Guitar(s)

Just got "Sunkissed" by Guitar. This is an "old" record (2002) from a label that puts out, from what I can figure, lots of German-ish electronica. This record, however, is a shameless stylistic mash-up of My Bloody Valentine and Cibo Matto. I'm a complete sucker for the well executed shoegaze. I care not that "it's been done before." I care not that backwards tracked Japanese girl-voiced vocals are kind of shameless. The guitars are big, very big. The reverbs, forwards and backwards, are likewise.

That's not, actually, one of the better offerings, but it was all I could find online to share.

There are a few songs that veer into Boards of Canada territory, and you know what? I don't care. I've developed a middle-aged soft spot for those guys (and Four Tet, and a few others). In fact, in looking at the other artists on this label, I'm pretty sure I'll be downloading something by Manual (who sound basically like BoC but with a little more humph).

Thanks for inviting me into the blog.

Ian Carr/Nucleus - Belladonna

http://rapidshare.com/files/197394801/nucleus-bella_donna.zip

Just found this thing by Ian Carr/Nucleus. Ian Carr was a British trumpeteer who died this year, he also did some writing. This has a spacious, slightly rocking In A Silent Way type of vibe and for the most part it pulls it off quite well. It also features Alan Holdsworth on guitar, who is Infamous for his tasteful wanking (actually I also got the previous album which features Chris Spedding on guitar and he doesn't cut it). A good one if you're on an early 70's fusion kick, and who hasn't been? The blog I found this on seems pretty tasty also.

U2

I saw U2 last night. My man J-Dillz had an extra ticket. I'd much rather see some guy playing a boombox in a basement in Greenpoint or something, but, yo, U2? What the hell, I'd give it a shot.

The scene was pretty bleak, lots of middle aged moms and families and middle age dudes with docker shorts pulled too high. Then this realization:



$8.00 Bud Lights?!! Ouch. It was like a Giants game. I tried to start the wave. We got our seats and this band "Muse" was playing. Supposedly the #1 band in like 25 countries or something. I never heard of them:



We went rogue and moved up to seats pretty much as close as you can get other than general admission. Me and my man J-Dub:



The stage was like a crazy alien Transformer robot like 120 feet tall, it was bananas. Here is an attempt to get a picture:



So between the $8.00 beers and the Suburban housemom crowd vibe going, it was pretty wack. But when U2 came out it was pretty good. The thing that really struck me is that these dudes are A BAND that has played together for years... this was not the Madonna "Spiritualized" Tour or Brittany Spears or some shit where everything is choreographed dancers and lip syncing. For all the spectacle these guys are playing real music at the heart of it.

The spectacle was intense though. Here is a pretty good picture about how bugged out it got. If you click it big you can see the bassist (?) at the bottom to give you some perspective on size. It was crazy.



Bono can be a bit heavy handed at times - there was a giantic 50 foot head of Reverend Tutu talking about Africa, and a whole montage about president of Burma at times - but he is a bad ass and a really amazing singer. Heart felt.

And that concludes my U2 blog post. OUT

dc

Mark Lanegan and Will Ferrell

I saw Soulsavers last night at the Bowery Ballroom, they are a British band that has had a bunch of musicians associated with them, Mark Lanegan is the main vocalist at the moment. Mark was the lead singer of the 90s grunge band The Screaming Trees, and he's put out a bunch of good solo records. I thought I got the Soulsavers record from Radiobutt but when I searched there and wanted to link to it for this post I couldn't find it. Anyway, in keeping with my loose music piracy philosophy (I don't buy records any more but I will do my very best to go see any band I like when I can) I checked out Soulsavers. I couldnt' get over how much Mark Lanegan looked like Will Ferrell, I actually kept laughing, when he wasn't singing, he looked like Will Ferrell making fun of an angst-riddled grunge singer, lurching around, awkwardly earnest. Do people make fun of him about this? I thought it was uncanny. Anyway, he does have a really cool voice, deep, smokey baritone, unique; when I see a band live I often find it's hard to discern the lyrics but he is uniquely able to cut through the instruments with his voice and articulate every word, pretty cool. The band is good, they are not my favorite, but kind of refreshing to see just a "rock" band as opposed to "indie rock" or any of the hybrids of rock music out there, most of which I like a lot, but this was kind of a throwback to 1993 in a good way.

