Against Me! and Future of the Left double bill

You may have noticed, if you ever pop by my favorites pages, that I like Against Me!'s New Wave. I really like it. One thing I noticed, which Steinar also picked up on, is that Tom Gabel sometimes sounds like D. Boon with his matter-of-fact lyrics and no fuss delivery. The opening couplet of "Americans Abroad" is especially Boon-like in the way he crams the words " Golden Arches rising above the next overpass / these horizons are endless" into a short space of time because he needs to say it. More on the Minutemen in the following posts (Or at least I plan to. I have a few thoughts on Mike Fournier's 33 1/3 book on Double Nickles... for one).

For now I'm looking forward to Against Me!'s upcoming gig in Oslo, where Future of the Left, whose Curses I've been listening to lately, are supporting.

Watch My Feet

This is ace! Slow, creeping verse, then speed up the tempo for the hook/refrain. Proper dace off track. (The dance itself is apparently called "Juke" and is the latest craze in the midwest. Kind of reminds of the way Leeroy of the Prodigy used to dance, but nevermind).

Dude 'n Nem: "Watch My Feet":

Sonny Rollins Trio at Carnegie Hall, 2007 version.

This should turn out great. Wish I could be there.

EMP 2008: Organizing the Boy Scouts for Murder is Wrong

You may have picked up on this already, but the theme/question for this year's EMP Pop Conference - in my opinion probably the best thing to happen in the field of music writing and journalism - were announced earlier this week under the heading "Shake, Rattle: Music, Conflict, and Change". Visit EMP's home page for more info on that.

I've always been a sucker music with a sociopolitical edge if it's smart and done right (as opposed to e.g. us vs. them-thinking and petty "fuck Bush" slogan-ism), I'm very excited about what the contributors will come up with. (In fact, the theme/question is so interesting I might end up posting a "paper" on the blog myself, though I should probably have kept that to myself since I rarely deliver what I promise on this blog).

I have to agree with Carl Wilson that the choice of the words "conflict and change" in the question is better than "politics and protest" which seems to me a more archaic way of looking at the subject, and this way the papers will hopefully take up other topics than the traditional discussions of politics in 60's folk and punk rock, though this is not to say that some insightful thoughts on those topics are totally unwelcome.

Digital Primitives

Digital Primitives (Hopscotch) is rapidly becoming one of my favorite jazz records of 2007. As opposed to two other favorites this year - the crunk jazz of 4 Corners, and the muscle funk of (((Powerhouse Sound))) - Assif Tsahar, Cooper-Moore, and Chad Taylor take a minimalist approach to jazz not unlike some of Kahil El'Zabar's 90's output.

Assif Tsahar plays tenor sax and bass clarinet, blowing simple yet forceful melodies and themes. Chad Taylor on drums and m'bira adds skittering beats, while multi-instrumentalist Cooper-Moore for the most part controls the low end (their MySpace-page lists hand crafted instruments - diddley bo, banjo, mouth bow, flute, drums. He played piano on one of the best jazz records of the 90's, William Parker's Peach Orchard, which Tsahar also played on).

The result is a kind of subdued funk, with traces of both blues, African music, and a touch of minimalist electronica in feel if not so much in sound. There is a song number as well, Ol' Saint Peter sung by Cooper-Moore, a lovely quiet blues.

Their website, as well as their MySpace, has sound clips from the album as well as videos of live-performances (click on the images). If you can't find the record at your local shop, Digital Primitives can be bought through the Jazz Loft (and probably through Hopscotch's web-site, though I'm not sure).

Pere Ubu - "Breath": it's now or possibly never.

I was pointed towards this rare video of Pere Ubu's "Breath" - the first track on their recently re-released Cloudland album from 1989 - by whoever runs the Home & Garden MySpace page (Ubu bassist Tony Maimone is/was in H&G).

