The Album Club: "September Winds" by Evan Parker, Hans Anliker, Reto Senn, Peter A Sc
 

http://www.trollheart.com/september-winds.jpg
Moving towards the end of round four. Here's Frownland's contribution. Discuss, debate, rate, vote and review here.

I'm in minute and a half and I wanted to stop in say so far it sounds like Stria but played with didgeridoos instead of FM synthesis.

This turning out to be one of the best didgeridoo albums I ever heard, seriously thinking either a 8 or a 9.

September Winds- Evan Parker, Hans Anliker, Reto Senn, Peter A Schmid, Jurg Solothurnmann (2001)


Best Tracks: Everything flows into each track with similar music that’s it hard to discern which track is better than the next.


Weakest Tracks: See best tracks


Well, the best thing I can say about this album is that it’s clearly ambient. It’s not especially bad, but it isn’t especially good either. On the other hand, it is certainly listenable and I can see how you can be into this rather unconventional album. For me though, it sounds more like a movie soundtrack, kind of like I’d imagine in something like Avatar.

So I guess I’ll have to give this a strong meh for what it’s worth. I think if I had to hear this all the time (at work for example- and I have an experience with something similar to this), I’d probably would go mad if I wasn’t already. But a one-time listen isn’t all that bad, just nothing I’d shake the rafters for.





6/10 (the Word has spoken :D)

Evan Parker’s career is so prolific and so consistent his work and distinctive style can seem like a singular entity and while it is important to take his albums individually and with awareness about who he’s collaborating with you can also rest easy that his name comes with a guarantee of quality. Two albums besides this that are definite stand outs for me are The Trees and The Science Set. This album placed itself in my consciousness a couple years back when Frown pointed it out as one of his faves.

The footsteps Parker (sometimes) follows, Coltrane and Sanders at their most intense and sacrificial is an extraordinary tradition to follow. Especially, if like Parker, your goal isn’t imitation but rather to start from there and to push the pedal to the metal. His circular breathing technique, which I figure Nea is referring to with the didgeridoo comment, allows him to push his playing into uncharted brutal playing. On the other hand, he tends to be very deferential to his band mates in the tradition of great jazz men. He’s no showboat but he certainly could be.

There’s a taste of what he can do on Insects Part 1. He lets it rip again in Sagssolo.

This album, devoid of percussion, is to me, almost as classical as it is jazz.

Unassailable of course. Highest 5/5 work of absolute genius.

.

OK I began the day all jazzed about listening to something new. I looked for September Winds by Evan Parker et al on YouTube. OK I found something and start playing it. Here it took like a song and a half realized it was the wrong album. It was Short Stories. OK I searched again and I found something and started listening to it. I had to do some stuff so I had to drop the album. However instead of going back to the album I went to listen to some other albums - Punk, alt Rock, and indie. So after all of that, I decide to go back to the album and here once again realized I was playing the wrong album. Here it turned out I was listening to Alder Brook, and it was Garanoir that had the instruments that sounded like didgeridoos. OK I gotta get serious, and I got to find this album. So back to business I went. In my quest to find the right album, September Winds, stumble across September by Earth, Wind, & Fire. I couldn't resist and I just had to listen to that song. Which btw was a major mistake cause as I was listening to it I was thinking how great that song sounded I wanted to hear more EW&F. It was then I got this idea that I should go through all their albums and pick the best one for The Album Club. Thinking if only Trollheart heard how terrific the horn section (known as The Phoenix Horns) sounded on those EW&F albums, maybe, just maybe he will change his mind about them appearing on Phil Collins, and Genesis albums. Then I had to stop myself. I thought this is getting ridiculous. There is no way do I have enough time today to go through all of those albums. OK back to business I go looking for this album. It didn't dawn on me immediately but the whole problem was I was using YouTube to find the album. I just naturally assumed whatever was in the returns was the album I was looking for. So I realized the best bet was not to use YouTube and use Spotify. I go there and I had trouble with that immediately. I had to fiddle with that to get it to work. I swear Murphy's Law rules my life.

After I listen to the first track I realize I was much more comfortable listening to Adler Brook. So back to that album I went. In all honesty I did intend to listen to September Winds but I never got around to it. So the whole day is shot. I fear at this rate I'll never going to be able to review this album for The Album Club. Hopefully I will be able to listen to September Winds and review the album before the week is out.

