What are you listening to right now ?

[garym]

Steve Dawson's "Music Makers and Soul Shakers" podcast, Amos Garrett edition.

For music nerds only . . .

Steve Dawson is a great guitarist and producer, in the roots/folk/Americana/blues vein. His own sound is kind of "dirty", he plays hard and likes fuzz. He's a talented producer who works successfully within a variety of artist styles. Canadian from the west coast, lives and works in Nashville, has lots of quality musical connections and a great deal of musical curiosity.

He is, therefore, the perfect person to assemble a cast of musicians to talk about their musical journeys.

His podcast, some 50+ episodes long so far, engages musicians, producers, engineers and others in discussions about their craft and their history. He kicked off with Bill Frisell, usually seen as a jazz guitarist but active in many genres, and travels through an immense catalog of great artists. I was a late-comer, downloaded the full set of podcasts, and am listening more or less randomly and continuously to the shows. Season 3 is in production. I'll subscribe to it.

These are long-form interviews, usually an hour to ninety minutes long, and NEVER long enough. On some occasions a particularly long conversation is split into two separate podcasts. All of the interviews include illustrative musical cuts, not full tracks but excerpts to illustrate what is being talked about. On some occasions, when the interviewee is in the studio with Steve, there'll be an impromptu jam at the end.

These are available for free from iTunes, or from his own website at the address below. You can subscribe through iTunes. There is some cost involved, so he's set up a Patreon donation mechanism. Believe me, if you are into this kind of music at all you'll want to throw in a few bucks to keep it running.

It should be noted that the early sessions were not so perfect from a technical point of view; for instance, the great Frisell interview has Steve sounding like he's talking a great deal further from the mic than is Frisell. But these problems are soon solved.

Get them from http://www.stevedawson.ca/makersandshakerspodcast/

R.

Looks fantastic. Just subscribed via iphone podcast app. A couple more I recommend, "Cocaine and Rhinestones" is a very well done deep dive into classic country music history. It's an area I know a lot about, but still learn many new things from the podcasts. "Thanks for Giving a Damn by Otis Gibbs" is a very entertaining and informative podcast on a wide range of very interesting music background topics/interviews.

[RonM]

Midori Takada - Through The Looking Glass
A sort of minimalist/ambient record dating from 1983 - I've only played this a few times so far, but it's rather pleasing. Apparently it never had a CD release, and this vinyl release doesn't seem to be accompanied by a digital release either. The 33rpm version I have is a lovely pressing (there's a 2 x 45rom version, too, but it's rather more expensive). Can be heard on YouTube and Soundcloud.

Attachment 25533

It's available on CD from Amazon in the US and Canada, at least. 2017 release.

R.

[Grumpy Bob]

It's available on CD from Amazon in the US and Canada, at least. 2017 release.

R.

Mea culpa, sloppy language on my part - I rarely buy CDs these days, generally going for downloads or vinyl. It was download I meant.

Robert

[RonM]

I found it available for streaming on SoundCloud, at least I couldn't see a way to buy the album there. Listened a bit to the samples, great!

I ordered the CD from a third-party seller on Amazon, quite a bit cheaper than from Amazon itself, even with shipping (which I could have free from Amazon by buying something else from my wish-list).

In general, I much prefer downloading, but it seems that fewer mainstream releases can be found in full flac, other than rip-off hi resolution. So when I want actual CD quality, and can't find it via download, I will buy the plastic.

And I'll compare. We are fairly well off in Canada, re iTunes, as we pay $9.99, which I think is what US customers pay in US$. But if I can find a CD that comes within 20% of that, counting shipping, I'll generally go for it. And if it's bought directly from a US address I generally don't have to pay the 13% local tax.

Unfortunately, CDBaby is no longer emphasizing their download business, and have dropped the flac format from their options. Although it was $10 US, a premium on Canadian iTunes, the flac made a difference.

From time to time I find older (and very occasionally newer) albums at the library for loaning. Of course, I return it before it's due, sometimes just hours after I got it. . .

From an audiophile point of view, the current release of the Takada album sounds promising, or at least interesting from a marketing point of view -- REEL-2-REEL TO DIGITAL CONVERSION, loudly trumpeted. Not sure how else they would do it, actually.

R.