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Mon Feb 06, 2017 3:39 am

Djam Karet - Still No Commercial Potential (1998)

A collection of "live in the studio" instrumental prog-ambient improvs. Djam Karet's music spans a range from prog-rock to ambient/experimental; this album inhabits a space somewhere in between, but closer to the latter. Meandering and generally quite mellow... good music to just chill out to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xwnrtcdDJM

Ordering their new CD the other day was a bit of a trigger that has sent me off tromping through their older stuff.

Mon Feb 06, 2017 5:31 am

just brew it! wrote:
Djam Karet - Still No Commercial Potential (1998)

A collection of "live in the studio" instrumental prog-ambient improvs. Djam Karet's music spans a range from prog-rock to ambient/experimental; this album inhabits a space somewhere in between, but closer to the latter. Meandering and generally quite mellow... good music to just chill out to.

My 19YO daughter calls it "music to study to".

Vhalidictes · Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:14 am

Captain Ned wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
Djam Karet - Still No Commercial Potential (1998)

A collection of "live in the studio" instrumental prog-ambient improvs. Djam Karet's music spans a range from prog-rock to ambient/experimental; this album inhabits a space somewhere in between, but closer to the latter. Meandering and generally quite mellow... good music to just chill out to.

My 19YO daughter calls it "music to study to".

I can't stand studying with distractions going on in the background. That said, this sounds great, and I'll have to check more of his stuff out.

Currently playing (due to listening to the Djam link) - MOVE - Come Together (Side note, that band's good songs are almost impossible to find on YT, I can't find a link to "1969" at all)

EDIT: My favorite headset's right channel just died. Man, this has been a crap week already.

Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:16 pm

Vhalidictes wrote:
I can't stand studying with distractions going on in the background. That said, this sounds great, and I'll have to check more of his stuff out.

FWIW Djam Karet isn't a person, it's a band.

Personal favorites are Burning The Hard City (1991), The Devouring (1997), A Night For Baku (2003), and Recollection Harvest (2005), but it's all good.

Also just noticed this collection, which may be a good place to start for anyone new to them:

All From One, And One From All ... is a "sampler/best-of/compilation" that contains a track from every one of Djam Karet's 18 albums!

Sun Feb 12, 2017 10:19 am

Djam Karet - Sonic Celluloid (2017)

Just received my copy in yesterday's mail. This one definitely leans more towards their ambient side, but (aside from occasional sound effects) isn't nearly as weird and experimental as the 1991 release Suspension and Displacement.

First impressions after one listen: A well-executed album of mostly ambient soundscapes. A little Tangerine Dream-ish in places. If you prefer your prog rock to have more of an edge to it, you may want to check out one of their other releases (e.g. The Heavy Soul Sessions or Burning The Hard City) instead, but this is very good. The recording itself is excellent; they've made a point on their past few releases of not using any dynamic range compression, which contributes to a very open, transparent sound.

Edit: I can also see why they opted to make the track "Evil Gimpy" a download-only bonus track. While good, it doesn't fit the mood of the rest of the album at all. Makes me wonder if it was originally going to appear on the album and got cut, or if it is a previously unreleased leftover from another project.

Vhalidictes · Mon Feb 13, 2017 11:49 am

just brew it! wrote:
First impressions after one listen: A well-executed album of mostly ambient soundscapes. A little Tangerine Dream-ish in places. If you prefer your prog rock to have more of an edge to it, you may want to check out one of their other releases (e.g. The Heavy Soul Sessions or Burning The Hard City) instead, but this is very good. The recording itself is excellent; they've made a point on their past few releases of not using any dynamic range compression, which contributes to a very open, transparent sound.

Well, I'm sold. I'll get a copy, and I haven't even heard of the band before last week. Range compression is pretty much everything that's wrong with music this century.

Current Song: Bangles - Hazy Shade of Winter

CScottG · Thu Feb 16, 2017 11:42 pm

Just watched the latest episode (chapter 2) of Legion on FX. It ended with a favorite of min*d*:

Thomas Dolby: Hyperactive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHgNHneZ6WM

..the frenetic nature of the song led me to:

Intaferon: Get Out of London
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQCh27FpYyY

cphite · Thu Feb 23, 2017 1:27 pm

I bought a copy of Nirvana's Nevermind album the other day... had it many years ago, decided I wanted to listen again. Got the 20th anniversary remastered edition.

Ugh.

Apparently what they meant by "remaster" was to remove any trace of dynamic range whatsoever. Gonna check some of the local used record shops and see if anyone has a copy of the original album, because this is just awful...

jackbomb · Sat Feb 25, 2017 2:16 pm

Buffy Sainte-Marie - Until It's Time For You To Go

Wed Mar 01, 2017 1:16 am

Opeth's Sorceress has grown on me. Still nowhere near being one of their best, and IMO the recording would've benefited from a little less DR compression. But decent.

Thu Mar 02, 2017 10:44 pm

Ozric Tentacles - Pungent Effulgent (1989)

Early release from the semi-obscure prog/psychedelic/space rock band I've posted about previously. Contains a mix of new material and re-recorded (with much improved fidelity) versions of pieces previously issued on their (even earlier) cassette releases. Haven't listened to this in many years... my loss. Sometimes re-discovering stuff "from the vault" can be just as enjoyable as finding new music.

Hey Ned -- Do you have any Ozrics? If not you may want to check them out and bend your plastic (again)... :lol:

... Erpland (1990) is probably the place to start.

Fri Mar 03, 2017 8:03 pm

Beth Hart - Fire On The Floor (2017)

The latest album from the singer-songwriter that credible introduced me to in this very thread a while back. Blues, old-timey jazz numbers, and rock all find a comfortable home on this album, tied together by her distinctive voice (which is somewhat reminiscent of Janis Joplin's).

