The print collections from the Music Library will be placed on the upper level adjacent to the Panther Reading Room, overlooking Old Chapel.  The CD collection will be placed behind the Circulation Desk.  In order to make room for these collections in Davis, we’re adding a section of compact shelving in the SE corner of the lower level and shifting collections within the library.

A moving company will be arriving on Monday, March 14^th to shift collections in the stacks and empty the shelves where the new shelving units are being installed.  On Thursday, March 24^th a library shelving company will arrive, dismantle the fixed shelving, and then proceed with the installation of the compact shelving on the lower level. Some of this work will be very noisy, but we have timed the worst of it to take place during Spring Break.  Once the shelving is installed, the moving company will return on Monday, April 24^th and continue shifting the collections.  The moving crews are accustomed to working in libraries where people are studying and will do their best to minimize the disruption; however there may be times when activity and noise is distracting.  Unfortunately, because we must be moved out of the CFA by June 1^st, working during the semester is unavoidable.   The crews will routinely be working during the day, Mon-Fri, although there are a few times they’ll be working during the day on the weekend.  You should be able to count on the library being quiet after 5pm, and we have avoided having the movers here at all during exams.  Generally speaking, only those nearby the collections being shifted will notice the activity, and there will still be plenty of quiet study space available in the library.  Remember that the Music Library in the Mahaney Center for the Arts, The Armstrong Library in McCardell Bicentennial Hall, and the Axinn Center all have quiet study areas too.

If you need a book in an area where the movers are actively working, place a request at the Circulation Desk in person or by emailing library_circulation@middlebury.edu and it will be retrieved and held for you to pick up at the desk.

Both Facilities Services and Library & Information Services regret any inconvenience these projects may cause those studying in the library, and we thank you in advance for your patience with us, and your tolerance of any potential disruption.

Below please see an overview of the schedule.

Thanks!

Joseph

Joseph Watson,Preservation & Processing Manger, LIS Facilities Coor.

Monday, March 14^th: moving crew arrives -

• Backshift bound Periodicals
• Move PT2623-Z into vacated compact shelving for temporary storage
• Shifts G & H books on the upper level to make room for GV class books from CFA
• Shift Oversize Collection to make room for GV oversize
• Shift Reference Collection to compact
• Move VHS collection to vacated compact shelving east of Government Documents

Thursday, March 24^th: shelving installer arrives –

• Knock down vacated fixed shelving in SE corner of lower level, staging components in the Harman Periodicals Reading Area
• Install new compact shelving section in the SE corner of the lower level.  This is expected to take about 25 days.

Monday, April 24^th: moving company returns and continues collection shifts –

• Move Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese collections to new compact shelving
• Shift Vermont Collection
• Shift lower level monographs
• Shift main level monographs

(Scheduled to complete this portion of work Tuesday, May 3^rd)

On Wednesday, May 18^th: moving company returns to complete the collections shifts and move Music Library –

• Adjust shelving on main level to accept N class books and move N class books from upper level to main level
• Adjust the shelving on the upper level to accept music print collections
• Move Music Library from Mahaney to Davis.

Already have a performer or band in mind? You can also search in Midcat using the name of the performer or band. (Check out this other video on using MIDCAT to find music CDs in foreign languages.)

If we don’t own it, try NExpress or ask us to order it. We welcome your suggestions.

If you’re interested in this disc, or would like to see what student and full-time music library staff are listening to these days, stop by the Music Library in the CFA and take a gander at our staff picks rack near the Reference Desk!
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Jim O’rourke – Insignificance
Jim O’rourke is a composer and producer whose worked with a huge variety of artists in several different genres. He was in Sonic Youth for a few albums in the early 90′s, He was in Loose Fur with Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche, and has produced albums for bands and artists like Stereolab, Joanna Newsom and most notably Wilco.

So needless to say, the guy has an ear for good music and how to make it. I was first introduced to Jim O’rourke through the Sonic Youth album Murray Street which while incredibly melodic at times, still holds on to the invasive timbres Sonic Youth pioneered. I was surprised to find such a different sound on O’rourke’s solo efforts. The first O’rourke solo album that i heard was Eureka, a shiny pop album with receptive lyrics and wonderfully catchy hooks. It’s stood the test of a few years and different phases of genre interests as one of my favorite albums. It’s well conceived and well executed.

Insignificance taps into O’rourke’s alt-country tendencies with appearances from both Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche.

The songs are pop songs at heart with a spacious production palette. The rock tendencies of Tweedy are heavily present with the guitar licks sprinkled over every song. Glen Kotche’s unique drumming sensibilities keep the tracks moving without ever allowing you to ignore the grooves he sinks into.

O’rourke’s voice is all over this album. While his voice isn’t the most incredible sounding thing around, his witty lyrics make up for it: “Those holes on your face could be used in better ways / breathings a distraction when your chattering away.” Lyrics like that coupled up with some impressive guitar work and clean production make for a really interesting recording.

Here is a youtube video with Jim O’rourke talking about his philosophy and technique concerning electronic music. He’s kind of a weirdo as you can tell from his interview, but he really knows his stuff.

Standout tracks:
4) Memory Lane
6) Get A Room
7) Life Goess Off

Other Great Albums by Jim O’rourke:
I’m Happy and I’m Singing and A 1,2,3,4
Eureka
Halfway to a Threeway

To kick things off, a few words about my most recent pick, Manhattan Research, Inc. by Raymond Scott.

