10 (TIE). Castanets- In The Vines (Asthmatic Kitty Records)
A difficult puzzle of an album, In The Vines boasts one of the best songs of the year in “Strong Animal,” and finds Ray Raposa allowing the sun to shine on half of his face. The record twists between hideous hiss and gorgeous texture. It may take a few years time to sink in completely.

10 (TIE). Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings- 100 Days 100 Nights (Dap Tone Records)
Why don’t more people have fun with music? 100 Days 100 Nights is solid, if not occasionally spectacular, from beginning to end. Three cheers for two and half minute songs.

9. (TIE) Joni Mitchell- Shine (Hear Music)
Not canonical but worth repeated listens. The drum machine sounds that made me cringe were later reconciled by Brian Blade’s live time keeping. The point is, even mediocre Joni Mitchell has more staying power than the best of the current crop of heralded singer/songwriters.

9. (TIE) Herbie Hancock- River: The Joni Letters (Verve)
I know this is cheating but it’s my list. There are moments of spine-tingling beauty on this record. Not everything works, however this is a more robust set of ideas and arrangements than the wobbly A Tribute To Joni Mitchell. Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland and Vinnie Colaiuta all shine as do Norah Jones, Mitchell herself and, in an adept bit of casting, Tina Turner.

8. 4Hero- Play With The Changes (Raw Canvas)
Another in a group of completely ignored releases, I don’t think I read one review on Play With The Changes anywhere online. 4Hero are masters of modern soul and dance music and on their first album in years they bring back their immaculate string arrangements, crisp upright bass and cutting drums. Oh, and a few British vocalists who can actually sing. Sorry America.

7. His Name Is Alive- Sweet Earth Flower (High Two)
A deep, moody collaboration between His Name Is Alive’s Warn Defever and NOMO’s Elliot Bergman, Sweet Earth Flower reminds me of the constant question of why “jazz” is so stagnant. Here we have a tribute to saxophonist Marion Brown that echos the openness of the late 60’s early 70’s jazz scene. What brings the album into focus (besides great engineering and sensitive playing by all) is the freshness of Defever’s simple electric guitar. He says more with a few sustained whole notes than others can say with hundreds of double picked 32nds.

6. ellul- s/t (Sounds Are Active)
I’ve heard a lot of records in the last twelve months but few give me both the chills and head scratching arrangements of ellul’s self titled debut. Bias aside, this album blows the sonic walls down on most records this year. A true artistic achievement that has been all but ignored by the current musical cognoscenti. My hope is that one day this wonderful record with find a wider, more appreciative audience.

5. Badun- s/t (Rump Recordings)
I don’t remember how I heard about Badun but I’ll never forget listening to them for the first time. A Danish trio who specialize in a kind of ambient-electro-jazz-scrabble, Badun’s debut is a fascinating examination of a near future where jazz musicians sublimate their chops and chop up their music into unrecognizable idioms.

4. Radiohead- In Rainbows (self-released)
What can I say? It’s a great record. And the first that I’ve purchased by Radiohead since OK Computer.

3. Robert Plant | Alison Krauss- Raising Sand (Rounder)
If there is a better, more considered collaboration between two vocalists released in the last few years, I haven’t heard it. For the first time Plant sings softly and from the heart. Krauss‘ gorgeous tenor is amazingly well suited to wrap up their harmonies. With arid guitars from T-Bone Burnett and Marc Ribot and perfect pedal steel from Greg Leisz the album is a collection of traditional folk, country and blues with a few surprises (Led Zeppelin & Tom Waits) thrown in. Burnett has produced the kind of masterpiece that will reward for years and years to come.

2. Strategy- Future Rock (Kranky)
Pick Dickow is a singular artist making singular music. The follow up to 2005’s Drumsolo’s Delight, Future Rock has a leaner palette of textures and a more aggressive selection of beats. As always Dickow allows his songs to develop naturally without ever feeling overlong, incorporating an incredibly subtle composition/production ethic. Although recently named on The Wire’s best of 2007 list Future Rock was largely unexplored in 2007 and that is truly a shame.

1. Sam Yahel Trio- Truth and Beauty (Origin Records)
Truth and Beauty is the first recording on which I truly enjoyed Joshua Redman’s playing and saxophone sound. Drummer Brian Blade is, as usual, thoughtful, inventive and propulsive. But it is organist/leader Sam Yahel who has channeled the spirit of the classic Bill Evans trio (with Paul Motion and Scott LaFaro) writing six very strong originals while tackling three interesting and obscure covers. Together they have produced, by far, the best jazz record of the year.

The first words that come to mind when attempting to rhyme “famous” are “Harold Ramis.”

Photo by frinkianz

A few weeks back I was asked a question: would I like to go to Athens, Georgia in December and play some music. Typically, I responded with two questions of my own. One about transportation and one about a performance guarantee. Both of those questions were quickly answered in the affirmative and arrangements were made for me to perform at Next To Last Fest.

After confirming I then wrestled with the idea of what to perform. The festival organizer, Will Donaldson, was a fan of Twilight & Ghost Stories and I assumed that I would be performing that composition in some fashion. But how? I thought about incorporating large sections of the album recordings interspersed with live playing but this was ultimately a hedge against the possibility of putting a mediocre group together. Eventually a sense of abandon took over and in the last few days prior to the festival I shored up an ensemble:

Daedelus- monome, electronics
Lars Gotrich- acoustic guitar, voice
Liz Janes- voice, ukelele
Aaron Jollay- trombone
Chris Schlarb- acoustic guitar, electronics
Drew Smith- drums and percussion

From the beginning I intended on using the original recording of rain and street sounds as the background for the live performance, just like the album. A funny thing happened on the way to Georgia though. I forgot it.

I spent Friday afternoon down by the bank of the Oconee River recording sounds to use as a replacement. Unfortunately Athens is in the midst of a well publicized drought and the water ran quiet and still. The most exciting event of my riverside visit was the impressive bellyflop performed by a rotund beaver. It sounded like a bowling ball dropped from an airplane.

Again I resolved to use the original sounds and thought intently about how to accomplish this when it dawned on me: The Twilight Variations. I downloaded the zip file with the original four minute excerpt and via looping and crossfading I stretched it out to the thirty minute performance time.

The sounds outside a wet Long Beach apartment playing in the background, I conducted the Athenian sextet with a custom made light box that allowed me to create combinations of musicians on the fly much like the assembly of the album. I met with everyone collectively an hour prior to performance and, with no rehearsal, we took the stage.

Somehow it all sounded just as I thought it would: silence, texture, tension, melody and stillness commingling. Moments converged and dissipated naturally, one idea manually transitioning into another. The light box worked great and I got some solid ideas for future performances. Both the musicians and the audience seemed happy and shared the feeling that it was over too soon. Just the way I like it.

Soon Daedelus performed and, monome in hand, slew the crowd. His facility on the young instrument was inspiring as was his ability to inventively juxtapose melody, context and rhythm. Finally, in an enthusiastic act of quid pro quo, I accompanied Liz Janes on three songs that we have been working on over the past six months. Frozen fingers aside, I think it all went really well.

On Sunday Adam (Doseone), Jeff (Jel) and I watched former Dirty Projectors guitarist Spencer Kingman perform with nothing but a bright red Tokai electric. His guitar and vocal music is delicate, considered and beautifully written. Goosebumps and head shaking ensued.

Later the tables were turned as Spencer and I gleefully listened to Themselves vamp on George Washington’s teeth and generally rip during their set. Later on the ride back to our lodging I had the pleasure of playing Spencer his first taste of Steely Dan. I choose the Odyssey inspired track “Home At Last.” He loved it.

Meanwhile in Long Beach, my wife Adriana (along with sister Pita and friend Sancha) plied her culinary genius for benefit of all who attended the quadraphonic listening event at {open}. Many thanks to Shea Gauer (the store’s co-owner) who enthusiastically sponsored this event. Not only is {open} a great book store but it also happens to be the best place in Los Angeles to listen to music. During the listening event, my wife told me later, a fresh rain came down quietly outside.

Chris Schlarb- Twilight Athens [mp3]
Recorded in Athens, Georgia
December 8th, 2007 // 192kps

UPDATE: Lars Gotrich has posted On Performing Twilight & Ghost Stories on his blog National Public Viking. Poseidon’s Wake indeed!