BTW, Radiobutt has a bunch of interesting albums up, the new Sufjan Stevens album about the BQE, which is actually an orchestral performance; Monsters of Folk is worth checking out, inconsistent but some good songs if you're a fan of M. Ward, Bright Eyes or My Morning Jacket; I like the Volcano Choir record, which features Justin Vernon and sounds like his Bon Iver record but more experimental and electronic; Fuck Buttons is cool.

Also, for anyone in NYC, Child Abuse is playing the new Knitting Factory Friday night, Tim played me some tracks from the new record the other night, pretty insane.

Went to a flea market at a church on Saturday. There was only one guy there selling records but he had some good ones and they were only $0.50 each.

I've been listening to these Stevie Wonder records since Saturday. Songs in the Key of Life was missing the bonus 7". Innervisions and Songs are mint and the other two have some pops and crackles but still sound good.

More Records

Damn! When I said no more records I forgot about these joints i ordered from Numero Group website!

First off, I will reiterate my statement that I PROMISE to spend $20 on every 2LP set Numero puts out until I die. Secondly, if you are going to buy, go direct from their website... free shipping and they throw in stickers and shit.



First one I got is just a rare, great psych pop record that is like a private press from Rockford, Illinois, "Pisces". It's actually dope with drum breaks and a few platinum-certified hits, but this is what i was the most psyched about...



The third in the "Wayfaring Strangers" series. #1 was Ladies of the Canyon, all Joan Baez wannabes form the early 70's, but it is so good. #2 was "Guitar Soli", all rare, back of the salvation army stacks acoustic guitar in John Fahey tip. Amazing, plus awesome packaging. This one is "Lonesome Heroes", and the dudes get their shine on with all male singer/songwriter types. It pretty much has not left the turntable since Saturday. If the first song, "Before" by (ex hockey player) Jim Schoenfeld doesn't get you then you are not alive, my friend.

I want to share this tune with you but i'm such a retard technology wise that the only way i could swing it was by making this ghetto slideshow for 3:00 so i could add as audio track in iMovie. Check it out with your headphones on and your eyes closed.



Keep fucking that chicken,

dc

Bigfatsatanist

DC asked me to hook him up with some Derek Bailey/Han Bennink after he saw a reference I made in the comments to the Jim O'Rourke post. I told him that I would indeed, as soon as I got a few minutes to dig up the CDs (still packed from moving and a minor basement flooding problem). Lo and behold, before I get the chance, it shows up on bigfatsatanist.com. Sweet!

This would be the very CD that I was planning to send out. "Post Improvisation" does not (necessarily) refer to the musical "school" involved . . . rather, it's a simple descriptor of the recording process: Bailey would make a tape, mail it to Bennink, Han would add his part, then send it back with a new tape for Derek to dub on to. It's a swell little album, with Bailey chattering away at his abstract best, and Bennink pulling out every weird little thing he knows. They both play together extremely well. One of my favorite Derek Bailey records.

As far as bigfatsatanist is concerned, it is a goldmine of heaviness and noise. The emphasis is on grindcore, sludgemetal, and experimental, but you can find all kinds of goods here, from Scrawl to John Fahey, from Tom Ze to the Sun City Girls, from U S Maple to Sunny Murray, from Palace to Giacinto Scelsi. Definitely one of the preimier music stops on the web.

Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to head back and pick up a rip of that Sunn O))) tour-only cassette. In the meantime, DC, you can still expect a little care package in the not-too-distant future.

Record Fair Scores Pt 2

This one I actually got AFTER all that other shit (I'm done buying records for a while now). It's this killer limited ed LP of all acoustic covers of Misfits songs by a guy "Pajo" (?). It's real stripped down and beautiful. It's great. Came with a CD as well so I'll rip it and pass on to the broheims.



