Ascend Acoustics Official Music Recommendation Thread

[c_smith]

I love this thread. Great idea.

I'll throw out some recommends, but I'll also throw out the caveat that my musical tastes tend to lean (though not exclusively) to the more independent/off-the-beaten path stuff...the stuff you'd read about/hear about on pitchfork or cokemachineglow as well as various blogs like Gorilla vs Bear, etc.
So, here are a few things that popped up on my "recently added" on iTunes, things that I'm in to and listening to now:

• MGMT - Oracular Spectacular : Here's a video for the first track "Time To Pretend" if you want to preview.

• Vampire Weekend - S/T : Probably the most talked about band of the past 6 months, and their first full-length just came out this last weekend. If you scour the music blogs and keep up, you've surely heard of these guys. A sample of two tracks can be located here. Great, great album blending musical styles into something their own. Pitchfork put up their appearance on David Letterman.

• Evangelicals - The Evening Descends : Great band from Oklahoma that, because of this fact, got lumped in with The Flaming Lips. But these guys are definitely carving out their own sound as to escape that trapping. A sample can be found here.

Okay, we'll start with those...don't want to bore anyone. This stuff may not be for everyone, but hey, that's part of the discovery of music. I can throw plenty more out there if people are digging this. Buying music is an incredibly expensive habit of mine...almost as expensive as my audio habit.

[Pilk]

I just popped in some Spyro Gyra 'Wrapped in a Dream'. WOW. The Sierra-1's just blew me away on my Yamaha RX-V2700, pure stereo, no sub. Add that to your list if you like jazz/funk. It is a musical treat and will really give any speakers the work out.

[Fantom]

For SACD recommendations:

Of course Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon.
It's a great mix without overdoing it. You'll hear a lot of things that were faint or muffled before. This is a hybrid disc, and while the multi-channel SACD mix was redone from the original tapes, the CD layer seems to just be a boosted (compressed, audio not file size) version of the original CD release, meaning it's flatter and has more noise.

A lot of Bob Dylan.
Many Bob Dylan albums have been released on hybrid SACD. Most are just stereo SACD, but they still sound great. I recently got Blonde on Blonde, which is a 2 disc hybrid CD / stereo SACD / multi-channel SACD. All the Dylan re-releases, whether CD remasters or SACD remasters, seem to stay true to the source. By this I mean that the multi-channel versions won't make a ton of use of the surround channels, but will widen the sound stage with the center channel. Also, certain tracks will sound more acoustic and raw, having more of a record feel than a typical pop CD feel. I wish all remasters were like this.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue.
Simply classic. There is a DualDisc (CD on one side, DVD on the flip side) version out there as well. Note that this is a DVD layer with 5.1 Dolby Digital, and NOT DVD-Audio. The nice thing with this disc is that you can rip the CD version for your mp3 player or other use and then play the 5.1 mix on any DVD player. The 5.1 mix sounds good, but is not uncompressed quality (it's 448kbps DolbyDigital).
Of course, for the best quality, you need the SACD version. I've read there was a 2ch SACD released awhile back, but I just got a more recent version that contains 2ch SACD as well as 5.1ch SACD. There is NO CD layer on this disc, and some have complained about reverb in the surround channels. I like the 5.1 mix and do not feel that the surround channels are distracting at all. The center channel is used heavily though. As I understand it, the album was originally recorded to three tracks, which you get across the front in the multichannel mix. Again, if you don't like it, the stereo SACD mix is present as well.


And 1 recommendation for CD.

Herbie Hancock - Possibilities.
This album is Herbie playing with others, and the style of each track becomes a combination of Herbie and the other musicians. I became interested in this album because I like jazz and Herbie Hancock. I could see many others liking this album for the other artists present, including Santana, John Mayer, and Christina Anguilera. I am not a Mayer fan, but I can't say I don't like his track on this album. Similarly, I would never buy an Anguilera album, since I don't like her songs. However, I do really like her voice, and the song she chose on this album works really well with her voice and Herbie's piano playing. The track also shows off the Sierra's quite well.

