In Rotation, Late Summer 2018

Not that anybody asked.

Iannis Xenakis (Edition RZ)
Various - Ohm: The Early Gurus of Electronic Music (1948-1980)
Scarcity of Tanks - No Endowments; Vulgar Defender
J Dilla - Donuts
The Roots - Rising Down
Godflesh - Streetcleaner
John Coltrane - Both Directions at Once
Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express
Karlheinz Stockhausen - Kontakte
Alfred Schnittke - Faust Cantatas
John Zorn - Aporias (Requia for Piano and Orchestra)
Mott the Hoople - Mad Shadows; Brain Capers
Lester Bowie - The Great Pretender
Wombo - Staring at Trees
The Body - I Have Fought Against It, But I Can't Any Longer
Bela Bartok - Complete String Quartets (Takács Quartet)
Allen Toussaint - Southern Nights
Andrew Hill - Point of Departure
Beethoven - Late String Quartets (Alban Berg Quartet)
Leif Ove Andsnes - Sibelius

Playlist: Black Kaspar Scrapbook 08/2018

Ah, another damn playlist!

This one is a sound palette for the revival of Black Kaspar - bound to be big news for two or three of you - and bears a lot of resemblance to the Drone Wars Scrapbook from late last year. As a matter of fact, there is overlap: Drone Wars Scrapbook has Movement #3 from Górecki's Third, and this one has the entire Third. They also shared Throbbing Gristle's "Wall of Sound" until I replaced it with an Earth cut.

Speaking of Górecki, this version of the Third is different than the one in the earlier playlist. This one is an earlier version (perhaps the premiere recording?) than the famous Elektra/Nonesuch 1992 recording which actually managed to chart. If you are a devotee of the Third, you will hear a difference: there is more space, more air, the playing is more understated and at the same time more dynamic within the slow, minimalist scope of the composition. The nearest analog I can think of for the rockers out there would be that this version is like The Kinks' "You Really Got Me", and the Zinman/Upshaw/LSO version is like Van Halen's cover of "You Really Got Me" . . . Van Halen's version is melodramatic, overdriven, (over)polished version of the original which no doubt has its charms, but loses some of the subtlety and nuance of the original. You can find a very brief discussion of Górecki 3 versions here, as well as an mp3 for this version.

As for Black Kaspar, we will be going forward as a duo. The plan now is to rely heavily on electronics to accompany the two guitars (I briefly considered recruiting another guitarist so that I could move to electronics full time, but decided against it for the time being). As always, plans can change, but for now we are two, and we likely will not be back on stage for a few months yet.

I will likely be producing more audio scrapbooks. They will be here if/when I do.