Friday, September 14, 2012

Review: Jóhann Jóhannsson- Copenhagen Dreams
















As Radiohead's least passionate fan, I just can't muster much enthusiasm for the forthcoming release by Atoms for Peace.  Even so, I've been subjected to "Default" several times in the past week.  It's good, I suppose, but I prefer the entrancing soundtrack to Copenhagen Dreams

Jóhann Jóhannsson's recently released set of compositions is less hurried, but it employs many of the same principles.  The jittery "The Jewish Cemetery on Mollegade", for instance, might easily be embraced by any self-respecting advocate of Atoms for Peace.

Jóhannsson is an Icelandic post-classical composer who is known among rockists through his releases on the 4AD label.  I find Copenhagen Dreams too engaging to serve as background music for reading, but it makes for excellent company on my late-night strolls.  Rather than musing "Here, They Used To Make Ships", however, I think, "here, they used to subjugate Native Americans."


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I reviewed a concert by Jason Mraz and Christina Perri.

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Here's new live footage of Reverend John Wilkins.  The filmmakers' Kickstarter campaign solicits funding for a documentary about their ongoing effort to record "modern musicians on a 1930s Presto direct-to-disc 78rpm field recorder."

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Plastic Sax reader Gary alerted me to the new documentary A.K.A. Doc Pomus.  The trailer brings tears to my eyes.  It plays at the Kansas International Film Festival on October 11.

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Have you heard Miley Cyrus' reading of "Lilac Wine"?  RIYL: Amy Winehouse, Shelby Lynne, Matraca Berg.  (Tip via S.S.)

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"F*ck Your Stuff" is the second video from P.O.S.' forthcoming album.  "Scuffin' up your Nikes/Spittin' on your whip!"

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I've long relished the raunchy blues of ZZ Top's pre-MTV albums.  That sound is back on the fine new Rick Rubin-produced La Futura.  

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Tim Finn implies that my freelance colleagues and I are less than "half a person" in an interview on KCUR's KC Currents.  (He's right.)

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I extol the neglected early work of Doug Carn at Plastic Sax.

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Kansas City Click: My official picks are published here.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)

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