It was music rarely heard on radio though WFMT, WNIB, and WEFM did some service to new music the majority of their programming played mostly music written before 1900. While I listened to rock on the radio occasionally I decided to spend my hard earned pennies on this exciting new music which was rapidly becoming an essential part of my still developing personality (I graduated high school in 1974). Labels like Columbia’s lower priced Odyssey label, Turnabout, and Nonesuch made the exciting new works of living, emerging composers. As a budding record collector I can recall the cornucopia of new music available at prices I could afford. It`s probably best to check Kenneth`s site for updates.While the nascent Summer of Love was blossoming in San Francisco there was a sort of parallel development happening in the midwest. “The Sunset Sessions Volume 2” is due to be released September 22nd, with a vinyl sampler due sometime this week. Staying true to that original Amnesia vibe, and alienating no one. Ireland, Denmark, Germany, England, America, Ibiza, Japan, Sweden, Canada, Italy, France, and Spain all get a look in. The compilation does serve to demonstrate how healthy this particular musical niche is right now, and globally. The only people that I can immediately think of that are missing are antipodeans, Tornado & Andras, and new ritual-ists Jan Schulte and Africaine 808, and associated labels, Beats In Space, ESP Institute, & Themes For Great Cities. Labels like Aficionado, Deek, Emotional Rescue, Hell Yeah, International Feel, Golf Channel, Music From Memory, Running Back, who have become the reliable mainstay of what we cover. If you were to look back at the new music I`ve reviewed, championed, bought and played over the last three years, nearly all of it is represented here. Anyhow I am certainly not in a position to throw stones from this glass abode that I have constructed. Sunsets are not for shouts of “Guns, Guns, Gold, Gold, Fire, Fire!” Well maybe on occasion. Where are The Woodentops sticking it to the man, Nizter Ebb calling us to arms?” I then remembered the title on the press sheet and that it is a “Sunset” collection not a “Get Right On One Matey” collection, so fair enough. I was listening to the whole lot in one sitting, assisted by various aids, in order to write this, and one hundred and fifty minutes in, slightly disorientated and looking for trouble as I often am, I was asking myself, “Is it too safe, too mellow? Where are the shocks and surprises? Has Balearic become a byword for melancholic nostalgia, when it was once a confused mixture of hedonistic wanton abandon and protest. With forty-six artists the compilation is a kind of “New Balearic`s” greatest hits, summarising a lot of the developments of the last few years, and as such is an excellent place to jump in if you haven`t been fighting over limited vinyl pressings and want to catch up. A mammoth forty-six tracks available for download and stream (seventeen of which have never been released digitally, and five previously unreleased in any format). These Sunset Sessions contain around four hours of music, selected and sequenced by veteran DJ / producer / label owner Kenneth Bager. Nils Frahm playing with light until it rises to illuminate everything. Javier Bergia`s best known / loved track. Mandolin winds, Billie Jean struts and Fleetwood Mac vibes. Tempelhof & Gigi Masin under cut threatening skies with hope. The beautiful play volleyball on Cantoma`s beach. Ray Mang borrows from Double Exposure, taking their coda for a riff, while Mari makes like Zoe looking beyond the clouds with a sing-along that could have you arms aloft in a moment of intoxication / weakness, if you ain`t careful. Acid Arabs with an eastern beat straight out of the sets of Eric Beysens at Boccaccio, or those of Nelo & Esteban at Glorys. “Kilimanjaro”`s Afro chants, Masekela trumpet and bouncing groove. Laid Back sounding like Dr John`s jet set at Mardi Gras. Open air, blue skied, pretty, chugging harp-like into non-militant steppers. Things get urgent before entering Gigi Masin`s calm.ĭon Carlos conducts loons. Marshall Jefferson stringing up Dusty Springfield. Leon Lowman sounding like Moonboots with the Idjut Boys on the knobs. Bill Callahan doing Jeb Loy Nichols at ON-U. Faze Action adding their signature cello and a nice blast of Herb Alpert brass. Coyote`s brilliant spaghetti western theme. Lucio Battisti in a warm, electronic womb. Reverbed piano that somehow sounds distant, faded, distressed as if calling a leaving lover back, moves to an intermittent House drum, that suggests “Shall we dance”, but doesn`t insist.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |