You have my vote

Well, I guess someone was bound to take on the task, and I'm glad it's Matos. Wonder if I qualify?

David Murray

The Air-mp3 was a minor success, and since I still don't have much time to write longer pieces (will I ever again?), I'll give you another.

We'll keep it on the Jazz tip. Today, "B.T." from David Murray's debut as a leader, Low Class Conspiracy (Adelphi, 1976). Murray was 21 when he recorded this album, and while you can hear a bit of youthful audacity in his tone and approach, there are enough dynamics in the tunes to suggest an older sensibility. The album starts and closes with solo pieces - the first, "Extremininity", is a sax solo; the last, "Dedication To Jimmy Garrison" is a bass solo by Fred Hopkins (of Air-fame). In the three tracks in between, Murray and Hopkins are joined by drummer Phillip Wilson.

The music on Low Class... can be described as outer fringe post-bop. Murray's tone is reminiscent of Albert Ayler's at this stage, and Fred Hopkins' bouncy but solid bass keeps things moving along. Wilson's drumming is effective, and he never over elaborates. "B.T." is the shortest of the trio pieces. It is also the speediest, hence my affection for it, and should serve as a good introduction to the album.

Low Class Conspiracy is long out of print, but there are currently three copies available on vinyl through Gemm.com, prices starting at 11$.

• "B.T." mp3

If you experience any problems, please leave a comment. I may have to update the link. The track is lifted off a vinyl copy, so you may hear a hiss in the background. It will be up for a short time only. The Air-track is still available for a few days, so feel free to download.

Air Lore!

I'm extremely busy these days, so I figured I'd let the music do the talking today.

Here's "King Porter Stomp" from the absolutely fabulous Air Lore (Bluebird/RCA, 1979) by Air (no, not the French group). The album is a collection of improvisations over old-time standards by the likes of Jelly Roll Morton and Scott Joplin. Air (Fred Hopkins (bass), Steve McCall (drums), and Henry Threadgill (reeds)) were masters of small group improvisation, and their glorious interplay is almost unrivaled. Their joyful approach to the tunes on Air Lore, their dynamism, hard swing and willingness to let things rip, makes the old favorites sparkle like new even today. 80's revivalists, eat your hearts out. (The mp3 is up for a limited time only. Check out Gemm for used copied of Air Lore).

• "King Porter Stomp"mp3

(There may be more mp3s available here in the future).

Robert Altman R.I.P

Truly saddened by this.

Watt and Kelly

You probably read Pitchfork more than you read me, but I just had to post a link to this extraordinary piece of news. "History Lesson pt. 3" perhaps?

"We'd go drink and pogo to "Since U been Gone"".

Story of my life, that.

Forster on Dylan

This is a month old now, but I just came across it: Robert Forster (Yes, that one) reviews Dylan's Modern Times, and he's less enthusiastic than many have been. A good read, but I don't wholly agree with his conclusion.

Crappy lists!

Needless to say, most of the choices here are as unoriginal as they are uninspired and utterly crap. And guess what, they have Kind of Blue in there too. Suckers!

We love you back, Buck

Buck 65 calls his fans lovers and gives them presents such as this:

(Edit 24.11.2006: Link to free download removed. Try http://myspace.com/buck65)

Only heard one track yet. Sounds good. Be back to better blogging soon.

Oh, and thanks for the "hello", Mike.

CMJ 06, sort of

Came back this weekend, but I'm not in the shape nor mood to write anything about it yet. I think I may have overdosed on these:

Blogging

"I also plan to blog more often, though lots of plans go haywire and this one might too. We shall see."

Sez Matos, along with quite a few other things. I could just as well apply it to myself, that quote, but will I be able to emulate this guy's run?

I sat down the other day and flicked through a couple of my earliest posts here. Some of them are pretty embarrassing, I must admit. But my writing has improved since, I think, so in that respect I'm pleased with the progress of the blog.

But I do regret not having enough time to write more and longer pieces. There's surely enough material and news out there to offer my view upon, but somehow finding the time to write something intelligent has become more difficult. Partly it's because I'm simply not content with just throwing down a few words anymore - one reason why my writing has improved is because I've become better at editing myself.

While some plan to write more, others are taking an hiatus, Woebot being the latest to announce one. I've recently been asked to contribute on other projects, so we'll see how that will influence Perfect Sounds in the future, but hopefully I'll be able to blog on a frequent basis. We shall see.

Proud and hurt

A proud day as Tom Hull has a link back to my blog in his recent post, and I discovered this just hours after being run over by a bicyclist (hence the "hurt" in the title. I'm fine, if you are wondering).

I didn't comment on the Xgau quote I posted the other day, partly because it was just a quote I liked as an excuse to post the link, but also because I didn't have much time.

Like Mr. Hull, it's been a while since I've read Adorno (though not thirty years, mind). My main problem with him was what I read as his underestimation of the consumer's role in the reception of popular music; in short, that they take it sans questions because it is familiar, formulaic, omnipresent etc.

