New Jacob Fred Album Released

The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, a great, great jazz trio, has released a new album. They're doing it In Rainbows style, with a download from their website. Send your email address to them and you'll get the download link .

Only did a once-thru of it, but I noted that it has a couple of tunes from their last album, "Lil' Tae Rides Again" (also highly recommended, especially for fans of electronic music. An excellent melding of the jazz sensibility and electronic manipulation). This is definitely a less processed album, but more instrumentation (banjos, different types of pianos, guitars) than the bass/drums/electric piano I've come to expect from them. Other songs are ones that have been played on the second sets of their summer tour.

Making Musical Progress

It is entirely possible that some musical ideas could be posted in the near future. Finally have a tool that will allow K and I to do more than just noodle around.

At the kaki king show

Higher ground is nice enough to provide wifi at their venue, so I can
pass this note. Here to see what people are calling the best new
guitarist around. She brought her band along for the ride as well.
Let's rock.

fingers

Just started playing the guitar again, after a longer break than I originally realized. That's because my left hand calluses are gone, sending me back to form them again. Ow.

The 'back-to-practice' thing is thanks to my new project: a fretless guitar. Took a $30 mini-classical (nylon string) guitar and pulled the frets off of it. Now it can make some dope glisses, very indian-sounding now.

Let's hope that my facebook blog thingie recognizes the returns in this post (ya, right)

Polyphonic Ramblings: A New Beginning

So I have this mix that I made up. No one to make it for except for myself. So it's heavy on ambient, drone-based tones. Do not operate heavy machinery while listening to Track 4.

1. Moonchild/The Dream/The Illusion - King Crimson

From their first album; this track would be a prime example for those who argue prog rock is meaningless over-long pieces of music bordering on noise (no structure, etc.) I object to the first two points strenuously.

2. Treefingers - Radiohead

IMO, the same thing as Track 1, re-interpreted 30 years later

3. Sour Times - Portishead

Fitting of the dark mood that has been set.

4. Sonar Blow Job - Portishead & Kraftwerk

Don't quote me on the title or artist; it was taken from Acqusition

5. The Heavenly Music Corporation - Robert Fripp & Brian Eno

Eno coined the term "ambient" for a musical style. Fripp picked up a tape loop machine and created a whole new way of playing the guitar. This is what happened when they met up.

6. The Rip - Portishead

Two things I like in this piece: the (deliberately?) rough guitar fingerstyle picking in the beginning, and the comforting full, round tones of an analogue synth at the end.

Polyphonic Ramblings #2

Month 2 of the mix tape project. This time I put together a mix tape with some live music on it, and finished it off with a back-and-forth between classic jazz and loungey-style electronic music. Here we go:

1 - 3. Tea Leaf Green - Garden (I, II and III): A California-based quartet, these guys play a more structured set than other jam bands, but aren't unwilling to let things go and rock out for awhile. The Garden suite starts with a poppy head in part 1, stretches out for a jam in part 2, and comes together to conclude in part 3.

4. moe. - Jazz Wank: From an old 1996 show, my only moe. before Karen and I went to moe.down on Labor Day weekend. moe. will definitely stick with a tune and explore it for 10, 20, 40 minutes at a time. This Jazz Wank is a bit more concise, clocking in at just over 5 minutes.

5. Steve Kimock - Improv #1: Steve is a stellar guitar player with his band. This is from a solo acoustic show, just him exploring. Some nice Zep-esque chords get pounded on in the middle of this piece.

6. Tim Reynolds - Jemez Rolling Waves: Following up on the acoustic guitar thing, here's a solo piece from the guy better known as the side man to Dave Matthews when Dave plays without his band. Personally, I'm a bigger fan of Reynolds than Matthews. But Dave certainly has good taste in friends.

7. Porcupine Tree - Sound of Muzak: Found these folks while reading reviews on amazon. Well structured songwriting.

8. Buckethead - Ghost: The softer side of the KFC bucket, kabuki-mask wearing artist known as Buckethead. His harder stuff is 80's metal style, very articulate, distorted, rocking.

