Category: Episodes

312. Elizabeth Cotten

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(January 2021) Episode 312 is ELIZABETH COTTEN.  If you like guitar pickin’ you’ll love her. And a great story. Cotten taught herself to play an unorthodox way: left-handed but with the strings in the right-handed position, so her fingers did the bass and her thumb the melody, for a style aptly called “Cotten picking.”  She learned as a youth, gave it up for decades, and then started performing and recording in her 60s, influencing many in the folk revival.

Favorite song: Freight Train

Favorite instrumental song: New Year’s Eve

Compared to expectations: ↑

311. Marvin Gaye

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(January 2021) Episode 311 of the “opus project” is MARVIN GAYE. His silky voice and songwriting tracked and defined the arc of R&B through its evolution in the 1960s and 70s. That voice could be sweet, sexy or serious, and matched well with female vocalists on several duet albums.  The peak are the early 70s albums that melded sophisticated soul with social commentary and an assertion of artist independence from the Motown label.

Favorite album: What’s Going On

Favorite song: I Heard It Through the Grapevine

Sexiest song: Let’s Get It On

Favorite duet album: United (with Tammi Terrell)

Compared to expectations: same

310. Éliane Radigue

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(January 2021) Episode 310 is ÉLIANE RADIGUE, a French composer of drone music featuring long sustained notes and harmonics. She was an experimental pioneer in tape, feedback and early synthesizers in the 1960s. She converted to Tibetan Buddhism in the 1970s, which influenced the tone and topic of her works. In the 21st Century she switched to composing for acoustic instruments exploring a variety of harmonic resonances.

Favorite piece: Kailasha

Favorite series: Adnos I-II-III

Compared to expectations: same

309. Jean Sibelius

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(January 2021) Episode 295 of the “opus project” is JEAN SIBELIUS. A national hero of Finland in part because his music promoted Finnish nationalism.  He is best known for his symphonies, which I like.  Yet overall, his compositions remained committed to a romantic aesthetic as most of his contemporaries had moved on to modernist and experimental approaches, so that makes him less interesting to me.

Favorite piece: Symphony #5

Favorite smaller orchestral piece: Finlandia

Compared to expectations: ↓

308. Amon Düül

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

Episode 308 of the “opus project” is AMON DÜÜL. Core Krautrock, and I love it.  They started as a German art commune experimental drug circle, but then spun off into a more musically proficient unit, known as Amon Düül II, which made the essential early 70s Krautrock recordings. Another spin-off was called Amon Düül UK in the 80s. It’s hard to describe this music; it’s within the bounds of rock music but is thoroughly unconventional. 

Favorite album: Yeti

Favorite song: Phallus Dei

Best Amon Düül I album: Disaster

Best Amon Düül UK album: Hawk Meets Penguin

Compared to expectations: ↑

307. Harold Budd

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(January 2021) Episode 307 of the “opus project” is HAROLD BUDD. Another episode I started following the artist’s passing. Following early years exploring musical styles, he settled on the art of sound textures (principally on piano) and became a prolific master. The term “ambient” is most apt (although he disliked it), but don’t be fooled into thinking this is cloying New Age drivel.  The compositions are as cerebral and intentional as they are ethereal and unworldly.  Much of his releases are collaborations, such as with Brian Eno and Robin Guthrie.

Favorite album: The Pearl (with Brian Eno)

Favorite album (solo): The White Arcades

Compared to expectations: same

306. rhBand and Bloggs

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(December 2020) Episode 306 is RHBAND and BLOGGS, two projects of the California-based mysterious genius Ralph Haxton. These recordings, some exceedingly rare, are improvisational collages of acoustic sound textures using a variety of instruments and things.  I enjoyed this more than the last time I listened, which was years ago.

Favorite album: First Tone

Favorite song: Eagle Rock 28/12/1997

Compared to expectations: ↑

305. Beulah

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

Episode 305 is BEULAH. Another fine band from the Elephant 6 label (although they are from San Francisco not Athens, GA) delivering its characteristic sound of 60s-inspired melodic pop rock and lo-fi indie style. Very puzzling that I didn’t catch on until now.

Favorite album: When Your Heartstrings Break

Favorite song: Score from Augusta

Compared to expectations: ↑

304. Ralph Stanley and the Stanley Brothers

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(December 2020) Episode 304 is RALPH STANLEY and the STANLEY BROTHERS. Bill Monroe is the Father of Bluegrass, but the Stanleys are no less essential to the definition and popularization of this distinctively American musical style.  It’s hard to imagine a figure more beloved within his musical tradition than Dr. Ralph.

Favorite album: Hard Times

Favorite song: I’m A Man of Constant Sorrow

Favorite instrumental: Hard Times

Best compilation if you want the best of: Old Songs and Ballads (vols 1 and 2)

Compared to expectations: same

303. White Zombie and Rob Zombie

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(December 2020) Episode 303 is WHITE ZOMBIE and ROB ZOMBIE. Nu metal progenitors that started out raw and industrial but gained mass and propulsion to hit their apex with Astro Creep 2000.  Rob’s solo work continued his horror metal style to accompany his various artistic horror genre projects.

Favorite album: Astro Creep 2000

Favorite song: Blood, Milk and Sky

Compared to expectations: same