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Sun Ra: Angels and Demons at Play/The Nubians of Plutonia
by Matthew Wuethrich
If you try to track the development of Sun Ra's music on record, you will inevitably run up against numerous difficulties. Both chronologically and stylistically, his oeuvre contains anachronisms, false trails, mistakes and just plain weirdness. Evidence's re-issue package of the two Saturn albums, Angels and Demons at Play/The Nubians of Plutonia represents exactly these problems. ...
Sun Ra: Holiday for Soul Dance
by Matthew Wuethrich
Holiday for Soul Dance testifies to not only Sun Ra’s originality, but also his courage when making stylistic decisions. This album, believed to be recorded sometime around 1958, casts Ra in the role of the traditionalist as the Arkestra interpret a batch of time-honored (and time-worn) standards. Surprisingly, this role fits better than one might expect. ...
Sun Ra: We Travel the Spaceways/Bad and Beautiful
by Matthew Wuethrich
This Evidence re-issue package, like a large portion of the others, captures different aspects of the late '50s/early '60s Arkestra in transition. The first seven tracks comprise We Travel the Spaceways, recorded in Chicago between 1956 and 1960 at a variety of sessions. The second group of seven tunes were originally released as Bad and Beautiful, ...
Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Jazz in Silhouette
by Matthew Wuethrich
In the jazz universe, Sun Ra typically travels in an unknown, distant galaxy of his own. He is on the map, but understood and given his proper significance by only a loyal few. Most know his esoteric philosophising, lavish stage shows, and outward-bound music, but those features only scratch the surface of Ra’s music. Recorded in ...
Sun Ra: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. I
by Matthew Wuethrich
A misconception: Sun Ra played free jazz. Critics and listeners usually lump Ra’s dissonant recordings into the free jazz category for one of two reasons. They either take his aggressive, wild sound textures to be essentially the same as that of other members of the '60s avant-garde; or there is just no good category for Ra. ...
Sun Ra: Lanquidity
by Matthew Wuethrich
1978’s Lanquidity (now re-issued by Evidence) features a silver and purple cover image of Ra that begs the question: Has Sun Ra made a fusion album? This thought at first seems merely ridiculous, then after further consideration becomes a bit surreal, and then upon hearing becomes downright disturbing. As with any Ra project, a simple description ...
Sun Ra: Music from Tomorrow's World
by Matthew Wuethrich
Historical document or musical revelation? Music from Tomorrow’s World, the latest release in Atavistic’s Unheard Music Series, again poses this seemingly eternal, yet pertinent, question. Should live recordings be made available to the listening public, even if the sound quality distorts and obscures the musical content? Many would say no, but in the case of Sun ...
Jouni J: Lento
by Matthew Wuethrich
On the surface, the music of Lento gleams like a highly polished gem. However that surface belies an intensely detailed and sometimes stormy underside. “Lento" means “flight" in Finnish and the Jouni Järvelä Group has indeed created a soaring yet refined balance of fresh rhythms, brittle melodies, harmonic exploration and bizarre sonic colorings. The music floats ...
Gourmet: Glamour & Decadence
by Matthew Wuethrich
Self-indulgence is usually a dirty word when applied to music, but in the case of Gourmet and their debut album, Glamour and Decadence, on the Finnish Fiasko Records, it perfectly describes, and compliments, their bizarre brand of music. Gourmet's stated, and highly unique, goal is to “play original music specifically written for the ...
Gnomus: Gnomus
by Matthew Wuethrich
Gnomus, the self-titled release of three Finnish musicians, delves deeply into the sounds that surround us and in turn creates its own sublime world of noise. Our world has become a noisier one over the last century, what with the proliferation of industry, telephone networks, and radio. It comes as no surprise then that recorded music, ...
