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.

Music Crits too tolerant? What's Indie? Informed opinions? Target audiences?

A post by Mike Barthel on Idolator yesterday, which starts off asking why it is Metacritic's average scores for records is higher than they are for movies, then proceeds to guess it has something to do with a indie mentality: "The indie audience and the critics that spring from it have become so catholic in their tastes that they can see the good in almost anything that's not bad on a very basic technical level." (My highlights).

And the piece kind of sprawls from there, taking in questions of how one can write about music without knowing enough "to have an informed opinion" with an "audience for my review" that "would be people that are highly informed".

The comments are all over the place too, but I liked Matos' point: I'd rather read a critic who's actually made an effort to understand something and then dismissed it gleefully and with malice aforethought (...) than "are you kidding?" disdain for something the writer plainly isn't getting."

If I had more time, I'd join in on the debate, and there may be some points, either made by Mike or in the comments, that I'm missing here.

But if there was one thing I'd hope would come out of the poptimist/rockist debate, whichever side you were on, it was that people would stop having such hangups with genres. And they're back at it here. Broad taste is defined purely by genre, as one commenter says " But I see kids with everything from Modest Mouse to Jack Johnson to Ciara to Trace Adkins to Mastodon. There's a healthy mix (...)".

One who calls himself RaptorAvatar is on to something: "Even if you're like me and know that you're partial to a certain set of values that often crystallize most readily in indie rock, chances are that you have at least an ethos-level sense that you should maybe listen to "Year of The Gentleman (...)" (=Ne-Yo's latest, my comment).

Only I'd add to his "indie rock", jazz, rap, pop, r&b... See, what I've found over the years is that the values and expressions I seek and like - not only in music but in literature and films as well - are not confined to one genre specifically (though I may concur that some values, which RA touches on, are probably more likely to be found in one genre over another). Similarly, what I don't like in music can be found in alomost every genre as well. E.g. indie as a genre does not in and of itself express one coherent set of values, nor do indie bands and musicians express them equally well. The same goes for any other genre.

Before I'm labeled as a relativist here, let me just say in one respect, one can claim that my taste is actually very narrow in that I know exactly which kinds of values, expressions etc. I like and dislike - though music has a way of surprising you sometimes.

This, I maintain, is what gives me the right to have an opinion on almost anything I want to write about. What I take the time, and money, to write about is another matter all together.

(A belated and retro-influenced Songs of the Week will appear shortly).

Songs of the Week 45/08

• Mostly Other People Do the Killing: "Allentown" (Billy Joel-cover)(Hot Cup/CD Baby)
• Billy Joel: "Allentown" (Sony)
• Taylor Swift: "Fearless" (Big Machine)
• Britney Spears: "If You Seek Amy" (Jive Records)
• The Widow Babies: "Mike Watt Created the Universe With a Bass Solo" (Sounds Are Active)
  

Reagan, PATCO, and the Minutemen

A few weeks ago, I did a talk at my University about Ronald Reagan's handling of the Air Traffic Controllers' Strike in 1981. Talking about the aftermath and legacy of Reagan's firing of the strikers, I was able to weave in some music, more precisely the Minutemen. The following is an excerpt of that section.

The notion that Reagan's strict line towards the PATCO strikers weakened labor unions and made it easier for employers to fire dissenting employees in the ensuing years was reflected in other aspects of American culture as well. In 1984, the politically aware punk and folk inspired rock band Minutemen released a video for their song "This Ain't No Picnic", taken off the album Double Nickels On the Dime, which was released that same year. The song is one of the groups most striaght forward: it has what I would describe as a rampant or charging beat, and the chorus is shouted more than sung in a style that can be likened to protest calls at a rally. The lyrics describe the tension between a working man, his work and his employer. Below is the second verse of the song.

"Hey mister, don't look down on me
for what I believe
I got my bills and the rent
I should pitch a tent
but a man isn't free
for what he believes
so I'll work my life away
in place of a machine"

The video for "This Ain't No Picnic" takes into use black and white footage of a young Ronald Reagan in a World War II fighter plane, intercut with old footage of factory workers and footage of Minutemen outside of what appears to be a factory. The band lipsync the words of the song, shaking their fists in the air while singing the chorus, "This Ain't No Picnic", as if they were having a protest rally. As the video progresses, the fighter pilot in the guise of Ronald Reagan starts to fire the plane's guns. The footage shifts back to the band on the ground being fired at. There is an explosion, and we finally see the band, or the protesters, laying in the rubble. The image is quite striking: the protesters have effectively if violently been defeated at the hands of Ronald Reagan.

(Video for "This Ain't No Picninc" (SST Records, 1984))

Songs of the Week 44/08

• The Bronx: "Young Bloods" (Witchita)
• William Parker: "Freddie's Dead" (RAI Trade)
• The Muslims: "Parasites" (1928 Recordings)
• Los Campesinos! "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed" (Witchita)
• Black Milk: "Bounce" (Fat Beats)

Fingers crossed

(Via Destination Out!)

Songs of the Week on hiatus, but I'm searching for Bernstein

More presicely Leonard Bernstein conducting The New York Philharmonic playing "Le Sacre du Printempes", a work that never ceases to amaze, recorded in 1958 and released on Columbia Records at the time. This is by many regarded as the recording of the piece. Stravinsky himself is said to have uttered just one word after hearing it: "Wow" (see this article from the NY Times).

Peter Gutmann of Classical Notes has this take on the importance of the recording:

"Nowadays The Rite presents a vexing performance problem – how to restore the original impact. The score was intended to assault audiences with startling freshness, yet listeners now take its innovations for granted and thanks to Fantasia remember the work more as a cartoon soundtrack for dancing dinosaurs than as the bold cornerstone of twentieth century music. In a stunning January 1958 record, Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra restored The Rite to its rightful place in musical history.

