Author: ernopepper

331. Kaija Saariaho

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(May 2021) Episode 331 is KAIJA SAARIAHO. Saariaho is kind of a throwback, composing in conventional classical forms with conventional instruments, earning commissions and premiering at esteemed venues, rather than venturing into film soundtracks or cross-genre collaborations.  Her music, though, is very modern, with polyrhythms, dissonance and rich masses of sounds.  

Favorite piece: Circle Map 

Favorite concerto: Graal théâtre

Favorite chamber piece: Neiges

Favorite opera: L’Amour de loin

Compared to expectations: same

330. Sunn O)))

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(April 2021) Episode 330 is SUNN O))). If you prefer melody and beat in your music, avoid this band.  But if you like beautiful noise like I do, I strongly recommend Sunn O))).  It’s drone metal: slow, loud, deep, distorted guitars repeatedly being slow, loud, deep and distorted.  They sometimes add experimental elements, like monk-like chants, percussion, electronics, and are big on collaborations.

Favorite album: Flight of the Behemoth

Favorite song: Black Wedding

Compared to expectations: ↑

329. Hildur Guðnadóttir

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(April 2021) Episode 329 is HILDUR GUÐNADÓTTIR, a contemporary cellist and composer from Iceland.  Her neo-minimalist solo works are my favorite, but she is a frequent collaborator with a wide range of artists from electro-pop to drone metal. Guðnadóttir has focused on soundtracks recently, such as the Chernobyl miniseries and Joker (for which she won an Oscar).  One constant is that most everything in her music seems to resonate off the sober deep tone of a cello.

Favorite solo piece: Leyfðu Ljósinu 

Favorite collaborative album: In Transmediale  (with Angel)

Favorite soundtrack: Chernobyl

Compared to expectations: same

328. Sam Cooke

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(April 2021) Episode 328 is SAM COOKE. There’s a reason they call him the King of Soul. It starts with that glorious voice, and continues with catchy tunes that bridged appeal across Black and White audiences (not to mention his civil rights activism). It’s a tragedy that we never got to see what he could do as soul music got more gritty, socially-conscious and funky in the later 1960s. 

Favorite album: Night Beat

Favorite song: Lost and Lookin’

Compared to expectations: same

327. Woody Guthrie

~ ernopepper ~ 2 Comments

(April 2021) Episode 327 is WOODY GUTHRIE. It’s hard to overstate his importance and influence, not only musically and politically for the 1960s folk revival, but for country, roots and rock music beyond. The fact that “This Land Is Your Land” subversively became a children’s standard still makes me smile.

Favorite song: Hard Travelin’

Best compilation: the 4-volume Asch recordings

Compared to expectations: same

326. Laurie Spiegel

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(March 2021) Episode 326 is LAURIE SPIEGEL. Combining a music education with computer engineering, she helped design computerized sounds and composed electronic music with them, as well as created a popular algorithmic computer software program.

Favorite album: The Expanding Universe

Favorite song: Patchwork

Compared to expectations: same

325. The Band

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(March 2021) Episode 325 is THE BAND. Nobody doesn’t love The Band. They brought stories of the working man and the downtrodden — long at the heart of the blues, country and folk — into an unadorned rock format, synthesized into what we now call American roots rock (or more accurately North American roots rock, given that 4/5th were Canadian).  Go watch The Last Waltz too.

Favorite album: The Band

Favorite song: Up On Cripple Creek

Favorite Ballad: It Makes No Difference

Compared to expectations: same

324. Erik Satie

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(March 2021) Episode 324 is ERIK SATIE. For his era, he stands out for the simplicity and subdued aesthetic of his works, primarily in piano, his most common medium. His compositions are intimate affairs, both for their brevity and straightforwardness. It’s not hard to see why he’s considered a precursor to minimalism and ambient music.

Favorite piece(s): Gymnopédies

Favorite orchestral work: Parade

Favorite choral work: Socrate

Compared to expectations: same

323. The Essex Green

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(March 2021) Episode 323 is THE ESSEX GREEN. Another fine indie band from the Elephant 6 world, with a little more folk and country tones than others in the cohort. “Everything Is Green” is an excellent homage to 60s baroque psychedelic pop, and “Primrose” sounds more like the Zombies than anything else I can think of.

Favorite album: Everything Is Green

Favorite song: Primrose

Compared to expectations: same

322. Vanilla Fudge

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(March 2021) Episode 322 is VANILLA FUDGE. They made their mark with heavy, slowed, over-wrought versions of contemporary pop songs (you may recognize their version of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”) and, oddly, it still kinda holds up. I prefer the albums with more original material. Their heavy sound, slathered like so much fudge in Hammond organ and fuzzy guitars, helped birth heavy metal. You can hear it most immediately in Deep Purple’s early work, and Mark Stein’s vibrato vocals presaged the operatic style of Bruce Dickinson el at.

Favorite album: Renaissance

Favorite song: Good Good Lovin’

Compared to expectations: same