Listening Booth, week 12, 2011

Freelance writing doesn't make for a good living these days, as you may know, especially when your main focus is jazz. My only real outlet on jazz have been non-profit magazines. And so, the economic situation isn't good. Add to that, I got some news yesterday regarding my academic prospects that left me totally deflated.

Now, this is not a personal blog, but I'm saying this because for the time being I'm not sure I'm in the mood to write much on these pages, even though I have things to say about Bob Geldof's rant at SXSW (the monoculture's been dead for decades, Bob) and the Smithsonian's new jazz anthology (have a listen to last week's NY Times popcast. EDIT: or read Ben Ratliff's excellent piece here, which draws in the Martin William's "curated" Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz (which I have, btw.)). Hopefully, things will sort themselves out, one way or the other, but until then expect no frequent updates (may add to the 2011-list, though). No words here, just grades.

• The Baseball Project: Volume 2: High & Inside (Yep Rock) (7/10)*
• Hayes Carll: KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories) (Lost Highway) (7/10)*
• Honey Ear Trio: Steampunk Serenade (Foxhaven Records) - Sax, bass, drums trio. Got this just recently. Sounds great, juxtaposes calmness and skronk, and it may benefit from more plays. (7/10)*
• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Belong (Slumberland) (7/10) *
• Lucinda Williams: Blessed (Lost Highways) - Picks: "Seing Black", "Convince Me" (6/10)*

* Grades are tentative, based on three or four listens, though quite often a few more. Much of the writing is done during listens, and should be considered notes more than final reviews.

Listening Booth, week 10, 2011

Not a lot of words here, or records for that matter, but I wanted things to get going, so I'm posting this anyway.

• Mike Watt & the Missingmen: Hyphenated-Man (Clenched Wrench/Original Recordings Group) - Mr. Watt apparently got the idea for this 30 song album (opera) from Hieronymus Bosch's famous painting/triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights. The songtitles refer to several of the strange figures in that work, who Watt takes to represent different aspects in his own life. These are short, snappy songs, linking the styles of Minutemen and Firehose -- the Missingmen is also a bass, guitar & drums trio. The bass is very much the primary driving force, and Watt delivers his associative words in his distinctive, rough voiced, sea-chanty style. As you'd expect, it's dynamic and jumpy, even if the barrage does make seem a bit samey towards the end. Picks of the bunch: the spikey "Belly-Stabbed-Man" and the mellow guitar-driven "Hollowed-Out-Man". (7/10)*

• PJ Harvey: Let England Shake (Island) - Collaborating with both John Parish and Mick Harvey, this music is sparse in terms of instrumentation yet powerful in terms of impact. The autoharp is prominent throughout, which lends the music and eerie feel, and critique of war mongering politics is the overriding theme. Picks of the bunch: "The Words that Maketh Murder" & "The Colour of the Earth" (7/10) *

• Drive-By Truckers: Go-Go Boots (ATO) - Murder ballads, DBT style. Pick: "Used to Be a Cop" (7/10)*
• Jamaladeen Tacuma: For the Love of Ornette (Jam All Productions) - The most interesting electric bass player (and one of the best dressed gentlemen) in jazz since the mid 70s, Tacuma makes a convincing harmolodics inspired tribute to Ornette Coleman. Pick: "Tacuma Song" (6/10)*
• Bright Eyes: The People's Key (Saddle Creek) - (6/10)*

* Grades are tentative, based on three or four listens, though quite often a few more. Much of the writing is done during listens, and should be considered notes more than final reviews.

EMP Pop Conf. 2011 Links + bits

The annual EMP Pop Conference took place this past weekend, much earlier in the year than it has done previously. I understand that Twitter has been the chosen arena for quick peaks into the goings on of the conference, but I try to stay far far from that place. Fortunately, Ned Raggett has posted longer notes from the weekend here, here and here.

Edit: Christgau has posted a report here.

A lot of thing has happened since I went vacationing a few weeks back, and generally spent as much time as possible offline. The Grammys, for example, but I'm not in the mood to write too much about that. I admire Spalding's talent, and I'm happy she won, but her music interests me very little - to me it's all chops, no substance. As for Arcade Fire, well theirs was easily my favorite album of the ones that were nominated.

Hoping to have a fresh Listening Booth up by early next week. Other than that, check out the recent links from the web, "Subject to Change", on the right hand column.