Hecla and Griper

"Hecla and Griper" by Songs: Ohia which is a singer/songwriter named Jason Molina who also recorded under both his name and Magnolia Electric Co.

I stumbled upon his music a year or so ago and found that there was a wealth of recorded material. Only problem is finding physical recordings in my area. So I've been listening, learning, loving and appreciating through iTunes downloads and YouTube videos.

If the assignment of a label or genre is required, I suppose brooding Americana Folk-Rock or Alternative Indie-Rock are possibilities.

Post Christmas Day OPB Playlist

The late night, early morning, hours after Christmas day, Oregon Public Broadcasting Music playlist:

• Young Fathers - In My View
• The Mynabirds - Numbers Don't Lie
• The Thermals - We We're Sick
• Dirty Projectors - Break-Thru
• Laura Gibson - Domestication
• Eels - Rags to Rags
• The Saturday Knights - Patches
• The Donkeys - Summer's Dream
• Blitzen Trapper - Let the Cards Fall
• Swearin' - Grow Into a Ghost
• My Morning Jacket - Big Decisions
• Flock of Dimes - Semaphore
• Tame Impala - Lucidity
• Shawn Lee and Clutchy Hopkins - Indian Burn
• Ages and Ages - I See More
• Born Ruffians - Side Tracked
• Ruby Haunt - Non Sense *****

New Direction in Jazz

Ambrose Akinmusire's 2014 recording, the imagined savior is far easier to paint.

I see the title in lower case lettering wherever I seek information.

On the Blue Note Records label which rarely disappoints the listener.

Completely new sounds for me. The alternative directions in Jazz that I've been searching for. Stunning and wildly imaginative!!! An extreme pleasure to take in.

Ambrose Akinmusire is a trumpet player.

All About Jazz Review ...... Because lacking the proper vocabulary, I'm at a total loss to describe these sounds.

Zuma

From 1975. Zuma by Neil Young and Crazy Horse. I love his recordings with The Horse. How they can sound rough and unpolished but so melodic.

I failed to fully appreciate the record when it was released as I badly wanted it to sound like Neil's earlier albums, After the Goldrush and Harvest. The years (decades) since have allowed me to hear it differently.

Highlights have always been the songs, Cortez the Killer, Lookin' For a Love and Pardon My Heart. But tonight, Barstool Blues and Don't Cry No Tears are standing out!!!

Such Sweet Thunder

Found at the Salem Public Library. It's mine now!!! ..... For two weeks anyway. Recorded in 1956-57. I'm always fascinated by recordings from the year I was born and love Jazz Big Band sounds from those years.

All Music Guide Review

Question .... and Answer(?)

Yesterday, I was asked in the record store if I knew of Steve Forbert ("Yeah, I have all his early records") and if he had any hits? Well I don't know if any of his songs were considered "hits" by the Top-40, AM-radio standards at the time but there were several that you would hear played quite a bit on FM radio in the late 1970's. ..... "Goin' Down to Laurel" from the Alive on Arrival album and "Make It All So Real" and "Romeo's Tune" from Jackrabbit Slim are three songs that immediately come to mind. Great songs!!!

Maybe not "hits" by certainly very memorable!!!

I might be mistaken (I often am) but I seem to recall purchasing Steve Forbert's first record along with Dire Straits first album .... on the same day in 1978!! I must have heard only one song from each record beforehand. That must have been a great day of discovering new sounds and words.

From the song, Make It All So Real ...... "Singer man, do your work, sing your song, make it hurt, sing the tears, sing the pain, make it all so real."

Back Porch Playlist

KLCC-fm, Eugene, Oregon .... Playlist from the Saturday evening "Back Porch" program:

• Jerry Garcia & David Grisman - The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest ..... Cover of the Bob Dylan song.
• Jerry Garcia & David Grisman - Been All Around This World

The DJ says that on this program he's presenting a tribute to the late Canadian Folk singer, Stan Rogers and reading notes about each song.

• Stan Rogers - The Rawdon Hills ..... I have a long story which I won't detail on this playlist of how I first heard his song, "First Christmas" and it almost bringing me to tears and then went several years before discovering that the singer was Stan Rogers.
• Stan Rogers - Forty Five Years ..... A voice like that singing a love song!!! It would be difficult to doubt the sincerity behind the words.
• Stan Rogers - First Christmas ..... For some people Christmas isn't all togetherness, joy, laughter and opening presents.
• Stan Rogers - Dark Eyed Molly
• Stan Rogers - Make and Break Harbour

Call Me Lucky

"Call Me Lucky" ..... Not only is it the title of the album but the three words sum up my discovery a few days ago.

One problem with listening to varied types of music over many years is that you end up with a great number of favorites where you sometimes, especially with the demise of print magazines dealing with music, have difficulty keeping track of everything they are currently doing.

Or occasionally you find a few new favorites and in the process of nurturing all this new information and possibly because you are officially a senior citizen by some definitions, you lose focus regarding some of your older favorites ..... for awhile anyway. Like you just can't process new data without temporarily having some older data fall out of your minds storage capacity in order to make space.

I saw that Chris Smither had a new release recently. I ordered it and to my great surprise and pleasure it arrived (from Vermont) in my mailbox just three days later. And then an added surprise ..... it has a bonus disc with six alternate tracks. I almost always love alternate takes and demos.

Jazz Playlist

Late night radio KMHD-fm Jazz playlist …..

• Donald Byrd - Wind Parade
• Lakey Inspired - The Process
• Kenny Baron - Dawn

Seems to be a 70's theme with these first three songs. I don't know if they are all from the 1970's but that's the vibe that the songs are giving off.

• Dr. Lonnie Smith - Freedom Jazz Dance …… More 70's sounds. I'm expecting the theme from "Shaft" soon.
• Cochemea Gastelum - Arrow's Theme ….. I feel like I should be wearing bell bottom slacks.
• Grover Washington Jr. - Black Frost …. It continues. This is going to be a short playlist if there's not a change in direction soon. It appears that I've traveled back in time.
• Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions ….. Maybe I'll go read for awhile and try this again later. I just don't feel like funky Jazz from the 1970's tonight.

Miscellaneous Stuff

Some stuff I've been listening to the last few days:

• The John Prine song, "Lake Marie" and his album that came out earlier this year, "The Tree of Forgiveness." 
• Various videos from a band I've just discovered, Madrugada.
• The vinyl record,"American Utopia" by David Byrne.
• Several live versions of "Are You Going With Me" by Pat Metheny.
• The album, "Evening Falls" by Jacob Young ..... A Norwegian Jazz guitarist. From 2004. The different Jazz sound that I've been searching for.
• The song, "Friendship Fails You" by Barn Burning with additional vocals by the late, Robert Fisher of The Willard Grant Conspiracy .... One of my favorite voices.
• An album just released by Willard Grant Conspiracy titled "Untethered" ..... recorded before Robert Fisher's death in 2017. Particularly the song, "Saturday With Jane"

Night

"Night" by Misha Alperin.

On the ECM label who's motto is "The most beautiful sound next to silence." Released in 2002.

Recorded in concert. It's listed as Jazz but it's a loose association. I see it as closer to Modern Classical Minimalism. Primarily piano and violincello with some percussion and marimba mixed in. Beautiful ..... Majestic and soaring in spots.

Misha Alperin on piano with Anja Lechner on violincello.

Kronos Quartet and Son Volt

Sometimes you walk into the little "Friends" shop inside the local public library and they have something cool available to take home at minimal cost. I've found previously owned books, music, postage stamps, art prints and magazines there. Even came across baseball cards on one occasion.

This recording is from 1995. The Kronos Quartet are two violins, a viola and a cello and always choosing interesting pieces of music to perform. No orchestra or voices needed here.

I don't know if this is best called, Modern Classical, Contemporary Classical or Chamber Music. Philip Glass is a modern composer.

Following completion of The Kronos Quartet recording, the compact disc player transitioned to this previously loaded disc from one of my favorite bands, Son Volt. "Notes of Blue" from last year.

Americana or Alternative Country-Rock.

I would have never thought of playing these two recordings back-to-back but for this place and time, it works!!

Tim Easton

"Beat the Band" by Tim Easton and The Freelan Barons.

Call it Singer/Songwriter, Americana, Rock or Folk/Rock, it's just great music.

Additional recordings are under his name only.

The Weeds

Celebrated a holiday yesterday. No not Thanksgiving, that was the day before. Yesterday was Record Store Day, the black Friday edition. I didn't buy a special release for the occasion. I went through the list and nothing grabbed my interest. But I did buy a vinyl record. Picked up a record by a group called, The Weeds!!! They were also known as The Lollipop Shoppe. I prefer "The Weeds"

1960's psychedelic garage rock. (A couple of the songs were recorded in 1971 in Portland.)  A person needs some 60's music in their world.

For some reason, the sounds remind me of an episode of the old detective television show from the late 1960's, "Dragnet," where there were a bunch of tripped out, long haired hippies in a room, smoking plants of ill repute (allegedly) and listening to psychedelic 60's music with the volume cranked up, when Joe Friday and Bill Gannon came knocking on their door.

Maybe that's why they were called, The Weeds???

Rainy Thanksging Eve Jazz Radio Playlist

Overnight playlist from the music stream of KMHD-fm, the Portland Jazz radio station. And just because it's a Jazz station, don't assume that it's all Jazz. Marking songs with ***** to designate tunes I find especially interesting.

• David Axelrod - The Human Abstract *****
• Don Wilkerson - Ring 'Dem Tambourines
• PLS Trio - Into the Skyline
• Sonny Levine with Hugh Masekela - One of These Days
• Gregory Porter - 1960 What? *****
• The Heshoo Beshoo Band - Amakhaya *****
• Kelan Philip Cohran and the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Curenavaca *****

There's another "Record Store Day" (Black Friday version) coming up the day after tomorrow. Hoping to find something far out, groovy, cool, hip and unusual to take home. Something to make a senior citizen feel proud to add to their collection. Something to stay up late at night listening to.

• Willie West - Fairchild
• Abdullah Ibrahim - Did You Hear That Sound *****

Don't misunderstand. I still greatly appreciate and enjoy the 1950's and 60's Jazz sounds and the fusion of Jazz and other styles in the late 1970's and 80's but lately I've been searching for different directions in the genre. I don't know exactly what ….. Exploratory but still melodic. Abstract suggestions. Occasional hints of improvisation. Does that clarify things or make sense?

• Grant Green - Down Here On the Ground
• Brandee Younger - Dorothy Jeanne ….. I was thinking Hiroshima meets Paul Horn while this was playing.
• DJM Trio - The Way You Do It *****
• Eddie Henderson - Sunburst

The hell with sleep!!! Sometimes you just want the mystery and anticipation of what's next that late night radio provides. Then afraid if you walk away, you'll miss out on something new to your ears. Something great!! So an intended short playlist of maybe five or ten songs becomes longer and longer and you wonder if you'll have to keep listening until the end of your days or the end of time ….. whichever comes first.

• Curtis Fuller - The Spirit
• Florian Pellssier Quintet - Les masques africains ***** …… The name, "Florian" always causes me to think of that 1970's German experimental Rock group, Kraftwerk. Maybe not considered experimental to German ears? 
• James Moody - Behind Every Good Man ….. I'm sure it has its place and loyal appreciative fans but to state as nicely as possible, I'm just not a lover of the use of a flute.
• Lonnie Liston Smith - A Chance For Peace ….. The song starts and thirty seconds in you think you don't care for it but as it unfolds and fades out you find yourself tapping your toes and bobbing your head.
• Cinematic Orchestra - Evolution

Elder's Wisdom

"Wisdom of Elders" by Shabaka and the Ancestors. 

Just discovered. Ever since I heard "The Eraser" by Christian Scott about a year ago, I've been searching for new Jazz sounds and directions and found it here.

I read a review that summed it up with three words: "Pulsing, exploratory and vibrant."

Set aside seventy-five minutes and get lost in it!!

All About Jazz Review

Village Green

Attempting to get enormously cooler by filling in the gaps. From 1968."The Village Green Preservation Society" by The Kinks. Another classic that's been missing from my collection until a few days ago. This is the 50th Anniversary Edition with tons of bonus tracks. No top-40 radio hits back then, instead just a lot of great songs.

