On the playlist 15/JUN/2018...

Friday afternoon and immersed in a bunch of stuff and feeling like a Grateful Dead afternoon. Chose their performance of August 27, 1972. This concert has an interesting background as it was a benefit concert for the Springfield Creamery in Springfield Oregon. There is a documentary movie and a CD set of this concert called Sunshine Daydream. The concert was emceed by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. Classic dead! Can't recall where I acquired this recording but that's how it goes with dead concert tapes as there can be several versions floating around of any one concert.

On the playlist 14/JUN/2018...

After a couple weeks of being out of the home office travelling had a music free day. Not exactly true as my daughter is getting ready for an audition this weekend I have been listening to her practicing her pieces for that.

On the playlist 1/JUN/2018...

Going a little oddball today with Jordan Nobles - Rosetta Stone. The composer, who is based in Vancouver, has put together an album of pieces that are all composed for multiples of a single instrument. Not only that but each track was recorded by the same artist using multi-tracking so the only place that the music exists is in a recorded state. I think my favorite piece on the album is Typhoon which is for six harps. 

On the Playlist 31/MAY/2018...

Ojos Negros - not exactly tango music here but definitely in the tango genre (remembering our conversation about tango music Kathy). This duo of cello and bandonean (a German accordian like instrument used for Argetinian tango music) has a melancholy sound to it but is lovely music to chill out to. While parts of the music are from traditional songs large parts of the album are improvised. Not sure when or why I got this album but I do enjoy coming back to it from time to time. 

On the playlist 30/MAY/2018...

Stick with me here. I was thinking about sailing since the Volvo Ocean race just had a leg finish earlier this week in Cardiff. So I pulled up one of my favorite sailing videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU997e0yRqg) which then got me thinking about the music to the video and the original version of it which is O Fortuna from Carmina Burana. I like the original version better than the one by Era call the Mass. So got a good listen to some classical choral music today.

On the playlist 29/MAY/2018…

Listening to Blood Orange today. An electronic R&B style of music by the artist Dev Hynes. Heard about him from his work on other artists albums including Blondie, FKA Twigs, Haim and the Chemical Brothers. A relatively recent find for the library.

On the playlist 28/MAY/2018…

As the blurb for this album said you have to love new music and bagpipes to like this one. Michael O'Neill is a classicaly trained composer and piano player who was drawn at a young age to bagpipes. Based in Vancouver he is very involved in the new music scene with several other groups including Uzume Taiko (Japanese drums met avant garde jzz) and Gamelan Madu Sari (Indonesian Bells and gongs). I first listened to his music when I lived in Vancouver and was into the new music scene there. This one is different to say the least.

On the playlist 25/MAY/2018...

Today wanted to listen to some classical music for a change so on the playlist today is The Butterfly Lovers - Violin Concerto played by Sheng Zhong Guo on Violin. Yes, it is a Chinese piece based on one of the four classic chinese legends. The piece was composed in 1958 which is an interesting time in Chinese history as this is the time of the great leap forward and the subsequent great famine and also the let a 100 flowers blossom campaign which was a trap set by Chairman Mao to catch intellectuals that were outspoken against him. The composer came out of the Shanghai music conservatory which was under very hard crackdowns during this time. So, while this piece is unmistakenly a classical piece of music it does have a lot of traditional Chinese themes to it in order to ensure that it would not be taken as a Western piece but rather a truly Chinese inspired piece or music. It was not popular until later in the 1970s as China opened up as playing such music would have been considered risky prior to then.

On the playlist 24/MAY/2018…

First ever CD I bought today - Dire Straits - Making Movies. My grandparents bought me a CD player boombox for my 18th birthday and it was quite a big deal as I was the first of all my friends to have a CD player. The difference between this and cassette tapes was amazing. I went out almost immediately and bought a CD as the CD they also gave me with it was pretty lame as I recall. Making Movies had just been released on CD when I bought it and was one of not many CDs available at that time. I still have that CD stashed away somewhere. Unlike vinyl though despite being played a lot I haven't worn the grooves down like I did with some of my records. Was listening to some more modern Mark Knopfler and thought back to this great album and decided to just put it on and give it a listen.

On the playlist 23/MAY/2018…

Switching gears to California and a different genre of music listening to System Of A Down's second album Toxicity. This Armenian/American band from Glendale California is definite driving metal band that defies categorization within the metal sub-genres. I like them as there is more musicality in their music that in a lot of metal music and their lyrics are thought provoking in addition to being able to hear them. Got into System Of A Down after listening to some Rage Against the Machine (the bass player is from Irvine) who were heavily influenced by the California Punk scene of the 80s and 90s. I remember listening to Jello Biafra and Dead Kennedy's back in Uni and loved the controversy between Jello Biafra and Tipper Gore over violent lyrics in music and the labelling of music with unsuitable lyrics in them. This of course totally backfired as teenagers looking to piss off their parents now had a label to identify the exact music they should buy. Okay, whoa that got off topic!

On the playlist 22/MAY/2018…

Staying with an African theme and moving to Malawi. This time listening to Wired For Sound - Malawi which is the second in the Wired For Sound series out of South Africa. This album was recorded on location at local community radio stations where the project installed solar powered recording equipment for local musicians to use. Profits from the album go to supporting these community radio stations. Malawi is a very beautiful country which I have memories of from travelling there in my childhood. The country in addition to being very poor was hit very hard with the AIDS epidemic which pretty much wiped out the middle age population so that the younger generation moving into adulthood now grew up without their parents.

On the playlist 21/MAY/2018…

Going back to some African roots here and believe it or not my childhood. I remember as a kid growing up in Zambia sneaking to the back of an outdoor beergarden in Luanshya with some friends on Saturday afternoons and rocking to the music on a small hill. It was a mix of traditional African music with a disco beat going on - think early 70s Afrobeat. So, when I discovered the Congotronics series I had to get some of that. On the playlist today is Congotronics 2: Buzz 'n' Rumble from the Urb 'n' Jungle. Congotronics is a series of recordings of local bands from Central Africa that are playing traditional music with very lo-fi electrification to it. So think traditional african music with blown out sepakers and buzzing amps. I love the lo-fi African vibe!

An added bit or trivia on this one as well. The title refers to a famous boxing match held in Kinshasa in 1974 between Goerge Foreman and Muhammad Ali called the "Rumble In The Jungle". I remember going over to a friends house to watch it as we didn't have a TV. We did a sleep over as the fight came on a bit late. I still keep in touch with that friend and he is a cardiologist based in Bristol.

On the Playlist…

This is a project inspired by a good friend of mine. We were talking about music preferences and when asked about my preferences I said it was rather eclectic. Well, she challenged me to explain and I said that I would by posting what I am listening to over the period of a year. Off and on over the next year I posted what I was listening to along with some stories and anecdotes related to the music. It was fun to do and I am hoping to somewhat continue it on. These days I am discovering a lot of music through my kids as they are at an age where they are listening to a lot of interesting music. I have to say that I enjoy a lot of their musical choices and I can definitely see the eclectic selections I played for them have an influence on their musical preferences.