Music

I know Spotify is corrupt, doesn't pay artists enough, and has an AI music problem ( one ,  two ). But I don't pay for it, and listen to commercials even though the heroine of  Laid  suggests that's not to be done. You don't like the links, don't click them. Pay for a service for me, and I'll link that up.  2/1/2025 Charcoal Grace by Caligula's Horse , which had a name,  Incitatus , but that's not the band name. ( Spotify ). This Australian prog rock band's 6th album.  Jim Grey – vocals Sam Vallen – guitars, production, engineering, mixing, arranging Dale Prinsse – bass, engineering, photography Josh Griffin – drums 2/2. Document by REM (Spotify). I really loved this band, with the Violent Femes and Prince as my youth soundtrack. Murmur and Reckoning are great albums before this, and I love every album after this too. I like their whole corpus.   2/3 Two Against Nature by Steely Dan. (Spotify) 2/4 Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. (Spotify) 2/5 Comp...

I want to force myself to read more, and putting on an album isn't the best way, would be better to just read with a timer to commit, but there's noise outside my window, so I like to put on pleasant things, and it's cool to hear music. So I'm going to list albums I'm listening to. I'm going to favor instrumental albums and update, and change if I don't actually listen to albums I'm projecting into the future. Will link to wikipedia page of famous albums. And artist.  I know Spotify is corrupt, doesn't pay artists enough, and has an AI music problem ( one , two ). But I don't pay for it, and listen to commercials even though the heroine of Laid suggests that's not to be done. You don't like the links, don't click them. Pay for another service for me, and I'll link that up.  1/1/2025. Mike Stern Voices  (2001) ( Spotify ) Mike Stern – guitar Michael Brecker – saxophone Jon Herington – rhythm guitar Richard Bona – bass, kalimba, v...

My friend asked for more women vocalists. I sent him Right Back To It by Waxahatchee, which is my current favorite. Kathryn Crutchfield is the singer. Unfortunately when I’m meditating, these kinds of questions obsess me as a kind of distraction.  My first thought was Joni Mitchell , and Brandi Carlile . Those two are giants. There’s nobody like Ella Fitzgerald , I think she’s the top. I like her work with Duke Ellington best. Billie Holiday is a favorite. I love it that J. Edgar Hoover sent an agent to get the dirt on her, and he fell in love with her. I love her albums with Lester Young .  Alison Krauss has such a sweet voice, from bluegrass to pop. Her latest albums have been with the guy who sang for Led Zeppelin.  Linda Ronstadt constantly amazed me. Blue Bayou is amazing. Lately I've been listening to Sophie Milman . Indigo Girls have some solid hits. Galileo , Closer To Fine , Tiny Desk Concert . Tiny Desk Concerts are amazing. Power of Two on Spotify . ...

Reading about  Missy Mazzoli today. Born in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, USA in 1980.  She won the best new opera Grammy in 2017 for Breaking The Waves. She won the Kraviz prize ( Symphony.org ). Operas: Salt 2012 Song from the Uproar: The Lives and Deaths of Isabelle Eberhardt 2012 Breaking the Waves 2016 Proving Up 2018 The Listeners 2022 Lincoln in the Bardo 2025 (planned) Her opera The Galloping Cure, scheduled for 2026, sets Franz Kafka’s short story A Country Doctor against the backdrop of the current opioid crisis in the USA. ( Berliner Phil ) Links: Cathedral City ( Spotify ). Podcast about Breaking The Waves ( Spotify ). My everything on Spotify playlist. Jennifer Koh & Missy Mazzoli: Tiny Desk Concert ( YouTube ). This is amazing, watch this! Vespers for a New Dark Age ( Bandcamp ). NY Times review of The Listeners. Her website . She lost her father this year ( Facebook ). 5 Reasons to see Breaking The Waves ( opera.org ). I use Spotify, but beware Spotify, h...

There's a movie on Netflix, They Shot The Piano Player (2023). It's about the disappearance of Tenório Jr. I'm really surprised, I couldn't find a previous post about  Tenório Jr .  Born in 1940, he disappeared in 1976 when he was 34, just coming into his powers. He came out with his first and only album in Embalo in 1964 ( Spotify ). He's an accompanist on many other albums. I tracked down all the albums mentioned on the Wikipedia page on Spotify and made a playlist . Lots of the albums were not present, and some had to be hunted for, did not come up on the search for the title.  Embalo on YouTube .

Katie Crutchfield is a 35 year old singer from Alabama. Her band is called  Waxahatchee , after a river in Alabama.   Saint Cloud (2021) won the Libera Award, for independent music, for the album about getting sober.  Tiger's Blood is her new album ( Spotify ). Links: How the Waxahatchee singer-songwriter got sober, moved to Kansas City, and made her best album yet ( Rolling Stone ). New Yorker article ( archive ) "First-Person Singular" by Kelefa Sanneh. The Unexpected Sunlight of Waxahatchee’s “Saint Cloud” New Yorker , by Jia Tolentino ( archive ) 2/25 Fallon Tiny Desk Concert Tiger's Blood YouTube [Verse 1: Katie Crutchfield] You come alive in the heat, you ain't crossing state lines Stood up like a crepe myrtle, can't be killed or denied Throw a brick through the window, leave your mess at my door Lord knows sooner or later it'd wash up to shore Lord knows sooner or later it'd wash up to shore [Verse 2: Katie Crutchfield] You're laughing and...