2026 week 3

Late to posting, I'm had an absolute bastard of a cold since Wednesday night. Not great but considerably improved on Sunday. 

01/15/2026 on vinyl

Unknown artist: Erotica: the Rhythms of Love (Fax)

As I've said before, I do enjoy my vinyl oddities. It didn't surprise me to see boxes of records at the 
"Heavy Metal Flea Market" in Allentown last year. I'm not sure I would have paid more than the $5 the vendor asked for this.

The front cover proclaims, "An experimental high fidelity recording featuring the sounds and rhythms of erotic love." Uh huh. What exactly does that mean?

It starts with the sound of a conga player, occasionally shouting out and speaking in a language I don't understand. (I don't think it's Spanish, but even then I'm uncertain.) Then there's a background sound that increases. Obscured at first, it becomes clear it's the rhythmic rocking of a bed, with a female voice occasionally crying out in apparent passion.

Side one!

Side two: same elements but without the conga player's exclamations. And that's it!

Discogs indicates that this dates to 1962, which explains a lot but not everything. It seems tame even for the time. Was it supposed to sound hot? Was it intended to invoke sex? Masturbation? Did repressed boomers/pre-boomers feel a flash of shame buying this? What did they expect? For that matter, what did I? I certainly did not feel shame buying it, I thought it was a laugh. 

01/16/2026 on vinyl

Bern Alois Zimmermann: The Numbered Improvisations/Tratto (Heliodor)

It would be an exaggeration to say that I had even a minor obsession with Zimmermann for a time, maybe a "heated interest" would be a better description. I found it frustrating that there's scant information about him in English. I thought, if I was a hungry doctoral student looking for a topic, knew enough about things like set theory applied to music composition and other such lofty concepts, possibly spoke German, and was looking for a thesis topic, Zimmermann could be an interesting choice. He's something of an odd bird with respect to post-War composition. His early works are rather on the academic/conservative side, all things considered. He was never a strict serialist, as far as I can tell. A number of his compositions liberally quote other composers' works, sometimes (if not always) crediting in the score. His Monologue for two pianos weaves in quotes from Bach and Messiaen among others, for example. 

Then there's the dramatically different two sides of this LP. Side one: the Manfred Schoof Quintet plays on themes drawn from Zimmermann's opera Die Soldaten. The opera is considered to be one of the most difficult of all to perform and stage. I've viewed the score and it is unquestionably challenging. Here, materials are extracted and performed by a sympathetic European jazz quintet. (The LP itself has no instrumental credits, but on discogs I see the drummer was Jaki Liebezeit, who would later be a founding member of Can.) There are bursts of activity in between quiet and very spare stretches. Predictable it is not. Nor does it swing in a traditional sense, but its atonal jazz sound reminds me of what some more recent New Yorkers and Chicagoans have done. At least in small part. I wish I could view the written materials. 

Contrast that side two, with its single work "Tratto". It's a purely electronic work, very much in the German continuum in that respect. There are extensive notes on the work, indicating a carefully planned and controlled composition. I sometimes like these elektronische musik works, though they have a tendency to be rather dry. I must say, I find this work to be quite beautiful, perhaps my favorite of the purely electronic Germanic works. It's unhurried, often soft-edged. There's a repeated noise event that almost sounds like breathing. It eventually gets fairly busy but not frantic. I guess the whole aesthetic appeals to me. 

Now about that dissertation...

01/19/2026 on vinyl

Charlie Haden: Liberation Music Orchestra (Impulse!)

Sitting here in my retirement from teaching, I'm pondering what new projects I might consider starting. I find my situation frustrating insofar as, I've been plugging away at playing (hopefully) original/interesting/creative music for over four decades in this city, and how much I still have sto struggle just to find gigs for a band such as Thoth Trio. Thoth mostly plays my compositions, but it capable of playing background music for a party if need be. Perhaps that's not a "proper" Thoth gig, but I just want to play with my crew when I can without making huge sacrifices. Calling tunes I like to play during an event isn't so bad, especially when dinner is involved.

I've had an idea for a group, larger than a trio but smaller than the ten-piece OPEK (maybe), partially using this group as a model. What I have in mind is less arranged than this group, though they're willing to play freely too. It's an interesting mix. Among the pieces are old Spanish folk songs, Haden's "Song for Chè", Ornette Coleman's "War Orphans", "We Shall Overcome", etc. In other words, leaning political without making blatant political statements. There's some interesting mixing of recorded folk songs along the way, making this more than just a document of a ban playing live.

