Slaps Orchestra - Opera Omnia 2010-2016

Intriguing music... contemporary, classical, electronic, concrete, weird noise... dunno... I find it extremely suggestive, both easy to the ears and complex, music for mind and body.

Enjoy... explore these soundscapes, dig it.

Thanking Michelangelo Bava.

Emily Young (sculptress)

I loved a BBC documentary about Emily working at his monastery/home/workshop in Tuscany...

Lovely, empathic artist, using stones and rocks and hating the soooo boring marble...

I'm with her.

The Peak goes fancy

The Peak will be going to be brewed in fancy, summer-hinting colors, folks... it's only anodization, but I love the effect.

There are only three still available, in all shown colors choices: red, orange and gold.

Proud... also if my wife asked if they're flutes...



Panzerholz/bronze rear-weight, at right the finished one.


BTW: nothing new under the sun, yet... some eons ago "someone" - i.e. Thorens - did it...



Apparently the orange color is unseen, 'til now;-)

Fado in Coimbra, Portugal

During my recent journey in Portugal, I had several very nice musical moments... but nothing compared to my Fado ao Centro in Coimbra evening... 

Coimbra's Fado is very different from its Lisbon's version... only former and ex-Coimbra University students, all males, wearing their traditional black capes, singing and playing classical guitar and guitarra Portuguesa.

The place is very comfortable and classy - sort of out of time - and music flows as timeless as it can be.

The musicians are truly gifted and - be sure - it's not a sort-of tourist-only affaire: historic hints are given by Ms. Germana, an extremely kind and well-informed lady whose live commenting, supported by short movies on the screen behind musicians, was a plus to the evening.

I was in tears when, at the end of one-hour long gig, had the privilege to chat with musicians and to handle and strum a premium luthier crafted guitarra Portuguesa.

An epiphany!

I strongly suggest and invite everyone traveling in the area to stop-by enjoy this great music, hinting both saudade for leaving Portugal, for serenades during the mild nights in Coimbra or cheering at the end of a studying year at the nearby University, one of most ancient in the world.

Thanks, folks... obrigado, Doigo... obrigado, Germana... also now I'm back home, I'm enjoying Coimbra's fado from the disks I bought after the concert.

Cheers.

Jazz Images by Francis Wolff

This very (limited edition) book was the unexpected and gladly received gift from a friend... as he told me, he bought two at Mosaic in CT, USA: one for himself and another for someone able to appreciate it... and. YES! Leif: I DO appreciate it!

The Ashley Khan's foreword is wort the book... his insight about the days these wonderful pixies were shot, the coming from Nazi Germany to USA, the use of Rolleiflex camera and the cool eye inside RudyVan Gelder's studio... priceless.

... but what more amazes me are the finest, humblest details: John Coltrane's elastic twisted belt, the shiny, brand new Neumanns and Telefunkens' microphones and Selmers' saxes, the natural elegance of these stellar musicians and I'm not only talking about Miles'

A true visual goldmine of a life-long commitment to jazz and to - more specifically - seminal, trend-setting Blue Note record label.

Thanks, pal.  

Darius Valiunas - cartridges builder and a new doctor for our beloved Neumann DST's cartridge maintenance

Darius Valiunas, a gentleman from Lithuania, owns the seldom found skill to properly maintain and service the idiosyncratic DST's design cartridges... and to build his very own interpretation, field-coil or not.

He built a Neumann DST replica and a field-coil version of DST design, as well... as Darius says: Air core Direct couple field coil mc cartridge sound is nearest to master tape.Exactly my VERY feeling since I discovered Lumiere DST and Neumann DST!

Again from Darius: Cactus spine with bonded aluminum tube with nude elliptical diamond.
We have tested both for sound/output and they are very similar. 

Cactus spine is much more rugged from mechanical point of view (I mean it's more accident proof, it don't break easy).

... and again:


Standart mc cartridges are wired on iron carcase,but that iron influences Eddy Current.That stops coil movement on big amplitudes,so we hear compressed sound.There is another type of  cartridges[air core ones]that have no problem with Eddy Current,but they have poor bass respond.Therefore the front coils make big movement amplitude,bass from these air core cartridges is good.Magnetic field from elecromagnet is very stable and it  creates good dynamics on bass respond.When you are listening to field coil cartridge,you never get tired of its sound.Music intonations are undistorted,and they are like from master tape.The shape of the coils and field are constructed in the way to keep linearity on worped,uncentered vynil.These cartridges will never be mass production,but it is always possible to make an order individualy.-- 

Very, very interesting... not direct feedback, BUT... as experience and instinct is something many among us have, just looking at the quality of workmanship is enough for yours truly.