Bernstein's solution to the problem of historical perspective was brilliant and yet, as so often with artistic triumphs, disarmingly simple. He was well aware that what shocked audiences in 1913 would seem pretty mild stuff two generations later. He couldn't expect audiences to turn back the clock, forget what they knew and participate in an aesthetic masquerade. Nor would he falsify the score by adding more “modern” elements. There was only one way to jolt contemporary listeners while preserving the integrity of Stravinsky's original conception: to generate a level of energy so intense as to restore the disparity between what the audience expected and what they had to feel. Bernstein's performance explodes with huge crackling sparks of rough, untamed excitement." (Click here for the full original article).

Sounds intriguing indeed. The original cover looked like this:


The recording has since been re-released on CD in a Roayl Edition by Sony Classical (SMK 47629, with a recording of "Petrushka" as a bonus, recommended by Gutmann.


Apparently, this edition has been discontinued and is currently out of print. (There are other recordings of Bernstein conducting "Rite...", but they don't seem to have garnered as much praise).

As an avid music fan and record collector, I'm used to records being out of print, even highly praised and "important" works (I'm currently pushing Arista to release Air's Air Lore on CD. Altough I do own that record, you may not, and you deserve one). It's none the less a crying shame.

It seems the only way to get this particular recording is to fork out a whooping 99,99$ for a used copy on Amazon (ain't gonna happen buddy), or go for the The Original Jacket Collection-box set, but that too seems to be out of print and very expensive.

Am I missing something here?

EDIT: found a version of the original LP on eBay a month or so after this was posted. Moral of the story is: seek and you shall find.

I don't see no ring on this finger

Me and S/FJ don't always see eye-to-eye, but we just as often do. In his New Yorker blog today he has a nice little list of Beyoncé's many confusing love tips, ending with this gem dissecting her latest song "Single Ladies":

"If a man values your relationship, be prepared to demand a commitment. Suggest that he signal the value of his commitment by buying you an enormous piece of jewelry, something big enough to kill a hamster with one mild blow."

Sums it up nicely. The fast beat seems to imply that you're in a hurry, too: "Demand a ring, NOW, before it's too late". Don't take that advice. (Plus, that dance is just plain silly (and others have pointed out the obvious inspiration, so I won't)).

Songs of the Week bonanza 41+42/08

• Blitzen Trapper: "God & Suicide" (Sub Pop)
• The Knux: "Bang Bang" (Interscope)
• Mostly Other People Do the Killing: "Drainlick" (Moppa Music/CDBaby)
  
• Lucinda Williams "Little Rock Star" (Lost Highway)
• Fucked Up: "Black Albino Bones" (Matador)
• Dog & Sky: "Twilight" (Crispin Glover Rec.)
  
• Love is All: "New Beginnings" (What's Your Rupture)
• Oscar Brown Jr.: "But I Was Cool" (Sony)
• Annie: "My Love Is Better" (Island)
• Taylor Swift: "Change" (Big Machine)

A few thoughts on people wanting change and their critics

I’m always baffled as to how certain Amercains attack people who want to change certain aspects of their government and country with such comments as “if you hate the country so much, why don’t you leave” and calling them unpatriotic.

Don’t you see, it is exactly because people love their country that they want to change things, to make it even better for themselves and their fellow citizens (re: the Constitution: “to form a more perfect union” (my emphasis)).

A question for you: If someone you love becomes an alcoholic, do you help them get on the right track or do you leave them be?

CMJ 2008 Schedule

The schedule for this year's CMJ Marathon, one I cannot attend (damnit), has been announced. Full list of artists here, the panels here. Looking at the list of artists hurt my eyes, but from what quick glance I could muster, I did see David Banner, Dead Prez, Jay Retard, Love as Laughter, Lykke Li, and Roisin Murphy (purr) there, plus the hilariously named Ex Norwegian, who I know nothing about. These may or may not be the highlights.

Oh, and catchy hard core-faves The Bronx will be playing, and coincidently you can listen to their new song "Past Lives" here, courtesy of Blender. Their new album will be out on Nov. 11th.

Hilliard Greene and Sonic Openings Under Pressure - an overlooked gem from last year

Having become smitten with the talents of bassist Hilliard Greene lately - particulalry on last years Matt Lavelle-led Spiritual Power as well as Akhenaten Suite by the Roy Campbell Ensemble, which came out earlier this year - I was recently browsing the web for other projects he's been involved in. Turns out he has had quite a varied career.

He played on Charles Gayle's Repent from 1992, a record I own but haven't listened to in quite a while (there are some recent videos on YouTube of him playing with Gayle also). Since then he has played on records by such creative musicians as Dave Douglas (Sanctuary), Leroy Jenkins (Leroy Jenkins Live!), and notably Little Jimmy Scott, with whom he is still the bassist of choice, as far as I know.

As the above list would suggest, Mr. Greene's approach to bass is as varied as his collaborators, equally comfortable playing smooth, long notes, as well as speedier runs, while at the same time keeping strong and clear tones. One of the biggest joys of his playing, however, is his willingness to lock into grooves and plays powerful riff-like themes.



Wich brings me to Sonic Openings Under Pressure, which in addition to Greene is comprised of Patrick Brennan on saxophones and David Pleasant on drums (who replaced Newman Taylor Baker, as far as I can tell). Last year, the group released Muhheankuntuk on Clean Feed, a record I feel recieved unfairly little notice and was underappreciated. I, for one, am with Stef at Free Jazz in thinking that it's a great piece of modern imrpovisational jazz, intense and open ended at once, with the frenetic "Hardship" as some sort of centerpiece, a groovy spoken word/punky number that wouldn't have sounded too out of place on a Minutemen record. Great song, great record.

Preview/download at eMusic.
Buy the CD from Jazz Loft or directly from Clean Feed.

Songs of the Week 40/08...

...will be entirely dedicated to Robert Forster, who I went to see play at the lovely Passionskirche in Berlin last weekend. Picking a top 5 from that set-list seems unfair, however, though highlights certainly included "Surfing Magazines" ("Be the kind of people the authoroties can't reach"), "Spring Rain" (which apparently left members of the audience in tears), a theatrical/Presley-esque rendition of "Heart Cut to Tender", "He Lives My Life", and the closing "Caroline and I", of which I found a grainy and lo-fi 'tube video I've posted below.