It's a hell of a lineup: Carla Bley, Perry Robinson, Paul Motian, Roswell Rudd, Mike Mantler, Howard Johnson, etc. Carla's voice is significant on this, contributing several original works and all of the arrangements. I knew she was thoroughly involved in this project, but even if I didn't, I'd recognize her writing from the first notes.

01/20/2026 on CD

M.B.: Teban Slide Art (disc one, Triumph of the Will) (Menstrual Recordings)

Well it's a bleak and cold day in Pittsburgh, in a bleak year, so why not pull out another of my favorite sound artists of bleakness. The story behind the original issue of this album is infamous. Maurizio Bianchi (MB) signed a contract with Come Org (William Bennett of Whitehouse's label) that gave permission to do whatever they wanted with the tapes. The result were two LPs under the moniker Liebstandarte SS MB, blending MB's recorded audio with recordings of Nazi speeches. Maurizio was not happy but couldn't do anything about it. 

Since he's had the opportunity to re-release the albums. William really was a jerk for what he did, especially considering the records aren't any better because there's the outrageous speeches mixed in. 

The CD issue includes a previously unissued third track, 100% Nazi-free. It's MB playing with delay feedback, producing some woofer-speaker rattling. Atypical but not out of character.

2026 week 2

Well let's see, 2026 so far: the Pittsburgh City Paper has shut down, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette has announced that it will shut down in May, Trump kidnapped a (admittedly illegitimate) foreign leader under the guise of a "police action", PA senator John Fetterman has announced his support of Trump buying Greenland, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has announced that it is folding, the CDC is recommending fewer childhood vaccines while measles is on the uptick, and I'm forgetting other things.

There are many reasons we listen to music. One is to uplift and stimulate us. Another is to find reflect our moods, good or bad. Guess what I'm feeling now. 

01/08/2026 on CD

Khanate: Things Viral (Southern Lord)

Here I go tapping the endless well of misery and despair that is the music of Khanate. Okay, that's a little overstated. But they are bleak.

I've written before about Khanate, in particular Capture & Release, the soundtrack of my mood the first time Donald Trump was elected president. They came recommended by Adam MacGregor when I asked for suggestions for the severest music possible. I've gone on about this in the past. I don't think I've mentioned this album previously, but I could be wrong.

Both this and the aforementioned album are similar in many ways: slow tempos almost to the point of being agonizing, long sections of little activity divided by moments of severe guitar breaks, Alan Dubin's unique brand of shrieking. But they're also distinctive, different versions of the Khanate sound. At times this one is even noisier than C&R, most string noise, sounding a step closer to being an old school industrial band. 

I'm grateful music such as this exists. It's not pleasant nor is it intended to be. Under similar circumstances, thirty years ago, what would I have been listening to? Probably Swans, maybe early Sonic Youth, Throbbing Gristle. There's that. But this comes closer to my vibe right now. 

PS: prior to the most recent election, I noticed a car outside the comic book store that had both Swans: Filth and pro-Trump bumper stickers. I thought, shouldn't those things be exclusive to one another. 

01/10/2026 on vinyl

Mike Vickers: Dracula AD 1972 (Death Waltz)

Hammer films, for an independent British film studio, had a pretty good run. Founded in 1934, they were known for their horror and fantasy films from the late 1950s into the mid-1970s. Hammer films were generally more lurid than their American counterparts: stronger sexual suggestion (becoming more blatant in later films), more skin (cleavage and later nudity), brighter colors, deeper red blood. 

Dracula AD 1972 finds Drac (played by stalwart Christopher Lee) in swinging post-60s London, along with the original Professor Van Helsing's grandson (played by stalwart Peter Cushing). The title itself immediately dates the film. But then, this London of fifty+ years ago doesn't necessarily exist, so it might as well be dated. 

Vickers' music reminds me a bit of another busy British film composer, Ron Grainer, with a touch of what one might hear on a period James Bond soundtrack. There's one exception on the album, about four minutes of a cue titled "Devil's Circle Music" which is credited to the group White Noise including Delia Derbyshire (electronics), Paul Lytton (free jazz drummer, noted for his work with Evan Parker) and three others. Vickers dabbles in some delay effects, but the Derbyshire/etc work is far more atmospheric and noisy. Of course I can't mention the names of Derbyshire and Grainer without mentioning in passing the controversy over the original Doctor Who theme, and whether Delia deserves co-credit for the piece.

