Playlist: May 29, 2009

KZSU playlist for Friday, May 29, 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Things of note:

….. The Matthew Sperry Memorial Festival is on next week; I’ll post more later, but you can learn all about it at matthewsperry.org. Supermodel Supermodel is a band that included him and UK trombonist Gail Brand, who will be a guest at the festival.

….. Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society is a “steampunk” big band, which is a cool concept, but most of the steampunk aspect is in the album artwork, photography, and (possibly?) costumes on stage. It didn’t translate well on radio. Then again, if I’d played the 11-minute “Phobos,” listeners would have heard a nice steampunky rhythm, like train wheels, starting and ending the piece. I opted instead for “Transit,” partly because it’s got an Ingrid Jensen solo.

….. “Thelonious,” taken from a 1994 live album, is a straight blues with some nice overblowing in Hamiett Bluiett‘s sax solo.

….. Don Ross and Andy McKee are a couple of acoustic-guitar wizards in an instrumental folky vein (think Michael Hedges). “Hoover” is a snappy, fast piece, ear-catching.

….. Hal Galper‘s Art-Work is a straight piano trio. Well, maybe not that straight. “Take the Coltrane” opens up with a kaleidoscope of piano splashing before settling into that nice piano-trio mode. He’s got Reggie Workman and Rashied Ali behind him, so it’s not lightweight stuff.

….. I’m not familiar with contemporary composer Yehudi Wyner, but the daunting, dramatic opening to his “Lyric Harmony” symphony seemed a good exit from the insanity of Jarrod Fowler (noted back on May 15). “Lyric Harmony” is a modern classical piece, dark and challenging but still very classical sounding, making it difficult to mesh with other musical types. Maybe it worked; maybe I was trying too hard.

….. The Wooden Birds are an indie-pop band who are headlining a Sunday night (May 31) show at The Rickshaw Stop, organized by our own DJ Canuck.

Album titles link into KZSU’s Zookeeper database; the icon means there’s a review or description there as well.

Little links that say things like “more here” go to previous entries in this blog. I’m trying to find a way to cross-reference entries without adding too much clutter; linking from the artist name was an option, but seems a bit… I don’t know, deceptive? I’m still feeling out how I want to do this.

Artist	Track		Album/Label
Mahanthappa, Rudresh / Indo-Pak Coalition	I.I.T.		Apti Innova Recordings
Galper, Hal	Take The Coltrane		Art-Work Origin Records
Univers Zero	Presage		Relaps Cuneiform Records
Wooden Birds	Hometown Fantasy		Magnolia Barsuk Records
Davis, Kris (more here)	Once		Slightest Shift, The Fresh Sound New Talent
Bloom Project	Of Reflection Veil		Sudden Aurora Edgetone Records
Del Sol String Quartet	Kui Dong “Spring”		Ring Of Fire Other Minds
Masada	Hekhal		Gimel Diw
Shepik, Brad (see also here)	Stir (Antarctica)		Human Activity Suite Songlines Recordings
	— (4:00 p.m.) —
Mcauley, Jim	Huddle’s Riff		Ultimate Frog, The Drip Audio
Wright, Nancy	Minority		Moanin’ Chicken Coup Records
Bluiett, Hamiet	Thelonious		Ballads and Blues Shanachie Entertainment
Argue, Darcy James / Secret Society	Transit		Infernal Machines New Amsterdam Records
Ross, Don & Andy Mckee	Hoover The Musical Dog		Thing That Came From Somewhere, The Candyrat Records
miRthkon (Blog entry)	Zhagunk		The Illusion of Joy self-released
Halvorson, Mary/Weasel Walter (more here)	Rare Vodka from the Fourteenth Century		Opulence ugExplode
Fowler, Jarrod (see also here)	The End of Senseless Beating/Knocking the Subject		“Percussion” As Percussion Patrick Lovelace Editions
Wyner, Yehudi	Lyric Harmony (Revised Version, 1996) [excerpt]		Orchestral Works Bridge Records
Gebbia, Gianni	Hemphill		H Portraits Rastascan Records
Jang, Jon & Pan-Asian Arkestra	Great Wall/Gold Mountain		Tiananmen! Soul Note
Newton, James	The Crips [excerpt]		James Newton Gramavision
Newton, James	Solomon, Chief Of Wise Men		Axun Warner Bros. Records
Lacy, Steve Trio	The Gleam		Window, the Soul Note
Kihlstedt/Robair/Sperry	Sonarchy Two		Sonarchy 1998 Majmua Music
Supermodel Supermodel	Naomi Naomi		Supermodel Supermodel Emanem
Space Between, the	Silvia		Angelica 482 Music
Pope, Odean	Happiness Tears		Plant Life Porter Records