OUT!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to the creator of this fine blog, go get yourself some more records!

Record Fair Pt. 1

HIt up a record fair in Brooklyn this weekend. Here are some of the hits:



Nostalgia Trip. Haven't listened to this since high school. How did this happen? Ian Mackaye and Al Jourgensen (sp?) from Ministry collab? Bizarre. Got the 7" as well...




More later, out!

dc

Lord Newborn

Here's a great one I stumbled upon. I think Clutchy Hopkins is involved in this.

Who's Clutchy Hopkins?

Check his shit and this MAgic Skulls thing out here: http://afrofunkybrassjazz.blogspot.com/

Mayer Hawthorne

I got the new Mayer Hawthorne lp on Stones Throw. What the kids call "buzz" and "hype" was palatable around his 7" that dropped a few months ago (on a heart shaped 7") : a really pretty super, catchy jam "Just Ain't Gonna Work Out":



Good jam, right? So when Turntable Lab gave it a "Recommended", and a Captain Crawl search was fruitless, I decided to drop the $7.99 for it on iTunes.

Meh. That one jam is the best, and the "is it real or is it memorex?" soul grows tired. It's like Temptations, etc. vibe, but it isn't as endearing as that one jam. Save your money and just listen to that youtube clip above 100 times.

dc

Jim O'Rourke

This story in the NY Times got me on a Jim O'Rourke downloading kick. I had heard of Jim, I think in connection with his work with Sonic Youth, and maybe Wilco, but didn't know much about him, interesting dude, lives full-time in Tokyo now. A Captain Crawl search gives a pretty good profile of his work. "Insignificance" is alternative rock, but he is more of an abstract composer, producer and serial collaborator. Check out the one he did with Austrian guitarist Fennez (who I've posted about), or the two-part "Tokyo Realization" or "Happy Days", which is one 47 minute-long drone track (but with other things going on).

You just know a LP with this cover is going to be dope...

Rodrigo y Gabriela - 11:11

I know there's a bit of hype about this group but I still like it. There's definetly talent here.

Enjoy.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?d4izjy2dyuo

random thoughts

why is mediafire the bomb and rapid share the worst? sure, the pop ups at mediafire are a pain in the ass, but no waiting? booyah. I Get three downloads going at once. is rapidshare better quality or something? higher kps (whatever that means)?

also, have you ever spent more than a few seconds staring at that ad on captaincrawl results page trying to see if that chick at the table is topless or if that is some weird bra? anyone feel me on that one?

i got some much crazy new shit, i'm just going to let it brew for a while and then send out the really good stuff.

lastly, the one year anniversary passed quietly on August 20th. congrats, y'all.

dc

KId Stuff

Anyone with children notice the Vampire Weekend music in the new PBS kids add? Thought it was funny.

Juana Molina

Really into Juana Molina right now. Natural progress from my infatuation with Savath y Savalas (that also continues)--ambient electronic sounds, folk instruments, harmonized female voices in Spanish, Brazilian, French. Listening to "Sonamos" off Segundo right now, amazing. Check out this video about her, she was Argentina's most famous comedian before turning her attention to music full time, I have such a crush on Juana....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pia0JCQCcjs

Bibio

ok, my last post was long-winded, so to make up for it, here's a short and sweet one.
The artist is Bibio.
The record (from Warp) is called Ambivalence Avenue.
It's dope.
It will appeal to fans of Prefuse 73, Stereolab, Four Tet, Fridge, Flying Lotus.

Musicophilia, and music travel notes

What's up, ya'll, back in NY from some travels and WWALTN recruitment. Was in Spain traveling from Barcelona to Oviedo with my man Antonio, who is a fellow music-head and I'm hoping he starts posting here. We road-tripped for about a week and it was a great time and really musical, two guitars and lots of time in the car to listen to music. I was playing lots of stuff for him off my iphone but at one point in Rioja we had the radio going and found this great channel with cool Brasiliero and lots of 70s jazz and soul, good stuff. I also have a new respect for the Beatles after living with a few of their songs day and night for the last couple of months in order to play them at my friend Carlos' wedding, I always did like them but never went through a full-blown Beatles phase, but now "In My Life" in particular has taken on a certain meaning for me.

