oblique parallax SUN RA

when visiting Chicago there is a lot of good record shopping to be done. too much sometimes. i tend to stick to the obvious ones Permanent & Reckless with an occasional visit to Laurie's Planet of Sound among others. however on my last tour the dudes and i decided to stop by Dusty Groove where we found this exceptionally rare Sun Ra LP "Oblique Parallax."

it wasn't cheap but what an incredible LP. full of some of the most amazing & otherwordly synth/keyboard explorations. the LP was released in 1982 and features recordings from either '81 or '80 when the Arkestra was in residency in Detroit. what's most striking about this LP is that it is primarily solo synth/keyboard work completely different from his late 70's solo piano LP's. Sun Ra really wrestles some incredible sounds outta his keyboards that wouldn't be out of place on an LP by modern day synth travelers like John Elliot, Temporal Marauder, Rene Hell, Raglani, Keith Fullerton Whitman, hell even some of the less noisy Kevin Drumm stuff. Side A is mostly solo RA with some help from French Horn (by Vincent Chancey) and some percussion (by Eric "Samarai" Walker) on a couple tracks. Side B is one long track, "Journey Stars Beyond" that is the real treat of this LP. the majority again is mostly solo Ra exploring the cosmos on synth/keyboards but is joined for a small section in the middle by the entire Arkestra for some mindblowing free jazz stew (kinda similar to some of the Rob Mazurek/Exploding Star Orchestra stuff). from there it fades and closes out again with Sun Ra.

can't recommend this highly enough even for those who are quite familiar with Sun Ra. if you are lucky enough to locate an LP copy I would recommend it if you are willing to shell out some dollars. otherwise enjoy this beast right here. i believe Art Yard just did a CD reissue of this beauty too.

straight lines NEW MUSIK

Often I wake, still fully cloaked from dreams where I legitimately question the access my brain may have recently had to oxygen, in the hours questioned by many as post-brunch and I need- or strongly desire- an accompaniment to the oily oils of coffee and the itinerant, flappy fizzy aspirin dissolving before me. Like a tardy- often day late- phoenix with the combustible horsepower of a goat on W'butrin that's been poorly retrofitted inside a clapped out Mercedes (that happens to have been painted a comely shade) sitting outside European Autos, sometimes all I really need is a crispy blend of clever and cheeky New Wave synth pop. There's frankly no discretion to the enjoyment of this album for me. Part of me is really curious what other folks think of this album, while the other part wants to go to hell for eating popcorn with things like “reduced guilt” on the package. Here's to a middle ground.  Acquire this.

black silk stocking CHRISMA

From the husband and wife team, Chrisma- later changed to Krisma- is the exceptionally tidy record from 1977, “Chinese Restaurant”. Eminently Krauty (think Neu's Hallogallo motorik) on cuts like “C-Rock”, Klaus Nomi-y/mutant Chanson in their decadence on others like their charting “Lola”, psychically endearing on tunes like “Mandoia”, and the heavy hand of Vangelis's CS-80 drenched Bladerunner on "Lycee". The latter is not surprising being that V co-produced the record with his brother. I can't help but to think of Nancy Sinatra at other times or how well this song compliments one scene in Lost In Translation.  Get it here.

expectations KEITH JARRETT

so funny this is I've actually owned this LP twice. back in college when I was kinda a jazz snob (and hated rock music...haha) then eventually sold it at some point I think before when I moved away from Indiana. found it used a few months ago real cheap and decided to buy it again. and randomly I keep finding myself coming back to this one often.

this was recorded and released in 1972 right after Jarrett's stint in Miles Davis' electric band. and sorta features the birth of his american quintet (Jarrett, Charlie Haden, Dewey Redman and Paul Motian) plus a couple guests Sam Brown on guitar and Airto Moreira on percussion as well as large string and brass sections. there is a wealth of material here that spans all kinds of genre expectations (i'm guessing the title was kinda a play on jazz criticism at the time). from the beautiful string and piano opener "Visions" to the latin funk of "Common Mama" to the rock tinged "The Magician in You" and on and on including the amazing 17 minute "Nomad" which runs the gamut of jazz and features a lot of great sorta free jazz playing. I even love the tracks when Jarrett switches to soprano sax and duels with Dewey Redman on tenor, even though most critics would tend to pan Jarrett's soprano playing. throughout though you'll only find Jarrett playing piano and a little organ...at this point I think he's forsaken electric keyboards which he began to hate from playing with Miles' electric group.

all in all this is a stellar jazz record that kinda has it all, from free playing to straight ahead soul jazz and all in between. it's not mindblowing by any means but quite refreshing and holds up amazingly well compared to a lot of 70's jazz. listen to it here.

trancfer KLAUS SCHULZE

this is the other Klaus Schulze LP i picked up at Breakaway Records the other day. and it's a nice compliment to "Irrlicht" in that this one, "Trancefer" was released 10 years later in 1981 (also by Brain Records) and was the first Schulze album to feature digital recording and mixing.

this LP is a bit different from "Irrlicht" in that it features other musicians as well: percussion from Michael Shrieve and Cello by Wolfgang Tiepold. using primarily analog synthesizers through digital equipment gives it a different overall feel and ten years later we find Schulze more interested in sci-fi than kosmische. tons of arpeggiated synths float throughout with steady pulsing hi-hats and percussion. less space music and more sci-fi thriller. this is a few years after he did the soundtrack to Dune after all. and the B-side "Silent Running" is based on a recent sci-fi film of the same name starring Bruce Dern.

this kinda brings to mind how a lot of the earlier 70's/80's synth/space music seemed more foreboding and sinister. i mean we were in the beginning of the Cold War and Space Race and things seemed more threatening since space was such an unknown. i find it interested to see how a lot of this earlier music influenced a lot of current synth explorers yet the modern take on it is more etheral and lacks a lot of the dramatic feeling of the earlier stuff...

regardless this is yet another wonderful Schulze album, maybe not as mindblowing as "Irrlicht" but still highly enjoyable. listen to it here.