Kind of mode

impressions on music

The dystonic post-or-now-apocalyptic world of Depeche Mode with the doom and attendant gloom. The breezy easy days of their debut Speak and Spell have been supplanted by the twelfth album Ultra with its Flood-NIN-Bowiesque style Tim Simenone helter skelter production (and engineered by Q) - as we all come together (or fall apart with Alan Wilder leaving the band) - staring at the end of the barrel of a gun. David Gahan at the low point.

Depeche Mode
Ultra

Sony 888837708822

With the Denon DVD-3910 now in our possession, the hunt was on for music to feed the beast. What better than the series of Depeche Mode releases on the DVD/CD format? The DVD (which is in PAL format and quite playable on the Denon player) portion is presumably on the DVD-Audio side of things with 5.1 mix in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround or DTS 5.1 and a PCM Stereo version. The PCM Stereo version is what is selected here (since the RCA audio connections are all that is present on the back of the Vector Research VR-220 receiver which has served us well since Ring Audio days). The DVD also contains three tracks recorded live in London April 1997 and bonus tracks. With the DVD comes a small quirky documentary film about Ultra (the album that almost did not get finished). Depeche Mode. 1995-1998 (Oh Well, that’s the end of the band).

Needless to say but saying it nonetheless, the music sounds just great in stereo.

these random writings are styled as part of the “running-in” period for the KEF Q350 double bass reflex speakers. What a double bass.

Kind of pretox

random ramblings and reflections of random music

what is the good of a heart if you can’t break it

Pretox
Last Call

The CD from the Hammer City based trio moving to the bigg times is a cut above the rest – very much of a live to the floor mix with a crunchy rockstar stylings of Alex Maich on guitar and swingy Jesse Taynton groove bass that kicks the bottom end, and precision metronomic Ryan Luke drumming. Songs of heartache or broken heart and not going to stay sober reflections. Throwing kerosene on a relationship and waking up on a Sunday morning… we’ll be fine. This is not good-bye.

A solid starter from Pretox and representation of the music that kicks even more to life during their more than lively and bantered stage shows where their fueled at last call personalties shine.

This is part of a process of the “run-in” of the new KEF Q350 to warm up the double bass reflex speakers. Viewpoints of the actual music do not change. The quality of the songs remain the same.

Kind of innercool – Kelly Lee Owens

impressions of music

Kelly Lee Owens
Inner Song
Smalltown Supersound – STS372LP

Track listing
Arpeggi
On
Melt!
Re-Wild
Jeanette
L.I.N.E.
Corner Of My Sky
Night
Flow
Wake-Up

My version of this two LP album is on the white vinyl. White records kind of look cool and still sounds great. The production on this second album from Kelly Lee Owens is superb and fascinating music for listening in the dark. With a big boost of thudding bass and the sweep of the upper end register from the keyboards the feeling is of being right there in the club house.

Haunting effusion of modern day electronics of Wales born Kelly Lee Owens with a cover of Radiohead >>>>> Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood >>>>>> Arpeggi . Experimental clubland music with an off-kilter dance orientation. Soaring high end vocals. From trip hop to bolder presentations with the added spoken lyrical contribution on the track Corner of My Sky from another Welsh musician of note John Cale (of the Velvet Underground and so on).

As the “run-in” of the Dali Oberon 7 speakers continue, records chosen at random are set on the platter to spin.

Kind of sweet talkin’ woman

impressions on music

Electric Light Orchestra
Out of the Blue
U A JTLA-823-L2

From the October 1977 original double vinyl of the Jeff Lynne helmed Electric Light Orchestra with the iconic cover of the flying saucer space station receiving the spaceship. The crescendo and rollicking Turn to stone, slow down sweet city talkin’ woman. Classical Electric Light Orchestra replete with Beethoven grandiosity and rolling over Beethoven overtures (but that is another album).

Out of the Blue as a double album conveys the sense of the city through the progression of the day, More of a Days of Future Passed for the 1977 era.

A1 Turn To Stone 3:48
A2 It’s Over 4:08
A3 Sweet Talkin’ Woman 3:48
A4 Across The Border 3:52
B1 Night In The City 4:02
B2 Starlight 4:30
B3 Jungle 3:51
B4 Believe Me Now 1:21
B5 Steppin’ Out 4:38
C1 Standin’ In The Rain 4:20
C2 Big Wheels 5:10
C3 Summer And Lightning 4:13
C4 Mr. Blue Sky 5:05
D1 Sweet Is The Night 3:26
D2 The Whale 5:05
D3 Birmingham Blues 4:21
D4 Wild West Hero 4:40

As the “run-in” of the Dali Oberon 7 speakers continues towards the 100 hour mark, the records spin to nurture their appetite for a wide range of vinyl.

