Not sure how I stumbled upon this release – it came out last fall. I assume I read a review. I listened to it a few times and then forgot about it. Found it in my iTunes last night. It was a pleasant discovery, like finding a $20 bill in suit coat pocket.
A very cool contemporary instrumental soul-jazz album. Menahan Street Band are a Brooklyn-based group connected to the Daptone scene. Members have or do serve in The Dap-Kings, Antibalas, The Budos Band, etc. Their 2008 debut album, Make The Road By Walking, was sampled by Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Kid Cudi, Curren$y to name the heavy hitters.
The music is kind of slow, spooky, and cinematic. Slurring horns, cheesy (and that is good thing) keyboards, guitars and even some harp. Think of a funkified spaghetti western. This makes great background music, but it is also rich enough to enjoy in an active listening mode. The overall vibe is late night with bourbon and good cigar.
Check out the video below to get a sense of the band.
Curtiss A was a founder of the Twin Cities punk and New Wave scene in the late 70s and early 80s that hatched The Replacements and Hüsker Dü. He has continued to stay connected and relevant to the TC music scene by his annual John Lennon tribute.
Curtiss A is one of the few guys on the Minneapolis punk scene I actual knew back in the day. A high school buddy of mine ran a comic book store where Curt worked. Although I was not a comic book guy, I used to hang out at the store and met Curt a few times. I knew he had a side career as a rocker, but I was not really hip to that scene – so he was just cool older guy in black leather jacket – kind of like the Fonz without the punchline.
Curt was a touch older than the a lot of the kids on the punk scene and he always seemed more authentically 60s garage rock and roll than punk – but his aggressive garage rock style fit well with punks. Let’s face it 60s garage rock is the punk fountainhead.
At the time this album came out I was more of a jazz guy and conventional pop music fan. I went to several punk shows at the Longhorn, but beyond the aggressiveness (which appealed to my angry young man stage), I really did not get it. A few years later when The Replacements and Hüsker Dü became famous I finally figured it all out and became a fan of the music.
I was aware of this album at the time, but never owned it. It was quite the big deal because it was not only reviewed Rolling Stone, but received a 5 star review. Listening to it now you can see it was foundational material for bands like The Replacements. “Ride Away” could fit on any era of The Replacements. A young Paul Westerberg must have thought Curt was a god with his rock and roll swagger and well crafted rock and roll scream (I recall he was nick named the Dean of Scream for his amazing pipes – think John Lennon’s “Mother”). Where the average punk was riding on pure attitude, Curtiss A was more from the pedigree of The Clash – an experienced and seasoned rocker who was a misfit in the classic rock era, but fit like a glove in the punk world.
I found this LP in near mint condition for two bucks at the recent Rock Sale and I often see it around local Twin Cities record bins so the next time you see it grab it and you will get a sense where The Replacements and Hüsker Dü came from. A true classic and the very definition of Crate Digger’s Gold.
By 1989 Daniel Lanois had been on quite a roll:
– John Hassel’s Power Spot (jazz)
– Peter Gabriel’s So
– U2’s Joshua Tree
– Robbie Robertson’s Robbie Robertson
– Dylan’s Oh Mercy
And then the Neville Brother’s Yellow Moon. I have been familiar with this album as it made some noise at the time (1989) and brought the Neville Brothers to the mainstream. Somehow I managed to never have this in my collection.
I recently picked up a decent quality LP version for $2 at the Rock Sale. I had forgotten that it was a Danny Lanois production until I dropped the needle on the first cut and I heard the unmistakable Lanois sound – I rushed to the linear notes to verify that this must be Lanois and sure enough it was.
This is not a typical Neville Brothers release, but it is a perfect calling card none the less. Despite his Canadian birth, Lanois has a New Orleans soul. He perfectly applies his unique ambiance to the Neville Brothers. He transforms them to a new sound without selling them out. It is a true collaboration. Imagine U2’s Joshua Tree applied to New Orleans R&B and then spiced with Dylan and you have Yellow Moon.
This is my first installment of Dumpster Dive Darlings – see Analog Audio of Minnesota for the post.
My buddy Paul over at Analog Audio of Minnesota has a great idea – review LPs that can easily be found in good condition for a $1 or less. We both love a carefully curated audiophile 45 reissue on heavy vinyl – but the average audiophile with a large music appetite can’t afford to have their whole collection made of up of this kind of material – you need to pad the shelf with some bargains too. It is amazing how many great albums you can find for under a buck at record stores, garage sales and even record shows. Typically these are albums that sold really well – thus there is lots of inventory. The key is that this stuff is not rare. Pretty much everything you hear on classic rock radio can be found for on vinyl for less than a buck. I call these gems “Dumpster Dive Darlings.”