If September Winds is as good as Alder Brook, I figure around a 7/10 to 8/10. ~ 4/5

P.S. I know I had the opportunity and lie about the whole thing and say I listening to September Winds when really I was listening to Alder Brook, but I didn't, I have integrity and I take this Album Club seriously.

I fell asleep on my desk and had a nightmare. When I woke up I was less than halfway through the album. I really really really don't want to listen to the rest of this album. It's scary. We'll see what happens; I might have to sit out for this one.

I've liked it so far, but I want to have something to say about it, so it needs a few more spins over the next few days.

One song stressed me out and I couldn't figure out if that made it a good track or a bad track.

.

I can't remember the title as I just had it rolling in the background. But there's a pretty damn good chance it was the same track and the title seems to fit what it sounded like.

I never listened to this whole album and I never will. It's boring and intensely uncomfortable at the same time. Good day, Frown.

Tuesday, Thought about listening to the album, September Winds, all day at work. OK done work, finally home, time to listen to this September Winds. However, instead of going directly to the album I thought I would logged on Music Banter and check to see if there was any reply to the post I made in http://www.musicbanter.com/indie-alt...die-songs.html I remember when I made the list I couldn't exactly think of my top ten indie/alt Rock songs. So I winged it. So I thought I would mention songs perhaps Lisnaholic would like. I thought definitely Outdoor Minor, Testimony and Cathedrals would be nice picks. I imagine him liking those songs. As I was making the list I fell into a slump. I couldn't think of any more songs to add. So I thought if I had one song from 78 I'll add another song from that year Another Girl, Another Planet. I know technically it's not indie/alt Rock, but it's pretty good, it's in the same range I guess. So picking Another Girl, Another Planet made me think of a whole bunch of other songs about space and junk. I started throwing in song like Field of Mars, First Day on a New Planter, Outer Space and Stars - songs like that. Then like any other list I make I am never satisfied. It was half favorite indie love songs half favorite space songs. Maybe I should make a list ahead of time in case such an occasion arises where I have to rattle them off. At least I know what they are and I can also consistently give the same top ten indie/alt Rock songs. So I made that list on Monday and as I was saying on Tuesday I went to check for a reply. I saw Chiomara's post. She mentioned Stars was one of her favorites too! Cool beans, we like the same song. The band top of the list was Dirty Beaches. I want to make a quip about how many bands use "Beach" in they name like "Beach" House and oh this other band with "Beach" in their name which totally escaped me. So I thought well before I make that comment let me first figure out what "Beach _____" band is. I was thinking "Beach Slag" or whatever but here it turns out to be really "Beach Slang." Why do I keep forgetting that name? IDK. So that took some valuable time away from listening to September Winds trying to figure out that band's name. Then it occurred to me 'What do the Dirty Beaches even sound like?' 'Never heard of them.' I thought to myself. So off YouTube I went to find a video, but I never got around to hearing a song by Dirty Beaches or even making that pun about so many bands with "Beach" in there name, cause as I was About to click on the Dirty Beaches video on the sidebar I saw something intriguing caught. I thought was an interesting thumbnail and name and I had to investigate further. It was a band called Kælan Mikla. So I spent most of the night going through Kælan Mikla videos, and then after that I went to plug.dj. So my plan to listen to September Winds on Tuesday night never came to fruition.

Wednesday I finally got down to business to listening to this album September Winds. However I thought I gotta do something else. I thought I know I go to plug.dj, mute it and maybe chit chat with whoever is there. While I was listening to "Insect Part 1" someone on the plug-chat said Mark E Smith has died. I had like a half minute of that song left I thought I wait it out and stop listening to the album, cause I was a bit bummed out. Maybe I shouldn't say "bummed out" that will leave the door wide open for Trollheart to make some kind of joke about bum holes. Let's just say I was a bit sadden by the news. Thelonious Monkey and I talked a little about The Fall, and I mentioned they were from Manchester. I played Rebellious Jukebox for him. He said it was his first Fall song. I was glad to introduce him to the band. I couldn't go back to September Winds that night.

