To my fellow Tapeheads, I've been on the lookout for new releases so I should be back in action shortly. Just a note: I've been considering the idea of turning this into an independent blog site. I'll be doing the research this week on domain names, hosting and html. In the meantime, stop back here for updates. I should have something up soon. Sincerely, Letters From A Tapehead

To whom it may interest, Sunday night, I heard the news that Alice Coltrane , widow of John , had died at the age of 69 from respiratory failure. Alice Coltrane was a classically trained piano player. During John Coltrane’s exodus from convention and structure, Alice was at the keys, aiding John in his musical exploration. When he died of liver cancer in 1967 at the age of 41, Alice (then a widow at 30) continued to play with members of John’s group and went on a musical journey of her own. Having been heavily influenced by cultures in the East, most notably Hinduism, Alice incorporated these sounds into her playing and widened the jazz spectrum. Inadvertently I think she increased jazz’s relevance to society’s then-climate, the younger generations of which were turning on to enlightenment through drugs and Eastern religions. She also brought the harp into the mix, adding variety and stretching the boundaries a little more; boundaries that her husband was doing his damnedest to k...

To whom it may interest, Armed with a cup of coffee and kind of blessed with nothing better to do, I’ve been spending my evening listening to some crazy shit. It’s been one of those nights where “straight-laced” and “easy to comprehend” aren’t in my best interests. My stream of listening began last night while I was up to my eyeballs in a case of lager. I was having one of those “meaningful” conversations that you sometimes get into when you’re inebriated and John Coltrane ’s Ascension seemed like the way to go. Tonight, it’s been two spins of Public Image Ltd. ’s Metal Box LPs, a spin of Coltrane’s Live At the Village Vanguard (Again) and now I’m absorbing the recently released MOFO Project/Object , which should earn Gail Zappa some kind of award for humanity. What am I talking about? Okay… Forty years ago, the first double LP was born. This LP was called Freak Out! , which was an unusually conceived and classically orchestrated piece of rock n’ roll brilliance crafted by Th...

To my fellow Tapeheads, So, Letters began on May of 2006 as my own personal outlet for musical opinion. It was a way for me to either celebrate or crucify the releases of the year and discuss past albums that have made an impression on me. I must say, for the most part, I was happy with a lot of what I had purchased. Because of the money issue, and time, it was difficult to stay within a month of the release date for a lot of what I reviewed. For 2007, I’m going to try and pick up potential reviews and have them out relatively close to their respective release dates. Anyway…this is everything I bought for 2006. The first 15 were, for me, the heavyweights. Some of these I did not review so, for the first 15, I’m including a small blurb. If anyone wants to know more about the non-reviewed CDs, please email me or comment and I’ll get back to you with some info. In the meantime, hope you enjoy the list. Personal Best of 2006: 1). TV On The Radio — Return to Cookie Mountain Rat...

Thom Yorke The Eraser XL Recordings Released 7.11.06 Rating: 4 out of 4 My first and favorite foray into the innovative world of Radiohead is Kid A . I’ll admit that the first time I ever heard “Creep,” I was turned off to its accessibility and its complete over-abundance of boo hoo. Add to that the fact that I kept hearing “…but I’m a creep…” ringing throughout the suburban and plastic hallways of my high school and you’d find me in complete boycott mode. It wasn’t until 2000, a relatively bleak year for music, that I decided to take a shot on Radiohead . Kid A was their latest release and it made me eat my words and thoughts as it converted me into an avid appreciator. It was technically brilliant, heartfelt and it was amazing to me how much mood was built with electronic music. It was like their synthesizers had tear ducts. When I heard Thom Yorke ’s solo album, The Eraser , I immediately understood a lot of what I’d read about it: That it’s essentially the brother, stepso...

The Evens Get Evens Dischord Released 11.7.06 Rating: 4 out of 4 Fugazi is one of those bands that I’m thankful to have heard as a teenager. As I type this, I can remember that first piercing riff spill out of my skater buddy’s boombox within seconds after throwing in In On The Kill Taker , the Fugazi tape that I had purchased earlier that day, and exclaiming “YES!” once that tape’s promise had been delivered. I still have that tape. It takes up a small space in my CD tower, living its existence as an enlightening memento of my youth. The second I’d heard “Around the Corner,” the second track on The Evens self-titled debut, I knew Ian MacKaye ’s post-Fugazi career would be worth paying attention to. No longer loud, but no less affecting, MacKaye and ex- Warmer Amy Farina are either this millennium’s answer to the protest band or a slightly rugged return to hippy folk. It’s hard to imagine that MacKaye was once in a band that belted out a quote so memorable as, “The...

To my fellow Tapeheads, So, 2006 is coming to a close. I managed to pick up a lot of great records this year, though I unfortunately did not get to review them all. What can I say? I got married, went to Europe and turned 30 in the space of two months. Add on holiday shopping and you have one very exhausted, self-appointed music critic. But, because of that, I'm currently working on my final reviews for 2006 (I think I'm going to try and get two done) and an end-of-the-year rundown of everything I picked up. I want to make sure that whatever I didn't get to write about in my usual over-blown observations gets a little ink. I'm going to annotate any non-reviewed entry with a little blurb and a rating. It's quite an undertaking, but it should be an informative read. I'm not really sure what 2007 has in store as far as new tunes. I do know that the mighty Queens of the Stone Age will be committing themselves to wax some time this year. I also heard that...