San Francisco Disco Preservation Society
Let’s hear it for the San Francisco Disco Preservation Society! These heroes are “dedicated to preserving anything related to the 70s San Francisco disco scene, and into the early 80s HI-NRG scene (which we consider disco under another name) The S.F. DJs, music producers, record labels, and clubs that set the standard! We have a ton of disco DJ reel to reels that we will be digitizing and sharing with the world!”
Totally great stuff. Prepare to boogie.
Steve Reich and Musicians - Festival d'Automne, Salle Wagram, Paris, France, October 19, 1976
Sometimes only “Music For 18 Musicians” will do the trick. This morning was one of those times! Here’s a pristine radio broadcast of Steve Reich’s masterpiece, recorded live in Paris. Just a few days later, Reich and co. would head into the studio to record the ECM LP we all know and love. The musicians here are moving as one, 18 minds melding! Do you want more? There are a few filmed performances from around the same time in Amsterdam – “Six Pianos” and “Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ.”
Loren Connors & Daniel Carter - The Departing of a Dream, Vol. VII
A remarkable duo effort from Loren Connors and Daniel Carter for your Bandcamp Monday this week. The Departing of a Dream sees the renowned avant-guitarist and free improv horn-master (known for his work in the Other Dimensions in Music collective) using Miles’ “He Loved Him Madly” as a launch pad for some seriously deep trips into unknown realms. With Connors’ eerie washes of sound providing a compelling backdrop, Carter drifts in and out with subtle and gorgeous playing (on alto, tenor and soprano saxophones and trumpet). It’s equal parts beautiful and haunting – masterful work from two adventurers who know that space is definitely the place.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 22, 1991
As with the Rust Never Sleeps era, I haven’t spent a lot of time with 1991 Crazy Horse tapes – why do that when we’ve got Weld?! (And Arc!) But getting an alternate audience recording view of the tour is worthwhile for sure. Weld is really where I became a fan. I can still remember hearing the opening riff of “Hey Hey My My” blasting out from my older brother’s room and thinking “What the hell is that!?” To be honest, it was a million times more exciting to me than any of the grunge acts that my fellow middle schoolers were getting into at the time.
Anyway, this solid audience tape captures Neil and the Horse on the very first date of the Weld tour and it is a wonderfully assaultive affair – more raging glory than ragged glory. Once again, immersive volume is the name of the game, with Neil’s angry, tormented guitar filling in every inch of the arena. It’s a sound that perfectly mirrors the violence (psychic/spiritual/physical) of many of the songs. Terrifying/thrilling.
There are a few rarities here, too. We get to hear the “cheeseburger” verse of “Crime in the City”! The joyful “Country Home” is a welcome respite from the darker vibe of the show. And most interestingly, there’s a pretty successful electric “Campaigner,” complete with closing shoutouts to an array of people, from the families of Iraq (the first Gulf War was about to kick off) to Milli Vanilli. They all got soul …
And of course, Sonic Youth opened this show! I don’t have a recording of their set (they apparently bombed), but hey – here’s a shaky video of their half-hour slot from a few weeks later … at West Point, of all places. They sound fucking fantastic.
That’s right, it’s another Big Ben 1000 album! If you haven’t heard, this is a band featuring me and my daughter Sylvie. She just turned 10! Time flies when you’re making oddball electronic jams, right? Natural Light sees us trying out a few new things, getting a little more imaginative in the rhythm zone, finding interesting grooves. But that Big Ben 1000 flavor you’ve come to know and love remains in place. Things should get even more nuts in the future — for her birthday, Sylvie got a KORG keyboard device. Look out!