Vinyl

[Toy Revolver]

i've been a big fan for a long time all these three became immediate favorites- i'm not saying they're the best or anything just that since they came out they're my go to sun ra listens - they're all available for free on BandCamp and on Spotify

Haverford College 1980 Solo Piano

Solo Keyboards, Minnesota 1978

Solo Piano at WKCR, 1977


(all officially released in 2019)

[ribbons]

^ Noted, OH!  Will definitely check those out.   

[Janszoon]

^ Great write-ups, Jans.  Sun Ra rules - such an innovator.  I have Magic City and Strange Strings on vinyl as well.  Also Jazz In Silhouette, Angels and Demons At Play, Atlantis, God Is More Than Love Can Ever Be, Sleeping Beauty, and Languidity.   

I haven't heard any of those! Which one is your favorite?

[ribbons]

^ It's tough because we're spoiled for choice with Ra - but it's probably a tie between Atlantis (because I love the clavinet, congas and drones) and Languidity (which is chill and funky at the same time, and I'm partial to the sound of a Fender Rhodes). 

[Janszoon]

^ It's tough because we're spoiled for choice with Ra - but it's probably a tie between Atlantis (because I love the clavinet, congas and drones) and Languidity (which is chill and funky at the same time, and I'm partial to the sound of a Fender Rhodes). 

Without giving away any details, I'll say this: stay tuned.

[Janszoon]

Sun Ra—Lanquidity (1978)
A couple days ago, ribbons mentioned two Sun Ra albums that she loves, which made me want to give them a listen. Lanquidity was the first one I found on Spotify, so I started listening to it while I was working in the office yesterday and it immediately made me feel like I was on drugs despite the fact that I was completely sober. Impressed after just one song, I decided I was going to order it from Discogs when I got home, but after work I swung by my favorite local record shop and was surprised to discover that they had a copy!

After the last three Sun Ra albums I listened to, this one seems shockingly normal at first, but that's just an illusion. There's a reason I felt like I was on drugs when I listened to it. There is a level of groove and melody here that makes it more approachable, but once you start listening you realize that, to quote Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys, something is fucky. Someone with a better understanding of music theory can probably explain this better than me, but there's something very "off" about this music, in a good way. It's theoretically a kind of jazz-funk, but it's rhythmically weird. I don't have a good enough ear to know if that's because of an odd time signature or polyrhythms or swing or what, but it's a wonderful listen. This is probably the closest thing to dream music that has ever been released and I'm loving it. Thanks ribbons!

[Guybrush]

Nice write up and sounds very intriguing! I'll give Lanquidity a listen when I find some time.

[Toy Revolver]

Someone with a better understanding of music theory can probably explain this better than me, but there's something very "off" about this music, in a good way. It's theoretically a kind of jazz-funk, but it's rhythmically weird. I don't have a good enough ear to know if that's because of an odd time signature or polyrhythms or swing or what, but it's a wonderful listen.

yeah

i'm not a musician but as a fan i think of his music as its own galaxy or a rogue planet- i see a clean trajectory with almost all jazz but not with him

[ribbons]

Sun Ra—Lanquidity (1978)A couple days ago, ribbons mentioned two Sun Ra albums that she loves, which made me want to give them a listen. Lanquidity was the first one I found on Spotify, so I started listening to it while I was working in the office yesterday and it immediately made me feel like I was on drugs despite the fact that I was completely sober. Impressed after just one song, I decided I was going to order it from Discogs when I got home, but after work I swung by my favorite local record shop and was surprised to discover that they had a copy!

After the last three Sun Ra albums I listened to, this one seems shockingly normal at first, but that's just an illusion. There's a reason I felt like I was on drugs when I listened to it. There is a level of groove and melody here that makes it more approachable, but once you start listening you realize that, to quote Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys, something is fucky. Someone with a better understanding of music theory can probably explain this better than me, but there's something very "off" about this music, in a good way. It's theoretically a kind of jazz-funk, but it's rhythmically weird. I don't have a good enough ear to know if that's because of an odd time signature or polyrhythms or swing or what, but it's a wonderful listen. This is probably the closest thing to dream music that has ever been released and I'm loving it. Thanks ribbons!