Raymond Scott was a pianist, composer, and inventor of electronic instruments, and is perhaps one of the most widely heard yet least known of American musicians of the last 50 years or so. He started out writing tunes for his jazz band (the “Raymond Scott Quintette”), and several of these — Powerhouse, The Penguin, and Dinner Music For A Pack Of Hungry Cannibals being perhaps the best-known — were later used in the Warner Bros.’ Loony Tunes cartoons. I think almost everyone is familiar with the 2nd theme of Powerhouse, even if, as is likely, you never realized who wrote it. (Carl Stalling sometimes gets credit for Scott’s music, because he’s the one who adapted and arranged Scott’s works — and other composers’, as well as writing some of his own themes — for Warner Bros.)

YouTube has a great performance of Powerhouse by the Quintette. Check it out. The famous 2nd theme starts about 1:35 in.

Scott eventually desired more control over the performance of his music than he felt he could get from his Quintette — as a composer, he didn’t seem to care much about his musicians’ need to express their own creativity. So he turned to inventing electronic instruments (some of which he worked on with Bob Moog) and composed music specifically for them. This is where the Manhattan Research, Inc. disc picks up. It has a great assortment of Scott’s electronic bleeps and bloops, many of which were composed for use in television ads in the ’50s and ’60s. Sponsors who used Scott’s music in their advertising included Sprite, Hostess Twinkies, Bufferin, Vicks, and GM. More recently, some of these pieces were recycled in a couple of ads for Tic Tacs:

Scott’s career was fascinating and a bit sad. The Manhattan Research, Inc. disc is bound with a booklet that provides a thorough overview of his life, and has some fabulous photos of his electronic instruments. If you’re looking for something a little off-the-beaten path, stop by the library and pick up both this disc and the other one we have, Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights, which features his earlier jazz band recordings.

If you want to read more, there’s an extensive page of review excerpts on the Raymond Scott website extolling the virtues of Manhattan Research, Inc. Happy listening!

Hit me, drummer, and pass the envelopes…

CLASSICAL
5. Sonatas and partitas for solo violin / Bach (CD 15478)
4. Rite of spring / Stravinsky (CD 13021)
3. Spanish guitar favorites / John Williams (CD 16760)
2. Complete works for solo piano / Ravel (CD 2699)
and the winner is…

1. Masters Of The Piano Roll: Debussy Plays Debussy (CD 14359)

This last disc is a fascinating document. It consists of early piano rolls, including several made by Debussy himself, newly re-recorded on a high-tech reproducing piano. It provides a wonderful glimpse into what some of the most highly regarded performers of the early 20th-century actually sounded like, without the poor sonics that mar most recordings from that era.

JAZZ
5. Possibilities / Herbie Hancock (CD 15871)
4. Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (CD 15170)
3. The Cellar Door sessions 1970 / Miles Davis (CD 15321)
2. Seven Steps: The complete Columbia recordings, 1963-1964 / Miles Davis (CD 14602)
and the winner is…

1. Kind of Blue / Miles Davis (CD 11741)

Not much to say about this one, really. If you love jazz, you probably already love it. If you don’t know anything about jazz, but want to learn, this is a good place to start, with memorable themes and world-class improvisers. A true desert island disc for a lot of us.

If you want to explore this recording in-depth, check out these 2 books…

ROCK/POP
5. Garden State: Music from the motion picture (CD 14128)
4. Blonde on blonde / Bob Dylan (CD 7927)
3. Begin to hope / Regina Spektor (CD 16125)
2. Chutes too narrow / The Shins (CD 14177)
and our final number 1…

1. In yo’ face, vol. 1 (CD 11581 v.1)

It does my middle-aged heart good to see a slice of old-school funk take the top spot. Great great stuff here – James Brown, Sly, Curtis Mayfield, Parliament, Charles Wright… If you like this, check out the other volumes in the series. Also, the anthology What It Is (CD 16166) is another stellar, maybe even superior, package.

As J-Term gets underway, perhaps a few handy links/reminders are in order.

Music Library hours

During J-Term, the Music Library is open pretty much as usual:

• M-R 9-midnight
• F 9-5
• Sat 10-6
• Sun 10-midnight

Here is the main page with hours for all the branches.

eReserve readings

Need help finding your e-reserves readings? Try this page for starters.

MIDCAT – Library catalog

Search for printed music, DVDs, CDs, and books, too, right here!

Music order requests

Fill out this form here!

Contact your friendly Music Library staff

• Terry
• Joy
• Jess
• Dan

To help spread some holiday cheer I thought I’d tip everyone off to Amazon.com’s offering of 1 free mp3 download per day through December 25^th. They’re all holiday-related and some of the recent artists featured include the ever-popular Mannheim Steamroller and the Barenaked Ladies with Michael Bublé (wow!)

It’s also the season when the music pundits start offering up their year-end best-of lists. One of my favorite indie-type online music magazines is offering its year-end best-of lists from regularly contributing writers. Dusted Magazine publishes daily (M-F) reviews of new music, artist interviews, and show reviews, covering a variety of genres. It was co-founded by Otis Hart, a fellow Middlebury Alum, to boot! End of the year reviews for 2008 and previous years are in the Features section.

Happy listening and reading!