Listening Log: February (Album of the Month: 'A Monastic Trio', Alice Coltrane)

In January, I hit a mother load I'll be tapping the rest of the year. A friend wants to put all his CD's into his computer, to remove clutter from his residential space, and I benefit. One of the albums purchased (out of more than 30!) is A Monastic Trio, and it captivates me from the start. So bare, so subtle. The year after John Coltrane's death. A fitting-enough beginning for a new era of New York Free Jazz, with less people listening perhaps, but less idiots bantering about silly controversies too. The trade-off...

2/1:
Oneida - The Wedding;
Phil Collins - Hello, I Must Be Going;
Alex von Schlippenbach - Pakistani Pomade;
Joey Beltram - Phases;
Alice Coltrane - A Monastic Trio;
Excepter - Debt Dept.

2/2:
Alice Coltrane - A Monastic Trio;
Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual;
Metallica - Ride the Lightning;
Killick - Jumping Frenchmen of Maine;
Phil Collins - No Jacket Required;
Keiji Haino - Uchu Ni Karamitsuiteru Waga Itami.

2/3:
Fushitsusha - Pathétique;
Alice Coltrane - A Monastic Trio.

2/4:
Grinderman.

2/5:
Musica Elettronica Viva - M E V 40 (1967-2007) (disc 4, track 1);
Fennesz - Black Sea;
Fennesz - Endless Summer.

2/6:
Matmos - A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure;
Pauline Oliveros - Accordion and Voice.

2/8:
Judas Priest - Stained Class.

2/9:
Fennesz - Endless Summer;
Musica Elettronica Viva - M E V (1967-2007) (disc 4, track 1);
Pauline Oliveros, Stuart Dempster, and Panaiotis - Deep Listening.

2/10:
Steve Reich - Different Trains: Kronos Quartet / Moving Parts: Pat Metheny;
Tom Prehn Quartet;
Carl Stalling - The Carl Stalling Project Volume 2 (tracks 1-14);
Lou Reed - Transformer;
Peter Kowald, Werner Ludi, Butch Morris, and Sainko Hamtchylak - When the Sun Is Out You Don't See Stars.

2/11:
Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won (disc 3);
Alice Coltrane - A Monastic Trio;
Limescale;
Lou Reed - Berlin;
Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual (tracks 1-4).

2/12:
Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won (disc 1, tracks 1-4);
Keiji Haino and Derek Bailey - Songs;
John Cage - Imaginary Landscapes.

2/13:
Wilco - Sky Blue Sky;
Royal Trux - Cats and Dogs;
Royal Trux - Sweet Sixteen;
Circle - Circulus (tracks 1-2);
Royal Trux [1992];
Iggy Pop - The Idiot;
Musica Elettronica Viva - M E V 40 (1967-2007) (disc 1).

2/14:
D J Other Voices, Other Rooms - Live at Thee Owl Club;
Alice Coltrane - A Monastic Trio;
Evan Parker, Paul Bley, and Barre Phillips - Sankt Gerold;
Tom Prehn Quartet;
Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza - Azioni (disc 1);
Talking Heads - Fear of Music;
Led Zeppelin - How the West Was Won (disc 1, tracks 5-10).

2/15:
Boredoms - Super Roots 2;
Boredoms - Super Roots 7;
Boredoms - Super Roots 8;
Boredoms - Super Go!;
Boredoms - Super Roots 9;
Boredoms - Rebore Vol. 0;
Jorge Antunes - Savage Songs;
1970's Algerian Proto-Rai Underground.

2/16:
Genesis - Foxtrot;
Genesis - Live;
Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza - Azioni (disc 1);
Java: Court Gamelan, Volume III.

2/17:
Alice Coltrane - A Monastic Trio;
Bali: Music for the Shadow Play;
Jane - Paradise;
The Blithe Sons - The Great Orthochromatic Wheel.

2/18:
The Blithe Sons - We Walk the Young Earth;
Phil Collins - Hello, I Must Be Going;
Evan Parker and Keith Rowe - Dark Rags;
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (tracks 1-4).

2/19:
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (tracks 5-11);
Genesis;
Evan Parker - Lines Burnt in Light.

2/20:
Alèmu Aga - Éthiopiques-11: The Harp of King David;
Boredoms - Rebore Vol. 0;
The Beach Boys - Sunflower;
The Beach Boys - Surf's Up;
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion;
Magazine - Real Life;
Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull;
My Bloody Valentine, Boston Axis, 31 May 1989 [bootleg].

2/21:
John Zorn and Milford Graves, 50-2;
Boredoms - Pop Tatari;
Yoko Ono - Season of Glass;
The Jewelled Antler Library (disc four, tracks 1-7);
John Cale - Fear;
Roxy Music (tracks 1-4, plus "Virginia Plain");
Thuja - Pine Cone Temples (disc 2).

2/22:
Thuja - Pine Cone Temples (disc 1);
Roscoe Mitchell - In Walked Buckner;
Roscoe Mitchell Sound Ensemble - 3 X 4 Eye;
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam;
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion;
The Jewelled Antler Library (disc 4, tracks 8-12).

2/23:
The Blithe Sons - The Great Orthochromatic Wheel;
The Homosexuals - Astral Glamour (disc 1);
Iggy Pop - Lust for Life;
The Bats - Daddy's Highway;
The Jewelled Antler Library (disc 4);

2/24:
The Beach Boys - Sunflower;
Indian Jewelry - Free Gold!;
Arthur Russell - World of Echo;
Excepter - Alternation.

2/25:
The Ivytree - Winged Leaves;
The Jewelled Antler Library (disc 4);
Echo and The Bunnymen - Crocodiles.

2/26:
Kanye West - 808s and Heartbreak (minus "Pinocchio Story (Freestyle Live from Singapore)");
Earth - The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull;
Excepter - Debt Dept.;
Derek Bailey - Improvisation;
Morrissey - Ringleader of the Tormentors (minus "The Father Who Must Be Killed" and "I Just Want to See the Boy Happy");
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (tracks 1-3).

2/27:
Excepter - Streams 01 (discs 1 and 2);
Derek Bailey and Dave Holland - Improvisations for Cello and Guitar;
Morrissey - Viva Hate;
Have a Nice Life - Deathconsciousness (discs 1 and 2).

2/28:
The Beach Boys - Surf's Up;
Roscoe Mitchell Sound Ensemble - 3 X 4 Eye;
Evan Parker - The Snake Decides;
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (disc 1).