9. Spacetime Continuum - Vertigo: Straying away from guitar-based rock, moving into electronica.

10. Miles Davis - So What: The classic track from the best-selling jazz album of all time. Staying on the mellow mood.

11. Sneaker Pimps - Velvet Divorce: Trying to seamlessly transition from jazz to electronica.

12. Vince Guraldi Trio - Greensleeves: OK, OK, so the track is really titled "What Child is This", off of the Charlie Brown Christmas album. But I prefer to think of this along the lines of Coltrane's interpretation of Greensleeves. Guraldi is amazing.

13. Theivery Corporation - Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes: Going out on a mellow lounge note.

I am Musically Pretentious

As shown through this little feature from the Onion AV Club. Here are some of my favorite rock instruments featured:

2. The Chapman Stick

Art rock—especially '80s-00s King Crimson—wouldn't be complete without the Chapman Stick, a combination guitar and bass that looks like a 2x4 and is played by tapping the strings with both hands. (Or with little drumsticks tied to your fingers, if you're Tony Levin.) Though its clean lines look best next to the stylishly bald and mustached Levin, it's forever connected to serious, ponytailed men like Trey Gunn, who look like they treat "picking" and "strumming" with a sniff of contempt. The Chapman Stick is also worn across the chest with the top resting on the player's shoulder, giving the impression that it's so precious, it needs to be cradled.

5. Bagpipe

Who hasn't had a bad experience with a bagpipe? It's the loudest, most boorish acoustic instrument there is, whether it's outside, ruining a perfectly fine public park, or on a concert stage, where—as one example—the Battlefield Band wheels out its bagpiper with almost circus-like fanfare, like the audience is about to watch someone take a cannonball to the chest. The only safe place to use them is at funerals: That's the only time they don't think they're the guests of honor.

Here's another instrument I never heard of, but think sounds pretty damn cool:

1. The Eaton-Moog Multiple-Touch-Sensitive Keyboard

For years, prog rockers tainted Bob Moog's name by playing his keyboards while wearing in shiny silver capes, or standing in the orchestra pit at Rick Wakeman's King Arthur On Ice tour. But the late, legendary synth-maker wasn't immune to delusions of grandeur: In 1992, Moog and University of Chicago music prof John Eaton debuted a revolutionary new instrument: the Eaton-Moog Multiple-Touch-Sensitive Keyboard, sometimes called "The World's Most Sensitive Musical Instrument." Its 49 keys respond to five kinds of movement—from touch pressure to the way players roll their fingertips and slide them up and down the keys—to adjust the volume, vibrato, and pitch. Reportedly, the prototype sits in Eaton's attic, but the instrument never made it into production. Has anyone pitched it to Keith Emerson?

They frequently mention Bob Moog, creator of the greatest synthesizer ever, the Mini Moog. Perhaps it's my preference for prog rock, as opposed to minimalist indie rock (definitely a staple of the writers of the AV Club).

Anyway, long live the Chapman Stick!

Week in Review: moe.down 7

Writing this from textedit since I'm supposed to be net-free for this week of vacation I took. It's been refreshing to not be refreshing my RSS reader every half hour for new blog posts on the sorry state of world affairs.

At any rate, the beginning of the vacation was taken in Turin, NY - the site of moe.down, a three day music festival at the Snow Ridge ski area. The weather was wet enough to get some of that good festival mud generated, but not too much as to ruin the overall event. Our neighbors were a bus full of amateur musicians who set up a pretty extensive camp with stage and kitchen. On a rainy, cool Sunday morning, they started a fire on the front lawn, which was eventually nixed by an eager security dude cruising in on a golf cart.






Here's a pic of a sculpture made with the remnants of the fire:










Our camp was a much simpler affair, but still quite functional:











As for the music, it was a good time to catch onto some new bands, moe. has a good ear for new talent. Cool acts on the second stage were Toubab Krewe, U Melt, and Moonshine Still. On the main stage, pieces of Phish were present; Paige McConnell and Fishman had their own band, and Mike Gordon played with a honky tonk band that has a regular gig at the Radio Bean, a tiny Burlington coffeeshop. The best show, in my opinion was the Umphrey's McGee set on Saturday night. Exercising their musical background, they played Zep's "Fool in the Rain" to pay tribute to the showers that happened throughout the set (with great timing with the music).

moe. themselves played a Friday, 2 Saturday and a Sunday set. I haven't listened much to them since I saw them last, a SUNY Potsdam spring concert event some time ago, where I was probably not in a condition to objectively evaluate them. I tried to do a little crash course in moe. tunes by listening to the one live show I had of theirs. Surprisingly, they hit tunes I knew at least once a set, which always helps a show. They brought out other guests frequently, including Paige, Gordon Stone, Jake Cinniger, and some dumb trumpet player who spent more time jumping up and down like that Bosstone.

Getting out was pretty easy, thanks to the power of my Golf's diesel engine. We booked it on Sunday night, beat the crowd, and had a great night drive through the North Country back to Malone, where we regrouped and headed back out into the rain for a few days of camping in the St. Regis Canoe Area. More on that later. Now, it's time to head out to the Burlington South End Art Hop.

Polyphonic Ramblings #1

So a my friend's wife's friend's cousin's ex-roomate's roomate (or something like that) has arranged for a mix tape swap. Excellent idea, as making new mix tapes is something I really enjoy. So, I'm putting up the playlist I made for the first lucky random recipient of my tunes. Here's my thoughts on it.

#1 - 5 Star Mix

Made of a selected bunch of my 5-star rated songs on my laptop (home)

1. Achilles Last Stand - Led Zeppelin

Zep's one and only (I think) foray into the world of prog rock. Epic storyline, long guitar solos, killer drumming by rock's best drummer (or in the top 3, I suppose), John Bonham.

2. Peaches en Regalia - Frank Zappa

An instrumental classic. Zappa is a great composer, it sad that he isn't around, writing music that would do modern classical composers proud. At least this one is a bit more melodic. My version of a pop song.

3. "Outside Kick Ass Violin Solo" - Aphex Twin

Caveat Emptor on this one, as far as identification is concerned. Dredged up off the internets, nice groove.

4. Hurricane Camille - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

Nice peppy jazz number off of Bela's first album.

5. Koko - Charlie Parker

The penultimate bebop tune by the best damn alto player evar, Bird. The tempo is blinding fast, but the 32nd notes are even faster.

6. Rush - Cowboy Bebop OST

Classic jazz from the Japanese, via the quirky space-cowboy anime series Cowboy Bebop.

7. Welcome Red - Benevento Russo Duo

The next generation of jazz is from folks like this, who wield the drum kit and keys like the old masters, but adding electronica elements.

8. Dogs - Yonder Mountain String Band

Covering the Pink Floyd tune on Animals, bluegrass almost seems more appropriate for this song. Tells the story of the vicious, solitary and sad cutthroat modern capitalist, who thinks he's on his own, but just a pawn in the greater game.

9. Inhale to the Chief - Keller Williams

A quirky guitarist who likes to play loops and layer them on top of one another to make a one-man band (live!), this piece is just him wailing away on his guitar with some great tonalities.

10. Cadence and Cascade - King Crimson

Off of their second album, this mellow acoustic piece riffs off of the opening lines of the prelude movement of Bach's cello suites.

11. Dave's Energy Guide - Phish

A song abandoned by Phish by the 1990's, this piece is reminicent of King Crimson's Discipline. Played at Nectar's, the club that made each other famous.

12. I am Hydrogen - Phish

My favorite ballad by Phish, this tune is usually played as a segway between Mike's Song and Weekapaug Groove. From the same show.

13. Atoms for Peace - Thom Yorke

The lead singer of Radiohead makes his solo debut with "The Eraser" (previously reviewed by myself). This song is a peaceful way to round out the mix.

Hope you enjoy the music.