Highlight for me ..... The song, "Animal Farm."

Flashing Back Again

Back to the 70's again. Remembering my youth. Growing up with this stuff! My time! Feeling like I was part of it all. Life full of people and places! What a great sound it was back then!! Each song somehow leads me to the next.

• America - Ventura Highway ..... With the wildfires going on in Southern California right now, I wonder if there will still be a Ventura Highway?
• Jackson Browne - Take it Easy
• Seals & Crofts - Summer Breeze
• Poco - Faith In the Families
• Souther Hillman Furay Band - Fallin' In Love ..... Short lived super group. J.D. Souther, Chris Hillman and Richie Furay!! Each linked to so many other great groups, people and sounds.
• Stephen Stills & Manassas - It Doesn't Matter ..... Chris Hillman was in Manassas.
• Crosby, Stills & Nash - Cathedral
• Brewer & Shipley - One Toke Over the Line
• Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman ..... Actually from 1968 but has always been a favorite. Written by Jimmy Webb. On my ever-updating short list for greatest song ever written.
• Steely Dan - Doctor Wu ..... I love the line: "You walked in and my life began again."
• Craig Fuller and Eric Kaz - Feel That Way Again
• Little Feat - Long Distance Love
• Ry Cooder - Little Sister

Brad Mehldau

"House On Hill" is the name of the album. Performed by a Jazz trio led by pianist Brad Mehldau who also composed all of the songs.

Flashing Back Playlist

Going back to the 70's. This might have been a typical playlist back then.

• The Ozark Mountain Daredevils - You Know Like I Know
• Rick Roberts - Jenny's Blues
• Bad Company - Seagull ….. As I recall, the album this song was on was a Christmas present from my parents. I think I gave them a shopping list of four or five albums and they found each record. That said, I've discovered a time or two that my 40-50 year old record acquisition memories are not always accurate.
• Steely Dan - Rikki Don't Lose That Number ….. Always causes me to think of Junior and Senior years in high school even though it was released just a few weeks before I graduated.
• Splinter - Which Way Will I Get Home

• John Stewart - Oldest Living Son ….. Maybe because I am a oldest son?
• Gordon Lightfoot - Circle of Steel / The Watchman's Gone
• Shawn Phillips - Steel Eyes ….. What has always come to mind and I don't know why is "cold." Something about this song just feels cold for me.
• Bonnie Raitt - Your Sweet and Shiny Eyes
• Steve Goodman - The Dutchman
• John Prine - Come Back to Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard …. I bought his "Common Sense" album because I read that Jackson Browne did background vocals on a song or two. Found out that I loved John Prine's music.
• Country Joe McDonald - Tear Down the Walls ….. The guy that I identify as my album listening mentor used to play Country Joe's, "Fish Cheer" from the Woodstock album. Though the four letter word spelled out that day and beginning with F wasn't fish. A few years later, this was my Country Joe follow-up.
• Kinky Friedman - When The Lord Closes the Door (He Opens a Little Window)  
• Gregg Allman - Multi Colored Lady ….. Takes me right back to my Freshman year in college, The OSU campus (Oregon not Ohio State) and everything around me back then.

More Blood On The Tracks

Just released!!! Bob Dylan's - :More Blood, More Tracks" The latest in his Bootleg Series.

From my understanding the original recordings made in New York City of Dylan's great 1975, "Blood On The Tracks" album. He later reconsidered and made new recordings in Minneapolis that were used on the album.

This is mostly solo Dylan singing, playing his acoustic guitar and harmonica.

When Blood On The Tracks was released it became an instant favorite in my mind. I was a Freshman in college, lonely and away from home. The record and songs were a constant companion back then. Hearing these alternate versions of all the songs brings forth waves of visual memories from those days .... old friends, new friends, falling in love for the first time, having my heart torn apart. What else is there in life for an eighteen year old?

I had Dylan's Greatest Hits, Volume Two album (which I gave minimal attention to) prior to Blood On The Tracks but this is the record that made me a true fan.

I'm taken by a song from the 2016, Jesu & Sun Kil Moon album ..... "Last Night I Rocked the Room Like Elvis and Had Them Laughing Like Richard Pryor." ..... Yes that's the songs title.

Also from the album, the song, "Father's Day." 

I always get sucked in by Mark Kozelek's voice.

November Radio Playlist

Saturday evening, late. Blazers, Ducks and Beavers games over. Falling back an hour tonight. Makes for additional time for music. OPB Music radio playlist …..

• Frightened Rabbit - Scottish Winds
• The Go! Team - Mayday ….. Horns that sound like they came from a Rocky movie and rally squad-like vocals.
• Broken Bells - Vaporize
• Garbage - Milk
• J Mascis - See You At the Movies ….. It is a movie kind of night. 
• Saintseneca - Ladder to the Sun

Autumn night in November. Raining earlier. Feels relatively warm and breezy outside. Leaves still falling from the trees. Wish I could bottle it all and save it for the chills of January and February.

• Nik Freitas - What a Mess
• Mimicking Birds - Another Time
• Buck Meek - Ruby
• The Clientele - Everyone You Meet
• Cate Le Bon - I Can't Help You

Listening to these songs and remembering times spent listening to AM radio hits in my younger years. 1968 is the year that always stands out. Then the early 70's and making the jump to FM radio. I had seen the FM dial on my parents television/stereo system but there wasn't much there. Then a classmate told me about KINK-fm in Portland. I always think of The Eagles and "Peaceful Easy Feeling." Like possibly that's the first song I heard on fm radio.

• Pete Krebs & the Gossamer Wings - Distant Lights of Home
• Black Moth Super Rainbow - Windshield Smasher ….. If only I could collect unique names for groups and songs to go with all the other items that I collect.
• Mitski - Nobody

Thinking about the past fifty years and the progression of music during that time. If I was sitting in this same place fifty years from now, what would I be listening to? And how would the hundred year old classics be thought of?

