Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet
One of the great album covers of the decade. You know it’s good when you’re sure the joke is on you and you still can’t look away. Andrew WK puts an irresistible spin on ironic self-reference. Postmodernism is dead. Long live postmodernism!
Ornette Coleman - Space Church (continuous services)
Its time for some Ornette Coleman. The free jazz pioneer’s output is so rich with beauty, and so varied in texture, that each period of his long career is ripe with astonishment. From 1987’s “In All Languages”, a brilliant double album containing half quartet, half Prime Time recordings, here is the quartet version of “Space Church”. One of his many slow haunting melodies, this track is given an extra ‘spacey’ feel by the faster tempo of the rhythm section, the jangling background (not sure what that is), and the strange bending electronic sound that pops up a few times to great effect.
Ornette Coleman was 56 when this was recorded, but as always his playing and composition show incredible creativity and vitality. The late Don Cherry on trumpet, and the untouchable rhythm section of bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins round out the quartet.
Tom Waits - There’s Only Alice
I’m not sure if the alternate song title was a working name, or just what ended up in the tags of my mp3 - I’ll let you decide.
Here is another demo from Alice. Raw, and beautiful. Tom Waits is just that good.
Ponytail - Beg Waves
When you come down to it, there are just two kinds of people in the world. On the one hand you’ve got the folks who sit around wondering “what would it sound like if Sigur Ros were a little more, you know…punk rock?” On the other hand, you’ve got the people who have heard Ponytail’s Beg Waves.
Kicking off 2008’s Ice Cream Spiritual, this track is accessible—for Ponytail, anyway—while still showing off what’s most wonderful about the band. These are people who flat out love noise, but have the musicianship to make it work. It’s structured, epic noise: I dare you to get through the last, power chord filled minute of Beg Waves without feeling a powerful desire for some air guitar.
What you really need to do is get out and see Ponytail live (if you’re in New York they’re playing tomorrow), but short of that full experience Ice Cream Spiritual is a decent second choice.
Ruby Isle - Skinny Love (Bon Iver)
Yeah, I know, there’s been so much Bon Iver worship on the Internet in the last few months that it’s getting a little hard to take, but still…think back to the moment when the raw beauty of Skinny Love first worked into your ears. Click through that link and listen to it again, if you want.
Got that moment now? Good.
Now listen to the Ruby Isle cover of Skinny Love.
This may be the inappropriate cover against which all others will be measured.
Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground
Google this song and you get lots of “greatest song of all time” type results. Who really knows? It is, however, one of the most unique, haunting songs ever recorded, this from sometime in the late 1920s.
Another year, another excellent Best of Bootie compilation. For the uninitiated: Best of Bootie is a yearly compilation of the year’s best mashups, presented in continuous mix form. You’ll probably recognise names like DJ Earworm, Divide & Kreate, and The Hood Internet, but there are plenty of lesser known gems on there too. On top of that, there are 13 bonus tracks “that didn’t quite fit” for your downloading pleasure.
And if you’re new to the Best of Bootie compilations, I suggest checking out the previous three years’ compilations too.
Cylinder recordings, the first commercially produced sound recordings, are a snapshot of musical and popular culture in the decades around the turn of the 20th century.
On this site you will have the opportunity to find out more about the cylinder format, listen to thousands of musical and spoken selections from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and discover a little-known era of recorded sound.
Like our latest theme?
Then you’ll love this directory on the Internet Archive, featuring a catalog of recordings from the turn of the last century, transferred from old 78s and cylinders.
