#electric guitar and sax especially

[abracazabka]

you should be able to eat the sounds that instruments make

[dustedmagazine]

Dusted Mid-Year 2023, Part One

Meg Baird photo by Rachael Cassells

It’s halfway through another year, and while that doesn’t seem possible, the trail of good-to-excellent releases argues otherwise. We celebrate as always by picking our favorites and then forcing them on unsuspecting colleagues. The Dusted Mid-Year Swap is almost entirely random, with assignments picked from a bowl and limited options for getting out of them. It’s also one of our most popular features, both internally and among our readers.

Although we don’t pursue consensus — and in fact, quite the opposite, we value the diversity of taste and opinion among our writers — some years we have a clear winner. Out of deference to our most dominant mid-year artist ever, we call them “this year’s Heron Oblivion.” In 2023, that’s especially appropriate since the artist that won the mid-year is also in Heron Oblivion. That’s Meg Baird, whose Furling captured the affection of a broad spectrum of writers. Yo La Tengo was the closest behind, with punkish The Drin and drone-experimental Natural Information Society also in the hunt.

But while we agree sometimes, at others we don’t, and you’ll notice that a good sprinkling of writers were not entirely on board with their assignments. That’s okay. It’s good for us to hear stuff we don’t like, too. It’s part of a balanced musical diet.

We begin with the first half of the alphabet with artists from Algiers to James Ilgenfritz represented. Check back tomorrow for the second half and the next day for our writers’ lists.

Algiers — Shook (Matador)

Shook by Algiers

Who nominated it? Andrew Forell

Did we review it? Yes, Andrew wrote, “Switching organically between punk, gospel, soul, hip hop, jazz and afro-futurism, Algiers speaks directly to a world under siege.”

Jennifer Kelly’s take:

On this tour de force, Algiers doesn’t so much blend African American musical styles as find the sinews and tendons and veins that connect them. “Everybody Shatter” alone morphs from minimalist techno beat to menacing rock to old-school hip hop shout-crossing call and response, and that’s just the opening salvo. The guests run the gamut from current hip hop phenom Billy Woods to DC punk mainstay Mark Cisneros to free-jazz sax experimenter Patrick Shiroishi, with a startlingly moving bit of poetry at the end from Glory Fires front man Lee Bains. “Comment #2” records an unnamed young woman wondering why the discourse about black America focuses so much on suffering, rather than the hope and joy and resilience that her community also manifests. Shook soaks up all elements of that multi-faceted experience, with fierce joy, unrelenting honesty and surges of pure musical exhilaration. Powerful stuff.

Arrowounds — In the Octopus Pond (Lost Tribe Sound)

In The Octopus Pond by ARROWOUNDS

Who nominated it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes, Tim wrote, “The sounds and how they’re treated go a long way towards mustering a unique, shadowy atmosphere, which is sustained throughout the album’s 45 minutes.”

Christian Carey’s take: 

Ambient’s revival has lasted longer than its initial incarnations and cast a wider net as to the music it encompasses. Releases like In the Octopus Pond by Arrowounds (Ryan Chamberlain) demonstrate why this can be all to the good. An example is the use of a repeated post-rock riff, sustained synth lines, and samples of water in “Spectral Colours of Science,” a standout. In another melange,“Phosphene Silver Abyss” pits a loping bass riff against glissando-filled distorted electric guitar and subdued keyboards. An engaging listen throughout.

Meg Baird — Furling (Drag City)

Furling by Meg Baird

Who picked it? Jennifer Kelly

Did we review it? Yes, Tim Clarke wrote, “Welcome to one of the first great records of the young year.”

Jason Bivins’ take:

I’ve actually been living with and loving this record for many months now. Baird’s got an extraordinary voice and a real knack for both songwriting and arranging. There’s a compelling argument to be made that Furling is her strongest recording. From the outset, it’s clear that this is music that is intimate and reflective and admirably uncluttered. Chords or arpeggios shine through without excess, with gentle strumming and a light touch on the snare making a nice slide for Baird’s angelic voice to glide down. Often she layers her voice, harmonizing way up there over gentle guitar, but she also sinks right in between the chords here and there. Some tracks, like “Star Hill Song,” dial into conventional song-form more than others, but there’s always a gorgeous blend of the earthy and the ethereal. Star-skirling guitars glide atop a tasty pulse, or spare piano grounding textural clouds, always focused on Baird’s somewhat breathy voice and distinctive vibrato. In all my listening, I don’t even focus too much on the lyrics, which only float up for me on occasion. I just allow myself to be hypnotized by the unpretentious beauty of this music.

Big Blood — First Aid Kit (Ba Da Bing/Feeding Tube Records)

First Aid Kit by Big Blood

Who picked it? Bryon Hayes

Did we review it? Yes, Bill Meyer said, “Their production has a steam-pressed quality, as though the background instrumental sounds had all been ironed onto the tape. Voices and drums, however, jump out of the mix, which suits the songs’ sturdy hooks.”

Ray Garraty’s take:

The opening track “In My Head” might fool you that this is a modern take on rockabilly and 1990s indie pop, something that is not easy to stomach in large quantities. But things change drastically after that, with “Haunted”, possibly the best track on the whole CD. A bit of Sparks, a bit of Kate Bush, a bit of your favorite bedroom pop band, Big Blood is a mix of all that but with a twist. First Aid Kit sounds lo-fi enough not to be too grandiose and tiring and clean enough not to fall into the category of bedroom rumblings made for a few friends. The choruses are haunting you, indeed, and stick in mind for days. It closes with a track called “Weird Road Pt. 1,” and it is a weird road for sure. Weird and just great.

BIG|BRAVE — nature morte (Thrill Jockey)

nature morte by BIG|BRAVE

Who picked it? Jonathan Shaw

Did we review it? Yes, Jonathan said, “The title of nature morte might reference death, but this music is frightfully, joyfully and overwhelmingly alive.”

Bryon Hayes’ take:

There’s heavy music that attempts to pulverize your grey matter into oblivion, and then there’s nature morte. This is music that gets under your skin with its dual guitar wall of noise and its sludgy rhythms. What’s really arresting is the intensity of Robin Wattie’s vocals, and how she transitions from a measured attack into all-out screaming almost instantaneously. I don’t usually thirst for music on the heavier end of the spectrum, but I found myself strangely attracted to this record. Images of EMA covering Nirvana’s “Endless, Nameless” kept swirling through my head as I digested the record for the first time. The maelstrom conjured by the two guitars, the pounding of the drums, and Wattie’s almost pleading vocals coalesce into a near-crystalline molasses that somehow manages to flow with enough sweetness to appeal to all manner of listener. Even if you tend to enjoy softer sounds, you should give this album a spin. 

Cellow — Ghetto Takeover (Jugg$treet)

Who picked it? Ray Garraty

Did we review it? No

Jason Bivins’ take:

An EP should be concise, a marker of method and style on the journey to completing a larger project. Or, it should whet the appetite by introducing a new voice, the promise of distinction. Cellow’s six-song, eighteen-minute slice from earlier this year is, by contrast, somehow meandering. On the final track, he proposes: “Let’s do a tape in a fucking night.” Which, apparently, is actually how this project came together. And oof, does it sound it. The production is dated and drab, the beats pedestrian, and the rhymes predictably grandiose and misanthropic in equal measure. For example, he boasts, “that’s a 2012 Benz, not a spaceship” and “I just got $200 for an 8th of Splenda.” He fat-shames women, disses Obama and otherwise romps over his “clown-ass” competitors. If only he were actually compelling as a verbal stylist. But no: after yet another “Strange Fruit” sample on “Ain’t Come to Play,” he fumbles the attempted double-time spitting. It’s embarrassingly undercooked and awkward, especially the two tracks without Rio Da Yung OG.

Elkhorn — On the Whole Universe in All Directions (Centripetal Force)

On The Whole Universe In All Directions by Elkhorn

Who nominated it? Bill Meyer

Did we review it? No.

