Don't call me whitey...

Damn, nearly a week since my last post.

Tom Breihan did a piece on Paul Wall on his Status Ain't Hood blog on Friday, in which he disses the white rapper for not concidering race to be an issue. Which it IS, of course. Especially if you're not white. You don't have to look further than to the recent events in New Orleans and its media coverage to figure that out. I don't see the point in his "history of white rap"-list though, unless it's more tounge in cheek than I take it to be.

The record releases seem to be picking up, with Blackalicious and Amy Rigby among the ones I have been looking forward to thew most. Had a couple of spins of the 'licious cd already, and Gift of Gab seems just about as sharp as ever.

Unbelievably, Pitchfork gave the new Wolf Parade cd a 9.2 rating. Eirik is unimpressed, though. I have to side with him.

Have I ever told how amazing Air's 80 Degrees Below 82 is? Check my jazz list.

Beef and chicks

Pitchfork critic, Riff Raff blogger and all-time funny man Nick Sylvester has been checking out a live gig by two of Norway's biggest hopes for world domination, the lovable Annie and Røyksopp. A good read.

Steinar gave me some stick yesterday regarding some ratings on my jazz page and the high entry by Spoon's Gimme Fiction on my 2005 list. No harm in that, it's a large part of the reason why I post these lists in the first place. Discussions are healthy. They keeps culture alive. I wish more of you would do the same. Discuss and post comments that is.

As regards the Spoon record, I think it has a good share of cracking tunes; "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine", "I Turn My Camera On", "Sister Jack", and "I Summon You" to name my favorites. I doubt if it will hold the number three spot in the end, though, but I rate it highly. It's certainly better than Robert C. reckons it is.

My year by year-page was set up during spare hours in the summer, and was probably a result of hubriss on my part. At present, I have plenty of tasks at hand, so I have not been able to post any lists. I hope to have some soon, though, but don't hold your breath.

Children and geniuses

A combination of fatigue, lack of money, and bad timing led me to miss two gigs this week. Martha Wainwright played this Monday, and Eirik was left unimpressed. Yesterday, a crew from Stones Throw Records, including one time (or current, who knows) Lootpack MC Wildchild rocked their mikes and spun their records, but alas, they suffered the same fate as Martha and were unlucky not to have me in their audience.

Rhino Records released two (at least) large box sets this week. Children Of Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1995 compiles bands inspired by the first wave of psych/garage bands. There are some cracking tunes here, like The Lyres' "Help You Ann", The Hoodoo Guru's "I Want You Back", and contributions from good acts such as That Petrol Emotion, The La's and The Nerves. Unfortunately, the Nerves song included is not their original of "Hanging on the Telephone". As with many of the Rhino collections, it is equal parts fun and frustration. Many of the best acts and songs included I already have on better discs, either original albums or superior compilations. Some of them are currently unavailable, though, so this will surely bring them out to a larger audience. The lesser acts are hardly worth owning, much less hearing, but that's part of the beauty of Rhino's box sets I guess.

They also released a Ray Charles box set, Pure Genius: The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1952-1959), which looks amazing, but is probably overkill. Great artist that he was, you'll probably get by with a couple of his albums, such as the lovely Modern Sonds in Country and Western Music, plus a singles collection. I could be proven wrong, as I am yet to listen through the behemoth.

Help Her, She Wants to Know Girls

Idling Wildly was kind enough to leave me a comment the other day. Now help her find the words to this song, 'cause she seems like a nice gal!

Note: This post has been updated due to me not having my facts straight.

Let us elaborate: Re: CMJ vs. by: Larm

Ok, so I may have jumped the gun a bit in comparing the CMJ fest and by: Larm. College radio and its CMJ offshoot was always about bringing new music out to a wider audience. None of the acts playing this years marathon can be considered major acts, and in that respect they fit the bill. Point is, though, most of them are known to the people through other sources than college radio. Again, I point to Kelefa Sanneh's article. (To keep up with impressions from the marathon, see Nick Sylvester's Riff Raff and Tom Breihan. Have a look at their archives for previous posts).

by: Larm, on the other hand, was and is a place for Norwegian music journos to discover Norway's next big thing. The act that would conquer the world (yeah, right). My point was that in recent years, more and more established acts have played the festival, and stolen the limelight from all the newcomers that are trying to find a bigger audience and hopefully get some media coverage. I'll wait for the next by: Larm before I slag them off even more.

CMJ Music Marathon 2005

This week saw the start of CMJ's Music Marathon 2005, one of the best music "festivals" on either side of the Atlantic. The line-up includes excellent and interesting bands some of which probably, and regretfully, won't appear in Norway. Main treats: The Hold Steady, The New Pornographers (whose latest album has grown a bit since my initial impression), The Arcade Fire, Blackalicious, much heralded African duo Amadou & Mariam, Atmosphere, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, !!! (I refuse to write "chk chk chk". Shit! I just did), and countless others. For that reason, in addition to the fact that New York is my home at heart, a couple of friends and me had initially decided to fly over, but decided not to in the end. It would have meant no Christmas presents this year.