Now Crate Digger’s Gold is a whole different animal. It is not rare, just obscure. Crate Digger’s Gold is not a collector’s item at collector’s prices – a Crate Digger’s Gold LP is typically under $5 and may be in dubious condition. Crate Digger’s Gold might be an album you have been searching for years (and was never issued on CD – or at least not a decent CD) or it might be something you buy on whim because you like the cover, admire the sidemen, trust the label, or love the producer. The key is that you want everyone to hear it and be amazed at your clever taste.
I plan to continue to review Crate Digger’s Gold on CatchGroove . Dumpster Dive Darling LPs will be featured on Analog Audio of Minnesota’s site. I will cross-post Dumpster Dive Darling reviews on CatchGroove too. Please free to make suggestions!
If you are a Radiohead fan I am sure you have been awaiting this release, which is basically Thom Yorke’s second solo album. In addition to Yorke, the album features Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist Flea, longtime Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker of Beck and R.E.M. on drums and Mauro Refosco on percussion. The band has its origin in the touring band Yorke formed for his debut solo album The Eraser (2006 – oh my – has it been that long!). If you want to learn more on the back story – Google it – this album has gotten plenty of pre-release press.
After years of struggling with post OK Computer Radiohead I am finally getting this electronic music. I am absolutely loving this album – although who’s to say I wouldn’t have hated it in Y2K like I hated Kid A at the time. So either Yorke/Radiohead is perfecting this genre or I am finally waking up. My guess is I am waking up. I re-listened to The Eraser (which I thought I didn’t like) and it sounded great.
Despite being beat heavy electronic music, I find this album soulful and filled with hooks. Typically I find this kind of music lifeless and monotonous. The opening cut “Before Your Very Eyes…” is a minimalistic Eliminator-era ZZ Top song crossed with Afro-Beat (and Radiohead vocals). It is down right funky in a narcotic sort of way. You could choreograph a minuet to “Ingenue.” Most of the album has hyper caffeinated drumming, softened by atmospheric keyboards and Yorke’s falsetto which floats over the proceedings calming the beast into a purring kitty cat. “Stuck Together Pieces” could easily be a Fleetwood Mac song – there is a total pop song hiding under the electronic beats.
This album should be listened to on headphones or a stereo with good separation. The arrangements are fearless in their use of two channels and the minimalistic nature of the music allows you to grab an instrument and ride it solo. At first I was disappointed that Flea’s bass was not more prominent, but I have come to appreciate the subtly of it.
For my tired ears this is a very refreshing release. With every listen I am hearing something new. Highly recommended.
I participated in an another amazing Analog Audio of Minnesota event this past weekend. The event was a demo of Vivid’s G3 Giya. This is a $40K speaker and it sounds like it. I am complete noob when it comes to high-end audio, but I can say this is the best speaker I have ever heard and most spectacular looking too!
As a bonus Philip of On a Higher Note (these speakers come with an escort) used the demo to play us fascinating set of digital files – the latest in high bit/sample rate recordings that shame CDs and threaten the best vinyl. The most amazing to me was a progressive set of higher samples of Patricia Barber’s “You & The Night &The Music” from her gorgeously recorded 1998 Modern Cool. This is a sexy intimate song and when I closed my eyes Barber was whispering the lyrics into my ear. I am budget audiophile and listening to the Giya’s made me aware of how obvious it is that I am listening to recorded music with my entry-level system at home. The Giya’s were alive the made the music present and real – you could smell it, feel it, see it and taste it.
I will let other sites explain the Giya’s. I don’t understand or care about the science and engineering of theses speakers. All I can say is they sound fantastic. Typically when I experience something this expensive my conclusion is that it can’t be worth it. Unfortunately the Giya’s are worth it. I am just grateful to have had a chance to meet them in an ideal site and with a great set of digital and vinyl selections to exercise them. In the mean time I am going to do my best to forget these speakers so I can go back to enjoying my humble reality.
In 2010 jazz guitarist Metheny released the album Orchestrion and proceeded to tour on the concept. And what a concept it was. Metheny had always been fascinated by his grandfather’s player piano. Metheny had always been urged to tour solo and he figured that was a tired idea and when he eventually got around to it he wanted to do something special: compose ensemble style music and perform it solo – the ultimate player piano.
Metheny proceed to create a very elaborate one man band with acoustic and acoustic-electric instruments that would be controlled using solenoids and pneumatics that Metheny could trigger in a live setting. Voila a one man ensemble. I loved that album, but unfortunately had a conflict when he performed it locally. I did get a chance to get a small taste at his Dakota show in Minneapolis this last September – he brought a small piece of the Orchestrion along for that ride. It was breathtaking to see and hear live.
Fast forward a couple of years and Metheny has really mastered this “instrument.” I prefer this release over the original Orchestrion release. This album sonically sounds better that the and Metheny’s performance more at ease with the Orchestrion instrument – he is free to play. The original 5 compositions are still there – slightly revised and played more confidently. There are two new originals and the rest are drawn from Metheny’s vast repertoire – all the way back to his debut to more current tunes.
If you are a fan of Metheny you will find this a great treat. If you are unfamiliar with him, this would be a great introduction. This is folk-jazz and easy listening – but not compromised. Despite being one of the most financially successful jazz artist of his era, Metheny never rests on his laurels or sells out. He is highly accessible and popular because he is a great player and great composer – but mostly because he has an extraordinary gift for melody and arrangements. Orchestrion provides the ultimate canvas for Metheny to work.
For a sense of how this thing works – out this video:
I consider myself an audiophile, albeit on a budget. When it came to digital music files I was all about convenience. I was original driven to rip CDs to get them on my iPod. But over the last few years I have found myself more and more listening to digital music files on my Mac hooked to my “real” stereo. That quickly revealed the inadequacies of a 192 kbps MP3.
My first improvement step was to start ripping my CDs at 320 kbps in the MP3 format. That helped. Then I got an inexpensive DAC. That helped. Then I started to rip via the ALAC format. That helped. But I still preferred to listen to music via my turntable or my CD player. I concluded iTunes and my iPod are for convenience listening and not for serious listening through a real stereo.
Last fall I started to do some research on a new CD player – figuring that was the digital format for my real stereo. I ran into a guy from the Needle Doctor at the Electric Fetus on Black Friday/Record Store Day and told him about my situation. I asked him to recommend a CD player. His immediate response was “upgrade your DAC and get a legitimate audiophile digital music player.” Huh?
Fast forward to Oliver (Omas) Masciarotte’s recent talk at Analog Audio where he gave a high level road-map to how to do digital right. I then picked up the detailed road-map (his recently published book) to learn more.
To Serve & Groove is exactly the recipe book I needed. You can scan the book quickly to get the basic idea and then you can dive deeper into the instructional chapters that give you step-by-step instructions. There is plenty of background material if you want a deeper understanding – but you can gloss over that if you only need the basics (me). Omas is willing to meet you wherever you are – a non-technical noob like me or a full-fledged audio nerd. No matter what, the music always comes first. The book is easy to follow, has good illustrations, and Omas slips in humor at the right times.
The good news is I now have a reference document to explore doing digital music right. The bad news is that it is not easy and it is not cheap. For most people using iTunes and hooking their computer to home stereo is about all they are going to want to do (its cheap and nearly effortless). Unfortunately if you have a discriminating ear you won’t be happy for very long. You will need this book (a bargain at $4.99 – cheaper that most audio magazines) and some discretionary funds (e.g. to buy a DAC, an audiophile music player, a RAID unit, a dedicated Mac, etc.) and some hobby time (e.g., configure computer, re-rip music, set up a RAID, etc.). Warning – the books assumes you a will use a Mac as your computer. Hopefully in future posts I will be bragging about my digital music server!
I have been writing this blog for over a year now. For the most part my posts are album reviews. My goal is to share with readers why I like an album and why I think they should give it a listen. I don’t recall that I have written a bad review. Not because I am Pollyanna, but because I don’t want to waste my time on music I don’t like.
My biggest challenge is trying to figure out why I like an album. This Jim James is a great example – I absolutely love it and I can’t exactly explain why. But I will try.
First of all I like My Morning Jacket (MMJ) and I especially like how MMJ has evolved to a more pop and funky sound. Jim James voice is so distinctive it is hard not to think of MMJ when listening to this release. This album fits nicely and unobtrusively with the rest of the MMJ catalog.
But it is a Jim James release – according to the album credits he wrote, arranged and played most of the instruments. It does have a slightly different flavor to it than an MMJ release. If MMJ is taking you coffee black, this release is with cream and sugar. The album is a bit more mellow and contemplative that MMJ. Real strings sweeten most tracks. When it rocks like on “A New Life” you can imagine Roy Orbison covering this song. At times the album evokes John Lennon solo ballads. The arrangements are complex, but support the songs – never overshadowing. When you look back at early MMJ, Jim James hid in the mix like Michael Stipe used to in early R.E.M. releases – like Stipe, James has come front and center as he has his career has progressed. James’ voice is fully featured on this release. There are some really cool sounds on this album, for example “All Is Forgiven” has Led Zeppelin/middle eastern feel.
I picked this album up this past Tuesday and I have listened to at least twice a day since then. With each hearing I like it more. This album has already reserved a spot on my 2013 top-ten list. My only complaint is that the album clocks in at about 38 minutes and every time it comes to an end, I wanting more.
Axl's Catch Groove 