Thurday I came home wiped out, totally knackered. Je suis complètement crevé!. as the French would say. I slept till midnight. I got up. I didn't feel much like eating or anything. So I grabbed myself San Pellegrino then logged on to plug.dj. I saw WWWP and Chio there. Frownland was there but he left exactly before I went to ask him a question - I forget what it was. So anyway while I was in plug.dj I was checking out the latest posts. I told WWWP and Chio that Frownland possibly wrote the longest joke ever told on Music Banter, in Music Banter history. http://www.musicbanter.com/games-lis...ml#post1920079 TBH I gave up reading half way through the first post. I was wondering the whole time could he have somehow leave out most of this, come up with some abridged version but with the same punch line?
I thought I should make a comment too. So I quipped "That's a joke only Leon Trotsky could tell." Then a few minutes later it dawned on me, wait a minute that doesn't make sense at all. I think I just got Leo Tolstoy mixed up with Leon Trotsky. I better change it quick before someone see that. Certainly someone will call me out on that. I don't think I could live down getting caught telling a joke that doesn't not make any sense. All in all, in retrospect, I thought I should have said "This is only a joke Fyodor Dostoyevsky could have told." I thought that that could have gotten a better response, perhaps a LOL from somebody who knows how long Dostoyevsky stories are. Another missed opportunity for funny response and another missed opportunity for a September Wind review.

Friday Today I finally got chance to complete the listening to the album September Winds. I forget what song but there was some disgusting slurping sounds which I thought were quite unnecessary. However for the most part the performance did have merit. I like how the notes change subtly through technique of the player. I liked how they notes resonated. I thought having a five to ten thousand dollar orchestra woodwind sound like a didgeridoo to be quite the accomplishment. The recording also utilizes reverb, whether it was achieve by acoustics of the room the musicians preformed in or it was added later through an effects processor during post-production I do not know. Another thing worth mentioning is at times the notes would pan stereophonically from one channel to another adding a little bit of excitement into the mix. So the combination between the reverberation, the resonance and the panning from one channel to the other all together complimented each other gave the recording a unique spatial quality. In short the album was more about listening for the variation in timbre than about listening to a melody. To sum it all up I thought the best way to critique September Winds is to have a long, drawn out, meandering review to sum up a long, drawn out, meandering album.


rating 4/5.

Good fun nice digeridoodoingin ambeyonce. Being the big Steve Roach and Max Corbacho fanboy that I am, I appreciate the compositional approach here: works great as an overall experience. If you liked this album, check out the former's Dreamtime Return and the latters Vestiges. They are both "better" records than this one in a sense, but I could see myself adding to to my collection.

8 out of 10

Frown?

Smile.

I would have liked a bit more variety for the length of this thing, perhaps, but that's a relatively small complaint, since I can cut the listening experience up in pieces if I wish.

I feared this would go too far into ambient territory, but there's enough going on in these tracks that I'm not bored, and they do create an incredible sort of mood. Some track hold my attention more than others, but I feel like there's something remarkable going on here that I don't want to dismiss for a few minor quibbles.

Beautiful, atmospheric, unsettling, creative... I'm finding it easy to imagine all sorts of imagery that goes incredibly well with this music.

I'm still not sure how much this album will grow on me, but for now, it gets a solid vote of "liked it".

This was recorded inside of a water facility to give it its dynamic ambience where some notes will carry and simmer out while others are cut short. All of these players are phenomenal and musically communicate with ease as you would expect from such improvisors. Musically, it's haunting and unsettling while simultaneously beautiful. This is unlike anything that I've ever heard which alone makes it a winner. 5/5

Are you saying they used water to obtain reverberation? One of my favorite albums of all time made use of a make-shift reverb unit by using a water tank with a speaker and microphone attached to either end.

... and what is the world was that disgusting slurping sound? It nearly ruined the album for me.

Why is Trollheart being the absentee-host? It's been a week and it looks like he totally ignore this album. He didn't really review The Church album either. I expected a more thorough and receptive review from Trollheart for Blurred Crusade, considering I hand-picked the album. You know I put a lot of thought into it. I thought it would be a good album to strengthen this often divided Album Club by presenting an album that may have the potential to be appealing to everyone. I also thought he would like the album because it has a Genesis sounding "aahhhhhh" keyboard sound on several tracks. I thought what a good way to get him into music he may not be familiar with or somehow missed for whatever reason if heard something similar to a sound Tony Banks would use on a Genesis song.