Kelefa Sanneh, who I had some beef with earlier this year but who actually is a very good critic with a broad musical taste, wrote a good piece in the New York Times about the marathon. It's hard to disagree with his views. CMJ started as a coming-together of college radio station people, who at that time (some 25 years ago) were hugely important in bringing new and alternative (being an alternative to corporate radio profile that is) music out to the masses, or at least the student masses. In these days of blogging, pod-casting, and efficient on-line zines, their importance in presenting new artists is not that significant. As Sanneh explains, this years line-up reflects that. Most artists playing are in some way or another known to the audience. Heck, it was the reason why I intended to go.

I think the problem is similar to Norway's own by: Larm. What started as a showcase for up-and-coming Norwegian bands, they have become increasingly reliant upon established acts in recent years. In addition, it's a sickening lurve-fest for music industry people to kiss each others behinds.

In other news, I got the first taste of DangerDoom yesterday. The first impression is that it's not as eery as Viktor Vaughan and Madvillain, and it sounds more humorous than those two. Not that any of them lacked humor, but Danger Mouse's beats are somewhat lighter and helps bring MF's humor more to the fore. Promising.

Martha Wainwright comes to town next week.

Let me watch!

Unless you didn't get the news from other sources, the genius that is MF Doom (a.k.a Viktor Vaughan a.k.a... ahh f**k it, too many to mention) and top hip-hop producer Danger Mouse have collaborated and are to release Dangerdoom later this month. I can't wait to hear it (although I've been told there are downloads available on various websites). MF Doom, in addition to having been one half of the fantastic KMD whose Black Bastards is one of hip-hop's lost gems, have been responsible for what is in my opinion two of the best hip-hop records of the past few years in Vaudeville Villain from 2003, and the Madvillain collaboration with Madlib from last year. Danger Mouse was, as you may know, behind the infamous Jay-Z/Beatles mash-up The Grey Album. He certainly has talent, and MF is probably the best MC he has worked with. I can't wait. More when I get it.

Update: Although the collab is called Dangerdoom, the album will be titled The Mouse and the Mask. The release is set for October 11.

Drive-By Truckers, Friday Sept. 9. 2005

Living in Norway, we're not spoiled with great gigs. So when one of the best live bands around decides to play here for the fourth (and fifth, and sixth) time within six months, you can't help but pinch yourself and hope you're not dreaming. The Drive-By Truckers' story telling is as American as you get, complete with hope and search for glory, inventing yourself as you go, while remembering those left behind. Not as forceful and great as the previous time (back in April), but still lovable, and they appeared to be as pleased to be back as we were pleased to see them. A tribute to New Orleans in the form of Newman's "Louisiana 1927", with most of the crowd singing along, topped the set.

Musical comfort

As a result of the catastrophe in and around area of New Orleans, I have been listening to music inspired by or made in New Orleans. Not that it lessens the tragedy in any way, certainly not not for the victims; it was more a subconscious thing. It started with Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927" off his Good Old Boys record. The song remembers the flood in Louisiana of that year. In turn, I listened to Louis Armstrong, "King" Oliver, and "Jelly Roll" Morton, before, in keeping with my constant revising of my jazz library, I picked up Duke Ellington's own New Orleans tribute from 1970, New Orleans Suite, and found it very enjoyable. I have always preferred his flaming youth, as well as some of his longer 50's records, but although it lacks the guts and glory of earlier Ellington, New Orleans Suite is as elegant as any of his better known albums, and a fine tribute to a city so rich in musical history.

Don't Cha?

I just started liking cheatin' songs
And what's bothering me
Is I don't know if it's the cheatin' I like
Or just the melody

(inspired by "She Just started Liking Cheatin' Songs" by the fabolous John Anderson).

Two Diamonds?

Yes, so two of this year's most anticipated releases have arrived. Firstly, Kanye's Late Registration, a record that has received so much acclaim already that adding a view seems superfluous. But, I'm not entirely excited. Yes, it flows almost as gracefully as College Dropout, his love and compassion is still put to the fore and he is still the most humane rapper out there, including the indie-hoppers, which helps when you've got goons such as The Game doing cameos. He has valuable input on topics of Sierra Leone, the best track on the album, and the dangers of crack to the black community and the community at large. Because he is smarter than your average Joe, his recent comments about Bush Jr.'s seemingly neglect of African-Americans in the wake of the disaster in New Orleans are genuine words of concern, as well as that of an enraged citizen, more than misinformed ravings from the world of bling bling. The music, though, sometimes lack the smarts of his words. Most samplings are used as complete backing tracks, which brings African-American music tradition into the present, but the samplings seem too obvious. Move on up, indeed, but a bit of forward motion is also welcome. It's still a great album.

The New Pornographers' Twin Cinema is a bigger disappointment. It starts with a bang, but falls flat too early. No letters from occupants, nor slow descents into alcoholism, and none of the tracks are as catchy as the ones on Mass Romantic. Twin Cinema is more coherent and slightly better than Electric Version, but I fear the air has been let out of the balloon some time ago.