Music of the Week 13/09

• Abdullah Ibrahim: Senzo (Sunnyside)
  
• The-Dream: "Rockin' That Shit/Thang" (Universal)
  
• The Thermals: "When I Died" (Kill Rock Stars)
  
• The Brakes (aka. brakesbrakesbrakes): "Ancient Mysteries" (Fat Cat)
• Bat For Lashes: Two Suns (Parlophone)
  

Blender no more

X-gau's thoughts on the fall of Blender.

RAPHAEL SAADIQ @ LA BELLEVILLOISE, PARIS (30/01/09)

Received this video from Saadiq's show in Paairs in the mail box the other day. Thought I'd post it here.

Edit: Video removed as it messed up the lay out. You can watch it and a few others here.

Music of the Week 12/09

Slight change of format in the hope I can get things rolling on a regular basis. The basics are the same: music I've enjoyed during the past week, sans write-up, just putting it out there.

• Bat for Lashes: "Daniel" (Parlophone)
  
• Death: "Politicians In My Eyes" (Drag City)
• Henry Threadgill (Sextet): Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket (1983, About Time) & Subject to Change (1985, About Time)
  
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs: "Heads Will Roll" (Polydor)
• David Byrne: live in Oslo, 19.03.2009
  

Death - "Politicians In My Eyes"

I wrote a piece on a closed forum yesterday about the incredible proto punk-band Death (no relation to the metal band), and this morning there's an article on Popmatters using almost the exact "headline" as I did. Oh, well. I'm not accusing anyone. The forum is "invite only", so it may be a case of "brilliant minds think alike." Articles about the band have been written a few times already these last few weeks, in the NY Times, the Guardian, and Stereogum to name a few.
Now, Death. A mid-seventies three piece from Detroit who played an energetic blend of P-funk and Stooges-type rock. The meme that has been going around is that they are precursors to the Bad Brains. In some ways that may be true, especially considering the wailing voice of the singer. But the frenetic bassline, skittering drumming, and accentuated guitars in the verse part of "Politicians In My Eyes" (from 1975) sounds more like something the Minutemen would play a few years later, though the refrain and coda is more in line with the "rock-ier" sides of Funkadelic (I've been told that they shared a studio with the Detorit branch of Funkadelic, which may explain some of the influence) and proto-punk bands like Rocket From the Tombs. Hear for yourselves below.



The compltete recorded output of Death, a mere seven songs, was released by Drag City earlier this year as ...For the World to See.

Wilson, Colbert, taste & Dion

In case you missed Carl "Zoilus" Wilson's appearance on the Colbert Report last week the whole episode can be seen here (the interview with Wilson is in the final part of the show).

by:Larm Friday 20th - short version

Three fairly good gigs yesterday, all of them small in scale but not in ambition. Percussionist Thomas Strønen under the name Pohlitz and saxophonist Håkon Kornstad played solo augmented by samples of their own playing, while the minimalist jazz duo Ballrogg balanced between simple chord structures and melodies and the atonal.

That's it.

by:Larm Thursday 19th - uncut version

It seems by:Larm news' proof reader didn't see eye to eye with me, and cut pieces from some of my reviews that he may have regarded redundant, but that I consider important in getting my view of the music across. Since the paper was printet last night, I see little problem in me posting the original (more or less, I had to rewrite parts of one from memory) reviews on this blog in order to save some face.

REVOLVER! - Mono, Thursday Feb. 19. 18:00

Since much noise and improvisation is based on the physical aspects of sounds rather than musical patterns that more easily appeal to the mind, the music often works better in live settings, where the physicality of the sounds comes more to the fore, than on record. That being said the duo REVOLVER! reveal themselves as no ordinary noise makers. Sure, guitarist Kim Johanessen scratches and pulls the guitar strings in ways that create a wide variety of sounds and noises, though at times it seemed a bit forced. Maybe that is a bit unfair because often enough the sounds he did get out of his instrument were quite riveting. Drummer Fredrik Kirkevold has great chops, variation and drive, not unlike renowned Norwegian jazz and impro drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, and may be a star in the making. When the duo lock together, they create purposeful grooves, at times both jazzy and heavy, and seeing as they are not afraid to slow things down, their music has great range and possibilities.

Bellman - Christianiasalen, Thursday Feb. 19. 20:30

Bellman played a packed Christianiasalen on Friday, which suggests that quite a few had been eager to hear his slightly orchestrated pop with a leaning towards sad beauty, elements that tend to go down well among many Norwegian music fans. Bellman's distinctive voice, high pitched and more than a little androgynous, coupled with the ambient feel of the music could easily be likened to Iceland's Sigur Rós. Bellman's music is more rooted in melodic pop, however, but it follows a similar pattern: slow to mid-tempo songs, where instruments are added as the songs progress and build up to crescendoes often exemplified by ringing guitar tones. The sadness of the songs are underscored by Bellman's singing, along with lyrics like «baby, I'm losing my way» and the telling title of his final song, «Requiem». Still this focus on sadness makes the music seem emotionally one dimensional, but to those more inclined towards the melancholy Bellman may be one of this year's stars of by:Larm

Zanussi 5 - Christianiasalen, Thursday Feb. 19. 22:30

Calling Zanussi 5's music «free jazz» is not entirely wrong, since they play free of the harmonic structures of traditional jazz. In terms of sound and attitude, though, their music has more in common with New York's Down Town music scene of the late 70s and early 80s that mirrored the varied culture of the area with a mix of jazz, funk, folk music, and punk's attitude and energy. Think Lounge Lizards, Last Exit or even James Chance and you are on to something. Zanussi 5 are no traditionalists, however, a point made clear with their closing number, a punkish and playful Balkan-inspired piece. Main man Per Zanussi played an electric bass instead of his acoustic on Friday (he didn't see that, should've been Thursday) , and the addition of Stian Westerhus on electric guitar has added power to their sound, while the interplay between the guitarists, the two sax players and the drummer was frenetically groovy. Zanussi 5 are normally one of Norway's best live bands. Last night, they played like the greatest working band in the world.

Carl Wilson on speech & music, plus rare Air recordings.

Fantastic post by Carl Wilson (Zoilus) where he goes through some of the most notable efforts made by musicians to transform the human speech into music (or connect human speech and music). He has also posted some videoes and sound bites for further insight. It's like the blogging of old, when we had had the time and took the effort to write longer posts on interesting themes.

Not completely unrelated, the other week I came across some rare rocordings of Air with the poet Amiri Baraka (thanks to the Rare Music Curator) made by German radio. I've been able to separate those recordings from the podcast and have uploaded them for your listening pleasure. In my opinion, they represent a fairly successful marriage of poetry and jazz, much due to Baraka's reading, since he seems to be in tune with th music, raisng his voice and tempo according to the music as well as the words (much like a singer would, mind you, althoug Baraka does not sing).

Air (Fred Hopkins, Steve McCall, Henry Threadgill) feat. Amiri Baraka, 20. March, 1982 Koln, Germany, WDR radio broadacast:

"I Love Music"



"Against Bourgeois Art"



"Class Struggle In Music"

by:Larm and Pop Conference '09

A busy week ahead, with by:Larm 2009 kicking off tonight. I hope to catch Ballrogg and Zanussi 5, but will most likely be reviewing gigs by virtually unknowns as well, which is what by:Larm really is for. There will also be a couple of conferences worth checking out.

Speaking of which, the schedule, panels, and abstracts for this year's Pop Conference are up on EMP's website. Haven't had any time to look through any of the abstracts yet, but will soon.

Air Song reissue

Good news. The label Why Not is about to re-issue Air's first album, Air Song, (from 1975, originally on India Navigation) on February 17. Hopefully, this will mean that Air Raid, my favorite of the two India Navigation-records, is on the way too. Let this be the year when Air finally get's the recognition they deserve.

Songs of the Week 01-05/09 (well, album, really).

Been catching up on some lost records of 2008 (tracking Pazz and Jop and what not) recently, but the best new record I've heard so far this year, by a mile, is David S. Ware's Shakti. New quartet, only William Parker remains, but man, there is some lovely playing on there. Here's hoping he has found a donor.

Raphael Saadiq, Cosmopolite, Oslo (no.) 28.01.09

The very enjoyable, close to two hour long gig, recorded by radio and on film, started off like this.




More clips will most likely become available in the following days,

Benjamin Gump?

I rarely comment on movies on this blog, but the video below made me laugh. Considering how The Curios Case of Benjamin Button recieved umpteen nominations for this year's Oscars, the "Academy" really should be sent a copy of this. Who do they think they are fooling?

The Curious Case of Forrest Gump - watch more funny videos

Pazz & Jop '08: where's the pazz?

Pazz & Jop '08 results are up. Quick thoughts: agree with the winner, 'though I'm dissapointed with the lack of jazz (pazz) on the list. Glad to see MOPDtK and Vijay Iyer get a couple of votes, as well as Sonny Rollins (highest placed jazz record, as far as I can tell, on no. 215). William Parker too, but not the album I preferred. It may have to do with the (sad) fact that jazz criticism has increasingly become a field of specialists, and it does highten the importance of the VV jazz poll. Maybe they weren't asked or maybe they didn't bother. It is a bit sad, really, that the fields have to be separated, but that's how it has come to be (and has been for a while, admittedly). A qiuck browse reveal that at least Tom Hull carries a torch for both (new) jazz and rock/pop (but we knew that), and one Martin johnson, plus a few others, seem to be of similar interest. But are we a dying breed?

Generic

Flipper's classic Generic Flipper has just been reissued by Water, the same record company that was scheduled to reissue the Feelies' Crazy Rhythms last year. This time I know for a fact the record has made it to the stores, I've seen the physical copies myself.

Two apologies: one for the abundance of the word "excellent" in my previous post - repetition of the same descriptive word takes away the salience from the it every time it is used, not to mention that "excellent" barely says much at all. That doesn't hide the fact that I intended to be positive about the music I used it for. A second one for no Songs of the Week or any other updates. I'll get it together soon.

Favorite Jazz of 2008

May as well get it over with, especially since the Village Voice Poll was posted last week.

1. Mostly Other People Do the Killing: This Is Our Moosic (Hot Cup)
2. Fieldwork: Door (Pi Recordings)
3. Ben Allison & Man Size Safe: Little Things Run the World (Palmetto Records)
4. Anthony Braxton, Milfor Graves, William Parker: Beyond Quantum (Tzadik)
5. Rob Brown Ensemble: Crown Trunk Root Funk (AUM Fidelity)
6. Vijay Iyer: Tragicomic (Sunny Side Records)
   
7. Roy Campbell: Akhenaten Suite (AUM Fidelity)
8. William Parker: Petit Oiseau (Aum Fidelity)
9. Vandermark 5: Beat Reader (Atavistic)
10. Mike Reed People, Places & Things: Proliferation (482 Music)

The rest, in no particular order but all graded 7 or better (i.e. recommended):

• By Any Means (Rashied Ali/Charles Gayle/William Parker): Live at Crescendo (Ayler Records)
• Hamid Drake/Anders Gahnold/William Parker: Last Dances (Ayler Records)
• Adam Lane, Lou Grassi, Mark Whitecage: Drunk Butterfly (Clean Feed)
• Bill Dixon: 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound: Darfur (Aum Fidelity)
• William Parker: Double Sunrise Over Neptune (Art for Arts/AUM Fidelity)
• Fight the Big Bull: Dying Will Be Easy (Clean Feed)
• Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet: Tabligh (Cuniform)
• Atomic: Retrograde (Jazzland Rec.)
• Mattew Shipp Quartet: Cosmic Suite (Not Two Records)
• Empty Cage Quartet: Stratostrophic (Clean Feed)

(the links go mostly to CD Baby and Jazz Loft, but the records may also be available from other retailers).

I'm tempted to borrow Christgau's phrase from his review of Air's Air Lore in order to describe Mostly Other People Do the Killing: "Demonstrating not only that ragtime (...) and New Orleans (...) are Great Art consonant with Contemporary Jazz, but also that they're Corny. And that both Great Art and Corn can be fun."

MOPDtK rip out the intervoven molodies and the joie de vivre of vintage Dixieland and fuse that with the power and speed of post bop and hard bop, verging on the avant garde, at least in terms of their fondness for the odd skronk. There is also a post modern wit to their music, which makes me want to pit them with Pavement, of all bands, also due to their loose approach. This Is... may on occasion feel darker (e.g. "East Orwell") than their previos record, but then again think of the duality of their excellent moniker: the serious accusation that we're not as evil as the others sounds quite funny at the same time. I liked This Is... so much that I picked up and played 2007's Shamokin!!! again, and it is just as good.

The other "winner" this year may be Vijay Iyer, who has two entries on my list: the powerful and percussive Door by his trio Fieldwork (with last years newcomer of the year Tyshawn Sorey and Steve Lehman), and the straighter quartet session Tragicomic.

Ben Allison demonstrated the simplicity can be more, musically, on Little Things...

2008 was in some regards Anthony Braxton's year, not only because of great records like Beyond Quantum (with William Parker and Milford Graves), but also due to the Mosaic box set that re-issues his Arista records. Finally the excllent Creative Orchestra Music 1976 is available again.

William Parker was all over 2008, a testament to how highly I and others hold him in the world of contemporary jazz. He played bass on Beyond Quantum and Rob Brown's excellent free bop quartet session Crown Trunk..., among others. As for his records as a leader, I preferred the groovy quratet album Petit Oiseau to the large ensemble Double Sunrise... (I'm still not 100% comfortable with the vocals of Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay).

There are still some records I am sifting through, Matana Roberts The Chicago Project among others, but the top 10 should remain unchanged.

Best jazz record originally released in 2007 that I discovered in 2008: Sonic Openings Under Pressure: Muhheankuntuk (Clean Feed)

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!