• Wye Oak - If You Should See …… Saw this band on "CBS This Morning: Saturday" a few months ago.
• Gary Numan - Metal ….. And then there's the music of the 1980's!!! 1979 actually.
• Shame - One Rizla ….. This must be a OPB favorite. I've heard it a few times on these late evening musical excursions.
• Spiritualized - Electricity

Comeback Kids

My favorite album that's been released in the past year or two is "Paging Mr. Proust" by The Jayhawks. An entire record of great songwriting. Been listening to the song, "Comeback Kids" a great deal lately. Proof of greatness is in the video.

Return to Folk Alley

A "Folk Alley" playlist. Many names I recognize here in this place along with new names and music to get familiar with….. 

• Lori McKenna - You Won't Even Know I'm Gone
• Tobias The Owl - All The Way Home
• Amos Lee - Crooked
• Rosanne Cash - The Walking Wounded
• Hush Kids - Goodbye Rain ….. One of those songs where you're not sure which is the song title and which is the groups name.
• The Jayhawks - Bird Never Flies ….. I hear so many reminders of The Beatles in their music.
• Lori McKenna - Young and Angry Again
• John Prine - Caravan of Fools
• Mary Gauthier - Brothers
• Birdtalker - Looking For Love
• We Banjo 3 - Light In the Sky *****
• Tobias The Owl - The Open Sea
• Amos Lee - No More Darkness, No More Light
• Ana Egge - Dance Around the Room With Me
• Eric Bibb - We Don't Care
• Caitlin Canty - Onto You
• The Brother Brothers - Frankie
• Ray Lamontagne - Such a Simple Thing

Cello Sounds

I don't listen to much Classical music but I do love the sounds that come from a cello. So when it's the featured instrument .....

If for no other reason I likely would have purchased this for the artwork alone. Not just the pretty face but the visual design and use of varying shades of gray and black and the feel of the albums artwork. Frame worthy if found on vinyl or in a poster!!

Jazz Playlist

• John Coltrane Quartet - Central Park West ….. I came across the album, "Coltrane's Sound" one Saturday at a local flea market. I didn't realize at the time, the beauty I was about to hear. 
• Chet Baker - Every Time We Say Goodbye
• Bill Evans - Remembering the Rain ….. I recall hearing a few seconds of this song at the conclusion of an episode of the television sitcom, WKRP In Cincinnati. Had to get the recording after that.
• Miles Davis - Concierto de Aranjuez ….. From the "Sketches of Spain" album.
• Chick Corea - The Hilltop ….. I discovered this song via a video on VH-1 back in the days when MTV and VH-1 actually played music videos. Turned out that I already had the album. I love it when that happens.
• Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan - Small Town
• Django Reinhardt - I'll See You In My Dreams
• Oregon - Witchi-Tai-To ….. I first heard the Rachel Faro version of this song in the 1970's. (I think it was written by Jim Pepper.) Years later I discovered the Oregon cover version.
• Oliver Nelson - Stolen Moments ….. Feels like the theme song to every movie from the 1960's that I've loved.
• Billy Childs - One Fleeting Instant

Sunday Night Radio Playlist

• Frank Turner - I Am Disappeared 
• Gold Connections - Bad Intentions
• Alex Lahey - I Love You Like a Brother
• Haley Heynderickx - No Face
• Craig Finn - I Was Doing Fine (Then a Few People Died)
• Reptaliens - If You Want
• Hurry Up - You Just Wait ….. Portland band.
• Gaz Coombes - Walk the Walk …… There's a guitar riff (or maybe it's a bass) running through this song that reminds me of "Digging In the Dirt" by Peter Gabriel.
• Kim Baxter - Intelligent Lovers
• Sharon Van Etten - Comeback Kid
• Strange Ranger - New Hair ….. How long did I wish for some new hair? Now it's way down on the wish list.
• Eyelids - I Can't Be Told
• Great Grandpa - Teen Challenge
• Kurt Vile - One Trick Ponies
• Yowler- Angel
• Whiskeytown - Houses On the Hill ….. Ryan Adams group before going solo. Assuming that everyone knows Ryan Adams. Probably a wrong assumption. Great songwriter!!
• Editors - Ocean of Night ….. I was kicking myself just yesterday while thinking of another song and being unable to remember this bands name.  

This OPB Music Stream ….. I don't think it's aimed at the sixty-two year old listener. But I find much of it to my liking. But then I think most people my age stopped paying much attention to current sounds after they turned thirty. Most forty, fifty and sixty-somethings are still stuck on the music of their youth. And it's like for them, all music stopped there. 

Or maybe it's just that in the last five years, I've developed an appreciation for genre's and sounds that I never would have given a chance previously. 

After Midnight Radio Playlist

• Shadowgraphs - Sun Is Rising …. A late 60's era sounding organ.
• Cool American - Focus
• Portugal The Man -  So American
• M. Ward - I'm a Fool To Want You
• The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You *****
• Vince Staples - Big Fish
• Steady Holiday - Nobody's Watching
• The Black Keys - The Only One
• The Velvet Underground - White Light White Heat
• Spoon - Everything Hits At Once
• Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Little Blu House

Playlist

I had this folded up sheet of paper lying around with this playlist from August 23rd …..

• Buffalo Tom - Three Easy Pieces ….. I have an issue differentiating between Buffalo Tom, Grant Lee Buffalo and Grant Lee Phillips. I guess though, all that matters is I enjoy the music.
• Buffalo Tom - You'll Never Catch Him
• Neil Young - Tell Me Why ….. I've been listening to this song since 1970. I've never tired of it. It's always been my 'go-to' Neil Young song. I doubt that I've ever gone more than a month or two without playing it. Qualifying it for Desert Island Disc status.
• Neil Young - Southern Man ….. Of course I can rarely listen to "tell Me Why" without listening to "Southern Man." Being that they are on the same album and all. I play air piano during the instrumental part in the middle of the song and again as the song fades away.
• Richard Buckner - Town ….. "It's how it is when everybody knows more than everything. The dying ring. the passing line, the missing wing." I don't know what it means but it does paint an abstract visual for me.
• Willard Grant Conspiracy - How To Get To Heaven
• The Rolling Stones - Ruby Tuesday
• Son Volt - 6 String Belief

The Proposition

Music soundtrack for the film, "The Proposition" by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis. Picked up at the Salem Public Library used book sale. Has me wanting to see the film now. It won the Best Original Music Score at the 2005 AFI Awards.