As much as I love their quirkier moments, "Breath" remains one of my favorite Ubu songs. I think it captures as much as any other of their recordings some of Pere Ubu's recurring themes; people and places; urban development - for better or worse - and decay, and people feeling estranged and struggeling to find their place in this world of constant renewal. Lyrically, "Breath" seems to be a call for the world to stop for a moment, while the grander sound seems less urban than their previous records, perhaps to suggest that urban deveolpment has reached suburbia as well:

I know my way round town. / Used to live around here. / I know the sites to see, / the things they mean to me, / and how we tore it down. / Let me walk with you cuz it's breaking my heart. / The things that we had, / the good and the bad - now it's parking lots. / Don't let's talk about tomorrow - / Baby, standin at the edge of sorrow. / Let's watch the whole world just goin slow. / Let's watch the whole world goin slow.

The thing is, though, Pere Ubu and David Thoms have had issues with You Tube for a while, so I guess it's just matter of time before this clip is taken down. Watch it while you can, or better yet, go buy Cloudland. It's ace.

Max Roach, R.I.P.

Christ, I'm slow these days. I was devastated to learn that Max Roach - legend, brilliant drummer, original composer, and good looking cat - passed away recently. The always brilliant Destination-Out! pays tribute and has some great tunes available for download too.

Still there?

In case I still have readers of this blog, thank you for stopping by. Regular blogging will resume shortly.

More Lip Stick

No, this is not turning into a fashion blog, but to continue the theme from the previous post: Canadian fuzz poppers Mother Mother are having problems with their make up and are in dire need of a "Touch Up", they say, and I'm happy to listen to their complaints.

Fashion tips

Is it just me or are there more fashion tips in pop songs these days. Last year there was The Pack praising "Vans". Then there was this fabulous Lil' Mama track big upping her lip gloss:
And to top it off, the third track on American Idol runner-up Katherine McPhee's new record is about the joys of open toe shoes:

"Hey let's go / If they're not too high / Too low / I'll take them home / In purple, red, or gold / 'cause I know them boys / They like / Those open toes"

Are there more?

Ingmar Bergman, R.I.P.

One of my all-time favorite film directors. A lengthy tribute to the man can be found at the New Times' web site.

Molde Jazz, 2007

Ok, this is going to be fast and furious, but let me just give you a few thoughts on the festival so far.

I had originally not planned on going this year, for various reasons. Hence I had not studied the program thoroughly and I regret that now. I arrived on Wednesday evening, and by then I had missed Dave Holland, Vijay Iyer, and Alexander von Schlippenbach's Monk's Casino. Bummer. Add to those a joint project between Nils Petter Molvær and Bill Laswell, Sonore (a Brötzmann, Vandermark, Gustafson blowing session), plus the Rashied Ali Quintet, and Chick Corea and Gary Burton (not interrested), and you have a pretty decent program. I have previously stated that I thought Kongsberg was about to surpass Molde Jazz as Norway's best jazz festival, but Ornette Coleman and some promising youngsters apart, as a whole Kongsberg loses this year.

I'm baffeled, though, how Dave Holland's bio keeps reading "played with Miles Davies on so-and-so". Valuable as that info is - particularly to gain the attention of novices I guess - Holland has by now built his own impressive catalogue. His fluid bass style is pretty unique, and his records continue to recieve critical acclaim, though I still hold the great Conference of the Birds as my personal favorite.

Went to see a double bill last night: Elvis Costello and Allan Toussaint opened up for Steely Dan. more on that later, hopefully.

Tonight, Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet. Can't afford the Wayne Shorter ticket.

Ornette Coleman at Kongsberg Jazz June 6th, 2007

Man, that was a good gig. You wouldn't believe Mr. Coleman had collapsed on-stage just a few weeks beforehand, because on this evening he was on top form, even joking to the adience in between a few of the numbers and once asking if somebody wanted to come onstage and sing a song! His band was great too, three bassists plus Denardo Coleman behind the drums. No site of Greg Cohen from the previos tour, but his shoes were more than filled by Charnett Moffett who boomed up and down the neck of his bass and throwing in some wha-wha effects as well. The set list was filled with both material from Sound Grammar as well as some of his greatest hits, and when he finnished off with "Lonely Woman", my evening was complete. I've seen him three times now, this gig was the best of them.

I should have written more about this, but I leave for a lenghty trip tomorrow and I have to pack. If I can get ahold of a laptop, I may blog from Molde International Jazz Festival, which starts in a weeks' time.

Oh, Rats!

Now, THIS I wanna see:

Eddie Gale @ Vision Fest!