Christian Carey’s take:

For their latest recording, On the Whole Universe in All Directions, Elkhorn (acoustic 12-string guitarist Jesse Shephard and electric guitarist/percussionist Drew Gardner) explore each principal direction of the compass (North-South-East-West) on four tracks. The vibraphone is a new addition, and the textures created by vibes and 12-string in combination on “North” and “South” are mesmerizing. Splash cymbals and alternate scales provide a (perhaps inevitable) exoticism to “East.” Correspondingly, “West” shares minimal folk inflections and a winsome melody. Elkhorn has executed a successful transformation.

Robert Forster — The Candle and the Flame (Tapete)

The Candle And The Flame by Robert Forster

Who picked it? Jennifer Kelly

Did we review it? Yes. Andrew Forell wrote, “Forster’s observational directness and simple language are always in service to the deep feeling in his songs and few better imbue the quotidian joys of domestic life and the power of memory with such poetry.”

Patrick Masterson’s take:

Not being much of an ardent Go-Betweens fan, I went into The Candle and the Flame with little expectation beyond the notion that Forster would be chronicling the relationship with his wife, who was diagnosed with and got treated for ovarian cancer around the three years these songs were conceived. What I can’t help but admire is how he throws you akimbo right away with “She’s a Fighter,” which attacks the illness directly and immediately (with the help of the whole family, even!) in a rollicking folk-punk style. Duly done and dusted, Forster turns his attention to the deeper reserves of their personal history, reminiscing about meetings in Germany and walking to school in the ‘60s and the general weathering of life in a more relaxed, fittingly contemplative manner. You can tell without knowing anymore than I did that he’s been doing this long enough that songwriting comes naturally to him by now no matter the topic — an artist with an innate gift honed over decades that shines best at its most unvarnished.

Asher Gamedze — Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem/Mushroom Hour Half Hour)

Turbulence and Pulse by Asher Gamedze

Who picked it? Andrew Forell

Did we review it? Nope

Ian Mathers’ take:

This is a very good record that I feel like I got a few mistaken impressions of! The blurb on the Bandcamp page talks a lot about percussion in a way that made me think this was going to be more beat-centric, and then the opening almost-title track “Turbulence’s Pulse” does go in that direction, combined with a speech about the intersection of rhythms, history and politics. It kind of rules, and then the record pivots on “Wynter Time” to what sounds to my (admittedly not-super-genre-savvy) ears like a pretty straightforward jazz track. Not that Gamedze’s drumming isn’t vital to those proceedings, and it continues to be impressive throughout, but we get a lot more of that latter mode over these 80 minutes (including 20 minutes of live versions of tracks from this album, which may be catnip to real heads but to relative novice me don’t stand out enough to want both). But neither “it’s a bit long for me” or “it’s not exactly what I expected” are big complaints, and they’re more than outweighed by the quality of Gamedze’s playing and the rest of the ensemble, especially Robin Fassie on trumpet and Buddy Wells on tenor saxophone, who wound up drawing a lot of my focus. When things get moving on “Locomotion” and “Out Stepped Zim” the results are great, even if I could also love a record more directly in line with “Turbulence’s Pulse.” 

Jana Horn — The Window Is the Dream (No Quarter)

The Window Is The Dream by Jana Horn

Who recommended it? Tim Clarke

Did we review it? Yes; Tim wrote, “Horn weaves in an undeniable magic. Much like the soap bubble on the album’s cover, hold this music up to the light and it refracts a surprising array of beautiful colors.”

Jonathan Shaw’s take: The variety of wispy, delicate, singer-songwriter music that Jana Horn makes generally puts me to sleep—a fact for which I am grateful, since prolonged exposure to qualities like “wispy” and “delicate” isn’t a happy event for me. And to be sure, Horn’s mannered, near-expressionless alto—full of little gulps and breathy intonations that are simultaneously arch and bloodless—is mildly irritating. But setting those subjective responses aside, there are things to admire on The Window Is the Dream. Horn has a distinct compositional sensibility, which is affecting in direct proportion to its spareness. See the music of “Old Friend,” which skitters and halts, but maintains its sense of grace and composure. The arrangement builds some momentum, and when Horn cuts it all off, with peremptory force, it’s satisfying. Throughout the record, Horn demonstrates that musical sense for timing and mood; see especially the overlay of dissonances that emerges after the careful combinations and constructions of the opening three minutes of “In Between.” But for this listener, Horn’s singing cancels those urgencies and complexities. I get it: the contrast between her prettily blank vocals and the music’s by-turns dreamy and antsy textures will please some. But these precise, calculated gestures don’t make any magic for me.

James Ilgenfritz—#entrainments (Infrequent Seams)

#entrainments by James Ilgenfritz

Who nominated it? Christian Carey

Did we review it? No

Bill Meyer’s take:

Here’s a record that’s well within my wheelhouse, but which I had skipped over on account of there being a lot of music out there. It turns out that #entrainments deeply rewards investigation. It succeeds at being an engaging listen as well as formally creative. Bassist/composer James Ilgenfritz hasn’t just crafted some appealing melodies, he has made them part of a system of meta-responses that can be restructured on the fly. His combo, which includes drummer Gerry Hemingway, alto saxophonist Angelica Niescier and cellist Nathan Bontrager, is tuned into the multiple levels at which this music needs to work, and sounds equally persuasive realizing the cut-and-thrust of “#frontmatter,” which reminds me in a good way of old Henry Threadgill records, and the chamber combo with dissenting drums treatment of “#squarequotes.” A comprehensive review of this album would delve deep into its backstory of health travails and compositional strategizing, but since we’re keeping it brief, suffice to say that if you like your jazz sturdy, nuanced, and inclusive, #entrainments will deliver the goods, and follow them up with a bounty of bonuses.

[cacklingblobbittyrabbitty]

super unhinged rainbow magic post 10 of 12

I was a music kid so I have a lot of opinons about instruments and Vibes, they may not be correct but here they are, also small lil backstory shit will be mixed in here muahahaha

MUSIC FAIRIES

hurray no necklaces!

Poppy

That is some amazing hair!

FEDORA ALERT BABEY

Painfully 2000s - KELSI FROM HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL

She 1000% borrowed the waistcoat from Tasha (tap dance fairy)

Needs a shirt underneath tho cos Poppy is not as confident as Tasha

That being said the chosen shirt is a Disgusting colour (what’s wrong with white bruh louise the lily fairy had the same problem)

I appreciate that belt resembles a stave, but i don’t LIKE it

LOW WAISTED FLARESSSSS ARE BACK WOOHOOOO

This should be a black and white ensemble to complement the vibrancy of her hair

Ellie 

Has just graduated from acoustic to electric, she’s slightly scared of it lmao, but she eventually will buy a midnight blue guitar and her whole vibe is gonna end up being a lil bit darker

Top half shows she started playing acoustic - the shrug cardigan and sparkly stripy top have primary school vibes I’m sorry

Bottom half is brilliant and ready and raring to go - Doc Martens, tights, poofy petticoated skater skirt

That bisexual bob is a new haircut - currently she hasn’t figured out she’s bi but she’ll work it out soon - there is one girl and one boy that play bass guitar in the band and she’s gonna look at them and go oh shit

Fiona

Sandals with ballet straps! BADDEST of bad bitches

Colour scheme is gorgeous! The silver and blue work so well, I especially love the blue-black braids

Belt is so 2000s it hurts but she is WORKING IT

This is exactly how i thought she was gonna look

Really really cute outfit well done best one yet

No necklace HURRAY

Bit worried about where her wand is but we reckon she tucks it into her ballet ribbons

Oh Danni, Danni, Danni

1) the background is weirdly christmassy and i don’t like it

2) why is the outfit Like That? she’s a solar pannelled bitch - she wishes it was solar punk but it’s not, plus the 3/4 length leggings are too short 

3) why is the hair Like That? the colour, the style, UGH

This is not gay enough for a percussionist of the female persuasion! 