I'm Team Derbyshire on this one, and her realization is easily the best version of the piece to my ears.

I might have to seek out that White Noise album.

01/11/2026 on vinyl

Thelonious Monk: Thelonious Alone in San Francisco (Riverside)

I can't recall if I bought this, or my father gave it to me. Probably the latter. I have the complete Riverside Monk on CD, but this seemed right.

A few days ago, it was Khanate as an external expression of my mood. Now it's comfort food. Monk's music is something I've know nearly my entire life, Dad recommending his music to me. It's possible I've spent more time listening to Monk than anyone else, or at least he'd be top five.

I prefer Monk in a quartet setting. I was a little unsure at one time about his solo recordings, the  hesitancies, the occasional strangely-chosen note (the opener on this, "Blue Monk", is a good example). But with age I feel like I understand these recordings better, at least intuitively. It is Monk at his purest, and take him or leave him. If you come expecting Art Tatum or Oscar Peterson, you're going to be disappointed. 

It's cold and windy outside, snow blowing almost horizontally. The state of national and international politics is crushingly awful. But I'm sitting at home, in the warmth, with an old friend. 

01/12/2026 on vinyl

Edgar Froese: Ages (Virgin)

I've tried to write my first sentence here at least three times. I am both involved in music technology and electronic music, and ambivalent to both.

I am definitely interested in expanded sound palette of acoustic + electronic sounds. I enjoy early electronic music recordings because of the effort, the "sweat" as i have often put it, that I hear in the results.

Do I enjoy electronic music on its own terms? I guess it's a case-by-case, artist-by-artist basis.

Edgar was 1/3 of I guess would be the classic lineup of Tangerine Dream. He, with Peter Baumann and Christopher Franke, created probably the group's signature recordings. Atem, Phaedra, Rubycon, Stratosfear, the soundtrack to Sorcerer. Pretty good run. 

This album seems dated insofar as, it could have been produced on a laptop with Ableton Live in a fraction of the time this session probably took. Not that it would sound better; there's something inescapable about the analog synths/recording/playback that makes it earthier. 

This might be Edgar's purest vision of music, but I think I prefer the mix of ideas on the best Tangerine Dream albums. Those are...soupier? More of a blend or even confrontation? Less predictable?

On the original Virgin label, who are more involved with airlines and sending rockets into space than pursuits such as music. 

01/12/2026 #2 on vinyl

Morton Feldman: Rothko Chapel/For Frank O'Hara (Columbia)

I noticed on Facebook that today is the anniversary of Morton Feldman's birth. I couldn't let that pass without notice. 

As I have no doubt previously written, John Cage was an important influence for me in my earlier years, but it's Morton Feldman's music that has left a stronger impression. I am perfectly satisfied with the path I have chosen as a composer and improvisor, but there's a part of me that wishes I could get away with what Feldman did. That is, compose works so spare that they are deceptively simple. His works are not easy, just not busy. Many are very difficult if played correctly. 

What appealed to me about Rothko Chapel? The piece is set for viola, percussion and chorus with solo soprano. Without going into details, it's the translucent harmonies in the chorus that I loved. How else can I describe the piece? It's a beautiful transliteration of Rothko's visual art to the aural.

My friend Jason (who may be reading this shortly after posting) told me that the second side, For Frank O'Hara, is more typical Feldman. He might be right. It's beautifully thin, Morton's attempt to represent the "flat plane" of Abstract Expressionist art by way of music. 

But...Rothko Chapel...that's my stuff. 

01/13/2026 on vinyl

Etta James: Etta James Rocks the House (Jackpot)

My brother-in-law gave me this LP. He doesn't own a turntable and I don't know how he came to have this. I notice that the record label is the same as the name of the store on the price sticker, so maybe it was a giveaway. I promised I'd play it, so I'm living up to my word.

Etta James' version of "At Last" seems to have had a life that's grown over the decades. I hate to sound cynical (who, me?) but it's a song that vocalists sing that pretend they want to be jazz singers. I'd find it more tiresome but I don't go listening to jazz vocalists very often. 

This album was captured on two September nights in 1963. One of eleven songs was co-written by Etta, with others by Jinny Reed, Ray Charles, Willy Dixon, and others. It leans on the blues side of R&B. 

