Archives

Looking Ahead: April-May 2018

[Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer]

I like April Fools Day and Halloween, but I’m never ambitious enough to pull of a prank or a costume.

SUPERCAR, PERMAFROST, April 25

I think I’m covered in terms SUPERCAR best albums, but the special edition of this compilation comes with a Blu Ray edition of the video collection P.V.D. COMPLETE 10th Anniversary Edition. I would have gotten that Blu Ray without the CD.

Janelle Monáe, Dirty Computer, April 27

I have to admit I would rather much see Janelle Monáe on screen than in sound. She was terrific in both Hidden Figures and Moonlight, and I would watch the hell out of a Cindy Mayweather movie. But the only album of hers I remotely like is the Metropolis EP.

Courtney Barnett, Tell Me How You Really Feel, May 18

Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit was one of many great albums to emerge in 2015, but I’ve not yet cottoned to anything else.

Various Artists, Adam to Eve no Ringo (Shiina Ringo Tribute), May 23

The artists contributing to this Shiina Ringo tribute album don’t seem to be very adventurous. Given the two volumes of Reimport albums, I would have thought Tomosaka Rie or Kuriyama Chiaki would have participated. And did anyone ask Mukai Shuutoku?

Vinyl

U2, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, April 13

All That You Can’t Leave Behind was the mea culpa album for Pop, which is also being reissued on vinyl at the same time.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Looking ahead: January-February 2018

[Steve Reich - Pulse / Quartet]

The fact I can actually post a preview entry this early in the year makes me hopeful we won’t see a repeat of last year’s lopsided schedule.

Igor Stravinsky, Chant Funébre / Le Sacre du Printemps, Jan. 12

This album featuring a newly discovered work by Igor Stravinsky comes out a week after I’ll have heard the Seattle Symphony perform it. I’ll own yet another version of The Rite of Spring, though.

Sasagawa Miwa, Atarashii Sekai, Jan. 31

Last time I checked in with Sasagawa Miwa, she was moving in a jazz direction.

Rhye, Blood, Feb. 2

The singles preceding this album release make me think I ought to place a pre-order.

Steve Reich, Pulse / Quartet, Feb. 2 (vinyl on March 30)

The cover of this album almost fooled me into thinking Reich had gone back to ECM. For proof, compare the Reich cover with John Surman’s forthcoming album Invisible Threads on ECM:

[John Surman - Invisible Threads]
[Steve Reich - Pulse / Quartet]

 

Kronos Quartet and Laurie Anderson, Landfall, Feb. 16

Anderson contributed to Kronos’ Fifty for the Future initiative, and they’ve included the piece in recent concerts. I’m curious to hear more of this collaboration.

Vinyl

My Bloody Valentine, Loveless, Jan. 18 (UK)

Kevin Shields sure went to a lot of trouble remastering this album for vinyl, when it wasn’t really recorded for analog in the first place.

SUPERCAR, HIGHVISION, March 30
SUPERCAR, ANSWER, March 30

I became a SUPERCAR fan just as the band changed its sound, so the recent vinyl reissues of Three Out Change!! and JUMP UP allowed me to discover its early work. I’m coming around to the idea that maybe that first era was better than what followed.

Shiina Ringo, Gyakuyunyuu ~Kuukoukyoku~, March 30

Have you seen how much the Shiina Ringo vinyl reissues from 2009 are going for on the secondhand market? I’ve got mine pre-ordered.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,