After listening, "brooding" is the word that comes to mind.

Pitchfork Review

Griffin House

The album, "So On and So Forth" by Griffin House. From 2016. Singer/Songwriter type that a friend turned me onto. (Thanks Suzie!!)

"Little by little they try to keep testing me
Little by little you try to get the best of me" ..... From the song, "Yesterday Lies"

Speaking In Tongues

I've been reading the book, "Hoop" by Brian Doyle. Short essays on just about every angle and aspect of basketball. In one he writes about using the song, "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)" by The Talking Heads as pregame warm up music. Of course I had to go and check it out. All leading to seeking out their "Speaking In Tongues" album. A little embarrassed that I didn't have this record in my collection. Anyway, I do now. From 1983. My vinyl record collection just became a whole lot cooler.

Jazz Without Boundaries

Listening to KMHD-fm Jazz radio overnight. "Jazz Without Boundaries" program. From 10/7.

• Sly5thAve - Let Me Ride
• Donald Byrd - The Dude
• Eddie Harris - Listen Here
• The SoulJazz Orchestra - Mamaya
• Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes - Sais (Egypt)
• Quantic - Bicycle Ride
• Alfa Mist - Keep On
• Dennis Coffey - The Look of Love …. The popular 1967 Dusty Springfield tune with a lot of improvising between the recognizable moments.
• Blazo - Natural Green
• The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble - Passing Clouds 

Then again last late night, early morning.

• Christian Scott - The Eraser
• Kamaloka - Gogo Penguin …. Beautiful waves of piano.
• Norman Connors - The Creator Has a Master Plan
• Jeff Herr Corporation - The Man Who Sold the World
• Herbie Hancock - Butterfly
• Brad Mehldau - Blackbird …. Yes that Blackbird. Once made famous by The Beatles.
• Eri Yamamoto - Wonder Land …. Had to purchase this one on iTunes.
• The Awakening - Awakening - Prologue Spring Thing
• Alfa Mist - Keep On …. Repeat performance from the previous evening!

And a few from the OPB Music overnight stream that I want to mention because I get a chuckle from the name of the bands.

• Boy Eats Drum Machine - Hoop + Wire
• Dirty Projectors - Break Thru
• Ex Hex - Don't Wanna Lose

Short List

• Bootes Void - Gravity
• Laura Veirs - Seven Falls
• Noah Gunderson - The Sound
• Holiday Friends - Never Enough …. From Astoria. About as northwest in Oregon as you can get. (Lewis & Clark ended up there.) Proving that you don't have to be from a big city to put together a band and record music that gets played on something other than a small community radio station.
• Alela Diane - Moves Us Blind …. From Portland.
• Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Talking Straight …. I'd like to hear the stories behind the decisions on some of these band names.

Return To List Making

Mourning the end of the weekend and tomorrows (im)pending doctor visit and return to work. Trying to heighten my attitude with the knowledge of five weeks of vacation still needing use this year and as of midnight, three months to use them.

• Portishead - Machine Gun
• Carl Broemel - Rain Check …. From the group, My Morning Jacket.
• Cat Power - Woman …. Lana Del Rey contributing backing vocals.
• Howard - Your Honor …. Bringing to mind several Howards that I know, knew or watched on television. Jake, Frank, Moe and Morrison.
• The Helio Sequence - Stoic Resemblance …. A Portland band. Always interested in what's getting produced locally.
• Your Smith - The Spot …. Singers voice bringing Sheryl Crow to mind.
• Kevin Morby - Aboard My Train
• Esme Patterson - Feel Right
• Isabol Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Get Behind Me
• Wreckless Eric - Gateway to Europe
• Say Hi - I Just Want to Go Home - Seattle band. I have a song or two of theirs in my digital files collection. …. If that qualifies as a collectable item?
• Hatchie - Sleep …. Reminding of a current need. It's 2:00am after all. Only crazy obsessed people listen to music on the radio and form playlists at this hour.
• Death Songs - Ophelia …. Another Portland band. The song has a hint of Chile or Peru to my ears. 
• Phantogram - Make a Fist
• Neighbor Lady - Fine …. They say that when a woman says "fine" you should take it as things are actually not so fine.
• Big Red Machine - Lyla
• The Bell - On and On …. "All in all it breaks my heart, the way that you sound."
• Mendoza Line - Aspect of An Old Maid

Benedictine Monks

Proving that I listen to more than Rock, Jazz and The Blues. I grew up going to Catholic school and attending mass every morning before classes. Never knew though that I would grow up to enjoy Gregorian Chant. Especially after not going to mass for the past thirty or so years.

Voices, minimal organ and a few background church bells. Vocals in Latin I assume. The ultimate harmonizing!! I could listen for hours. Even sit (or kneel) through multiple high masses.

Sam Phillips and Jason Isbell

A favorite record from 1994. The album, "Martinis & Bikinis." There's an obvious Beatles, Strawberry Fields vibe throughout.

I first heard Sam Phillips when she went by the name, Leslie Phillips and through her 1987 song, "God Is Watching You."  ..... Which for some reason I associate with Peter Himmelman's album, "This Father's Day." I assume because I have memories of picking up both on the same day on cassette on a Saturday evening, 11:00pm pilgrimage to Tower Records in Beaverton. It's just my opinion but record stores should be open all nights of the year until midnight.

If I were to compile a Desert Island Disc list for the decade of the 1990's, "Martinis & Bikinis" would be high on that list. It's a listen from start to finish recording. No weak filler tunes.

Jason Isbell's, "Sirens of the Ditch." A 2018 reissue of his first album recorded in 2007 after leaving the band, Drive By Truckers.

I had his more recent albums in my collection but somehow had never heard this one until reading about it being reissued. For some reason I wasn't expecting much .... I mean, (said with tongue-in-cheek): How could I? I had never heard of it. That automatically makes it a inferior recording right? I discovered otherwise.

I need to be slapped for jumping to conclusions and forming uninformed opinions. Sorry Mr. Isbell!!

My opinion now? The songs, "Brand New Kind of Actress" and "The Magician" .... Absolute CLASSICS!!! They stay in residence bouncing around in my head.

