[pepper_green]

months ago I tried to find "Julia" on youtube but ended up finding an interesting demo version by Lennon that I quite liked.

[pepper_green]

Originally Posted by evollove

On closer listen, it's a hodge podge of stuff, to avoid copyright infringement, I guess.

bingo!

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by evollove

ALL the Beatles albums have received this treatment, yet the real things are nowhere to be found. Weird, I insist.

Why would they be there to be found? Because everybody else's shit is? NOT everybody's — plenty of artists keep their stuff off YouTube, as best as their wishes can be enforced, anyway.

[pepper_green]

weirdly enough I think you can find the White Album all acoustic demos on youtube still. at one time I preferred those over the originals. but it's not I think copyrighted.

if you want beatles you better buy. unless it's the solo albums. weird again.

[evollove]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

Why would they be there to be found?

Cultural significance. Think of the children.

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by evollove

Cultural significance. Think of the children.

They're way too busy catching Pokémons, the fuckers.

[pepper_green]

Originally Posted by The Soup Nazi

They're way too busy catching Pokémons, the fuckers.

like you defy what they do you Nazi.

[Rob Instigator]

Beatles are not on youtube because the conglomerates that own Michael Jackson's estate still make millions re-releasing the same old tired 1960's bullshit....

[Severian]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

Beatles are not on youtube because the conglomerates that own Michael Jackson's estate still make millions re-releasing the same old tired 1960's bullshit....

AND selling the limited right to a few bars of a Beatles song to the occasional commercial or whatever. Great marketing, that. Sure to grab attention when "Come Together" plays in an iTunes ad or what have you. Deplorable, but smart from a marketing standpoint.

I'm personally not all that bothered by Beatles reissue projects, being a pretty major Beatles fan. I just shelled out some bucks last night for the remastered Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl on vinyl. Yay!

[noisereductions]

 

The Bad Plus Joined By Wendy Lewis
For All I Care
2009, Full disclosure: more often than not I dislike vocal jazz. I mean there are exceptions, but not a lot of them. For All I Care is one of those exceptions. I'm not sure if it's because this is a collection of covers of rock and pop songs rather than jazz standards. Or maybe it's because Wendy Lewis really doesn't have some kind of jazzy show-off vocal style? Whatever it is - it works. Opening with Nirvana's "Lithium," should come across as overwrought but the shifting changes in tempo immediately make it clear that we will not be in autopilot mode on this record. Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" and Wilco's "Radio Cure" are soul-crushing here. The Bee Gee's "How Deep Is Your Love" and The Flaming Lips' "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" are full of hope, while "Barracuda" just plain rocks. Peppered throughout are a few instrumental covers and really the whole thing just hangs together really well. This album serves as an easy entryway to introduce non-jazz fans to modern jazz.

 

Donald Byrd
Stepping Into Tomorrow
1974, I don't know if this album is super well-known. It's definitely not one that I hear people referencing very often. So if it is a bit of a hidden gem then what a gem it is! Stepping Into Tomorrow is an essential jazz-funk record. Basically this one feels like a hip hop record with no rapping. There are some chorus vocals here and there, and honestly I'd be happier without them, but nothing that totally turns me off. This is straight head nodding music, though and a high point in Byrd's discography, at least in my opinion. The title track (written by Larry Mizell) is a must-hear as far as jazz-funk goes. Surprisingly, the only Byrd original here is the closer, "I Love The Girl." This record is highly recommended.

 

The Heliocentrics
Out There
2007, The Heliocentrics seemed to come out of nowhere with the release of Out There and pretty much introduced themselves as a band that wasn't going anywhere. They had already found their sound by the time their debut hit. It's that of a sort of future soul-jazz that is equal parts spacey Sun Ra and tight hip hop beats. (Of course this makes total sense when you realize that their first high profile gig was working on DJ Shadow's The Outsider.) Out There is a totally epic way to introduce a band. It is a sprawling playful mess with reverb-drenched guitars dripping all over Malcom Catto's anchored drums. If there's any complaint I could have here it's that sometimes the record can feel a bit too long. While its twenty-four tracks are all relatively short, it still comes across feeling like two records rather than just one. But that's not exactly a dig. There are so many great tracks here such as standouts like "Distant Star" and "Sirius B." Although this may not be quite as envelope-pushing as some of their later albums, Out There is a fantastic debut and certainly a hint of the greatness that The Heliocentrics would begin to flood the market with in coming years.

 

Madlib
Advanced Jazz
2010, Volume 8 in Madlib's Medicine Show series was effectively a mixtape of some of his favorite jazz. However this isn't a collection of songs - rather moments - all stitched together to create new pastiches from tiny snippets. There's no real tracklisting here and even trying to identify any of the many samples is a game of its own. With track titles being little more than names of jazz masters ("Miles," "Ra," "Herbie" and so on) and the usual Madlib talent of fighting the most bizarre non sequitur pieces of stray dialogue, spoken word poetry and absurd comedic skits this album plays out like some kind of hazy jazzy daydream where legendary musicians from varying eras all just blur together in some kind of fantasy jam session that never was. Drum solos give way to drum solos while beat poetry is recited and a bassline can be played for what feels like eternity. It's easy to call this collection aimless - because truly it is. Just not necessarily in a bad way.

[noisereductions]

 

Madlib
Shades Of Blue
2003, This album honestly should have been credited to Yesterdays New Quintet, because really that's what it feels like - a YNQ album of Blue Note covers. But fine. I'm sure the label felt like 'Libs name was more recognizable than his fake-band's was at the time. Anyway this is one of those absolute desert island discs for me. It is one of my constant go-to albums. It is brilliant. It opens with "Distant Land," where Ahmad Miller showcases some new vibes. We get a "Mystic Bounce," which is a recreation of "Mystic Brew," which means that this is the closest we may ever get to YNQ performing A Tribe Called Quest. The take on Donald Byrd's "Stepping Into Tomorrow" is incredible - I hate to say I probably prefer this version - thanks to the amazing vocals on the chorus that were somehow left on the cutting room floor of the original sessions. We get a take on Hutcherson's "Montara" which has long been a favorite of mine - all the way back since The Roots covered it on the New Groove compilation in the mid-90's. And there's more: "Song For My Father," "Footprints," "Dolphin Dance"... honestly every track is worth talking about. This record is totally essential.

 

Kendrick Scott Oracle
We Are The Drum
2015, I really feel like We Are The Drum was overlooked in 2015. I'm not exactly sure how considering the backing of Blue Note. It's a fantastic record though. It opens with the stunning title track and flows naturally from there. I always say that there needs to be more drummers as leaders - and Scott does a wonderful job of leading. That is, he never gets in the way nor allows showing off his own skills to come at the sacrifice of the song. He clearly respects his music and his band. Lizz Wright stops by to deliver a lovely vocal performance on "This Song In Me." And really there's plenty to recommend here. But the real highlight for me is Scott's take on "Never Catch Me" originally performed by Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar. I mean the original song would have been easy to just play the main piano part and riff on from there. It would pretty much be an instantly great jazz track, right? But Scott begins by experimenting on his kit for a while before giving way to those heartbreaking keys and then the band quickly shifts into almost unrecognizable territory while only sporadically bringing the main melody back into the fold. It is utterly gorgeous. And so much of this record is full of prettiness that manages to obscure its more daring tendencies. More ears need to hear this one.

[Rob Instigator]

why is everyone named kendrick now?

[noisereductions]

That's it huh?

[Severian]

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on all of those albums NR, even though I haven't heard 2 of them (the first and the last). But I don't really have much to say on the topic of Jazz these days. Last time I bought a truly new jazz record was The Epic. When I do listen, it's to really fucking old ass shit.

That will probably change once fall hits and winter starts to creep in. Jazz is good for those seasons. But maybe not. I dunno. I've been impatient and in a general shit mood lately. Anyway, thanks for sharing. Sorry I'm not up to contributing more.

[d.sound]

listening to michael gordon's timber because this sounds dope as shit: http://www.tinymixtapes.com/news/fen...gordons-timber

gotta say: this has been the best year for new music since 2011.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by d.sound

listening to michael gordon's timber because this sounds dope as shit: http://www.tinymixtapes.com/news/fen...gordons-timber

gotta say: this has been the best year for new music since 2011.