If you are interested in all this Twilight & Ghost Stories business I would like to direct your attention to Asthmatic Kitty Dot Com where you can download two sections from the album and purchase a copy for only $10.

To celebrate the album’s release, listening events have been organized throughout the country. They will feature a special quadraphonic mix of Twilight & Ghost Stories, food and drink, as well as a performance from one of the album’s contributors. These events are free and you are welcome to invite as many friends as you would like. The more the merrier!

December 7th- Indianapolis, IN. @ Harrison Center for the Arts w/ Michael Kaufmann
December 8th- Austin, TX. @ End of An Ear w/ The Weird Weeds
December 8th- Long Beach, CA. @ OPEN w/ Languis
December 8th- Chicago, IL. @ Heart of Gold w/ thearmorclass
December 8th- Brooklyn, NY. @ Monkey Town w/ Inlets

I have also been invited to perform at the Next To Last Festival in Athens, Georgia on the 8th of December. I will be putting together an ensemble to perform a version of Twilight as well as performing alongside Liz Janes. Others performing at this festival include Daedalus, Themselves and Circulatory System. If you are in the area, it would be great to see you out there. At only $20 for an entire weekend of music it really is an amazing event to be a part of.

Both Paper Thin Walls and Stereo Subversion have published interviews within the last few days. The interview with Stereo Subversion was an enjoyable duet with Tom Steck regarding I Heart Lung and the other was a feature story about the weekend I lost to Sean Carnage a few months ago.

Many thanks to Jessica Suarez at Paper Thin Walls and Dave Cantor at Stereo Subversion for deftly sifting through all my words.

Hum- Downward Is Heavenward
Sting- “…Nothing Like The Sun”
Bill Connors- Double Up
Herbert- Scale
makeShift:shelter- a makeShift LP
The Police- Best Of
The Isley Brothers- Best Of
Frank Zappa- Imaginary Diseases
The Gap Band- Best Of
Radiohead- In Rainbows
Joe Jackson- Night and Day
Luscious Jackson- Fever In/Fever Out
I Heart Lung- Live at Rhinoceropolis

Seven days ago my wife and I woke up in Nick Hennies‘ house in Austin, caught some excellent breakfast tacos and jumped on a plane home. The night prior Nick and I got a bit of recording in for a video game score that I’m working on. We both remarked how much we would enjoy playing a game with music like ours. We’re that easy to please.

I had only been home for three days when Pitchfork published Joe Tangari’s tag team review of both Twilight & Ghost Stories and the new I Heart Lung album Between Them A Forest Grew, Trackless and Quiet.

A number of kind people dropped me a line to wish me congratulations. I also read more than a few vociferous comments about the “mediocre” review. Honestly, aside from the fact that the review is a month early and only featured one album cover I have nothing but positive things to say about it.

That Mr. Tangari reviewed the albums came as a pleasant surprise as I hold him in high esteem as one of the more contemplative, contextual writers working (Douglas Wolk, Phillip Buchan and Ned Raggett also come to mind- heck, so do Ian Patterson, Brandon Stousy and Jon Pareles). Although the scores (7.2 and 6.0 for Twilight and A Forest, respectively) might not incite the kind of rabid blog buzz that anything north of an 8.0 does, the review was sensitive, thoughtful and free from histrionics. I rather enjoyed it and am grateful for the time spent really listening to the albums. It’s too bad that a rating (numbers, stars, thumbs) can, on occasion, upstage such relevant writing.

Twilight & Ghost Stories, by the way, is now available from Asthmatic Kitty Records via pre-order for $10. I have a feeling that if you order the album now, you’ll receive prior to the December 4th release date. Between Them A Forest Grew, Trackless and Quiet is also available now, you get an immediately mp3 download while you wait for the CD in the mail.

I’ll be home for another few days before flying out to Indianapolis to work with Liz Janes on our forthcoming album. When we last got together in July we knocked out five solid demo recordings. Now that I’ve listened back to them I am both surprised and enthused. I’m looking forward to recording them with a full band early next year.

There’s much to be done between now and then.