TLDR

My friend Andre and I often send links to new music back and forth with one another, which is a fun way of finding new stuff. I'd say most of the things he sends to me are really great finds, very enjoyable, and almost always link back to Bandcamp. The platform is an outstanding way for indie musicians to promote themselves, and I've actually bought LPs from several of the artists there.

One of those bands is HUSMO HAV, which Andre recently sent to me in a linked email. I went and previewed their music on Bandcamp and knew I wanted the vinyl within a minute of listening. Once I bought the vinyl I told Andre (he also bought), and he told Thomas Husmo Litleskare -the band's leader- which lead to this:

https://youtu.be/H48IYDQs27w

A personal video greeting and thanks for preordering their album! I must say, that's a LOVELY touch and a very nice way to connect with your fans. (Andre had also gotten one!).

Self-described as "post-apocalyptic-jazz" where comparisons have been made to Jaga Jazzist (a Norwegian jazz troupe) and Bladerunner soundtracks, Husmo Hav combine elements that would seem very much at home in epic anime films. Thomas write to me recently with this:

... our sound is something we’ve put a lot of work into. It’s a combination of our personal voices, which we adapted to the studio situation with all its possibilites. I think we really wanted to create a vivid, organic and vibrant soundscape with a lot of detail. Something you can really swim in as a listener, you know? Much like the ocean, which is what HAV means in Norwegian.

Objective achieved!

Come listen to their most recent soundtrack, WAVES, here:

https://husmohav.bandcamp.com/album/waves-2

I had recently recommended the album, Sunken Cathedral, to a friend. The one I was referring to isn't streaming - it's an LP by Jackson Berkey and it's stupendous, I own two copies. They're cheap as chips. So if you have a record player, I encourage you to eBay your way to a $10 LP that will satisfy.

However, while looking for the Berkey recording on Qobuz this other "Sunken Cathedral" emerged. It has nothing in common with Debussy's work (as far as I can tell), save for the title.

But what serendipity!

The music defies categorization. Part ambient, part mindscape, fairly 'cinematic' in a way ...

Turn off the lights, maybe grab an adult beverage, and listen through the whole thing nonstop. It's phenomenal.

LISTEN

As if 2020 hadn't hurt the world enough, on Christmas Day we lost another Olympian of music.

From Ricky Scaggs:

“Sometime during Christmas morning while making his coffee, our dear friend and guitar hero Tony Rice passed from this life and made his swift journey to his heavenly home,”

I've been playing lots of Bluegrass since Christmas, especially this legendary duet with David Grisman, "Tone Poems" - recalled to me by my friend, John Toney, who posted it to his Facebook feed.

There's so much to say about his music, and yet the whole of this loss is far beyond the parts that could be patched into words. When you listen, you will feel. When you feel, you will know. When you know, words will become superfluous. 

LINK

My friend Rowland Griffin sent me a heads-up about this soundtrack, which accompanies a film by the name, "LAST AND FIRST MEN". I have not (yet) seen the film, but can testify to the moving power of the music.

Symphonic music in the modern world is safeguarded from extinction by the entertainment industry, primarily the film industry but also the gaming industry. Here is where the idiom itself has broken free of the expectations of "classical music fans" - even if the works are rarely performed in concert halls.

We do have our HiFi, and our HiFi is our personal concert hall - and often a much more intimate and immersive experience of the music.

ENJOY! <CLICK>

So much to say about this, and yet so much remains ineffable.

First, this is a brand-new release (Dec. 4, 2020). Nicholas Lens invited Nick Cave to write the libretto to this "chamber opera" that Nick Cave described as  "twelve lyrical pieces that tracked the birth, blooming, fracturing and rebirth of a human being—petitions to a divine maker demanding some sort of cosmic acknowledgement and finding it beautifully rendered in the gorgeous music that Nicholas composed."

The music and lyrics draw the listener in for a deep dive through some quite heavy, interior experiences. It is hauntingly beautiful music, emotionally moving. It falls upon the ears with a gentle grace, and yet it explores powerful emotional depths.

LISTEN HERE

Serendipity. Happy accident.

One day while fingering through records at a local shop I happened upon one of the Anachronic Jazz Band records and decided to buy it. Brought it home, played it, fell instantly in love.

These gifted musicians rearrange classic Jazz masterpieces into earlier and different styles within the idiom, hence you'll hear a version of Yardbird Suite or Giant Steps as interpreted into a Dixieland motif.

It's not simply the clever arrangements that make this worth listening to, nor the excellent recordings, but the very fact that it is supremely delightful!

I have two LPs that constitute most of what you'll here on this anthology, and can wholeheartedly recommend them for those as wont to spin the vinyls ...

That said, I've been enjoying the digitized anthology today through the ol' "Big Rig" and it recommends itself amply to the audiophilically inclined.

ANACHRONIC ANTHOLOGY 

Widespread Panic was my wedding band.

Not really (it was really The Bonaventure Quartet gyspy jazz ensemble), however at the venue where my wife and I were married, Widespread Panic was practicing for their show that night in the theater below the ballroom where we got hitched.

In fact the marquee on the outside of the Fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta switched between messages, so "Congratulations Chris and Mayu!" would swap, on and off, with "Widespread Panic!" - which got a good laugh from everyone who caught it.

But that was hardly my first dose of WP. Back in April of 1998 I was living in Athens, GA when they came to play a free outdoor concert. It was a MADHOUSE of people, ten thousand - maybe more, swarming the streets as they laid down the jamband goodies for hours. I strolled the crowds with my little boxer puppy, Vito, steering him away from the occasional college girl hurling fertilizer into the shrubbery ...

I'm not Mr. Hippie Jam Band, though. These are just coincidences, and you won't find me following Panic, Phish, Leftover Salmon, Avett Bros, et alia ... though I'd be hip to a Medesky, Martin, & Wood show for realz.

So I did a bit of my own noodling around Qobuz and found this, a Widespread Panic studio album from 1999. I gave it a whirl and it's fantastic! I love it. My only recommendation is, for maximum enjoyment, goose that volume knob until the neighbors complain ... then you'll know you've hit the right sound pressure.

CLICK THAT -> Til The Medicine Takes

I've been hunting down some of the music I used to enjoy when i was quite young. I would have to ask permission from my parents (!!) to buy records, and this is one of the ones I wore out when I was about nine or ten years old. While Disco was dominating most of the airwaves, I was listening to WSHE 103.5 FM (She's ONLY Rock and Roll !), and the title track on this record was in heavy rotation. It influenced me enough to spend some of my hard earned chore-money on the LP.

Soon my tastes began to change, as is the way of man, and the Steve Miller Band was in the rear view mirror'd distance as I began to explore other bands such as Molly Hatchett, Aerosmith, KISS, Queen, and then onto prog acts such as Yes, Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Rush, etc. Poor Steve Miller and Co. never had a chance after that.

Fast forward 40-some-odd years later and I decided to brush the virtual dust off "Fly Like An Eagle" - to my surprise and delight!

Mind you, not all the tracks boogie, so feel free to skip Dance, Dance, Dance and Mercury Blues. They're not terrible, but they ain't the kind of gold that was struck with Fly Like An Eagle, Take the Money and Run, and Rock'n-Me. Skip the cover of "You Send Me" without guilt, as well.

In TLDR tradition, I'll stop there and just give you the link:

https://open.qobuz.com/track/48475758