Doom & Gloom Dispatch #13: Sweet Sonic Death
Trina Basu and Arun Ramamurthy, Crosby, Nash & Young, Miles Davis, Sonic Youth, Kraftwerk
Trina Basu & Arun Ramamurthy - Nakshatra
A transcendent/transfixing collection of intertwining violins for your Bandcamp recommendation this week. Trina Basu and Arun Ramamurthy have a wide array of sounds and techniques to choose from, including South Indian ragas, western classical music and improv scenes — and it all comes together wonderfully on Nakshatra. Released on the Spinster label (who are batting pretty much 1000% so far), the album is often ravishingly beautiful, but with a sharp edge to it that holds your attention throughout its hour-long runtime.
Crosby & Nash (with Young) - Winterland, San Francisco, California, March 26, 1972
So long to David Crosby, a guy who outlived his life many times, somehow making it to his 80s. A tricky character, often embodying the best and worst of rock stardom, boomerism, the 1960s mentality, etc. But hey, some amazing music, stretching from The Byrds to If I Could Only Remember My Name to his late-period solo work. I couldn’t handle his Twitter persona, but oh well.
For a little rarity, here’s Croz somewhere around the peak of his fame, playing a benefit for the San Francisco County Jail Inmates’ Fund back in 1972. He’s joined by his pals Graham Nash and Neil Young (the latter making one of his few ‘72 live appearances) for an occasionally shambolic acoustic set. You wouldn’t call this the finest performance from C, N or Y but it’s a good time nonetheless, with perhaps David’s searching solo version of “Page 43” as the highlight. “Life is fine, even with the ups and downs,” he sings. “And you should have a sip of it / Else you’ll find it’s passed you by. ”
BBC Arts & Ideas: Miles Davis & On The Corner
A nice little roundtable discussion of Miles Davis’ endlessly fascinating On The Corner, which was released 50 years ago last fall. An album we’re still coming to terms with!
One of the guests here is bassist/producer Bill Laswell, who dug deep into the Electric Miles era for his Panthalassa collection back in the 1990s. And apparently he’s digging even deeper. At some point in this BBC program Laswell reveals that he’s working with hours and hours of On The Corner session reels for an upcoming boxed set: “It’ll be called Around The Corner, or something,” Bill says. There’s also a brief mention of some kind of Panthalassa-esque sequel utilizing the OTC stuff (and maybe some other period-appropriate recordings?). I haven’t heard anything else about these releases, but uhhhh color me excited.
And speaking of Bill Laswell, he’s run into some health/financial troubles in the last year or so — the U.S. Blues, right? He’s got a GoFundMe page if you want to help out. You could also grab this terrific double CD-R mix of Laswell’s work over the years, with profit going to Bill.
Sonic Youth - Death To Our Friends (1981-2011)
A decades-spanning, seven-disc collection of (mostly) live Sonic Youth? Yeah, that is exactly what the doctor ordered. Presented (mostly) chronologically, Death To Our Friends takes us from those scuzzy No Wave days to that Lollapalooza haze to the band’s excellent latter daze. Too many highlights to name, though sadly there are no outtakes from SY’s infamous sessions with Homer Simpson on vocals. D'oh! Set aside nine hours and sink into sweet sweet Sonic Death. And of course, there’s a lot more on the band’s killer Bandcamp page.
Kraftwerk - The Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands, September 11, 1976
Those krazy Kraftwerk boys hit Amsterdam on the Radioactivity tour! This is a particularly historic show, since it features — as far as I know! — the debut performances of "Europe Endless" (a strange, nervy version kicks the set off) and "Trans-Europe Express." Ach du lieber! Trans-Europe Express (the album) wouldn't come out until the following year, so this is a nice look at the Werk in progress. Elsewhere, the quartet plays some lovely older stuff, highlighted by a downright sublime, slightly woozy "Kometenmelodie." I'm always a fan of how human these man machines sound at this point, a beating heart beneath the circuitry.
From The Doom & Gloom Archives
Thanks to Sleeve over at Shards of Beauty for sharing this excellent recording of Popol Vuh – LIVE! Not much live stuff from Florian Fricke and co., so you totally want it. Here’s what we think we know:
This is a soundboard recording of a live performance in 1973, probably late summer or early fall, in the church in Baumberg in Germany (which accounts for the beautiful natural reverb). My guess is that this is just Daniel Fichelscher on guitar and Florian Fricke on keyboards and vocal (and may be the first recording of Fichelscher as a member of Popol Vuh – he would become co-partner with Fricke for all subsequent Popol Vuh albums. Vocalist Djong Yun did not sing here, because she was away in America at the time. Fricke’s dissatisfaction with his vocals – heard here and on the studio album from 1973, Seligpreisung – would prompt him to later add another vocalist, Renate Knaup, whom he met through Fichelscher (both Fichelscher and Knaup had been members of Amon Duul II).
Song list (all are extended versions of the following pieces from their 1973 album Seligpreisung):
1) Weinen und Lachen
2) Hungern und Dursten
3) Hungern und Dursten (2nd take)
4) Willig Arm
5) Leid Klagen
6) Interview (German)
33 minutes of music followed by a 12 minute interview, which sounds like it was recorded in a park - because they sometimes have to pause to let a truck go by.
Currently Reading: Maggot Brain #11
Color me excited too! Thanks for the heads up.