Devotion #2

People talk a lot about how busy they are. “I’m so busy with this, I’m so busy with that, busy, busy, busy…blahbity blah blah gooney goo goo.” It seems to be an adult thing, because I can’t remember ever being busy with anything when I was a shorty except for eating, playing, and falling asleep in a church pew every Sunday.

Time is much more precious nowadays, but occasionally, I’m able to roll one project into another and keep things running somewhat smoothly. One of the things I’ve been working on recently is a piece on the late Marvin Gaye, one of most influential artists in the history of R&B and quite possibly its most self-destructive. When Gaye was shot and killed at the hands of his father on the afternoon of April 1, 1984, I was a bit too young to understand the full scope of his life and work. I remember “Sexual Healing,” of course, which was the hit that solidified his comeback after three years in European exile. But a more vivid memory is of this chubby kid named Kelly Ford who lived down the block, running up to a group of us playing in the alley behind my house on the day Gaye died and exclaiming, “Marvin Gaye got shot ya’ll!” I don’t recall much after that. We thought it was an April Fools joke.

Marvin Gaye – "Heavy Love Affair" (previously unreleased version) – In Our Lifetime Expanded Love Man Edition (Hip-O-Select 2007)

As I’ve learned more about Gaye in the decades since then, I have a better understanding of just how much of a force the man was. He was a natural talent whose approach to recording music was effortless, which is remarkable when considering the demons – both mental and material – he struggled with throughout his life. Marvin at 60% was better than the majority of his contemporaries. He could make beautiful music by accident, and often did, occasionally recording vocals while lying down on a couch. Gaye wasn’t a planner – the word “structure” didn’t fit into his realm of comprehension – but if the conditions were right, all a producer had to do was let the tape roll.

This version of “Heavy Love Affair” is an unreleased recording from 1981’s In Our Lifetime sessions. The circumstances surrounding the In Our Lifetime project are a mystery and a complete and utter mess, and well-documented in Steve Turner’s superb Trouble Man biography. The music, however, set standards that have yet to be reached by many artists since his passing. Such was the life of Marvin Gaye. His death didn’t register at the time, but in looking back, his presence is missed.

Elzhi – "Boomerang Slang" – Out of Focus EP (unreleased 2000)

Keith Murray – "Whut's Happenin'" – Enigma (Jive 1996)

I’m new to this blogging thang (yes, thang). I peruse a lot of auditory blogs, in all shapes and sizes, but having to contribute regularly is an entirely different animal – an animal with unforeseen challenges, in particular, like a pet chimp.

For one thing, there are many of them that simply aren’t very good. Normally, this wouldn’t be much of a problem for such a quality online resource as the one you’re reading now, but such low expectations across the board tend to dilute the gene pool. This makes it even harder to stand out, but I like to think that we do. And there is some quality out there, you just have to know where to look.

More important, and more specific to blogs of a musical nature, is how to go about picking these damn songs. I’ve been collecting recorded music since 1982, when I purchased my first 7-inch single, the Dazz Band’s “Let it Whip.” (NOTE: I don’t remember the b-side because it never got played.) Needless to day, the music acquisition thing is out of hand in these parts, so this go-round, I’ve decided to make it easy on myself.

The Elzhi and Keith Murray selections each feature samples from Marvin Gaye’s personally and socially liberating 1971 landmark, What’s Going On. Both artists have long been favorites of mine – Elzhi raps circles around just about anyone – and represent two areas of great cultural symbolism: the city of Detroit and music by MCs who have spent time in prison. Coincidentally, the parts sampled for each come from the opening and closing portions of side A of What’s Going On, including deft “Hey, what’s happening…” usage by producer Erick Sermon of the vocal party banter intro to the album’s title track.

It’s a slight flip like this which separates the men from the boys. And people say this thing of ours isn’t creative.

The Red Chord - "Prey For Eyes"

The Red Chord - It Runs in the Family (Metal Blade/Black Market Activities 2007)

The Red Chord - Prey For Eyes - Metal Blade/Black Market Activities

It's been obvious from 2002's Fused Together in Revolving Doors (Robotic Empire) that there's something different . . . something not quite right about the Red Chord. As with many debuts, the listener has no idea what they're in for. With the knowledge that then-drummer Mike Justian has previously played for lesser-known hardcore outfit Hassan I Sabbah, I eagerly listened to Fused repeatedly, allowing lyrics like, "I'd like nothing better than to sever your head and set that pig on fire" and "it's not going to be all right; it's not going to be OK," sink in and do their dirty work. Plus, the album was a lesson in making hardcore-laced metal songs interesting, saving the sweet, crooning choruses for radio bands and relying instead on musicianship and unbridled anger to get their points across.

Fused Together made quite a splash in the "extreme" music world, with Metal Blade snatching up the band and vocalist Guy Kozowyk landing his label Black Market Activities a distribution deal in the process. Three years and a lineup change later (which found Justian leaving the band), the band released their second album, Clients, a loose concept album centered around various run-ins with regular crazies Kozowyk encountered while working as a pharmacist. Songs like "Antman" and "Black Santa" are clearly based off nicknames given to frequent visitors of the pill counter, which added a nice human element to Clients, along with the continued barrage of riffs, blastbeats, and bizarre lyrics ("I'm almost sorry that I must do this to get my name in lights").

Two years have passed since Clients, and the Red Chord have managed to keep their music as interesting as it was five years ago, which may not seem like a long time, but may as well be an eternity in the metal/hardcore world, where debut albums sprout up and give birth to carbon-copy discographies all the fucking time. Hatebreed, anyone? 2007's Prey For Eyes again takes the band's music one step further (and introduces yet another drummer), creating an album that's destructive, musical artwork.

Beginning with the minute-long frenzy "Film Critiques and Militia Men," the Red Chord showcase every tempo from slow, beatdown riffs to disjointed, Discordance Axis-style blasting, with the guitar line inching along and the drums grinding away with little regard for the stringed instruments' tempo. This pattern continues over the course of Prey For Eyes, each song a well-organized outburst of ideas somehow corralled into a cohesive but demanding listen. Themes appear throughout the duration of songs like "Send the Death Storm," popping up in one form or another but backed by a different drum pattern or second-guitar accent, evolving slowly. Before you know it, the song has moved from the beginning to the point of no return.

So finely are the Red Chord's songs constructed that it's never too obvious where a verse, chorus, bridge—or anything else—begins, ends, heads off to, comes back from, or when it completely abandons you. The pieces of each song meld seamlessly into one another, adding to the band's steamroller effect. This density, while appreciated for its force, can be overwhelming with the guitar and bass somewhat buried (of course . . . this is metal!) below Kozowyk's various vocal variants (low, high, yelled, gurgled) and newest drummer Brad Fickeisen's incredibly clean-sounding drum kit. There's plenty of crunch when the guitars are chugging along, but more intricate elements of the faster riffs sometimes prove to be a conundrum when the track's setting moves from "ear chop" to "aural puree." Minus a pair of headphones, the listener just needs to concentrate on the music instead of letting it ramble on in the background.

And therein lies the balance of a good, technical metal/hardcore album: forcing you to listen closely while at the same time doing its best to make sure you feel as uncomfortable as possible: "Thanks for listening, hope this hurts!" The Red Chord generally find this balance, but go one step further, letting you catch your breath with the mid-paced instrumental "It Came From Over There," just to knock it back out of you with "Intelligence Has Been Compromised."

The album closes like both previous Red Chord records have, with a six-minute-plus track of slow-building termination (although Fused Together's last track was a noise piece that seemed more like a final "fuck off, we're really trying to decimate you" to the listener), and ends with what sounds like a funeral march on the snare drum. Yes, you’ve killed me . . . I appreciate the built-in memorial service.

Interversity: Githead

To put it very, very lightly, we are ridiculously excited about this week's Interversity. The one and only Colin Newman of art-poppers Githead, post-punk inventors Wire (!!!!!!!!!), co-founder of Swim~ Records, and mastermind behind experimental music hub PostEverything.com has answered a few questions for us, as well as included a few excerpts from an interview he did with a French mag a few months back (of which will be italicized). His last album with Githead, Art Pop, has been swirling through our heads in wonderfully groovy pop circles for the last month, and this interview reveals a little more insight into what exactly makes the band tick in such precise rhythms. So without further delay, we hand the mic over to the legendary Colin Newman:



Githead - All Set Up - Art Pop (Swim~ 2007)

1. For more than three decades you have been creating music whether with Wire or as a solo artist. You have obviously explored a massive amount of styles throughout your career; what were you aiming to achieve musically by starting Githead? Was there any particular inspiration that motivated you to form the band?