She’s better than that shitty little drum kit and her drumsticks are too damn short 

FIX HER 

Band shirt, flannel, skinny jeans, doc martens, solar panel belt

Messy high ponytail, no fringe, wand tucked behind ear/into ponytail

Full drum kit (bass, three cymbals, two snares and a tom tom) and a timpanny, a tambourine (dancing queeeeeeeeeen), and a vibraslap in the background with normal-sized drumsticks

Maya

70s groovy

I like her hair but not the headband

I can’t decide whether or not i like the dress, it’s giving weird kooky music teacher vibes - I love the colour scheme tho

Her shoes are really cute!

That’s not a big enough harp for her, we are so disappointed - we’ve stopped being one person so we can double our disappointment

It’s not even pretty it’s ugly as fuck

You gotta be elegant to play the harp babe i’m sorry

You are groovy - you gotta have a sexy instrument! I’d give her a trombone of a french horn for some lower brass representation but she could also absolutely pull off a sax or a clarinet

Victoria

SHE DOESN’T PLAY THE VIOLIN SHE PLAYS THE FIDDLE she’s a country bitch and she plays on the taylor swift song ‘mean’

She knows exactly who she is and she’s rocking itttttt

Alexander Rybak was in love with THIS fairytale

FINALLY SHE’S ACTIVELY USING HER WAND TO PLAY THE INSTRUMENT

We finally understood the assignment bitches

Sweepy fringe? Streaks of purple? Shoulder length messy? BEAUTIFUL

The 2000s have been condensed into this outfit - I weirdly like it tho

The embroidery on the jeans is my fave part

Colour of the boots is questionable at best but forgivable cos she’s a hoedown throwdown queen

We were on such a high with Victoria :(

Sadie

That is an oddly proportioned sax (alto? Soprano? Who fuckin knows)

Colour of hair is yuck make it darker

Headband is… a choice

I don’t like the green but the turquoise and blue colours are cute ig?

Dress is cute! Triple layer colour changing skirt!

Cardigan looks fuckin RAGGED bruh, what is it meant to be? An artistic interpretation of a treble clef??? HUHHHH also it’s ugly

I do quite like the boots it has to be said even though, once again, white boots on principle? Nein

She does have the weird girl woodwind vibes so well done ig

FIX HER

Darker hair with a wispy side fringe (like Victoria)

NO FUCKING CARDIGAN, a demin jacket instead (navy or black) with gold sparkle embroidery

Make the dress all blue, going from dark to lighter

I want her to have Helena’s (horseriding fairy) sparkly boots but in navy and gold

[robean-chan]

the new defunctland video on the disney channel 4-note mnemonic & disney channel's bumpers is really making me think about one piece's eyecatchers again, mostly about how only 5 seconds of music conveys SO MUCH about each character

luffy's horns are the most similar to the sort of adventurous themes in the OST - like set sail! (not me going "hey wow i know I've heard something like this in the anime" and then checking the full version of this piece again and YEAH i was thinking of the full version.) its adventurous and silly! the trailing notes of the melody feel like you're sailing, letting the music be carried away by the wind!

zoro's theme was once described as "sounding like an army of demons is approaching" and that's never left me. it screams early Zoro, a bounty hunter, trying to look at him through a hot atmosphere

nami's theme is lighter and airier; interestingly, its not overly mischievous. its calm, like a warm afternoon, like nami at her happiest (and then, a tiny rising sequence of notes plucked on soft strings, as if shes creeping around or behind you to steal)

usopp's is so chaotic - i dont know the exact musical term for them, but the arpeggios? runs? they evoke Usopp, well, running! He can't stay still, or hes fighting an enemy and cant take them head on

sanji's eyecatcher music also (memorably) appears in the anime, usually when he does something kinda cool or goofy! i dont know music genres well enough to describe it - is it jazz? blues?? if it were blues itd be a funny pun. either way i think this firmly communicates sanji's position as arguably the most important crew member (he feeds them; if he didnt feed them there wouldnt have been a crew to begin with) through its two strong piano chords & then the deep sturdy horns. but of course, the melody soars and croons a bit at the end, it's his goofiness

chopper has an emphasis on wind instruments, and the way they pull forward and back in the melody is reminiscent of his fear of people & the way he both loves attention and hates it. also it sounds somehow wild to me, like a trail of footprints from an animal

robin's sax (i think that's a sax, I am not a musical expert) is mysterious and mature, it knows what it is and doesnt try to do nearly as many things as, say, usopp or chopper's themes do. but its not closed off, either, the piano dancing upward in the harmony brings in some of robin's levity & humor, even as the melody is sloped downward

franky's theme is interesting to me because it was originally heard in alabasta during Usopp vs Mr 4, but nowadays it's so synonymous with Franky that it's hard to imagine it being used so generally! but the drumroll and the trumpets exude so much energy (the drumroll in particular feeling like a nod to franky's very first introduction) and then the last 3 notes just. SCREAM, in the best way possible. it's such a cool and exciting piece of music, and it's even cooler in its fuller state

brook's theme is haunted, okay! it very much suits his pre-timeskip self, especially the emphasis on orchestral stringed instruments (as opposed to like. an electric guitar or something funky, which might suit his post-soul king character better nowadays). but I like this a lot: the way it opens up frightening, like you're seeing him through the fog, and then it clears up and it's delicately silly. the hints of binks' sake, too

vivi's eyecatcher theme just sounds like a princess, like the kind of disney princess in a white palace from a culture that looks vaguely European in inspiration? it sounds like curtseying and practicing manners; it spirals downward before crawling back up, similar to how nothing seemed to ever go right for vivi through most of the alabasta saga

jinbe finally gets his own eyecatcher and...!! its Luffy's theme. :/ I assume that he'll eventually get an eyecatcher with his own theme, and that this is the music they'll draw from for it - with that in mind, this song has history to it, theres layers and drama. its sincere and determined and wholehearted and I cannot wait to see what they might use from it for an eyecatcher

that's not even to mention the artists who animated these! the OG wanted poster eyecatchers are iconic, and the more modern wanted poster eyecatchers that show important locations to each character are so cool & are an awesome updated take on the OG eyecatchers. My favorite ones, tho, are the spyglass eyecatchers! getting to peek in on the straw hats for a moment and have them interact with the viewer before panning to objects important or characteristic to them is so fun and says so much about each member of the crew and what they're like. they have the most personality of all the eyecatchers to me!

the one piece eyecatchers are so beloved and they have so much care and attention to detail in them. I'm by far a musical expert but I wish I was so that I could accurately point out what's happening in these 5 SECOND LONG(!!!) compositions to convey so much character in such a short period of time

[imnotviciousreally]

My music taste is especially just:

- jazz song with a 15 minutes long sax solos

- power drills

- the most violent punk song you’ve ever heard

- old men who shred on the electric guitar

- women in their 30s who sing weird synth songs about menstruation

- whatever Joanna Newsom has going on

[fluffstravels]

Dried Rations for Cosmic Hibernation

Dried Rations for Cosmic Hibernation (A Winter Prog/Psych Mix)

Van der Graaf Generator - Arrow - Godbluff / 1975

Happy the Man - Upon the Rainbow (Befrost) - Happy the Man / 1977

Island - Herold and King - Pictures / 1977

Terje Rypdal - The Hunt - Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away / 1974

Ashra - Deep Distance - New Age of Earth / 1976

Steve Tibbetts - The Alien Lounge - Yr / 1980

Tim Blake - Lighthouse - Blake's New Jerusalem / 1978

Anthony Phillips - Wise After The Event - Wise After The Event / 1978

Tangerine Dream - Bent Cold Sidewalk - Cyclone / 1978

FM - Black Noise - Black Noise / 1977

SUMMARY

The catalyst for this mix was listening to the second to last song listed, Bent Cold Sidewalk by Tangerine Dream, and realizing that in my brain there was an understanding of an oddly specific subset of late, sci-fi-influenced 70s progressive rock that felt like winter to me. The music has this kind of ultra nerd aura. Uneven, occasionally squeaky vocals (see the Tim Blake and Tangerine Dream tracks lol) contrasting with engrossing, rich instrumentation. Cold sequencers, inhuman reeds, war drums, woody guitars. All the elements of these songs come together to create some perfect sonic rendition of being snowed in, with little available to you besides hunkering down. If you’re like me, avoiding snowbound boredom is eerie movies and falling down endless rabbit holes of wikipedia articles. I hope you enjoy this mix and can find those lonely, dorky winter feelings that these songs bring me. <<<<<Track By Track Breakdown Below>>>>>

Arrow: VDGG is a band that I almost considered too good to put on this mix. Peter Hammill’s vampiric voice never fails to totally enrapture me, but the robotic goth keys, chilled saxophone (a running theme in this mix),  and the chugging bass+drums, are what seals this track as an all-time prog favorite for me. Hammill’s banshee declaration of the arrow-like unpredictability of death will shatter your bones.

