What albums did you listen to today?...continued

John Coltrane - Kulu Sé Mama Great ‘Trane album! Besides ustal sax virtuosity from Pharoah Sanders and the God himself, Elvin Jones and Frank Butler do magnificent work on drums here. This album keeps great balance between free improvisation and modal composition. Allegedly John Coltrane is investigating his African roots here, but I did not really catch that. Anyway, I will need to listen to this one again, as at the given point in time, my mind was, at least partly, split between music and something else. Recommended!

Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention - Uncle Meat Wooooow!!! This is by far my favorite Zappa album. And what a monster this is. It’s like a long story. It’s got everything! From intricate compositions that evidently inspired Henry Cow and the Canterbury lads, to tongue-in-cheek soul doo-wop songs, to musique concrete collages, this is a highly intoxicating adventure through an unknown universe. The 37-minute audio track from what I take to be Zappa’s imaginary movie is hilarious. Excellent album!

Popol Vuh - Hosianna Mantra Although I much prefer Popol Vuh’s early electronic period to their ethnic works, I’ve found the latter really fascinating lately. This album is just simply beautiful in the truest meaning of the word. The compositions are well-thought and the arrangements really make the music come alive. The electric guitar is definitely not out of place with trance-like vocals, oboe, and grand piano in this hypnotic semi-eastern atmosphere. Great!

Ryoko Ono & Rogier Smal  - Woodmoon I like free jazz, I really do. And I like zeuhl. Ryoko Ono deals with both and after reading Keishiro’s recent enthusiastic review of this work, I decided I would want to check it out. This is exactly how I like it. With just drums and sax, these two musicians make you forget about the broad instrumentation. I watched some experimental movies from the 20’s and 30’s  with accompanying and it works surprisingly well! Try it!