Amazing review as always, Jans - I'm so glad you liked it! Thank you for taking the time to listen.  Languidity surely is "dream music", and yes, the idiosyncratic coiling-and-uncoiling rhythms sneak up and de-stabilize the atmosphere in a deceptively languid and heady way.

Thanks to your review, I'm inspired to spin the album again real soon!   

[Toy Revolver]

one of the most important aspects to sun ra's music is how well he can swing

on his more accessible stuff his music is kind of like a really sexy woman who has peculiar mannerisms that make it almost impossible to not to keep starring at her and the more you see the more mesmerized you get until you're 100% under her spell

and even his most dissonant music still has this upbeat "i'm just messing with you" vibe but he's no jokester- his music is always serious but never pretentious - he breaks down the elitist barrier between the avant garde and the listener

now i rank cecil taylor higher than sun ra but in that way sun ra is kind of the anti cecil taylor

with cecil taylor you have to put in the work but his music pays gigantic dividends

[Janszoon]

Jelly Roll Morton—The Incomparable Jelly Roll Morton (His Rarest Recordings) (1959)
This is a collection of early 1920s Jelly Roll tracks that was released in 1959. It's crazy to think that the equivalent today would be a rarities collection of recordings from the late 1980s. That collection would no doubt have fairly high production values, but scratchy old shellac records from the the 1920s transferred to vinyl in the 1950s? Not so much. Nevertheless, beneath the tinniness and crackle, you can still hear how great these songs were. Songs that would become more well known a few years later—like "Wolverine Blues" and "Tiger Rag"—are present, as well as two versions of "Mr. Jelly Lord", some standards, and other tracks I'm less familiar with. They were recorded during Jelly Roll's time in Chicago, when he was still something of an up-and-comer. It would be wonderful to jump in a time machine and go back a hundred years to hear this stuff live at somewhere like the Green Mill, a club I lived near and used to frequent eighty years after Jelly Roll's time, but given that that's not an option, I'm happy to have this.




Originální Pražský Synkopický Orchestr—Originální Pražský Synkopický Orchestr (1980)
I saw this in one of my local record stores and bought it on a whim. Apparently, this band was formed in Prague in the mid-1970s and was dedicated to accurately reproducing Dixieland jazz from the 1920s. They're a really tight band, but what's interesting is that, on some level, they fail at their intended goal. They are definitely playing 1920s jazz songs, but there's certain formality to the way they play that you don't hear on the Jelly Roll recordings I mentioned above. They sound like people who went to music school and there's something about the way they approach rhythm that has a noticeable central/eastern European feel to it. That might sound like a criticism, but honestly I like hearing this music filtered through a different sensibility, it gives it a unique feel.

[Guybrush]

^Interesting write-ups as usual 🙂

I gave Lanquidity a listen through and really liked it. I just put it on while working from the home office, so I wasn't paying much attention to the various tracks etc. but definitely a cool listen.

[Janszoon]

Electric Wizard—Dopethrone (2000)
I sold some old records at my favorite local shop this evening and picked this up. I've been a fan of this album for a long, long time but did not own a physical copy. It hasn't been easy to find lately so I was excited to discover that they had it. No surprises here since I know the album well, but it still was a nice feeling to drop the needle into the grove. Now I just need to find a copy of Witchcult Today that's not crazy expensive and I'll have every EW record I want.

[Janszoon]

Aphex Twin—Selected Ambient Works 85–92 (1992)
When I was in college a friend of mine copied this album onto cassette for me. I'm sure I still have it somewhere but I haven't listened to it since sometime in the late 90s. Anyway, I was flipping through the new vinyl section at the record store and I found this re-press, so I bought it on a whim. Having not heard it in so long, I'm really impressed by how well this has aged!

[Lexi Darling]

Classic album for sure. 90s era Warp Records stuff is my absolute jam. Aphex, Autechre, Boards of Canada, such a cool and innovative scene.