Ok this is outside of the Album Club, but he did not comment on the brilliance of John Coltrane. I know he knows Coltrane's album was up for review cause I caught him goofing around and making jokes in Sunships thread. I wish he would take the Album Club and MB Classics more seriously.

I honestly think no album could really, truly get everyone on the same page. If 90% likes it, it's almost guaranteed that I won't, and it wouldn't even be contrarianism.

No, he isn’t.

Well ****! I loved every minute of this. Beautiful, ambient, atmospheric, low-key stuff that reminded of that Basinski album I reviewed a while back. I'm sure there's no comparison but hell, one of the best Frownland picks yet. Can't understand why people had a problem with it, and reading the negative reports I thought, was sure I was going to hate it, so I was seriously surprised. Considering the last tracks is "almost one hour" long, I should be groaning and even cheating by skipping it, but I didn't. I was looking forward to it. I'd agree with OH: unassailable.

10/10

Well that’s a pretty big step toward free jazz appreciation.

Maybe I just like free jazz that doesn't assault my ears. This caressed them. I liked it. A lot.

Have you ever heard Unit Structures?

Nope.

I have no way of proving you didn't listen to this album, but based on how you judge other album how you pan things left and right I am surprised you wrote such a positive review for this ... unless you had some kind of ulterior motive behind it.

You actually sat in a chair and listened this whole album for two hours? Didn't run to the bathroom. Didn't get up midway and make a sandwich. The high pitched squeal in the beginning didn't startle you? I was like WTF!!!! and had to turn down the volume. Man that was ear piercing. Another thing, I don't know exactly where at in that two hour album it was but that slurping sound that was annoying. So you also loved sound of the slurping noises? Sorry, but that slurping noise cost it points like anywhere between -0.1 to -0.5 points.

I thought Alder Brook by Evan Parker And September Winds a tiny bit better.

This doesn't even deserve a reply. Listened to the entire thing, loved it. Suck it. :)

Actually, no, you're right I must admit. You got me. I lied. I didn't sit in a chair. I sat on my bed. Sorry for trying to deceive you. Can I go now?

Huh ha. You didn't deny making a sandwich. :nono:
It got 3.68/5 on RYM. So you were probably enjoying a nap, not the approximately two hour long double album.

Glad that you can see into my room and see what I'm doing.
No, I was not enjoying a nap. Why is it so hard for you to understand? I enjoyed this album. Every single bit. If you can't accept that, tough. Doesn't matter to me. Welcome to the Internet, where people have differing opinions. Enjoy your stay.

Yeah, usually you get attacked for disliking an album, not for liking one :laughing:

I honestly expected TH to get frustrated with the length of the record and blabber on about "crazy horns".

I think what he probably objects to most is Kaoru Abe style squonking and the style on display here is much more fluid.

This is what surprises me. Seems I can't do anything right in the eyes of Ice Cream for Crow. Oh well. Like I care.
Quite honestly that was me too, and after reading the reviews I listened in trepidation, expecting to be blasted at any moment. But no, I loved every single note and I didn't even think of finding an excuse to skip "Almost One Hour". Loved it all to bits. Later I'll take recs for similar; no point in saying I'll listen to them while I still have my thread to run. But I would be interested in exploring further.

I don't understand this, but if you're saying I hate horns that seem to scream and blast into your face, and seem (to me) quite discordant and way too loud and frenetic, then yes. That's what I was expecting, and that was not what I got. I obviously have a whole library full of books on this subject to learn.

No. I was not attacking him for liking the album. I was just having trouble determining the veracity of his review.

I don't feel like being attacked for liking something has been a rare experience in here.

I was attacked for liking Abacab, and I can tell you it wasn't a pleasant experience.

Neither was Abacab hur hur hur

Sorry, too far into dad joke territory.

Try starting a thread about symphonic metal. Now that's a fast way to get ridiculed (been there, done that).

There are a lot of Metal-heads on this site. It sounds like that kind of topic would be a success.