Interactive Poll #88: It Goes On and On

Geo:  Mermen - Quite a pleasant and sometimes surprising bit of psychedelic rock, moves into experimental territory for a bit that had me remembering early Steve Miller.  

dr wu23:  Les McCann “Soaring Pt 2”  Begins with some keys and some far-off drums, then the melody begins in earnest.    Great, floating music (it is “Soaring,” after all, well titled), I enjoyed just drifting along on the zephyrs, didn’t seem to be 8 minutes at all. 

Mike:   Mingus Big Band “Moanin’” Begins with a sax solo, must be a live recording, or the band is commenting.  Everyone joins in after a bit, creating the general, lively melody of the piece.  This one definitely holds interest all along, it’s no wonder that Mingus enjoyed such celebrated status as a jazz musician and composer.  of Montreal “No Conclusion”  Kind of upbeat feel to the music, with very dark lyrics.  I appreciate the self-ironic humour here.  The vocalist is kind of “talky,” don’t know if it’s the same with other songs by them, feeling of new wave overall to my ear.

George:    Mermen “Burn” Love the cover artwork, before even listening.  Begins with some clangy (but not loud) guitar sounds and percussion, gradually builds with some picking and keyboards.  Nice flourishes on guitar.  And here come the surf bits after about 3 minutes, echo-y guitar and continued washes of sound underneath.  Gets a bit spacier about halfway in, with guitar wingdings and coily, drainy sounds.  They are definitely getting lost in space about 8 minutes in.  Music seems to end, but there are blops yet to be heard, if you listen carefully.  Then another sound completely begins, with tambourine sounds, more wobbly guitars, perhaps this is where they find themselves once to trip out there has concluded, a pretty and light place, which fades slowly away.

dr wu23 (part 2)

Les McCann - "Soaring Pt. 2". Another jazzy piece, but this time a type that appeals much more to me, partly due to its Latin American touch. I can't say it sounds like something I have not heard before, but I like the mood in it, and it contains one of my favourite instruments, the Fender Rhodes. Sounds like it was recorded some time in the 70's.

...part 2:

Janko Nilovic - Giant Locomotion: Another very jazzy cinematic composition, more big band like. Very Dynamic! Giving space to the different instruments by some solo-kind of intermezzos, and sounds flying by, which in some ways leads us from surprise to surprise. Very captivating.

Dissòi Logòi -Amptruabat/Redamptruabat: Again something completely different. This has some pastoral feel over it, starting with the flute, then some percussion and an acoustic guitar set in joined a Middle-Eastern wind instrument of which I don't know the name, and later on some voices and violin (?). It has a very peaceful easy going atmosphere in its minimalist start and its spare percussion throughout but then getting richer and richer. It has something very enchanting. Beautiful. Makes me want to hear more!

Quicksilver Messenger Service - The Fool: Actually a nice transition between the previous track and this one, before we enter in typical late 60s psychedelia. Sounds a lot like a jam session, in a way, with different movements, but not necessarily with much direction. Unfortunately, the guitar sound starts to annoy me a bit on the long run.

Television - Marquee Moon: Heard of Television but never really dived into their music. This one won't necessarily change that, but it is actually quite good: it has a raw side that is combined with some very refined guitar playing and song writing. Hard to define (but no need for that), but they know how to take you with them. Captivating!

Gomez - Rie's Wagon: Now this is a nice discovery. A very modern take on blues rock, very rock, very atmospheric, very groovy, very guitar dominated but with many effects going everywhere. Very different vocals that harmonise quite nicely. A really great track!

Fleet Foxes - Third of May: This has a very 70s feeling over it with their harmonies but at the same time a very 90s (2000s?) indie-rock sound with some folk flavor. It's a nice listen, but probably not a track that remains long with me (I very much like that subtle outro of the last minute, though).

The Allman Brothers - Mountain Jam: Great jam and listening to this you're not surprised the Allman Brothers were that famous. Great playing overall and great music.

