New texts at www.scaruffi.com
(Click on the underlined text to be taken to the various pages)
September-October 2009:
- New reviews
- Reissue of the month: Stevie Moore's first album Phonography (ReR)
July-August 2009:
June 2009: Revisited
Kit Clayton,
Jack Rose,
Shalabi Effect
April 2009: The "A History of Rock and Dance Music" is two volumes (800 pages total) is out. You can order it here. It is also available from AMAZON.COM.
February 2009: I an leaning towards splitting the new book in two volumes: parts 1 to 4 in Vol 1 (basically, up to 1989), and parts 5-7 in Vol 2; otherwise the single volume edition would be too big and too expensive. Then people who already own the old edition can decide if they just want Vol 2 of the new edition (massive corrections and additions) or also the slightly revised Vol 1. I also briefly debated if i should change the title to "A History of Rock and Dance Music", since there are so many detailed chapters on the origin and development of soul, funk, hip-hop, techno, house, drum'n'bass, dubstep, etc.
February 2009: Massively revising the ratings of albums of the decade
February 2009: Adding dozens of short bios for musicians of the decade
February 2009: Read here for the status of the new edition of my "A History of Rock Music"
January 2009: I am adding dozens of band bios, listening to hundreds of cds of the last 5 years, but i don't have time to list them somehere. The only way to find out is to read the chapters of Part 7 of the new edition of my History of Rock Music as they are revised daily. Sorry!
January 2009: I am still massively revising the new edition of my History of Rock Music. If you want to receive an email when the book is finally available, register to my mailing list.
January 2009: New section: Rocco Stilo's "Jazz News". Rocco has been providing me with invaluable updates over the years, and now i decided to make his work known to the entire world.
December 2008: The first draft of the new edition of my History of Rock Music is now available on this website. The book will be available from my website sometime in february and from Amazon in march. Numerous revisions are underway, so please take the text as still very tentative (if nothing else, because i still have to listen to about 100 albums of 2007-08).
November 2008: massively updated all chapters on heavy metal and subgenres
October 2008:
Updated: Chapter on hip hop of the history of rock music.
September 2008:
New reviews: Richard Bone, British Sea Power, Harvey Milk, Primal Scream, Marc Ribot, She & Him, Tricky, TV On The Radio, Paul Weller, Wire, Wolf Parade,
Updated: Chapter on heavy metal of the history of rock music.
Revisited:
Philip Glass,
Pelican,
Emperor,
Opeth,
Akron Family,
Infidel? Castro,
Meshuggah,
July 2008:
Revisited:
Excepter,
Sloan,
Alio Die ,
Marah,
Subtle,
Black Lips,
the Microphones' The Glow Pt 2 (2001) and Mount Eerie (2003);
Sun Kil Moon: April (Caldo Verde, 2008),
Deerhunter's Cryptograms (Kranky, 2007),
Xiu Xiu's Women as Lovers (2008),
Reviews: Beat Circus, Steve Maclean, Maju, Alfredo Costa-Monteiro, Steve Tickmayer, ...
I added "creating a web feed/RSS" to the list of desiderata for volunteers (see this page)
June 2008:
Readers encouraged me to read the reviews published by other websites, and particularly their ratings. Needless to say, i am shocked. I went alphabetically through the main releases of 2008, and, for example, Allmusic has given at least four stars to all but two of them. Basically, we live in an amazing era, in which just about every album that is released is a masterpiece. I could not find a website whose ratings were mostly negative. Well, i disagree: so far i only have found one album in 2008 (out of the almost 100 that i have reviewed) that is worth buying.