I see a lot of lazy journalism (present company excepted!) amongst reviews of Art Pop by US journalists. It would appear that not many actually read the press release that accompanies the album. Githead is always at great pains to point out that it is a real band and a genuine collaboration between its members. I took a decision in around the mid-90’s that I didn’t really want to do any more “solo” albums. My last one Bastard was in fact just another collaboration between Malka & myself (as were her solo albums & the work as Immersion). Since the early 90’s, in terms of having the studio, I’ve been perfectly capable of making genuine “solo” records (on which I do everything). This very fact has rendered the proposition far less interesting. It’s just more fun to collaborate!

Technically, Githead started as a one off. It was just originally conceived for a performance at our label Swim’s 10th birthday bash. It snowballed because it was obvious right from the outset that even with Malka, Robin & myself jamming along with a drum-loop it was special & somewhat unique. All its development has been organic, it’s much more about what feels right than any master plan. Obviously we’ve gone into the general pop/rock area with this but this is simply because of the time it is being done. This is definitely a mid ‘00’s band. This is a decade when electronic musicians are coming out from behind their laptops and doing songs (Ulrich Schnauss, Styrofoam), electro has got dirty and allowed its post-punk roots to show (Justice, LCD Soundsystem) and indie rock has absorbed every strand of influence ranging from euphoric orchestral folk to beat driven dance-floor anthems. This is the context in which we work. One advantage of this being considered “our” band rather than “my” band is that it only has to be true to itself & its time. With Wire it’s something different, it is also a creature of the present but also has this amazing history to draw on. Githead is more about drawing on the divergent interests of its members. This is a very interesting collaboration!

Robin actually grew up 10 minutes walk from where Malka & I live and work. We've known him since the very early days of his Scanner incarnation. He was the first person who did a remix for our 90's Immersion project and Malka & I (as our label Swim ~) were one of the first people to do a label night at Robin's "electronic lounge" (his groundbreaking "ambience & networking" club in the mid 90's at the ICA). We've often talked about doing stuff together but never quite got round to it until the right opportunity arose.

The opportunity turned out to be the 10th birthday night we put on for the anniversary of Swim ~. We got various people from the label (Silo, Symptoms, Lobe etc.) to play live and Malka felt very strongly that we should do a show ourselves as a "band".

Although we have done shows as a 2 piece we really felt that a larger unit was called for. Meanwhile we'd been chatting to Robin about maybe doing something for the Swim ~ night, perhaps DJing, but he really wanted to play live so we decided to combine the two things and all play together. This was around New Year 2004.

The thing is, we've known Robin for years and pretty much always known he can play the guitar. I don't think it was even a discussion, it was just obvious he'd play guitar. If you check the Githead web-site (www.githead.com) you can see that the first rehearsal was on January 30th 2004 and it was literally just a try out to see if we could make something for a one off collaboration. Our studio is very small, no room for a drum kit, so it was just 2 guitars, bass & a drum loop and off we go. No one would have predicted what would happen next, we just started playing and it gelled immediately. Within literally 10 minutes we had our first tune "Reset" (which is also the first track on our debut EP "Headgit") it was obviously meant to be! One thing we all have in common is that we know when something is good, it's not something you need to discuss too much (we are often too busy laughing!) It would have been unthinkable not to have continued it was like a world of possibilities opened up in an instant. When you get the key, you don't throw it away! This is why Githead is a real band, there is natural sympathy among the players and it's not a struggle to make ideas together. It just works!

The other thing about Githead is that it's very open about how things are written & constructed. Because what we mainly do in our studio together is just play I record everything and then pieces are constructed out of the played elements. Sometimes what we record is pretty worked out, sometimes it's very loose.

2. Between 2005's Githead debut, Profile, and Art Pop, the band's sound has incorporated heavier influences from post-punk, dub and funk within the shoegazing Brit-pop sound; was it a conscious decision to diversify the sound? Would you consider it more of a natural progression of musicians establishing a sound and then expanding upon it, or was it in reaction to anything in particular after Profile's release?

There’s a definite creative arc between the 3 releases in fact. Headgit was done really fast and really captures that initial energy that created the band. Profile was more considered and took a little longer, but not much longer! However Art Pop took over a year to come together. It wasn’t planned like that it just happened. After the Euro tour in 2005 the idea was to get together fairly soon in our live sound man Frankie Lievarts’s Metropolis 22 studio in Rotterdam and do some recording as a band and use the live room to develop sounds and ideas to be continued at are own studio. However Frankie was still building the studio through the winter months of 05 into 06 so stuff started to get developed here instead. In the end we finally got intro the studio in October 2006. Even at that late stage we actually added a lot so it was really useful but we didn’t exactly stick to the plan! In the end the album draws on a pool of performances & experiences and I think that’s what gives it it’s diversity.

For Githead "Art Pop" is the biggest canvas we have painted on so far. There is a big diversity in creative means, musical context and emotional landscapes. The album was constructed over quite a long period of time considering we did "Headgit" really quick and were not that much slower about "Profile". Quite a lot happened in that period and we even worried at times if we'd ever get it finished. The hardest part was last summer when it was just too hot to even turn on the equipment in the studio (above 30 degrees London just doesn't function). We also waited while our live sound man Frank Lievaart finished his "Metropolis 22" studio in Rotterdam. We became a really tight unit as a 4 piece during the dates we did in 2005 and although I have lots of Max recorded multi-track which we can can play over in London and construct perfectly great sounding pieces with, there's a different energy when we play as a 4 piece. In the end it was October last year before the studio was ready and we could provide what I regard as an essential element in the mix of what "Art Pop" is.

The Rotterdam trip was also really, really important for the band. On one hand Githead is like "the field of dreams" we believe in this band 100% . If we make it good enough people will love us. In fact making it good is the only thing we can really control! On the other hand there is no earthly reason why Githead should exist, every member of the band has a perfectly viable project which people are interested in and which are already famous. The reason for Githead has to be that it is not only fucking good but also that it has something which people can emotionally connect to (you can be really impressive as a band but somehow it presents something which people can't identify with so you will be admired but not loved) . We are real people who have real lives and not everything goes well. "Lifeloops" for example is pure existential despair. The vocal Malka did was not repeatable in that moment, it's completely heartfelt but she was not yet completely consumed by the emotion. Meanwhile "Live in your Head" (as in "I wouldn't like to live in your head") is putting the final nails in the coffin of a relationship (not between Malka and I should stress!!) with someone you've just had enough of. "Drive By" is in your face London life, there really is a boy from one of the local estates who goes around with an iron bar, "Fish & Chip hop" is comic London slang for British Hip-Hop, "f-bombs" are American slang for inappropriate and very public use of the word "fuck" (I should point out that Americans are much more prudish in the main that the British, who very often use the "f -word" as humour). I can go on, although a lot of the reflections are personal we hope that people can connect them with stuff in their own lives.

3. I feel that replacing "the Beat Monster" (the drum machine used extensively on the first two releases) with drummer Max Franken was instrumental in loosening and in turn humanizing Githead's sound somewhat on Art Pop; at what point did you decided to try out a live drummer? Did it have any effect on the songwriting process?

The way Githead started is Malka, Robin & me with a beatbox (or drum loop actually). When we jam in our studio that’s how we play, there isn’t room for a drummer in our studio (it was originally a garage!) BUT we always intended that there should be a real drummer for live shows and Max was perfect from day 1. From the production side I came to the conclusion a couple of years back that I really needed proper full kit recorded drums, done in a nice room to be the real basis of creating a band sound on record. Now Frankie’s studio is operational we’ve been able to record not only Max but also Rob from Wire. This is a bit technical but there’s something about drums recorded this way that really adds space (you get something special if you also record vocals in the same room). We can’t afford to be months developing stuff in Rotterdam but employing some of that nice room sound has given Art Pop something it wouldn’t have otherwise. Creatively some tracks are also developed over trademark Max beats although we’ve yet to seriously try he experiment of developing stuff from the ground up with Max.