Defective Modern Dance CDs in Norway

I recently discovered that there seem to be a batch of defective copies of Pere Ubu's The Modern Dance-reissue (Cook CD 141) on sale through the distributer of Cooking Vinyl in Norway, presumably from the same batch that was initially recalled in June 2008. I've notified David Thomas/Ubuprojex (who have put a note up on the web page with additional info). Hopefully, new faulty-free copies of the reissue should become available soon.

In additional Pere Ubu news, a 2008 remastered edition of Dub Housing will be available in November. Also, visit hearpen.com for downloadable Pere Ubu stuff.

Belated Songs of the Week 39/08 + Berlin and Robert Forster beckons

• Sonic Opening Under Pressure: "The Hardships" (Clean Feed (teasers at eMusic))
• Jesus H. Christ and the Four Hornsmen of the Apocalypse: "Liz the Hot Receptionist"
• Report Suspicious Activity: "Lipstic on a Pig"
• Dr. Dooom: "RIP Dr. Octagon" (Threshold Recordings, LLC)
• Robert Forster: "It Ain't Easy" (Yep Roc)

I'm heading to Berlin for the weekend, among other reasons to see Robert Forster play at the Passionskirche. Songs of the Week 40/08 will prbably be delayed too. In the meantime, enjoy the video for Jesus H. Christ's "Liz the Hot Receptionist".

Lipstick on a Pig

Report Suspicious Activity, who released Destroy All Evidence earlier this fall - a great and dynamic album powerful enough to give any supporter of the current US administration an aural kick in the teeth and smart enough to tell them why they deserved it - are keeping up with current events and have just posted a song on their MySpace called, appropriatly, "Lipstick on a Pig". While I don't think it's their best moment, it's good for a laugh as well as a pretty decent fist pumper.

Lipstick on a Pig

Songs of the Week 38/08

• Raphael Saadiq: "Keep Marchin'" (Columbia)
• Jay-Z: "Jockin' Jay-Z/Dope Boy Fresh" (web/Rock-A-fella)
• Hypnotic Brass Ensemble: "War" (MySpace/YouTube)
• TV on the Radio: Halfway Home" (Interscope)
  
• The Mopes: "You Look Like a Gorilla" (Lookout! Records)

Clean Feed Fest NY III + No Songs of the Week 37/08?

This coming weekend, the Portugal-based jazz label Clean Feed will host a festival to showcase some of their artists at The Living Theatre in Manhattan, New York.

Clean Feed is fast becoming one of the most intersting jazz labels to my mind, releasing records by artists, both young and old, who explore the various posibilities in modern jazz. The company has released records by among others Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, Steve Lehman, Tony Malaby w/William Parker, Joe Morris, Ken Vandermark, and notably Adam Lane, one of my favoite up-and-coming "young" jazz composers/artists. Full catalogue here (by year).

The festival runs from this Friday (Sept. 19th) through to the following Wednesday (Sept. 24th). The program can be found here. I would recommend the double bill of Adam Lane w/ Mark Whitecage and Lou Grassi, and Michael Dessen Trio (w/ the talented Tyshawn Sorey on drums) on Friday, as well as Tony Malaby's Tamarindo (w/ William Parker and Nasheet Waits) on Monday the 22nd. But I'm sure it will be worth seeing all gigs if you have the time and the money.

No Songs of the Week as for some reason I've only been listening to two records this past week; Jeffrey Lewis' quirky, politically charged and often spot-on 12 Crass Songs (Rough Trade), which I admittedly arrived at a bit later than others, and Beyond Quantum (Tzadic) by Anthony Braxton, Milford Graves and William Parker. Both are very good records, and I could easily have picked five songs off each (B.Y. has just five "songs") and presented them as SotW, but I'm not going to.

Songs of the Week 36/08

• Conor Oberst: "I Don't Want to Die (in a hospital) (Merge)
  
• Report Suspicious Activity: "Destroy All Evidence" (Alternative Tentacles)
• Opiyo Bilongo & Extra Golden: "When I Was in U.S." (Thrill Jockey)
• Carsten Byhring as Jens Hetland anno 1913: "Erru Idiot Du'a?"
  
• Charles Mingus: "Prayer for Passive Resistance" (Live at Antibe-version) (Atlantic)
  

Random Rules: Zoilus interviews a Silver Jew

Carl Wilson has posted an interview with David Berman of Silver Jews fame - whose work I respect more than enjoy, with notable exceptions - where he among other things discusses the poet/lyricist "problem" we've touched on earlier this summer. A good read.

Songs of the Week 35/08

• Archers of Loaf: "White Trash Heroes" (Alias)
• The Wrens: "Happy" (Absolutely Kosher)
  
• The Streets: "Heaven for the Weather" (sixsevenine)
• Adam Lane: "Last of the Beboppers" (Clean Feed)
• Report Suspicious Activity: "Bush Is Brezhnev" (Alternative Tentacles/Revolver)
  

Paper Thin Walls R.I.P.

Paper Thin Walls closes down. Spreading the word on the internet isn't always easy.

Songs of the Week 34/08

• Wampire Weekend: "Everywhere" (Fleetwood Mac Cover)
• Fujiya & Miyagi: "Uh" (Groenland)
• Jenny Lewis: "Carpetbagers" (Rough Trade)
• Big Black "Kerosene" (Touch and Go)
• Jessie Evans: "Scientist of Love" (MySpace etc.)
  

Songs of the Week 33/08

• William Parker: "Lights of Lake George" (Arts For Art/AUM Fidelity)
• K'naan: "I Was Stabbed By Satan (Track and Field inc./CD Baby)
• Bottomless Pit: "Red Pen" (Comedy minus One)
• Kronos Quartet: "Marquee Moon" (Elektra, 1990)
• Spoon: "Peace Like a River" (Daytrotter Sessions)
  

Reviews

Forgot to mention I have two recent reviews at the Norwegian free monthly Plan B; Original Silence and Lars Horntveth (both are in Norwegian).

Both are interesting records, but share one problem albeit for slightly different reasons: themes.