She's a belter, that's for certain, and the crowd was clearly eating it up. Would have been great to see her at this time.

Heading into 2026

One of the reasons I began posting to this blog was to give purpose to my listening. That and maybe show off some of my accumulated knowledge (whoopdy-doo!).  For a time, and then on and off, I stayed at it regularly.

I am doing this casually which only a very limited audience, which sometimes makes it difficult for me to motivate myself.

So I thought maybe I'd take a different approach going into 2026. I want to make a more regular routine of sitting and listening to pieces from my collection, at least once a day with occasional days off. Then, rather than write an essay trying to make a point, I'd post the week's listenings with a shorter comment on each than I had before.

I am still leery of my own ego. "Hey I'm Ben Opie and check out what I've been listening to!". At times I feel a bit rudderless in my retirement and want to continue to foster positive routines.

01/01/2026 on vinyl

Luciano Berio: Différences, Sequenza III, Sequenza VII, Due Pezzi, Chamber Music (Philips)

I don't know that I count Berio as one of my favorite composers, but I don't ever regret listening to his music. He can have that thorny, disjointed Post-War sort of sound at times, but rarely is there a time when some seems removed from the idea of melody. The opening work on the LP, Différences, finds Berio at that thorniest. It's a chamber work for five instruments with tape, the taped content being manipulations of the the same instrumental group. Sometimes the sound blend, others you can hear the expansion past the purely acoustical sound palette.

I've just noticed that the flute part in this piece was played by retired CMU professor Jeanne Baxtresser, whose studio was once around the corner from my classroom. She must have been young at the time. They also misspelled her name.

If I had to guess, Berio's probably most famous for his series of Sequenzas. These are virtuoso solo works, though at times augmented by another sound element. #III is for solo voice, performed here by his then wife Cathy Berberian. A better interpreter you won't find, exploring a wide range of vocal effects. This is followed by #VII for oboe, played by the amazing Heinz Holliger (not his only recording of the work). It's a study in oboe timbres, set against a (quiet) tone generator drone. (There's a version for soprano saxophone I wish I could play. His Sequenza for trumpet is played into an open piano with the sustain pedal depressed.)

Due Pezzi for violin and piano sounds pre-War, almost like Bartók at times. The program ends with Chamber Music, again featuring the amazing Ms. Berberian with a text drawn from Joyce. It doesn't require the wide range of techniques as the Sequenza, but was undoubtably a very difficult work for voice.

Whew, that's a lot for just one record so far.

01/02/2026 on CD

Ronald Stein: Not of This Earth! The Film Music of Ronald Stein (Varese Sarabande)

Is it fair to call Ronald Stein the "Bernard Herrmann of the Drive In Movies"? Probably not, but it would put you in the neighborhood. Ronald had a reputation for writing some decent music for cheapo films, sometimes in excess of the movie's general quality. This tells me two things: 1. He took his assignments seriously; 2. He could work quickly and efficiently.

I have another collection of Ronald's music, five CDs in the set, and I don't think I've listened to all of it. Some time. He composed for a variety of genre films, with this single disc collecting cues from sci fi/horror films. There are selections from the incredible Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman (recorded in stereo!), The Terror, Dementia 13, Not of This Earth! (great title for a movie recall being a bore),  Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Devil's Partner, and best of all, Jack Hill's amazing Spider Baby (AKA Cannibal Orgy). I've been a fan of Spider Baby for many years. Stein's music adds to the dark atmosphere of the film. Included here is the main title theme sans vocals, and the vocal version with (unrelated) lyrics spoken by Lon Chaney Jr. He was both a notorious ham and drunk, and his vocals rattle off the lyrics without any synchronization to the music. It's one of Lon's last roles, and I think he's actually a good choice for it. Just watch the movie and see.

I guess Rob Zombie has seen release of the full Spider Baby soundtrack on vinyl. I balk when I see the cost, more than double what this cost me. I'm fine with this collection.

01/03/2026 on vinyl

Harry Carney: Rare Dates Without the Duke (Raretone)

I've recently been playing a series of hour-long improvisations with tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE on designated dates, to coincide with other people in other countries in an attempt at psychic communication. Well, you know, it's a wonderful aspiration even if I'm skeptical. I'm happy to have the opportunity to gather with at least one other person and just play. 