Kind of nightmusik

random impressions on music

I am the mushiest of music listeners. Sitting in the basement at night listening to the music of Mozart, the musik of your life.

The recording of the romantic “Elvira Madigan” – Piano Concerto No. 21 performed by Géza Anda, a pre-eminent performer of Mozart sets the standard, and is likely a staple of all Royal Conservatory students. On the reverse side is an equally beautiful Piano Concerto 17. Even after these years, the original vinyl survives and is very much playable.

The 2nd movement (Andante) of Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major (K467) was featured in the 1967 Swedish film “Elvira Madigan” and, as a result, the work became widely known as the “Elvira Madigan Concerto”. The complete recording of the Concerto, combined with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major (K453), was released with artwork featuring actress Pia Degermark in a film still of “Elvira Madigan”

These notes are part of the “running-in” period for the Dali Oberon 7 speakers as we randomly choose or pick what we feel in the mood for a good spin on the Technics turntables.

Kind of black mirror magic

an impression of music that goes bump in the night

Ryuichi Sakamoto: soundtrack to Black Mirror: Smithereens

Record Store Day release in 2019

As we continue to break in and evaluate the system of life as it falls apart to smithereens.

More nightmusic as Ryuichi Sakamoto’s sombre electronic contribution to the world of Black Mirror as it rotates through the world of darkness.

Little chapters that add up to a whole lot of creepiness. As ominous and eery a soundtrack for a stormy nocturne.

(this evaluation is part of a 100 hour process of “running in” a pair of Dali Oberon 7 speakers and a Shure m97xe cartridge paired with a N97ED stylus on a Technics SL-Q2 direct drive turntable. No rhyme or reason except semi-automatic is handy in the darkness.)

Another Crush @ Junction Summer Solstice Festival – MIDNIGHT MATINEE

Another Crush @ Junction Summer Solstice Festival – MIDNIGHT MATINEE
— Read on joemac.smugmug.com/MUSICIANS/ALL-THE-MUSIC/ANOTHER-CRUSH-JUNCTION-SUMMER-SOLSTICE-FESTIVAL/Another-Crush-Junction/i-VrfVpN3/A

Kind of Köln

a few impressions on music

Recorded live at the opera in Köln, Germany, January 24, 1975.
Reissue in SHM-SACD format for the first time. Uses the DSD master produced by ECM Records (Germany) in 2017.

SHM-SACD discs are fully compatible with standard Super Audio CD players, but they do not play on regular CD players. Features DSD mastering. Universal. 2021.

1. KÖLN, January 24, 1975 Part I 26:15
2. KÖLN, January 24, 1975 Part II a 15:00
3. KÖLN, January 24, 1975 Part II B 19:19
4. KÖLN, January 24, 1975 Part II C 6:59

i myself have the original of this historical concert from the ECM label on vinyl. The classic ECM recording. Keith Jarrett as his own self-accompaniment, complete with foot stomps and little guttural verbalisations as he digs into the piano and reacts to his music. Modern free range explorations in the classical and jazz range. Ready to play a million notes a minute. The audience is drawn into a submersive experience of piano.

Kind of cool on a beach – Getz / Gilberto

The classic of the cool generation.

Getz Gilberto

Stan Getz on tenor sax
João Gilberto, singer songwriter and guitar
Antonio Carlos Joabim on piano
Tommy Williams on bass
Milton Banana on drums
Astrud Gilberto on vocals

Verve Records

1	The Girl From Ipanema Vocals – Astrud Gilberto	5:22
2	Doralice	2:43
3	Para Machucar Meu Coração	5:04
4	Desafinado (Off Key)	4:12
5	Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)	4:13
6	Só Danço Samba	3:43
7	O Grande Amor	5:25
8	Vivo Sohando (Dreamer)	2:54
9	The Girl From Ipanema (45 RPM Issue)	2:46
10	Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars) (45 RPM Issue)	2:20

I personally own a few copies of this album on vinyl, regular black vinyl, stereo, mono. Two versions of this album exist on Super Audio CD ( S A C D ), on either, the recording comes to life. This listened to copy is the single layer SACD with the two 45 single versions of Girl from Ipanema.

“Antonio Carlos Jobim, considered as the primary force behind the creation of the Bossa Nova style of Brazilian music, his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists, both within Brazil and across the world.”
The Girl From Ipanema starts off with the guitar and quiet vocal sung in its own inimitable way. Enter Astrud Gilberto and the English lyrics.