Actually there's no real set formula about how anything is constructed. If I go through, say the 1st 4 songs it might give you an idea about how we work. On one level "On your Own" is pretty much played as a band, we recorded the basic track in Rotterdam but it was based on a previous piece which had a chorus we really liked but a verse we didn't like so much. Once I got into mixing here I discovered that I could incorporate elements from the original song (even though the verse was in a different key!) so although it sounds simple there are elements that actually come from somewhere else! "Drop" is classic Githead, an absolutely irresistible Malka bass-line that everything sits on. On a track like that it's all about following the logic of keeping the arrangement spare enough to feel the bass/ drum groove. "Drive By" is another turn around, the main riff is Malka playing guitar with Robin on rhythm guitar & me playing bass. Everything is in service of the driving rhythm, even the voice! "Lifeloops" is just Malka & I. I had this acoustic guitar part and Malka wanted to sing on it. it was done very quickly it absolutely captures a moment in time, and so it goes on through the album.

The sound is not decided in advance, it's just about following the logic that the piece suggests. We want to embrace the music's organic nature and follow trails to see where they lead. It is after all Pop which is informed by Art practice (that's the literal meaning). Actually we are extending that now with an "alternate" Githead which you might call "Art Git" (we even got t-shirts :) which is a version of Githead designed for high culture venues. Githead can be many things in many places and we are resolutely interested in opening possibilities rather than closing them.

4. Malka Spigel's supple bass lines always feel like they are in the forefront on Art Pop; does the band write from the rhythm section on up? Was it a conscious decision to emphasize the bass in the mixing process or was it more of a natural evolution? Did any bass-heavy styles or artists influence you in particular while crafting this album?

Every band has to work to it’s strong points and if you’ve got a fantastic bass player like Malka then not to take advantage of her skills would be self defeating! I think there’s another point too which I see much less understood in the USA than in Britain. As a “producer” (i.e. someone who crafts music in a recording studio) my roots are very much in the late 80’s “midi revolution” which was really the point at which musicians themselves could start to produce stuff in their own spaces that didn’t shout “home recording”. It was all about rhythm! So I learned my art in this respect (as did Robin) from what was basically about making dance tracks. Even though I now am able to work in much more advanced ways there is a definite influence from those days and still a lot of stuff from Githead is based on a solid groove. For people who appreciate a sublime groove then “Drop” is THE track on the album, on that track, for the rest of us it’s about getting out of the way! For mixing, it really depends on the track but if a track sounds already cool with just the bass & drums then it sets the direction for how you bring the other instruments in. It’s ultimately all about feel!

5. PostEverything.com (amazing name by the way) has become one of the internet's premier hubs for experimental and genre-bending music and labels; how has creating the site influenced you as an artist and a musician? What are your ambitions with the site? Any large-scale plans in the future concerning it?

Thanks for the compliment! The name was Malka’s actually, even though English isn’t her first language she’s got a knack for coming up with cool names.

Obviously the big thing at PE right now is the fact that’s we’ve re-launched the site and added digital to the offerings (we also re-instated the radio BTW – tip, log in to hear full tracks). It’s taken a while to get there and we are still tweaking (which is why we “soft launched”) but over the next couple of months we will start to publicize the changes more. Right now however people reading this should know that there are quite a few things associated with me that were completely unavailable in any format without paying “collectors prices” now available in digital (320Kbps No-DRM MP3) these include the early Pinkflag releases by Wire (Twelve Times You, The Third Day, It’s All in the Brochure), Wire’s Vien and my It Seems. Obviously the Pinkflag & Swim catalogues are available in digital as well as a lot of Robin’s work, although we haven’t come up with a digital format for t-shirts yet ☺.

For the future we are looking at increasing the formats, adding digital video for example, as well as strategic collaborations & adding a lot more labels & artists. We’d also like to increase the editorial side, give more potential for people to interact as well as finding ways to allow people to stream the radio independent of the site. In other words get a bit more web 2.0

We are still turning over the artistic possibilities. Certainly the possibility of “digital only” releases does open the door to other ways of getting stuff out there but one still has to deal with the basic fact that attention needs to be focused o the site in order to make that effective.


Audiversinquiry (10 questions we ask everyone)

1. What did you specifically remember listening to as a child that triggered a notable response?

Well I remember hearing “Telstar” by the Tornadoes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstar_(song)) when I was 6. Beyond it’s squeaky charms the thing that really got me interested was the fact that I heard somewhere that it was the “music of the future”. I loved that idea!

2. Let's say you are heading across town this moment and will have time to listen to one complete album during the trip, what would you listen to?

I’m not sure if I actually listen to complete albums any more. I think many artists (Githead excepted) don’t actually make albums any more… I’d probably fire up “Lime Light” by Mrs. Tanaka a very obscure release from the equally obscure Town Tone label from Osaka. I’d skip the re-mixes at the end which don’t really help but the first part (which is really an EP to be honest) is Japanese indiepop gold!

3. Are there any other media that you draw inspiration from? Books, authors, painters, actors, movies, celebrities, etc?

Definitely no celebrities! I recently re-mixed a band called Celebricide and subscribe to the concept (even if the band split up). I’m generally interested in culture inn all forms but I’m not sure about specific influences, it’s more about the milieu one swims in.

4. Where do you go to discover new music and sounds?

It kind of changes all the time, there’s the general background radiation of stuff you hear from people you know, that weird osmosis that enlivens the “chattering classes” with the new genre, band and artist everyone talks about. I’m also pretty much responsible for maintaining the rather popular Wire myspace, which I’m pretty conscientious about and try to check out (however briefly) ALL the friend requests so I get to hear a lot of bands and while the vast majority are of limited interest I have discovered a few gems and even if they’ve only got one thing that’s really good it’s one more than most bands will ever have!

Here’s a selection of recent ones I’ve come across, some are obscure & unsigned, others have achieved some measure of success. Malka & I feature artists we have discovered through myspace alongside more established ones on our occasional [supposed to be monthly] radio show, now syndicated! You can check out a recent play list here - http://www.swimhq.com/mp3/Radio/Radioshow6.html -

http://www.myspace.com/parsleysoundmusic - Parsley Sound - "House is Shaking Demo"

http://www.myspace.com/lesbiansonecstasy - Lesbians On Ecstasy - "Tell Me Does She Lo.."

http://www.myspace.com/bichi - Bichi - "my footfalls are superfluous"

http://www.myspace.com/gustavosantaolalla - Gustavo Santaolalla "De Usuahia A La Qui.."

http://www.myspace.com/thewns - The White Noise Supremacists - "She's Soft Inside"

http://www.myspace.com/lastdaysmyspace - Last Days - "The Safest Place"

http://www.myspace.com/monostars - Monostars - "Wenn Du Mich Suchst"

http://www.myspace.com/monkeemanmusic - MONKEEMAN - "Moving In Circles"

http://www.myspace.com/marconiunion - Marco Union - "Sleepless"

http://www.myspace.com/jerryandthesuits - jerry and the suits - "Shooting At The Moon"

5. What question do you get most often that you hate answering?

Probably this one… (Ed. Note -- hahahhahhaha.. damn.)

6. Favorite instruments or specific sounds?

I like to get sounds to work together so I’m quite agnostic on specifics.

7. The record store is closing in ten minutes and you are hell-bent on buying something before they close, what section do you head immediately towards?

Art pop ☺

8. What is the last notable daydream you had and where did it take place?

I wish I had time for daydreamimg!

9. What is the perfect album to you? Are there any? Is it possible?

Hmmm.. I’ve got pretty broad taste, I like different things at different times & I’m one of those people who feels at home with (and connected to) many diverse genres in music so I think it would be hard to have one album that “said it all”… The trick of really good music is to make you feel you are having the best experience ever when listening. It’s just that so many share that skill!

10. Do you keep up with blogs? Which do you read if so?

Sometimes I read people’s myspace blogs. I tend to enjoy stuff that’s written by people who don’t really expect anyone to read it. British bands have the tendency to the funniest blogs. Self depreciation comes naturally to Brits!

