Léo Kupper - "Electronic Works & Voices 1961-1979" (Sub Rosa)

Léo Kupper had an interest in making music that was totally from electronic sounds, and not with or the addition of 'real' instruments.  What his music is a landscape of some style that makes an aural statement that in turns can be scary sounding.  The electronic noise often sounds like a form of nature to me.  I hear dolphins (not in a new age fashion), electrical storms, birds, crickets, waves hitting the beach, and perhaps noise of passing vehicles - either an automobile or train.  There is something human about Kupper's work, in that it's not about electronics specifically, but how those sounds interwind within the natural life.  

There are works on this double album that features vocals.   Not singing mind you, but female voices that are either speaking in a foreign language or used as a texture to the overall music.  These pieces remind me of Luciano Berio's work with the Swingle Singers.  The Italian composer made a lot of vocal music that were either based on literary text or poems.   On one of the works here on this album, "L' enclume des forces" features text by Antonin Artaud.  Overall there is a sinister quality to the music.  Kupper captures a sense of dread or anxiety.     

François Bayle - "Les Couleurs de la Nuit" (Sub Rosa)

impressions of the dark night.   The translation of Les couleurs de la Nuit is "The Colors of the Night."  French composer François Bayle puts the mood and the visual of the nighttime in his composition.   Sometimes intense, with touches of tenderness.   The music here is machine like with the string section (at least I think there are real strings on this piece) holding one note or two to add a sense of menace.   Composed in 1982, and commissioned by the great INA-GRM, this is a work that is bold, forceful, and impressionistic with its subject matter of what the night brings.  A great vinyl to play very loud.  

Ennio Morricone "Quando L'Amore é Sensualita" Cerberus Records, 1982

Never seen the film, nor have I heard of it.  It's hard for me to pass an Ennio Morricone on vinyl when I see it used.   Once you put it on, it's clearly Morricone.  Which means, one can tell it a distinctive sound of how he uses piano, wordless vocals, and horns used as sound instruments.  I'm amazed at the range of his abilities to make music.  Not quite avant-garde, or musique concrete, but traces of that sound is on this album. 

Oddly, this soundtrack hasn't been reissued (as far as I know).  It's an incredible piece of work.  I find it odd that listening to it, I think of Brian Wilson era "Smile."  Wilson's sensibility in arrangements (especially in that time period of recording "Smile) matches the spirit of "Quando L' Amore é Sensualita.   Well, clearly the Morricone sound is more sinister.   

The first cut on side two "Luce Chiara Per Vergine "Curve Oscure," is a combination of pop, but in a very strange version of it.  This piece of music can easily fit into a current Scott Walker album.  I listen to this vinyl gem, and I can't imagine how he does it?  To call him a genius is somehow an underestimate of his creative worth.  Anyone who has even the slightest interest in composition or arranging needs to hear this album.  

The Yardbirds - "I'm a Man"/"Still I'm Sad" 45 rpm Single (Epic Records) 1965

I distinctly remember that my first 45 rpm single that I purchased was The Yardbirds' double sided A-side hit "Still I'm Sad" and on the other side "I'm a Man."   I must have been around nine-years-old, and since I didn't have a job at the time, I'm going to presume that one of my grandmothers gave me the money to purchase the record.   "I'm a Man" (written by Bo Diddley) to this day gives me goosebumps in my lower back.  The way it starts off with the ugly sound of the guitars, and then slowly building up to this intense rave-up where it becomes noise.  Without a doubt, one of the first recordings that had a strong effect on my sensibilities at the time, and still, today. 

Then when I turned to the other side, the music is not only sad (of course) but also scary.  I heard this song on the radio as well as "I'm a Man," and it's the ying-yang or either/or of the pop music world of 1965.  Usually, for me, the album gives me the full narrative picture, but this 45 rpm single had a full narration for me.   One is very sexual, and the other is pensive.  

There are a lot of guitar bands that I like, but none sounds like The Yardbirds -except Television.  The Yardbirds went through three legendary guitarists in that group's history.  Eric Clapton.  Jeff Beck.  Jimmy Page.   By far my favorite is Jeff Beck.  Flashy yet detached.  I'm presuming that it's him playing on "I'm a Man," and not Clapton - but I'm not super sure about that. But I like to think it's Beck, because of the noise, in the end, seems so much up his alley.  Violent, sexual, and cool at the same series of seconds.  

The forgotten hero of The Yardbirds are not any of the three guitarists or even the singer Keith, but their bass player Paul Samwell-Smith.  He arranged the songs and did some of the engineering/production as well.  He worked with Mickie Most and Simon Napier-Bell. Eventually, he produced the classic hits of Cat Stevens in the 1970s.   I recently bought this single again for $1, and it sounds like a $1,000 to me.  Excellent record.  

