the flute

[bruno]

i was thinking about the flute after listening to xhol's grille today.

there is something about the sound of this instrument that i find very humble and innocent (if that is possible).

when i hear flutes i feel instantly at ease, swept into a different space, like an old friend. it's almost as if it were from another time, actually, and i wouldn't be surprised if were the oldest instrument. played by the breeze before there were hands to fashion it!

i won't go into indian music because i know next to nothing about it, but if you've heard the bansuri you'll know that in the right hands that's the ticket to bliss.

and the last track on the master musicians lp.

and the bird motive in peter and the wolf.

there is a lot of indonesian music along the lines of the xhol track, incidentally, very calm and nocturnal. they hit a certain part of the brain with this one, i think, crickets and flutes (but that's another subject).

 

[mistersloane]

I fuckin glove hippy flute solos in the middle of rock tunes ( fave being 'I love you' by Spacemen 3 ), everytime I hear it my arms go up in the air and I'm suddenly skipping barefoot through a utopian forest eating delicious fruit from goblins with long flowing tresses, and then the song ends. Which is just as well, cos it's a nice place to visit but i wouldn't want to live there.

Now That's What I Call Flutes would be a great mixtape for someone to do.

 

[bruno]

eating delicious fruit from goblins with long flowing tresses

lol, you've just ruined a perfectly good song!

 

[mistersloane]

( embarassed) you mean you don't get that too?

 

[slye]

Yes yes, love the flute as well. I'd nominate "Conference of the Birds" by the Dave Holland Quartet as one of the great flute records in jazz. Lovely flute textures throughout the record.

An appearance of the instrument that's always stood out to me is "Kicks and Chicks" by The Zipps. These guys were apparently major heads from the Netherlands, and the tune is basically a poppy slice of 60's psych-tinged garage rock... And yet theres this plaintive yet lovely flute solo that appears out of the blue (as if it's just expected of a rock&roll tune to contain a flute solo) before dropping out for guitar solo which is strangely reminiscent of "8 Miles High". As far as garage rock goes, this one's definately in my top five!

 

[slye]

it's almost as if it were from another time, actually, and i wouldn't be surprised if were the oldest instrument. played by the breeze before there were hands to fashion it!

NICE!!

 

[bruno]

( embarassed) you mean you don't get that too?

no, i don't associate flutes to gnomes! but then i'm not european so it's only half in my dna, i suppose.

thanks for the dave holland tip, slye. jazz is another grey area for me, i'm afraid. the more i explore the more i realise i know fuck-all about music.

 

[Chris]

Yeah, I love when the flute pops up in Mercury Rev's "Chasing a Bee." Kind of evokes the same mythical, foresty vibe for me that Mistersloane described... which I'm not afraid to admit I'm kind of a sucker for sometimes. Maybe it is my subconscious ancient European roots showing through.

 

[hint]

I've always thought of them as being a little bit sleazy... all that heavy breathing and spittle.

NTTAWWT

 

[oblioblioblio]

ultramarine - saratoga

delicious flute in that one.

 

[mistersloane]

Kind of evokes the same mythical, foresty vibe for me that Mistersloane described...

Phew! Not just me then, I got well para there for a while lol

 

[muser]

the flute can be beautiful but its one of those intruments that when coming from a sampler or a synth, or just used in a particular way, makes me cringe.

 

[zhao]

a few wicked flute rekkids for download:

Horatio Radulescu - Dizzy Divinity

(not commercially available)

1. Dizzy Divinity I
2. Byzantine Prayer
3. Frenetico il longing di amare
4. Capricorn's Nostalgic Crickets II

an ocean of monolithic flute tones... endless. terrifying.

Conductor: Horatiu Radulescu (assistant Pierre-Alain Biget)
Performer: Pierre-Yves Artaud
Orchestra: Orchestre Francais de Flutes
Label: Adda

download:
http://rapidshare.de/files/33468286/HR.zip.html

Gamelan - Java: Sunda

sunda refers to the aproximate western third region of the Island of Java. the Gamelan Degung, a princely music used for ceremonies in the courts, dates back to the 17th century, but has its roots in much older tradtions.

the Gamelan used in this style is much more melodic than its counterpart in other parts of Indonesia, and has a suble, crystaline aproach to poly-rhythmic complexity. the midrange bell tones are somewhat akin to a xylophone, with gorgeous flute melodies flying high above, and underpinned below by the awesome quakes of a majestic bass gong (same effect as the diving "hoover-bass" of jungle).

a nocturnal, other-worldly mood pervades on this disc; much more than mere "pretty" in the conventional sense, this music can go from heart-breaking to outright sinister - often at the same time. just play track 7 with the volume up and the lights dimmed... hello goosebumps.

one of the most amazing from my entire Gamelan collection: delicate, refined, and deeply moving.

download:
http://rapidshare.de/files/18804417/JAVA_-_PAYS_SUNDA.zip.html


Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia - Live In Jaipur

full of the gorgeous tonal color and dramatic soaring and diving like some fearless sea-bird in sun filled clear blue skies (is this too much? these metaphoric descriptors? feel free to let me know) one would come to expect from this master of wooden flutes.

download:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HEDJ1ED4

 

[STN]

I'm quite fond of people who talk/shout into flutes. Harold Alexander's LP 'Raw Root' is a good example as is Rahsaan Roland Kirk's version of 'Ain't No Sunshine'.

The flute on Juniour Soul (Murvin)'s version of 'Give Me Your Love' is bloody excellent too.

 

[petergunn]

i actually recently got a psych album by a french canadian band called Les Sinners and there is flute all over it... it's actually a pretty tasty record and the flute works for most of it... in general, i'm not sure who is to blame for the pysch/flute thing...

Blues Project?

Mandrill?

i hate to say it, but, Jethro Tull?

 

[soundslike1981]

Too bad Kraftwerk have so much disdain for their flutey days--'Ruckzuck' is still pretty sweet.

 

[bruno]

i don't think they truly loathe this part of their outupt, it just doesen't fit in conceptually with what came after. a friend had his copy of ralf & florian signed by florian and he seemed cheerful enough about it. had i been florian i would have whacked the lp over his head.

 

[zhao]

yes that is a very good track... except how it changes tempo all of a sudden - makes it impossible to include in a mix

 

[tate]

Over holiday vacation I dug out old footage of Coltrane and relished watching Eric Dolphy play the flute in a quartet with Coltrane, Elvin Jones, and Jimmy Garrison. His note selection is quite similar to the way that he plays saxophone. There is an amazing frame in which Dolphy concludes his solo in one half of the image, and Jones is bouncing the stick on the snare with his left hand as he plays, then Coltrane steps up to take the play the head.

Perhaps the most famous flute piece in 20th century classical composition was Varese's "Density 21.5," a solo piece for flute which obliterates the perfect fourth and fifth by exploring raised fourths in endlessly fascinating, and disssonant, ways.

Recently I've been quite enamored of Brian Ferneyhough's compositions for flute, some of which appear on the album Music for Flute, performed by Kolbeinn Bjarnason.

Favorite flute in a 'rock' context: Comus, First Utterance.

 

[STN]

.

Favorite flute in a 'rock' context: Comus, First Utterance.

Wicked album.

Been meaning to check Dolphy for a while. Any pointers?