On the more “public” scale I no longer really see any difference between paper & online publications. A lot of writing about music has always been pretty informal and you can arguably save the planet (or at least some trees) by publishing online. Obviously Audiversity is the best ☺ (Ed. Note -- We agree, and would like to add a ☺ of our own)

Singleversity #23

Audiversity’s weekly column, slightly modified, on random music in a predetermined number of words between 1 & 150. This week's randomly generated number: 83.

MA:



Charles Mingus - "Track C - Group Dancers; (Soul Fusion) Freewoman and Oh, This Freedom's Slave Cries" - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (Impulse! 1963)

After years of ridiculous delay, I finally went out of my way to collect a chunk of Charles Mingus’s fascinating discography. Though I honestly love every second of every album so far, it’s hard for any of them to top the tonally saturated, incredibly textural music of The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady from 1963. Mingus’s eleven-piece band pirouettes through shifting rhythms, harmonic bliss and jarring dissonance with grace that could only be written as a ballet. Absolutely stunning and idiosyncratic.

PM:



Is it better to pay tribute to Max Roach by showing what he can do with a full set or just a foot cymbal? I opted for the latter to pay my respects, as Roach duly does the same to Papa Jo Jones (possibly during Jones’ 1985 American Jazz Masters fellowship award?). The North Carolina native moved to Brooklyn in 1928 and his distinguished drumming career includes backing up Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis to name but a few.

Max Roach R.I.P.

I honestly don't have time to pay proper respects, but I am deeply saddened by the passing of percussive genius Max Roach this morning. Here is a proper summation of his unbelievable 70 years of jazz drumming, and here is a comprehensive discography of his work. I wish I could spend a little time giving my own tribute, but all I have time for is posting a few tracks that will hopefully push you to check out some of his phenomenal and groundbreaking work.

Charlie Parker - "KoKo" - Bird/The Savoy Recordings (Savoy 1944)

Miles Davis - "Jeru" - The Birth of Cool (Capitol 1949)

Clifford Brown & Max Roach - "I Get a Kick Out of You" - Brown and Roach, Inc. (EmArcy 1954)

Thelonious Monk - "Brilliant Corners" - Brilliant Corners (Riverside 1956)

Arts the Beatdoctor - "Transitions"

Arts the Beatdoctor - Transitions (Unexpected 2007)

Arts the Beatdoctor - Transitions / Unexpected

Now here's another record, slightly downtempo, definitely laid-back, that will hopefully see a Stateside release soon. You can only wait so long when a record like this is as good as it is. In fact, we here in the US aren't the only ones suffering: Currently, Transitions is available in exactly three countries. So obviously, they're in the minority when it comes to seats at the UN, where 192 nations are currently recognized. Or is it 194? Ah well, nevermind.

Point is, this one's for the books. And as a full-length debut, the Utrecht, Netherlands-based beatsmith has done well for himself. His web presence is minimal and biographies are hard to come by, but we know this much about his catalog: It's equally thin, limited in fact to a single EP called Fragments that came out on Unexpected Records in February of last year. With just two official releases to his credit, the Beatdoctor dropped Transitions in Japan and then released it in the Low Countries late last month. All of the songs from that EP are included here in this seemingly bulky 15-song debut.

In fact, it is the unbearable lightness of beating that inhabits this very nocturnal album. Jazzy beats and smoove grooves give way to occasional dips in the hip-hop pool. Hey, chill out man. It's summer. You can't always have the density of El-P as the soundtrack to your skinny dipping. Beware that the vinyl version, should you choose to purchase that over the CD, omits a few interludes ("Blending Quality," "Revolve," "Reprise," and "Mellow Drama" all get the boot on wax)... But the celerity of that version actually makes for a tighter record.

The secret to this record is thus: Both work depending on your mood. If you're feeling a little more thoughtful and need a little more time to soothe down and cool the jets, the elongated CD version is bound to appeal to you. If, however, you're looking for more of a chilled hip-hop vibe, get the plates. Both are sublimely executed and would go well alongside Yesterdays New Universe or maybe that Urbs release that came out last year, Toujours le Même Film. Of course, their excuse was that they were reworking 60s Paris. The guest appearances here by Pete Philly, Sense and The Proov are more reworking Jurassic 5 and others from the early- to mid-90s. On "All of Us," Pete Philly's caught red-handed rapping the all-together-now lines "This is for you, this is for me / this is for us, can't you see? / This is for everybody all over the world." I find it pretty hard to take overly positive or socially conscious hip-hop seriously, but what can I say? The beats are the star here.

Horns, nothing says NPR background music like meandering horns floating through a mix. Arts has got that in spades, surgically inserting them in cuts like "Fragments" to great effect as sampled movie scenes add a vocal element that would otherwise make for an instrumental affair. There are quite a few clips sampled on this record, but they never intrude in that annoying ClearChannel rock commercial way, the ones where it's like "Aliens? Don't you know what that MEANS?! *Static* [Hysterical laughter] *Static* New rock. *Heavy riff, Broseph* NOW." Yeah, it's not like that.

All in all, I'm digging it. With five guys composing Arts the Beatdoctor Quintet, you can see how effective this might be in a live lounge or, conversely, live festival setting. Intimate venue or not, this music has the potential to reach so many people partly because it doesn't intrude. The featured guests here can swear all they want, but the effect is dulled by 60s keyboards and subtle effects wizardry that brings the jazz-hop closer to the realm of noise-collage (as on "Transitions"). This is a hard record to scratch the surface of, and it's likely that you'll not want to given that it's strong enough as a downtempo record. But look a little closer, listen just that little bit harder, and you'll hear something more. It's the sound of people in more than three countries being exposed to aural goodness. Who among the represented delegates would want to argue with that?

Extra Golden - "Hera Ma Nono"

Extra Golden - Hera Ma Nono (Thrill Jockey 2007)

Extra Golden – Hera Ma Nono / Thrill Jockey

Last September (2006), I made it a priority to catch Extra Golden play live during at least one of their multitude of performances at Chicago’s excellent World Music Festival. I was already infatuated with their debut album, Ok-Oyot System (which not only made Audiversity’s Top 60 of 06 but was in my Top 10 as well), and seeing as how half the band was from Kenya and could very well never make the trip to the states again, it seemed slightly urgent. The surreal night still rings in my head as if it happened just hours ago: I took the bus down to the South Shore Cultural Center and entered the walled compound fifteen minutes after the show had started. It was my first trip to the Southside Center, and with it already being a visceral fall night, as I was walking up to the mammoth, almost plantation home-looking building in the center of the large walled-in park it honestly felt like I was being geographically transplanted to accommodate the music. After entering the near empty, antiquated Center, I followed the distinct syncopated rhythms to the dimly lit auditorium where Extra Golden was performing. The room already looked like it hadn’t been refurbished since the 40s and with the array of metal chairs set-up, the low, glowing lights and the small number of people dancing dreamily to the music, I swear I had to forcefully shake off the feeling that I was just somehow transported sixty years back to an East African performance hall. Extra Golden’s music just has that effect on you; it’s nostalgic, hypnotic and transcendent.

The original line-up of the cross-cultural quartet Extra Golden is the unlikely pairing of two Washington, DC musicians, Ian Eagleson (Golden) and Alex Minoff (Golden, Weird War) and two Kenyan artists, Otieno Jagwasi and Onyango Wuod Omari (both of the Orchestra Extra Solar Africa). Eagleson and Minoff were already exploring multi-culture infusions in their band Golden (also featuring Philip Manley of Trans Am and Jon Theodore of Royal Trux, Palace and the Mars Volta), but it wasn’t until Eagleson traveled to Kenya to work on his PhD in ethnomusicology that a true cross-cultural fusion of sounds could be made. Kenyan popular music is mostly dominated by a guitar-heavy style called benga music, which was popularized in the late 60s when Luo musicians looked to mimic the sound of the traditional nyatiti, essentially an eight-string lyre, on electric guitars and teamed it with East Africa’s polyrhythmic musical foundation. In the mid-aughts, Eagleson was in Kenya recording modern benga bands when he formed his own group with two of the local musicians, Jagwasi and Omari, and invited Minoff to join them. The result was Ok-Oyot System which was released via Thrill Jockey in 2006, but recorded a year or two earlier. Eagleson infused American boogie music and shards of almost Dischordian angular rock into the benga foundation to produce a sound near completely individual. Sadly, it looked like Ok-Oyot System would be a one-off project when singer/guitarist/co-founder Otieno Jagwasi passed away in 2005, but thankfully singer/guitarist Opiyo Bilongo of the Bilongo Golden Stars stepped up to keep the band afloat. The Chicago shows were the first international performances for the group (and the first trip out of East Africa for drummer Omari and Bilongo) and was followed by six weeks of touring, which ended in a secluded recording session in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. Utilizing the same recording equipment, lovingly dubbed the “Nyathi Otenga Flying Studio,” but with an expanded array of instrumentation and gear, Extra Golden recorded their sophomore effort, Hera Ma Nono.