OS is a noise/improv band, and I've often felt that noise works best live where the physical aspect of the music comes to the fore. Listening to records is a more "intellectual" excersice, so I feel the need for some form thematic structure or propulsion is necessary to keep you listening. Luckily, OS has a terrific rhythm section in Paal Nilssen-Love and Massimo Pupillo who keep the momentum going and makes sure not everything hangs mid-air, so to speak.

Horntveth's record - a 37+ minute suite of sorts - while often quite beautiful suffers from too many ideas or themes, and sometimes you don't quite know how you got from one part to the next.

Songs of the Week 32/08

(No songs this week, but a "top 5" of the gigs at Øya '08.)

• Girl Talk (Wed. 08/06/08)
• Kenge Kenge (Thur. 08/07/08)
• Sonic Youth (Thur. 08/07/08)
• Clipse (Fri. 08/08/08)
• My Bloody Valentine (Fri. 08/08/08)

Well, I must add

• No Age (08/09/08)

Also, R.I.P. to Isaac Hayes and Bernie Mac.

Need to recoup. Until then.

I Want the LP-version of Double Nickels... on my iPod. + Øya '08.

You have the CD-version. You rip it. Then you download "Mr. Robots Holy Orders", "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love", and the brilliant "Little Man With a Gun In His Hand" from the Mike Watt approved Corndogs.org. Edit in accordance with the original track-listing, and hey presto!, you're good to go.

The Minutemen - "Little Man With A Gun In His Hand" live at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC, 1984

Øya is up and running. I'm not, but I'm going anyway. Los Campesinos! and Girl Talk both put on good shows yesterday, but the area is too crowded this year with the addition of one more stage, meaning I just had to give up on Lykke Li and others. They have to consider whether this was a good move or not for next year (my money is on "not".)

Songs of the Week 31/08

Favorites lists on blogs: Wha'ppen?

A few years ago, when I started this blog, the blogosphere was littered with top/favorites lists. Lately, though, they are few and far between. Le Matos has none on his blog anymore, Tom Hull has lists from previous years, but has not started one for 2008 ('though I understand he has had family issues to deal with), and S/FJ, who removed his lists earlier this year but set up a new one for 2008, has added some strange rants at the end of his list, the final words being " some other album, fuck do i care".

Maybe there was a backlash somewhere. Perhaps a reaction to the "end-of-year-lists-are-stupid" comments that come up every year. Is it for fear of not being taken seriosly? Has somebody been calling them nerds? Sure, lists tells you fuck-all about the qualities (or lack of) of the things you like, or put it another way, why you like/dislike the album or song in the way a good review can do. But, c'mon, aren't they taking it a bit too seriously? Lists don't come in the way of longform reviews, they're just supplements.

To me, the blog lists were the equivalent of a buddy saying to you in a bar "have you heard the new SO-AND-SO? I think it's great", to which I'd might answer "no, I'll better give it a try", or "yes and I didn't like it but maybe I should give it another chance" or whatever and then have another drink. Point is, they are just tips or hints. We can have a conversation about it after I heard the song or album or seen the movie (or if I've heard/seen the thing and have a strong enough opinion about it I'll most likely discuss it then and there, but you see my point, no?). Where are the blog lists? I promise I'll read your reviews too.

Songs of the Week: 30/08

• Randy Newman: "Harps and Angels" (Nonsuch) ("Encore, Encore, You spoke French!" Gets me every time.)
• Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet: "Rosa Parks" (Cuniform)
• Moondog: "Paris" (Roof Music)
• Minutemen: "Little Man With a Gun in His Hand" (SST)
• Iron Maiden: "Can I play With Madness" (EMI)
  

Johnny Griffin, R.I.P.

More from Ben Ratliff in the NY Times.

Songs of the Week: 29/08 + some thoughts on Murray and Coleman

• Original Silence: "Argument Left Hanging - Rubber Cement" (Smalltown Superjazz)
• Menya: "D.T.F." (Menya/TuneCore)
• Constantines: "Our Age" (Arts & Crafts)
• David Murray's Black Saint Quartet: live at Alexandrakjelleren, Molde, July 14., 2008
• Ornette Coleman Quartet: "Lonely Woman", live at Bjørnsonhuset, Molde, July 15., 2008

Ok, so the last two are live, and Murray's a whole set. Fact: Murray was far more exciting and adventurous live than on his last record (which I like just fine, btw). The set was mostly new compositions plus a terrific version of "Murray's Steps" and a Monk-tune (which name escapes me at the time of writing. A bit embarrasing considring how much I love Monk) on bass clarinett. Luckily, the turn-out was good too, especially considering that no-one has covered him in the Norwegian press lately, as far as I can remember. Great quartet, with the always brillant Hamid Drake on drums. Jaribu Shahid (who's now a member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago) added groovy basslines, and Lafayette Gilchrist, whom I spoke to briefly after the show (genuinely nice guy), had a distinct hip-hop attack on his piano to add to his otherwise Andrew Hill influenced style.
Patti Smith joined Mr. Coleman on stage, reciting a poem I only could hear bits and pieces of, but which sounded like a tribute to the main man ("a new grammar" and "joining the ancient with the new" or something to that effect). Last year's Kongsberg gig was better, but this set was good too. Standing ovations at the end, deservedly so.

Songs of the Week: 28/08

(I thought I'd introduce a "songs of the week"-feature here in order to try to instill some regularity on this blog. Good songs are easier to come by than good records, so I shouldn't have much trouble compiling a list for every week. I won't confine myself to strictly new material, 'though, but add any song I've been listening to and enjoying lately, old or new. I'll start with five, without comments, and see how it goes from there).

• Alejandro Escovedo: "Always a Friend" (Back Porch, 2008)
  
• Les McCann w/Eddie Harris: "Compared to What" (Atlantic/Rhino, 1969)
• Nas: "Untitled" (Def Jam, 2008)
• Bruce Springsteen: "Cover Me" (Columbia, 1984)
  
• Wire: "One of Us" (Pink Flag, 2008)
  

Speak, Brother, Speak: a mish-mash of thoughts on words and music

Stef at Free Jazz blog posted some gripes about poetry and spoken word in jazz a few days ago, and allthough I understand some of his points, especially point 2 in his list, I don't nescessarilly agree wholly. Although I prefer my jazz instrumental, I don't think putting poetry to music or vice versa is doing it with the breaks on.