Upon the Rainbow: Happy the Man’s cool jazzy electric piano pins this track like a fresh cuppa hot chocolate. The vocals are a bit like what I imagine a forest gnome’s Pavarotti (upon the rainBOWWWWWW) would sound like and I think they add a lot of whimsy to this track, especially with the fantasy lyrics. The sax and flute are also very welcome additions.

Herold and King: It’d be ignorant to do a “winter hibernation prog” mix and not try to capture the isolation and anxiety that can come with the season. The vocals on this track are fantastic, the singer emulates the haunting vibe that only Hammill has gotten otherwise. The reversed vocal freakout, underpinned by what sounds like VDGG and ELP’s angsty child who starts fires, is a highlight for me, and it only grows more disturbing from there. It’s a peculiar track, but if you like it, you love it.

The Hunt: This is the first of the two “ECM prog” tracks here, as in prog tracks from albums released by the jazz-focused label ECM. This track finds you in a frozen wasteland where King Crimson’s monolithic record Red, released this same year, once stood. Fuzz bass, machine drums, hazy fusion guitar, and a mysterious french horn create a soundtrack that would suit a fending off a polar bear as well as it’d suit trying to get the blanket to equally cover all parts of your frigid self. The mellotron towards the end is especially welcomed by me.

Deep Distance: Just as it’d be silly to ignore the anxieties of winter, it would be remiss of me to ignore the hazy atmosphere that holiday lights & decorations can bring. Manuel Gottsching crafts the innate wonder a snowy environment brings with synth, guitar, and percussion. You have no need to worry about shoveling the driveway or finding the right layers yet. You’re with whoever you love most, watching the snowfall from the comfort of the indoors by the fire, seeing the neighborhood lights twinkle out into an otherwise pitch black night. The Alien Lounge: Alien Lounge is ECM prog track no.2, and excerpted from Steve Tibbetts’ excellent 1980 album Yr, which I bring up as I’ve used his amazing hand-sketched cover for that album for this mix. The stark black and white rendering of an undefinable sci-fi portrait made it an easy fit. The track itself is a really delicate guitar-led piece that, paired with Deep Distance, continues that very cozy winter feel. I highly recommend this entire album paired with the warm beverage of your choice on a late, late night. Lighthouse: I admit this song is a VERY cheesy addition. Tim Blake is best known as a keyboardist for Gong during their classic Radio Gnome-era. All the synthesizers on this track are absolutely wonderful, spacey blurbing and bubbling at its best. The cheese comes from Blake’s vocals and the lyrics that feel equal to a 1950s B-Movie, rather than the expansive, immersive science fiction found elsewhere on this mix. That being said, I enjoy it a lot. Also, you can sing the lyrics to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 theme song over Blake’s vox.

Wise After The Event: I have to thank my good friend James for introducing me to this song because it fits the vibe I was seeking with this mix almost too snugly. Most know Phillips for his all-too-brief stint in Genesis, and at most maybe his “The Geese and the Ghost” record that features Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins. I do highly recommend “Geese”, but I also feel that Wise After The Event of is one of the most underappreciated prog records of the 70s. In it's title track, Phillips delivers a delicate vocal over gorgeous 12-string Rickenbacker guitar and earthy keyboards, with the lyrics conjuring imagery so equally vague and specific that Jon Anderson would be jealous. Bent Cold Sidewalk: I love this song and it's album, Cyclone, but I do understand why a TD-purist would be opposed to it. Cyclone is the crumbly bleu cheese of the influential Berlin School band’s discography, but I adore the goofy lyrics, melancholic vocals, wistful woodwinds, and theatrical percussion in this song so much. I hope that hearing it in the context of this pure prog rock context can make the most staunch Cyclone Grinch have a change of heart :) Black Noise: FM's Black Noise is far too under-discussed in prog circles. The violin/synth/drums trio is one of the most unique prog bands and they've made some of my favorite music in the genre. The titular song of that album tells the story of underground sewer lizard people facing their fears to come out into the world..or something. It works. The percussion on this song is magic, the synth is perfectly moody, the vocals are slightly goofy but so earnest they always win me over, and Nash the Slash’s soaring violin in the middle of the song is so good that you understand why these guys never bothered to find a guitarist. The buildup at the end of this song with the chunky Rickenbacker bass and the building synthesizer is so fittingly intense for the weird sci-fi world the band is trying to build. This is my favorite song on this mix, and the one I most strongly recommend.

If you’ve read all of this, thank you, and I hope you enjoy the mix I’ve put together!

[burlveneer-music]

Eve Risser Red Desert Orchestra - Eurythmia - Mali-inspired jazz with 4-5 percussionists, a real treat (Clean Feed)

Led by the French pianist Eve Risser, the Red Desert Orchestra is a hybrid formation in which musicians from Europe and Africa rub shoulders in the service of music resolutely haunting, magnifying the polyrhythmic intertwining to the point of vertigo through a writing as demanding in its form as resolute in its ambitions. Stakeholder of ten different configurations, from solo to large ensemble, Eve Risser develops in this context her talents as a composer by adding the sounds of balafons to her orchestra, djembes and bara, from West Africa. Lines and sounds weave in tireless hypnotic loops that lead the listener to a spiritual and nomadic experience, from which brilliant soloists emerge. In Eve’s own words: “this Orchestra took over from the White Desert Orchestra. My current influences were Mali, my work with the Kaladjula Band and Nainy Diabaté.

It is a work with people and with the body: the search for soft trance for Eurythmia and dance for Kogoba Basigui, the two programs that we carry with this orchestra. SOYYAYA is an arrangement of the piece “Après Un Rêve” (Clean Feed, 2019) out of a prepared romantic-mechanical solo piano original piece. This is kind of where I've been for a while. Between dance, trance, techno, West African music (and so many others!) and romanticism, expressionism. For the other songs I came with ideas orally and we have them all arranged together. GÄMSE is a piece completely written by me as well. We play it in the other Kogoba program as well.

We work orally because not everyone reads music and especially wanting to avoid “efficiency” of writing and getting into a slow process. Treat yourself to the luxury of the "long term". See how the music can anchor itself in us and dress the group to the skin and with the time that pass. Slow process = rare these days I find, but humanly very very strong! It's really worth it!

In relation to the work that we carried out to create this orchestra and this repertoire, I evoke willingly the image of weaving: at the beginning the weaving was thicker, as if we had had big needles and big yarns and little by little, it became fine lace, with wide variety of colors. When we work orally, we start with large blocks, to remember music easily, before refining with smaller needles and thread. If we do not see for a long time, the colors may be more intense (because everyone will be going back to his or her home and will have nurtured his musical individualy) but the needles and wool will be larger again. Eve Risser composition, piano, voice Antonin-Tri Hoang alto sax, analog synth Sakina Abdou tenor sax Grégoire Tirtiaux baritone sax, qarqabas Nils Ostendorf trumpet, analog synth Mathias Müller trombone Tatiana Paris electric guitar, voice Ophélia Hié balafon, bara, voice Mélissa Hié balafon, djembe, voice Fanny Lasfargues electro-acoustic bass Oumarou Bambara djembe, bara Emmanuel Scarpa drums, voice

[juliansiegel]

UPCOMING DATES 2023

CLICK BELOW FOR TICKET LINKS

TUESDAY 7th FEBRUARY BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY HALL STAGE

THURSDAY 9th FEBRUARY TURNER SIMS, SOUTHAMPTON

FRIDAY 10th FEBRUARY SHEFFIELD JAZZ

SATURDAY 11th FEBRUARY DERBY JAZZ, DEDA STUDIO THEATRE

SUNDAY 12th FEBRUARY LONDON, RONNIE SCOTTS JAZZ CLUB

BBC Jazz Award winning saxophonist Julian Siegel embarks on a major tour in February 2023 with the Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra celebrating his acclaimed album Tales from the Jacquard (Whirlwind Recordings). The Orchestra features some of Julian's favourite musicians from the UK and European scenes and presents a rare opportunity to see this handpicked, stellar line-up perform together (see full tour line up below).

