A light Tuesday, but a big release for classical fans in the form of Joan Tower’s Made in America.
Leonard Slatkin: TOWER: Made in America: From Naxos’ blog:
Made in America was commissioned by a consortium of 65 regional orchestras with the help of the American Sympony Orchestra League and the Ford Motor Company Fund (which is why it’s now called the Ford Made in America program). The Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra premiered the piece in October 2005 and the other participating ensembles have been performing it as part of their seasons since then.”
There’s been quite a bit of hubbub on this recording, and we’re expecting it to be one of our biggest classical titles of the year.
P.S.: Attention Ford Foundation, if you are going to advertise a web address to be used for promoting a new product, try to make sure that you actually have it.
Patrick Cleandenim, Baby Comes Home: Patrick Cleandenim comes from Lawrence, Kansas, but now lives in NYC, and this is his first full-length record, originally self-released last year, now given a larger distribution by Ba Da Bing, the same label that puts out Beirut and Colleen. (NOTE: Colleen is actually distributed by the Leaf Label, which shares the same owner as Ba Da Bing, hence my confusion. Thanks to Tom in the comments for the correction, and apologies!) There’s a swing-band feel to this record, with a hint of lounge thrown in as well. Dramatic.
The Dead C, Future Artists: Also from Ba Da Bing today is a new one from the Dead C, this one clangy and discordant, just as we’ve grown to expect from the Kiwis.
Blues Control, Blues Control: Big, fuzzy ’70s rock — they so love Zeppelin — gussied up with a wet kiss of noise. There are also plenty of Tangerine Dream-reminiscent keyboards, and the whole thing is a bit more oblique than you might expect. Not for everyone, but they are fantastic live.
Dick Dale: Four classic surf-rock records from Dale.
Booka Shade, Tickle/Karma Car: A new single from the classic Booka Shade, but this one is only so-so. I like “Karma Car,” with its muffled beat, far more than the A-side. Snag that track.
Lily Frost, Flights of Fancy: Female-fronted electro-pop, with some jazzy numbers as well.
FWIW, Colleen puts out her records on The Leaf Label (which employs (employed?) Ba Da Ben Goldberg).
light day nothin’! in the wee morning hours i was having some ridiculous dream about trying to survive in the desert of southern Utah after the global economic collapse, i don’t really remember the details, but at some point somebody said to me “hey, have you heard Future Artists?” at which point i woke up with a start, and immediately, before coffee or anything, downloaded the new Dead C record. i have a feeling those five tracks are enough to keep me happy for a month of na’s. god bless those noisy, brilliant bastards. i can’t imagine what i’d do without them.
tom you are right about leaf/ba da bing. ben does indeed run ‘em both. my mistake.