And the deluxe edition of this re-issue has four previously unreleased bonus tracks!!! Though I don't understand how "Racetrack Romeo" ever became an unreleased track. It's also a gem!!

Another List

I love making lists. Any kind of list. But music is a particular favorite. The middle of the night feels like the perfect time to listen to music. When everything else around you has quieted down.

What am I listening to today? Same as I've been listening to all week. Late night radio.

• The Essex Green - Don't Leave It In Our Hands *****
• Fountains of Wayne - Valley Winter Song
• Wooden Shjips - Staring at the Sun
• Anna Burch - Asking 4 a Friend
• The National - Conversation 16
• The Morning Benders - All Day Day Light
• Sam Evian - IDGAF
• Joseph - Canyon …. "Joseph" is either a female or a band with a female lead vocalist.
• The Decemberists - Cutting Stone
• R.E.M. - Turn You Inside Out …. One that needs to be played loudly. One of my choices for desert island songs.
• Anna Burch - Quit the Curse
• Wild Ones - You're a Winner
• Nick Jaina - Walking Into a Burning House

More Sounds

How many different groups are out there recording and releasing music? Seems like an endless supply of new bands to listen to. Though there are several on this list who are not fresh sounds to my ears.

• The Young Veins - Change
• Parquet Courts - Mardi Gras Beads
• The Decembrists - Starwatcher
• Florence & The Machine - What Kind of Man …. There's a note or two or a tone buried deep in this song and in the singer's voice that sounds like something once heard in a mid to late 1970's Fleetwood Mac recording. I was listening though not very intently when it suddenly struck me.
• Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Big Black Nothing
• Nirvana - About a Girl …. Never did get into the whole Nirvana thing. Though I did become a fan of Pearl Jam.
• St. Vincent - Hang On Me …. Conjuring up memories from youth while attending eight years of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic school.
• Echo & The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon …. You hear stuff! Or sometimes it just strikes you! Maybe I'm hearing things but there's something in the vocals that reminds of Bono from U2.
• Frightened Rabbit - Scottish Winds
• Broken Bells - Vaporize
• Garbage - Milk …. A songs going along and after a minute you feel like you can predict where it will go next and then some odd, unpredictable chord change happens that doesn't sound so pleasant to your ears, or like it belongs. But it must have sounded necessary to the songwriter who apparently didn't want to sound predictable.
• J. Mascis - See You at the Movies *****
• Saintseneca - Ladder to the Sun *****
• Wilco - Via Chicago
• The Weakerthans - Aside …. All these tunes helping me get through another long night at work.

OK a couple more. No such thing as too much music.

• The Walkmen - Louisiana
• Rostam - In a River

New Night, More OPB

• The Joggers - Wicked Light Sleeper
• Dum Dum Girls - Bedroom Eyes
• Goat Girl - The Man

Lots of interesting names for groups and song titles these days.

• The Black Keys - Fever …. Not the Bruce Springsteen 1970's outbreak of Fever.
• The We Shared Milk - Could This Be Real …. Imagine if I had every vinyl album containing all the songs that I've heard the past few nights from OPB Music. That would be the beginnings of one far out record collection.
• Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms vs. Bad Arms
• Yo La Tengo - For You Too …. Two nights in a row for this one. Reminding of the weekly top-40 hits on AM radio from days long ago where the popular songs were played almost hourly it seemed.
• Marika Hackman - Time's Been Reckless
• Sun Kil Moon - Carry Me Ohio …. A long time favorite. I enjoy listening to Mark Kozelek's voice.
• Josh Ritter - Girl In The War

Radio Thoughts

I appreciate this OPB music nightly stream. New sounds for my ears.

• Laura Gibson - Empire Builder
• Menomema - BOTE ….. Portland band. Or did the DJ say Poland?

Sure do hear some of the different directions that music has been going that otherwise I'd be oblivious to. Most of what I know is from 1968-2000. I've been out of the loop on many of the newer sounds.

• Phantastic Ferniture - Gap Year
• Sugar - If I Can't Change Your Mind ….**** A jangly guitars pop song.

KINK-fm, the Portland station that I used to listen to has lost my interest in recent years. Too much hipster Portland crap. They overdo this "Keep Portland Weird" angle while the DJ's attempt to sound politically correct and 30-something cool. And they play way too much of the sugary or weepy contemporary adult genre that makes me want to scream, pull my remaining hair out and break things.

• Frank Turner - Get Better
• The Beths - Future Me Hates Me
• The Dodos - Forum

I can listen to the Jazz station but only in small doses …. unless it's a documentary program.

• The Buzzcocks - Something's Gone Wrong Again
• Mark Kozelek - Like Rats
• Gillian Welch - Revelator
• Babehoven - Out of This Country
• Caroline Rose - More of the Same

Occasionally I listen to the local AM station (KBZY) that I broke in listening to late at night mostly as a twelve year old, on a small transistor radio, while everyone else in the house was sleeping, over fifty years ago. They still play a lot of those same great songs but mix in the worst of the 70's.

• Typhoon - Artificial Light
• Yo La Tengo - For You Too

Saturday Night Playlist

Thinking I'm young again and staying up late listening to tunes. It's Saturday late night, Oregon Public Broadcasting's Music streaming online playlist. Gotta find new sounds somewhere.

• Shame - One Rizla *****
• Band of Horses - Laredo *****
• Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile - Over Everything *****

This is going to get expensive if this pattern keeps up. Loved the first three songs and will have to seek out the downloads on iTunes.

• M. Ward - Miracle Man …. Guess I'm not up to speed on modern day musicians. I previously thought that M. Ward was a rapper.
• Dr. Dog - Heart It Races
• Shadowgraphs - Sun Is Rising …. There's something in the vocals that says 1980's New Wave, MTV generation, British Bands to me. Like Maybe Ah-Ha.
• Claire Morales - All That Wanting

If I didn't have neighbors and it wasn't past midnight, I'd have the volume turned up to rocking out, floor shaking levels. Damn my respect for others mindset.