Reissues of the month: Acid Mother Temple's 41st Century Splendid Man Returns (Essence, 2008), Foetus' Nail and Hole (both Some Bizarre)
Reviews: Albums released between january and june 2008
April 2008:
Revisited:
Joseph Arthur's first albums;
Tin Hat Trio's first albums;
Enslaved' first albums;
Bright Eyes' first three albums;
Add N To X's Loud Like Nature (2002);
Vladislav Delay's first three albums, notably Anima (one of the best of the decade);
March 2008:
Looking for volunteers on many many chores: click here
Revisited:
Harvey Milk's My Love Is Higher and Courtesy And Good Will Toward Men;
Notwist's 12 and Neon Golden;
the Books's first two albums;
Khanate's first two albums;
Black Dice's Beaches & Canyons;
Pan Sonic's Vakio and Kesto;
Aesop Rock's first four albums;
Xiu Xiu's Fabulous Muscles (2004);
Devendra Banhart's Rejoicing in the Hands;
Kammerflimmer Kollektief's Absencen;
Today Is The Day's Kiss The Pig;
Wolf Parade's Lycanthropy;
Dalek's first three albums;
Eluvium's Talk;
No-Neck Blues Band 's Sticks And Stones (2001), Intonomancy (2002) and Qvaris (2005);
Sunn O's Flight Of The Behemoth and The GrimmRobe Demos,
Flight Of The Behemoth (Southern Lord, 2002)
High On Fire's Art Of Self Defense and Blessed Black Wings,
the Ponys's first two albums,
A Silver Mt Zion's albums,
Foetus' Love,
Jan Jelinek,
February 2008:
Revisited:
Electric Wizard's first four albums,
Supersilent's first three albums,
!!!'s three albums,
KTL's first two albums,
Jesus' albums,
Band of Horses's two albums,
the Liars' Liars,
Pinback's albums,
Sir Richard Bishop's While My Guitar,
Explosions In The Sky's All Of A Sudden,
Go Team's Proof Of Youth (2007),
January 2008:
New reviews: Neil Young, Robert Wyatt, Bruce Springsteen, Aesop Rock, Akron Family, Angels of Light, Animal Collective, Devendra Banhart, Caribou, Castanets, Vic Chesnutt, Dillinger Escape Plan, Go Team, Iron & Wine, Icarus, Jens Lekman, Liars, Joni Mitchell, Okkervil River, Pinback,
Reissues of the month: Nurse With Wound's Homotopy To Marie (United Jnana, 2007)
Click here to view my favorite musicians of 2007
The list of best albums of 2007 is still in progress as i'm listening to a few more
New releases:
Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno: Ominous From The Cosmic Inferno
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO: 41st Century Splendid Man Returns
Acid Mothers Temple: Never Ending Space Ritual - History Of Acid Mothers Temple
Birchville Cat Motel: Gunpowder Temple of Heaven
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy: Wilding The West
Boredoms: Super Roots 9
Coh: Strings
Coil: The Ape Of Naples/The New Backward
Dead Meadow: Old Growth
Dizzee Rascal: Maths + English
Jesus & Mary Chain: B-Sides Collection
John Zorn: The Dreamers
Loren Chasse & Michael Mnortham: Otolth
Magma: Mythes et L‚gendes Vol.4
Magnetic Fields: Distortion
Silver Jews: Look Out Mountain, Look Out Sea
Circle X: Prehistory
Loren Chasse & Michael Mnortham: Otolth
Mars Volta: The Bedlam In Goliath
Mountain Goats: Heretic Pride
Nada Surf: Lucky
Nadja: Bliss Torn Emptiness
Silver Jews: Look Out Mountain, Look Out Sea
White Heaven: Levitation
Wrens new album
December 2007:
Revisited:
Tindersticks' Can Our Love (2001);
Wagon Christ's Musipal (2001);
Squarepusher's Go Plastic (2001);
Electrelane's
Mogwai's Young Team (1997) and The Rock Action (2001);
Tool's Undertow, Aenima and Lateralus;
four Biosphere albums;
Clinic's Internal Wrangler (2000) and Walking With Thee (2002);
Mum's Yesterday Was Dramatic Today Is Ok (2000) and Finally We Are No One (2002);
Cinematic Orchestra's Motion (1999) and Every Day (2002);
Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It in People (2002);
Decemberists's Castaways and Cutouts (2002);
Nile's In Their Darkened Shrines (2002);
Coheed And Cambria's The Second Stage Turbing Blade;
Angels of Light How I Loved You and Everything Is Good,
Strokes' first album;
Four Tet's second and third albums;
Mono's first four albums;
Broadcast's first three albums;
Manitoba's albums;
Mastodon's first two albums;
Isis's first three albums;
all of Menomena's albums;
Animal Collective's last two albums;
Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy (2005);
Wolf Parade's first album;
Sunn O)))'s Black One (2005);
Six Organs of Admittance's School Of The Flower (2005) and The Sun Awakens (2006);
the Dresden Dolls' first two albums;
Cursive's last two albums and Good Life's last album (same webpage);
the Fiery Furnaces' Bitter Tea (2006);
Beirut's Gulag Orkestar (2006);
Sparklehorse's Dreamt For Light Years In The Belly Of A Mountain (2006); Oneida's Happy New Year (2006).
