Friday Random 10, August 22

  1. Solas, “Darkness, Darkness”: One of my favorite Irish
    bands doing a great cover of an old song.
  2. A Silver Mt. Zion, “Goodbye Desolate Railyard”: a decent
    ASMZ track, but not an outstanding one.
  3. Mogwai, “Acid Food”: Anything by Mogwai is terrific. This
    is no exception.
  4. Kansas, “Myriad”: One of my favorite tracks of the latest
    from Kansas.
  5. Metaphor, “Stella Maris”: I just got this album today, and haven’t even gotten to listen to it all the way through yet, so I haven’t really formed a strong opinion yet. But it sounds like Metaphor, and that’s a good thing.
  6. Rush, “The Enemy Within”: A classic old Rush tune.
  7. David Sylvian and Robert Fripp, “Jean the Birdman”: this is
    pretty much what you’d expect from Fripp and Sylvian. Sylvian’s
    crooning; Fripp playing with tape loops and strange tonality. Even
    though it’s what you expect, it’s still amazing – these are two of the
    most creative guy’s you’ll find anywhere, and when they work together,
    the result is something special.
  8. Porcupine Tree, “The Moon Touches Your Shoulder”: A bit
    off of PTs most traditionally progressive album. Not my favorite
    bit of the album, but the whole album is amazing.
  9. Kruzenshtern & Parahod, “Sippurim”: K&P is one of my
    favorite things to listen to lately. I usually describe it as
    progressive klezmer, which I think is accurate; but it’s also
    not really adequate. These guys are stretching the boundaries so
    far that it’s hard to describe. There’s a very strong Klezmer element;
    but also very strong Jazz and Rock influences. Their stuff is hard
    to track down, but well worth the effort. It’s really spectacular.
  10. Tie the Bonnet: Traditional Irish, from the masters. Lunasa
    is wonderful. This, however, is not one of my favorite bits by
    them. Like many popular Irish bands, they tend to over-rush
    the tempo. It’s damned impressive, but it deprives the music of some
    of its heart. This stuff is music to dance to – but they’re playing it at tempos that no one could ever dance to.

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