But there may be some difference in what we understand as poetry here. I can't as I type this think of a single piece of music writen to accompany an existing poem that I like. But I can think of several lyrics written in a the style of a poem, or at least certainly in the style of spoken word, that I like or even love. The argument can be made though, that these texts aren't strictly poetry, but song lyrics with elements of poetry or spoken word.

Here I must re-itrate my stance that lyrics be made a separate literary category. Some commentators/critics/scholars have previously tried to elevate certain lyrics and lyricists to the annals of literature on the basis of theis supposed poetic qualities. To me this isn't necessary, since I think good lyrics can hold their own just fine. The way I see it, song lyrics may contain elemnts that are common in poetry, such as thythm, rhyme, and repetitive elements, but the language in lyrics, even most of the best ones, is more often in the vernacular especially compared to earler poetry. But even more important is the fact that lyrics are meant to be performed much like a play or a speech in such a way that the performance has impact on the meaning of the words. Stef proposes how reading poetry silently can do this too, but I have little qualms about having poetry read out loud.

Putting words to a pre-written piece of music is not necessarily the one route lyricists go about writing lyrics. As a songwriter in spe I distinctly remember having both words and skeletal pieces of music come to me at the same time (maybe because the rhythm, rhymes and the repetitiveness of the words and lyrics had musical elements, though I do not claim I was any good at either writing lyrics nor music). I have read and heard accounts of songwriters doing their work in a similar manner.

But I stray, especially if the point is talking about poetry and jazz. Like I said, I tend to prefer my jazz instrumental, but here are some examples of poetry and music that I like (though, considering what I've written above, we could just call them lyrics and leave it at that).

• Archie Shepp - "Malcolm, Malcolm - Semper Malcolm" (from Fire Music (Impulse, 1965)) May even be my favorite Archie Shepp composition, period.
  

• Charles Mingus - "The Clown" (from The Clown, 1957)

• I even like Mingus' "Original Fabous Fables" (from Charles Mingus Presents..., Candid, 1960)) with lyrics as much as it's non-word version "Fabous Fables" (from Mingus Ah Um, (Columbia, 1959))

• Though they aren't jazz as such, the Minutemen's chops and speed can easily be likend to be-bop (and X-gau said of Double Nickels... "poetry-with-jazz as it always should have been") plus they are some of my favorite lyricist of all time, so...

• and then there's this:

Wire's "One of Us"

I really, really like this, which wouldn't have sounded amiss on The A List, though I'm not to sure about the full album yet.

We're half way there, the jazz edition.

Since I'm currently out of any original ideas (though I plan on writing a few words on the new Ben Allison record) I thought I'd post my favorite jazz records (= records graded 7 or better) so far this year sans comments other than to note that there have been some very good but few great records so far, and that music from the Vision Festival (Campbell, Dixon) is represented on two records I like, 'tough I'm yet to hear the new William Parker, much praised by Tom Hull and Stef at Free Jazz, which was also recorded live at the Vision Fest. The stand-out album for me is Ben Allison's, with the Ali/Gayle/Parker record and Roy Campbell's close behind. Still waiting for the Parker record...

(alphabetically):

• Ben Allison & Man Size Safe: Little Things run the World (Palmetto Records)
• Atomic: Retrograde (Jazzland Rec.)
  
• Rob Brown Ensemble: Crown Trunk Root Funk (AUM Fidelity)
• By Any Means (Rashied Ali/Charles Gayle/William Parker): Live at Crescendo (Ayler Records)
• Roy Campbell: Akhenaten Suite (AUM Fidelity)
• Bill Dixon: 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound (Darfur) (AUM Fidelity)
• Empty Cage Quartet: Stratostrophic (Clean Feed)
  
• Fieldwork: Door (Pi Recordings)
• Wadada Leo Smith's Golden Quartet: Tabligh (Cuniform)
  
• Vandermark 5: Beat Reader (Atavistic)

The problem with the new Emmylou Harris record...

...is that song by song, it keeps shuffling along in the same tempo, meaning what you're left with is no more varied than expressions of melancholy and/or gloom. The signs have been there ever since Wrecking Ball, but this time it makes me wonder if dear Emmylou is bereft of any hope and fighting spirit, let alone any emotion more positive than said melancholy. I, for one, will not succumb to such resignation. In the words of the Minutemen: "I live sweat, but I dream light years".

Visionfestival, 2008

Just a reminder that the 2008 Vision Festival started this Tuesday and continues through this coming Sunday. Lots of interesting acts are yet to play. Nate Chinen profiles Kidd Jordan, who is honored for his Lifetime Achievement during this year's festival, for the NY Times.

Life ain't Nuthin' but B*tches and H**s and Guns and Money...

Preview of Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes (Director: Byron Hurt)



This looks interesting (thanks to PopMatters' Nishimotot for the column that made me aware its existance). And just so it's clear: I love hip-hop too.

Watching just the preview, it does seem to have some interesting observations, e.g. that hyper masculinity is not only a prevalent feature in much of hip-hop culture, but in American culture as a whole. The film draws a parallel to Hollywood movies, which is a point I've made when before (albeit maybe not on this blog, so I can't give you any proof of that) when discussing masochism and violence in rap, i.e. that is that many rap lyrics can be understood as filmic or as fiction. But the problem is that unlike movies, rap is almost universally understood as being 100% authentic and realistic. This is partly hip-hop's own fault, as many rap artists insist that what they have to tell you is real.

Still, I'll have to see the whole film to comment any further on that. Haven't found it on Amazon or anywhere else yet, but I guess it's just a question of time.

More love and respect for Bo

From Carrie Brownstein. Also, I couldn't help myself and had to post the video below, too.

Bo Diddley, R.I.P.

