No self promotion, my list of what to listen to, companion to list of things to watch, emphasis on lengthy/recurring, free and donation-based entertainment on non-traditional channels (i.e. not Spotify). Thanks to everyone who responded with recs and comments to the last email — keep em coming, and be safe and provisioned and healthy.
Bandcamp:
Bandcamp has no sales fees for the next few hours. So if you buy a record on BC all the cash goes to the artist. Here are some of my favorites on the platform. No real stories behind them, they’re just the ones I like. You can listen to all of these before you buy.
Breathing Problem/Immortalist new split release
Vernal Equinox record from 1988
Dopplereffekt newish song (rework of an old one… Discogs says it’s new)
Abruptum demo, Abruptum first album, Abruptum second album (god tier)
Caterina Barbieri’s record from last year
Live drums record by Keith Whitman recorded a few weeks ago
Old radio baseball games:
I wrote about Ken Burns’ Baseball the other day … watching it got me hungry for old baseball. When the doc was on I’d invariably pause it to look up a player’s stats, then to watch a play or see newsreel footage. Why not feet first? Someone put a bunch of old games on YouTube. Mostly 1950s-70s with a few from the ‘40s. You can listen to them while you read. This is a good one (box score) and the ads are great too. There isn’t as much variance between old and current baseball radio compared to other media. I listen to Bob Uecker games in the summers when I can even though I have no interest in the team. These are better.
Classical music/opera streaming:
Lots of opera houses and concert halls are streaming their concerts for free in the evening. The nice thing about that they’re at 7 (or whenever) sharp, much-needed structure for people stuck around the house. Also nachos and opera never went together until this exact moment in history. The ultimate privilege … now able to be exercised at home. The Met is furloughing its employees, they also are streaming, they are losing a ton of money, all of it is bad, your call. The Berlin Phil has free month-long memberships if you sign up before end of month, Vienna State Opera has daily features as well. I took the screenshot from a Berlin Phil Beethoven symphony, it is something to watch the orchestra move with the conductor. Not really a thing you can see up close unless you marry into the Koch family.
Sounds of the Dawn:
Important new age music label. There’s also Ultra Village that does reissues. Sounds of the Dawn’s YouTube is a gift, with old records and mixes. They seem to upload something every day. My recent favorites are Voyager, a record they put up last week and the record above. The two-hour radio mixes are different. This Klaus Wiese mix is great as isthis varied one from August. The mixes, disposable, made for radio, are good enough to play for a while.
https://www.youtube.com/user/soundsofthedawn
https://soundcloud.com/soundsofthedawn
East Side Story mixtapes:
Not a lot out there is cooler or better than East Side Story, a 12-series compilation of firme oldies released in the 1970s featuring music older than that. Older songs, doo wop, R&B, soul, classic East Los Angeles shit — some of the best shit there is. You can buy the reissues (which have a diff. tracklisting than the originals) or can listen to the records on YouTube, and waxpoetics the magazine made a Spotify playlist as well. They’re out there. I can’t really add anything here; if it’s good enough to define Los Angeles for 40 years then it is good enough for you. Standard issue, flawless.
Best Show archives:
There’s no more rewarding an archive than Best Show’s, a three-hour call-in radio program punctuated by Steve Allen extended universe-type phone calls. It has been very good for very long and there is nothing like it. There is a lot to choose from. Recent episodes are on Podbay and the website, and ones older are on the WFMU website (the show started in 2001). The last couple weeks it’s been good, so you can start there. Or the best 100 fictional characters (and worst). It is sometimes not very good, but that’s a small price to pay for when it is good. When it works, which is most of the time, there’s nothing like it.
Autechre live mixes:
Autechre from Manchester have been playing records live on MIXLR.com the past couple days. It’s a thrill to recognize a song. They played Der Zyklus, (post-Schulze) Tangerine Dream, Depeche Mode (“Leave in Silence”), Slapp Happy, Global Communication. Their albums are infinite variations on a few tonal themes, their DJing is more varied. They said in the chat today they recorded 750 hours of music in 2019. Autechre destroy the myth that talent and scarcity are friends. They have produced a surfeit of music and it is all good, or better. It was too bad that they DJ’d Venetian Snares today, but hey, it’s free. It is worth downloading the MixLR app for them. I am sure they will be playing records through the end or return of our society.
Cecil Taylor live:
This YouTube guy has videos of Cecil Taylor, Stanley Clarke playing live, though not together. I wish he had more videos, but once you are done with these, you can search musician and live on the platform and get something good.
Other picks:
Autechre six-hour mix | 45 min mix (my fav shit, all very old rap music, akin to how Michael Mann sticks to Murnau movies)
Goldberg Variations on harpsichord
Sonic Boom live in Houston (2001)
Experimental Audio Research “Millenium Music”
The list goes on….
Thanks for reading, be safe.
Snake