Post by mummifiedstalin on Sept 4, 2007 23:39:00 GMT -5
Screw all you “pop” people. Here’s something different. The closest anyone is allowed to get to your standard “rock” album is folk stuff. DOWN WITH THE BACKBEAT, I say!
So, on with some stuff. Not necessarily the best, but what I’m listening to lately.
First, Celtic. And I mean real Celtic, not that dry-ice fluffiness on the cover which is meant to inspire lethargy in the middle-aged. I mean drunk Scotsmen with really really really loud bagpipes kind of Celtic.
Llan de Cubel – Un Tiempu Meyor
Spanish Celtic. Betcha didn’t know that Spain had Celts. It does. Two groups, in fact: Galicia and Asturias. This is an Asturian band. Awesome stuff that switches constantly between what sounds like a traditional jig and reel but then veers off into some crazy Spanish minor and modal stuff. Worth a quick Itunes excursion.
Gwerz – Live
A Bretonian band. Some of the most complex live music I’ve ever heard. French Celtic, but, my God. Sheer beauty in all of its screw-ed up time-signature majesty. My wife says it just sounds like Cirque du Soleil soundtracks, but she’s wrong. And that means the rest of you will (incorrectly) think it sounds like Cirque du Soleil soundtracks. You’re missing out what it means to do traditional music well, though. Oh, and they use every variety of bagpipe you possibly can, from the traditional highland to the painfully loud Breton Veuze. Then there’s that goddam Bombarde which will truly blow out your eardrums if you’re not prepared for it.
Pierre Bensusan – Plan de Paris
A French guitarist who started off his career doing arrangements of various Celtic pipe and fiddle songs. This album has a lot of that. Now he’s off on his own composing tangents, and, while beautiful, they never capture the simplicity of his earlier stuff. He’s also kinda famous for doing everything in DADGAD tuning, which isn’t all that big of a deal, but since he does it religiously, it’s become his trademark.
Tony McManus – Ceol More
A Scottish guitarist who is, at the moment, my favorite steel string player. This album has everything from his standard “Jesus Christ no one is that fast” ability to play bagpipe/fiddle tunes on the guitar to a little Mingus (a very cool “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” arrangement) to a little Jewish dirge to end the album. Simply amazing.
Gordon Duncan – Thunderstruck
A piper who named his album after the ACDC track he does here on the highland pipes. Simply an amazing musician who makes it sound like the pipes can play more than 9 notes with three drones behind them. He also has some effects that I’ve heard other pipers claim they don’t think are really possible.
Now, to some English folky stuff. And English folky is NOT the 60’s hippie folkie of your Dylan inspired fools.
Pentangle – Sweet Child
My first folk-jazz from the 60’s. Bert Jansch and John Renbourn got together with girl crooner Jacqi McShee to put out what sounds like bad 60’s psychedelia if you aren’t really paying attention. Then when you realize that, 1, that it’s all acoustic, 2, that most of the songs are actually medieval or renaissance, and, 3, that the two guys playing guitar are virtuosos, it gains layers beyond belief. This was their second album (68) and captures this amazing mix of antiquated music sung through the late 60s by people who wanted to be pop stars but also do music that no one else ever wanted to hear. The first track, Market Song, has a beautifully simple harmony in the chorus that still just makes the entire album for me.
Bert Jansch – Jack Orion
Jansch’s best solo album was his attempt to do what John Fahey had been doing, but in Britain: keeping solo acoustic guitar to a kind of folk roots simplicity. But this time it had English tunes and sympathies behind it all. Oh, and it’s got Black Water Side, which Jimmy Page ripped off and called his own as “Blackmountainside” on the first Zep album. He even stole the arrangement, not just Jansch’s solo idea.
John Renbourn – The Nine Maidens
English medieval and folk tunes done by an amazing guitarist. Just awesome all around.
Enough for now. Next time: classical.
So, on with some stuff. Not necessarily the best, but what I’m listening to lately.
First, Celtic. And I mean real Celtic, not that dry-ice fluffiness on the cover which is meant to inspire lethargy in the middle-aged. I mean drunk Scotsmen with really really really loud bagpipes kind of Celtic.
Llan de Cubel – Un Tiempu Meyor
Spanish Celtic. Betcha didn’t know that Spain had Celts. It does. Two groups, in fact: Galicia and Asturias. This is an Asturian band. Awesome stuff that switches constantly between what sounds like a traditional jig and reel but then veers off into some crazy Spanish minor and modal stuff. Worth a quick Itunes excursion.
Gwerz – Live
A Bretonian band. Some of the most complex live music I’ve ever heard. French Celtic, but, my God. Sheer beauty in all of its screw-ed up time-signature majesty. My wife says it just sounds like Cirque du Soleil soundtracks, but she’s wrong. And that means the rest of you will (incorrectly) think it sounds like Cirque du Soleil soundtracks. You’re missing out what it means to do traditional music well, though. Oh, and they use every variety of bagpipe you possibly can, from the traditional highland to the painfully loud Breton Veuze. Then there’s that goddam Bombarde which will truly blow out your eardrums if you’re not prepared for it.
Pierre Bensusan – Plan de Paris
A French guitarist who started off his career doing arrangements of various Celtic pipe and fiddle songs. This album has a lot of that. Now he’s off on his own composing tangents, and, while beautiful, they never capture the simplicity of his earlier stuff. He’s also kinda famous for doing everything in DADGAD tuning, which isn’t all that big of a deal, but since he does it religiously, it’s become his trademark.
Tony McManus – Ceol More
A Scottish guitarist who is, at the moment, my favorite steel string player. This album has everything from his standard “Jesus Christ no one is that fast” ability to play bagpipe/fiddle tunes on the guitar to a little Mingus (a very cool “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” arrangement) to a little Jewish dirge to end the album. Simply amazing.
Gordon Duncan – Thunderstruck
A piper who named his album after the ACDC track he does here on the highland pipes. Simply an amazing musician who makes it sound like the pipes can play more than 9 notes with three drones behind them. He also has some effects that I’ve heard other pipers claim they don’t think are really possible.
Now, to some English folky stuff. And English folky is NOT the 60’s hippie folkie of your Dylan inspired fools.
Pentangle – Sweet Child
My first folk-jazz from the 60’s. Bert Jansch and John Renbourn got together with girl crooner Jacqi McShee to put out what sounds like bad 60’s psychedelia if you aren’t really paying attention. Then when you realize that, 1, that it’s all acoustic, 2, that most of the songs are actually medieval or renaissance, and, 3, that the two guys playing guitar are virtuosos, it gains layers beyond belief. This was their second album (68) and captures this amazing mix of antiquated music sung through the late 60s by people who wanted to be pop stars but also do music that no one else ever wanted to hear. The first track, Market Song, has a beautifully simple harmony in the chorus that still just makes the entire album for me.
Bert Jansch – Jack Orion
Jansch’s best solo album was his attempt to do what John Fahey had been doing, but in Britain: keeping solo acoustic guitar to a kind of folk roots simplicity. But this time it had English tunes and sympathies behind it all. Oh, and it’s got Black Water Side, which Jimmy Page ripped off and called his own as “Blackmountainside” on the first Zep album. He even stole the arrangement, not just Jansch’s solo idea.
John Renbourn – The Nine Maidens
English medieval and folk tunes done by an amazing guitarist. Just awesome all around.
Enough for now. Next time: classical.