The tour will feature Julian’s music for Jazz Orchestra from the new album, from expansions and arrangements of music written for small band to the suite commissioned by Derby Jazz composed especially for the orchestra ‘Tales from the Jacquard’ plus new arrangements and compositions written for this tour. ’Tales from the Jacquard’ draws inspiration from the lace-making process and the Jacquard cards, which controlled the lace knitting machines. (Julian’s parents and family ran a lace manufacturing business in Nottingham for over 50 years).

Julian gratefully acknowledges the support of Arts Council England in making this tour possible.

“One of the major highlights of this year’s jazz calendar”  London Jazz News

“Essential listening”  The Jazz Mann 

"A beautiful balance between an open writing and more traditional pictures." ★★★★ All About Jazz 

"Razor-sharp section work and a string of superlative solos." Bebop Spoken Here

The JULIAN SIEGEL JAZZ ORCHESTRA contains renowned bandleaders, composers and soloists in their own right. Conducted by Nick Smart, the band features saxophonists Stan Sulzmann, Tori Freestone, Nathaniel Facey (Feb 7, 10 + 11 ) Paul Booth (Feb 9 + 12), Michael Chillingworth and Gemma Moore, Trumpeters Tom Walsh and Steve Fishwick alongside Claus Stötter and Percy Pursglove from NDR Bigband Hamburg, Trombonists Mark Nightingale, Trevor Mires, Harry Brown and Richard Henry, Guitarist Mike Outram, all based around the dynamic and creative rhythm section of his long standing group the Julian Siegel Quartet, featuring pianist Liam Noble (Feb 7 + 12), bassist Oli Hayhurst and drummer Gene Calderazzo. The highly in-demand pianist Ross Stanley also features on three dates of the tour (Feb 9, 10+11)

(see below for full line up)

JULIAN SIEGEL JAZZ ORCHESTRA - LINE UP

Saxes / Clarinets / Compositions / Arrangements   Julian Siegel

Conductor  Nick Smart

Trumpets Tom Walsh, Percy Pursglove, Steve Fishwick, Claus Stötter

Alto Saxophone Mike Chillingworth, Nathaniel Facey (7th, 10th, 11th) Paul Booth (9th, 12th)

Tenor Saxophone Stan Sulzmann

Tenor Saxophone and Flute Tori Freestone

Baritone Sax and Bass Clarinet Gemma Moore

Trombones Mark Nightingale, Trevor Mires, Harry Brown

Bass Trombone and Tuba  Richard Henry

Guitar Mike Outram

Piano  Liam Noble (7th, 12th) Ross Stanley (9th, 10th, 11th)

Double and Electric Bass Oli Hayhurst

Drums Gene Calderazzo

JULIAN SIEGEL SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Julian Siegel is an in-demand saxophonist on the UK and European Jazz scene who has worked with many of the top figures in the music. In 2007, he was awarded the BBC Jazz Award for Best Instrumentalist. He is currently touring with the Julian Siegel Quartet, featuring pianist Liam Noble, bassist Oli Hayhurst and drummer Gene Calderazzo.

As a sideman Julian has played in large ensembles led by Kenny Wheeler, Andrew Hill, Hermeto Pascoal, Michael Gibbs, Django Bates, John Taylor, Nikki Iles, Stan Sulzmann, NDR Big Band, Colin Towns and Jason Yarde to name a few. Inspired by these great experiences and coupled with a long standing wish to write for larger ensemble, Julian formed the Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra embarking on its debut UK tour in March 2017.

READ MORE ABOUT THE WRITING OF TALES FROM THE JACQUARD

COMPOSER BLOG

[chickenmcfly1]

Since you said you’re a guitarist and music major yourself, do you have any thought about Marty as a musician and his path?

omg you should not have gotten me going on this. Music and Marty are my favorite topics of ramble about and now you’re letting me ramble about both together gajagska. Anyway, here are my thoughts about Marty and his music

He started showing musical inclination when he was quite young. Grandma Sylvia (aka Trixie Trotter) would sing and play for Marty and he loved it

He expresses want to learn an instrument when he’s around 8 years old and there’s already a plunky little piano in the McFly home. By no means is it a good instrument, but George has Sylvia teach him.

Marty likes it a lot and he practices and becomes pretty proficient. Neither Lorraine or George expect much to come from it, but they’d rather have Marty playing jazz standards and Beethoven than have him setting fire to the rest of the house

After Sylvia passes a few years later, well one, Marty is absolutely destroyed because he’s not that close to anyone else in his family, but also the piano lessons stop. George and Lorraine can’t afford lessons and they don’t really care enough to encourage Marty’s musical goals

Marty keeps up with his piano playing, but around this time, at age 10, he begins to get really into Rock n Roll. The record store by his house is where Marty goes to escape his family before Doc and he becomes obsessed with all the Rock Stars and their records.

There’s a video of Jimi Hendrix explaining how to play the guitar that plays at the music store on loop, and Marty watches it over and over and over and over until he has it pretty much memorized

He mows lawn for a week and the first time he gets paid, he goes straight to the record store and buys the tape and the other guitar lessons that come with it

And Marty decides right then that he wants to be just like those rock stars. Because their music is so incredible and they’re so entertaining, and talented, and cool.

The older Marty gets, the more fascinated with all kinds of music Marty becomes. He applies himself to learning the melodies and analyzing the elements of the music with a dedication that his teachers wish he could also apply to literally anything else

He also tries his hand at writing his own music. It comes surprisingly easy because Marty’s a very emotional person, even at like 12, but he’s really scared of expressing those emotions. He’s afraid of being made fun of and rejected and judged and called weak, so he writes music, but nobody ever heard it.

By 12, Marty is begging his parents for a guitar, but they don’t want to spend the money on an instrument or lessons. Marty; however, is desperate and is willing to do literally anything to get his parents to buy him one.

Hill Valley is a small town, and the record store owner obviously had noticed how Marty comes by every single day, so he ends up giving Marty some trashy old acoustic that needs to be tossed

The guitar is probably only given to Marty because fixing it up to put it in selling condition would probably cost more that they could ever make from it, but looking at Marty, you’d think he’s just been given the best gift in the entire universe

So he watches the Jimi Hendrix tapes another 10,000 times and works his ass off and improves an enormous amount and by the time he’s 13, Marty is quite a good guitar player

In 8th grade, he’s able to save enough for another (equally crappy and equally used) guitar but this one’s electric and its the most incredible thing Marty has ever seen and he adores it

Marty’s super insecure in pretty much everything he does, and nobody feels good about themselves at age 13, but at this age, Marty really starts doubting himself way more and struggling with confidence. Music is an escape from that. Marty works so hard with his piano playing, with his singing, and especially his guitar playing, and making music is the place where he feels most comfortable in himself.

At this point, Marty’s family life is getting worse and worse, school is hard and friends are hard, but he has music and he throws himself into it 110 percent.

That all comes crashing down at Marty’s first audition. Marty auditions for Jazz band in 8th grade, and that rejection shouldn’t be a big deal because there two spots and 8th 9th and 10th graders, but Marty’s quickly rejected and it breaks it heart. This had been the one thing that was simple for Marty. There was no chaos or fighting or compilations behind it, he just did it and it made him happy, and now that’s been taken away from him too

He pretty much decides he’s giving up on music forever after that and is never playing for anyone else again, but as usual, Doc comes into Marty’s life at the perfect time.

Music is one of the first things Doc and Marty bond about. Doc tells Marty he’s welcome to play any of his records while they’re working. His music is mostly jazz and 50s stuff, and Marty absolutely falls in love with it.

After listening to more of that, Marty discovers a love for combining the classics with a new unique kinda heavy metal sound

He asks Doc about the saxophone and Doc teaches Marty quite a bit of it. Marty’s not as great at sax as he is at piano, singing, or guitar, but it’s fine because he has a duet partner now.

He and Doc play together a lot and he’s the only one that gets to hear Marty’s original music. Marty writes a bunch of jazz and rock pieces for Sax and Guitar too, and being able to play with Doc gives Marty a lot of the confidence boost he needs. Doc makes a point to always encourage and compliment Marty’s performance. And it’s not hard to do either, because Marty really does have something special.

Improvising with Marty is a wild ride. He’s able to change keys, styles, and go into mixed meter in a way that seems almost effortless and with alarming speed. Anybody with him really does have to ‘try to keep up’

Once he gets to high school, Marty tries auditioning for a few things again. To his surprise, he’s picked for a few small things. Nothing as big as he wants, but it’s better than nothing. Someone somewhere thinks Marty’s good and that’s something.

Marty also gets into a little bit or recording, mixing, and composing. [There’s a tiny electric or MIDI keyboard in his bedroom in the Polaroid from the set so I’m assuming he’s writing music for full bands and playing some parts on MIDI with a software instrument, but idek if that technology existed back then, so who knows right]

For his 15th birthday, Doc gives him the rest of the money for the guitar he’s been saving up for. It’s an Ibanez and when he plays it or the first time, it feels like the instrument was made just for him and everything is right in the world

He throws himself even more into practice after this and music goes from a hobby to the thing he wants to do with his life. Marty’s always felt lost and directionless when it comes to his future. It’s always felt like he isn’t good enough and won’t really amount to anything. His family are all nobodies, and nobody thinks Marty is capable of achieving anything. But Music gives him purpose and hope for the future.

Doc’s nonstop encouragement is what pushes Marty to finally take the first step and decide to pursue music

In sophomore year, the pinheads come together. Marty is a lot more serious about the whole thing than the others, but being in a band is cool, so they all carve out a few hours every week to rehearse. Marty pushes and pushes them and himself to be better.

He starts dating Jennifer in junior year and Marty writes a lot of songs for her. He finally gets the courage to show her one. Jennifer loves it and becomes Marty’s (second) biggest cheerleader. Any audition, rehearsal, and rare performance Marty has, she’s there. She knows how much this means to him and she takes any opportunity to encourage him

By senior year, everyone seems to know what they want to do with their life, and Marty knows with absolute clarity what he wants to do too, but he’s so scared to take the leap and go for music. He wants this so badly and it means so much to him, and someone telling him he’s not good enough to make it would absolutely destroy Marty. So he keeps these dreams close to his chest and only tells Jennifer and Doc, who convinces Marty to send an audition to the record company

Making that audition tape is the most miserable experience ever. He does over 100 takes of the same song because if it’s not absolutely perfect Marty’s entire world is going to be destroyed. The recording is never perfect (and Doc tells Marty that no recording will never be perfect enough in Marty’s eyes, and what he has done is incredible but Marty doesn’t believe it)

In the timeline where Marty breaks his hand, the second he wakes up in the hospital and sees his mangled hand and feels the way his fingers move so disjointedly, he knows he screwed up and everything is ruined

The loss of music, which was the one thing that made Marty have hope in himself, sends him spiraling and leads to the broke version of him in 2015

In the timeline where everything works out and Marty doesn’t race, he ends up sending the audition to the record company right away. Obviously, insecurity, confidence issues, and an obsessive need for validation don’t just disappear with one trip to the old west, but after time travel, he’s able to put himself out there with his music a lot more

After time travel, Marty is stuck in his own head a lot. He’s often very confused about the terms of his own existence, and existentialism aside, he’s struggling to cope with trauma bc guilt from what happened on his travels. And while Marty doesn’t care what other people think of him that much anymore, his own opinion of himself has gotten worse, if anything.

Getting over the initial thoughts of ‘you’re not good enough so why even bother’ is a whole process but he and Doc work through it, and Marty is finally able to commit himself wholly to his music.

Being on stage and performing and just playing gives Marty a reprieve from the trauma and the confusion he’s dealing with and his music gives him another safe space

As Marty starts to heal more and more he also starts auditioning more, playing more confidently, performing his own music and Doc (who moved back to the present) is his biggest cheerleader and is there at every performance

The new McFly parents really push Marty to study music at a college so he can get a college degree, and Marty ends up auditioning for college and studying Guitar Performance with an emphasis on Music Education

He writes several albums, a few become huge sensations, he is able to tour for a bit and he performs quite a lot. Once the kids are born, he stops touring as much, and once they’re older, he pretty much fully stops so he can fully focus on them.

He becomes a music teacher instead and it allows him to encourage so many other budding musicians while still staying true to his own passions

[blackmidiarchive]

“BLACK MIDI, NEW ROAD” CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA! AT THE WINDMILL, BRIXTON (19/12/19) – LIVE REVIEW - Jimmy McCormac

‘SOLD OUT. Please don’t even ask’ is pasted on the ramshackle door of The Windmill. It is packed. Innumerable print outs of christmas songs litter the stage. Every ‘BM’ chord is written in bold. A nod to Black Midi’s ‘BmBmBm’. There is a real homeliness to the venue. Not at every gig do you see a man and his dog sitting at the bar.

Opening up, Wood plays a low key solo set. He’s sat on a bar stool with his guitar playing slowed down doo wop. He delivers lyrics about how he “stripped out his insides” telling someone “he loved them in front of Black Midi”. His legs are trembling along to his nervous shudder of a voice that goes in and out of a yodelling type falsetto. Although brief it was an intimate, theatrical moment of brilliance. The guest live.

Following a short break, an insane, progressive jazz jam is formed. The only few absences come from Ellery and Kelvin. A real shame. Especially when Kelvin was in the audience (only making a very brief appearance). Nevertheless the group still deliver. Sounding a bit like Miles Davis electric period mixed with King Crimson. Evans sax playing is in free form ‘Bitches Brew’ and ‘On The Corner’ style. To the point where he had to stop for a coughing fit. While Kershaw’s keys are very reminiscent to its predecessor, ‘In A Silent Way’. The other members play in tones not unalike John Mclaughlin, Johnny Sharrock and Greg Lake. The members jumped off each others energy. Wayne and Simpson play mind altering rush hour traffic drums. Both fighting bits of the streamer backdrop off their bodies. At one point Wood throws his guitar down to become a conductor. He raises his arms convulsively up and down. In response Simpson and Wayne deliver dynamic shifts in tempo.

The members interchange with some dangerous leaps from stage monitors to get their pint fix. One streamline jump from Simpson made me question if he trained for the olympics. The substituting members somehow carry the jam forward seamlessly. Their devoured bottles of becks are now smashed, lining the front row of the audience. The pint glasses from band members and audience alike are piled up shrinelike on the speakers.

Mid way through the set Greep leaps behind the drum kit while Wayne gets a pint. He grabs the mic and shouts “For one night and one night only. Geordie Greep on drums!” as if he is some kind of circus announcer. Wood makes a secondary announcement for those at the back. Greep delivers a collected drum solo alongside Simpson. This soon turns into a wild solo. While he does this he never removes his winter coat. Nuts.

In a third set the group play some festivities. A few eyebrow raisers in the mix. The band deliver their own version of Fontaines DC ‘Boys In The Better Land’. They replace ‘the better land’ with ‘the christmas hats’. I suppose this gives them an excuse to cover it. Vocals are switched between Wood and Greep as they commemorate their label mates. Speedy Wundergrounds Dan Carey stands next to me open mouthed. He quotes it as “fucking amazing”. Greep delivers bluesy licks teasing his later ‘Christmas Blues’. A piece where he puts on his best Robert Johnson impression. Another set highlight.

