Miles Davis - In Person at the Blackhawk, San Francisco (Friday Night, Volume 1)

If you ever took the time to check out all of Miles Davis’ recordings and looked into how vast it is, you’d be stunned. Wikipedia has it broken down into studio recordings, live recordings, compilations, by record label and so much more and on Allmusic’s site, when you click on either Albums or Compilations, the page takes a good while to load. So it goes without saying that Davis' catalog is deep and still, so much of it is considered essential to this day.

His 1961 performances at the Black Hawk nightclub in San Francisco must have been something special to watch. He performed on a Friday and Saturday on April 21 & 22 with his quintet which consisted of him on trumpet, Hank Mobley on sax, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums – tremendous musicians for sure. Not only was this groundbreaking for a jazz musician to take his combo to a club but the music was a brilliantly rendered thing of beauty. Check out “Bye Bye Blackbird” and its amazing rendition:


The entire set was re-issued on what appears to be an excellent release and recording back in 2003 but sadly, I only own the Friday performance on vinyl. I was fortunate to even find just that first volume because even at just six compositions, you can really sense the unity and cohesiveness in the band. Davis was THE master at surrounding himself with talented musicians that were sometimes, better than him (check out all his stuff with John Coltrane) but in a live setting, he never held back. His rhythm section creates memorable patterns and the type of jazz he was playing at the time (straight ahead and fierce) is truly felt on this live recording. Probably the most important musician in the 20th century, here is another song off the Friday set, “Love, I’ve Found You” – Bryan

Future Islands - In Evening Air

I caught these guys a few weeks back to hear the last two or so songs from their set in Las Cruces. While I was disappointed in not hearing more, it provided me the opportunity to buy some music and I have really loved this album for quite some time now.

Imagining a re-creation of Sunset Rubdown and maybe combining it with Frog Eyes, the poppier side of the synths is what resonates with you. And the melodies and words are both killer here because of this trio’s ability in turning everything into something much more than it really is. Their scope is grand and it’s expansive; each song on In Evening Air is awesome but please check out these two: - Bryan

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening

"But honestly, and be honest with yourself, how much time do you waste? How much time do you blow every day?"

I know it’s lame to post about an album that everyone has either heard or at least heard of already. But LCD Soundsystem’s latest album, This Is Happening, has been my most played album for the last three weeks and it’s been growing on me more and more. Not only do I think it just might be James Murphy’s best album to date but its sounds are so effectively superb that it sounds like it was crafted through years and years of delivery. It’s shocking to find out that its recording process was rather quick and all done in The Mansion, the famous ten-bedroom mansion owned by Rick Rubin.

The opening song, “Dance Yrself Clean” is easily, one of my favorite songs of the year. It’s stunning because sure, Murphy is mostly an electronic artist but the sounds he’s created are so brilliantly amazing that it’s almost like classical music in a modern setting. And by the time that explosion hits, you’re left in awe:


But as I’ve slowly gotten to get into, each song on This Is Happening is simply astounding. There’s the incredible growth of the closer and how it ties in the musical theme presented on the aforementioned opener, there is also the way “One Touch” continues to add more and more drums before offering its own change of pace, the beautifully developed sounds on “You Wanted a Hit,” and also the startlingly great indie rock of “All I Want.” But what has had me really addicted lately is “Pow Pow” and its memorable one-liners. Not only do the sounds and rhythms recall Talking Heads but Murphy’s casual delivery and his ability at creating those one-liners ("I'm paralyzed and looking through you. But if nothing's right, we try anyway") is unmatched, check it out here. – Bryan

Blake – CMYK EP

Don’t you hate it when you remember that you wanted to mention something to someone or anybody for that matter but way after it’s too late? For the longest time, I wanted to come here and post about this EP by 21-year old super electronic producer James Blake and I never got around to it. Whether it was trying to mix up the diversity or trying to make other solid posts, I completely missed recommending CMYK and its four awesome songs.

