John B

The L disc is an oddity in their catalog. It was initially released in very limited quantities on a small Japanese label. VHF is only responsible for the reissue. It is a beautiful album, very quiet and meditative without being boring, or falling into "new-agey" traps. Most of their releases heavily emphasize drones. Probably my favorite disc on VHF is the first Flying Saucer Attach album, which is either referred to as self-titled or "rural psychedelia," depending upon where you look. FSA is, for the most part, one guy, who records at home. Acoustic guitar mixed with washes of feedback and distorted electric guitar, vocals (when they exist) buried pretty far back in the mix. While I enjoy all FSA albums the later ones and the live discs are the least essential. Vibracathedral Orchestra is a collective of British musicians. Their releases are pretty ragged, seeming to be edited with garden shears, as one review put it. The music is built around long slowly evolving improvisations, heavily influenced by raga and drone. I love their work. Versatile Arab Chord Chart would be the disc to start with. Sunroof I have just started to explore. Very drone based. Cloudz is a great disc. I have two Pelt albums I bought used and they are more difficult to pun down. Imagine a mix between traditional acoustic folk instruments (banjo, lap steel guitar) and washes of fuzzed-out bliss, coalescing into long ragas and modal trance explorations with a dash of tape-loop experimentation and you would be close. VHF is available on emusic, so you could explore most of these discs that way, if you so chose.

I've got a lot of releases on VHF by Vibracathedral Orchestra, Flying Saucer Attack, Sunroof, Pelt, and L (the disc you linked to.) Let me know if you want any recommendations

I just went over to the Evidence site and saw that they have all of their Sun Ra discs on sale for $12, free shipping on orders over $24. I grabbed The Magic City, The Great Lost Albums 2cd set and Angels and Demons at Play. Hard to beat this price. Hopefully they get enough orders in to continue their reissue program.

Have any of you ever heard of the Swedish label brax-tone? I was just reading about the group Läder, who sound very interesting. From the website Läder is the new big noise from the North. Mixing the energy of hardcore, the suspense of free jazz and the otherwordliness of electro-acoustic music, they might not be the first-hand choice of the fainthearted. But as soon as you learn how to interact with their overwhelming intensity, you'll find their twisted groove remarkably elevating. Give Läder some of your time and they will reward you ten-fold! The label has all releases available for download on mp3, so I'll give them a listen tonight.

I've been listening to a few of the Anthony Braxton Quartet sides on Leo from 1985. So far I've made it through Coventry and London and, without exception, the music is fantastic. I've been hesitant to explore Braxton for quite some time. I think the size of his discography can be quite intimidating, but I have been richly rewarded by all of his albums I have heard. For Alto and one of the GTM discs (probably Two Compositions (Trio) 1998) will be up next.

and Oliver Nelson's Blues and the Abstract Truth. That is another essential Dolphy sideman date. brownie put it best...you'll be hooked really quickly.

You also need to hear Mingus' live Antibes disc, if you haven't already. Any live Mingus w/ Dolphy is pretty much essential, in my opinion. Another disc that might not be "essential" that I really enjoy is The Illinois Concert, which Blue Note issued a few years back. It contains a beautiful version of "God Bless the Child."

Has anyone seen a 50 or 60% off w/ no shipping code recently, by any chance? There are a couple of 2cd sets calling my name...

After listening to You Walk Alone the other day jumping back into Jandek with Telegraph Melts was a real mindf@ck. I like this album quite a bit, but I'm still having trouble adjusting to the ensemble albums. As much as I enjoy these tracks I do prefer the solo stuff.

I've been skimming JC quite a bit recently, but I missed your posts on this. I'm glad you added them here, too.

eh, schnee and the Radian discs, probably rec.extern to start would all also be good next choices after TBTB and Wrapped Islands. Seeing Jon's post just now reminded me that Erstwhile just released two new live discs: EL001: Keith Rowe/Burkhard Beins EL002: Keith Rowe/Toshimaru Nakamura/Thomas Lehn/Marcus Schmickler I'l be placing an order for these in the next day or so, most likely along with the often-maligned Rabbit Run, which has the same lineup as EL002, minus Tshimaru Nakamura.

I love the first track. Going back to the liner notes I noticed that Alex Blake plays on the track and co-wrote the song. I saw Alex in concert with Randy Weston earlier this year and have been in awe of his abilities since then.

I'd prefer to pick up more of the Evidence reissues first but, as I recently rejoined emusic, I can get the Leos and Spaceship Lullabye for "free." This is greatly enhancing their appeal to me right now. I've started a list of albums to pick up next time I place an order and at least two or three of the Evidence discs will be at the top of the list.