They play BCNR’s ‘Sunglasses’ and Black Midi’s ‘Ducter’, replacing the lyrics with ridiculous festive ones. ‘I am invincible in this christmas hat!” for example. Between a beer flying moshpit, a monitor convulses violently half way from the stage into the front row. It is saved milliseconds before a deafening floor smash by good samaritan audience members.

Covers of ‘Last Christmas’, ‘Mary’s Boy Child’, ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’ and other festive classics are performed to finish the set. Picton takes the lead on many of these, ending up in a humorous falsetto on ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’. Hereby Morgan struggles to keep his composure. He’s in a fit of laughter. Greep starts an alienistic ramble. “Christmas, christmas. Geordie! It’s been said many times, many ways! Merry Christmas oo-ee. Black Midi. Black Country New Road. Sponsored by The Windmill”.

Following the set everyone converges for drinks. The band members and fans discuss everything from business deals to Scott Walker. A fan goes round with his polaroid camera taking pictures with everyone he meets, and many leave the venue in festive spirit.

3 pints later Picton sets up a drum machine and macbook, Greep a microphone. They introduce themselves as ‘DJ Dairy and MC Spritz’. The most bonkers freestyle is performed over popular instrumentals. “Lets go lets go! Change the beat yo” Greep shrieks. He goes on to ask the audience questions. “Who would win, Tyson Fury or Mahammid Ali?”. Without a chance to respond he answers ‘Mahammid Ali’. He takes fast shots of straight whiskey.

This is followed by inviting fans up to ‘freestyle’. Over these ‘freestyles’ remarks are made from the pair. Somewhat alike to DJs over dodgy bootleg records. ‘Lets Go Motherfucker. Lucas from Manchester’ , ‘Anthony Joshua! Anthony Joshua’. Picton is waving his hands in the air rollercoaster style and they both sing fragmented versions of Kanye West songs.

Later Wayne staggers on stage and him, Greep and Picton form a trio of out of tune drunk singing. The song is ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ by Elton John. Greep and Wayne share a microphone. They have their arms around each other and swing backwards and forwards. Following suit are May and Kershaw (now in the audience), their pints clutched between their hands.

In the early hours of the morning a fan has collapsed on a sofa in the back room needing his friends to lift him up. Another fan lights a cigarette inside the venue, getting in an argument with a woman at the bar. Then there’s me. I missed the last tube and ended up in an abandoned old bank. No further questions. I present to you a normal night at The Windmill.

Web archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20210819205610/https://newsoundsmag.co.uk/2019/12/23/black-midi-new-road-christmas-extravaganza-at-the-windmill-brixton-19-12-19-review/

[shamandrummer]

Joy Harjo: I Pray for My Enemies

In her first new recording in a decade, Joy Harjo -- the first Native American named Poet Laureate of the United States -- digs deep into the indigenous red earth and the shared languages of music to sing, speak and play a stunningly original musical meditation that seeks healing for a troubled world -- I Pray for My Enemies, newly released in March 2021.

Collaborating with producer and engineer Barrett Martin on this unique new album, Harjo brings a fresh identity to the poetry and songs that have made her a renowned poet of the Muscogee Creek Nation and one of the most authentic and compelling voices of our times.

In a recent interview Harjo said, "The concept for I Pray for My Enemies began with an urgent need to deal with discord, opposition. It could have been on a tribal, national or a personal level. I no longer remember. The urgency had a heartbeat and in any gathering of two or more, perhaps the whole planet, our hearts lean to entrainment -- that is, to beat together."

Latin Grammy-winning producer, composer and founding father of the historic Seattle music scene, Barrett Martin brings a new dimension to Harjo's unique sound-world -- her words and music spoken, sung and explored in a vibrant mix of classic instrumental sounds. Harjo and Martin describe it as "funkified spoken word" inspiring "elegant jazz, urban soul, and inner city, reservation grit." Harjo sings and speaks her poetry, as well as playing saxophone and flute, on an album she describes as "very much of-the-moment." Martin holds it all together with drums, upright bass, keyboards and production duties on I Pray for My Enemies. He assembled an all-star band to explore Harjo's work, featuring Peter Buck (R.E.M.) on electric guitar and feedback; Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) on electric guitar solos; Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) on acoustic guitar; and Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) on electric guitar solos. Additional players include renowned Iraqi oud master Rahim Alhaj; trumpeter Dave Carter and percussionist/backing vocalist Lisette Garcia. Harjo's stepdaughters sing harmony vocals, and her husband Owen Sapulpa plays surdo drum on the album. Harjo defines songs and poems as distinctly different expressions, and both are featured in the 16 tracks that make up I Pray for My Enemies. Her words and music, older and newer, get a fresh new identity here. The album opens, however, with a traditional Muscogee song "Allay Na Lee No." "Music travels," she says, adding, "It travels through history, ancestors and especially loves ports and waterways." Some of Harjo's defining poems appear here -- "An American Sunrise," "Fear," "Running" and "Remember" -- refracting her own experience as a Native American woman of her culturally defining generation. "Calling the Spirit Back," from an early collection of Harjo's poems, and the new song "How Love Blows Through the Trees" -- written when COVID-19 reached her home in Tulsa, OK -- echo the suffering of a world experiencing a pandemic. "Once the World Was Perfect" is based on a version of a Muscogee Creek creation story, which describes a time similar to now. She says, "We lost our way in the dark, forgot who we were, then had to find our way again." Vignettes and "licks" of songs and poems also appear on I Pray for My Enemies, ranging from the epiphany of "We Emerged from Night in Clothes of Sunrise" to the playful "trickster" piece "Rabbit Invents the Saxophone." Both feature Harjo's soulful sax. "Stomp All Night" delivers all the primal energy the title suggests, inspired by Muscogee Creek social dances. Harjo's poetic music is just the medicine the world need at this time.

[dustedmagazine]

Horse Lords — Comradely Objects (RVNG Intl.)

Photo by Margaret Rorison

Comradely Objects by Horse Lords

Baltimore’s Horse Lords sound like the Magic Band if they ditched Beefheart and moved to the city. Their intense interweave of guitar, bass, sax, drums, and occasional electronic textures is vividly rendered in rhythmic counterpoint that’s impossibly precise, yet swings beautifully, with enough inspired variation to hint at human design behind this industrial-sounding music. Having released four albums and four mixtapes to date, Horse Lords’ new album, Comradely Objects, is the band flexing at the peak of their powers.

Opener “Zero Degree Machine” lets the listener peek under the hood of this finely honed automaton. Drummer Sam Haberman locks down a watertight beat, accented with some sprightly percussion; guitarist Owen Gardner threads through some tropical-sounding guitar arpeggios in a different time signature; and Max Eilbacher pounds out a woolly, three-note bassline. Gardner shifts the timing of his guitar arpeggios until they become a dizzying blur, Eilbacher throws in some harmonics on the bass, the whole rhythm section shifts up a gear, then Andrew Bernstein enters on sax to lock into a euphoric sax-and-guitar theme that carries the song to its cantering climax. 

“Mess Mend” kicks off like a melted version of Madchester, its demented, off-key piano intro leading into some magnificently warped guitar lines, backed by cowbell and squelching electronics. Haberman and Eilbacher keep the song riding the rails right up until its final moments, when everything becomes glitched out and a delay pedal is cranked into screaming feedback. On “May Brigade,” guitar and sax are locked in a squawking fight for supremacy, leading to some of the most demented playing on the record. Side A is closed out by the 90-second “Solidarity Avenue,” which sounds like the theme tune to a detective show set in a dark, rain-slashed city. 

Horse Lords offer the listener some breathing space at the start of side B. The ten-minute “Law of Movement” is dominated by long stretches of held sax notes and shimmering, droning electronics. There are some gnarly intervals, but the rhythm section holds off for a couple of minutes, then comes hurtling in with renewed fervor, the drum figure and bass harmonics reprising those found on “Zero Degree Machine.” The interplay between the instruments here is especially hypnotic, striking a mesmerizing balance between stasis and movement. “Rundling” is another comparatively short piece, featuring a bright saxophone and marimba melody over a shuffling snare pattern. Comradely Objects stumbles and shudders to a close with “Plain Hunt on Four,” where the electric piano and saxophone parts sound like their gears need greasing, the rhythm players holding back tantalizingly, where elsewhere they raced forward with aplomb. 

