Music I Liked And Didn't - 7/11/06 - 8/13/06

First off - FUCK KFJC!!!!! Wasted way too much time on those fucking losers!!!!!

Now, back to the really important things, the new music!!!!!

Adds -

BRIDGE 61: Journal CD (Atavistic) - An outstanding new project led by Ken Vandermark. The first and last tracks are some of the most slamming modern Jazz I’ve heard in quite some time. The tracks in between, while much more restrained, are equally musicianly and only slightly less enjoyable. Smokin’!

COMETS ON FIRE: Avatar LP (Sub Pop) - The latest blast from local favorites, Comets On Fire, comes in hot with some of their best material ever, but quickly cools to levels of relative mediocrity for the majority of the album. OK, overall, and worth having, but nowhere near the greatness of their previous two releases.

DICKEY, WHIT: Sacred Ground CD (Clean Feed) - I normally don’t favor the somewhat restrained and academic style of free jazz that Dickey (among many others) creates, but strong performances by the primary soloists (top-tier trumpeter, Campbell, and the distinctive and usually interesting saxophonist, Brown) make this CD worth owning.

ONEIDA: Happy New Year LP (Jagjaguwar) - The latest release from Oneida is decidedly their least rocking, but still quite good, as they continue to explore the psychedelic inducing properties of rhythms and repetitions (which, by the way, are not at all the same thing)

V/A: Beyond Istanbul - Underground Grooves Of Turkey CD (Trikont) - Fascinating and very good collection of modern Turkish sounds, from straight up dance floor pop, to dub, hip hop, and everything in between. Some of the material here comes off as being second-rate, straight-up stylistic rip-offs, but most of the material really does fuse traditional Turkish and/or Eastern musical elements with modern Western musical styles quite successfully.

V/A: Ghana Soundz 2xLP (Soundway) - The subtitle of this compilation tells you all you need to know: Afro-Beat, Funk and Fusion in 70's Ghana. If you’re into Fela, King Sunny, the Ethiopiques series, and so on, then you’re probably going to want/enjoy this collection of true rare (i.e., tracks that are not from the small circle of the genre’s known suspects) nuggets.

Did Not Add -

ALUMBRADOS: Generation of Vipers CD (Important) - I lost interest in Bardo Pond a while back, but the description of this BP side project sounded interesting. Unfortunately, this releases’ somewhat noisy drones were not that interesting.

BALIFF, JESSICA: Feels Like Home CD (Kranky) - Baliff’s latest release isn’t that different nor particularly worse than her previous solo outings. I just find her to be only slightly above average, overall, anyway, so I just couldn’t see adding this CD, since I know that if I feel like hearing something by her in the future I would likely pull out one of her earlier, slightly better solo LPs or, better yet, her great Clear Horizon collaboration with FSA’s Dave Pearce.

FAY GROUP, BILL: Tomorrow, Tomorrow, And Tomorrow LP (Drag City) - I’ll admit that this is a glorious sounding recording, but, unfortunately, Fay’s complex pop isn’t really my cup of tea.

LOVE TIMES NOWHERE (TLXN): Into The Fire 12”- EP (Redgummy Records) - This release from locals, TLXN features 4 tracks of very sweet pop that demonstrates a heavy shoegaze influence. Unfortunately, these guys are no My Bloody Valentine. Or even Slowdive.

VETIVER: To Find Me Gone 2xLP (DiChristina Stair Builders) - Despite all the praise/hype surrounding these locals as being folk-psych practitioners on par with Espers (and despite the presence of several well-known guests, including some members of the aforementioned Espers), this is much straighter and more pop oriented than the great Espers’ releases and, as such, failed to impress this listener.

Running Count For The Year

Adds 93/61%

Did Not Add 60/39%

Oh yeah, and did I forget to mention...FUCK GRAWER!!!!! Lying loser and incompetent delivery boy. GRAWER SUCKS!!!!!