Sexy speakers speaking

in stereo

...the stateside shipment arrives and I am reunited with the sexy speakers my brother-in-law hand-made the year before we moved to Germany, which have been stored since. Also shipped were a couple boxes of records (and a rug on which to lie while listening to records). Been filling the new house with sound. So my playlist is somewhat throwback in nature (in contrast to lily's Hot97-ness). It is also full of full albums. The good includes:

Ladies First...
Dusty Springfield - Where am I going... turned up this gem at my secret squirrel spot in Kassel. She sings "Sunny." What more do you need to know?

Koko Taylor - I got what it takes... when I was 18, my late Uncle Frank gave me a 2-cd set from Alligator Records, which was at the time completely unknown to me. This Koko album is an absolute blues masterpiece.




Abbey Lincoln - People in Me... recorded in Japan in 1973 with Miles Davis in the house. Funny, lovely, acerbic. R.I.P. Abbey.

Betty Davis - s/t... a DJ Doogie favorite. Rocked out. Miles' wife for a minute. Also credited with giving Jimi his super fashion sense. This is dirty.


ROCK is back in town. Among the retrievals:

Sebadoh - Bakesale... revved up.

Toro - s/t... latin rock from the 1970s. Think Santana filtered through Larry Harlow.





The Replacements - Let it Be... this blue vinyl copy was spirited out of the basement of Twin-Tone Records in the 1990s by a guy who was then on the label. He brought it as a housewarming gift several houses ago. It still rocks.

Dinosaur Jr. - You're living all over me... noisy, gloomy, almost comically gloomy. This guy probably still lives with his parents.



Galaxie 500 - this is our music... in the early 1990s, I acted as caretaker to Brownie's record collection. This album was in the stack. I didn't really get into it at the time, but recently turned it up @ the squirrel's. Very Velvet Underground-y, but in the metronomic drums and washy guitars way, not in the pretentious artwank way.

The Beat - I just can't stop it... Ryan requested this last spring. I told him to be patient. The other night at my birthday party, I pulled it out for him. He had forgotten about the request. I hadn't. Great british ska.


Jazzy business, including:

Elvin Jones/Jimmy Garrison Sextet - Illumination!... not much to say here, other than "Buy It Now"

Roy Haynes - Out of the Afternoon... Turned onto this by Onikaaru. Long-time obsession. Why did this not come with me on the plane in 2007?




Fela Kuti - Black President... many, many years ahead of his time.

Clifford Coulter - East Side San Jose... Blues meets Jazz. All soul. Whatever it is, I'd probably do it again.


The last category is "file under: speaker testers"

Edgar Varese - six compositions... Musique Concrete. Beautiful flutes.

Electronic Music... This has Cage's Fontana Mix, a composition made from tape loops. Twelve minutes of madness.

Brian Eno/David Byrne - My life in the bush of ghosts... dance beats under found texts, including a chanting from the Qu'aran (which was removed from all subsequent pressings and from the CD issue... score one for vinyl) and an exorcist removing "the jezebel spirit" from a possessed soul.





What's in your ears this year?