FRANC1S BEBEY - P1ÈCES P0UR GU1TARE SEULE (1965)

Bebey's sprawling sonic vision--and prodigious, polymathic talents--are on full display here...two early compositions for solo guitar. Gorgeous, spacious phrasing. Mesmerizing pluckery. A smart, soulful deep-dive into the quandaries/quagmires of genre, the musicology of empire. (Check his essay "La radiodiffusion en Afrique Noire", 1963)

(We previously posted on his album of sanza work (1982-84) here.)

Dream it here...

M0RI CH1EKO - KATY0U FUUGETSU (2006)

Ms. Mori is a Koto virtuoso who began playing the instrument at age three. This solo album, augmented at times with her voice, brings the classical-folk tradition of her instrument into the world of the uncanny--where lyricality, spaciousness and intricately woven rhythmic textures meet dissonance, digression and chaos. A dream music smear of gagaku court music, country blues, and outsider serialist improv lullaby. Something that sounds at times like a hybrid of Yoritsube Matsudaira, John Fahey, Joanna Newsom and Derek Bailey. Beautiful.

Dream it...

TAKU SUG1M0TO - OPPOS1TE (1998)

One of only three releases by the briefly existing hatNOIR imprint from the Hat folks in Switzerland. A solo recording from this versatile guitarist and frequent Otomo Yoshihide collaborator. Spaciousness, quietness and understatement--restrained understatement even--permeate this solo recording, as well as our waking dreams.

Breathe it in...

AD0LF WÖLFLI / BAUD0U1N DE J4ER - ANALYS1S OF MUS1CAL CRYPT0GRAMS / THE HE4VENLY LADDER (2011)

A second interpretation of Wölfli's compositions comes from the solo violin of B. De Jaer, who we earlier featured on the Korean gayageum here. 

More strange, sparse and lovely string music on which to drift away. Far away. 

Do it. 

TERRY R1LEY - SAL0ME DANCES F0R PE4CE (1989)

Today we post three CDs purchased on the same day in 1992, from a sale bin of deleted items, with holes punched into the jewel cases. What follows is one longish and two shortish releases from the now defunct combo Elektra/Nonesuch label. All three cost $14.

First up is Riley's epic collaboration with Kronos, in their original and classic incarnation. Lots to "peacefully" drift off to here, indeed: Part1, P2. 

(Check out Riley's soundtracks, previously posted here and here.)

K0SUKE HASH1ZUME - REICH: ELECTR1C C0UNTERP01NT (2015)

For some of us weaned on Metheny's version on Different Trains, this interpretation comes as a clean and tidy breath of air.

Dream...

BERN4RD FALAISE - DO (2000)

Halfway through the day, we inadvertently took a detour from serialism and repetition into a few albums of guitar based frenzy and cerebral nullification. The shift worked like a charm, the chaos and white noise giving us renewed mental focus, in the way static noise can ease the brain to sleep.

Falaise, a Quebec virtuoso, was probably the hardest test of our trance experiment. A rambunctious, stunning album that captures the attention as much as loses it. A sonic journey well worth the slight fall in office productivity--and concentration--for its quality of frontal cortex refreshment.

Do...

DEREK B41LEY - IMPROVISATION (1975)

OWOD's fifth DIVerso posting finds Mr. Bailey at, perhaps, his pluckiest, scrambliest best. For some of us, only the most disjointed of pacing, atonal of sounds and structureless of ramblings can provide respite from the tedium of everyday noise, or the incessant churning of the brain. This album--a masterclass on dexterous fingerwork--is dreamsound for those of us.

BAUD0U1N DE J4ER - GAYAGEUM S4NJO (2012)

Korean Court Music played on Gayageum. For when your addiction to solo string instruments needs more spaciousness, gentleness, and room to breath.

Inhale and dream...

M4LC0LM G0LDSTEIN - VISI0N S0UND1NG (1985)

A work of not-quite-but-close droneish violin improv on one side of this self-released album. Great. On the flip, Goldstein provides an extended technique exercise in the form of playing an actual maple tree branch. Exquisite. His tapping, and scraping explorations of the sonic potential of a stick is enthralling, beyond meditative, if ridiculous. To this he adds subtle humming--again, almost a drone. A shamanistic experiment in already experimental sound.

The violin dreams of its youth as a tree...

R3MK0 SCHA - MACH1NE GU1T4RS (1982)

It was time for the non-human music of more automatons. And so automatons it was: an installation of suspended guitars, playing themselves.

The machines didn't care if we dreamed about them or not or not.

BR0TZM4NN / H4M1LT0N - ZULUT1ME (1996)

It was time for density. That block of wood. A brick. I listened to a few tracks from an old favorite.

L0REN MAZZ4CANE-C0NN0RS & ALAN L1CHT - H0FFMAN ESTATES (1998)

A post-minimalist, guitar-based exploration of distended blues, atonal ensemble symphonics and studio magicianship, courtesy of producer Jim O-Rourke. Often referred to as O'Rourke's Teo Macero project, Connors and Licht indeed get fine support from many of Chicago's finest: Vandermark, K. Drumm, J. Bishop, C. Taylor, J. Abrams, Mazurek, Colligan...a beautiful and unsettling work.

Dream here...

PR0FESSOR LIANG TSAI-P1NG AND HIS GR0UP - CH1NA'S INSTRUMENTAL HER1TAGE (c. mid 1970s)

Lulling and jarring traditional classical pieces for solo and small ensemble, dating from the 8th to the 20th century. Featuring music for sheng, hsiao, hsuan, cheng, and nan hu.

Dream...

MARC R1B0T - PLAYS S0L0 GU1TAR W0RKS BY FRANTZ CASSEUS (1993)

After making some initial recordings of his teacher's compositions in the mid 80s, Ribot perfected his F. Casseus repertoire for this masterpiece. For his part, Casseus was fueled by the dreams of his esteemed Haitian countryman Aimé Césaire to give voice to a contemporary national sense of identity. Ribot plays these charming works with restraint, grace and evident love and admiration. A warm album--soft, lilting and infused with Carribean breeziness.

Dream the dream...

B0LA SETE - 0CEAN MEM0R1ES (1972)

This album collects the full haunting 1972 Ocean sessions of "seven ball" D. de Andrade (released 1975, Takoma) which were recorded and produced by Fahey. Sete's solo guitar glistens like summer sun on the beach, and refracts like moonbeams on the sea.

Dream on...