Frozen Corn - "Frozen Corn" Vinyl, LP, Album, 2017 (IDEA)

I wish that my blog cannot only see but to feel the texture of a record cover.  Tom Recchion (friend, hero, graphic artist, and composer) designed this cover based on his ceramic dishes/artwork.  The cover is also textural to the touch, in that the images arise such as the lettering and the ceramic plates.  The budget to make this cover must have been 'forget the budget!'  The music within this great package is a trio of two banjo players and an acoustic guitarist called Frozen Corn.  Which is a good descriptive name for this band, because one can imagine that these three guys are sitting by some frozen lake, with luke-warm hobo coffee on the side, and maybe beef jerky as well.  

The thought of two banjos and a guitar plus voice(s), brings up an image of a trio of cowboys, but that is only in my imagination.  There is something hypnotic with the playing that is perfectly arranged among the other string instruments.  Also, the main singer has a voice that reminds me of a combination of Smog and a low-key Scott Walker. There are two different voices, the other has an everyman vocal, which again, reminds me of hobo activity around a fire.   It's a beautiful sexy voice that yearns as well as tell a tale.  The trio's names are Anthony Pasquarosa, Chris Carlton, and Joshua Burkett.   This album I suspect is a limited edition, just due to the printing of the cover.  Pick it up, and go outside and face the night of stars.  

Tom Recchion - "Chaotica" CD, Album, 1996 (Birdman Records)

I treasure Tom Recchion's sensibility.  I tend not to separate his graphic arts work from his work as an artist and composer.  He takes second-hand information, in this case, music from another era, that held promise to the American imagination, which was exotica.   Recchion makes the old recordings and transforms them into new music, but not erasing the music's original purpose.  To transform the listener into another world.  As Exotica music is a tour of the outside world, "Chaotica" is a journey into the inner world.  Exotica brings relaxation, "Chaotica" brings relaxation but with an emotional edge. 

There were no overdubs or edits made during the recording.  Recchion used pre-recorded tape-loops and then improvised over the music using keyboards and various digital and analog effects.  "Chaotica" is a relative of Musique Concréte, but with a refined delicacy.   A great album from a brilliant artist. 

Tom Recchion - "Proscenium" Vinyl LP, Limited Edition with Vinyl 7" 45 rpm (Elevator Bath)

Tom Recchion's "Proscenium" is like going into a room, and there is nothing there, but this eerie, beautiful sound, that is hard to distinguish from something natural in the air, or man (person) made.  All I know is I can sit at a table in this room and do some writing or something creative.   The music (sound) is demanding, so you can't read a book there, but you can think through the levels of aural pleasure that is this album.

I'm not sure how Tom made this record.  I once in awhile hear what sounds like a piano, but is it him playing or just a sample?  Listening to the album becomes a mental exercise where you describe smoke that lingers in the air, which is the graphic on the cover by the way.  Or is it a spirit of some sort?  Or both?   Music that is abstract becomes a sound sculpture. I can almost see it, but not really.  Although I feel I can walk right through it.  Artists like Brian Eno has done ambient music - sometimes for a specific space and time - "Music for Airports" for example.  "Proscenium" is a work that gives me a sense of place, but not time.  I sense not a large space, but a room.  It's interesting to read the titles which is "Entrance Music No. 1" or "Exit Music No. 1."  There is also "The Mesmerized Chair" and of course, "The Haunted Laboratory."  I don't have to know the titles, but it's interesting that they do convey a space or studio of some sort.  Space is vague, but the emotions are not.  It's a very warm album, and I feel good being contained by its sense of seduction.   I have this album on vinyl as well as an MP3 (code comes with the album), and I often listen to it while writing.   I like it because it doesn't free up my brain/mind but puts me in a room that I can focus in.  In a practical way, I can recommend this music if you're a writer and need time to reflect on your thoughts.  Or it can be music that you enter in, but you can stay inside for hours.

I didn't know this, till I started writing this piece, but the proscenium is a theatrical term meaning "an arch framing the opening between the stage and the auditorium in some theaters."  It's a great album. I keep hearing new things in it, and it maybe just my ears playing tricks on me, but the vinyl listening experience is different from the MP3.  The medium alters same music, but space.  It never ends.   I like that.

The Beach Boys - "Cabin Essence"/"Wonderful" 7" vinyl single

The Beach Boys – Cabin Essence/Wonderful

7” vinyl single, clear yellow, given free with an issue of Mojo, 2011

Mojo/Capital Records

One of the insane cuts from a great album Smile by The Beach Boys. Bach like with melody on top of another melody, which strange enough now reminds me of Associates' “Kitchen Sink,” As in everything in the kitchen sink, and this is one dense noise that is beautiful. Both songs. The flip side “Wonderful” is a gorgeous melody and with the layers of vocals and that beautiful piano that traces the song so wonderfully. Brian Wilson's orchestration couldn't be better. For an album that was troubled, it is amazing how it turned out. Total joy, like these two choice cuts from the album.

Also getting this single from Mojo, was a very nice touch.