I would highly recommend listening to Too Beautiful to Burn, by Martin Siewert and Martin Brandlmayr. It is, in my opinion, the most beautiful disc on Erstwhile. If I had to choose one Erst to listen to that would be in the same vein as Wrapped Islands, this would be the one.

I'll start adding my thoughts, a few tracks at a time: 1. I recognize the song, but I have no idea who any of the musicians are. This sounds like something from the early 1960's. Nice work on flute. 2. Again, no clue who this is. I like the nice, relaxed vibe this track has, but, for some reason, it never really clicks for me. I can't quite put my finger on why, but this track seems like it is less than the sum of its parts for me. I know I've heard this guitar player before...this has to be Joe Morris on guitar. There aren't too many dates with Morris in a quartet with a sax player, but none of the albums have songs with track times that match up. I'll guess this is the Whit Dickey Wobbly Rail album, but I'm really not sure. 3. Staying with the nice, relaxed vibe: Lee Konitz, but no clue which album this is off of. This is a really pretty track, in a very non-traditional sort of way, if that makes any sense 4. Very nice! I really dig the Middle Eastern / jazz fusion thing. I have no clue who this is, but I feel like I should. It sounds like, if there is a leader to this date, it would be the drummer. Is the rest of the album this good? If so, I'll have to pick up a copy. 5. getting us back to the nice, mellow vibe...Ran Blake, I'm guessing, which would make the singer Jeanne Lee. I'm not usually a fan of jazz w/ vocals, but this is a very nice recording. I should give the album a shot one of these days. 6. and the vibe continues, pun intended. I am woefully ignorant when it comes to this instrument, so I have no clue who this is. Very nice track. 7.I like this track quite a bit. Is this Roy Campbell? William Parker on bass I'm guessing. Something by his Pyramid Trio? I only have one album by them and I don't believe this tune is from that disc. Very nice mood created here. I'm looking forward to seeing who this is. 8. No clue who this is. I'm pretty certain I've never heard this track, or these musicians before. This sounds like something from the late 1950's. The alto player sounds very "cool," so I'd guess it's someone from the west coast. Nice track, but nothing I'll run out and track down. 9. No clue, again. I like the relaxed latin vibe (pun not intended at first) but can't place who this is. 10. Very interesting. Solo alto, seemingly recorded in a public space. I can picture walking down the stairs into a train station late at night and hearing the sax echoing off of the walls of the nearly empty station. I really enjoyed this track! I can't tell you who this is, but this was one of my favorite tracks on the test. Great BFT, Dmitry! I really enjoyed listening to all of these tracks. You really programmed all of the tracks nicely.

gokhan, These are great pictures and comments on each set! Thank you very much for posting. I just finished listening to Sun Ra's Atlantis and was very impressed. The title track is a fantastic, chaotic wall of sound. I have also finally heard the Art Ensemble of Chicago's Reese and the Smooth Ones and very highly recommend it. Great music!

I just finished listening to Atlantis again and am very impressed. The title track, in particular, is a beautifully chaotic mess. How are Sun Ra's discs on Leo? Are any of them a cut above the rest? Are any worth avoiding? Also, has anyone heard the recent Atavistic issue of Spaceship Lullabye? Sun Ra rehearsing with various vocal groups? Sounds like it could be really interesting or really dreadful.

See, you had to go and post again, ruining this post.

I just ordered a used copy of this. I am really looking forward to hearing it! How is his album Musics on Galaxy?

isn't this an oxymoron?

Yes, the interview material is fascinating (and a bit eccentric). Go for it! I have finally had a chance to hear this and you are quite right. The music is fantastic and the interview is wonderful.

I'm just finishing the first disc of this: but I can already give it a thumbs-up. Great disc! The music is fantastic, and the interview is fascinating.

also, a new(?) label called Free Elephant is just about to release a new live solo cd by Peter Kowald:

When you have time, I'd appreciate it if you'd post your thoughts on which Ganelin discs are the most essential. I'm going to start grabbing a few of their discs on Leo in the next few weeks.

I've only heard one Ivo Perelman disc, The Ventriloquist, but it's a good one. Christine Wodrascka is really scary on it, & Louis Sclavis is surprisingly pungent (no trace of his ECM persona!). (They're not on the same tracks--it's a compilation of a sax/piano/drums trio session & a two-horn/bass/drums session.) I see the Penguin Guide gives it 4 stars. I'll probably pick up Suite for Helen F one of these days as the lineup sounds intriguing. They have The Ventriloquist, so I've added it the list of upcoming dowloads. Thanks! EMusic also has the complete set of Golden Years of the New Soviet Jazz, so I'll be "reacquiring" the ones I sold as well as picking up coluems 2 and 3.