For obvious reasons, the biggest difference between the two albums is the buoyancy of their sound. Though the same recording equipment was used, the more technologically advanced setting and, most likely, a less restrictive timetable let the band further explore their infusion of styles by experimenting with different sounds and techniques. The guitars, which now are occasionally strewn through effects pedals, chime even more colorfully than before, and Omari, getting to work with a full drum kit for his first time ever, experiments with an array of percussive toys throughout the album. As well, Bilango’s voice is significantly more melodic than Jagwasi’s low-key delivery. Those details paired with the fact that at the time of recording, it was most likely a very jovial period for the musicians involved no doubt led to the increased spiritedness of the already vibrant sound.

The album opens surprisingly with “Jakolando,” which relies more heavily on the American boogie side of the stylistic pairing with a rollicking piano, an animated acoustic guitar and handclap-enhanced beat. The melodically arcing benga guitars and Bilango’s singing in luo quickly remind you that this is cross-cultural music though. An ode for the Illinois Senator and presidential hopeful whose office was instrumental in helping the Kenyan musicians retain their visas to make the international trip in 2006, “Obama” sees the group in a more traditional benga setting, though it erupts with distorted wa-wa guitars, a first for the group, during the more urgent second-half of the song. My personal favorites come in the second half of the album with the haunting “Brothers Gone Away” and the phenomenal album closer “Hera Ma Nono,” which is luo for “love in vain.” The former features Omari taking advantage of his newfound percussive toys, seemingly exploring his entire enhanced drum kit, and the odd but invigorating vocal experiment of Bilango subtly backing Eaglson’s lead vocals. The title track is at first the most similar track to the Ok-Oyot System sessions, but blossoms brilliantly when a echo-effects take over the instrumentation and bright, psychedelic pedal transforms the lead guitar into a sound like none I have ever heard.

To be honest, my initial opinion of Hera Ma Nono was not overtly positive as I was so taken by Extra Golden’s debut. But truth be told, there are such different circumstances between the two albums, it is almost impossible to consider them in one mindset. The increased vibrancy of the band’s evolution is absolutely a good thing, and their newfound ability to explore new sonic possibilities only further intrigues their sound. Hera Ma Nono does not lose any of the hypnotizing nostalgic vibe of Ok-Oyot System, which I am greatly thankful for, though I think the more polished recording settings did strip away just a bit of the idiosyncratic character of the debut. All in all though, I am just happy that a sophomore album from Extra Golden exists at all, and I hope I get the chance to experience their transcendent live show once again.

Aril Brikha - "Ex Machina"

Aril Brikha - Leaving Me (Peacefrog 2007)

Aril Brikha - Ex Machina / Peacefrog

There's a certain sound that instantly reminds me of European bullet trains and modern fashionistas hitting the clubs. Interestingly, this sound is not all that far removed from the recent resurgence in 80s Ital-disco and minimalist synth-based techno. Iranian-born Swedish producer Aril Brikha manages to hit the head of a nail that lies somewhere in between these two groups, and the latest of his efforts, Ex Machina, is the product.

Brikha's smooth, Detroit-esque sounds come from early listening to electronic and electronic-influenced music such as Jean Michel Jarre and Depeche Mode. Though he initially did not receive much attention in Sweden, Derrick May's Fragile Records picked up on it and in 1998 they released Brikha's first official release, The Art of Vengeance. This EP (plus a couple of one-off appearances) and the critical hit "Groove La Chord" (which Brikha is still trying to live down) led to a consistent stream of output and an association with another one of May's imprints - motherlabel Transmat - that's been on form since 2000's May-produced Deeparture in Time. In a crowded genre, it's tough to pick Brikha out.

That won't stop him from trying again here on Ex Machina. As Beatport's album of the week last week, Brikhan has certainly demonstrated that even the most flavorful connoisseur's palate can get excited over the classic sounds of futuristic space, or maybe it was early 90s ambiance, or maybe it was old skool Detroit stylings, or it must've been an amalgam of the three. Point is, this here's good stuff.

The tone of Ex Machina is set on the opener, "Last One." Fading in on a haze of synths that would play on "Beyond 2000," the chirping melody is eased in and, as the haze fades in and out, Brikhan introduces the stittering beat. After a minute and a half, we're off. It doesn't take long to burn up on the single "Room 337" either, which has the vague pings of trance.

Ah, there it is. That's what's made me so uneasy about this album: It could pass for trance if you weren't paying attention. As much as I love electro and I like giving nods to the folks who are taking it and dragging it through the mud of history to produce something new and wonderful and different, there's a grudge I'll never get over when it comes to trance. In fact, Aril Brikha is about as close to trance as you'll probably ever hear for this website. We love music, and we love krautrock, and we love drone... But trance is a dirty word 'round these parts. It's tough to find something redeeming in it, but if anyone has an argument for actually giving it more than a roll of the eyes and a flip of the bird, it's Brikha.

He makes it seem convincing, like there's something to trance that wasn't there before. It's probably just his minimalist techno touches that have tricked me, but so be it. While Brikhan might've played Fabric and earned the plaudits of the Motor City's most electro-minded madmen, his head is still in a cool, calm place. The reflection is in this album.

Radio Show Playlist: 8/15/07

6a:
1. Pink Floyd - Interstellar Overdrive - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (Captiol 1967)
2. Earthless - Cherry Red - Rhythms from a Cosmic Sky (Tee Pee 2007)
3. Life on Earth! - Life Turns Fast - Look!! There is Life on Earth! (Subliminal Sounds 2007)
4. (((Powerhouse Sound))) - Old Dictionary (for Bernie Worrell) - Oslo/Chicago: (((Breaks))) (Atavistic 2007)
5. Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake - Strut Time - From the River to the Ocean (Thrill Jockey 2007)

7a:
1. Chris Connelly - The Son of Empty Sam - The Episodes (Durto Jnana 2007)
2. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks - Astral Weeks (Warner 1968)
3. Turner Cody - Lashes That Go Wide - Buds of May (Digitalis Industries 2007, recorded 2004)
4. Patrick Cleandenim - Until You Said I'm Gone - Baby Comes Home (Ba Da Bing 2007)
5. Saturday Looks Good to Me - Idiots - Cold Colors EP (Polyvinyl 2007)
6. The Sea & Cake - All in Throws - Fall Tour Bonus Single (Thrill Jockey 2007)
7. Shrimp Boat - What Do You Think of Love - Cavale (Bar/None 1993)
8. Mirah & Spectratone International - Gestation of the Sacred Beatle - Share This Place (K 2007)
9. Low & Dirty Three - Lordy - In the Fishtank (Konkurrent 1999)
10. Department of Eagles - Sailing by Night - The Cold Nose (American Dust 2007, originally 2003)
11. No Age - Everybody's Down - Weirdo Rippers (FatCat 2007)
12. Mannequin Men - Telemarketers - Split 7" with Shopping (Do the Math 2007)

8a:
1. McLusky - Without MSG I am Nothing - The Difference between Me and You is that I'm Not on Fire (Too Pure 2004)
2. Q and Not U - Hooray for Humans - No Kill No Beep Beep (Dischord 2000)
3. Fog - Inflatable Ape pt 3 - Ditherer (Lex 2007)
4. The Bird Names - New Mexico - Wooden Lake/Sexual Diner (Unsound 2007)
5. Dirty Projectors - No More - Rise Above (Dead Oceans 2007)
6. The Budos Band - Ride or Die - The Budos Band II (Daptone 2007)
7. The Gentle Rain - Use Me - Moody (Sunbeam 2006, recorded 1973)
8. Piano Overlord - Diplo Electric Manatee Remix - Tease EP (Money Studies 2004)
9. Deadbeat - Where Has My Love Gone? - Journeyman's Annual (~scape 2007)
10. Roots Manuva - Man Fi Cool - Dub Come Save Me (Big Dada 2002)
11. Shape of Broad Minds - Changes - Craft of the Lost Art (Lex 2007)
12. Big Daddy Kane - Set It Off - Kings of Hip-Hop (BBE 2005)