I dunno man. I had 50 album best of list in 2013, and a Fucking 100-album list in 2014, though in '14 there was just a lot of really good releases, with few world beating classics. This year I've purchased fewer albums than any other year this decade. But I think I've missed some things too. I'be done a lot of streaming, and then forgetting about the albums I streamed that were so good.

Definitely a damn good year though. There have been a handful of complete mindfuckers this year, like Elseq, and some nice surprises.

I was really shocked by how good the new Wilco is. I was not expecting much from that, but it's a really strong record. A nice delicate folk album with some fuzzy bits. I like it more than The Whole Love, though maybe not as much as Star Wars.

[Severian]

Anyone listen to Ian William Craig's Centres yet? Bit of a sleeper. Hasn't received a ton of buzz, but I'm quite impressed.

[noisereductions]

Originally Posted by Severian

I was really shocked by how good the new Wilco is. I was not expecting much from that, but it's a really strong record. A nice delicate folk album with some fuzzy bits. I like it more than The Whole Love, though maybe not as much as Star Wars.

new Wilco is really good, yeah. I maybe like it more than Star Wars? Maybe? Nto sure yet. But these last couple surprise records have been really really solid and have sort of renewed my love of the band.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by noisereductions

new Wilco is really good, yeah. I maybe like it more than Star Wars? Maybe? Nto sure yet. But these last couple surprise records have been really really solid and have sort of renewed my love of the band.

Sometimes they drop an album and it gets me right back into them like I was back when Being There came out. Sometimes they drop albums that for whatever reason I find sort of unlistenable. Sometimes they just drop solid records that lack pretense and just plain sound good.

Wilco (The Album) was one of the ones that temporarily got me super fired up about Wilco again. The Whole Love was one of the ones that I just couldn't really deal with. So morose... if I want to hear twitchy morose jam-band Wilco, I'll listen to A Ghost is Born.

The last two records have both been the last kind of Wilco album. Nothing mind-blowing, really -- nothing revolutionary that signals a new era. Just good old rock and pop albums full of high quality songs. Schmilco is the band just comfortably kicking out fun tunes, just like Star Wars. Only while Star Wars was powered by the band's garage and kraut influences, Schmilco is the other side entirely. More of the tuneful folky stuff. But top notch!

It won't be my favorite album of the year, but it doesn't need to be. It's just a nice record. And yeah, it reminds me of how good they really are, and pretty much always have been.

[Severian]

I'm much more happy with Schmilco than I was with the new Dinosaur jr.

I don't dislike it (Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not, that is) and I like it when the individual songs pop up on shuffle. But I have tried listening to the whole album, and it just feels like a pointless exercise. It's not great when you know going in hat you're not going to be surprised by anything on an album. It's not that it's bad, because it's not, but Jesus, it's like, "Why am I doing this?" Listening to just about any other new release would feel more productive. Like I was at least learning something, however stupid and trivial, just by receiving that new information. Even if it's total shit, it would be a more fruitful endeavor than listening to Dino play long crunchy rock songs and shredding.

I've been listening to J Mascis shred since I was in middle school.

I'm sure I'm being too hard on the album, and I'm sure there will come a time when I happily play it all the way through and enjoy it thoroughly. But right now, there's just SO MUCH music out there, all the time. It's time I could be spending learning about some new artist on SoundCloud, or playing one of the thousands of different mixtapes and self-releases that slip through the cracks.

I only have so much time to listen to music. If I'm not just totally enjoying it, and having my brain stimulated, or at least learning how I feel about something, and having a new experience, what's the point?

Anyway, a million words later, Schmilco works because it makes my brain feel good, even if the information I'm receiving is not entirely new. They're a gifted enough band that they always come up with ways to capture ones attention with subtle studio tricks, or well placed, intricate mood shifts.

Dinosaur jr. seems to be just going through the slow motions. If that's what Sonic Youth had done in their twilight years, they probably would have stopped being my favorite band. I'm way too distractable and ADD for the same tempos, song structures and chord changes to hold my attention over the long haul.

I feel guilty for saying all of this. Dinosaur jr. was one of my first loves of indie rock. Actually, I think they *were* my first. So I don't love the fact that their new albums bore me stupid.