• Autonomics - Bad Blood
• Hosannas - Be Careful
• Polica - Wedding

I'd be willing to bet the rent that I'm the only 62 year old (old) man in Oregon listening to this streaming radio programming right now. (I sure hope that no 62 year old men are trolling my journal tonight, seeing that offer.)

• Speedy Ortiz - Lean In When I Suffer
• Von Iver - Skinny Love …. YES!!! One that's already in my collection!!!
• Neko Case - Last Lion of Albion
• Laura Marling - Next Time
• Old Wave - Indigo

I keep thinking to myself, "OK That's it. Got to get some sleep …… well ok maybe one more." Because just like going through the bins in a record store, you never know if a gem is going to be uncovered next. I'd hate to shut this down for the night thinking that I might miss out on something that I'd really love. 

• Gaz Coombes - Detroit
• The Breeders - Nervous Mary
• The Fall - Mexico Wax Solvent

Ok one more …..

• CSS - Hits Me Like A Rock ****

Gonna Be A Darkness / True Blue

Jayhawks time!!! I've had this song bouncing around in my head for the past three or four days. And likely will tomorrow as well.

"There's gonna be a darkness, maybe colder than you guessed."

And before that there was this ….

Doesn't get much more beautiful than that!! Not a bad way to spend the evening …. listening to Jayhawks tunes.

Traveling Tune

So I'm driving up I-5 yesterday headed to Portland with the radio on the Jazz station and the volume at an acceptable level for hearing safety, then this little tune comes on and all hearing precautions suddenly go out the window. (Pun intended.) And I suddenly don't give a rats azzz if the whole world can hear me helping out with the background vocals.

This Weeks Playlist

• Richard Thompson - Don't Renege On Our Love
• John Lee Hooker - Canal Street Blues
• Neil Young - Southern Man
• Sarah Harmer - Basement Apt.
• Peter Gabriel - Burn You Up, Burn You Down
• Greg Greenway - Highway 4AM
• Mark Knopfler - Romeo and Juliet
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Even The Losers
• Richard Buckner - Ed's Song

Jason Molina

I've become fascinated lately by the music given to us by Jason Molina. Either under his own name or via the groups, "Magnolia Electric Co." and "Songs: Ohia." Just recently discovered and then thrilled to find a huge catalog of recordings to seek out.

I love it when that happens!!

Though I've never seen anything in record stores I frequent. Like I've said before …. the physical records and compact discs are preferred but there's also a place for iTunes and downloads.

He passed away in 2013 but was extremely prolific in his years releasing music. How do I describe his sound? Americana? Indie Folk-Rock? Singer/Songwriter? All of the above perhaps? There's one album that has an obvious Neil Young/Crazy Horse influence!! I mean that in a good way. Doesn't seem to have ever been an issue with writer's block. I can't help but wonder what may have been created had there been another ten or twenty years?

This darkly melodic and brooding stuff is what I love!! How is it that I was never exposed to this music years ago?

OPB Playlist

From OPB Music .... It seems like there's always a great amount of cool tunes played after midnight. Or maybe we're just better prepared for listening when away from the activity of the daylight hours.

• LUMP - Curse of the Contemporary
• The National - Secret Meeting ..... "I'm sorry I missed you, I had a secret meeting in the basement of my brain."
• John Doe & Kathleen Edwards - The Golden State
• The Rosebuds - Night of the Furies
• Petal - Better Than You
• Blind Pilot - One Red Thread
• Horse Feathers - Without Applause
• Courtney Barnett - Sunday Roast ..... The title taking me back years, reminding of my mom's Sunday meals. Usually something special.
• Yo La Tengo - Shades of Blue *****
• Elbow - Magnificent (She Says) *****
• Emma Pollock - Don't Make Me Wait
• Florence & The Machine - Dog Days Are Over ..... Actually being July 6th, this years dog days  haven't started yet.

Late night OPB Playlist, Part 2 .....................

• XTC - Earn Enough For Us ..... The mention of XTC always brings to mind their song, "Dear God."
• Horse Feathers - Faultline Wail
• Silver Jews - Suffering Jukebox
• Ramona Falls - In the Wake
• John Vanderslice - White Dove
• Yo La Tengo - Ohm ..... My favorite Yo La Tengo song, especially when the song melts into total electric fuzz and static.
• Paul Simon - Wristband ..... Seems odd to hear one of the all-time classic greats on this program. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just that it seems like he's from a different genre and period of time.
• Nurses - Caterpillar Playground
• No Kind Of Rider - Dark Ice
• Yeasayer - Sunrise 

Jazz Playlist

Heard in between making the rounds at work. From the Portland Jazz radio station, KMHD-fm's, overnight stream of sounds. New Jazz, Soul leanings, occasional Latin influences .....

• Christian Scott - Of A New Cool *****
• Abdullah Ibrahim - Did You Hear That Sound
• Fiction Trio - My Name Is *****
• Tribe - Livin' In A New Day
• Jukka Eskola - Martha's New Moment
• Ocote Soul Sounds - Primavera
• Blundetto - Final Goodbye *****
• Sure Fire Soul Ensemble - Balboa Park
• DJ Cam Quartet - Raise Up *****
• Joe Cuba Sextet - Do You Feel It
• Roy Ayers - Red, Black and Green
• Donald Byrd - Places and Spaces
• Gary Bartz - Music Is My Sanctuary
• Menahan Street Band - Going The Distance

Several names I've never heard of previously. With Jazz especially, I'm very guilty of just paying attention to recordings from half a century ago. I don't know much (or anything actually) about the directions it's gone in the current century. So there's a huge learning curve involved. The selections marked with ***** are songs that I found particular interest in. Worthy of additional listening and research. Not that the others don't belong in that category. But I can't check out everything .... Or can I?

More Vic Chesnutt

Checking out more of his music. His early recordings are haunting and at the same time, full of beauty. How did I overlook this music for all this time?

If you happen to find yourself led to purchase his music, look for the recent remasters that are plentiful in bonus tracks.

All Music Guide

Vic Chesnutt

Singer/Songwriter from Georgia. His third album from 1993 with additional tracks added when remastered last year on New West Records. Unique voice and style. Haunting in spots, funny in other moments.

My introduction to his music was several years ago on the "Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation" benefit recording of various musicians covering his songs.