The title track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV2BiD9LCn8

Recommended.

Fri Mar 03, 2017 9:03 pm

OMDFG, you've gone and bent my credit card again without me even knowing it. Janis, Beth Orton, maybe a wee bit of Sandy Denny or even Maria McKee or (to go real obscure) Laurie Sargent.

Help me Amazon, you're my only hope.

Need I say that I have a real jones for a woman's voice?

CScottG · Fri Mar 03, 2017 10:01 pm

..the rotation's a bit "heavy":

Smash Mouth: Walk'n on the Sun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQj--Kjn0z8

Love and Rockets: So Alive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-L41MhFPU9s

Folk Implosion: Natural One
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYerwwTV5qc

Sneaker Pimps: 6 Underground
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eBZqmL8ehg

Fri Mar 03, 2017 10:19 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
Need I say that I have a real jones for a woman's voice?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UfSBCgix5O0

Fri Mar 03, 2017 10:26 pm

Aye, that's a good one, but my gold standard will always be Sandy Denny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy3ihk205ew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1it7BP5PckI

EDIT: Have to add Natalie Merchant to this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQudwvnCnm0

Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:28 am

Captain Ned wrote:
Aye, that's a good one, but my gold standard will always be Sandy Denny.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy3ihk205ew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1it7BP5PckI

EDIT: Have to add Natalie Merchant to this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQudwvnCnm0

Hmm...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVV7sf4QwjU

Sat Mar 04, 2017 9:16 am

just brew it! wrote:
Hmm...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVV7sf4QwjU

I have all of her stuff.

Sat Mar 04, 2017 9:25 am

Captain Ned wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
Hmm...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVV7sf4QwjU

I have all of her stuff.

I should've guessed that was the case.

Sat Mar 04, 2017 9:30 am

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Sat Mar 04, 2017 9:30 am

just brew it! wrote:
I should've guessed that was the case.

Folk/Prog (there really isn't much difference) women with English accents? Just send me your CDs and bill me. I'm good for it.

EDIT: Apropos of my admiration of Sandy Denny, a mashup of "The Battle of Evermore" and clips from the LOTR movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_kp6W9FpK8

Sat Mar 04, 2017 3:40 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
Folk/Prog (there really isn't much difference) women with English accents? Just send me your CDs and bill me. I'm good for it.

How about a cover of ELP's The Endless Enigma with a female lead vocalist?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxDvytWNl00

Sat Mar 04, 2017 3:48 pm

I knew I should have quit when I was ahead. I think there's a reason why the only ELP album that gets any play is "Brain Salad Surgery".

Sat Mar 04, 2017 6:19 pm

There's also Mary Fahl's cover of DSotM... here's her doing "Brain Damage" live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc30vWztRYU

Her album From the Dark Side of the Moon (2011) is a (studio) cover of the entire album.

Edit: Here's "Time" (from the album): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0cMtucafEI

TBH I think her DSotM cover album is the best thing she's done since leaving October Project. (And I basically lost interest in October Project after she departed as well... OP was definitely a "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" deal.)

Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:12 pm

Damn, remaking Dark Side is ambition verging on hubris, but she makes it work. I have all the October Project stuff but was unawarre of this.

Sat Mar 04, 2017 7:32 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
Damn, remaking Dark Side is ambition verging on hubris, but she makes it work. I have all the October Project stuff but was unawarre of this.

Yeah, when I first heard about this I was half expecting it to be horrible, but I really like it. Thing is, it's different enough that it isn't just a pointless (and/or inferior) knockoff, while also managing to remain (mostly) true to the spirit of the original (but also updating it for the new millennium). This makes it a much more interesting concept than Dream Theater's DSotM cover, where they more or less went for a note-for-note re-creation (including use of the original sound effects). Fahl has given us a personal interpretation of something I'm betting she grew up listening to and considers a major influence, whereas Dream Theater's is more of a "hey, look, we can do a note-for-note perfect version of DSoTM live on stage". They're both tributes in their own way, but I think you can guess which one I listen to more.

Tue Mar 07, 2017 8:32 pm

Cold as Ice

Wed Mar 08, 2017 9:09 pm

Beck - Dreams

P.S.: Let's toss in The Cranberries, Fleetwood Mac and Van Halen, while we're on the subject.

Thu Mar 09, 2017 12:36 pm

Gordian Knot - Emergent (2003)

OK, WTF... how the heck did I miss this one when it came out?

Prog metal, featuring Bill Bruford and Steve Hackett on several tracks. If I had to describe it in one sentence, I'd call it something like "mutant spawn of King Crimson and Dream Theater, with some jazzy Michael Manring-style fretless bass thrown in for good measure". That doesn't quite cover it, but it's in the ballpark.

I've followed Bill Bruford's career pretty closely, and was unaware this even existed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOaoPa3-83U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gkSiV1htlc

Anovoca · Thu Mar 09, 2017 12:54 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Gordian Knot - Emergent (2003)

OK, WTF... how the heck did I miss this one when it came out?

Prog metal, featuring Bill Bruford and Steve Hackett on several tracks. If I had to describe it in one sentence, I'd call it something like "mutant spawn of King Crimson and Dream Theater, with some jazzy Michael Manring-style fretless bass thrown in for good measure". That doesn't quite cover it, but it's in the ballpark.

I've followed Bill Bruford's career pretty closely, and was unaware this even existed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOaoPa3-83U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gkSiV1htlc

Nice, Ill check those out. I personally just picked up Black Clouds and Silver Linings and have that going at work. Always been a fan of the songs on the album but never actually owned any Dream Theater until now. I am pretty convinced that The Count of Tuscany is the most underappreciated song in Rock history.

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