The new "What are we listening to?" thread

Mark Carrington said:
Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd by Lana del Rey (& guests) + Pick a Dub by Keith Hudson. No track over 4 minutes. That latter part of my programme to backfill dub. He was highly regarded by critics but I know nobody who listened him in his heyday & his reputation has waned. Unlike other dub artists plenty of his back catalogue is available.
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I was introduced to Keith Hudson when he appeared on a Virgin reggae compilation album in 1976 called The Front Line. Don’t know a lot of his music but have enjoyed what I have heard
 
I loved Osmo Vänskäs CD release of Isang Yun's three late works from last year so I've been on a bit of a Isang Yun binge. Lovely music. I'm not familiar with traditional Korean music but apparently he takes lots of cues from there and marries it to "western" classical music. I've even tried playing some of his solo flute, alto flute and bass flute pieces though they are technically quite challenging at times. Some of his music is quite lyrical and I would guess isn't as challenging as much other modern classical music. Try the Silla for example. Lovely music IMO.

 
All the pianists and piano lovers out there might (or might not) have heard the name Daniela Ballek. One of the most memorable few years of my life was when my friends had the flat in Weisbaden, Germany, directly above Daniela. They became great friends, despite a 30 or 40 year age difference. My friends' flat was tiny, but Daniela had two flats knocked into one with a spare room, so when we visited each year we stayed with Daniela, always having dinner on at least one evening and breakfasting together. One of her living rooms was given over to a Steinway grand and vast music collection. She is a concert pianist and piano teacher at the Mainz conservatory. We'd waken each morning to her practising pieces, then join her for tea and toast. She'd occasionally arrange a house concert too.

She has had a fascinating life. Born in Troppau (today the Czech Republic), her family fled/were expelled in 1945 and setted in Germany. She studied in Germany and then in New York with Claudio Arrau. She won major piano competitions in Geneva and Munich, and has played at the Whitehouse on various US tours. Now almost 90, she is the most delightful woman.

 
I'm always up for some Schönberg so I picked up the new Alpha CD of Schönberg's lovely late String Trio that is paired with Constantin Regamey's Quintet. Regamey isn't a composer I knew of before. Born in Kiyv, Ukraine but lived in Poland during WWII and was in the resistance. He composed this quintet during the war and it was one of, if not the first, Polish 12 tone pieces. Fascinating music and I'm so glad I came across it.

 
Tom Cannavan said:
Awaiting Big Thief on stage
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What did you think Tom? We saw them last night at the Hammersmith Apollo. My daughter and her friend absolutely loved it, but I was a little more ambivalent, although I definitely enjoyed it more than I expected. They were more "muscular" than I was expecting - they can really rock out when the mood takes them, squalling feedback and all that. And they're technically very good musicians (although Adrienne's guitar solos sometimes veered off into something perhaps overly chaotic). However, they are still, at heart, a folk band and let's just say I'm generally not a big fan of folk music...
 
Geordie Torr said:
What did you think Tom? We saw them last night at the Hammersmith Apollo. My daughter and her friend absolutely loved it, but I was a little more ambivalent, although I definitely enjoyed it more than I expected. They were more "muscular" than I was expecting - they can really rock out when the mood takes them, squalling feedback and all that. And they're technically very good musicians (although Adrienne's guitar solos sometimes veered off into something perhaps overly chaotic). However, they are still, at heart, a folk band and let's just say I'm generally not a big fan of folk music...
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Geordie, I find their records to be real curate's eggs: some wonderful tracks and some that just seem a bit self-consciously off-kilter. The live show was similar - in Edinburgh i actually thought they were far too loud - and that's not just me turning into an old fuddy-duddy; I thought the volume really detracted from the harmonies and the lyrical subtleties of the songs, which is a big part of their appeal. I agree on the feedback guitar solos too: it seemed a bit indulgent. When they hit a groove it could be fabulous (love the drummer) and when I could actually hear her, her voice was it's usual fascinating self, but overall a frustrating concert for me and the sheer ear-busting volume almost made me leave at one point: they're really not a death metal band.
 
Oh, shame. The sound last night was excellent. Loud but not uncomfortably so and very well balanced, so you could make out a lot of the nuance in the music, including her voice. It looked as though you were a fair way from the stage, whereas my 15-year-old was, as usual, super keen to get there early and get up close, which may have made a difference. Agree on the drummer - he and the bass player seemed to have a good understanding, which is always a plus. A good rhythm section usually gets you at least halfway over the line.
 
Geordie Torr said:
Oh, shame. The sound last night was excellent. Loud but not uncomfortably so and very well balanced, so you could make out a lot of the nuance in the music, including her voice. It looked as though you were a fair way from the stage, whereas my 15-year-old was, as usual, super keen to get there early and get up close, which may have made a difference. Agree on the drummer - he and the bass player seemed to have a good understanding, which is always a plus. A good rhythm section usually gets you at least halfway over the line.
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I had friends who were in the standing area front of stage and said the sound was good in Edinburgh. I think we just were unlucky with seats with weird acoustics; don't know if it was the same PA, suspended either side of stage, but in the 'dress circle' we were directly opposite and were in the back row with a wall immediately behind. I think it was something to do with our location.
 
Been on a bit of a 90s indie/grunge binge recently. Easy to forget just how good Nirvana were. Their music is definitely standing the test of time. We’ll never know whether that was just Grohl’s now well established genius or Cobain’s too.
 
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