#58: Hang Up Your Hang Ups
Big Sky Orchestra | Willow Skye-Biggs | Fortunato Durutti Marinetti | Purelink
Welcome back to the Ambient Audiophile, a place where cables matter.
The subs keep coming! Thank you and hello to all our new friends. Paying subs have slowed down, so I’m once again toying with the idea of putting this whole thing behind the paywall. I would hate that but it might be worth it to see who values this thing enough. I don’t know, we’ll see. To reiterate: a subscription here is the best way to ensure the radio show (and this newsletter, obvs) continues on a healthy path forward.
Speaking of, we returned to the radio air and streams this week with a fun little program.
In the first set we heard from the great new psych project Herb Lore (Urthwork Recordings), glitchy folktronica from Felt Body (Distant Bloom), and a trio of fabulous pieces from the Summer batch forthcoming from the great Oakland label Constellation Tatsu.
Set two went deep on the jams, featuring only three pieces. We started out with the new stunner from Norway’s Jorsdjø (Apollon) before hearing an INCREDIBLE rendition of ‘Inca Roads’ from the forthcoming, previously unreleased 1974 Zappa/Mothers set Cheaper Than Cheap. From there we continued delving into the vast live archives of moe. with an out-of-this-world version of “Meat”, gloriously recorded by Charlie Miller at the legendary San Francisco venue the Warfield in 2001.
Have a listen to the show here and check the tracklist below.
The Trailhead 175
1. Herb Lore - Heavy Energy - I (Urthwork Recordings, 2025) 00:00
2. Felt Body - Erie Canal by Hand Angel Excavation - Fig Tree Long Walk 6am (Distant Bloom, 2025) 09:10
3. Ian Hawgood - And You Were Gone - Well, Here We Are (Quiet Details, 2025) 15:20
4. Marine Eyes - Long Horizon - Quiet Circle (Self, 2025) 21:52
5. Kenji Kihara - Lake Side - Winds of Eternity (Constellation Tatsu, 2025) 26:25
6. Rhucle - Airship feat. Arbee - No Wind (Constellation Tatsu, 2025) 31:50
7. The Harp Players - Who Is the Driver - Destruction (Constellation Tatsu, 2025) 35:02
8. Mark Hollis - A New Jerusalem - Mark Hollis (Polydor, 1998) 44:50
9. Jordsjø - Kontraster - Kontraster (Apollon, 2025) 1:03:17
10. Frank Zappa - Inca Roads - Cheaper Than Cheap (Zappa Records, 2025) 1:23:07
11. moe. - Meat - The Warfield, San Francisco, CA, 2/10/01 (LMA) 1:32:20
A little late to this really cool newish band from England called Big Sky Orchestra. I stumbled upon them when I saw one of my absolute favorite modern bands, Guranfoe, were supporting BSO at some upcoming (and sold out) gigs. Being a big fan of big sky country and psychedelic jams, I started exploring.
What I found was frustrating— a promising band without a full album for me to dive in to! Interestingly, BSO has opted for dropping singles the last couple years rather than disappearing and coming back with a proper full length. Quite a concept! Ok, so they call themselves a jam band on their website, surely there must be loads of live tapes out there?
Nope, not really. There are three very good jams on their YouTube channel though! The singles (eight so far) are on all the streaming services and they are really good, recalling such great UK first wave jammers like Mighty Baby and Help Yourself. Apparently there’s a new EP release coming soon. So, we’ll be on the lookout.
In the meantime, check some jams out.
Maybe consider not wasting another dollar on DeadCo and use it to fly over the pond and check some BSO gigs?
Earlier this week, a new album from Toronto artist Fortunato Durutti Marinetti was announced. Bitter Sweet, Sweet Bitter is out 7/25 via the Vancouver We Are Time. Fortunato Durutti Marinetti is actually Italy-born singer-songwriter Daniele Colussi and they have take all the good, sunny parts of late 70s and 80s Lou Reed records and wrap them in Canterbury-ish arrangements like Kevin Ayers used to have and emits glorious tunes for days. The new single, “Full of Fire” is as buoyant as we’ve heard from this project and it sails by at a lovely, uplifting pace.
Always very nice to get a notification about a new release from SEan Conrad’s peerless Inner Islands label. This time it’s for Elsewhere, a new release from artist Willow Skye-Biggs. This one follows the most excellent 2024 release Dreams In Suspension and promises more spacious, eye-opening electronic introspection and exploration. Sadly, Elsewhere was created during a, to put it lightly, tumultuous time for Skye-Biggs on a personal level. But that pain is artfully sublimated on the the first released track, the peaceful and expansive “Pihkal”.
Sometimes I don’t know what to call the vaguely dance-y- music I come across and like.
Is this House? Is this Psy-Trance? Is this Bullshit?
Thankfully we live in the era of tags so I get to appear smarter than I am when discussing NYC trio Purelink.
The truth is I would never have checked Purelink out if they weren’t on the most excellent Peak Oil label operated by golden eared artist Brian Foote. I don’t know where Foote finds the artists he releases but I hope that honey hole never closes because everything he puts out is interesting (if not awesome).
Purelink are no exception and I am looking forward to spending a lot of time with the their new full-length Faith.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Almost all of the listening I do at home is focused on jazz. It’s just the way it is. And I’m never going to apologize for it.
I’m most well-versed in Herbie Hancock’s funk/fusion zone so it’s little wonder this 1977 trio outing has eluded me. Well, there’s also the fact it was a Japan-only release until a few years ago. That, of course, doesn’t mean much in this post peer-to-peer world.
But anyway, The Herbie Hancock Trio features Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums and what drew me to it was this small group get together after Hancock’s mid-decade expansions in the funk. Was this going to be quaint and quiet or something completely different?
The answer is the latter, with everyone’s playing super crisp and groovy on four Hancock pieces and one from Miles. This record is so good, it’s a shame it is but a footnote in Hancock’s career. Maybe that will change.
thanks for playing long horizon! 🌅
thanks for including qd33 ian hawgood 🙏💜