Miles' Rubberband posthumous disc out on next Sept. 2019

A lost Miles Davis album named Rubberband is set to be released in September. The LP was recorded in 1985 in Los Angeles’ Ameraycan Studios and produced by Randy Hall and Zane Giles.

After 30 years, Rhino Records will be releasing the lost album Miles Davis album Rubberband to the public.

The album was put on hold when Davis went on to record Tutu. However, after 30 years Rhino Records will be releasing the lost album to the public for the very first time.

The LP has been completed by the original producers Hall and Giles along with Davis’ nephew, who played drums on the original recording sessions for the album. The work is set to be released September 6th – mark it in the calendars and check out the tracklist below.

It will be a 2-discs set.

The fire of 2008 - a disaster for music and movie industries!

It happened in 2008... a disaster for music and movie industries...

The archive in Building 6197 was UMG’s main West Coast storehouse of masters, the original recordings from which all subsequent copies are derived. A master is a one-of-a-kind artifact, the irreplaceable primary source of a piece of recorded music. According to UMG documents, the vault held analog tape masters dating back as far as the late 1940s, as well as digital masters of more recent vintage. It held multitrack recordings, the raw recorded materials — each part still isolated, the drums and keyboards and strings on separate but adjacent areas of tape — from which mixed or “flat” analog masters are usually assembled. And it held session masters, recordings that were never commercially released.

The full article by The New York times is

here

...

Western Electric 2A turntable

A marvelous vintage turntable built decades ago in the USA... brought to its shiny beauty with passion and untiring care and attention to details...

Love the console...

What an inspiration for a new turntable...

Superb!

Beloved Leon Redbone passed away today!

I'm really, really sad... 

Mr. Leon Redbone, after health issues and retiring in 2015 from active music scene, passed away a few hours ago...

 

I'm sincerely condolencing to his family and friends... he gave to me - and many worldwide - pure joy... 

His class, panama hat and music were - ARE - absolutely timeless and never will be forgotten by yours truly.

R.I.P. dear Champagne Charlie... R.I.P. Leon Redbone... thanks, Mr. Dickran Gobalian.

Some 50 cents vinyl nuggets

Lovely vintage covers... and gorgeous sound from these flea-market finds.

Disc of the Month - Sounds Harpy - featuring the David Snell Quintet

Disc of the Month!

On DECCA, recorded in England in 1966...

Superb recording of great music... cool, seldom heard arrangements and musical blend.

Master quality!

BTW: better Harpy than... Horny;-)

Furry cello mute

Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man OST by Neil Young

Bought this double-disc this morning after reading a review on MOJO June issue... the reviewer was hinting to most experimental Neil's disc, ever... suggesting a comparison with Paris, Texas by Ry Cooder... mmmhhhh... always amazed by reviewers' opinions;-)

... an electric fuzz guitar lucubration with deeeeep bass and William Blake's poems read by movie prima donna - i.e. Johnny Depp.

Yes, I enjoyed this music quite a lot... despite the honest, small print on back cover corner, well... it's an amazingly nice recording, too...

Give it a spin, pals... but don't take any responsibility as you'll DO NOT listen to any Neil's voice or acoustic guitar... 

A footnote: the recording reminded to me more than a.m. Paris, Texas, Peter Fonda's The Hired Arm OST... an electric, fuzzed, one, of course.

Enjoy. 

J.J. Cale - Stay Around (2-discs set 2019)

Posthomous discs are such a trange breed, folks: they can be awesome - thinking to Tim Buckley's live at Royal Albert Hall in 1969... and it sounds weird as artist isn't anymore.

They sort-of make resurrecting your fave, late musician... as music never dies.

In J.J. (Cocaine) Cale's case, well... I've been a very, VERY fond of his music and bought everything he recorded... my most beloved, the Raccoon-cover 1st, Okie, Troubador, 5 (wow, love it!)... then the others: Grasshopper, etc.... down to JJ & Slowhand...

I felt quite out of time, late, if you get it... but the discs contain some little laid-back gems... the recording is nice but discontinuous as it was on the above mentioned JJ's nuggets, being recorded at several different locations and studios... we're far away from the '70s masterpiece quality, yet... I found the Christine Lakeland-Cale (JJ's widow and long-time music-partners) tracks cherry-picking and pleasant...

A must-have disc?

No, don't think so... BUT a pleasure to listen to, anyway, sort-of memory lane, good ol' Americana honestly played and crafted and a nice package to par: you may be able to change cover-window pixie while playing the attached CD;-)

BASF - Liszt or Twist?

Lovely '60s BASF ad...

iTape

Lol!

... at 15 i.p.s. it would give... 30 seconds recording?

;-)