Music Meridian

The hardest working man in showbusiness finally gets his rest.

Not the best news to get on Christmas morning...but James Brown passed away at 73 years old today. One of the all-time greatest, even if his personal live was kind of a mess in later years.

I suggest you cue up the "Star Time" 4-CD box set in tribute. Either that or head over to the WFMU Blog where they have a 6-hour streaming audio special chocked full of rare recordings.

It's that time of year again! Sorting through the mass of music I listened to this year and highlighting the best of the best! Here is my list of albums I kept coming back to again and again dispite what else was happening. These are in no particular order, aside from being my favorite 10 albums this year.

1. An Albatross - Blessphemy (of the Peace-Beast Feastgiver and the Bear Warp Kumite)
This album is a total rush. Hyperspeed brutal prog mixed with psych rock weirdness and mellow jazzy breakdowns. Each song sugues into the next, suggesting a classic concept album of sorts (There's even a song with 3 movements!). While this thing totally kicks ass, they will totally knock the wind out of you live.

2. Daughters - Hell Songs
I didn't see this one coming. Taking their basis of grindcore mixed with Arab On Radar and throwing it over the deep end. The vocalist is yelping all over this instead of the standard death-grunt. Drums pummle and the guitars are twisty and nervous sounding. Plus, it's catchy as can be! Melodies re-occur making it all tie together. Plus there's a neat appearance by Kayo Dot.

3. Flying Luttenbachers - Cataclysm
Blasting back with some of the complexity of Infection And Decline with the rock stamp of The Void, this is a record to be reckoned with. Completely intense and overbearing. Your only hope of salvation is the spot-on cover of the 4th movement of "L'Ascension". San Francisco has certainly not mellowed out Weasel Walter, and this is the proof.

4. Ocrilim - Anoint
Mick Barr of Orthrelm creates this instrumental guitar masterpiece. Forget all the shredders you think are amazing. Mick Barr is the future. Jump on board now or be left in the dust.



5. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
Even I can't escape the mastery of ol' Bob. While I don't think this reaches the heights of Time Out Of Mind (still the benchmark for Dylan's comback) this is another fine effort that blows away the competition and shuts up the naysayers.


6. Skip Heller - Mean Things Happening In This Land
An unsung hero of jazz guitar. This is a album with a running theme of the corrupt Bush administration which a focus on the Katrina disaster. You can hear the frustration and sadness in the playing of all the musicians. Also includes fine covers of XTC and The Dead Milkmen.

7. The Roots - Game Theory
Another big surprise after a couple lackluster releases from the Roots! They are back!!! Game Theory doesn't have a weak moment. Every track is a keeper, and is easily the catchiest thing they've ever done. Plus there's still the instrumental prowess and thought-provoking messages.

8. Ghostface Killah - Fishscale
This album proves that the Wu-Tang Clan is still a viable force in hip-hip....even 13 years(!!) after the release of Enter The 36 Chambers. That's like 3 lifetimes in hip-hop years. Great productions, twisted rhymes, lots of return value.



9. Mastodon - Blood Mountain
Believe the hype. Mastodon up the prog turning in another concept album. They turn up the weirdness with crazy breakdowns and wild vocal effects. And they turn up the drums in the mix! Brann Dailor is obviously one of their strengths. This band just keeps getting better and better.


10. Estradasphere - Palace Of Mirrors
Dropping the goofball lyrics and satire songs Estradasphere makes an album I've been hoping to hear since It's Understood. Sounding like a movie soundtrack (their live show even had video footage that went along with the music). This is cereberal instrumental music. Think surf, death metal, Morricone, jazz, and rock n' roll. You'll be on the right track, but still unprepared for what this album has to offer. It's not a hodge-podge...it's a seamless piece of work.

Honorable Mentions:
Steve Vai - Real Illusions: Reflections, NoMeansNo - This Way ToAusfahrt, Intronaut - Void, Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth

Re-Issues of Note

1. Robert Fripp - Exposure
2. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - PCP Torpedo/ANBRX
3. Johnny Cash - At San Quenton
4. Lake Of Dracula - Skeletal Remains
5. Frank Zappa - MOFO 4CD Edition

So there's only a couple Tuesdays left in 2006. Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy will not hit the shelves before the end of the year as Axl boasted earlier. However, he is now saying March 6, 2007! We'll see.

From the Guns N' Roses' website:

To say the making of this album has been an unbearably long and incomprehensible journey would be an understatement. Overcoming the endless and seemingly insane amount of obstacles faced by all involved, notwithstanding the emotional challenges endured by everyone -- the fans, the band, our road crew and business team -- has at many times seemed like a bad dream in which one wakes up only to find that they are still in the nightmare. Unfortunately, this time it has been played out for over a decade in real life.

The true, ongoing, behind-the-scenes triumphs and casualties are much more complicated than any negative speculation that the media or otherwise has managed to hit upon. For much of the time, various legal issues have arisen, demanding that the best way to deal with these things publicly, quite frankly, was to keep our mouths shut in an attempt to ensure the best outcome -- especially one that wouldn't jeopardize the band or the album. It's easy for people to point out how others have handled similar situations or how they would have dealt with these issues themselves if they encountered them in their own lives. But again, without full knowledge of the various dynamics and circumstances involved, these types of comments or commentary are just uninformed, disassociated, generally useless -- and often hindering -- speculation.

... Although many things went extremely well and were very exciting, there were, in our opinion, unnecessary and avoidable complications on our tour having to do with the tour routing, scheduling and album and video plans that wreaked havoc on all involved. This was compounded by an overall sense of a lack of respect by management for the band and crew and each individual's particular expertise that has resulted, unfortunately, in the end of both Guns' and my managerial involvement with Merck Mercuriadis.

In regard to a release date for the album itself, certain minor -- and I do mean minor -- additions, as well as contract negotiations, need to be completed. Barring any unforeseen complications, these things have now been adequately scheduled. The band and I, along with our record company, feel that this record deserves the proper setup and promotion, not the "13 Tuesdays left" and "It may just appear in your record store" approach offered by management. We believe this strategy may have been used as a tool by management to sell this latest tour to the various promoters, and if this was the case, this was obviously unfair to them. The stress of dealing with this situation has been considerable for everyone, including the band, but more important, in our opinion, it was something utterly insane to do to our fans. You have our apologies, and please know we have been laboring over this with management for the entire North American tour.


It takes approximately eight weeks for an album to hit the shelves once it has been turned in to the record company. For whatever reasons, it appears that it may have been mistakenly inferred by management that this time period could be condensed to three weeks. With that being said, this is not a promise, a lie or a guarantee, but we do wish to announce a tentative release date of March 6. This is the first time we have done this publicly for this album. Others have made up all the other dates for their own reasons. We would like to assure the fans that everything in our power will be done to meet this date. Once it is finalized and official, you will be notified. If we are delayed for unseen reasons, you also will be notified as soon as possible in regard to a new date, and the album will be released as shortly thereafter as is possible. We thank you for your patience.
In the end, it's just an album, but it's one that I, the band, our record company and all involved believe and feel is a true Guns N' Roses album. Ultimately the public will decide, and regardless of the outcome, our hearts, lives and our passion has been put into this project every step of the way. If for no other reason, we feel those elements alone merit your consideration. We do hope you can hold on just a bit longer, and if not, please take a break and we'll be more than glad -- if you so choose -- to see you again later.

Once again, we offer our sincere apologies and our deepest thanks. Guns N' Roses also would like to thank all the fans who attended the 70 concerts in 21 countries for their support in 2006. All the best to each and every one of you over this holiday season, thank you and God bless.

Sincerely,

Axl Rose

I had a spare half hour to kill in Lincoln Park last night, so I stopped into Tower Records to see how the going-out-of-business deal is going.

Everything is now 60% off, and they have a bunch of stuff for $1.50-$2.00 as well. I think I read that ALL hip-hop CDs are $2.00. Pretty great.

Still a decent selection if you dig around. Here's what I found, I think I walked out spending about $25.

Dub Trio - New Heavy
Ice Cube - Greatest Hits
Boredoms - Seadrum/House Of Sun (they have a million copies of this for $1.50)
Frank Black - Fast Man/Raider Man (2CD set)
Fast N' Bulbous - Pork Chop Blue Around The Bind (Captain Beefheart cover band featuring Gary Lucas from the 80's Magic Band!)
Pet Shop Boys - Fundamental (2CD set)
Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA (yeah, yeah...I know)

A good set of tunes for a great price. I didn't even get a chance to browse their jazz selection.

I also picked up my copy of the 2CD version of Frank Zappa's "Making of Freak Out" yesterday at a different store. Freakin' awesome. Can't wait for the 4CD mega-version to hit my mailbox in the coming weeks.

The good folks over at DGM Live have posted a nice live compilation of tracks from ProjeKct 6.

For those of you unfamilar with the concept, "ProjeKcts" are offshoots of the recent formations of King Crimson. Mostly exploratory and improv based. The 6th formation is just a duo: Robert Fripp on guitar/frippertronics and Adrian Belew on V-drums.

Well, worth checking out if you're like me and have been jonesing for some new stuff from King Crimson.

It fits my mood perfectly, since lately I've been pretty obsessed with a bunch of Robert Fripp based stuff. These things have been in my player lately:

1. Fripp's "70's MOR Trilogy" consisting of his solo album "Exposure" (which I have in the 2CD expanded reissue), Daryl Hall's "Sacred Songs" (which is worth checking out, don't get scared away by the Hall N' Oats factor) and Peter Gabriel's second solo CD.

2. The Robert Fripp String Quartet - "Bridge Between", which is a fine collaboration between the California Guitar Trio, Fripp, and Trey Gunn.

3. Sylvian/Fripp - "Damage", which is an awesome live album featuring Robert Fripp w/ David Sylvian from the classic band Japan. Also includes Trey Gunn and Pat Mastelotto...a fine precursor to the 2000s version of King Crimson.

4. Fripp/Eno - "The Costwold Gnomes" - Another DGM Live release featuring more ambient soundscapes and Frippertronics. Recorded in spring of this year.

Yep, I'm obsessed.