Lots of excellent stuff today – let’s jump right in.
Art Pepper & Ted Brown - The Complete Free Wheeling Sessions
Well, it isn’t quite the Art Pepper Quartet like the image indicates, but the pic was too good to pass up. Anyway, the brilliantly named arwulf arwulf from AllMusic Guide says:
…Vintage cool West Coast jazz…16 excellent tracks that have all but fallen through the cracks over the years. On Monday, November 26, 1956 (which just happened to be the day that Tommy Dorsey died), tenor saxophonists Ted Brown and Warne Marsh brought their working quintet into a Los Angeles recording studio to make Brown’s first album as a leader, with special guest alto saxophonist Art Pepper adding his own third dimension.
The Album Leaf – Seal Beach EP
Incredibly soothing post-rock from the former guitarist of Tristeza. This is a re-release from the Spanish version, and it includes some live tracks, as well as a re-recording of “For Jonathan.” I like One Day I’ll be on Time better, but this is just as perfect for a lazy Sunday morning.
Fantomas – Fantomas
Mike Patton, Dave Lombardo, Buzz Osborne, and Trevor Dunn make a sci-fi homage. Not my thing, so much, but if you’re into the whole cult of Patton thing take note…
Mississippi John Hurt - The Library Of Congress Recordings Vol. 2 Disc. 1
Great sounding recordings from a blues master. Check out “The Ten Virgins When the Bridegroom Comes,” which utilizes the melody from “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain” if you’re unsure where to start.
Charlie Daniels – Live from Iraq
CD Universe says:
Just as the Folsom prisoners did for Johnny Cash, the G.I.s in Iraq have clearly inspired Daniels, and while never politically shy, his pro-America rhetoric has a particularly stark resonance when set in Baghdad, Fallujah, and other wartorn Iraqi locales. Say what you will, the man has gumption. Politics aside, however, the sets are rollicking and touch upon all the essential Daniels Band highlights such as “Devil Went Down To Georgia,” “The Legend of Wooley Swamp,” and “Rocky Top,” as well as gospel fare “How Great Thou Art” and the newly penned “Iraq Blues.”
I don’t know much about this world music label, but I’ll be trying some stuff out later today. Any label putting out records with album art that looks like this oughta be of some interest…right?
Various Artists – Grand Cru 2007
One of my favorite labels of the moment. With the physical version of this you’ll get a second disc, which is a mix by Patrick Chardronnet of some of the tunes here and a few others that outlines just why Connaisseur is killing it so much (hint: that ever-nebulous “consistent, but not samey” vibe to every track despite having tons of different artists all submitting work to them). For people who don’t like dance music much, this definitely won’t be for you, as it makes no mainstream concessions, but those who enjoy Kompakt, Bpitch, and the like, I’d definitely take it out for a spin. Highlights: Kollektiv Turmstrasse’s “Tristesse,” Daso & Pawas’ “Crawl Around” and Mark August’s “Minor Detail”
Other Electronic In Brief
-Adam Proll’s newest 12”, Adamantido, is a nice little anthem on the always-reliable Cocoon label.
-Aril Brikah’s Room 337 betrays its tech house sound for trance stabs (I like!).
-Black Strobe before they went (too) goth.
Seal Beach is easily one of my favorite post-rock albums. I’ve always kept with the original Spanish release. It’s an album that just seemed to live in one of my CD-trays getting played after every other CD I played, or simply getting played back to back.
huh, i miss the album leaf earlier when i was scanning the list of new arrivals. saved for la ter!
The new album by Swedish band Ai Phoenix is worth a listen.
I have their other two albums and will download this one too. Beautiful misty-eyed songs with a fair dash of old time Americana.
Sweeny
http://partlyporpoise.blogspot.com/
Old Scifi is the bomb! I grew up watching that stuff all the time.