whats your fav recording right now, or some anyways

[citizenkeith]

Ok, I'll bite on this one...

I've been playing the new Super Furry Animals record, "Phantom Power" over and over and over. Much more low-key than "Rings Around the World" but still catchy and quirky.

I recently interviewed audiophile mastering engineer Steve Hoffman for a future TapeOp article, so I've been listening to a lot of his work lately. Amazing how warm and full of life his mastering is, especially when compared to the commercial release of a title (his stuff is mainly licensed by and released on audiophile labels specializing in 24karat gold discs and SACD). So I've been enjoying his masterings of The Doors and Paul McCartney catalogs, Joni Mitchell's "Court and Spark," Van Halen's debut, and Al Green's Greatest Hits. I've also compared his original 80s mastering of "Who's Next" (when he worked for MCA) and was pretty floored by how much better it sounds than the recent remastered version. Ok, I guess I've fawned over Hoffman's work enough...

Also enjoying Songs:Ohia's "Magnolia Electric Company" (nice live studio recording), Daniel Lanois' "Shine," and "Fever to Tell" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

If you're into Dave Fridmann/Tarbox, you'll love The Delgados' "Hate." But these ears find the mastering to be a little too compressed and hot. Still, it's great stuff.

[Bear]

Man, I haven't heard the Delgados in a while. Thanks for reminding me about them. I'll go snatch their most recent one up.

"Don't be the one who writes love songs..."

[Bear]

And I forgot to mention, Al Green is friggin' awesome. Lots of the soul guys (Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Bill Withers, Odis Redding, etc...) have awesome production.

[JGriffin]

Don't want to sound too redundant, but I have been spinning the new Radiohead a bit, and Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is in the car CD changer. Other items in the changer include:

Radiohead: I Might Be Wrong/live recordings. -- I just love the live performances of the Kid A/Amnesiac stuff.

Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, "Encore" -- The best-mastered and restored Bob Wills. The playing is always great but other Bob Wills stuff shows its age. These tunes jump right out with an amazing vitality and presence.

Sam Phillips, "Cruel Inventions" -- I love the production and arrangements. This and the Wilco record are shaping up to be the big influences on my next CD, along with...

The Beatles, "The Beatles" a/k/a the White Album. What needs to be said?

And my friend from TV Pow just sent me a big stack of his CDs so I'm getting pretty heavy into those...great job, Mike!

[marqueemoon]

I have to post again here to give props to Mark Eitzel's "The Ugly American".

He recorded it in Greece with a local producer and a cast of Greek musicians. The arrangements are really something, and his vocal performances are amazing. Most of it is old songs re-worked, but still... great stuff.


http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ... 8zefyk3gf5

[laupflow]

The new Guster album does it for me, hella production and arrangements - both musical and vocal. Great songwriting. A liiiiiitle bass heavy on the car stereo to the point where I have to dial it down a few, but a great album.

P

[laupflow]

sorry, one more - Satellite Rides by Old 97s, mixed by Tchad. Again, the whole package - songwriting, performance, vocal, lyrics and production.

Okay, done.

P

[A.L.]

Sun City Girls! Torch of the Mystics is one of my all-time favorite albums, but so out of print it's depressing. Wow. Everyone says Torch of the Mystics but it really is great. Birthday Party: Bad Seed EP. Holy cow. Great, great recording great great performances. Really evil. A+. New Order's Power Corruption + Lies. I really like the sound of that record.
I confess I'm listening to these three Snow Fairies MP3s over and over again that were posted a while ago in the Music forum. I need to find that album. Is it out yet?

[kaliyuga]

Sun City Girls! Torch of the Mystics is one of my all-time favorite albums, but so out of print it's depressing. Wow. Everyone says Torch of the Mystics but it really is great. Birthday Party: Bad Seed EP. Holy cow. Great, great recording great great performances. Really evil. A+. New Order's Power Corruption + Lies. I really like the sound of that record.
I confess I'm listening to these three Snow Fairies MP3s over and over again that were posted a while ago in the Music forum. I need to find that album. Is it out yet?

Yes! Yes! Yes! I have an (probably) unhealthy obsession with The Sun City Girls which causes me to devote way too much cash to those cats. "Torch of the Mystics" is completely stunning, beginning to end. And talk about an amazing sounding record! I think Scott Colburn did it; he's done a good bit of their stuff. Also highly recommended: "330,003 Crossdressers From Beyond the Rig Veda", "Bright Surroundings, Dark Beginnings", "Valentines from Matahari", "High Asia Low Pacific" and I like the box set also - too many to mention really. It is truly a crying shame that they've spent 20+ years in obscurity - not under-the-radar, but in a complete fuckin' la-la land of their own.

Love the Birthday Party - Good God. If anyone ever made a soundtrack for pleasure killing . . .

Who are the Snow Fairies?

Jason.

[DUC]

And I forgot to mention, Al Green is friggin' awesome. Lots of the soul guys (Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Bill Withers, Odis Redding, etc...) have awesome production.

That's the only thing I listen to in my car. Old soul music. That never gets old. And the drums always sound consistantly awesome.

[A.L.]

Who are the Snow Fairies?

Damned if I really know but they posted a link here a while back to some ridiculously sweet, syrupy pop songs of theirs and against my better judgement I'm hooked.

My secret masochistic fantasy was recently realized by two back to back Sun City Girls shows earlier this year. They closed the place the first night... there were like 15 people left by the end of the show after an intitial couple-hundred strong crowd! Beautiful!
I think Colburn only remastered Torch for the CD release. I could be wrong, though.

[kaliyuga]

My secret masochistic fantasy was recently realized by two back to back Sun City Girls shows earlier this year. They closed the place the first night... there were like 15 people left by the end of the show after an intitial couple-hundred strong crowd! Beautiful!

Thanks A.L., I feel like crying now I would donate my left testicle . . .
Where'd you see them?

Jason

[A.L.]

Where'd you see them?

Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco. Part of a short, very under-publicized tour. They basically endlessly noodled around but when they hit they hit like a sack to the head. Second night w/ guests Eyvind Kang and some singing girl(?). It was a venue / band mismatch... bad crowd. Still glorious.

[kaliyuga]

Part of a short, very under-publicized tour. They basically endlessly noodled around but when they hit they hit like a sack to the head. Second night w/ guests Eyvind Kang

Apparantly they had 2 new tour-only releases for the last outing - I'd love to get my hands on those. Eyvind Kang is awesome. Ever heard his stuff with The Secret Chiefs?

hope we're not derailing this thread.

Jason

[Bear]

And the drums always sound consistantly awesome.

There is definitely something about those drums. Maybe it's the sly use of bongos and such, or maybe there's just so much damn soul in the music that every instrument sounds awesome. But whetever it is, that stuff always sounds delicious (which, if I ever beome a soul singer, is what I want my name to be ... "Delicious").