Blumfeld - So lebe ich: Quite straightforward song overall, simple repetitive structure where the orchestral arrangements bring in some of the modest dramatics. Not sure if he convinced the person he loves with this one... Je reste sur ma faim, as we say here.

Meredith Monk +... - Anthem: I discovered Monk thanks to Peter Greenaways film (on Four Composers) and listened to some of her work in the late 80s and early 90s, but never returned to her. This is a beautiful piece, nice minimalistic, building up in tension. Unfortunately, production wise, the sound is rather flat, where this is typically a piece that deserves great sound dynamics...

Tied + Tickled Trio - Other Voices Other Rooms: Yes, this is right up my ally. Electronics made accessible. I don't know if this was made with the Russian silent movie Aelita in mind (by Protazanov, if I remember well - great film!), but it definitely has a cinematic quality. Very nice!

Karl Seglem - Springar fra fjord: Unfortunately, the video doesn't work for me and I couldn't find an alternative...
 
Ravel - Piano Concerto in G Major: Beautiful, but I'm actually falling asleep with it...

01 PuD, Ailsean, Flik, C. Engstrom, Wild_Cat - Excitebike etc. - Bike Kid: With the spoken dialogues this definitely has a soundtrack/musical quality, but musically I find it not very original, although it's a nice mix of different styles.

Listening to the playlist, writing these comments while doing that, so I'm not necessarily knowing who posted what... My take, track by track:

Marius Popp - Inscriptie: Interesting mix of jazz with a contemporary music tinge, synths and a cinematic feel. Very accessible and vary rich at the same time. Nice discovery!

To be continued...

TCat (part 2)

Mingus Big Band - "Moanin' ". The deep sax notes in the begining are almost funny. But to be honest, big band music is not really my cup of tea (partly because I was several times forced to listen to the local big band playing at my school). I usually like jazz best when it goes a bit beyond the conventions, for instance into a more wild and anarchistic area, or is coloured by other musical genres (like, say, classical, folk music or electronica). This track is more like what I would normally describe as 'archetypical jazz', and while acknowledging its qualities I am not really intrigued by it.

of Montreal - "No Conclusion" is quite a quirky number. The composition and production is very 60's like, but the vocal style is not. I also sense an echo of the 90's britpop scene. Needless to say that it appeals much more to me than the previous track. As the song progresses, it becomes more eclectic with a tempo change, some Nintendo-like pling plong sounds, and later big vocal harmonies and a string arrangement. There are some quite "far out" chord changes too along the way which is great. The singing is a bit too shrill to my taste - I prefer something with more dynamics - but apart from that I really enjoy it. Very creative in any case.

01 PuD, Ailsean, Flik, C. Engstrom, Wild Cat - Excitebike etc. - Bike Kid: The Musical (Team 80s): Well, it would be fair to say that this is very far from what I normally listen to. The whole atmosphere is very melodramatic and bombastic. I assume this is what they are trying to achieve, but for me it's just a bit too much. Musically the piece is quite eclectic: We go from hard rock in the beginning to some very 80's sounding funk around 3:00. After 4:00 we're into a more uptempo song, but the sound is still very 80's like, Then there's a Queen-like guitar riff, and a synth riff that could have come right out of a hair metal song. There are some prog elemets in it too, and some of the drumfills sound like they could have been played by Phil Collins. Unfortunately it does not appeal to me. I appreciate the musical structure and the proggy elements in it - it's just too over-the-top for me.

Gomez is one of those bands that have a good number of albums out, but it's a sort of hit and miss affair with them, I have found.  They have some great things and some that are more so-so like you said.  I'm still in the process of going through their discography, but as I go along, their music is always interesting enough to keep exploring when I find gems like the one I posted.

I agree that I need to also explore Meredith Monk's music as I absolutely love the track you posted.  I don't know her music unfortunately, but I intend to change that now.