If you are a Herbie fan, please don't be turned off by some of the artists you might not be a fan of on this album. If you want good clean vocals combined with superb instrumentals to play on your new Ascends, check this one out. If you are unsure about Jazz because can't stand completely free form instrumental jamming, the songs and vocals will hold this one together for you. Basically, many different people can find many different things to like about this album.

[openwheelracing]

Herbie Hancock: River: The Joni Letters

I had it prior to the Grammys and never knew it was nominated. Never listened to it either due to over time at work.

Finally popped it in last night. Very satisfying. Definitely worth buying. The recording is excellent.

[jvillas]

Classical music fans, especially chamber music fans. I picked -up the Beethoven Late String Quartets, performed by the Takacs Quartet.This Grammy award 3cd set was released in 2004 and completes there Beethoven Quartet cycle.The sound is outstanding, and there performance is superb. I highly recommend these performances,They are simply delightful,and convincing.

[jvillas]

Highly Recommended,released in early 1993 by Water Lily Acoustics.
CD Title- A Meeting by the River
Artist Musicians
Bottleneck Guitar- Ry Cooder
Mohan Vina- V. N. Bhatt
Tabla- Sukhvinder Singh
Dumbek- Joachim Cooder

All titles composed by- Ry Cooder There are 4 traks, just under 40 minutes of
incredible music.

I'm a big Ry Cooder fan,This CD is a truly special and unique recording.

Of special note- This is a pure analog recording using all custom-built triode vacuum-tube electronics.
Quote from liner "No noise reduction,equalization,compression,or limiting of any sort was used in the making of this recording."

Here is a link to a review of this recording
http://www.stereophile.com/recordingofthemonth/493rotm/

For Audiophiles into Vinyl a 2 disc 45rpm release
http://store.acousticsounds.com/brow...Title_ID=41719

[curtis]

I just received an expensive disc from Acoustics Sounds.

Acoustic Sounds sends out an email flyer once or twice a week. One of them had a disc that caught my attention:
http://store.acousticsounds.com/brow...Title_ID=39769

A well known chinese artist playing the guzheng.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guzheng

The disc is mastered using the K2 HD mastering technique:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K2_High_Definition

Anyways, as expensive the disc was/is, I decided to buy it. I knew that I could always give it to my Dad as a gift.

The disc arrived yesterday, so I have only had a limited time with it, but from my viewpoint, it is pretty impressive. Then again, I only have limited experience with guzheng music.

[curtis]

My Dad "borrowed" the disc in my previous post. Doesn't look like I will be getting it back any time soon.

[curtis]

Herbie Hancock: River: The Joni Letters

I had it prior to the Grammys and never knew it was nominated. Never listened to it either due to over time at work.

Finally popped it in last night. Very satisfying. Definitely worth buying. The recording is excellent.

I received this disc in the mail yesterday. I listened to it before going to bed. Excellent disc!

[ImagePree]

And 1 recommendation for CD.

Herbie Hancock - Possibilities.
This album is Herbie playing with others, and the style of each track becomes a combination of Herbie and the other musicians. I became interested in this album because I like jazz and Herbie Hancock. I could see many others liking this album for the other artists present, including Santana, John Mayer, and Christina Anguilera. I am not a Mayer fan, but I can't say I don't like his track on this album. Similarly, I would never buy an Anguilera album, since I don't like her songs. However, I do really like her voice, and the song she chose on this album works really well with her voice and Herbie's piano playing. The track also shows off the Sierra's quite well.

If you are a Herbie fan, please don't be turned off by some of the artists you might not be a fan of on this album. If you want good clean vocals combined with superb instrumentals to play on your new Ascends, check this one out. If you are unsure about Jazz because can't stand completely free form instrumental jamming, the songs and vocals will hold this one together for you. Basically, many different people can find many different things to like about this album.

Thanks for this recommendation. I sampled a few of the tracks on Amazon before purchasing. And I've gotta say that quite a few of the songs are constantly stuck in my head all day.

I'm a new CMT340 owner by the way running in stereo.