Bo Diddley (Dec. 30, 1928 - June 2, 2008)

"Bo Diddley, a singer and guitarist, invented his own name, his own guitars, his own beat and, with a handful of other musical pioneers, rock ’n’ roll itself." - Ben Ratliff (New York Times, June 2, 2008).

Currently grooving to...

Al Green's new record Lay It Down. And I do mean GROOVE. Don't have enough time to do a proper write up, but I needed to get this out.

Zine scenes

This is a few weeks old, but I was reading MikeB's thoughts on Pitchfork's reviews of No Age and thier two records. One quote Mike mentions, which escaped me way back when, jumped out:

"No Age bring back the DIY energy of Kicking Giant and Lync and '90s zines and, importantly, a life away from computer screens."

Barring the ironi that this longing for zines and a life away from computer screens appeared on one of the largest online music sites, there's a historical difference here which seems to have escaped the author. The reason zines existed in the first place was that all other media outlets had been hijacked by major labels. Zines, as well as constant touring (and a bit of help from college radio stations), were perhaps the only ways to reach new people. This was especially true in the late 70s and the 80s. Recently, the internet has provided musicians and audience with new ways to reach eachother, something Mike Watt, one of the 80s indie pioneers and the nicest and most talkative guy in punk, has seems to have understood by embracing the internet almost full tilt, including recording a podcast. Now, one should be careful making the argument the the internet is fully democratic. Despite blogs and what have you, not all people have daily access to computers, and some countries even exert heavy censorship on both what can be published and what can be accessed. I still hold that it reaches more people than zines did, and like Mike, I don't see what's so wrong about that.

(Of course, this may be an extention of the us (here: zines) vs. them (here: web) dichotomy that some indie-connoiseurs are so obsessed with. It's an argument I feel strongly ambivalent towards...well, not really. Even if a part of me kind of understands where they are coming from, their obsession with authentic vs. fake, an extention of us vs. them, is just downright silly, and often misapplied or more often simply not valid. "Delivered with conviction", something both Bruce Springsteen (major) and Persian Gulf (indie) were able to do in the 80s, is in my opinion a more valid point to make).

Oh, Nouns is still one of my favorite records so far this year.

HDtracks - cd-quality audio downloads - press release

I received this press release from HDtracks yesterday, a new download site that promises cd-quality audio from a wide variety of genres. I've only briefly browsed their files, but they seem to have a quite extensive collection of jazz available, with recordings from labels such as Tzadic (John Zorn, Derek Bailey), New World Jazz (Cecil Taylor, Lawrence "Butch" Morris), Cryptogramophone (Nels Cline), Evidence (Sun Ra), Sunnyside, Sundazed, and ASV (loads of classics from the early days of the recording industry). And that is just at first glance. Now, I'm pressed for time today, so I figured I'd just copy and paste the press release itself.

Free HDtracks Album Promises Music Lovers the

“Ultimate Download Experience”

CD-quality audio lets HDtracks listeners “hear the difference”

New York City, May 20, 2008 – HDtracks.com, the new high-resolution digital music store founded by audiophile record label Chesky Records, today announced the limited availability of a free album download that encourages all listeners to “hear the HDtracks difference.”

“The HDtracks Ultimate Download Experience,” free to visitors to www.HDtracks.com who register with only an email address, offers eight spectacular audiophile-quality recordings across different genres, all hand-picked to prove just how great music downloads can sound. Those who download The Ultimate Download Experience will also receive a promotional code for 20% off their next HDtracks album or multi-album purchase.

HDtrack is unique among digital music stores for its combination of CD-quality music files unencumbered by digital rights management (DRM)*, the ability to download in any of three file types to match most playback devices, and a reliable, easy-to-use interface that makes browsing and downloading a pleasure. The site features thousands of artists representing 60 of the world’s best independent record labels, and all albums are priced at $11.98 and come complete with PDF liner notes (a first among digital music sites). Tracks may be downloaded as CD-quality uncompressed AIFF files or lossless FLAC files, or MP3 files ripped at 320 kilobits-per-second (kbps) — some 2½-times the rate of typical music-store downloads. Ultra-high-resolution 96kHz/24-bit downloads are planned as well.

HDtracks features more than 60 independent record labels including respected audiophile releases
from Chesky, ASV, Sunnyside, Evidence, DRG, Hyena, MilesHigh and more.
The ever expanding library also now includes titles from The Orchard and IOTA distribution
companies.  

“Musicians and sound engineers create incredible performances and amazing, lifelike recordings, only to have people download their work at 128 kbps from the popular music stores,” said HDtracks co-founder David Chesky. “This completely destroys the nuance of the recording and often introduces audible distortion. Our free “Ultimate Download Experience” album should prove to listeners once-and-for all that they can hear the difference between a CD-quality or high bit-rate file and a conventional download, even on an iPod^®.”

About HDtracks

Founded by David and Norman Chesky of the respected audiophile-record label Chesky Records, HDtracks is a high-quality music download service offering a diverse catalog of independent music from around the world. HDtracks does not believe in DRM, and as a result, offers a selection of unencrypted files that play on any computer or portable device. HDtracks recognizes that while there are significant benefits to accessing music at the touch of a button in today’s computer age, preserving sound quality and the visceral experience of the live music performance should remain a priority. The HDtracks mission is to deliver the whole package: world-class music, unrivaled sound, files that play in any environment, and liner notes that enhance appreciation of the artist and album.

HDtracks Ultimate Download Experience
Livingston Taylor “Our Turn To Dance” (Chesky Records)
David Johansen and the Harry Smiths “Well, I've Been to Memphis” (Chesky)
Earl Wild “Mexican Hat Dance” (Ivory Classic)
Holly Cole “Larger Than Life” (Koch Records)
Mike Garson “Rumble” (Reference Recordings)
Koko Taylor “Can't Let Go” (Alligator)
The Minnesota Orchestra (Conductor: Eiji Oue) “Baba Yaga, from Pictures at an Exhibition” (Reference Recordings)
Brio “Una Tarde de Verano” (Dorian)

* Digital Rights Management encoding, or DRM, is a technology that limits the usage of digital media. HDTracks does not employ this technology, as the company believes that once its customers purchase music from its site, they have the right to play it wherever they wish on any device they choose.