Been reading this book by Oliver Sacks called Musicophilia. Sacks is a neurologist and writer and he wrote "Awakenings", which was made into a movie. Musicophilia is about music and brain and has tons of incredible stories about how music affects us and the difference it can make in our lives. Sacks and the people he writes about are particularly interested in classical music and it has spurred me to check some of the names he wrote about on this Sunday morning as I'm dealing with jet-lag. I'm checking out the Czech composer Leos Janecek right now, some string quartets, because Sacks wrote about how he used to sit in cafes and listen to people speak and try to compose based on the cadence of the conversations, how the people around him were feeling; some say you can get a sense of the Czech language in his music, not so sure about that (I speak some Czech), but it's cool stuff, reminds me of Shostakovich. What came first, music or language? Those are the kind of things he is writing about, check it out, might make you think of music in your life a little differently, it has for me.

Yoruban drumming

Been awhile since my last post. Been sifting through a lot, tons of stuff being slowly filtered through my ears. Most of what I've been listening to are tunes I need to learn for bands that I'm in. The other stuff I've been compiling is thanks to Capt. Crawl.

The Yoruban stuff I checked out is from a CD that I actually purchased. Sometimes you just gotta have the extensive liner notes.

I've been checking out Yoruban drumming from western Africa, which is pretty much the basis for most of our beats in Western music, especially rhythms in South America, the Caribbean, and the US. Even when the types of drums and the people change, the rhythms remain constant. Maybe that's what Robert Plant meant by "the song remains the same"?

Basically, these are the roots of rhythm as we know it. (Traditions from India and the Middle East are obviously a different world. I'm sure I'll post about some of that stuff at some point.) The unique contribution to world rhythms that the Yoruban traditions offer us is a sheer abundance of polyrhythm.

I won't get too much into the cultural aspects of the music. Suffice to say, most of the drumming is rituals for orishas, or ancestral deities. It's sacred music, and its function is to induce trance (which the polyrhythms do incredibly well). When the rhythms are played correctly, sitting still is not an option.

The most common polyrhythms are 6 against 4. There's really no wrong way to feel the rhythm, because both are happening simultaneously. Part of the beauty is that you can get into the pulse of the 6 rhythm, and then forget about that and tune into the stuff happening in 4.

Many of the drums are pitched similarly, so sometimes it's hard to tell which drum is playing what exactly. I've found that part of the fun is focusing on one particular drum, follow what it's playing, then keep that rhythm in mind while you zone in on a different drum and compare what they're both playing. Sometimes there are as many as a dozen drummers playing at once.

The rhythms are based on simple patterns called "claves" (to use the Spanish term) that provide the basic foundation for all the other rhythms that are played around it. Clave is used heavily in this African style of drumming, as well as rhythms in Caribbean, South American music, and music of the US (especially the south).

An example of clave we all know is the "Bo Diddley Beat." In Afro-Cuban music it's called the 3 - 2 son clave.

To play something complimentary to the clave is to enhance and augment the groove, and thus the trance. To play something that doesn't fit with the clave is to kill the groove, kill the trance, and basically piss off a lot of musicians and dancers.

I guess the moral is, you can't outsmart a groove. These people have figured this out thousands of years ago. Trust em. They know.

To check it out, get a copy of

Yoruba Drums from Benin, West Africa (Smithsonian Folkways)

Madhouse, "Serve 'Em"

If anyone out there likes the funk, then check this sweet gem out that i found on milkcratebreaks blog, Madhouse "Serve 'Em".

Really great funk a la Sly Stone. Top notch.

