January 25, 2016

The podcast for this show appears to have gone AWOL but the tracklist is at http://cjsw.com/program/breaking-the-tethers/episode/20160125/.

Good, solid tracklist this week, I think.  Nice to be able to play a couple of Bowie-connected pieces this week.  While many of the other programmers on CJSW have been playing Bowie songs recently in honor of the man, I refrained for a couple of weeks but now seemed like a good time to salute Mr. Jones.

Next show will be Monday, February 1, 10-11 am MT.  Almost in February... time passes, time passes...

Andrew

January 18, 2016 revised

Turns out that, due to technical problems, there was no podcast made of the Monday show.  However, Linda did interview Calgary playwright Eugene Strickland and this is available at http://soundcloud.com/cjsw-90-9-fm/eugene-stickland.

January 18, 2016

The tracklist and podcast for this edition of BTT are at http://cjsw.com/program/breaking-the-tethers/episode/20160118/.

This show was guest-hosted by Linda Cunningham, who did her usual more-than-able job and put together a great set of music.  Many thanks to Linda!

I'll be back for the Monday, January 25 program.

Andrew

January 11, 2016

Podcast and tracklist: http://cjsw.com/program/breaking-the-tethers/episode/20160111/

I found this to be a fun show to do, featuring mostly long tracks, some new and some old.  I thought about playing something jazz-ish from David Bowie, who passed away the day before but I figured that there would be Bowie-galore on CJSW (and rightly so) and I could pass.  On the subject of musicians who recently left this plane of existence, I did play a track by the late Paul Bley ("El cordobes" from the 1972 album, Paul Blye & Scorpio), who died on January 3.

Andrew

January 4, 2016

First show of 2016: http://cjsw.com/program/breaking-the-tethers/episode/20160104/

Most of the time on BTT, I play newly-released or newly-re-released material with a few trips into the past.  For this show, I decided to play only non-recent tracks, nothing that could be called "new".  I think it went well though I should be back to the usual format next week (or maybe the week after that).

Andrew

December 28, 2015

The podcast and track list for this last show of 2015 are at http://cjsw.com/program/breaking-the-tethers/episode/20151228/.

I turned this into a mellow show, featuring only a few longer tracks, one new release and three older pieces, one of which ("Out-bloody-rageous" by Soft Machine) is an all-time favourite of mine.   For the first show of 2016 (on Monday, January 4, 10-11 am MT), I think I'll do the same sort of thing and then back to the usual sort of Breaking The Tethers program after that.

BTW, apologies for not posting this earlier.  I knew I likely wouldn't get to it on Monday but time just zipped by and, all of a sudden, it's Saturday.

Andrew

Top 8 of 2015

Here's my Top 8 for music for 2015.  I was aiming for a top ten list but it ended up being just eight (I've gone over ten in past years; I'm actually not sure how many times I've actually landed on ten).  I found that there wasn't much that jumped out at me this past year and said "I"m great".  Also, I suspect that there's a fair amount of music that I just missed, just didn't hear.  Anyway, enjoy the list.

Andrew

Alice Coltrane – Universal consciousness

A reissue, originally from 1971.  Not quite as good as World galaxy from the following year (World galaxy wins out due to the guru + organ + funky drummer version of “A love supreme”) but still a classic of freak jazz.  It’s a swirl of spirituality (mostly of the Hindu variety), Coltrane’s harp and organ, skittering percussion, and spooky strings.

Miles Davis – At Newport 1955-1975: the bootleg series vol. 4

A 4-CD survey of Miles Davis’ musical styles recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival.  It’s got an all-star session with Monk and others, the first and second great quintets, and a load of stuff from Davis’ rock years.

Steve Earle & The Dukes – Terraplane

Steve tackles the blues, mostly.  A few of the tracks are in rock mode.  Not his best but it’s fun.  Anyone who can make a song called “Baby, baby, baby (baby)” work deserves some kudos.

Grateful Dead – 30 trips around the sun: the definitive live story

Not the 80-CD version, only a 4-CD edition, documenting one song from one show from each of the 30 years of the Dead’s existence. Many nice choices, some expected and some unexpected.  The material from the later years is better than I thought it would be.

Last Exit – Iron path

Another reissue, the only studio album from the avant jazz supergroup.  Featuring noise rock getting together with free jazz, it’s a nice antidote to the masses of mushy jazz that exist in the world.

Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra – Galactic parables: volume 1

More crazed cosmic music from the prolific Mazurek and gang.  Sounds like Sun Ra on steroids plus more electronics and spoken word.

Richard Thompson – Still

More very good songs and playing from the (almost) always excellent Thompson.  I like it better than his last release, Electric; things just seem about a half-notch better here.

Ryley Walker – Primrose green

Yes, Ryley has listened to an awful lot of Tim Buckley, John Martyn, and Pentangle and this clearly shows on this recording.  That being said, there are far, far worse influences to be showing plus the album simply works.  The supporting musicians are from the jazz world, which seems to add much to the proceedings.