His stance makes more sense to me in light of the fact that he was, as Tom Hull puts it, "profoundly disturbed by Nazism". Nazism prospered thanks to a massive propaganda machine, "mass suggestion" and nurturing mob thinking. Maybe I'm wrong, but I suppose Adorno saw similarities in what he perceived as the omnipresence of popular music at the time. I am skeptical of his view of the passive role of the consumer, though, but I totally agree with Mr. Hull's closing thoughts:

"I'm not sure that Adorno has anything useful to say about popular music in America, but mapping him onto a highbrow/lowbrow spat that these days mostly shows our age is certainly wrong. He was from another time and place, maybe another planet. Wonder what he would have made of Sun Ra."

Breaking the Silence

"I think Theodore Adorno was profoundly ignorant".

Final Curtain

So, CBGB's closed. Must admit I'm not feeling too sad about it, they've been yapping about this final day for ages. An account of what went down that night here.

Chris Cross

Big Chris (that's me) digs this song by Lil' Chris (that's him up there, sorta):

"Checking it Out" (mp3)

'member the Strokes' "Modern Times" on Rough Trade? 'member? Well this is kinda like that: Sounds like a demo with a drum machine, catchy as hell, but without the downtown NY-cool rock 'n' roll myth.

(If you're Lil' Chris, or represent him, and for whatever reason want me to remove the mp3, please let me know)

Zero + All that Jazz

Re: the zero grade, Brad Luen commented:

"(...) what good is a rating system if you don't use the whole scale? A basement grade doesn't mean there's absolutely no merit; instead, it's a statement that whatever merit exists is dwarfed by offensiveness of some kind. Only thing is: you'd better be able to bring the moral outrage, or else you'll look like you're throwing a hissy fit".

And he mentions Pitchfork's reviews of NYC Ghosts & Flowers and Liz Phair to exemplify his last point. He's right, of course, and I didn't mean to discard the zero grade altogether. But my opinion is that whenever the zero grade has been used, the writing (or lack of) has not been good enough to back it up - they haven't brought the moral outrage - and frankly "utterly generic rocked-out pop songs" doesn't cut it (nor does a Youtube-vid). It is often easier to back up a 10 grade - if you are that excited about a record, you've probably thought about why. I feel that the zero grade is too often used when people just don't like the thing (or is bitterly disappointed by a favorite's latest offering), but really haven't contemplated why they don't like it. (Xgau's review of SY's Rather Ripped has a section on taste vs. judgement which can be related to the problems of the use of the zero grade).

The difference between me and Mr. Luen is perhaps just that I reserve the zero grade for the absolute abominable - the V&V's - but I'm willing to accept his stance. I'm not a professional critic, so I don't get shitloads of records I have to listen to. I have to seek out music (and that I do a lot of), mostly, and receive only a small amount by comparison, so the chances of me stumbling upon zeroes are slimmer than for people who do this for a living.

On to things jazz. I played Ornette Coleman's "Sleep Talk" from Sound Grammar at work the other day, and got a few worried looks from my colleges in return. I discussed this with another college, and said that I thought some people make themselves think that listening to jazz is more difficult than it really is. After all, "Sleep Talk" is plain melody. His response was that he thought they perhaps missed some of the familiar structures that are more common in pop*. Reasonable point, though many do seek out experimental stuff - including structure wise - in pop, but still regard jazz with skepticism. Destination: Out have posted a beginner's guide to free jazz, where they attempt to link certain fields and artists of modern jazz with currents in modern rock, providing free mp3's for exemplification. I don't like all of their choices, but applaud their cause.

* I use pop here in the sense "popular music" (be it pop, rock, indie, what have you), as opposed to classical and jazz, though in no way inferior to these.

Zeroing in

Now, a week has gone past since Pitchforkmedia reached a new nadir with their "review" of the latest Jet record. While you could probably guess that the "critic" didn't hold the record in very high esteem, it says, since there was no writing, nothing about why he thinks it's analogue to a chimpanzee drinking his own pee. That is not criticism. It's akin to the kind of unelaborated nonsense you spew forth at a bar at 3 in the morning after wayyy to many mojitos. What makes the thing even more strange is that it was posted on the same day as their review of Hold Steady's latest, which is one of the better pieces of writing on their part I've read in a while.

Now, the Jet record isn't very good. It's retro for the sake of retro, and perhaps also for the sake of "authenticity", which is bull, really. To continue the comparison above, the Hold Steady's retro leanings have various effects; it signals place, since the music is very much American; it signals the kind of stories we're about to hear, about seekers, which from Kerouac to ,yes, Springsteen, is an American specialty; it also has a timelessness about it. Plus, the Hold Steady play a heck of a lot better and with more chops than Jet. They could have mentioned something like that, then they would have had something aproaching a review.

In fact, the Jet "review" reminded me of the NME's review of Stereolab's Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night a few years back. At least the critic had taken time to elaborate, somewhat, but the reason why I came to think of it is this: Although it doesn't show on the web page, if I remember correctly, it was graded 0 out of 10. Zero!

I'm gonna drop a bomb now. There are no zero records. Yes, you read correctly. I know I can be a grumpy fella sometimes, but in spite of all the terrible music that has been made out there, zero records I can only find in my imagination (or nightmare, if you will). That grade would only be issued if the music was V&V; Void and vile. Void - of musicality or some form of skill, or of any value and emotion I hold dear; Vile - in the sense that it would uncritically celebrate things I vehemently oppose, such as racism, malevolence, chauvinism, etc. There are many void-records. There are many vile-records. There are very, very few void and vile records. Outside of so-called "white power" music, it's hard to find wholly V&V-records. Guns 'n' Roses came close with this, but even that has moments that aren't half bad. I'm no fan of 2 Live Crew's male chauvinism, either. I don't find their alleged humor very funny. If they'd acknowledged the fact they were "hoes" themselves, I'd be willing to meet them half way. But I do like some of their romping beats, albeit not very much. John Tesh's music can be both void and vile in some ways, but not wholly. Edit: come to think of it, most of the patriotic music recorded post 9/11, mostly by Nashville, scores high in both categories. But I still don't think they were zero records.

In conclusion, there are (hopefully) no zero records. Yet. Plenty of 1's, surely, but no records only worthy of an ape's piss. And if you thought so, I'd appreciate if you explained why.

Bring that beat back!

I didn't get much sleep last night. Why, you ask? Because I was busy messing with Beaterator, which is a real-time music sequencer and sampler unit. All you need is an internet connection and a Macromedia Flash Player (which can be downloaded via the site). You can (ab)use samples that are provided on the beaterator, or you can create your own beats and upload sounds from your hard drive. It's very addictive, and I got some serious dope grooves going. Beaterator is created and provided by the loveable Rockstar Games of Grand Theft Auto-fame. Also check out the up-coming Bully, not to forget L.A. Noire, which looks absolutely stunning. See the trailer.

In other news, I came across this interview with Norwegian bass-master Ingebrigt Haaker Flaten in the Chicago Reader. I didn't know he'd become a Chicagoan.

If You Got to Ask, You Ain't Got It!

No, I ain't got it, hence me askin': can I have one, please? All my money's been spent on this.

Regrets, I have a few... + Fucking Free Jazz!

Regrets

I re-read my Hold Steady-post below, and I must admit I’m not wholly satisfied with it, which is to be expected since I wrote and published it on the go. I’m not happy with the structure, and the initial assessment needs to be clarified. It also doesn’t say that unlike Separation Sunday, which happens to be one of my favourite records of the 2000’s, it stumbles on a couple of occasions, though its highs are as good as its predecessor’s, and it is still a damn good record. I also regret not writing more about Craig Finn’s lyrics and his delivery of them, since it’s an integral part of why I’ve been so taken by their records.

However, I won’t edit or delete the thing, partly because I don't have much time, partly because it does say that I think it’s a damn good record, and also because I think the final part of the post is pretty good.

Fucking Free Jazz!

I'm familiar with Jimmy Lyons' work with Cecil Taylor, but I don't know too much about his solo work. After reading a recent post on Destination Out!, I think I've been missing out. A qoute to illustrate:

I used to dismiss Free Jazz because it wasn’t sexy. I mean, when’s the last time you put on some free jazz to get sexed up and busy fucking? It practically feels like heresy to even write “free jazz” and “fucking” in the same sentence. Why is that?

Gotta love it. Continue reading here.

The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America

Maybe because Craig Finn is older than his characters, he's ready to agree to the assertion that boys and girls in America are having a sad time together. There's less Catholicism this time, but just as much drugs and booze as before, both as buffers and backdrops to the relationships described on the record. They've lessened the 80's indie guitar sound from Separation Sunday for a more traditional rock'n'roll crunch, plus a more prominent piano in addition to occasional balladery. The songs vary from the highs, in both senses of the word ("Massive Nights"), to the lows, and the difficulties between boys and the girls:

"How am I supposed to know that you're high if you want let me touch you" ("Chips Ahoy").

Finn's girls are often both shifty, unreliable, and restless ("You Can Make Him Like You"), and they may be damn good dancers, but not all that great girlfriends. Given this, in addition to a musically more trad-/hard rock leaning that can easily be thought of as very male, you'd perhaps think he was being apologetic on behalf of his own gender. But he portrays his characters with a sense of understanding and affection. The boys can be just as jaded. All of them, however, are what America might call losers, but I'd call them seekers. In many ways, Boys and Girls... is very American both musically and in its subject-matter, and so the Hold Steady are carrying on a tradition here. But their ability to carve out a very distinct voice in this tradition, not least through Craig Finn's writing, stories and observations, makes them unique. When two of Finn's seekers, an Izzy Stradlin look-alike and a girl, has a brief romantic encounter stoned out and coming to in the chillout tent of a festival, only to never see eachother again, we have the Hold Steady at the top of their game immortalizing their short story. It's the kind of story you wanna hear again and again.