Music I Love

I've loved Will Oldham's music for more than 30 years. He's one of those artists whose output convinces me I've wasted my life.

In 2014 he played a live show in a cavern in Texas. Briefly, I considered setting foot in Texas.

Thankfully, someone's uploaded the performance to Youtube.

Rather than start with the 90 minute video, here's Beast for Thee and Blood Embrace where he's accompanied by Matt Sweeney on guitar. The songs are from their extraordinary record Superwolf, which has long been a favorite of mine.

And here's the whole Cavern performance. Image cuts out near the end but the sound is good.

Some of you may know that I sell vinyl records for a living. Today, a copy of Wim Mertens' A Man of No Fortune, And With A Name to Come walked in the door along with some Philip Glass and Steve Reich. I first heard this record in 1993, when I was running Art & Trash, the best arthouse video store Toronto's ever seen. Though not expensive, today's copy is only the third I've seen in 30+ years.

In North America, the Belgian composer is probably best known — if he's known at all — as the composer of the score for Peter Greenaway's film The Belly of an Architect, which contains Mertens' most famous piece, Struggle for Pleasure:

My personal favorite Mertens piece is probably Often a Bird:

Here's A Man of No Fortune..., which is just Mertens' piano and countertenor voice:

As I listened to it today for the first time in many years, I recalled that I'd sometimes put the CD on repeat, played very softly, to calm my dog, Fletcher, who suffered from separation anxiety — he once almost ate his way through my wooden front door. The music worked quite well.

If it agrees with you, you may like Hania Raini's output.

I honestly believe Colin Stetson to be one of the greatest horn players of all time. I am thrilled with his new album, When We Were That What Wept for the Sea. What a gift.

If you're not familiar with Stetson — live, he's a sight to behold. Keep in mind that in the following performance, he is using no loop pedal, no accompaniment, and all the sounds you are hearing are generated live from his mouth, throat, horn, and fingers, which he sometimes uses for percussion:

One of my favorite tracks by him is The Righteous Wrath of an Honorable Man. The original is on his album, The History of Modern Warfare, Vol. 2 —Judges. Here is is performing it live:

F Major (below) was the first I'd heard of Hania Rani, but I've loved everything I've heard her play. I missed her in Toronto a few years ago and was angry for weeks.

Probably my favorite video of hers is this set from Studio S2 in Warsaw:

And while I have your attention fixed on a woman killing it on piano, allow me to share this video of Kadri-Ann Sumera playing Piano Piece 1981, composed by her father, Lepo Sumera.

I first heard this track in 2000 in the film Der Krieger und die Kaiserin. Frustrated that the track was not identified in the credits, I sent a letter to director Tom Tykwer, who wrote back with its identity. I had an mp3 of it for a while, which then went astray — and the title and composer with it. Fifteen years later I was thrilled to find the above video after playing one of my favorite piano pieces, The Homeless Wanderer, composed and performed by Tsegue Maryam Guebrou, who died last year at the age of 99.

Guitarist and songwriter Karl Hendricks died yesterday after a three-year battle with oral cancer. He was at home in Pittsburgh with his wife and daughters (wearing a Funkadelic t-shirt). He was 46.

I realize this news won't mean anything to most of you, but Hendricks was a unique guitarist, singer, and songwriter known primarily as the frontman of The Karl Hendricks Trio ("Fervently confessional indie rock in the vein of Superchunk, Pavement, and Dinosaur Jr. that combines spindly, wailing guitars with lyrics of heartbreak, dissonance, and disgust. " – Allmusic).

He also owned Pittsburgh record shop, Sound Cat.

I listened to him a bunch in the 90s and still think fondly of a a number of his tracks, like The Worst Coffee I've Ever Had from "Declare Your Weapons" or Somewhere a Weekend of Sin from "For a While It Was Funny".

His music may not be to your taste, but in my 20s I loved it. No one really wrote, sang, or played like Karl.

All his records are out of print, but you can purchase digital copies on the Merge Records' website.