John Cage - Christian Wolff "John Cage/Christian Wolff" (Reissued; Jeanne Dielman)

With respect to John Cage, his "Cartridge Music" (1960) is probably one of the most extreme noise pieces ever.   What one can do with a phonograph pick-up!   Without a doubt, this album is a lease breaker and is also brilliant and of course, fascinating.  Cage and his right-hand man, David Tudor, which I have to presume they are probably like the Bowie/Mick Ronson team.  Cage visualizes the piece, and Tudor makes it happen.   Tudor generally a pianist, but one who not only plays on the piano but also inside and outside the piano.  Here on this recording, he and Cage do a rave-up that must have been awesome to see as well as being so forward of a sound/presentation in 1960.  

The other side of the album is three pieces by Christian Wolff.  Compared to the Cage side, this is easy listening music, but, with an edge.   David Tudor plays on two of the pieces.  The first work is "Duo For Violinist and Pianist" (1961).  The violinist Kenji Kobayashi.  It's an interesting work because it's about the relationship between the two instrumentalists.   It seems that Wolff instructed the musicians to start when they want to start, and the other makes responds to that sound.  The silence between the two players is also significant. It's like having a deep conversation with someone, and there is silence due that the person is thinking what the other is saying.  "Duet for Horn and Piano is the same as the above, but with Howard Hillyer playing the horn.   "Summer for Spring Quartet" (1961) is with a string quartet.  

There is a sense of theater with both the Wolff and Cage piece.  It works on an aural level, but I imagine to hear these pieces live would be awesome.  The conceptual aspect is interesting as well.  This is music that thinks, and then acts on the concept created by Cage and Wolff.  The musicians have to be in tuned to the composer's sensibility as well as trusting their own ability at the same time.   

The album cover design mirrors the much later Beatles' "White Album." One wonders if Richard Hamilton (the designer of the Beatle album) was influenced by the Cage/Wolff cover.   This is very much a fantastic piece of vinyl.   The original album came out in 1961, and it's great to hear music that was made by the composer or they were around during the recordings.  Essential. 

Brian Eno - "Reflection" (Warp Records)

I thnk most of us who have been familiar with Eno's work, can tell what this album is just by its title "Reflection."  Clearly, this is an ambient 50-minute piece of music that doesn't stand out from the other ambient works by Eno.   Still, I have been playing this album (by streaming) every day since it has been released on January 1, 2017.  Considering that we are heading towards unknown and scary territory this year, it seems a nice gentle way of easing into the new mood of the world.  

First of all, this album is available on various streaming platforms as well as CD and vinyl.  The vinyl is a double album, which means one has to change the record every 20 something minutes, which is perfectly fine, but I wonder if it works for this album.  I think it is the type of recording that one just pushes a button and forgets about time. I subscribe to Apple Music, which I use as a radio, or when I'm curious to hear new music. "Reflection" works best when it is not interrupted by the changing of the sides.  The flow here is necessary, and this recording is made for the CD and streaming format.  The one thing I don't know if the music sounds better on the vinyl format.  Nevertheless, I use this music to block out the outside world, especially when I'm writing.

One can also take a very satisfying nap to this album.  I tried it on the second of January - and the length and the soothing sounds is a perfect gateway to the dream world.  Yesterday, I went to the Echo Park library to do work, and the music does it magic in that context as well.   The big question is this better than the other Eno ambient works?   I think the album does its work, and comparing it to other works by Eno is almost a trivial task.   "Reflection" is what it is.  A bridge between the waking life and into the dream world of one's thoughts and feelings.   It's only essential if you need a sound, and "Reflection" works well in that sense.  Eno's "Discreet Music" is a masterpiece, and "Reflection" is just pretty good and does it job well.  

John & Scott from The Walker Brothers "I Only Come Dance With You"/"Greens" 45 rpm Japanese Vinyl

For a Christmas present, my sweetness in life purchased this record in Japan for me.  It's not exactly a Scott Walker solo recording or even a Walker Brothers release.  It's a recording made my Scott Engels and John Maus before they formed The Walker Brothers.  And to make it even more confusing,  the record list John as "John Stewart."   It's not.  Although Scott, I believe, was a good friend of John Stewart in those days (the early 60s.).

Maus and Scott Walker must have recorded this not that far off from the Walker Brothers.  It has a strong Phil Spector production sound, and I think it's more Maus singing lead than Scott.  But the Scott presence is very much part of this recording.  The flip side is an instrumental with a strong Jet Harris type of bass sound.  That, I have to presume is Scott playing the bass.  A cool record, with even a cooler record sleeve, which sounds incredible for a vinyl from 1966 - which I'm sure was released, both in Europe and Japan, due to the popularity of the Walker Brothers.