This an' that...

I'm very busy these days, so I haven't got much time for in-depth analysis and the like (!?!).

If you read Nick Sylvester's article on Norwegian music that I linked for you in my previous post, you'll have seen that he doesn't think it is all the doom and gloom my excerpt may have led you to believe. Mr. Sylvester, funny though he is, may be too indie for my taste, as witnessed by his mention of the clique at the end of the same article (I get the feeling he means "the elite few"), and his recent 9.0 rating of the new Deerhoof album The Runners Four, a record that has so far neither made me punch the air, shake my hip, nor given me any other hints that I like it.

I'm far more pleased with the new album by the Fall, Fall Heads Roll. Not great, but more consistent than Mr. E. Smith has been in a long time. A return the glory days of the mid-eighties, perhaps?

I've also been listening to Eric Dolphy's Iron Man, which sounds really, really good. Recorded ca. 1963 just before his masterpiece Out to Lunch, and you can hear the development towards the looser structures he used on that album. Key track: "Burning Spear", a 12 minute long steamroller with two bass players; Richard Davis, who remains a favorite, and Eddie Khan, who I don't know much about.

Looking out for Billy Bang's Vietnam: Reflections, and James Carter's Pavement tribute (!) Gold Sounds.