If anybody reading this is planning to attend the Vision Fest in New York this week, may I recommend that you go and check out the Eddie Gale All Star Band, which includes William Parker on bass and Kidd Jordan on tenor among others. The band are to play at the festival venue, The Angel Orensanz Foundtion, on Saturday at 8:30 and it should be a hoot. If you do get to go, please drop me line on how the gig turned out as I would have loved to have been there myself. Visit the Vision Festival website for more information (it's flash site, so I couldn't retrieve any direct links to the schedule).

In case you don't know Eddie Gale or his music, let me give you a short bio. He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1941, and grew up on gospel and blues. He started out playing trumpet with several prominent hard boppers, before he was drafted in to play on records by Sun Ra, Lester Young, and Cecil Taylor, Most notably the latter's Unit Structures. Gale has recorded sporadically as a leader, but two of those occasions have spawned the records Ghetto Music (Blue Note, 1968) and Black Rhythm Happening (Blue Note, 1969), both of which I admire deeply. The music on these records feels like an extension of Max Roach's experimentation with protest music with vocals in a hard bop setting, but at the same time the music is clearly inspired by the avant-garde and it also has a distinctive funkiness to it. His last recording as a leader was, to my knowledge, Afro Fire from 2004. Finally, I've uploaded a tune from Black... so you can get a taste of his music.

• Eddie Gale: "Song of Will" mp3 (from Black Rhythm Happening, Blue Note/Water, 1969)

Check out Gale's informative website for more, including video clips and sound bites.

Art Brut ist nicht Tot!

I love the title, It's a Bit Complicated, as if to say that things are not always as straightforward Bang Bang Rock 'n' Roll. But much of this is bang bang, in sound as well as themes, which is a good thing: It's a "Direct Hit", as singer Eddie Argos puts it. Complications include learning your German from a 7" record ("St. Pauli"), and choosing between kissing and the urge to turn up a pop song you love ("Pump up the Volume"). Argos is as witty as ever, even providing answers to important questions that have been asked for decades:

"What becomes of the broken hearted / they get drunk for a few weeks / and then they're right back where they started".

True, their sound may not have evolved much since last time around, but there are hooks aplenty and it's a terrific setting for Argos' jokes. (A side note: Some of their riffs even remind me of early nineties Amerindies such as Superchunk. 90's revival, anyone?). Punk rock ist nicht tot! I like this.

Get Yer Ga Ga's Out!

Spoon's lovely new record Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, due out on July 10th, is now streaming around the clock @ http://www.gagagagaga.net/.

Two Candles: relevant now as it was back then

(Gerard Richter, Two Candles)

This (apologies for the S-FJ pastiche).

Is...

...M.I.A the new Neneh Cherry? Compare:

• colorful video - check
• big a** earrings - check
• catchy as f**k - check

Well, that's about it, I suppose, but it gives me an excuse to post a link to this video, plus embed the one below:

Sound and Vision: Hope for Men?

I can't help but question some of Kevin J. Elliott's argumentation in his review Pissed Jeans' Hope for Men. While I won't disregard the fact that pop music is heavily associated with image -- some artists than others, of course -- basing your critique of a record almost solely on its relationship with the artist's image seems odd to me. This is what Elliott has to say about Hope for Men:

"The first thing you’ll notice when cracking open Hope for Men is that Pissed Jeans are pretty ordinary looking guys. By being photographed in artistic light, sitting in their bedrooms with lap dogs and half-eaten doughnuts, it sort of sucks out the danger that once coursed through the veins of their music."

Which would be ok if it was felt that the imagery on the record sleeve was a symptom of the music on the record itself. But Elliott admits to liking some of the music:

"Were Hope for Men packaged in a brown paper bag, things would be different. Even as elaborate farce (in visual presentation anyways), many of the album’s pieces are still extremely brutal, nihilistic, and confrontational, with riffs tossed around like a shot put aiming to break bones."

Even if I was to buy into his line of thought, I'd argue that the fact that Pissed Jeans are pictured as ordinary looking guys makes the band appear even more deranged -- juxtaposition of image and sound. But I still feel the music itself is enough to merit a response on its own terms, which I feel Elliott only gives to a lesser extent in his review.

And in case you were wondering, I happen to enjoy Hope for Men.