One of the bonus tracks on this record is a cover of Bob Dylan's, "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine."

Highly recommended!!!

Lost and Found Gene Clark

I love these old, lost recordings from 1967. Re-discovered and released  for the first time, just a few days ago. For myself …. the evolution of the Singer/Songwriter, Folk/Rock style of music. And such a great, plaintive voice carrying these songs. It would have been a sin for these recordings to remain lost.

It's fascinating to read about the musicians from this time, who were exploring new territory opened up by The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Now days these names are considered as greats but most were just starting out back then. How they joined up with, worked with and split from each other and then reforming with other musicians in various working arrangements and creating even more new music. And then the even newer names coming up behind them, continuing on. Just reading about it all you get the sense that it was a process played out over a decade when it was actually just a few years.

Is there anything or anyone comparable to that now? Or was that era something unique that could have only happened when it did, with it's surrounding events and circumstances?

Country Joe & The Fish

Found this past weekend while rummaging through the used vinyl bins, "new arrivals," of my local record store. Psychedelic-Country-Folk sounds from the 1960's. (That's a style?) A genre/era that I'd like to expand in my collection.

People actually give this kind of classic and historic stuff up? There should be a voice in their head that tells them not to let it go.

Maybe it has special meaning to me because I lived through those years? Listening mostly though to the top-40 hits on AM-radio. Now at age 62 I find myself catching up with sounds I missed out on back then.

I did have a record collecting mentor in the early 70's that introduced me to Country Joe McDonald and specifically "The Fish Cheer" through the Woodstock Records. Rod Robinson, the older brother of one of my friends. I wonder what he used to think of me, this naive and goofy looking kid who he had three or four years of life and music listening experience on. I was like an attentive student eager to take in whatever he was willing to play for me. Eric Burden and The Animals, The Guess Who, Neil Young, Iron Butterfly, The Beatles and their later albums, Creedence, CSNY and much more. New sounds for me. A new type of education. Those memories have always stayed close. He also introduced me to FM-radio.

Short Playlist

Sunday evening playlist …..

• Son Volt - Driving The View
• The Sadies - It's Easy (Like Walking)
• Richard Buckner - Town
• Hiss Golden Messenger - John The Gun
• Colin Linden - George Chuvalo
• The War On Drugs - Pain

Starting when I was a teenager in the early 1970's, I've tended to have a ever changing list of musicians that I overdose on for a period of time. Richard Buckner and Hiss Golden Messenger seem to be those choices for the last year or two. Taking the places of Colin Linden, Joseph Arthur and Son Volt/Jay Farrar.

Others who have spent time with that status ….. Jackson Browne, Neil Young, Warren Zevon, Peter Gabriel, U2, a return of Jackson Browne in the 1990's, The Subdudes, Yo La Tengo ….. Just a few that come to mind. 

First Day Of June Morning Sounds

Sometimes it takes most of a lifetime to appreciate some things. In this case Jazz/Blues vocals from a 1961 recording sounding like the songs are actually from a decade or two earlier. I suppose I could go read the album's liner notes but I'd rather just stay in my chair and enjoy the sounds.

While during my teenage years it might not have been seen as cool among my friends this music is actually the definition of "cool."

Little Feat Playlist

Sometimes a person is just in a unavoidable Little Feat kinda mood. A song suddenly comes to mind and an hour or two later .....

• Truck Stop Girl - Working across the street from a truck stop, I've seen a few respectable truck stop girls in my lifetime. Could have even loved one or two had I not been so damn shy.
• Fat Man In The Bathtub -  "Juanita, my sweet Juanita, what are you up to"
• Loved and Lied To - Haven't we all felt that way at least a time or two?
• Front Page News -  Not to be confused with 'Second Hand News' by Fleetwood Mac.
• Under the Radar - I've always tried to exist under the radar. It's much quieter and more sane there.
• Long Distance Love - First heard this song on a vinyl Jackson Browne bootleg recording. I loved his introduction and solo piano version of the song. My introduction to the name, Lowell George.
• Heaven Forsaken
• Old Folks Boogie - Since I'm officially at some places considered, 'old folks' .... not that I'm complaining about the senior discounts.
• Fighting the Mosquito Wars
• Hangin' On To the Good Times
• Long Black Veil - The Fred and Paul at Stonehenge video!!!

U2's Songs of Experience

To be filed under Ways I Am Changing In My Older Days: U2's new record has been out for over two months now and I've owned it since it was released, but I've yet to listen to it other then a few short song samples online which left me with no impression at all.

What the hell is going on with me? I used to feel a genuine excitement and urgency about certain things ..... like listening to new offerings from a favorite band but something has apparently changed. Now it's like, "I'll get around to it eventually." And who knows how many 'get around to it's' I have remaining on the timeline of life?

So that's my goal this weekend. To give the sounds a listen!!

Tuesday Evening Playlist

Even a generic Tuesday evening deserves a great playlist. ..... Or in the event I get a call as an emergency fill-in at the local community radio station. I really should have something prepared. Though I could probably wing it.

• Peter Gabriel - Make Tomorrow
• Spoon - Girls Can Tell
• Bob Dylan - Gotta Serve Somebody
• Warren Zevon - Lawyers, Guns and Money / Gorilla, You're a Desperado
• Strawbs - Lemon Pie
• Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart
• John Prine - Quit Hollerin' At Me
• Craig Fuller - Loved and Lied To

Evening Mystery

What the hell? I hit play on my previously loaded, 5-disc, CD player (Yeah some of us hold out geezers still have our CD players and turntables) and heard Hiss Golden Messenger's, "Heart Like A Levee" album followed by Son Volt's, "Notes Of Blue" record but then what followed that, I can not identify upon listening to the first eight songs ..... which I really hate when that happens, (not that it happens often) ...... but I'm loving these sounds and sooner or later, I'm going to open up the CD player and see what the heck it is!!! But I have to admit to being totally clueless at this moment in time as I'm listening with fascination and I'll probably be kicking myself as soon as the mystery is revealed.

Awwwww the answer is ..... The National, "Trouble Will Find Me." I must have been seriously distracted the first time I listened to this as I have no remembrance of an initial impression. But how could I have overlooked these baritone lead vocals?