Nonetheless, this is a short and direct EP that needs to be picked up by a lot of people. Somewhat dubstep, somewhat techno, somewhat IDM, and all electronic, these four songs push forward with tremendous results. Blake does a great job of keeping his beats heavy and at the front, while always carrying gorgeous sounds all over. And while I wanted to post all four songs on here, here are the two that I found.

Many will love the Burial similarities on this title-track but please, listen to those strings in the background and with just how melodic this all is. And once the snare kicks in and it explodes, wow.


And here is “I’ll Stay,” which reminds me more of Madlib and Flying Lotus than it does of Burial; especially with the almost worldly-sounding beats and its tempered groove. – Bryan

Buddy Rich and Max Roach – Rich versus Roach

When you talk about two of the greatest drummers of all time, getting together to combine their quintets to deliver fierce solos back and forth then you’re talking about something special. Regarded by some as “The world’s greatest drummer,” Buddy Rich proved just that with his ear for melody, his impeccable technique and unmatched style. And though Roach was seven years younger and still coming onto his own, Rich versus Roach finds the both of them stopping at nothing to present an impressive collaborative album.

Back in 1959, the two bands took breaks from their touring schedules to hit the studio for a two-day session of music. Each drummer would lead his band and they would play the same song, with different musicians from each band taking turns at solos. But make no qualms about it, this was the drummers’ album and they showcase that on “Figure Eights” very nicely. At first supposed to be just a brief solo battle, each drummer would rip off alternate eight bar solos back and forth and it made for some magnificent music. Hear it here:


And before that, the two bands would gel into “The Casbah,” a smooth samba-pace that suited the outstanding sax players well. This one features Roach on mallets and he decorates the space with splendid touches; Rich would be on cymbals and each band allows their trumpets to take solos. It’s probably the most laid-back song on the album with Roach leading the four-bar drum breaks and it provides a nice change of pace from the intensity that is on every other song. You can hear it below (both songs have the same title and they are surprisingly the same length, crazy) but in all, it’s an amazing piece of history in that it features two of the best drummers of all time going head to head in a friendly battle of skills and honestly, you can’t go wrong with that – Bryan.

Joanna Newsom

My goodness, that is one beautiful woman. And as stunningly gorgeous as she is to the eyes, she’s the musical equivalent to the ears: magical bliss. As a classically-trained harpist, she experienced first-hand the difficulty in playing one of the most testing string instruments and it provided a firm backdrop in classical music and its sweeping arrangements. But as an aspiring writer, her stories are woven in a manner that it not only surpasses others' stories but clearly eclipses them. And when you combine such astounding aspects, it fuses a wonderful blend of skill, artistry, brilliance and sheer remarkable talent.Please take a small part of your day to listen to “Emily,” and please, just allow it to fill your ears, minds and heads with the ideas that she is presenting. Those strings are by Van Dyke Parks and the mixer of this album, Ys, is Jim O’Rourke. But still, it’s Newsom’s singing (her varying cadence that adds dimension,) her fantastic ability at her instrument and her songwriting and crafting that makes her music so compelling. If nothing else, you can hear something different and witness terrific art (visually and aurally.) - Bryan

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver

We’ve all been on the major high that This Is Happening has us in but man, I couldn’t help going back to this previous album, Sound of Silver and was amazed at how good it is. Back on their first album, James Murphy and Co. made an awesome self-titled album that featured them being playful, creative and entirely mesmerizing. It was the kind of album that you could bliss out too, as well as just jam out to. And when Sound of Silver came out, I was a bit shocked at how different the whole sound was.

It took and it’s taken a helluva long time for me to really like it, but this is one awesome album. The opener (heard below) is built upon layers and layers of sounds, before everyone is heard singing the title and later on, in the heart of the album, you have arguably, the two best songs sandwiched in between each other, “Someone Great” and “All My Friends. (heard below)” At the end, Murphy is belting out about his struggles in the city and yet, he realizes just how much he loves it. If you even remotely like the new one, check this one out too, soon – Bryan.