November 2007:
Revisited: Mars Volta's first two albums (i must admit i had been intimidated by so many negative reviews of the second one, which instead sounds to me of the best of the decade), Joanna Newsom's last album (probably "the" best album of the decade), TV On The Radio's last album, Amon Tobin, Patrick Wolf's last two albums, Stars Of The Lid's last album, Califone's last three albums, Andrew Bird's last two albums, Built To Spill's You In Reverse, National's second and fourth albums, Toby Dammit's Top Dollar, Xiu Xiu's Foret, LCD Soundsystem's Sound Of Silver, Blonde Redhead's 23, the Battles's Mirrored White Stripes's Icky Thump and White Blood Cells, Comets On Fire's Avatar, Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, Toby Dammit's Top Dollar, Xiu Xiu's Foret, LCD Soundsystem's Sound Of Silver, Blonde Redhead's 23, the Battles's Mirrored White Stripes's Icky Thump and White Blood Cells, the Liars' last two albums, Modest Mouse
I also revised the best of 2006 list.
New reviews (expect for Radiohead, i have prioritized avantgarde music, and in january i will go over the rock/pop stuff of the second half of 2007): Biota, Richard Bone, Claudia Quintet, Jay Cloidt, Kip Hanrahan, Erdem Helvacioglu, If Bwana, Lngtche, Annea Lockwood, Steve Maclean, Necks, Radio Massacre International, Radiohead, Alec Redfearn and the Eyesores, Robert Rich, Robert Rich, Timeless Pulse Quintet, Upsilon Acrux, David Watson
Interview: Robert Wyatt
Rediscoveries of the month: Tago Mago by Can, the first album by Kraftwerk
The Spanish translation of my History of Rock Music is underway. This follows the Chinese and Polish translations, that started last year, and the Italian translation, that has already been published.
The Italian translation of my History of Jazz Music is underway.
I am looking for volunteers to create audio files for each page of my History of Rock Music. I would like to provide links to downloadable audio clips of the main musicians mentioned in each page (initially only one or two per page, and just 2/3 minutes each). If i had the time, it would be fairly easy for me to do it, going through my collection of CDs. Alas, the one thing i don't have is time.
If you bought my "History of Rock Music", check the additions.
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If you would like to see the previous months of updates, click here
Go to the main music page
To purchase my book "A History of Rock Music 1951-2000". Also
"A History of Jazz Music 1900-2000", and
"A History of Popular Music Before Rock Music"
New releases:
Cat Power: Jukebox
His Name Is Alive: Sweet Earth Flower: A Tribute To Marion Brown
John Zorn: Filmworks XIX
Loren Chasse & Michael Mnortham: Otolth
Magnetic Fields: Distortion
Mountain Goats: Heretic Pride
Nada Surf: Lucky
Opeth: The Roundhouse Tapes
Sigur Ros: Hvarf/Heim
Silver Jews: Look Out Mountain, Look Out Sea
Six Organs Of Admittance: Shelter From The Ash
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