I'm going to have a running thread of music I buy. A record (ahem) for me really. Because I lack discipline in actually giving music enough time and this might help. If someone else discovers a new artist then great. Mute #KeefsNewTunes if it's unwelcome.
More Linda Catlin Smith. Dark Flower performed by the Thin Edge Music Collective. I like it a lot and I like the ones with stabby sustained piano chords and strings the best. Many Pinteresque pauses between notes. But worth the wait. #KeefsNewTunes#ContemporaryClassical@classicalmusic
Synth Waltzes and Accordion Laments by Yara Asmar is an album which...well the title gives a hint. Sound washes around. Feels like visiting a dream. Home recorded in Beirut where she lived with her puppets and cats Mushroom and Feglé. #AmbientMusic#ContemporaryClassical#KeefsNewTunes
Next up, Watch Over Us by Yvonne Lam. Six works for solo violin and electronics. Composed by Katherine Balch, Eve Beglarian, Anna Clyne, Nathalie Joachim, Missy Mazzoli, and Kate Moore. I enjoyed it. But I can't really say why. All these pieces are quite different. #ContemporaryClassical@classicalmusic#KeefsNewTunes
One thing I admire about the jazzers is that if they get pissed off with their iPhone they sit down at the vibraphone and knock up a tune about the experience (Hi-tech pros and cons by Yuhan Su from the album Liberated Gesture). I'm a sucker for the vibes/piano combination here. But the whole band is great. @jazz#KeefsNewTunes
Another one I bought in January. Rainbow Revisited by Thandi Ntuli with Carlos Niño. It's such fun. Come for the great piano patterns. Stay for the joyful vocals. Much of which consists of Ntuli just happily singing the word "Rainbow". @jazz#KeefsNewTunes
Rivers in Our Veins by Allison Miller. It's a great noise. Trumpets, violins, piano, upright bass, clarinet, tap dancing and drums. I wouldn't guess it was the drummer leading this band. I guess one of the skills of the bandleader is getting the right people - some familiar names here - and instruments in the room. The clarinet and violin really bring something extra to this for me. #KeefsNewTunes#Jazz@jazz
With Shimmer by Anna Webber I wish she'd give the musicians more structure. I know improvisation is a key tenet of #jazz. But where the Allison Millar record I wrote about yesterday felt coherent, I struggled with this. @jazz#KeefsNewTunes
I guess Babel by Mark Solborg sits nearer the improvised end of the #jazz spectrum as well. I like the sparse piano and interplay between guitar and clarinet. (Clarinet was a big part of the Miller album of course.) It's probably not one I'll return to much. But it's perfectly fine. @jazz#KeefsNewTunes
Still catching up on...There are some nice quieter moments on Den sämsta lösningen av alla by Per Texas Johansson where the oboe (I think) comes to the fore. The steel guitar bits are less to my taste. Which is odd. Because I love a bit of Americana. @jazz#KeefsNewTunes#jazz
Ashes and Diamonds by Rob Clearfield. Supposedly blurs the line between jazz and contemporary classical. The lengthy third moment 'Lento' builds from a meandering solo piano section, builds the tension until drums, saxophone and bass arrive. It's very satisfying and distinct from the other more obvious jazz based compositions. #jazz@jazz#KeefsNewTunes
I liked the cover. So I bought the album. Liminal Silence by Sunny Kim. Piano and guitar create the backdrop. I'm not that enamored by music that features singing these days. But Kim's voice is more like another instrument here. I'll be going back to this again.
Perhaps eventually I will tire of jazz trio albums, but not today. Ville Blomster by The Liv Andrea Hauge Trio. It's hard to break new ground of course. But it's good. Melodic and in no hurry. My comfort #jazz really. #keefsnewtunes@jazz
A lazy day giving recent discoveries the time they deserve. Orchestral Works vol 1, compositions by Kenneth Fuchs, performed by Sinfonia of London under the direction of John Wilson sounds like the best of America to me. Bright, colourful, optimistic. The painting on the cover by Helen Frankenthaler inspired the music. #classicalmusic@classicalmusic#KeefsNewTunes
The pieces I enjoyed most on Shadows of My Ancestors by Bezod Abduraimov are those that make up The Wall of Ancient Bukhara composed by Dilorom Saidaminova. The Asian influence makes it sound fresh to my jaded ears. I'm not sure I need the Romeo and Juliet in my life. The Ravel (Gaspard de la Nuit) sounds pretty good to me. Wonder if I could pull off a jacket like that.
Rautavaara & Martinů: Piano Concertos No. 3 by Olli Mustonen (piano), Lahti Symphony Orchestra and Dalia Stasevska. Makes me wonder how much really good music remains hidden or underappreciated. Enjoyed the second movement of the Rautavaara most. Something about the pacing that just works. @classicalmusic#classicalmusic#KeefsNewTunes
Hans Abrahamsen: Left, Alone (Stefanovich/WDR SO/Chiacchiarini/RundelI)
I wonder if a composer with limited use of his right hand writes a piano piece for left hand alone in a different way to one that has full use of both. It's more thoughtful than showy. To my (uneducated) ears this is really good. The orchestra is a perfect foil. The Ten Sinfonias in the disc are also pretty enjoyable.
Jürg Frey: String Quartet No. 4, played by Quatuor Bozzini. So sparse. Each note seems drawn out as long as the instruments will physically allow. To my ears, it's completely hypnotic.
I reckon I was drunk when I bought this. Hughes Dufourt: Surgir. WDR Sinfonieorchester etc al. Four hours of it. Not easy like Sunday morning. #MusicCriticism
References & Irreverances by Tyler Blanton. When I'm tired, I need something straightforward. Vibraphone, piano, bass and drums. Everyone does a good job. Would sound great in a club. #jazz@jazz#KeefsNewTunes
Having enjoyed seeing Trish Clowes (saxophone) and Ross Stanley (piano) as part of a quintet last night, giving their album Journey to Where a proper listen. Some originals. Some standards. All new to me. It's a cliché to say it's like a conversation. But it is. Best album I've bought this year I reckon. @jazz#jazz#KeefsNewTunes
In more listening to albums I bought on Friday featuring someone I saw live on Saturday news, Brad Meldhau brings his talents to Eagles Point by Chris Potter. Add in Brian Blade and John Patitucci and you're not going to go wrong. And they don't of course. It's a good listen although nothing here demanded my undivided attention. @jazz#KeefsNewTunes#jazz
Another recent purchase, La la Lars IV by La la Lars. It's fine. Comfort jazz. I'll give it another try but it has mainly washed over me. #keefsnewtunes @jazz#jazz
Girl by composer Soosan Lolavar, conductor Kelly Lovelady and orchestra Ruthless Jabiru It's exploring diasporic experience within a uniquely personal soundworld apparently. There's an Iranian influence. String instruments rumble away. It never settles and is hard to pin down. A good thing because I immediately want to listen to it again. #keefsnewtunes@classicalmusic@contemporarymusic
She Sleeps, She Wakes by Adriana Wagner.
Perfectly nice trombone led #jazz album. There's a solid band (bass, drums, piano/vibraphone) backing her. Definitely worth a listen. But I suspect I won't be going back to it very often. @jazz#KeefsNewTunes
Ogura Plays Ogura. I don't have the musical vocabulary to describe this. So I won't try. She plays her own compositions on the piano. I like it. But you can't dance to it.