oh no, its the day before the final day of the year & i haven't made a year-ending list yet? what kind of loser record-collecting type am i
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6) please sidestep the hipster hype on sublime frequencies, because its truly unlike any other world music label ever conceived (and i am a big NPR/smithsonian/rounder type person too) - unlike all of those fine names (and also unlike the other greats, nonesuch/ocora/etc), the SF albums document the styles of music that are mostly ignored by those fine names - or at least, if nonesuch has ever done a disc of metal bands from java i'm not aware of it - the biggest complaint about SF is the legality of it, as i've got into several discussions with the wife about potential exploitation of the musicians on here, who surely have no idea that their music is being listened to by the record-store elite in america - everybody i've played the albums to (and i've got the full set of CDs - i've only got one of the DVDs since i hardly ever watch music DVDs) agrees that the music is fabulous, but some have problems concerning the ethics - and it prompts long debates that never reach conclusion - we usually just give up and listen to the music instead...
of all the albums in the series, the only one that's reminiscent of anything on any other world label is the "night recordings from bali" disc - its just a field recording of a gamelan performance, albeit a good performance - but everything else is just off-the-wall kookoo - i'd make a SF mix of the best of the series if i could, but its easier said than done - not to mention that my 2 favorites of the series ("radio india" and the one on the best-of list) are loaned out to some friends...
7) i've only played "feels" once - as you received frank's apa #90, you know that seb (good man he is) regards that as perhaps the album of 2005 - i really enjoyed bits of it the one time i played it, but there were some meandering moments for me too - i still haven't grasped what makes everyone else regard them as the band of the millenium, because some of their stuff gets a little too art-wanky for me - not so with "prospect hummer", unquestionably my favorite thing of theirs (of course vashti doesn't hurt it with her presence) - i need another listen to "feels" before i can adequately say anything (of course this didn't stop me from reviewing it in the upcoming franks #91), but in my internal pitchfork ranking i'd say 6.8234 on the whole, maybe 8.7937283 on the good bits...
8) at last i'll have met my match at the record stalls! if T6 will be set up in any way similar to the way T5 was...well, let's just be prepared...
of all the albums in the series, the only one that's reminiscent of anything on any other world label is the "night recordings from bali" disc - its just a field recording of a gamelan performance, albeit a good performance - but everything else is just off-the-wall kookoo - i'd make a SF mix of the best of the series if i could, but its easier said than done - not to mention that my 2 favorites of the series ("radio india" and the one on the best-of list) are loaned out to some friends...
7) i've only played "feels" once - as you received frank's apa #90, you know that seb (good man he is) regards that as perhaps the album of 2005 - i really enjoyed bits of it the one time i played it, but there were some meandering moments for me too - i still haven't grasped what makes everyone else regard them as the band of the millenium, because some of their stuff gets a little too art-wanky for me - not so with "prospect hummer", unquestionably my favorite thing of theirs (of course vashti doesn't hurt it with her presence) - i need another listen to "feels" before i can adequately say anything (of course this didn't stop me from reviewing it in the upcoming franks #91), but in my internal pitchfork ranking i'd say 6.8234 on the whole, maybe 8.7937283 on the good bits...
8) at last i'll have met my match at the record stalls! if T6 will be set up in any way similar to the way T5 was...well, let's just be prepared...
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