Wu Man YouTube mix

The extraordinary Chinese Pipa Player Wu Man featured heavily in the Kronos docco I mentioned last month - including a great "Iron Man moment". Here's a whole bunch of her performances. Talk about rabbit hole...

Vinyl gleaning - Yes

Despite my lifelong Yes admiration, I barely knew their (pre-Howe) debut, which is pretty damn good, it must be said - more "rock" than what was to come, no bad thing for it. Here it is in Spotify:

Vinyl gleaning - Michael Praetorius

A fine collection of mediaeval dance music on the Arkiv label. I can't find it in Spotify, but of course Discogs have it, albeit in the German original.

Wild Wild Country

One of the best things we've watched on "TV" this year is the extraordinary Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country, which documents the spiritual teacher (or cult leader, depending on you view point) Bhagwan Rajneesh's establishment of a commune in Oregon in the early 80s. I won't say much about it here other than it's a. an incredible story (my son Frank asked "did this actually happen"), and b. told in a remarkably balanced way. I would, however, like to draw attention to the great score by Brocker Way. At the moment all that's available in Spotify is a playlist of songs featured in the show - which is cool, btw, and embedded below. But it looks like Way's original music will be available on his Bandcamp page in the autumn. 

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DEATH by Metal documentary

From Vimeo, via Relapse Records: "DEATH’s burning speed and ferocity was only matched by Chuck’s unbending determination to bash out the most boundary crushing interpretation of Heavy Metal. Presenting exclusive interviews DEATH by MetaL brings for the first time to film the story of Chuck Schuldiner and his legacy through the music of DEATH and Control Denied."

Can't wait. In other news, Grade 8 classical guitar exam dispatched* (result tbc) so expect more stuff here now that I'm up for air. And I might even get round to finishing of Boom Logistics 6. Sigh. 

*Evidence of that dispatching - another set of cue cards bites the dust:

Brouwer on metal

As though his compositions aren't proof enough of his impeccable taste, here's the great Cuban guitarist and composer Leo Brouwer's thoughts on metal (and jazz) guitarists:

(via Classical Guitar magazine)

Vinyl gleaning - Nat King Cole

The great crooner at his romantic best. In Spotify:

Vinyl gleaning - Trower

Having a bit of a Trower phase at the moment - a hugely underrated talent. In Spotify:

Sam Green and Kronos Quartet - A Thousand Thoughts

On Sunday S and I had our second outing to the Brighton Dome this month (we saw the Britten's War Requiem there last week) - this time to see Sam Green's remarkable collaboration with the Kronos Quartet, "A Thousand Thoughts". The show is a "live documentary" about the quartet, combining live performance with live narration and film. It's an incredibly affecting piece that manages to be funny, hugely informative and at times deeply moving. Highlights surely include the quartet "jamming" with recorded video performances by Inuit vocalist Tanya Tagaq and, later, pipa player and composer Wu Man. The evening concluded with a live collaboration with Mali's Trio Da Kali.

Vinyl gleaning - The Band

Can't believe I've never actually owned a copy of this, but there you go. Here it is in Spotify: