Another category is musicians giving me CDs in hope of me getting them a gig. Very rarely does this happen, but in the case of Television Pickup a demo CD resulted in a gig which I promoted recently. Je ne regrette rien, they played great! Very interesting compositions by Katrine Amsler mixed with humourous laptop comments and good use of free improvisation. Get their brand new CD Da jeg var lille var alting större. I can honestly recommend it.
Most of the time, CDs are given to me because people tell me they want my opinion on their music. Students, people I meet at festivals, friends and people fall into this category. I don't mind this. In fact, I have had several positive musical experiences from unexpected CDs, but not in all cases. Most of the time, people want to hear good things about their music, which is perfectly understandable, but not something I can be trusted to deliver. If you want the truth, don't count on me to tell you a lie.
When I was at Gouveia in April, I had the pleasure of meeting a nice composer/keyboard player from Spain, Carlos Plaza. He asked me if he could send me a CD and I told him yes. The brand new album Omphalos by Carlos' group Kotebel arrived last month, but I haven't really had much time to listen to the record until recently. Now that I have, I can recommend it to any fan of prog rock.
Omphalos is good prog, not bland, derivative stuff, but music that is well planned and well performed. The highlights for me are Carlos' compositions with lots of recurring themes and clever variations. I also think the vocals and the lyrics are quite good. The packaging is also nice. So, support this band. Get the album!
I am always happy to have my postwoman deliver CDs from pals Mick Karn and Luca Calabrese. The stuff they have sent me have never disappointed me. Au contraire! Their recordings are constant eye-openers and a joy to enjoy! Speaking of which, Luca kindly sent me two of his latest recording projects. One CD by Tiziano Tononi & Daniele Cavallanti featuring stellar bass player William Parker among others. The other is a free improv 2-CD with Italian musicians (and a spectacular insert made of wood), among them another good friend, double bass master Franco Feruglio (of Metamorfosi Trio, together with Luca and Christian Saggese). I haven't had the time to listen to these surely great recordings yet, but I am sincerely looking forward to it. Maybe next week, when I am going back to work again. My time spent on the commuter trains is made a lot easier with some music accompanying my travels.
On the IB front, things are looking up. We have our line-up (Pat Mastelotto, Markus Reuter and Björn J:son Lindh), now we have got to focus on the music. But that's not something I need to worry about.
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The Beatles recorded many great songs and at least a handful of true classics in the field of music, period. Their second album, With the Beatles , from 1963 is not one of them. "Please Mr. Postman" is certainly not one of my favourite Beatle recordings by far. It doesn't even make the top 100. This is not why the group made it to the very top. Give me the often ridiculed "Piggies" anytime.