The Bird Names - "Wooden Lake/Sexual Diner"

The Bird Names - New Mexico (Unsound 2007)

The Bird Names – Wooden Lake/Sexual Diner / Unsound

I lost faith in the buzzing freak-folk style tag a few months back. Not that I decided to completely dismiss the genre, but I stopped associating a particular style of music when someone used it to describe a band’s sound. I actually can pinpoint the exact album that near completely dissuaded me from ever using the description again: Lavender Diamond’s Imagine Our Love. Not that the album is necessarily bad or anything of that nature, but is it freak-folk? Not even close. It’s indie-pop with folksy influences. C’mon blogosphere, sure it was quirky, sure it was hippie-ish, sure it was daffy, but freak-folk it was not. Where is the freak? When I see that tag used, I want my folk confusingly endearing, poorly recorded, slightly alienating and tough to wrap my head around. Whether its laced with pop sensibilities or not, it should be strewn through unyielding carnival rides, doused in moonshine and baked through and through. I want the antithesis of Lavender Diamond’s crystal clear, unabashedly innocent, nearly new age folk; I want The Bird Names.

Though they have been minstrels of Chicago’s underground art-space scene for a number of years now, my first encounter with The Bird Names (I am not completely sure the “The” is how they prefer it; I have never seen it written that way before, but everything their new CD suggests points towards the inclusion of the proper “The”) came a few months back at Version Fest 07. Surrounded by a nearly living mosaic of local art, the quirky collective filled The Co-Prosperity Sphere (a gem of an art-space on the South Side) with ragtag jubilance by way of mushy soundwaves and group vocals. At the time, I suspected that the space had more to do with the poor sound quality of their continuously instrument-swapping set, but now that I have heard the album, it may have been designed to sound exactly like it did. The endearing five-piece somehow perfectly recreated the feeling of an in-the-bathroom with a handheld-tape-recorder seven-inch, which always gives the listener a misguided sense of “hey, I can do that,” though it is always much harder than it seems. And The Bird Names first effort for Portland’s Unsound Records, Wooden Lake/Sexual Diner, may just give you that exact same feeling, though repeated spins of the album reveal songwriting much deeper than the initial “art kids tomfoolery” sense you get after just the first listen.

Album opener “Tepid Waters” commences with a lo-fi, slightly melodic “la la laaaaa” undercut by a near-sinister baritone (which makes frequent appearances throughout the album) that I think is saying “owwww.” My initial reaction was “oh god, here we go again,” but then the song opens up with a catchy keyboard melody, shaker-heavy percussion, glockenspiel pings and multi-layered sing-a-long la la la’s that at some point transform into the song’s chorus. It is crunchy, poorly recorded and at first, slightly annoying in that unshowered-nomadic-folk band kind of way, but it grows on you; much like that flower growing out of a hippie’s dreads-turned-garden hairdo. And while there are a few songs that don’t quite escape this pigeonhole, the ones that do very much carry the album. “New Mexico” has an enchanting melody carved out by wordless vocals, acoustic guitar and a near unrecognizable keyboard; with the gong-like cymbal crashes, it almost sounds Oriental. “Smoovebiz” is on a similar tip, swelling with magnetic melodies and ebbing back into a lo-fi pond of moss-like soundwaves. You have to imagine these recordings are very similar to early outings by bands like Akron/Family or MV & EE. “Nobody Loves Me” may be the most infectious track of all with its round-robin title-chorus and lines like “nobody loves me, but that’s ok, I’d almost rather have it that way.” Under-laced by a toy piano and echoing coos, it’s as wonderfully innocent as only D.I.Y. collective-folk can be.

This being The Bird Names’ third full-length album, it makes sense that their songwriting is maturing and escaping the typical confines of early, let’s-get-baked-and-jam folk. There are still aspects of makeshift song structures, but they are increasingly seamless and on their way to transcending the two-minute everyone-yell-along mold. Wooden Lake/Sexual Diner’s four-track quirk-folk will absolutely leave all of the Lavender Diamond fans scratching their heads in utter confusion, which perhaps is the best compliment I could give the Chicago collective. It’s freak-folk for all the best reasons: confusingly endearing, unabashedly lo fidelity and tough to understand at first. It’s melodic, textural and innocent without being annoyingly so. It’s an album that is obviously not for everyone and probably not for most people, but if you are searching for the true definition of what freak-folk should sound like, look no further than The Bird Names.

A Place to Bury Strangers - "A Place to Bury Strangers"

A Place to Bury Strangers - Ocean (Killer Pimp 2007)

A Place to Bury Strangers - A Place to Bury Strangers / Killer Pimp

It's been an exciting few weeks here at Audiversity. Starting with a trip to Chicago that I thought was for apartments and a job turned into WLUW being taken over by Loyola turned into Michael losing his job down the line turned into we're getting the former editor of Punk Planet and a guy who basically lives the dream of every half-bit blogger this side of Brooklyn Vegan. When Ronnie said you never seem to find anything on a regular basis here, his words in retrospect seem especially appropriate. We don't just mean the music. We mean everything.

But just as times change and people move in and out of a frozen Antonioni frame, there are constants and these constants deserve their split second in said frame just as much as the brightest new supernovas. New York City's A Place to Bury Strangers is one such band. This is only their debut album, but a rich history informs an album that would otherwise have many Jesus & Mary Chain fans scratching their heads at what the big fucking deal is.

There is one, and its name is Skywave. Lead singer and modern guitarchitect Oliver Ackerman's pedigree as one-third of the Fredericksburg, Virginia-based garagegazing group led to an almost legendary reputation. These were the same guys you might've read about who soundchecked at half-volume and then cranked it up to 11 for the fans when showtime came around. Synthstatic was also one of 2004's most fearsome albums: At low volume it sounded like My Bloody Valentine, but at full tilt it sounded like My Bloody Valentine from hell. A lo-fi shoegaze aesthetic that worked in their favor thanks to Ackerman's Supersonic Fuzz Gun and Total Sonic Annihilations, I still defy anyone to listen to "Don't Say Slow" and not be blown away. It's as close to God as Skywave ever got.

The primary concern for this band, then, is how it will measure up sonically not just live but on record. They are the self-proclaimed "loudest band in New York City," and while I cannot testify to this personally (unfortunately), have a quick look around the Interweb and you'll find reports of impossibly loud playing and wasted nights spent recovering from splitting headwounds and "bad EQs." This trio arguably has a lot to live up to, and though some of these songs have been around for over a year, putting them all together for the first time is something else entirely.

Or rather, it isn't at all. There's little doubt that Skywave placed a great deal of emphasis on Ackerman's tools (the latest of which is his company Death By Audio), and confirmation is given straight away here on "Missing You." It's uncannily like Skywave, in fact, and initially you may be confusing this for Ackerman's previous band. "Don't Think Lover" is exactly the kind of song that shows what made Skywave great while demonstrating that the basic formula and sound have not changed a great deal in three years. I could believe they're the loudest band in the Big Apple, and the sheer aural assault of the white noise in this track (and album) is a graphic demonstration why.

There's a certain tone and timbre to A Place to Bury Strangers that is unmistakable, and it's all in the effects pedals. It's like a sheet of noise, like static at a high pitch cranked to the maximum and unleashed on an otherwise innocuous song. It's like pre-Tremolo My Bloody Valentine or The Jesus & Mary Chain with a little echoing jangle in there for good measure. It happens virtually every time, and you know it's coming, and yet still you can't get enough. "The Falling Sun" crashes with different time signatures and Ackerman's decidedly Bauhausian vocals, rarely changing, rarely clear.

Gradually, A Place to Bury Strangers start to carve out their own niche. "To Fix the Gash in Your Head" is the earliest indication that this band is just as heavily indebted to the post-punk luminaries of the late 70s as any shoegaze or noise-pop group. "I Know I'll See You" also has a more danceable beat than most Skywave songs, and here is the critical difference between the groups: With Skywave, it was well and dandy to rock out, but dancing wasn't really part of the routine. Here it's almost a drum machine sound and Jay Space's straightforward skin-beating keeps the emphasis on the feedback frenzy of Ackerman's guitars and anchoring accompaniment by stalwart bassist Tim Gregorio (ex-Virus). Together these guys are bringing the old noise back in a new incarnation. They're still young and they've still got a lot of growing to do, hopefully out and beyond a sound they have clearly already conquered.