Tim Clarke

[you-are-constance]

1) what instrument do you play?

2) if you could switch instruments, same level of skill just transferred to an instrument you don't currently play, what would it be and why?

3) what's the most fun piece for you to play?

1. The bass! Upright/string/contra/double bass and electric bass guitar! Mostly i use the upright but I’ve done electric for jazz and marching band stuff

2. Does every kind of saxophone count? I wouldn’t prefer any instrument to bass at the moment, but saxophone is my next choice for instruments i want to learn. Especially bari sax (but any tbh)

3. Honestly most of the stuff I’ve played in various orchestras recently has not been that much fun for a bassist. There’s been a few fun things outside of the school orchestra though. Over the summer i was in an orchestra camp that played three songs: a pirates of the Caribbean medly, fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, and the first movement of the new world symphony by dvorak. Those were all a lot of fun, but my favorite was the new world symphony by far. And now dvorak is my favorite composer

Thanks for asking!

[anyways-wonderwall]

Album of the Week #8

The Deepest Lake

(2015)

By Dengue Fever

Overall Rating: 9/10

TL;DR: Hypnotizing and the best collection of Dengue Fever’s music.

I will start this review by telling you one of my biggest regrets of all time. The year was 2017, and I had just started listening to Dengue Fever. I had listened to all of their music on repeat, and even though I didn’t speak Khmer I knew all the words to every song on their Escape from the Dragon House album. When I saw they were doing a nationwide tour, I knew it would be my only chance to see them, since I live in the eastern US. As luck would have it the day I check the tour dates was the same day they were performing a sold out show in my city. Moral of the story? Never put off getting concert tickets. Ever.

My sad story aside, it goes without saying that Dengue Fever is only of my favorite bands of all time. They have literally changed my life (I almost cried when they followed me on Instagram) and career plans, along with being “that weird foreign group that Lena listens to”. I actually don’t know which album of theirs is my favorite since every one of them is so incredible, but I think that this is their best.

Warning in advance, you are about to read a whole love letter to Dengue Fever because I love everything about them.

General Thoughts

Okay, I’m really really gonna try and unbiased here, but I swear this album has so many good points I can’t list them all.

First off, the instrumentation is absolutely bonkers. Whenever I listen to any of these songs it feels like that was the way those instruments were meant to be played. Doing it any other way is just wrong. It also shows how adaptable the electric guitar is, going from hard rock, metal, to Cambodian and surf rock. Idk enough about music theory to know how they do it, but each song just feels so full.

Also the wind instruments??? Hello??? I maintain that the flute is one of the most underutilized instruments in rock music, and they understand too. “Golden Flute” is my favorite off of the album and is so hypnotic it pulls you in without a choice. It makes you feel like you have sunk into the Mekong, feeling the current go around you. The bari sax is incredibly powerful in every song it’s in, especially “No Sudden Moves”. Seriously, whoever is their woodwind player deserves more recognition.

The vocals are also so good throughout the album. Nimol Chhom is such a good singer and the way she sings is so unique to a western audience I love it. It can be a little jarring in songs like “Ghost Voice” most of the time it adds another interesting layer that makes the sound fuller. And with the backing vocals from the guys? Incredible. Amazing.

The only critique I have and the only reason I’m not giving this album a higher rating is that some of the songs are a little corny and I’ve overplayed them to the point I can’t listen to them anymore. I used to love love love “Rom Say Sok” but now I cant listen to it without being a tad annoyed. “Cardboard Castles” is also a tad predictable and skippable in my mind. Other than that this album is amazing.

Final Verdict

Oh I’m definitely buying this album, no doubt about it. I also think that the world should really listen to more Dengue Fever but I’ve come to terms with the fact that most people don’t appreciate Cambodian rock as much as I do. But seriously, give it a chance. It is some of the greatest stuff I’ve ever heard. And if you want a little microcosm of the whole album i strongly suggest “Ghost Voice”.

[8dpromo]

LTTL - Watercolor (Cold Busted)

8DPromo · LTTL - Watercolor (Cold Busted)

Watercolor is LTTL’s fantastic debut album, released by Los Angeles’s iconic Cold Busted label. The western NY-state beat-maker was trained as a live drummer, but, thanks to a sonic encounter with the sound of MF Doom, emerged as an instrumental hip-hop enthusiast. LTTL’s musical palette is composed of phat and precise rhythms mixed with what he calls “psychedelic elevator music.” Watercolor’s 17 tracks display his technique, resulting in tight, laid-back vibes that groove for days. LTTL’s obsession with colors and the natural world is revealed in the hue-named song titles. “Vermillion Hue” opens Watercolor, ringing electric piano and crisp, classy drums leading into a strange sax-like melody. “Lemon Yellow” is next, sounding like the on-hold music for the chillest of skate shops. Other highlights include the dramatic pulse of “Sky Blue,” the bird songs, jazzy guitar, and boom-bap beat of “Ultramarine,” and the strange melodic pads and growling bass of “Sap Green.” With Watercolor, LTTL has carved out his path among a world of downtempo beat producers. The future is bright as he continues to paint his masterpieces with sound.

Rory Hoy (Super Hi-Fi) – “Absolutely beautiful release. Definitely supporting.” Mr. Bristow (Subtek) – “Lovely, dusty and groovy.” Crate Invader (Point Blank FM, London) – “Stunning and sublime. Props!” Andreas Kinzl (Aromabar) – “Lemon Yellow is captivating.” Salah Sadeq (The Crate Radio Show) – “Lovely sounds and vibe. I will feature and play these.” Hober Mallow (Mighty Reel, Sydney) – “Very slick downtempo grooves. Winner for me.” Lakatos Sandor Suefo (Radio Tilos) – “Perfect for hangover mornings. Especially Ultramarine & Crimson Lake. I will play on air.”

Available Now From: Bandcamp, Beatport, Apple Music, And Spotify.

[franksnecktattoos]

arrival by abba

side 1: when i kissed the teacher, dancing queen, my love my life, dum dum diddle, knowing me knowing you side 2: money money money, that’s me, why did it have to be me, tiger, arrival

“We’ve recorded this at the Metronome Studio during 1976. As usual we have been working with Michael B. Tretow, sound engineer as well as an invaluable pusher and a never ending source of ideas.  Its been a privilege having a lot of our friends play on the album with us. Rutger Gunnarson for instance who plays bass on all the tracks and who also wrote the excellent string arrangement for “MY LOVE, MY LIFE.” Drummer Ola Brunkert (someday we are gonna let you hear him sing) plays on eight songs and Roger Palm on one, “DANCING QUEEN.” These guys are even happier than usual when they get together with percussionist Malando Gassama and hi sack full of strange and exotic rythem instruments. Janne Schaffer plays electric guitar on “WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME,” “THATS ME” and if you listen carefully you can pickup a few notes on “MY LOVE MY LIFE” too. Anders Glennmark is the electric guitarist on “MONEY MONEY MONEY” and Lasse Wellander plays on “KNOWING ME KNOWING YOU” and “TIGER” and changes to acoustic on “DUM DUM DIDDLE” where he’s joined by bjorn whose responsible for all the acoustic and a few of the electric guitars on the album. Synthesizers, marimbas, chimes, accordians, pianos. Benny plays any keyboard instruments he can lay his hands on, especially on “ARRIVAL” where Anders Dahl helped us with the strings. Every now and then you can hear violins on “DANCING QUEEN” and they were arranged by Sven-Olof Walldoff. Finally Lasse Carrison is playing the sax on “WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME”  All vocals were of course sung by ourselves. Solo parts on “MY LOVE MY LIFE” and “WHEN I KISSED THE TEACHER” by Agnetha, “MONEY MONEY MONEY,” “KNOWING YOU KNOWING ME” by Frida and solo parts on “WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE ME” by Bjorn. The layout and idea for the cover came from Rune Soderqvist and Ola Lager who also took the beautiful pictures.  We thank you all for helping us complete this album.

(dont repost.)