Happy New Ears

I've been on the road for much of the festive period, hence the lack of updates and Songs of the Week. Regular posting should resume by the end of the week, including my annual year in jazz thing-a-ma-jig. In the meantime, you can have a look at this year's Village Voice's jazz poll, won by none other than Sonny Rollins.

Happy New Year to all.

Knee jerk

"I would say that the desire to tell people about good music they're unaware of is one important reason to do the work. But so is elucidating the known. Kneejerk vanguardism is an important reason so much online record reviewing sucks." - R. Christgau.

Little time to elaborate on that one, but I see his point and wholly agree.

Out of Step...

...with the (Northern) European mentality that favors celebration of tragedy (fetal position) as more "artful" than the defiance of a tragic state or life. This mentality has put Glasvegas' debut on top of most year-end lists in Norway. To me it sounds like a perpetual whine. Cue lyrics from "It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry":

so this is the grand finale
the crescendo of demise
this is the happy ending
where the bad guy goes down and dies
this is the end
with me on my knees and wondering why?
cross my heart, hope to die
its my own cheating heart that makes me cry

There's nothing quite like feeling sorry for yourself. No, to hell with that. It's a town full of losers, I'm pulling out of here to win!

Listmania

A few weeks ago, I was asked by PlanB to submit a list of my favorite records of 2008. The list was published online earlier today. You can find it here. It's pretty much a carbon copy of the list I keep at this blog, bar a few things. For one, I didn't include Girl Talk's tons-of-fun Feed the Animals, though I have no idea why. I also slipped in Bottomless Pit (which is also on the blog list, though it probably will miss out on a top 15 spot upon next review) although it was sticktly released in 2007. When I have more time, I'll make a comment on a few more of the records. Among other things, I have a text on the new MOPDtK in the pipeline.

If you can read Norwegian, I've also written a few words on Randy Newman and Harps and Angels.

Songs of the Week 49/08

Skipped weeks 46, 47 & 48. Had too much else goig on. Here are some old and some new faves.

• White Denim - "Shake Shake Shake" (Self released)
• Gang of Four - "What We Want" (EMI/Warne bros.)
• Q-Tip - "Manwomanboogie" (Motown)
  
• The Blacksheeps - "Gold Lion" (Yeah Yeah Yeahs-cover)
• Loui$ - "Pink Footpath"
  

It's a love story baby just say yes

"The thing is: there's an angsty teenager inside all of us, a grumbling undercurrent insisting that the world is shitty and we are all diseased and there's no one you can trust. To that inner goth, pop screeches and wails with dissonance. But it doesn't have to. Cultural critics worry that things distract us from reality, help us avoid reality, obscure reality. But sometimes reality, as they say, bites, and to take that tragedy and turn it into a comedy would not be the worst thing. Pop's power is, in no small part, its ability to imagine a world much like this one, but shinier--and to make it, whether you submit to its charms or not, believable."

Mike Barthel on Taylor Swift's "Love Story".

Black Saint & Soul Note on eMusic.

Stef at Free Jazz blog, brought the news recently that eMusic now have ECM titles available for download, which reminded me that I've forgotten to write that they (i.e. eMusic) have also acquired a large amount of the back catalogues for the Italian labels Black Saint and Soul Note.

I have an ambiguous relationship with ECM, but I love a lot of Black Saint and Soul Note records. A quick history: Black Saint and Soul Note became refuges for some (though not all) of the most adventurous American jazz musicians in the late 70s and throughout the 80s. Most of David Murray's best work (e.g. Ming, Murray's Steps, Home, The Hill, Sweet Lovely) were recorded for Black Saint, though these have been available on eMusic for a while. The new batch includes records by Air, Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, John Carter, Julius Hemphill, Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, Don Pullen, Cecil Taylor to name only a few.

Unlike ECM, Black Saint and Soul Note records can be hard to come by in some corners of the world. The fact that eMusic now have them for download is nothing short of fantastic. What's more, eMusic's prices are so good that you can easily afford to by a physical copy of a record you may come to love, that is if you can find it.

I should add that the Jazz Loft carry many titles by Black Saint and Soul Note at reasonable prices (SquidCo also have a few titles). You could also try Black Saint's homepage.

Wildflowers on CD

Wildflowers, the intriguing snap shot of the 1970s New York Loft Jazz scene, looks to be available on CD again ('though, it's been available as a download through eMusic for a while). This seminal compilation gives a look into one of the most interesting scenes in recent jazz history, and features tracks from Air, Anthony Braxton, David Murray, Sunny Murray, and Sam Rivers among others. Neither JazzLoft nor SquidCo look like they have it in stock, but I have seen it in stores. Try Douglas Records' homepage for info.

To whet your appetite, have a listen to the opening track, "Jays", by Kalaparusha (Maurice McIntyre) on tenor sax, feat. Chris White on bass and Jumma Santos on drums.