I've been bringing a different instrument each time: alto saxophone, tenor, soprano, clarinet, bass clarinet. Today at tENT's request, it was baritone saxophone. I don't play bari much, though at one time I earned more off that instrument than any other. As I was sitting with this heavy hunk of metal strapped on my neck, I was contemplating: do I have a favorite baritone saxophonist?

Harry Carney, possibly. Harry joined Duke Ellington's band as a teen (I believe he had to receive his parents' permission) and occupied the bari/bass clarinet seat for the majority of both men's lives. Harry is the earliest jazz musician I know to have taught himself how to circular breath. 

This collection is self-evident: dates sans Ellington. Duke's shadow hung over some sessions though. No more so than two sides with Harry and Billy Strayhorn. 

This is a collection of 78 sides, and I can't hear a sour note in the bunch. Do we still practice such craft?

01/04/2026 on vinyl

Flexure: Insert Title Here

If I can't dig my own stuff now and then who will? I'm very proud of this LP. Everything was recorded at the New Hazlett Theater during a brief residency, Side one is three separate performances edited together. It has perhaps my best solo recorded. Side two is a complete unedited performance except for some brief its of guitar at the front and back ends. I considered editing out a short bit of drums in the middle, but I guess I liked the idea of leaving things alone as much as possible on that one. 

01/06/2026 on vinyl

Various artists: Paura; A Collection of Italian Horror Sounds From the CAM Sugar Archive (CAM Sugar)

Glancing over this at Jerry's Records, I was familiar with a few tracks but few enough to make this worth a purchase. Il Maestro, Ennio Morricone, is represented only twice among the twenty-five tracks, at least literally. His shadow is broadly cast over much of the music here. There are other familiar names to me, specifically Bruno Nicolai and Riz Ortolani. The former worked with Morricone and I think might have hinted that Ennio copied some of his ideas, but I can't find a source to cite in that respect. It's easy to say (and I've posted about this before) that Nicolai sounds a lot like Morricone. Or is it the other way around? I wouldn't want to favor Morricone just because he's the more famous composer.

There are lesser known names, to me at least: Stelvio Cipriani (who shamelessly apes "Inna Gadda Da Vida" on one cue; on another, his loud use of a jaw's harp over a rock beat again recalls Morricone), Daniele Patucchi (out of tune piano makes this sound especially weird), Manuel De Sica, etc. etc. 

I've come to recognize many Italian horror movies just on sight without knowing their origin. There's more than one factor: the dubbing to be sure, the music, the general look of the films. There's a tendency to be long on atmosphere and short on plot.

Paura. Fear. Jan 6. I don't know.

01/07/2026 on vinyl

Karlheinz Stockhausen: Prozession (Candide)

In my 20s, I had an interest, maybe even passion, for the idea of compositions as open-ended systems. That is to say, elements of the work would be constructed by the composer and have a resulting character, but the exact outcome wouldn't be the same each time. Robert Ashley's Quartet is a good example; it has a particular sound world but is different from performance to performance.

I come back from time to time to Stockhausen's "plus-minus" pieces. Performers are given a series of symbols (+, -, = among others), and are to take something they've played or heard and develop its elements based on the symbols. That is, a plus means louder or more complex or with more sections, a minus the opposite.

Once again I have an excellent library to thank for being able to check out Stockhausen scores, this time Kurzwellen, Prozession, Spiral, Pole, Expo, all in the plus-minus mode of composition. I suppose I have dream of performing Kurzwellen, in which the players respond to shortwave sounds. I know it'll never happen. I don't have that particular record, but I do have this one. 

It does have an improvisational quality, despite Karlheinz' particular directions. Players are asked to draw from prior Stockhausen compositions. There's no way to follow the score and know what's going on. I find that both exciting and frustrating, unable to pin down how the players are synchronizing their sonic events (if at all). 

Group Stockhausen must surely be one of the more unusual ensembles of any sort: two players on tam tam and microphone, piano, viola, and elektronium (an older electronic keyboard instrument), plus KS on sound projection (quadrophonic panning) and filtering. I was reading in Robin Maconie's book Other Planets that if Karlheinz didn't like what someone was doing in the moment, he'd pull them out of the mix. This led to to some members angrily leaving the group, to his surprise. 

Stockhausen definitely pushes the edge of self-assuredness-hubris-egomania. I'm grateful for him and his music but I can imagine how difficult he must have been at times. And even with all of the documentation of his scores, they are at times very difficult to interpret without him there to directly coach the players.