...and as for S/FJ looking for pop singles:

If you're looking for happy, look no further than Alphabeat, my friend. They live on fascination, you know. Is this meta pop? You definately can't get much more happy than this. Say the word!

Molde beckons, despite misgivings

Festival season is closing in. I'd hoped to stay away from one of them this year, Molde International Jazz Festival, for several reasons despite the booking of the great Ornette Coleman ("I've already seen him three times" was my line of thought "do I want to go through the hassle of Molde yet again"). Despite earlier complaints, Molde Jazz has upped the stakes booking wise, and after I learned that David Murray's Black Saint Quartet had been confirmed to play this year I may have to renege on my previous stance of not going. And who wouldn't mind seeing Ornette, probably the greatest living jazz musician, once more? If you'd said ten years ago that I'd get to see him once let alone four times in my life, I'd have laughed in your face.

David Murray Live @ Jazz Standard 2007



Ornette Coleman Live at Bonnaroo 2007

You Should Be Dancing - MJ style-ee

New video for National Bank's "Home", directed by Kaveh Tehrani, the subject of which is Omer Bhatti, the imitator who befriended his idol and moved to Neverland. He can dance, too.

5 Things I Realized at the Angry Samoans Gig Last Night

1. Not enough people know about them
2. Most of the ones that do are male
3. The few females that do are pretty crazy
4. So is "Metal" Mike Saunders
5. Their best songs are still pretty awesome and funny
   

Prince is a creep...

...but not necessarily the kind Thom York was thinking about.


Prince - Creep (Radiohead cover)

More from Mike B on clapclap.org.

Punk Jazz

James Chance: a case in point

Been reading a good few post-EMP thoughts (try this or this), 'though not as much as I had wanted since I've had to focus on other things lately. Didn't get to do a run through of what I thought looked like the most interresting panels and abstracts either, but there you go.

Noticed one Rob Wallace was due to present a paper on the similarities between jazz and punk, pointing out how among other things both jazz and punk have been admired for their "political and revolutionary potential", which is something I've thought about a lot myself (Mr. Wallace has played both jazz and punk himself, it seems).

That there are commonalities between punk and jazz has been suggested previously by Robert Christgau and Matthew Shipp, as well as yours truly. Of course, this notion may depend on how you look at it. I remember an article a few years back (no link yet, try Google) by someone trying to do a comparison between heavy metal and jazz, pointing to how some fans of both genres often seemed to pay particular attention to virtuosic playing. On the other hand, many of the jazz artists I admire the most, while being excellent musicians, did not necessarily place viruosity in the front seat: e.g. Ornette Coleman (melody), Charles Mingus (drive, power, attitude), and Thelonious Monk (angularity, "off"-notes, gaps and pauses), all three of whom are very punk to my mind. Just saying.

Btw, if anybody caught the paper on Ornette Coleman and black masculinity by Pete Williams, drop me a line

More EMP

By Ned Raggett here, here, and here.

Bad research. EMP was covered by KEXP.

Seems I hadn't done enough research before slagging off KEXP for not covering this year's EMP Conference. My Bad, and thanks to Jim (whoever you are) for telling me about KEXP's own blog. Head on over.

• Day one
• Day two
  
• Day three
• Day four + recap
  

The Dean delivers

My call for coverage of the EMP conference has been answered, and by none other than the Dean. (I initially misread his first post, 'though quickly recovered to see that he was in fact hailing the contributions of his fellow journo colleagues over those of the academics).

EMP: Is there anybody out there?

I may have missed something, but I wonder if anyone is blogging or broadcasting from this year's EMP Conference. I mean, KEXP are part sponsors. Why aren't they setting up mics? Several very interesting abstracts this year, though. I may give a run through a few of the ones I find most interesting tomorrow, even if the thing started today.

Persian Gulf's Changing the Weather is available!

On the off chance that this is old news to you, I just discovered that Persian Gulf's post-punk (a term that doesn't do them justice) gem Changing the Weather IS AVAILABLE ON CD from CafePress.com for the fairly reasonable price of $8.99. Christgau wrote in 1984 that, bar blah blah, he couldn't "think of an American band whose account of the world is more unflinchingly on". I say the EP is truly great. What are you waiting for?

Mux Fun

Fad of the moment is Muxtape, the online space age mp3-era version of the mixtape. Although similar things exist other places, Muxtape has a simple yet apealing look, and uploading songs couldn't be more simple. You can find my muxtape in the sidebar to the right, if your interrested. Not many new songs, but a whole lotta fun.

PS: Hope to have more regular updates here in the near future, maybe two days a week (or more if I can manage). Hopefully the upcoming EMP Pop Conference will mean there's no shortage of things to write about.

Memory Loss + EMP

My hard disc got crocked just before Easter, hence the lack of updates since early March. It's not like it's the first time, but annoying none the less. Hundreds of music files lost, and 'though most are preserved on an iPod, transferring them from that unit has been proved difficult in the past. In the meantime, have a look at the abstracts for the 2008 EMP Pop Conference (I'm still up for a pan-Atlantic ticket and entry pass if anyone wants to sponsor me).

Ornette Coleman Jazz Conversation

I was just alertred, via Avant Music News, to this recorded interview/conversation with Ornette Coleman (on PDX JAzz). I haven't heard most of it yet - it's longish - so consider this a heads-up and not a comment. He sounds like his usual elusive self so far, though. Enjoy.

Attribution

Brian Morton in the latest Point of Departure on the question of attribution and its role in the listening to music:

"What matters (...) is whether attribution and re-attribution help you listen to music – or appreciate any other art - in a potentially creative new way. In an ideal world, of course, we’d approach all music unlabelled, unattributed, unburdened with critical reputation, as we presumably once did in a more organic and less differentiated society.

