Monday, April 18, 2011

RIP Billy Bang


An incredible improviser on an under-utilized instrument in the jazz world, Billy Bang made some amazing music on his own (one of my favorite albums by him is the solo Commandment (No More Records)) and with several groups including Sun Ra's Arkestra and his own String Trio of New York. He died last week at the age of 63.

Good obits at NPR and the Times.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Read it in Books


My wife Andrea's excellent cookbook came out last week, it's awesome and available where awesome books are sold. It's called Cooking In The Moment. Here's one particularly great review on the Daily Beast by Katrina Heron wherein MFK Fisher and Alice Waters are both invoked; pretty good company!

This Saturday is Record Store Day. There's usually a ton of pretty exciting stuff out on vinyl that day and i hope to get some stuff (though i'll be at Coachella for the day for some Love Language, Arcade Fire, and other fun in the sun), but the volume of releases on that day has become so great that it seems like they should do it twice a year and spread the love a little bit. It already seems to encourage people to just think about record stores once a year rather than on a regular basis (though i do get the idea), maybe one in the Fall in addition to one in the Spring would work...

Speaking of Saturday, there are a couple Superchunk items coming out -- a split 7" with Coliseum on which we both cover Misfits songs, and it's on colored vinyl. I love stuff like this. We recorded our song in the studio in my basement. Also out Saturday is a reissue of Here's Where the Strings Come In, which has been out of print for awhile now, and on vinyl for a long time. It'll be available in all formats and you get a couple bonus items for download if you buy the CD or LP: Vol 5 of the Clambakes, (a live recording from 2003) and 4 acoustic 4-track recordings from Strings-era. The 2003 show is from the Cradle and we were touring in support of Cup of Sand, so there's some unusual songs on the setlist for that one! Sounds pretty good, too.

Midweek listening:

Jonny - s/t
Robert Wyatt - Shleep
Bill Evans Trio - Live in Paris 1974
Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Belong
J Mascis - Several Shades of Why
James Blake - s/t
The Beatles - For Sale
Panda Bear - Tomboy