May 3, 2023 Playlist

Isao Tomita "The Bermuda Triangle" (1979)
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Tomita "The Bermuda Triangle"  1979 (Japan)
Isao Tomita (1932-2016) was one of the world's top electronic music auteurs during the period when electronic music became popular and widespread. As a recording artist, he was best known for a series of albums in the 1970's featuring synthesizer interpretations of classical music. (As a pop culture legend, in the 1980's he put on some  "Sound Cloud" outdoor concerts featuring bazillion-watt multispeaker sound systems and Tomita hovering over the audience in a glass pyramid!) His first album Snowflakes Are Dancing (1974) consisted of whimsical synth versions of Debussy's "tone poems" and was an unlikely hit record from the classical music world - probably because its "spacy" sound made it appealing to fans of Pink Floyd, ELP, and other "switched-on" rockers of the day. Tomita followed these up by giving the music of Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, and Holst the same treatment and these were also very popular for "classical" albums. The Holst album The Planets (1976) was particularly great and works as an instrumental concept album: he created "alien voices" and synthesized sound effects to help weave the pieces on the album into a larger narrative. His 1977 album Kosmos was a more eclectic grab-bag of pieces, the focus being Tomita's synth version of the theme from Star Wars (there were a whole lot of Star Wars-themed records that came out that year!!) Next up came his most ambitious recording, this week's Classic Album, which is mostly based on musical themes by the Russian composer Prokofiev. Tomita re-titles these pieces and weaves them together along with a few original tunes, a Sibelius piece, and John Williams' iconic Theme From Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.  The result is a continuous suite of music nearly an hour long, which (according to the groovy cover art) is a story about the Bermuda Triangle, UFOs, underwater civilizations, mermaids, and LOVE!
(N) = New Release
(R) = Listener Request
   
Artist Song Album Year Country
Von LMOThis Is Pop RockFuture Language1981USA
BrainiacRadio ApeshotBonsai Superstar1994USA
Brainiac Kiss Of The DogThe Predator Nominate EP (N)rec. 1997 (2023 Touch & Go)USA
Deerhoof Phase Out All Remaining Non-Miracles By 2028Miracle-level (N)
2023 (Joyful Noise)USA/Japan
The Ducks
(Neil Young, Bob Mosley, Jeff Blackburn & Johnny Craviotto) 		Windward Passage (live)
   / Mr. Soul (Neil Young - live)		High Flyin' (N)
1977 (2023 Shakey Pictures)USA/Canada
 
 
A Certain Ratio 19821982 (N)
2023 (Mute)UK
U.S. Girls Tux (Your Body Fills Me, Boo)Bless This Mess (N)2023 (4AD)USA/Canada
The Damned The Invisible ManDarkadelic (N)
2023 (EARMUSIC)UK
Guided By Voices Face EraserLa La Land (N)
2023 (GBV Inc.)USA
Quasi Shitty Is PrettyBreaking The Balls Of History (N)2023 (Sub Pop)USA
Mudhoney Severed Dreams In The Sleeper CellPlastic Eternity (N)
2023 (Sub Pop)USA
Scott McMicken & The Ever-Expanding RestartShabang (N)2023 (Anti-)USA
   
 
Blue PhantomDistillationDistrortions1971Italy
Jean-Jacques PerreyCat In The NightMoog Indigo1970France
Martin DennyQuiet VillageExotic Moog1969USA
Tangerine DreamRubycon (part 1 - excerpt)Rubycon1975Germany
VangelisBlade Runner (End Titles)Blade Runner (original motion picture soundtrack)rec. 1982, rel. 1994Greece
   
 
TomitaA Space Ship Lands Emitting Silvery Light
  --> Electromagnetic Waves Descend (Prokofiev: "Romeo And Juliet" Suite No. 2)
  --> A World Of Different Dimensions (Sibelius: Valse Triste)
  --> The Giant Pyramid And Its Ancient People (Prokofiev: Scythian Suite)		The Bermuda Triangle
 CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK		1979Japan
PerfumeFusionFuture Pop2018Japan
TomitaThe Dazzling Cylinder That Crashed In Tunguska, Siberia
(Prokofiev: Symphony No. 6: First Movement)		The Bermuda Triangle
 CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK		1979Japan
Wednesday Campanella Hot Pot CommanderRabbit Star (N)2023 (Warner Japan)Japan
Appare! Hatenko Cinderella ("Deviant Cinderella")B-side single (N)2023 (Appare! Records)Japan
   
 
Unknown Mortal Orchestra The GardenV (N)
2023 (Jagjaguwar)New Zealand
Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra
 		Future ShamanLightning Dreamers (N)
2023 (International Anthem)USA
Cinephonic Les Souterrains ("The Subterranean")Visions (N)
2023 (Marlow)Canada
The Mars Volta Graveyard Love (acoustic version)Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazón (N)
("May God Curse My Heart")		2023 (Clouds Hill)USA
Black Country, New Road Dancers
   --> Up Song (Reprise) (live)		Live At Bush Hall (N)2023 (Ninja Tune)UK
   
 
Ahmad Jamal (R)The AwakeningThe Awakening1970USA
Ahmad Jamal (R)Rossiter Road (live)Live At The Montreal Jazz Festival1985USA
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