmination of all Sun Ra’s string studies, is without doubt one of Sun Ra’s master works. Strange Strings, standing squarely alongside Sun Ra’s other epics of the mid 1960s, Atlantis and Magic City, absolutely shines as his most painterly of expositions in its surface richness and play with deep space and coloration. He has offered no world more strange than this in his entire output as a composer and orchestrator. These explorations are only hinted at in scattered moments on other recordings from this period. The full exercise of his very original and very imaginative powers as musical adventurer and visionary bursts forth in the masterful cosmic clattering of Strange Strings. (Hal Rammel)

This is a completely compelling document of master musicians using their knowledge on instrument with which they haven’t been trained on. A great concept and incredible in execution. I’m glad someone finally gave this a proper release.

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* The Golden Road: Hammer (31.5 mb)
From Ringside Seat/Nosebleed Tone : Children Of Microtones : C.O.M. 31

Like I wrote earlier, these past couple of months have been pretty rockin’ for me. I visited some friends on the East coast, went to a wedding and saw a couple of incredible shows. And then, just last week, I got to see these fine musicians, otherwise known as MV & EE, play in a small club to a handful of people. I saw them this past August (look here) but didn’t quite get into the show as much as I thought I would. This time around though, they blew my socks off. The vibe of the show was completely different and much more enjoyable for me. From the first notes to the last, they transported me to a different place. While I was there, I picked up a couple of releases from them. And I’ve really been diggin’ this one by The Golden Road, who’s actually MV & EE plus a couple of friends.

In the deep wilds of the summer solstice 2007 we, The Golden Road, did a tour of dive bars and low rent high mind art spaces around the rust belt, Canadian Metros and Northeast Kingdoms. We were airing a buncha tonal hash prior to going into the studio to record “Gettin’ Gone”. The nascent results of our efforts are captured here, live from the tapers’ pit, in the spectrasound you have come to expect from a C.O.M. harvest (from the liner notes)

Not having yet heard “Gettin’ Gone”, this album sees to be a pretty big departure from their other work. There’s an incredible Neil Young & Crazy Horse vibe goin’ on, with some big ole drums, bass and two guitar attacks. This album is a total winner all the way through, and includes a huge 30+ minute jam with one of my other favorites, C. Spencer Yeh! At any rate, if you have any interest in MV & EE, definitely try and track this release down, either at a mail order emporium or by checking out one of their up coming shows (look here), I promise you won’t be disappointed.

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* Vera Ward Hall: Trouble So Hard (2.5 mb)
* Kelly Pace and Group: Rock Island Line (1.5 mb)
* Georgia Turner: The House Of The Rising Sun (Rising Sun Blues) (1.5 mb)
* Leadbelly: Irene Goodnight (Goodnight Irene) (4.5 mb)
From Alan Lomax: Popular Songbook : Rounder Records : CDROUN1863

As far as Musicologists go, Alan Lomax can be considered to be one of the most important. His work, spanning an incredible 60 years, exposed the rest of the world to the incredible traditional musics being created in rural/down home America.

Few figures deserve greater credit for the preservation of America’s folk music traditions than Alan Lomax. Scouring the backroads, honky tonks and work camps of the Deep South, he unearthed a treasure trove of songs and singers, documenting the music of the common man for future generations to discover; through Lomax’s pioneering efforts, cultural traditions ranging from the Delta blues to Appalachian folk to field hollers continue to live on, with his invaluable recordings offering a compelling portrait of times and cultures otherwise long gone.(All Music Guide)

These songs were collected as an example of just how deep the Lomax influence went. Despite his penchant for the traditional musics, the songs by the original artists were so incredible that they went on to enter the popular lexicon.

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* The Saints: (I’m) Stranded (6.0 mb) | Messin’ With The Kid (9.0 mb) | Private Affair (3.0 mb) | No, Your Product (7.0 mb)
From All Times Through Paradise : EMI : 5779392

What was it about the mid to late ’70’s that just had so many great bands bashing away at their kits and singing their hearts out. The Saints, along with the Ramones practically defined that era’s musical vision.

As melodic as they were dynamic, The Saints were Australia’s premiere punk contenders and a band steeped in rock’n'roll classicism – their earliest sets were peppered with Phil Spector covers. Guitarist Ed Kuepper was a musician equal parts belligerence and vision, while singer Chris Bailey ’s Jaggeresque slur was the perfect conduit for lyrics that reflected the ennui and cultural isolation of their suburban Queensland home. (David Sheppard)

I’d heard about these guys awhile ago, but unfortunately never had too much luck tracking their stuff down. It seems like their albums are mostly out of print or expensive imports. After awhile, I just kind of gave up on ever hearing them. Luckily, someone at the major labels has a brain and decided to package up their first three albums plus a live set as a 4 CD box set. Hopefully, this won’t go out of print and will allow more people to hear this great band.

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* Joy Division: Disorder (6.5 mb) | Love Will Tear Us Apart (6.0 mb) | Insight (6.0 mb) | Shadowplay (6.5 mb)
From Les Bains Douches 18 December 1979 : NMC Music : FACD 2.61

I’ll have to say, the first time I heard Joy Division, I wasn’t really into them. Maybe their reputation for playing to ashen faced cry babies colored my time spent listening to them. I slowly grew to like their music, but was never as enamored with them as most of my friends. And then I heard some live recordings of them and was immediately blown away! Now here was some primal, raw music that I could listen to with gusto. The band sounds like a fire was lit under them and they were desperately trying to beat it out. If the live recording I’ve heard are any indication, their live shows must’ve been absolutely incredible.

These songs are nothing if not tough. Everything is sped up. It’s loose and raw. There is a primal passion in the music that matches the intensity of Ian Curtis’ singing. On “Disorder,” when he cries, “I got the spirit, lose the feeling, let it out somehow,” it is not sterile and haunted like it is on Unknown Pleasures but has the kick of man who is exorcising something un-namable. On “Insight,” after Curtis barks “I’m not afraid anymore,” and that cheesy laser beam keyboard part kicks in, it’s not really cheesy. The rapid synth pings are coupled with a prominent, dissonant base riff which creates an off-balance, atonal kind of noise, which is equally appropriate and disorienting. (fakejazz)

If you’ve never heard any live Joy Division tracks, than I’m sure these will come as a complete surprise to you. In fact, to me, they play with such fury they sound almost like a punk band to me. At any rate, these tracks are from a radio broadcast of their performance at Les Bains Douches on December 18, 1979. I hope you enjoy them.

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