A Place to Bury Strangers is an ideal canvas for painting the dark portrait of a modern "American Gothic." They initially took fodder for having the band name of a bunch of angsty teenaged boys with ex-girlfriends and axes to grind; as their self-titled debut demonstrates, there aren't any lip rings or designer t-shirts involved here. It sounds like a graveyard, at night, in fog. That's rarely sounded like a better proposition than on these ten songs.

Devotion #1

(Ed. Note – After getting the pleasure of introducing Dave last week, Audiversity is proud to present you with yet another amazing addition to our team. Fellow Chicagoan Ronnie Reese will be joining us on a weekly basis dropping knowledge and experience to further enlighten your hopefully already expanding musical tastes. Ronnie basically blows the rest of us out of the water with his résumé having graced nearly every one of my favorite mags and companies, including but not limited to Wax Poetics, Stop Smiling, Stones Throw, Allhiphop, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Defender, Chicago Innerview, Rollingstone.com, and on and on. Basically, Ronnie is our hero and we are ridiculously excited that he is on board with our cause.)



It’s 7:51am. I’ve been up all night working on a story, but slowed down as the procrastination bug hit. Now, I’m just kind of chillin’ – eating blueberry yogurt, waiting for bacon to thaw, and clearing hard drive space. It’s casual.

I’m thankful for the time to go through some of these tracks, because in doing so, I’ve found the missing piece needed to pop my Audiversity cherry. When I first contacted Michael about contributing, he was as happy to have me as I was to be down. I just wanted to get started sooner rather than later. I had a couple of tracks in mind, but was holding out for a third. Three is the magic number, you know, so when I found this:

Four Tet – "As Serious as Your Life" (Jay Dee Remix feat. Guilty Simpson) - Remixes (Domino 2006)

We were in business. This song has long been a favorite, and because of the close relationship I’ve had with Jay Dee/J Dilla’s music over the past couple of years – the past 11 or 12, really – it was an obvious choice for this inaugural post. If you’re not familiar with Dilla, you will be soon. He is arguably the best hip-hop producer of our generation, and I enjoy this track in particular because it showcases all facets of his approach, from rapping, to singing, to production, of course, and finally, DJing. This is how it should be done, and fortunately, many others are following his lead. You’ll be learning more about them as well.

What I eventually hope to bring to Audiversity is a mix of a lot of different things, old and new – a little hip-hop, a little funk, some soul and R&B, some jazz, and perhaps the occasional albino Scientologist blues-rocker. Pretty much everything you can’t find here on a regular basis, which I say without full conviction, because there doesn’t seem to be anything you find here on a regular basis. Audiversity is the ideal blank canvas. If I had one concern (which I don’t), it would be how well I fit in on a site that features material from a lot of artists that I’ve never heard of. But I realize that is part of the fulfillment found in “music appreciation.” Some of us know a lot, but no one knows everything, so we learn together.

Alright – enough of that corny bullshit. I stand behind those words, but I’m content letting the music speak for itself. Which is why I’m going to avoid a long-winded introduction of who I am and what I do. Some of you know of me, but most do not. In short, I collect vinyl, but I’m not heavy-duty, and was a both radio and club DJ in my younger days. Now, I’m just a moderately-talented journalist with some good music to share.

Herbie Hancock – "Gentle Thoughts" - Secrets (Columbia 1976)

Exile – "In the Night 22" - Artdontsleep Presents From L.A. with Love (Milan 2007)

These represent then and now. Michael, for the time being, is the musical director at WLUW-FM Chicago, where I was a DJ and co-host of a funk show from 10pm to 2am on Wednesday nights in the late ‘90s. From midnight on, my partner and I would mellow things out in a portion of the evening known as “Gentle Thoughts,” where this nice Hancock piece from the Secrets album set the tone. Long before then, I checked Secrets and Hancock’s Mr. Hands out of my local library on cassette and dubbed them up. I wore that tape out, so this track has been in the memory bank for a minute.

The bass is what grabs you from the start, courtesy of Oakland native Paul Jackson. His playing brings to mind something I heard from drummer Mike Clark, also of Oakland and a longtime friend and musical partner of Jackson’s. Clark performed and recorded with Hancock during his electric period in the ‘70s, and once told me that he, Jackson, and other players actually had to teach the legendary jazz keyboardist how be funky. “When I played with Herbie, he wasn’t like that at all,” said Clark. “He could hint at that, and he understood it, but he wasn’t playing like the really funky B-3 players because he didn’t live like that.” This came at a bit of a surprise, based on the success of Hancock’s electro-funk opus, Head Hunters, but then again…



Polka dots? That ain’t gangsta.

“In the Night 22” is a chilling downtempo instrumental from producer Exile. Exile is one-half of Emanon with Stones Throw artist Aloe Blacc, and also half of a more recent collaboration with rapper Blu on Below the Heavens. I first heard this in a Jay Scarlett mix on BTS Radio and it blew my face off. I didn’t own it at the time, but desperately had to track it down, eventually scoring this mp3 from the man himself. It’s also featured on the From L.A. With Love compilation. I’ll make a note to post a track from both albums in the upcoming weeks.

I don’t have much to say about this Exile beat that would do it proper justice. If I were to ever die in a car crash, however, this is the song that I would like to be playing loudly at the moment of impact. If that sounds morbid, forgive me. I can be a sick fuck, sometimes.

Death Breath - "Let It Stink"

Death Breath - Lycanthropy (Relapse 2007)

Death Breath - Let It Stink / Relapse

The argument for metal not just being a bunch of noise has always been how difficult of a genre it is to perform. Faster bands have always been at the forefront of trying to make their light-speed riffing and drumming clearly heard, and the advancements in technology over the past decade to 15 years created a strong trend in metal which saw bands gravitating towards crystal-clear production to the point of being completely devoid of personality. While nerds like myself could headphone it up and hear each stroke of the guitar or snare hit with amazing ease, a good amount of these albums all ended up sounding the same, despite differences in style, region, or personnel. Honestly, a lot of the fun was taken out of the genre; bands sounded more like Kraftwerk's robot alter-egos than human beings.

Maybe it's the fact that the most classic metal albums were created before programs like Pro-Tools or drum triggers existed, or maybe it's just the fact that history repeats itself, but the last few years have seen a backlash against the mechanized, robot-metal that has dominated for quite a while. Enter Sweden's Death Breath, a project from the versatile Nicke Andersson (Entombed, the Hellacopters).

Let It Stink is Death Breath's third release in two years (a self-titled EP and the Stinking Up the Night full-length were both issued in 2006), an like its predecessors, loves hanging out in the grime and filth of raw production and sloppy, fun performances. It's obvious from the get-go that Death Breath isn't a completely serious band. First, there's the name. Next, there's the Beatles-parody artwork (Macabre did it better on Sinister Slaughter, though), then there's the first song, "Giving Head to the Dead." All of this is enough to make someone who already dismisses metal as a bullshit genre laugh this release off, and that's fine . . . we don't want you around anyway.

Death Breath manages to perfectly straddle the line that metal permanently resides on: joking around vs. taking things seriously. There's an ingrained humor in metal that's been there since day one (Venom and Slayer were just trying to make a buck, people) and will always be there. If you're really trying to make it as a metal band, the best method is just to ignore the humor aspect and do your thing, but it's clear that Death Breath aren't trying to make a living off this.

Let It Stink features old-school death-metal legend Scott Carlson (of Repulsion fame) on a few tracks, which makes sense considering the debt Death Breath owes to him and his old band. There's the basic one-two, slow-grind drumbeat, the minimal-chords-punk-style riffing, and the echo-y, shouted vocals. Death Breath also embraces the California-style mid-tempo thrash ("Lycanthropy") that is custom made for circle pits and sweaty dudes with their flannels tied around their waists.

