silversun pickups - carnavas (2007)
take the vocal of the three o’clock, the wall of sound of the smashing pumpkins, the driving bass of the pixies, the quirkiness of the throwing muses and then throw in a bit of t-rex pop-styling and interesting guitar layering of spoon for good measure; blend it up; and you’ve got the silversun pickups. this l.a. quartet features vocalist, guitarist brian aubert, bass player nikki monninger, drummer christopher guanlao and keyboardist joe lester. like many quintessential ‘80s bands (pixies, smashing pumpkins, concrete blonde) the female bass player is back in as are the keyboards (a staple of 80’s alternative fare). on their latest album, carnavas, these guys draw upon some of the best of the late ‘80s cool influences to paint an interesting array of tracks.

kitka - winter songs (2004)
one of my favorite stops for quality music on the web is www.magnatune.com - especially for world and classical music. tonight i'm listening to kitka, an oakland, california based women's vocal consort who perform eastern european folk music. amazing stuff. similar to the le mystere de voix bulgare recordings of the bulgarian women's radio choir. i recommend checking out this recording as well as others on magnatune.

afro celt sound system - vol 2 /release (real world, 1999)
probably one of my favorite's from these guys. blending african percussion, celtic pipes, a variety of voices, guitars and electronics. a good mix of high energy and ambient tracks. great for writing and reading to - or working to.

si*se - si*se (luaka bop, 2001)
this is one of those releases that has been in regular rotation in my cd player for many years now. it's upbeat. it's great to work to. it's relaxing. it's sensual. it's latin and electronic and more. i guess it's akin to sade - but not. it's akin to everything but the girl - but not. like zuco 103 or suba this release provides a melding of enchanting female voice with electronics. i like.

split enz - true colours (1979)
my uncle steve had picked this up when it came out. i remember taping it onto a really cruddy brand of 60 minute tape - so you had to flip it somewhere around "poor boy" and then the song would start over again and finish up. i later picked up this lp on vinyl from a friend of another uncle in phoenix. was just listening to the cd this evening. while the album doesn't weather the years as well as it might, songs like "i got you," "what's the matter with you" and "how can i resist her" still pull their weight in memories.

yo yo ma - soul of tango: the music of astor piazzolla (1997)
yo yo ma - obrigado BRAZIL: live in concert (2004)
i remember sitting in my dorm room in boston in 1987 listing to an interview with piazzolla on wzbc. during the interview they played several piazzolla recording. the music haunted me for days. all this to say yo yo ma delivers an equally haunting performance of piazzolla on his 1997 release in homage of the maestro. i have also been listening to yo yo ma's release of brazillian and other south american flavored music from a couple years back. joined by the likes of the assad brothers, paquito d'rivera and rosa passos this too is a great recording. my only wish is that the bonus dvd would have had the actual concert footage on it.

various - putumayo presents...latin lounge (2005)
plenty of great tracks from the likes of si*se, alacran, federico aubele and the like on this collection of lounge mixes. (how deepak chopra makes his way onto this collection is beyond me.) putumayo typically puts out quality product with their world music samplers for adults and children. i had their world reggae collection recently as well.

afghanistan: on marco polo's road - the musicians of Kunduz and Faizabad (1997) to escape to another pace and time. that is what recordings like this one released by multicultural media do for me. the middle east, which is the focus of so much of our news media, become a bit more real through the music and the voices of its people.

charlie haden/hank jones - steal away (1995)
this collection of spirituals, hymns and folk songs rings familiar from childhood and yet haden and jones provide some meat and soul to standards like "it's me, O Lord," "swing low sweet chariot" and "goin' to shout all over God's heav'n." the photo of an old time church room with pump organ on the back cover is appropos for the mood of this release.

flying lizards - fourth wall (1981)
Most people will know Flying Lizards for their late 70’s rendition of R&B classic "Money.” Fourth Wall (1981) puts them into new realms. Actually this recording fares quite well sonicly in 2006. Portions are remniscent to ENO ’s ambient releases. Sounds great at 11:14 this evening. I’m actually listening to a cassette recording of my now long gone vinyl version of this release. Great cover BTW if you get a chance to find online.

david sylvian - gone to earth (1986)
our of the ashes of the band japan emerged david sylvian. whose solo work meshes ambient stylings with jazz and stark vocals. this release features musicians like robert fripp and bill nelson. the recording still holds up after 20 years. i remember catching sylvian live at the berklee performance center in boston for a stunning performance featuring much of the work off this release. at that time he was touring with david torn and mark isham. the current re-issue was re-mixed in 2003 and features several bonus tracks: Get Your Copy of David Sylvian - Gone To Earth

dali's car - the waking hour (1984)
out of the ashes of two legendary bands bauhaus and japan came a timeless release under the name dali's car called "the waking hour". dali's car (possibly named after the captain beefhart song on "trout mask replica") was not a "band" per se but rather a swapping of ideas on tape between peter murphy (bauhaus) and mick karn (japan). the resulting product features some phenomenal bass playing and some of murpy's more dark ethereal vocal stylings.

pick up this disc today: Dali's Car - The Waking Hour

various artists - 'round midnight: oustanding versions of the great jazz classic (1986)
this Milestone Records release that i'd recommend grabbing if you find a copy. it may seem like listening to eight versions of the same song over and over again would be monotonous. it's not when you're listening to thelenious monk, the miles davis quintet, stan getz, the wes montgomery trio, the bill evans trio, art pepper + eleven, and the ron carter quartet. it is truly amazing to listen to the variety of ways to attack this standard. the level of musicianship and improvisational ability revealed in each of these is truly phenomenal.

power tools - strange meeting (1987)
i rehooked up my cassette deck today so am pulling out selections from my tape cabinet. power tools' strange meeting was one of them that i listened to today. this was a one release assemblage of bill frisell (guitar), melvin gibbs (bass) and ronald shannon jackson (drums). recorded in one setting with no overdubs. the effect goes from haunting meodies to out there improvisations. all three show restraint when necessary and yet take off into the hinterlands when they are allowed. some of frisell's best recorded work. of particular note are the title track, strange meeting; wadmalaw island; and unscientific americans. two of these - strange meeting AND unscientific americans were recorded again for frisell's this land release (worth checking out as well). strange meeting is hard to find so if you see the vinyl or tape in a used shop snag it - there is also a rare japanese cd pressing that you might locate on e-bay.