The other amazing, top shelf funk joint I got from blog scene was "Roger and The Human Body" featuring Roger from Zapp in an early iteration. Captain Crawl that shit.

dc

My fault

I think I've told too many people about Captain Crawl, or maybe it was this goofy Utopia LP I was searching for that cracked the good Captain. My apologies for it it's current slowness.

charles earland

milkcratebreaks.blogspot.com has got a ton of sick shit. good looking out, bla blazo.

here's a killer charles earland record. the first track has a massive drum break.

http://milkcratebreaks.blogspot.com/2008/09/charles-earland-black-drops.html

dc

Inglorious Basterds

Haven't seen the movie yet but copped the soundtrack. I'll always check out a QT soundtrack, there's always something I wasn't hip to beforehand that I really enjoy later. Comes up on a Captain Crawl search. Check it.

Milk Crate Breaks blog

This blog has a useful collection of samples from 78 drums machines throughout history.

http://milkcratebreaks.blogspot.com/2008/04/drum-machines.html

Check it out!!

dragging

Damn, the blog is dragging lately. It's just summer time blues, people.

That Skip James joint as great but enough is enough. I've bought a shit ton of records lately so i'll hold this fucker down myself.




I can't believe I found this again. I had this LP, then sold on eBay, and afterwards I saw it in a photo shoot in Madlib's studio, and it as name checked by somebody else... it's a private press lp, "drugs Won't Get It... People will". LP says "drug Addiction, let's talk". great samples.



this joint in fucking awesome. "africa germany germany mexico turkey australia". limited edition 215 copies or something, really really good bug out shit that is hypnotic and never crosses over into abrasive weirdness. this blog has one of the 2 sides. i'm digitizing this so i'll hit you off.



This is really really 80's out and terrible, it as $.50 cents, and i'm going to flip it into something beautiful in kid scooba project.




sonny Nelson reggae lp, real nice, signed by sonny himself!



first entry in the sunburned hand of the man rare lp covetry bug out... this is dangerous, there are a million super limited edition lp and 45's and shit on eBay.



on that note, shout out to my old school copy of black dice lost valley lp that happened to be in the same stack... super rare limited edition shit with hand done cover , holla!

that's tip of the iceberg. i got that ne prefuse 73 and new savath y savalas that's on stones throw, pretty nice. prefuse is like a big mix tape, almost. Uh... i got Grizzly Bear Yellow House on vinyl because i'm a nerd like that.

all right you jerks. go post something. sorr for typos but i spille dbeer on my keyboard and it's all fucked up. it's funny because its true.

Skip James

I am on vacation now, but I just saw this clip on a photo blog. I decided that it would be worth sharing because it is dope.  I wish he was my neighbor.



Have a good August.

Best wishes,
Jim

Tim Dahl/Mick Barr/Kevin Shea

These three guys did a set last night at Zebulon in Williamsburg. I saw the only other time they played together about a year ago at a Brooklyn apartment/performance space, and it was again the same kind of maximalist improvised intensity. Tim plays bass in Child Abuse and the Hub, Kevin Shea in a variety of groups like People and Talibam (Tim is playing with them currently, too), and Mick Barr does all sorts of weird avant-metal stuff with groups and sometimes with just a drum machine. These guys have a somewhat similar approach towards music and run in the same circles in NY and just got up on stage and totally improvised, sounded like Cecil Taylor meets Slayer. Mick Barr plays a Gibson SG and no effects and still manages to sound more interesting than guitarists with elaborate set-ups; he is easily one of the fastest, most agile guitarists I've ever seen, but is more than just a shredder, he has a unique sound and knows when to play just a counter-point to what the other musicians are doing. Tim is a monster and as always, fun to watch, and he rooted the whole thing down between super-fast bass runs, tying up with Mick on some of his stuff, and then creating these huge sonic drones. Pretty entertaining watching Kevin Shea, as usual, amazing drummer, and towards the end of the set, which only lasted around 15 minutes (but that was enough) and was only one, uh, "song", someone hurled toilet paper towards Kevin. He wound up draping it around himself and the drums and it was a pretty wild sight. I brought a few friends there and most had their minds blown and thought it was cool, but one friend said "I totally lost respect for your taste in music tonight". It was that kind of show.

Anybody subscribe to the Morning Becomes Eclectic podcast?

They've got Tortoise on there this week. A nice live set.