Last Saturday, I took some CDs back home with me. Here's what I got!

I don't know whether to put this entry as part of the "Music" category or the one about "Blogging", since this anecdote is music related and nothing too in-depth as my last blog entry about metal recommendations, but what the hell.

A few days ago, I was invited to hang out and pass the night in one of my friend's house along with other four buddies. Along with them, was my bff's new boyfriend, who I got a really good impression from him. The dude lived a wild life and was just as invested on music as I did, with the difference that he is a full-time musician. I could talking more about this guy in detail, but I don't wanna derail this blog entry into unnecessary tangents, as much as I think that this guy is worth writing many tomes about his adventures as a cook or his anecdotes as a musician.

I knew this place's layout already, since I partied some time before during New Year's Eve. The third floor was our initial spot to hang out, drink some beers and smoke some marijuana to get things going. Next to us, however, is a little room that had some stuff owned by friend's stepdad who wasn't present at the time. A couch, some bookshelves, a gorgeous view to the sea. Cool.

What I forgot about, however, was his music collection on one of the shelves. And man, the dude has some good taste. Lots of jazz, prog rock, more experimental stuff, classical music; Spinetta, Charly García, Portishead, Genesis, Talk Talk, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Rush, Soda Stereo... Needless to say, I was astonished, and so did my bff's new man, who noticed this shit too, both already stoned as hell.

To our mutual surprise, our friend looked back at us calmly and told us to "take anything you want". As it turns out, his stepdad was a cheating piece of shit and had ran off the place when he got caught, leaving a lot of his stuff back in the house. These records were meant to be thrown in the trash, but we decided to ransack his collection like vikings raiding Europe. My new buddy ran with some stuff, and so I did too.

Here's what I got:

• Hemispheres. by Rush. Classic prog/hard rock by the Canadian power trio. Fun and complex songwriting that never bores me.

• Spirit of Eden and It's My Life, by Talk Talk. One of the more unique bands of their time, evolving from some well made synthpop into a really elegant, refined and innovative sound that would spearhead the birth of post-rock in the late 80's and early 90's.

• Gnossiennes; Gymnopédies; Ogives; Trois sarabandes; Petite ouverture à danse, pieces composed by Erik Satie and performed by pianist Reinbert de Leeuw.

• Selling England by the Pound, by Genesis. The peak of the Gabriel era and one of prog's best records overall. Dancing with the Moonlit Knight has no business going as hard as it does.

• La Scala and Invocations/The Moth and the Flame, by Keith Jarrett. A live album and a studio recording, respectively, both featuring works by this jazz pianist who I discovered through his performance of Arvo Pärt's Fratres along with violinist Gidon Kremer. The man has one foot in modern classical territory, along with his reputation shaped through the realm of jazz, so his works have interested me from some time.

• Roseland NYC Live, by Portishead. The kings of trip hop one day decided to record their presentation along with an orchestral backup, bringing new life to tracks out of their recently released self-title record at the time and Dummy. This is better listened than explained, this stuff goes hardddd.

• Visions of the Emerald Beyond, by the Mahavishnu Orchestra. John McLaughlin casting some guitar magic worth of your attention. Cool incarnated. Not as intense as The Inner Mountain Flame though, but it's still good.