There's also minimal guitar soloing on this EP, but when it happens, it's loud, screechy, and like the rest of the music, not too fancy . . . yet another throwback to the '80s-style Death Breath is paying respects to. The last song on Let It Stink, though, is a mid-paced romp that settles into the slowest groove of the EP around the two-minute mark and boasts a monumental solo which also serves as the focus of the disc's fading moments.

Be sure to check out the black and white video on this EP for their eponymous song from Stinking Up the Night. It involves a zombie, a chase through a graveyard, and actual death breath. There's also a colorized version that serves as a mini horror flick instead of a music video, in case you hate that particular song, I suppose.

With work already beginning on their next album, let's just hope that the nostalgia trip doesn't get old, and that Death Breath are going to continue writing quality, old-school death metal. I leave you with these words of wisdom from their website (remember, they're Swedes): "This is the record on which we are we going to use triggered drums and write lyrics about philosophical stuff . . . well, let’s hope we don’t do that."

Interversity: Educated Consumers

College Park, Maryland duo Educated Consumers are our featured artist for this week's Interversity. Released in July, Write/Hear is a back-to-basics approach to hip-hop that MC Seezmics and DJ t.E.C.K! have been working to create since they first formed in 1999. Their third and most accomplished work to date, Educated Consumers are holding it down in the shadows of the nation's capital. Seezmics took the questions for us.











Educated Consumers - Catch a Glimpse - Write/Hear (VeriZum 2007)

1. Just to be clear: What was the story behind the release of Write/Hear? You guys were saying it was pretty much set in mid-'05 on your blog...

Write/Hear had been completed from a music standpoint since ‘05, but we kept waiting for the right business situation to present itself. We had already done the "cd-r self release" thing with our first album, Educated Consumers. Our second album, Aisle 2, was released by a small label with limited resources. We'd learned from those releases and wanted to wait for something better, if not perfect. We were also getting some feelers for tours with bigger acts, and were hoping that would lead to signing with a bigger label.

Basically, we were hoping someone else would do the hard work so we could sit back and eat sandwiches made of diamonds. Big mistake.

I eventually got tired of hoping/waiting/wishing for better days, so I decided to start making them. We put the finishing touches on Write/Hear and I planned a release party in DC for July of ‘07. Next thing you know, we’re getting interviewed by Audiversity and performing at the Grammy’s. What a life.

2. How did you guys acquire your stage names, and what does the " t.E.C.K!" acronym stand for?

My little tag used to be “sieze,” which obviously evolved to seezmics when I started rapping for the masses. “t.E.C.K!” stands for The East Coast Kid and was born during the era of boom-bap beats representing the east coast style of production.

3. I'm loving the beats on this record, and I'm not the first to point out an early-90s influence. Is there any one album in particular that you'd say united you two and helped define the sound you're pursuing now?

The most obvious comparison is Gang Starr because my voice is similar to Guru’s and DJ Premier has been t.E.C.K!’s biggest influence. Hard To Earn is an incredibly complete album, both technically and conceptually, so I’d say that’s the best middle ground for us both.

However, we aren’t the next anyone. We are the first and only Educated Consumers. If it sounds like I’m being assertive, it’s because I am.

4. The vibe I get from interviews, shows and your site is that you have a great sense of humor. Whose sense of humor would you say you most admire? Why?

I like the quirky, self-deprecating style of Conan O'Brien blended with the razor-sharp semantics of George Carlin. Anne Coulter is also one funny broad. The whole "it's wrong when you do it but great when I do it" routine never gets old.

I admire these people because they can get the crowd open with a good fart joke, then bring down the house with an intellectually stimulating look at life and whether or not it has meaning. Then end things with another fart joke.

5. Educated Consumers are now nearly eight years old. What sorts of changes have you seen in the hip-hop scenes of College Park, DC and Baltimore during that time, and where do you think it's going?

I’ll use our release party as an example. I promoted the show in DC for over 2 months using Myspace, flyering local shows, word of mouth, threats of violence/financial ruin, calling radio shows, and T-shirts with the flyers printed on them real fancy like.

Essentially, I had all the bases covered: the heads who would come as long as they knew about the show, the heads who would come after they checked the website and fell in love with our sound, the heads who never come to shows because we have so many but knew this one was important, the heads who owed me money and figured showing up would make us even, and the local heads who we’ve supported through the years.

The show was on a Sunday, which was obviously problematic in terms of getting a maximum draw. However, since the venue owners also own several larger venues in the area, my plan was to get a large draw for a Sunday and use that momentum to convince the venue owners that DC hip hop acts are worth working with.

Several of the DC acts I spoke with while promoting wanted to be on the release party bill. I told them while that bill was already full, my plan was to impress the venue owners with the solidarity among DC artists and use this show as a tipping point for locking down the city. Several of these artists supported the idea and said they’d be there, both to show love for the release and to help us help them.

I spent a lot of money on promoting the show, and I can live with taking a loss on my own release party. I can even live with taking a minor loss helping other local acts, which was the plan going forward. However, of the 75+ people at the show not including the acts, 3 were DC artists. That is not a typo. Three. One. Two. Three.

This would not have happened when I first started getting involved in the scene. Heads supported each other, and not just out of some artificially benevolent hippie bullshit. They supported each other because they knew it would come back to help everyone. Apparently, people are too shortsighted or lazy to see that now.

Audiversinquiry (10 questions we ask everyone)

1. What did you specifically remember listening to as children that triggered a notable response?

I used to dig all the hair metal bands and their cookie-cutter song structures. Gotta have a snare-free intro. Gotta have tinny vocals. Gotta have a guitar solo. Then I got into Cypress Hill and moved on.

I’ve also always been a big sports geek, and I used to imitate the speech patterns of the guys calling/analyzing games. Steve Buckhantz is currently my favorite play-by-play guy. Howdayalikethat.

2. You are heading across town this moment and will have time to listen to one complete album during the trip, what would you all collectively listen to?

I would force t.E.C.K! to listen to the Modest Mouse’s Lonesome Crowded West. He would bludgeon me with a shoe and throw on Smif N Wessun’s Da Shinin.

3. Are there any other media that you draw inspiration from? Books, authors, painters, actors, movies, celebrities, etc?

I read a lot. Vonnegut, Orwell, Palahniuk for novels. Bill Simmons, Bethlehem Soals, DJ Gallo for sports. I recently started using netflix and it's become my codependent lover. I like checking out the groundbreakers like Peeping Tom and All The President's Men, but I keep it simple stoopid with Beerfest and Grandma's Boy. People, I implore you: check out Alien Vs. Predator. The contained explanation of mankind's evolution makes more sense than you'd expect. Celebrities... but aren't we all?

4. Where do you go to discover new music and sounds?

I ask my girlfriend what she thinks is cool, then I say "That sounds so lame!" but then I go check it out and inevitably like it. My sister also has ill taste in music and literature, so I pick her brain for new stuff. I've read a couple of the books being peddled on The Daily Show, and they have been hit or miss.

5. What question do you get most often as a band that you hate answering?

"Did you really turn down a max deal to sign with Wizards?" I'm like, yeah, I decided to forgo a Hall Of Fame career in the NBA so I could rap in front of strangers for pennies on the dollar. I've learned to live with it, and it's time all these interviewers just let it go.

6. Favorite instruments or specific sounds?

I love the crunchy sound from an SP1200, especially what it does to snares. t.E.C.K! does a great job of layering drum kits and gets a great sound from his MPC. I prefer groove samples to trumped up keyboard samples. I like recording using sports broadcaster mics because they isolate the better parts of my voice. I hate crying babies, bragging men, and nagging women.

7. The record store is closing in ten minutes and you are hell-bent on buying something before they close, what section do you each head immediately towards?

Soundtracks or comedy.

8. What is the last notable daydream you guys had and where did it take place?

N/A.

9. What is the perfect album to you? Are there any? Is it possible?

To me, the perfect album is Aceyalone's "A Book of Human Language." Concise, tangible, entertaining, and challenging. I don't think a perfect album is possible for more than one listener. Life is like a box of... what's that saying... oh yeah, condoms.

10. Do you keep up with blogs? Which if so?

Again, I'm a sports geek so here's the list: freedarko.com, kissmesuzy.blogspot.com, wizznutzz.com, Aol's NBA fanhouse, and of course audiversity.com. I also write a basketball blog, postgrotto.com (Incidentally, Kelly Tripucka was a golden god. - Ed.)