Attribution

Brian Morton in the latest Point of Departure on the question of attribution and its role in the listening to music:

"What matters (...) is whether attribution and re-attribution help you listen to music – or appreciate any other art - in a potentially creative new way. In an ideal world, of course, we’d approach all music unlabelled, unattributed, unburdened with critical reputation, as we presumably once did in a more organic and less differentiated society.

(...) Part of our job, of course, as music “critics” is precisely to offer those textual references and contextual information. It makes some difference to how you hear a record if you know the artist’s previous form, and it significantly deepens appreciation at one level. On the other hand, if any work of art is to be considered entire and autotelic, then such knowledge is by definition irrelevant and probably misleading. Jazz, because it is an art form that treads so many philosophical dividing lines – not least that between the personal and impersonal, “works” and work, now and that oppressive thing, history– seems uniquely susceptible to questions of this sort."

As one with interest in the history of music, sure, I agree. As far as its importance in the listening process, while knowledge of who is playing - or even, who has written the song/tune/work in question - without doubt will play a role either on a conscious or subconscious level, in my experience it has played too big a role for some, especially for lesser critics. There have been dubious cases, in my opinion, where artists have been bumped up a grade or two seemingly on the basis of their names or the names of the contributors alone. A recent Solomon Burke record could serve as an example. Where it to my ears, and at least one other guy, sounded dull and uninspired, it was much heralded here, there and everywhere much due to its - undoubtedly impressive -list of contributing songwriters. Little attention was payed to the fact that almost all of the songs where far from the best work of either one of the songwriters in question. Some perspective is needed, though I have no doubt the best critics don't let the question of attribution get in the way of the listening itself.

Portland Jazz Festival

From The Seattle Times: Avant-garde pays off at Portland Jazz Festival. Ornette Coelman and Cecil Taylor headlined. Conclusion:

"With so much talk today about jazz dying out, moving to Europe, becoming stale or unfashionable, Portland's resurrection of the avant-garde was a smart move, galvanizing a large, often young audience."

Tord Gustavsen gets no rave, tho'. I'm not surprised.

Hard to Be Human

(Hype, not hype: Though I may be underestimating my readership base, I don't think it is strong enough to start let alone sustain any blog-hype. So there).




I've only played it a few times yet, but the opening salvos of this record sounds very promising indeed, especially "Hard Feelings", the first track and single, which initally reminded me of the Mekons' great "Hard to be Human Again", at least in the delivery if not so much in sound or theme ("Hard, hard, hard, hard, hard, hard feelings"/"Hard to be, hard to be human again"). Subsequent listens will reveal whether or not it's a keeper.

Si Se Puede

As I was watching Barak Obama speak to an audience in Texas last night, I noticed several banners among the audience which read "Si Se Puede". From what I gather, that is the Spanish translation of Obama's now famous "Yes We Can" mantra. It is also, incidentally, the title of one of the tracks on Matt Lavelle Trio's Spiritual Power, one of my favorite jazz records of 2007 (Plus, the motto of the United Farm Workers). This provides me with the opportunity to not only big-up that record, but also to post this suprisingly good Will-I-am/Obama/superstar collab.

Oh, this is bullshit.

I shouldn't really respond to this, but I'm going to anyhow. BBC's pop music coordinator Lesley Douglas claims, according to Idolator, "that men respond to music on an intellectual level, whereas female listeners have an emotional reaction to songs". Despite it being a stupid generalization of archaic proportions, I bulked at what Mrs. Douglas thinks of as the intellectual side of music, i.e. "the tracks, where albums have been made, that sort of thing". Trivia, in other words, is the intellectual response in question and not e.g. thinking about what the music means, the lyrics, the interplay between the two, it's place in society, historically or contemporary, everything that the EMP Pop Conference stands for, themes that in turn cannot be so easily removed from emotional responses as Douglas seems to think.

No Depression shuts down

Via Christgau. Never read much in it, though I know several people who are, or at least were, very fond of the magazine.

Xgau sets the record straight

The anti-Vampire Weekend backlash got a lesson in Afropop from the one crit that actually knows something about it a few days ago. In his new blog (he has a new blog?), Robert Christgau attacks several bloggers for getting VW's Afro-tinged references wrong. Several others have chipped in with similar sentiments (see links in Xgau's piece, and also Zoilus). Take that, naysayers.

What's interesting to note is that, apart from their ill concieved idea of calling their music Upper West Side Soweto, both those positive and negative to VW's schtick seem to have blown the Afro-bits of their music out of proportion. In reality, only a few songs have a clear Afro-tinged sound, and as has been noted by others that sound is more like some of the Afro-influenced American pop/rock music of the 80s than that of their fellow African musicians. They are interpretations of those sounds rather than copies. Plus, it sounds pretty clear to me that VW use the Afro-interpretations as deliberate tools, as in the trying-to-pick-up-a-freshman-girl "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", where they state "This feels so unatural / Peter Gabriel too", which pretty much says that they're very much aware of the fact that they may not get afropop right themselves (much less getting nookie) as well as an awareness of the issues that trying to play it at all may raise. If there is a solid afro-influence to VW's music, it's more to do with what SFJ claimed was lacking in current indie rock/pop; you know space, bass and all that (their geekie Ivy-league influences notwithstanding).

Reissues

Two great albums have been reissued this February. Just as The Feelies' pre-indie/post-punk/new wave classic Crazy Rhythms from 1980 is about to hit the store, I recieve a notice through SquidCo's mailing list that Touchin' on Trane, the gloriously careening racket made by Chales Gayle with William Parker and Rashied Ali in 1991 and my favorite jazz record of that decade, is being reissued by the German label Jazzwerkstatt, albeit with a different cover image. Great news, indeed.

Big list update. Now for coffee.

What it says on the tin: I've updated my lists of favorites from 2007 if anyone is interested. Still have a few records pending and/or falling between the 6+/7- (or B+/A- if that's your bag) bracket that may or may not be added later.