(...) Part of our job, of course, as music “critics” is precisely to offer those textual references and contextual information. It makes some difference to how you hear a record if you know the artist’s previous form, and it significantly deepens appreciation at one level. On the other hand, if any work of art is to be considered entire and autotelic, then such knowledge is by definition irrelevant and probably misleading. Jazz, because it is an art form that treads so many philosophical dividing lines – not least that between the personal and impersonal, “works” and work, now and that oppressive thing, history– seems uniquely susceptible to questions of this sort."

As one with interest in the history of music, sure, I agree. As far as its importance in the listening process, while knowledge of who is playing - or even, who has written the song/tune/work in question - without doubt will play a role either on a conscious or subconscious level, in my experience it has played too big a role for some, especially for lesser critics. There have been dubious cases, in my opinion, where artists have been bumped up a grade or two seemingly on the basis of their names or the names of the contributors alone. A recent Solomon Burke record could serve as an example. Where it to my ears, and at least one other guy, sounded dull and uninspired, it was much heralded here, there and everywhere much due to its - undoubtedly impressive -list of contributing songwriters. Little attention was payed to the fact that almost all of the songs where far from the best work of either one of the songwriters in question. Some perspective is needed, though I have no doubt the best critics don't let the question of attribution get in the way of the listening itself.

Portland Jazz Festival

From The Seattle Times: Avant-garde pays off at Portland Jazz Festival. Ornette Coelman and Cecil Taylor headlined. Conclusion:

"With so much talk today about jazz dying out, moving to Europe, becoming stale or unfashionable, Portland's resurrection of the avant-garde was a smart move, galvanizing a large, often young audience."

Tord Gustavsen gets no rave, tho'. I'm not surprised.

Hard to Be Human

(Hype, not hype: Though I may be underestimating my readership base, I don't think it is strong enough to start let alone sustain any blog-hype. So there).




I've only played it a few times yet, but the opening salvos of this record sounds very promising indeed, especially "Hard Feelings", the first track and single, which initally reminded me of the Mekons' great "Hard to be Human Again", at least in the delivery if not so much in sound or theme ("Hard, hard, hard, hard, hard, hard feelings"/"Hard to be, hard to be human again"). Subsequent listens will reveal whether or not it's a keeper.

Si Se Puede

As I was watching Barak Obama speak to an audience in Texas last night, I noticed several banners among the audience which read "Si Se Puede". From what I gather, that is the Spanish translation of Obama's now famous "Yes We Can" mantra. It is also, incidentally, the title of one of the tracks on Matt Lavelle Trio's Spiritual Power, one of my favorite jazz records of 2007 (Plus, the motto of the United Farm Workers). This provides me with the opportunity to not only big-up that record, but also to post this suprisingly good Will-I-am/Obama/superstar collab.

Oh, this is bullshit.

I shouldn't really respond to this, but I'm going to anyhow. BBC's pop music coordinator Lesley Douglas claims, according to Idolator, "that men respond to music on an intellectual level, whereas female listeners have an emotional reaction to songs". Despite it being a stupid generalization of archaic proportions, I bulked at what Mrs. Douglas thinks of as the intellectual side of music, i.e. "the tracks, where albums have been made, that sort of thing". Trivia, in other words, is the intellectual response in question and not e.g. thinking about what the music means, the lyrics, the interplay between the two, it's place in society, historically or contemporary, everything that the EMP Pop Conference stands for, themes that in turn cannot be so easily removed from emotional responses as Douglas seems to think.

No Depression shuts down

Via Christgau. Never read much in it, though I know several people who are, or at least were, very fond of the magazine.

Xgau sets the record straight

The anti-Vampire Weekend backlash got a lesson in Afropop from the one crit that actually knows something about it a few days ago. In his new blog (he has a new blog?), Robert Christgau attacks several bloggers for getting VW's Afro-tinged references wrong. Several others have chipped in with similar sentiments (see links in Xgau's piece, and also Zoilus). Take that, naysayers.

What's interesting to note is that, apart from their ill concieved idea of calling their music Upper West Side Soweto, both those positive and negative to VW's schtick seem to have blown the Afro-bits of their music out of proportion. In reality, only a few songs have a clear Afro-tinged sound, and as has been noted by others that sound is more like some of the Afro-influenced American pop/rock music of the 80s than that of their fellow African musicians. They are interpretations of those sounds rather than copies. Plus, it sounds pretty clear to me that VW use the Afro-interpretations as deliberate tools, as in the trying-to-pick-up-a-freshman-girl "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa", where they state "This feels so unatural / Peter Gabriel too", which pretty much says that they're very much aware of the fact that they may not get afropop right themselves (much less getting nookie) as well as an awareness of the issues that trying to play it at all may raise. If there is a solid afro-influence to VW's music, it's more to do with what SFJ claimed was lacking in current indie rock/pop; you know space, bass and all that (their geekie Ivy-league influences notwithstanding).

Reissues

Two great albums have been reissued this February. Just as The Feelies' pre-indie/post-punk/new wave classic Crazy Rhythms from 1980 is about to hit the store, I recieve a notice through SquidCo's mailing list that Touchin' on Trane, the gloriously careening racket made by Chales Gayle with William Parker and Rashied Ali in 1991 and my favorite jazz record of that decade, is being reissued by the German label Jazzwerkstatt, albeit with a different cover image. Great news, indeed.

Big list update. Now for coffee.

What it says on the tin: I've updated my lists of favorites from 2007 if anyone is interested. Still have a few records pending and/or falling between the 6+/7- (or B+/A- if that's your bag) bracket that may or may not be added later.

Packaging

Seriously, if you're in a record company and worried about increased downloading, illegal or otherwise, why on earth would you wanna make listening to music even more difficult by wrapping a piece of cardboard around the CD that cannot be removed by any other means than brute force, as is the case with the packaging of the delightful-though-not-terrible-different-form-the-EP-that-was-leaked-last-year-even-if-I-wish-they'd-kept-that-song-"Ladies of Cambridge-which-is-ace new record from Vampire Weekend. (And if you're able to read Norwegian, let me point you to this write-up of the album from Platekompaniet's on-line shop, which is a much better take on the album than any other review I've read so far in the Norwegian press).