#tompkins square

[dustedmagazine]

Various Artists — Imaginational Anthem Vol. XIV: Ireland (Tompkins Square)

Cian Nugent

For the latest volume in its long-running Imaginational Anthem (IA) guitar series, Tompkins Square has enlisted Irish guitarist Cian Nugent as curator. The tracks provide a concise overview of the state of guitar-based music in that country.

Consistent with the focus of most of the volumes in the IA series, most of the tunes are played on acoustic guitars. The more traditional takes on Irish chestnuts include Junior Brother’s “Lark in the Morning,” Mark McKowski and Jerome McGlynn’s “The Blackbird,” and Caoimhe Hopkinson’s “Jamieson’s Favorite,” which recall the work of artists such as Davey Graham and Duck Baker on releases by the Kicking Mule label in the 1970s. Nugent’s snail’s pace version of the (possibly) O’Carolan composition “I Am Asleep And Do Not Wake Me” cleverly mirrors the title. Sidestepping the traditional material, Aonghus McEvoy turns in an unexpected and inspired solo acoustic take on Jimmy Guiffre’s “Cry, Want.”

Several of the contributors present their own compositions. “Inside Out” by Damien O’Neill, a veteran of The Undertones and That Petrol Emotion, is a lovely, if not identifiably Irish, tune sweetened with subtle electric guitar and percussion behind the acoustic. More Irishy is NC Lawlor’s “Laurie Rose,” featuring elegant hammer-ons and pull-offs and plenty of space between the notes. Brendan Jenkinson’s “Paris Blues,” with an insistent thumbed bass, is the most Tacoma-style track in the question.

Bracketing the acoustic tracks are David Murphy’s pedal steel reading of the centuries-old jig “March of the King of Laois,” which bridges Cork and ambient Nashville, and Sean Carpio’s original composition “Labour of Love,” also played on an electric guitar (standard rather than pedal steel).

This is a lovely album, its only drawback being its brief running time of barely 30 minutes. In a land as musically rich and diverse as Ireland, there are obviously more guitarists who could have been included (such as, for example, John McGrath, whose work has been reviewed in Dusted). In any case, the latest IA is another must-have for devotees of the always-evolving genre of Takoma-school guitar (and further proof that the “American Primitive” designation for the genre is overly parochial).

Jim Marks

[mywifeleftme]

282: Entourage Music and Theatre Ensemble // Ceremony of Dreams: Studio Sessions & Outtakes 1972–1977

Ceremony of Dreams: Studio Sessions & Outtakes 1972–1977 Entourage Music and Theatre Ensemble 2018, Tompkins Square (Bandcamp)

Still wildly underknown given the transporting beauty of their compositions, there is a world next door to this one where Baltimore’s Entourage Music and Theatre Ensemble is as popular a soundtrack for meditation and study as Steve Reich or Philip Glass are in our own. Their music lies somewhere between modern chamber music and progressive folk, with a dash of jazz, and it was often used to score experimental dance and theatre productions. The band released two albums in the 1970s on Folkways before dissolving following the death of bandleader Joe Clark in 1983. Most probably their obscurity came from practicing their craft outside a major cultural centre; if anything, the 1,600 monthly listeners they command on Spotify represents wider exposure than they enjoyed in their prime.

Ceremony of Dreams, available in a three-hour digital format or an abridged ten-track vinyl, collects material that didn’t make it onto either of their Folkways records. Compared to Entourage and The Neptune Collection, these tracks are a little less playful, less overtly experimental in their production; they weren’t after all recorded specifically for release as an LP. But even in its condensed wax form, I can speak to the quality of Ceremony’s sober reveries, the lot of it grey or ghost-haloed yet coruscating, like black and white footage of waves crashing at night. Rather than a mere trove of demos, it meaningfully expands on their discography.

The Pitchfork review does a better job of namedropping comparable artists than I have the chutzpah for today (Arvo Pärt, Bert Jansch, La Monte Young, John Cale, Sandy Bull, raga like in general), but if you have a taste for open-concept acoustic music, Ceremony of Dreams is a sure shot.

(As an aside though: It's either endearing or grownworthy that the Entourage boys still have the classic doofy musician dude sense of humour that compels them to give these ethereal compositions "Lick My Lovepump"-ass names like "Sleazy Sue" and "Necrophelia.")

282/365

[gacougnol]

Under an Endless Sky from Dorothy Moskowitz & The United States of Alchemy

[historybetweenthepages]

2010

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

Elsa Hewitt, “Inhaler,” LUPA. Tompkins Square, 2021.

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Ten Years Gone: A Tribute to Jack Rose

It’s been 10 years since the great Jack Rose left this earthly plane, but his influence seems to be stronger than ever. Like any other day of the year, it’s a great day to listen to some of the guitarist’s music -- or all of it! Cory at Three Lobed points out that it’ll take you about nine hours to get through the entire Rose catalog. Time well spent. But you could add another hour on there with this fab new tribute record compiled by Buck Curran, released digitally on the venerable Tompkins Square label. Some wonderful sounds here, from Rose’s friends, collaborators and disciples. Lars at NPR has a nice write-up -- The House That Jack Rose Built. And hey, this thing I put together a few years back for Aquarium Drunkard — Spirit In The House :: Jack Rose’s Enduring Legacy — is still fresh ... 

[alanabeyer]

Golden Hour off from Tompkins Square, to St. Marks

[instagram]

Cute and Clever Costumed Pups From the 27th Annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade

Hello, world! It’s time for a very special Halloween edition of #WeeklyFluff. Last weekend in NYC’s Alphabet City neighborhood, plenty of precious pups, like Cruz @cruzthefrenchie (pictured), let their alter egos shine at the 27th Annual Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade.